Daily Devotional – 4/13/12 “Yea, it’s Friday the 13th, so what?”

Ok, so I know that you’ve contributed all the bad luck you’ve had this morning to today being Friday the 13th, right? Child, please! The date had nothing to do with you oversleeping, not being able to find something to wear, running late, traffic, the line at McDonalds/Starbucks, the folks at your job acting foolish and the mounds of work you’ve got to do. All of these things can happen on Monday the 16th too. It’s called life! Yea, I know it stinks sometime but what can you do? Stop using all the excuses to put blame on others for your actions. You woke up frowning because that’s the person you are. You speak harsh because that’s how you want folks to think of you. You act mean because you are mean and it has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with the date on the calendar. It’s just like you believing in a person who can predict the future when no one can do it with uncertainty but God. You’d rather pay someone to read your palm rather than read the bible. You’d spend all your money letting someone tell you what the future holds for you rather than trusting in God. Don’t you know the bible says in Leviticus 19:31 “Do not defile yourselves by turning to mediums or to those who consult the spirits of the dead? I am the LORD your God.” If you should be turning to anyone about your life, it should be God because he is the one that created you, right?

We’ve become so caught up in superstitions and worldly stuff that we forget about the purpose and promise of God. Yea, you know that you won’t sit your purse on the floor because “they” say you’ll be broke, when you know good and well that you barely had change in the bottom anyway; you’re already broke. You almost kill yourself trying to turn around after seeing a black cat cross your path because somebody told you that you’d have bad luck if you didn’t but you knew that tire needed air on last night so when you went out this morning and it was on flat, it wasn’t the cat’s fault. You will slap fire from your child from sweeping across your feet with the broom because “they” said, again it was bad luck or some have even said you won’t get married but aren’t you already married? Or, breaking a mirror will give you seven (7) years of bad luck. Haven’t you realized that things only have power when you give it to them? You put all your power in the fear of superstitions when they can’t really harm you. I know that grandma told you about these superstitions, so you’ve held on to them but baby it’s time you give that stuff up. 1 Timothy 4:7 says, “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.” Superstition is defined as an irrational, but usually deep-seated belief in the magical effects of a specific action or ritual, especially in the likelihood that good or bad luck will result from performing it. In other words it’s idolizing.

When you idolize things, your focus are on those things and it takes your focus from God and when your focus is not on God, you are easily devoured by the devil. It’s like me asking you to stand on a small box while staring ahead on one object. As long as you stare at this particular object, you are focused on just it and it allows you to stand on that small box that is under your feet but as soon as I call your name or stand beside you and you look my way, you lose your focus and fall off of the box. Why, because you lost your focus point. Well, it’s the same way with God. See, God is your focus point and if you keep your eyes on him, you are able to stand on this small box (the world) while you make your way to the end goal, Heaven. As long as you stay focused on God, you’ll be able to balance yourself from attacks of the enemy, from folks pulling on you trying to pull you down; from the mean things evil folks are throwing at you and those who occasionally walk in your line of sight. When you have your eyes focus on God, all the things folks mean for your bad will bounce off of you. Yea, you may wobble and you may even sometimes fall but you’re able to stand back on your box and realign your focus because unlike the letters on that chart you have to read at the eye doctor, God won’t get smaller the more you look at him but the closer you get the bigger he becomes. Jesus said, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me (John 12:44).” Just because the car didn’t start this morning, the coffee wasn’t good when you got it, your heel broke while walking into the job, they wouldn’t give you an extension on your bill and your account went into the negative a day before payday; it’s not bad luck it’s just life. Things, bad and good, happen every day because that’s a part of life. It has nothing to do with Friday the 13th, you not eating black eyed peas on New Year’s Day, not paying your tithes on Sunday or you not saying your prayers but these things happen because it was promised. In Genesis 3:17, God said it to Adam, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life,” and I’m sure you know this verse by hard but I’ll share it again, “Man born of a woman is of a few days and full of trouble, Job 14:1.”

