Daily Devotional – 8/4/14 “Are you available to be used?”

I shared this on Facebook yesterday but it’s worth sharing again because someone on today is still trying to figure out why they can’t be blessed like others. Someone is trying to understand why nothing is working out in their favor. Someone is even questioning God on why He hasn’t used them yet but beloved, God can’t use you when you’re not available. Yea, you’re constantly asking God to use you yet every time He calls you, you’re unreachable. You claim you’re waiting to hear from God yet your ears are being filled with gossip and lies which makes you inaccessible. Baby, God can’t use you when you are unapproachable. Sure, you say you’re ready yet you complain about the storm you’re in but don’t you know that God can’t use you when you’re not willing to be cleaned up. I hear you when you say, I’m ready, willing and able yet God can’t use you when you’re still unsure of which side of the fence you want to land on. You cry that you’re ready to lead and be put in charge of things at church but chile God can’t use you when you’re still the one turning on the lights at the club after they make the last call for alcohol. You say you have a message to share but God can’t use you when you’re the one still starting all the mess!

Please believe me when I tell you that God will give you just what you ask for. If you ask Him to remove enemies, He does. He doesn’t look at the fact you’ve labeled them as friends, He’s only doing what you ask. When you ask God to strengthen your gift and He does, don’t allow fear to make you run and hide. When you ask God to speak to you, He will, so don’t get scared of what He tells you to do. Yes, I get it. You may think it’s too big for to stand in or you may even think you are unworthy of the calling but Romans 8:30 says, “And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” Simply meaning this … God had already predestined your destiny (Jeremiah 29:11) which means He had already Christened your name (Jeremiah 1:5), He had already vindicated your past (2 Corinthians 5:17) and overestimated your worth (1 Corinthians 6:11) so you were born for this. All you have to do is make yourself available. And please know this; once you’re available don’t start complaining about the test because God surely can’t use you if your faith can’t be tested!

Daily Devotional – 8/1/14 “Lean not on your understanding!”

Now that you’ve prayed and got up; your legs are a little wobbly but that’s ok … move! I told you on yesterday that after you’ve had surgery, the nurses will get you up to walk and aren’t you’re a little off balance then? Well do you think the nurse will let you fall if it’s her responsibility to hold you up? Then what makes you think God will? Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” See, you may not understand why you are being sent there but trust in the Lord and go. You may be unfamiliar with the road you have to take to get there but trust in the Lord and go. You may even feel like you’re out of your comfort zone but trust in the Lord and go on. Please understand this; God will not send you anywhere He hasn’t already been. Did you not read the scripture from yesterday? Here it is again for those of you who are still shaking and scared to move. Deuteronomy 31:8 says “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

Yea, I know you didn’t think you were worthy of being sent there but when you stop leaning on your understanding you’ll see that not only are you worthy but you are a chosen vessel called to do God’s will. Baby, you probably even assumed your past would hinder you but God is asking, “What past?” (Gone God!) Understand, realize and accept the fact that God got you. Stop worrying about what she said when she can’t save you. Stop worrying about what he said when he can’t restore you. And stop worrying about what they said when they can’t put you in Heaven or Hell. Stop focusing on them and trust in the Lord because when you lean on God, He’ll surround you with the right circle of folk who will judge you justly, criticize you correctly, push your passion and grow your gift. Yet here you are surrounding yourself with folk who will stick their leg out to trip you and then lie like they didn’t mean it. Throw a rock to knock you down and then reach down to help you up. But please get this if you don’t get anything else. Everyone who says they are for you, it doesn’t mean they are. This is why you can’t lean on your own understanding. See, someone you probably consider a good friend doesn’t think you deserve the job you just got but you trust and watch God. Someone you keep letting into your home is the one bringing all the hell but pray, trust and watch God work. Someone you trust doesn’t trust you and they are the ones wishing bad over your life but pray, trust, lean on God and watch God work this. Someone is behind your back questioning how you got your car, house, spouse and healing but pray, trust, lean on God and not your understanding and watch God work this thang. Chile, somebody you worship with is still trying to figure out how God could take somebody like you who weren’t fitting to live and not ready to die, used to be the town (female or male) slut, at all the clubs, kept your mouth on everybody and stayed in other folk business; place you in your storm, wash you off, re-dress you in His newness, give you a new mind, a new song to dance too, new words to use and now you’re in ministry in your church but when you pray, trust and lean on Him; you can stand back and watch God work this thang out! Lean not on your understanding because you still won’t understand!

Daily Devotional – 7/31/14 “Watch God work!”

Just when you thought your storm was ending, you hear the thunder bellowing in the background. Just when you thought your tears were coming to an end, you get another blow that sends you to your knees. Just when you thought everything was working out and you were on the right track, the door closed in your face. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it does.

Now what? Pray.

What do you do now? Get up.

Where do you go now? Forward.

Yes, I get it. You have clouds of why me hanging over head. You hear the rain drops of depression starting to fall and the ground is covered with the woe is me tears but then what? When you’re done feeling sorry for yourself, when you’ve finished crying and when you’re done with the temper tantrum; you’ll still be in the same place you were before unless you move. Understand this, after you’ve had surgery then comes rehab and during your rehab, the physical therapists and nurses usually make you get up, take a walk down the hall or sit up in a chair because they understand that it’s beneficial to your recovery; so tell me again why you are still lying in your bed of I can’t. Explain to me why you’re still lying face down in “they turned me down again”. Help me make sense of why you’re still sleeping with defeat because I don’t get it.

