Daily Devotional – 6/4/12 “If your God doesn’t answer, try mine!”

In worship service on yesterday morning, my pastor, Uncle Larry spoke from 1 Kings 18:16-24 entitled “When your God doesn’t answer, change your God!” This was intriguing to me, so I found myself reading the entire chapter for in this particular scripture, Ahab, a leader, was evil and the people of Israel followed him and didn’t mind disobeying God’s commandments, they even stopped believing in God and started worshipping another God, Baal. Because of this God sent a famine over their land, you know to get their attention but after 3 years of being disobedient, God sent his servant Elijah to them to present himself to Ahab. See, God needed to show them that their God didn’t really exist and if they believed in him and turn from their wicked ways, he would send a great rain, one which they desperately needed. So Elijah obeyed, he presented himself to Ahab and asked him to gather all the people on Mount Carmel. During this meeting, it says in 1 Kings 18:22-24, “Then Elijah said, “I’m the only prophet of GOD left in Israel; and there are 450 prophets of Baal. Let the Baal prophets bring up two oxen; let them pick one, butcher it, and lay it out on an altar on firewood—but don’t ignite it. I’ll take the other ox, cut it up, and lay it on the wood. But neither will I light the fire. Then you pray to your gods and I’ll pray to GOD. The god who answers with fire will prove to be, in fact, God.” All the people agreed: “A good plan—do it!” Elijah couldn’t just say his God was real but he had to show them, you know how God has to sometimes do to us. So the people of Baal did what they were told and after placing their sacrifice on the altar they begin praying to their God. They prayed and they prayed but after hours and hours of praying with no response, Elijah began to make fun of them for Verse 28, says he mocked them by saying, “Call a little louder—he is a god, after all. Maybe he’s off meditating somewhere or other, or maybe he’s gotten involved in a project, or maybe he’s on vacation. You don’t suppose he’s overslept, do you, and needs to be waked up?” See, Elijah was simply trying to get them to understand that they couldn’t serve 2 Gods which is why in Verse 21 he asked, “How long are you going to sit on the fence? If GOD is the real God, follow him; if it’s Baal, follow him. Make up your minds,” but they never said a word. So they prayed longer, louder and even start cutting themselves with swords and used every trick they could think of and still not a word or flicker of fire from their God. Elijah finally had enough and he said, “Enough of that—it’s my turn. Gather around.” And they did. The watched him as he placed twelve stones, one for each of the tribes of Jacob, into the altar in honor of GOD, he dug a fairly wide trench around the altar, laid the firewood, cut up the ox and put it on the altar. Then he had Baal’s people drench the ox, the wood and the trench with water 3 times just to make sure they knew there was nothing funny about God working. See, when God works, he works this thang out in your favor without tricks and gimmicks. Now, when it was time for Elijah to make his sacrifice, he prayed to his God and verse 38 says, “Immediately the fire of GOD fell and burned up the offering, the wood, the stones, the dirt, and even the water in the trench.” When this happened, “All the people saw it happen and fell on their faces in awed worship, exclaiming, “GOD is the true God! GOD is the true God! (Verse 39)”

