God is Bigger Than Our Mistakes

Don’t let the devil lie to you that your sins are too much for God to handle.
Don’t let him tell you that you are beyond saving.
It’s not true.

God is bigger and greater than your biggest sins.

“Some were fools; they rebelled and suffered for their sins.
They couldn’t stand the thought of food, and they were knocking on death’s door.
“Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He sent out his word and healed them, snatching them from the door of death.”

Psalms 107:17-20 NLT

We will sin and fall, that’s a definite but there is grace, mercy and forgiveness available to us. God is ready to forgive us and all we need to do is go ask Him.

When his people cried to Him, He saved them from their distresses even though they were the cause of the pain they experienced, even when they made the mistakes.

The other thing the devil will try to lie to you about is your past. He will try to tell you that there is no hope for you and God is not going to forgive your past but that too is a lie. He will use condemnation, guilt and shame to try to stop you.

But the Word of God is very clear in Romans 8:1 when it says,

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”

God is greater than the sins you have committed.
Grace, mercy and a second chance are available to you today so receive it.

Bless you friends!

Rolain

Redeem The Day

Today is a gift from God.

And I am not talking about the date of today. But I am talking about “TODAY”

Whenever you read this that will be your today and it has significance.

It’s a second chance to do things right. It’s an opportunity to try again where you have failed.

It’s an opportunity to wipe the slate clean.

You may have messed up yesterday but today you have another chance to do things

differently.

Read what 2 Corinthians 6: 2 has to say about the importance of “today”

“For He says:

“In an acceptable time I have heard you,

And in the day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day

of salvation.”

In other translations it says, today is the day of salvation.

Today is the day of God’s favor and

Today is the day of salvation

Don’t allow yesterday’s mistakes and sins hold you back today.

Repent and allow God to speak to you anew today.

And He is speaking.

“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts.”

Hebrews 4:7

If you need forgiveness, today is the day to receive it.

If you need a second chance, today is the day.

Today is a gift from God.

Receive what He has for you today.

Bless you friends

Rolain

Don’t Give In To Fear.

One of the enemy’s main goals is to put you and keep you in fear.

He wants you bound and paralyzed by it and he wants you to think you

are all alone. But that’s not true. You are not alone. God is with you.

Recently I was reading the story of Nehemiah and I saw something interesting in his story.

As he was doing the work God had called him to do, which was to build the walls of

Jerusalem, he had opposition. There were men who didn’t want him to succeed and they

used fear to try to stop him. Let’s look at a few scriptures.

“For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work,

that it be not done.

Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.”

Nehemiah 6:9

“Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they

might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.”

Nehemiah 6:13

“Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him.

And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.”

Nehemiah 6:19

As you can see, Nehemiah’s enemies were using fear to try to stop him.

But Nehemiah did not let it stop him. Instead, he put his trust in the

Lord to help him.

I share his story to show you that the enemy is still using the same strategy today.

He is using fear as a weapon against you to try to weaken your hands or to get

you to do something rashly or to doubt God and so much more.

But like Nehemiah you must bring your fears to the Lord.

Make a decision to choose trust in God over fear no matter how intense it is.

Because at the end of the day you have nothing to fear because God is with you.

He is on your side and He will never let you down.

God bless you friends!

Have a great weekend.

Rolain

No Matter How Bad Things Get, God Is With You.

I was having one of “those days” a few days ago.

You know, those days your faith is low and things don’t seem to be

happening. My prayers didn’t seem to be getting answered and for a

little bit, I thought God didn’t care. I actually thought He was ignoring me!

But later that day, the answer to my prayer came and God proved once again,

He can be trusted. I don’t like it when I doubt God and when I do it makes me

wonder. But I guess that’s part of the downside of being human. We are not

perfect and we make mistakes and that’s why we need a Savior, Jesus.

As I journaled the events of the day I penned these words, which are the title

of this blog post,

“No matter how bad things get, God is with me”

And it’s true. You may be having a bad day but I want to encourage you with this

truth. In the bible we see this truth in action.

