The challenges of a righteous man….(part 1)

Good day friends!

I will be doing a four part series on David the man after God’s

heart. David loved God with all of his heart but it wasn’t easy.

He went through a lot and his relationship with God was tested

immensely! I want to talk about some of the challenges he faced.

There is no doubt God had an amazing plan for David’s life but

we need to realise that the enemy didn’t sit back and let it be. he

fought and at times he seemed to be victorious BUT

God was with David and saved him from all of his trials! I hope

and pray this series is a blessing to you. Let’s get started….

 

“Then the Jebusites said to David, You shall not come in here.

But David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the City of David.

And David said, whosoever smites the Jebusites first shall be

chief and commander. Joab son of Zeruiah [David’s half sister]

went up first, and so he was made the chief.

1 Chronicles 11:5, 6

 

This was one of David’s worst decisions. This decision would

impact his life in a way he would never expect. Instead of

seeking the Lord like he always did he turned to his flesh!

He left the decision of who would be his chief and commander

to a test of physical strength! Now get me right, there are a

few things Joab did right but the bad things far outweigh the

good.

You might think I am over exaggerating but look at the

consequences of David’s decision:

 

Joab murders Abner against David’s wishes.

(Read 2 Samuel 3:21-30)

Okay fair enough, Abner had killed Joab’s brother Asahel but

Joab still went against David’s wishes.

 

Joab kills Absalom, David’s son (Read 2 Samuel 18:14, 15)

Yes, Absalom took over David’s kingdom and even sought

to kill him but after being instructed by David (2 Samuel 18:5)

to not kill Absalom, Joab still went ahead and killed him.

 

Not convinced Joab was the wrong choice? Let me share a

few more incidents that will convince you otherwise:

 

Joab kills Amasa (Read 2 Samuel 9:10)

 

Joab betrays David by supporting Adonjah rather than Solomon

the promised king. (1 Kings 1: 7)

 

To conclude read 2 Samuel 23:8-39

All of David’s mighty men are mentioned but Joab’s name

is not there.

 

Look at how one decision made in the flesh impacted David’s

life. David always sought the Lord in his decision making.

But this one decision made in the flesh cost him much.

We need to always seek the Lord when making decisions. And

please understand,

I am not talking about deciding between drinking coffee

or tea tonight. 🙂  That’s not the kind of decision making I am

talking about. I hope you get the gist of what I mean.

David made a mistake. He made a really important decision

without seeking God and he paid a hefty price for it.

May we always seek the Lord in everything we do.

As we seek the Lord for His direction and guidance in the

decisions we have to make know it pleases Him.

It shows Him our faith in Him.

So as I end the lesson is this,

 

Seek the Lord! Things go horribly wrong when God is taken

out of the decision making process. Seek the Lord in every decision

you make!

Bless you….

 

Rolain

 

 

 

 

For His glory…..

“Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind

from birth.

And His disciples asked Him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned,

this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

 

Jesus answered, Neither this man nor his parents sinned,

but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

John 9:1-3

 

Isn’t it interesting how the disciples immedaitely pointed

to sin as the reason for the man being in the situation he was

in. Even Job had the same problem. His friends thought sin

was behind all the misfortune that befell him but that was

not the truth. It wasn’t true for Job, for the blind man and

it’s not true for you!

 

Jesus answered, neither this man nor his parents sinned, but

that the works of God should be revealed in Him.

John 9:3

 

I had a thought, maybe you haven’t received your

breakthrough because God wants to reveal His glory

and greatness through your situation!

 

Please get me here, I am not saying we must cross out

ourselves out as the problem. We could be the problem

to a lot of the problems we are facing. But what I am trying

to say is that there are things that are happening or

not happening because God wants to reveal His goodness

and glory in HIS time!

When the blind man received his sight that was a testimony

of how great God is but it happened at the right time.

When Job got his life back God got the glory even though

it didn’t make sense in the beginning. He didn’t

understand why the things that were happening were

happening. But God knew!

 

The problem comes when we look at how other people

are living and we begin to compare our lives to theirs.

Your life is in God’s hands and He is directing it. He has

a plan for you and it will come to pass.

Always remember, He wants to reveal His goodness and

greatness through you.

 

Hannah was in the same situation. She was barren but

wanted children. She could have wondered why that was

so. Did she think God favored Peninnah over her? Maybe.

