Daily Devotional – 6/7/17 “Change you!”

We spend so much time looking for stuff to change our situations that we don’t realize the change needs to occur with self, first. You will not stop smoking, drinking, gambling, cheating, lying and etc. until you change you. The liquor store, drug dealer and casinos will still be there but if you change, you won’t go. The person in your inbox and text messages will still be there but if you change, you won’t respond. That same spot you’ve been standing in, it will be there but if you change, you’ll move. That same closed door, will be there but if you move … I hope you get my point. Beloved, you might not be able to change the traditional way your church has service but you can change where you worship. You might not like the way Kroger produce looks but you can change stores. You might be frustrated with getting promoted on your job but you can change that too. Yes, you can blame your weight gain on the fact your family eats bad but you can change what you eat. You can blame debt on the fact you don’t make a lot of money or you can change your spending habits. You know good and well, the doctor told you the blood pressure would become an issue, if you didn’t change. Your boss told you at your last review if you didn’t stop being late, you could lose your job. The mechanic told you to change the tires before you had the blow out. The beautician told you to change your hair before yours fell out.

What I am getting at is, change has to start with you. The bible says in James 4:17, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” It will not matter if you have the best prayer life, your devotion runs deep and your pay your tithes faithfully because if you don’t do what you know is right, you sin against yourself. And yes, we know it isn’t right to spend our rent money at the casino but we do. We know this dude/chick isn’t right for us but for the sake of image, we hold on. We know Sis/Bro isn’t right for the leadership of the church but we put them there anyway because they pay the most tithes. We know the traditions isn’t scripture but we practice them. We know we shouldn’t go there but we do. Get this, it is your right but don’t blame God when you’re stuck. Don’t run from the church when you don’t get the answer you need through prayer. Don’t blame society when it isn’t playing fair. Don’t blame your past when it’s dead AND gone. The blame lies with you because you have the chance to change. You cannot change folk but you can surely change you. Change your thoughts, your actions, your words, your deeds, the places you hang out and even the people you hang out with IF what you have going now isn’t working, isn’t right or both.

Daily Devotional – 6/6/17 “Let’s pray!”

Sickness is running rampant and it is closing the mouths of intercessors. Brain functions are being suddenly stopped in the lives of those who are crying loud and sparing not. Depression is devouring those who are devoted. Heart attacks and strokes are on the rise, in the faithful. Turmoil is shaking the core of tithe payers. Men are dying by strokes. Women are closing their eyes by way of aneurysms. Pastors were the ones who used to be hit the hardest but now it is the spouses. The children of worship leaders are being led astray by the enemy because he feels if he cannot get you, he will get them; they are vulnerable. If you don’t believe me, scroll Facebook and see how the RIP posts have increased. Baby, if you don’t think it is time to put your war cry to use, walk the streets. If you don’t think it is time to hold healing services, visit the hospital. If you don’t think some real deal revival is needed, call somebody. It is time out for the usual whooping, we need some for real worship. It’s time out for the running and bucking, we need some rebuking and decreeing. Yes, your squall is on point but where is the sanctification. Yea, you dress real pretty but where is the deliverance? Yes, your church website is fancy but where is the witness?

Let us pray …

Our God in Heaven,


As I petition your throne, I first thank you for being our master, sustainer, provider, way maker and faith writer. God, this morning I come before you praying for the church body, not the building but the people because we need healing. God, we need strength. We need you to send a fresh wind of worship, a new sound of sanctification and an acquaintance of the anointing. God, give new messages to old messengers. Take some remnants of brokenness and mend them to proclaim your word because we need a revival. Use unordinary people to go into unordinary places. Use women to stand in places men said they would not to call forth your power. Open the mouths of prophetic and shut the mouths of the pathetic. Open the mouths of the intercessors and close the mouths of the instigators. Send a fresh word to ministry leaders everywhere so they may reach your people, especially the youth and young adults. Use me, God, even the more. Make room for me at tables that don’t even serve what I eat because I know you’ll fill me up. Open doors to rooms they said women couldn’t go. Fill me, we, us and them with the anointing so that it introduces us before we get there. You make the way for your word to go forth. Pay the tuition for those of us to be better equipped for battle. Erase debts, cure sickness, send donors for organ surgeries, finance schools and fill the need of worship places that serve you in spirit and in truth. We need it and we need it now. Do it God because you can and will.

Amen.

Daily Devotional – 6/5/17 “Whose prayers?”

