Daily Devotional – 1/11/13 “God is waiting!”

Why are you waiting on somebody to encourage you when you should be encouraging yourself? Why are you waiting on your Pastor to preach to you when you should be preaching to yourself? Why are you waiting on Sunday morning to open your bible when it will open the same way on Monday? Baby, don’t you know that while you’re waiting on folks to change and time to come, you’re allowing your blessing to pass you by? Yea, you keep saying that you’re getting yourself together before you go to church but if you haven’t realized it yet, you aren’t doing a very good job by yourself so why don’t you let God help? You keep saying, “Girl, when I get some clothes Ima go to church,” but don’t you know that God will take the filthiest rag and turn it into the finest garment? Why, because He isn’t concerned about your outside appearance but you keep doing you boo because the next time you get to church it may be rolling on 4 wheels in the beautiful casket your family picked out and then your choice in clothes won’t matter. Let me put a pin here and make something clear … I am in no way saying that you’re going to hell if you don’t go to church but if you aren’t studying the word for yourself outside of church, then yes, church is where you need to be. But if things aren’t going right for you no matter what you try and what you do; then you need to try someone else – God is waiting. Church isn’t the 4 walls that we worship in but church is us and in order for us to be the church we need God dwelling on the inside in order for us to show Him on the outside. This comes by studying the word, applying the word to your life and fellowshipping with others who share your same belief. This is why we have church.

We are living in terrifying times when innocent children are killed while they are studying at school, you can’t even go to a movie because you’ll lose your life at the hands of a fool, kids are finding joy being a bully because it seems to be the cool thing to do and they are even trying drugs because “everybody” is doing it too; folk would rather rob than get a job at the same store or kill their spouse because they don’t want them anymore more, they broadcast their personal lives on TV for a few minutes of fame, sell their soul to the devil so that the world would know their name; they’d rather drown their sorrows in a bottle of alcohol rather than admitting their mistakes and getting up after they fall or they’d rather shoot dope in their veins or swallow pills to hide the pain. Baby, your life can be changed, your condition can be healed but God can’t take away the issues unless you give them to Him because God does not steal. Yea, just give Him your addiction, your sickness, your pain and whatever has you bound because He is waiting to take over your fight but you have to tag Him into this round!

Daily Devotional – 1/10/13 “A crazy, jubilated praise!”

On last night, we had our first mid-week service at church and it was great! See, I had my doubts because we’re a small church and folk don’t like to go anywhere in the rain. And if I shall be honest, I really didn’t want to make the drive but that was just me being selfish with my jacked up attitude getting in the way because I wasn’t looking at the big picture. See, this service wasn’t about me but it was about the vision that was given to my uncle and his obedience to follow through. So, this got me to thinking about a devotion I did on last year entitled, “From Jacked Up to Jubilation, Luke 17:14-19,” so I had to revisit it, for myself. See, jubilation is defined as uninhibited, that’s unrestrained, rejoicing in the celebration of a victory or success. This simply means when I think about all the things that I could have been a victim of and then I realize they didn’t succeed, I should rejoice. When I think about all the things that tried to hinder my success and I realize they didn’t stop me, I should be rejoicing. When I think about all the times folk said I wouldn’t amount to nothing and instead of falling, God gave me strength to walk, I realize I should be rejoicing. Now, this isn’t any type of rejoicing but it’s that crazy praise type rejoicing. The kind of rejoicing that has your clothes twisted, your hair a little messy and a little sweat on your forehead. Yea, the kind of crazy praise that allows you to shout off the stress of last year and dance in the blessings of the New Year. The kind of jubilated praise that’ll have you ready to shout on Monday in your car, Tuesday in the middle of your living room, Wednesday at Prayer Meeting, Thursday at choir rehearsal, Friday while you’re sitting at work, Saturday at the Beauty/Barber shop and all over again at Worship on Sunday. When I think about the cancer that could be attacking my body, the accident that I avoided that should have claimed my life, how I could have been addicted to crack, pain pills or alcohol or how I could have been walking the street; I rejoice. When I think about all the things I could be going through right now, I rejoice. When I want to give up and God says, “Don’t stop now you’re too close;” I rejoice. When my enemies surround me, God says, “Don’t worry about them, I’ll make them your footstool,” I rejoice. When folks talk about me, God says, “Oh, their opinions don’t matter, only mine does,” I rejoice. When I look around at my life and realize that I’m beyond blessed, God says, “This is only the beginning!” Yes sah! See, it’s these things that cause me to celebrate and because I have the victory, I offer God my jubilated praise! I don’t have to wait until Sunday morning to show my appreciation when God shows up on a Friday night to give me rest, when he shows up on Monday with a financial blessing that allows me to make it to payday and when he shows up on Saturday with a calming peace that surpasses all my understanding.

