This is something I shared a while back and it was on my mind again so I thought I’d share some of it again. See, most of us have become “but” type people and I’ve been wondering why when God says “Just trust Me.” You know when God says go and we say but I can’t right now. God says do this and we say but why me? God says let go and we say but I’ll fall. Why is that when God is a Man of His word and keeps His promises? Habakkuk 3:17 says, “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty,” but wait, I know you’re saying that if all these things have happened how could there be something good at the end. How can I rejoice with cancer, dialysis, no money, stomach growling, no car, no job and friends who are really enemies? Oh, but then Habakkuk 3:18 says, “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!” Now comes the rejoicing and the shout! See, this tells me; I may be struggling in my finances, yet I shall not be without. I may be drinking tears for water yet my weeping won’t last. I may be heartbroken at the moment yet my God is a heart fixer. I may have a few storms in my life yet God is my umbrella. I may have to lose a few friends yet God is a whisper away. I may lose a few loved ones through death yet God never leaves. I may get burdened down in my trials yet God is my strength. I may not always see my way yet God is my light. I may sometimes do wrong yet God forgives me. I may not always know my worth yet God continues to bless me. I may not always do what I know I should or go where I know I am supposed to yet God still uses me. Yea, I may fall at times yet I can still get up. So called friends may have dug a dusty grave for me yet I shake off the dirt, pack it under my feet and rise. Sickness may be attacking my body yet I’m living. My road may be longer and my fights may be harder yet I’m willing. I may not have done everything right yet God is keeping me. I may not have all the answers yet God is still teaching me. I may not hear everything I should yet God is still reaching me! Oh, I feel this thang because somebody reading this is being converted from a “but” person to a “yet” person and that’s enough to rejoice about. Stop questioning God and instead say, “God, I am not worthy yet I will work for you!”
Daily Devotional – 6/13/13 “Stop being setup to be upset!”
I know you’re wondering how you can stop yourself from being setup, well that’s easy. Stop allowing yourself to be in a place to be setup. Yea, you sit up and listen to Pastor Get Them who keeps telling you to sow a seed of $100 every Sunday and God will bless you when you know good and well that God ain’t (yep ain’t) told you to give all your bill money. Let me make this clear; I don’t have a problem with you sowing a seed for the building up of God’s house but don’t keep being played. Afterwards, you’re mad at God for not coming when the landlord comes knocking but it was the Pastor who set you up for disappointment. Oh, you’ve met the man of your dreams and he has promised he would be everything you need until you come up pregnant or stop filling his pockets with your check on Fridays and now, again, you’re mad at God but baby it’s not God’s fault because you set yourself up for this heartbreak especially if you got him out of the bed of somebody else. Yea, stop being setup. You’ve been praying for a new job and you won’t wait until God sends your blessing so you keep doing all the things the folks at the job tell you to do. They ask you to fill in at the position that was recently vacated and after months of filling in, they hire someone else and now you’re mad enough to quit when you should have seen the setup in the beginning.
When God sets you up, it’s in a way that you can’t be disappointed, hurt, knocked down or stepped on. Stop allowing folks to set you up! Stop allowing them so called friends to set you up to leave the house looking a mess when you have a mirror, look at yourself and if you aren’t comfortable with it, say something. Stop allowing that girl to set you up to be broke when you knew you couldn’t afford all the things she was asking for in the first place; say no. Stop allowing him or her to set you up to be the one crying yourself to sleep. If he or she has shown you once they’re capable of hurting you and they haven’t changed; it’ll happen again. Stop being setup! If it doesn’t feel right, if it doesn’t taste right, if it doesn’t smell right, if it doesn’t look right, if it doesn’t walk right, if it doesn’t talk right, if it doesn’t touch you right, if it doesn’t make you laugh right and if it don’t make you walk, talk, look or even smell right; then it probably ain’t right. You have eyes, open them and see. You have ears, use them to hear. You have hands, close them and stop accepting mess. You have feet, use them and walk away. You have a heart and mind that can feel and understand so use it and stop allowing yourself to be setup only to be let down. Yea, you can stop being setup only to be upset {same letters} if you stop being setup to be upset! (You’ll get that later!)
Daily Devotional – 6/11/13 “After the shout, change!”
