Daily Devotional – 4/9/15 “What will you sacrifice?”

There is a song that is played that says, “If you provide the fire, I’ll provide the sacrifice. If you pour out your spirit, I will open up inside. Fill me up God.” At first, I used to sing the song because they played it over and over on the radio, until one day; it hit me like a ton of bricks. – If you provide the fire – I’ll provide the sacrifice. – If you provide the fire – I’ll provide the sacrifice. I had to ask myself, what are you singing? I had to ask myself, “What are you sacrificing to God?” Yea, you sing the song but are you sincere? You say the words but are they clear in your worship? You speak them but are they in your spirit? Do you even know what you are saying? What is your sacrifice to God? I know in biblical days, they sacrificed livestock and such yet now days, God is saying, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God (Hebrews 13:6),” yet we won’t even do that. We are more pleasant to folk in the street than the folk we stay with. We say excuse me to people whose cart we run into in the grocery store but will run into your brother/sister in the house and not say a mumbling word – we got to do better. Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God–this is your true and proper worship,” yet we offer our body to the first, second, third or seventeenth person who will look our way. Don’t you know every person you connect with, you are also connecting with their spirit? And now you’re wondering why you got all this hell in your home, well check what you’ve connected with lately, it may be the cause.

See, sacrificing isn’t all about a physical burning of something because God puts a spiritual fire in us daily. The question now is; what are we willing to spiritually burn, daily, as a sacrifice? Psalm 50:14 says, “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High.” Isn’t that something we can do? Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise–the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.” Isn’t that something we can do? What are you willing to sacrifice? As for me, as long as God provides the fire within my spirit, I’ll provide the sacrifice of my service! As long as God provides the fire, I’ll provide the sacrifice of my thanksgiving. As long as God provides the fire, I’ll provide the sacrifice of my praise. What are you willing to sacrifice? When, because God will continually provide the fire, so when God provides the fire; what will you sacrifice as an offering to Him? Oh but get this … If you don’t have anything to offer, sacrificially; God says in Proverbs 21:3, “The LORD is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer him sacrifices.” So, what’s your excuse now? Just live right then!

Daily Devotional – 4/7/15 “Don’t believe me, just watch!”

There are people camped around you who are waiting on you to fail – that’s alright. There are people in your family who don’t believe you will amount to anything – that’s alright. There are people who come to cheer you on and then leave speak negatively about you – that’s alright too. Get this … you don’t have to tell them nothing, you don’t have to demonstrate to them your destiny, pronounce to them your purpose, visualize your vision or even convince them of your conviction just tell them “don’t believe me, just watch!” You know how you try to make someone believe that something works and the more you tell them, the less they believe until you say, “don’t believe me, just watch?” Well, this spiritual walk is the same way. See, there are folk who don’t believe you should be blessed like you are and they are saying it isn’t going to work but baby, if you serve the God I serve; tell them, don’t believe me just watch! There are folk who are saying, how can somebody like you, who used to sell drugs now preach the word of God, it won’t last but when you come before a God like the one I serve tell them, don’t believe me, just watch. Folk gossiping saying, how can somebody like her who used to shut the clubs down on Saturday night now be the youth director of a church, it’s all a show but when you answer the call of a God like the one I serve, you can proudly proclaim; don’t believe me, just watch! Statistics said because I was raised in the projects of North Memphis; I should have been a teenage mother with multiple baby daddies, high school dropout, living in the same area I was raised in, living on government assistance, could have been strung out on drugs by now – BUT GOD! Statistics says I could have cancer being that my momma has 4 girls – BUT GOD! Some folk said because of the color of my skin, I’d never amount to anything but I keep saying, “don’t believe in me, just watch!”

I don’t have to tell you everything that I’ve been through but let me tell you this … God is an awesome God, don’t believe me just watch. He took a regular nobody who was me and He uses me daily to bless folk; you can be used too. Don’t believe me, just watch! You don’t have to wait on anybody to validate you, God has already done that, God is continually doing it! Don’t believe, just watch. You got up this morning, didn’t you? That’s validation. You were in your right mind. That’s validation. You had what you needed, even if you didn’t think it was enough. That’s validation. You had the means and the opportunity to get more of what you need and want. That’s validation. So, you see what I mean? God is doing in this season y’all … Don’t believe me, just watch! If you need a witness, watch me. I’m a living witness. Believe in yourself enough for it to be enough and then sing, “Don’t believe me, just watch!!” You can be whatever you set your mind to be. If that’s not enough, remix – “Don’t believe in me, just watch!” It works too!

Daily Devotional – 4/6/15 “Your Relationship!”

I shared this on Facebook on Saturday but it’s worth sharing today. Now, I initially wrote this to the ladies but it goes for the men too so let me say it this way …STOP demeaning yourself, stop doubting who you are, stop covering your vision, hiding your purpose and stopping God’s plan for your life all because of a man or a woman who is too afraid to realize the jewel or the gem that is in you! Lady, don’t you know his FAVOR lies within you; HIS WIFE! Stop allowing yourself to be “wifey” for 15 years – you ought to be great enough to marry! Man; stop being “bae” in her phone; if she doesn’t have enough respect for you to use your real name, don’t give her yours. Girl, stop allowing him to stop by to fulfill his needs when it’s convenient – you should be his need! Boy, stop allowing her to use you to fulfill her needs – you should be her need! For the both of you – stop running when times get hard! If you can’t stay when times get hard, stop staying when they are good. If we can’t eat noodles together when the money is low then we shouldn’t be eating steak and lobster together when the money is good. If you can’t help me when I’m sick, I don’t need you when I’m well. If you can’t come when I’m in need, don’t come when I’m in heat (I’m just keeping it real). Woman – if the man isn’t fit to be the head of the house, stop giving him the title and the keys. Man – if the woman isn’t fit to be the queen of the house then stop giving her the title and the keys. It goes both ways.

