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!

Daily Devotional – 1/26/15 “Who or what is controlling your life?”

I know I am late posting today but I had to have a 3 and a half hour diabetes test done this morning at the doctor’s office. That test, my Lord! Diabetes runs in my family so I’ve always known there is a chance I could possibly one day have it but I am not claiming it but it made me think about how we can allow things to control our lives. The radio station (95.7) this morning was having a conversation about social media and how some people are so consumed with it. I mean some people have allowed social media to control them so much so that they wake up checking Facebook before they even see if their spouse is breathing. Why has it gotten so out of control? I’ve said this before but spell check will notify you to capitalize the f on Facebook yet not the g on God. Isn’t He more important? When you are writing in Word and you are looking for a reference book, you can choose from the dictionary, thesaurus or encyclopedia but why isn’t the bible a choice? We’ve got to start looking at what we allow to control our lives, what we place as priorities and what we make as important notes of actions because not everything fits.

Not even God controls every situation of our lives because He gives us the freedom to choose. He even gave us the freedom to choose Him. He only said if you choose me; serve me with a pure heart. He didn’t say He would control our entire lives. Yes, He gave us commandments but not to control us but to make us whole but even then He knew we would make mistakes which is why He gave us repentance for the bible says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Yet, we still don’t serve God like we should. Oh, but we’ll allow a man or a woman of the world to control us. They can tell us where we can and can’t go; can and can’t say, can and can’t wear; the friends we can and can’t have and out of fear (we call it being submissive) we abide by their rules. Yet God says watch your words for the tongue can cut like a sword but you still cut folk up (in church). God says a friend stick closer than a brother but you’ll still walk pass them when they are down because you’re jealous of their blessing. God says you shouldn’t go there anymore but you say I’ll go and repent later. God says you shouldn’t do that anymore but you say one more time shouldn’t hurt. Baby, what or who is controlling your life? If you’ve chosen God as the head, allow Him to lead you because I can assure you, with certainty that He won’t steer you wrong. It’s time we get our lives in control and stop allowing things and people to control it. You’ve got to be careful who you give the power to steer your life too. Even if it’s your spouse, every once in a while you need to check to see if you both are on the same course, headed in the same direction!

Daily Devotional – 1/23/15 “As for me and my house …”

God sacrificed His only Son so that we could have the right to live in a world, sin, repent, be forgiven (if we ask), die then when the time comes be called up to receive our place in Heaven to live again with Him and all He ask of us is to serve Him while we are yet living down here and some of us are not even willing to do that. What is wrong with us? Weren’t we the ones who accepted God? Were we not the ones who told God we would serve Him until we died? Were we not the ones who stood and confessed that we would do what He asked of us, go where He would send us and all that? Yet now we complain? God didn’t say we had to be perfect to serve because He says He will take us, faults and all; if we will come. God didn’t say we had to be clean because He says He will clean us up, if we would simply come. Yet some of us go to worship service and leave worse than we came. We go to bible study and still aren’t learning anything. We sing because we have a gift yet we haven’t learned our purpose so why are you singing? We serve in a capacity because momma and daddy did it yet we haven’t learned why we are doing it so we stand there doing a job with no joy. We fill the pews of the church yet we have no conviction in our spirits so our praise is whack and God is getting no glory. But God gave the ultimate sacrifice of His only Son and we still won’t serve. What gives?

No, I am not saying that going to church on Sunday will miraculously change your life overnight but changing your devotion to God will. If you don’t get anything else out of the devotion today get this … the bible says in 1 Samuel 12:24 “Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.” You don’t have to follow in the footsteps of men for their recognition because they’ll leave you out there alone sometimes but the bible says in Colossians 3:23 “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” See, I’ve found that with working in the world and in ministry, the work gets tedious but there is work to do. I cannot pick and choose which days I want to serve because God doesn’t choose the days He wants to bless me. All I am saying is this God’s people, God is worthy to be served and He shouldn’t be picked up when we feel like we have time for Him. What if God blessed us based on how we served Him, would our blessings be enough? God isn’t a temporary God and He shouldn’t be given temporary service. You need to choose how you will serve God. Give Him your all and then allow everything else to fall into place afterwards. Choose ye this day but as for me, I will serve the Lord!

