Jesus Know Your Pain

Jesus knows all of the pain we go through. He knows the grief, the sorrows, the disappointment,

the brokenness we go through. And that is why we need to go to Him with all those things.

He not only knows what we are going through but He is deeply acquainted with it because He

Went through all those things. He totally understands what you are going through more than the

Closest person in your life may know! 

“He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,

as one from whom men hide their faces and he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

Isaiah 53:3

What a title. The Man of Sorrows!

And that is why we need to go to Him with our pain, sorrow, brokenness and grief. He wants you to

Help you in your dark times, when you are in pain, broken and in grief. So don’t go through it alone.

Tell Him what you are struggling with. Be open and transparent with everything you are facing.

He cares and loves you so much.

But there is more!

There is a promise we need to hold onto in the valley of death, an amazing promise that He has

promised us.

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.”

Luke 6:21

You may be weeping now but Jesus promises you will laugh. It may seem unlikely at the moment but

His promise will be fulfilled in your life. Don’t let the devil lie to you that things won’t change, that the

Darkness will stay. It’s not true. Hold on to God’s promises instead.

“Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”

Psalm 30:5

I love this!

So first we see laughter and now in this verse we see joy. There will be a turnaround in your life.

God is so good. He will bring healing to you.

“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me

With gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks

to you forever!”

Psalm 30:11, 12

Because of Him there will be laughter, joy and now dancing!

How great is His love toward us!

So whatever you are going through at the moment, know that it won’t last. The Lord is with you and will

Help you. He won’t leave you in the valley of death.

And as I close I want to remind you to bring Him your pain, your grief, brokenness and sorrow.

He is the Man of Sorrows and knows what you are going through. He wants you to walk in the amazing

Promises he has for you. He wants to heal you and He wants you to walk in freedom.

Trust Him to make a way for you. You may not see how He will turn things around but that’s where faith

Comes in. Put your faith in Him to heal you of the pain you have.

You are His son and daughter and He will breakthrough for you.

He is not done with you friend.

Bless you

Rolain

Before The Time Of Fulfillment

“So now wrap your heart tightly around the hope that lives within us,

Knowing that God always keeps his promises!

Hebrews 10:23 TPT

We serve a God who fulfills promises. What He has promised you, He will bring to pass. But we all know that there is a middle between when the promise is made and when it is fulfilled and that middle is filled with trials, tests, and difficult challenges. I like to use another name for the middle stuff – crucible.

What’s your attitude like as you are in the crucible?

Have you got an attitude of faith and fully expectant that God is with you in the fire or have you lost hope? Have you given up on God because of the intensity of the fire?

I want to encourage you to not lose heart and to keep holding on to the Lord in the midst of the fire.

He will bring to pass what He has promised you. He is with you in the fire because He loves you and because he has a promise to fulfill. He will never abandon you because He is faithful.

I think of Joseph who was given an amazing promise. But instead of everything going smoothly until the promise was fulfilled, he was shipped off to a foreign land as a slave. In fact, he nearly lost his life. Things went terribly wrong for him but in the midst of the fire we see something amazing,

“Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.”

Genesis 39:1, 2 NIV

“But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.”

Genesis 39:20 NIV

God was with him in the crucible, in the fire. He never left him. And it’s the same with you and me. God is with you in the fire. He has not abandoned you no matter how intense the fire is. The trials and the tests and the difficult challenges have a purpose.

“Count it all joy, my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

James 1:2 NLT

The trials and the tests strengthen your faith. Through each trial and test your faith is getting stronger and stronger. The Word actually tells us to be joyful when trials come our way.

So as you go through the fire know that God is with you and there is a very important work happening in you – the strengthening of your faith in God.

Like I said earlier, God will fulfill what he has promised you. It’s just a matter of time. So as you approach the time of promise and you are in the fire know that God is with you. He will not leave you alone. Let me share one last scripture before I sign off.

“And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had solemnly promised their ancestors. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the Lord helped them conquer all their enemies. Not a single one of all the good promises the Lord had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything he had spoken came true.”

Joshua 21:44, 45 NLT

Bless you friends

Rolain 

Stop Eating “JUNK” Food!

In the past few weeks God has been teaching me to stop eating what the devil is dishing out.

Because the devil has a lot of crazy stuff he would like you and me to believe. And I was just there eating what ever he was dishing out which caused fear, anxiety, and hopelessness in me. I would cry out to God to help me in the midst of the attack because it was intense but God began to show me that I was not filtering the thoughts I was getting.

Our filter is the Word of God and that’s how we need to be measuring up everything that comes our way.

So He showed me that I need to reject the lies instead of entertaining them. And that’s what we tend to do right? Instead of taking the lies to God immediately we start thinking about what ifs, and project possible outcomes that are totally not according to God’s will for us. We let the fear shut us down.

But if we are going to hold on to the promises God has for us we need to stop doing this. We need to stop eating everything the devil is dishing out.

