He said, “Come”!

“As Jesus went into Capernaum, a centurion came up to Him, begging Him,

and saying, Lord, my servant boy is lying at the house paralyzed and distressed

with intense pains.

And Jesus said to him, I will come and restore him.

But the centurion replied to him, Lord, I am not worthy or fit to have You

come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant boy will be cured.”

Matthew 8:5-8

 

Our faith in God is so important we can all agree. The word says, “without faith it’s

impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6)

The story of the centurion reveals something amazing about the faith we are supposed

to walk by.

Before the centurion came to Jesus the pattern was this, Jesus would go and lay hands on the

sick person or the sick person would come to him.

But when the centurion went to Jesus and offered to go with him to heal his servant, the

centurion said no. He knew all Jesus had to do was say the word and his servant would be

healed!

 

Look at Jesus response to the centurion’s faith,

 

“When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you,

I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!”

Matthew 8:10

 

The centurion’s faith was very unorthodox.

He didn’t look at what everyone else was doing.

He had a revelation of Jesus and held on to that.

He knew there was no limit to his faith in God even if it meant asking for something

that seemed impossible.

Jesus didn’t tell the centurion to fall into line and trust the way everyone was trusting.

He marveled at the unorthodox faith of the centurion.

 

Don’t hold back when it comes to trusting in God.

No matter how big, and impossible it seems, keep trusting Him.

Don’t let people tell you what to trust Him for and how to trust Him.

He wants you to exercise your faith in Him.

 

Let’s look at one more story,

 

“Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea,

they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!”And they cried out for fear.

But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not

be afraid.”

And Peter answered Him said, “Lord if it is You, command me to come to You

on the water.”

So He said, “Come.”

And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to

Jesus.

Matthew 14:25-29

 

Again we see someone exercise their faith in an unorthodox way. Peter broke all

protocol if there ever was any, concerning faith. At Jesus command he jumped out of the

boat and walked on water. When Peter asked Jesus to call him to walk on the water,

Jesus didn’t complain and tell Peter to tone it down! No!

He encouraged Peter to step out. When Peter started sinking this is what He said to him,

 

“But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried

out, saying, Lord, save me!

And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him,

“O you of little faith, why did you doubt? “

Matthew 14: 30, 31

 

Peter’s faith wasn’t perfect but he still walked on water. His sinking is evidence of that.

But his rushed, raw, unchecked, bold, imperfect faith made him walk on water.

Jesus didn’t stop him from jumping out of the boat.

Jesus told Peter to “COME”!

 

Friends, it’s time to take the limits off our faith.

 

I was speaking to a friend a few days ago and he was telling me about the struggles

he was facing applying for university. He told me he was now looking at doing his

course on line because it was “easier”.

My friend is so talented and God fearing and I know God has great things in store

for him but I was afraid to tell him to keep trusting God to go to university. So I ended

my conversation and left it like that.

I made the mistake of looking at his situation through natural eyes and agreed with him.

I was meant to challenge him to throw off the limits.

I was meant to encourage him to trust the Lord for anything and everything, to make him

see that the Lord could and will open any door for him.

When I see him again I will do so and not hold back.

 

Are we letting the circumstances around us determine what we trust God for?

God wants us to trust Him for the impossible, whatever that may be.

Even if it seems crazy to the people around us, we must trust!

He will answer our crazy prayers. God loves it when we exercise our faith.

 

We must be like the centurion and Peter. We must be bold and ask Jesus for whatever

He has put in our heart no matter how impossible it seems.

We can’t be conventional with our faith.

We need to take the “training wheels”off our faith because what the training wheels

really are, are hindrances, and obstacles.

Let’s ask God to help us to break the box we have put Him in.

He doesn’t live in a box. He lives in a place where anything is possible.

Remember, we are the ones who see limits, not God. He doesn’t see

limits.

With faith there are no “out of bounds”areas, there are no areas that are “sectioned off”.

Everything is open game when we talk about faith.

Don’t shelve anything unless God tells you to.

My prayer for us is to throw off all restraints when trusting God.

 

God, help our unbelief. Now is the time to trust.

It doesn’t take great faith to move a mountain.

According to Matthew 17:19, 20 all it needs is faith as small as

a mustard seed to move a mountain!

