Will you say “yes” to Him?

“Now there was in Damascus a disciple named Ananias. 

The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he answered,

Here am I, Lord. 

And the Lord said to him, Get up and go to the street called 

Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus

named Saul, for behold, he is praying [there].”

Acts 9:10, 11

 

I hope we all know the story of Ananias. God spoke to him

to go to Paul. At that time Paul was causing great suffering

among God’s people. He was imprisoning them and killing

them.

So when God told Ananias to go to Saul it was not

surprising he had reservations about going to him.

 

“But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard many people

tell about this man, especially how much evil and what 

great suffering he has brought on Your saints at Jerusalem;

Now he is here and has authority from the high priest to 

put in chains all who call upon Your name. “

Acts 9:13, 14

 

But read what God tells him,

 

“But the Lord said to Him, Go, for this man is a chosen

instrument of Mine to bear My name before the Gentiles

and kings and the descendants of Israel; “

Acts 9:15

 

But I love how Ananias responded to God,

 

“So Ananias left and went into the house. And he laid his 

hands on Saul and said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, 

Who appeared to you along the way by which you came here, 

has sent me that you may recover your sight and be filled

with the Holy Spirit. “

Acts 9:17

 

Ananias said yes to God! That’s all that mattered to him at the

end of the day.

 

I share that story to show you that God uses simple, ordinary,

obedient people to carry out His will!

You don’t have to be anyone grand, you just need to be obedient!

I don’t know about you but I want to be used more by God.

I don’t want fear to stop me.

Ananias may have been afraid but that didn’t stop him from

obeying God.

We are God’s hands and feet in this earth.

So the question is, are we obeying His voice or are we

expecting someone else to answer His call?

Do we think we are too insignificant to be used by Him?

That is a lie from the enemy.

God loves you and wants to use you in a mighty way.

He is not waiting for you to become a millionaire to use you,

He is not waiting for you to get your life “sorted” out before

He can use you.

 

Please understand something, without God’s grace and favor

on our lives we wouldn’t be able to do anything.

But we have been filled with His holy Spirit and that

means we can do anything no matter our past, no matter

our skin color, no matter what people label us as.

Remember Gideon

Remember Moses

Remember Peter

Remember Mary

Remember Rahab

 

These people were not qualified according to the world’s

standards.

They were nobodies but not to God.

He saw them differently.

He saw greatness in them.

He validated them and that was the most important thing!

 

The word today is simple, God needs you!

He wants to use you.

You are His hands and feet.

He is looking to and fro across the earth to see who will say “yes”

to Him!

Will you say “yes” to Him today??

Bless you friends….

 

Rolain

 

 

I want to follow you Lord, but……!!

 

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

“Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, “There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.” The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.”
‭‭Mark‬ ‭10:21-22‬ ‭MSG‬‬

What a sad story. Jesus called the young man to follow Him.

What an honor, what a privilege BUT the word tells us he was

holding on tight to a lot of things and he was not about to let

those things go….

 

Think about that for a minute.

 

There is no doubt that Jesus is calling us as well. So what

are some of the things you are holding on tight to?

We can’t be like the young man who was unwilling to let

them go.

I can think of a few things I am holding on tightly but I need

to let them go…..

Will you obey the call to follow the Lord by releasing those things

you are holding onto tightly??

That’s my challenge today.

Rolain

Unseen……

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Does God see me?

Does He notice me at all?

To answer that I want you to look with me at a man named Matthias. He was the thirteenth disciple! (Acts 1:26)

I wrote a post on him two years ago so I am not going to tell his story again. Instead you can read his story here.

But what I want to do is answer those two important questions.

“So now we must choose a replacement for Judas from the men who were with us the entire we were travelling with the Lord Jesus-from the time he was baptized by John until the day he was taken from us. Whoever is chosen will join us as a witness of Jesus resurrection.” Acts 1:21

For the entire three years of Jesus ministry we don’t hear of Matthias! He was in the background. What did he have to deal with in the three years of Jesus ministry? That question is hard to answer because there is not much on Matthias.

