The girl who beat me……!

 

This is not going to be an easy post to write but write it I must.

I love all things healthy. I love exercise,  eating healthy and so on

but in the last couple of months I had lost the vision. I stopped

going to gym and I stopped eating healthy. I just stopped. I can give

all the excuses in the world but that is all they will ever be,

excuses!

 

But that all changed last week when I started exercising again.

It was good to be back. On the day I started I saw a lady who

I exercise with.

Let me rephrase that, the lady I used to see every time I went

out to train. I would get up every morning

to exercise and I would see this lady go for a run. I have never

spoken to her in all of our exercising and we never crossed

paths. Anyway, on my first day of getting back, I saw her,

again. Like clock work she was about to go on her run……

At that moment a thought came to me;

 

And that is what makes her better than you.

That is why she will be fitter than you.

That is why she will win and achieve her goals.

 

Because she has stayed consistent!!

 

And I was like, “ouch”!!

She has been disciplined to keep up her routine on a daily

basis. When I do exercise I hit it hard, very hard but that

doesn’t matter because I am not consistent!

I haven’t stuck to it, haven’t done the things that need to be done

on a daily basis!

 

Isn’t that how life is though? The disciplined people, the people

who don’t give up, who push through no matter how painful

it is, those are the people who win.

A disciplined person will win over the undisciplined person

any day. The focused and diligent person can have anything

they want.

 

I was so challenged by her dedication and persistence!

I want to be disciplined. I can have all the

passion in the world but it will come to nothing if I am not

motivated, disciplined. I won’t get it right all the time but

I need to keep on pushing!

It was hard writing this. It’s never easy writing about

your own weaknesses but I know I have a chance. I can make a

decision to learn from her or choose to ignore what I saw.

I can change and AM changing! The person I am today can be

and will be different tomorrow. As long as the Holy Spirit is in me

I have a chance and so it is with you. There may be things you

don’t like about yourself but there is hope. Ask for God’s help.

The process is not easy but it’s worth it……

 

And that is how I was beaten by a girl!  🙂

 

image credit: google images

 

Rolain

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will you wait….???

 

Be strong and let your heart take courage,

all you who wait for and hope for and expect

the Lord!

Psalm 31:24

 

If you think waiting on God is a walk in the

park think again……

If you have really waited on God you will

know the truth. It’s a fight to wait.

Psalm 31 captures it perfectly.

Waiting is not for the faint of heart.

The word says take courage!

 

There have been things I have been waiting

on God for. I have been waiting for months

and years! It’s been such a test. But do I regret

the wait? Not on your life. The waiting was needed.

It played an important part in my growth as a son

of God and it still does…..!

You see, waiting reveals where you are really

at with God. It reveals your heart.

 

The Israelites saw that they were in trouble.

They felt trapped. They ran away to hide in

caves and cracks in the rock. They hid among

the rocks, in wells, and in other holes in the

ground.

Some Hebrews even went across the Jordan

river to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was

still at Gilgal. All the men in his army were

shaking in fear.

Samuel said he would meet Saul at Gilgal.

Saul waited there seven days. But Samuel

had not yet come to Gilgal, and the soilders

began to leave Saul. So Saul said, “Bring

me the burnt offerings and the fellowship

offerings.” Then Saul offered the burnt

offering.

As soon as Saul finished offering that sacrifice,

Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet him.

Samuel asked, “What have you done?”

1 Samuel 13:6-11

 

There is such an important lesson in this story.

Waiting is its own kind of fire. The offering of the

burnt offering was reserved for the priest but

Saul even though was king did it.

God has a reason for making us wait and even

though we don’t understand we must wait. I

have been waiting for a long time for a lot

of things. It has been hard I must admit but I

see it’s what I must do.

God is in control even though it’s hard to see

at times.

 

If you are waiting for God, be strong. It takes a

strong person to wait on the Lord.

Let your heart take courage. The enemy wants us

to panic and take matters in our own hands.

Waiting is one of the greatest acts of trust we can

perform to God.

Impatience shows God our lack of trust in Him.

God’s promise to you may take weeks, months or

years but wait!! He can be trusted…….

He is working in the waiting! Some of His most

important work happens in the waiting so don’t

despise it.

Don’t lose heart….

You are on His heart….

He has not forgotten about you…..

He is true to His word…..

Amen

 

Rolain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nine months later…….

When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she grieved for her husband. When the time

of mourning was over, David sent someone to bring her to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. 