But why does God have to send a sign for us to believe that he’ll do what he said he would? We know that his first commandment says in Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other gods before me,” yet, as a people we’ve allowed ourselves to get caught up in material things that have now become our God. You know how the car trumps church service because it’s almost new and you don’t want to add miles to it but you drive everywhere else. The job trumps your fellowship with God because you’ll take a vacation day to go shopping but not one on a Sunday once a month to commune with Him. The club even trumps God because you’ll use your tithe money to buy clothes, alcohol and pay your way in and then complain that the Pastor is taking all the money for himself. Child, you can’t keep straddling the fence because either you’ll soon fall or you’ll get a splinter in your butt and neither is better than the other. Please don’t be offended, I don’t need to convince you that my God is better than your God because I’ll let his work speak for him but I’m saying you need to choose. I’m not saying that you have to give up doing some of the things you used to do but you can do them better. I didn’t say you had to stop wearing what you want, just wear it better. The bible says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” He didn’t say you couldn’t drink but he says don’t get drunk (Ephesians 5:18). He didn’t say you couldn’t dance because Ecclesiastes 3:4 says, “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” If God didn’t think we wouldn’t ever sin, why do you think he made repentance for us by sacrificing his only Son? God knows you’re not perfect but you’ve got to make up your mind; the world or God? You can’t serve man Monday through Saturday and then God only on Sundays because it doesn’t work like that. When you become filled with worldly stuff, then God’s business gets pushed to the back which is why 1 John 2:15 says “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” You know that when you try to provide the same amount of attention to 2 things at the same time, one will suffer, right? It’s like trying to blow air into 2 balloons at the same time. When you take your mouth off of one, the air releases so the only way for you to get one the size it needs to be, you have to continue to blow into it, which means the other one will be left out; at least until you finish with the first one. This is the same way with trying to serve God and the world. When you focus on the world, then God’s plan for your life is placed on hold until you are finished but will you finish in enough time to go back and get God and if you do, will he still be in the same place you left him?

No one can make you serve God just like no one can make me serve the devil, it’s a personal choice, however, you can’t serve both because the devil can’t bless you like God can and God will never bless you like the devil can. Choose today to get off the fence. If the world is where you want to be, do that until you are ready to commit yourself, wholeheartedly to God because serving God is a work that needs your full attention because with society being the way it is, today, we got a lot of work to do. Let me give it to you straight; if your God can’t create a world in 7 days, create seas/rivers with the command of his voice, make man out of dirt, a woman out of a man’s rib, heal your body & wipe your tears without touching you, snatch you from the doors of hell just by reaching out and forgive you even though you keep doing wrong; you’re serving the wrong God. If you have to get a buzz from alcohol instead of walking into God’s house, if you have to get high from smoking weed instead of from the Holy Spirit, if you have to cry from the hurt of the world instead of having joy and if you have to run from folks instead of rejoicing; you need to change your God. If you find joy in other folk’s tears and rejoice from other folk’s pain; you’re serving the wrong God. If the God you’re serving isn’t answering your prayers, try my God. If the God you’re serving can’t fill you up when you’re hungry, rock you to sleep when you’re restless, calm your nerves when you’re pacing, light the path you’re walking when it gets dark, carry you when it feels like you can’t go one, add more rope to the one you’re holding when it’s about to break and cushion the ground before you fall; you’re serving the wrong God. If the God you serve can’t make you feel warm on this inside and you haven’t drank anything hot, make you want to dance when there is no music, shout when you have no money in the bank and walk on even during the storm; you’re serving the wrong God. Joshua 24:15 sums it all up; “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Daily Devotional – 6/1/12 “What in the hell is going on?”

