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

 

 

 

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

 

 

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