Daily Devotional – 3/1/17 “What’s the purpose of your ashes?”

ashes

Today is March 1, 2017, what some signify as Ash Wednesday; the beginning of Lent. I thought about doing a devotional on why we should fast and pray but then I thought about something. How can I truthfully tell you to fast, pray, adorn ashes on your head and give up things for Lent when most of us (if I can be honest) don’t even know what it is or stands for. I’m sure you’ve heard about it, seen the posts on social media or the images with people who have ashes on their forehead. Ashes on the forehead? Why? And give up what, for how many days? Baby, this is the last thing a lot of us are thinking about when most of us are in mourning, in pain, in debt, in sickness, in dead-end jobs, in loveless marriages, in somebody else house or in confusing situations. Yea, I can tell you that you should be preparing to fast but some of us find ourselves fasting by force due to no money and/or no means. Please understand, I am not criticizing Ash Wednesday or Lent season. In fact, I plan on participating, fully, but when will we get back to teaching the real meaning of things before we place them into people’s hands? See, if we just tell people to fast, they will but will it be beneficial? We can tell people to show up on Wednesday at the church and rub ashes on their foreheads but will they know the real reason why? Will they know the purpose of their ashes?

Ashes in biblical references meant sorrow, shame, mourning or repentance. For Job it was repentance for he says in Job 42:6, “I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.” For Daniel, it was mourning after learning Jerusalem must be desolate for seventy years. For the bible says in Daniel 9:3, “So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes.” The people of Jonah responded with fasting, repentance, sackcloth and ashes after hearing the warning of their destruction. Tamar put ashes on her head after being violated by her own brother. Why am I sharing this? To ask you this question … What’s the purpose of your ashes? If you don’t know, find out before you allow them to be wiped across your forehead. Don’t seek them out because you want to be a part of what everybody else is doing but do it because you understand what your ashes stand for. Do it because it represents what you stand for.

Daily Devotional – 2/28/17 “Hooked but no power!”

When a person is on the brink of death, they’re hooked up to a life support machine that keeps the body alive until it is capable of functioning on its own. When a car battery loses power, it can be hooked to another battery whose power is sufficient enough to replenish the old battery without damaging the other. When your electronic device’s battery is low, you plug it into a power source that can recharge it. When your heart stops, a defibrillator is hooked up to restart its beating. My point is, hooking up to the right thing at the right time can do you some good. Oh but hooking up to some wrong stuff can cause you more damage. This is why you have to be careful who you hook up with because sometimes you can get hooked to some stuff that does not possess the voltages you need. Leaving you sitting somewhere with a dim light and no power. Have you ever purchased a cheap charger only to plug it in and get the warning, “this accessory may not be supported?” Or plugged your phone up only to check and see it’s not charging. There was no power strong enough to do what you needed. This is the same way spiritually because there are some folk who can’t give you what you need and you need to be aware of this before you ‘hook up’ with them. Please note, when I say hook up, I’m not speaking in a sexual way but I’m speaking of connecting spiritually.

Yes, I know you enjoy his or her ministry but is their oil strong enough to cover the both of you against the enemy’s attack? Yes, they preach well but can they pray you out of some mess, if need be? Yea, they can recite scriptures but can they cast out demons and tear down strongholds? On the flip side, can you do any of this for somebody else? If the answer is no, then you need to stick to being used by God and stop putting yourself in a position to be damaged. If you know you can’t handle being what someone else needs, don’t put yourself out there because being connected to someone, spiritually, means there may be times they’ll need you to cover them. AND you have to be able to do this without it depleting your supply. If you don’t, you may just find yourself spiritually short circuited, tired and mad at God when He isn’t the reason. Your wattage is low because you didn’t stop long enough to assess the situation before hooking up to it. Take the time to know if the person you’re connecting with can be for you what they are looking for you to be for them. In other words, be careful who you hook up too.

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Daily Devotional – 2/27/17 “Intentional fall!”

intentional-fall

Often times we find ourselves being so consumed with trying to survive that we, in a sense, forget how to live. We get so caught up in everything happening that we miss the message God has laid so plainly before us. We fight, trying to understand why me and why now that it overshadows everything God has been doing. You’re probably asking, how am I supposed to understand when I can’t make heads or tails of why the place God sent me is failing. Or why it seems God would allow you to get almost done with school and now you may not be able to afford tuition. You can’t make sense of why God would bring you this far and then allow all hell to break loose. Or why He waited until you got ready to retire for sickness to attack your body. Or why He would allow death to show up when your marriage is falling apart? Why God, am I struggling more when you were the one who told me to move? Why God, am I hurting more when you were the one who told me to go? But have you ever stopped to think the hardship you are facing right now, was intentionally placed by God? Has it ever dawned on you that what caused you to stumble was God’s way of intentionally knocking you back to save your life? Have you ever stopped to think that what you thought was for your bad was actually for your good? Yes, you are walking the right path but maybe it came by way of an eager heart. Let me explain what I mean.

