What God does with your little…….

“By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman

as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made

a promise would do what He said.

That’s how it happened that from one man’s dead and shrieveled

loins there are now people numbering into the millions.”

Hebrews 11:11-12

 

I really love those pictures! They are so powerful.

The first picture is one of an old woman (Sarah) who was way past

the age of bearing children but because she believed God would

follow through on what He promised her, gave birth to a child.

 

The next picture is just as amazing. The picture is of an old man

whose loins are dead and shriveled. Naturally, it is impossible

for the man to have children, he is just too old!

But from this man (Abraham) there are people numbering into

the millions!

All because He trusted the Lord!

 

You may think you don’t have much and your life is going nowhere

but that contradicts what the word says!

Abraham and Sarah could not have children period!

It was impossible for them to have children but because they

trusted in God’s word to them they were able to have a child and

not just one but millions!

 

As you look at your life you may see nothing that indicates greatness

and the fulfillment of God’s promise but have faith.

Your little is exactly what God needs to move!

Don’t let your present circumstances trick you into believing

“this is the way things will always be!”

 

Your life may be one big mess at the moment but that doesn’t mean

It will remain like that for the rest of your life.

Things will change. Your life will change if you choose to reject

the lies of your present circumstances.

It will change if you trust God’s word for your life above the voices

of your peers, the government, and so many other “well meaning”

voices that have told you how your life will be.

 

Just the other day I was looking at my life. I was discouraged as I

looked at the problems.

I was discouraged at the amount of work that there is still to be

done.

I am nowhere near perfect, not even close!

“Is this it”, I asked myself?

Have I reached my limit? Is this where my potential ends?

Is this the life I should accept?

 

But that is when I read the scripture I shared with you

earlier (Hebrews 11:11-12)

That gave me hope.

That encouraged me to keep trusting the Lord where I am.

My life is not over!

I have not reached my limit!

There is still so much in store for me.

There are new heights to be reached, new places to see, fresh

blessings to walk in to!

I will not let up, I will trust in the Lord even more today than I

did in the past.

 

Don’t call it quits friends. You are not washed up!

Your story is not ending, it has just begun!

The Lord has so much in store for you even if your circumstances

don’t say it.

He has so much in store for you even if you have nothing in your

hands.

Even when your life seems like it will always be a mess know

that things will turn around!

It may seem like nothing is happening but things WILL happen!

What’s happening around you is not a good indicator at all.

Faith is what you need! It’s only by faith that you can receive

all that He has for you. Doubt and fear will only set you back.

Trust in Him! Believe in the word He has spoken to you.

 

“That’s how it happened that from one man’s dead and shrieveled

loins there are now people numbering into the millions.”

 

Amen….

 

Rolain

 

God silenced her voice…..

“But to Hannah he gave a double portion, for he loved Hannah,

but the Lord had given her no children.

[This embarrased and grieved Hannah] and her rival provoked

her greatly to vex her, because the Lord had left her childless.”

1 Samuel 1:5, 6

 

There are times I feel like Hannah. It seems like people

are getting on with life and here I am still waiting…….

They look and wonder then ask, dude???

What’s going on? Why haven’t you got that, why aren’t you where

we at? Is everthing okay? What’s wrong with you?

What about you? Do you ever feel like Hannah?

 

I wish I had the answer but I didn’t and that is what Hannah

felt like. She was embarrased and grieved. There was nothing

she could say…..the Lord had left her childless!

Off course there was a reason she was barren. God had a plan

for Hannah but it was hard for her to understand. Peninnah was her

oppressor. It’s hard to understand for all of us I guess. We need to

know that God is good! His plan for us is good no matter how hard

things get.

We hear a lot of Peninnah in the first chapter. She is in Hannah’s

face and in life we will have Peninnah’s. Peninnah was provoking

her out of jealousy. The people who are ridiculing you have their

reasons but don’t worry about them. There will always be

Peninnah’s in your life!

 

But then at the right time God came to her rescue.

 

“The family rose early the next morning, worshiped before

the Lord, and returned to their home in Ramah.

Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. “

1 Samuel 1:19

 

The Lord remembered Hannah!

 

Hannah may of thought God had forgotten her but it wasn’t

true. God was up to something. He had a plan for her life.

He remembered her and gave her her heart’s deepest desire!

God has not forgotten you friends. You are on His mind.

He will silence the Peninnah’s in your life by giving you

what you have asked for! No matter how long you have waited,

He remembers you.

We don’t hear of Peninnah after the Lord remembered Hannah.

We don’t hear her provokings, her ridicules, her words of hate.

God silenced her voice completely and that is His plan for you too.

It grieves Him when people speak against you.

His plan is to silence her voice in your life completely!

 

“Hannah prayed, and said, My heart exults and triumphs in

the Lord; my horn (my strength) is lifted up in the Lord.

My mouth is no longer silent, for it is opened wide over my

enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation.”

1 Samuel 2:2

 

Peninnah had managed to silence Hannah’s voice. Hannah

had believed what Peninnah was saying. So she remained

silent BUT God made it possible for her to open her mouth!

Yipeeee….!!!!

The enemy’s goal is to shut you up always. He doesn’t want you

praising the Lord and giving Him the glory. Don’t let the

negative voices in your life silence you. Don’t believe what

they are saying becasue it’s just not true!

We will not deny Hannah was barren but it was never

meant to last. Peninnah underestimated the power of God

in Hannah’s life. Remember, the situation you are in will not

last forever. God will open your mouth again! You will praise Him,

you exult Him because of His salvation in your life…..