In Luke 7:12-16 we see Jesus arriving to a city called Nain and there is a funeral procession

happening. A woman has lost her only son and she is going to bury him. Things are

really bad for her but at that moment, she meets Jesus. I don’t believe it was an accident

Jesus being there. I believe He went there FOR her. He wanted to help her at her lowest point.

And He did just that. He raised her son from the dead and gave him back to her.

When things were at their worst for the woman, Jesus stepped in and turned things

around for her.

So even when your hope and faith fail, remember, Jesus doesn’t fail.

He knows what you are going through and there is no problem you go through, that

God doesn’t see. Trust in Him no matter what happens.

Bless you friends!

Rolain

The truth about failure

 

How do we respond to failure?

What kind of mindset do we adopt after we fail?

How we respond and the kind of mindset we should have when failure comes is so important

if we are going to grow and learn.

There is a train of thought out there that goes along the lines of, failing makes you a failure.

But is that true? Do our failures make us failures?

No it is not true. As long as we live on this earth we will have to deal with failure,

we will make mistakes, but those things do not need to dictate who we are as people or

what we are going to accomplish.

 

One of the most important questions we need to ask is, how does Jesus see us even though we

fail and make mistakes?

For the answer to that question we are going to look at Peter.

As you know he was a disciple of the Lord and loved him much. But one day before Jesus was

to be crucified, Peter was told he would deny the Lord.

Peter obviously denied it and declared his devotion and that he was ready to die with the Lord.

But as we all know Peter denied the Lord. He messed up big time. He failed Jesus and it seemed

like all was lost. How can anyone bounce back from that?

Imagine the headline in the newspapers the next day,

PETER DENIES JESUS!!

 

But let’s focus our attention on an interesting passage of scripture,

 

“Simon, Simon, satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you,

Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

Luke 22:31

 

Jesus knew Peter would deny Him!

But instead of abandoning him or washing His hands of him, Jesus prayed for him and encouraged him.

Peter’s failure did not change the way Jesus saw him. It did not change the Lord’s plans for his life.

And this is important for us to understand. Even when you fail and make mistakes the Lord is with you.

He hasn’t abandoned or disowned you. Failure doesn’t mean the end of you.

It wasn’t the end of Peter.

 

It seemed like Peter’s story was over when he failed but we all know how powerfully he was used

in the creation of the early church. He was instrumental in the building of it.

And that’s how good the Lord is. Don’t allow your failures and mistakes to stop you in your tracks.

We are to grow and learn from our failures but never to stop and die.

Jesus has amazing things in store for you in the midst of failures. So because you are a son and daughter

of God you are not a failure but a victor and that’s the best news! 

 

On one last note, if you would like to get a copy of my devotional, click here. 

Blessings to you friends!

 

Rolain

 

He didn’t condemn her…

“This they said to try (test) Him, hoping they might find a charge on which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger. However, when they persisted with their question, He raised Himself up and said, Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

‭‭John‬ ‭8:6-7‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

 

 

Jesus was the only One without sin in that group. He could have thrown the first stone and be totally justified but He didn’t.

He didn’t condemn the woman but in the eyes of the people she was. Instead of condemnation He extended grace to her.

 

 

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬

 

 

You don’t have to go on living with condemnation. Get rid of condemning thoughts at all costs. Jesus doesn’t condemn you so why let other people condemn you?

Condemnation from people is tough but self condemnation is just as bad if not worse.

Stop passing sentence on your self because of the mistakes you have made. Jesus forgave you, so you can forgive yourself.

Instead of condemnation, the Lord has extended grace to you. Take it.

The enemy condemns. He wants to see you depressed and ashamed. He wants to see you buried in guilt, unable to look yourself in the mirror.

He is the accuser and wants you buried.

 

 

“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.

Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.””

‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭3:1, 3-4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

 

 

Approach the throne of grace with your condemnation and lay it at Jesus’ feet. Let Him replace it with love and grace.

He wants to free you of condemnation. Today is the day of deliverance.

Bless you friends

Rolain

His faithfulness will not stop.

“It is true that some Jews were not faithful to God. 

But will that stop God from doing what He promised? No! 

