Daily Devotional – 10/08/12 “Yea, It’s Monday and??”

Yea, I know it’s Monday but where is the same joy you had on yesterday? Where is the smile you woke up with on Saturday? Where is that pep in your step you had when you left work on Friday? Where is that strong faith you displayed while singing in church yesterday? Or that determination you had to be better after the altar call prayer? Where are you this morning? Don’t you know that just because the days of the week change, your faith shouldn’t? Monday comes around at the same time every week so stop blaming it for your bad mood. No, it isn’t the side of the bed you got up on because it’s the same every morning. Stop allowing yourself to be a different person every time the wind blows. Be the person God has made you to be everyday because He has a purpose for your problem, He has a plan for your pain, He has a solution for your suffering, He has a blessing waiting after your battle, a shout after your struggle, a silver lining after your storm and a story after sickness. Yea, God has something for you but you have to believe that. Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” Yea, see, He won’t allow you to go through hell only to come out hellish but He’ll take you through hell and then bring you out a helpmate. He’ll take you through cancer to make you caring. He’ll take you through heartache to make you happy. He’ll take you through unemployment to make you understanding. He’ll take you through being lied on so that you may live. He’ll take you through lying on folks to making you a leader among many. He’ll take you through backbiting to make you the best. He’ll take you from gossiping to delivering His gospel. He’ll take you from being lost to loving. He’ll take you from wandering to being a witness and from dying to doing! Yes, God will! This is why Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Yea, it’s Monday but you’re living when somebody, who was healthy, laid down on last night and didn’t get up this morning. Somebody was on their way to work this morning but didn’t make it because somebody else ran the red light. Somebody was depressed and took their life, yet you’re still living through your pain. Somebody had to identify the body of a loved one who overdosed on drugs, yet you left yours sleeping at home. Some parent buried their child this morning yet you dropped yours off at school. So be grateful for what you have and although you wish it could be more somebody has much less! So be grateful. Somebody woke up this morning worse than you are yet you’re still complaining. You’re upset because you had to get from under the covers when someone is sleeping under a cardboard box. You’re mad because the house was cold and you had to turn on the heat but imagine the woman sleeping in a car who can’t afford to run the heat because she only has a few dollars left for gas. You’re cursing because you don’t feel like cooking breakfast but just stop for a moment and think about the single dad who is trying to figure out the next meal for him and his kids. While you are complaining about the temperature outside, somebody is living in it every day and night. All I am saying is, stop blaming Monday for your blue mood because it’s all you. Yea, things aren’t going like you want them too but it’ll get better. Your bank account may be smaller than you want it to be but you can work on that. Your job may not be the career you want but you can change that. Your body may not be the shape/size you want, work on it. You don’t have to blame Monday because just like it came, Tuesday will be here before you know it bringing the exact same issues unless you change the issue, not the day.

Daily Devotional – 10/5/12 “You have to rise to get it!”

As I sit and I think about my life, I get happy all by myself. See, I don’t have to be at church with the music playing and the pastor pumping me up to praise God because I can do it all by myself simply by thinking about all He has done for lil ole me! Yea, I won’t allow rocks to cry out for me because when I think about the fact that I could be preparing to bury my child but I’m not, I rejoice. I could be saying my final goodbyes to my momma but I am not or she could be saying her final goodbyes to me yet she’s not, I rejoice! When I think about how much worse my life could be and it’s not, I rejoice. When I walk into a job that was meant specifically for me when somebody has been waiting at the unemployment office since 5AM, I rejoice. When I can pick up the phone and call my husband, my children, my sisters, my brothers, my cousins, my aunts, my uncles, my best friends, my grandma and they all know my voice, I rejoice. When I can cut on the computer and see my name typed on a cover of a book that can be purchased online, I yet rejoice! I rejoice because I am blessed like that! I REJOICE BECAUSE I AM BLESSED LIKE THAT

