Daily Devotional – 10/13/11 “What if God .. “

 I can’t speak for you but I’m shonuff glad God doesn’t bless us based on our works for him!  Most of us would be complainers, whiners, backstabbers, enemies of our brother & sisters, gossipers – WAIT, we do that now don’t we?  We ride with our bibles in the car but can’t give someone a ride because they may get dirt in our car.  We shout with the best of them on Sunday morning & then curse out momma on Sunday evening.  We can speak scriptures better than anybody and gossip about the Pastor in the same breath!  Chile, God won’t bless OUR mess.

If God blessed us based on how we serve him, most of us would be tore up from the floor up!  We stay out all night on Saturday drinking & dancing and then roll our eyes when church runs over a little.  We stand at altar call with our eyes closed because we are tired instead of praying.  You sit back and text all during service and then wonder why you’re not understanding God’s word.  You ask the Pastor to anoint your head with oil because of the pain in your body and then say that he has no power when the pain won’t leave.  Chile, there is no power in the oil, the power is in your faith!  The pastor can pray over your body day after day but if you don’t have the faith and belief that you can be healed, healing won’t come.  Mark 9:23 states, ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”

If God blessed us based on how we treat others, most of us wouldn’t have a pot to _________ in and a window to throw it out of.  You disrespect your parents when God commands us to honor thy father and mother (Ephesians 6:2) and then wonder why we are constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul.  You keep wishing bad for and lying on your coworker because you’re jealous of their blessings and then wonder why you can’t be promoted when Exodus 20:16 states, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”  You keep wishing sickness on your brother but then wonder why you can’t get relief for your migraines. Job 4:8 states, “My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same.”

You’ve got to know that God won’t bless you in your mess.  At some point in time you’ve got to get up out of your pity party and do for yourself.  You can’t be mad at your sister because she won’t keep taking from her family to give to you when you are able to work.  You can’t keep saying that daddy hasn’t done anything for me when you’re still living under his roof and paying no bills.  You can’t keep being mad at your spouse when they say something about your friends being at the house everyday eating up the food you’ve worked hard to get for your family.  Stop wallowing in could haves or should haves.  The past is the past.  Today is the present and should not be taken for granted.  With cancer affecting more families and death claiming more family members it’s time now to get to know the Lord. 

It makes no sense to buy a plane ticket with no destination.  It’s the same with dying.  It’s crazy for you to live in Hell all your life and then die and go to Hell when God has promised you a life in paradise, if you choose him.  Get your ticket and make sure it has been stamped with the right destination because waiting until the last minute may prove to be an ultimate mistake.  You would hate to get to the gates and then can’t pass through the metal detectors because you’re carrying the wrong stuff.  Let go and let God!

Daily Devotional – 10/12/11 “The prayers of the righteous..!”

I know what prayer can do! I know exactly what prayer can do!  Isn’t it amazing how God works? James 5:16 states, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” 

  • Effectual means producing or able to produce a desired effect and fervent means exhibiting or marked by great intensity of feeling.

Oh, when we asked for prayers for the healing of grandma’s body, the effectual fervent prayers were sent up.  Prayers were sent from the lips of Christians praying everywhere.  Fervent prayers that reached God’s ears! Fervent prayers are still going up.  Yes, you prayed and God showed up and showed out.  You prayed and God worked that thang out! You prayed, and God…! Psalm 34:15, states “The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.”

When the righteous prays, God listens.  Don’t you know that prayer can get you out of a bad situation? Prayer can get you home when the gas light is on and the hand is on empty.  Prayer can keep the lights on when the bill hasn’t been paid.  Prayer can remove cancer even before the doctor goes in with his knife.  Prayer can give you understanding in the midst of a storm.  Prayer can be your light when standing on a dark road.  Prayer can be your protector when the world is against you.  Prayers can ___________________! Can you fill in the blank?  Don’t you have a testimony on how God has seen you through?  When folk were on number 9 getting ready to count you out the fight, didn’t he pick you up?  When folk stood over you laughing when you were down, didn’t he raise you up?  When folk stabbed you in the back while smiling in your face, didn’t he remove the knife while stitching up the hole?  When folk walked away and said you wouldn’t be anything, didn’t he prove them wrong?  When the doctor said you only have a few weeks to live, didn’t God show up & give speak life?  When your enemies tried to pull you down, didn’t God step in and make them your foot stool to overcome them?  When the devil placed obstacles in your way, didn’t God give you strength to endure while going through and power to move them in time? Didn’t God do just what he said he would?  He said in his word, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) Isn’t that enough?

