What was his confidence based on?

“When they had come, he looked on Eliab [the eldest son] and said, Surely the Lord’s 

anointed is before Him.” 

1 Samuel 16:6

 

Samuel thought his job was a success when he saw Eliab.

We must remember Samuel was sent to anoint a king, so the person he would anoint

was not ordinary. He would have something that separated him from everyone else.

So when Samuel looked at Eliab’s physical appearance he was convinced he was the one.

He had the muscles, the height, the intelligence, and was well spoken.

What Samuel saw convinced him Eliab was the one but the Lord said something that made

him change his mind;

 

“But the Lord said to Samuel, Look not on his appearance or at the height of his stature, 

for I have rejected him. 

For the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord 

looks on the heart.” 

1 Samuel 16:7

 

“Look not on his appearance or at the height of his stature; for I have rejected him.” (emphasis mine)

 

I like to imagine that Eliab was the “Dwayne Johnson” of his time. He had everything a man would

want. He was a first born, an ultimate warrior, had the voice, and so on. Who wouldn’t want to be like him?

But the Lord rejected him!

The Lord only rejects those who reject Him (Matthew 10:33) so that’s what must have happened here.

Eliab trusted in himself. He didn’t need YAH.

His confidence was in himself. He didn’t look to YAH for help.

We can conclude that Eliab didn’t have a relationship with YAH.

 

There is a lesson we can take from this.

Where is your confidence? Are you depending on yourself, your resources, your education,

your upbringing?

Are those things stopping you from trusting the Lord.

The word is very clear about what YAH is looking at? He is not impressed with our show of strength.

He wants us to look to Him. He wants a relationship with us.

While Eliab was wrapped up in himself, David his brother was in the field getting closer to YAH.

His relationship with YAH was getting stronger and stronger.

He trusted the Lord completely. The Lord was his consuming passion night and day. He

communed with the Lord daily. He sang songs to Him.

 

The Lord called him a man after His own heart.

The Lord wants our hearts friends not our “strength”.

He is not impressed when we try to go at life on our own steam.

He wants to be first in our lives, not second.

He wants our hearts set on Him and nothing else.

 

ACT ON IT – Is the Lord first in your life?

What is stopping Him from being first?

 

Bless you friends

Rolain

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take responsibility for your life……

 

Hi everyone!

I have a question I would like to ask you?

Are you responsible?

I would guess the majority of you if not all of you would say yes.

I too would like to think I am responsible. I pay my bills, I make

sure everything that is supposed to be working is working.

So to sum it up I think I am quite responsible.

But something happened a few days ago to make me question

that. Let me tell you about it…..

 

A few days ago…..

 

A friend asked me to go with him to get his car looked at by a

mechanic. My friend had a mechanic but he wanted a second opinion

hence his trip to a second mechanic.

The news wasn’t good. The mechanic told my friend about other

problems that needed immediate attention. The mechanic asked

my friend a few questions about some of the problems. From the

mechanic’s point of view some of the problems could of been

avoided if my friend took a little more interest in his car.

My friend defended himself. He told the mechanic he wasn’t good

with cars and didn’t understand them. That is why he had a

mechanic in the first place.

The mechanic asked him about another problem but my friend

had no clue how to answer.

Ever time he was asked something he would blame the mechanic.

 

After we left my friend and I started talking.

We drew a few crucial conclusions from what just happened.

 

Responsibility and accountability.

My friend didn’t know anything about cars but that didn’t mean

he had to give up responsibility to his mechanic. By doing that

he was giving up accountability. He was no longer accountable

for his car because he had given the responsibility to his mechanic

and that is why he had no answers for the second mechanic.

Crazy right!

 

Let me me take it a bit further. We do this in life.

It goes something like this,

 

I can’t be all that God wants me to be in my country because

of what’s going on. The government is not giving me opportunities

to succeed.

 

It’s my parents fault that I am where I am. They never let me do

anything.

 

My pastor never singles me out. If he did I would do better!

 

And so so on and so on……

 

We need to take responsibility for our lives.

God is our Lord and He wants us to take responsibility of our

lives. That’s why we have the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t want us giving

away responsibility to anyone else.

Remember, when you give someone else responsibility say for example

to succeed, you automatically give up accountability to that person.

 

It’s good to have mentors, coaches, pastors and teachers but they

are not responsible for who you will become. They have a say in it but

not the final say. You are the one who decides!

It has to start with you. You are the one who must take responsibility.

You are accountable for your life and no other man.

There is only one person qualified to be responsible for you

and that’s Jesus!

 

As I close I would like you to think about your life.

Have you given up responsibility for it to a system, government, or

people?

The only person you should be surrendering to is Jesus. He has an

amazing plan for your life. He created it!!!  Apart from Him there

is no one else you should be surrendering to. I am not talking about

revolting against leadership or refusing to learn from people.

That’s not what I am saying.

I am challenging you to take responsibility for your life.

