Daily Devotional – 6/23/15 “What are you working for?”

For the last 12 weeks I’ve been attending this Dale Carnegie course on Effective Communications & Human Relations Skills. Now, when I initially started taking this course, I did it because my previous manager placed it on my career progression path as a means for me getting into management. So, I did and I went in with my mind made up that I was already an effective communicator and that I only needed this class as a great mark on my resume and as a means to help me move higher into my chosen career path. Man, was I wrong. This class helped me in more ways than one. See, I’ve been so focused on becoming a manager that I was overlooking the fact that I need to be alright with the right now and the leader I am already. I’ve been so focused on being overlooked for this position, being overworked and undervalued that I almost missed my assignment of being where I am for the purpose of what I was put here for. Here I was waiting for folk to validate the validity of my gifts when God has already made it known that I am worthy, gifted, anointed, talented and among all things His! I’ve come to realize that I’ve got this thang all wrong.

There was a story that the instructor told at the end of class on last night that went like this (I’m paraphrasing)… There were two mechanics working on the tracks of the railroad, one was young and the other was an older gentleman. As the train came through the station, another older gentleman got off and shouted down to one of the mechanics, “Hey Bob.” Bob shouted back, “Hey Frank.” When Frank left, the younger mechanic says, “Do you know who that was? That’s the president of the railroad. How do you know him?” Bob says, “We started together at the railroad some 30 years ago.” The younger mechanic says, “If you both started together, why is it he’s the president of the company and you’re still a mechanic.” Bob replies, “Because I started working for $3.13 an hour and Frank started working for the railroad.” – The moral of the story is … Be careful what you’re working for! Either you’re working for the money or you’re working for a career. Many times we can get caught up in being stuck, complacent, comfortable and alright with being where we are but is it what we are called to do? Are we utilizing our gifts? Are we using our talents? Or are we limiting our abilities out of fear of stepping out. Yea, we might fail, we might even fall but how do you know unless you do it? Fear has kept a lot of folk from making it. Fear has allowed a lot of dreams to be buried. Don’t allow yours to be one of them. If it’s working out, changing jobs, writing a book, starting a blog, doing devotion in church, teaching Sunday school, saving some money, opening a business, starting a new ministry within the church; whatever it is; do it! Don’t let the lack of trying be the reason you don’t succeed. Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit your actions to the LORD, and your plans will succeed.” Oh but before you commit your actions you have to first commit yourself. God is waiting. And if you’ve already committed yourself to the Lord, stop being afraid to ask Him for what you need because He’ll come through with His end of the deal, will you?

Daily Devotional – 6/22/15 “The other side!”

I’ve told you before that you need to start changing your thought process. Yea, you may be going through some things at this very moment, you may be so broke that you can’t even pay attention, so hungry that even air taste like Church’s chicken, so tired of dealing with mess that you feel like walking to the nearest bus station and getting on the next bus to wherever, so sick of hearing “it’ll be alright in the morning,” that you shut every curtain in your house, so tired of calling on folk who won’t answer, tired of being without and really sick of Holy folk telling you to pray about it but baby change your way of looking at things. See, we’ve got to stop looking at the worse side of things because there’s always another side to it; when you’re dealing with the God I serve. Don’t believe me, just watch. See, when it looks as if you have nothing; God says yet I will provide. When it seems as if you’ve reached the lowest of low, God says I’ll reach way down and pull you up. Habakkuk 3:17 says, “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty,” Habakkuk 3:17 (looking on the other side) says, “yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!” Oh, there’s some joy on the other side of your situation!

Yea, even though it looks dark now (one side) I’ll wait on the morning (the other side). Even though I may be struggling now (one side), I know where my help is coming from (the other side). You may count me out (one side) but I can always count on God (other side.) Yea, I may not be who you say I should be but my bible says in Romans 3:23, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Oh but on the other side Romans 3:24 says, “Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” Isn’t that great news? There’s another side to whatever it is you’re going through but you’ve got to go through it to get there. Think of it this way … Your blessing is waiting on the other side but you’re facing a storm. How can get to it except you go through the storm? Stop shortening your blessings out of fear of the unknown. God sent a many of people to do some crazy things in some unknown places yet the reward on the other side was well worth it. Please know this, God won’t send you anywhere He hasn’t already been!

Daily Devotional – 6/19/15 “Spiritual protection!”

Every 90 days I have to change the password on my computer at work for security purposes. If you do online banking and even with social media accounts, it is recommended that you change your passwords often in order to keep folk from hacking into your accounts and messing stuff up. It is also recommended that you have a security system on your home to ruin any attempts by robbers who try to enter your home to steal that which you’ve worked hard for. It is often recommended that you have insurance on your possessions and even your life, in the event something happens; you’re protected. Yet, I wonder why we don’t guard our spiritual lives in this way. Oh, it’s recommended but we just don’t do it. What do I mean? I’m glad you asked. See, every now and then you need to change the password to your circle which means you need to reevaluate who you’re hanging around. Yea, if you’re on the straight and narrow path and doing what you should be doing on your destiny walk; as you’re elevated, everybody won’t be elevated with you – you need to change the password. Don’t you know by now that you are blessed by the folk you’re around? Oh, you didn’t? Well, Psalm 1:1-2 says, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.”