 

“Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,

but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren

has borne seven, but she who has many children languishes

and is forlorn. “

1 Samuel 2:5

 

I believe this is a warning for all those who are proud and a

promise for those who will trust Him wholeheartedly.

Peninnah had children but that didn’t give her the right to

speak to Hannah like that. She got proud and in God’s eyes

that’s was unexceptable. God hates pride.

Pride affects us all but we must fight it. Even if I become a

preisdent, that should never be a reason to look down on anyone!

Humility says, ” I am not better than anyone, no matter

what position I hold, no matter what I own, no matter where

I come from.

 

“Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,

but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.”

 

Pride makes the full go out hiring themsleves out for bread.

There is no blessing found in pride.

But we know there is a blessing in being humble. So take

this warning seriously friends. Never get to a point where

you are too important for anyone. Never get to a place where

you are looking down on another person!

That’s a word for you and for me.

 

So after all is said and done remember,

God remembers you! He loves you and has a plan for you

no matter how hard things seem at the moment!

 

Be humble!

 

Blessings to you friends!

 

Rolain

 

photo credit: google images

 

 

He prayed much…..

 

“Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter

of Bethuel the Aramean of Padan-aram, the sister of Laban the

Aramean. “

Genesis 25:20

 

What happens when you don’t have all the answers to the

problems in your life?

There will be times we will come up against impossible odds,

situations we will be completely powerless against.

Isaac was blessed with an incredible woman by God but she

was barren! God led Abraham’s servant to her family. There

is an entire chapter (Genesis 24) dedicated to the servant

finding Isaac’s wife! There can be no argument she was the one

but she was barren……

The only explanation I could think of for that was, God had a plan.

He wasn’t caught off guard by Rebekah’s barreness.

Let’s read the next verse;

 

“And Isaac prayed much to the Lord for his wife because she was

unable to bear children;

and the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife

became pregnant.”

Genesis 25:21

 

At face value the impossible situation in Isaac’s life was

resolved so easily. Isaac prayed, God heared and answered

his prayer. Lesson learned!

But it goes much deeper than that. Let’s take a look.

 

“Afterward his brother came forth, and his hand grasped Esau’s

heel; so he was named Jacob [supplanter]. Isaac was sixty years

old when she gave birth to them. “

Genesis 25:26

 

Jacob got married at forty right. According to their culture I

don’t think it took long for them to try to have a baby.

Let’s give it maybe a year.

If that is the case, Isaac prayed for nineteen years give

or take for a baby!

Isaac prayed much, the word tells us and he got his answer.

What is it like praying for something that long?

Who knows the things Isaac and Rebekah faced as they

trusted God for their baby?

Just know this, it took about nineteen years for Isaac to

get an answer to his prayer. He never gave up on God.

He never lost hope, instead he prayed much!

I am encouraged as I read their story because there are

things I have been praying for for a long time.

 

So let’s go back to that impossible sitution I was talking about

in the beginning of the post.

It’s not a mistake you are going through what you are going

through just like it was not a mistake when Isaac married

Rebekah even though she was barren.

God was very much in the know about that and He had a plan.

All I would say to you today is, don’t give up. God has a plan.

Isaac didn’t complain or murmur about his problem, he

prayed much!

Are you praying “much” in your impossible situation?

That could be the answer.

 

Be encouraged, be hopeful, because God sees what you are

facing. He has the answer and He will not let you down!

Pray much…..

 

Rolain

 

photo credit: google images

 

 

She was barren but……

And there was a famine in the land, other than the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 

And the Lord appeared to him and said, Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I will tell you. 

Dwell temporarily in this land, and I will be with you and will favor you with blessings; for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 

And I will make your descendants to multiply as the stars of the heavens, and will give to your posterity all these lands (kingdoms); and by your Offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, or by Him bless themselves,  Genesis 26:1-5  (Amplified)

As I write this post there are a few things I need to make clear.

It is clear from the scripture I just shared that Isaac had an amazing promise from God. The other thing I would like to make clear is Rebekah was the one God had for him. They were destined to be together. (Read the story of Abraham and the servant – Genesis 24)

But there is a problem. I saw it and was like what???

Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Padan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean.

And Isaac prayed much to the Lord for his wife because she was unable to bear children; and the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife became pregnant. Genesis 25:20, 21

God had a great destiny for Isaac. His posterity was to possess the land and through his posterity the nations would be blessed but God gave him a wife that was barren….!!!!!

That stunned me. Why would God do that? He could of easily chosen another woman for him, a woman who was fertile, right. But no, He chose Rebekah who was barren!

At first I was stunned but I realised something. The promises of God must be attained by faith! It is only by faith we can obtain what God promised us. It is only by faith that we will accomplish what God has called us to!

Yes, Isaac could have married someone who was fertile but where would faith come in? God wanted Isaac and Rebekah to put their trust in Him. And as they did God answered their prayers!

You may be in the most contrary of situations but trust God.

– You may be poor and God has said you will feed nations. Don’t look at your present situation, trust God!

– You may be uneducated but God said you are going to get that job. Trust Him!

– You may have nothing in your hands right now but God has said you are going to do great things. It’s not about what is in your hands. It’s about what God has said and if you will trust Him!  So trust Him and watch what He will do in your life…..

God wants us to trust Him! No matter what we are going through we can depend on Him! Faith is the key……

Rolain