Let faith lead you and not doubt, anxiety and fear.

“The just shall live by faith.”

Galatians 3:11

 

I was challenged a few days ago as I thought about this scripture and what it meant for me.

It’s not talking about having faith occasionally and it’s not talking about faith as an event.

Instead this verse talks about faith as a lifestyle, as the driving force behind everything we

do.

As I live my life there needs to be an expectation that God sees and is working things out

for my good. I need to believe He is faithful to what He promised and even though

things are hard, He will deliver me and that my best days are yet to come.

I am not where I am by accident, so there needs to be a conviction that God has led me here

and He is directing my every step. The things that are happening in my life are not a coincidence.

The things I am believing for will come to pass. He has a purpose and plan for the gifts and talents

He has given me. I was not an after thought when He made me so there is so much more in store.

That’s what it means to live by faith and that’s what I feel I was challenged about as I read that

verse.

 

When things don’t go the way we want or we encounter difficult times that’s when

it becomes harder to hold on to faith, to live by faith. The difficult things we face can distort our

vision. We can lose sight of how great God is and instead of living by faith the doubts, fear, and anxiety

lead us. Instead of faith we become discouraged and hopeless. We lose sight of the big picture and

go into survival mode. But that’s not the way God wants us to live.

 

The just shall live by faith. 

 

In everything, He wants us to trust Him. In sickness, He wants us to trust Him for healing, in financial

turmoil He wants us to trust He will provide, in economic hardship He wants us to hold on to the truth

that He is our provider. When the door is closed He wants us to believe He can open the door.

When faced with a dark and grim life, He wants us to believe He has a future and an expected end

for us, that our lives will get better.

 

Don’t fall into the trap of getting by. As you work, or go to school have faith. He wants you to believe.

Because the truth of the matter is this;

 

The Lord is working on your behalf

The Lord is directing your every step

He is your Shepherd so you won’t lack

You were created for a purpose

Your life has meaning and relevance so even though it doesn’t feel that way, He is busy making sure

everything He planned and promised for you comes to pass!

 

Be expectant. Don’t take your life for granted. Don’t give up hope.

The Lord is in control and that’s all that matters.

Live by faith!

 

Blessings to you friends.

 

Rolain

 

 

When will the Lord answer us?

Is this the day?

Is this the day the door opens?

Is this the day my prayers are answered?

Is this the day I get my breakthrough?

 

The truth is I don’t know the day but that’s not the point. The point is to be expectant.

The point is to put your hope in the Lord. Today could be the day but if it’s not keep trusting,

Keep declaring, Keep doing, fully confident the day is coming.

The question is no longer, “will the day come” but “when is the day”.

 

The enemy will try to deceive you into believing the day won’t come. He will try to make you believe

the sickness is permanent, the lack is permanent, the broken relationship is permanent, the addiction

is permanent, the list goes on and on but he is wrong.

Your answer to prayer will come, it might be already here, the sickness will leave, you are healed,

what the enemy stole will be restored, poverty will be broken off your life…..I think you get the

picture.

 

Mephiboseth was a cripple and didn’t have much going for him. As a baby his nurse fled with him but

in her haste she dropped him and he became a cripple. He didn’t have a say in the

matter. (2 Samuel 4:4) Talk about an unfortunate circumstance.

But when all was lost something pretty amazing happened.

 

“The king said, Is there not still someone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the [unfailing, unsought, 

unlimited] mercy and kindness of God?”

2 Samuel 9:3

 

There is nothing Mephibosheth did differently to get the kings attention. No one went to the king and

appealed on his behalf, no. He was a nobody in one instant and in the next he was eating at the

king’s table! And that is why we must live a life of expectancy and faith.

I don’t think Mephibosheth had any idea his life would change so drastically. But as sons and

daughters of the King we can be expectant. A life without hope is death. What David did

for Mephibosheth is a picture of the Father’s heart I believe. We don’t deserve His goodness, grace

and mercy but He has given it anyway.

Like Mephibosheth the Lord can do the same thing and more. We need to be expectant always.

 

 

Expect YAH to move in your life today.

Expect an answer to your prayers.

Expect healing, expect deliverance, expect breakthrough.

The Lord is faithful. He won’t let us down.

Have a great weekend friends……

 

Rolain

 

 

 

Expect Him to move in your life today…..

“Expect the Holy Spirit to move.

Your faith will never rise higher than your level of expectation”

 

This statement was a wake up call to me this week. It was a wake up call to be expectant.

