Watch what goes in……

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

contaminate:

to soil, stain, corrupt, or infect by contact or association

 

Today I will be talking about the contamination that happens in our hearts. We really do need to be careful

what we hear, who we hang out with, what we watch, what music we listen to….

Because it’s through those things we can contaminate ourselves.

 

Let me share a story with you of something that happened this week;

I was with some people who were speaking really negatively about a situation concerning the country.

The more the conversation went on the more uneasy I became. I could literally feel the fear creep in to me

as they spoke. I wanted to get out of there but I didn’t. I stayed. (wrong choice)

 

There is so much in this world that can contaminate and pollute our hearts so we must be on our guard

at all costs (Proverbs 4:23).

What are you listening to on a daily basis?

Who are you hanging out with?

What are you watching?

 

It’s hard to hear Yeshua’s voice when your heart is corrupted. It’s especially difficult to move in faith

when fear has entered your heart.

It’s hard to pray for healing when all you have filled yourself with, is words of death.

Stay away from toxic conversations. Reduce the amount of news you watch or read if that’s what gets

you out of peace?

Stay away from things that make you fearful and terrified, anxious and worry.

Those are the things that contaminate and pollute.

Guard your self at all costs!

 

Bless you

 

Rolain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You give me peace……

Hi friends!

What a week its been! I came out of our annual church

conference! It was amazing!! It started on Wednesday and

finished yesterday. It has also been a busy week. It’s always

busy for everyone at this time. There is so much work to do.

So last week in my busyness I was asked a question that has

haunted me till now. This is what was asked,

 

“Why do you get stressed so easily?”

 

I was running around like a headless chicken prior to the

question being asked. After he left I couldn’t shake the

question. I tried to defend myself to myself and even

justify myself but he was right, I do get stressed easily.

Shucks!!

I want to be that person who stays calm when everything

is falling. I just want to be calm!

That got me thinking about peace……Can I be at peace when

everything is

going wrong? Can I be at peace when the mountains shake?

That is when God gave me a scripture that helped me that

I hope will help you!

 

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

 

I was thinking about the peace the world gives versus the peace

Jesus gives. The peace the world gives focuses on the external.

No war means peace, living in harmony, avoiding confrontation is

seen as keeping the peace.

Then there is meditation, clear your minds they tell us.

So as you can see, the world’s peace is very different.

The main thing to keep in mind about the peace the world

offers is that it doesn’t have Jesus as it’s source and a peace

without Jesus at it’s core is not peace at all!

Without Jesus you will never have peace!

 

The peace that Jesus offers is inward focused. When everything

is collapsing around us, the peace Jesus gives us keeps us steady.

When it looks like the enemy is going to win His peace gives us

hope that things will turn around.

The peace Jesus gives us is dependant on Him!

When we know He is in control, we have peace!

 

So I was challenged to stop stressing so much. The word is

very clear, we must not allow our hearts to be troubled,

we must stop allowing ourselves to be agitated and disturbed,

We must not permit ourselves to be fearful, intimidated

and cowardly in the face of danger, pressure, and so on…..

It’s a decsion to be at peace!

 

This is not just about me having peace at work but this post

is about having peace in hard times. It’s about having peace

when there is so much fear in the world. When my friend asked

me that question I realized later on that, God wants me to walk

in peace, period! Being agitated, stressed and anxious is not from

Him. As I end I would like to share one more story with you from

the word.

 

“And when Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord,

Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the Angel

of the Lord face to face!

The Lord said to him, peace be to you, do not fear;

you shall not die.

Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it,

The Lord is Peace.

To this day it still stands in Ophrah, which belongs to the

Abiezrites.

Judges 6:22-24

 

Gideon’s fear was real. He thought he would die because he

saw the face of God but God told him not to fear. I think

something more happened when those words were spoken.

I think Gideon saw or felt something, something that had

to be told to the generations to come! What ever he saw or felt

compelled him to build an altar and name it, The Lord is Peace

(Jehovah Shalom)!!!

