It’s time to move…..

Life is constantly teaching us stuff and to grow we need to learn what we are being taught.

Unfortunately there is a lesson I had to relearn this year (this week to be more precise) that I ignored

last year. It’s so frustrating because the lesson had a financial cost. That really got me thinking though.

How many lessons have we ignored that keep coming back but we just don’t learn. For whatever reason

we make a decision to do nothing.

But YAH wants us to learn the lessons that come our way. Those lessons once learned will make us grow.

 

I am reminded of the Israelites. They too didn’t learn their lesson and because they didn’t, they had to go

round the same mountain.

 

“And the Lord spoke to me [Moses], saying, 

You have roamed around this mountain country long enough; turn northward.”

Deuteronomy 2:3

 

It’s time to stop going round the same mountain. It’s time we start learning the lessons we are supposed

to learn. I am tired of going round the same mountain. I want to grow, I want to move.

I don’t learn because it’s hard at times, or because of laziness and so on and so on….

But that needs to stop.

It’s time to move!

 

ACT ON IT – What lessons have you refused to learn because they are difficult? 

Ask the Lord to show you the most critical lesson you need to learn so you can grow.

 

Bless you friends

 

Rolain

 

 

 

Let’s get our focus right….

Good day to you all!

I hope and pray I find you all well.

I was watching something on “America’s got talent” the other day.

It got me thinking about how many talent shows they are now.

Do I even dare begin to name them all??  I think not.

But that show got me thinking.

I don’t think it’s possible to count the amount of talented people

there are in the world.

We have an endless supply of talented people.

There is always someone better, faster, intelligent, richer, and

stronger. There is no shortage of talent in the world.

 

We celebrate talent. We reward talent in ways people can only

imagine. Becoming talented has become the main goal.

We are no longer satisfied to be number two, three or four.

We have to be first. We must be recognized.

We must have the shoes, the car, the house, and more.

We focus on the external and forget about the internal.

We abandon character, integrity, modesty and other inner

things all in the pursuit of talent.

We have lost what’s really important.

 

“So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said,

“Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at

his physical stature, because I have refused him.

For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the

outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:6-7

 

God had rejected Eliab! Samuel missed it. He looked at everything

on the outside and thought, “this is the man the Lord has

chosen.”

But the word says, God refused him!

 

God wasn’t impressed with the muscles and how many men he

killed in battle. He wasn’t impressed with how intelligent

he was. Eliab probably didn’t have a relationship with God.

He probably had a proud heart.

I don’t think Eliab worked on his inner man much.

I don’t think things like character and integrity were important

to him.  And because he didn’t work on the inner man God rejected

him!

Let’s look at one more scripture,

 

“You are blessed when you get your inside world – your mind

and heart – put right.

Then you can see God in the world. “

Matthew 5:8

 

Let God come in and put your inside world right.

God wants your heart.

He wants you to be a man or woman of character.

It’s okay to have talent, but don’t make it the main thing.

Blessings to you….

 

Rolain

One thing that can stop God’s power in your life…..

“And the woman [in due time] bore a son and called his name Samson;

and the child grew and the Lord blessed him.

And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in Mahaneh-dan

[the camp of Dan] between Zorah and Eshtaol “

Judges 13:24, 25

 

I used to think Samson as the most arrogant of the heroes of the

bible. I thought he was brash, proud and conceited but I was wrong.

He was humble.

He knew where his true strength came from.

 

Let’s take a look at a scripture,

 

“Samson was very thirsty, and he prayed to the Lord and said, You have

given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant, and now shall I

die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”

Judges 15:18

 

When spending time with God he addresses himself as “servant”.

With all his strength and power he humbled himself before God.

He never once gave himself the glory.

We never read of a time where he praised himself.

Samson was a humble man.

 

Let’s take a look at one more scripture,

 

“And when he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him.

And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon [Samson], and the ropes

on his arms became as flax that had caught fire, and his bonds melted

off his hands.”

Judges 15: 14

 

“The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon Samson”

 

That wouldn’t have been possible if Samson was arrogant and proud.

He knew God was the reason for his strength and power and that is why

he was used so mightily.

 

This is the lesson I want you to take from the life of Samson.

With all his strength and power he never became proud and arrogant.

He knew God was the source of his strength.

Because he was humble he was in a position to be used mightily by God.

He put God first in his life and that is why he did what he did.

He never once praised himself.

If he was prideful he wouldn’t have been used.

 

To be used by God we need to be humble. We need to always put Him first.

Pride takes God out of the picture and makes us believe we can do it on our own.

Pride wants to go on its own.

