It’s about people not fame……!

“At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all

who were sick and those who were demon-possessed.

And the whole city was gathered together at the door.

Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases,

and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons

to speak, because they knew Him. “

Mark 1:32-34

 

Talk about a successful ministry! Yeshua had the whole city

at His door. Miracles were taking place, people were being

touched, diseases were being cured, demons being cast out.

It’s the desire of many ministers that their ministry flourish

like what we read in this passage.

 

Let’s look at another scripture,

 

“Now in the morning having risen a long while before daylight,

He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He

prayed.

And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him.

When they found Him, they said to Him, “Everyone is looking

for You.”

Mark 1:35-37

 

Yeshua was popular. He was the talk of the city. I can only imagine

what His followers were thinking!

 

“We made it to the big leagues”

“We are going to be so rich’

“What am I going to do with all the silver and gold?”

“I didn’t know signing autographs was so much fun”

‘This good news stuff works”

 

I imagine those are the kind of thoughts they were thinking.

 

It’s always nice to have a whole city at your door eager to listen

to you and it’s cool being the talk of the town;

but the story didn’t end there.

Let’s read on,

 

“But He said to them, “Let us go into the next towns, that I

may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come

forth.”

Mark 1;38

 

I can see the disciples expressions! I can see looks of shock

and  disbelief!

 

“The WHOLE town is looking for You and you want to leave”, they

must have thought!

 

I don’t even think they went back to say goodbye. Yeshua said,

“Let us go into the next towns,”

 

There is no mention of a farewell.

 

There is such an important lesson in this story.

The gospel is not a broad way show.

Following Yeshua will not bring us popularity, it will

bring persecution, ridicule, and hardships. (Acts 14:22)

Yeshua came to save  mankind! He didn’t come to be famous.

 

If you are in ministry so you can be recognized, then you have

missed the point completely.

If Yeshua came to be popular He would have stayed in that

city. But His calling far exceeded being popular.

He could of been a mega super star but that paled in comparison

to saving a soul. That was much more valuable than any distinction

man could ever give!

 

What is your motive for serving? Are you looking for the

applause, the recognition, for the accolades??

If you never get recognized for the work you do in the

ministry would you stop serving?

What’s more important to you as you serve,

getting applause or seeing a soul transform under the power

of God??

Yeshua didn’t come seeking fame and popularity.

He came to serve!

Let us follow His pattern and put people being transformed

and changed as the main thing.

Bless you friends!

 

Rolain

 

 

 

 

How to make your life count……

 

Do you want to stand out? Then step down.

Be a servant. If you pull yourself up, you’ll

get the wind knocked out of you.

But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life

will count for plenty.

Matthew 23:11-12 (MSG)

 

I really love this. To stand out in the world, we do crazy

things to get people’s attention. The world teaches us to

push whoever is in our way, we are taught that the other

person doesn’t matter, we are taught to tear down anyone

who is better than us, steal, cheat and a whole host of other

things must be implemented if we are to stand out but that

is just not true!

 

To stand out we must be willing to step down and …….

BE A SERVANT!!

 

Standing out is about putting others first. It is about sacrificing

what you want to help someone else. It is about serving others.

God will make a way for you when you truly stand out!

Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and yet He came to

serve. He didn’t force people to worship Him but instead He came

to serve. He didn’t seek the limelight. Standing out requires

humbleness. There is no way you can truly stand out if you

are proud.

 

The true heart of a believer always wants to serve.

The limelight is not the most important thing in his or her life.

Pleasing God is the most important thing.

Will you truly stand out for God today?

 

photo credit: google images

 

Rolain

God is not racist…..??!!!!

After this, I saw a large crowd with more people than could be counted. They were from every race, tribe, nation, and language, and they stood before the throne and before the Lamb. They wore white robes and held palm branches in their hands, (‭Revelation‬ ‭7‬:‭9‬ CEVUK00)
Two things come to mind when I read this scripture:

God is not racist. God loves all races, nations and tribes! There is no nation that is superior to another. There is no superior race. God has a plan for you whoever you are. It doesn’t matter where you were born, what colour you are, what tribe you are from, He has called you!!!!
It’s people that place limitations on us, not God.
God is the One who breaks the limitations!

