Move ahead in faith…

“And the people grumbled and deplored their hardships, which was evil in the ears

of the Lord, and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled; and the fire of the 

Lord burned among them and devoured those in the outlying parts of the camp.” 

Numbers 11:1, 2

 

The Lord was with the Israelites and expected them to respond in faith but that’s not what happened.

Instead of trusting Him when things got really difficult they responded in unbelief and fear and that was evil

in the eyes of the Lord.

 

Possessing the land of Canaan was an impossible task. Giants resided there.

But no matter how impossible the task was the Lord wanted His people to trust Him. He wanted them

to be confident in His power, strength, and faithfulness.

Sadly, that never happened. The Israelites shrunk back in fear. Because unbelief and fear filled their hearts

they couldn’t possess what God promised them.

 

The Israelites couldn’t move ahead because they didn’t have faith. Instead, they were pushed back because

of their unbelief. And that’s what unbelief and fear will do if you entertain them. They will push you back when

you are supposed to move forward.

 

“Then the Amalekites came down and the Canaanites who dwelt in that hill country and smote the Israelites

and beat them back, even as far as Hormah.” 

Numbers 14:45

 

The Lord doesn’t want us to be pushed back. The enemy wants that. God wants us

to move ahead in faith. It’s faith in God that will allow us to defeat the giants standing in our way.

It’s faith in God that will enable us to tell mountains to get out of the way as we make our way to the place

God has promised.

Because God is with you,

you can move forward confidently no matter how hard the journey is, and no matter

how intimidating the enemy is. Don’t let fear and unbelief dictate your response to God.

Always respond in faith!

 

Bless you, friends!

 

Rolain

What does God see when He looks at us?

“God has not beheld iniquity in Jacob [for he is forgiven], neither has He seen 

mischief or perverseness in Israel [for the same reason]. The Lord their God 

is with Israel, and the shout of praise to their King is among their people.” 

Numbers 23:21

 

This is a pretty amazing verse if you ask me. Balak hired Balaam to curse

the people of Israel but things were not going according to his plan.

Blessing was happening instead of cursing. Balaam could only speak what YAH

told him. But that’s not the amazing bit, whats amazing are the words YAH put in

Balaam’s mouth to speak (declare).

 

Up to this point Israel had rebelled against YAH in so many ways. They were back

in the desert because they failed to believe YAH could take them to the promise land

even though they were by the “door”.

 

They complained, tested, grumbled, and worshipped other gods (the golden calf) so you would think

YAH would allow the cursing to happen as a way of punishment for all the wrong things they

had done to that point. But that is not what happened.

 

Instead of allowing Balaam to curse them, He let him bless them!

He had forgiven them completely. Through all the bad they did and all the bad they were

going to do YAH still forgave them. He didn’t hold their sin against them.

This is a picture of how merciful our God is. We deserve worse because of our sin

but that’s not what we get.

The Israelites failed YAH so many times and yet He still loved them, He still forgave them,

He stopped Balaam from cursing them.

Do we really understand how great YAH’s love is for us?

I think the enemy lies to us that our sin is unbearable to YAH and because it’s so

unbearable, He will keep His distance from us. That’s a lie.

 

I am not saying it’s okay to sin, what I am saying is that YAH loves us no matter what.

There are consequences for sin and that is shown by the Israelites who never made it into the

promise land because of their unbelief.

 

But to say that the Lord hates us and can’t stand us because of sin is a lie. When He sees

us, He sees His children. He loves us so much.

You may have messed up and are continuing to mess up but know that you can repent.

Confidently cry out to Him when you fall. He doesn’t disown you when you sin. He picks

you up and that’s how much He loves us

We are truly blessed….

 

Rolain

 

 

When the woman put her trust in God…….

“Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel

grant your petition which you have asked of Him.”

And she said, “let your maidservant find favor in your sight.”

So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer

sad. “

1 Samuel 1:17, 18

 

This story is very close to my heart. Hannah’s story encourages

me every time I read it.

I want to touch on something that I noticed as I read her story

again.

 

How many of us can identify with Hannah? She was trusting God

for a child. In the meantime she was been ridiculed and verbally

abused by Peninnah. How hard that must of been.

 

Let’s look at another important point.

 

“This man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice

to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh.”

1 Samuel 1:3

 

The bible doesn’t tell us the exact amount of years they went to

worship. All we know is that Hannah couldn’t have children.

