He promised it!

“The Lord made a promise to David. 

It was a sure promise that He will not take back. 

He promised, “I will make one of your descendants rule as king after you.” 

Psalm 132:11

 

Happy new year to you, friends! I hope you had a great holiday and are ready to continue walking

with God in this new year. God has done so much already and in this new year, He will

continue the work He started all those years ago. He has so much more in store for you.

It’s good to be back writing and I am expectant about what God has in store this year.

 

God’s promises to us are sure. He doesn’t take back what He has promised. He doesn’t change

His mind. When He promises, it comes to pass. When God promised David he would have

a son to rule when he died God is the one who brought it to pass in spite of David’s failings and weaknesses.

(remember the mess with Bathsheba)

 

If we are relying on our own abilities and strength to receive God’s promises then we have missed it.

He wants us to look to Him, to rely on Him. He is faithful to fulfill the things He promised us.

So as we go through the new year let’s remember His promises to us are sure. 

There is no “maybe” or “might” attached to His promises. They are sure and that’s enough for us.

Enjoy your weekend friends.

 

Rolain

 

 

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Why you need to be excited about your life even when nothing seems to be happening for you………

Is there a reason to be excited about your life? 

 

That’s the question I have been meditating on for the past couple of days. My country has been

going through a tough couple of weeks and it has been hard to see a future when things look so dark.

But the darkness is not only in Zimbabwe, it’s all over the world. And the darkness wants to get us

off our game. It wants us so discouraged that we lose hope. But we need to keep trusting no matter

the darkness.

 

But it’s not just the tough times in my country that made me think about “what my life could be”

As I looked at my weaknesses, the things I am supposed to be doing that I am not doing, and

flaws that are too many to mention I got discouraged. I have messed up so much. I have blind spots

that I am relying on God to expose. With all those things against me I found myself asking,

Can I really be excited about my life with all the flaws that I have?

 

That kind of question demands an answer and an answer is what I got.

 

I do have a reason to be excited about my life because God is in it. 

 

Not only is He in it but He created it. He is the author of my story. I have every reason to be

excited about my life. I need to pump myself up, raise the expectation, because He is in control.

He has crazy things in store for me. His word says,

 

“Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this.

He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream,

and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for His miraculous power

constantly energized you.”

Ephesians 3:20, 21

 

 

You may think there is nothing to get excited about in your life but that’s not true. Because God

is at the helm you can expect an amazing life even though things may be hard now.

Nothing may be working for you at the moment but remember this,

Winters end!

Keep trusting God. Hold on to His promises. Expect Him to move on your behalf and yes,

 

You have a reason to be excited about your life….. because He is in it.

 

 

Blessings to you friends.

 

Rolain

When courage is lost.

“[Those aboard] mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the deeps; 

their courage melts away because of their plight. 

They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end [all their 

wisdom has come to nothing]. 

Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses.”

Psalm 107:23-30

 

“Their courage melts away because of their plight” 

 

I can understand that. Life throws things that have the potential to melt away your

courage. It can throw things that render you hopeless and weak.

Situations that leave you clueless and powerless.

But what I want to look at and discus is how you deal with those situations. There will always

be giants stronger than us. We will always be faced with hard things that we don’t have answers to.

But knowing how to deal with those situations will make all the difference.

 

Psalm 107:23 paints a vivid picture for us. There were sailors out at sea and a storm

arose. The sailors knew a lot about the sea and you would expect that knowledge would help them,

but it didn’t. Their wisdom came to nothing. With all their experience and knowledge there was

nothing they could do. They didn’t have answers.

All hope they had of being saved was crushed. Their courage was lost.

But things turned around because of one thing and one thing alone, God. Their situation turned around

not because they were skilled, not because they were sailors and had tons of experience, and not because

of their strength.

When they cried out to God in their trouble He heard and saved them. The bible says it this way,

 

“Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses.”

 

When you are at your wits end, when your courage is lost because of the enormity of the

storm cry out to God. He doesn’t expect you to deal with the storm by yourself. He expects you to call Him.

He expects you to trust Him in the fiercest of storms.

 

When the sailors cried out to God, He delivered them from their distress.

What are you going through today? What trouble are you facing?

Has your courage gone because of your plight? Is your hope lost?

Don’t lose heart in the storm.

God is with you and He will carry you through.

 

Bless you friends

 

Rolain

A faith that cannot be destroyed…..

“So we will never fear even if every structure of support were to crumble away. 

