Daily Devotional – 1/4/13 “So, you got religion?”

When I thought about the topic on this morning, the only thing that popped into my head was a part of a song that says, “I know I got religion.” So, I said asked God where is this going? Then I went back to the devotional that I wrote, this time last year and it clicked because it was entitled “A change might do you good.” So I said, alright God, I’m with you now! See, some of us say we got religion but what’s good about having religion if no one else can see it? Don’t you know by now that in order to save the unsaved, WE, as part of the saved ones have to do it? Now, let me explain something to you … You can’t speak life over folk when your mouth is filled with mess (gossip, backbiting, hating, etc.), you can’t help up those who have fallen if your hands are filled with sinful stuff (other folk’s spouses, stolen items, a knife to stab somebody in the back, etc.) and you can’t go where God wants to send you if your feet are planted in the wrong place (motels, coveting your neighbor’s house, etc.) I mean, you get my point right? And before you get your face all twisted and your panties in a wad, I didn’t say you couldn’t enjoy life but none of the things I mentioned above can be done in a Godly way, so check yourself! You, as a saint (that a sinner who has been saved) can still have fun but don’t hide your religion doing it. You can have fun at a party with your girls or boys on Saturday but then invite them to worship with you on Sunday. Humph, if you are good enough to party with you should be good enough to worship with. You don’t, no you shouldn’t have to hide your religion from anybody because the bible says in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

This is why sometimes you have to change your location because the place you’re in, now, could be the reason you haven’t been elevated. Why, because you’ve become comfortable in your surroundings. I remember living in the projects but it didn’t define me because even though it was our home, it was temporary because momma wanted better, so she changed our environment and even though she taught us about God and how we should act as young ladies, staying in that environment would have eventually rubbed off. Yea, I know it’s not all about where you stay that makes you but if you stay in the rain too long, you’ll get wet even when you wear a raincoat. Now, please don’t get me wrong because I enjoyed the time we spent in each place we’ve lived, including the projects, but no matter who you are, if you are in any place long enough some of the things around you rubs off on you. You may not be a drug addict like some folks you grew up with but that doesn’t mean you didn’t try it and if the truth be told, the only reason why you’re not is because momma/daddy changed your location with God, prayer, hard work and perseverance. So don’t hide your religion because of what you think folk will say or how they’ll treat you because if God, hid His blessings every time we made a mistake, some of us would be raggedy nothings, tore up from the floor up sinners without a pot to … You get my drift! If you have to change who you are or hide the religion that has been placed on the inside of you, then you are trying to fit into a spot that won’t fit you anyway! Baby, I don’t know about you but I am not ashamed of the Holy Spirit that abides with me daily and I will share it no matter where I am because I just might be the blessing a person needs to stop the tears that were getting ready to fall.

Daily Devotional – 1/3/13 “My Year in Review”


I am not making resolutions because there is no need. If the truth shall be told, most of the folks who make resolutions are already lying so why bother? I mean, you know you’re not going to give up smoking because you got a cigarette in your hand now. You know that you’re not going to stop drinking because for some, you brought in the New Year with a drink in your hand and probably can’t even remember much that happened afterwars. You’re not going to change your eating habits and even if you sign up for a gym membership, it’ll be over by this time next month. So, stop lying to yourself. Don’t you know that resolution means a firm decision to do something or the process of resolving something? Well the bible also has a definition for resolution and it is 2 Timothy 2:15 which says, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” So, resolve to be better and then do better and change will follow.


So, back to my year in review… Here is what I’ve learned:

January – Folks attitude change because it’s tax time.

February – You learn your position in your relationship around the 14th of this month. Either you’re the main girl or the jump off.

March – Folks attitudes are back to the rude normal because the tax money has run out and so has their boothang.

April – Folks go into debt dressing up for Easter Sunday and take for granted that Jesus rose on a Sunday morning so that we could be forgiven of our sins no matter how many times we ask. We tend to think that Resurrection Sunday is all about the clothes, shoes and hair bows when it’s really about the death, burial and resurrection of the Man who rose with all power in His hands to heal a sin sick world like the one we’re living in.

May – We don’t cherish our mothers like we should. And that God still has work for me to do because He blessed me with another year of life and marriage

June – We don’t cherish our fathers like we should. We take so much for granted until there are no more grants to give.

July – That death can snatch the breath from your lungs, make your heart skip a beat and tears fall (RIP Granddaddy 7/3/12).

August – That God has blessed me with a strong mother who carries on no matter what circumstance she is faced with.

September – That my gift will make room for me because God allowed me to self-publish my first book. “Doses of Devotion”

October – That even though we sometimes FALL back into our old routines, God never stops reaching down to pick us up.

November – That we should be thankful EVERYDAY of the year and not just thanksgiving

December That Christmas isn’t about me, the gifts I give or even those I receive because if it hadn’t been for God sending His only Son to Earth, we wouldn’t be worth the rags we wear every day that we call clothes because our sins would have had us bound to hell a long time ago!

You don’t have to make a resolution in order to make a change when all you have to do is be yourself but in being yourself, be the best you that you can be! Don’t lie to yourself and please don’t lie to others because we didn’t ask you in the first place to volunteer that lie. If there are things you need to change, do it but do it for you and not because the year’s date changed from 2 to 3 because next year it’ll change again.

Daily Devotional – 12/31/12 “A YET Person!”

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.”