Daily Devotional – 5/9/12 “Trust should be given!”

Yea, I know that you think that folk should gain your trust but who are you to be so picky? Don’t you expect folks to trust you, then why can’t you give them the same? If you’ve met someone or if you’ve known someone and they’ve never given you a reason to not trust them, then you should. Trust them, I mean. Why are you treating your current spouse like they were the one who hurt you because of your previous relationships? It isn’t his/her fault that you picked the wrong people to love/lust on before them so they shouldn’t be held accountable for the pain that was caused to you by them. It’s like you getting mad at your new doctor for the surgery your old doctor performed when it makes no sense. Yea, ok, you’ve been hurt in the past, get over it! I know folks took the love you gave and stepped on it, pick it up and dust it off and get over it! If you are still alive through all that you’ve been through, you are a survivor, so move on. Stop holding on to the things other folks have done because it makes you bitter which then turns to resentment and resentment turns to anger. Now, you’re just one big ball of angry mess who will eventually be left alone. Yes, so your baby daddy turned out to be a deadbeat, well he was probably a deadbeat dude before he ever became a daddy but you were too blinded by the sex to see it. (Harsh but oh so true) Now, you treat every man who comes after the way you should have been treating him before you laid down with him. Child, you better wake up before you send away your true blessing of a man! Yea, your boo thang turned out to be the name of a gardening tool (and I don’t mean rake) and now you got the nerve to be a stalker to every girl you’ve dated since but had you listened to your momma when she said that girl ain’t the one, you wouldn’t be in the mess you’re in. But, no, you decided to give it a try anyway and now you’re making every girl after her pay for the deeds she done. Boy, you’d better man up before you push away the rib you sacrificed to be the one God designed for you.

When you love, that for real shonuff love, you won’t have a problem trusting because love covers whatever ailed you in the past, that’s why 1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” See, when you love for all the right reasons, there won’t be any wrong reason. This doesn’t mean that you’ll have a perfect relationship because nothing nor anybody is perfect, besides God/Jesus, but what it means is whatever you face you’ll be able to overcome when you handle it together. You’ll deal with the bad days because the good days will outweigh them. You’ll deal with sickness and disease because you’ll have the strength to carry the other one when they can’t walk. You’ll deal with money problems because you’ve learned to live off the little in order to be able to handle when your breakthrough comes. You’ll be able to handle the attacks from the enemy when he sends temptations your way because you have that trust with each other that surpasses other folk’s understanding. When you love with God’s love, trust will automatically come because you’ll be able to handle everything else and then you won’t give up so easily. Psalm 84:12 says, “O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you!” See, when you trust in God, God places trust in you which then leads to you being abundantly blessed. When you trust in God, God places trust in you and it won’t allow you to dwell in hurtful places because Psalm 31:14-15 says, “But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD, I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.” God will remove you from any situations or circumstances that will causes you harm when your trust is in him. This doesn’t mean that hurt won’t come but God won’t allow you to stay and wallow in it for too long.

Now, trust should be given unless it has been broken in the past, then it is earned but this only refers to the same person. If your teenage daughter has broken the trust that you’ve given her time and time again, then she needs to earn your trust back but don’t hold her accountable for the things her older sister put you through. If your spouse cheated on you, then they should earn your trust back when you forgive but don’t hold their mistakes over their head. If you’ve forgiven someone for things they’ve done to betray your trust, then you have to forget it and let it go and if they have changed and are proving to you that they are worthy of being trusted, give it to them. Don’t keep searching the kid’s rooms, checking your spouse’s pockets, going through the cellphone, cellphone records, looking at emails or following them in a separate car because when you go looking for stuff you find stuff. And when you’re looking, the enemy is constantly whispering in your ear so even if you do find something you’ll turn it into something it’s not because you’re looking at it in anger and from a place of distrust, so you’ll see what you want to see. When you’re looking through distrustful eyes, you’ll turn a meaningless conversation between coworkers into a full relationship. When you’re looking through distrustful eyes, you’ll be quick to listen to your friends who say your spouse is cheating because they saw him/her drop somebody off at home when this isn’t new to you but because it came from someone else, the wheels start turning in your mind. If you forgive then you have to forget because they work together. If you decided to take back the person who broke your trust then you’ve got to start giving them the trust back and stop bringing up their old actions. Matthew 6:14-15 says, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Besides, you’ve had to be forgiven for things you’ve done in the past so who are you to make other folk suffer for mistakes if they’ve apologized and you say you’ve forgiven them? Don’t be too quick to throw your hands up and the towel in on someone just because they didn’t stay on the pedestal you placed them on because sometimes you can lift a person higher than they are able to handle and when they make a mistake your heart is broken. Leave the elevation to God because when it’s done by him, falling is sometimes in the plan which means you can fall without getting hurt and plus you can get back up better than you were before you fell. God made us so that we could love and being in love means trusting the one you’re with. Trust so that when trials and storms comes you’ll have someone to go through them with.

