The Lord gave him a picture…..

“Then God led Abram outside. God said, “Look at the sky. There are so many stars

you cannot count them. And your descendants will be too many to count.”

Abram believed the Lord. And the Lord accepted Abram’s faith and that faith made

him right with God.

  

Genesis 15:5, 6

The Lord led Abram outside and gave him a picture of his life and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

But as I look back at my life I see how I allowed people to give me a picture. The enemy was in the mix

as well and did everything in his power to enforce the picture he had given me

because I didn’t know better. It took years to break the negative picture I had been

given and thanks to God the healing is still ongoing.

The Lord has a picture for you too. The picture is amazing and glorious but there is so much opposition

from the enemy. he doesn’t want you to walk in the plan God has for your life because that’s what the picture

is about. It’s about where God wants to take you. It’s about what He has in store for you.

But the enemy uses fear, abuse, manipulation and a whole lot of other things to blind you to God’s picture.

Don’t accept the enemy’s pictures. They are all lies.

his pictures get you depressed, fearful, anxious, greedy, and weak.

his pictures are all void of goodness, peace, love, fulfillment, faith, joy and every other good thing

God is.

Reject them at every turn. But you need help. You need the Lord’s help.

The good news is this, the picture you have now can be changed. That’s what happened to me.

My picture was really bad but the Lord came and changed it. He replaced the dark, hopeless,

fearful picture and replaced it with His life-giving, fresh, new, energizing picture!

And that’s what He does for us as His children.

As I end I will leave you with a scripture that sums up what I have been talking about,

“Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, 

which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand).”

Jeremiah 33:3

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

Run to Him always……

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

“Be glad that you are His. 

Let those who ask the Lord for help be happy

Depend on the Lord and His strength. 

Always go to Him for help. “

Psalm 105:3, 4 (ICB)

This is something so easy to do but do we always do it?

Do we go to the Lord for help ALL the time?

I don’t. I catch myself at times striving in my own strength, worrying, fretting, and panicking.

I forget to go to Him always.

But the word is clear, “Always go to Him for help”

Don’t hesitate, ask Him for help. Even if you made the mistake, the wrong decision, go to Him

for help. He is our strength and able to help us in every situation we going through no matter

how difficult and complex.

“Some sat in gloom and darkness.

They were prisoners suffering in chains.

They had turned against the words of God.

They had refused the advice of God Most High.

So he broke their pride by hard work.

They stumbled, and no one helped.

In their misery they cried out to the Lord.

And he saved them from their troubles.

He brought them out of their gloom and darkness.

He broke their chains.”

Psalm 107

Psalm 107 is one of my favorite chapters in the bible. It shows us how merciful YAH is and

in the midst of our weaknesses and failings He extends grace to us and helps us.

Yes, we are weak, and yes we are going to make mistakes but don’t let guilt and condemnation

stop you from asking Him for help. The enemy is behind that. He wants you to keep silent.

He doesn’t want to see you delivered, freed and helped.

ACT ON IT  – The action point is simple today: Think about areas in your life you haven’t asked YAH for help

and cry out to Him. Ask Him for help right now!

Make sure you write down the things that come to mind so you can have a record of how YAH helped

you in difficult times.

If you can’t go to Him for help because you feel guilty and condemned then meditate on the following two

scriptures (there are so many more)

1. Romans 8:1

2. Psalm 103:8-12

And that is all I have to share with you today. He is our Helper!

Bless you friends.

Rolain

A world without trouble….??!!!

²³ Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have

worked much harder,been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and

been exposed to death again and again.

²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was

shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,

²⁶ I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from

bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city,

in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.

²⁷ I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger

and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.

²⁸ Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 

1 Corinthians 11:23-28

 

I think you will agree with me, Paul went through an a lot of hard times. As I read this

scripture I began to think:

Did Paul ever think God had abandoned or hate him?

He was shipwrecked, beaten, stoned, whipped, hungry, naked and a lot more.

I think it would be easy to get discouraged and think God was punishing him.

But that is not the case here. Paul is not complaining when he writes this.

He is giving glory to God, He is praising God!

We know without a doubt that God was with Paul through every step of the way.

God was with Paul when he was in prison

God was with Paul when he was whipped

God was with Paul when he was at the point of death,

when death was knocking at the door God was by his side!

 

God never left Paul, not once! He was by his side through it all….

 

God was with Paul when he spent a whole night at sea adrift on

a board!

When he was in danger from bandits and his own people, God

was with him!

In toil and hardships God was with him!

When he had nothing to eat or drink, when he was naked, God

was with him.

 

The trials Paul went through drew him closer to God.

The trials he went though strengthened his faith in God.

 

What troubles are you going through?

I want you to know, as you go

through the storm God is with you. He knows exactly what you are

going through. He will not abandon you!!

Praise God in the storms you are going through right now.

He wants to reveal His greatness to you.

He cares about you and will never leave you alone!

 

Rely on Him, call on Him in those times.

As God was with Paul, He is with you!

 

Rolain

 

Remember God today!

And when, in time to come, your son asks you, what does this

mean?

You shall say to him, by strength of hand the Lord brought us out

from Egypt, from the house of bondage and bondmen.

Exodus 13:14

 

And it shall be as a reminder upon your hand or as frontlets

between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought

us out of Egypt.

Exodus 13:16

 

Out of all the miracles God performed this is the most talked about.

God has constantly reminded His people to remember what He did

at the Red Sea.

God delivered His people in a mighty way!