But you must first pray with the right mind, heart & soul.  You ask God to harm the spouse of the person you’re seeing because you want them for yourself or you ask God to remove the person in a certain job because you want it for yourself.  Chile, stop! God will not hear or attend to such foolishness.  James 4:3 states, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”  God doesn’t work that way.  When you ask in faith with the right mind and motives, God will hear your cry.  For Matthew 21:22, states “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”  Ask for and believe that the job is yours! Ask for and believe that your body will be healed! Ask for and believe that momma/daddy will be healed! Ask for and believe that whatever circumstance or situation you are dealing with won’t last long. 

The prayers of the righteous will avail.  You don’t have to wait for Pastor, Evangelist, Missionary, Bishop, Elder and Reverend So & So to pray for you; pray for yourself!  Just like God doesn’t have to use folk to tell you something, you don’t have to use folk to ask him for something.  Psalm 34:4 states, “I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.”  It says I, not him, her, they, we, them or us but I sought the Lord.  It’s good to pray for others but it is also good to pray for you.  Sometimes the person who is asking for harm in your life is the one that you’re asking to pray for you.  How do you know that they can get a prayer through? God probably hasn’t heard their voice in forever, speaking to him, but that’s who you constantly run to for prayer.  You keep wondering why your head won’t stop hurting, it’s because the person you’ve asked to pray for you is wishing sickness on your body.  Just because they go to church every Sunday means nothing, the devil goes too.  Look at the life they live outside of church.  Is it pleasing to God? If the answer is no, then you probably should be praying for them.  Stop waiting until Sunday morning at altar call to talk to God.  God is omnipresent which means he is present everywhere at the same time.  God is willing and able, but you have to ask!

“Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. Psalm 71:20”

Daily Devotional -10/11/11 “Lord, I’m thankful!”

Lord, I thank you for trials and tribulations because they make me strong. I thank you for sickness because it makes me appreciate the well days. I thank you for when I’m down because it makes me appreciate being up. Lord, I’m thankful for the storms because it makes me appreciate the sun. Yes, Lord I’m thankful Lord!

For times when it seems like there is more trouble than I can handle I’m yet thankful. For times when there are more tears than smiles I’m still thankful! Because I know that not all days will be good but that I’ve been equipped with the right stuff to bear it.

When sleep won’t come, God gave me eyes to read his word with. When I’m pacing the floor at night he gave me a mouth to talk to him with. When my bills are due and checking account is already overdrawn he gave me knees to pray on and faith to know that all things will work out. When friends are gone and I feel alone, God is my comforter!

So if you’re facing a tough time right now, death has shown it’s face in your family, sickness has attacked your body or the enemy is trying to defeat you; hold on! Grab that line that has you attached to God and hold tight. If it seems like there’s a break, reach beyond it and if you can no longer hang on, fall! But fall with the faith that you’re landing safely in God’s arms. Because once you land, you’ll bounce right back up on your feet, ready to run on!

God has your back and he won’t let you suffer for long. But you will suffer! But suffering gives you the testimony of your victory once you’ve overcome. So be proud of the scars you’ve gotten, show them off! Let the world know that you are victorious!

Daily Devotional – 10/10/11 “Though the storms rage … “

This song’s lyrics say: Though the storms keep on raging in my life; And sometimes it’s hard to tell the night from day; Still that hope that lies within is reassured As I keep my eyes upon the distant shore; I know He’ll lead me safely to that blessed place He has prepared.”

You may be standing on the edge of your dilemma and it feels as if you’re about to tumble over.  When you look around all you see is darkness and you can’t really tell if it is day or night.  You’ve prayed about the situation and it seems like your answer won’t come.  You know that the sun will shine again one day because God promised in his word that weeping might endure for a night but joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5), but you’re wondering where your morning is.  You keep drinking tears for water and you’re wondering will they ever stop or will your tear stain face bear witness to the pain you are feeling inside?  But Psalm 126:5 states, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.”

The tears you are sowing now are only watering the harvest that you shall soon reap.  For when harvest time comes, you won’t shed anymore because you’ve sown enough to last you through that season.  Take for an example; you plant a garden of vegetables or plants for whatever season you’re in.  In order to get the nourishment they need you have to keep the soil watered enough.  You can’t place too much water on them because then they will die but you place just enough to last until it is watering time again.  If you place the right amount of water, light and nutrients in them once it is time to pluck them up or pick them, they are ripe enough for you to use.  Well, in your life it is the same way.  When you accepted the Lord into your life you were placed into his garden.  Your life became a branch on his tree and in order for you to grow he has to put the right amount of water, light and nutrients in you.  The water comes from the tears you shed because they flow down into the dirt in which you’re rooted in.  The light comes from God because his word says, “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life,” Proverbs 6:23 and the nutrients comes from the studying of the word and you putting his word into action. 