Daily Devotional – 5/8/12 “You’ve prayed and you have faith, now what?”

You’ve been down on your knees all night praying for God to come and see about you then you got off your knees with the faith that he could do whatever it is you asked him for but what else did you do? You do know that in order for God to help you, you’ve got to also help yourself, right? How can God help you pay your bills if you have no money towards them? Yea, saying you got faith that God will come through is great but he won’t produce a money tree in your backyard because you have to have something in order for him to increase it. How can he bless you with a job and you haven’t filed out any applications? I know that God knows your talents but these companies who are hiring don’t. You’ve got to put in a little work. It’s like you praying for God to bless you with a new car, yet you haven’t been to one car lot. Yes, God gives us blessings and some of the things we pray for but we have to also work because these things don’t magically appear. Didn’t you read the scripture in James 2:26 that say “Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works?” Then stop with the woe is me syndrome and do something. Yes, you’ve prayed and you even have faith but now what?

You’ve been fasting for 2 days because you want God to take away the sin that you’ve allowed to bound you but I’ve said it before, God can’t take anything that doesn’t belong to him because that would make him a thief. If you have sin inside of you, give it to God and then he can help you get over it. Don’t you know if God could snatch sin from our mouth, hands, head and heart without us doing any work, we wouldn’t have sinners? When we allow ourselves to get caught up in the world, it’s not God but it’s the flesh. So God can’t take what isn’t his or what he didn’t give. It’s like you standing with a cigarette in your hand begging God to take the taste of nicotine out of your mouth but God can’t remove it when you’re still using it. The only way for you to begin to get rid of your addiction, you have to first give it up. Yes, you have faith that it can be done but now what? The bible says in James 2:14, “What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?” You have to help God help you and that’s by praying, having faith and then working. You pray for God to forgive you for committing adultery and you promise to never do it again but you answer every time the sin calls, you reply every time they text or you go running every time they say. Child, stop answering the phone! Make up your mind to stop and then stop. Yea, you’ll still have temptations but with giving your sin to God he’ll give you extra strength to fight them off. You can’t pray for a change, have faith that is can be done and then go back to sleep because James 2:17 says, “So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.” You say, “Lord, can help me get this extension on my light bill?” then you go get on the couch to watch TV instead of calling or going to even ask for the extension. Honey, no! I guess you expect your account to appear on someone’s screen and then for them to know you need and extension and when your payday is? It doesn’t work that way. You’ve prayed and you got faith, so now work towards showing God that you really mean what you pray, he’ll do the rest.

Pray to God, have faith and then work! God can help you when you pray but you have to show him that you’re willing to accept the help he’s giving. If you pray and have faith that you can stop cursing, then work on stopping. Think before you speak and watch how your conversation changes. If you pray to stop smoking, stop buying the cigarettes or the marijuana and have faith that God will take away your desire for it then work on not picking it back up. If you pray for God to change the way you treat folk and you have the faith that it can be done, start treating them differently and watch God change your entire attitude and way of thinking. If you pray and have faith that God will stop you from drinking, stop going by the liquor store but work towards changing. To sum it all up and to make it plain, you have some work to do. You can’t expect God to help you pass a test if you never take it. You can’t pray for God to fix your marriage if you aren’t willing to work on changing whatever is wrong. The same way you can’t pray for God to heal you if you aren’t willing to take the medicine the doctor is giving. Pray for your change or for what you need, have faith that it can be done or given and then work toward making it happen. If it is your desire to attend worship service more, make a change in your schedule and go and let God do the rest. I know folks and even I have said let go and let God, this hasn’t changed but when you let God have it work so that he can keep it. If you’ve given him the hate that you’ve had bottled up in your heart, work towards loving so that you don’t reach back for the hate. If you’ve given him the doubt that you once carried around, work towards now believing so that the doubt never returns. When you’ve prayed and you have the faith that your prayer has been heard, work for your blessing. Mary Mary’s new song says, go get your blessing! God has your healing, he has your deliverance, he has your new career, house or car but you need to go get it. If God dropped blessings into our laps so easily, who would know what suffering feels like? Go get your blessing! Go get your healing! Go get your breakthrough! It’s your time, so go get it. You’ve prayed and you have faith, now what?