Am I expectant all the time? Not really.

Sometimes the cares of the world weigh me down and I get stuck. But YAH doesn’t want me there.

He is great and mighty and cares for me and wants to be there for me…..

 

The level of my expectation needs to rise. The higher my expectation the higher my faith level.

The woman with the issue of blood comes to mind. She wasn’t like, “oh well, let me see if I can get

a healing. If Yeshua heals me, great but if He doesn’t, at least I tried.”

What!!! Crazy right??!! The woman had a high expectation. She wasn’t thinking, “what if”.

She was going to get her healing full stop! (Luke 8:43-48)

 

Friends, we need to raise our expectancy level. We can’t have a ‘whatever happens, happens’ approach to YAH.

Expect the Holy Spirit to move in you and through you because He is going to move! (that’s for me!!)

Another friend of mine shared her thoughts about expectation,

 

“The definition of expectation is, “a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in

the future.” 

Our expectations for Yeshua can be set high.”

 

We need to turn the level up of our expectation. We can’t be mediocre about this. Our expectation will

always be challenged but let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us live expectant every single day.

What areas in your life is your expectation low or non existent?

Bring those areas to Him. Let Him breath new life into those dead areas.

I have found that because of deferred hope/disappointments our expectations can be hampered but I believe

YAH wants us to be expectant in Him again. No matter what has happened in the past we need to live expectant.

We need His help to do this.

Let me share a scripture with you,

 

“Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the

power that worketh in us.”

Ephesians 3:20

 

Nothing is impossible for Him, so be expectant!

Expect, hope and trust without restraint!

That’s my challenge and your challenge in this season!

Bless you friends….

 

Rolain

What do we do when life doesn’t go the way we expect??

Living out God’s plan for my life has not gone anything like I expected!!

There have been turns, twists and surprising additions but nothing like I expected.

There have been difficult things I had to wrestle with.

There have been disappointments.

And as I write this post I still don’t have the full picture of YAH’s plan for my life!

Can anyone else identify??

 

Even though there is a lot I am still in the dark about concerning YAH’s purpose for my

life one thing remains, my faith in Him!

When we talk about purpose we need to talk about faith. Without faith in YAH we will

not accomplish His plan for our lives.

We may not make sense of what’s happening but we need to trust Him.

It may not happen like we imagine but we must trust!

 

And this is the thing, faith must be exercised every step of the way.

Think about the Israelites for a bit. YAH had a plan for them;

to take them out of Egypt (bondage) to bring them to Canaan (a land

flowing with milk and honey).  (Exodus 3:17)

A trip that was supposed to take eleven days took forty years! (Deuteronomy 1:2)

They consistently doubted YAH’s goodness, mercy and faithfulness.

They had a crazy amount of things happen to them along the way and things could have

turned out differently for them if they only trusted but as we know it didn’t.

They didn’t get into the promise land because of their unbelief.

Without faith in YAH we will fail. I want to share a scripture that

emphasizes the importance of faith in the life of a believer;

 

“Thus says the Lord: Cursed [with great evil] is the strong man who trusts in and

relies on frail man, making weak [human] flesh his arm, whose mind and heart turn

aside from the Lord.

For he shall be like a shrub or a person naked and destitute in the desert; and he

shall not see any good come, but shall dwell in the parched places in the

wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.”

Jeremiah 17:5, 6

 

Before I carry on I want to say something. The price for relying on our own

strength or another man’s strength is steep. The message is very clear for

those who don’t put their trust in YAH.

This is not a scare tactic to get you to trust In YAH.

 

He wants us to come to that revelation on our own. He wants us to realize

that we can call to Him when things are not going our way. He wants us

to know that we can call on Him always! He loves us deeply and He

can be trusted. His desire is to see us accomplish all that He has planned

for us.

Let’s carry on;

 

“[Most] blessed is the man who believes in, trusts in, and relies on the Lord,

and whose hope and confidence the Lord is.

For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spread out its roots by the

river; and it shall not see and fear when the heat comes; but its leaf shall be green. 

It shall not be anxious and full of care in the year of drought, nor shall it cease

yielding fruit. “

Jeremiah 17:7, 8

 

God has amazing things in store for us but we need to walk by faith.

Things may not go as we expect but faith in Him will keep us steady.

We may have no clue about the next step but faith will keep us moving.

Faith in YAH will preserve us when the fire comes, when the doubts rise.

