Daily Devotional – 4/18/13 “It’s Thursday Saints!”

That doesn’t really mean anything but I wanted to let you know that you lived to see it. See, somebody who man deemed healthy laid down last night but didn’t get up this morning but you did so be grateful. Somebody sleeping on the streets didn’t live to see this morning but you woke up in your bed so be thankful. Somebody in ICU or the hospital don’t even know they are in the world but you woke up with your mind knowing exactly where you were and the many things you had to do so be appreciative. Yea, I know that you may be going through some things, you may be depressed, angry for no reason, mad at the world just because, wanting more than what you have, wishing for things to be better, planning for tomorrow with no regards for today, looking for more but not really searching and praying for answers but asking the wrong questions but you’re alive aren’t you? Yea, you want God to answer but you want accept His advice. You want God’s blessing but you won’t fight in the battle. You want to hear God’s call but you won’t follow His commandments. You want him to deliver and defend you when you’re still destroying dreams and being disobedient. Yea, you want to be elevated and your earnings enlarged when you won’t even endure enough. You want favor but you fold at the first fight. You want glory and grace when you groan instead of staying grounded. You want help from the Holy Ghost but give hell and hostility every chance you get. You want immediate instruction from God and then ignore His intentions. You ask for joy and jubilation and then get jealous of others and get tired on your journey. You want knowledge but you won’t kneel. You want love but won’t labor. You want mercy but won’t minister. You want what you need but won’t call God’s name. You ask for an opportunity but won’t obey. You ask for peace but won’t offer praise. You won’t God to come quickly yet you won’t be quiet. You want to be renewed but won’t repent. You say you’re saved yet you won’t sacrifice and serve. You want the testimony but not the trials and test. You want to be brought up in the midst of being unrighteous. You don’t want to be the victim but you don’t value your victories. You don’t want to be weak but you keep wandering in the wilderness. You yearn for God but won’t be you. When all you have to do is increase your zeal for God and He’ll cover your zone.

Yea, it’s Thursday but then tomorrow comes Friday. Will you still be in your same weepy mess or will you make a change? You decide!

Daily Devotional – 4/17/13 “God I surrender it all!”

This song has been in my head since yesterday and even when I got ready to write this devotional, it wasn’t the topic that I wanted to write on. Then I had to realize that this isn’t about me because I am simply a sinner who is forgiven which makes me worthy enough to even have a thought to write about. See, surrender means an act of relinquishing control or possession to somebody or something, which simply means, for the sake of this devotional; giving control or possession of your worries to God. So, I looked up the lyrics to this song and the first verse says, “All to Jesus I surrender; all to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.” I now understand that there are things that we all need to surrender in order for us to live, breath, praise, magnify, forgive, help, pray and even grow.


    This pain in my body, God I surrender it all.
    This hurt in my heart, God I surrender it all.
    These bills with no money, God I surrender it all.
    The judgment from folk who are no better, God I surrender it all.
    The lies being told on me, God I surrender it all.
    The unemployment status I’ve been in, God I surrender it all.
    The dead end job or the promotion I’m praying for, God I surrender it all.
    The drug or alcohol addiction, God I surrender it all.
    The power I feel from abusing or misusing folk, God I surrender it all.
    The way I degrade my body, God I surrender it all.
    The cancer, lupus, MS, heart disease, arthritis, kidney failure/disease; God I surrender it all.
    The sinus problems, asthma, bronchitis, migraines; God I surrender it all.
    The doors that are being shut in my face, God I surrender it all.
    The suicidal thoughts, God I surrender it all.
    The marriage that isn’t really a marriage, God I surrender it all.
    The pressure to fit in, God I surrender it all.
    The cursing, stealing, cheating and the lying, God I surrender it all.

What will you surrender on today? What will you truly surrender? The final verse of this song sums it all up, “All to Jesus I surrender; now I feel the sacred flame. Oh, the joy of full salvation! Glory, glory; to His Name!”

“So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. James 4:7-8”

Daily Devotional – 4/16/13 “Get in line!”

I know that you’ve heard or been told that you’re next in line for a miracle but you can’t get the miracle that’s yours if you won’t get in line. You’ve probably even been told or read in your bible that God will even make the last first but how can He make you first if you’ve never been last? So, stop all the whining about God not answering your prayers. Stop acting like you’ve been the only one knocked down, lied on, used, abused by the hands of folk who say they love you, stabbed in the back by folk who smiled in your face, stepped on by folk you helped up and even talked about by folks you’ve prayed for because you’re not. However, this is all part of your process to your destiny. Yea, see; God can’t give you the miracle that has your name on it because you’re too busy allowing folks to skip. You keep handing out the blessing that’s meant for you and sometimes you miss your miracle because you’re too busy turned around being in other folk’s business that you miss your turn. (And you got the nerve to be mad at God.) You’ve been last for a while and God is trying to make you first but every time He gets ready to touch you with His anointed hand, you’re out of place. It’s like your boss coming to your desk to give you a promotion and each time he comes you’re at your co-worker’s desk gossiping. Eventually he’ll stop coming to your desk and visit the co-worker who is always at theirs. Stay in your own lane sometimes. Stay in your own line sometimes. Mind your own business sometimes.

All, I’m trying to tell you is; in order to get your miracle you have to first get in line. How do you do this? It’s simple, be the person that God has ordained you to be. You don’t have to be like folk but live so that folk will want to be like you. How do you become first? It’s simple too; rejoice when you’re in the last position. How do you get your miracle? Magnify God when man wants Him minimized, be meek when you want to be mean, be God’s messenger when you want to keep up mess and be merry and merciful when you should be miserable. How do you get to be first? Face your fears with the faith that your favor is filled and you have not been forsaken or forgotten but formed on a foundation that keeps your feet from falling and makes you fierce enough to fight. Yea, your miracle is coming so hold on! You won’t always be last so hold on! Stay in line and keep your faith until your time comes.

Daily Devotional – 4/12/13 “Casting call!”

Hear ye! Hear ye! You have been invited to join my crew! It’s a lifelong commitment but it doesn’t take a lot of your time. There is no rehearsing because your moves should come naturally. There is no cost to join and you won’t even have to wear a uniform. No, you don’t have to submit pictures because I don’t care how you dress or wear your hair. No, you don’t have to bring a resume or a list of your previous experience because that doesn’t matter to me either. I don’t care about your past mistakes, whether you have tattoos or scars on your body because I’ve made my share of mistakes too. It doesn’t matter if you have kids out of wedlock, gotten divorced, sometimes curse, drink, smoke or sleep around because who am I to judge? You got a little pain or sickness in your body, that’s ok too; you can still join. So, will you? Will you come? Will you join me?

Oh, I guess you’re wondering what my crew is, right? Well it’s call the “Can’t help it crew.” No, we don’t wear t-shirts or jackets that broadcast our name because it shows on our face. We don’t have to tell folks who were are because our praise goes before us and makes the introductions. We don’t even have to even wait for an invitation because our works open the doors. Yea, this crew is something else but well worth the effort.

    Here are the requirements of joining my crew.

  • When the world tries to beat you down to make you cry and you wear a smile instead and they ask you why, tell them you can’t help it.

  • When the doctors give up and say they’ve done all they can do and you should prepare to die; live instead and when they ask you why, tell them you can’t help it.

  • When folks break your heart with their lies in order to make you feel less than who you are but instead of hating you love again and they ask you why, tell them you can’t help it.

  • When you’re struggling to provide for your family and folks ask you why you’re shouting when everything is wrong, tell them you can’t help it.

  • When you’re unemployed and still living, barely making it and still giving, filled with hurt and folks digging ditches trying to cover you with dirt and they ask how you can still praise, tell them you can’t help it.

