God Knows Where You Are

God has your address. He knows exactly where you are.

Whatever you are facing at the moment know that God knows. You are not alone.

This truth is shown in the story of Sarah and Hagar.

Sarah couldn’t have children so she let Abraham sleep with Hagar.

But when Hagar gave birth to a son, Sarah got jealous and after speaking to Abraham,

chased her away.

Hagar wandered in the desert and was in trouble but God knew exactly where she was, not just

physically but spiritually. He knew what she was going through.

In the desert alone God found her and blessed her by telling her the plans he had for her son.

“She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: You are the God who sees me,”

for she said, I have now seen the One who sees me.”

Genesis 16:13

We serve a God who sees us where ever we are.

I also think of Jonah who tried to run away from the Lord. He found him and provided a huge fish

to shallow him.

In the deep, in the heart of the earth where no man could hear Jonah’s cries for help God knew exactly

where he was. In a place where no man could reach him God reached him. He heard his prayer and

delivered him.

“In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.

From the deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.”

Jonah 2:2

As I close know the Lord knows exactly where you are.

You are not alone in whatever you are going through.

Bless you friends

Rolain

A story about coffee and blessings…..

“Be intentional about being blessed”

 

Coffee led me to this revelation……  🙂

I am serious. Let me explain.

Someone owed me coffee about two weeks ago. It’s a long story but all you

need to know is someone owed me coffee.

A day passes, two days pass, a week then two weeks and still nothing.

I hadn’t collected the free coffee! (that’s insane right??)

In fact I was reminded to collect the free coffee last week but I forgot to!! (unacceptable for sure!!)

I was then reminded yesterday and I was what the heck???!!!

It’s a free coffee! One would think I hated coffee but that’s not true.

I love coffee.

Let me rephrase that,

I loveeeeeeee coffee!!!!

 

It was at that moment when  a thought came to me,

“Be intentional about being blessed”

 

I was supposed to get a free coffee but I let busyness get in the way.

I thought it was a good excuse but it’s not.

To get the coffee I had to be intentional.

There were things I had to do to receive the coffee……!

In this case I had to simply go and remind a friend to buy me the coffee but I didn’t.

 

I started thinking if there were other areas of my life I was doing the

exact same thing!

God wants me to have so much but if I let busyness and other excuses to get in the

way then I am the one who loses out.

 

Being intentional looks different for every person.

It could be declaring what God spoke over you

It could be obeying Him in that thing that He told you

It could be trusting God for something

It could be spending more time with Him

It could be waiting on Him

It could be reading more of the His word.

 

Remember, blessings are not just material things. They are also spiritual.

Blessings could be a new level of influence, a new gift, dominion and so on.

 

Whatever it is, be intentional.

God has so much in store for you but you need to desire it,

you need to get hungry, pursue Him with all that you have,

speak, declare, prophesy, but don’t just sit there doing nothing.

Open your mouth, lift up your hands, move your feet, whatever He is telling

you to do, DO!

 

Elisha was very intentional about being blessed. He followed Elijah everywhere.

He had to be separated from Elijah by a chariot and horses of fire (2 kings 2)

 

The blind man who was begging near Jericho was intentional about being blessed.

Let’s read his story,

 

^“As He came near to Jericho, it occurred that a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.

 And hearing a crowd going by, he asked what it meant.

They told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.

And he shouted, saying, Jesus, Son of David, take pity and have mercy on me!

But those who were in front reproved him, telling him to keep quiet;

yet he screamed and shrieked so much the more, Son of David, take pity and

have mercy on me!”

Luke 18:35-42

 

The blind man wasn’t silent as Jesus passed by. The Amplified says he screamed and shrieked

so much the more!!! I hope and pray you understand the message I am trying to get across.

Being intentional is going to be different for each and every one of us.

God will show you what you need to do.

 

But before anything else, be intentional about getting to know Him.

That must be the most important goal and desire in  your life.

If that’s not your main desire then the other stuff is pointless, it has no meaning.

It’s better you forget everything I have said in this post.

God will bless someone who loves Him and wants to be used by Him.