We don’t need to see the whole picture to accomplish our purpose, we

need faith!

Let’s always walk in complete trust no matter what comes our way!

Bless you friends

 

Rolain

 

When purpose is out of reach….

“And Bilhah became pregnant and bore Jacob a son.

And Rachel said, God has judged and vindicated me,

and has heard my plea and has given me a son; so she

named him Dan [judged].

And Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, conceived again and bore

Jacob a second son.

And Rachel said, with wrestling [in prayer to God]

I have struggled with my sister and I have prevailed;

so she named him [this second son Bilhah bore]

Naphtali [struggled].

Genesis 30:5-8

 

I am sad to say this but Rachel was wrong! God had not yet

answered Rachel’s prayer for a child! She may of thought

God was answering her prayer but He really hadn’t. God

would answer her prayer by giving her Joseph and

Benjamin. So what was happening here?

How did she get so lost concerning what God had promised

her?

 

First, there was Leah, she was giving Jacob sons, a lot of

sons…..haha

In her day that was a good thing. Everything was going

right for her in that respect and she needed it to go right

because her husband Jacob loved Rachel more but she

was unable to give him children.

 

It must of been hard for Rachel. She was being taunted

by her sister most probably. She was looked down by the

community for not being able to bear children and to make

it worse, her prayers to God didn’t seem like they were being

heard. So she did what a lot of us do, she settled. She settled

for whatever came! The deception was so bad

that she thought God was answering her prayer through her

maid. Jacob was having sex with Rachel’s maid who was

bearing children and Rachel thought, God was answering her

prayers!!

 

I don’t blame her at all. I understand totally! I remember a time

I prayed to God for something and I got something close to

what I was praying for and I settled. I told myself God answered

my prayer but I was wrong. I deceived myself. But that’s not even

the crazy thing about this whole situation,

 

I had settled a lot!!!!

 

It’s crazy to think but I have done that so many times but God

doesn’t want me to settle. He doesn’t want you to settle. An

answered prayer is not “almost getting it”, or “it’s close

to the thing I prayed for so it’s all good”.

So in Rachel’s case, an answered prayer was giving birth to

Joseph and Benjamin! Nothing less would do……

 

Where have you settled in life? God doesn’t give half – baked

answers to prayer.

Don’t compromise on your standards. Don’t compromise

when it comes to God’s promises. He is faithful friends.

It can be hard waiting for God to come through but He

will come through. He knows you have been waiting. Like

I said in one of my previous posts,

 

“Waiting is one of the processes God uses to bless us.”

“Because He loves us, He makes us wait”

 

If you are discouraged know this, God will come through

for you. He will give you a complete, more than you ever

imagined, beyond expectation kinda answer!

Trust Him to complete what He has promised in your

life. It’s not easy but hold on.

God’s plan for our lives

will always be too much for us, but it’s like that because

God wants us to come to Him. He wants us to trust Him

and He wants us to realise He is the only One who can bring

what He has promised to pass. When it gets hard don’t

settle, trust Him!

He has heard your cry and prayer…..

 

Rolain

 

photo credit: google images

 

 

A new year…….

Hi friends!!!!

It’s good to be back! I hope the year has started well for you

and I hope you are expecting some big things to happen to you

and for you! I have been “AWOL” because our church goes on

a Daniel fast at the start of every year.

But this year my pastor challenged

us to stop social “media-ring” during the fast…..   🙂   So I

decided to stop posting on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter but

I realised if I was to stay off those social media sites I couldn’t

post anything on wordpress because my posts would appear on

those sites and I would be unable to respond for three weeks.

That is why I haven’t written anything until now.

 

I was glad I was still able to follow you guys though. I was

truly blessed by your posts…..

 

I am really excited about what God has in store for me this

year. In 2015 (December) I went to God with my 2016 calender

and told Him to fill it. I have plans for this year but I am still

limited in my thinking and that is why I asked Him to fill it.

He is great and mighty and not bound by what I am bound

by. He is not limited by what I am limited by and that is why

I am excited about this year. He is the One who is in control and

He is the One who is directing my steps.

I want to share a scripture that has really ministered to me

in this new year. I came across it as I read Brian Houston’s new

book Live, Love, Lead!

 

Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you

to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in.

The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t

small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as

plainly as I can and with great affection.

Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!

2 Corinthians 6: 11-13

 

I love this verse. There is a “wide-open, spacious life” 

God has planned for me…..for us!

