Daily Devotional – 12/15/14 “It’s all in who you ask! “

I’ve come to realize that it’s all in who you ask. See, I asked God to enlarge my territory and he called me to minister. I asked God to increase my gift and I became a published author. I asked God to use me and He said you’ll have to go where I send you. I asked God to heal my heart and He said you’ll have to love again. I asked God to give me sight and He said you’ll have to see the good and bad in folk. I asked God to clean me up and He said I will but you’ll have to get dirty again, in this line of work. I asked God to forgive me of my sins and He said you have to forgive too. I asked God not to forget about me and He said I won’t but there are some things you need to forget about too. And when I did … thangs start happening in my life, for the good! God shifted my life and hasn’t been the same and neither have I and it was because of who I asked.

I told you before that you can continue to pray until something happens but something is defined as an unspecified object when you ought to be specific in your prayers to God. Don’t you know the bible says in Matthew 7:7, “Ask and you shall receive?” Matthew 21:22 says, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Get this, 1 John 3:21-22 says this; “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.” Isn’t that enough for us to go to God with our desires to ask of Him that which we need? Why are we without? Why are we in need? Why are we suffering? Every day should be a day of rejoicing, if we are in the body of Christ. It shouldn’t matter whether the day is good or bad, it should be a day of rejoicing especially knowing that we can get whatever we want from our Father who is in Heaven. Why are we, as a body of Christ, suffering? It seems to me we are either asking the wrong person, asking the wrong questions or either we are out of the will of God? What do you think? It’s all in who you ask! You don’t have to believe me but try it for yourself and you’ll see. Ask in faith!

P.S. Here is the video of my sermon from yesterday titled “PUSH – Pray Until Shift Happens” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnVbUa_SS2s

Daily Devotional – 12/11/14 “Change your attitude against the enemy!”

I’ve been writing notes for my message for Sunday (that still sounds weird) and I am still in awe of the way things are happening in my life. I’m in awe over the good things that are happening and I am also in awe over the audacity of the enemy. Y’all the enemy is bold, his attacks doesn’t stop and when he can’t get to me, he will attack those around me (especially my children) but he is one bold face lie if he thinks for one second I will stop fighting him. Let me explain something to you, I can’t say I’ve always known there was a calling on my life but when I realized there was and it became serious; I became serious about it. Do I have days of feeling discouraged, yes; we all do but I won’t give up, I PUSH! However I won’t dwell on the enemy because to give him more time than he deserves, is giving him way more credit than he is due. He ain’t worth it!

So, I simply stop by this morning to let you know this … Change your attitude when dealing with the enemy and it’ll change your outcome. See, when you rejoice even in the midst of your storm; it’ll confuse him. When you praise in the midst of the hell he’s throwing, it’ll throw him off his game. When you smile even through your tears, it’ll complicate his plans. When you get up after falling over the obstacle he intentionally planted in your way, it’ll leave him shaking his head. When you start doing back flips in the water he thought you’d drown in, it’ll cloud his thoughts. When you start shouting even while you’re sick; it’ll blur his eyesight. When you dance and he thought you’d doubt, it’ll puzzle even him. All you have to do is change the way you react to his attacks and he’ll get tired of attacking someone he can’t defeat for Ephesians 6:11-13 says, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

Daily Devotional – 12/10/14 “Stop rushing God’s process!”

It takes 9 months to birth a baby.
It takes time to bake cookies, cakes, bread and pies (time varies depending on the type).
It takes time to fill out an application.
It takes time to finish school.
It takes time to complete an interview.
It takes time to read this.

My point is … Stop rushing God’s process. You wait on everybody else but you rush God. He said he’d be there 30 minutes ago yet you didn’t rush him but you’ll rush God. She said she’d call you back an hour ago yet you didn’t rush her but you’ll rush God.

God’s process takes time and there is a process to everything He does in our life. This is why Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” Please understand, if you commit your life to God, He will direct your life.” Will the enemy try to knock you off the path? Yes, every chance he gets because it’s his job, his mission but stay the course and PUSH (PRAY UNTIL SHIFT HAPPENS). God told you in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future,” but you first have to be committed in God and then trust in the plans He has for you. Yes, it’s easier to give up and harder to hold on but holding on pays off. I know you are ready for your shift now. I know you are ready for your financial breakthrough to come now. I know you are ready for your spouse. I know you are ready for your own house or car. I know you are ready for your own ministry. I know you are ready for your job/career. I know you are ready for your healing to manifest now. I know you want to be on the bestseller list. I know you’ve wanted to open your business. I know you’ve been praying. Oh but WAIT! It’s not time yet! Stop rushing God’s process. When it’s time to PUSH, He’ll tell you!

