Before You Move…

We need to wait on God’s voice before we move, more and more.

The days of doing things because it’s a good idea or because everyone is going the same way must be rethought (if that’s

a word). We need to go back to the drawing board and rethink how we are living because we are in the end times and there

are so many voices, trying to show us the “true” way which is not the way God wants us to go. We need God’s voice, plain

and simple. I want to share a scripture which really drove this point home for me. And it’s the story of Noah.

After the flood he and his family waited for the waters to subside and they did. That’s where I want to pick up the story;

“In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried off from the earth.

And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry.

In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth dried out. Then God said to Noah, Go out from

the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons wives with you.

So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him.”

Genesis 8:13-19

Noah did not move until God told him to move. The door of the ark was opened but we don’t read of Noah going out to

explore or to stretch his legs. For nearly two months from the time the door of the ark was opened Noah waited on

God’s next instruction.

“In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth dried out. Then God said to Noah, Go out from

the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons wives with you.”

Even when he saw the earth was dry he still waited for God to speak. He could have gone a few steps out of the ark to see

the new world but he didn’t. He wasn’t in danger of drowning but he still didn’t move. He waited on God speak to him

about his next steps. I love that!

“And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold the face of the ground was dry.”

That challenged me a lot. I don’t want to go through life doing my own thing. There are so many times I went ahead on my

own and messed up.

I want God to lead me.

And He wants to lead me and guide me because He knows best.

And that’s my challenge to you. Seek God’s voice more in your life today. He wants to direct your steps.

He has great things in store for you and He wants you to have them.

I think of Joshua who was commanded by God to destroy the enemy who lived in the promise land. He wasn’t

allowed to make a treaty with them but to annihilate them. But there were a people who were afraid and

they devised a plan to deceive Joshua. They didn’t want to be destroyed with the surrounding nations. So they

came up with a plan and the plan worked. They deceived Joshua and he made a treaty with them. (Read Joshua 9)

The word says,

“So the Israelites examined their food, but they did not consult the Lord. Then Joshua made a peace treaty with them

and guaranteed their safety, and the leaders of the community ratified their agreement with a binding oath.”

Joshua 9:14 NLT

Because Joshua did not seek God’s voice with the Gibeonites he wasn’t able to carry out God’s command to the letter.

We need God’s voice in everything we do. We can’t go through life without it.

Let’s make sure we ask for His guidance with every step we take.

Because like I said earlier, He wants to direct us to the amazing things He has for us.

Bless you friends

Rolain

Do You Have Unbelief In Your Heart?

It’s so easy for unbelief to creep into our hearts. And that is why we need to constantly check our hearts and see if we are

walking by faith or if we have unbelief in our hearts.

Unbelief can come so stealthily.

When things are not going the way we expect, or prayers don’t seem to be getting answered and it seems like we

are hitting a wall, that is when unbelief can creep in and the negative thoughts.

“When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. Though he had done so many signs

before them, they still did not believe in him,”

John 12:36-38

Jesus was doing amazing miracles, healing people, raising people from the dead and so on but he saw people’s

heart and saw their unbelief. He knew they didn’t believe Him in spite of all the great things He was doing.

We need to be careful too. Jesus has done so much for us but it’s easy to forget. Unbelief can do that.

Even when things are not happening, and our prayers don’t seem to be getting answered, we must determine

in our hearts to always trust in Him.

The Israelites failed to enter the promise land because of unbelief,

“So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.”

Hebrews 3:19

I will say it one more time, It’s so easy for unbelief to creep into our hearts.

Let do the regular heart checks to see if we are walking by faith or if there is unbelief in our hearts.

As I close I want to share one more scripture,

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.”

Hebrews 3:12

Bless you friends

Rolain

Don’t Lose Hope

“O Israel, hope in the LORD

from this time forth and forever.”

Psalm 131:3

Jesus is our hope.

No matter how bad things get we can put our hope in Him.

But the devil wants to kill the hope we have.