But every year she went to worship and every year she had to deal

with the onslaught of words from Peninnah. That must of being so

hard to deal with.

 

But there is something I want you to see.

When Eli spoke to her she did something amazing. Let’s look

at the scripture,

 

“Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel

grant your petition which you have asked of Him.”

And she said, Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.

So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer 

sad. “

1 Samuel 1:17, 18

 

“She went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad”

 

That act really spoke to me.

She believed the word. She had faith she had her answer and

changed her attitude and behavior!

 

I haven’t been doing that enough.

I should live with an attitude of faith.

If I am going to receive what God has promised me

there has to be a change of heart, there has to be a change of attitude,

and a change of behavior. I can’t have faith and walk around like nothing

is going to happen. I can’t have faith in God and live like God hasn’t

heard me. That was such a powerful revelation for me.

Hannah didn’t hesitate when she heard the word.

And look at what happened when she did that,

 

“Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the 

Lord, and returned and came to their house at Ramah. 

And Elkanah knew his wife, and the Lord remembered her.

So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived 

and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, “

because I have asked for him from the Lord.”

1 Samuel 1:19, 20 (emphasis mine)

 

Not only did she change her attitude and behavior but she

worshiped the Lord with her husband!

Worship is so important in the life of a believer.

In her mind her prayer had been answered and that’s

why she worshiped the Lord!

I don’t know about you but that blows my mind.

What are you worshiping God for today?

If you have your answer worship!

If you don’t see your answer still worship!

We need to live a life of worship.

We don’t just worship when we get stuff,

we also worship Him because He is God!

 

What did their worship sound like?

I think they were worshiping the Lord for giving them a child.

They were worshiping Him because He heard their prayers.

That is amazing.

 

Even the words she spoke changed!

Her faith in God had an impact on what came out of her mouth.

Your faith should be spoken out, friends.

You can’t speak negatively and say you have faith.

You can’t speak negatively and see your breakthrough!

The way you speak must change if you have faith.

You should be worshiping the Lord for the great things He has done for you!

 

As I close I would like you to think about how you are speaking?

What is your attitude and behavior like?

Are you complaining, are you talking about how things

are not going to workout or are you speaking out what you believe?

 

And that is my challenge to you today friends…..

 

Bless you

 

Rolain

 

 

4 Lessons to learn from Joseph about destiny…..

Some time ago I wrote a post entitled, “3 lessons  from David about destiny“. Well this time I am going to touch on someone who is another inspiration to me – Joseph. His story was pretty amazing as you know and there are things we can learn from him about destiny.

1. Joseph had a dream but as we see, it was not all roses for him. Yes he had a dream but he had no idea what he was about to go through for that dream to come to pass. I don’t think he had the slightest idea he would be sold into slavery or be wrongfully accused. As far as he was concerned, he had a dream……
Please note, I am not trying to instill fear in you concerning dreams. All I want you to see and know is, there is so much more to your life than what you see.  There is a process that must take place. That process will involve testing. With testing comes reward, if you pass! Don’t be afraid of the testing, because God will be with you through it all. He was with Joseph when he was sold into slavery, He was with him when he was wrongfully accused. He was with him in prison. God was with him through it all…….He never abandoned him for a single moment! That is great news for all of us.

2. But the Lord was with Joseph, and he [though a slave] was a  successful and prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. Genesis 39:2

This verse shows us, even though Joseph was in a hard place God was with him. Wherever you are just know that God is with you. If you are on the right path you will have favour.

3. But think of me when it shall be well with you and show kindness, I beg of you, to me, and mention me to Pharoah and get me out of this house. 
For truly I was carried away from the land of the Hebrews by unlawful force, and here too I have done nothing for which they should put me into the dungeon.   Genesis 40:14, 15

Joseph tried to take things in his own hands. He tried to direct his own life. He got tired of waiting on God. I can identify with Joseph. When the chips are down and nothing is working for you there is a temptation to take the steering wheel and drive but we always need to remember, God is control. He knows exactly what He is doing. I constantly try to keep this on mind always. He is in control and He knows exactly what He is doing.

This is the point. At times we try to do things on our own because we are not patient. We give up waiting on God because we think He has forgotten us or abandoned us. But that is not the truth. God knows exactly where we are.