I know this is a Christian devotional and I probably should have said world instead of hell but with the world the way it is today, I’ve got to keep it real with you. The kids these days have no sense of urgency, no regards to what should be a priority and even a don’t care attitude when the world will chew them up and spit them out the first chance it gets. While sitting at my parents-in-laws on yesterday, we were talking to the kids about their attitudes and the fact that they expect things to be handed to them and it doesn’t seem to be registering. I’ve been trying to teach my daughter that the world doesn’t revolve around her and if she doesn’t realize it now, she will be in for a rude awakening once disappoints slaps her a few times across the face in the world. See, I’ve come to realize that the generation of children now couldn’t survive without parents. When I was 13, my sisters and I were responsible for our household because my momma had to work. She didn’t work because it was the cool thing to do but she worked because if she didn’t, we went without. We were able to cook, clean, wash clothes, take care of babies and anything else that needed to be done. We didn’t know the meaning of half cleaning a bathroom or not making a bed. We didn’t sleep if there was a dish in the sink and when we were of age, we worked during the summer because it was the responsible thing to do. Now, oh Lord, kids can’t even get a decent grade in school when school is all they have to do. They act like we are getting on their nerves when we tell them to clean the room they aren’t even paying for. We give them cell phones, name brand shoes/clothes, video games, nails, hair fixes and money to hang out when we hardly ever get the chance too. Am I blaming the parents, partially, because we share part of the blame? We didn’t have 19 pairs of shoes and we turned out find. We even shared clothes with each other and we survived. Now, they need a shoe to match the color of the strips in their shirt or a new pair of jeans because somebody else got them. We don’t even discipline them anymore because we have a Now & Later attitude whereas a child does something now and we say we’ll get them later. What in the hell is going on? The bible says in Proverbs 23:13, “Don’t fail to discipline your children. They won’t die if you spank them.” You didn’t die with all the whooping you got, did you? And then you had to go and get the switch or belt for your own punishment. However, with the “new age” parents, we allow the child to set the rules of the games but when did the play change? I mean, if you were disrespectful with your mouth, you got hit in your mouth but, now we tell them, “Say it one more time and I’m going to …!” What? What are you actually going to do later that you should have done then?

Bay-bee, you’d better get it together. Kids, these days have it all wrong. They talk more than they listen when the bible says in Proverbs 23:12 “Commit yourself to instruction; listen carefully to words of knowledge.” Even in my adult days now, I still listen to my parents and grandparents because they have the knowledge of all we are trying to do. Yea, I know that you may be a young parent but that doesn’t mean we stop parenting and parenting starts from when they are hold enough to learn right from wrong. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Instead of your daughter being on the phone while you cook dinner, teach her how to make the cornbread. While your son is chilling on a Saturday, he should be cutting the grass while you are edging in order to learn how to take care of his house someday. If we don’t teach them, how will they know?” Teach a young man to be responsible and respectful so that he’ll know how to treat young ladies. Teach a young lady how to be responsible and respectful so that she’ll know how to treat young men. Teach them the value of a dollar so that they won’t be 18 and sign away their life the first time a credit card application comes in the mail. Teach them how to love themselves, first, so that they won’t fall for the first person whispering in their ear. Teach them how to pray so that they can call on God when times get hard. Teach them how to worship so that the Holy Spirit can abide in them and speak for them when they can’t. Teach them how to be responsible drinkers when they get 21 so they won’t end up dead or in jail before they turn 22. Teach them how to work hard for the things they want instead of stealing and robbing folks. Teach them that it’s ok to love themselves but not become self-centered and full of themselves. If you have a trade, teach it to them because even if they act like there aren’t interested now, they will be when they least expect it. If you start early building their foundation, they’ll always have it to build on. Will they sometimes stray, yes but they’ll have a starting point to go back too. This is why the bible says in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

We are living in a society where kids are maturing faster than they ever have so before the world turns them into another statistic, we have to ground them. No ma’am, no sir; there isn’t anything cute about a 3-4 year old cussing, rapping and popping their butt. If they can do all that, they need to be potty trained. Folks aren’t laughing with you when they see a child being disrespectful at a store, church or school but they are laughing at you for being crazy enough to allow it to happen. My grandma always says you get them where they cut up at. Proverbs 29:15 says, “To discipline a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child.” So, instead of going to the school to act a fool with the teacher, act one with the child that’s cutting up and I can bet they won’t want that embarrassment again. See, while you are running up to the school to “show out,” you knew your child was hellish before you even sent them to school so stop acting like they do no wrong. You should be the main one sending thank you notes during teacher appreciation for them folks having to deal with the child you don’t even want to deal with. And if you got a problem with the teacher, discuss it alone and not in front of the child because the last thing they need to know is you can’t stand the teacher. Another thing, stop discussing grown folk business in front of children who have no business being in the business! Tare their tail up when they are disrespectful to the adult in the house who is not their biological mom or dad instead of saying that you will. You’re mad at your husband because he came home late, so what, the kids shouldn’t know it. You get mad at your wife because she didn’t give you any loving last night, the kids shouldn’t know it because you want to talk about it in the car. Grown folks business is grown folks business. Child, get cha life right! Now, don’t get me wrong, as the child gets older some things they need to experience in order to understand the goodness of God but they shouldn’t have a hand in everything that goes on. Let them see you sick so that they can understand when you say God is a doctor in a sick room. Let them know that you are temporarily out of funds, when they are asking for $200 tennis shoes and the light bill is due, so they’ll know that God can make a way when it looks like there is no way. Let them know that God can bring joy instead of you finding it in a bottle of alcohol. Let them see that God is the love you need instead of finding it between the legs of the many men/women you have coming in and out of your life. Ask yourself, if I died on today can my teenager/young adult survive in this world. If the answer is no, then it’s not too late to start because you have work to do. If the answer is yes, you still have work to do because learning happens every day. Yea, you may think you got it all under control and that your child will never do this but if a child is breathing, there isn’t anything they won’t try to get away with. Stop acting like your child doesn’t make mistakes because everybody does.