He will bless someone whose desire for Him far outweighs the desire for stuff.

He will not bless a selfish person.

He will not bless someone who is looking out for himself.

It’s the people who love Him with all of their heart, soul and mind

that make a real impact in this world!

Let’s be more intentional about being blessed!

Blessings to you friends!

 

Rolain

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

 

 

A simple message…..

“Then to the centurion Jesus said, Go; it shall be done

for you as you have believed. And the servant boy was

restored to health at that very moment.”

Matthew 8:13 (AMP)

 

“Jesus turned around and, seeing her, He said, Take

courage, daughter! Your faith has made you well. And at

once the woman was restored to health.”

Matthew 9:22 (AMP)

 

“Then he touched their eyes, saying, According to your

faith and trust and reliance [on the power invested in

Me] be it done to you.”

Matthew 9:29 (AMP)

 

Your faith in God counts! The people I mentioned in the

scriptures above all received their breakthrough because

of their faith in God! Let me say that again:

 

All the people I mentioned in the scriptures above got

their breakthrough because of their faith in God!

 

I was challenged when I got this revelation.

The blind men, the woman with the issue of blood, the

centurion who had a sick servant, and many many more

got the attention of Jesus because of their faith.

 

Are there things I am trusting God for?? Yes, yes, yes!!!

As 2016 comes I am challenged to be more resolved in my

faith!

 

Have faith in God!

 

Have faith in God because He is faithful. We are here at the

end of the year because He brought us through!

Man didn’t bring us through. God did!

 

Let us look at the woman with the issue of blood. Her

situation was bad. She had used up all her money on

physicians but her health didn’t get better. Instead it

got worse. She suffered for twelve years! I don’t know

about you friends but twelve years is a long time. There was

no relief for her in man. He didn’t have an answer to her

problem. (He very seldom does)

But anyway one thing led to another and she got healed

by Jesus! She had faith that He would heal her. When she

touched the Master’s cloak her faith was absolute (I WILL

be healed).  It was her faith in Him that healed her from

twelve years of pain!

It was her faith in the Savior that rescued her from the

hold of the enemy!

 

“Then He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.

Go in peace.” Luke 8:48

 

The woman got to a point in her faith where she believed

Jesus could heal her. Are you at that point?

Are you at a point in your faith where you believe Jesus

is the answer, the only answer??

 

The message today is simple: Have faith in God!

There is so much God has in store for us but we must

trust Him!

 

photo credit: google images

 

Rolain

The children were doomed…….

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere and that a 

riot was imminent, he took a basin of water and washed 

his hands in full sight of the crowd, saying, “I’m washing

my hands of responsibility for this man’s death. From 

now on, it’s in your hands. You’re judge and jury.”

The crowd answered, “We’ll take the blame, we and 

our children after us.   Matthew 27:24, 25 

 

I don’t know about you but I was in shock when I read this

scripture. How could they say things like that?

That was so unfair, so selfish…..

I don’t think the kids would approve. The

crowd cursed their kids just like that. There was no

thought behind what they were really doing. Blinded by

hate they doomed their children!

 

I was angry at the crowd’s ignorance. Shame on anyone

who thinks only of themselves, and forgets there is a much

bigger plan at play. I was hurt by the words they spoke.

What did their kids do????

They were innocent in all of this. They had dreams and

aspirations. But their futures were in danger because of the

carelessness of their parents!!!! That made me so mad.

But as I was thinking about that the attention shifted from the

crowd to myself.

What am I doing now that will prepare the way for my kids?

Am I speaking life, prosperity, victory, peace and other

strong words into their lives or am I cursing their future with

my words???

But it goes much deeper than just words. As a single man

I have a part to play in the future of my kids lives.

Understand what I am saying here. I have a part to play.

I thank God my kids futures are not dependent on my

success or else they would be in deep trouble. God is

the One who is holding them in His hand. He is the One

who created them and called them. He is the One

who knows them by name and is holding their lives in

His powerful hand.

I have a part to play in this amazing story.

