When in doubt and fear, remember the good things the Lord has done!

Walking in faith is not an easy thing to do. There will be days you will get discouraged and doubt if

the Lord will come through for you. I have been learning to be patient as I wait on Him for my answer

to prayer but there have been days when believing is really hard. I had one of those days a few days ago.

As I brought my requests to Him thoughts of doubt flooded my mind. Will He really answer my prayers,

I thought. But as my mind was racing I began to think about the things He had done so far. I began to pull

out all the things He had already done for me. As I did that my faith began to increase. At the end of the

exercise my faith was restored. I was full of faith and AM still full of faith He will come though for me,

that He will answer my prayers.

 

And that got me thinking about how powerful remembrance is. We don’t give it the credit it deserves

but it is powerful.

 

“Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth.”

1 Chronicles 16:12

 

There are so many scriptures on remembrance if you want to get deeper understanding. What I experienced

was the effect it had on me as I did it. It increased my faith. My hope was renewed. Because the fact of the

matter is that the Lord HAS done amazing things for me. In different seasons of my life when I needed a

breakthrough, when I was in chains, when I was in darkness, when I was desperate, He came and saved me,

He came and picked me up, He came and fought for me, He came and delivered me.

 

I know the Lord has done amazing things for you too. What you need to do though is remember those

things constantly. They will help you in really tough times. The only time remembrance doesn’t

work is if nothing has happened and as we all know, that is not possible. Yeshua is constantly doing

great things throughout our lives.

 

“If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them? you 

shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to

all Egypt.” 

1 Chronicles 16:12

 

As long as we live we will always be faced with giants and they come in different forms and sizes. But

we need to remember the giants that have come in the past which the Lord defeated! There are many

defeated foes. That will help you as you face the giants standing in your way now. That’s what David

did, remember?

 

“I, your servant, have killed both a lion and a bear! Goliath, the Philistine who is not circumcised, will be 

like the lion or bear I killed. He will die because he has stood against the armies of the living God. 

The Lord saved me from a lion and a bear. He will also save me from this Philistine.”

1 Samuel 17:36, 37

 

David remembered how the Lord delivered him from the lion and bear and and that is why  I think he was

so confident when he went to face Goliath. He remembered how powerful the Lord was. We need to remember

the good things the Lord has done for us more frequently. Forgetfulness is a thief and we must not allow it to

continue stealing.

Let’s ask the Lord to help us in this area.

 

Will you do something for me as I close? Write down the top ten things you think are amazing that the

Lord has done for you. Ten is the minimum. If you want to write more feel free to write more. The Lord

has done so much for us and there is so much He is about to do. Let’s not forget. Let’s always

remember the things He is doing because He is always doing.

Also feel free to share a few of the things He has done for you in the comments below. Your testimony

will bless someone!

Blessings to you friends…..

 

Rolain

Blown away by God’s grace……!

I would like to share one of my favourite passages of scripture.  It speaks about God’s kindness and grace…. In your own time you can read the whole chapter because it is powerful but I will touch on a few verses that touch me the most:

Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and in irons, 

Because they had rebelled against the words of God and spurned the most High. 

Therefore He bowed down their hearts with hard labor; they stumbled and fell down, and there was none to help.

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. 

He brought them out of the darkness and the shadow of death and broke apart the bonds that held them. Psalm 107:10-14

I understand as humans we sin. We get ourselves into trouble by making really bad decisions. We all make mistakes.

The people in the passage I just shared got themselves into trouble. They made all the wrong decisions. They rebelled against God. They were bound and in chains because they rejected God……

Because of their actions they were abandoned with NO ONE to help! They had no one to turn to but……..

They cried to the Lord!!!!! They cried to the Lord in their trouble and He saved them from their distresses! God had every right to leave them but He didn’t. It doesn’t make sense to the human mind. They were on the wrong, they abandoned God…..but in His grace and love and kindness He heard and answered their prayers!!!! That blows my mind and reminds me how little I know God’s grace!!

And that is the trend we see in the rest of the chapter. We see people getting themselves into trouble and God coming to save them as they cry out to Him! For effect I am going to share another story!

Some are fools [made ill] because of the way of their transgressions and are afflicted because of their iniquities. 