So, please stop thinking that you have a dark cloud of thunder and rain following you around when bad luck comes. It’s just your time to go through your storm but know that just like the storm started, it’ll end. Just hold on through the bad luck, the no luck, the storm and through the rain. You’ll soon see the sun but you’ll always have God on your side pulling you through. Ephesians 1:11 says, “Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.” Enough said!

Daily Devotional – 4/12/12 “Patience!”

There was a young man who never had patience for anything. He couldn’t stand to wait in lines at restaurants, in stores or in traffic. He thought that people should always be in a hurry, because he was. He was always rushing from the time he got up in the morning until the minute he laid down at night. He never had time to talk to the kids because he’d always rush them through the story, so they stopped talking to him. His wife could never have a casual conversation with him because he had so many thought going through his head that he never paid attention. One night after he’d come home, his wife came into the living room because she wanted, no; she needed to talk to him. He replied, “Make it fast because I have some things to do before bed.” She rolled her eyes and as she fumbled with the paper that was in her hands she said, “I had a meeting at Josh’s (their 17 year old son) school today and he is no longer going to be able to finish his junior year there, but …,” He quickly became angry shouting, I can’t believe this, I can’t believe that, what has he done now and doesn’t he know the amount of money we spend making sure he gets a great education? He went on and on for 30 minutes ranting and raving. He told the son that he was always doing things without thinking about the consequences and his actions, this was the final straw. See, their son had gotten into a lot of trouble a few years back but his dad was too busy to notice the change in his behavior for his good. He didn’t notice that he was excelling in school or that he was active and doing very well in sports and well liked in his community because he never stopped long enough too. When the son started to speak, his dad, out of anger, punched him in the chest never allowing him to explain. His son ran out of the house and as he was walking to his friend’s house a block away, he was killed by a drunk driver who jumped the curb. When they returned from the hospital, his dad sat in the living room replaying the night’s actions in his head. He couldn’t believe how fast everything had happened and now his only son was gone and he never got the chance to apologize. As he sat with his head in his hands, his wife walked in and handed him the paper that had been previously in her hand. When he opened it, he realized that his son wasn’t expelled from school for doing something bad, but that he had been accepted into college early because he was beyond his years in education and had already tested out of high school. Instead of celebrating the accomplishment with his son, he was now getting ready to bury him because he didn’t have the patience to listen.

The moral of this story, slow down! Patience is defined as the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties. Don’t you know the bible says in Matthew 6:27, “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” Plus worrying never made you look better and it surely won’t stop your bills from being due, your car quitting on the way home or the results from the doctor any better. So why are you rushing? Aren’t you still late if you leave the house at 8 and have to be somewhere at 8, so why are you doing 90 on the expressway? Aren’t you still going to be a few minutes late for your doctor’s appointment because you left the house a few minutes late? Wouldn’t you rather make it a few minutes late rather than not make it at all? Why are you are pacing trying to figure out how to make your next move a great move, when God says he already has it covered? That’s what the bibles says in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Why are you already stressing about tomorrow’s worries when you haven’t even given a thought about today’s when Matthew 6:34 says “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” You are worrying about June and its April. You’re worried about next week’s weather when tomorrow isn’t promised. You are worried about the project that due’s next month at work when you should be focused on the one that’s due Friday. Honey, BE STILL! Philippians 4:6 says “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” See, God is trying to do something in your life, at this very moment, but you’re moving too fast to see it. God is trying to tell you something but your mind is too busy to hear it. God could have a blessing walking beside you on the street but you won’t slow down long enough to receive it. Don’t you know how worse Job’s life would have been had he not had the patience to endure the trap that had been set by the devil? Job knew that in order for him to be blessed he had to endure some stress, so he waited for God to bring him out his storm. Yea, he went to Hell and back but he waited. Why? Because he knew no matter what he went through, God was there the whole time.