We’ve got to get back to teaching the right way instead of telling it to them. We’ve got to get back to paying attention instead of paying them to do the chores they are supposed to do. We’ve got to get back to praying for/with them instead of praying they make it to 18 to get out of your house. We got to get back to making them worthy of God’s blessings instead of making them go to church on Sunday where they text or sleep the entire time. We’ve got to being the parents that God has made us. The bible says in John 5:19, “Jesus gave them this answer, I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” And women are supposed to adhere to what the bible says in Titus 2:3-4, “Likewise, older women are to show their reverence for God by their behavior. They are not to be gossips or addicted to alcohol, but to be examples of goodness. That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children.” Don’t be quick to throw in the towel when your child makes mistakes because kids, young & old, will make mistakes because no one is perfect but God. Haven’t you realized by now that once you’re down and old, these same children you’re walking over will be responsible for you? Don’t be too quick to give up on them because they may just return the favor and then you’ll be sitting in a nursing home crying because no one will visit you. Start off with a strong foundation of Christ and his commandments and if they ever leave, they will have something to return to and to rebuild on. I know that times get hard and sometimes you feel like giving up, but someone cared for you when you needed it. You can’t be mad or sad when they are consumed by the streets if that’s the only choice you’ve given them. Stop giving up so easily on your child. Sometimes you have to take your hands off but that’s only when you have placed them in God’s hands.

Daily Devotional – 5/31/12 “How many haters do you have?”

Chile, if I hear about one more person hating on you! I mean really, how many haters can you possibly have? Just because somebody tells you your skirt is showing your butt the first thing you say, “Girl, she just hating.” When in actuality, it doesn’t make her a hater; she just does not want to see your tail. Yea, I know your man loves you and you want the world to know but if he is married to somebody else, he isn’t yours, so folks don’t hate on you when they say they are sick of hearing about him, they are really trying to get you to open your eyes and stop looking stupid. So what if you wear name brand clothes … OK … folks aren’t hating on you because they don’t, they are actually smarter because they are proud to shop at Wal-Mart/Target instead of spending $90 on one shirt, it’s cheaper! Folks aren’t hating when they tell you your attitude is rude, they are trying to get you to open your eyes before you push everybody away and you end up alone. Yea, you can say you don’t care until that day the phone stops ringing and folks stop coming. It’s alright to “do you boo” but stop thinking that folks hate on you when you walk into a room because even though you think you make be all that, you just might not be. It’s cool to be your number one fan but don’t expect everybody else to be, so stop with all the hater talk because if you’re walking God’s path, there isn’t anything the devil or a person on this Earth can do to knock you down from where God has placed you. Will folks talk about, yes! Will folks lie on you and scandalize your name, yes! Will they wish bad over everything your hands touch, yes! Will they wish for the stuff you have, yes! Will they wish sickness on your well days, yes! Will they wish you dead some days because they are jealous of what you have, yes! But this doesn’t make folks haters, this makes them human. This is why Matthew 10:22 says, “And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” See, most times it’s not their upbringing that’s the issue but it’s the folks they hang around and some folks do what they know because they haven’t been taught any better but that’s when you pray for them. Matthew 5:44-45 says, “But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven, for he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.”