All we know is after three years he was chosen to take Judas Iscariot’s place. He was chosen to be a disciple!

He may have felt left out

He may have thought Jesus had forgotten about him,

but the truth of the matter is,

He wasn’t forgotten.

He was seen and noticed! God had a plan for his life!

Like Matthias, you are seen! You are not forgotten.

Your time will come. You may be in the background witnessing other people be exalted, getting married, and so on but your time will come. Be faithful like Matthias. He never left during the three years of Jesus ministry! He served God faithfully!

Did he deal with discouragement? Maybe!

Did he ever think he was not important to God? Maybe?

Despite all that he served God, he stuck with Him! That is all that mattered. He wasn’t seeking recognition with people.

Serving the Lord was what mattered!

Remain faithful to God this year. He sees you even if it feels like he doesn’t.

He is with you even if it seems like He has abandoned you! (that is a lie from the devil. He will never abandon you!)

He hears your prayers even if it seems like He has ignored you.

Happy new Year to you. 2015 is filled with such promise! God be with you all…..!

Rolain

Contemplation of a disciple…..

I was thinking about the disciples yesterday. They seen some crazy things and heard a lot of strange things right? What went through their minds as all these things were happening?

A coin found in the mouth of a fish…. Matt 17:24-27

We all know the story. Peter was asked if his Master paid taxes and his answer was yes. The word continues and says:

“But so we don’t upset them needlessly, go down to the lake, cast a hook, and pull in the  first fish that bites. Open it’s mouth and you’ll find a coin. Take it and give it to the tax men. It will be enough for both of us.” – Matthew 17:26, 27

 

What went through Peter’s mind? Did he get the revelation that Jesus was His source? Was he confident that ALL his needs would be taken care of if he only trusted God because he found a coin in the mouth of a fish!!?? Exactly as Jesus had said! Was he amazed, perplexed? Did he get it, I mean really get it???

Jesus, talking to a Samaritan woman!  John 4:1-42

Jesus does the unthinkable, He talks to a Samaritan woman. His disciples were shocked. What was on their minds?

“Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. The couldn’t believe he was talking with that kind of woman. No one said what they were thinking, but their faces showed it.”  John 4: 27

 

Did they see the bigger picture? Did they realize that Jesus was seeing a much larger picture? The gospel was not just for a select few but for the whole world!!! Did they realize that? Did they know God loved the WORLD and was about to lay down His life for it?? Did they have a clue?? Did they know how much He loved people? He loved people no matter who they were, no matter their bringing up, what they had done in the past. He had a heart for the lost!!!

The “strange” teachings of Jesus.  John 6:51-56

The disciples had a real battle to decipher what Jesus meant. Some of his disciples abandoned him because of His hard sayings. We read one such saying in John 6:53:

“And Jesus said to them, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, you cannot have any life in you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood [unless you appropriate His life and the saving merit of His blood]. 

He who feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has (possesses now) eternal life, and I will raise him up [from the dead] on the last day. 

For My flesh is true and genuine food, and My blood is true and genuine drink. 

 

When the disciples heard this, many of them said, This is a hard and difficult and strange saying (an offensive and unbearable message). Who can stand to hear it? [Who can be expected to listen to such teaching?] John 6:60

 

What were they thinking when Jesus spoke these words? How would you have responded if you were in their shoes? “Eat my flesh, drink my blood”!!! They never realized Jesus was speaking about spiritual things. They never realized Jesus knew the future! He was speaking life and they didn’t even know it! How the disciples were tested constantly! We are not called to understand everything about the God we serve but called to trust Him no matter what even when our understanding is limited.

The abundant healing’s Jesus performed. Matthew 8

Part of Jesus mission was to heal us. The disciples saw Him heal people on a daily basis. What were they thinking?

“And behold, a leper came up to Him and, prostrating himself, worshipped Him, saying, Lord, if You are willing, You are able to cleanse me by curing me. 

