Daily Devotional – 7/5/17 “Getting up is the hard part”

I am a night person, always have been yet I still cringe when the alarm goes off in the morning. I find myself wanting to hit the alarm’s snooze button for the fifth time or silence my husband who says, for the ninth time; it’s time to get up. Then I find myself slowly throwing my legs over the side of the bed and the comforter back which officially lets me know, I’m up. I sit there for a minute before my feet touch the floor but once all this happens, I’m up. Getting up was the hard part. Why am I sharing this? The Holy Spirit told me I needed to encourage somebody today by letting you know, getting up is the hard part. Yeah, I know we thought falling was but it isn’t, if you think about it. It’s like accidentally falling. Once you’ve fallen down, you find yourself looking around to see if anyone saw you because you know, if they did, you will now have to answer questions. “Ma’am, what happened? Sir, are you alright?” Getting up is the hard part. Then you will have to deal with the embarrassment of knowing, you fell.

This is no difference spiritually because when you fall/fail, you find it hard to get up because now you’ve got to face the consequence of your fall. Whether it’s being embarrassed you fell, being talked about, laughed at or even hurt; you have to deal with it. Realizing, getting up is the hard part. I mean, if I stay down maybe no one saw me fall. If I stay down, maybe I don’t have to deal with the things on my to-do list. If I don’t get up, maybe it will go away. If I don’t get up, maybe I can act like it never happened. If I don’t get up, just maybe I won’t have to look it in the face anymore. Getting up is the hard part. Oh but I just stopped by to tell you, you need to change your tone when you get up. Yeah, you need to put some bass in your voice and tell folk, “Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light (Micah 7:8).” Of course, no one likes to fall but it happens and you have to be willing to get up. It doesn’t matter why you’ve fallen nor the number of times that you have, getting up will be hard but get up. Because the bible tells us in Psalm 34:19, “The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time.” Getting up may be hard but the only way to get over the fall, you’ve got to get up and try again.

Daily Devotional – 7/3/17 “Not my will but thy will be done!”

I, sometimes, find it eerily ironic to look back on devotionals written around the same time last year and they are exactly what is needed now. And although I find it creepy, I believe it is because God already knows what we will need and when. I am, right now, sitting at my desk at work trying not to get frustrated about this project that I am currently working on that is expecting more of me than I am willing or capable to give. Then as I begin to communicate with God on what I should share, to encourage somebody else; I was lead to the devotional I did last year. This devotional simply says, we are all on an assignment. It says, well let me copy part of what it said.

Last year’s devotional said … “When God has placed us on assignment, it is our duty to finish it. Yes, it may be hard and we go through moments of not understanding but we have to finish because it’s the only way we’ll get promoted. See, you have to understand this; God will never place us in an assignment He didn’t write the coursework for nor one He didn’t fully test. Neither will God ever place us in an assignment He hasn’t mapped out the action plan for leaving. This is why you have to trust Him going into the assignment, in the assignment and coming out of the assignment. And regardless of how we feel about it, it is not up for discussion because we can’t barter with God. We either go now or we go later. But understand, going later comes with a whole lot of stuff you might not necessarily like.”

Wow! I wrote this last year but it just, literally, shook me spiritually right now. (I am talking to self but you can eavesdrop (listen in), if you want.) You cannot get frustrated now, you got work to do. You cannot give up now, you’ve come too far. You got a responsibility to stay where you are, don’t move. Yes, it is hard. Yes, it hurts. Yes, it does not make sense. Yes, you want to throw in the towel. Yes, you have had enough but if it was over, God would move you. Girl (Dude), sit down and wait on God. Don’t risk moving before you’ve completed the lease because you might not be able to pay the cost associated with breaking the agreement.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” – Proverbs 3:5

Daily Devotional 6/30/17 “What if …”

