Daily Devotional – 7/31/13 “Thought I’d share again!”

Being a Christian doesn’t make you exempt from having problems but don’t allow those problems to overshadow your purpose. I know your problems may seem big but that’s because you’re looking through natural eyes but when you look through spiritual eyes, you’ll see that your problems are nothing compared to the purpose God has for you. Proverbs 16:4 says, “The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.” You’re wondering why you have to suffer so much when you work so hard (problem), because God’s wants you to be appreciative of the increase when he drops it in your lap (purpose). You’re wondering why you can’t get a job in the field you’ve been studying for no matter how many applications you fill out (problem), because God is creating it just for you and it takes time (purpose). You’re disgusted because you keep getting hurt by folks who say they love you (problem), because God is allowing you to go through the trash in order to find your treasure (purpose). You’re wondering why you always get sick with this or that (problem) because God is cleaning you up from the inside out in order for you to live a longer, fruitful life (purpose). God always has a purpose for his children; we just have to stop complaining long enough to see it. Don’t count yourself out because although it’s your problem, it’s God’s purpose and His purpose is always bigger!

“Although your problems come with pain, the pain is proving that you’re not perfect but yet a person who God has picked to be placed at this point and through prayer you’ll be prescribed a promise of praise that allows you to be purified and through this purification process you’ll prosper and through your prosperity you’ll get power and with this power you get God’s protection that allows you to prevail and once you prevail, you’ll have the patience to pursue your purpose which then allows you to prosper in your promotion and your praise!”

Daily Devotional – 7/29/13 “You should be tired!”

I know you’re probably asking why I would say this but let me explain. When I say you should be tired, I don’t mean just physically but mentally and spiritually too. See, if you’re a true Christian, a blood bought believer, righteously redeemed reaper, a shouting sower, a Heaven bound helper who doesn’t mind dipping into the valleys and shouting from the mountaintops that God is your choice; then you will get tired on this Christian journey. Yea, you’ll get tired of being picked on by the enemy but that just means he’s trying to stop the purpose that he knows God has over your life. You’ll get tired of being lied on but that just mean you’re doing something for folk to talk about which also means they are paying attention. You’ll get tired of being knocked down but that means, again, that folk are paying you some attention and they’re jealous of your blessings. You’ll get tired of being sick but that means that God is healing you from the inside out. You’ll get tired of being drug to hell and back but that means somebody is trying to stop you from doing God’s work so keep working. You’ll even get tired of being tired, tired of robbing Peter and Paul, tired of eating scraps of food, tired of not having when you know you should, tired of not being able to go when you have a little energy to, tired of window shopping, tired of asking folk to pick you up, tired of being, tired of not being, tired of this and definitely tired of that; but that means you’re working for the right Master! Yea! See, if you aren’t tired then you aren’t working. If you haven’t been talked about then no one is looking. If your Christian light hasn’t been flickering, then it isn’t on. If your spiritual journey is smooth sailing, then you’re rowing in the wrong boat. If you haven’t crossed some hurdles, then you’re walking the wrong path. If you haven’t faced some closed doors then you’re knocking at the wrong ones. If you haven’t had some mountains in your way then you’re in the wrong place. And if you haven’t been knocked down in some battles then you’re fighting in the wrong fight because if you’re in God’s presence then you’ll have some valleys to dig your way out of, you’ll have some slippery spots that may cause you to stumble, a few mistakes to make before you get it right, some bad times, some hard nights and even harder mornings but they are all part of your journey so go on. Yea, you’ll get tired but you should be because then that means you’re working for the right somebody who will make it all worthwhile after while!

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11”

Daily Devotional – 7/27/13 “Saturday Prayer”

God, I know its early on a Saturday morning as I come petitioning your throne but your word says to always pray and God somebody needs to be prayed for right now. I don’t know their personal struggle but somebody is going through, this very moment and they need you. They’ve been up all night long pacing because their body has pain, worried over a sick child or crying because their child didn’t come home, seeking strength for the funeral they’ve got to attend today or even toiling with a battle that’s not theirs to fight; God grant them the request they’ve been crying out for, if its in your will. If its healing, a financial blessing, a stronger marriage, a job, a home, traveling mercy or deliverance; send it now because I know that you’re capable of doing it. For the person whose burying a loved one, for the one making funeral arrangements, for the one searching for a loved one and for the one whose loved one or even themselves is consumed by an addiction; comfort them today. God, send hope to the person whose hope is slowly leaving, send joy to the person whose allowed the world to take theirs away, send love to the person whose only felt hurt from others and guide the person whose taken the wrong turn on their journey. God, somebody wants to know you but they’re too concerned about what others say, somebody wants to come back to you but they are too scared to let the world go and someone is fighting the calling you’ve placed over their life but I know that you’re able to deliver them on today. Someone is about to give up because they can’t seem to stop drowning in the sea of worrying but I know you to be a life jacket in the time of need. Someone is about to give in because they feel like they can’t hold on to the cliff of debt they’ve fallen over but I know you to be a cushion when they fall. Someone is about to let go of their rope of hope because its breaking but I know you’re able to give them the strength they need to reach beyond the break. God someone’s legs is buckling under the pressures of the burdens on their shoulders but I know you’re able to help them carry them. So God, I ask you to do it now because I’m claiming victory! Yes sir, I’m claiming that we shall not be defeated in this round because you are patiently waiting to be tagged in. I come right now claiming victory during our sickness, our financial troubles, our heartaches, situations, circumstances, trials and tribulations because there isn’t anyone who can do us better than you! God, I thank you now and I’m still believing, I’m still claiming and I’m still speaking these things because you’ve given me the power too! Do it God! Do these things I ask in your name, in Jesus name and in the name of the Holy Ghost. Amen

