I was on Facebook on yesterday and I saw a post from one of my friends on what his Pastor had preached on and of course it piqued my curiosity. So I went to Habakkuk 3:17 and it 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,” and I was even more curious because if all these things have happen how could there be something good at the end 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 always 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. Yea, so called friends may have dug a dusty grave for me yet I shake off the dirt, pack it under my feet and rise. Yea, sickness may be attacking my body yet I’m living. Yea, my road may be longer and my fights may be harder yet I’m willing. Oh, I feel my help on this morning sitting at work on the last day of 2012 because I’m a YET kind of person. See, I may not have done everything right in 2012 yet God is keeping me. I may not have been the person that I should have been yet God is keeping me. I may not have even seen all the things that God has for me to see yet He is keeping me. I’m excited about the things to come in the New Year. No, I’m not making resolutions yet I’m making changes. I’m not going to make a promise to do this or that more, stop doing this, stop going there, eat better or to even lose more weight yet I am striving to be better than I was. I may not have all the answers yet God is still teaching me. My new year will bring about new appreciations, new dedications, new elevations and even new territory enlargements because in the midst of my prayers I believe in His power because even through my momentary memory loss when it feels like my hope is slipping and my faith is weak I am yet holding on to God!
Daily Devotional – 12/28/12 “Take the lemons you’ve been given…”
Make some lemonade and add it to your moscato wine and have a glass! Yea, I know it says take the lemons you’ve been dealt and make lemonade but aren’t we all grown? With the world the way it is, sickness hitting every part of your body, debt on the increase, jobs and income on the decrease, men aren’t acting right, women letting it all hang loose without trying to keep it tight, kids acting like strangers in your home and some have moved back even though they’re grown, death has been actively roaming in your family tree and you’re trying to be as strong as you can be; you need a little spirit to lift your spirit. Child please! Proverbs 31:6 says, “Alcohol is for the dying, and wine for those in bitter distress.” This is why I said wine and not alcohol for the bible says in 1 Timothy 5:23, “Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.” Now, let me make a point here before one of you go out and get drunk saying, “She told me to drink!” … Because I said wine, not alcohol and I said A glass and not the whole bottle. See, I understand the toils that a person can go through in their day to day life but that doesn’t have to make you an alcoholic. You can go home at night and have a glass of wine to calm your nerves in order to sleep well but don’t get drunk and start acting a fool that keeps the whole house up. Because even though the bible says that wine is for those in distress, it also says in Ephesians 5:18, “Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.” God says, in His word, that we have to be sober minded because the devil is always prowling (1 Peter 5:8) for a way to slip into our lives and being funky drunk, tore up from the floor up and wasted with your buzz on; allows him to do just that. And now, you’re sitting around making excuses after you’ve wrecked your car, taken an innocent person’s life, slept with somebody you just met or acted a complete fool at the club. If you have to remember what you did the night before because you were too drunk to know; you have a problem. What I’m saying is this; living is hard and you will have troubles, you will get lemons from things that you thought were sweet but turned out to be sour but that doesn’t mean you have to be some other person than who you are supposed to be. You don’t have to be that girl at the club who is always drunk and the guys like to feel on or that guy at the bar who is always drunk and shows out when his team loses. You don’t have to be known as the alcoholic of the family; so get yourself together before it’s too late because if you don’t and you say, “I’m high as hell,” you will be because hell is where you’ll be!
Daily Devotional – 12/27/12 “God uses regular people!”
This shouldn’t be hard to believe! I know that you’ve seen television shows of angels being sent down from Heaven to help folk but if you would take a look around, you’ll see that God uses regular folk. Now, the problem arises when the regular folk don’t do the things that God asks them too. You do know that when you have a feeling to help somebody that it’s actually the Holy Spirit working through you, right? Jesus says in John 14:12, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” See, Jesus knew that He wouldn’t always be here on Earth to do the things that God had commissioned Him to do, so He had to leave work for us, regular folk, to do. This is why we have to study the bible in order to know when we are being used and spoken too, so that we understand what is being spoken to us and so we know how to use what has been spoken. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are spirits that do not have a fleshly body and in order for them to work through us, they have to inhabit our bodies. Now, inhabit means to live in or occupy a particular place or to be found in and Romans 8:9 says, “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)” This is why you have to have your light of God shining at all time, in order for others to see God and the Holy Spirit that is on the inside of you. It’s like you’re driving and your car starts to act crazy and you realize that your phone is dead and the charger isn’t working and now you need help but while you’re driving, you keep passing gas stations with their light out, which means you can’t and won’t stop there but soon you find one that has their light shining bright for you to see from the road so you stop and get the help that you need. Well, being used by God is the same. Someone, who is in the world and thinking about coming to God, would be quick to go to the person whose light is shining versus the one whose light is dim or out. See, they need to talk to someone who is willing to help them see the benefits of being a soldier in God’s army because it doesn’t make much sense to talk to someone in the Navy if you’re considering the Army.
This is why we have to be always ready to tell about God’s goodness, help those who are lost, speak for those who can’t speak for themselves, pray for those who need your prayers, uplift those who have fallen and it seems hard for them to get up, prop up those who are leaning from the weight of grief that has consumed their life, carry the umbrella for those who are fighting through their storm and push those up who keep sliding down their mountain of pain. God uses regular folks to help regular folks! Why? Because God knows that we are capable of doing it and it doesn’t take much to help. When you have a feeling to buy the person’s food behind you, do it. When you have a feeling to hold the door for the person coming in, do it. When you have the means to pay it forward for a person who hasn’t even in come yet, do it. You don’t have to wait until the holiday season to be a blessing because people need help all year long. Donate to the food bank, deliver some MIFA meals, donate a stuff animal or magazines to St. Jude, take some extra school supplies to your child’s school, leave $5 on your coworker’s desk when you know she or he is hungry with no means to eat or like the bible says in Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.”