Pride thinks it doesn’t need God or anyone for that matter.

One of our prayers should be to be humble.

No matter how much God does for us we must remain humble.

No matter the great heights He takes us to we need to remain humble.

It’s only when we are humble that we can be used by Him.

 

Bless you friends

 

Rolain

 

 

I want to see….!

“They said, “what did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”

I’ve told you over and over and you haven’t  listened. Why do 

you want to hear it again? 

Are you so eager to become His disciples?

 

With that they jumped all over him. “You might be a disciple

of that man, but we’re disciples of Moses. We know for sure that

God spoke to Moses, but we have no idea where this man comes 

from.”

 

The man replied, “This is amazing! You claim to know nothing

about Him, but the fact is, He opened my eyes! It’s well known 

that God isn’t at the beck and call of sinners, but listens carefully

to anyone who lives in reverence and does His will. 

That someone opened the eyes of a man born blind has never been

heard of-ever. If this man didn’t come from God, He wouldn’t be 

able to do anything.”

John 9:26-33

 

It’s important in your walk with God to see. How sad it is to

go through life not being able to see the things God is doing

in your life or to see where He is taking you. Take for example

the story I shared in the beginning of the post. The pharisees

were so blind to how amazing Jesus was. This was not the first

time they saw Him perform a miracle and not believe.

But the blind man who had never met Jesus before, on having a

brief encounter with Him saw so much, understood so much. For

the first time in his life he could see things so clearly!

 

What was going on here? Why were the pharisees so blind?

When I read this passage of scripture I said this prayer,

 

“Lord, open my eyes and help me see.”

 

I believe one of the things that stopped the pharisees from

seeing was pride. They were so very proud.

 

“They said, “you’re nothing but dirt! How dare you take that 

tone with us!” Then they threw him out in the street. “

John 9:34

 

The truth was right in front of them but they couldn’t see it

because of pride. It had hardened their hearts like crazy!

 

The story would of been much different if the pharisees were

humble. What would have happened if they walked in humility?

They would have seen so much more I believe.

 

Let’s bring this home.

If we want to see more of God, if we want to see more of what

God is doing we need to be humble. This is not the only thing

we need to do but its a start.

Pride will stop you from seeing the amazing things God has for

you.

It’s very clear that the pharisees couldn’t see because of their

pride. Let’s not fall into the same trap.

God wants to show us so much but we must have humble hearts.

Are you ready to see more?

Bless you

 

Rolain

 

 

 

Acting wisely….part 3

Hi friends…..

This is the third of a four part series on David. I hope you have been

enjoying it thus far. If you missed part one please click here.

If you missed part two click here.

 

“And David went out wherever Saul sent him, and he prospered

and behaved himself wisely”

1 Samuel 18:5

 

What do you do when someone tries to bring you down?

What do you do when your boss always tries to stifle your

ideas?

 

I was in a similar situation some months back. It wasn’t my

boss I was dealing with but a fellow believer in Christ. They

were put in charge of a project I was involved in and from the

word go it seemed like this person had something against me.

Any ideas I had were shot down. They would accuse me of a lot

of things, things I didn’t do.

But to make things worse, I didn’t respond in the right way. I

fought back too. I talked about the person, avoided them and

many other shameful things. It seemed like I had become a

monster! I hated that season. There was a time in that dark

season I asked for God’s help. I wanted to act different, respond

different. I wanted to honor God in that situation. It seemed

like the enemy was enjoying what was going on but I wasn’t

enjoying it anymore and it was in that time that

God led me to the scripture I shared in the beginning.

David was in a similar situation. Saul was jealous of Him. He

wanted him dead. Can you imagine working for a boss who

wants you dead?

 

“And Saul cast the javelin, for he thought, I will pin David to the

wall. And David evaded him twice. Saul was afraid of David

because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.

So Saul removed David from him and made him his commander

over a thousand;

and he went out and came in before the people.

David acted wisely in all his ways and succeeded, and the Lord

was with him. “

1 Samuel 18:11-14

 

This is the amazing thing about this story,

even though Saul tried to kill David,

David acted wisely in all his ways, he behaved himself wisely!

 

There is no record of David murmuring about Saul. There is no

record of David trying to pin Saul to the wall or of David having

a shouting match with Saul. The Word says, he acted wisely!

Even after being demoted David still acted wisely!

I learned a huge lesson that day. I believe God gave me an

answer. Has it been easy to apply? Heck no but I am trying.

I ask for God’s help when I am losing it.

I pray this will help you when you are in a similar situation.