And He reached out His hand and touched him, saying, I am willing; be cleansed by being cured. And instantly his leprosy was cured and cleansed.”Matthew 8:2,3

Did they ever come to a realization that He was The Healer! Did they ever make the connection that Jesus wanted to heal them soul, body and spirit? He was “willing” to heal and He is still “willing” to heal us today! He is our Healer. He has not changed His plan for us. 

 

The death of Jesus (hope lost) Luke 24:13- 20

“That same day two of them were walking to the village Emmaus, about seven miles out of Jesrusalem. 

They were deep in conversation, going over all these things  that had happened.” 

 

Then our high priests and leaders betrayed him, got him sentenced to death and crucified him. And we had our hopes up that He was the One, the One about to deliver Israel. 

 

The disciples had lost all hope of victory. Their savior had been crucified. What were they thinking? Did they know the story would turn out differently? Did they know His death would save the entire world? Did they give up on Jesus by ignoring what He told them while He was still alive? Did they dare to believe something as crazy as resurrection?

In their darkest hour, when their chances seemed dim, the greatest victory man would ever experience in ALL of history was about to take place. Jesus death signified His love for them and for us, they just didn’t realize it yet. What were they thinking? Did they regret following Jesus? Were they confused? Were they in despair?

When all hope was lost or so it seemed Jesus had a plan. In the midst of death, life was to emerge. You might have lost hope like the disciples but God has a plan. The darkness you see is not really darkness! Trust Him!

 

I honestly could go on and on but I will stop here. The disciples went though a lot. They had a lot to digest, a lot to learn but God was faithful to them! As He was faithful to them He is faithful to us. Let us take comfort in that fact. We may not understand all He is doing, but we must trust Him. It took the disciples a while to get with the program but eventually they did. Each and every one of them was martyred for their faith in a God. Let us trust in The Lord…..Amen

Rolain.

The Disciple……

Have you ever felt left out or ignored? Have you ever felt like you like you are good for nothing? Who has ever felt abandoned by God? What would you do if you were never noticed? What would you do if you were always left out? Well, there was a man who felt like that. The only difference is, he chose to hang around. He was patient. His story is quite amazing.
His name is Matthias. Who was he?

For it is written in the book of Psalms, May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it; 
and let another take his office. 
So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when, He was taken up from us, a witness to His resurrection. (read Acts 1:20-26)

He was the thirteenth disciple! His story is amazing because for the duration of Jesus three year ministry we never hear about a Matthias. Never! What did he go through? What were some of the things he faced? Did he ever want to give up like some of the other people that followed him? I don’t know but this is what stood out for me about Matthias:                                                                                                                                                          He was faithful to Jesus. There must of being challenging times, there must of being confusing times but he stayed faithful. People left but he didn’t.

John 6:60-66 says:

 60 Jesus’ disciples heard this. Many of them said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”61 Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining about his teaching. So he said to them, “Does this upset you? 62 What if you see the Son of Man go up to where he was before? 63 The Holy Spirit gives life. The body means nothing at all. The words I have spoken to you are from the Spirit. They give life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe. And he had known who was going to hand him over to his enemies. 65 So he continued speaking. He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father helps him.” 66 From this time on, many of his disciples turned back. They no longer followed him.

What can we learn from this man? You may feel like God has overlooked you but He hasn’t. You may feel like you are not important, but you are. You may feel like God doesn’t see you but He does. We need to remain faithful in the place God has called us. You may not get any recognition for it, you may not get a pat on the back but know this, God is watching. He is the One who rewards, He knows where you at. Your role in this story called life is so important. You are a vital to God’s big picture! People may brush you off but God doesn’t. People may fail to see your value but that is there loss. It is not your fault if people don’t see your true potential and value. It is their problem. Just continue on the path God has laid out for you and just like Matthias your time will come. It is God that promotes a man. As I end, please note you are important. God knows exactly where you are. He cares and He is the one who rewards…..And that is the lesson we learn from Matthias.

Rolain