Daily Devotional – 2/2/15 “Be careful what you ask for!”

For some reason, this has been echoing in my spirit all weekend. “Be careful what you ask for.” See, sometimes we can ask of God things we aren’t ready for, stuff we aren’t prepared to handle, people we aren’t mentally capable of processing and blessings our spiritual level hasn’t yet risen to partake in. Oh but we think we are ready for them so we keep asking God for them. We keep badgering God for the stuff He knows we aren’t ready for yet He keeps blocking us from getting hurt by saying no, by closing doors or by allowing people to walk off but we can’t see the good in that because all we see is what we are missing out on. But what are we lacking in the no? In Numbers 11, God bought the people of Israel out of bondage yet they complained. But get this … They complained about not having meat to eat not recognizing the fact that although they had meat to eat back in Egypt, they were in bondage but now just because they didn’t have meat, they were free. They didn’t even take the time to see the blessing in where they were. So God gave them what they asked for because He had become angry in their whining and in their complaining. Not only did God give them meat, He gave them so much they had to eat it for 30 days that they eventually gorged themselves to death (Numbers 11:33-34). “Be careful what you ask for.”

This is why as Saints of God; we have to be careful what we ask for. God isn’t limiting us when He says no; He is simply telling us it isn’t our time yet but we have to be in the right mindset to be able to accept His no. Yea, I know we think we are ready for that car, that house, that job, that husband, that wife, that boyfriend, that girlfriend, that apartment or even that credit card but there is a blessing in the no. I know you wanted to be the chairperson of that program but it wasn’t your time. I know you wanted to be head of that department but it isn’t your time. Don’t leave the church because you didn’t get the position you wanted this time. Haven’t you realized yet that God is looking out for your best interest? Stop looking at what others have as a way to gage what your blessings should look like because you don’t know what others have been through to get theirs. That’s why I won’t base my blessings off yours. I don’t know that you’ve been through three abusive relationships before your husband finally found your heart that God mended. I don’t know the sleepless nights you’ve had to work to get your house. I don’t know the nights you paced and prayed to get your children through college. I don’t know the nights you cried, toiling with pain to get to your healing. I don’t know what you’ve endured to stop living paycheck to paycheck. This is why I won’t wish for your blessings. This is why we have to be careful what we ask for!

Daily Devotional – 1/30/15 “You can’t heal if you’re angry!”

Have you ever had a child in your lap so long that your leg fell asleep? Have you ever carried something so heavy or held something so long that you couldn’t wait to put it down? Have you ever moved that piece of furniture and then regretted it later because it hurt your back (and you’re probably rubbing that place now)? Well, I asked all those questions because carrying stuff from your past is just like all these things. Yea, carrying past hurt, past anger, past wrongs, past misunderstandings, past church hurt, past exes, past whatever is like that weight that has caused your legs to go to sleep or your back to be out of whack. You’ve got to let it go! But you know this already, don’t you? You know anger allows the enemy to reside close to you, don’t you? You know the bible says in Ephesians 4:26-27, “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry and do not give the devil a foothold,” don’t you? Yet we still do. Why is that? Why do we call ourselves God’s people yet we are so angry when we are supposed to be of God and He is our joy? Why are we called Saints of God yet we allow people to take from us the joy that they didn’t or cannot give us? I mean, we can get so angry that we get out of our character, we lose who we are and we say or do stuff that folk who are of God shouldn’t say or do and then we have the nerve to say, “They made me do it.”

Isn’t it something that folk don’t get credit for making you do right but they sure in Heaven get the credit for making you do wrong when it’s nobody’s fault but yours. Stop allowing anger to control you because the word says in James 1:20, “Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.” What can anger give you other than some hurtful words or deeds you can’t take back, high blood pressure from the stress of carrying all the things you should have released 10 years or a lonely life because no one wants to be around an angry person? What can anger do for you? What has it done for you lately that have proven productive? Listen, I understand because believe me when I say one of the biggest things I work on daily is my attitude. I don’t have a quick tongue but I will shut down when I get angry and that’s not good either yet I am trying to change. We are all in need of work. Let’s stop putting off that which we need help with. Let go of the things that keep us angry. Forgive people and then forget! Yes, you have to forgive AND forget because if you don’t you remember all the things they did and it brings up all the memories. Forgetting is part of the healing and anger can’t reside if you are to heal. It can’t! Healing isn’t for the person who hurt you, it’s for you. Aren’t you ready?

Daily Devotional – 1/29/15 “Make the most of your life!”

