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

An interesting road…..!!!

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

 

The road of right living bypasses evil;

Watch your step and save your life.

Proverbs 16:17

 

We are on the road of right living and it’s an

interesting road indeed. The interesting thing

about this road is, it bypasses evil!!!

I don’t think that was a mistake.

As we walk on this interesting road we have

a decision to make:

Keep walking, don’t turn to the left or the right,

look straight ahead or

get distracted by the evil. Stop and allow the evil

to take you off the path!

 

The warning to us is, “watch your step and save your life!”

 

As you walk on the road God has for you watch your step.

It bypasses close to evil, within touching distance!

God would not allow us to walk that way if it could destroy us!

One thing is most definite, the road to right living will

not be an easy one…..! Watch your step friends!!!

 

Rolain

 

 

Will things ever get better…?

Will things get better? When will things get better in my

country? When will it turn around for the good?

These are the kind of questions I have been asking myself.

My country is in a very critical position right now.

Corruption has escalated much (but which country hasn’t)

Most businesses are closing. Unemployment has risen…..and,

and, and…….the list continues.

 

But is that not the story of the world?

The world is not getting brighter, easy to live in,

and so on. On the contrary, it is getting darker,

more evil, more corrupt…

I was waiting for things to get better in my country.

But there is a chance it might not get better but instead

deteriorate even more!

 

That is when with the help of a friend I realized I am

waiting on the wrong thing. My focus is wrong.

I serve an Almighty, Powerful God. He is not looking at what’s

happening around me to determine if He can bless me.

He is not moved by the darkness, corruption

and the evil in the world. If He wants to bless me He will

regardless of what is happening around me.

Can God provide for me in a desert??  Yes!

Let’s look at a few scriptures:

 

He split the rocks in the desert and gave them an ocean

of fresh water.

He brought a stream of water out of the rock and made it

flow like a river!

Psalms 78:15, 16 (ERV)

 

But you would be fed with the finest wheat;

with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.

Psalms 81:16 (NIV)

 

Think about a rock. It’s one of the hardest substances

on earth. You can’t break it easily. You will get nothing

from it. You can’t rely on it for sustenance but God says:

He will feed you with honey from the ROCK and

make water flow out from it……!

 

The conclusion is this: God CAN provide for you in the desert!

You can be surrounded by the worst circumstances ever

but God will still make a way for you. Don’t wait for man.

Don’t look to anything except God. There is hope for you.

The world wants you to think you are out of options.

It teaches you to look at what is in your hand and what is

happening around you to decide what you can have. But it’s a

lie……That is not faith!!

 

I am not waiting for things to get better anymore. I am not

waiting for the economy to get better because God is my

Provider.

I don’t know where you are in life and what you are trusting

God for but know this: there is more!

God wants you to have more. You can pursue your dreams

even if there is nothing in your hands. You can ask the impossible,

pray the unthinkable because God is your God!

He surely is our amazing God!

 

Rolain

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many evils………

I wonder at times why life has to be so hard and challenging.

Yes, there are good times, times of peace, times of joy but there

are difficult times, testing times, challenging times!

That is a truth we cannot escape! As long as we live on this earth

we will be faced with storms, times of testing, and times of distress!

 

But in the face of such truth there is another truth. A truth that

liberates us! It’s a truth that gives us hope, a truth that brings

clarity to the craziness we face on a daily basis!

 

“Many evils confront the [consistently] righteous ,

But the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Psalm 34:19

 

The word says “MANY EVILS” confront the righteous! In other

versions It says, “many troubles”!

Doesn’t that make sense? The word is clear, MANY EVILS will

confront us!

The enemy is consistently trying to take us out. The “EVILS” are

different for everyone but have the same intended end,

destruction, loss of hope, death! This is the enemy we face but……

THERE IS GOOD NEWS FOR US ALL…….

 

Many evils will confront us but THE LORD DELIVERS US

OUT OF THEM ALL!!!!

No matter the “evil” God has the last say! He has delivered us out of

them all! Take heart…..

His word is true. We have hope, there is light at the end of the

tunnel.

We are not alone, the enemy will not win! No matter what you are

going through the enemy will not have victory! We serve a really

good God!

 

Meditate on this truth!

The Lord has delivered us from every evil and trouble that

confronts us…….

Amen

 

Rolain

The “Man” who walked out on a city………!!

That evening, after the sun was down, they brought sick and evil-afflicted people to Him, the whole city lined up at His door! He cured their sick bodies and tormented spirits. Because the demons knew His true identity, he didn’t let them say a word. 

While it was still night, way before dawn, He got up and went out to a secluded spot and prayed. Simon and those with Him went looking for Him. They found Him and said, “Everybody’s looking for You.”