Do you offer God a jubilated praise every time you think about all the chemo and surgeries you made it through after your healing, when you get in your new car and think about all the times you had to walk or beg folks for rides, when you come home to a loving spouse instead of the one who used to treat you like dirt, when you leave the house a little late and pass the car wreck that should have been you, when your name wasn’t called to receive a pink slip when your other co-workers weren’t so lucky, when you walk past the alleys and see the folks strung out on drugs, when you visit the hospital and it could have been you or your child or when you drive under an overpass and see the folks sleeping outside and you know that God is surely keeping you? Do you offer him a jubilated praise? God doesn’t need folk playing with him but he wants folks praying to him. He doesn’t need praise when the sun is shining but He wants to see you dancing in the rain when the storm is raging. He doesn’t need you screaming His name when you’ve been pushed down in the pits and valleys but He wants to hear His name in rejoicing when you’ve made it to the top of the mountain. While you are trying to see whose watching you, the devil is so you need to show him that you’re worthy of all the blessings God sends whether they are big or small. I’d rather be dancing to the beat of rejoicing instead of jumping around the hot coals on the floor of hell!

Daily Devotional – 1/9/13 “What the hell is going on?”

Yea, I know this is a devotional but with the way folks are behaving now days, it ain’t nothing heavenly about it. You can’t even turn on the TV without seeing so-called “Christian” folks acting foolish. Yea, people have been degrading themselves for a long time but now we have The Sisterhood to degrade us even lower! Yes, I understand that ministers and their wives are human first but whatever happens behind your closed doors should remain there! No one needs to know about your sexual relationship or even how you act when you are not sitting on the front row of the church; that’s why it’s called your personal life. I can just imagine an unsaved person watching; they are probably thinking there is no reason to get saved because the saved are acting worse! Didn’t these pastors and wives read 1 Timothy 3:1-7 which says, “If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” Now, when this was written, it referred to men because women weren’t allowed as heads of anything but since the roles are different now, the scripture has to be taken differently because how can a minister’s spouse (the minister can be a man or a woman) be ratchet when he or she should be reaching those unsaved, messy when they should be delivering God’s message or be anything other than what they’ve chosen when they accepted their calling? (Yea, being the spouse of a pastor is a calling too.) I don’t get it! How can the church get back to reaching and teaching if we’ve lost the value of the teaching we received? It isn’t about the size of the sanctuary, the amount of money in the checking account or even the number of members on your roster that God is concerned about because if you’ve lost one that you didn’t try to save, you missed your reason for being called. Matthew 18:11 says, “For the Son of Man has come to save the lost.” See, once you’re saved; you are always saved. Will you backslide and sometimes fall, yes but being saved gives you the power of repentance that erases your sin. However, when you are unsaved; you have yet to gain this power. This is why it is up to us; the saved, sanctified saints, to go out and save those who have not yet come seeking God’s protection. It’s just saddens me that we, God’s people, have allowed money to degrade us. Why can’t there be a reality show about the good things that Christians are doing? Why does it always have to be trashy to get high ratings? Why can it show them feeding the needy instead of fighting amongst themselves, show them mentoring the youth and ministering the word instead of meddling in other folks business or show them serving instead of shopping, encouraging instead of eating, fellowshipping instead of finger pointing and laboring instead of lying? Is this all we’ve become? We’ve got to get this Christian thing right before it’s too late. I’m also talking to myself because I, now, have a responsibility of reaching those who are lost as it became greater when I accepted this gift, this calling. No, I am neither a minister nor a minister’s wife but I’ve accepted my calling to reach you through sharing God’s word, which means it, is my responsibility. Am I perfect, no but I am not where or who I used to be so I’m growing. All I’m saying is, God isn’t pleased.

God appeared to Soloman and said in 2 Chronicles 7:12-14 (The Message Bible), “If I ever shut off the supply of rain from the skies or order the locusts to eat the crops or send a plague on my people, and my people, my God-defined people, respond by humbling themselves, praying, seeking my presence, and turning their backs on their wicked lives, I’ll be there ready for you: I’ll listen from heaven, forgive their sins, and restore their land to health.” Should we have to come to that when all we need to do, right now is, humble ourselves and pray and seek God’s face and turn from our wicked ways? Which is why, again, I’m asking what the hell is going on?

Daily Devotional -1/8/13 “We’ve been renewed!”

