Daily Devotional – 9/19/12 “Walking you through the Alphabet

I know you’re probably wondering why I would want to walk you through the alphabet now and you’re grown and have known your alphabets since you were 4 but this isn’t your regular ABCs. No, see, I just had to stop by to let you know that every time you go through something there is a reward or something greater that shall, not should, but shall come afterwards. 2 Timothy 2:12-13 says, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: Our faith may fail, his never wanes- That’s who he is, he cannot change!” Now, wanes in the previous scripture means fades or vanishes so this is simply saying, even when your faith fails, God’s never fades. Isn’t that amazing? This is why I had to show you, through using the alphabet that even when you go through, just hold on because afterwards there shall be a reward, if you don’t give up, give in; if you don’t sow in the world’s fields, listen to gossiping friends and messy church folk but if you hold on and endure you shall reap a reward that man’s hands can’t touch.

Now, just in case you don’t know your alphabets or you don’t feel like singing the dreaded alphabet song, let me list them for you here. Just so you can follow along with me.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

See, in life you have to deal with folks who accuse you of doing wrong even when you’re not, you have to deal with your adversary (enemy) who is trying to tear you down on every side and even agony in your body but then when it’s over you come through your battle because God has allowed you to beat the enemy this time and with more blessings than you can measure. Yea, I know you got the call that cancer was in your body or the devil tried to hold you captive but God says, hold on because I’m carrying you out of what you’ve been cast in, I’m changing your circumstances and I’m clearing the clouds so that you will no longer be consumed. That danger and that darkness the devil ditched you in to discourage you, don’t worry because I’ve got a door opened for you that’ll give you back double what you lost. God is saying, it won’t be easy all the time but if you embrace me; I’ll fill the empty places and enlarge your territory in due time and exceed your expectations. Even if you fall be faithful and your fears shall be few and I will not forsake you. Yea, I know you gave your all and all you got back was grief but God says I’ll guide you through your heartache and your hurting times and I’ll increase your inheritance and your joy. Even with the world judging you, I’ll justify your actions and keep you from being knocked down while you labor, stop you from leaning when your legs want to give out, maintain your mind when misery tries to mock you and move your murmuring so that nothing overshadows your praise. Ok, it seems like your prayers aren’t being answered, you can’t get promoted which means you’re not prospering, you can’t find your purpose and you’ve stopped pursuing your goals but don’t you know that you need to get in a quiet place to talk to God and quit running from His safety? Yea, it seems like you keep getting setup but you’re being shaped into who you should be and your soul is being filled with the Holy Spirit which makes you steady when it feels like you’re sinking and gives you strength when it feels like you’re stumbling. Yea, that ole devil may have taken some things from your life but that’s just the tribulations and trouble that God promised but it’s not meant to make you an unbeliever but it’s to make you understand that God is unmovable and that He can make you victorious in your weeping, wise during your woes and wonderful in your works. God can take YOU and your zeal (that’s passion) for Him and make your life a blessing zone!

Yea, I just had to take you through the alphabet to let you know that no matter what you go through, there is always something greater coming afterwards! So don’t give up, don’t give in, don’t allow your faith to waver and your work, on God’s side, to be few; don’t allow the world to change you and don’t allow yourself to change just because you’ve been hurt, misused or abused. Hold on! God never changes and although you’ve changed more times than you can count, change for God this last time and allow Him to do the rest!

Daily Devotional – 9/16/12 “Everyday, be thankful!”

Everyday is a day of thanksgiving. Yes, everyday is a day of thanksgiving and if you don’t have a reason to be thankful let me give you a few.. You’re walking on top of the dirt, you woke up and not only did you wake up but you have sight because you’re reading this, you have your right mind because you understand this, you have the activity of your limbs because you logged into Facebook, you’re blessed because you’re either reading this from a phone, computer, iPad etc., so yes you have a reason to make everyday a day of thanksgiving.

Oh, it’s not enough? Then let me make this thang personal. I woke up this morning with all my family well and with everything that I had on yesterday only better. I still got grandma who could have been gone after losing her only husband of 66 years. I still got my momma when someone’s has been gone for years, I still got my God given parents (my inlaws) who treat me like their own; I still got my husband and someone buried theirs yesterday, I still got my children and someone is saying a final goodbye to theirs; I still got all my sisters when someone lost theirs to breast cancer; I still got all my brothers and someone lost theirs to drugs; I still got all my aunts and uncles and someone has lost theirs to a senseless crime; I still got all my cousins and all my friends after somebody has lost theirs to gossiping! Yes see, everyday is a day of thanksgiving for me. I won’t sit on my praise because God has been too good. Even when I’m still fresh in my grief over granddaddy, I’m still thankful because he could still be here suffering. Baby, you better get a thankful attitude of gratitude because the things you take for granted can be easily taken from you and granted to somebody else!

