Daily Devotional – 4/10/13 “Spring cleaning to revive your dead life!”

Yea, it’s spring and not only is it time for spring cleaning but it’s also time for some spring revival. No, I don’t mean at your home but I mean in your head, heart, body, life and spirit. See, clean means not dirty or free from dirt or impurities. Unadulterated clean means containing no foreign matter and morally upright clean means just that morally pure and upright. Now, revival means a renewal of interest in something and recovery revival means the revival of life, consciousness, or full strength. With the definition of both of these, that should be enough right now for you to clean out all the dirt that’s causing the detour to your destiny and the mess that’s making you miss the meaning of God’s message. Yea, it’s time you did some spring cleaning to revive your dead life! You don’t have to broadcast it to the world but you need to renew your faith because it has flat lined. You don’t have to tell me but you need to clean out your heart because it has hardened full of hell. You don’t have to be baptized again but you need to renew your spirit because it’s shaky and struggling to survive. You don’t have to stand in the shower but you need to clean your body because the battle has left you bruised, bitter and broken instead of bringing you out better, bold and blessed. Yeah, you need to do some spring cleaning to revive your dead life!

Start by wiping the dust from your eyes so that you’ll see that you aren’t all that and a bag of chips. Yes, you have faults too and the world doesn’t owe you so stop acting like it. If you need, want or got to have it; work for it. Next, wash out your mouth and stop with all the woe is me or won’t nobody help me talk, stop talking about other folk because they don’t look like they’re struggling, stop judging and work on that cursing because the last thing someone wants to hear is a nice dressed young man or woman talking like a sailor. Next, you need to pull up your pants or pull down your skirt and your shirt. No one wants to see your underwear and if you’re over 30, I really don’t want to see your stomach or your thighs. If truth shall be told, I don’t want to see the stomach, breast, thighs, butt and underwear of no one of any age. Next, you need to clean up your spiritual attitude. Yea, it’s alright with me if you don’t go to church (because you’ll be judged by God and not me) but stop complaining about the church that you don’t even attend. I don’t want to hear your opinion about where the tithe money is going, what the pastor is doing, what the members aren’t doing and who Sis. So & So is sleeping with. Get your life together! Baby, you need to do a little spring cleaning to revive your dead life because even though you’re living and breathing, you’re still dead if your spirit isn’t right. You need to clean out the junk and get your joy back. Revive that spirit and get your shout back. Clean out that garbage and use your gifts. Revive your heart and get your happiness back. Clean out that old stuff that’s spoiling your sleep and renew your strength so that you can stand and not stumble, serve instead of sitting, stay instead of sinking and succeed instead of suffering. Clean out the crap that’s causing you to condemn instead of conquering, be cruel instead of comforting and complaining instead of commending so that you renew your character instead of conforming to the changes that cause conflict in your Christianity. Yea, it’s time for you to do some spring cleaning in order to revive your dead life before you’re dead without a life to live!

“He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.” Titus 3:5

Daily Devotional – 4/9/13 “Are you paying God?”

It’s a fair question, are you paying God? I don’t mean with money because you can’t send that to God but the money is supposed to be for the upkeep of His sanctuary or worship place. I don’t mean through sacrificial offerings because they can’t be sent to God. What I am talking about is with praise. You do know what praise is, don’t you? Praise is defined by the dictionary as words that express approval or admiration for somebody’s achievements or for something’s good qualities. Praise in the bible is giving thanks, again, for somebody’s achievements or for their good qualities. So, if God is the good God you always talk about, why don’t you praise Him? If God is the one that makes you “blessed and highly favored,” why don’t you praise Him? If God is the one that makes you say, “I can’t complain because it wouldn’t do any good anyway,” then why won’t you praise Him? I mean, you sometimes post about Him on Facebook, repost about Him on Instagram, retweet about Him on Twitter, yet you won’t praise Him in the open. All He asked you to do is “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” Well, that’s what Psalm 100:4 says. Yet, you walk into the church house mean mugging the ushers, rolling your eyes at the mothers, talking about the deacons, can’t stand your fellow pew members, laughing at the choir director and judging the pastor and you got the nerve to wonder why you’re having it so hard. Psalm 150:1-2 says, “Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!” Yet, again we go into God’s sanctuary; that’s the church, acting like He owes us when He was the one that got you home from that party you had no business being at anyway, He allowed you be able to get up the next morning with all the things you need to function, in your right mind to allow you to get to His sanctuary and you have the nerve to sit in His worship service with an attitude. You spend the whole service texting your boo whose still mad at you, checking to see who posted what or whose following who, checking the score of the game or nodding and you still think that God is punishing you for all the hell you’re going through. No baby, it isn’t God’s fault for some of the mess you got yourself in yet He still brings you through it and you won’t even repay Him with your praise. You were the one that bought those shoes too little and now you can’t even stand to read His word. You were the one who stayed up all night and now you can’t even stay up long enough to hear the message. You were the one talking when you should have been listening and now you’re wondering what the scripture was.

Baby, Honey, Boo, Chile, Girl, Dude, Mister or Miss; It’s time to get this thang right! It’s time, right now, to give God what He deserves and that’s praise. Psalm 66:2 says, “Sing about the glory of his name! Tell the world how glorious he is.” You shouldn’t have to be pumped up to praise God. You shouldn’t need music to make you shout. You shouldn’t need a prayer partner to pray or somebody encouraging you because you can do it all yourself. You shouldn’t need a church house to get your praise on because your house has 4 walls, a roof and a floor that works just as well. You don’t need an altar to repent because the side of your bed works just fine because 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” You have all you need to pay God but YOU HAVE to pay Him. It’s like having the money in your pocket for your light bill and your lights get cut off. Just because you have the money doesn’t mean they know it but you have to pay them. It’s the same with God. Just because you have praise in your heart, it means nothing unless it comes from your lips! Try it sometime; no try it all the time and you might like what you get in return.

Daily Devotional – 4/8/13 “My Table!”

Growing up I never understood why God would prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies. I mean, who wants to dine with someone who means us harm? Then, as I got older and I read the scripture in Psalm 23:5 that says, “You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings,” I started to get it. See, when my enemies come I had to realize that they only come to make me stronger. Will they try to cause me harm, do me wrong, drag my name through the dirt, judge me when I’m doing right, judge me when I’m doing wrong, criticize me to bring me down, make me feel good just to knock me down, smile in my face just to make me cry later, go with me while I’m going up just to laugh at me when I may fall; yes but that’s their job. However, God prepares for me a table, in their presence that allows me to make it. Yea, when my enemies bring gossip, God passes me His grace. When they try to fill my bowl with mess, God will replace it with His mercy. When they place hate on my plate, He’ll cover it with a helping of His Holy Spirit. When they give me grief, God will give me His glory. When they try to drown His message with misery, God will maintain me with His magnificence. When they try to sprinkle salt on my spirit, God scatters it with His scriptures. When they try to fill my cup with temptations, tests and trials; God trades my thirst for those things with my testimony. When they’re drizzling deceit on my destiny for dessert, God declares my deliverance instead. When they offer complaining instead of coffee, God instead gives me confidence to drink. When they try to leave longsuffering for leftovers, God will leave me His love instead. Oh, when my enemies try to mock my table, God will simply magnify my mind for His ministry. When my enemies threaten to turn over my table, God will turn that trouble into thoughts for my teaching. Even when my enemies try to knock over my table, God will keep kneading me with His knowledge.

Oh, I thank you God for preparing my table and pushing me because you know that I’m able. I thank you God for dining with me because you knew exactly who I’d be. I thank you God for filling my cup with blessings and allowing it to overflow because you knew that I’d need a little more room to grow. I thank you God for never taking your hands off of me because you knew the things I’ll encounter even when I can’t see. I thank you God for being my food when I hungry, water when I’m thirsty, shelter in my storm; thank you God for the table and keeping me safe from harm. Yea, now I get it and I truly understand and I thank you God for being all that I need and for just being that Man. I thank you for the oil that anoints this old head of mine because it allows me to let my light for you shine. I thank you God for letting me stand in the face of fear knowing that you’ll never leave yet you’ll always be near. Thank you God for my table!

Daily Devotional – 4/5/13 “Dishonesty!”