I want to walk in that peace everyday, the peace Jesus gives!!

 

Whatever trouble you are going through remember,

to 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, cowardly

and unsettled!

He is our Peace! Things may be falling apart around us but

we are at peace because He is with us holding us up!

Amen….

 

Rolain

 

 

 

 

 

 

A place of mystery!

“Not long after that, Jesus went to the village Nain. His disciples were with him, along with quite a large crowd. As they approached the village gate, they met a funeral procession—a woman’s only son was being carried out for burial. And the mother was a widow. When Jesus saw her, his heart broke. He said to her, “Don’t cry.” Then he went over and touched the coffin. The pallbearers stopped. He said, “Young man, I tell you: Get up.” The dead son sat up and began talking. Jesus presented him to his mother.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭7:11-15‬ ‭MSG‬‬

 

Hey everybody. I am so glad I got a chance to stop and write

something here in Australia. It’s been a great week so far. I can’t

believe a week has passed already. It’s been so much fun and

God has been showing me lots. I can’t wait to share what He has been

showing me which will come later in the days and weeks to come.

 

Anyway, I hope you all know the story I started with in Luke. It’s a

really interesting story and pretty straight forward. Jesus is on

His way to a village called Nain and as He approaches it He meets

people who are morning the death of a man, a widow’s son. He

was been carried out for burial. So as you can imagine, there is

mourning, and sadness. Anyway to cut a long story short Jesus

raises the man from the dead. What an amazing miracle! Look at

what the next verse says:

 

“They all realized they were in a place of holy mystery, that God was at work among them. They were quietly worshipful—and then noisily grateful, calling out among themselves, “God is back, looking to the needs of his people!” The news of Jesus spread all through the country.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭7:16-17‬ ‭MSG‬‬

When Jesus raised the man from the dead the people realized they

were in a place of holy mystery!! They realized that God was at work

among them.

This is the thing I want you to see. We are always in a place of holy

mystery because God is always at work among us. We may not

recognize it at times but it’s the truth. Coming to Ausstralia made

me realize how true that was. As I reflected on all that is happening

in my life right now, It is clear to see that God is at work in my

life, I am in a place of holy mystery and I thank Him for that.

You are in a place of holy mystery friend. God is doing stuff in your

life even if it’s difficult to understand, even if it seems like you are

facing a wall. If it’s hard for you to see it then ask Him to show you.

Let’s not be familiar with the things God is doing in our lives.

We make the mistake of thinking that the place of holy mystery is only

found in the big things God is doing but it’s just not true. He is in the

small, simple things as well. You have a job, you have the gift of life,

you are healed, you have a loving family, your sins are forgiven!

The list goes on and on!

As I end please understand you are in a place of a holy mystery!

 

Rolain

 

I was totally clueless until…..

Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 

Mark 13:5

 

The disciples asked Jesus about the end times and it’s

interesting to me what He said to them.

There is no doubt in my mind that we are living in the end

times. This week in our weekly bible study as a church,

Mark 13 was the main focus. There are a few things that stood

out in that lesson that I would like to share with you.

 

In talking about the end times, Jesus warns us against being

deceived. In the end times the enemy will try and deceive as

many people as he can. Are you deceived?

Before you answer the question I want to ask you another question,

How does one know he or she is deceived???

 

Jesus made it very clear that in the end times the enemy would

try his very best to deceive us. We are in the end times so the

enemy is at work trying to deceive us.

Just last week God uncovered deception in my heart. The thing

about deception is this, it’s subtle. It creeps in like a thief in the

night without a trace. That is what happened to me.

I was deceived about the way I thought about life. I had a way

of looking at life that was wrong but I didn’t even know it!

Who knows how long I was deceived. All I know is that it was

years!!!!

Yep, that long and I didn’t even know I was deceived. Anyway last

week on my off day as I was spending time with God reading

His word, the light came on! It was like scales fell off my eyes

and for the first time I saw clearly. I saw right through the lies

and deception. I couldn’t believe I never saw it.

