When Will The Losing Stop?

At times it seems like the devil is winning over us. It seems like he has the upper hand in various

Situations and circumstances we are going through. And we seem to be powerless and we can’t see

The end of the tunnel and are hopeless. We keep losing over and over again.

But we must not believe the lies the enemy is trying to make us believe because he has been defeated.

When Jesus rose from the dead He defeated the devil once and for all. He was victorious over him.

“Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and

True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war.”

Revelation 19:11

In this verse we see Jesus riding on the white horse and He is named Faithful and True.

I want to mention something about the white horse. The color white was associated with victory so

In the old days kings, captains and generals rode on white horses.

But in this verse we see Jesus the victorious King riding on a white horse.

And because of what Jesus did on the cross we too have victory. We can walk in the same victory He

Walks in.

“And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.”

Revelation 19:14

Firstly we read of Jesus riding on a white horse and in verse fourteen we read that the army behind him

Were clothed in white and were riding white horses too. Jesus didn’t keep His victory to Himself.

His victory was passed on to the army behind Him. They walked in the same victory He had. 

Because of the victory Jesus obtained on the cross, we too have the same victory. Because He was

Victorious we too are victorious.

We don’t have to go on believing that loss is all we will ever know. We don’t have to believe that we

Have no chance against the enemy. We will be victorious over the enemy. We will win over the giants

Who seem to be winning over us today. Our portion is victory!

And we are reminded even more of this truth this weekend when we celebrate the death and

Resurrection of Jesus. This is a strong day for us. When Jesus died and was in the tomb, the devil

Thought he had won. He was having his own party BUT…

That was not the end of the story because Jesus rose from the dead and defeated the devil!

His grip over us was broken once and for all.

Jesus won it all for us. We were free! We ARE free because of what He did.

So as we remember and celebrate what He did for us this weekend, we can call on Him for help

against the enemy who seems to be winning now. That’s not the whole story.

Victory is our portion because of what Jesus did on the cross.

Happy Easter friends!

Rolain  

The Victory We Are A Part Of – An Easter Story!

Happy Easter to you all.

I hope you are having a great time celebrating the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is a strong day for us as Christians, a day of power for sure. I am so excited about this weekend because of what it represents. This is what makes the Gospel the Gospel if you know what I mean. If Jesus never died and rose again we wouldn’t be here and Christianity would be nullified. The power of our faith is based on the death and resurrection of Jesus. Paul speaks about this in 1 Corinthians 15:13 so I encourage you to go and read that passage of scripture.

But I want to focus on another story in this post.

“Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”

Mark 15:37

As we all know Jesus died on the cross. And for a brief moment the devil thought he had won. He thought he had victory over Jesus. And for a brief moment Jesus’ followers lost too. But that was not the end of the story…

“The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead!”

Luke 24:5, 6

Jesus rose from the dead! He conquered the devil. He won the war.

He was victorious and because of what he did we too have that same victory. And that’s why this weekend is so powerful, so important. There is a grace for us if we will only see. We need to ask the Lord for his help because he was victorious for us.

So if you are in a dark place today, and it seems like the enemy is too strong and the giants are too many I want you to know that there is victory available to you. The devil does not have the last say in your story. Jesus does! He has the last say and it is good and it is final. His Word cannot be overturned by the devil.

When the curtain in the temple tore into two, our access to God was now cleared of all obstacles, We could now go to him anytime. We now have a direct line of communication to the Creator of the Universe, to the Lord of Armies.

So as you can see, a lot of important things happened that day when Jesus rose from the dead and that is why this is such a strong day for you and me. As I come to the end of this post I want to encourage you to reflect on what Jesus did on the cross and how that affects your life. I read a definition of what it means to be a Christian that challenged me recently that goes,

A Christian is someone who believes in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ and lives in light of the implications of that event

I love that and I am so challenged.

With that I have come to the end of the post.

Have a great and blessed weekend friends.

Bless you!

The Illusion Of Strength

“The king is not saved by his great army;

a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.

The war horse is a false hope for salvation,

and by its great might it cannot rescue.”

Psalm 33:16, 17

There is a tendency at times to try to go through life on our own. We try to show God we

got everything under control. We think He is impressed with our show of power, intelligence

and wit so we “power through” life when we should be looking to Him for strength.

You carry the weight of the world on your shoulders and think it’s cool but it’s not.

In the world, showing how strong, independent, powerful you are is celebrated. We see this

in terms like “self made man or woman” But it’s not so in God’s kingdom.

He wants you to trust Him. He wants you to give up control and let Him take the steering wheel.

Surrender to Him in faith. Let Him do the heavy lifting.

