Daily Devotional – 11/12/14 “God isn’t pleased!”

What’s the sense of being put together on the outside but you’re tore up on the inside? Yea, what’s the point of having your clothes and hair on point if your heart is jacked up? Don’t you realize that no matter how you try to hide the fact that your attitude is rude, it still shows? I get it, you had a bad night and although you try to cover it with a smile, it shows the moment you open your mouth. Oh, I’m sure the bed is sick of being blamed for the way you treat folk when you consistently lie about getting up on the wrong side of the bed when the truth of the matter is, it’s the same side you’ve been sleeping on since you were three. My point is; while you are trying to dress up for folk, God is reading your heart and He isn’t pleased with the report. You put up the façade that everything is good when you plaster that smile on, for folk, yet at home you’re drinking more tears than water. God isn’t pleased. You’re too ashamed to tell someone that you’re suffering until depression has you bound, broken and bruised. God isn’t pleased. When will you stop running?

I am new to having the title of minister but I am not new to ministry because God has been using me for as long as I can remember and I am tired of the shape Christians are in. I am tired of the way Preachers are handling their roles and I am tired of the way Saints are handling theirs because we all play a part. God isn’t pleased! The bible says in James 5:14, “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord,” yet now days, you can’t even trust folk to lay hands on you because you don’t know if their heart is genuine and where their hands have been. The bible says in Hebrews 3:13, “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness,” but instead we’d rather tear one another down. But don’t you know that this same scripture picks up in Hebrews 3:14 and says, “For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.” Yet how can we share in everything that belongs to God when He isn’t pleased with us and the way we are? We have to get it together y’all. I don’t know about you but I need God, I long to have Him because without Him, I am nothing. I am not perfect but I am a work in progress and as a work in progress, you should see some evidence of work being done. I can’t keep using that excuse and nothing is changing. It’s the same with you.

Daily Devotional – 11/11/14 “God believes in you!”

I got a late start to my day today and I had decided that I wasn’t going to do a devotional but I couldn’t let the opportunity pass without telling you that God believes in you. Yea, somebody, who is probably close to you, wants you to believe that what you’re going through is punishment for some stuff you’ve done. Somebody, who you trust, is probably the one tripping you up and you’re blaming the enemy. Somebody, who you count on, is the main on counting you out. Well, baby I simply stopped by today to tell you, you need to modify your circle of friends and you need to change who you listen to. God hasn’t forgotten you, He hasn’t given up on you, He hasn’t bought you this far to let you go now; He believes in you. Don’t forfeit your destiny based on the words of naysayers. Stop minimizing your miracle because of someone else mess. God believes in you! Stop fighting those meaningless battles and put your energy into God’s work. Why do you think you keep making it? Why do you think you keep surviving? Don’t you understand that if God wanted to punish you, He doesn’t have to base it off of your mistakes; He can just do it? Don’t you know that if God didn’t want to bless you, He doesn’t? Yet, here it is another day that He has given you. Yea, ok; it may not be how you would want it to be. You may not feel like you want to feel. You may not have the money you wish you had. You may not have the job you think you ought to have but God still believes in you enough to wake you up in your right mind with a chance to try again. Stop wondering if God cares because He does and not only does He care but He believes in you. All you have to do now is believe in yourself.

Daily Devotional – 11/10/14 “Trust God!”

Isn’t it amazing how we can put our trust in just about anything and anybody but we second guess God, question His reasoning, think twice before stepping out or close the door all together before going where He sends us when He has never steered us wrong? We sit down in a chair without a thought on whether it will give out yet we don’t trust God as our foundation when concrete will crack yet He won’t. We will drink milk past the expiration date yet we won’t fill up on God’s word when the bible says in John 4:14, “But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” You trust your insurance to cover you, until you use too much and it either cost you more than you can afford or your coverage lapse but God is there covering every part of your life without fail yet your trust waivers in Him. You trust man who lets you down because flesh can sometime fail us yet you won’t give God the same respect. What gives? You trust the bank but not Jehovah Jireh (provider). You trust the doctor but not Jehovah Rapha (healer). You’d rather trust your carnal mind to fight battles you can’t win than Jehovah Nissi (banner).

