The Lord gave him a picture…..

“Then God led Abram outside. God said, “Look at the sky. There are so many stars

you cannot count them. And your descendants will be too many to count.”

Abram believed the Lord. And the Lord accepted Abram’s faith and that faith made

him right with God.

  

Genesis 15:5, 6

The Lord led Abram outside and gave him a picture of his life and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

But as I look back at my life I see how I allowed people to give me a picture. The enemy was in the mix

as well and did everything in his power to enforce the picture he had given me

because I didn’t know better. It took years to break the negative picture I had been

given and thanks to God the healing is still ongoing.

The Lord has a picture for you too. The picture is amazing and glorious but there is so much opposition

from the enemy. he doesn’t want you to walk in the plan God has for your life because that’s what the picture

is about. It’s about where God wants to take you. It’s about what He has in store for you.

But the enemy uses fear, abuse, manipulation and a whole lot of other things to blind you to God’s picture.

Don’t accept the enemy’s pictures. They are all lies.

his pictures get you depressed, fearful, anxious, greedy, and weak.

his pictures are all void of goodness, peace, love, fulfillment, faith, joy and every other good thing

God is.

Reject them at every turn. But you need help. You need the Lord’s help.

The good news is this, the picture you have now can be changed. That’s what happened to me.

My picture was really bad but the Lord came and changed it. He replaced the dark, hopeless,

fearful picture and replaced it with His life-giving, fresh, new, energizing picture!

And that’s what He does for us as His children.

As I end I will leave you with a scripture that sums up what I have been talking about,

“Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, 

which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand).”

Jeremiah 33:3

Blessings to you, friends

Rolain

Why do you believe what you believe?

Whether we like to admit it or not, our beliefs play a very big role in how our lives turn out.

But as I thought on this a bit more I realized something very important, something that has

changed the way I look at beliefs.

 

We were not born with beliefs! 

 

That was an ah-ha moment for me. The light switched on!

We were not born with beliefs. We were not born with the idea of not being clever enough, or not rich enough,

not handsome or pretty enough and so on. We picked up those beliefs, we inherited them, we made a choice to

integrate them into our lives, the positive and the negative.

We don’t have to live with outdated beliefs about ourselves, life and the other things we deem as important.

The toxic beliefs we have picked up can be changed by YAH’s grace. You don’t have to live with toxic beliefs

any longer. There is an opportunity for change.

 

We didn’t know better and accepted and believed certain things but think about Gideon for a bit with me.

He had some toxic beliefs, outdated beliefs about himself.

 

“But Gideon answered, “Pardon me, Lord. How can I save Israel? My family group is the weakest in 

Manasseh. And I am the least important member in my family.” 

Judges 6:15

 

Someone told Gideon he was the least important. He accepted what people said about him and his

family at some point. He wasn’t born with those beliefs.

But thank YAH for His grace because He came and changed the negative beliefs Gideon had by using

him to deliver his people!

We need the Lord’s help friends. There are beliefs we have picked up that we don’t even know we have.

The Lord can shine the light and expose those beliefs.

Watch who you listen to. What are you accepting as truth about yourself?

Whose words are you accepting as truth for you?

These things all matter when it comes to adopting the right beliefs.

Blessings to you…..

 

Rolain

He knows your name……

“So he ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree in 

order to see Him, for He was about to pass that way. 

And when Jesus reached the place, He looked up and said 

to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay 

at your house today. “

Luke 19:4, 5

 

I read this passage of scripture during the weekend and was left

in awe.

This story is so familiar but there is a deep truth in it.

We forget that Jesus never met Zacchaeus!

All Zacchaeus wanted to do was see Him. (Luke 19:3)

Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector. I highly doubt he

was a christian. (read Luke 19:7)

 

“What’s the deep truth”, you might be asking?

 

“And when Jesus reached the place, He looked up and said to

him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your

house today. ” (emphasis mine)

Luke 19;5

 

Jesus called Zacchaeus by name! He knew exactly who he

was.

No one told Jesus who he was. He

didn’t research “top tax collectors in Jericho”!   🙂

That should give us hope friends.

 

Like Zacchaeus, your name is known. Jesus knows you!

There is no such thing as a statistic in God’s eyes. We are ALL

important and precious in His eyes!

You may have lived by another truth all your life but the real

truth is Jesus knows who you are by name! No matter who you are

He knows you. No matter the things you have done, He knows

you and longs for you to turn to Him!

Come to Him as you are.

 

Jesus came to save the people of the world.

A lot of people think He came to make the righteous

better but that’s not it. He came to save the world. He came

to save the lost.

The righteous are not better than everyone else. We are broken

people who realized we needed a Savior.

 

“And Jesus said to him, Today is [Messianic and spiritual]

salvation come to [all the members of] this household, since

Zacchaeus too is a [real spiritual] son of Abraham; 

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was

lost. “

Luke 19:9, 10

 

Friend, remember this truth, He knows your name!

 

Rolain

From Ugly to Beautiful…

 

We all have made some really bad decisions and I guess the question is can the situation be redeemed?  Can the wrong we have done be reversed? This has been the question on my heart of late. I have made mistakes and in the back of my mind I have been thinking if my situation is reversible? Does God punish me because I have made some serious mistakes as a way of making me learn? I know there are consequences to sin but that is not what I am talking about. I understand there is consequence to sin but what I was battling with was if God gets back at people for the stupid mistakes they make? Does He make sure He makes me know that things are not going right in my life because I messed up last week???

Anyway as I have pondering this I came across a quote that made me think. The quote said,

 

The most beautiful pieces of art come from the ugliest situations.

 

I battled with this and asked God what it meant. Does God really work like that I asked? It was hard to accept. Surely the God I serve is going to make me pay for the stupid mistakes I have made!! How could He not…….?

 

As I was pondering this God spoke to me through King David. He made a serious mistake. He slept with Bathsheba and killed her husband Uriah!! He was in a really bad place. Could God turn his situation around? But he did. A seemingly bad situation was turned around for good. Bathsheba lost her first baby and that would of being enough for David but God turned the situation around by giving him Solomon!!!

(Read 2 Samuel 11 for whole story)

God didn’t give him Solomon through Abigail (1 Samuel 25) who was an absolutely amazing woman; instead He used a really bad situation and turned it into something beautiful. And that is why I think He did that. He wanted to show David that He has the power to turn something really ugly, something we think can’t be redeemed and something we think we have lost and turn it around into something so beautiful and amazing!!!

 

After reading that I had hope, my faith was strengthened and still is. You may have made some really bad mistakes that you think are beyond repair but know that God can turn them around for good.

What I do find as a constant challenge is trusting God. It has been hard relying on Him. It is a constant battle trusting God. I thought it would be easy but it has been hard. I would think I was stronger than that but I was wrong. The negative thoughts have been hard to fend off but I hang on to the word God has given me with everything within me.

You will need to fight to trust God. It is not easy especially when your circumstances are saying the complete opposite. But hold on to God with everything you have got. He is the God that turns the ugliest of situations into the most beautiful of situations. And I believe that with all of my heart even if my emotions are saying something else. My trust is in God. Yours should be too…..

 

Rolain.