Men are made to be the protector of women and women are made to be the help meet of men; where did we lose this? We bring so much baggage into new relationships that doom them from the beginning. We give up so easily that we spend more time shacking than we do actually staying married. Well, this is because we invite God in after we’ve messed everything up expecting Him to fix it. Stop blaming social media, other folk and things on the reason your relationships aren’t surviving. People ruin relationships. Your relationship should be like a rare vase; handle it with care. Yea, it’s going to get a few chips in it over the course of time; things happen. You may even go through something that shatters a few of the pieces but this is where you decide your next course of action … You either pick up the pieces and glue them back together or you throw them away. What’s the sense of walking around with scattered pieces of glass on the floor constantly being cut each time to walk over it? Sweep it up and decide. Your home is your safe place and should be where your heart is. There should be laughter, love and warmth there. If it isn’t; you’ve got work to do. Consult your counselor God for He is waiting on your call.

Daily Devotional – 4/3/15 “What are you willing to sacrifice?”

It’s Good Friday and I know I should tell you about all the hell Jesus endured on this day as He sacrificed Himself for us but don’t you know the story already? Don’t you normally hear about the death, burial and resurrection on Sunday as Pastor closes out his message? Don’t you know the story? Don’t you know the sacrifice? Don’t you know? Didn’t you learn about it in vacation bible school? Didn’t grandma tell you? Haven’t you read it for yourself a few times? Didn’t you watch the movie? Yet, you still don’t get it? Or maybe, you get it but you’ve yet to take it serious. I mean, how’s the view from where you are? How is your life going? Is “your year” taking shape yet? Has your vision started to pan out? Well, what have you sacrificed? Yea, what have you sacrificed to God? Abraham was willing to sacrifice the only son He and Sarah had. Job offered up everything he had, everything but his faith. What have you sacrificed? You complain about tithing when God says I only want ten cents (10) and you keep ninety (90). You complain about timing when God says, come when you are ready and I’ll wait for you. You complain about the man or woman God has sent to Pastor the church yet you won’t even open a bible on your own to know if what they are teaching is even true and you surely won’t stop to pray for them. So again I ask what are you sacrificing? What are you willing to give God as your service for Psalm 50:14 says, “Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High.”

You want God to lay your destiny out before you yet you won’t dare do anything to show Him you want it. You want God to show you your purpose and then you run from it. You ask God to increase your finances but then complain when they call you in on your off day. You ask God to send you a husband but then complain when the guy from the garage that fixes your car keeps asking you out (all because he doesn’t fit your standards). You ask God to open up a door for you but you can’t see it because you’re still looking out the back window at what you lost – baby, it’s gone. You ask God to deliver you from your addiction but you’re still hanging with the addicted. What are you sacrificing? See, I’ve learned that you have to sacrifice some stuff and some people to get to where God needs you to be. Oh, but don’t worry; God replaces EVERYTHING you lose in the process of your move! Call it mover’s insurance. But you’ve got to be willing to sacrifice those things and those people. Are you willing? What are you willing to sacrifice to the Lord? “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice–the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. – Romans 12:1”

Daily Devotional – 4/2/15 “Make up your mind!”

It’s April 2 and some of y’all are still playing the fool. You still think you can’t get caught up in the game you’re playing but guess what, you already have. Beloved listen, the enemy wants you to believe he’s blessing you for free but he’s not; you’re paying the cost. Keep playing the fool. Yea, I get it; you are no longer being attacked by the enemy, well that’s because he no longer needs to chase what belongs to him; he has you now. I know, he allows you to go to church every now and then but that’s only so you can corrupt the folks that’s there. You don’t go for the message, only to pass mess. You’re not going to pray, you’re going to prey. You’re not going to get God’s grace, you’re going to gossip. You’re not even going to get the biblical text because all you do is text the entire time. It’s really a shame though. Yea, it’s really a shame when the bible says all we have to do is submit ourselves to the Lord and resist the enemy and he will flee (James 4:7). Yet, here comes the enemy dangling stuff in your face and you go running like a dog chasing a bone and there he stands laughing. (Please understand I’m not innocent in this because I make mistakes too but we’ve got to do better.)

The enemy’s job is to keep us off course. It’s his responsibility to bless us so that we think we don’t need God. It’s the enemy’s main goal to get us on his side but he can’t do that without our help. See, the enemy is a spirit that can’t move without being attached to something and he will use your weakness to attack you. What is your spirit attracting? Don’t you know the enemy will use your heart’s desire to depress you, your thoughts to tempt you, your children to convict you, your mess to minimize you, your sickness to turn you to suicide, your anger to alcoholism and your doubt to drug addiction? That no good, lying, conniving, good for nothing enemy will even have you thinking that God has forgotten about you, wants nothing to do with you, doesn’t love you anymore, can’t stand a sinner like you when you know good and well that’s the furthest from the truth but he’ll do it. All it’ll take is a lonely night and some late night thoughts and you’ll forget that Deuteronomy 31:8 says “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Look, when all the hell simmers away and the smoke clears; the enemy won’t stop doing his job; it’s his job but when will you stop falling for his tricks? When will you get up out of that ditch of despair, that gully of gloom, that waterhole of woe or that manhole of mess? When will you stop being a contract worker for the enemy when you can be a free agent for the Lord?