And it’s the same with you. God hasn’t left you just because you are having a hard time right now. Don’t you know that God made you late to avoid the huge traffic jam on your way to work or to miss that 18 wheeler who would have crashed into the back of you? God made the line long at the coffee shop because he didn’t want the sick waitress to fix your drink because he knew you didn’t want to miss your vacation. He made your wait at the restaurant a little longer because the manager made them recook your food that had fallen on the floor. Just because things aren’t going right, it doesn’t mean it’s for your bad and you’d probably realize it if you stopped rushing and worrying. How do you expect to enjoy the sun if you see it every day? How could you enjoy the good days if you never had any bad days? How could you thank God for your well days if you never experienced any sick ones? How would you enjoy the extra money you have left this week if you never experienced a shortage? God gives us patience in order for us to be able to handle the stress, worries and strife of this world. He gives us patience to endure the many no’s we hear on a daily basis. He gives us patience in order to care when the world stops. You have patience but you need to take a few minutes to pull them out of the drawer you stuck them in. Take a minute and have a conversation with the folks in your home. Take the few extra minutes on your drive home and talk to God. Slow down and smell the fresh air while you’re walking from that parking space that’s all the way in the back that you complained about. Have patience and wait because there could be a blessing in it. If God made it so easy for you to climb the mountain, would you actually enjoy the view from the top when you make it?

Daily Devotional – 4/11/12 “God, I need a little more!”

Please don’t take this the wrong way because I am grateful for all the blessings that God has given me, and I hope you are too, but I am still in need of a little more. I want my territory enlarged so that I don’t have to rob Peter to pay Paul. I want my heart cleansed so that I won’t be the person I was in the past. I want my sins thrown into the sea of forgetfulness so that I can get into Heaven. I want my spiritual walk to be pleasing to God so that he continues to give me gifts. I want my light of God to shine so that others, who may not know him, can see it. I want to be what God has ordained me to be and that takes a little bit more from him. Am I grateful, yes because 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you,” but my prayer daily is for God to not take his hands off of me. I know that you say, “If God doesn’t do anything else for me, he has already done enough.” But what if God doesn’t do anything else for you, what would you have? If God only gave you the things that you thanked him for on yesterday, would you still have your right mind, health, house, car, children, spouse, breath and strength? Too many times we take simple things for granted like our hands and feet, when there is a soldier somewhere who came home without theirs after fighting for OUR freedom. We take clean water for granted when kids in other countries are dying to take a sip of water with no dirt and harmful germs. We take breathing for granted until a family member is on a ventilator that’s breathing for them. We take momma for granted until she is gone, we take our husband for granted until he has a woman who values his worth and we take our kids for granted until they are laying on a cold board in the morgue because they chose to find love in the arms of a man who beat them to death.

Yea, you may sing if God doesn’t do anything else for you, he’s done enough when in actuality you need a little more, too. You need a little more guidance, patience, caring and helping. You can use a little more taming of that tongue that you speak so harsh with. You can use a little more self-worth about yourself instead of falling so quickly for the first guy who tells you that you’re beautiful or the first girl who tells you that you’re a real man. You could use a little more perseverance so that you can continue to go even with doors being shut in your face. You can use a little more love after your heart has been broken so many times. You can use a little more strength after all the times folks have pushed you down said you’d amount to nothing. You can use a little more money when it always seems to run out when it’s time to pay rent/mortgage. So see, you can use a little more but that’s alright because it says in Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Now, don’t think that because you asked and you didn’t receive that God isn’t a man of his word because it could be the way you’re asking. Let me explain. Firstly, if your heart isn’t right, your prayers aren’t reaching God’s ears anyway because Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear.” So clean your heart and then renew your spirit so that God dwells there. Secondly, don’t spend your prayer time asking God for meaningless things because James 4:3 says, “And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong–you want only what will give you pleasure.” Now, you know doggone well that God is not about to give you that woman’s husband so stop praying for him just like you know that God is not in the middle of your mess while you’re hiding out in the dressing room because security is looking for you for stealing. Child, no! God isn’t a messy God and he won’t keep cleaning up behind you every time you keep stepping in the same pile of mess. Thirdly, you have to do what God has asked you to do because 1 John 3:22says, “And whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.” Will you be perfect every day, no, but all you have to do is repent with your mouth the sins that you’ve committed so that you can be forgiven and your sins washed away. Finally, pray but pray the right way for Matthew 6:9-13 says, “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