We will not fear even when the earth quakes and shakes, 

moving mountains and casting them into the sea. 

For the raging roar of stormy winds and crashing waves cannot erode our faith 

in You.”    Pause in His presence.

Psalm 46:2, 3

This scripture spoke to me today.

I was thinking about the difficult things we face in this life

and wondered if the storms we face are eroding our faith in God or strengthening it?

Is the constant onslaught of the enemy slowly eating away at your faith?

We must be careful when this begins to happen.

The more intense the fire gets the more we rely, and lean on Him. We need to beware

our faith is not diminishing as the onslaught continues because that’s the enemies goal.

He wants to decimate our faith, decimate us. he wants us hopeless, he wants us in fear, he wants us

paralyzed.

Let’s take a look at the definition of the word erode.

Erode definition

1: to diminish or destroy by degrees:

a: to eat into or away by slow destruction of substance (as by acid, infection, or cancer)

b: to wear away by the action of water, wind, or glacial ice flooding eroded the hillside

c: to cause to deteriorate or disappear as if by eating or wearing away inflation eroding buying power

 

The eating away of your faith doesn’t happen suddenly. It happens in degrees. It’s barely visible and

before you know it your faith is wrecked.

We need God’s help against this attack. The Lord is by our side always and no matter how many attacks

the enemy launches he will not succeed. Don’t lose heart in the fire. Don’t give up in the fiery storm.

He will save you every time! Keep hope alive.

And this is the thing, your faith may be as small as a mustard seed but that’s enough for the Lord

to work with.

Things WILL get better, the storm will pass. Hold on to your faith.

No matter how intense the storm gets ask Him to give you strength to keep holding on.

Bless you friends….

 

Rolain

 

Having a good attitude when things are bad…….

What is your attitude like in difficult times, when things, are going wrong for you, when nothing

seems to be working in your life? I have been thinking about this today and I think it’s

so critical what your attitude is like.

I am being tested in this at the moment. Things are really bad in my country at the

moment and it’s so hard to have a good attitude in the midst of what’s going on.

Just because it’s easy to have a bad attitude doesn’t make it right to have one. A bad attitude

doesn’t cultivate faith, hope, and peace. It cultivates the exact opposite.

 

Having a good attitude in the midst of hardships is critical.

Look at Paul for example. He went through a lot of difficult things. He had every reason to have

a bad attitude towards life but he didn’t. There is a difference between being discouraged and having

a bad attitude and I think Paul did have days when he was discouraged but I don’t think he had a bad

attitude in the trials he was facing. His focus was on God who was His strength and help.

 

“Are they serving Christ? I am serving Him more. (I am crazy to talk like this.) I have worked much 

harder than they. I have been in prison more often. I have been hurt more in beatings. I have been 

near death many times. Five times the Jews have given me their punishment of 39 lashes with a whip.

Three different times I was beaten with rods. One time they tried to kill me with stones. Three times

I was in ships that were wrecked, and one of those times i spent the night and the next day in the sea. 

I have gone on many travels. And I have been in danger from rivers, from thieves, from my own people, 

the Jews, and from those who are not Jews. I have been in danger in cities, in places no one lives, and on 

the sea. And I have been in danger with false brothers. I have done hard and tiring work, and many times

I did not sleep. I have been hungry and thirsty. Many times I have been without food. I have been cold and 

without clothes. Besides all this, there is on me every day the load of my concern for all the churches.” 

2 Corinthians 11:23-29

 

He also said,

 

“We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not

give up. We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed.” 

2 Corinthians 4:8, 9

 

“Always be happy. Never stop praying. Give thanks whatever happens. This is what God wants for you

in Christ Jesus.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16

 

Bad attitudes have a way of twisting how we see life. It blinds us from seeing God’s hand in our

life and gets us focusing on the negative. Instead of being joyful and being a light, a bad attitude sucks

the life out of us and makes us sharp and painful towards others. Instead of speaking words of

healing we cut down and kill with our words.

Ask for the Lord’s help when you have a bad attitude because it has to go. (I am speaking to myself

too)

A person with a good attitude sees the total opposite. Even when the storm is raging the person with

a good attitude sees God always! He or she will always be optimistic when everyone else is being pessimistic.

It’s hard to move in faith when you have a bad attitude.

Remember the solider in the story of the four lepers in the old testament? (2 Kings 7:3)

He failed to believe the word from Elisha in a time of famine. That is an apt picture of how destructive a

bad attitude is.

 

And with all that I will conclude. Have a good attitude in life. You won’t get far in life with a bad attitude.

