Daily Devotional – 10/10/17 “Why ask?”

The other day I asked my husband to unload the dishwasher. As soon as he started to put the dishes up, I would go behind him and move them because he wasn’t putting them in the right place. It didn’t matter that he put plates in the right cabinet, the fact was it wasn’t how I would do it. He then asked, what difference it makes how they are stacked because they were put up. (The very thing I asked him to do.) And he raised a valid question because the truth of the matter is, it didn’t matter. However, me being me, I wanted the plates stacked a certain way. Well, why ask? This made me think of how God must feel when we ask Him to do something and then go behind him to fit it to our liking. We ask Him to make us ready for our next season but when He begins to pull stuff from our grasp, we complain. We ask God to enlarge our territory and when He begins to stretch us for said elevation, we try to come up with a way to stop it. We ask God to send us a spouse and He starts to prepare us but then we go and set up a dating profile on Christian Mingle. We ask God to increase our finances and He begins to work but He’s taking too long so we go and sell the title to our car.

Why even ask? If we don’t trust God to do it, why ask? If we cannot wait in expectancy of when He will do it, why ask? Because God will give us what we ask, in faith and sometimes it isn’t done by our specifications. Sometimes, God will give us things in ways we didn’t expect nor understand. Yet, He still gives us what we asked for. And get this … Sometimes the reason you don’t get exactly what you asked for is because your ask didn’t match your favor. You asked for a 2013 Dodge but your favor has you set to receive a 2018 Mercedes. You asked for a spouse with no children but God sent one with 2, a girl and a boy because what you didn’t foresee is cancer taking away your ability to have any. You ask God to shield you from your enemies but He didn’t because He needed them there to witness the preparation of His table in your honor. Things may not always be done the way you like but it still doesn’t mean it isn’t right. If you can do it better, don’t ask someone else to do it. If nobody can do it to your liking, why ask?

Daily Devotional – 10/9/17 “Common Sense!”

As I drove into work this morning, listening to the radio, I heard the lifeline question of the day. Here’s the dilemma. “A husband and wife are raising a son from the husband’s previous relationship. The husband’s mother, takes it upon herself, to invite the son’s mother to every family event even though she is bluntly disrespectful to the wife. What should the husband do?” I heard a few callers and some said, allow God to intervene. Listen, I am a Christian, who loves the Lord wholeheartedly. I believe and I trust Him. He is the head of my life. And as for me and my house … but chile look, that husband needs to put his mom in her place. Respectfully, of course.

I am not saying, he shouldn’t consult God but why does he have to wait for God to intervene when God has given him common sense? I am sure, he is grown enough to know right from wrong and his momma is all the way wrong. Yes we should consult God, through prayer and fasting but sometimes all it takes is common sense, especially if you are in God. Common sense is like, trusting your child to make the right decision when you are not around. This is what God expects of us. He expects us to make decisions, with our sound mind. The bible says in Proverbs 2:6-7, “For the LORD grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.” Stop accepting any and everything beloved when God gives us the ability to use common sense, in some situations. Yes, we should pray. Yes, we should seek God. Yes, some situations calls for a “wait on God moment” but sometimes you need to tap into your common sense.

Daily Devotional – 10/6/17 “Not your fight!”

I wish I could tell you everybody cared about you. I wish I could share that everybody has your best interest at heart. I wish I could tell you that everybody who dials your number is calling with the truest intentions or that those who react to your social media posts/pictures are really happy for you. But the truth of the matter is, some are not and do not. There are some folk who wish you’d died those times sickness attacked your body. There are some folk who wake up to see if today is the day, RIP will precede your name. There are people, who show up to places you are, simply to see if you’re still smiling. There are even some who get excited when they hear about your woes. Some who wish they could push you in the pit. And every day, you go out of your way to prove to them you’re good. You make sure to post the pictures of you and your husband to prove to her that he’s still at home. You keep your Snap Chat and Instagram loaded with stuff, proving your happiness. However, here’s a snippet of advice for you. STOP! You don’t have to prove to them the ill will they spoke over your life didn’t work, they see it. You don’t have to go out of your way to make folk see you survived after they wished you bad luck; they know. You don’t have to consistently post to prove you’re happy after all they did to ruin it, they are aware.