Prayer is having a conversation with your Father. Don’t be afraid to pray for a little bit more in your life but make sure it’s for the things that can help your walk with God and not hinder it. Don’t be afraid to ask for a little bit more but be sure you are using what you already have. It’s like asking for a little bit more food before you’ve eaten what’s on your plate only to get it and then realize you don’t have room for it. Use what you have in order to make room for the increase. God won’t take his hands off of you for asking but be ready for the answer that he gives because although it may not be no, it could be not right now and that’s simply telling you that it’s not time yet.

Daily Devotional – 4/10/12 “What in the world is going on?”

The enemy is surely busy in this world! With the amount of killings happening on a daily basis, the way children are acting when they try to be an adult instead of a child, the way parents are no longer being parents because they are too busy acting like a teenager themselves or they have taken their hands off their child(ren) and with all the diseases and sickness in the world, I’m surprised God hasn’t come back to destroy it already. Folks walk around acting like they have tomorrow to get themselves together when tomorrow isn’t promised to anybody. Why do you think the bible says in 2 Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.” You walk around hating on other folks blessings because you feel like God isn’t blessing you but have you stopped to realize that you might be the one blocking your own blessings? If you got mess in your heart, filth on your lips, lust in your eyes, death on your tongue, hurt in your hands and you walk in deceit; you are blocking your blessings. It’s like bowling and each time you get ready to roll your ball down the lane it never reaches the pins its intended for because something or someone always gets in its way. Well, it’s the same way when God gets ready to send a blessing your way. When you lie on folk, you are getting in the way of your blessing. When you misuse people, you are getting in the way of your blessing. When you put your hands on folk to hurt them, you are getting in the way of your blessing. When you get caught up in other folk’s mess and problems, you are allowing them to get in the way of your blessing and when you allow other folk to cause you to sin; you are allowing them to get in the way of your blessing. At some point you’ve got to get right in order to unblock the pathway to your blessings and if I may make a suggestion, you’d better do it now before you won’t have a chance too.

Even the best Christians won’t make it past judgment day because while you may be at church every Sunday, your heart isn’t. Yea, you may pay your tithes every Sunday but as soon as you get around the naysayers who say, “Chile, I ain’t paying no tithes because it goes to the Pastor anyway,” you join in and agree; you’re paying in vain. When you can stand in God’s house talking about folks, cheating with the deacon/usher, cursing like you’re in a bar and dressing like you walk the streets, you are getting further away from God’s grip. I know, you think just because you’re young, you’re healthy, you pay your tithes, you go to church on Sunday and you pray; that you got it all together or that you got time but baby, read the obituaries, watch the news and listen to some other folks talk and you’ll soon realize that on your best day you’re still sick enough to die. See, death doesn’t have a respect of person because he has to visit every one of us. If you don’t believe me, then go visit St. Jude and LeBonheur and look at some of the kids that are battling rare forms of cancer, read about the young children that died of heart attacks when they’re heart hasn’t even been beating long enough to be wore out or Google car accidents and find out how many of those folks were healthy and just driving home when their car was hit by a drunk driver or they fell asleep at the wheel. Time won’t stand still while you decide to get yourself together. If you know that smoking is killing you, stop. If you know that the drinking you’re doing is affecting your life, stop it. If you think you can’t live without snorting or shooting up cocaine, keep doing it because you won’t have long to live with it. If you have to wake up to pills only to be put the sleep with some (that are not prescribed to you), keep doing them because one time you won’t wake up. You need to get it together because with the way things are happening, in this day and time, you might not have as much time as you think.