There was once this worldly woman, who lived her life as a prostitute and drug addict. She had given birth to children but that didn’t make her a mother. She had a mother and father who loved her but it still didn’t make her a daughter. She had siblings who would come to her rescue every time but that still didn’t make her a sister. She had folk who prayed for her but it didn’t make her a Christian because all she wanted was the streets and that’s all she had. Whenever people saw her around town, they would gossip because they knew she was smart, well-educated and from a very strong family, so they couldn’t understand how she could do all these terrible things to her body. They would pass her by, when she was begging on the streets because they wouldn’t dare help this sinner woman! They thought that surely God had given up on her which is why she was on the streets. Oh, and they judged her life like they had it all figured out even though the word, they should have been studying, told them in Luke 6:37, “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.” One day her old minister walked by her and she reached out her hand to him but because she was filthy and unchristian like, he jerked his hand back and hollered, “Don’t you dare touch me!” She said with tears streaming down her face, “Minister Jones, will you pray for me?” He looked at her with a look of disgrace and said, “Child, we stopped praying for you a long time ago because surely God wouldn’t allow his child to be out in the world like you!” He walked away with her pleas feeling the air, asking for his help and his prayers. She couldn’t understand how a man of God could just walk away without a care for someone who had back slide into the world. She didn’t think God was hearing her prayers so she didn’t pray for herself. She could call her momma and daddy but she was so afraid to let them down once again. So she sat in a dark alley and she cried herself to sleep. While sleeping, she dreamed that she was standing face to face with Jesus but she was dirty and hadn’t bathed in days, she tried to run from him; she didn’t want him to see her like that. But He said “You are my sister so there is no need to hide. My father in Heaven has sent me to you because He heard your cry.” She replied “I can’t believe that God has heard my cry, for I am a sinner in the world.” Jesus replied, “My father will never forsake his own. In his word He says, “It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed (Deuteronomy 31:8). Do you believe?” She said, “Yes, I believe.” Jesus replied “Then that is all you need.”

See, I don’t have to tell you how the story ends because if you’re a true saint then you should already know. Aren’t you glad that when God took you in, your past didn’t matter? He doesn’t have to run background and credit checks to accept you into his company. He doesn’t have to take a drug test to see if you’re clean before you start the job because it doesn’t matter. So, why are you holding on to past mistakes, bad choices, bad marriages/relationships, anger and hurt? Don’t you know that when you stepped onto God’s side, all of that old stuff didn’t matter anymore? Don’t believe me, read 2nd Corinthians 5:17 which say “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Just because you were an alcoholic in the past, it doesn’t mean you got vodka in your cup because it could be just water. Just because you use to have a drug habit in the past, it doesn’t mean you’re shooting up now when someone sees a syringe, you could be a diabetic. Just because you use to be a prostitute in the past, it doesn’t mean you sleep with every man you talk too. Stop allowing your past to dictate your future and stop trying to prove to folk that you’ve changed. If they can’t go by your word then they shouldn’t be in your world. God has given you your renewal notice and it’s just like when you go to get your car tags renewed. hey give you a sticker with the New Year that is supposed to cover the old year and when you place the new one over the old one, it is no longer seen. God is the same way. When he picks you up from that dirty, dusty grave that has been dug for you, he dusts you off and gives you a new mind and spirit and the old one is covered up and no longer visible. Just like the car tag sticker, the new one can’t be peeled off to see the old one because the old one is no longer needed. So get up and stand tall! Display the new you, the one that is no longer covered in dirt and mud but the one that has been made new in God’s likeliness. Leave all of that other stuff behind you and walk on. There isn’t a need to look back because whatever is behind you was left for a reason. Leave it there! Ephesians 4:22-24 says “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Daily Devotional – 1/7/13 “Jesus, I need you to spit on me”

When I begin writing devotionals I had no idea how magnificent of a gift that God has placed within me. Many times, I begin to peck on this keyboard without a thought in mind but then the Holy Spirit intercedes on my behalf and the words start flowing. I can be riding in the car, sitting in church or the hair salon and a topic will come to mind and I quickly grab my phone or a pen to write it down. And on yesterday, while in church, I thought about how powerful Jesus was simply with his touch, his tongue, his gift and even his spit. Yes, His spit. Sounds crazy but go with me. See, I know that in this day in time when a person spits on you it is the ultimate disrespect but when I read my word on some of the things that Jesus was able to do with His spit, I cry out; “Jesus, I need you to spit on me!” Yea, see; when the man who was deaf and could barely speak was brought before Jesus, the bible says in Mark 7:33-35, “Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then, spitting on his own fingers, he touched the man’s tongue. Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha,” which means, “Be opened!” Instantly the man could hear perfectly, and his tongue was freed so he could speak plainly!” When the blind man was bought before Jesus in Bethsaida, Mark 8:23-25 says, “He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.” Are you with me yet? When Jesus used His spit, healing occurred. When Jesus used His spit, lives were changed. When Jesus used His spit, miracles happened. When Jesus used His spit, breakthroughs took place. Oh, when Jesus used His spit some thangs happened! This is why I say, I need Jesus to spit on me. I need some mountains to be moved, some obstacles to made low enough to climb over, some valleys filled with water so I can swim across them, some graves that have been dug for me to be filled so I can walk over them, some enemies to be made my footstool so I can rise above them, I need some lending to be done because I’m tired of borrowing, I need some healing to be done because I’m tired of sickness, I need some joy down here because I’m tired of sorrow, I need some testimonies because the tests are getting too hard and I need some sunlight because the clouds from my storm are too dark. Oh, if I could just get a little bit of Jesus’ spit to open up my eyes to see the trueness of folk and to open up my hears so that I can hear the real talk; I can push on a little while longer! Jesus, if you would … please sir, spit on me!