Daily Devotional – 2/14/13 “Don’t let today ruin tomorrow!”

Yea, it’s Valentine’s Day but it has always been God’s day so start by thanking Him. Now, before your attitude gets rude because you didn’t get what you wanted for Valentine’s Day, sit back and think about the things that your spouse or significant other do every other day of the year. See, love should be shown EVERY DAY and not just today. Yea, it is set aside to show your love but don’t allow what you didn’t get today to ruin what you might get tomorrow. And before you get bent out of shape, know that the bible says in Ephesians 4:26-27, “And don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.”

While you are being jealous over the things other folk got, you don’t know the hell they’ve been through to get it. You’re mad about the roses your coworker got but they could be for the beating she had to endure last night. You’re upset because you didn’t get a new ring like she did but you didn’t see the struggle her marriage overcame from this time last year. You’re mad at your husband because he didn’t go all out for you but did you go all out for him? Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy holidays just like everyone else but I’m not materialistic. I don’t have to have the roses delivered to my job because they’ll soon die. I don’t need a box of chocolates that will add a few more pounds to the ones I’m trying to lose. I don’t need a teddy bear that will sit and collect dust and I definitely don’t need a balloon from my husband as a way to show his love. Did he buy me things, yes but he also knows that I would have been just fine without anything because I am not wanting for nothing! All I’m saying is, if your spouse or significant other has been a constant in your life this past year and they give and show love every other day, don’t lose focus in the worldly mess of today.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 says, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

Daily Devotional – 2/13/13 “I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again!’

If you don’t like where you are, what you’re in, the mess you keep cleaning up, the marriage that isn’t worth fighting for anymore, the job that’s a dead end, boyfriend or girlfriend who is only free when they want to be, friends who only call when they need advice, family that always need help but never give any or church that has more gossiping tongues than the world – CHANGE IT! I’ve come to realize that in order to change your mess you have to first change you. See, it’s like a vacuum cleaner. (Go with me) If you use a vacuum cleaner for too long without emptying the container, cleaning the hoses and/or the rollers; eventually it’ll stop picking up and instead it’ll leave more dirt. Well it’s the same with you. If you never let go of your past, if you never clean out the baggage from past hurts and pains, if you never move on, if you never change, if you never truly give God whatever your burdens are; how can you honestly move on because all you’re doing is leaving a trail of pain, confusion, hurt, tears and depression that you keep going back to pick up. Yea, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; fix you and then fix your mess. You can’t keep praying for God to move in your life if you won’t move. You can’t keep praying for Him to open a door for you if you won’t walk through it. You can’t keep begging Him to help carry your burdens if you keep struggling to carry them all. You can’t keep asking Him to give you rest if you keep staying up at night. You want happiness but you keep yourself chained to the past hurt. You want joy but you keep weighing yourself down with worry. You want to be loved but you keep holding on to the one that keeps hurting you. Baby, if he or she hasn’t changed in all this time, they probably won’t so now it’s time to stop focusing on them and focus on you because either they’ll see the change in you and change or they’ll see the change in you and leave. If they leave, let them go. Whatever, whoever is meant for you is for you and they won’t leave. Stop chasing what is not yours because if it is they wouldn’t be running. Do you have to chase your paycheck on payday? No because it’s yours. It’s the same way with a spouse or significant other. If you have to chase after them, check their phone, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or email; they aren’t yours. Give trust until trust is broken and then they earn it back. But forgive and in forgiving FORGET because if you don’t forget, you bring up the past hurt and pain every time you think about it. The past shouldn’t have a bearing on your present or your future because Isaiah 43:18 says, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.”

Deuteronomy 31:6 (The Message Bible) says, “Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.

Daily Devotional – 2/12/13 “If you’re going through hell …”

Keep going! See the only way to get out of something that you’re in is to keep going because if you stop then you remain there. Yea, I know that it seems hard but keep going. I know it’s easy for me to say it to you because I’m not walking in your shoes but keep going. I know that sometimes things can be going great and then all of a sudden the crap hits the fan but keep going. Your days won’t always be bad, your checking account won’t always be in the negative, your husband or wife won’t always act like a stranger, your family won’t always hate, your kids won’t always act like you didn’t raise them, your job won’t always be this stressful, your Christian walk won’t always be this hard so keep going. Yea, I can tell you these things because I’ve learned these things through experience. The robbing one to pay another syndrome, the sleepless nights, stressful days, tear-stained pillows, burden down shoulders, scarred up knees and no voice from constantly praying and calling out to God, hungry with no food or money moments, no gas in the car but plenty of places to go and no energy to do even when you have a lot to do! Yea, I get it but what I’m telling you is :: YOU CANNOT STAND STILL IN THE MESS YOU’RE IN! Keep moving. If you keep walking through the hell you’re going through, you’ll come out of it because it won’t last.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 says there is “A Time for Everything”