I have a lot of people who call, inbox, text and/or email for prayer. Most times, the request are, can you pray for me to get a job, a car, guidance, strength to forgive, to see God’s plan for me and/or etc. These are specific requests I can pray for without having to ask for details. However, sometimes a prayer request comes and I have to ask a specific question of, “What do you want me to pray for?” Now, I ask this for one reason and that is because I cannot pray against what you, yourself, is asking God for. We have to be on one accord. See, I can’t pray for your marriage to be healed if you are praying for God to show you a way out. I can’t pray for God to put you in leadership at your current church if you are praying to be moved somewhere else. I cannot pray for you to find a husband/wife, if that is not what you want. I cannot pray for you to give God a yes, if you are not ready. Neither can I pray for your light bill to be paid when you’re asking God for the rent. When we come together, in prayer, we should be on one accord because the bible says in Matthew 18:19, “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” We need to agree.

Oh but before you even get to asking, you need to be sure the person whose prayers you are seeking, can actually pray for themselves and it works. Baby, if you can’t validate that their prayers are working for them, what makes you think theirs will work for you? I don’t mean any harm but when I am going through, I need somebody who can for sure petition the throne of grace and mercy on my behalf. When I call you in a crisis, I need you to have the ability to cry loud instead of cracking under the pressure. And it is the same for me because when you trust me enough to ask for prayers, I should be trustworthy enough to pray. This is why I don’t take the anointing on my life for granted. And this is why I don’t play with God and prayer because I know what prayer can do. There are too many people hurting, too many lost, too many on the edge of the cliff and too many losing. Prayer works. If I tell you, I am praying for you, I am because obviously you need it or you would not have come to me. Yes, pray works if you do it alone but sometimes, you need somebody else who can help. Do not be ashamed to ask for prayer, just be sure your asking does not bring you more suffering than you have. Whose prayers? The prayers of the righteous for they are powerful and effective!

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” – Romans 8:28

Daily Devotional – 5/29/17 “You don’t have to suffer to lose!”

We didn’t lose power during the storm Saturday night but we did Sunday morning. Then when I got up this morning, the power was out again. It wasn’t for long but no power is no power. Anyway, I couldn’t go back to sleep and while I laid here, God told me to tell somebody ….

You don’t have to suffer through a storm to lose some stuff!

Beloved, you can be minding your business and the death angel will kick in the door of your heart and snatch a loved one. You can be driving, following all the rules and paying attention yet in a second you can lose your car because somebody else wasn’t. You can be on a job, top employee who never calls in sick but you’ll be the one laid off due to budget cuts. You can be the healthiest person in the family whose never drank or smoked yet somehow you’ll end up with cancer that takes your hair, a body part and a little bit of your strength. You do not have to suffer through a storm but you can still lose some stuff!

However, even after losing some stuff, don’t lose faith. Don’t lose your mind. And don’t lose your trust in the God of power. Yea, you can and will lose some stuff (people and things) but God never loses His power to restore. And the best part about it, He doesn’t have to wait for help to arrive before He restores!

Daily Devotional – 5/26/17 “Go back!”

In order to effectively heal, you sometimes have to go back to the place of hurt. No, I don’t mean physically but mentally. See, you’ve become good at covering your pain for the world but when you get home at night, in the car by yourself, in the bathroom stall or even those times you zone out; you feel like you’re about to lose your mind. And that’s because silently you are. You want to know why you pop off, why it doesn’t take much to make you angry and why you are quick to walk away? It’s because you’ve been hurt beloved and have yet to heal. Yeah, you got away from the abusive spouse but you still live like you haven’t because you play it over and over, trying to understand why he/she started hitting you in the first place. Go back, not to find out but to forgive. You overcame alcoholism but it’s a daily fight because you haven’t dealt with the reason you started drinking. Go back and forgive. You smile when you tell folk about being molested but inwardly you’re cringing because you still carry hurt for the person who took your innocence. Go back and forgive. You testify of how you were once a crack addicted, street walker but you don’t tell them about the urges that’s waking you up because you’re still dealing with the voices in your head. Go back, heal and forgive. 

What happened is, you removed the stitches too soon. You got up and started moving around before it was time. You tried to stand on the brokenness but it wasn’t time. And now you find yourself in a place of needing to heal, all over again. Don’t you know removing stitches from a wound that hasn’t healed can cause you all kinds of problems? It can cause the wound to reopen, infection to set in and more pain like you wouldn’t believe. And now, you have to go through surgery again. You have to be put to sleep again. You have to be opened up again. And you have to be stitched up all over again. But this time, this time, push through until you’ve healed. Stop telling folk your testimony when God has yet to release you to do it. Stop showing folk your scar when God hasn’t told you too. 

You still need time to heal. Go back! 

“Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.” – Jeremiah 17:14