When God promised that your gifts would make room for you, He keeps His end of the promise but do you believe? When God says that your weeping may endure for a night but you’ll get joy in the morning, do you believe it? When God says that power of life and death is in the power of your tongue, do you believe it? When God says ask and it SHALL be given, do you believe it? When God says your healing is only a prayer away, do you believe it? No, all your days won’t be good but they won’t all be bad either but in order for you to get something that you need or even something that you want, you have to have faith and then rise up and get it. Every time Jesus healed folk in the bible, He told them to rise up, go or stand up and receive your healing because your faith has made you well. Don’t believe me, let me show you.

  • Luke 17:19, “And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.”
  • Luke 7:50, “Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
  • Mark 5:34, “And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”
  • Matthew 9:22, “Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment.”
  • Matthew 8:13, “Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.”

All you have to do is believe it for yourself, have faith that it can be done, ask for it and then rise up to get it! This is why 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight,” because if we used only our sight to take us into places or to meet folk, we would probably miss out on a lot of things. So today, I stopped by today to tell you that in order to get your healing, your blessing, your gift, your tears dried, your bank account increased, your territory enlarged, your heart mended, your mind regulated, your situation changed, your obstacles moved, your husband or your wife, your career, your home, your car, your happiness back, your sleep back, comfort and sun after your storm; you need to have some faith that can’t be shaken by the storm, moved by the wind, knocked down by folk, stepped on by your enemies and counted out by you; that mustard seed type faith and then get up and move because with YOUR faith and God’s promise ALL things are possible.

Daily Devotional – 10/4/12 “God removes simply to improve!”


#Dose4u – God has to remove in order to improve. God isn’t punishing you just because you’ve lost some things or people, so stop wallowing in your self made pity pit!

Yea, I know that you may be upset because of how things have happened to you or over some things or folks who you’ve lost but baby, God isn’t punishing you. He is simply removing some things in order to be able to improve some things.

  • That no good man/woman walked off and now you’re depressed when you should be rejoicing because they were blocking your spouse that God is trying to send your way. 1 Corinthians 7:15 says, “But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.” See, when you allow God to send the person that is for you, they won’t walk away when the going gets tough, they won’t throw in the towel when the money is getting low and bills are still due and they won’t give up on you when you’re sick or when you’re down and out because they’ve been made to stand right by your side. Just wait for them!

  • You got the nerve to be mad because your house was foreclosed on and now you’re renting an apartment when you should be realizing the God in it. Your rent is probably cheaper, your light bill is lower, you don’t have to be responsible for repairs when stuff break and someone else is cutting your grass and you don’t even have to pay them. These reasons alone are worth shouting over. Be glad for the change because now you’ll better appreciate the next home you’ll be blessed with when you know better you do better. Proverbs 24:3 says, “By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established.”

  • Ok, the job laid you off… SO! Get up and get a new one or better yet go get some of those food stamps and unemployment benefits you’ve been paying for anyway while God sends you your career. Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”

  • Your car was repossessed or stopped working, ok, now what? Crying over it won’t bring it back. Call the finance company and work out a payment plan, catch the bus, call some of those friends you always help or save until you can pay cash for one. God knew you were spending most of your paycheck trying to pay the monthly note yet you wouldn’t pay your tithes. You washed and wiped on that car more than you did they clothes you were and you didn’t even realize how much it was consuming your life, so God had to make some changes. Now, all you have to do is trust in God to replace it with what He knows you need because Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

  • Oh, you got cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease, arthritis, migraines, sinus pressure, tooth ache, headache, leg ache, foot ache, hand ache, shoulder ache… just all over ache but don’t you know that you’re still able to feel which means you’re alive? No, please don’t think I am downplaying any of the conditions above because I don’t personally know how dialysis, chemo, daily medication and all the time pain actually feels but what I’m saying is… If you’re still able to live through all of these things, then live and don’t allow it to consume the person you used to be. Proverbs 17:22 says, “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” You are better than your burdens, stronger than your sickness, wiser than your wounds and your problem is nothing compared to your purpose. Cry out to the Lord, “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise (Jeremiah 17:14) and watch Him work.

  • Don’t self-destruct over the death of a loved one because they aren’t here to suffer anymore yet rejoice over their living and then you live because Romans 14:8 says, “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” Death of loved ones aren’t because of things we do but death is the way we all have to go in order to live again. This is why Revelation 21:4 says, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

God isn’t making you suffer yet He is simply making you tougher. Psalm 71:20 says, “Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up.” Yea, God has to remove things in order to improve them. If you lose a stone from your ring, don’t you have to remove it from your hand in order for it to be fixed better than what it was? God is the same way. The only way to restore things is for the old things to be moved. You can’t sweep the trash from under a rug if you don’t first move it. So allow God to move the things that He needs to because when God removes, He improves the things He gives back, better and greater than they were before! So trust Him to do what He promises He’ll do and stop doubting. Hosea 6:1 says, “Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.” No matter what you have to go through, if you trust and believe in the power that God has, He will do exactly what He says He will. Yes, God has to remove things but it’s simply to make them better than they were before He gives them back. Material things you’ll get back on this side but the folk you’ve lost; you’ll get them back on the other side. Will you make it there? Make you better, every day, in order to reap Heaven’s reward.

Daily Devotional – 10/3/12 “Whose filling your tank?”

Somebody is worried this morning, not about their own issues but about the issues of those they’ve been helping. You’re up early praying for them but have you prayed for yourself? You’re tossing and turning over their worries but what about you? Baby, you’d better stop burning yourself out trying to be a helper to everybody who’s in need. Didn’t you read Matthew 5:16 that say, “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?” You did, yet you haven’t stopped to realize that if you’re constantly running around filling people’s tank with oil that keeps their light shining, who’s filling yours?

Yea, it’s alright for you to take a momentary time out to regroup without being selfish, so stop thinking you’re doing something wrong. You do know that you need to pray for yourself sometime in order to be able to pray for others, right? If you continue to give and no one is giving to you, then what are you left with? Yea, I know that God gives us back all that we give out but at some point we’ve got to stop, even if it’s only for a moment just to recharge. See, if you continue running to be there for everybody, without taking some regrouping time; you’ll eventually run out because your tank is empty. Then when you’re broke down, tired, sick and in need of help, who will you have? Yea, you’ll have a few friends that will be there but what about all the rest of the folks who you’ve bailed out, prayed for, stayed on the phone talking to when you should of been having dinner with your husband, went to pick up when you should of been helping the kids with homework, stepped in to help them finish something they’ve started when you should of been at work or those you fed when they were hungry when you were down to your last few dollars; where are they? Now, you’re frustrated and mad with God when He wasn’t the one that told you to keep going like the energizer bunny. God said to be a helpmate but don’t help yourself until you’re too stressed to be any more good. When Jesus visited the home of Mary and Martha, the bible says in Luke 10:39, Mary sat at His feet and listened while He spoke while Martha worked to prepare the food and things. Well, when Martha realized that Mary wasn’t helping, she cried to God in Luke 10:41, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” But God replied in Luke 10:41-42, “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

See, Mary had taken a break but not just any break but she took a moment to listen to the message that Jesus was spreading because while she listened she gained knowledge, which allowed her tank to be filled with something that can’t be taken away from her. She chose, for a moment, to listen to the gospel that was being given out in order for her to be refreshed. This is what you have to do every now and then, refresh yourself and refill your tank. You can’t constantly keep driving your car without putting gas in it and you can’t keep running without putting some gas in your tank. Fill your own tank every once in a while, that way you’ll have the light to be able to help others because if you don’t you’ll be walking in the dark. I don’t know about you but unless you’re in a familiar place, walking in the dark is no fun. It’s like walking through your child’s room at night and stepping on something that’ll make you say some unchristian like words. This was because you were not familiar with where you were walking and your light was out which means you couldn’t see. Take some time for you to recharge, to refill and to regroup. You’re entitled to it because after all, who’s filling your tank if you aren’t? I know that God will refill it but you have to take the time to ask Him.

Daily Devotional – 10/2/12 “When your witnessing is whack!”

You didn’t think this was possible? Oh, well let me check you boo. Every time you’re boasting about your sinful living, your witnessing is whack! Every time you brag about whose spouse you slept with, your witnessing is whack! Every time you find joy in other folks pain, your witnessing is whack! And when you find it cool to be rude, your witnessing is whack! Yea, everybody sins, at some point in time but you don’t have to tell it like you’re spreading the evening news. The bible says in 1 Peter 3:15, “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.” Yet, how can you tell someone how good God is if your mouth is always filled with gossip? How can you honestly show folks the God in you if all they see if your butt from the too little skirt/shorts you have on? How can folks honestly take your witnessing serious if you never do? I mean, really? See, Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Now, I don’t mean your faith at this moment but I am talking about the faith of someone who is unsure about their walk with God. Let me explain. If there is a person whose faith is wavering right next to you and they over hear you talking, boasting, bragging about your sins why would they need to come to God if they think you’re still being blessed while still doing what the world is doing? They don’t understand that the blessings you’re receiving aren’t coming from God because they haven’t realized the devil can bless too. All they see is you and you seem to be just fine walking on God’s side while living in the world, so they automatically assume that this is the way to be. They don’t over hear you talking about Sunday’s message only Saturday’s mess. They don’t hear you discussing Monday night’s Bible Study Notes because all they hear about is the high notes you hit while you were with Jimmy or Sue. Don’t you see the problem here?

Matthew 5:16 says, “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.” It is our responsibility, as Christians, to be witnesses to others who’ve never accepted Christ, who may have had a set back and slipped back into the world or one whose in church and wrestling with the devil because our witness may be their deciding factor. Yet, you don’t even notice that your mouth is running like an old refrigerator and scaring off that shaky sinner. You’re like the seed that is discussed in Mark 4:18-19 which says, “Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.” You’re this type of seed because you allow worldly mess and sinful stuff to choke the word that’s in you which then keeps you from sharing it with others. Baby, no one will ever believe your witness if all you’ve ever showed them is your waywardness. Do you actually think you’re a worthy witness just because you sit at your desk humming a gospel song 10 minutes after you told me about the lunch date you had with your boyfriend and you’re both married? Oh, you’re a worthy witness because you were the one to shout at church on Sunday after you bragged about how drunk you were on Saturday night to your choir members. Oh, I got it; you’re a worthy witness because you can recite a few scriptures by memory and can easily find the books of the bible but weren’t you the same one boasting about the time you spent with Rev. No Good from Headed Straight to Hell Baptist Church? Child, stop it because you know as well as I do that your witnessing is whack!

2 Timothy 2:15 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.” But you can’t do this when you’re doing, going and talking wrong most of the time. Again, I am not perfect but I am striving to be better than I was on yesterday. Do I always say the right thing, all the time, NO, but I’m pushing myself to be better, every day. I have faults and in order to change them, I have to first admit them. I cannot honestly witness to you if every other word out of my mouth is a curse word. No, I’m not saying that I curse like a sailor but it’s still something I have to work on because, again, I’m not perfect for Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All I am saying is govern your tongue because you never know whose listening and if you carry yourself in a Godly way then your mouth, as well as your heart, has to match. You don’t have to do as the world does because you can be different. You don’t have to follow in the footsteps of those before you because you can break the generational curse. And you don’t have to change your testimony simple because the devil has you on the stand and he seems to be winning because James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” Love God so that you can love yourself at which point you can be a worthy witness who’s witnessing won’t be whack!