Daily Devotional – 12/23/14 “God doesn’t always make sense!”

I never would have imagined this time last year that I would be preaching God’s word this time this year. Yes, I knew my path was changing because my walk was getting different, my spiritual walk; but I (catch that) I didn’t know I would be where I am now. Oh, but isn’t it amazing the journey God takes us on, if we just go with it? Please understand this, not everything that God does makes logical sense then but it makes purpose, it makes peace, it makes joy, it makes mercy, it makes grace, it makes happiness …it makes practical sense now! Yea, you didn’t understand why God told you to quit that job and take this one until you saw in the news that the company was closing. You didn’t understand why God told you to leave him alone until you saw his face plastered on the news. You didn’t understand why God wouldn’t allow you to get approved for that car until you read the recalls in the newspaper. You didn’t understand why God was leading you to that worship place until you left there with your deliverance and a new church home. You didn’t get why God was telling you to pull over until you passed that wreck that could have been you. You didn’t get why God was telling you to speak to that person until you left with a new job and a new friend. My God!

Do you see where this is going? Not everything God does make sense to us but it makes sense to Him, go with it! Stop questioning the Man and go with His plan. Baby, there are a lot of things you could’ve had in 2014, had you kept your mouth and moved your feet. God is still asking a lot of us, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Why won’t you move? You do know that God won’t send you into battle alone, don’t you? You do know, God won’t send you into the fire without the proper gear on, right? God won’t even send you into the storm without the proper rain wear, so why won’t you go? You are so scared of change, so afraid of trying something new and so fearful of letting go that you will use anger as a tactic to run people off but you won’t be able to use that always. I keep saying that God is shifting things and either you will get on board or get left. It’s your choice. Don’t let fear decide for you. Just because it doesn’t make sense to you now, doesn’t make it wrong. Pray about it but you have to be in the right frame of mind to get the right hearing from God.

Daily Devotional – 12/22/14 “What’s your birth potential?”

As it gets closer to Christmas, I was sitting here waiting on what to write on when it was asked, “What’s your birth potential?” In other words, what is it that you have a possibility of birthing? I told you before that we all have a purpose on the inside of us that starts off small but it has to be nurtured, fed and taken care of and when the time is right; it has to be birthed from us, formed, molded into what it shall be and then used. So, again I ask; what’s your birth potential? What impending victory are you about to birth? What prospective success story are you yet to hold that waiting to be told? Do you think Mary knew the potential she was carrying inside of her when she birthed Jesus? He doesn’t compare but do you think Abraham’s mother knew the potential of who she was birthing? He doesn’t compare but do you think Martin Luther King’s mother knew the potential she was birthing? He doesn’t compare but do you think President Obama knew the potential he was birthing when he set out to be president? You don’t compare to God but did your mom know the potential in you before she birthed you? Do you even know the potential that you possess within yourself? Don’t you know the limitless possibilities that you have if only you try?

God has the available resources but you have to get up to get them. I mean, it’s like you want Him to give them to you and then bring them to you too? When He says in Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” God has given you the purpose but it is now up to you to make sure it will survive outside of you. Will it? You asked God for your shift and you’ve been elevated, were you ready? You asked God for your purpose and He showed you, what are you doing with it? Are you walking in your purpose? Are you living it? Are you devoted to it? Or are you only committed to it when it’s convenient for you? Did you accept it and now you keep looking back to the things you used to do? Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” So, today I ask you, again, “What’s your birth potential?” Beloved, find out what it is (if you don’t know) or if you know and you aren’t walking in it or you aren’t fully committed as you should be; get committed. The worst thing you can do is to die without your purpose being fulfilled. You have birth potential… PUSH!

“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” Acts 20:32

Daily Devotional – 12/19/14 “Favor can work together!”

Baby, I simply stopped by to tell you that God is about to shift some stuff around. Please! Please! Mark these words I write. God is about to shift ministry like never before. In 2015, ministry won’t be the same. I keep trying to tell you but you won’t listen. Can’t you see? God isn’t pleased with the current state of ministry and some things are about to be shaken loose. This is why I keep saying, you need to be mindful of the folk you are around. You keep thinking that you are surviving off of your merit when baby, its grandma’s prayers that’s keeping you. Keep thinking that it’s only your prayers, when it’s yours and some co-worker’s prayer’s that keeping the doors of the job open. Keep thinking it’s you that’s carrying the church because you’re the oldest deacon when it’s yours and God’s unmerited favor that He placed in the shepherd that He sent to govern the flock too. Sir, ma’am; it’s not only you but it’s the person you’re standing by and it’s the person you’ve surrounded yourself with whose favor you’re stepping in. It’s not only you.