Why do you think that your husband will continue to stay around when you treat the dog better than you treat him when the bible says in 1 Corinthians 11:9, “Man wasn’t created for woman but woman for man.” Why do you think your wife will stay around when you make it known to the world that you can’t be faithful when Hebrews 13:4 says, “Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.” Why do you get to jail and call on God when you’ve taken a man’s life over something that you could have walked away from when the bible says in Exodus 20:13, “You shall not murder.” We are quick to come to God when trouble comes in our lives but where are you when everything is good? Why do we have to wait for things to happen to us before we reach out our hands to God? Doesn’t he deserve our praise when things are good? You shout the loudest when your light bill is due and the money is few but you’re quieter than a church mouse when the income tax check comes. You had your own amen corner when your car was broke down but then won’t even come in the rain when God blesses you with a new one. You were crying uncontrollably when husband/wife left but then stand there yawning when they come sliding back. But Ephesians 5:20 states “Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This doesn’t say just when it’s convenient for you or when you feel like it.

Your problems shouldn’t dictate your life. Your problems shouldn’t determine the way you praise. If you don’t comb your hair, it’ll show by your tangled hair. If you don’t bathe, it’ll show by the smell of your body. If you don’t change your clothes, it’ll show by the stains they have. If you don’t pray, it’ll show in your relationship with God. If you don’t study his word, it’ll show by your walk with God. If you don’t trust God, it’ll show by your test and if you don’t praise God, it’ll show by your testimony. The world and the people in it is changing everyday which is why you need to have a relationship with God who never changes. With all the stress the world has to offer, you should want a relationship with a stress reliever who is better and cheaper than a massage. When your body is aching with pain, you should want a relationship with a pain reliever that’s better than Tylenol. When your mind is racing and you can’t fall asleep, you should want a relationship with the best sleep aid that won’t give you side effects like Ambien. God never changes and he never fails, try him before it gets too late!

Daily Devotional – 4/8/12 “New dress, same old attitude!”

It’s amazing the amount of money folk spend for Easter Sunday. You’d rather miss paying MLGW so that you and the kids can go to church looking colorful than a basket of Easter eggs, when you haven’t been to church in months. Baby, God isn’t concerned about the suit, dress, shoes and new haircut/hairdo, but he’s concerned about your attitude, character and your heart. Yea, you may have on new clothes but you’re still sporting that same old attitude. When are you going to change that instead of the color of your nails? When will you change the way you talk to and treat folk? While you’re changing the style of your wig, you need to be changing the way you lie. Please don’t think God is fooled because you got dressed all up with your makeup looking good because you do that for the club too, right? At some point you’ve got to change that hard exterior and that foul mouth if you plan on passing through Heaven’s gates. Yea, I know, I know; God knows your heart, but haven’t you heard that from the heart the mouth speaks? Luke 6:45 says “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” If you talk like that then your heart is like that so, yes, God knows your heart. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m excited about Easter Sunday but that’s because we are celebrating that Jesus didn’t stay dead but he rose so that we would have repentance and forgiveness and not to dress up and hide Easter eggs.

Your attitude makes you and it precedes you. Don’t believe me? All you have to do is be the troublemaker on your team at work and see how many folks would choose you when it’s time to change groups. If you always have your mouth on folks, that doesn’t change just because you got a dress on to your knees today instead of the mini skirt you had on last night. Just because you put your heels on and got the kids dressed in perfect Sunday wear with their Easter baskets, it doesn’t change the fact that you never forgive or forget. If your heart is cold, hard and mean; your clothes won’t change that. You’ve got to make the change from the inside so that God can know your heart. How can he dwell in you if you have steel walls around your heart? Change your attitude for the good and see what God has for you. Stop being a CME (Christmas, Mother’s Day & Easter) Christian but be one every day of your life so that you can receive the blessings that God has for you. You are better than the old attitude, filthy mouth and cold hearted person that you’ve become so when you throw out the old clothes, through the mess out with it.

Happy Easter to you and yours!