 

Let’s not wait for our faith to be “perfect”

Let’s start now. God will come in and work with our mustard seed faith.

He will start moving with the faith we have now!

Amen!

 

Rolain

 

 

 

 

Challenged by a soldier.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

 

Then Jesus turned to the captain and said,

“Go. What you believed could happen has happened.”

At that moment his servant became well.

Matthew 8:13 (MSG)

 

I read this scripture last night and thought to myself,

Is faith really that simple? Have I made it out to be

complicated, and mysterious?

I was challenged by the Roman centurion’s faith. It was

bold, unwavering…..sure!

 

Jesus offered to go to his house but the centurion refused!!

If I was in his shoes my answer would be a big yes!

“Off course You can come to my house Jesus……”

But not the centurion! He had so much faith in Jesus that

he knew just a word from the Savior would heal his

servant!!! Can you imagine that? That was bold!

 

 

“What you believed could happen has happened. At that

moment his servant became well.”

 

As I meditated on that verse I looked at my own life.

What am I believing for in my life?

What do I believe can happen in my life?

You may have the same questions and let me tell you,

these are important questions.

 

The Roman centurion believed Jesus would heal his servant

and he received what he believed.

 

In my believing, in your believing, are you confident Jesus

will come through for you?

 

Do I believe I will get what I am believing for, do you?

 

Like I said, these are important questions and they must be

answered.

There are things I am trusting God for and after reading this

scripture I am challenged to hold on to what I believing for

no matter how “impossible” they seem.

God will not let me down. When I put my faith on the line

He will respond, it may take time at times, or He may respond in a

way I am not expecting which is almost always the case but

the fact is this, He will respond when I believe in Him, when

I trust in Him completely and He will most definitely respond

to you.

 

He is control friends. Don’t be afraid to believe in Him.

He responds when we put our trust in Him and that is a

fact! All glory to Him!

 

Rolain

 

They threw down their crowns……!

And the four living creatures, individually having six wings, were full of eyes all over and within [underneath their wings]; and day and night they never stop saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty (Omnipotent), Who was and Who is and Who is to come.                                                                                                               

And whenever the living creatures offer glory and honor and thanksgiving to Him Who sits on the throne, Who lives forever and ever (through the eternities of the eternities),                                                     

The twenty-four elders (the members of the heavenly Sanhedrin) fall prostrate before Him Who is sitting on the throne, and they worship Him Who lives forever and ever; and they throw down their crowns before the throne, crying out,          

Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and dominion, for You created all things; by Your will they were [brought into being] and were created.        Revelation 4:8-11

 

This passage of scripture intrigues me. It intrigues me and fascinates me so much. I envy the four living creatures. They get to be in God’s presence all the time. They get to see Him face to face……I know God has a purpose for me on this earth but I can’t wait for the day when I will see Him face to face. To be in His presence for eternity!!!!                                                                                                 What an honor it must be for the four living creatures! What has the presence of God done to them? How do they see? How do they speak? What do they think of God?

As I was meditating on the passage of scripture a thought came to me. The word says,

“Day and night they never stop saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty (Omnipotent), Who was and Who is and Who is to come.”

If I had to say Holy, holy, holy for a whole month non-stop I think I would get bored. I am just trying to be honest. So how did they do it? Before the earth was created and for eternity they will be crying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord so how is that possible? Maybe I am being crazy for trying to reason it out with my mind but it’s a thought I had. Don’t shoot me down just yet.   J

Then the answer came to me:

“He then went and took the scroll from the right hand of Him Who sat on the throne. And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders [of the heavenly Sanhedrin] prostrated themselves before the Lamb.” Revelation 5:7, 8

Is it possible they have been able to cry Holy, holy, holy from the beginning of time because God revealed a new aspect of Himself to them???

Is it possible their praise has been a reaction to what God has shown them that they have never seen before??

In other words every time the four living creatures cry Holy, holy, holy it is because God showed them something new about Himself that they didn’t know and they will continue for eternity because God is so big that no one can ever say they know God fully!!! We can never get to a place where we can say we have seen ALL of God!

I want to be like the four living creatures where I see God working all the time. I don’t praise God enough not because He is not working but because I am distracted! I want to be able to see more of God at work in my life and in people’s lives and respond in praise to Him! Why wait till I get to heaven to start crying Holy, holy, holy! I can start now by being more sensitive to what God is doing, because He is working all the time!