I was reminded on this morning that time isn’t at the mercy of you. Yea, I was given a dose of reality that time doesn’t wait on you, time won’t stand still waiting on you to get yourself together and old man death will not skip over you simply because you ask. When I got to work this morning and found out that a coworker who just took early retirement not even a year ago passed away on last night unexpectedly, I am surely reminded that time is swiftly passing by. So, tell me again what we are waiting on to get ourselves together. We sit up and make resolutions yet we don’t stick with them. Go to the doctor but then complain about the diagnosis and the medicine. Pick a church home and then complain about the pastor and the members. Find a job and then complain about the hours and the boss. Choose God and then not serve Him. What in God’s name is going on? We find every excuse in the book not to go to church but we won’t miss work or a party. We got a problem paying tithes but not taxes. We won’t clean the church but we’ll clean our car 50 times in a week. We won’t send our kids to vacation bible school but we’ll send them to the store for loose cigarettes. We’ve got to do better!

Y’all the bible says we have to be ready at all times for we don’t know the day nor the hour when our time is coming (Mark 13:32). This means we have to set our house in order. I keep telling you this. This doesn’t mean you have to be perfect because no one is but it means you need to get your stuff together. What if you died at this very moment? Would you die in sin? Would you be alright with the way you left things? Would folk have to stand up and lie over your casket or would you have lived a life pleasing enough to talk about, a legacy worth continuing? For the bible says in Ephesians 5:15-16, “Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” Make the most of every opportunity. Make the most of every chance. Make the most of every second. Make the most of every minute. Make the most of every day. Make the most of your happiness. Make the most of your life, you only get one!

Daily Devotional – 1/28/15 “Get out of your comfort zone!”

In order to get something you’ve never had, you have to get out of your comfort zone! Listen, I know you are used to being at that church because it’s where you’ve been all your life but if you aren’t growing spiritually, it’s time to move on. If that relationship you’ve been in for the last 10 years hasn’t moved pass boyfriend and girlfriend by now, it’s time to move on. If that job hasn’t recognized the potential in you by now, it’s time to start seeking employment elsewhere. Yea, I know it’s comfortable but it may be time to get out of your comfort zone. Baby, you can’t stay at home with momma and daddy forever. You can’t keep praying for a husband if you haven’t prepared yourself to be a wife. You can’t keep praying for a wife if you haven’t prepared yourself to be husband. You need to get out of your comfort zone. Of course, it’s not going to be comfortable; at first, but you’ll get used to the change. But how will you know unless you try?

I get it, it’s scary and fear is probably holding you back but how long will you allow something as small as fear to defeat you? Even if you fall, which you might, get up. Do you know that every time I get up to speak, I am nervous? Yet, I cannot allow fear to stop me because if I did I wouldn’t ever have anything to say. If I allowed fear to hinder me, you wouldn’t be reading my devotionals every day. You’ve got to push pass your fears. You’ve got to get out of your comfort zone. Do you think it was easy for Jesus to go to most of the places He had to go into? He wasn’t even welcomed in His own hometown yet He went anyway because He had work to do. You do too. You have to get up to get what you want. You can continue to pray until something happens but if you won’t get up to go get the something you’ve prayed for, what’s the sense in praying for it? You can even pray until shift happens but if you are scared to be elevated then what’s the sense? Please know … God won’t ever take you where He hasn’t already secured the area. He sends grace and mercy ahead of you just like the white house sends secret service, so you’re covered but you have to trust in your protection! Get out of your comfort zone because you might just be missing what you’ve been waiting on!

Daily Devotional – 1/27/15 “Set your house in order!”

I did a devotional the other day titled “As for me and my house” and I am not sure why the Lord is taking me this way but someone needs to be helped today so stay with me. See, we are quick to say, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord” but how can that honestly be if not everybody in the house is serving the Lord? If the wife is serving God yet the husband is still lost, the whole house isn’t serving God. If daddy is going to church and momma is still lost, then the whole house isn’t serving God. If the kids are being left in the bed while mom and dad go to church, the house isn’t serving God. If you’ve allowed others to move in and they aren’t serving God, then your whole house isn’t serving because the “house” is everyone under the same roof. Please understand, I am not criticizing or chastising, I’m simply coaching because the word says God’s people perish for lack of knowledge. We’ve got to do better y’all.

I’ve said this a few times before (even yesterday) but every once in a while we have to reevaluate the circle of friends we are around because not everybody is going to go with us when us are elevated. They just won’t and that’s ok. But even in our reevaluation period, we need to also reevaluate the relationship we have with our spouses because we need to be sure that we are still on the same page with each other. Yea! We have to make sure we are still headed in the same direction, wanting the same goals and still serving the same God because in the midst of walking; things and people change and that’s cool but just be sure you are aware of the changes. Look, get this … In order for 2015 to be our year; we have to do better than we did in 2014. We can’t do the same things and expect better results, it doesn’t work like that. In order for our house to be greater in 2015, we need to set it in order. That means, setting God as the head. After all, we chose Him, right? It makes no sense to choose God and then not allow Him to lead. That’s like buying a GPS but still getting lost; it doesn’t make sense when all we have to do is use our guide. If you’re going to say, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” mean it and then do it. There is a blessing in serving God and it pays off! Yea, there’s a little suffering too but baby, the blessing is bigger and better. Try it!