  • When momma/daddy is gone, spouse tripping, kids acting strange and you’re tempted to do thangs for a little piece of change and you don’t, yet you still push on and somebody asks you why; tell them you can’t help it.

  • When you go instead of giving up, pray instead of play, worship instead of worrying, be happy instead of hellish, will help instead of hinder, be joyful instead of jealous, devoted instead of defeated, victorious instead of a victim, anointed instead of an alcoholic, delivered instead of a drug addict, a worshiper instead of a whoremonger, worthy instead of worldly and a blessing instead of a backslider; then you can truly say when folks ask why you shout or praise like you crazy that you just can’t help it.

Yea, see; it doesn’t take much to join this crew but you have to be willing to tell folk you can’t help it when you praise God for the things He’s has done and even for those things He hasn’t done. You have to be willing to tell folk, I JUST CAN’T HELP IT, when they ask you while you’re shouting in the middle of your storm. And when they are wondering how you dance with all the hell on your back, tell them I just can’t help it! So, are you willing? Will you join me? Will you be a part of my “Can’t help it crew?”

Daily Devotional – 4/11/13 “Pawn Shop Religion”

Do you have it? Do you even know what it means? Well, let me break this down for you. See, when I heard this from a Pastor the other night, of course it piqued my curiosity so I wrote it down and then the wheels started turning. I thought about all the things I knew about a pawn shop and how it related to spirituality and here’s what me and the Holy Spirit came up with.

When someone goes to a pawn shop they are there to pawn, sell or buy something. So, having a pawn shop religion mean you sometime pawn or sell your spirituality. Still don’t get it? Well, you know how you pawn your beliefs when you meet that girl or dude for “lunch” when they aren’t your spouse, when you sell your “stuff” to the highest bidder to have a few dollar bills in your pocket or when you pawn your commandments and judge your fellow brothers/sisters, lie when the truth will do, kill folks spirit with negative talk, hate instead of love, being a hellmate instead of a helpmate or doing wrong when you know it’s wrong instead of doing what’s right. Now, when I say you pawned these things, it’s because you left your Christian self somewhere for a time period and then picked it back up later. Yea, you pawn your Christian self every time you steal without buying, hold anger against folks you say you love, refuse to help even when you have help to give, abuse and misuse those around you, say you forgive but continually bring it up, get drunk or high, sleep around or lie and cherish material things. Yea, you sell your Christian self every time you walk into God’s house with the intention of not giving Him praise, when you sit on your butt without giving Him the thanks that He is due, when you stand at the altar with a heart full of mess, when you’d rather buy a bottle or a bag instead of giving a few dollars to the church, when you talk about God’s anointed or when you pull folks down because you’re jealous of their blessings. Don’t you realize that the satisfaction you get from pawning stuff only last until that money is gone because then you have to figure out a way to get the stuff back you pawned before they sell it? Well pawning your Christian self is the same way. Yea, you’re satisfied with the feeling you had with him/her until you get to the car and snap back to reality. Yea, you’re satisfied with those items you stuck in your bag until you’re in the back seat of a police car. Yea, you’re satisfied with hurting folks until you’re on the receiving end of it. Yea, you’re satisfied with all of the momentary things until you see that the time on your pawn ticket is about to expire (that’s your life) and you’re standing at the window (that’s Heaven’s gate) looking upon the face of the pawnbroker (that’s God) trying to talk your way into getting an extension on your pawn only to find out your stuff (that’s your seat or your name in God’s book) has already been sold. Then what? Will having a pawn shop religion be worth it then?

“You’re not getting by with anything. Every refusal and avoidance of God adds fuel to the fire. The day is coming when it’s going to blaze hot and high, God’s fiery and righteous judgment. Make no mistake: In the end you get what’s coming to you—Real Life for those who work on God’s side, but to those who insist on getting their own way and take the path of least resistance, Fire!” Romans 2:5-8 (The Message Bible)