Daily Devotional – 9/12/12 “Revival Time!”

I am inviting those of you who can and will to come and share with us on the first night of our Youth Revival at Macedonia in Hollywood, MS. It starts at 7:00 PM and our speaker this year is Rev. Brian Bartlett of Lake Grove Baptist Church (Memphis). For the first time ever, I will be tonight’s lecturer (yea I know right). Anywho.. Tomorrow Night’s Lecturer is the anointed LaShundra Richmond of Ebenezer Baptist Church (Memphis) and Friday’s night lecturer is another dynamic young lady, Ms. Iesha Gilliam of Believers in Faith Church (Memphis). So come on out and be blessed.

Now, you know I couldn’t leave you without a little encouragement! So here goes! STOP WHINING ALL THE TIME! Yes, I said it. Yea, I know you are irritated about this and mad about that but still, whining; really? You’re grown! Deal with whatever it is that has pissed you off, ruined your lunch or messed up your day because either way you probably couldn’t have stopped it anyway. I could have been mad after getting a call from my son saying he was out of uniform (for the same shorts he’s worn 3 times already) and that I needed to bring him a pair of pants to the school but why? I couldn’t change the fact that A. he had on the wrong pants and B. he needed new ones. So, why don’t you try it. Stop giving folks the happiness you’ve worked so hard to get. No, they can’t steal it because happiness starts within which means you have to give it. Be happy for you, for a change and stop pretending to be. Baby, life is so much better when you’re happy and you know it. Be happy in the skin you’re in. Be happy with the hair you have, with the clothes/shoes you wear, with the car you drive and the home you stay in. Be happy with the person you’re with (well, you’re with them so you may as well be happy) and if you can’t be then move! Stop letting the bill collectors get you down, pay what you can when you can and the rest can wait. Stop stressing over stuff you can’t change and stop worrying about tomorrow that you may never see. Be you and be happy being you.

That’s all!

Daily Devotional – 9/11/12 “Check the expiration date!”

Yes, you read this right. You need to check the expiration date on some things in your life. Oh, you didn’t know? Well, let me tell you, everything has an expiration date. If you don’t believe me then turn your bible to Ecclesiastes 3 and read the following verses…

Verse 2 says, “A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,” which means people have an expiration date; it’s called dying and even things that are planted because when they expire, they are uprooted from the ground. Verse 3 says, “A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build.” Now, kill here means as in self-defense and not because you felt like harming someone because the bible says in Exodus 22:2, “If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed.” Even old buildings expire, which is why they are said to be unlivable and are torn down. Heartache, yes it has an expiration date; it’s called getting over it which is why verse 4 says, “A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” Verses 5-8 goes on to say, “A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” So you see, all things have an expiration date. Bad relationships do, it’s called moving on. Sickness has one, it’s called healing. Sorrow even has one, it’s called joy. Suffering has one too, it’s called peace. Why do you think everything that you buy has an expiration date on it? Because at some point, some things just get old and need to be thrown out. Yea, you know those favorite shoes that you have that are barely holding together, it’s past their expiration date. That man, that other woman’s husband, who you’ve been holding on too for years now; it’s past their expiration date. That woman that you’ve been asking to move in and she won’t because she still needs time; it’s past her expiration date. That job that keeps overlooking you for promotions, it has expired too. That raggedy robe that you keep holding on too that no longer has pockets and has no buttons, it also has expired. See, it’s time you do inventory in your life and see if the things that you’ve been holding on too are expired because if they have, they maybe the thing that is affecting your health. No, I don’t mean you need to go home and act a fool on your spouse but I am saying just take a look around. If you are still allowing your grown child to live at home with no job and can’t even clean up the room they currently stay in, for free, their time of freeloading has expired. If that friend who always need help from you but can never be there when it’s your time of need, they too have expired. Even trouble has an expiration date which is why Ecclesiastes 8:6 says, “For there is a time and a way for everything, even when a person is in trouble.”