I was working on a project recently and was getting frustrated and overwhelmed. As I stopped

to see what was going on I realized I was going at it in my strength. I never asked God for help.

I repented and asked Him to help me. I stopped trying to figure things out on my own and started

praying more and seeking His guidance.

He wants us to rely on His strength, not our strength.

Turn to Him for help always.

“He takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse or in human might. No, the Lord’s delight is in those

who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love.”

Psalm 147:10, 11

Bless you friends

Rolain

How To Talk To “Giants”

How do you speak to the giants that come against you?

As I read the Bible this week there was a story that made me think about that.

There is a way we are meant to speak to giants. We are not supposed to

cower away in fear or terror because God is our Protector.

He is so much stronger than the giants we face

I was reading the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:45-47 and there

were a few things that stuck out to me that I would like to share about how we

should speak to giants.

• David didn’t talk to Goliath about his strength. He spoke about God’s strength and power.
• David knew the battle wasn’t his but the Lord’s. He knew that the God who delivered him from lion and the bear would deliver him from Goliath.
• David never negotiated or pleaded with Goliath. He TOLD him what was going to happen to him.
• Because David had faith in God, he knew he was going to win.

We don’t have to let giants determine what happens to us.

Our faith in God will make us see giants differently and will make us talk differently because that’s what

happened to David. He didn’t run away in terror when he saw Goliath, he defeated him and told him

he was going to kill him.

Keep trusting the Lord and don’t let go. Let your faith be the driving force behind the words and actions

you speak and take against the giants that come against you.

And before I go I have some exciting news.

If you like what I do here and would like to support me financially, you can now do so.

With a coffee or coffees you can support on Buy Me A Coffee.

You can also become a member if you really enjoy what I do.

Click here.

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

Bless you friends

Rolain

2020: Unfazed – Part 1

I think you can agree with me that this has been a crazy year. It’s been intense, difficult, challenging,

hectic and so much more. But in the midst of the craziness, something beautiful has been emphasized

and that beautiful thing is JESUS.

His grace, power, goodness, and faithfulness have shone through the darkness and if He wasn’t with

me in this season I can confidently say I wouldn’t be here today. It’s only by His grace that I have got so

far.

 

So in this new series simply titled “2020” I take some time to stop and look back at all the amazing things

God has done in the hope to encourage you because as 2021 fast approaches we need to go into it full

of hope, and full of faith.

And we do that by remembering His blessings and how good He has been to us.

 

We also need to settle something in our hearts,

There is nothing that can faze the Lord

There is nothing that can catch Him by surprise and

There is nothing that can limit Him

 

No matter what the enemy throws His way, it is nothing to Him.

So as Covid-19 has wrecked havoc in the world we need to know and be reminded that

God is stronger and greater than Covid-19. He is not limited by it and it hasn’t cast a spanner

in His plans. God is working more in this time and His plans for us are very much alive in this

crazy season and even though we may have no idea what’s in store next year we know that God

is with us and is protecting us and watching over us.

 

No weapon formed against us will prosper. 

 

As I conclude I want to encourage you to not limit the Lord today. Keep dreaming, keep praying

and keep taking steps of faith in all that He has shown you. Don’t let the circumstances we are in

stop you from moving. Don’t let what’s happening in the world fill you with fear.

Be expectant for what God has in store for you. Look forward in hope because God is faithful.

Bring your fears, worries and anxieties for 2021 to Him.

He is your strong tower of refuge!

 

Blessings to you friends!

 

Rolain

When faced with the impossible…

“Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘I am too old to have a baby? 

Is anything too hard for the Lord? 

No! I will return to you at the right time a year from now. And Sarah will have a son.” 

Genesis 18:13, 14

 

Is anything too hard for the Lord? 

 

The Lord was trying to show Sarah that her seemly “impossible” situation was not impossible for Him.

It really was impossible in human standards but not to God. He is bigger than anything we deem “impossible”.

What are you facing right now that seems “impossible”?

 

I am facing an “impossible” situation as well in this season. There doesn’t seem to be an answer to the

situation I am faced with. There is an option of just giving in to fear and hopelessness but this word

spoke to me.

 

Is anything too hard for the Lord? 

 

I know God is challenging me to look to Him and trust. He has been speaking to me through that

verse. There is absolutely nothing in this world that is too big for Him to handle.

Where we make the mistake is trying to go on by ourselves in our own strength but that

won’t work. We will always fail when we try to do it in our own strength.

 

This is not a new struggle. I think of Moses who doubted God’s power and capacity. The Lord had

to remind Him how big He really was.