If every time someone says something about you and you put them on blast on Facebook/Twitter or you text/email to argue back, you are no better than they are. Oh, but when you let that mess roll off you like oil, they’ll eventually get the point that your life is not based on what folks say or how they feel. You can’t change a person by telling them, every day, what they are doing wrong especially when you’re doing the same thing but you change them by allowing them to see the change in you. James 5:20 says, “Remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.” Plus, who can read what you’re posting anyway when you’ve misspelled most of the words, used Ebonics or 99% of it is cursing. There is a way to handle all things but you have to be in the right frame of mind and you have to listen. The bible says in James 1:19-20, “Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” You don’t have haters just because folks are stating their opinion of you, so you need to listen because sometimes those opinions count. Stop taking everything the wrong way because when you do, you may just burn a bridge that you’ll need to cross later. Proverbs 15:1 says, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” If everyone you come into contact with is labeled a hater, you may want to take a step back and look at yourself because you could have hater written across your glasses which means everything you look at will be. Remove the glasses and look again, then you’ll see that all is not what it seems. Now, please don’t get me wrong, you will have folks who wish nothing but bad for others but that doesn’t mean they hate you, they just have a spirit that they have to work on releasing. Is this for you to fix, no but you can pray for them. See, hate is defined as to dislike somebody or something intensely, often in a way that evokes feelings of anger, hostility, or animosity. So, if a person chooses to hate, then they remove themselves from the realm of God which blocks their blessings and cancels their ticket to Heaven. You can’t fix them but, again, you can pray for them because this is your Christian duty. James 5:15 says, “Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.” See, when you pray for others they are healed from whatever that ails them and not only are they blessed but so are you.

You may have been raised differently or you may have grown out of the way you used to be, so you no longer act like a “hater” but not everyone is on the level you are, so pray for them and stop letting them affect who you are. Like I tell my kids; if the person who is talking doesn’t affect your lifestyle in a positive way, then their opinion shouldn’t be held in that high of a regard. Understand, I didn’t say don’t listen but I said if it doesn’t affect you positively but how would you know if you didn’t listen? This is why you have to be careful who you label because they person you stamped a hater could hold the key to the door that God asked them to open for you. Don’t be too quick to throw them out the way because you could be throwing out the blessing you’ve been praying for. Ask yourself these questions: Do they affect the way I walk, talk, live or give? Do they have anything to do with where I live, what I eat, the clothes I wear, the TV I watch or the car I ride in? Can they get me into Heaven? Can they wipe my past clean and forgive me when I sin? Can they wipe my tears away without being in the same room? Can they give me rest at night when I keep tossing and turning? Can I pray to them and they calm my nerves? If the answer is no, then they shouldn’t really matter. Love and pray for them from a distance because it’s your Christian duty. Oh, but if they can open a door that has previously been shut, unblock a new path when your back is against the wall or throw a life jacket when you feel like you’re drowning; they may have a purpose in your life. You do know that God sometime use common folk to bless you, right? Why do you think God gave each of use different talents and gifts? I bless you with my gift of hearing God’s word in a way that can minister to your spirit and you may use your gift of cooking to feed folk or your gift of sewing to clothe folk. You may have a gift of patience that allows you to help folk with their problems or a gift of talking that helps someone who is on the ledge and about to jump. Don’t be quick to push everybody away because you’ve made your mind up on how you should be because they may just be the blessing God sent. Stop being selfish and open up your mind and heart to receive God’s word and work that he has for your life because that hater could be the boost you need to the next level.

Daily Devotional – 5/30/12 “Don’t hide your scars, they have a story to tell!”