Whatever the case, she was not in a good place. But God had

a plan. He would reveal His wonderful acts through Hannah!

Peninnah could bear children but Hannah bore Samuel!

It was worth the wait…..

 

I have to constantly remind myself that God has a plan

for me. He has not forgotten about me. Even if it seems

like it. My friends have moved on with thier lives. They

have families of their own, and so on and here I still am

waiting on God. But I am not upset. He has a plan.

His goodness and greatness will be manifested through

me I believe. I may not understand why some things

are the way they are but I trust God does…..and that’s

all that matters!

 

Don’t be discouraged friends. He will come through for you.

He will be magnified though your life. People won’t help

but praise God because of the things that are happening

in your life. He is so good!

 

Rolain

 

 

Can you count the stars…?

“And He brought him outside [his tent into the starlight] and

said, Look now toward the heavens and count the stars – if

you are able to number them. Then He said to him, so shall

your descendants be.

And he [Abram] believed in (trusted in, relied on, remained

steadfast to) the Lord, and He counted it to Him as righteouness

(right standing with God).

Genesis 15:5, 6

 

I love this scripture and I really love how God works. I love how God

is always trying to make us see more. Abram had left what he had

always known to follow the Lord. The Lord had told him to

pack up and leave to a place unknown. Did Abram know what

was waiting for him? I seriously doubt that.

Before God called him did he have a vision for his life? He probably

did but I don’t think it was as big as what God had planned.

And that is why God had to take him outside. He had to give him

another picture. It’s interesting to note how many times God kept on

telling Abram about his purpose…..He didn’t just tell him one time!

 

The picture Abram had would not help him walk

in God’s amazing promise. So God took him outside and showed

him something outrageously beautiful if there is such a thing!

God showed him something which was naturally impossible. It

was impossible, plain and simple. But that didn’t stop God.

As I read this I can see how God did this for me. I didn’t have the

right picture before I became a Christian. I had another picture,

a picture created by the abuse that went on in the house, a picture

carefully crafted by everyone who didn’t see God’s amazing plan.

They thought they were being nice, they thought they were

been realistic, some thought since they knew me better than

the majority they could tell me what my life would be like. But

it was all lies and I didn’t even know it. ………

 

“You are not going anywhere in life”

“You don’t have what it takes to make it in this world”

“You are so dumb”

“Look at where you grew up”

“Abused people don’t have a future”

“Don’t dream big”

 

On and on it went. But I was young and no one taught

me to say no to what was being said. I didn’t know better so

I agreed with everyone…..Every single negative word became

a part of me and every negative word formed the “picture”.

 

Then I became a Christian. I still had the messed up “picture”.

It dictated everything in my life. It dictated what I was to expect

in life, which wasn’t very much. It dictated what kind of friends

I should have. It dictated the kind of life I was to pursue!

 

But God intervened and showed me another picture. At first I

rejected it. Lies….It was all lies! Someone was trying to set me up

again. But God persisted and took me “outside and showed me

the stars and told me to count them if I could……..”

Over time I began to believe Him. It was crazy but how could I

not believe?

Changing the “picture” was the most painful thing I had to ever

endure. It tooks years and years of pain and even tears. But

God in His grace persisted and kept on showing me “His”

picture and I am forever grateful. Am I there yet? Not by a long

shot but the picture has changed drastically and continues to….

 

Friends, God has a better “picture” for your life. He wants

to show you the most amazing things if you let Him. Ditch the

old picture that told you how much of a loser you were, that

told you how ugly you were, that told you how insignificant you

were, that told you you had no future, that made you aim as low

as possible just in case you failed…..!

 

God has a better picture for your life and He is inviting you

outside to look at the stars and count them if you can……

The old picture can be changed. The enemy has lied to you

and has done something crazy. He has made you believe that

the old picture is the truth!

He has made you believe that the old picture is the real you!

He is dead wrong friends!

 

God’s picture is stronger than any picture the enemy can

ever fabricate. That is what he has done. I looked up the

definition of fabricate and this is what I found:

 

Fabricate – invent something in order to deceive.

synonyms -forge, falsify, fake, counterfeit, make up and invent

 

Crazy right?!!

 

My hope is that you will understand the ‘picture” can change.