What else? Well, you need to secure your home. No, I don’t mean the physical home you live in but I mean your temple, your body. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.” What’s in that temple? Your heart and it’s the most precious part of you because Proverbs 21:2 says God weighs a man by his heart. 1 Samuel 16:7 says man looks at the appearance but God looks at the heart and Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” What else? Protect and value your life. Life is precious and should be counted as such. And if you’re a born again sinner, you’ve been given a second chance to live, make it count even the more. Don’t take it for granted by allowing it to go to waste. Guard it like you do your purse when you walk into unfamiliar territory. Guard it like you do your wife when you’re in a bad area of town. Guard it like you do your car when you park at the grocery store and you don’t want a grocery cart to hit it. Guard it like you do all the other meaningless materialistic stuff that can be replaced because life can’t be. Protect your spirituality like you do everything else. Sometimes we make passwords that we can’t even remember (trying to keep other folks out). Protect it like it’s sacred enough to break but not sacred enough not to share. Live a life that is pleasing unto God and He’ll repay you for your effort. It’s about your effort and evidences not your earnings! It’s about your living, loving and laboring not your lying, lusting and what you’ve lost! Protect your spirituality because folk need to see it in you. It’s your job to help save those who are lost. Do your part ma’am, sir!

Daily Devotional – 6/18/15 “Our land needs restoration!”

As Saints of God, we are in a constant struggle; a day-to-day fight, a spiritual war that the enemy wants us to think we are losing and if we don’t stop to get it right (before it’s too late), we will lose our part! Yet just like God promised Solomon, He’ll come and see about us but we’ve first got to do our part. See, in 2 Chronicles 7:13, God appears to Solomon at the temple and He says, “At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command grasshoppers to devour your crops, or send plagues among you.” In today’s time, it’s sending rain that won’t stop, storms that won’t cease, burdens that seem heavy, trouble on every side yet God says but … For even after all that God picks up in 2 Chronicles 7:14 and says, “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.” Yea, God says, I’ll do those terrible things to you but if you call on my name, if you humble yourself before me, if you pray, if you seek me while I can be found and if turn from the wickedness of your ways I’ll hear you and will shut up the clouds and stop the rain, I’ll cease your trouble, stop your storms, give you strength, bless you and your children and even their children, forgive your sins and even restore your lands. Isn’t this worthy enough?

Oh but we can spend so much time on the fact that a man has decided to now become a woman, instead of the fact our cities are in an uproar; there’s a problem. When cities are being engulfed in water that can swallow them up in mere days; it took God 40 days and nights in the bible; there’s a problem. When someone can walk into a church and open fire on folk in the midst of studying God’s word, there’s a problem. When black men are being gunned down by police officers in their hometown, there is a problem. When our children can’t read or write but they are graduating school, there is a problem. When sport figures are being paid millions and our school systems are failing, there is a problem. When we glorify sin and not the Savior, there is a problem. When cancer is on the rise and not a cure, there is a problem. When bars are filled instead of bible study and when worship service is empty but the clubs are crowded; there is a problem. When folk can blatantly disrespect the man or woman of God, there is a problem. When mothers can kill their children, there is a problem. When husbands can kill their wives and wives can kill their husbands, there is a problem. However, there is good news! There’s a solution but we have to be willing. Firstly, God says, “If MY people.” Are you His people? All it takes is to change your life, a confession of your mouth, a belief in your heart and a baptism in water. Then you’ve got to humble yourself. Are you respectful, meek? Do you pray? Do you seek God? Have you turned from your wicked ways? All of these things are the price we have to pay to get restoration. (I think it’s worth it, do you?) The solution isn’t hard to find for God says, if you do all these things, “I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.” I don’t know if you noticed but our land needs restoration!

Daily Devotional – 6/17/15 “It depends on your stuff!”

On yesterday I had to get a new computer for work. It’s something we normally do every three years and as I waited for the young lady to work on my old computer she said, “This will take from 30 minutes to 2 hours depending upon how big your profile is,” meaning, how much stuff I had on my computer. Now, this didn’t mean anything on yesterday but as I started to write my devotional this morning, it struck my spirit. See, I realized that sometimes God has to give us new places, every now and then, and sometimes the times it takes for us to move to our new location is dependent upon our stuff. Yea, some of us knock and our doors open right up (you didn’t have much stuff to) but some of us knock and it takes a minute for our move to happen (we got more stuff in our profile). Oh, but don’t get discouraged in this thang! See; God has to make sure you are ready for the change, so He allows you more time to process. God is making sure the folk around you are ready for the change, so He allows more time for the process. He has to make sure the change is ready for you, so He allows more time for you to process. Don’t get weary while you’re in the hall way, there is still work to be done. Don’t get weary while you’re climbing the mountain, there is still work to be done. Don’t get weary while you waiting for the valley to fill, there is still work to be done. Baby, don’t base it on the time it took for someone else; we aren’t all the same. My blessing isn’t your blessing; the same as yours isn’t mine. However, we can rejoice in knowing that we have a Father who will bless us all. Just be patient. It’s all dependent upon our stuff!

All, I am saying is this … God moves in His time, don’t rush Him because you may not be ready for the blessing you’re asking for. And please, don’t wish for someone else blessing because you don’t know what they had to endure to get what they have. {Yea, you see my glory but have you asked to hear my story?} While you are wishing for her blessing, you might just get the storm she had to go through to get it. While you are wishing you were in his shoes, you might just get the chance to walk in them. Don’t be quick to wish for something that isn’t yours. Wait on your blessing. Yea, it may take some time but be patient. For Romans 8:25 says, “But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.” And Romans 8:26 says, “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.” God hasn’t forgotten us; He is simply waiting for the process of our stuff to be moved. Be patient, it’s part of the process. Your time is coming, be patient; it’s part of the process. Your door will open, be patient – it depends on your stuff!