You ride in your car that’s been freshly cleaned, smelling and looking good with your fresh cut or hairdo, with that nice suit or cute dress, shoes on point with the biggest smile because you want folks to think that you’re alright, that you have everything together, that you have no worries when that is the farthest from the truth. When you get home, behind closed doors you’re drinking tears for water when you should have joy, you’re pacing the floor when you should be praying, you’re tossing and turning when you should be sleep and you’re worrying when God should be handling it. Baby God never told you to hide who you are from the world because if every time someone who hasn’t found God sees you and you’re always “blessed and highly favored” how would they know that God is good or how would a sinner know God will forgive their sins if you walk around like you’ve never committed any? Haven’t you been reading any of these devotionals when I’ve said sometimes the closest a nonbeliever gets to God is you? Why are you ashamed to let folks know you sometimes have trouble when 1 Peter 4:16 says, “But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name?” You do know that you’re not alone, right? Yea, you may cover your scars but they’re still there and hiding it doesn’t make it go away but showing it lets folk know that God will do just what he said he’ll do. See, scars are just trophies the devil gives to let you know he didn’t win but you did. So, don’t be ashamed to let folks see the tear stains on your face because it lets them know you’re alive. Don’t be ashamed to let folks see the marks on your knees because that lets them know your prayer life is active. Don’t be ashamed to let folks see the scars on your back because it lets them know that even after you’ve been betrayed and turned on, God can turn it around to work in your favor. Don’t be afraid to let folks see your bald head after chemo took your hair; it lets them know that God can heal even when the doctors can’t. Don’t be ashamed to tell folks you’ve been to jail or in trouble with the law before because it lets them know that God had to lock you down before you got yourself together. Don’t be ashamed to let folks know you’ve been down in the valley and it didn’t seem like you could get out but you did because it lets them know that God had to knock you down before you realized that life is shorter than you think.


Yea, you thought you had a great marriage until your spouse turned out to be a stranger in your home but that’s just a way for God to show you the wrong in order for you to appreciate the right so don’t be ashamed because it can help someone else by hearing your story. I know, you thought that new job was going to be all you’ve ever wanted until they laid you off after 2 months but that’s just God way of showing that you need to trust in his No’s because he knows what’s best so don’t be scared to share it because it could help somebody else along the way. Yea, you thought that car you bought with your income taxes was the best deal you’ve ever found until you had to leave it on the side of the expressway after the motor went out but that’s just God showing you that not everything that looks good to you is good for you so don’t be ashamed to tell folk so they won’t make the same mistake at the same place you did. See, this is why God gives us tests in order for us to come through with a testimony but a testimony is no good if you don’t share it. Mark 8:38 says, “If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” God won’t allow you to go through the war or into the wilderness to be killed but he allows you to come out stronger so that you can tell others who are going in its not so bad if they keep their God up. It’s like you’re a walking billboard because how would you know what to try when you go to the store or a fast food restaurant if you didn’t see the advertising in commercials and ads? Well, sharing a testimony is the same way because it allows someone to see just how good God is by viewing your ad (testimony) and then they may want to try Him. It’s not because we have sinned more than the next person the reason why we have storms, trials and some suffering but it is so we can have a story to tell after the clouds have receded and the sun is now shining.


Don’t you know God won’t allow you to go through anything that he hasn’t already prepared you for? That’s why Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” So why are you hiding your scars and keeping your testimony to yourself? God knows what you can handle because he was the one that molded you and he knows how much weight you can carry before he drops it on your shoulder which is why he made you the way you are. God, the potter, knows how strong you are because he was the one to put in you the heat. This is why the storms we face are different from everybody else’s. God knew I couldn’t handle losing my mom but he knew that you were strong enough too just like he knew you couldn’t handle cancer which is why he gave it to someone else. God knows you can’t handle being thrown around by the waves of the ocean which is why he put you on solid ground because he knew you could handle being dragged through the dirt by so called friends. This is why I know it to be true that God will not put more on you that you can absolutely bear. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” Don’t be afraid to wear your scars because they are just awards to show that although you had to fight, you came out with your head held high because Psalm 28:7 says, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.” See, when you have the Lord on your side there is strength and a shield to ward off the enemy. It’s like a bullet-proof vest, when you have it on you may get a few bruises and even be sore after the attack, but it stops the bullet that is meant to kill you. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 states, “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”


With every battle come wounds that leave scars and after the scars there is complete healing, after the healing there is deliverance and after the deliverance there’s joy! Even when God allows the trouble to come, it may knock you down but it doesn’t come to knock you out so don’t be ashamed of your scars but wear them proud as a sign because they have a story to tell and yours just maybe a bestseller. I won’t allow my book to catch dust but I’ll leave it open on the table for you to read because baby these scars I have, whether visible or not, on my skin made me who I am. The scars on my knees shows that my pray life is busy. The scars on my hands are from me climbing up the rough side of the mountain. The scars on my back are from the folks who said they were for me but stabbed me when I turned around. The stains on my face are from the many nights I had to cry myself to sleep when the world was being extra cruel. The scars under the bottom of my feet are from the many roads I’ve had to travel on my Christian walk. So, whatever you’ve been through, going through or about to go through, don’t let it take you out. Go through it with your God up so that when you come out stronger, it’ll be the next chapter in your book that has no ending.

Daily Devotional – 5/29/12 “Are your memories worth remembering?”

With the Memorial Day Holiday on yesterday, it caused a lot of memories to be brought back of loved ones who are no longer here and even thoughts of servicemen and women who have served this country wholeheartedly and paid the ultimate sacrifice with their life. Some people visited cemeteries to pay their respect by leaving flowers, some enjoyed family time with members who were visiting from out of town and some even spent the much needed vacation at home doing nothing but it didn’t take away from the holiday. Many folks weren’t bothered by the 100 degree heat index to visit the grave-sites of those loved ones and they endured it all because their memory was worth every bead of sweat that formed on every part of their body. Now, my question to you is what memories will you leave behind? Will your memory be worth folks rising early in the morning to endure the heat to add flowers to your grave or will you be a passing thought as the family sits around after eating? Yea, I know you think because you’re young you got time to get it together and to get it right but the bible says in Matthew 24:36, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father,” so your eyes aren’t guaranteed to open on tomorrow no more than those of my 84 year old grandfather, so I ask again, what memories are you leaving? See, I’ve learned through the years that it really doesn’t matter about your date of birth or even your date of death because the dash in between the 2 is what speaks the most. Will you leave a memory of being someone who used to be that person no one wanted to see coming or the person that no one could go a day without coming to see? Will you be a person who allowed the world to change them or a person who changed the world to fit them? Will that dash be justified in the story that it tells about the life that you lived? If you have to worry about what folks are saying about you when you leave a room, your memories may be affected when you leave this earth. Are you willing to stand around and listen to what folks have to say about you because you know that even though you made some mistakes, in your life, you learned from them and became the person that God designed you to be or will you be too ashamed to hear people call you a liar, backstabber, gossiper, ditch digger and unfriendly? The bible tells us in Genesis 1:27, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” God didn’t create us to be anything other than a righteous person who strives to be like him. No, he didn’t say we wouldn’t make mistakes because he promised us trouble and with trouble come bad choices/mistakes, but he expects us to repent and learn from the mistakes we’ve made and will make so that we don’t make them again. Will you be perfect, no but this is why Psalm 34:19 says, “A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all,” so, there isn’t an excuse for not making your dash count. So I ask again, will your memories be worth remembering?