There was this saying on my co-workers bulletin board yesterday that said, “To believe in something and not live it, is dishonest” and it started my wheel to turning. See, I sometimes wonder why do we believe in God and then live like we don’t. Now, I said we because I’m also talking to myself but why is that? We pray for God to provide for us and then we go into a store and steal when Exodus 20:15 says, “You shall not steal.” You got the nerve to be praying for God to bless your relationship and the one you’re sleeping with isn’t even yours when Proverbs 6:32 says, “He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.” You say grace over food that you’ve taken out of someone else’s mouth when Proverbs 20:17 says, “Stolen bread tastes sweet, but it turns to gravel in the mouth.” You even got the nerve to be down at the altar praying for God to remove the burdens from your shoulder with stolen clothes on your body, hate in your heart and words coming from an unclean mouth when Isaiah 59:2 says, “It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.” Don’t you know you’re being dishonest with yourself and God? Then have the audacity to say that God knows your heart. Yep, He surely does and He knows that it’s still wrong. I’m not telling you how to live your life but I am simply being obedient to the calling that has been placed over my life and it is my duty to share God’s word with you because my bible tells me in Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Oh, I’m feeling some kind of way this morning because somebody needs to know this! See, the devil doesn’t like to see things going right so he’ll through some mess into your plans to make left look better. Now, in you going left take God with you. Don’t drop him off at the turn because that’s being dishonest because I’ve found that sometimes God will take us left just to get us back right. (You’ll get that later). Yea, you’ll even have friends talking in your ear trying to get you to be dishonest with your spouse, cheat on your taxes or lie to your boss but in the end you are the one paying for it; don’t do it. The enemy has a purpose to make you dishonest but don’t fall for it. Even when he rides in on the back of a family member to try to release hell in the midst of your home just so you can turn to that good smelling coworker, don’t do it. Just because you think you’ve gotten away with it for the moment, it’ll always come back to bite you just at the time you don’t need it too this is why Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” or Job 4:8 which says, “As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.” Dishonesty is being deceitful that causes disappointment which destroys the destiny designed for you and delivers you to damnation that’ll make you a dancer in the devil’s den. Oh but honesty heals the hard hearted, halts hurt and humiliation, allows you to handle the hell that’ll show up and makes you honorable, helpful and humble and filled with the Holy Spirit as you prepare to make Heaven your home.

Daily Devotional – 4/4/13 “Let go!”

I don’t know who this is for but I simply stopped by to tell you to let it go! I don’t know what you are holding on too but whatever it is, it’s hindering you from doing what God has destined for your life. Don’t you know that stress that is tied around your neck is strangling you? Don’t you know that extra burden on your shoulders is weighing you down? Don’t you understand that this unhappiness you carry is making you ugly? Don’t you realize you’re struggling to stand in a puddle of water when it’s not even enough to drown you? Then why won’t you let go? You know that person you’re sleeping with doesn’t belong to you, let him or her go. That church or place of worship you attend is breaking you spiritually, let it go! That car is draining you financially, let it go! That job is killing you with the stress, let it go! Now, let me make one thing clear, I am not telling you to quit your job, sell your car, divorce your spouse or do something drastic but what I am saying is maybe you need to reevaluate some things. Your job – let go of those extra duties that aren’t yours to begin with. That car – stop dumping money into it and shop around for something else. That marriage – let go of the past stuff and fix it, if that’s what you want and if it isn’t then let go because if you aren’t willing to make it work then stop wasting each other’s time. Your broken heart – let go of the hurt that caused it to be broke in the first place because the only way to heal is to start healing but you can’t do that holding on or going back to the person who broke it in the first place especially if they haven’t changed. You spirituality – you’re responsible for it so let go of whatever it is that is keeping you from God’s will. Yea, I know you grew up in that church but baby, if you can’t go there and leave feeling refreshed, recharged and spiritually lifted then you need to let it go. Your past mistakes – let them go! Stop allowing them to hinder your future, if you aren’t making them anymore. So what if you used to be an addict, drink, smoke, lie, cheat, steal or walk the streets; if you don’t anymore then let it go and stop allowing it to label you now. You are not the mistakes of your past because 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” But before we can move to verse 17, it’s important that we know that 2 Corinthians 5:16 says, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.” This simply means, when Jesus died on the cross that night, He died in the flesh and we now behold Him as a Spirit because everything else is gone. Well, now that you’ve accepted Him we (folk, other Christians, blood bought believers, baptized sinners who are forgiven by the minute, sometimes a back slider, curser, liar and cheater) should no longer evaluate, appraise, look at, pay attention to, care about, calculate or value your flesh because it’ll sometimes let us down but we should look at, care about, pay attention to, value and evaluate the heart of one another. Yea, you’ll make mistakes and so will I but don’t love me by what I look like because it maybe a mask but love me by my heart. Don’t criticize me because of what you’ve heard but criticize me by my work. Don’t cast me out because of where I’ve been but pull me up because of where I’m going. Don’t be jealous because of who I am but come and go with me because of whose I am!

Let go of the person you used to be and be the person you are meant to be. Let go of that addiction, situation or circumstance that has you bound because if you look it’s not even locked. Let go of that and look at this… Isaiah 43:18-19 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”

God got you!