Daily Devotional – 5/2/12 “Don’t get tired now, keep running!”

Because God has a purpose for you! I know that some days on your Christian journey you get tired and it seems like the more good you try to do, the more the enemy attacks you, right? You know how you’ve managed to balance your checkbook just right and it looks like you may have a few dollars left until the next payday, then something you forgot about goes through and now your checking account is in the negative. Well, that’s just the enemy trying to make you give up on the faith that God said for you to have. Yea, it’s the enemy’s job to knock you off your path because when you’re down, you are more vulnerable to his attack but its God’s job to pick you up, dust you off and start you back on your way. That’s why John 10:10 says, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” I’ve told you, before, that the problems of this world would come but that’s because they’ve been promised to you. However, God left his word for you as a guide to handle and defeat the attacks that are meant to take you out. How do you get what you need to fight this life’s battles? By reading and studying God’s word. Joshua 1:8 says, “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.” See, when you study God’s word you find out that when trouble comes it’s not that God has forsaken you but it’s to make you stronger, when folks walk away from you it’s because their season was over in your life, when death comes it’s because it’s a part of living, when hurt happens you will know that it won’t last always and when you fall you’ll know that you can get back up. But you have to study! 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Then after you study God’s word, put it to work in your life. Even in the midst of your bad days, struggles, sins, of wanting to throw in the towel, wanting to back slide into the world or be anyone other than who God wants you to be, he’s still here. God says in Genesis 28:15, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Every day, he gives me a word to share with his people even when I don’t feel worthy of it but I keep going because he doesn’t have to do it. He anoints my head with wisdom even when I’m too stubborn to say thank you. He gives me never-ending strength to handle the devil when he knocks on my door. He allows me to sin and then repent and he still forgives me. And because he does these things for me, who I am to give up just because the race gets longer and harder? God puts strength in our bodies that allows us to push on even though we know we should have passed out long ago. God gives us a fresh anointing every day that allows us to keep standing even though your legs should have given out hours ago. He gives us new mercies every morning that allows us to see the path we are walking even if we never say thank you. Why should you keep running for God because God keeps running for you! How would you be if God gave up so easily on you the way you give up on him when times get hard? Will you still have the job you have, the car you drive, the house you live in, the healing from that disease, the feeling back in your hands, the strength in your legs or the power in your tongue? Yea, the enemy makes living in the world looks great but even a pit bull can be sweet until he decides not to be. Don’t be fooled by folks who think all they have is because of their own doing because the devil blesses too but unlike God, his blessings come with a price. Yea, your husband spoils you with the finest gifts but he also knocks you around for fun every night. Yea, you wear nice clothes but you steal them all and manage to not get caught. No, it wasn’t God that allowed the security guards to walk passed you because God won’t cover your mess, but the devil does because it makes the payback harder for you.

I know you had it “going on” when you were in the world and now it seems like you can never make ends meet since you became a Christian, but keep running. I know that you had more friends than time to spend with them before you chose God’s side but keep running. I know that you never wanted for anything and you never had to worry about what folks said before you came to work for God but keep running. 2 Corinthians 4:17 says, “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” Don’t give up now just because it seems you’ve had more sick days than well ones, keep running because James 5:15 says, “And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” Don’t throw in the towel now because you keep getting passed in the race, keep running because 1 Corinthians 9:24 says, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” Don’t stay down because the count is almost to 10, get back up and keep running because Proverbs 24:16 says, “For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.” Just because the way looks dark, keep running because Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