Now, as I stated above, too much water and light can sometimes harm what you are growing so God allows the clouds to come and the day is sometimes dark and he allows the tears to stop even though the storm is not over.  It is not until you are ripe enough to use that he picks you off the branch.  He doesn’t remove you from his branch completely but he makes your vine long enough so that when he needs to water you, you’re within reaching distance.  Once you’re ripe enough he sets you down on solid ground and tell you to get to work.  He allows the storms and the circumstances that you’ve been through to be a testimony to someone who needs to hear it.  He made you strong enough to tell somebody else, yes I’ve been through an abusive relationship but God brought me out.  These scars that I have on my body are just part of my testimony for me to show you they made me stronger.  Yes, I’ve been lied on and I got scars on my knees from being dragged through the mud but it made me stronger.  Yes, I’ve got a scar on my back from being stabbed from so-called friends, but I’m stronger.  Yes, my heart has been worked on by Dr. Jesus and I got scars from going through reconstructive surgery but I’m stronger.  Yes, my eyes have been swollen from crying and tear stains on my face but I’m stronger.  Yes, my back has been bent and sometimes I can hardly stand but I’m not out! Yes, sometimes my shoulders are bogged down with the burdens of this world, but I’m not out.  Yes, I’ve been knocked down but not knocked out so I’m stronger.

Your storms may rage and at times it may seem like the sun will never shine but hold on! Momma & Daddy may be gone and it seems hard right now but hold on! Trouble won’t last always.  Praise your way through!  God says if you praise me while you’re going through, I will bless you when you come out.  Know that you are not alone.  When it seems like you’re all alone and you can no longer make it, God says look up to me because then I will carry you the rest of the way.  But you have to believe in the promises that he has made because he will not forsake you.  “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 8:20

Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up”

Daily Devotional – 10/9/11 “Won’t you be my neighbor?”

It’s a God’s Sunday morning, a beautiful day in the neighborhood; won’t you be my neighbor?

In Matthew 22:39 it says, “thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”. When I was growing up in my grandparent’s neighborhood the neighbors acted like family. When someone was in need, they came together to fill it. When there was a death, we went from door to door taking up a donation that went to the family. When summer came all the children in the neighborhood were in the street playing instead of being stuck in the house. When somebody did anything wrong, whoever house they were in front of had the approval to discipline them and then they got in trouble again once they got home. When one neighbor was sick, they were never alone or even had to worry about dinner because it was cooked and sent to them. There were no robberies or break-ins; there were no gang violence and disrespectful children because folk came together. You know the saying it takes a village.

Now, we barely get to know our neighbors. We don’t stop and take the time to ask their name or even speak when we pass them outside. We try to run in the house because we think they will want to borrow something. We don’t know when they are going through because we don’t care and we surely don’t ask. Shouldn’t we be our brother’s keeper? If the 2nd commandment is to love thy neighbor as thyself, God must have meant it. (Matthew 19:19; Mark 12:31) But we don’t. We are Christians but inky keep the commandments that we think we should and not abide by all. I’m guilty of not getting to know my neighbors but I’m working to get better. Shouldn’t we all strive to do a little better? I’m not saying throw a party for the entire neighborhood or hold the next neighborhood meeting but I’m saying start with a smile or a wave.

Take the time to check on your elderly neighbors because for some it’s the only companionship they receive. Speak to your neighbor if you see them out or smile at them because sometimes a smile can brighten somebody’s day. Don’t be quick to run the child off that always end up at your house, you may not know that he/she is hungry and they always show up because they know that you’ll offer to feed them. Take a moment to look at your neighbors. Just step out on a sunny day when most are out washing cars or cutting their yard. Look around and see the blessing that God had placed around you. You never know, you could meet the best friends you’ll ever have if you stop running in the house.

We should start back the neighborhood block parties and fellowshipping and the neighborhood watch. We should start back waving at one another or being approachable enough for somebody to come to ask to borrow a cup of sugar or a few eggs. We should start caring for and loving our neighbors again. I know that times are not like they use to be but not all people are bad. You won’t see the good in them if you’re already looking for the bad. If you’ve already judged them to be outcasts how can you see them as the good people they are. Don’t be too quick to hate on the neighbors because one day they may not be the one in need because it could be you.

Leviticus 19:18 says “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord”