If 2 people are carrying a, let’s say, couch and one of those people are not holding up their end, doesn’t it put an extra strain on the other person making them work harder to cover the part you’re letting slip? If not, then I would think the couch would fall, right? Well, I wonder how God feels every time we allow our end to slip. I wonder how He feels knowing He has to work extra hard to make up for the things we consistently do, even when we know they are wrong. Yea, I know that with sin comes repentance but this doesn’t mean you should keep committing the same sin over and over; haven’t you learned anything from that mistake yet? Oh, it just feels right lying in the arms of someone else’s spouse, right? Well, when will you want your own? Oh, maybe you feel like that store has plenty of clothes so they won’t miss the items you still every time you go in there, right? Well, when will you stop stealing and start buying? Oh, I got it, you enjoy being hateful, spiteful, mean, a feeling hurter, a backstabber, a liar, untrustworthy and a fun snatcher; is that it? Well, when will you grow up and let go of all that anger that has you angry and not worth being around? When will you finally hold up your end from slipping? When will you finally put your back into it and stand up and raise your end? When will you stop acting like somebody owes you something because all I owe you is to love you? That’s what Romans 13:8 says, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” When will you stop being lazy and hold up your end? When will you stop oversleeping and actually go to church? When will you stop being bitter and love instead? When will you seek God’s kingdom instead of trying to be a baller down here? When will you stop thinking it’s all about you and make it all about God’s word? When will you stop going to church being a part of the mess and go for the message? When will you stop gossiping about folk whose business ain’t none of yours anyway? When will you stop hating on what other folk got and start praying for what you need? When will you hold up your end? When will you stop with the pity and throw in a little praise? Ok, so your child got sick, your job laid you off, your car starting acting crazy, your spouse acting like they’re hitting the sauce, your kids acting brand new, your friends haven’t really been there like you think they should, doctor looking at you strange, the scale keeps adding instead of subtracting, you keep going but you’re almost out of gas, you’re tired but can’t sleep, cried out but the tears won’t stop and feeling like you’re drowning even when you’re not in water but what now? You’ve read the scripture in Job 14:1 that says “A person who is born of a woman is short-lived and is full of trouble,” haven’t you? Then stop acting like it’s only happening to you and hold up your end, do your part, pray more, fast sometime, encourage yourself most time and trust God all the time. Hold up your end because when it falls, it may just land on your foot and then what will you do? Hold up your end and God will give you the strength to carry on!
Daily Devotional – 7/10/13 “No signing bonus!”
Why, as Christians, do we act like God owes us a signing bonus for accepting Him? We think that because we get baptized and confesses our belief in Him that all of our problems will magically disappear. Yet, when they don’t we have the nerve to get mad at Him. Yea, I know the big athletes receive these outrageous signing bonuses when the head coach is trying to get them to sign but if you’ve watched the news; most times they don’t pan out too well. Recently a football star was signed and given a bonus of $12.5 million only to now be sitting in jail accused of murder which means the team is out of that money and the coach is without a player. Oh but God gives you eternal life, breath in your body, a fresh anointing every morning, repentance for the chance to erase the sins you commit over and over, prayer to ask for the things you want when most times you forget about the things you need, gifts that you may or may not use, life that you take for granted and blessings that you aren’t even thankful for and you still act like He owes you a signing bonus. Question, why should God give you a signing bonus when you are signing with someone else’s pen? Let me explain. Most times we get baptized at a young age usually because someone else is, you’re at revival and it seems like the right thing to do or because you’ve reached a certain age and you think it’s time; yet you don’t fill your spiritual shoes until you get to be an adult and it finally clicks that this spiritual thing is what I need; that’s signing with someone else’s pen. You go to church because you’re trying to impress somebody; that’s using someone else’s pen. You go to church because you want something; that’s using someone else’s pen. Yea, any time you go to worship service with the intention of getting something other than the message and fellowship with God then you’re signing with someone else’s pen. So then, why should God give you a signing bonus? Didn’t He do enough when He says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9)?” Doesn’t He give you enough when He said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28)?” Didn’t He do enough when He said, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past (Isaiah 43:18)?” Didn’t He do enough when the bible says, “he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5)?” Didn’t He do enough when He sacrificed His only Son? Yet you still want more? Why though? Why do you need want more when you aren’t even holding up your end?
Daily Devotional – 7/9/13 “Now what?”