There is one more thing I would like to show you that I thought

was very interesting about David,

 

“Then the Philistine princes came out to battle, and when they

did so, David had more success and behaved himself more wisely

than all Saul’s servants, so that his name was very dear and highly

esteemed.

1 Samuel 18:30

 

There is that phrase again, he behaved himself more wisely!

 

I can see it. Saul’s men where boasting of the great victory. They

were probably boasting about David but he didn’t get swept up

in all of that. David didn’t build himself a monument after battle,

he didn’t brag about his awesomeness! He didn’t talk about

the poor men who tasted his sword, no! Instead, David behaved

himself wisely! And because he did God esteemed him highy.

We need to learn to act wisely like David did.

Being humble is one way we can behave wisely. Watching how

we use our words is another way.

At the end of the day, God wants us to behave wisely. We honor

Him when we do.

And with that being said, I have come to the end of this post.

Blessings to you my friends……

 

Rolain

 

photo credit: google images

 

 

God silenced her voice…..

“But to Hannah he gave a double portion, for he loved Hannah,

but the Lord had given her no children.

[This embarrased and grieved Hannah] and her rival provoked

her greatly to vex her, because the Lord had left her childless.”

1 Samuel 1:5, 6

 

There are times I feel like Hannah. It seems like people

are getting on with life and here I am still waiting…….

They look and wonder then ask, dude???

What’s going on? Why haven’t you got that, why aren’t you where

we at? Is everthing okay? What’s wrong with you?

What about you? Do you ever feel like Hannah?

 

I wish I had the answer but I didn’t and that is what Hannah

felt like. She was embarrased and grieved. There was nothing

she could say…..the Lord had left her childless!

Off course there was a reason she was barren. God had a plan

for Hannah but it was hard for her to understand. Peninnah was her

oppressor. It’s hard to understand for all of us I guess. We need to

know that God is good! His plan for us is good no matter how hard

things get.

We hear a lot of Peninnah in the first chapter. She is in Hannah’s

face and in life we will have Peninnah’s. Peninnah was provoking

her out of jealousy. The people who are ridiculing you have their

reasons but don’t worry about them. There will always be

Peninnah’s in your life!

 

But then at the right time God came to her rescue.

 

“The family rose early the next morning, worshiped before

the Lord, and returned to their home in Ramah.

Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. “

1 Samuel 1:19

 

The Lord remembered Hannah!

 

Hannah may of thought God had forgotten her but it wasn’t

true. God was up to something. He had a plan for her life.

He remembered her and gave her her heart’s deepest desire!

God has not forgotten you friends. You are on His mind.

He will silence the Peninnah’s in your life by giving you

what you have asked for! No matter how long you have waited,

He remembers you.

We don’t hear of Peninnah after the Lord remembered Hannah.

We don’t hear her provokings, her ridicules, her words of hate.

God silenced her voice completely and that is His plan for you too.

It grieves Him when people speak against you.

His plan is to silence her voice in your life completely!

 

“Hannah prayed, and said, My heart exults and triumphs in

the Lord; my horn (my strength) is lifted up in the Lord.

My mouth is no longer silent, for it is opened wide over my

enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation.”

1 Samuel 2:2

 

Peninnah had managed to silence Hannah’s voice. Hannah

had believed what Peninnah was saying. So she remained

silent BUT God made it possible for her to open her mouth!

Yipeeee….!!!!

The enemy’s goal is to shut you up always. He doesn’t want you

praising the Lord and giving Him the glory. Don’t let the

negative voices in your life silence you. Don’t believe what

they are saying becasue it’s just not true!

We will not deny Hannah was barren but it was never

meant to last. Peninnah underestimated the power of God

in Hannah’s life. Remember, the situation you are in will not

last forever. God will open your mouth again! You will praise Him,

you exult Him because of His salvation in your life…..

 

“Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,

but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren

has borne seven, but she who has many children languishes

and is forlorn. “

1 Samuel 2:5

 

I believe this is a warning for all those who are proud and a

promise for those who will trust Him wholeheartedly.

Peninnah had children but that didn’t give her the right to

speak to Hannah like that. She got proud and in God’s eyes

that’s was unexceptable. God hates pride.

Pride affects us all but we must fight it. Even if I become a

preisdent, that should never be a reason to look down on anyone!

Humility says, ” I am not better than anyone, no matter

what position I hold, no matter what I own, no matter where

I come from.

 

“Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,

but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.”

 

Pride makes the full go out hiring themsleves out for bread.

There is no blessing found in pride.

But we know there is a blessing in being humble. So take

this warning seriously friends. Never get to a point where

you are too important for anyone. Never get to a place where

you are looking down on another person!