The last thing I want to touch on is the twenty four elders. The word says,

The twenty-four elders (the members of the heavenly Sanhedrin) fall prostrate before Him Who is sitting on the throne, and they worship Him Who lives forever and ever, and they throw down their crowns before the throne, crying out, Revelation 4:10

They threw down their crowns. I think those crowns were significant. They meant something. They had meaning and they were precious. They were a gift from the Master but the twenty four elders were so overcome by God that nothing was more precious and important than God!! Yes, the crowns are important but for eternity they will throw them to the ground as a sign and declaration that God is the only One who is important!!  In worship, it’s not what we have that is important but the God we serve and the twenty four elders understood this. Nothing and I mean nothing came close to God no matter how precious it was. Can we be like them? The word says they “threw” down their crowns! They didn’t carefully place them down but threw the crowns!! May we get an understanding of how awesome our God is!

 

This post is different because I am rambling. I have been thinking about this passage for most of the day and this is what I have been coming with. I am going to leave it like this and hope you get the message behind the post. I am still trying to understand what it means for me. All I know right now is, I want to be more aware of what God is doing in my life and respond, like the four living creatures I want to cry out Holy, holy, holy day and night because I saw something about God I had never seen before; I want to be like the twenty four elders who threw their most precious gifts at God’s feet! Everything paled in comparison to God! Such passion, such devotion!!!!God is worthy of all our praise and may we see more of Him at work in our lives and respond!!!

Rolain

You will not be disappointed…..

Thought of the day.

We really need the word in our lives. It is the main authority or should be the main authority in our lives. With that in mind I would like to share a scripture with you. It’s an amazing scripture and it’s in Psalm 22:4, 5 and it says;

Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted (leaned on, relied on You, and were confident) and You delivered them.                                                                They cried to You and were delivered; they trusted in, leaned on, and confidently relied on You, and were not ashamed or confounded or disappointed.   (Amplified)

I love this scripture because it tells us about who God is. He is our God and He can be trusted-that is a fact! As God came through for our fathers, He will do the same for us. As He delivered them so it is with us. As they trusted in God they were not put to shame or confounded or disappointed so it is with us. Yes they must have had their fair share of trials and challenges and failures but overall they were never put to shame, confounded or disappointed!

The conclusion is this, call on God because He will deliver you!

Trust in God because you will not be ashamed or confounded or disappointed!!!

As our fathers put their faith on the line God responded to their faith, so it will be with us. No matter what you trusting God for please know He will not let you down. He will respond to your faith. As He was faithful to our fathers He will be faithful to us…Amen!!!

Rolain

In trouble, he slept like a baby……..!

Everyone faces trouble. Everyone faces storms and trials  and testing in their lives. That is one thing we cannot escape. I had a really bad day today. One of those days where you want to just throw in the towel. It really has been a crazy day. This is the thing though, troubles and problems are a part of life and my job is to learn to cope, learn to trust God in the midst of confusion and hopelessness……So in the midst of all that I read a pretty amazing story. The story was about Peter when he was arrested by Herod. The word says,

All the time that Peter was under heavy guard in the jail house, the church prayed for him most strenuously.

Then the time came for Herod to bring him out for the kill. That night, even though shackled to two soldiers, one on either side, Peter slept like a baby. And there were guards at the door keeping their eyes on the place. Herod was taking no chances!    Acts 12: 5, 6

I could not believe what I read. Peter was surrounded by guards and was even shackled to the guards. He was in very real trouble. He was going to die the next day but the word says he slept like a baby! He never complained or worried. He was not fearful, instead he slept like a baby. I would of being freaking out if I was in his shoes. Herod had doubled the guards. He was not taking any chances.

I want to have that same kind of attitude. Peter was in perfect peace. James had just being killed but that never phased Peter. His trust was in the Lord. His faith in God was deep, and unshakable. He was in a storm but he knew who was watching over him. When the storms of life come how do you respond? When trouble comes what thoughts come to mind? Let us  learn from Peter. I want to walk in the kind of peace he walked in. The fact that he wasn’t in fear showed where his faith was at. Your response to situations determine where your faith is at.

The lesson for me is, rely on God. In the midst of pain and confusion trust Him. Let the peace of God reign. Remember Peter……….

Rolain