Your life and your words……

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

“Establishing and strengthening the souls and hearts  of the disciples,

urging and warning and encouraging them to stand firm in the faith,

and [telling them] that it is through many hardships and tribulations

we must enter the kingdom of God.”

Acts 14: 22

 

Paul strengthened, urged, warned and encouraged the saints.

What’s important is how he did it. He didn’t try

to sugar coat the truth. He was honest with them, transparent.

He made sure what he taught was what he was living out.

He didn’t say, life was a bed of roses. He didn’t try to hide what life was

really about.

When Paul said “it is through many hardships and tribulations

we must enter the kingdom of God” you better believe he was talking

from a place of experience.

Before Paul spoke to the saints about hardships and tribulations look

at what happened to him prior to that talk.

 

“Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the

crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city,

thinking he was dead.

But after that the disciples had gathered around him he got up

and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left

for Derbe “

Acts 14: 19

 

It was directly after being stoned that Paul strengthened, urged, encouraged

and warned the saints!

He was real about what was going on.

 

Are you being real with the people around you?

Are you being transparent about what’s happening in your life

or are you sugar coating it?

Are you living out the advise you are giving out to others?

 

Bless you friends

 

Rolain

 

 

The saddest story in the bible…..

The Israelites did secretly against the Lord their God

things not right.

They built for themselves high places in all their towns,

from [lonely] watchtower to [populous] fortified city.

2 Kings 17;9

 

I read this passage and I was saddened as I read it hence

the title. These were God’ s people for crying out loud.

The things they saw…..

The things they heard….

 

How could they have lost all that?

They had great leaders: Moses, Joshua, the Judges, Samuel,

King David, King Solomon…..

Yet they fell, and fell in a huge way.

Let us read more:

 

They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim [symbols

of the goddess Asherah] on every high hill and under every

green tree.

There they burned incense on all the high places, as did the

nations whom the Lord carried away before them; and they

did wicked things provoking the Lord to anger.

And they served idols, of which the Lord had said,

You shall not do this thing.  2 Kings 17:10-12

 

The Israelites saw God’s glory.

They saw and experienced His goodness.

They witnessed His power when He drove the enemy

out for them.

They experienced His faithfulness……

 

They despised and rejected His statutes and His

covenant which He had made with their fathers and

His warnings to them, and they followed vanity (false

gods – falsehood, emptiness, and futility) and [they

themselves and their prayers] became false (empty

and futile). They went after the heathen round about

them, of whom the Lord had charged them that they

should not do as they did.   2 Kings 17:15

 

They despised and rejected the Lord. They refused

to believe in God and yet they still prayed to Him!!!

That blows my mind.

I can’t believe how deep they fell, how far they went.

But this is a warning to us. As I read this I realized

that could be me……!!! It’s a scary thought. A friend

told me one time that, we are a step away from anything.

We are a step away from sin, a step away from grace. No

one is exempt from the power of temptation. Just one

wrong decision and all is lost. We need the grace of God

to help us indeed.

The word says, “The Israelites did secretly against the Lord

their God things not right.”

 

The secret things need to be dealt with. The secret thoughts,

the secret habits, the secret addictions……we need to confront

them head on. Our heart belongs to God. Let us not allow the enemy

to steal it. Our brothers and sisters fell and our job is to not say,

“how could you” but we are to look at their lives and learn. We are

to look at their lives and fall down on our knees and cry out to God

to save us from ourselves.

We are to plead with Him with tears and a broken heart realizing we

cannot do this alone……

 

The true you shows up when you are alone. When you are

alone what kind of thoughts consume you?

What kind of programs do you watch?

How do you speak when no one is watching?

What kind of habits do you have when you are alone?

 

The Israelites rejected God in their hearts

In their hearts they refused His commandments

 

There is hope for us. There is always hope!

Let us open our hearts before God.

Let us allow Him access to every part of our

hearts.

No part should be off limits to Him.

Nothing should remain in the dark.

No doors should be closed to Him.

We need to be totally open for Him to come!

Amen

 

Rolain

 

 

 

Don’t stay there!!

I have been feeling overwhelmed lately.
I have been looking at various situations in my life and have
felt dejected.
It all feels hopeless.
I thought I was strong enough for the battle but
I was wrong.
I thought I could handle the pressure but
I was wrong.
The waiting is difficult
I look at the situations and realize there is nothing I can
do….there is nothing Rolain can do!

How many of you have been at that place?
How many of you have been at a place of
hopelessness, where hope has seemed to vanish?
A place where the problems seem too much, too big
for you to take on?

In all of my thinking a thought came to me.

I could either stay in that place, or I could look to
God, the One who is in control of my life.

I could stay in a place of hopelessness or
I could trust Him to turn things around.

I could stay in a place where I think nothing is
happening or I could chose to speak about the things
God is doing in my life even when I don’t see them?!

I could stay in this place and talk about how bad it is
Or I could praise God because He has a plan for me and is
Bringing it to pass….!

Remember this: If you are in that place, you have a choice. You can either stay in that place of hopelessness where you think God doesn’t seem to be doing anything or you can see all the amazing things He has in store for you!

It’s okay to have days where you feel overwhelmed, and so on but don’t stay there! Move to a place of faith! Move to a place where you can see God move because the truth of the matter is, He is always moving!

God has great things in store for you!
He has made your life beautiful.
He is leading you in ALL of your steps!