You have to realize that although you don’t care what folks think now, those same folk have to eulogize you when you’re gone and I don’t want anyone standing over my casket lying about how much they loved me when they couldn’t stand the sight of me living. Even if you don’t love me, like me enough to tell me when I need to get it together and when I’m wrong. I want my memory to be worth remembering, don’t you? Yea, some of our dashes will be longer than others, depending on the years that we are given by God, but it doesn’t mean we work any less to make it count for something. Just because you think you’re all that and a bag of chips, it doesn’t mean the world does so stop walking around acting like your head only points upward because when it points down, you may not have anyone there willing to help you. Stop acting like your hand can’t reach out to help folks because when you become the one reaching out for help, you won’t find any. And if you think you won’t need anybody or that you’ll never fall, keep living. Ecclesiastes 7:20 says, “Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.” See, those same folks whose shoulders you stood on to lift you up will be the same ones helping you back down when you fall. Those folks whose backs you walked over to cross the valley will be the same ones on their stomach pulling you back up when you fall down into your valley. And you will one day be in the valley because Job 5:7 says, “People are born for trouble as readily as sparks fly up from a fire.” However, folks will only talk about your time in the valley if you never try to get out of it. Oh, but if you come out rejoicing from the valley because it made you stronger, then they’ll remember you as being a fighter against the trials of this world. When you come out of your storm wet and clothes disheveled but not your spirit, folks will remember that. When you come out the fire with your clothes burned, not your spirit and with ashes on your face but not your faith, folks will remember this and this will be the memory they hold and not of you giving up and throwing in the towel when it became too much.

See, somebody can stand and say, “My dash will represent the new me because even though I used to be a drug addict, alcoholic or whoremonger; I committed myself back to God and he dipped my broken body in his blood and I came out clean and whole.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”) Someone can stand and say, “My dash will represent the new me because even though I used to lie, cheat and steal, God came into my life when I invited him and now I lie with him during the good and the bad and I only steal away when I need to pray.” (Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”) Somebody can say, “My dash will say even though I’ve made mistakes, God forgave me and he still forgives me for them over and over, if I ask. (1 John 1:9, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”) Someone can say, “I was once afraid to acknowledge God before folks that I knew but when I realized the power that he can place over my life, how he can bring me through storms, comfort me when friends are gone, heal me when sickness comes and send rest when I toss and turn at night, so I proudly proclaim to be a child of the king, no matter who is listening! (Luke 12:8, “I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God.) Your memories should be those bad things that you’ve made good and the good things you’ve made better. Your memories should be worth remembering to all those who come in contact with you even if only for a moment.

Will you always be perfect, no but no one is but that doesn’t mean you have to be the best at being the worst. Yea, sure you’ll have days that make you feel like throwing in the towel but that won’t be remembered if you take that same towel to wipe the sweat and keep on going. Will you always have days that make you smile, no, but those won’t be remembered if you don’t take your attitude out on others. When we mess up, God (the potter), take us (the clay), places us back on the wheel in order for him to smooth out the bumps that have formed in us. Then we are molded back into the shape that God wants us to be, placed back into the heat and its then we are able to withstand the heat, a little bit more. See, every time we ask for forgiveness and every time we go in the fire, we come out strong enough to handle being dropped and thrown around without breaking, that’s God remolding us which gives us time to make our dash count. Every time we fall and he allows us to get up or he heals our bodies, he is giving us a chance to make our dash count. Don’t allow your living to be in vain. Just because you’ve made a mistake or committed a sin on yesterday, repent for it, be forgiven and learn from it. Just because you feel the best you have in years, doesn’t mean today won’t be your last day because even on your well days, you are sick enough to die. Don’t wait until tomorrow to talk to God; don’t wait until Monday to start cleaning your life up, don’t wait until Sunday to talk to God and don’t wait until you’re lying on your death bed to confess your wrongs, start today. Forgive those who have hurt you, forget those who have walked away and haven’t looked back, love those that are in your life, help those who hands are out asking, pray for those who need it even if they never ask and tell all about the love of God. Your life has a meaning; the kind of meaning that it has, well that depends on you. Make it count! Make your memories be worth remembering by those you’ll leave behind!