  • For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.
  • A time to be born and a time to die.
  • A time to plant and a time to harvest.
  • A time to kill and a time to heal.
  • A time to tear down and a time to build up.
  • A time to cry and a time to laugh.
  • A time to grieve and a time to dance.
  • A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
  • A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
  • A time to search and a time to quit searching.
  • A time to keep and a time to throw away.
  • A time to tear and a time to mend.
  • A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
  • A time to love and a time to hate.
  • A time for war and a time for peace.

So even though you’re going through hell, keep going! You’ve come too far to give up now. Just hold on but don’t stay still. Keep going!

Daily Devotional – 2/8/13 “Just one of them days!”

Today is one of those days when I’m toiling with something but don’t know what and feeling some kind of way but I don’t know why. Trying to figure out what it is, exactly, that God is trying to get me to understand. I’m listening God but am I misunderstanding you? I’m going God but is it to the wrong place? I’m trying God but can I try harder? I’m praying but the devil is still sneaking through the fence. I’m praising but my enemies are still throwing rocks and hiding their hands. I’m doing the best I can but I still feel like I’m failing. I’m trying to smile but the tears keep falling. I’m trying to be strong but the punches from the world are getting too hard to take. I’m trying to hide the scars from the hell I’ve already been through but they’re getting too hard to cover. Yes, I put on a brave face when I keep getting hurt but I don’t know how much longer I can stand before I crumble. Oh God!

Father,
I come petitioning your throne this morning with my mouth filled with thanks. I thank you for opening my eyes to see, my ears to ear and my mouth to speak. I thank you for being my all in all and for making my today greater than my yesterday. I thank you for my pain because it makes me appreciate my healing. I thank you for my tears because they make me appreciate my smile. I thank you for the down days because they make me enjoy the up days. Oh God! I need your touch! Somebody needs your touch now. I don’t know who it is or even what they need but you’ve placed it on my heart to pray for them so I come asking you to touch them now. Someone’s self-esteem is low, God fill it back up. Someone is thinking about suicide but I ask that you bind those evil thoughts. Someone is even thinking about giving it all up but I know that you are able to fix it for them if they give it to you. God somebody got paid today and their checking account is still negative but I know you to be a provider. Someone is fighting a battle that is not theirs but I know that you can give them the strength to come out victorious. God remove the evil thoughts, bind the hands of those who want to hurt folk, bind the tongues of those who want to bully and bind the traps that have already been set. God deliver on today. Break down doors that have been placed in the way and break the chains that have been used to bind your people. Do it now God! Give strength where weakness resides. Give hope where there is none. Replace hate with love. Replace hurt with your mercy and replace toiling with your grace. God, I ask you to do it now. Do it for me and do it for them. I humbly submit this prayer as if it is already done. Amen!

Daily Devotional – 2/7/13 “Angry much?”

But why? Why are you always angry? Why should the folks around you be subject to your attitude that changes with the wind? Just because you had a bad day does that mean we all have to bear the brunt of it? Don’t you know that anger tends to lead you to evil thoughts that turn to evil words that’ll eventually lead to evil actions? Well Psalm 37:8 says, “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm.” Yea, I know you are still mad at daddy for leaving but baby you’re grown now, get over it and stop taking it out on every man that walks into your life. Yea, you were hurt in the past by a few women; chile, you’re grown now – get over it and stop treating every women like she is the one that hurt you. Yea, ok; you’ve had your heart broken a few times; learn from your past mistakes and stop wallowing in them. You aren’t the only one that is entitled to a bad day so stop acting like. Oh, and for the record; if you keep treating people like crap, don’t be made at them when they walk off and leave you because there is only so much a person can take before they get tired. You may be the one doing all the talking but it’s no fun if you’re talking to yourself. Learn how to treat folk and treat folk how you want to be treated. You can’t keep treating folks bad and then expect to always be treated good; it doesn’t work that way. Stop giving out what you know you can’t take.