Daily Devotional – 1/29/18 “Believe what you see, faith what you can’t!”

On my ride to work this morning, God dropped in my spirit, “Believe what you see, faith what you can’t.” I opened up Word and I typed it out, for this devotional but then nothing. I keep repeating it and starting over because I was having a hard time understanding this myself. I mean, how can I believe what I see and then faith what I can’t when I see this cutoff notice, the calls from the bill collectors, the report of the doctor, I see the way family treats me, the way I’m being misused on my job and I see the scars from abuse? How can I believe what I see when I see nothing that is of benefit to me? Then God said, I don’t need you to believe in what you see naturally but I need you to believe in what you’ve seen spiritually. See, spiritually I’ve seen the increase, my breakthrough, my deliverance, my gifts paying off, my new house, my new car, my ministry growing, my marriage being restored, my body being healed, my spouse and my children being saved and me being released from financial debt, the hands of my abuser and the bondage of my past. But I don’t see when or how it’ll happen. Well, this is when you’ll have to faith what you can’t. This is the part of not knowing actually when cancer will be in remission, when you’ll get that new kidney, when your womb will be open, when the grief will stop being so heavy, knowing who your spouse will be, when your children will act right and when you’ll finally get out of the water that’s been threatening to drown you.

Beloved, you have to believe what you see and faith what you can’t. The bible says in Mark 11:24, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, BELIEVE that you have received it, and it will be yours.” If you believe it can happen, it can. If you believe you shall have it, you can. What have you seen spiritually that you’ve doubted simply because you’ve yet to faith it? Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” I need you to get something today. Read the first two words of Hebrews 11:1 again. If you noticed it says now faith and not now, faith. What’s the difference? The comma. See, the comma signifies taking a pause and if you paid attention there is no comma in between now and faith which lets me know I need NOW FAITH. Now which is defined as under the present circumstances; as a result of something that has recently happened. In other words, under the present circumstances of your life, have faith. In the midst of whatever has happened, have faith. But not just any faith, NOW FAITH. The kind of faith that says, I’ve seen God’s work in others and I believe He’ll do it for me too. And the kind that says, I’ve seen what God can do so I’ll faith it until I can see it for me. In other words, believe what you see, faith what you can’t.

Daily Devotional – 1/26/18 “Grace AND Mercy”

While I was in school, I took a course on biblical history. One person I learned about was a preacher by the name of Jonathan Edwards. On July 8, 1741, he preached a sermon titled, “Sinners in the Hands of an angry God.” In this sermon, he preached a warning of hell if you didn’t repent and ask God for mercy. Edwards says, daily we walk under a cloud of destruction caused by our wickedness and the only reason we’ve yet to be given what we deserved is because of God’s grace. He says, (this is me paraphrasing) … Although we are, at present, under a sentence of condemnation and should be tried, sentenced and put to death; God spares us. We walk, as he says, over hell on a rotten covering that is filled with more rotten places yet we don’t fall. Even when our feet hit a place that should give out, it doesn’t. Even when we should slip, God steadies our walk. Arrows of death continuously pass us by yet we live. By the Will of God, we live. And the only reason God hasn’t removed His hand from us is due to His restraints, His pleasure and His will; not ours! In other words, our lives isn’t spared because we are good, holy and righteous; no matter how well we pretend to be but we are not consumed because we are covered by grace AND mercy.

See, grace is God extending to us what we don’t deserve and mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. Grace is God giving us the blessing of a new day even though we didn’t appreciate yesterday. Mercy is God saving us when we were supposed to die in sin. Grace is giving us the promotion our resume says we doesn’t qualify for. Mercy is stopping the enemy from cashing in on that agreement y’all made one night when you were lost. Grace is God approving the loan for your new house at the fourth bank when three banks had already turned you down because of your credit. Mercy is stopping you from killing yourself when you drove drunk again. Grace is God giving us those things we know we don’t deserve and mercy is God withholding the very thing we do deserve. So, when you want to complain about what you don’t have, thank God for grace and mercy. When you want to curse God because of the pain you’re going through, remember grace and mercy. When you want to throw in the towel, think about grace and mercy. When you want to shut up your mouth from praising, consider grace and mercy. When you roll over on Sunday and contemplate whether to go to worship, whether to be faithful, whether to pay tithes and whether to be devoted; count up the cost of all the things grace and mercy has kept you from paying for.

Daily Devotional – 1/25/18 “There has to be a struggle.”

I have shared about the butterfly, a few times before but this morning I felt the need to share it again. I say this because there is somebody who struggled yesterday, is struggling today and might be struggling tomorrow. Your struggle could be with weight loss, sickness, sustaining your marriage and your mind, finances, children, school, jobs, starting businesses, starting over and maybe it is spiritual. Whatever your struggle is, know it will not last but it is necessary. Sounds crazy, right? Of course it does but don’t stop reading because I need you to get this. A butterfly starts from an egg, it is then born as a baby caterpillar at which point all it does is eat in order to grow. Then the caterpillar goes through a metamorphosis stage in which it is enclosed in a hard shell called a chrysalis. Looking at the outside, you don’t tend to see any changes but that’s because the work is being done on the inside. Once the caterpillar has gone through the inward change, it has to now come out of its shell and this happens through struggling. See, when the butterfly struggles to get out of the shell, it is serving two purposes. One, it is shedding the old in order for the world to see its new body. And two, the struggle is pumping the necessary blood into the butterfly’s wings in order to strengthen them to fly. In other words, without the caterpillar’s struggle, we’d never see it as a butterfly.