Jesus said, “Let’s go to the rest of the villages so i can preach there also. That is why I’ve come.”   Mark 1:32-39 

 

I guess the disciples were pretty confused! Why did Jesus want to go to another town when the whole city was lined up at their door??!!! It was something they probably couldn’t comprehend. They had become rock stars literally overnight, people knew them by name but the star of the show wanted to leave, let me rephrase that, was leaving…..!

It wasn’t like they were doing something meaningless. They were teaching the masses, healing the sick, casting out demons and so much more, amazing things were happening at that place, but Jesus wanted to leave..!!!

They were popular but that was not enough of a reason for Jesus to stay. Have we missed something in this day and age? It seems like being popular takes precedence over everything else.

Jesus didn’t do what he did so He could be popular. He wasn’t looking at how many “likes” or “comments” he got. His mission was to save us and that took precedence over everything else!

He wept for people, His heart broke for people, He reached out to the outcasts, He ministered to the little children, and the list goes on and on…..He did things that made Him unpopular but that didn’t matter……the call of God on His life was more important to Him. Please understand what I am saying, I am not attacking you if you have a large following and I am not saying get rid of your following if you have one….Jesus was always been followed but his focus remained on the real mission, saving people! The magnitude of the people that followed Him didn’t change His focus.

What is important to you as you live this life? Is being popular more important than ministry? Does it take precedence over everything else in your life? Let us evaluate our hearts as we walk the path God has set before us.

While it was still night, way before dawn, He got up and went out to a secluded spot and prayed. Simon and those with Him went looking for Him. they found Him and said, Everybody’s looking for you.” Jesus said, “Let’s go to the rest of the villages so i can preach there also.” This is why I’ve come. Mark 1:38, 39.

Jesus was clear about what was important to Him after he prayed. He may have been clear before but the word showed Him going to pray and making a non-negotiable decision. You may be confused about your purpose or confused about what is important but prayer will make it clear, very clear! That is how powerful prayer is…….

Rolain

 

The “Gifts” God gives us…..!

I don’t know where to start and I don’t know how to begin this post. All I can say is that the word “gift” has

taken a whole new meaning for me. A few months ago I found out my friend, was leaving the country for good! We were first friends, then he became my boss, then pastor, then mentor, then family!

My world turned upside down that day. I had people leave before and it was painful but this, this was a whole new level.

My pastor’s wife called me and sat me down as she told me the news. I was devastated and confused. Why God I asked?

This can’t be happening I thought. I had known my mentor’s family for over 10 years! I knew them when they

had their first son. They have four boys now and I love them to bits.  Anyway I remember going to God and

crying out to Him for answers to the question why. Nothing came. Instead revelation came……

 

God showed me how they were gifts from Him. I met my mentor when I had just met The Lord. I am a sinner

now but back then I was much worse. If there is a word worse than sinner I was it. I was truly lost. I had no

direction and no plan. I had crazy issues I was beginning to work out. I had just became a Christian and this new

life was still…..new! I was dealing with a lot of things. I had no confidence and I had no self esteem. When he

employed me a year after meeting him I stole money from him! It was that bad. I WAS that bad! But thank God he never fired me or called the police. He gave me a second chance…….

 

I didn’t trust anyone back then and when he tried to help me out I would think he had some evil intension! When he disciplined me at work I would take it personally. When he made a joke about me I would get extremely angry. My stuttering was so bad back then which didn’t really help things! So believe me when I say, things were bad back then, really bad!!!

But God used him and his wife to mold me into who God wanted me to be. They taught me so much. They stood by

me when I had family issues. They helped me out financially countless times. They sat down and taught me so much

about God and life. In one of the darkest times in my life they were there.

 

God showed me how that was not an accident.

He knew all the change that needed to happen in me. He saw all I was going through and because of that He sent them

into my life. They were gifts. We serve a God who is the giver of gifts but the mistake we make is thinking gifts come in the form of money only. That’s not true. God’s gifts are so much more than money. They are deeper than that. During that time I never thought of them as gifts. We had our good times together and we had hard and difficult times.

 

The fact of the matter is this. God sent me gifts in the form of my mentor and his family. I just didn’t know it at the time and I never gave them the honor they rightly deserved. I wish I never took them for granted. I wish I honored them more and thanked them more for all they had done for me. I can’t put into words all that they did for me. A lot of who I am is because of their input in my life.

They saw so much potential in me and stood by me patiently. They are my family. I am telling you all this because….

…….they left on Wednesday this week! It’s been a hard week I must admit. They had my back. But in the midst of the pain God showed me how He will bring other “gifts” into my life after all; those “gifts” came from Him. He is the giver of all gifts. My mentor and his family never willed or planned to do all they did for me. God was behind it all. My mentor never knew the kind of impact he would have in my life but God did because He planned it. God was behind it all……

Yes, I am sad and broken at them leaving but I am also at peace because God has some amazing “gifts” in store for me.