His people were called to remember what He did and He told them

to tell their kids. It is clear God didn’t want His people to forget.

The Red Sea moment was a reference point for the Israelite’s!

When they lost hope they would remember what God did for their

ancestors at the Red Sea, and in Egypt! We too are His people and

He is calling us to not forget!

How important is it to remember?

To answer that I would like to share something a friend shared

with me a few days ago,

 

“God is the God of the impossible.

Reasoning your way out of an impossible situation

is not as effective as reminding your way out of it! – Unknown

 

That stopped me cold in my tracks. How many times I have

tried to reason myself out of a situation. The more effective

way is to remember our way out of it!

That brings me so much peace right now because as I began

to think on it some more I realized God wants us to remember

the great things He has done for us. I believe

we all have our “Red Sea moments” that we can look back to for

strength! Don’t forget those times the Lord came through for

you! Those are the things He wants you to remember. He

performed those miracles so you could remember them when

your faith was been attacked!

As I think back on my life I see the small and the big things

God did for me and I know those are the “Red Sea moments”

God wants me to always remember!

When I am in doubt, when my faith is weak that is when I

need to remember!

 

Fight to remember! Write down what God did for you. Tell

people what God did for you!

When the storms come remember what you wrote. God’s

miracles in your life are not just for you but for your kids.

They are to be a testimony for generations to come!

How great it would be if your great great great kids could

talk about how God came through for you! How amazing it

would be if they used God’s miracles in your life as a reference

point for their own lives!

 

Last year is long gone but we are still here because God is with us!

He kept us with care! His hand is on us and we must make sure

we don’t forget!

Fight to remember the miracles, fight to remember the goodness

of God in your life. He is so good!

Rolain

The weakest link.

Today was a real eye opener for me. We have been teaching the kids about praise and worship for two weeks and today was the last week of the teaching. God really came down and touched the kids and I will boldly say we had a tangible manifestation of God’s presence. Words fail to express how amazing the service was.

 

But this was the eye opener for me – I never prepared sufficiently for the service. It was important for me to have planned because I am the one who decided on having a time in the year where we have a service specifically dedicated to teaching our kids the importance of praise and worship. I have been doing this for 6years and this was the 7th. But like I said, I did not plan sufficiently. I was not prayed up enough. I was not ready for today. I had feelings to deal with as well. I felt guilty for the sin I committed through out the week and thought it inappropriate to ask God for His help. I was not ready on all levels.

I realized how in this relationship I am the weakest link. I haven’t brought anything to the table. My contribution to this relationship is nothing…..I am the weakest link but unlike the game where the weakest link gets eliminated, God still works with me. He doesn’t eliminate me but bestows me with His grace. He covers my faults with His amazing grace and mercy. I was blown away today because God’s presence came down and touched the kids not because I had been prepared or prayed up, or because I was smart enough but He used me in spite of that! ! And thinking about that I realize how that happens everyday. We are the weakest link in our relationship with God but He stays with us. He still gives us a purpose that is bigger than we can imagine and loves us. He doesn’t tell us We are useless but instead makes us useful…….

Even though you are the weakest link in your relationship with God He will never leave. You will not be eliminated. It’s because you are weak that He will use you. You will do incredible things in your weak state because He will cover you. He will give you the wisdom you need, the strength you need……thank God for that. He is amazing.

Rolain

How the wars in your life are won!

THOUGHT OF THE DAY.

 

We all have wars to fight. We cannot run away from battles. They are a part of life but how are we to deal with them?

How do we become victorious? We find the answer in the book of Samuel.

 

David strengthened himself with trust in his God. He ordered Abiathar the priest, son of Ahimelech, Bring me

the Ephod so I can consult God. Abiathar brought it to David. 

Then David prayed to God, Shall I go after these raiders? Can I catch them? 

The answer came, go after them! Yes, you’ll catch them! Yes, you’ll make the rescue! 

1 Samuel 30: 6-8

 

When the Philistines got word that David had been made king over all Israel, they came on the hunt for him.

David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. When the Philistines arrived, they deployed their forces in Rephaim Valley. 

Then David prayed to God: “Shall I go up and fight the Philistines? Will you help me beat them? 

Go up, “God replied. Count on me. I’ll help you beat them.”

2 Samuel 5:17-20

 

Later there was a repeat performance. The Philistines came up again and deployed their troops in the Rephaim

Valley. David again prayed to God.

This time God said, don’t attack them head-on. Instead, circle around behind them and ambush them from the grove

of sacred trees. When you hear the sound of shuffling in the trees, get ready to move out. It’s a signal that God is going

ahead of you to smash the Philistine camp.

2 Samuel 5:22– 24

 

Time and time again we see this pattern throughout scripture. Whoever it was, they always sought The Lord first.

As we face the battles that come our way we need to realize we can come to God. He is our Defender and He will fight for us.

The mistake we make is we think we can do it on our own. But it’s not true!!!! We are not strong enough, and smart enough. We need

Gods help. He is the One who will deliver us. I have tried at times fight on my own only to fail. David as great as he was,

and as great as an army he commanded always sought The Lord first. He didn’t rely on his own strength and on the strength of his mighty men.

 

Who are you relying on when you go to war?

Is it the weapons you possess or the connections you have or the family you come from or the riches you possess?

The experience you have, the intellect you possess????

That means nothing if you don’t seek The Lord. You will fail if you go out alone!!!

Rely on The Lord when you go to war! Rely on God when you face the giants in your life!

 

Rolain.