God will continue to be true even when every person is false.” 

 

We mess up, we make mistakes, we rebel and disobey at times but those things won’t stop

God from doing what He promised us. Our failures and short-comings are not the things that

will stop God from doing the miraculous in us and through us. He knows we are not perfect.

He knows He is the only one who is faithful and true and He doesn’t expect us to be perfect.

Let’s stop holding up our weaknesses as a reason for not being used. God will use us despite our

short-comings.  Nothing can stop His faithfulness towards His people. Not even sin!

 

I am not saying we should ignore the sin in our lives and just do what we want but I am saying

we should not think God won’t use us because we are broken and imperfect.

He will perform every good thing He promised us and that should give us joy.

He loves and cares for us in a way we can’t even begin to comprehend. Trust Him,

rely on His faithfulness!

Bless you, friends…

 

Rolain

He takes the painful things in our lives and makes them beautiful…….

*I was reminded of something I wrote some time back and that is why I am writing this post today.

This post is dedicated to everyone who has made mistakes and think God has turned His back 

on them. As you will read, that is not true. He loves you and will do all He can to get you back 

on track.*

 

“And when the morning was past, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became 

his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.” 

2 Samuel 11:27

 

This was one of David’s darkest periods of his life. He slept with Bathsheba and got her husband killed.

To make things worse he was blind to his sin. He never repented, he never confessed his sin. Somewhere,

somehow his heart became hardened. I want to stop here for a bit.

 

We all make mistakes, we all mess up in life. What we need to pray for is for the Lord to correct, and to intervene

like He did for David. He could have left him in his sin but He didn’t. He confronted him about what he

did and delivered him. Because He loved David, the Lord sent Nathan.

The Lord knew David wasn’t going to snap out of sin on his own so in His mercy and grace He stepped in.

We need YAH to step in for us always. We can’t fight sin on our own. We need Him.

 

David messed up bad but the Lord didn’t abandon him. He was patient with him even when he was blinded.

He was blinded for nine months but the Lord never left. When the baby was born the Lord sent Nathan.

We need His mercy and grace more than we know. We will fall, we will make mistakes but the Lord

will not abandon us when we do. He will pick us up, He will confront us and He will deliver us.

 

But the biggest thing we need to overcome is thinking the Lord’s plan for our life, His goodness, and His

mercy stops when we mess up.

That’s not true. There is hope. Let me show you why I think so,

 

“David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went to her and lay with her; and she bore a son and she 

called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved [the child]. 

He sent [a message] by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and [Nathan] called the boy’s [special]

name Jedidiah [beloved of the Lord], because the Lord [loved the child].”

2 Samuel 12:24, 25

 

Out of the horrible mess David was in, the Lord turned it into something beautiful. And that’s how

good Yeshua is. David’s life was not over. The Lord didn’t take back all the amazing things He promised

him. I think of David’s other wives, Abigail to be precise. She was amazing. Surely YAH could have used

her to show David how great, and amazing He was?? He didn’t. Instead, He took a

horrible moment, a terrible situation in David’s life and turned it around into something beautiful.

 

There is a lesson here for all of us. The Lord can take what’s painful, what’s horrible and turn it into

something beautiful. David could not take the glory for what happened. All glory went to YAH.

It was very clear He had performed a miracle in His life.

Don’t throw in the towel today. You may be in distress, guilty, condemned because of something

you have done but the Lord can turn it around. He has not abandoned you friend. He has not

turned His back on you. And that is why He is our God!

No matter how dark your past has been, He can and will light it up. There is nothing too hard for

the Lord. Put all your hope in Him. Call out to Him. Don’t stay silent.

With that have a great weekend friends….

Blessings to you.

 

Rolain

 

 

He leads us on purpose……

“Within your heart you can make plans for your future, but the Lord chooses the steps 

you take to get there.”

Proverbs 16:9

There is one fact we can’t deny, the Lord is directing our every step. I look at where I am and where

I have been and can clearly see the Lord’s hand in where I am now. I could have never in a thousand

years planned where I am now. I shudder to think where I would be today if I was left alone to direct

my own steps.

