The best and sure way to know you are growing in your walk with God….

How much emphasis do you place on growth?

As a Christian there needs to be consistent growth in our lives.

When I talk about growth I am talking about it in the context of

our walk with God.

We need to be able to see growth clearly and not have to guess if it’s

happening. There are many ways to grow but let’s look at a

way that makes growth quantifiable.

 

“And this is how we may discern [daily by experience] that we 

are coming to know Him [to perceive, recognize, understand and 

become better acquainted with Him]: if we keep (bear in mind, 

observe, practice) His teachings (precepts, commandments).”

1 John 2:3-6

 

I urge you to continue reading up to verse six.

The easiest way to know you are growing in the Lord is

to look at how much Word you apply in your life. That is a

sure way of assessing your growth in the Lord.

I believe reading the Word of God is significant (Romans 10:17)

but we must not stop there. We must apply the word into our

lives. Let me ask you a question,

 

How much of the word are your applying into your life?

 

I was challenged by the message I am sharing with you now.

As I read 1 John 2:3 I realized I needed to step up.

As I see it, there is always room for improvement.

My desire is to grow deeper in my relationship with Christ

and that will happen when I take His amazing word and

apply it into my life. As I end I will share one more scripture

that challenges me every time I read it,

 

“These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your

life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living.

They are foundational words, words to build a life on. 

If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart 

carpenter who builds his house on solid rock. Rain poured

down, the river flooded, a tornado hit – but nothing moved that

house. It was fixed to the rock. 

But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them 

into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house

on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came 

up, it collapsed like a house of cards.” 

Matthew 7:24-27

 

God bless you friends!

 

Rolain

The answer to the chaos around us…..

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

“Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath

to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. 

Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 

[Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; 

and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated

and cowardly and unsettled.]

John 14:27 (emphasis mine)

 

It’s a choice to walk in peace.

When things get crazy you have a choice to be at peace or lose

your mind.

The word is very clear about this,

 

“Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be 

afraid. “

 

When things are not going your way do not let your hearts

be troubled.

It’s not easy staying in peace but Jesus wants us to fight for it.

Refuse to succumb to anxious thoughts.

Refuse to panic and fret.

Choose peace.

 

“Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; 

and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated

and cowardly and unsettled. “

 

There is so much opportunity to lose our peace today.

Put on the news, read the papers, talk to people and you will

see it as clear as day.

But Jesus goes against the grain. He doesn’t advocate us

succumbing to fear. Instead He tells us to stay in peace.

He encourages us to walk in the peace He has given us.

 

Today the word is simple, stay in peace no matter what!

When fear, terror, confusion, and anxiety come, stay in peace.

Easier said than done I know.

But we are not alone. The Holy Spirit will help us in our

weaknesses.

The bad news will keep coming but despite being surrounded

by such darkness hold on to peace.

We can’t afford to live without peace.

Peace is found in His word, it’s found in prayer as you

commune with Him.

Let’s choose peace today!

 

*If you are struggling with mental illness and you need help or you know of someone

who needs help please click on the link below. *

 

https://www.betterhelp.com/start/

 

Bless you friends….

 

Rolain

 

What faith stands on!

 

Therefore, [inheriting] the promise is the outcome of faith and 

depends [entirely] on faith, in order that it might be given as 

an act of grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid 

and guaranteed to all his descendants – not only to the devotees

and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith 

of Abraham, who is [thus] the father of us all.  Romans 4:16 

 

I would like to share a quick thought on faith with you.  As we

all know Abraham was the father of faith. God spoke to him

about his future. This is what the word says:

 

He did not weaken in faith when he considered the [utter] 

impotence of his own body, which was as good as dead because 

he was about a hundred years old, or [when he considered] 

the barreness of Sarah’s [deadened] womb. 

No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question)

concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was 

empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God. 

Fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to 

keep His word and do what He promised. 

Romans 4:19-21

 

Abraham had great faith. His faith was unshakable but why

and how? It’s simple, He believed the word God had spoken

to him.

Let me say this:

 

For faith to work it needs the word of God. 

Without the word, faith is powerless! 

 

Abraham heard the word and because of that his faith

was strong. He kept God’s word close to him.

When I hold on to the word in tough situations there is a peace

that comes.

To walk in faith we need to have the word of God. No word,

no faith. It’s as simple as that. Faith stands on the word of

God. Faith needs the Word to live, without it faith will be easily

crushed. Faith is made stronger by the word. You cannot

separate the two. To walk in faith you need to be speak

the word, meditate on it.

 

Are you trusting God for something? What does God’s  word

say about it? Proclaim the word over your situation.

The word of God is the answer to your problem!

As I close remember, faith needs the Word of God to work!

 

No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question)

concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was

empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God.

Fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to

keep His word and do what He promised.

Romans 4:19-21

 

Rolain

 

 

The answer to every problem……

THOUGHT OF THE DAY.

I saw this picture and loved it.

 

Where are you with your word?

We all need more of the Word of God in our lives.

It’s the answer to EVERY problem you are facing!!

Rolain.

 

Where Has The Reverence Gone???

Ezra opened the book in sight of all the people, for he was standing above.them; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Nehemiah 8:5

I have being enjoying the book of Nehemiah so much. It has really been an eye opener for me especially concerning the word. If there is anything I have seen consistently in the book of Nehemiah it would be the people’s attitude toward the word of God. They had a reverence for the word of God. The word says, as Ezra opened the book of the law to read from it the people all stood up!! Wow!
I am not advocating that we stand up in church when the word is being read but what I am trying to show you is these people had a deep reverence for God’s word which reflected in their actions! Do you reverence the word of God? Can you imagine the kind of picture that was being painted to the children? The reverence and respect you have for the word of God will be seen by all, through your actions.