You decide to learn, you decide to work hard, to go deeper into God, to

be all that God has for you. You do that. Don’t wait for someone

to come and do those things for you.

Bless you friends….

 

Rolain

 

Guarding The Most Important Thing In The Universe.

As christians we face the challenge of guarding the word that God has placed in our hearts. There are so many things that bombard us on a daily basis that threaten what we have been given by God. And because of that we need to make a conscious decision that we will meditate on the word we have been given. Believe it or not but it is easy to forget the word you have been given.
I find that a lot of the trouble I get into would of being avoided if I had remembered the word I had been given for a specific situation.

Look at what Proverbs 3:1 says:
My son, forget not my law or teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;

We need to discipline ourselves to keep the word in our hearts. Memorise it, meditate on it as much as you can. Do all that you can do to keep the word in your heart. I want you to realise that this should be a serious priority in your life.

Proverbs 4:20-22 says:
My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings.
Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart.
For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh.

We need to be vigilant when it comes to storing the word in our hearts. It cannot be taken lightly. Our lives depend on it. In areas where we are supposed to be walking in freedom we are not because the word which was given to us has not taken root.

My son, keep my words; lay up within you my commandments [for use when needed] and treasure them.
Proverbs 7:1.

Let us not take lightly what God has spoken. Let us not forget what God has spoken to us. It is a fight but one that will make the difference between failure and success.

Rolain.P

Success – A Bit At A Time.

How does one acquire success? Can anyone really explain what success is? Defining success is almost impossible these days. There are so many people who have a perception of what success is. I am not going to try and challenge what has been said about success. Instead I am going to try and define how one can be successful in all they do.
I believe success exceeds the amount of money one has. It is so much more. I am going to share a principle from the Word of God that deals with the topic of success. So let’s go.

In the world today we have a lot of people that believe that success is instant. They believe that success happens in one awesome moment. Look at the amount of people that gamble. Look at the amount of people who spend thousands ofdollars on the lottery. And even if you do win the lottery does it mean you are a success?
But the Word of God is very clear about how we become successful. I am going to share one of those ways. Let us read Proverbs 13:11 which says:
Wealth [not earned but] won in haste or unjustly or from the production of things for vain or deterimental use [such riches] will dwindle away, but he who gathers little by little will increase [his riches].

Did you see that? Those who gather little by little will increase his riches. When you work with your hands and keep at it despite the challenges you face that is when you become a success. When you don’t give up but perservere be sure you are on the road to success. This same principle applies to every part of your life.
You can’t build a strong character in a day. It needs to be worked on bit by bit, day by day, week by week. You don’t build a business in a day. It takes time to build. You make mistakes but keep moving on. A relationship is not built in a day. It takes time. You invest time and energy to make it work. It doesn’t just happen.
It doesn’t take a day to build a building. It takes a long time to build a building. Only when people work at it day by day can they complete it.
Can you now see what being a success means for you?
It’s hard work. It needs you to be patient. It needs you to be strong and very courageous. It needs you to never quit. It needs you to be committed to build bit by bit, day by day, week by week.
Are you willing? Do you want to be a success and live a successful life?
The choice is yours.

Rolain.P

Success – A Bit At A Time.

How does one acquire success? Can anyone really explain what success is? Defining success is almost impossible these days. There are so many people who have a perception of what success is. I am not going to try and challenge what has been said about success. Instead I am going to try and define how one can be successful in all they do.
I believe success exceeds the amount of money one has. It is so much more. I am going to share a principle from the Word of God that deals with the topic of success. So let’s go.

In the world today we have a lot of people that believe that success is instant. They believe that success happens in one awesome moment. Look at the amount of people that gamble. Look at the amount of people who spend thousands ofdollars on the lottery. And even if you do win the lottery does it mean you are a success?
But the Word of God is very clear about how we become successful. I am going to share one of those ways. Let us read Proverbs 13:11 which says:
Wealth [not earned but] won in haste or unjustly or from the production of things for vain or deterimental use [such riches] will dwindle away, but he who gathers little by little will increase [his riches].

Did you see that? Those who gather little by little will increase his riches. When you work with your hands and keep at it despite the challenges you face that is when you become a success. When you don’t give up but perservere be sure you are on the road to success. This same principle applies to every part of your life.
You can’t build a strong character in a day. It needs to be worked on bit by bit, day by day, week by week. You don’t build a business in a day. It takes time to build. You make mistakes but keep moving on. A relationship is not built in a day. It takes time. You invest time and energy to make it work. It doesn’t just happen.
It doesn’t take a day to build a building. It takes a long time to build a building. Only when people work at it day by day can they complete it.
Can you now see what being a success means for you?
It’s hard work. It needs you to be patient. It needs you to be strong and very courageous. It needs you to never quit. It needs you to be committed to build bit by bit, day by day, week by week.
Are you willing? Do you want to be a success and live a successful life?
The choice is yours.

Rolain.P