But I can also see countless times I fought, scratched, shouted to go the way I thought was right,

because the Lord’s way didn’t seem to be the best, the times I thought He made a grave mistake.

At the time it didn’t make sense, it was confusing and frustrating but the Lord kept urging me to trust

Him even when I didn’t understand what He was doing. We can trust His leading.

Let’s look at the word for a bit and go deeper into a story that shows us how the Lord leads our steps.

From the time of Yeshua’s birth to His death and resurrection, the good news was only preached to the

Jews. After His death his followers reached out to His chosen people, the Jews. No one saw the bigger

plan. Yeshua had died for everyone and not just the Jews so He needed someone – Peter.

“Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.”

Acts 9:32

This was important because in Lydda, Peter healed a man who was paralyzed and was bedridden for 8 years.

When he healed the man the word tells us everyone in Lydda and Sharon  turned to the Lord (Acts 9:35)

Peter being in Lydda was important because in a nearby town of Joppa a woman named Dorcas who was well

known by the community died. The disciples in Joppa heard Peter was in Lydda and since it was so close

they sent for him. (Acts 9:38)

Side note: Peter may have had no idea why what was happening was happening but the Lord did. There was

something much bigger going on that Peter wasn’t aware of. But as the Lord directed Him, he followed obediently. 

Let’s move on.

Peter arrived in Joppa and brought Dorcas back to life. (Acts 9:40) which was amazing. Peter may have thought

that was why he had come to Joppa which was partly true but there was more. Something much bigger,

something that would impact the world. It’s while Peter was in Joppa that we hear of Cornelius the Roman

centurion who was visited by an angel and was commanded to send for Peter.

Peter goes without reservations and sees the “Gentiles” receive the Holy Spirit like the Jews!

The way of salvation was now officially opened to the “Gentiles” and Peter was instrumental in that happening.

He was obedient to the the Lord’s leading. He never complained or grumbled. He trusted!

Don’t take Lord’s leading lightly. You are where you are for a reason. Stay humble, be obedient, trust

that He knows what He is doing. He sees the bigger picture and we don’t but that’s okay because He has

our best interests at heart. We just need to trust Him and know He would never led us to destruction.

There is a purpose in His leading, there is love in His nudging.

Bless you friends.

Rolain

Run to Him always……

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

“Be glad that you are His. 

Let those who ask the Lord for help be happy

Depend on the Lord and His strength. 

Always go to Him for help. “

Psalm 105:3, 4 (ICB)

This is something so easy to do but do we always do it?

Do we go to the Lord for help ALL the time?

I don’t. I catch myself at times striving in my own strength, worrying, fretting, and panicking.

I forget to go to Him always.

But the word is clear, “Always go to Him for help”

Don’t hesitate, ask Him for help. Even if you made the mistake, the wrong decision, go to Him

for help. He is our strength and able to help us in every situation we going through no matter

how difficult and complex.

“Some sat in gloom and darkness.

They were prisoners suffering in chains.

They had turned against the words of God.

They had refused the advice of God Most High.

So he broke their pride by hard work.

They stumbled, and no one helped.

In their misery they cried out to the Lord.

And he saved them from their troubles.

He brought them out of their gloom and darkness.

He broke their chains.”

Psalm 107

Psalm 107 is one of my favorite chapters in the bible. It shows us how merciful YAH is and

in the midst of our weaknesses and failings He extends grace to us and helps us.

Yes, we are weak, and yes we are going to make mistakes but don’t let guilt and condemnation

stop you from asking Him for help. The enemy is behind that. He wants you to keep silent.

He doesn’t want to see you delivered, freed and helped.

ACT ON IT  – The action point is simple today: Think about areas in your life you haven’t asked YAH for help

and cry out to Him. Ask Him for help right now!

Make sure you write down the things that come to mind so you can have a record of how YAH helped

you in difficult times.

If you can’t go to Him for help because you feel guilty and condemned then meditate on the following two

scriptures (there are so many more)

1. Romans 8:1

2. Psalm 103:8-12

And that is all I have to share with you today. He is our Helper!

Bless you friends.

Rolain