The storm isn’t to drown you but it’s simply washing you off to prepare you for what God is about to cover you with. Don’t you take a shower before you get dressed? Then what sense would it make for God to put something new over something that’s dirty? That’s why we have to go through the storm and some of us are real filthy so our storm may last a little bit longer. So stop basing the time of your storm on others because although it may seem like I got it all together, I don’t look like what I’ve been or going through because then I’d be a raggedy mess. Yea, your storm may be raging and you can’t see your way but watch God. Your bills may be behind, received a cut-off notice for the cable and the lights and your account may be in the negative and you just got paid but watch God work. The door may have closed and it probably punctured your hope but watch God work this. You may have even received a no when you knew for sure it was yes but watch God work this thang. Baby, you may not understand why and you may not even get God’s timing of things but watch God work this thang out! You might not be where you wish, have what you want or can get what you need but wait on God and watch Him work thangs out on your behalf, when it’s time. Deuteronomy 31:8 says “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

Daily Devotional – 7/30/14 “Follow God’s lead!”

Have you ever been walking up the stairs and trip? Have you ever been walking along and stumble but nothing is there? Have you ever made a careless mistake that made you talk to yourself saying, now how did you do that? I have and it makes me stop sometimes. But in writing the devotional on yesterday, a particular scripture stood out to me again this morning. Psalm 37:23 that says, “The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives” and then I read Psalm 37:24 that says, “Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand.” (That’ll preach!) See, I’ve come to realize that stumbling doesn’t make me quit because as soon as I catch myself, I keep going. Don’t you get it? We are who God has chosen and there isn’t anything the devil can do to stop us, by himself. Let me say this again, the devil can’t stop us alone; he has to have our help. This is why he uses temptations to throw us off our game and then when we dabble in the said temptation, we sin and when we sin we go against what God has said. And the devil knows this and he uses it to make us feel bad and/or guilty for said sin and then we feel like we’ve let God down. When this isn’t the case because God says we can’t let Him down when we were never holding Him up. All we have to do is confess with our mouth that we’ve sinned, repent for it and then not do it again. See, the enemy’s mission is to keep us off our game because if we aren’t playing in the game, those who need our help won’t see us or the moves we’re making thus causing us to not save those who are lost.

If the enemy succeeds at doing his job then he dims our light and that makes us useless. And what sense is it to learn the game and not play? What sense is it to have a light and not let it shine? What sense is it to have knowledge and not use it when we are who God has left to teach His word? You don’t have to believe me but 2 Corinthians 4:5-6 says, “You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.” I know you are trying to figure out why God is keeping you at that job that causes you hell but have you stopped to think that maybe someone there needs your light? Why don’t you stop long enough to understand that it’s not about you for 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.” It’s not about you! I know you’re tired and at your wits end, still mumbling about what happened yesterday, still harboring feelings of hurt from years ago, too afraid to let go and love so you act mean and won’t forgive so that you can heal but 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 says, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” I say it like this; even though we stumble it doesn’t suck out our spirit. Even though we may fall it doesn’t cause fault in our faith. Even though we get hurt it shouldn’t hinder our happiness. And even though man may minimize our ministry, stop measuring it by their hands anyway when it is given and taken only by the Master. When we start following the path the God has set, it is then we tap into our calling and our purpose.

Daily Devotional – 7/29/14 “Let God finish!”

You’re crying that your spirit is broken but how can you expect God to fix you if it’s not? Don’t you know that doctors have to sometime break bones in order for them to heal properly? Yea, they may have looked good on the outside but the x-ray revealed defects which makes surgery necessary. It’s the same with us. Saints, I mean. We play dress up to cover up our mess but on the inside we are raggedy and tore up. Oh but then here comes God with His x-ray machine that shows Him the parts of us that need to be fixed. (And with God, He sees it all). Heart with holes, spirit with leaks, lungs not functioning properly, blood filled with hater toxins, spirit being clogged with mess and joints that are locked from non-movement. Now, God has to knock us out to do surgery. If you’re trying to figure out why you keep getting knocked down, that’s God trying to do surgery but you won’t let Him. Trying to figure out why you can’t stand for long, that’s God trying to do surgery but you keep interrupting Him. Trying to figure out why it feels like you’re groggy and can’t seem to make sense of what’s around you, that’s God trying to do surgery yet you won’t be still!

Beloved, hold on! Allow God to finish what He needs to finish. Stop trying to work everything out on your own when you have a master who’s capable of doing it. Yea, I know you think you need to figure out next month when God is saying, I got it covered, enjoy today. Stop acting like everything is always wonderful when you know you’d rather be weeping. If everybody had it all figured out, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in. Stop plastering a smile on your face and let folk see the real you. How am I supposed to believe that God bought you out of your circumstance if I never saw you go through it? I’m not saying I need to know and see every aspect of your life but at least show me a little of your test so that I’d know your testimony is real. In the court of law, if you lie under oath they call it perjury and you can face jail time. Well in God’s court, if you lie under His oath, He calls it lying and the bible says in Proverbs 12:22, “Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who act faithfully are his delight.” All I am trying to get you to understand is this …Stop complaining about the trouble that you have to go through because how can you know what you can handle if you don’t go through. Stop grumbling about the times you have to sometimes be down because if you’re in God; He has a reason for Psalm 37:23 says, “The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” Yes, I know you may know this already but God declares in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” You are made for this but you have to believe in yourself enough to go in, go through and then come out. Yes, you have to go through God’s surgery but baby when you come out … insert shout!