Let’s look at a scripture,

 

And David the king went in and sat before the

Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what

is my house and family, that you have brought

me up to this?

And yet this was a small thing in Your eyes, O

God; for You have spoken of Your servant’s

house for a great while to come, and have regarded

me accordingly to the estate of a man of high

degree, O Lord God!

1 Chronicles 17:16, 17

 

God as you know has a plan for you but He also has

a plan for your kids. That is the exciting news if you ask

me.

Not only has He got a plan for your kids but He has a plan for

their kids and so on and so on!

In other words He has a plan for your posterity!

Let us take a look at another scripture:

 

David told the crowd:

God chose my son Solomon to build the temple,

but Solomon is young and has no experience.

This is not just any building – this is the temple

for the Lord God!

That’s why I have done my best to get everything

Solomon will need to build it – gold, silver, bronze,

iron, wood, onyx, turquoise, colored gems, all kinds of

precious stones, and marble.  1 Chronicles 29:1, 2

 

I love this…..David didn’t sit and expect his son to

walk in his calling. He prepared the way for him. He knew

God had called Solomon and he did all he could do to help

Solomon. We have the awesome responsibility of preparing

the way for our kids even in our singleness. We will not

curse our kids with our words like the crowd did.

How we live our lives has an impact on our kids too. We are

not perfect but we can do something to prepare the way…..

When God sees me and my life He sees a generation.

When He blesses me, He doesn’t stop there, He blesses

my posterity! Today I will make sure I am running after

God’s plan for me. I will pursue purity. I will pursue a

deeper relationship with Him, because all those things have

an effect on my posterity.

 

For He has strengthened and made hard the bars of your 

gates, and He has blessed your children within you. 

Psalms 147:13

 

This is one of my favorite scriptures. The Lord has blessed

my children within me and because of that I am grateful.

It wasn’t because of me that He blessed them but it was

because of His grace! And even now by faith I declare that

my kids will do great things for God not because I am

perfect but because I trust in a great big God. Their

future is secure I declare.

God has blessed the work of their hands.

Favor is with them everywhere they go.

They will bring many people to the Lord!

They will have wisdom far beyond their years.

They will walk in purity

and most importantly of all, they have a deep

relationship with God.

God will be the first and the most important thing in

their lives. They will be sold out for God……

 

That is my declaration….what is yours???

We will not curse our kids but bless them in word

and in deed.

Amen!

(Our children’s ministry is having a camp so I will be away for a

few days starting today. Please pray for me and the team that is

going. Pray for the kids as well.)      🙂

Rolain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It could of been me…….

I had a busy day yesterday. The school holiday is about to

start which means camps! I went to visit a camp site yesterday

and was quite pumped after viewing it. Our kids will love it there.

 

But on the way back to work I saw two things……firstly I saw

a mountain bike in the middle of the road! I tell you the truth.

It was in the middle of the road upright and no rider in sight.

What made it weird was the road we were on was deserted.

So to see this bike in upright position in the middle of the

road was something!!!

I thought of taking a picture but the idea came too late.  😦

It was funny and weird, not something you see everyday!

 

The other thing I saw were kids in school uniform. On our way

to see the camp site we saw kids in uniform but didn’t

take any notice of them but on our way back the driver told

us that these were the same kids we passed as we came. These kids

had to walk about 15 kilometers back home and that means they

had to make the same journey to school.

Everyday they walk an average of 30km!

 

Instantly, I thanked God for all He had given me. And I thank

Him on a daily basis for His goodness. That got me thinking

though. Why do we have what we have? There are so many

people all over the world who struggle to get a meal a day,

who can’t get basic education, who live on the streets, who don’t

have any clothes and the list goes on.

 

As I see it,

I could of been born homeless but I wasn’t.

I could of been the child with no family but I have one!

I could of been the one scraping the bins for something,

just something to eat that would take me through the next

day!

I could of been the one freezing with no clothes, having

nothing to keep me warm through the night,

It could of been me…..

 

This is what I concluded:

 

God gave me all that I have so I could be a blessing!

He gave me all that I have so I could make a difference in

someone’s life.