 

 “The Lord said to Moses, 

Has the Lord’s hand (His ability and power) become short (thwarted and inadequate)?

You shall see now whether My word shall come to pass for you or not.” 

Numbers 11:23

 

Your “impossible” situation may seem like a Mount Everest standing in your way but remember

there is nothing too big for God to handle.

 

 

Bring your fears, your anxiety, and your worries to Him. Put all your hope in Him.

There is nothing too hard for Him!

 

Bless you, friends…

 

Rolain

The Lord gave him a picture…..

“Then God led Abram outside. God said, “Look at the sky. There are so many stars

you cannot count them. And your descendants will be too many to count.”

Abram believed the Lord. And the Lord accepted Abram’s faith and that faith made

him right with God.

  

Genesis 15:5, 6

The Lord led Abram outside and gave him a picture of his life and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

But as I look back at my life I see how I allowed people to give me a picture. The enemy was in the mix

as well and did everything in his power to enforce the picture he had given me

because I didn’t know better. It took years to break the negative picture I had been

given and thanks to God the healing is still ongoing.

The Lord has a picture for you too. The picture is amazing and glorious but there is so much opposition

from the enemy. he doesn’t want you to walk in the plan God has for your life because that’s what the picture

is about. It’s about where God wants to take you. It’s about what He has in store for you.

But the enemy uses fear, abuse, manipulation and a whole lot of other things to blind you to God’s picture.

Don’t accept the enemy’s pictures. They are all lies.

his pictures get you depressed, fearful, anxious, greedy, and weak.

his pictures are all void of goodness, peace, love, fulfillment, faith, joy and every other good thing

God is.

Reject them at every turn. But you need help. You need the Lord’s help.

The good news is this, the picture you have now can be changed. That’s what happened to me.

My picture was really bad but the Lord came and changed it. He replaced the dark, hopeless,

fearful picture and replaced it with His life-giving, fresh, new, energizing picture!

And that’s what He does for us as His children.

As I end I will leave you with a scripture that sums up what I have been talking about,

“Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, 

which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand).”

Jeremiah 33:3

Blessings to you, friends

Rolain

He wants to use you….His power is available

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel – not with wisdom and eloquence, lest 

the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”

1 Corinthians 1:17

 

There is a power available to us, a power far greater than we have ever imagined.

When Christ died on the cross and rose again we were delivered.

We no longer had to rely on our own strength. We were empowered by what happened on the

Cross.

But let me tell you, I am convicted reading this because I don’t think I have been using this power enough.

I try at times to use my own strength, to get the focus on me but that’s not what Christ intended.

He is my strength, He is the reason I can do stuff.

 

The men and women of old did mighty acts not because they were amazing on their own but because

they accessed the power of YAH. They were very clear about who the “power” was.

 

I look now at my life and see a severe deficiency. I am not using the power of Christ to its limit.

When I teach I could be relying on the the Holy Spirit to lead, guide and use me more. I don’t ever want to

be okay with using my own eloquence, wit, cleverness and many other things to get by.

There is only one thing that touches and changes the heart of a man/woman and that is the Spirit of God.

I am just a vessel, not the power!

 

And here lies the problem, whenever I think I am the power and not the vessel I empty the Cross of Christ

of its power. When I stand in front of the kids I teach on Sunday or wave a flag for worship and think “it’s me”

I empty the Cross of Christ of its power.

 

The Lord wants to use us to do some incredible things but they can only be done when we lean on His

power, His ability, His strength.

We are called to minister in His power and not our own. I hope you have been challenged by the

word you have read today. To touch people, to do what Christ has called us to do we need His power.

We can’t do it on our own steam.

 

Bless you friends……

 

Rolain

 

 

The inside job!

 

“So observe and practice all they tell you; but do not do

what they do, for they preach, but do not practice. “

Matthew 23:3

 

Jesus was speaking to the multitudes and his disciples about the

Pharisees. The things they did were so crazy.

 

“Now Jesus turned to address His disciples, along with the

crowd that had gathered with them.

The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in

God’s law. You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on

Moses. But be careful about following them.

They talk a good line, but they don’t live it. They don’t take it

into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It’s all

spit-and-polish veneer.

 

Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer

shawls one day and flowery prayers the next.

They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking

in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance

of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting

called ‘Doctor’ and ‘Reverend’.”

Matthew 23:1-9

 

They were all about the outward man. They

wanted to be seen, they wanted to be respected, and a whole

heap of other things but they missed something very

important – the inner man. They were not interested about who

they were on the inside. Let me share a scripture with you that

will bring more understanding of what I am saying,

 

“You’re blessed when you get your inside world-your mind and 

heart-put right. 

