Daily Devotional – 3/24/15 “Don’t apologize for it!”

You don’t have to apologize for the point you’ve scored, the goal you’ve made, the line you’ve crossed, the battle you’ve won, the storm you’ve come out of, the promotion you’ve received, the new name that is on your badge, the vision that is now taking shape, your business that is succeeding, your money that you’re spending, your car that you’re driving, the house that you stay in or your destiny that looks great on you … GOD DID IT! Don’t apologize for it! If they can’t understand then leave them standing there!

You don’t have to talk about it all the time but testify about it every once in a while! You don’t have to explain to folk but you can exalt God in the process of your praise. You don’t have to be sorry for the great things God is doing in your life, if folk didn’t get on board then, oh well! If folk can’t understand now, oh well! Stop minimizing what God is doing in your life for the sake of other folk’s feelings … The same thing He did for you, He’ll do for them, if they get up! Baby, I got a destiny to get too and a purpose with my name on it that can’t wait and I won’t apologize for heading into it! God has your destiny already designed, stop defaulting from it because folk have start whispering in your ear and now you’re questioning God’s plan. Child, if it were easy, what would we work for? Don’t be sorry about it, step into it!

Daily Devotional – 3/23/15 “Let’s be real … “

If people lived their day-to-day lives like they actually portrayed on social networking we might be alright! I mean, folks are so spiritual online yet you can’t find them in church on any day of the week. Folks are so encouraging on a stranger’s post yet you won’t speak to the person you live with. Folks are quick to repost a missing person’s picture on Facebook yet your daughter been gone all weekend and you ain’t called to find her yet. You are quick to bash someone else for their choice of selling drugs, partying or hanging out in the streets but that’s because they don’t know that your son is doing it too. Let’s be real! Yea, we are quick to blame social networking on the decline of relationships when the truth of the matter is, it isn’t social networking that is breaking up relationships; people are. Stop putting the blame on social networking! Folks have lost the ability to be real because technology has made it easy. We text instead of talk because we have more balls to type it out rather than say it. You get mad when folk judge you by what you post but didn’t you post it? You air every aspect of your life on social media and then get mad when your life is social … let’s be real! You post your every movement, everything you eat & drink and your every thought and then you have to wonder why folk won’t take you serious. Are you serious?

Baby, you can’t be upset because no one likes your boo when one day you’re over him for beating you and the next “that’s bae” … let’s be real. No one can take your life serious when one day you’re a bad “bit..” and the next you’re sold out for Jesus … let’s be real. God doesn’t need a bad “bit…” He needs redeemed riders! Who are you without social media? If you check it before you pray in the morning, you have a problem! All I am saying is this as 1 Peter 1:14-16 says, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” Or Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Yes, we all make mistakes; we will sometime stumble and even make some bad judgment calls but don’t stop there. We’ve got to get to a point in our lives where we desire to do better because we are tired of doing wrong and it’s the right thing to do. Let’s be real … aren’t you tired yet? We’ve got to do better.

Daily Devotional – 3/19/15 “God is always there!”

I’m not at my computer today but I just wanted to stop through for just a moment and share this with you …

In spite of the situation you’re facing…
God is still God
God is still good
God is still there

I know that it’s been taught that God will show up and when He shows up, it’ll be on time but if I look at my records, take inventory of my life and think back on some of the things I’ve been through; I’ve come to the realization that God has never left me! What am I saying? Yes, God will show up in our situations and it’ll be on time but the fact of the matter is this… He’s been there all the time, you’re just noticing Him clearer when you’re at you’re lowest point because that’s usually when you’re praise is at its highest!

When God is worthy of being praised at ALL time because He’s always there! You don’t have to believe me. Try Him, you’ll see. Call Him, He’ll answer. Seek Him, you’ll find Him! He’s always there!

Daily Devotional – 3/18/15 “Death has power! “

I was sitting at home last Friday and I ended up writing, in the notes in my phone, “death has power”. Now, I don’t know who this is for but somebody needs to be reminded on today that death is not the end even though it’s all we see. I know you’re probably wondering how death can have power when you saw the casket of your loved one being lowered in the ground or you just left the funeral home making arrangements or you’re sitting next to their bedside reading this and the doctor has said death can come at any moment. I know you’re wracking your brain trying to figure out how death can have power when it shows up without a moment’s notice, rocking your world and not for the good. I know you’re questioning the audacity of death’s power when it can snatch the breath out of your lungs, tears from your eyes, beats from your heart and even steps from your walk…. How can death have power?

Well, it’s actually quite simple. Yea, see the enemy wants us to believe that death is the end, the finale, the last curtain call, that the fat lady has sung but baby when you’re in God, when you’re of God, dying has power! I know that losing momma is the hardest thing you’ve ever had to endure. I know that no parent ever wants to bury a child, no sibling ever wants to lose a sibling, it’s difficult to say goodbye to a cousin, niece or friend but there is power in death. See, all we know is the fact that there is no more on this side, that they are no longer here for us to see but 2 Corinthians 5:8 says, “Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.” For when our loved ones are absent from this side it means they are present with the Lord – see death has power! When you are a child of the King and you leave this world, you are present with the Lord – death has power. When you know whose you are and you leave this world, you have a place to go – death has power! I won’t say death is easy, it’s not because although death has its power, it also leaves behind pain but death is a way we all have to go for the bible says that flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven. But 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 sums it up this way… “But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” So, you see … Death has power! Power to live again! Whoever you are facing whatever you are going through at this very moment, take comfort in knowing that death has its power, for in God to be absent from this side is to be present with the Lord.

Daily Devotional – 3/17/15 – Excuse the mess … Restoration in progress

Someone woke up this morning feeling like their life is scattered and shaken only because you laid down last night feeling the exact same way but hold on beloved this is simply God working to set you up for something greater. Yea, it feels like you can’t get your thoughts together, you can’t get anything to line up right, it feels as if you’re drowning and you aren’t near any water, you’re fighting to breathe and you’re outside in fresh air, you feel lonely in a room full of people and you can’t get your finances straight if you laid them on a ruler – this is God scattering the pieces of your life to put you back together greater than you were before. See, sometimes the potter (God) of this old clay (us) has to tear us apart, scatter us about just to put us back to together again; that’s called restoration. When things start to fall apart and you don’t know what to do, when hell has shown up in the midst of your home and when you keep getting knocked six steps back after taking one; that’s simply God scattering the pieces. Yea, in order for God to see what He’s working with He has to scatter out the pieces so He has to shake some stuff loose. Oh but when it all settles …

When it all settles, the potter; that’s God begins to masterfully recreate us in His image – that’s restoring us to a better point than we were before. He begins molding us back together so now the hell begins to subside and we can see the sun peeking through the clouds. Now we can feel our lungs expanding to breathe better, we can feel our heart beating for the good to love better and we can feel the weight lifting from our shoulders to walk better. When it all settles … we may have lost a few things along the way like those friends who didn’t make the settlement, those family members who can’t understand the change and the places and clothes that no longer fit our image – they were simply distorting our appearance anyway; be good with it for my bible tells me in 1 Timothy 4:4 “Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks.” You might be going through at this very moment but it could be your restoration period, just tell folk to pardon your dust while you’re under construction. Yet in the midst, continue your praise and if they can’t get with it, tell them to excuse the noise, you’ll be back in business in no time! Just tell them – Excuse the mess … Restoration in progress!