I am humbled by all that He has given me and I realize I am

to use it for the advancement of His kingdom. He didn’t give

me all that I have so I could lavish it all on myself.

This is not about condemning those who have but I want

you to realize God has more planned for you that extends

beyond you.

His plan for your life is rarely about you alone, it’s about other

people, touching others. He wants us to spread the love of

Christ to others.

When you think about God’s plan for your life understand

that God wants you to touch others.

It may be as simple as giving a blanket to someone who needs

it,

buying some food for that person on the streets,

giving money to the beggar,

befriending the unpopular kid in school,

telling someone about Christ,

and the list goes on.

 

Be thankful for what you have. Don’t take it for granted!

This is a hard message! It was not easy writing it. I look

at my life and realize I should be doing more. The story of

the ten talents come to mind. I want to be faithful with the

talents God has given me.

The things I have been through, the experiences I have had,

the testimony I have is part of God’s plan to touch people.

God is so good…..

Rolain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The day of power!

Happy Easter to you all. I hope you are having a great weekend celebrating the

death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To be honest, I have not been seeking the Lord like I should. I should

be reading my bible more and praying more this weekend but I have

been slacking big time. It’s a fight to seek Him. But I make a decision  to seek Him,

to make this weekend count.

Tomorrow is Resurrection Sunday!

 

Easter is our day if you didn’t know. It’s a strong day for us. It’s not like every

other day of the year, it’s a day of significance for us and when I say “day” I am

talking about Easter as a whole. A strong day is a day you can declare things, make

decisions and so on. You can do that on normal days but there is a different

kind of power when you do those kind of things on strong days. Your birthday

for instance is a strong day, a great day to reflect and make changes right?

 

 

I was reflecting on a few things today.

I was thinking about the importance of Easter.

Jesus Christ died for us because He wanted

to have a relationship with us, He died so we could be set free from the enemy’s

strong grip. He died so He could bring us home. We were lost but because of what

He did we were found.

As I reflected on all these things I saw the ugly things in my life. I saw how I fail

Him on a daily basis and so on. But today is the day I can come to God and cry out

to Him.

 

I made a decision today. It stops here, with me! I don’t want my sins and the sins of my

parents and so on to carry over to the coming generations. I don’t want my kids to

struggle with what I struggle with. I don’t want them to fear what I fear. Who knows

what sins have been passed down generationally but the Lord knows?

On Easter, the day of power I ask the Lord to help me. It’s only by His grace I have

a chance. I shared this with you to show you what a strong day is and how important it is

and what you can be doing on it.

 

Use this Easter weekend to reflect and make some changes. This is our day, our strong day.

The enemy would like us to think it’s an ordinary day but it’s not. Far from it. It’s our day of power that

the Lord has appointed!! Make declarations, draw a line in the sand, stand, and whatever

else you think you should do because today is the day of power!

 

Jesus Christ died and rose again. He rendered the enemy’s power useless.

He defeated the enemy on this day of power.

All the enemy’s plans blew up in his face.

Make this Easter count. Allow Him to show you how because this is,

our day of power!

Have a very blessed Easter!

Rolain

 

The city that fell by a mere word!!!

 

By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted;                                                                                                                                                                                but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. Proverbs 11:11

I have been getting so angry at how people have been treating the EBOLA outbreak. The other day

a couple of guys were talking when one of them started coughing. One of the other guys jokingly

said he had EBOLA!!! Everyone in the group starting laughing thinking it was so funny. I couldn’t

believe how lightly they were treating it. Our country is still safe from EBOLA but I don’t think that

warrants a joke. This is just one case I mentioned but there many like it where people think its

so funny to joke about EBOLA. The truth is, it’s not funny. We don’t have the right to joke about a virus

just because we are in the clear!!

The scripture I shared teaches us a principle. By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted. Is that not

amazing??? But we also learn a city can be overthrown by the mouth of the wicked!!