He doesn’t want us to walk around with hope in our hearts. He wants us to be distraught, fear, hopeless and anxious.

But we must not lose hope.

There is a story from the Word that comes to mind that encourages me so much.

Israel was about to be destroyed by the Babylonians and about to be taken into captivity when God told Jeremiah

something quite confusing:

“Then, just as the Lord had said he would, my cousin Hanamel came and visited me in the prison. He said, “Please buy

my field at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else,

so buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that the message I had heard was from the Lord.”

Jeremiah 32:8

In the midst of such hopeless circumstances, God told Jeremiah to buy land!

It seemed like it was over for the Israelites. The enemy had won. They were by the gate literally.

But it was there that God gave them hope. There was a reason he told Jeremiah to buy land.

 “Then I said to Baruch as they all listened, “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘

Take both this sealed deed and the unsealed copy, and put them into a pottery jar to preserve them for a long time.’ 

For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Someday people will again own property here in

this land and will buy and sell houses and vineyards and fields.’”

Jeremiah 32:13-15

God gave his people hope when it seemed like it was over for them. Jeremiah struggled to understand what God was doing

(Jeremiah 32:24) but God knew what He was doing.

We always have hope with God. Don’t give up trusting in Him even if things are dead and hopeless.

He is Hope!

If you are in a hopeless situation right now and it seems like there is no way, look to God. Don’t give up hoping.

And that’s my encouragement to you today.

Hope in the Lord!

Rolain.

Is That The Truth?

There are so many “truth” out there that are not truths. We are constantly bombarded by “truths” which are really lies.

But the truth we need is found in Jesus. He is the TRUTH!

It’s only as we spend more time with Him that the lies we have believed can be exposed and the amazing truths He has

for us be revealed.

Mind you, the devil has been feeding us lies all of our lives through so many mediums – television, social media, people

around us…and the list goes on.

For a lot of people they were not taught to question what they were told especially if it was from a “credible” source.

They just believed or can I say “we” simply believed. I was one of those people.

I was told a lot of things and I just believed. But when I got born again a lot of those things I believed didn’t make sense.

What the Word said and what I was told didn’t match up and over the years the lies have been exposed.

It’s literally taken years for lies to be torn down in my life.

As I spend more and more time in His Word and prayer the lies are being broken down.

We need to question the “truths” we have accepted.

The real truth is found in Jesus. What He tells us is truth and we need to hold up what we have believed prior, to the Word

of God. What is not in step with the Word of God needs to be disregarded. We need to bring the lies to Jesus.

He is the only one that can break the lies that have bound us for so long. He is the lie-breaker if there is such a term 🙂

We need to always remember that God’s truth is stronger than every lie the devil has told us.

I think of the Israelites who chose to believe lies instead of the amazing truth God had for them.

Instead of believing God would be with them as they went to possess their promise land they feared. They believed they

didn’t have a chance against giants. They believed that the giants were stronger than the God they served!

The “truth” the Israelites accepted affected how they saw themselves, how they saw their circumstances and how they saw

God which lead them to lose the inheritance God had for them.

Like I said, there are so many lies disguised as truths that we are being told on a daily basis. But we need to stand them up

to what Jesus is telling us and if it’s not the same then we need to discard it.

For my last example I think of Jairus.

His daughter was near death so he went to find Jesus which he did. But on his way back some messengers met him along

the way and told him to not worry the Master any longer because his daughter had died. That was the ‘truth” he was told.

But the TRUTH had another truth for Jairus – his daughter would live!

“Jesus paid no attention to what they said, but told him, “Don’t be afraid, only believe.”

Mark 5:36

Remember, God’s truth is stronger than every lie the devil has told us.

And in this case, His truth was stronger than death!

Jairus’ daughter was raised from the dead.

So as I come to the end, be careful what you are accepting on a daily basis. Even if people around you are telling you

it’s useless to keep believing a thing, or even if they are saying it’s dead, believe the truth.

