The saddest story in the bible…..

The Israelites did secretly against the Lord their God

things not right.

They built for themselves high places in all their towns,

from [lonely] watchtower to [populous] fortified city.

2 Kings 17;9

 

I read this passage and I was saddened as I read it hence

the title. These were God’ s people for crying out loud.

The things they saw…..

The things they heard….

 

How could they have lost all that?

They had great leaders: Moses, Joshua, the Judges, Samuel,

King David, King Solomon…..

Yet they fell, and fell in a huge way.

Let us read more:

 

They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim [symbols

of the goddess Asherah] on every high hill and under every

green tree.

There they burned incense on all the high places, as did the

nations whom the Lord carried away before them; and they

did wicked things provoking the Lord to anger.

And they served idols, of which the Lord had said,

You shall not do this thing.  2 Kings 17:10-12

 

The Israelites saw God’s glory.

They saw and experienced His goodness.

They witnessed His power when He drove the enemy

out for them.

They experienced His faithfulness……

 

They despised and rejected His statutes and His

covenant which He had made with their fathers and

His warnings to them, and they followed vanity (false

gods – falsehood, emptiness, and futility) and [they

themselves and their prayers] became false (empty

and futile). They went after the heathen round about

them, of whom the Lord had charged them that they

should not do as they did.   2 Kings 17:15

 

They despised and rejected the Lord. They refused

to believe in God and yet they still prayed to Him!!!

That blows my mind.

I can’t believe how deep they fell, how far they went.

But this is a warning to us. As I read this I realized

that could be me……!!! It’s a scary thought. A friend

told me one time that, we are a step away from anything.

We are a step away from sin, a step away from grace. No

one is exempt from the power of temptation. Just one

wrong decision and all is lost. We need the grace of God

to help us indeed.

The word says, “The Israelites did secretly against the Lord

their God things not right.”

 

The secret things need to be dealt with. The secret thoughts,

the secret habits, the secret addictions……we need to confront

them head on. Our heart belongs to God. Let us not allow the enemy

to steal it. Our brothers and sisters fell and our job is to not say,

“how could you” but we are to look at their lives and learn. We are

to look at their lives and fall down on our knees and cry out to God

to save us from ourselves.

We are to plead with Him with tears and a broken heart realizing we

cannot do this alone……

 

The true you shows up when you are alone. When you are

alone what kind of thoughts consume you?

What kind of programs do you watch?

How do you speak when no one is watching?

What kind of habits do you have when you are alone?

 

The Israelites rejected God in their hearts

In their hearts they refused His commandments

 

There is hope for us. There is always hope!

Let us open our hearts before God.

Let us allow Him access to every part of our

hearts.

No part should be off limits to Him.

Nothing should remain in the dark.

No doors should be closed to Him.

We need to be totally open for Him to come!

Amen

 

Rolain

 

 

 

I despised being a man…..!

 

I have been in Kenya for almost a week. I went on a music tour with my church which was amazing. I got back last night. So I will share some of my experiences and things God showed me while in Kenya. But this post is not about how my trip went but it’s about the things I learned concerning being a man. Here is what I learned……

– Every time we go on tour the men HAVE to carry the ladies suitcases. We have to offload their bags and carry them to their rooms. I thought our leaders were being unreasonable at first. They had no idea how heavy those suitcases were. The women never packed light and in my mind I thought they should have to suffer for the way they packed their suitcases. “Let me carry their own suitcases so they learn to pack lighter” was my other thought!  mean right?!!!    hahaha

– As men there is always an expectation to lead. In prayer men should lead, in devotionals we need to be the first ones to take the responsibility to share. This was a hard lesson because there were times I didn’t feel like leading. I didn’t want to be the one who carried such a weight…..

– As men we were told to protect the women. Our job was to protect the women on tour. Protect them by not singling them out. Treat them all the same. There should be no favoritism. Treat them like sisters is what we were told. Don’t play with their feelings by leading them on.

I despised all these things and more but this time around as I was loading all the ladies luggage onto our shuttle with a few other men I realized something. I am glad for all those lessons I was taught by my leaders. They taught us how to lead the women in our lives in love, they taught us how to be real men. They showed us the value of being a man. I am glad I was made the way I was, a man! We have a a mandate from God. We were made the head for a reason. I don’t mind carrying the ladies luggage now!! I welcome it…haha. But this is not only about carrying luggage…..it’s about embracing the things that make me a man. God created us men to be strong, to lead, to be the head.

God has a special calling on the men! If there was a time when men were desperately needed to take their place it is now! The world needs men of God. Men who trust in God. Men who know who they are in Christ. Men who take care of their families, love their wives, guide their children in the way of The Lord. May we be the men God has called us to be!

Rolain

The way to greatness……

How did THEY do it? The great men and women who went before us? How did they achieve greatness? One thing is for sure. None of those men and women became great in a day. It took time. Look at Israel, what a great example. Jacob was one man with a promise. He would become a mighty nation! Psalm 105: 11, 12 says,

Saying, unto you will I give the land of Canaan as your measured portion, possession, and inheritance. 

When they were but a few men in number, in fact, very few and were temporary residents and strangers in it. 

Don’t despise the day of small beginnings. We see from this short passage that God started with a few people. He started off small. It is doing the small things that great things are born. Without the small things you cannot be great. So you may have started writing but no one knows your name, please know there will  come a day when people will know your name, a day where your books will impact millions. Keep on writing. You may have started a company but it hasn’t picked up like you would want it too but know the day is coming when you will be so busy you will not know what to do with the clients that come to your place.

All great things start as small things. It is just the way it is. Don’t despise the “small” that you are doing now. It is to an end. God has a much bigger plan in store for you. It takes time for “small” to turn into great. You need to keep at it. keep pushing, keep trusting, keep declaring, keep on working. God knows what He is doing.                                                        I need to constantly remind myself of this truth. God is doing something and I must not despise the day of small beginnings. He is making me stronger, preparing me for the great and so it is with you. King David looked after his fathers sheep. But God was preparing him out there. He fought the lion and the bear out there. God was preparing him for the giant and more. He was preparing him to be a king as he was doing the “small”. Did he know what God was up to, I don’t know! People saw but didn’t understand. His own family didn’t see it. People don’t usually tend to see what God is doing but keep on with what He has shown you.

What you need to do, is see beyond the “small” as you do the “small”. Do you understand?? When you do the “small” see the end result. See the “small” in it’s completed state. If you are at school aspiring to be a doctor keep the picture of the doctor up. When things get hard at school, having the main picture in front of you will help you. It takes faith to see ahead. You can only see the big picture by faith! The “small”  you are doing now is the key. Don’t despise it.  The “small” is setting your foundation down and making it stronger. That is where greatness starts…..

Rolain