Daily Devotional – 8/29/14 “Raise your expectancy level!”

If you have to wonder why you’ve yet to reach the next phase of your life, it’s probably because you’ve yet your raise your expectancy level. Baby, at this point in your life you should be looking pass hoping and looking forward to expecting. When you fill out a job application, you hope for a call back but then when you get the interview your mind should then go from hoping for the job to now expecting it. When you pray and get up, you should do so with expectancy that what you’ve asked for will happen. Now, I’m speaking in terms of blessings. Aren’t you tired of being tangled up in that mess you’re in? Aren’t you sick of being sick and burn out of being broke? Then when will you expect things to change? When will you expect things to be different?

Please don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with hoping because Romans 5:5 says, “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us,” but don’t just hope alone. When you pray, you hope God hears you, right? Then what? Then, if you are like me, you expect Him to come and see about you which simply mean you cannot have hope without expectancy. All I am trying to get you to understand is this … stop quitting at hope when there is expectancy there too. Expect some things to happen and they will. If you are hoping for a check to come, it will but when? Expect it. If a pregnant woman had to go on hope to deliver her baby, imagine how that would turn out; that’s why the doctors give a due date of when she can expect to deliver. At some point you’ve got to start expecting some things. You’ve got to start expecting your breakthrough even before it comes. Expect your spouse before he or she shows up. Expect your financial deliverance before it happens. Expect your healing before surgery. Expect your promotion even before the interview. Expect the car before the loan is approved. Expect the house before the closing. Expect the blessing before the shout. Baby, you can even expect your deliverance before your storm is over! All you have to do is raise your expectancy level. Psalm 62:5 says, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.” God is your expectation. Expect and then get! Don’t stop hoping but with hoping expect. Hope for your miracle, hope for your blessings, hope for your deliverance and then expect to receive it! You are worthy of all the things that God has promised but you have to expect to get them! What are you hoping for and when will you raise your level of hope to expectancy to get them?

Daily Devotional – 8/28/14 “The enemy’s request!”

Oh my God! That’s just how I feel at the moment. I got an Oh my God bubbling in my spirit. So much so that I feel like shouting it out! No, I don’t mean just an ordinary shout out and if you’ve never been in the place I’m currently in, where it feels like something is happening to you and you can’t explain it then you wouldn’t even begin to understand, so just excuse me for a moment. I’ve been to revival for two nights straight and oh my God. On last night the pastor preached from Luke 22:31-32 “The enemy’s request” and oh my God! See, I’ve read it before and I’ve even done a devotional on it but it was something the Pastor said last night in revival that got me. Yea, see; I didn’t feel good on last night because of this old migraine that came back about a month ago with vice grips but baby when I say this revival has been revitalizing to my soul; My God! Luke 22:31 says, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.” Now, not only did Jesus call Peter by Simon but He called him Simon twice because Peter had started acting like his old ways. (Some of y’all will miss that.) Yet Jesus said in Luke 22:32, “but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Isn’t that something? Here God is telling you the enemy has requested you to do his dirty work yet He is praying your faith holds. God is saying, satan has requested to sift you like wheat, in order words, do his bidding; yet God is saying but I’m right here praying that your faith sustains you! Yes, God is saying, the enemy is right here in my face making a request for you to go to war for him but I’m yet praying on your behalf. Oh God! I could go into detail on how wheat is sifted but let me give you a crash course. The wheat is spread out and beaten so that the edible is separated from the nonedible (chaff). Then take a pitchfork, stick it in a stack of wheat, throw it up in the air so that the edible wheat (heavy wheat) falls back down and the nonedible is blown away (That’s the old way because now machines do it but you get it). Child, you’re wondering why you feel like you’re shaking, it’s you been sifted like wheat; will your faith stand? You’re wondering why it feels like you’re on unsteady ground; it’s you been sifted like wheat; will your faith stand? You’re wondering why it seems like all hell is breaking loose around you but nothing is moving, that’s you been sifted like wheat; will your faith stand? The enemy is requesting to sift you like wheat but God is praying your faith stands? Will it?

You had to be shook out to save, scattered to be sanctified, searched to be secured, sought to be separated, set up to serve, shaken to be sharpened and shattered to be strengthen all for you to be sifted to now be shifted!

Daily Devotional – 8/27/14 “From struggling to satisfied!”

I’ve started writing this devotional three times and I’ve started over each time. Just when I thought I had it together, it wouldn’t flow right. “Get it together girl!” I’m being transparent because I need each of you to see that I am human in this thang. This spiritual journey is hard and I am struggling. Will I give up? No but it doesn’t take away the fact that I am struggling. I’m not struggling with the calling of ministry that God has placed over my life but I am struggling with what I should be doing. And the enemy is trying his best to get in but he doesn’t stand a chance. Don’t get this thang twisted! I may be struggling but I am not stranded. I told you on yesterday that I am being remodeled and it’s going to take some time so again, you’re going to have to pardon the mess you may see. I’ve been so frustrated lately and I can’t seem to grasp why but then it dawned on me, just now, that this isn’t even about me. That’s why I’m struggling. God says I’m struggling because it’s not even mine to figure out. HA! Ok God. Didn’t God tell me on yesterday to trust Him through my remodeling process? How can I tell you to trust God when it seems like my trust is wavering?