IT’S ALL LIES…

IT’S ALL LIES…

Resist and reject all of it. It’s not going to be easy I understand but God is with you and He will help you as you cry out to Him. The thoughts will come but they don’t have to pitch their tents in your mind. Cast them out with the authority Jesus has given you.

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV

So as I come to the end of this post I want to encourage you with one more scripture,

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

Philippians 4:8 NLT

Change what you think about. Stop thinking about the negative things the devil keeps trying to remind you about but instead think on the things God is doing in your life, the words He has spoken to you, on His beauty, on His grace, on the amazing things He has in store for you, His promises and so much more.

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

Bless you friends and have a great weekend!

Rolain

Hold On

You need to hold on to God’s promises because He has so much in store for you. He has amazing things lined up for you. But it’s the standing in faith that is not as easy as it seems. It’s a fight to hold on to what God has promised you.

It’s our responsibility to do the hard work of standing on God’s truths and promises for our lives in the face of attack and opposition. It won’t be easy. We will fall and fail numerous times but we must always get back up and dig our feet deeper in our faith in God. Because He will fulfill and bring to pass what He promised us, period!

I think of Abraham and Sarah who held on to God’s promises. They held on to His promises despite the challenges they faced and the challenges were tough. But in all that they didn’t give up and lose heart. Even when they fell short, they still got up and dug deeper in their faith in God. And as they did that they received what God had promised them.

So as I come to the end of this post I want to encourage you to keep holding on to God’s promises in the face of opposition and attack. It’s going to be a fight for sure but even when you fall make sure to get back up and dig deeper in your faith in God, even when you haven’t seen the answer to your prayers yet, and when you haven’t seen the breakthrough because God is faithful. You will receive what God has promised you!

Bless you friends

Rolain

What Are You Holding Onto In Difficult Times?

When you are in a difficult place, what are you holding onto?

Are you holding onto God’s Word or man’s word?

God’s Word is sure, reliable, trustworthy and dependable and that’s

what you should be holding onto.

In the book of Acts chapter twenty-seven we read a very interesting story.

Paul is imprisoned and is on his way to Rome because he appealed to Caesar.

They boarded a ship and reached a place called Fair Havens but instead of staying there

until the seas become a bit more calm the centurion decided to proceed with the journey.

Paul warned them that he could foresee loss of cargo and even loss of life.

But the centurion decided to listen to the captain of the ship which makes total

sense because the captain had experience and he probably sailed those seas hundreds of times.

But look at what happened when they listened to the captain’s advice,

“We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo

overboard. On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither

sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope

of being saved.”

Acts 27:18-20

The captain’s advice was wrong even though he was the most experienced and even though

he probably sailed those seas hundreds of times.

As we face the storms of life we need to hold on to God’s Word over any other word.

That’s the only word that can and will get us through the storm.

Man’s word will fail and disappoint but not the Word of God.

After that Paul told all the men that an angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him that no

soul would be lost. Paul held on to the word of the Lord and encouraged the men to do so.

And what the angel spoke came to pass. There were no souls that were lost. Everyone reached land

safely.

“The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached

land safely.”

Acts 27:44

We can depend on God’s Word because it is sure, trustworthy, reliable and dependable.

“Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word

has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses.”

1 Kings 8:56

Bless you friends

Rolain

What Do You Believe?

What you believe about yourself is stronger than the potential you have.

God has created you with incredible potential with the intention you use it all. But the beliefs you have about yourself is what matters the most. For example, you can have the potential to be an astronaut but if you believe you don’t have what it takes or you believe you can’t be an astronaut then that’s what will happen.

Our negative beliefs about ourselves stop us from using all the potential God has given us. But enough of theories. I have proof of this principle from the word of God so let’s get into it.

The Israelites were God’s chosen people. They had incredible potential indeed. God was with them. From the time He led them out of Egypt to the Promise land He was with them. They had never know defeat, their clothes and shoes never wore out, they had a cloud to lead them by day and fire by night. So talk about potential. They finally reached the promise land and something interesting happened. The spies that went and spied out the land had a report for the people:

“We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.”

“But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”

“We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Numbers 13: 26-33

Potential was not enough for the Israelites to obtain what God promised them. It boiled down to what they believed and what they believed stopped them from possessing the promise land save for Joshua and Caleb. They believed they couldn’t win. They believed they were grasshoppers. But remember, God had delivered them from the Egyptians, and looked after them in the desert.

That’s how powerful our beliefs are.

We need to take a long hard look at the beliefs we have. Where have we picked up the beliefs we currently hold? Are they from the word of God or from people around us? Our beliefs should be based on the word of God because the Word is truth. It doesn’t change and can’t be shaken. It is solid and is our foundation.

What you believe is important.

Let’s look at one more example. Gideon had so much potential in him. When the angel of the Lord appeared to him, he called him a mighty man of valor (Judges 6;1). That was the potential in him but for as long as Gideon could remember, he was made to believe something else. He was made to believe he was the least of the least which wasn’t true.