Your truth can change. There is another picture, God’s

picture. There is no other picture that can compete to His

picture. All other pictures must bow down to His. He loves us

with everything within Him. He has only the best reserved

for us. Let’s stop listening to the lies of the enemy.

As I end I will leave you with a very simple but powerful

truth,

 

There is more…….

 

 

Rolain

 

photo credit: google images

 

A note to the busy…….

Do you hear Lady Wisdom calling?

Can you hear Madame Insight raising her voice?

She’s taken her stand at First and Main,

at the busiest intersection.

Right in the city square

where the traffic is the thickest, she shouts,  Proverbs 8:1-3

 

This is a very interesting scripture. Interesting not because she makes a call but where she makes the call. She could of gone to any place and made the call to anyone but the scripture says,

 

“She has taken her stand at First and Main,

at the busiest intersection.

Right in the city square

where the traffic is the thickest, she shouts,

 

It’s so busy that she has to raise her voice. She actually has to shout to get the people’s attention! That got me to think. What were the people doing that she had to shout??? Were they really that busy? I started bringing up possible scenarios……

– A man had to get to the other part of town so he could deliver a package and get paid.

– A mom had to take her kids to school and was running late

– A young man had to meet someone who would fund his business

– A parent had to  rush to the hospital because his child was involved in an accident

– A family had to rush to the airport or they would miss their flight

and so on and so on………… Whatever the reason is for the busyness, they forgot about wisdom because she had to make the call. If they were operating in wisdom in their busyness wisdom would of kept silent but that was not the case.

Doesn’t that describe the kind of world we live in today? Everyone is just so busy today. Too busy to form real relationships. Too busy to stop and care for someone. Too busy to love. Too busy to stop and take time with their children. Too busy to stop and look at their lives and make changes. Too busy to stop and reflect.

Stop! Take some time to listen, someone pretty important is calling. And she is calling you! Will you heed her call or are you just too busy? It’s not wrong to be busy but when that busyness stops you from listening to the voice of wisdom then you have a problem. That is my challenge!

Rolain

 

The enemy’s goal for you….

When Saul and his troops heard the Philistines challenge, they were terrified and lost all hope. 

1 Samuel 17:11

 

Each morning and evening for forty days, Goliath took his stand and made his speech. 

1 Samuel 17:16

 

As I read this during my quiet time God spoke to me. This is what the enemy does. His goal is to terrify us and make us lose hope. Without hope we are truly lost. When we are terrified we are crippled unable to stand and fight! God cannot work with people who are controlled with fear. He wants to break the fear off our lives. I am one of those people. One of those people who is fighting fear. I know God has not given me a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind!

 

Look at what the enemy does once the Israelite army is terrified and have lost hope.

 

“Each morning and evening for forty days, Goliath took his stand and made his speech.”

 

The enemy is not content with terrifying you for a day. He wants you terrified as long as he can! He doesn’t want you to ever live with hope. He wants you to constantly live in fear, terrified! He is crazy…..! He will do all he can to discourage you, tear you down, destroy your dreams. He will do anything. Morning and evening for forty days! It’s crazy to think that would work but it did.

Look at the kind of effect it had.

 

“While they were talking together, the Philistine champion, Goliath of Gath, stepped out from the front lines of the Philistines, and gave his usual challenge. David heard him.

The Israelites to a man, fell back the moment they saw the giant – totally frightened.”

1 Samuel 17:23, 24

 

You would think the army would get tired of the same old challenge. But the fact is, they didn’t. We look at them and wonder how they could be so scared but the fear was real for them. Goliath was a giant! I would freak out if I saw a giant. Goliath was not only a giant but a trained one, ready for battle!

 

When I read the story everything made sense. There is something I am about to do but I have been attacked with fear. What if I fail, what if I heard God wrong, a lot of people are saying don’t do it but this is something I believe God wants me to do. These are the things I am constantly struggling with in my head. But I know the reason now. The enemy wants me to lose ALL hope! He wants me terrified, so terrified that I disobey God, so terrified, that I am not effective.

 

The armies of Israel dressed for battle everyday for 40 days only to cower away in fear. They were not fighting, just fearing and out of hope!

That is what the enemy wants for you. Has fear crippled you? Have you lost all hope in God because that is what happened?! They lost hope in God. The enemy succeeded.

We can’t let the enemy win. God has so much for us to do. He wants us to win. He wants us to hope in Him. He wants us to trust in Him.

 

Rolain