Daily Devotional – 7/26/13 “Pain hurts but it heals”

Who ever said pain doesn’t hurt lied! It’s a known fact that pain, no matter how big or small, hurts. Yet, the good part about it, it heals! Isn’t that great news? Yea, see when he dumped you and you spent those nights crying, feeling like your heart was breaking every time your phone vibrated and it wasn’t him and it felt like it would never mend; the pain hurt. Well, look at you now with your heart fixed, your mind is on loving someone, this time, who actually loves you back and treats you like the woman you are meant to be treated like and now you realized that although the pain hurt then, it’s healed now. Yea, you’ve never felt pain like the pain you felt when momma or daddy died but then as time went on, the pain started to heal and now you’re able to look at their picture without crying. That pain you feel from being lied on, it’ll heal if you let it. That pain you feel from being knocked down by folk you trusted, it’ll heal if you let it. That pain you feel from that sickness in your body, it’ll heal if you let it. That pain you feel every time you get used by that person that leaves to go home to the one they actually belong to, it’ll heal if you let it. That pain you feel from being fired from your job when you were the best worker they had, it’ll heal if you let it. That pain you feel when you see him being a daddy over there but not to yours, it’ll heal if you let it. The pain you feel from being mad at the things that happened to you in the past, it’ll heal if you let it.

How do you let it, it’s simple; LET IT GO! Folks will lie on you and use you until they use you up but it can stop, if you allow it too. Stop allowing them access to you, stop agreeing to go if you don’t want too, stop accepting what you don’t want, stop giving what you don’t have, stop running your mouth when you should be quiet, start listening more instead of tuning folk out and stop putting your heart in places you know can break it. Pain hurts but it can heal. This is why God said in Luke 17:19, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” Rise as in get up; go your way as in walk on because Faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1). That sickness, stop claiming it as your way of life because if you keep saying you’re sick then you will be sick. Claim your healing, your deliverance and your break through because Jesus tells us in Matthew 17:20, “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Stop being someone’s second, third or fourth choice because yours is out there, if you stop blocking their way to you. How do I know this? Well, my bible tells me in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” This says, fit for him not them! Oh, that pain hurts now but it’ll heal. Stop bringing up the past, stop dwelling on that termination paper, stop looking for ways to still feel the hurt; let it go! And take note, if a boy chooses not to be a daddy to the child he fathered, there’s nothing you can do to change it. Yea, you can run down to get child support but it still doesn’t make him a dad. He can post pictures on Facebook or Instagram but it still doesn’t make him a father. Stop trying to make him into something he’s not. This is why you have to be careful who you lay down with because that girl could be your baby’s momma and that boy, your baby’s daddy. Yea, pain hurts especially when it’s new but it’ll heal if you allow the bandage to stay in place and the ample time for the healing. Healing doesn’t come overnight so yea, the pain hurts now but it’ll heal.

Daily Devotional – 7/25/13 “God’s choice!”

I am reminded that death nor trouble nor blessings have a specific date to show up. See, death comes at an instant; snatching the beating of the heart and the breathing of the lungs. Trouble, it also comes in a blink of an eye because one minute you’re driving home and the next you can be in the back of an ambulance fighting for your life. Blessings, they too, come in an instant because one minute you’re drowning in depression and the next you’re swimming in progression. My point is, don’t waste too much time wondering if, wandering lost and just simply wavering between to have faith or not because while you’re crying over the things that are going wrong you’re missing out on the things that are going right. This is why you have to stay prayed up, faith filled, favored down and salvation wrapped. Child, don’t even let the enemy get a foot into your home because you’ll have a hell of a time getting him out. Just to let you know; the only way the enemy gets into your home is by fleshly folk, so be careful who you invite in. Oh, this means your kids, family and friends too. Stop allowing those grown kids and other folks to continually run your house in the ground. You’re the adult, act like it! You are equipped with what you need to handle the struggles, strains, circumstances and situations of walking in the flesh but you have to believe that you can. The bible says in 1 Corinthians 1:27, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” See, God doesn’t choose folk who have already qualified themselves but He qualifies those whom He calls. You’re wondering why God chose you to be the Youth Director with all the stuff you’ve done in your past but He chose you because He knew those things made you strong enough to be a testimony to all those after you. You wonder how God could take somebody walking the streets, strung out on drugs, with a filthy mouth and attitude and turn them into a living testimony for the world to see but know that He had a purpose and a plan for them all along. Baby, God can take a whoremonger and turn them into the best husband. He can take an alcoholic and turn them into a Preacher who minsters to thousands without ever writing a sermon down. He can take a prostitute and make her one of the best Congresswomen. He can take a crack head and turn her into the best mother you’ve ever seen. And He can take a wretch like me who isn’t fitting to live and not ready to die; pick me up, dip me into his blood (baptism water), whisper to me “It’s all good now”, forgive me of my sins and erase my past and turn me into somebody who writes devotionals for you to read by simply putting my fingers to a keyboard and my eyes on Him! There isn’t anybody who can make me doubt this Man because I know for myself what he is capable of doing!

You know it too and with a strong belief in God and self; you’re ready to win this fight. See, sometimes you have to give your own self a standing ovation to admire the things you’ve overcome. Don’t be afraid to pat yourself on the back and don’t be afraid to congratulate yourself every now and then because if you don’t believe in yourself, you’ll have a hard time getting someone else too. Toot your own horn, congratulate, encourage and give yourself a round of applause but don’t allow your head to get bigger than what your body can carry because the last thing you want is to knock your own self down. Take the time to live before your chances run out. Your life has been purposely made for you so don’t spend time allowing your time to run out.

“Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (The Message Bible)”