This is my challenge to you.

Blessing to you all.

 

Rolain

 

 

 

He takes away shame….

“Later, Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant. She did not go out of her house for five 

moths. Elizabeth said, “Look what the Lord has done for me! My people were ashamed of me, 

but now the Lord has taken away that shame.”

Luke 1:24, 25

 

I love this story for so many reasons. Elizabeth couldn’t have children and in her time people looked

down on her because of that. She didn’t decide to not have babies. She just couldn’t. It was out of her

control but I don’t think people understood that. They looked down on her because of it and that’s all

we need to know.

 

As I read this story it really spoke to me. As I look at my life there are a lot of things that haven’t

come to pass and sometimes it can be frustrating especially when it seems like the next person is

getting everything they prayed for and more. I have had to deal with people who thought there was

something wrong with me.  I have had to deal with the shame of unanswered prayers which is so

hard. Where do you even begin explaining why God hasn’t answered your prayers in a certain area??

There have even been times I thought God had forgotten about me because certain things had not

happened yet.

 

If you are in a similar situation as me then this story provides hope. Elizabeth was being ridiculed, and was

the talk of the town because she couldn’t have children but God did something amazing. He answered

her prayers and gave her a child. He took away her shame.

 

I believe God will take your shame, whatever it is. Just keep praying, keep trusting God. What you praying

and trusting God for will come to pass. Don’t lose heart. This is the thing, people will always talk. There

is nothing you can do about that but you can do something about your response. Don’t be discouraged

by other people’s words. God will fulfill what He promised no matter what the next person thinks. His

promises are never dependent on another persons opinions and ideas.

Maybe all your friends have gone to university but for one reason or the other you are still waiting to go,

God will answer your prayer.

You may still be single and the majority of your friends married. Just know that God knows exactly where

you are. Don’t panic or fret. He will answer your prayer.

Whatever it is, know that God will come through for you. He will take away your shame. Keep your eyes on Him!

Bless you friends.

 

Rolain

Drawing the right conclusions from setbacks and failures…..

How do you respond when faced with a setback? How do you respond to failure?

If you are not careful you can draw the wrong conclusions from them. I am much better at this now,

but there was a time I used to draw the wrong conclusions a lot. The doubts caused by the failures and setbacks

wreaked havoc in me. The obvious response was to project all those negative emotions to the rest of my

life which was downright destructive.

 

There is a way to respond to setbacks and failures. Tearing yourself down because you failed is not the

way. It’s important to see failures and setbacks as “isolated incidents” Don’t let the doubts and other

negative emotions bleed into the rest of your life. You can grow after a fall, after a setback but make sure that’s

what’s happening. I am reminded of a quote that perfectly portrays what

I am talking about;

 

“Giving up on your goal because of one setback is like slashing your three other tires because you

got a flat.” – author unknown 

 

That is so true. We need to learn to draw the right conclusions from our setbacks. A setback doesn’t mean

we are failures. We failed yes, but we can get back up. We have another chance to try again.

Don’t let your setbacks and failures define what your tomorrow will be like. Don’t let them define what your

life will be like.

Remember to view them as “isolated incidents”. The Lord will lift you up when you fall.

He is more than able to turn around any situation no matter how bad. Look to Him when

faced with setbacks. Call on Him when you fall.

Bless you friends…..

 

Rolain

 

It’s not your burden to carry…..

I have been worrying about a certain situation this week. It actually started last week. It wasn’t too

serious but enough to warrant a response from me. But in the midst of the worrying a few thoughts came

to me. Was my worrying warranted? What does YAH think when I worry?

Surely it’s okay to worry here and there?

 

Reading the word brought some clarity and that is what I want to share.

No matter how bad things are, no matter what comes our way, His desire for us is to always bring

our problems to Him.

He doesn’t want us wasting even a second worrying.

The call to not worry is a command from the Lord.

Let’s look at a few scriptures in light of this,

 

“Do not fret or have anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, 

by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants

known to God.” 

Philippians 4:6 (emphasis mine)

 

“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)

 

There is no suggestion or invitation here. it’s definite, resolute.

And that is so for a reason.

 

We worry about things but the Lord wants to take it all.

He doesn’t want us to waste time worrying because He cares for us and loves us. He wants to help us.

He is stronger than anything we will ever face and He knows that.

 

So as I end I want to make us see that worrying does not accomplish the purposes of the Lord in any way.

Worrying opens the door to anxiety, stress, fear and a lot of other harmful things.