And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest an scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all of them, This day is holy to the Lord your God; mourn not nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the Law.  Nehemiah 8:9

They wept when they heard the word of God. When I was reading all this I asked myself, does the word of God break me anymore? What have I allowed in my life that has dulled the living power of the word in my life? The thing is, we have become familiar with the word! Familiarity is a killer. We cannot be familiar with the word of God. These people wept when they heard the word, do you? Television and the internet are some of the things that dull our spirit to the word of God. We watch too much TV. We are always on the internet. We read the newspaper or that car magazine or the porn magazine more than the word and then we wonder why we are powerless???
And it doesn’t just stop there, it carries over to our kids. We allow them to watch anything and listen to anything. They don’t respect the word because you don’t!  Television cannot be the main attraction in the house. The time’s when you gather together as a family should be the most exciting thing at home!
On the second day, all the heads of fathers’ houses, with the priests and Levites, gathered to Ezra the scribe to study and understand the words of divine instruction.
Nehemiah 8:13
Let us get back to the word. Let us desire to understand what the word means. Let us teach our kids. They are looking to us as examples. Desire to study the word. Don’t be familiar with the word. It has the power to change your life. Block out those things that are hindering you from reading the word more. Watch less TV. Spend less time on the internet or reading those newspapers. Ask God to ignite a fire for the word. But it starts with you. Steps need to be taken. The fire is not just magically going to happen. If you read the word for 10 minutes a day then extend it to 15 minutes a day. Wake up earlier, cut down the amount of time you spend watching Television and so on. I hope you are beginning to get the picture.

Don’t let That Word Escape!!!

I had a bad day the other day. I couldn’t put my finger on it at first but then the light came on. There is this girl I like but I have been told not to pursue her.                                                       I would like to think of myself as a fairly confident guy, but when all these words were being spoken I was discouraged. Negative thoughts began to overwhelm me until I made a decision to stop being interested in this girl! Crazy right!!!

It is very hard to just stop being interested in a girl especially if you like her. Now here is the point of my post. God began speaking to me about the words I have been speaking over myself in this peculiar situation. They were negative and they were making things worse. As I was contemplating all this I heard a podcast from Pastor Joel Osteen. He was speaking about the power of our confession. Here are a few things he mentioned:

–          You cannot talk defeat and expect victory.

–          Negative words can keep you from God’s best.

–          The promises of God are delayed at times because of our words.

–          We are prophesying negatively over our future when we speak negative.

 

You cannot talk defeat and expect victory. That is so true but I was doing that and so many other people do that. To expect victory we need to speak victory. So after that I stopped speaking negatively over my situation. What are you speaking over your life? The other thing I realised was how easy it was to speak negatively when I was down. I thought I was doing the right thing by talking myself down but that is not what God wants. He wants me to have the best and only the best. It is not an admirable trait to have, if you talk down on yourself.

 

Watch your confession. Watch what comes out of your mouth because you are creating your world with your words!

 

God bless.

3 Lessons From King David About Destiny.

Is there a set formula to accomplishing your destiny? There was a time when I thought there was but the truth is, there is not. I know that is a bold and definite conclusion but I will show you why. I don’t believe there is a set way because we are all different. God made us unique and our callings are unique. I do believe there are universal things that we need to heed if we are to accomplish our calling and I also believe there are things we can learn from people that have gone before us but to say there is one specific formula to reach our destiny is where we err.
In this post we are going to look at King David. He had the call of God on his life and I believe we can learn a lot from him concerning destiny.

1 – The first thing we learn from King David is, he was a worshipper. He loved worshipping God. He knew he was called and he never forgot who was in charge. Worship does that. When we worship God we are delaring God is in charge. King David was not afraid to worship. He was passionate about worship.

Are you a worshipper? Do you love worshiping God? Is it a part of you? On the road to our destiny we need to remember that worship plays a big part in our lives. Worship is a very important key to accomplishing your destiny because it keeps your focus on the One who is really in control of your destiny! Worship was more than a “thing” King David did. It was a lifestyle! Worship for us needs to be a lifestyle. No one had to tell him to worship because it was a part of him. Is that the case with us?

2 – King David always knew who to turn to when he sinned. He wasn’t proud like Saul who denied his sin. Instead, he would confess his sin. He didn’t get it right all the time but when he realised where he erred he would ask God to forgive him.
We need to be open and transparent with the sin in our lives to God. Are you like King David who would confess his sin or like Saul who would try and hide his sin?

3 – King David was someone who trusted in God. He only read a few incidents where he tried to do things on his own but in the overall picture of his life, King David was someone who trusted in God wholeheartedly. We can see it in how he carried himself with Saul. He never took matters into his own hands. He waited on God to vindicate him. It was the same with Absolom and it was the same with Goliath. David had complete trust in God.
We need to trust God as well. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Trust is a key ingredient in context to destiny and life in general. God’s calling on your life is beyond what you can fathom in your natural understanding and that is where faith comes in. Faith in God will help you achieve what seems “unachievable” because by faith you will be able to see God who is the One  directing you and guiding your every step.

And those are the three things that will help you on the road to your destiny. I am so very confident that God’s plan for your life is real and is in motion.  I pray these steps will help on your journey. God bless.

Rolain.

 

 

Rolain.P