Daily Devotional – 11/6/13 “Keep pushing!”

I truly believe that your storm gets harder, when it seems like everything is going good because the devil has been allowed to see into your future and knows the blessings that are about to come and it is now his mission to make sure you don’t make it to get them. See, just like when God allowed the devil to test Job, He did so because He believed, no scratch that, He knew that Job’s faith was unshakeable, unbendable and unbreakable because Job had proved it over and over. So, my question now is, why can’t we have faith like Job? I mean as soon as our fight gets too hard, we throw up our hands in defeat although you’ve yet to be hit. When the fire gets a little too hot we back out the kitchen although you’ve yet to be burned. When the struggle gets real as we know it does, we wave the white flag in surrender although we’ve yet to be tagged in. Why do we give up so easily? The doctor says cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, lupus, sickle cell, kidney problems and such and we hang our head in defeat although you’ve yet to hear the treatment options. As soon as the loan officer says no or the hiring manager says you weren’t selected this time you leave mad without even recognizing it wasn’t yours to begin with. When that man or woman walks away from you, you got the nerve to roll up in a bed and cry instead of realizing they didn’t belong to you in the first place.

WTF … Where’s the faith? Yea, you may be reaching for my dream and it seems like it’s out of reach but don’t stop reaching. Yea, you may have been declined this time but your yes is coming so don’t stop. Yea, you may have been knocked down but you’re not out so get up. Yes, folks may see the scars from being stabbed in the back from folks who promised to do you no harm, they may see the scars on your knees from you constantly praying to maintain, they may see the scars on the front on you from being drug to hell and back on your good day, they may see the marks on your shoulders from carrying the weight of the world or they may even see the scars on your feet from standing on them for 12 hours trying to provide for your family; however, but, nonetheless, God picks you up every time you get knocked down, dusts you off and stands you back up in order for them see your strength. Chile, God got you in this thang and if He wanted to take you out of it, He would have by now so you go ahead because it could be worse. You could look like the pain you feel, you could look like your past mistakes, you could look like those names they call you, you could look like the nobody folk said you’d be, you could look like the nothing folk said you’d do in life, you could look like that statistic society has deemed you, you could look like that crack that should have taken your life, you could smell like that alcohol that could have claimed your life or even look like all the mess you’ve encountered BUT YOU DON’T because God has you looking like you’re looking and it looks pretty good to me! So, get down off your soap box, get out your pity pit, get away from miserable folk and keep pushing. Get out your feelings, off Twitter and Facebook and keep pushing. Get folk out your ear, face, inbox and text message and keep pushing. Get out your own way, stop blocking your own blessing and find the faith that you’ve packed away and keep pushing! It may not look like it now but God has a purpose for whatever you’re facing but you’ve got to keep pushing to get through it.

Daily Devotional – 11/5/13 “There’s still time!”

I just happened to look back at my devotional for the same date on last year and would you believe it’s still relevant right now. On 11/5/12 my devotional was entitled “You still got time” and the year before on 11/5/11, it was “What’s blocking your path” and still today I ask, what’s blocking your path because you still got time! Time to live instead of acting like you’re dead, time to serve God instead of man, time to go right instead of always choosing left and time to move to get what’s yours. Isn’t that something? I mean with all the things that are happening in this crazy world from folks getting mad at being laid off to come back and shoot people, folks walking into schools and killing children, cancer is on the rise, bullying is taking over not only in schools but on jobs too, health care cost steady going up and paychecks are going down, saints are hiding and sinners are out in the open, family hating on one another and friends are becoming enemies.. I mean, what is really going on? Church has become a business for profit instead of being in the business of praise and then those who are in the church raise more hell than the ones outside the church. We want to blame the preacher for all the problems when you need to realize that your salvation depends on you. See, the pastor is responsible for teaching God’s word but you have a responsibility to study it. How can you honestly know if what the folk who stand behind the pulpit on Sunday is saying is true unless you open your bible? And how can you pass any test without first studying to take it?

Stop blaming others and please stop blaming things for you not getting what or where you need to be. Ok, so what if there is something blocking your path? Either you move it or you go around but don’t just sit there. If you know the interstate will be closed for the next hour, are you going to sit there or find an alternative route? Then why are you allowing an obstacle to stop you? Yea, I get it; it’s hard, you’re tired of trying, you’re tired of being turned down, you’re tired of getting nothing you ask for; so what? Oh, you’re going to give up but then what purpose would that serve? If whatever you’re standing in front of isn’t helping you, you may want to change what or who you’re looking at. All I am saying is; you need to stop playing with God before your time runs out. While you’re spending all your time trying to get yourself together, your time may just be too far spent before you’re able too. Baby, God doesn’t choose you to do His will because you are perfect but He chooses you with your flaws because those are perfect for the job He needs to fill. Don’t you know that if God waited on perfect folk, His will would never get done because NONE of us are perfect? Why don’t you allow God to clean you up because once He does, all the stuff folk throw at you won’t dirty your spirit although it might stain your clothes. The next moment of your life is not guaranteed, so stop waiting! Live YOUR life and stop blaming it on the obstacle instead choose a way to make it obsolete.