Daily Devotional – 12/8/14 “Pray Until Shift Happens! (PUSH)”

When you are in Christ, you should know that every time something happens a shift occurs so instead of saying pray until something happens; we should say pray until shift happens. See, when a shift happens that means God has elevated an area in our life that no living man can do. Yea, when a shift happens; it means God is about to take us to a place no man can take us. Baby, when a shift takes place; things begin happening that we can’t even begin to explain, doors start opening we didn’t even knock on and our gifts/talents bring us among people who we didn’t even think knew our name. When we PUSH, when we Pray Until Shift Happens, a shift happens! Think about it. When we pray for deliverance and it happens, that’s a shift. When we pray for a promotion on our job and it comes, that’s a shift! When we pray for healing and it happens, that’s a shift! When you pray for your husband and he comes, that’s a shift! When you pray for your wife and she comes, that’s a shift! That’s praying for your shift and not just something! Don’t you see the difference?

When you pray until something happens, something can be just anything but beloved when pray until shift happens; shift is elevation, appointment and anointment! Yea, I get it; you’ve been up but now you’re down but PUSH! You were healthy but now you’re sick but PUSH! You had a job but now you’re laid off but PUSH! You were married but now you’re divorced but PUSH! Married but spouse passed away, PUSH! Momma or daddy died, PUSH! Hell in your home, PUSH! Hell on the job, PUSH! Hell in the church, PUSH! Pray and Praise until there is a SHIFT in your personal relationship with God, your family, your finances, your health, your job and your worship! Don’t stop until there is a shift in every part of your life! Deuteronomy 28:1-10 says, “If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these blessings if you obey the LORD your God: Your towns and your fields will be blessed. Your children and your crops will be blessed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed. Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed. Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed. “The LORD will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven! “The LORD will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. “If you obey the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways, the LORD will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do. Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the LORD, and they will stand in awe of you.” That seems worthy of “PUSH” to me!

Daily Devotional – 12/5/14 “It ain’t about us!”

Every day I pray for God to use me. Every day I pray that when folk look at me, they see the light of God shining through me. Yes, I have flaws in this fleshly body, I’m human but every day I pray that more and more of it dies so that I can walk into the destiny that God has set for me. If I lose friends along the way, ok. If I lose family along the way, ok. My goal is to save somebody who has yet to find God. See, this morning I was minding my own business when I walked into the break room to make some tea but standing in there was a coworker talking on the phone. Now, we work on the same floor but different groups. She can never get my name right but that’s alright, it’s not about what you call me, it’s what I answer too. But anyway, when she got off the phone she started talking to me about a man she met recently and when she met him he wasn’t stable but he got his own place now and she has helped him with some things for it but folk was telling her to leave him alone because he was using her (folk always talking) so she told him that she was thinking about calling it quits. Get this … When she told him this, he told her that if she did, he would possibly commit suicide. Quite possibly this upset her. See, she has been through some things. A lot of things that could have easily taken her out but the way her faith is set up, God won’t let her quit. But I had to stop her and tell her that sometimes God put us in folk lives in order to build them up. It ain’t even about us.

Yea, I didn’t care that folk was coming in the break room because God was using me. See, I had to remind her that what he said, at that moment, wasn’t about her; his spirit was broken then and it needed mending. This is why you have to be careful who you surround yourself with. When she called him this morning, she simply called to tell him she loved him and he told her he didn’t mean what he said the other day. This journey is hard y’all and if we don’t stay prayed up, praised down and knee bent we will get caught up! The enemy is ALWAYS seeking to destroy us. Don’t you get it? Even the strongest person gets weak sometimes. Even the encourager needs encouragement sometimes. Even the one praying need prayer sometimes and even the preacher need to get preached too sometimes. This is why you have to surround yourself with folk who know the Lord, whose spirit is right and who can get a prayer through when you can’t. This is why you have to know that the work you’re doing, this kingdom business; it’s not about you and me. It’s about the God in us manifesting through us to save those who are yet lost through us. It ain’t about us, it’s about the work we are sent to do!