Stop trying to prove to folk that what they did, did not work; they are mindful of it. What you need to do is keep living and loving, keep smiling and surviving and keep right on walking in your purpose. Beloved, let them keep playing, you keep praising. Let them keep stressing, you keep enjoying God’s blessings. Let them keep hating, you keep being elevated. Let them keep preying while you keep praying. Stop spending time dealing with meaningless stuff because that’s time you cannot get back. Your life isn’t about them and if they have no bearing on the way you live, your life shouldn’t be spent proving to them it is. This is why the bible says in Matthew 5:43-45, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” It’s not your battle so please don’t waste the time or energy trying to win it, you’ll need it for the fights that are yours. But this, it isn’t your fight.

Daily Devotional – 10/5/17 “Making you ready!”

There are times when I go through a period of feeling like I’m not doing enough, spiritually. A time when it feels like I’m stuck and not moving. A time when I have to ask myself hard questions. Am I the one holding me up? Am I fearing what’s next? Am I secretly hindering my own progression? Because it sure does feel like it. I find myself disconnecting from things or pulling back from people and not really wanting to go anywhere. I’m not acting funny but I’m dealing with some things that, at times, is hard to explain. If I can be honest with you, it’s even harder for me to understand because I cannot make sense of it. I mean, I’m being faithful and obedient but it still feels … I cannot explain it. Then God tells me, “Daughter, this is simply your period of confinement.” But God, why do I need to be confined? He replies, “Because I am making you ready for the next level.” Okay God, but why confinement? He says, “To keep folk from taking credit for getting you there.” I reply, “Work God.” Somebody today is feeling just like this and neither can you explain it. Beloved, it’s your “Making you Ready” period.

See, God sometimes has to snatch us from people who are only around because they see your purpose and if they stay close, they’ll want recognition for making you into who you’ll become. There are folk who calls themselves mentor but God will take you from their grip because He knows they will gloat over being the reason you are as good as you are. God will sever ties with those ‘spiritual mothers/fathers’ who wants the pat on the back for molding you into the person people see. When it was never them. Look, a good Godly mentor or spiritual covering will never pour into you only to then shout, “Look, I was the one who did that.” Yet, they will be there to help you succeed, for the bible says in Proverbs 20:18, “Plans succeed through good counsel; don’t go to war without wise advice.” A good spiritual guide leads by God and never wants to be glorified. Instead they’ll take your appreciation but not credit for your anointing. This is why you cannot fight this process, reconnect what God has disconnected and chase who God removes. This has to happen.

Daily Devotional – 10/4/17 “Who, What, When, Where and How?”

What do you do when it seems like all you do is still not good enough? When will you be free, when it feels like you keep falling into pit after pit? Where do you go when it feels as if this spiritual walk has failed you? Who do you call on when no one wants to answer your calls anymore? How do you push when your arms are tired and you still aren’t going anywhere? Beloved, I wish I could tell you I had all the answers but I don’t. I’ve prayed and even I don’t have all the answers. What I can tell you is this, don’t stop trusting God. Is it hard and does it hurt? Yes and yes but you cannot give up. Well, you can but what good will that do? I watch my 87-year-young grandmother who is still cooking, cleaning, paying bills, dressing herself and taking care of her house. Did I mention she has cancer? She does yet it doesn’t define or stop her. She is resilient and hardly ever complains AND she is always praying! If you ask her how she made it, she gladly says, “With the help of God.”

God is the one she trust in, even when people let her down. God is the one she believes in, even when the doctor gives bad news. God is the one she seeks, when the world is becoming harder to understand. So let us asks these questions again.

  1. What do you do when it seems like all you do is still not good enough? You keep pressing. For, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:14

  2. When will you be free, when it feels like you keep falling into pit after pit? When you declare freedom with your mouth. “I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” – Psalm 91:2

  3. Where do you go when it feels as if this spiritual walk has failed you? On your knees praying, “That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.” – Ephesians 3:16

  4. Who do you call on when no one wants to answer your calls anymore? God. “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” – John 16:24

  5. How do you push when your arms are tired and you still aren’t going anywhere? With God. “I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah 37:27