This is why you have to be careful, again, who you surround yourself with. For God’s word says in Psalm 23:5, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows,” and what sense is it to allow your enemies to step in the favor that’s overflowing from your cup? Oh but if you surround yourself with like spirited, like favored, like-minded people; whose cup is overflowing like yours then it shouldn’t matter if your oil mix because then your oil would be mixing for the good and not for bad because Ephesians 1:11 says, “Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.” Oh, do you get it now? We work better together! As Saints of God, we have to first walk in our favor and then surround ourselves with others who walk in their favor and who’s willing to share their favor. Baby, this spiritual journey is hard on our good days and sometime even the best encourager may need a little bit of your favor to pinch off of just to make it through, will you share? I don’t need all of it, I just may need to lean on you every once in a while, can I? I may not even need to call, just a text every now and then, is that cool? I don’t need your judgment, criticism, snide remarks nor could haves; a simple hug would do; can you do that if the time comes? I don’t want handouts just a hand, will you? Psalm 5:12 says, “For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.” I shared this a few months back on Twitter and it fits today, “Even as a team, in order for US to be successful, we have to link our FATES together and that starts by linking our FAITH!”

Daily Devotional – 12/18/14 “God’s favor!”

On 12/18/12 I wrote a devotional titled, “Why me” and in it I spoke about how we sometimes question the purpose or the portion (from yesterday’s devotional) that God gives us and the sad part about it is, some of us are still questioning the same purpose today. Think about it! God has given somebody a business plan months ago and you’re still questioning Him. God has given somebody the means and opportunity to move and you’re still questioning whether you should. Do you not get the fact that God has chosen you for this specific portion to handle? Look around, you aren’t the only one He could have picked when there are millions of others. Every day, when we wake up, the Holy Spirit impregnate us with unmerited favor yet we get up swallowing fruitless mess that cause us to miss our mark and then we begin with the why me Lord, why did this happen, why do I have to go here, why didn’t this happen, why do I have to be sick, why did you take this person, why didn’t I get this job, that car, that house; when baby you need to let God work! Obviously, God has found you favorable or He wouldn’t have picked you out to use. How do you think Mary felt when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her and told her that she would carry God’s only Son? She didn’t think she was worthy and yes she was scared like many of us are when God is ready to use us yet he simply told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God . See, Mary, just like us, had no idea the type of favor she was about to possess but God did. Mary had no clue how God was about to use her but she answered saying, “I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be fulfilled .”

And it’s the same way with us. We don’t know the type of favor God is about to drop into our possession, we don’t have a clue how He is about to use us, where He is about to take us and we will never know if we won’t allow Him to do it. God gave Mary the ability to birth Jesus, imagine what He can give us the ability to birth if we give Him the chance to impregnate us with it. Yet we won’t spend enough alone time with God to get us pregnant (plan) let along nurture what He impregnate us with (purpose) and then push it out (pursuit) because we are too busy questioning, being afraid and running! Well beloved, Ephesians 1:11 say, “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.” In other words, we are already destined to have favor, it’s up to us to get it; if we stop running from it! I don’t know about you but I wake up in favor because I lie down in it. I wake up expecting God to show out in my life everyday with favor because my bible tells me this what I was ordained for. You should too! Allow God’s favor into your life and you’ll be glad you did because it can open doors men haven’t even built yet, take you places a plane can’t and elevate you places an elevator can’t begin to reach! Favor can!

Daily Devotional – 12/17/14 “What will you do with your portion?”

I often reflect back on the many devotionals I’ve written over the years and I sometimes wonder why God chose me. Why was I selected for this calling? I mean it gets hard a lot of the time but then I thought back on something that God dropped in my spirit on Sunday and it was simply this … God favored me for this fight not so I could fall or fail but so that I could fulfill my portion. See, this isn’t about me; never has been. Any time I stand to deliver a word whether it’s preaching, teacher or simply speaking, whether I deliver a devotional or post my words on social media; it isn’t about me because my prayer each time isn’t for me or my words to be seen but for God to be heard or reflected. I want God to be manifested through me every time. It isn’t about me. I can’t save you, I don’t have a Heaven or Hell to send you too but I can tell you about a man whose grace is sufficient. I can tell you about a man whose power is everlasting. I can tell you about a man who is willing to save you, if you are willing to be saved. I can tell you about a man who don’t mind coming when you call but you have to call first. I can tell you about a man who can heal you, if you give Him a chance too.

It’s the same for all of us, in this Christian walk. God didn’t pick us out so that we could be picked on but He chose us because He knew we could handle that which He gave us. See, at this exact time, on this exact day last year my sister was undergoing brain surgery for a condition that has been deemed the “suicide disease” yet God knew she could handle it, so He gave it to her so that He could be manifested in her healing. God didn’t just give it to anybody but He gave it to somebody He knew could handle it and she handles her portion with strength and dignity even on her worse day. The same way He gave you what you’re dealing with. He gave you what you have because can’t just anybody handle it but you. Yea, other folk have the same condition but not the same circumstance because everybody handles everything differently. What you have is meant for you but it’s not to make you fail but it’s simply time for you to handle your portion of it. So, what will you do with it? Will you use it, sit on it or bury it? For Matthew 25:29 says, “To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.” You have your portion, what will you do with it?