When worry comes we need to take it to Him instantly. Don’t hold on to it.

Whatever you are worrying about today know that it’s not your burden to carry.

It’s the Lord’s burden, He wants it to take it from you. Will you let Him?

 

 

“Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Then come to me. I will refresh your life, 

for I am Your oasis. 

Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways and you’ll discover that I’m gentle, 

humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me. 

For all that I require of you will be pleasant and easy to bear.” 

Matthew 11:28-30 (TPT)

 

Bless you friends

 

Rolain

 

 

Take a step, attempt, try……

I went to a camp recently with the kids that I teach. It was our first time going to this particular

camp site and the kids really enjoyed it. Compared to other camp sites this one had a lot more activities.

One of the activities we did was the climbing wall. It was really high and after the kids got their turn, I gave it

a shot and got half way up. My arms felt like lead and I had no power to pull myself up to the top.

I have to admit it was a bit intimidating before I did the climb.

The kids responses were varied. Some were afraid, some were hesitant, and some were happy.

 

Anyway, after the exercise the instructors got the kids together for a feedback session. After all the feedback,

the instructor said something that really stuck with me. He didn’t have a sheet that rated everyone

on how high they went and there was no prize giving ceremony for the people that made it to the top.

Instead, he congratulated everyone for attempting. In his eyes, attempting the course was winning.

The mere fact of putting on the harness and taking the first step up the course was the victory. It didn’t

matter to him who won.

 

That really struck me. There is so much emphasis today on being number one, and winning but could that

be a partial picture?

Is there a place for a first step, an attempt, pursuing, trying?

 

The journey we are on is long and hard. Yeshua is not looking for number one. His desire is for us to

finish the race. No matter how difficult things are take the step, attempt, try. If you fall, get back up and

try again. Just don’t stay in one place, don’t freeze, don’t give up. Rely on Him for strength.

 

Bless you

 

Rolain

 

….the men told them things that made them afraid!

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

“I was 40 years old then. When I came back, I told Moses what I thought about the land. 

The other men who went with me told the people things that made them afraid. But 

I believed the Lord would allow us to take the land.” 

Joshua 14:7, 8

 

This was Caleb speaking to Joshua and he was talking about what happened when the 12 spies

got back from spying out the land of Canaan. That was the land YAH had promised his people.

But instead of going to possess it like the Lord promised 10 of the spies managed to strike fear

into the heart of the nation which stopped them dead in their tracks.

I want to zone in on a specific part of the verse I just shared;

 

“The other men who went with me told the people things that made them afraid.” 

 

We have to be careful what we are hearing from others. There is so much stuff happening around

us that can make us afraid which in turn paralyzes us and makes us inoperable.

This is not a casual call I am making but a desperate one.

As much as we can, we need to beware of what we allow ourselves to hear.

 

Israel failed to enter YAH’s promise land because of 10 men who told them things that made them

afraid.  This is serious.

 

Our country is about to have elections and there are a lot of people saying things that have the potential

to make me afraid but I have made a choice to block out those negative conversations. I have to do that

if I want to hold on to YAH’s promises concerning the nation. I know YAH has an amazing plan for my nation

but listening to all the negative things people have to say about what’s happening or going to happen will

not help me declare and hold on to what I need to hold on to.

 

You cannot operate in faith and fear at the same time. It’s either you believe or you fear. It’s that simple.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for news and trying to keep up to date with a situation, or things

happening around you but it gets tricky when those things perpetuate fear and dread instead of

faith and hope. You decide.

 

Joshua and Gideon refused to believe what the 10 men said. They were fully confident that YAH could

deliver them.

On the flip side, are you the one telling people things that make them afraid? It’s so easy to talk about the

bad things. Let’s change what comes out of our mouths.

When you do talk about a problem make sure you have a scripture, or word of encouragement that speaks

directly to the problem. Don’t leave the room or person on a negative.

 

“The mouth of the [uncompromisingly] righteous is a well of life, but the mouth of the 

wicked conceals violence.” 

Proverbs 10:11

 

If you have heard or read things that have made you afraid then bring them to YAH.

Ask Him to replace that fear with faith and peace and hope.

One of my friends had destructive words spoken to him that were directly targeted to what YAH

had called him to.

Those words hit him hard, harder than he could ever imagine. He is still dealing with the effects

of it today.

Negative words are destructive.

Let’s learn to speak life and healing. That brings glory to YAH.

With that I am out…..

 

Blessings to you friends….

 

Rolain