See after you shout it’s over, some things begin to change. When you shout it’s over to those who’ve been blocking your blessings, you begin to sow and then reap from your harvest. When you shout it’s over to those who were consuming your life, you start living. When you shout it’s over to those who have been holding your heart hostage, you begin to love again. When you shout it’s over to the dark clouds of depression, you begin to feel joy again. When you shout it’s over to the addiction, you begin to grow again. Yea, change is canceling hurt, annoyance, negativity, gloom, envy and now you’re claiming healing, anointing, newness, glory and expectations. You go from carrying hostility, anger, numbness, grief and emptiness to choosing happiness, assurance, nurturing, gratefulness and encouragement. You go from being called hateful, annoying, nagging, greedy and evil to being called humble, accomplished, notable, grateful and esteemed. There’s something about being changed. When you get out of the mess you’re in, you start seeing things differently. When you let go of the stuff that was suffocating you, you start moving differently. When you no longer answer to your past, you start hearing God’s voice. When you no longer dabble in the places you shouldn’t have been, you start to see the path that has been set for you. When you stop looking back and start trusting God, you begin to see your potential. Oh, when you shout it’s over and you change for the good; you start to recognize your gift. Yea, there’s something that happens after the shout. There are some things that no longer matter, after the shout. There are some people who you no longer jump for, after the shout. There are some calls you don’t answer no more, after the shout. Baby, when you shout it’s over and you mean it; life takes on a new meaning. After the shout, change occurs so make it worth it.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Psalm 51:10-12”
Daily Devotional – 6/10/13 “If it’s over, say it!”
Why are you scared to tell folk the truth? Don’t you know the bible says in Proverbs 12:19, “Truthful words stand the test of time, but lies are soon exposed?” Yea, you’re sleeping with the enemy and too afraid to roll over to tell them it’s over because you’re both headed in different directions until they’ve taken you to a dead end. You’ve allowed your overgrown son to move back home and now he’s causing problems in your marriage and you’re too afraid to tell him to man up and get to stepping until you’re standing in divorce court. Your daughter keeps dropping off her kids at your house and it’s keeping you from having a life but you’re too afraid to tell her it’s over until you’re on your bed of affliction. Your sister keeps begging until she has the last dollar from your pocket but you don’t want to hurt her feelings so you won’t tell her it’s over and now you’re thirsty and can’t even buy a drink. You keep being used to do everybody else’s work plus your own and you’re too scared to tell them it’s over until you’re so stressed out that your hair is falling out. Baby, when you shout it’s over and you believe it; then the enemy has to flee. When you stop holding on to the stuff that’s weighing you down, you start rising. When you release the stuff that has you weighted down, you stop drowning. When you really start believing that all things are possible with God things starts to happen. Yea, you start having a little extra money, you start having a little extra energy, you start to smile more, you love more, you help more, you stop getting angry so fast, you speak to folks you don’t normally speak to, you go to worship service more, you get that promotion that you wanted, you have fewer pains in your body and you found the joy you had buried away. Yes, when YOU shout it’s over, things start to happen! You can’t continue to go on in the situation that you’re in, so shout it’s over. You don’t have to keep facing the same hell day in and day out, so shout it’s over. That dark cloud that won’t go away, shout it’s over. The tears that you keep shedding at the hands of the person who is supposed to love you, shout it’s over. Being walked over by friends, shout it’s over. That depression and suicidal thoughts, the sleepless nights, the drug addiction and alcoholism, the sleeping around and the adultery, the stealing and robbing, the pacing, the tossing and the turning; shout it’s over. Oh, I claiming victory not defeat today and I am speaking life back into your dead situations. So, if you can’t shout it’s over; I am standing in the gap declaring today that you shall live and not die; you shall win and not lose; you shall dance and not doubt; you shall be healed and not sick, you shall be the lender and not the borrower, you shall be first and not last and you shall be greater than your problem! Shout it’s over, let it go and then get on with your life and stop looking back. You can’t say it’s over and then keep going back to get it. It can be over if you allow it to be because you can only take what your hands, heart and mind will accept.
Daily Devotional – 6/7/13 “Looking like you looking!”
Yea, look at you; looking like you’re looking. See, folk could see the stains from the tears you cried all night but they don’t because God woke you up this morning, in your right mind so that you could get yourself together so instead they see your smile. Yea, folks could see you struggling because you’re tired from pacing all night but God gave you the strength to shake it off and instead they see your joy. Folk could see the pain in your heart from it being broken by that so called love, from being talked about by family, from being misused by coworkers and hurt by church folk but God works on the inside of you every day to mend what men breaks so instead we see the love you have for others. Oh, look at you looking like you looking! Yes, folks could see the scars from being stabbed in the back from folks who promised to do you no harm, they could see the scars on your knees from the constant prayer you have to do to maintain, they could see the scars on the front on you from being drug to hell and back on your good day, they could see the marks on your shoulders from carrying the weight of the world or they could 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 right so that all folks see is the God in you that allows you to continue to go on. Yea, look at cha! 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 and look like you looking 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 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!
