When in doubt and fear, remember the good things the Lord has done!

Walking in faith is not an easy thing to do. There will be days you will get discouraged and doubt if

the Lord will come through for you. I have been learning to be patient as I wait on Him for my answer

to prayer but there have been days when believing is really hard. I had one of those days a few days ago.

As I brought my requests to Him thoughts of doubt flooded my mind. Will He really answer my prayers,

I thought. But as my mind was racing I began to think about the things He had done so far. I began to pull

out all the things He had already done for me. As I did that my faith began to increase. At the end of the

exercise my faith was restored. I was full of faith and AM still full of faith He will come though for me,

that He will answer my prayers.

 

And that got me thinking about how powerful remembrance is. We don’t give it the credit it deserves

but it is powerful.

 

“Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth.”

1 Chronicles 16:12

 

There are so many scriptures on remembrance if you want to get deeper understanding. What I experienced

was the effect it had on me as I did it. It increased my faith. My hope was renewed. Because the fact of the

matter is that the Lord HAS done amazing things for me. In different seasons of my life when I needed a

breakthrough, when I was in chains, when I was in darkness, when I was desperate, He came and saved me,

He came and picked me up, He came and fought for me, He came and delivered me.

 

I know the Lord has done amazing things for you too. What you need to do though is remember those

things constantly. They will help you in really tough times. The only time remembrance doesn’t

work is if nothing has happened and as we all know, that is not possible. Yeshua is constantly doing

great things throughout our lives.

 

“If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them? you 

shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to

all Egypt.” 

1 Chronicles 16:12

 

As long as we live we will always be faced with giants and they come in different forms and sizes. But

we need to remember the giants that have come in the past which the Lord defeated! There are many

defeated foes. That will help you as you face the giants standing in your way now. That’s what David

did, remember?

 

“I, your servant, have killed both a lion and a bear! Goliath, the Philistine who is not circumcised, will be 

like the lion or bear I killed. He will die because he has stood against the armies of the living God. 

The Lord saved me from a lion and a bear. He will also save me from this Philistine.”

1 Samuel 17:36, 37

 

David remembered how the Lord delivered him from the lion and bear and and that is why  I think he was

so confident when he went to face Goliath. He remembered how powerful the Lord was. We need to remember

the good things the Lord has done for us more frequently. Forgetfulness is a thief and we must not allow it to

continue stealing.

Let’s ask the Lord to help us in this area.

 

Will you do something for me as I close? Write down the top ten things you think are amazing that the

Lord has done for you. Ten is the minimum. If you want to write more feel free to write more. The Lord

has done so much for us and there is so much He is about to do. Let’s not forget. Let’s always

remember the things He is doing because He is always doing.

Also feel free to share a few of the things He has done for you in the comments below. Your testimony

will bless someone!

Blessings to you friends…..

 

Rolain

If God wasn’t for me…….

This week has been a very testing week for me. It is said, you know more of who you are in times of hardships and trouble and I agree. On Monday I was called in by the officer in charge of my case. If you have no idea what I am referring to then please read this here.

Meeting with him was not the problem. It was the conversations I had after I met him. I met with one of my friends and he talked about jail and how the police were trying to pin the case on me. Fear gripped my heart after that! I started thinking about all the bad things that could happen. I could go to jail, I won’t be able to travel until the case is resolved, and many other thoughts……

But in the midst of fear God has been speaking! He has been using people and His word!! Today I was deeply ministered by the story of Peter walking on water which was written by Anna. Click here to read her post! It is so powerful! I was also ministered by a word I read which has really helped me in this time!

“If God hadn’t been for us – all together now, Israel, sing out!          Psalm 124: 1

That is how it starts. Let me share a few of the things that jumped out at me as I read the scripture:

“If God hadn’t been for us when everyone went against us,

we would have been swallowed alive by their violent anger,

swept away by the flood of rage,

drowned in the torrent;

We would have lost our lives in the wild, raging water.”

 

If God wasn’t for us we would be in deep trouble. We would be helpless and we would have no hope! That would be our testimony IF God wasn’t for us! But He IS so our story is different! Because God is for us we have a chance!

Because God is for us we will live!

Because God is for us we will not drown!

Because God is for us we will win!

Because God is for us we will be saved!

I was was so encouraged as I read that. No matter how bad things appear I know God is for me and because of that I have a good ending! I will not be left alone, I will not lose.

“Oh, blessed be God!

He didn’t go off and leave us.

He didn’t abandon us defenseless,

helpless as a rabbit in a pack of snarling dogs.” Psalm 124:6

I am at peace as I read this. I am not alone in the storm! He is with me every step of the way and He is with you too…..!!! Don’t lose heart! Your story is not finished. The enemy will not have victory over you. He will not have the last laugh! Never!!!

Your testimony starts with, “Because God is with me…..!!!!

Look at what the last part of the chapter says,

 

“God’s strong name is our help,

the same God who made heaven and earth.”

 

The One who created heaven and earth is the One who is helping you!!!! Think on that, meditate on it! What a powerful truth!

The Creator of heaven and earth is the One who is helping you!

I am lost for words……! We truly serve an amazing God! Look to Him, and trust in Him! He is with you…..Amen!

Rolain

 

An Introduction on faith…..

