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!

Daily Devotional – 6/16/15 “Friends?”

I was supposed to start a new job today. Yep, in a new building, across town, with a new group of people doing something totally different from what I’ve been doing the last 20 years but … I was told two weeks ago that the waiver I needed was not going to be approved due to “business needs” and although I could harp on that, I won’t. Not many people on my job knew but those who did asked me, “Kisha, how can you be so calm about this?” I replied, “It’s not my battle.” See, I’ve learned that not everybody around me is praying for my good. I’ve come to realize that not everybody close to me is excited about the good things happening in my life. There are even folks, on this job, who say they are happy to see me go but when it came time wouldn’t let me leave. I’m alright with it. I just thank God for giving me the strength to keep climbing out of the valley I sometimes find myself in because you do know that the valley won’t always be a valley, don’t you? Think about it – when it rains, don’t they fill up? Which means, we got to get up out of it eventually (if you want too). I even thank God for the strength to keep climbing the mountain because I could get weary but I won’t. I could get defeated at those passing me by but I don’t. I could get sidetracked by the fact that I haven’t made it to the top yet but as long as there is a top to get to, I have somewhere to go so I keep my hand in the struggle! I’m on my way! What about you?

Baby, listen – stop worrying about what folk are saying because there is someone who you are probably texting right now, who is rolling their eyes at a blessing you just received. There is someone, you probably call your ride or die who is wishing for the house you got instead of rejoicing in the fact they could be next. There is someone, who you are calling your boy, who is eyeing your spouse trying to figure out why she would want to be with someone like you. Somebody you’re telling all your business too is the one speaking negative over your life and you are still trying to figure out how the enemy keeps getting in. Somebody you ride with is the one throwing salt in your game and you wonder why it doesn’t taste right. Somebody you’re sleeping with is the one blocking all your blessing – be careful who you lie down with! Somebody you’re churching with is the one keeping up all the mess – just because they look Holy, don’t make them sanctified! You have to be careful of the company you keep. Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.” Chile, life is hard and it’s even harder trying to find friends amongst enemies but it can be done. How do you know a friend? It’s easy for the bible says in Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” A friend helps, hopes, loves, encourages, tells you your faults, when you’re wrong or right, will be there through good and bad and doesn’t allow mess to mess with what God has put together. Be careful who you call a friend. Not everyone is deserving of the title!

Daily Devotional – 6/11/15 “Change your thinking!”

Have you ever dropped something on the floor and it broke? What did you do? Did you stand there and watch it, hoping it would miraculously fix itself? I would think not. So why are you still standing over that broken relationship? Have you ever spilled something on the floor and then just walked by thinking it would clean itself up? Probably not, so why are you still crying over stuff that has happened that you cannot change? Have you ever walked into a company you didn’t work for and walked out with a check? Heck no! Then why are you trying to get anything out of something when you’ve yet to put anything in it? Baby, get yourself together! Stop blaming folk, the blame is on you. You can’t keep saying it’s everyone else fault when you keep going back. It’s like you blaming a fire for burning you when you keep putting your hand in the flame. Chile! Get your life together! Get up and move on. Listen, in every relationship you take a chance on getting hurt. Whether it’s a relationship between a parent and their children, a husband and a wife, an employer and employee, friends, sisters, cousins, spiritual relationships or what have you; there is a risk of hurt involved. We are human, which means we are prone to make mistakes. Yet, we shouldn’t allow the hurt to hinder us.

Does it hurt? Yes, sometimes more than we want it too but it’s a part of the process. Afterwards, deal with it and move on. Forgive, forget and move on! Either you move on to another level in the same relationship or move to an entire different relationship but make a choice. Don’t dwell in the same hurt, pain and anguish because then you become bitter, broken and not worth anything to anybody else and when you are these things you carry them into every relationship you enter into and YOU ruin them. This is why, again, you have to be careful who you hook up with. This is why, again, you have to be careful who you allow your spirit to connect with. This is why, again, you have to be mindful of the company you keep. Spirits attach to one another and when you are surrounded with evil, angry, bitter and good for nothing minded folk; they can become connected to you. Don’t blame others for who you lie down with and then when you get up with something you don’t won’t or can’t get rid of. You can’t be mad at the baby because he looks like the daddy who now you hate. You can’t be mad at the folk around you for the problems you’ve inherited. You choose to accept what you accept. Deal with it or leave it but either way stop complaining about and please stop posting it! You are what you eat and you are surely what you keep! If you keep mess, you’re messy. Clean up your life! For the bible says in Romans 12:2, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”