The other thing that came to mind was, The gospel is for everyone! It’s not for a select few! It’s a one size fits all kind of gospel. God wants you, whoever you are. You may think you are not redeemable but you are. God’s spirit is roaming the earth and He is calling everyone to Him! Did you hear me, EVERYONE!!!!
The gospel is for everyone! Turn and repent.
He is calling the poor, the rich, the lost, the hopeless, the murderer, the fearful, the weak, the ignorant, to Him.

This is the God we serve! He is amazing in the things He does! Amen!

Rolain

Nine months later…….

When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she grieved for her husband. When the time

of mourning was over, David sent someone to bring her to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. 

But God was not at all pleased with what David had done, 

1 Samuel 12:26, 27

We all know what happened here. David slept with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife but to cover it up he got Uriah

who was a faithful solider to him killed! Bathsheba may not have known what David did but the point is she became the king’s wife. She may not have had a say in any of this either. A king was free to do whatever he wanted in those days.

When I read this story a thought came to me. Between Uriah being killed to Bathsheba giving birth to a son was

at least nine months. I don’t know how long the time of mourning was but all we know is it was at least nine months

when all this took place. David was in sin for nine months! He knew taking someone’s wife was sin. He knew murder

was a sin. David loved God. He had an intimate relationship with Him but David was blinded in this season. This post is

not about how bad David was. We are all sinners. David sinned but so do we.

What I want to show you though is how as sinners sin can destroy us. During this ‘nine months’ we hear nothing.

There is no Psalm that we read during that period! We don’t hear of David’s exploits during that time. Nothing was recorded during that time. David was in sin and he didn’t even know it!

If that could happen to David, a man after God’s heart then surely it could happen to us. And please note, David

didn’t snap out of it by himself. He didn’t realize what he was doing by himself. God intervened!!!! If God did not intervene who knows how long it would of gone on for?

And this is what this post is about……God intervened!

God did not leave David in his sin. He saved him. By God’s grace David was disciplined and forgiven! That is good news for us indeed.

We will do crazy things and left to our own we will not win, BUT……But God does not leave us to ourselves. He is watching over us.

He has extended His grace and mercy to us! We serve a really great God! He sent His son to die for us!

I was so encouraged when I got that revelation. God is for me and no matter how crazy it gets God will help me. I hope it’s an encouragement to you as well.

Generous in love – God, give grace! 

Huge in mercy – wipe out my bad record.

Scrub away my guilt, 

soak out my sins in Your laundry.

I know how bad I’ve been; 

my sins staring me down. 

Psalm 51:1-3

 

But that is not the end of the story. God turned this dark and terrible situation for good.

David went and comforted his wife Bathsheba. And when he slept with her, they conceived a son. When the son was born they

named him Solomon. God had a special love for him and sent word by Nathan the prophet that God wanted him named Jedidiah (God’s beloved).

2 Samuel 12:24, 25

Solomon would not have been born if David and Bathsheba never met. I am not saying what David did was right. He sinned! What I am trying to say though is God turned a bad thing into something wonderful. And He will do the same thing for us. We may think our sin is too much and God cannot use us but that is not true. God has forgiven you and will turn what the enemy meant for death into life…..

He has amazing things for you despite what you have done. Sin does not define who you are anymore, God’s grace does. He is a truly amazing God!!!

Rolain

 

 

The Essence of God’s Dreams.

One of the main reasons for having this blog was to inspire people to pursue their God given dreams. We all have a dream given to us by God and we are all designed with a purpose. There is no one on earth born without a purpose, no one! We all have a mission to carry out from God but this is the thing, we have an enemy who doesn’t want us to fulfil all that God has for us. A pastor once said it like this, “the enemy is afraid of our assignment” because he knows how much of an impact we will have if we find out what our “assignment” is and carry it out! We all have an assignment from God, do you know what your assignment is?  Assignment, calling, dream, destiny call it what you want, do you know what it is?

I was reading a book on destiny the other day and there were a few very important points on the importance of God’s dreams that I would like to share with you. I hope these help you in identifying God’s plan for your life. The first thing that he said was,

– So here’s the not-so-small print that maybe you never read at the start of your journey: God’s dreams for you are ultimately not really about you. 
Oh don’t misunderstand. They’ll bring you some of the best days of your life; you will be fulfilled beyond any imaginable expectations. But God’s dreams take form only when they are about others, for the benefit of others. Loving them. Guiding them. Serving them. Influencing them. Filling their heads with dreams and hopes. There are no other type of God dreams.