Believe what Jesus is revealing to you every time no matter how “credible” the source is that is telling you lies.

Bless you friends

Rolain

Challenge Your Thoughts

You need to challenge the negative thoughts that come our way on a daily basis which come through social media,

newspapers, the people in our circles, WhatsApp and so many other channels.

There is just so much negativity out there than can get you depressed, fearful, stressed, anxious and worried

The enemy would love for the negative thoughts to take root in your heart and mind but you can’t let him.

Challenge the negative thoughts.

I think of the Israelites who were by the gate of the promise land but when they saw giants and walls they

freaked out. They got fearful and instead of possessing what God promised them they turned back.

They didn’t challenge the fear.

God had done so much for them up to that point and all they had to do was remember the great things He did.

But they didn’t and ended up losing what God had promised them.

Caleb and Joshua were the only two people who challenged the fear.

And that’s how we should challenge the negative thoughts – with the Word of God.

We counter the negative with the Truth!

And that’s why it’s so important to spend more and more time with God.

We need to read more of His word so the TRUTH becomes our truth!

We need to challenge the enemy’s lies with God’s truth.

We can’t let the negativity around us become our truth. We must fight the negative thoughts.

God has amazing things in store for us and we need to think on them more and more.

Bless you friends

Rolain

Mountains

What mountains are you facing at the moment?

No matter what mountain you are facing there is something I want to remind you of – that God is bigger and greater

than any and every mountain you are facing and will ever face.

The devil’s hope is that the mountains in our lives will stop us in our tracks. He hopes that fear will get us to doubt

God’s greatness and power.

And to be honest, I was feeling overwhelmed a few days ago by the mountains in my life. I could even say fear began to

grow the more I analyzed the mountains. I looked at my strength and resources and saw how painfully lacking I was to

deal with the mountains and that’s how the fear, the hopelessness, and anxiety came. But I was reminded that God is

bigger and greater than the mountains I face as I brought my fears to Him. God wants you to talk to Him about what you

are struggling with always. He cares about what you are going through.

There is no mountain that God can’t take deal with.

“Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerrubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by

power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.

Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain:

Zechariah 4:6

I also think about the Israelites who were by the “gate” of their promise land but instead of trusting God and possessing

what He promised them, they looked at how powerful their “mountain” was compared to themselves.

That’s where they made the mistake. Instead of comparing the “mountain” to God, they compared the “mountain” to

themselves and that’s where we hear words like grasshoppers appear.

We can’t overcome mountains in our own strength. We need God period.

Bring your mountains to Him and remember that He is bigger and greater than every mountain that you are facing!

Bless you friends.

Rolain

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

Keep On Believing

When faced with impossible odds and difficult situations we need to keep on praying.

We need to keep trusting and believing that God will come through for us even when our circumstances are

far from ideal. Even when things are going the opposite of what God has promised.

I was so encouraged as I read Luke chapter one. And it’s the story of John’s parents.

“But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will

bear a son, and you shall call his name John.”

Luke 1:13

We know Zechariah has been praying for a child because the angel was there because of his prayer;

“Do not be afraid Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard”

He kept praying and trusting God for a child in spite of the impossible circumstances he and Elizabeth were in;

“And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.

But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.”

Luke 1:6, 7

They were advanced in age and Elizabeth was barren but that didn’t stop them from trusting God for a child. That didn’t

stop Zechariah from praying. No matter how impossible it seemed, he kept praying, he kept trusting God.

As the years went by they didn’t stop believing. They did not give up.

And because they didn’t give up they received an answer to their prayers!

And that’s what I want to encourage you with.

No matter how impossible your situation seems, keep praying, keep trusting in the Lord. Don’t give up hope.

God will fulfill what He promised you.

Even though things are going wrong in your life and prayer doesn’t seem to be getting answered don’t stop.

Keep on believing that God will come through for you because He will.

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

Thank you for reading it and I would love to hear what your thoughts are on the topic.