4. After two full years, Pharoah dreamed that he stood by the river [Nile]. Genesis 41:1

Can you imagine how he must of felt. The butler was a free man but he never said anything to Pharoah for two whole years……..I wonder what he must of being thinking. Did he give up on God? Did he complain? The one thing he had to learn was patience. Yes he tried to take matters in his own hands but he had to be patient. He had to wait and trust in God. We will need to do the same. God’s call on our lives is not a day journey or even a year long journey. It takes a much longer time. Will you be patient and wait on Him?

And that is all I would like to share with you on the life of Joseph………God did amazing things through him. Please note that the way God worked in the life of David is completely different compared to the life of Joseph and it will be different for us. There are a few things we can learn that are universal but in the whole scope of things, God will work differently in each of our lives. The plan He has for us is exciting, fulfilling and amazing……Praise be to God, the maker of our dreams!!

Rolain

Understanding New Testament Worship…

We all have an idea of what worship is. Some people think that worship is a song, others think its going to church and list goes on and on. None of these ideas on worship are wrong. Worship is so big and diverse I don’t think there is a single word that can describe it fully.
I was at Bible school and the lecturer was speaking on worship. What he taught made sense. Worship must not be confined to just church. If we do then we miss out on the other important facets of worship. There are things that make up worship and that is what I am going to talk about in this post.
The first thing New Testament worship is about, is controlling our flesh which includes our our tongue and temper.
There is a problem if we go to church and “worship” but we are reckless with our words and our temper. It is a problem when you call yourself a worshiper but you cannot control your flesh!
Our worship to God needs to be redefined. It’s not enough to just worship God at church and think that’s enough.

Rom 12:1-3 says

12 I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.

² Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].

Part of New Testament worship is renewing your mind. You do that by getting the Word of God in you. You are worshiping God when your mind is being renewed with His word.

Another aspect of New Testament worship is being thankful. We are called to live a life of thanksgiving to God and its not once a week or once a month but daily! Are you a thankful person? A thankful person is a worshiper. If you “worship” at church but you are ungrateful then that is called a problem. That is not worship. Look at what 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says:

¹⁶ Be happy [in your faith] and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually (always);

¹⁷ Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly];

¹⁸ Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].

We need to have a holistic view of worship. Its not just about the songs but its about what we think, what we say, how we treat people, if we are self controlled and so on! Its about whats in your heart. God is very interested about whats in your heart. True worship stems from the heart. When your heart is filled with God it is easier to be thankful. It is easy to control your temper. It is easy to stop focusing on yourself and focus on other people.

I have been meditating on this revelation for a bit now. As you know, I will not teach something for the sake of it. It must be something I am applying in my own life. This is high calling we called to.

As I end please understand that it is OK to worship in church but don’t stop there. Realize that worship at church is one aspect that makes up worship and there are a lot more things that complete it. Don’t focus on just one aspect but look at worship as a whole.

Rolain

Has The Song of Your Heart Died???

 

The first term of bible school has finished but there is so much to reflect on, so much I have learned! As the lecturer was teaching on being jammed full of God he was talking about the song in our heart. “When we are full of God we have a song in our heart” he said. He is so right. I remember having a song when I first became a Christian. As time went on that song began to get softer and softer until it died!!! How it died I don’t know. I served God, I read my bible, I thought about Him but the passion had gone!! How……..???

I have seen how it is my responsibility to stay full of God. It is not God’s responsibility but mine. It is your responsibility to be full of God.

I thought the song would just continue with no deliberate effort but the song died. I was so wrong!

 

But things have changed now. I am not going to make the same mistake. I need God my whole life. We NEED God! It is my responsibility to stay edified.

One way of staying full of God is by continually ministering to God, by praising Him and worshiping Him and thanking Him!

We need to pay attention to our spiritual condition. How is your spiritual condition? Are you on empty or getting there?

One way of testing your spiritual condition is by watching what comes out of your mouth. Do you complain and murmur a lot? We hinder ourselves from receiving from God by murmuring and complaining.

 

Praise is the highest type of prayer we can give to God. When we thank God we are demonstrating our faith in Him. Giving thanks to Him will strengthen you. It will put things into perspective, small problems, BIG GOD!!!

 

My desire is to be jammed full of God. When I am full of God there will no space for nothing else! And that is the same for you. I looked up the definition for saturate and found out that part of the meaning is to, infuse or completely fill. May God completely fill you and infuse you with Himself!!!!

The song is getting louder and louder and so it should. And remember, you are responsible for your spiritual condition!!! Amen

 

Rolain