I pray I be a “gift” to someone else as well. Would God use me to be the kind of “gift” my mentor was to me……

 

Have you acknowledged the “gifts” God has put in your life? There is a reason He has placed them in your life.

Don’t take them for granted. Thank them for all they are doing for you. It is not easy for them. There is always a

sacrifice on their part. May we always appreciate the “gifts” God has given us, always!

 

 

* This post is dedicated to the Stewart family. *

The Stewart family!

 

Rolain.

God is to blame for my problems?????

I don’t know anyone in this life who has never had a bad thing happen to them. We live in a broken world where bad things happen and we as children of God are not exempt from it. In this lifetime there will be suffering and pain but where we err a lot of the time is we blame God or a friend, or a system or the government, or the wife, husband and the list carries on instead of looking at ourselves first.
As children of God we need to know in our heart that God has only the best for us. His plan for us is good! God does not have any evil plans for you. His plan for you is not to be sick or poor or lonely!!! He has a good plan for you.
Let us take a look at Joshua because he had to learn that God’s plan for him was good. In Joshua 7 we read the story of Ai. This was a small city compared to Jericho. Joshua had just defeated Jericho and now they had to face Ai. It was so small that Joshua sent 3000 men to fight! Ai was supposed to be a walk in the park but it wasn’t. Instead they got defeated and to make it worse other surrounding cities would attack them and defeat them because of what Ai did!!! This was a problem and look at how Joshua responds.

Joshua said, “Oh, oh, oh…Master, God. Why did You insist on bringing this people across the Jordon? To make us victims of the Amorites? To wipe us out? Why didn’t we just settle down on the east side of the Jordon? Oh, Master, what can I say after this, after Israel has been run off by it’s enemies?
When the Canaanites and all the others living here get wind of this, they will gang up on us and make short work of us – and then how will You keep up Your reputation?
Joshua 7:7-9

Can you believe him? “Make us victims”, “wipe us out”, “gang up on us”….! These were the words used and a lot more. Joshua totally missed it here. From trusting in God, he went to fear! He forgot that God’s plan is always good. As much as I would like to sit here and criticize him I know I have prayed the same prayer and thought the same thoughts!! Have you? When things go wrong we look to other people to blame. It must be that person, we tell ourselves but we can’t keep on thinking like that. We need to trust the fact that GOD is GOOD. He will never do anything to harm us. He loves us.
The reason the Israelite s failed to defeat Ai wasn’t because God did something wrong, it wasn’t because He liked to confuse them, or it wasn’t because God liked seeing them fail!!!!
They were defeated because some one man sinned! Achan failed to listen to God and disobeyed Him.
When things go wrong who do we look to? Is the first instinct to look outside of ourselves?? That needs to change. God is not to blame for your problems. God is not unfair and cruel and evil. He is good. God is not the problem, you are! It’s you and me!! God wants the best for you but how often do we mess it up. Before you blame God look inside you. Start with yourself.

Is God to blame for the evil in the world and the pain and the suffering? No He is not. Let us trust in His goodness. He is good. Do you believe that???

Rolain

 

 

Standing Up Against Human-Trafficking!!!!

Speak up for the people who have no voice, for the rights of all the down-and–outers. Speak out for justice! Stand up for the poor and destitute.  Proverbs 31;8,9

This was a command given to a king. We are sons and daughters of a Great and Mighty King so this command is for us today. One area we need to speak out against is human trafficking!! The people who have been involved or are still involved are afraid to speak up because of threats made to them. If they cannot speak up I will!!! God has called us to be the voice for the oppressed and for those who have no voice. It is estimated that there are about 27 million men, women and children who are currently trapped in modern day slavery. (for more Stats click here) There are more people who are being trafficked and trapped in slavery today, than any other time in history!!! That is crazy right. We have been silent as this beast has been growing and growing. Now is the time to stand and let our voices be heard.

And don’t make the mistake by thinking this doesn’t affect you because it does. A lot of products that we buy were made by traffickers. They exploit people in fields, factories, sweat shops, restaurants etc. we cannot just sit back and relax. We need to take a stand. The first step I guess is bringing awareness to people about the evil that is going on.

What part will you play in this whole thing? This is my starting point. I am making sure I am making people aware of human trafficking. There is more to be done but the important thing is to start where you are at, no matter how small it is. As we step out in faith and do something we can be sure that God will help us and turn our little into much. Will you be a voice for those with no voice? Will you stand up for the oppressed? What part will you play in this fight?

God bless

Rolain