What is it going to take for you to trust God? He’s proven Himself to be worthy. His resume speaks for itself. You don’t have to keep wondering why your way is dark, it’s because you won’t trust God to be the oil for the lamp to light your path. You keep falling because your faith is failing. You’re leaning because you’ve yet to learn this life’s lesson (and you only get one). You’re stumbling because your sight is set on seeking the shady stuff. You’re missing the mark because you’re magnifying minor mess. And your talent is tainted because you’re tarrying in trouble when God is asking, “Oh ye of little faith why do you doubt?” Psalm 37:3-7 says, “Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. All you have to do is trust God. You don’t have to see your way out of the situation but trust God enough to know that He’ll make the way. You don’t have to know where the money will come from but trust God enough to know that He’ll provide! Because He will!

Daily Devotional – 11/7/14 “You’re already strong!”

It’s Friday and someone is looking at their bank account trying to figure out how to stretch the last few dollars until payday next Friday. Someone got paid today and it’s still not enough to cover everything you got going. Someone else has to endure yet another doctor appointment only to leave feeling worse than when you came. Someone is headed to the funeral home to pay their last respects to a family member while another one makes arrangements. A mother or father somewhere is sitting next to the bedside of their sick child and there is nothing they can do for them. Some girl is contemplating suicide because she is being bullied and afraid to tell somebody. Some boy is being harassed by the local gang and he won’t tell out of fear. An elderly person is being abused by the same person they gave birth too even though they claim to love them. A pastor is sitting at his desk overwhelmed by the lack of respect he gets from those God told him to lead. A new minister is hiding their calling out of fear of being rejected. A man somewhere who has worked for 20+ years can’t find a decent job anywhere after being laid off. A child went to bed hungry and no one even notices. A child can’t even read but he or she will be passed to the next grade. Domestic violence is up but not just between spouses but also between parents and children. Children are acting like they have no sense and …

Well, it’s a struggle y’all. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are from, what you look like, what kind of car you drive, the kind of house you stay in or even about the money you have because at this very moment; life is a struggle. But you know what I’ve found out? God is able! Yep. That’s it! God is able and I don’t have to continually ask Him for strength to climb, to overcome, to outlast and to get through because He has already given us this; we just need to tap into it. Isaiah 41:10 says it like this, “Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Stop waiting to be strengthened because you are, stand up. Stop waiting for validation that you are capable because you are, get up! Psalm 18:32 says, “It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure.” Psalm 18:36 even says, “You widen my path; my feet do not slip.” So, what are you waiting on? Get up! You have what you need. God is your strength and He’s made your path wide enough to keep you from slipping. All you have to do is trust Him because He has proven that He’ll do it!

Daily Devotional – 11/6/14 “It’s just a storm!”

Why is your head hung down in defeat? Why is it every time we, as Saints, go into a storm we think it’s because we are being punished when the simple truth is every one of us has a stormy season to endure? The same way the weather goes through stormy season is the same way we have to endure them so why do we cry each time we see the clouds roll in? Do you not understand that the same way the storm rolls in; it has to roll out which means it’ll end eventually? Do you not understand that God is there before, during and after your storm? Do you not get the fact that Psalm 34:19-20 says, “The righteous person faces many troubles but the Lord comes to the rescue each time. For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken?” That alone is worth shouting over (if you’re righteous)! Yea, see; it doesn’t matter that man will try to hurt you because the word says, they can’t break you. I didn’t make it up, read the verse again. It doesn’t matter how hard folk try, they can’t break the righteous. It doesn’t matter how hard folk push for you to fail, they can’t break you! What are you crying for? Why are you concerned with the naysayers? The only reason you have to worry is if you aren’t as righteous as you say you are.

Yea, we all have faults and shortcomings. We all make our share of mistakes. We all fall, a time or three yet God has given us another chance to make it right. God didn’t expect us to be perfect, why else would He give us repentance but He does expect us to try to live our lives decently and in order. Beloved, you can’t expect to be praying over folk at the altar on Sunday and then preying over them on Facebook on Monday; it doesn’t work like that. You get points for going to bible study on Monday but that doesn’t last if you forget it on Tuesday. All I am saying is this… We all have seasons to go through and some of them will be better than the others but go through them with the faith that God hasn’t left you. Your religion, praise and faith shouldn’t be based on your situation anyway; it should be based on the fact that you have a man in your corner who has already equipped you with everything you need to weather the storm, if you would tap into it. Lift your head and stop being defeated so easily when you have been made God tough. If you were meant to be gone by now, you would be! If you were meant to fail by now, you would have!