Rolain

Will you be that friend??

 

 

 

 

 

And her [promised] husband Joseph, being a just and upright man and not willing to expose her publicly and to shame and disgrace her, decided to repudiate and dismiss (divorce) her quietly and secretly.    Matthew 1:19

This is such an inspirational verse and it is one of my favorite scriptures. As I read the scripture this time round relationships came to mind.
In verse 18 we see that Mary was found with child through the power of the Holy Spirit but Joseph didn’t know that. It normal circumstances it meant Mary would be stoned to death. Was Joseph hurt? It could be possible. He had every right to be angry at her and tell everyone what she did but he didn’t……
Instead, he protected her, he covered her. Men, we need to learn to have that same mindset. We need to protect the women in our lives. We need to cover them. But I don’t want to just talk to the men. Let us look at this passage in the context of friends. As friends we need to be there for one another. The word says Joseph was NOT willing to expose her publicly! We need to cover our friends and not expose their faults for the whole world to see. If you see something not adding up in their life then you have a right to confront them but in a way that builds them up.

When you are confronting them or rebuking them do it with the mindset Joseph had. He didn’t want to expose Mary publicly even though it seemed like she slept with another man.
He didn’t want to disgrace and shame her. I would dare to say that his relationship with her was far more important than the “sin” he thought she committed.
Our friends need our support and love. They need us to be transparent and real. They want us to have their back. Will you be that friend?

Rolain

Bring it to the light.

Therefore, rejecting all falsity and being done now with it, let everyone express the truth with his neighbor, for we are all parts of one body and members one of another. 
Ephesians 4: 25

We all go through hard times, diffiult times but we need to bring those things that we are struggling with to the light. It’s a biblical principle. In the light the power of the enemy is weakened. If we are to walk in light, and reject falsity we need to be transparent with someone about what’s going on in our lives. I have done some crazy things in my life but as soon as I did that crazy thing I first asked God for forgiveness then went to my best friend and told him what I did. No sin should be left hidden. Sin in meant to be exposed. It will only get stronger if it remains hidden. This is what I strongly believe. When I commit sin I tell someone I trust. The goal, to never live with anything hidden, in the dark! It has been a great burden off my shoulders to have someone to tell about the sin in my life. Do you have that someone you can tell anything to? Read what the next scripture says,

Take no part in and have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds and enterprises of darkness, but instead [let your lives be so in contrast as to expose and reprove and convict them.
For it is a shame even to speak of or mention the things that [such people] practice in secret. 
But when anything is exposed and reproved by the light, it is made visble and clear; 
and where everything is visible and clear there is light.  Ephesians 5:11-13

Is everything in my life visible and clear? Has every dark place being exposed? Nothing about my life should be hidden, or in the dark. And this is how we are to live. We are to live in the light but sin can hamper that. Don’t allow sin to remain hidden in your life. It will only get stronger and stronger if you let it remain in the dark. Sin hates the light. Be diligent to find a person or people you trust who you can be transparent with. It’s not easy but it’s needed. How serious are you about exposing darkness in your life? We are not an island. Let us bring ALL darkness to the light……..!

Rolain

Conversations As A Prayer.

 

What kind of conversations do you have with people? I know it will vary depending on who are you speaking to but what kind of conversations are you having? A lot of people nullify God’s power and miracles because they are not careful about the kind of conversations they have. Some people simply don’t know how powerful conversations are! We are indeed perishing because of a lack of knowledge but that must change.

To build my case I am going to be sharing from JOHN 11:1-53.

This is the story about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. As we know, Jesus is told that Lazarus is sick and we also know that Jesus gets to Martha and Mary only to find out Lazarus has been dead for four days! We then see Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. This is truly an amazing story but a story that raises a very important question.

The question is, when did Jesus pray for Lazarus to be healed when there is no record of that prayer?

–          Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always; but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou has sent me.                                       John 11:41,42

 

                                                                                                                  

 

We find the answer in John 1:4. Jesus is actually having a conversation with the disciples. Listen to what He says:

 

When Jesus heard that, He said, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

 

Conversations have power. Jesus understood this and amazing things happened. We on the other hand need to understand. How many times we have prayed for something, for example, we have just asked God for money for a trip we want to take, so in church we experience the power of God and we are sure that God has heard our prayer. We praise Him and thank Him for His goodness and mercy but the following week when we are with friends at the coffee shop we are telling our friends how we think the money is just too much to raise!!!

This is just one example but there are many situations where we nullify what God has said over us. And we do this mostly in our conversations. CONVERSATIONS HAVE POWER!!

 

What you say to your friends or anyone else matters. Please understand that it is allowed to have fun and joke around. What I am talking about is when you have asked God for something specific and you nullify it when you are speaking with people.

You are creating your life with your words. Opportunities are been created when you speak. Answers to prayers are being answered as you speak but the vice versa is also true. If you are being negative in your conversations after you have just declared God’s greatness then you are shooting yourself in the foot! You need to stop doing that. We need to stop doing that!!! J And this is where I am going to end. I have finished my case and it is now your turn to assess where you at.

 

On a last note, I am not advocating for you to be fake. If you are having a bad day then you are having a bad day don’t sugar coat it. There is a need to be transparent but in the midst of the bad speak life. End with hope. That is the way to do it. God bless!

 

Rolain.P