Daily Devotional – 2/19/14 “Stop making things harder!”

You’re trying to figure out why you’re miserable all the time, check the company you keep. (Misery does love company) Wondering why it always seems like hell is breaking loose in your home, watch who you’re inviting in. (Evil is a spirit without legs.) Can’t understand why you keep meeting doggish no good men, be careful what you call yourself (BIT$$ is a female dog, right?). You can’t comprehend why you can’t find a wife; check the places you’re looking. Can’t get promoted on the job, it may not be the job for you. Still wondering why you keep hearing no, look who you’re asking. Can’t get well, watch what you speak with your own tongue. Still can’t make ends meet, look at the end you’re starting with. You can’t comprehend why your gift isn’t being multiplied, count the number of times you’ve used it. Can’t sleep; check where you’re laying your head and who you’re sleeping with. Can’t explain why you aren’t bearing any good fruit, check whose vine you’re attached too.

See, I’ve come to the realization that we make things harder on ourselves. We can’t wait on God to move so we rush into mess. We can’t understand why folks leave so we go chasing foolishness. I mean, God closes the door and we go through the window and now we’re wondering why we are in the midst of chaos. God says no and we got the nerve to get mad at Him. Trouble comes and death walks in and we question God but if we’d study the bible more, we’d understand that both of these were promised. Yea, I get it; you’ve experienced a lot of tests but maybe you haven’t learned the lesson. You’ve been in a lot of storms but maybe you’re still dirty. Your past keeps haunting you but maybe that’s because you won’t leave that door closed. That person keeps hurting you but that’s because you keep letting them. Watch what you speak and the company you keep.

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Daily Devotional – 2/18/14 “The true vine!”

In bible study on last night, we studied in John 15 and in John 15:1-2, Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” Get this … God cuts off the branches that are attached to Him that bear NO fruit but for those branches that does, He prunes them in order for them to bear more fruit. Let me back up a minute so that you get this in its entirety. See, when we accept Jesus (the vine) we are then rooted in God’s word, watered with the Holy Spirit and fed with His nourishment which allows us to grow and then branch out and once we branch out, our work begins because it is then that we should be bearing fruit. No, I don’t mean like an apple but I’m speaking of spiritual fruit and Lakisha’s definition of spiritual fruit is anything that can be eaten by you or someone else that nourishes the body spiritually. Oh but hold on because can’t just anybody bear good spiritually fruit because although most of us have been rooted in God and say that we are attached to the vine of Jesus, most of us haven’t been watered spiritually in a long time so the fruit we bear isn’t even worth eating let alone sharable when Jesus says in John 15:3, “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” And if I must say, the only reason we haven’t been cut off yet is simply because God is still giving us another chance to get it right.

Yea, God has given us all the necessary things we need to bear harvestable fruit but we have to be willing to do the work because we can only bear the type of fruit our spirit is growing. If your spirit is hateful then you bear hateful fruit, if you have a spirit of giving then you bear giving fruit and if you have a lying spirit then you bear lying fruit … You got the point! And please understand, when you bear lying and hateful fruit and you feed them to your household, you are now sowing that type of spirit into those who are eating it and now the cycle continues to grow this same type of unusable fruit. When will the cycle be broken? When will you stop tainting where you’ve been planted because Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Are you attached to the true vine? Does the fruit you bear speak for you?

Matthew 7:15-20 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Daily Devotional – 2/17/14 “Willfully worship!”

You know, I had to come to the realization that my worship isn’t dependent on those I worship with because I should willfully worship at all time. See, I was getting burnt out on church, I was tired of driving 45 minutes to church on Sunday morning only to have a dull service and if the truth should be told, tired of church folk but then God got all up in my business. Yea, He got all up in me to let me know that I was wrong because here I am thinking the church was dead when all along it was me. I had to understand that my worship depends on me and no one else. I had to recognize that my praise counts for me and not the preaching that my Uncle does. So, my attitude had to change and now when I’m headed to worship, I do so with the mindset to worship. Yea, I now go to worship ready to worship and I do. I know you’ve been told that you shouldn’t leave church the same way you came but if you come in with praise and thanksgiving on your lips then you should leave the same way. If you come into worship service with the intentions on praising then maybe the Preacher can preach instead of pumping and priming you to say amen. Yea, if we would come into worship worshipping maybe the minister of music can actually minister through music instead of trying to get you to get involved.

Yes, God had to chastise me but I’m okay with that because I needed it and now my praise is better, my studying is different and even my worship is restored all because I now willingly worship. This is why you shouldn’t have to wait until you hear your song to praise God. You shouldn’t have to wait until you’re going through hell at home to worship God like you should. You shouldn’t have to wait until pain is hitting your body before you actually pray at the altar. You shouldn’t have to wait until your child is in jail or the hospital to seek God because our praise shouldn’t affected by our situation but our situation should be affected by our praise. “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. John 4:23.”

Daily Devotional – 2/14/14 “Then and now!”

My sister and I were having a conversation on last night about some of the things the bible speak on that are so hard to follow now. Most people still follow 1 Corinthians 11:3 that says, “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.” Now, please understand I don’t have an issue with this verse however now days most men aren’t husband material and the wife surely isn’t a Proverbs 31 woman. (I’m just keeping it real.) See, the man wants to lie in the house all day while he sends his wife to work and then he calls himself the head but didn’t the bible say in 1 Timothy 5:8, “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever?” And in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat?”” Yes, in the bible days the men worked, provided, maintained the worship places, ruled and fought in wars while the women stayed home to maintain the home, bared and raised the children, cooked, cleaned and etc., so then the men could be the head in everything. Oh but now, it takes 2 sometimes 3 incomes to maintain the household so she has to work. Now, men aren’t being raised to be men so the women have to step up in order to make sure her family eats. Now, women aren’t being raised to be a wife because many don’t even know how to cook, clean and less known raise children so then the entire household is falling apart. Families don’t worship as a family because momma is going to church, daddy is staying in the bed and the children are being given a choice on whether to go or not. Some older men have an issue with women working in the church but they want them to pay their tithes, sing in the choir, usher, cook in the kitchen, make the announcements and print the programs. Isn’t that working? She even has to sometimes turn the lights off after the deacons leave.

All I’m saying is, we tailor scriptures to fit our lives every day and these are no different. No sir, no ma’am; I don’t have an issue with my husband being the head of our household even though I’m working as long as he’s the head of his household. (You’ll get that later!) I, also, don’t have a problem following his lead as long as I trust him to get us to the right destination. I also don’t have a problem standing behind him because then I’m better protected. And just for the record, being behind the man doesn’t make you less than a woman because no matter where you’re standing, your light of God should be shining bright enough to be seen. And as long as God is the head of your life and you’re allowing Him to run things, everything else will fall into place. Read and study the bible for yourself that way you’ll understand what is being taught which will then lead you to be a better man or woman of God.