Daily Devotional – 11/4/13 “Wait!”

I’ve been sitting looking at the computer screen trying to figure out what to write about today. Trying to figure out another way to tell you what I always tell you. Yea, you know that things will get better, that trouble doesn’t last, that your joy will come, that things will get better if you hold on, that God hasn’t left you, that your test is only temporary, your storm has to end and all that but what do you do in the midst of waiting? What do you do in your storm? What do you hold on too while all hell is breaking loose? What do you do when you still can’t sleep after praying? What do you do when you feel like you’re all churched out? What do you do when it seems like all you’re doing is smiling to keep from crying and too tired to keep up the front that everything is alright? What do you do? Well, to be honest with you … I don’t have all the answers but I can tell you that giving up isn’t an option. Nope! Giving in isn’t available either, so what now? What will you do? (I’m asking you?) My husband asked me the other night, what do you do when you keep praying for the same thing and still haven’t gotten an answer? I told him, you stop praying and wait because if you keep asking it’s like you don’t believe you’ll get whatever it is you ask for. See, many times we keep going to God with the same prayer request but how do you feel when you keep getting the same email or voicemail from the same person asking you the exact same thing every time? This is the way God feels (I suspect). God heard you the first time, so wait. Wait until He answers for 1 John 5:14-15 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.” So, just wait. Oh, you may be facing something terrible now and you have a hard time understanding why you have to go through it but why not you? Are you too good to not go through trouble? Are you anymore worthy that you don’t have to go through hell when Jesus did? Baby, you haven’t faced nothing compared to the torment He endured for us, so just wait. Wait on your answer. Wait on your deliverance. Wait on your breakthrough. Wait on your promotion, the answer to your loan request, the healing you so desperately need or whatever it is you’ve asked for. Stop rushing God and wait. However, while you’re waiting pay attention and take notes because you may be missing the real reason you’re going through the situation you’re in. I’ve learned that no matter what you’re facing; there is a reason for it and obviously God deemed you worthy enough for this test because He knew you’d studied enough to pass it. So don’t fail it now that it’s almost over. Yea, you may be tired and can barely hang on or in there but just wait. Your pay off is right around the corner. Don’t miss it turning back, giving up, letting go or giving in. Wait!

Daily Devotional – 11/1/13 “Resist the devil!”

You do know that you can resist the devil, right? The bible says in Ephesians 6:11, “Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil,” because the fight against the devil isn’t physical but it’s spiritual. See, the devil uses the anger you have built up on the inside of you to gain access to your home. He uses that bitterness you have against men to get you to attack and run off everyone who comes within your vicinity. He even uses the little taste of jealousy you have for your brother to start a fight at every dinner you attend. Why? Well, because you’ve given the devil a foothold to stand in. How else did he get in? You sit around and play his game every time you get drunk and drive and then you have the nerve to get mad at God when you wind up in jail. God didn’t do and if the truth shall be told, the devil didn’t either; you did. The devil only used what you gave him and multiplied it. So, when will you take responsibility? When will you grow up? When will you get over it? How else can you fight against a spiritual attacker if you aren’t strong enough for the battle? This is why Ephesians 6:13 says again, “Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.” Resist the devil and he has no choice but to flee because it’s at that point he has no place to reside. Haven’t you realized that with all that mess you have on the inside of you the devil has made himself at home, in your home? Yea, he has a favorite spot on the couch right beside you and he is even sleeping between you and your spouse. When will you give him his eviction papers?

Yea, it’s easy to walk away but whoever you constantly walk away from may not be there when you get back. Yea, it’s easy to give up but what happens when there is nothing else to try? Yea, it’s easy to throw in the towel but then what will you have accomplished? The devil can surely make it look easy when you walk away but then what? Why not fight as hard for the things or people you need like you fight for the things you think you want because I’ve learned in my 36 years of living that anything worth having is worth fighting for because it means it’s mine. Stop giving up on folks because they’ve made a mistake, forgive. Stop giving up on yourself because a door has been shut in your face, shout because it wasn’t yours and then move to the next one. Stop giving in when folk talk about you but rejoice in the fact they know your name. Stop dwelling on the mistakes you made and learn from them which makes you wiser. Resist the devil and all of the folks he has doing his dirty work because they’ll soon leave you alone. Submit yourself to God, believe that He will do exactly what He said and resist the devil and he will, he has too, he shall, flee!