Daily Devotional – 1/22/15 “Why do you go to church?”

I asked the question of the youth and young adults in bible study on last night “Why do you come to church,” and the answers were honest and uncut. Some said to learn about God, a few said to build their spiritual lives and a few even said because they are made to come. Then they turned the question on me and I too had to say, to build my spiritual life. One of the other adults in the room said that a lot of people come to church because it’s something they are used to doing on Sunday, it’s repetitive and they know nothing else to do on Sunday morning between 10 and 12 yet that’s not what church should be. Like I explained on last night, church is supposed to be the hospital for the sin sick; a place of healing for the Saints after the world has beaten them down all week and a place we ought to be able to come to find solace from a world of burdens. Church, a place of worship, should be the place I can come to on Sunday and find somebody who has been through hell all week just like me and we’ve come with the same agenda; to get our praise on. Yea, our place of worship should be a place where we should be able to come and find no judgment but joy. Our place of worship shouldn’t be where we come to get the latest gossip but where we come to get God’s grace. Our place of worship shouldn’t be filled with the world’s mess yet it should be overflowing with God’s message yet it’s missing.

Something is wrong y’all. The bible says in Hebrews 10:24-25, “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” See, I should be able to come to church without worrying about whose talking about me. I should be able to come to God’s house and not have to worry about whose seat I’m sitting in. I should be able to come to God’s house and not have to worry about whose wife is looking at me because she worried about her husband looking at me. Girl, close your eyes and pray! Man, bow down at that altar and pray. This is the problem. We don’t pray like we should. We don’t have devotion like we used to anymore. We don’t set the atmosphere in God’s house anymore because we are too busy tweeting, texting and taking selfies. Something is wrong y’all! Why do you come to church? When will we put God back as the head? When will we start inviting him back to worship service, ushering in the spirit and entering into His court with praise? Why exactly do you go to church? And until we answer this question truthfully, we won’t fix the issue that is plaguing our worship services.

Daily Devotional – 1/21/15 “Every now and then!”

What is this that got me feeling … I don’t know! I can’t put my finger on and I can’t explain it. Have you ever been there? It feels like … My spiritual minded folk will understand because I cannot put it into words! All I know is this, there is something about to happen, something that I have been wrestling with in the spiritual realm that is about to shift some things. My daughter text me yesterday and said she had a dream that I was pregnant and I replied and told her this means I am about to give birth to something and I didn’t realize it then but she was simply confirming it. See, God is about to do something and although I don’t know what it is, all I have to do is PUSH! (HA!) Pray Until Shift Happens! Y’all don’t even understand the magnitude of my feelings right now. When I think about the things that are happening in my spiritual life, I can’t put them into words! When I think about where I could be and where I should be, if it were left up to folk, I rejoice in knowing that it isn’t left up to folk because I have a God who blesses in spite of me.

Baby, I don’t mean to make this thang personal but every now and then you have to remind yourself that you could have been the one outdoors had it not been for God keeping your mind from going crazy. Yea, every now and then you have to make it personal to remind yourself that it could be you on the corner begging for food when you lost your job and couldn’t find another one. Every now and then you have to remind yourself that it could be you sitting at the West Clinic getting chemo or at the Dialysis clinic. Every now and then you have to remind yourself that it could be you sitting beside the bed of your baby girl or boy who has an inoperable brain tumor and today could be the final day they take their last breath. Every now and then you have to remind yourself that it could be you burying your spouse or identifying another one of your sons or daughters. Every now and then you have to remind yourself that it could be you making another visit to the jail or accepting another collect call. Every now and then you need to remind yourself that it could be you. Oh, if it had not been for the Lord keeping me. Oh, if it had not been for the Lord keeping you. Oh, if it had not been for the Lord keeping us; where would we be? Every now and then we need to be reminded that it could be worse because it could.