That’s a word for you and for me.

 

So after all is said and done remember,

God remembers you! He loves you and has a plan for you

no matter how hard things seem at the moment!

 

Be humble!

 

Blessings to you friends!

 

Rolain

 

photo credit: google images

 

 

What two men prayed…..

The Pharisee stood [ostentatiously] and began praying

to himself [in a self-righteous way, saying]:

God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men –

swindlers, unjust (dishonest), adulterers – or even like

this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all

that I get.

But the tax collector, [merely] standing at a distance, would

not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but kept striking his

breast, saying, O God, be favorable (be gracious, be

merciful) to me, the especially wicked sinner that I am!

Luke 18:12, 13 (AMP)

 

The year is about to end and as it does I want to touch

on a few things I think we need to reflect on before we get

into 2016. The word I am about to share has really been

on my mind for some time. This word brought attitudes

to light, attitudes that were not of God.

 

Just because you think you are humble doesn’t mean

you are humble. This is the kind of erroneous thinking

I had. But this scripture blew that out of the water.

I thought I was humble but truth be told, I was proud!

I couldn’t see it because my pride was cloaked in a

false sense of humility.

 

But to walk in the plan God has for us we need to be

humble! The tax collector was a perfect example of

what it meant to be humble.

I think humility is being able to stay small in our own eyes!

It’s having the wisdom to see that God is in control and

understanding that without Him we are lost.

Humility strips every selfish thought and idea we have.

Humility puts off our own strength and puts on God’s.

Humility doesn’t take pride in it’s own wisdom but

looks to the Lord for true wisdom!

 

The Pharisee stayed big in his own eyes. He saw himself

as more in his own eyes, as very important, while the tax collector

stayed small in his own eyes!

Who are you in your own eyes?

 

Please understand what the tax collector did and didn’t do.

He didn’t talk negatively about himself. He didn’t tell

God how useless and pathetic he was. He didn’t tear himself

down. That is not humility.

He knew he was a sinner in deep need of grace and mercy!

I hope you notice the difference. Stop the negative self talk.

It’s not biblical.

 

It’s so important we stay “small in our own eyes”.

Let us look at another passage of scripture that will help

us understand this truth:

 

Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and

he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother’s

name was Jekoliah; she was from Jerusalem.

He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as

his father Amaziah had done.

He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed

him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the Lord, God

gave him success.

2 Chronicles 26:3

 

God had a plan for Uzziah. Actually, He had great plans for him.

Like Uzziah, God has great and amazing plans for us. But look

at how the story changed……

 

But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall.

He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple

of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.

2 Chronicles 26:16

 

The priests were the only ones allowed to burn incense but

because Uzziah was proud (failed to remain small in his own

eyes) he never walked in the full promises of God!

God had made Uzziah powerful but he failed to realise

that.

When I start thinking I can’t do certain things because they are

beneath me or I am too important to do them

or if I think I should

only do certain things because I am important, that is a good

indicator I have become

proud. God wants me to walk in everything He has for me

but pride will destroy that very quickly!

 

Let us be like the tax collector. He remained small in his own eyes

and because of that the Bible says he went home justified!

 

My desire and prayer is that I walk in true humility, that

I stay small in my own eyes for the rest of my life!

Stay small in your own eyes!

God bless friends……

 

photo credit: google images

 

Rolain

How to make your life count……

 

Do you want to stand out? Then step down.

Be a servant. If you pull yourself up, you’ll

get the wind knocked out of you.

But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life

will count for plenty.

Matthew 23:11-12 (MSG)

 

I really love this. To stand out in the world, we do crazy

things to get people’s attention. The world teaches us to

push whoever is in our way, we are taught that the other

person doesn’t matter, we are taught to tear down anyone

who is better than us, steal, cheat and a whole host of other

things must be implemented if we are to stand out but that

is just not true!

 

To stand out we must be willing to step down and …….

BE A SERVANT!!

 

Standing out is about putting others first. It is about sacrificing

what you want to help someone else. It is about serving others.

God will make a way for you when you truly stand out!

Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and yet He came to

serve. He didn’t force people to worship Him but instead He came

to serve. He didn’t seek the limelight. Standing out requires

humbleness. There is no way you can truly stand out if you

are proud.

 

The true heart of a believer always wants to serve.

The limelight is not the most important thing in his or her life.

Pleasing God is the most important thing.

Will you truly stand out for God today?

 

photo credit: google images

 

Rolain

The arrogance of man….