But God was not at all pleased with what David had done, 

1 Samuel 12:26, 27

We all know what happened here. David slept with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife but to cover it up he got Uriah

who was a faithful solider to him killed! Bathsheba may not have known what David did but the point is she became the king’s wife. She may not have had a say in any of this either. A king was free to do whatever he wanted in those days.

When I read this story a thought came to me. Between Uriah being killed to Bathsheba giving birth to a son was

at least nine months. I don’t know how long the time of mourning was but all we know is it was at least nine months

when all this took place. David was in sin for nine months! He knew taking someone’s wife was sin. He knew murder

was a sin. David loved God. He had an intimate relationship with Him but David was blinded in this season. This post is

not about how bad David was. We are all sinners. David sinned but so do we.

What I want to show you though is how as sinners sin can destroy us. During this ‘nine months’ we hear nothing.

There is no Psalm that we read during that period! We don’t hear of David’s exploits during that time. Nothing was recorded during that time. David was in sin and he didn’t even know it!

If that could happen to David, a man after God’s heart then surely it could happen to us. And please note, David

didn’t snap out of it by himself. He didn’t realize what he was doing by himself. God intervened!!!! If God did not intervene who knows how long it would of gone on for?

And this is what this post is about……God intervened!

God did not leave David in his sin. He saved him. By God’s grace David was disciplined and forgiven! That is good news for us indeed.

We will do crazy things and left to our own we will not win, BUT……But God does not leave us to ourselves. He is watching over us.

He has extended His grace and mercy to us! We serve a really great God! He sent His son to die for us!

I was so encouraged when I got that revelation. God is for me and no matter how crazy it gets God will help me. I hope it’s an encouragement to you as well.

Generous in love – God, give grace! 

Huge in mercy – wipe out my bad record.

Scrub away my guilt, 

soak out my sins in Your laundry.

I know how bad I’ve been; 

my sins staring me down. 

Psalm 51:1-3

 

But that is not the end of the story. God turned this dark and terrible situation for good.

David went and comforted his wife Bathsheba. And when he slept with her, they conceived a son. When the son was born they

named him Solomon. God had a special love for him and sent word by Nathan the prophet that God wanted him named Jedidiah (God’s beloved).

2 Samuel 12:24, 25

Solomon would not have been born if David and Bathsheba never met. I am not saying what David did was right. He sinned! What I am trying to say though is God turned a bad thing into something wonderful. And He will do the same thing for us. We may think our sin is too much and God cannot use us but that is not true. God has forgiven you and will turn what the enemy meant for death into life…..

He has amazing things for you despite what you have done. Sin does not define who you are anymore, God’s grace does. He is a truly amazing God!!!

Rolain

 

 

The key to breakthrough is……

We need prayer in our lives. Prayer is the key to the breakthrough we are

seeking in our lives. But how do we pray for the breakthrough?

Luke 11 has the answer.

“Here’s what I am saying:

 

Ask and you’ll get;

 

Seek and you’ll find;

 

Knock and the door will open. 

 

Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. 

 

This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. 

Luke 11:9

It is that simple, actually too simple! But this is the thing. I have

had things I have asked for and sought which I still don’t have.

There are some things I have been waiting for weeks, months and years.

Are there things you have been praying for that you are still waiting for from God?

Has He forgotten or simply just ignored those requests? No!

The answer is in the story He tells before hand…..

“Then He said, “Imagine what would happen if you went to a friend in the middle of

the night and said, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread. An old friend travelling through

just showed up, and I don’t have a thing on hand. 

The friend answers from his bed, don’t bother me. The door’s locked; my 

children are all down for the night; I can’t get up to give you anything. 

But let me tell you, even if he won’t get up because he’s a friend, if you stand your 

ground, knocking and waking all the neighbours, he’ll finally get up and get you whatever you need. 

Luke 11:5-8

There is a principle in this story that I totally believe in and apply. A principle that keeps me asking and stops me from giving up. The principle is this, Friendship is not enough at

 times when it comes to prayer,

“But let me tell you, even if he won’t get up because he’s a friend….“

We have a relationship with God but that doesn’t mean He will hear us all the time. Sometimes we will need to be persistent! The friend gave the bread because of the persistence of the other friend!

There is a saying I have, Persistence will get you what friendship can’t. I even wrote a post about it some time ago. I can’t get into it right now but all you need to know is,

to get breakthrough you need to persist. Friendship will help at times but at other times we need something more.

The point is this. Be specific when you come to God in prayer. Be very clear. Ask, seek

and you will find. Then persist. If something doesn’t come through keep knocking,

keep seeking, and you will find! God is not trying to hide things from you. He has so

much in store for you. God bless.

Rolain.