Daily Devotional – 9/28/11 “What is your worth?”

When you walk into a store for a pair of jeans, shoes, a shirt, dress, suit or wig there is usually a price tag on it or listed somewhere close showing you the worth for that item.  Because someone has looked at that particular item and deemed it’s worth.  When you look in the mirror don’t you see your worth?  When you endure the storms of this life and come out stronger, don’t you see your worth?  When God died for your sins after being beaten all night long, don’t you know your worth?

Then why do you settle for the price of what folk of this world place on you?  Why do you allow yourself to be placed on the clearance rack when you should be shining in the window?  Why settle for half or no value at all?  You allow a man to walk all over you, come in and out of your house when he feels like it, left to sleep in your bed when you have to get up for work or even drops you off in your car for him to ride around all day.  You allow your women to treat you like dirt in front of her friends & family, you try to give her the world but it’s still not enough, she has never had to pump gas in her car and then she complains when you forget one time or she hasn’t ever changed a tire and then complains when you won’t run to her friend’s aid who has a man at home.  Why would you continue to degrade yourself?

Women walk around in clothes that are 2 sizes smaller and their butts hanging out and then get mad when a man calls you a gardening tool.  Men walk around with their pants sagging or hands on their private part and then wonder why they can’t find a decent woman.  You attract to you what you act like.  If you dress like a whore (sorry for my bluntness), you attract a pimp.  If you look like a slob, you attract filthy women.  Granddaddy always says, you lay down with dirty dogs you are bound to get up with fleas.  Don’t complain about being dirty if you’re lying in filth.  Don’t complain about your house smelling bad when it’s full of trash.  It just may be time to do some soul cleaning.

Women, value your worth! Men, value your worth! If you don’t appreciate the body that you have, who else will? If you don’t appreciate the prettiness of your face, who else will?  God has made you in his likeness and in his image. Stop trying to conform to this world because the world won’t conform for you.  Love yourself first and then someone else will be able too.

Daily Devotional – 9/27/11 “Complaining gets you nothing!”

 Have you ever wondered what has happened to a person that makes them so miserable?  They have a complaining spirit that makes you turn in the opposite direction when you see them coming. They are always talking about someone or something that for the most part, has nothing to do with them.  You wonder if they realize the blessings they have in the steps they take, the air they breathe, the food they eat, the clothes they wear, the car the drive, their family & friends and their jobs.  It makes you wonder if they truly value the life they have. 

Take for example, a person whose body God has healed of cancer and yet they seem to be the meanest person in the world.  Or God has blessed you with the job YOU applied & asked for and yet you complain about it every day.  God has allowed you to keep your mind and yet you grumble when someone ask you a question or for help.  God has blessed you with a home and car but you’re always saying no when someone ask for a ride or to spend the night.  If you think you’re having it bad, visit the homeless shelter to see someone who is worse.  If you think your job is bad, visit the unemployment office and see those who are begging for a job.  If you complain because your stomach hurt, visit the hospital to see those suffering through dialysis, chemo or radiation.  When you feel like your situation is at its worst, there is someone having it even harder.

I know you’re probably saying, “But what about me?” There are days that you are tired and need help yourself; those are not the days I’m speaking of because everybody is entitled to take time for them.  But if every time someone needs you and the answer is no, there is a problem.  If you are capable of helping the person that has asked, you should do it. Luke 6:38  states, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” So, stop complaining when folk ask you for help.  If you have it, help them but don’t boast about it to others.  If you don’t have it, tell them that because it doesn’t make you less than a person.  If God has blessed you with a gift or talent and you don’t use it, he will take it away.  1 Peter 4:10 states, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”

Complaining doesn’t get you anywhere it just makes people tired of hearing your voice.  Choose how your life will be lived because it doesn’t have to always be a gloomy day.

Daily Devotional – 9/26/11 “Honor thy Mother & Father”

Ephesians 6:1 – 2 states, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.  Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)”  Deuteronomy 5:16 states, “Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

If God has commanded you to honor your father and mother, what makes you think you shouldn’t have to obey? Regardless of the type of parent they were or are, the commandment is still there.  You stand before your parents being disrespectful and then you have to wonder why your children don’t respect you.  You don’t honor what your parents say and then you have the nerve to go down on bended knee crying that God has forsaken you.  John 14:15 states, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

Now, don’t get me wrong.  We all, sometimes, fall short of God’s word because we all sin.  (Ecclesiastes 7:20 states, “There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.”) But if you continually disobey God’s commandments, doesn’t he have the right to punish you? Don’t you punish your children when they do wrong?  I’d rather have momma’s punishment than to feel the wrath of God on any day.  But you curse momma out because you’re having a bad day and wonder why blessings are not coming your way.  You stand before daddy talking to him like he is lower than the mud under your shoe and then you wonder why you can’t find a job.  Chile, God won’t condone you in your wrong! Keep your mouth and you’ll keep your blessings.