Daily Devotional – 12/24/12 “Pushing through your pain”
On this day many years ago, I would imagine Mary and Joseph making the long, tiring trip to Bethlehem in order to be counted in the census that was set to take place (Luke 2:1). While on their journey and 9 months pregnant, the pains begin to hit Mary, yet she pushed on because they had a destination in mind. As they got closer to Bethlehem, I can only imagine the amount of pain Mary was going through as Joseph searched for a place for them to lay; yet she pushed on. With all the inns being full, they ended up in an animal stable without so much as a place for the baby to lie but see that didn’t stop Mary so she pushed on because she knew what her purpose was. So, as she labored she couldn’t allow herself to give up because she knew that through her pain and through her pushing she would be bringing forth God’s only Son. A Son who was destined for greatness in spite of where He was born, His purpose had already been set. See, it doesn’t matter about the location of our birth or even the surroundings of our living that determines our gift because we, too, are destined for greatness. Yea, this is why Jeremiah 1:5 says, “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” Yea, I know you thought your past arrest record would hinder you but it won’t. You thought your past addiction would stop you from prospering but it can’t. You thought that old disease was going to take you out and you even thought all of the hell you’ve been through would break you down but it shall not. No, because it doesn’t matter about your location, whether you’re up or down and it doesn’t really matter about your circumstances because God doesn’t call the qualified but he qualifies those he calls. Don’t you know by now that He can take you; a drug addict, alcoholic, whoremonger, adulterer, liar, backbiter and sinner; pick you up, put you through the fire to erase everything you’ve done in the past and bring you out shining like pure gold? Psalm 71:20 says, “You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth.”
God isn’t worried about where you used to be as long as you push through your pain, now, to get to where you ought to be. God isn’t worried about who you used to trust as long as you trust him, now. God doesn’t worry about where you came from as long as you don’t go back there. Yea, this journey won’t be easy and sometimes giving up seems like the right thing to do but push through your pain. Your journey may have some bumps called haters to go over, some potholes called enemies to go around, some ice called lies to slide on and some dead-ends called mistakes that make you want to turn around but go on because it’s your journey! God is in the renewing business and once you’ve been renewed, you’ll be refreshed and with refreshing comes restoration and with restoring comes a new shine that’ll make you look brand new then all of the old things won’t matter because if you’re in Christ, you’re a new creature and all of the old things are passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17). It doesn’t matter that you were abused, because God can heal you. It doesn’t matter if you use to steal because God will forgive you. It doesn’t matter if you were raised in the projects because God will take the little that you got and turned it into a lot. It doesn’t matter about what folks say because God already has you’re future planned and not even the devil can change that. See, God doesn’t count the starters because he is only concerned about the finishers and it doesn’t matter if you’re last because with God in control, the last shall be first! God is that type of God and I’m glad to be in his number so push on through your pain to get the blessing that will soon be born.
Daily Devotional – 12/20/12 “Get your stuff together!”
No man knows the day nor the hour when your eyes will close to see no more, the blood will no longer be running warm through your veins, your heart will stop beating, your organs will stop working and life will be over. This is why you need to get yourself and your stuff together. Don’t you know by now that death has no age or whether you are a woman or man? Don’t you know by now that you need to have life insurance no matter what age you are or that you need to have a plan in place for your children in case something happens to you? Please do not leave this world in debt only to leave your family in more debt trying to pay for your funeral cost. Don’t leave your children wondering where they will be or who will take care of them. Don’t leave this world with your work undone. It’s your responsibility, as an adult (young or old), to have your affairs in order. Believe me when I say, death is hard on the folks left behind and the last thing they need is trying to get money together to bury you or having family fighting over the few belongings you left behind. And please don’t think you are wishing death over your life just because you’re getting it done now. Put a will together, get life insurance, make preparations and be vocal about the things you want. If you know that you don’t want to be on a machine, tell your folks. If you want to be an organ donor, tell somebody. If you want to be buried in blue instead of black, make it known. Many times we leave this world heading to a place of rest only to leave chaos behind and that shouldn’t be the case. Get your stuff together. Matthew 24:44 says, “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Prepare now because you won’t be able to do it if you don’t wake up tomorrow. Making plans don’t mean you’re ready to die but you should be expecting it to happen one day because we all will have too. Just like you make plans weeks in advance to hang out with your friends, make plans in advance for when the end comes. Don’t leave your family here in turmoil when it could have all been avoided if you’d taken the time to leave plans, your plans in place. Get yourself together and then get your stuff together because the next moment isn’t a guarantee of living!
“You do not need anyone to write to tell you when and at what kind of times these things will happen. You know for sure that the day the Lord comes back to earth will be as a robber coming in the night. When they say, “Everything is fine and safe,” then all at once they will be destroyed. It will be like pain that comes on a woman when a child is born. They will not be able to get away from it. But you are not in darkness, Christian brothers. That day will not surprise you as a robber would. For you are children of the light and of the day. We are not of darkness or of night. Keep awake! Do not sleep like others. Watch and keep your minds awake to what is happening. People sleep at night. Those who get drunk do it at night. Because we are men of the day, let us keep our minds awake. Let us cover our chests with faith and love. Let us cover our heads with the hope of being saved. God planned to save us from the punishment of sin through our Lord Jesus Christ. He did not plan for us to suffer from His anger. He died for us so that, dead or alive, we will be with Him. So comfort each other and make each other strong as you are already doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 (NLV)”
Lakisha, the Author 