So see, your running will pay off but you can’t stop. I know that it’s easy for a person with money to tell you to pray about your situation when you’re struggling but they didn’t always have it good. Don’t get angry at the doctor for telling you it’ll be alright after diagnosing you with cancer because you don’t know what he’s been through. Don’t hold a grudge against your coworker who always seems to never be without even though you guys seem to be living a similar life, you don’t know the battles she had to fight to be blessed the way she is. Stop wishing for other folks blessings because you don’t know the hell they had to endure to get them. Keep running, stay your course and keep your faith and let God handle it all. Stop wishing for the blessings I’ve received because you didn’t go through the same storm I did to get them. You are wishing for my marriage but you didn’t see the heartache I had to endure to get my spouse. You are wishing for my job but you didn’t see the doors being slammed in my face before I got it. You are wishing for my car but you didn’t see the numerous rejections I received before I received it. You’re wishing for my smile but didn’t see the many nights I cried myself to sleep to get it. You see my life but you didn’t see the battles I had to fight to live it. Be careful what you ask for because your legs may not be as strong as mine to walk the path I did, your shoulders may not carry the weight mine did, your arms might not be strong enough to climb the mountains I had to get over, your feet may not be strong enough to stand in the foot holes made by my enemies and your back probably won’t take as many knives as mine has! God isn’t short on blessings, but you have to have faith that what you’re asking him for he’ll give and then you have to be ready to work for them. You can’t stop running simply because there is an obstacle in your way. You have to jump over it, go through it or around it in order to keep on. Your race won’t always be easy but don’t give up now, keep running because at the finish line you’ll receive the reward that is meant for you.

Daily Devotional – 5/1/12 “Tuesday Prayer when all you have is despair”

“Our Father whose in Heaven, hallowed will be your name, may your kingdom come and your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Lord, I come before your throne this morning to first thank you. I must thank you for sight, hearing, feeling, touching and tasting. Lord, I thank you for blessing my hands so that I can work, I thank you for blessing my feet so that I can walk the right path, I thank you for blessing my mind to know the difference between right and wrong, I thank you for blessing my heart so that I can love, my tongue so that I may speak life and my ears so that I can hear when you’re speaking.

Lord, I must thank you for giving me skin that heals when folk stab me in the back and when I have to spend more time on my knees praying. I thank you for the tears on days when folk do me wrong; I thank you for the comfort you give when I feel so all alone, for the help when I feel helpless and for hope when I feel hopeless. I thank you for strong shoulders to endure life’s troubles and hardships and for strong legs and arms to carry the heavy burdens that life gives.

Lord, I thank you for allowing me to be a vessel of your word even when I’m not perfect, you still use me for your good because you know my worthiness. I’m grateful for the path you’ve placed me on and I’m even more grateful for the forgiveness you give me when I sometimes stumble. Thank you for being a light in my dark places and my GPS when I’m lost. I thank you for my family, friends and even for my enemies who you use as my footstool to elevate me higher.

Now, Lord I ask that you bless the person reading this. Let them know that you’re comfort when they’re grieving, a tear wiper when they’re crying, a deliverer through trials, a company keeper in their lonely hour, a sleeping pill when they’re tossing and turning, a healer when they’re sick, hope when doors are being closed, a guide when they can’t see their way, help when their back is against the wall, a bill extender when money is low, medicine when they can’t afford it, an umbrella when their storms rage, a fence of protection from their enemies, understanding when there isn’t any and joy when the world has taken all they have.

Lord, I don’t know the needs of all those reading this but you do so I ask, if it’s in your will, to stop by and grant the needs that are being whispered this morning. Enlarge territories, break down walls and remove the stumbling blocks that have been placed in their path. Lord, I know that you’re able and I believe that you will. Bless and continue to watch over the children that are growing up in this mean world. Lord they are facing issues and tragedy every day at the hands of folks who are supposed to love them and take care of them, they are struggling to survive when they should be taken care of, hungry when they should be eating, walking the streets when they should be at school and working the streets when they should be asleep.

Lord, I’m asking you to bind peer pressure, bullying, sex, teenage pregnancy and thoughts of suicide. Protect them now God from the hands of the men and women who wish to do them harm, crown their heads with the wisdom and the knowledge to know when to say no and to turn away when they want to say yes. Lord, do it now. Whisper to the children now oh Lord and let them know that you’re a prayer away. Remove the anger from the hearts and tongues of those who need love but don’t have it and renew in your children the right spirit to be healed from whatever addiction, sickness or disease that’s attacking their bodies now. Heal and deliver on today Lord.

Set free whoever is in bondage or in an abusive relationship. Raise up those who have fallen and don’t think they can get up. Feed those who are hungry, clothed those who are cold, cover those who are sleeping outside and release those who are fighting a war within their own mind. Lord, we need you down here and we can’t get along without you. Don’t leave us in the midst of our trials but come in and sup with us. And when you close our eyes on this side, our work down here is done and cross has been carried, let us rest in peaceful sleep until the day you return for us. Do these things for your child now as I humbly submit this prayer to you because it’s in your name I pray.”

Amen