So, let me start this over for all of us! We are still in our remodeling phase because it doesn’t happen overnight, so why are we rushing it? Who said it would be easy? Sickness isn’t cured overnight? Antibiotics are usually given for ten days and the doctor says, even if you feel better after a few days continue to take the medicine for the full ten days to make sure the sickness is completely gone; right? Then why am I rushing this phase of my life? Can’t you hear the work being done? Excuse the noise; you’ll appreciate the work afterwards. Pardon all the mess, there is some renovations being made on the inside of this old body of mine. I could be out of commission, down and out and not worth being remodeled yet God saw fit to pay the price so here I am! And if you happen to see a few tears stream down, that’s just water being used to flush out the waste that had been caught up in there. So, when I started writing I was struggling but now I am satisfied and I will wait until my remodeling process is complete to see what God has in store for me. What about you?

“And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

Daily Devotional – 8/26/14 “I’m being remodeled!”

I’m feeling some type of way and I just cannot explain it. I’ve tried to put it into words and I can’t. I’ve tried to understand it spiritually and I can’t. I’ve even tried to understand it naturally and still I can’t. Yet, here am I; feeling all discombobulated, confused and in a fog. I feel like there is something I am missing, something I’m not doing, somewhere I’m not going. I ask; God, what is it? Then He answers, “It’s just me remodeling you.” I say, “But God, I thought I was ok.” He answers, “You were but I got a new position for you and the old you just wouldn’t do.” Then I say, “But God,” He says, “Child, don’t you trust me?” I answer, “Yes, Lord.” He says, “Then trust me.”

So, while I don’t understand the remodeling process I’m currently going through, I trust the one who is doing the remodeling. While I don’t know how long my remodeling process last, I trust the one who is doing the remodeling. See, I look at it like this … I could be broken down during my remodeling phase yet I’m still working (pardon my dust). I could be closed down for repairs during my remodeling process yet I’m still working (excuse the construction). I could be boarded up with an opening soon date yet here am I. Oh, I could be one of the many left unfinished because the contractor ran out of money before the remodel was actually done but baby, do you know who my foreman is? Do you have any idea who is financing my remodel? Do you know who is calling all the shots, making all the decisions? Well, I do and He is my Father and He said it was time for me to be upgraded, time for me to be remodeled because He has some things for me to do and some places for me to go and the old me wouldn’t cut it. Just when I thought I had done enough, He said I needed to be remodeled into something greater. God said, I am about to take you to some places your old self can’t go. Remodeling has to take place. He said, “Take your hand off child, I got this!” Just when I thought I had hell on my back, it wasn’t even the enemy; it was simply me being remodeled for better things! I’m being remodeled to do greater things. What about you?

Daily Devotional – 8/21/14 “If you don’t fit, stick out!”

I had this old cord and no matter how much I tried to make it, it just wouldn’t charge my phone. I mean; I turned it all kinds of ways, I tried it in different USB places on my computer and even thought if I plugged it in the wall that maybe it would work but nope, it just wouldn’t fit. Then, I stopped and thought about something. I thought, how does God feel when we constantly try to make worldly stuff fit into His biblical teaching. It’s like when we start bringing the world into the church, it doesn’t fit. Oh but the church fits perfectly into the world for the bible says in Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” It’s like when you say you’ve been changed and baptized in God’s name yet you try to do the things you used to do knowing they no longer fit for the bible says in Ephesians 4:24, “Put on your new nature, created to be like God–truly righteous and holy.” When you are righteous and holy, some of the things you used to do won’t fit anymore. When you are on the Lord’s side, some of the places you used to go, no longer fit on your calendar any longer. Please understand, there isn’t anything wrong with you going to a party as long as you come out the same way you went it. If you went in holy and sober, come out holy and sober. Folk get this thang twisted thinking that once you become a saint you can no longer have fun but the bible says in Ecclesiastes 8:15, “So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun.”

All I am saying is this, not everything fits in your life as being a Christian and it’s ok to say that. Don’t feel bad about turning down invitations to certain things because you no longer feel comfortable going there because they won’t be the ones telling the story at judgment. You have to be the one to give an account for your actions when it’s your time so be able to give an account for your actions now. Stop using the excuse; they made me do it, they pressured me into it, they wouldn’t take no for an answer and all that crap when you’re grown. If you no longer fit it, then stick out and be just fine being different. I’ve shared this scripture most of the week but it fits again, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2.” If you don’t fit, stick out!