Wow right!! God’s dreams are not about us but they are about people! His dreams for us are to be an impact in someone else’s life. There is no room for selfishness and pride in God’s dreams . And that is one way you can tell if the dream you have is from God, is it all about you getting what you want and you being comfortable or is it about people??!!

– God’s destiny for you will never be so trivial as building a kingdom for you to enhance your acclaim. Such is a kingdom of dust and lint.

I have already spoken about this in the last point. A person who has dreams of grandeur for himself and him alone is on the wrong path. But please don’t get me wrong here. It is OK to want a car a house, money and so on. Those desires are fine. The problem comes when those desires are the things that consume us. The problem is, when that is the only desire we have or they are more important than seeking God and touching people!!

– The dream He has prepared custom for you is explosively beautiful and alive. It’s about His glorious kingdom-a plan involving you from before there was time!

Do you believe that? The enemy has lied to us by telling us that God’s dreams for us are dull and boring! They are not. They are fun and exhilarating and fulfilling!!!

– This stunning dream always involves others. Others being freed, healed, convinced of who they really are, convinced that they can fly, convinced His dreams in them can come true.

– Think about it – God’s dreams for us reflect His heart. If we are not maturing in sync with His heart, how would we distinguish other-centered dreams from self-centered dreams?

– God wants to reveal Himself to us in authenticity. Because one of God’s dreams is that we influence others far more out of who we are than out of what we do. So above all else, your destiny requires that you be a maturing person.

I like it when the author says God’s dreams for us reflect God’s heart. And for me, that is why I think it’s important not to go through life aimlessly without a goal or direction because we are supposed to express God’s heart in the way He created us to do it. People get to see who God is when we walk in what He has called us to do! But to do that we also need to mature. We mature by taking responsibility for things in our lives. We mature by acting on the Word of God. Are you someone who is growing? Is your spiritual man growing stronger by the day or you are at the same place you were 5 years ago? Remember what he said, “God’s dreams for us require us to influence others far more out of who we are than out of what we do“.
I know you have the title Pastor, Bishop, Priest, and any other important title out there but God wants you to influence people out of who you are rather than your title!
What good is it calling yourself pastor but you have no self control and you are lazy? or what good is it being a fitness instructor but you eat like a pig and don’t exercise outside of the times you train people!! It does not work.

And that is the essence of God’s dreams. Let us pursue them with all that we have. If you don’t know the reason you were born ask God! He is eager to show you your purpose. He is a good God!!!!  🙂

Rolain

The Secret to Real Leadership.

There is so much teaching on leadership. There are so many different views on leadership that it makes it hard to decide which is the most effective. Can we say there is one style which stands head and shoulders above the rest? Or can we draw the conclusion that they are all the same?
As a christian we have a model to follow. That model is found in John 13:1-17.
This model was created by the greatest person who ever lived and who still lives! His name is Jesus Christ.

Jesus taught us how we are to be servant leaders. Please understand that Jesus is the Son of God. So coming down to earth in the form of a man was already humbling. But He went even further. The King of Kings then gets a SERVANTS towel and washes His disciples feet!!!
Look at it anyway but that was degrading. It was unheard of. A master would never wash his servants feet!! But Jesus Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah washed the disciples feet!!
Peter is the one who speaks up and tries to stop this “madness”. It doesn’t add up in his mind. He tells Jesus, “You will never wash my feet”.
In Peter’s mind, he can’t comprehend how Jesus who is the Son of God can wash his feet. But in the end Jesus washs his feet.

I would like you to take a moment to think about that. Jesus Christ washed His disciples feet. He knew who He was but He still humbled Himself even further by washing their feet.
Are you a servant leader? Do you expect things to be done for you or do you take the lead by doing. As a leader are there certain people you speak to?
Jesus said we are to lead by serving. He changed the world and still does because of how He led. We need to learn how to humble ourselves. As leaders we are called to serve and not to be served. A lot of people aspire to be leaders because they want to be served. They want to be respected. They want to advance their ideals and so on. But leadership is not the place to do that. Leadership is a place where you die to self. Leadership is hard. It should not be taken lightly.
Leadership is a lonely road. When Jesus was in His most important challenge His friends abandoned Him. He was all alone. Leadership requires you to die continually to self. There is a certain amount of responsibility you need to have when you are a leader.
Are you a servant leader? In other words, are you ready to serve?
That is real leadership.