You might say that your dad is a deadbeat or your momma is never there, but that is what God has to take care of.  You can’t continue to hold resentment because daddy walked off.  He is living another life and you are hindering yours because of the malice in your heart.  You can’t continue to be mad at momma because she was strict on you growing up.  Didn’t it turn you into a responsible adult? Aren’t you more capable of handling your household because of the values and morals that momma’s strictness instilled?  You’re mad because momma and daddy won’t consign for your new car but you’re an adult with your own family and job.  Why should they be responsible for your debt? Then you run off saying, “They ain’t never done nothing for me!”  Didn’t they raise you, clothe & feed you, take care of you on your sick days, be at your school functions when they really couldn’t afford to miss work, or simply listen to your problems when you needed them?  Then you have to wonder why your application won’t be approved.

You’d better honor the mom and dad that you have because one day you will be standing over their casket and all the things that you wanted to say will be null & void.  Honor your mom and dad NOW while you have a chance because crying over their lifeless body won’t mean a thing to anybody.  Honor the mom and dad that God has entrusted you too.  Even in their bad days, they are blessings!  Somebody in foster care is longing for the love of a mother and father.  Somebody, whose parents died before they had a chance to know them, is dreaming of their mother’s touch.  Somebody is wishing they had momma to call on their bad days or daddy when their car won’t start.  Be thankful for the blessing of having momma and/or daddy because someone is praying for what you have.  Tomorrow may be too late! Cherish them today.

Daily Devotional 9/25/11 “Stop rushing”

Have you ever heard the expression, stop and smell the roses? It doesn’t mean smell them literally but it’s simply saying slow down. You’re so busy running that you’re allowing life to pass you by. Seems crazy huh?

But let me explain. You’re so busy running that your legs don’t feel right walking. You’re so busy that you don’t realize that your child is dealing with peer pressure or may be being bullied in school. You’re so busy running that you don’t notice your spouse is unhappy. You’re so busy trying to fit in that you forget that pleasing man won’t get you to heaven. You’re so busy rushing in the car, cursing at the person driving slow in front of that you don’t even notice the accident on the side of the street that could have been you. You’re so busy talking on the phone instead of listening that you don’t hear the need for help in your friend’s voice.

Slow down and stop rushing. Just because you’re doing 80 on the expressway won’t change the outcome because you’re still late. Rushing home to catch a tv show only to find that it didn’t even come on that night. You’re in such a hurry to make it to work but drag to God’s house on Sunday morning without a care in the world and then you wonder why God is not in a hurry to hear your prayers. Your boss calls a meeting at 8AM and you get there at 7:45AM. But let the Pastor call a meeting for 15 minutes after church and you will be rolling your eyes more than a baker rolling dough. Then you wonder why God is not blessing you. Chile please! Get in a hurry for God and he’ll get in a hurry for you.

Slow down and take the time to read and study God’s word. Slow down and take the time to enjoy this life that God has blessed you with because as fast as it begins, it can quickly end. Take a moment to laugh with friends. Take a moment to catch a movie with the kids, have a conversation with your spouse, drive by to see your grandparents or take a walk in the park.

Take a moment and breathe. Slow down and smell the roses, the coffee brewing, the food cooking on the stove or even the scent of your own perfume! Life is precious, enjoy it while you got time.

Daily Devotional – 9/24/11 “Why worry?”

Have you ever wondered what why a woman pats her head when it itches instead of just simply scratching? Does this stop the actual itching or does the headache she gets now take the place? Have you ever wondered about the way water goes down a toilet bowl or even what makes people do some of the things they do? Do you wonder, really? 

I would assume this is the same way God feels when you worry after you’ve prayed.  His word says in James 6:1-8 “But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. “What is the sense of asking and then worrying about whether it will happen.  That’s just like painting a wall and watching it dry; does that make sense to do?

Worry by one definition in the dictionary says to touch or disturb something repeatedly.  So now think about all the times you’ve worried God with the same old prayer.  “Lord, if you just help me through this I will never do it again.” But then when you repeat your actions, God ain’t nowhere in it. So why worry him? If you pray for something, pray in faith, like it has already come to pass.  Then you get up off your knees and act like it’s already done and stop worrying.  But when you ask in faith, there is work that you have to do.  James 2:14 says, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?”  Can you apply for a job, get the interview, get the job and then not work? With prayer and faith, comes work.  When people ask for help, help them; that’s work.  When people ask for prayer, pray for them, because that’s work. When someone ask for a ride & you’re capable of doing it and you do it; that’s work. 

Stop giving up so easily on your ability to do things.  If you don’t think you’re capable of doing it, why would God bless you with it.  You put in an application for a car and then once it’s submitted you start doubting. If you already doubt the ultimate approver, God, why would he bless you with it? Stop allowing doubt and fear to rob you of what God has promised.  Stop worrying about tomorrow, when it is not even here yet.  You’re so busy focused on next week that you’re allowing this week to pass you by. Stop and take time to enjoy this moment because the next one is not promised.  God will do just what he said he will, in his time.  The problem isn’t God or his timing but it’s you.  Stop worrying because the frown on your face makes you ugly!