And we can’t allow small thinking and small dreams to hinder

the wide-open, spacious life God has for us!

The truth is this, God has a wide-open, spacious life for you. Don’t

believe anyone who says otherwise. His intension is to bless your

life. It’s not because you did something right. It’s not because

of anything you have done. It’s all Him! It’s all Him friends!

It’s because He loves us that He blesses us.

 

My life is not small! God has so much more in store for me than

I have imagined for myself and the same is true for you!

He has more of Himself He wants to reveal.

There is so much He wants to teach.

Like I said, this is going to be a great year!

Have a great day friends…..

 

photo credit: google images

 

Rolain

 

 

 

 

When life seems dark……

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

 

[What, would have become of me] had I

not believed that I would see the Lord’s

goodness in the land of the living!

 

Wait and hope for and expect the Lord;

be brave and of good courage and let

your heart be stout and enduring.

Yes, wait for and hope for and expect

the Lord.

Psalm 27:13, 14

 

My heart jumped when I read this scripture in

the morning. As we live this life there needs

to be an expectation!

An expectation that God, the Maker of heaven

and earth and the whole universe will be good to

us.

The world we live in wants us to believe that there

is nothing good in it.

It wants us to live in fear.

It wants us to believe the situation is hopeless,

that life is hopeless!

But it’s not true people!!!!

As believers we have God our Father!

As believers we have a chance, a very good chance!

God has good things in store for us.

God wants us to believe that!

He wants us to expect Him to show up!

 

If that expectation dies we die!

 

I don’t know what situation you are facing

today but please hope again. Expect the Lord’s

goodness.

 

This is what I have been declaring for the past

couple of days:

 

For You send blessings of good things to meet him;

You set a crown of pure gold on his head.

Psalms 21:3

 

For You send blessings of good things to meet

me.

You set a crown of pure gold on my head!

 

What are you saying? What are you expecting?

Today, believe you will see the Lord’s goodness

in the land of the living!

I believe you will see it if you expect it, if you dare

to believe that God is good and He is busy doing good

things for you!

The last part of that scripture says,

 

Wait and hope for and expect the Lord;

 

It’s not easy to hope especially when the picture

on the ground looks bleak.

It’s not easy to hope when the bank account is empty.

It’s not easy to hope when things are not working out.

 

But the key is to believe that you will see the goodness

of God in the land of the living!

In the pain, in poverty, when things seem bleak

and hopeless,

believe you will see the goodness of the Lord!

Amen and AMEN!!!

Rolain

 

 

Miracle in South Africa….

I have been on tour in South Africa. It has been an amazing experience especially since this is my first time in South Africa. My pastor’s wife released an album called “Yahweh” and that is why we were on tour. Here is the title track. I hope you enjoy it…….

 

South has been amazing but that was not the case when I first heard I was going. I was filled with fear because of all the stories I heard. We were in Johannesburg which is ranked number 10 of the most dangerous cities in the world! I was really filled with fear about going but God dealt with me in that area. When I got there we were not robbed or held at gun point or anything crazy. It was actually safe! Please understand, I am not saying that it’s the safest place in the world but what I am saying is that you need to have your eyes wide open and I am also saying God will protect no matter where you go if you trust in Him!

The next thing that was on my mind was what God had for me in South Africa. I believe that when I travel there is something God wants to speak to me about and something He wants me to see that I can’t see at home! So I went with that mindset and God indeed showed me things that I never saw when I was at home and He spoke to me about things that I was struggling with at home. So in other words I heard Him so much clearly!
Now for the main thing. I was in  South Africa for four days. I arrived in South on Friday and left on Monday. Our performance was scheduled for Sunday but on Saturday during practice I sprained my foot! It started swelling badly in the evening and I was limping. I was worried about it but then I remembered what I learned at Bible School. It was not an accident that the Pastor taught this but he spoke about your spirit being able to sustain your physical body. He taught that our spirit can be so strong that it can sustain our physical bodies!

Proverbs 18:14 says,
The strong spirit of a man sustains him in bodily pain or trouble, but a weak and broken spirit who can raise up and bear?

So when I realised my ankle was sprained that verse jumped out of my spirit and I started declaring my healing! There was no way I would have a sprained ankle when I travelled so far to minister. On top of that I asked for prayer and the pastor in charge of the team prayed for my ankle.                                                                 The next day we ministered I danced like I was supposed and gave it 110% and I waved those flags like I was a mad man!!! My ankle was completely healed, praise the Lord!!! God is good indeed. That was my miracle on tour. There are a few things I learned from that.