 

Jesus knew how real the danger was. How many times in that

passage does He warn us to watch and be alert??!!!!

 

“For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform

signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.

Mark 13: 22, 23

 

How do you guard yourself against being deceived?

Be in the spirit, be in the word constantly, pray

as much as you can! I wasn’t doing these things that much.

Yes I would pray but not enough.

I would read my word but not enough

 

The word of God will expose deception in our lives.

 

Watch what you listen to and what you see. Left unchecked

you will be deceived.  Let me give you an example:

Things in my country are critical at the moment. People are losing

their jobs, corruption is at an all time high. Things don’t look

good.

The enemy is deceiving people by making them believe the

situation is hopeless. Christians are not tithing because things

are difficult but they have been deceived. God is the One who

provides for us and makes a way and that is why we can tithe

in the most trying of times. He is the God who makes a way in

the wilderness! But see how easy deception comes.

We need to watch and be alert! We can all be deceived. No one

is exempt.

I encourage you to look at your life and ask the Holy Spirit to

reveal any deception that is in your life. Remember what I said

in the beginning. It is hard to detect deception.

Anything that does not line up with the word of God is deception!

As I end I will leave you with this;

 

What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ 

Mark 13:37

 

photo credit: google images

 

Rolain

What Is wrong with Unbelief?

Do I really believe that things will turn around for the better in my life?
Do I believe there are better days for me?
Do I really believe that God has my best interests at heart?
Do I believe God has an amazing plan for my life and He wants to see me accomplish it more than I want to?
Do I believe God is directing my life?
Do I believe God loves me?
Do I really believe in God?
Am I really trusting Him for everything in my life?

These are some of the questions I have been asking myself in my quiet time. Why? Because of what God has been showing me this past week.

Is unbelief something we should worry about? Does God take unbelief seriously?
Yes, most definitely!!!

Israel never entered their promise land because of unbelief!!!
They did not trust God, instead they had unbelief in their hearts and they let it grow. Unbelief altered their perception of God. You cannot trust God when you have unbelief in your heart, even if it’s a little.
We got to deal with unbelief at all costs. It must not be allowed to stay in our lives!

[Therefore beware] brethren, take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to cleave to, trust in, and rely on Him], leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the living God. Hebrews 3:12

It is a sin to walk around with unbelief in your heart. You may think you have a legitimate reason for doing so but it’s sin. Unbelief blocks us from hearing God. It hardens our hearts towards Him.

I know I have been walking around with unbelief. It has not been in every area of my life but in some areas.
Are you walking around with unbelief?
Deal with it. Bring it to God.
The last verse I want to share says,

So we see that they were not able to enter [into His rest], because of their unwillingness to adhere to and trust in and rely on God [unbelief had shut them out]. Hebrews 3:19

This is a warning for us all. Unbelief has devastating effects to us all. If we are to walk in the “rest” God has for us we are going to need to uproot unbelief out of our lives.
God can be trusted, He really can. He is true to His word. He has our best interests at heart all the time.
No matter how big your situation is, know you can trust Him for anything. No matter how outrageous or impossible it seems, trust Him.

Then while it is [still] called Today, if you would hear His voice and when you hear it, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion [in the desert, when the people provoked and irritated and embittered God against them].
For who were they who heard and yet were rebellious and provoked [Him]? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
And with whom was He irritated and provoked and grieved for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose dismembered bodies were strewn and left in the desert?
Hebrews 3:5-17

We are all susceptible to this. Don’t think you cannot fall. The Israelite’s where being guided by Moses  They all saw the same things, heard the same things yet they missed what God had for them. If the Israelite’s who saw much more than us and were led by one of the greatest leaders of all time still missed it how can we think we are safe?? How can we treat unbelief so lightly???
We really can’t. Let us ask God to show us where we are struggling in. Let us run to Him for help. Unbelief has to go…..

Rolain