And Saul built an altar to the Lord;

It was the first altar he built to the

Lord.  1 Samuel 14:35

 

Saul built an altar to God. It was probably the only

altar he built to God.

Why he built the altar is not really clear but the point

is this, he built an altar.

Saul building that altar almost seems out of context.

In fact, it’s so out of Saul’s norm that the word says,

 

“It was the first altar he built to God.”

 

Building an altar meant on a very rare

occasion Saul remembered God, he honored God!

It was one of those very rare occasions where

Saul put God first, where Saul stopped to thank

God.

The altar that Saul built tells us a lot about where

his relationship with God was. He didn’t build altars

which meant something.

 

On the other hand let’s look at David.

Building an altar wasn’t out of context for him.

He built countless altars to God. That also said

something about his relationship with God.

David was a man after God’s heart. God was the

most important thing to him….

 

David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:1-5)

David kills Uriah (2 Samuel 11:14-23)

In both these situations David repented to God.

He confessed his sins and asked God to forgive him.

His heart broke because of what he did.

 

David counts his people (2 Samuel 24:1-9)

After counting the people the word says:

David felt ashamed after he counted the people

and said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in

what I did! Lord, I beg you, forgive me for my

sin. I have been very foolish.”

2 Samuel 24:10

 

Once again David humbled himself before God.

He confessed his sin to God quickly!

 

David wants to build a house for God.

(2 Samuel 7:1-18)

Even in peace David still sought the Lord.

He never forgot Him!

 

This is what I am trying to show you,

We need to be like David who built countless

altars to God. He loved God so much. Yes,

he sinned many times but he always turned 

to God. No matter how bad things got he

always turned to God and even in good times

he still turned to thank God!

 

Saul didn’t put God first a lot of the time.

Some would say he was proud. He believed

he could make it on his own. He was a skilled

warrior who was a “head taller” than everyone

else. (1 Samuel 9:2)

Whatever the case we must aim to be like

David who humbled himself before God.

He never relied on his own strength. Instead,

he relied on God and ALWAYS turned to

God, always……

The goal is not to be David but it’s to take

those things that made his relationship

with God stronger and apply them to

our lives.

The goal is not to discredit or attack

Saul but it’s to look at his life and

learn from his mistakes. We all sin

so attacking Saul would be foolish…

 

God wants us to put Him first….

Pride will always resist God.

We need to be humble and allow

God to lead us.

Rolain

 

 

What Does Godly Character Look Like??

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place under these circumstances: When His mother Mary had been promised in marriage to Joesph, before they came together, she was found to be pregnant [through the power] of the Holy Spirit. 
And her [promised] husband Joesph, being a just and upright man and not willing to expose her publicly and to shame and disgrace her, decided to repudiate and dismiss (divorce) her quietly and secretly.  Matt 1:18,19

As a man this passage really speaks to me  and I will show you why. This post is directed towards  single men but if you are married or if you are a single woman please feel free and read through as well. If you have any points you would like to add please feel free to share…….  🙂

The first thing to understand is,
– Mary under law was supposed to be stoned. Joesph was her promised husband but they were not married yet. She had not been with him yet. So the fact that she was pregnant meant she was unfaithful (we know what really happened) which meant death.
– Joesph did not know she was pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit so he could of lashed out at her because he was hurt. He could of embarrassed her and shamed her as payback. That is what any other man would of done in the same situation but he didn’t.

As young men preparing for marriage we can learn from Joesph. He was a man of character. He protected Mary even though it looked like she did him wrong.
We as men are called to protect. Don’t wait till marriage to learn, start now in your friendships with the opposite sex. Are you protecting the women in your life? You do that by your actions. Are you watching how you speak to them or are you watching your thoughts towards them? Are you encouraging them in the way of the Lord? These are some of the ways we can protect the women in our lives. I would just like to clarify something. The job of protection falls on the dad. You as a friend can protect her to some extent but it’s her family’s role. Let’s carry on….

– He was a man of integrity and character. In this time of singleness you need to build your character. Without character you cannot accomplish anything great. Allow God to build godly character in you.

– Joesph was a humble man. He didn’t allow pride to dictate how he responded to Mary.

-In the verse 20 we read how the angel of the Lord spoke to him about Mary. God was involved and that showed me that God is interested in who we are to marry. He is not just sitting and watching from afar, no. He is involved. Allow Him to come and take control of that area of your life. He wants to be involved!!!!

That is what I have to share for you men. I pray God will open your eyes to see the heart of Joesph as He did to me. I want to be like Joesph. A man who is humble and who protects and who trusts God.
I pray the same for you.

Rolain