Then you can see God in the outside world.”

Matthew 5:8

 

How much time are you putting into working on the inner man?

How much time are you putting into changing the way you think?

How much time are you putting into developing your character?

How much time and effort are you putting into loving God with

all of you?

The Pharisees focused on the wrong things.

Because of that they missed Jesus.

If we are to grow in our relationship with God we need to take

more time focusing on the inner man.

We need to be real with ourselves about who we are and bring

it to Jesus. Where is your heart? Where is your mind?

Are you becoming like Christ daily?

Let’s not make the same mistake the Pharisees made.

Let’s get the inside man right first.

 

 

What’s the point of being in a position of power and influence

but you lie, cheat, steal, tear down people, and gossip??

Who are you helping if you have all the money in the

world but are rude, arrogant, brash, cruel, angry

all the time, unloving, uncaring and so on???

 

Let’s take more time working on the inner man. You are blessed

when you do that.

Bless you friends

 

Rolain

 

 

 

The Promise…..

“Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also

had been baptized, and [while He was still] praying, the [visible]

heaven was opened

And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove,

and a voice came from heaven saying, You are My Son, My

beloved!

In You I am well pleased and find delight!”

Luke 3:21, 22

 

This is a very familiar passage of scripture we can all agree. Pretty

straight forward as well but there is something else I saw that I

would like to share.

Jesus was about to start His ministry. But before He started He

had to be baptized. Something powerful happened as He got

baptized. The Holy Spirit came upon Him.

As I read this scripture I couldn’t move on. There were some

things which stood out for me.

 

Jesus would not be able to accomplish His mission without the

Holy Spirit. He would not be able to do all the things He did

without the Holy Spirit. He wasn’t getting baptized because it

was a “nice” thing to do.

Without the baptisim of the Holy Spirit Jesus would be powerless

and He would fail His mission.

As I was getting these insights I couldn’t help wonder if I really

understood the role of the Holy Spirit in me.

 

“However, I am telling you nothing but the truth when I say it is

profitable (good, expedient, advantageous) for you that I go away.

Because if I do not go away, the Comforter (Counselor, Helper,

Advocate, Intecessor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you

[into close fellowship with you]; but if I go away, I will send Him

to you [to be in close fellowship with you].”

John 16:7

 

I have not fully understood the role of the Holy Spirit in my life.

I have taken Him for granted but I see now.

I was wrong!

 

But it makes sense right, all the sense in the world! It makes

sense how God uses the foolish, the broken, the weak, to do

great things.

I have issues, major issues, flaws, weaknesses……..

I don’t do the right thing a lot,

I think wrong,

I get afraid at times,

I struggle speaking to strangers about Christ,

I struggle with self esteem,

I am lazy,

I am selfish…..the list goes on and on

 

We are broken but God knows that and He has the answer….

 

Let’s look at one man who had major issues, Peter.

He was afraid, he doubted Jesus a lot, and he denied the Lord

three times. He had issues like we do but….

 

“But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and

adressed them: You jews and all you residents of Jerusalem,

let this be [explained] to you so that you will know and

understand;

listen closely to what I have to say.”

Acts 2:14

 

He was bold!

 

“And [Peter] solemnly and earnestly witnessed (testified) and 

admonished (exhorted) with much more continuous speaking and

warned (reproved, advised, encouraged) them, saying, Be saved

from this crooked (perverse, wicked, unjust) generation.

Therefore those who accepted and welcomed his message were

baptized, and there were added that day about 3000 souls.”

Acts 2:40, 41

 

He wasn’t afraid anymore. He spoke with power and authority,

something he didn’t have before.

 

“But Peter said, Silver and gold (money) I do not have; but what I

do have, that I give to you: in [the use of] the name of Jesus Christ

of Nazareth, walk!

Then he took hold of the man’s right hand with a firm grip and

raised him up. And at once his feet and ankle bones became strong

and steady, “

Acts 3:6, 7

 

I could give you more examples but you get the idea. There

was an amazing transformation in Peter’s life. He wasn’t perfect

but there was a change. He was spirit-filled!

He did amazing things for God because he had the Holy Spirit

living in him.

May we get a revelation of what it means to be spirit filled.

As I end I would like to share one more scripture:

 

“And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead

dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the

dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable)

bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.

Romans 8:11

 

The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in me, lives

in you. I missed it somewhere but I see now.

I want to walk in the same power Jesus did? I need Him…

Without Him there is no power, no impact, no fruit!

What about you?

Will you seek Him, cry out to Him?

We all need Him if we are going to impact this world for Christ!

God bless you friends……

 

Rolain

 

photo credit: google images