And remember, no matter how impossible the odds seem, don’t give up praying, don’t give up trusting God.

Bless you friends

Rolain

Gather Your Stones

We need to do everything we can to remember what God has done for us and not in a once-off kind of way but as a lifestyle.

God has done so much for us and He is doing so much more that we can’t afford to forget. Forgetting is so easy and

the enemy would love us to forget. he would love us to be so focused on the trials and the giants that we don’t even

stop to think WHO is on our side and the power He has.

I was talking to a friend this week and He reminded me of this truth. I was talking to him about a few things I was trusting

God for when he reminded me of what God had done for me in the past. As he reminded me my faith got energized

and I left that conversation repenting to God. I realized that God had come through for me in pretty amazing ways in

the past so these current things I was trusting for were not a big deal to Him.

We MUST do everything we can to remember. Throughout out scripture God continually reminded His people to remember

what He had done for them.

Take Joshua for example. he was about to enter the promise land but before entering it he came across the Jordan river. God

then gave him an interesting command;

“He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up one stone

and carry it out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 

Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went

across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.””

Joshua 4:5-7 NLT

God told him to gather stones from the Jordan to help His people for generations to come remember what He had done.

Over and over in the Word we read how God’s people continually forgot what He had done for them.

“They did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his instructions.

They forgot what he had done—the great wonders he had shown them,”

Psalm 78:10, 11 NLT

“Again and again they tested God’s patience and provoked the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember his power and how he

rescued them from their enemies.

They did not remember his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders on the plain of Zoan.”

Psalm 78:41-43 NLT

As you can see, they continually forgot what God had done and instead of trusting God they complained, were fearful, murmured

and didn’t trust God.

If you are going to enter a new level and receive the new things God has for you, then you need to remember! Do everything you

can to remember. That’s what David did when he faced Goliath,

But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a

lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw

and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the

armies of the living God! The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!”

1 Samuel 17:34-37 NLT

Because David remembered what God had done to the lion and bear, he had faith that God would deliver him from the giant!

Don’t forget what God has done to the lion and the bear in your life.

There are more victories in store for you.

As I come to the end of this post I want to share one more scripture to help you remember the amazing things God has done

consistently,

“But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind

as long as you live!”

Deuteronomy 4:9 NLT

And with that I have come to the end of this post. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. What do you do to remember

the amazing things God has done for you?

And on one last note, I have a video version of the posts I write on my YouTube channel. If you prefer watching to reading then

click here to follow me on YouTube and even if you prefer reading, still follow me 🙂

Thank you friends and see you soon.  

Rolain

You Are Not Alone at Christmas!

Christmas is a few days away and there are a lot of people who are excited. And how can they not be?

The Christmas tree is decorated

The gifts are ready

The family is coming over

The food is sorted

Friends will be there

and so on and so on…

But there is another reality to Christmas. The reality that there are a lot of people facing depression, people who are contemplating

suicide, people who are facing mental health issues and so many other negative things.

But there is an answer to all the pain and difficult things we go through not just at Christmas but throughout the year.

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

men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

Isaiah 53:3 ASV

I love this scripture because it’s talking about JESUS. He was despised and rejected by men. He was acquainted with grief.

He was a man of sorrows! What a title.

If there is anyone who knows the pain you are going through it’s JESUS. He knows exactly what you are going through?

He knows the darkness you are in and the chains that are suffocating you.

He knows the hopelessness you are feeling at the moment and that is why you should call on Him immediately.

Whatever you are going through at the moment I want you to know that you are not alone. He is with you. He wants

to help you and bring you out of the darkness. He wants to break the chains that are suffocating you right now.

Whatever pain and heartache you are going through remember that Jesus went through it. He was the man of sorrows.

“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”

Isaiah 53:4 ASV

Give Him your grief. He will carry your sorrow.

So cry out to Him for help. He loves you and wants to be there for you.

He knows your every pain that you are going through right now.

There is hope for you this Christmas friend. And His name is JESUS!

Rolain