What if you woke up today with only what you thanked God for yesterday, what would you have? What if you called your spouse, your parents or siblings and they didn’t answer because their mouth closed to never open again, would you be satisfied with the way you left things? What if the doctor told you tomorrow was your last day alive, would you regret the way you’ve lived? What if you had a chance to open up the door to yesterday, would you do it? What if you could turn back the hands of time, would you? I ask these questions to prick something within you because you need to get it through that thick skull of yours this one thing that is for sure … time does not stand still. Keep walking around withholding the apology you know you should give. Keep on with the attitude of they won’t talk to me, I won’t talk to them. Keep ignoring the texts and the calls. Keep saying you’ll go tomorrow. Keep saying you’ll forgive eventually. Oh and that “they are dead to me,” will be true one day and it will rock you to your core. Because you are aware the dead can’t accept your apology right? You do understand that crying over the casket means nothing, don’t you? You do realize that you can’t forgive a tombstone, right? Then stop holding grudges, they’ll cause you to lose access to grace. Stop harboring hate before it becomes a habit you can’t break.

Forgive as if your life depends on it. Matthew 6:15, “But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Live as if tomorrow will never come. Matthew 24:36, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” And love as if it is the only cure. 1 Peter 4:8, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

“Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog–it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”” – James 4:13-15

Daily Devotional – 6/29/17 “Sit down and listen!”

In Luke 10:38, Jesus is traveling through a village when He stops and is welcomed into the home of Martha. Now, I would assume Martha was excited about having Jesus stop by and like most of us, when we have unexpected guests, we spend most of the time trying to see if they need anything, rather than visiting with them. For Martha, she was busy trying to serve Jesus that she didn’t have time to listen to Him. Her sister, Mary, on the other hand, was sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to everything He had to say. Yes, here Jesus is in their home and He was probably hungry and thirsty but He didn’t come to be served, He came so that He might serve them. Martha missed it. So now she is upset and she says to Jesus, in verse 40, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me!” Yet, instead of Jesus telling Mary to go and help her sister, He replies in verse 41 (to Martha), “You are worried and upset about many things. But only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her.” Please understand and read this carefully, serving Jesus is great and it is what we should do but sometimes we have to take a pause from service in order to listen.

Think about it. When you are a professional in whatever field of study you are in, do you not have to be recertified every now and then? For a teacher, they have to come from in front of the class to now be the student. For a preacher/leader, you have to sometimes step down from the pulpit and be a pupil. This isn’t done as a mark against you but sometimes you need to be taught/fed too because if you continually serve, when will you have time to eat? Yes, I know you’re in leadership but sometimes you need to sit down because if you don’t, you just may miss the lesson in the listening. This is why the bible says in Proverbs 9:9, “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.” Taking a moment to refuel (being served) will not weaken your witness but it will strengthen your service.

Daily Devotional – 6/28/17 “Your destiny depends on it!”

Many times the positions in which we seek have nothing to do with the purpose God has for our life. We work hard at making sure our resumes are padded with stuff that makes us look good but it has nothing to do with the destiny attached to our name. We accrue thousands in student loans to move up the career ladder, only to go home stressed out because the work you’re doing isn’t doing anything for your worth. You know God is calling you out from the usual but fear has you stagnant. Please understand, God’s call for your life does NOT have to mean ministry because we all have a destiny that God has designed. How do you know what it is? It is the very thing that keeps you up at night. It is that thing you can speak passionately about and the thing you can debate for hours on end. It is the thing your search engine is full of. It is the thing you keep writing and praying about. And it is quite possibly, the very thing that caused you some dark days and pain.

What do I mean? That abuse you suffered through for years, God kept you because your destiny depended on it. Those years of homelessness, it was part of the process because your destiny depended on it. The depression you endured, your destiny depended on it. That sickness that temporarily took your sight, put a limp in your walk, left scars on your body and caused unbearable pain; your destiny depended on it. Losing friends and family, being evicted and car repossessed; your destiny depended on it. Hearing more no’s than yes, your destiny depended on it. This is why Romans 8:29 says, “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” We all have to endure but it makes our testimony that much stronger. Don’t count out where you are, what you have been through or even what you will go through because your destiny depends on you surviving. This thing isn’t really about you, you just happened to be the one God chose to use. And because of that, your destiny is dependent on you not giving up. “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31