– The spirit man can be so strong that it can sustain the physical man.

– There is power in the laying on of hands and

– God is still the God of miracles…..!

And that ends my testimony.

Rolain.P

Our Kids Are At War……!!!!

I have been teaching kids for a long time and I teach  kids from the age of 8yrs to kids who are 12yrs. I love teaching them. I love the relationships that I have made. I love the time I have spent with them doing crazy things but as the year’s keep coming and the kids keep on growing there is something changing. I don’t know what it is exactly.

It is almost like the kids are losing interest in the things of God. It is getting harder and harder to get them engaged. I have been crying out to God for a long time and only recently did I see it. I saw how the kids of these days have a lot more to deal with than when I was a kid. The challenges are more sinister than before. The world is also trying to win our children. As teachers on a Sunday we are competing vs Disney or PlayStation or the internet and so on. We cannot teach the way we have always taught. We need to be more creative. The world has really gone full out and that is what is making our kids dull. We as parents just leave them in front of the television and think it’s OK but it’s not. Our kids are at war and we don’t even know it…..

We allow the kids access to internet where they are exposed to porn and violence and whole host of other things. We need to take our place as parents and protect our kids.
As teachers we need to step up. We need God’s creativity and God’s grace. Our Sunday schools are boring and dull. We do the same old thing and expect God to move! We teach the same way we were taught but we don’t realize that things have changed.. We stick to our traditional Sunday school songs but don’t realize that kids listen to a lot more mature music be it hip hop, rock or pop.
There needs to be a serious evaluation of how we do things.

My conclusion is this, kids are faced with so much. What they need on a Sunday is an encounter with God that will turn their lives around for ever. They need something really powerful to nullify the junk that they have exposed themselves to or we have exposed them to. We need to teach them what to eat and what not to eat metaphorically speaking.
As teachers we need to expect the power God in our services. What is the point of having a service when God doesn’t show up. What is the point of having a service if we as the teachers don’t expect God to come down and touch the kids???!
Our kids will begin to change when the presence of God comes down in our services.

Our kids are at war and we have a responsibility whether you are a parent or teacher. Our kids need us. They need  our help. Will you take their side in this war??? You have a responsibility of revealing God’s amazing power, and love, and mercy, and greatness and I could go on and on and on……. What God means in your life is what kids will pick up on whether you are a parent or a teacher. How passionate are you about God? How much do you love the Word? Do you watch television endlessly or do you talk about people behind their backs when your kids are around? (Talking behind someones back is bad either way)! Men do you beat your wives in front of your kids? Women, do you disrespect your husbands in front of your kids? All these things and more build a child’s idea of you and God. There is a statement my pastor keeps on saying, What you do in moderation, your kids will do in excess!!! If you are lukewarm in your love towards God your kids will be cold. If you drink one or two beers then your kids will be alcoholics!!! Do you get the picture?

I don’t know where all that came from. I was supposed to conclude a long time ago. I get so passionate about this. Our kids are the future and we need to see it. They are at  war and we need to stand with them in this time. They need to know we are for them. God bless.

Rolain

God’s Favour In Our Lives!

What are you seeking? Are you focused on the right things in life. I spoke about this in detail in a post entitled “What Are You Seeking” that I wrote last month but I came across a scripture that reminded me of it. This is one of my favourite scriptures which ministers to me everytime I read it.
In a world where we have been trained to be “realistic” what have we come to expect?

Proverbs 11:27 says:
He who diligently seeks good seeks [God’s] favour, but he who searches after evil, it shall come upon him.

He who DILIGENTLY seeks good seeks God’s favour! In all the things that you are doing, have you being seeking good? In other words have you being looking for positive results?
In the company you have started have you been expecting to succeed or fail?
In the plans that you have, do you expect to fail or to succeed?
When you seek and expect good things to happen to you in everything you are doing you are actually seeking God’s favour!
God wants you to be a success in every area of your life so you can be a blessing to others.
Yes bad things happen in life but don’t seek them. Don’t expect to fail. Don’t plan to fail because the word is clear when it says:

“but he who searches after evil, it shall come upon him.”

I encourage you to expect good things to happen to you. Seek good things to happen in your life. As you do that you are seeking God’s favour!!!
Amen!

Rolain.P