But the good news is that, God changed Gideon’s belief. The potential was always in him to be a mighty man of valor but work had to be done on his beliefs and when the belief changed he became what God created him to be! I love that.

I have had some crazy beliefs in the past about myself. Crazy, negative beliefs, but God has changed them. The outdated beliefs I held for so long have been changed and He continues to change them. Outdated, negative beliefs don’t change in a day. It takes time and it’s a process. God wants us to believe in Him. He wants us to believe in the promises and plans He has for us.

So as I come to the end of the post I want to encourage you to ask God to show you the beliefs that are holding you back and know that outdated, negative beliefs can be changed. God wants to help you.

God bless you friends.

Patiently endure.

God will accomplish and bring to pass what He has promised but in the meantime we

need to patiently endure. 

 

As the Israelites travelled through the desert, the Lord promised them a land flowing 

with milk and honey. He would stay true to what He promised them and get them there 

but they needed to be patient and they needed to endure but that didn’t happen. Let’s 

read what happened to them; 

 

“And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of 

Edom, and the people became impatient (depressed, much discouraged) because [of the trials]

of the way. 

Numbers 21:3, 4

 

And as we know they failed to possess the Promise Land because they doubted the Lord. They didn’t 

hold on to His promises when things were hard and disqualified themselves. Waiting on God’s 

promises takes courage. 

If you are in that space of feeling overwhelmed, depressed and discouraged then I want to urge you 

to keep holding onto faith. The Lord is Faithful and True and will not let you down. 

 

“So now wrap your heart tightly around the hope that lives within us, knowing that God always

keeps His promises.”

Hebrews 10:23 TPT

 

God ALWAYS keeps His promises. 

 

As I close I want to encourage you to never give up. The Lord cares about you and the things that 

are on your heart. Bring Him your worries and concerns consistently. 

And be courageous and patiently endure with the understanding that He always keeps His promises 

to you. 

 

“This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep His commands

and remain faithful to Jesus.”

Revelation 14:12

 

Blessings to you friends

 

Rolain

 

 

There is hope in our darkest seasons

“When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭27:20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

 

The captain refused to listen to Paul and because of that they were caught in a hurricane. There was nothing anyone could do. And after many days the word says ALL hope of being saved was gone.

You may be in a hopeless situation right now but there is good news. You might be out of options and all your efforts have come to nothing but there is good news for you.

When hope was lost the Lord stepped in. When death was sure the Lord sent an angel with hope. Even though there was no physical evidence of a turn around the Lord told Paul all the men on the boat would be saved!

 

“Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭27:23-24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

 

In our darkest seasons there will always be hope because God loves us and cares for us. Don’t abandon hope. The Lord will step in and save you. He will turn your darkest season around for good. Keep looking to and trusting Him.

Bless you friends

 

Rolain

God remembered her…

“Then God remembered Rachel; He listened to her and enabled her to conceive.” 

Genesis 30:22

 

Rachel couldn’t have children but that all changed because God remembered her.

Don’t lose heart.

Keep praying and keep believing God will come through for you.

We serve a God who never ever forgets us and because of that we can have hope.

 

Rachel prayed and prayed and it seemed like God wasn’t listening but He was.

He is always listening.

No matter what it seems like today know that the Lord remembers.

You will have breakthrough this year because the Lord remembers you.

Trust Him in the difficult times when nothing seems to be happening.

He is always faithful.

 

Bless you friends

 

 

 

Move ahead in faith…

“And the people grumbled and deplored their hardships, which was evil in the ears

of the Lord, and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled; and the fire of the 

Lord burned among them and devoured those in the outlying parts of the camp.” 

Numbers 11:1, 2

 

The Lord was with the Israelites and expected them to respond in faith but that’s not what happened.

Instead of trusting Him when things got really difficult they responded in unbelief and fear and that was evil

in the eyes of the Lord.

 

Possessing the land of Canaan was an impossible task. Giants resided there.

But no matter how impossible the task was the Lord wanted His people to trust Him. He wanted them

to be confident in His power, strength, and faithfulness.

Sadly, that never happened. The Israelites shrunk back in fear. Because unbelief and fear filled their hearts

they couldn’t possess what God promised them.

 

The Israelites couldn’t move ahead because they didn’t have faith. Instead, they were pushed back because

of their unbelief. And that’s what unbelief and fear will do if you entertain them. They will push you back when

you are supposed to move forward.

 

“Then the Amalekites came down and the Canaanites who dwelt in that hill country and smote the Israelites

and beat them back, even as far as Hormah.” 

Numbers 14:45

 

The Lord doesn’t want us to be pushed back. The enemy wants that. God wants us

to move ahead in faith. It’s faith in God that will allow us to defeat the giants standing in our way.

It’s faith in God that will enable us to tell mountains to get out of the way as we make our way to the place

God has promised.

Because God is with you,

you can move forward confidently no matter how hard the journey is, and no matter

how intimidating the enemy is. Don’t let fear and unbelief dictate your response to God.

Always respond in faith!

 

Bless you, friends!

 

Rolain