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

He sends forth His word and heals them and rescues them from the pit and destruction. Psalm 107:17-20

God loves you and cares for you not because you are perfect. He knows your every mistake but still loves you. He knows every mistake you are still to make, bad decisions you are still to make but He still extends grace to you. He has given you a chance to cry out to Him. That is how good He is……!!!!! He doesn’t give up on you. He is waiting on you to turn to Him! It’s scripture like this that humbles me. I don’t understand the beauty of God’s grace and love but I am thankful for it because without it I would be abandoned and dead! I would be in hell with no hope of rescue!!

The last part of the chapter is so powerful. It talks about men who do their business at sea! I would guess these men are sailors and have great experience and understanding of the sea. They are totally qualified to be out at sea. But something happens out at sea! They encounter a storm!!

[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: 26-28

For a while they tried to rely on what they know to get them out of the storm but that didn’t work! How many of us have tried to get ourselves out of trouble? It says “all their wisdom has come to nothing”.

God is so good because even when they tried to solve a situation in their own strength and failed, God by His grace saved them!!!! As I end I would like you to think about His grace! It is so amazing! He wants you to rely on Him, on His grace. He knows you are human and He wants to deliver you. He wants to save you from sin. No matter what you have done, no matter how bad it is, know that He wants to heal you and set you free. He wants to break the chains that have bound you! It is not to late for you……Turn to Him and He will answer you!!!

Whoso is wise [if there be any truly wise] will observe and heed these things; and they will diligently consider the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord.   Psalm 107:43

Rolain

 

 

Nine months later…….

When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she grieved for her husband. When the time

of mourning was over, David sent someone to bring her to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. 

But God was not at all pleased with what David had done, 

1 Samuel 12:26, 27

We all know what happened here. David slept with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife but to cover it up he got Uriah

who was a faithful solider to him killed! Bathsheba may not have known what David did but the point is she became the king’s wife. She may not have had a say in any of this either. A king was free to do whatever he wanted in those days.

When I read this story a thought came to me. Between Uriah being killed to Bathsheba giving birth to a son was

at least nine months. I don’t know how long the time of mourning was but all we know is it was at least nine months

when all this took place. David was in sin for nine months! He knew taking someone’s wife was sin. He knew murder

was a sin. David loved God. He had an intimate relationship with Him but David was blinded in this season. This post is

not about how bad David was. We are all sinners. David sinned but so do we.

What I want to show you though is how as sinners sin can destroy us. During this ‘nine months’ we hear nothing.

There is no Psalm that we read during that period! We don’t hear of David’s exploits during that time. Nothing was recorded during that time. David was in sin and he didn’t even know it!

If that could happen to David, a man after God’s heart then surely it could happen to us. And please note, David

didn’t snap out of it by himself. He didn’t realize what he was doing by himself. God intervened!!!! If God did not intervene who knows how long it would of gone on for?

And this is what this post is about……God intervened!

God did not leave David in his sin. He saved him. By God’s grace David was disciplined and forgiven! That is good news for us indeed.

We will do crazy things and left to our own we will not win, BUT……But God does not leave us to ourselves. He is watching over us.

He has extended His grace and mercy to us! We serve a really great God! He sent His son to die for us!

I was so encouraged when I got that revelation. God is for me and no matter how crazy it gets God will help me. I hope it’s an encouragement to you as well.

Generous in love – God, give grace! 

Huge in mercy – wipe out my bad record.

Scrub away my guilt, 

soak out my sins in Your laundry.

I know how bad I’ve been; 

my sins staring me down. 

Psalm 51:1-3

 

But that is not the end of the story. God turned this dark and terrible situation for good.

David went and comforted his wife Bathsheba. And when he slept with her, they conceived a son. When the son was born they

named him Solomon. God had a special love for him and sent word by Nathan the prophet that God wanted him named Jedidiah (God’s beloved).

2 Samuel 12:24, 25

Solomon would not have been born if David and Bathsheba never met. I am not saying what David did was right. He sinned! What I am trying to say though is God turned a bad thing into something wonderful. And He will do the same thing for us. We may think our sin is too much and God cannot use us but that is not true. God has forgiven you and will turn what the enemy meant for death into life…..

He has amazing things for you despite what you have done. Sin does not define who you are anymore, God’s grace does. He is a truly amazing God!!!

Rolain