 

Do we really understand all we need to understand about faith? I don’t think so. And as I read Hebrews 11 I was more convinced of that fact. There is so much we don’t understand about faith, so much we need to learn. As we begin to understand more of what faith is the deeper we can walk in it. The men and women of old had a different view of faith and we see it in the stories we read. Let me not get ahead of myself….

As we begin let us look at the definition of faith according to scripture.

Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

That is the way the Amplified Version puts it. I like this definition a lot because I understand a little about title deeds. An individual doesn’t need to take people to his house to convince them he owns the house. All he has to do is show them the title deeds. Even though the house can’t be seen the title deed is the person’s proof. And so it is with faith. Your faith is the “title deed” you carry around. We can’t see the house, the car, the career or whatever it is you are trusting God for but the faith you have in God is your proof! It is the tangible proof that God will give you what He promised. But with that being said, how does faith work? To answer that question let us look at another passage of scripture.

The Message bibles says it like this,

By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see. Hebrews 11:3

This is the essence of faith. “What we see created by what we don’t see”. God didn’t wait to see, feel, touch, taste for Him to create. Let us learn from Him. Your life may look like nothing is happening but have faith.  Your life seems meaningless but it’s not. You need to speak and act upon what God has shown you. It may seem out of this world but you need to speak it out. Faith doesn’t wait for things to take shape and happen before it acts, no! In the darkness, in the bareness faith works!

To drive this point home let us look at another scripture:

By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn’t see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. Hebrews 11:7

Let us imagine this because I think it’s pretty amazing. Noah was warned by God about a flood. He had never experienced a flood before. So because he feared God he built an ark. How crazy must he have looked by everyone! The word says, “He built a ship in the middle of dry land”! Wow. Did he have to struggle with doubts? Did he ever stop and think, what the heck am I doing? We don’t know all that but what we know is he built a ship on dry land. God wants us to start building our ships. It may not make sense, it may sound like the craziest thing in the world, people will mock you, but that is not what matters, believing what God tells you is what is important. Having faith in Him is the most important thing.

As I conclude this post let us look at one more scripture:

By an act of faith, Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. The Egyptians tried it and drowned. Hebrews 11:29

Faith will let you go places other people can’t. Faith will sustain you in situations that would kill other people in normal circumstances. Who has ever walked through the Red Sea or any sea for that matter?? But because the Israelites had faith God parted the Red Sea so they could walk through it. The Egyptians thought it would be an easy task but how wrong they were. If we rely on our flesh we will fail. If we think we are strong enough or clever enough we will fail. The best of flesh is still flesh. Faith is the only thing that will allow us to do the impossible. Faith is the only thing that will get God’s attention.  So let’s picture this scenario,

The Israelites had faith and they walked through the Red Sea

The Egyptians didn’t have faith in God but thought because they were the strongest and fiercest, they could walk through the Red Sea. They were wrong, dead wrong!

As I end this post I would like to share another scripture:

But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]. Hebrews 11:6

Faith is so much more than we imagine. Without faith we will not be able to connect to God. Without faith we are like two people trying to communicate to each other in two different languages. It’s impossible! God responds to faith. God is pleased with our faith. Faith in God is what moves mountains! I am not talking about a faith in self or something like that. I have been talking about faith in God. This is just the introduction. In the next post I will continue sharing insights I got from Hebrews 11. It is really a powerful chapter on faith……..God bless

Rolain

To be continued…….

 

 

When You Are At Your End…..

O Lord, rebuke me not in Your wrath, neither chasten me in Your hot displeasure. 
For your arrows have sunk into me and stick fast, and Your hand has come down upon me and pressed me sorely. Psalm 38:1,2

For my iniquities have gone over my head [like waves of a flood]; as a heavy burden they weigh too much for me. Psalm 38:4

My heart throbs, my strength fails me; as for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me. Psalm 38:10

My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague; and my neighbors and my near ones stand afar off. Psalm 38:11

They also that seek and demand my life lay snares for me, and they that seek and require my hurt speak crafty and mischievous things; they meditate treachery and deceit all the day long. Psalm 38:12

In these verses we see King David at his end. He is in A LOT of trouble! I can relate with him but not to that extreme! I have been in that place where I been at my end, not knowing what do next. At a loss at what the answer is. We all have been there. That is a part of life we cannot ignore. Troubles will come. But this is my question, when you are at your end what will you do? What will you do?
Will you just give up or keep on hanging on? This is King David’s response when he was at his end:

For in You, O Lord, do I hope; You will answer, O Lord my God. Psalm 38:15

King David had hope in God through the trouble that was happening. As he was at his end he looked to God. This was not the last time he would be at his end. There were several times where he thought he was finished but his hope was always in God. People were trying to kill him but his hope was in God!
His sins where to much for him but even in that, his hope was in God!
The people closest to him abandoned him but his hope was in God.

What situations are you facing? Hope in God. When you are at your end hope in God!
King David didn’t say, God might answer him. He said, “You will answer”!!!
We need to have that same confidence. You may be doubting if God will answer you just know, He will answer you!! We are nothing if we don’t have hope and faith in God.
Where would we be without our hope in God? What would we do without faith? Life is not worth living without hope and faith!!

When you are at your end hope in the Lord. When you are at your end, know the Lord will answer your prayers, He will pull you through!!! He will not leave you to die. He loves you too much…..

Rolain