 

A city is overthrown by negative, destructive words is another way we can look at that scripture! The wicked don’t

know better so they are excused but what about you and me who know better??? We are not excused! It sounds harsh but

it’s the truth. What does it help if we are emulating the wicked. The wicked are bringing the city down with their words and

the righteous doing the same! This ought not to be so brothers and sisters……!!

 

The people joking about the virus don’t really understand the power of their words!

“By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted”   – I think we can agree being blessed is not an overnight thing.

It takes time and work. God has done a lot so we could be blessed and continues to help us walk blessed. Jesus had

to die so we could be blessed, God had to give up His one and only Son so we could be blessed. As we are blessed the city

is exalted but it’s not easy!

“but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked”  –  It just takes words to overthrow a city! The wicked don’t have to

do much, they just have to open their mouth. Words have power we don’t fully comprehend. Let us speak life to counter the

evil the wicked are speaking over our city and nation and over our own lives. We must not allow the words of the wicked to

destroy our city! We have a responsibility to speak life over our city. As we have been blessed we should spread the blessing!

 

Let us not remain silent friends. Every nation has problems, real problems but let us be the ones that speak life. If a city can

be overthrown by the words of the wicked just just imagine what can happen when the upright speak life!!!!!

Rolain

 

Why we have been blessed……

Everything that we have – right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start –  comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.                              1 Corinthians 1: 30, 31 (Message)

I love this scripture. Everything we have is from God. We have so much to thank Him for. As I was thinking about this scripture another thought came into my head. Why?

Why has He given me right thinking?

Why has He given me right living?

Why has He cleaned my slate?

And why has He given me a fresh start?

Yes, it’s to bless me. God has blessed me and He keeps on blessing me. And yes, it’s because He loves me. No one can deny that. But something I went through made me look at this scripture very differently.

We had a busy day at work and being the designated driver I had to take the staff home. I thought it would be easy so I agreed. We cleaned up and locked everything up and with one of my best friends off we went to drop the staff off at home, at their doorstep. We left work at 10 pm and finished at 2 am! We were lost for a full hour. How did you get lost you might be thinking??? Some of the workers live in a place where there are no roads, we nearly got stuck with the car. No street lights, no nothing! We were truly driving by faith and thank God we saw someone walking around at that time of night whom we asked for directions. They helped a bit. We got to the workers home and it was literally a mud hut. There were no neighbourhoods, no lights, nothing. Just pitch darkness!  This was their home. This is were they lived. This was their life.

Where am I going with this? I am getting there. God has given me so much. It might not be a million dollars or an MTV crib but it’s still precious. He has given me knowledge, He has given me the ability to see in a way other people cannot, why? And this is what I am getting at. God has given me all that He has given me so I can be a blessing! My destiny, your destiny is not about you but it’s about other people, helping other people.

What is your story? He has given you a fresh start so you can minister to someone else. There are people waiting for you, waiting to hear what you have to say, waiting for you to show them the way. God has given you everything so He can bless you and so you can be a blessing to someone else! It may not be much but that’s how God works. He uses the little we have to do great things through us. God bless.

Rolain

The word being declared….!!

I have been taught, the word of God in our mouth is just as powerful as the word of God in God’s mouth. Our word’s have power and even more so when we speak the word. There is power when we declare things over our lives, family and other things. There is a scripture I want to declare. It may be applicable to you or it might not but that’s OK. God has really been giving me a lot of scripture, scripture which I believe I should share. I am going to be declaring Psalm 21: 1-7 and I will personalize it because that is what I do at times. I will read it from the Amplified version.

I shall joy in Your strength, O Lord; and in Your salvation how greatly shall I rejoice! 

You have given me my heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of my lips. Selah

For You send blessings of good things to meet me; You set a crown of pure gold on my head. 

I asked life of You, and You gave it to me – long life forever and evermore. 

My glory is great because of Your aid; splendor and majesty You bestow upon me.

For You make me to be blessed and a blessing forever; You make me exceedingly glad with the joy of Your presence. 

I trust, rely on, and is confident in the Lord, and through the mercy and steadfast love of the Most High I will never be moved. 

 

I hope this word ministers to you as it has ministered to me…….

Rolain