Beloved, you’re struggling and sometimes it seems to be more than you can bear but there has to be a struggle. If you didn’t struggle, we would not be able to see the transformation you’ve been going through. Yes it’s hard but so is the shell of the caterpillar but this is because there is work being done inwardly. Sure, most people can’t see it, all they recognize is you still look the same but there’s something happening on the inside of you. And although it is hard and even hurtful, God created the hardness of your outer in order to ensure no one can mess it up before He’s done. Then when His work in you is complete, you’ll now begin to struggle to come out of your shell. This happens when you are taken from your comfortable place. When God sends you to help folk you know don’t like you. When you offer forgiveness and you weren’t the one who did anything wrong. When you show up to places you were once fearful to go. When you sit at tables you were once not invited to and you show up with your own chair. When you are no longer bound by fear. That is what struggling does. Struggling gives you the strength to fly. Not like butterflies but FLY … Face Life Yearning. This means you face life desiring, craving and hungering to get whatever God said you can have, even if that means struggling until you get it.

Daily Devotional – 1/24/18 “Tithe, test and trust!”

Tithing is a touchy subject for a lot of people, especially those who don’t understand or trust the concept of tithing. Yet when will we get from quoting Malachi 3:8, “will a man rob God,” to teaching through Malachi 3:10? Read these words well, I am all for tithing but what I am not for is making someone feel guilty when they don’t. Yes, there are a lot of people who are faithful to worship yet some are fearful of tithing but this is where teaching comes in because I’ve come to understand some things of worship congregants. You have those who are faithful tithers, some giving over the 10%. You have those who give but it may be between 1-5%. You have those who are living paycheck to paycheck, scared to death to give, even a little because that means it’s has to be taken from a bill that is already behind. And you have those who don’t tithe because they don’t really understand what tithing means. This is where teaching comes in because Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.”

See, the word didn’t stop at, will a man rob God because the Lord also says, bring the whole tithe and test me now. Beloved, if God is saying bring Him the whole tithe so that He can have food in His house, what makes you think He will allow you not to have food in yours? This is why He gives us the command to TEST Him. In other words, He’s saying test me to see if I will not do what I said. Yes, I know it looks like the week you paid your tithes, the enemy attacked your home but will you test God and see if He will not hold true to His promise to never leave nor forsake you? I know it looks like you’ll need that $40 you paid in tithes, this week but will you test God to see if He will not show up as provider? I know it seems like the more you pay your tithes, the harder your walk becomes but will you test God by His word in Jeremiah 29:11? Yes, we should tithe but don’t badger me to tithe if you’re not badgering me with the teaching. Teach me how to tithe, test and trust God to open the windows of Heaven and pour me down a blessing because maybe then I’ll tithe, test and trust God in my waiting on Him to open the windows of Heaven and pour me out a blessing. When we do this, God says in Malachi 3:11-12, “Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the Lord of hosts. All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hosts.”

Will you have time?

As you may or may not know, along with being an author, I am also a preacher and devotional blogger. One of the things I love, is being able to share God on many platforms. I know I haven’t been updating this site regularly but I will.

As the first post, on this site, for 2018; I want to share something with you. It is a devotional I shared on 12/28/17 titled, “Will you have time.”

She had the house, the finest car and the custom-made clothes. She was top in her graduating class and her business was booming. She vowed to never go back to the place she was raised because it had nothing for her. Sure, she sent money home to her parents but all the siblings had to know it. Sure, she made the occasional calls but it was to brag, never to ask about them. When her mom got sick, she sent flowers. When her sister was losing her house, she sent a check with conditions. She never made time for anybody or anything unless it benefited her, even God. Yes, she joined a church but not to serve, she liked the honorable mentions of being the biggest tithe payer. But then a stroke knocked and it crippled her. The people at the church, they didn’t show up. Her employees, they didn’t come. Her family did. The same parents she hollered at whenever they asked her to come home. The same brother she “didn’t fool with” because of prior drug use, he was there. The sister she called a slut for having two babies out of wedlock, she was there. They wiped the mouth that had been so foul. They helped her learn to walk again even though she used to walk all over them. They help with speech therapy, although she never had anything good to say.

One night as she lay in the bedroom she grew up in, trying to find strength to make her left arm move, she cried. Not because of the stroke but because of the space she’d allowed to grow between her and her family. She wanted to hug them but it was hard to do now. So she cried, realizing the money she made didn’t mean nothing because all they wanted was her. She cried because the bragging she did couldn’t bless her, the hating couldn’t heal her and the fancy stuff couldn’t free her. And now, the bible she never read lay stretched open on her nightstand and the God she’d forsaken, she now prayed to; thanking Him for the chance to make things right. She had time because this story isn’t real but what about you? Do you have the time to forgive, forget and make things right? Will you have the time to say “I forgive you,” “I love you,” “I’m sorry” or will your ego keep you from evolving and your pride keep you from offering peace? Will you have the time? Before 2017 closes, will you have the time make it right before you’re weeping to a casket that can’t speak back?

“Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” – James 4:14