How many times did you pray for the place you are, even though God told you no, the first time? How many days/nights did you plead with God for the very thing, you’re crying over that He’d already told you no too? Think about it because maybe you’re in a position like Balaam in Numbers 22, finding yourself on a road and on your ass. (By ass I mean donkey.) See, Balaam found himself in a predicament because the ride he thought would be easy turned in one with a few bumps and a setback because God allowed Balaam’s donkey to stumble. Balaam was mad and told the donkey had he had a sword he would have killed him but what Balaam didn’t realize was falling on his ass (donkey) caused him to live. Numbers 22:32-33 says, “The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.” Baby, I don’t know where you are on your journey but falling just might be the reason you’re still alive. Because had God not been intentional in you falling, you probably would have gotten deeper into some mess that caused you to die prematurely. You don’t have to believe me but read Numbers 22 for yourself and then get up. However, this time do what God tells you the first time.

Daily Devotional – 2/23/17 “I forgive ME!”

On my ride to work this morning, I heard, on the radio station, of a new single by James Fortune. I haven’t listened to it yet but I made a mental note to download it. The name of it, “I forgive me.” Baby!! See, many times we say forgive others in order to be forgiven yet no one ever tells us to forgive ourselves. Yes, there are a lot of hurt people walking around with weights hanging over their heads and can’t understand it. Some of you are staying up at night, losing sleep. Many of you are going through the motion but you’re barely making it. And for the life of you, you can’t figure it out. You’ve forgiven them but have you forgiven you? Have you stopped blaming yourself for the abuse inflicted by the hands of someone you loved? Have you stopped blaming yourself for husband/wife walking out? Have you forgiven yourself for the hurt and pain? Have you forgiven yourself for the thoughts of not being enough? Have you forgiven yourself for daddy not being there? Have you forgiven you for the ministry not working or the business failing? Have you forgiven yourself for losing your house or car? Have you taken time to forgive you for the things you did, for the places you went and for the people you gave yourself too? Have you forgiven you? Have you cried out to Lord for forgiveness on your part? Have you released yourself from the burden of your hand in it?

Well, I can say, truthfully, probably not because many of us don’t know how. I can tell you, it hurts and it’s going to take strength, some tears and a strong connection to God because there are some things you just can’t forgive on your own, including self. And that’s because we are the hardest on ourselves. But today, it ends. Today, beloved, your healing begins; for real. It starts with forgiving you. Today is the day you tell self, I forgive me. I forgive me for thinking I wasn’t good enough. I forgive me for not eating right. I forgive me for not taking care of myself. I forgive me for thinking it was my fault momma/daddy didn’t want me. I forgive me for all the mess I got in. I forgive me for that relationship that almost cost me my life. I forgive me for putting my children in a hostile environment. I forgive me for connecting with somebody who could have given me a deadly disease. I forgive me for almost ruining my family. I forgive me for not doing God’s will. I forgive me for connecting to the wrong people. I forgive me for the trouble I got in. I forgive me for blaming everybody else. I forgive me! What is it you need to forgive yourself for? You don’t have to tell me but tell self. Today, self, I forgive me for ___________.

Dear God,
Please forgive me. But this time, God, while you’re forgiving me, give me the strength to forgive myself.
Amen

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Daily Devotional – 2/22/17 “What are you focused on?”

I was watching this game show the other night called ‘idiotest.’ In the game, a person is given a question like, “You have a one-dollar bill. How many sodas can you buy?” The picture shows a drink machine with grape soda $.50, diet bubble $.15 and bubble zero $.25 along with a sign that says quarters only. Your choices are 8, 2, 0 and 4. What’s your answer? If you said anything other than 0, you were incorrect. See, for some all we see is a dollar and the prices of the drinks but if you paid close attention, it said, quarters only. How many of us would have missed it? And how many of us miss things daily because we focused in on the wrong thing? Think about it. If you were thirsty and hadn’t had a drink in days and I hand you a cup that’s dirty on the outside, would you drink from it? Many of us would say no because all we are focused on is the dirt on the outside instead of seeing the clean water inside. We allowed the outside dirt, to keep us from getting the clean water we so desperately needed on the inside. Now, we’re lying in the gutter of some dry place taking shallow breathes until death shows up to put us out of misery. When all we had to do was shift our focus.

How many of us would be in the place we are if God only focused on our dirt and not the possibility of how we’d look clean? How many of us would have the testimony, right now today, of “Had it not been for the Lord, on my side” or even “He looked beyond my faults and saw my needs?” Anybody else besides me? See, had it not been for God whose focus was on my potential and not my past, I’d still be lost. Had it not been for God focusing on our restoration instead of our scars; we’d still be raggedy and not worth a nickel. Had it not been for God focusing on the probable likelihood we could be used, we’d still be jumping from bed to bed, from alcohol to drugs, from club to club and mess to mess. Yet because He didn’t focus on what we were, He saw who we could become. Because God didn’t focus on where we came from, He saw where we can go. Now, the question is, what are you focused on? Are you still trying to figure out if the glass is half empty or half full or have you realized it’s a glass that can be refilled? Are you focused on who left or has your focus shifted on who is to come? Are you focused on what you lost or have you shifted to what you’re about to be blessed with? What are you focused on?

Dear God,
Help me to regain focus on what’s really important. Open my eyes with a new way of looking and seeing. Give me strength to decipher between what’s temporary and what is permanent so that I don’t miss out. Today, God, give me wisdom to focus on the big and not the small and the good and not the bad. Today God, shift my focus to where it belongs.
Amen

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