You didn’t listen to the warnings, you ignored the signs and now you’re in a predicament; now what? What are you going to do? That car is a piece of crap, now what? That man, isn’t really a man but a boy in a grown man’s body, now what? That girl and I use that term loosely, doesn’t even recognize the gem she has in you; now what? That job really doesn’t appreciate your talent, now what? That church isn’t helping you spiritually, now what? Those friends who are really dressed up enemies are still smiling in your face, now what? What are you going to do now? If your gas light is on, you either get gas or run out; right? Well, now that the warning signs are still blinking, the bell is still ringing and the light is still flashing what are YOU going to do about it? Are you going to continue to ignore it like you did that check engine light until the car no longer starts? Are you going to continue to ignore it until you have some much hell in you that no one wants to see you coming? Are you going to continue to ignore it until you make yourself unlovable? Then what? Stop sitting in your pity because of the mistake or mistakes you made, get up and dust yourself off and move on. You aren’t the first person to make a mistake and you surely won’t be the last however, if you never learn from them then you are doomed to make the same mistake or mistakes again. So, what now? Stop falling for the first person who whispers all the right things because that doesn’t make them the one; it simply makes them the one saying the right thing at that moment; search their heart first and trust their actions, not their words. Proverbs 21:2, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.” Stop giving your all to everybody because eventually you’ll have nothing for yourself, do you sometimes. 2 Corinthians 8:12, “Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have.” Pay attention to those you attach yourself too. 1 John 4:1, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” And simply trust God first! Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
All I am trying to get you to see now is, even though you ignored the warning signs you can still make this thing right. I’ve watched my Grams take a cake that has fallen apart after coming out of the oven, add her magic touch and some icing to make it look like nothing is wrong; simply because she didn’t just throw it out. Haven’t you realized yet that you were nothing but a filthy rag that God has taken, dipped you in some bleach (that His blood), ran you through the rinse cycle (that’s His tears), hung you out to dry (that’s repentance) only to shake you out and make you look brand new and worth using? Then stop hanging on to the mistakes you’ve made because there will be some more and get about the Kingdom’s business because there is some work that has to be done down here! Yea, you’ve ignored the warning; now what?
Daily Devotional – 7/8/13 “Didn’t you see the warnings?”
Yea, you know you did but you went anyway. You know you saw the warning signs blinking over that man or woman’s head but you went in head first and now you have the audacity to be mad at God when He wasn’t the one to make you go. You know you saw the warning signs in that car, when the check engine light stayed on, yet you signed your name anyway and now you’re still without a ride and the car is in the driveway. You know you felt the signs of your health failing and you ignored them too until you ended up on your back in somebody’s hospital bed and who’s to blame? Why are you ignoring the signs when you asked God for them, didn’t you? You ask God to show you if that church is where you need to be, when you know you aren’t getting fed spiritually, but you still stay. You ask God to show you if you should be marrying him or her and even after you’ve caught them cheating, you still walk down the aisle to recite the vows of “til death do us part” when you know it won’t be death but cheating yet you still go. God keeps showing you the warning signs about that job you’re on, however you keep walking pass them until the doors are closed and you’re unemployed when you should have been looking for another one. Why are you ignoring the signs? Would you drive down a street that has been closed? Would you walk over a bridge that has “closed for repair” sign? Would you drive a car that has “no brakes” warning attached? Then why are you attaching yourself to a man who is known as an abuser? Why are you chasing a woman who is known to sleep around? Why are you buying a car from someone who is known to sell lemons? Why are you constantly giving your heart to a person who didn’t care for it the first 3 times? Why are you still hanging on to a marriage that has been over? Why are you still ignoring the warnings? Before you go to sleep, don’t you get sleepy? Before the backstabbing, didn’t you see the signs of your so-called friend changing? Before you fall, didn’t you feel your legs getting weak? Before a storm, don’t God sends the clouds? Before a flood, doesn’t it first have to rain? Before night comes, doesn’t God send the day light? Before a heart attack, haven’t you been made aware of the signs? Then why ignore them when Matthew 6:22 says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light?” Open your ears to hear and your eyes to see because they’ll never fail you when it comes to the warning signs. How do I know? Proverbs 20:12 says, “Ears to hear and eyes to see–both are gifts from the LORD,” and He hasn’t made anything to fail. Don’t ignore the warnings!
Daily Devotional – 7/2/13 “What a change!”
At this time last year, I kissed my granddaddy goodbye asking him to wait for me until I got home not knowing that as I sat at work, this time the day after he would be gone. Yea, I knew it was coming but boy what a change! Isn’t it something how fast things can change? Not only for the bad but for the good as well? You can go from being unemployed to having the job of your dreams or you can go from being married to a widow simply with a phone call. Isn’t that something? One minute your body can be wracked with pain and within a few minutes a pain pill can kick in and it all goes away. You can think your home is the happiest place on earth until a mistake ruins everything you’ve put together; what a change! This is why the bible says in Matthew 24:36, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”. I know, you think you got it all together. You got your goals set out, your vision written and your plans planned but then life happens and it all falls to pieces. You have your vacation planned and then the bill happens. You have your night planned and then your child gets sick. You have your day planned and then your car’s tire is flat. You have your speech prepared and then the meeting changes. Man, what a change! Yet, I’ve learned that through change whether good or bad, it’s all God because He tells me in Jeremiah 29:11, “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,” so I press on. Then my bible says in Proverbs 16:4, “The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble,” so I walk on. Then Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose,” so I get back up. Then 1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellences of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light,” so I claim what’s mine. And then Psalm 138:8 says, “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands,” so I work on! Oh, yes change comes but I’m called for this so I’ll stay calm and continue to carry the charge that I’ve been chosen to complete. What a change it is but I’m confidently continuing to get my crown.
Lakisha, the Author 