I’m not trying to tell you that you need to start acting a plum fool but I am saying look through the things that you have to see if they have expired, the same way you clean out your medicine cabinet. Old medicine is no good and neither are old feelings of hatred and malice. If folks hurt you, in the past, it has expired and now you need to move on. Stop holding on to all that old crap because it’ll soon weigh you down and then you won’t be any good. Let go of things that keep you from being exactly who you need to be. Let go of that old boyfriend who only comes around when his new girlfriend isn’t providing for him. Stop answering the phone every time that girl calls you only on payday. There are a lot of things that have expired that you’re holding on too because you think you can’t do without them but how do you honestly know if you haven’t tried to do without them? Expire means to come to an end or be no longer valid or in operation. Just like your credit card has an expiration date, so does everything you touch. Let go of those things in order to get the new things. The only way for you to receive a blessing, you have to make room for it. It’s like buying a new rug to replace that old one that expired years ago. You know the one that used to say welcome but now you can only see the w and the ome at the end? Yea, it’s time to throw it out because it has expired but the only way to put your new rug down, you have to first throw out the old one. Blessings are the same. If you constantly asking God to bless you with the means to buy new clothes yet you haven’t cleaned out and donated the old ones, where will you put them? Take charge of your life and throw out all the things that have expired because they are no longer usable. Just like those batteries you keep putting in the freezer, no baby, they have expired; throw them out and go get you some from the dollar tree. Stop holding on to things, thinking they can be revived because if it is expired, it’s no longer worth it. Try drinking milk once it’s spoiled … my point exactly!

Daily Devotional – 9/10/12 “A prayer because it’s Monday, again!”

Our Father in Heaven,
It is me once again, petitioning your throne. God, I know that I don’t always do or say the right things, yet you still listen to my pleas and for that I must first thank you. Thank you, oh God, for giving me a fresh anointing this morning and thank you for giving my eyes sight when you opened them. Thank you for giving my hands, arms, legs and feet power to move and for putting strength in my body when I got up. Thank you for giving me my mind back, better than it was on last night. God, I thank you that I didn’t wake up to find my spouse gone from this world, thank you that I found my children alive and well, thank you that my home was still in working order, that my car was still parked where I put it last night and that no voicemail/text was on my phone delivering bad news. God, I must thank you because even when I was too sleepy to pray on last night, you still kept me well. God I must thank you because when I was too mean to thank you on yesterday, you still gave me back everything I had and more. Oh, what would I do without you? Now, Father, as you listen to my prayer, I ask that you comfort the grieving families now. Wrap your arms around the mother that has to prepare to bury her child, around the children that is about to lay their mother or father to rest, the brother who has to say a final goodbye to his sister or the sister who is saying her final goodbye to her brother. God, give strength to the friend who is standing behind someone who is going through turmoil in their own home today. Bless that person who is looking for a job and yet they can’t see their way because of their tears. Bind that taste for drugs or alcohol that has a hold of that teacher who is standing before a class of students right now. Bind the stronghold of sexual desires on the mind of adults who may be lusting after a child now. Bind the peer pressure that has a child thinking suicide is their only way out. Bind the mouths and hands of the bullies who make living for a child harder than it already is. Bind the wandering mind of the child who needs to focus in class. Bind the social networking that is taking over our children and even some adults. God, this world is in need of your guidance now. Father, I pray for the men, women and children of this world. I pray for the deliverance of the man who finds joy in hurting his wife, for the wife who finds joy in sleeping around, for the children who finds joy in stealing from others and even for those who don’t see the error of their ways when they are being disrespectful. God, right now, I am praying for your deliverance on this mean world. Some young lady is going through hell because she is young and pregnant yet afraid to tell somebody. Some young man has an STD yet he is afraid to tell and still passing it around. Somebody is still driving drunk even after the numerous times you’ve allowed them to make it safely home. Somebody is still shooting crack or heroine in their veins or swallowing prescription pain medicine even after you’ve stopped them from overdosing. God, for that pacing mother now, replace it with praise. For that single mother who can’t seem to make ends meet, replace her crying with shouting through her storm. For the daddy who is doing his best to raise his children with the woman who is making it hard, increase his finances. For the woman or man doing their all, bless everything they touch. For the student who is doing all they can, increase their knowledge. God, I know that sometimes it seems like bills are increasing and money is decreasing but I am asking for a special financial blessing for each one reading this now. I ask because you’ve given me power in my tongue to do so. God, decrease the balance of the electricity bill, credit card balances, student loans, pay day advances, title loans, bank loans, car loans and mortgages. God rain down blessings on those who stand in need on today and although I don’t know every situation, you do, so I ask that you fix it now. Send healing where it is needed. Send love where hate now resides. Send peace in the midst of somebody’s storm. God somebody needs protection in their own home, send it now. God somebody needs deliverance in the midst of them shooting death into their body now in the back of an alley. God do it now! I know that I am just one somebody but I stand in the gap for all those who don’t know how to pray for themselves, for all those who feel like there is no hope and even for those who feel like they can’t go on. Today, I stand for them, God and I am asking all these things as though they are. Do it for me as well as for them. Continue to strengthen me, on this journey, so I can continue to strengthen them. Thank you for hearing my prayer and thank you for allowing the Holy Spirit to swell in me because I surely do need Him. God, do these things that I ask in your name because without you there’s no me. Bless, heal and deliver your people now because I am asking in your name. AMEN.