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!

Daily Devotional – 10/31/13 “Stop playing with the devil! “

You got the nerve to act like you don’t know how the devil got in your house when you were the one who brought him in. You claim you don’t know why he’s so comfortable in your house when you’ve been the one that made him feel welcome. Yea, you’re trying to figure out why he keeps playing games with you, well maybe because you keep playing with him. You do know the devil isn’t your friend, right? Oh, he might make that thang look good but you’re paying a price. He lets you think the grass is green until you jump the fence and find out it was just the lens you were looking through. He’ll let you think that man or woman is the one you need until you leave the one you got at home only to find out they were the worst you could find. Yea, he’ll make you think you’re eating something sweet until you bite into it and realize it’s sour but you trusted him when you knew good and well, he was the enemy and if he’s shown his true self before chances are he hasn’t changed. What makes you think the devil would do right by you if he betrayed God? Doesn’t your bible say in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour?” Then why are you closing your eyes around him? Ephesians 4:27 says, “And do not give the devil an opportunity,” yet you still allow him to ride.

Yea, you know anger gives the devil a foothold to stand yet you still hold on to stuff that happened years ago. You’d rather steal when Ephesians 4:28 says, “If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need.” You’d rather lie, gossip, belittle others, chastise and judge those who are trying to do good when Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” And you’d rather hinder the Holy Spirit when you sit on your praise, mute your testimony and abandon your mission to keep others from talking about because they devil keeps whispering in your ear that folks will laugh when Ephesians 4:30 says, “And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.” When will you stop playing with the devil? When will you show him the door and mean it? When will you finally realize you have nothing in common? Stop wallowing in pity because pity is where the devil swims. Stop with the anger, revenge seeking, tearing down of others and being bitter because all these things are requirements for his team and he doesn’t play fair. I mean, my bible tells me in James 4:7, “Resist the devil and he will flee.” What does yours say?

Daily Devotional – 10/30/13 “Our calling!”

On yesterday I had the opportunity to visit Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. No, it’s not because I have been called to preach but it’s because I have been called to reach out to those who need to hear a word from God. See, I truly believe that you don’t have to be an ordained minister in order to deliver God’s word because any of us can be used, if we are usable! Get this … If God’s word dwells in you and you dwell on it, then you should have no problem ministering to those who need it and in order for me to be a deliverer of God’s word; in speaking, writing or in books, I have to be grounded in His word so I’m thinking about a degree in Christian education. Why? Well, because I want to be educated in Christian teaching and because I have to have my feet planted in God’s word in order for Him to flow through me and then out of me. See, I have to be rooted in God in order for others to see His light shining before I even open my mouth or put my fingers on a keyboard because if I accept God’s call then I have to be willing to pay the charge! (You’ll get that later)

In the time I spent at Mid-America yesterday, I got to meet some new people and the atmosphere in that place was God filled. It didn’t feel like a school because every person there from the Director down are all there for one reason, to learn about God’s word. The speaker, during the chapel time, preached on “Stand up and preach” and I couldn’t agree more. See, it’s time out for all the pulpit theatrics and time in for pulpit teaching. It’s time out for sugar coating the word and time in for saying it like it is. It’s time out for tiptoeing around folks for fear of hurting their feelings and time in for telling the truth and shaming the devil. It’s time out for playing and time in for preaching. Oh, but not just in the pulpit because not every sinner is sitting in church but preaching everywhere. Like I said, I have not been called to preach so I won’t lie and say that I have but God has placed a calling on my life to reach folk and I do this every day through this blog, books, email, social media and even text message for my bible tells me in Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.” We all have a calling on our life to reach others who don’t believe, who are wandering lost and to those who have backslid. We all have a calling to help bring souls to Christ because 1 Corinthians 12:7 says, “A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.” So, I’ll repeat this; if you are willing to accept God’s call then you’ve got to be willing to pay the charge!

Daily Devotional – 10/28/13 “Null & Void”

Oh, I know you think that because you are having it hard right now that you won’t make it. You’re probably thinking that God has forgotten about you, that you’ve had to have done some things wrong to be punished like this or that you aren’t walking right in order for God to allow this sickness to take you down like this but I simply stop by to tell you to push on. Yes, the devil may have a part in the hell you’re going through but it won’t last. Those enemies you have maybe throwing stones at you to make you fall but they won’t succeed. Those folks you thought were friends but recently showed you otherwise, their attacks won’t prosper. How do I know? Well, because that contract the devil has placed on your life trying to destroy you has been voided. That bounty the enemy has placed on your life to bind you in your circumstance is no longer valid. That price you think you have to pay to so-called friends in order for them to be friendly is null now. Yea, everything that is meant for your bad is no longer valid because God has stamped it as NULL & VOID! So, you can stop ducking and hiding because God is your protection. You can stop allowing yourself to be used because all you have to do is show yourself friendly and true friends will come. You don’t even have to worry about the enemies that have surrounded you because it says in Psalm 23:5, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Isn’t that good news? God doesn’t wait until your enemies have left but He prepares your table of blessings, breakthroughs and deliverance while they are still in your midst. He allows them to see your dish of deliverance, your plate of prosperity and your heaping order of healing. So stop running because the devil’s contract is void. Stop hiding because the order he sent out doesn’t matter now. Stop looking over your shoulder because God has your back, front, side, top and bottom! And when God has you, there isn’t anything or anyone who can do you any harm. Stop wallowing in your own pity party and get your praise on. Stop crying yourself to sleep and rest. Stop pacing and pray. Stop living like you’re dead and live because you are alive. Yea, the enemy will continue to write contracts on your life because you hinder him when you work but it won’t last. The enemy will even continue to place a bounty on your name because God has called it but he won’t succeed. God is the ultimate contract negotiator and He negotiates for His people every day (as long as you hold up your end of the contract) and when He cancels, voids or annuls any contract; it’s done!