Daily Devotional – 9/15/11 “Trying to get to Heaven with Hell on your back”

You woke up this morning in a good mood, then something happens or someone says something and everything changes.  You make plans to pay your tithes and then the car breaks down.  You plan on going to church and then you over sleep.  You say you’re not going to the club anymore, but your friends make it look so fun, so you try it one more time.  Your marriage is going good but that brother or sister keeps walking by you smelling good & giving you the eye.  You’re trying to get to Heaven, but you got Hell on your back!

You pray before going in your job but as soon as you step in the door folk make you lose your religion before you even get your coffee.  Your negative family member keeps calling or sending text and you said you was going to bite your tongue but fall back into that trap.  You said you were done losing your money at the casino, then your so-call friends say, “Girl, we just going to eat!”  You’re trying to get to Heaven ….  but you got Hell on your back!

Baby, stop trying to please folk!  When you stand before the judgement, God won’t be listening to excuses and them folk that made you “lose your religion” won’t be there either.  Keeping your mouth keeps your blessings.  Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. “  If you are speaking sickness, it’ll come.  If you speak heartache, it’ll come.  If you speak financial distress, it’ll come.  You’ve got to learn to speak life into your situation or circumstance.

When man says disease, God says healing.  When man says no, God says not yet!  When one door closes, God says knock and it shall be open.  When man says you can’t, God says ask and it shall be given!  (Matthew 7:7) When man walk away, God says I’m here! (Matthew 28:20) When darkness falls, God says I’m your light in dark places (John 8:12)!

You may have Hell on your back right now but don’t let it stop you from reaching your goal.  The devil only comes in when we allow him too.  He doesn’t have legs, so we bring him in or allow him to come in through others.  You have to make the decision to run the devil out.  He only has the power that you give.  If you know the mess you’re in isn’t getting better, MOVE!  If you know the situation you’re in is pulling you father and farther from God, MOVE!  If you the folk around you keeps you from living a Godly life, MOVE! Stop worrying about how folk feel or what they say/think! Nobody lives for you but you.  Like grandma say, I can’t get you to Heaven. 

So, you may have hell on your back now but the only way it stays, you have to keep holding it or you got it strapped on! Unbuckle it, let it go, stand up straight and press on!

Daily Devotional – 9/14/11 “Blind Faith”

Have you ever tried walking with your eyes closed?  Imagining how your life would be if you could no longer see?  Usually you walk into a wall or bump into furniture, right?  Well, living a Christian life is just like this.  But you don’t walk around with your eyes closed but it still doesn’t stop you from walking into walls and bumping into things.   See, on this life’s journey you will encounter all kinds of obstacles (walls) while you walk.  Things like not finding a job when you are over qualified, not being promoted when you trained the person who got the job, studying for a test that you still couldn’t pass or budgeting your money just right but still coming up short.  But the bible, 2 Corinthians 5:7 states, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 

We have to walk in the faith that God already has it worked out, because the obstacles that we are facing were allowed.  God already knows the paths that we will walk because he has ordained them.  In Jeremiah 1:5 it says, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”  God knows what we can bear & what things we can overcome.  Don’t you know the devil has to get permission from God before he can interfere in your life?  So because of this we have to walk like there is nothing standing in our way.  We have to act like & know that no matter what this world does, it can’t take what God has already promised.  We have to walk like there are no bumps in the road, no curves to the street, no hill to climb and no darkness ahead.   2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 

When you work on your job, you work on the unseen promise of a check in 2 weeks.  When you drive your car, you drive with the unseen hope that it will make it to your destination.  When you get up in the morning, you stand without knowing if your legs will hold you up.  When you sit down in a chair, you sit without knowing if it will stand.  Isn’t this the same kind of faith you should have in God who has already promised you he’d be there?  Unlike man, God keeps his promises but it is up to you to receive them.  Step out on faith & stop allowing fear to hold you back.  Even when the world seems cold and it looks like there are no open doors to walk through, press on!  Romans 8:24 says, “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?” 

Hebrews 11: 1 – “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Daily Devotional – 9/13/11 “Christians are human too!”

Chile, I ain’t worried about your blessings because I’ve got my own! There is no need of me being jealous because I’m reaping the benefits of what I’ve sown.

I don’t have to be petty & battle in life’s fight, because God said he has my back & I’m walking in his sight!

Just don’t hate on me when I won’t join your party of pity, cause if you’re walking without God that’s just plain ole silly!

So I’ll be the names you call me and the things you say I do, because as long as I got God on my side he WILL see me through.

Please, don’t get me wrong I’m still human so my feelings sometimes get hurt. Especially when it’s so-called friends that’s dragging my name through the dirt.

But I shake it off and I HAVE to pray, because if I don’t I may just revert back to my old days.

Don’t think Christians don’t make mistakes and sometimes do wrong. Because it’s not always Sunday morning and we don’t always sing the same song.

Christians still put on pants the same as sinners do, so don’t be surprised when something unchristian like pass through my mouth, as it sometimes do.

Don’t hold me at a higher standard like I won’t sometimes fall or make a bad choice. But pray for me instead of bringing me down, every time I hear your voice.

Don’t act like you don’t drink, when it’s not water in my cup. But reach down to grab me when I fall, to pull me back up.

Don’t be quick to count me out when you see me wavering in this fight because as long as I repent & try to change, God will keep me in his sight.

I am not perfect by any means and neither are you. So don’t act like you are, when I am going through.

Let’s face the world together, tackle the obstacles in our way! Let’s be each other’s leaning post for when we have a bad day.

This place is hard enough without asking for trouble or strife, so why continue to let it consume your own life?

So, I’ll pray for you; my sister, my brother, my enemy, my friend! I’ll be praying for you until the very end.

That’s what God has commanded of me, so I will obey. I’ll be your leaning post, your prayer partner, and your friend until my dying day!

Deuteronomy 28: 1 – “If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God“

Daily Devotional – 9/12/11 “Blue Monday”

It’s Monday! A new week and the same routine. There is new responsibilities, new issues, new problems and same bills! Same money in the bank that was there the last time you looked and the same food in the refrigerator. Same kids with the same set of problems! I could write and tell you that in Ecclesiastes 3:1, it says “to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”  That no matter what you’re facing, it won’t last, but don’t you know that?  I could tell you that “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning,” Psalm 30:5, but isn’t this already known?  I could tell you that this is just a storm and like all storms, they eventually end. That there is no situation too big for God, no mountain or stumbling block that he won’t give you strength to climb over.  But, if you’re a Christian or you’ve had/have a praying grandmother, like me, then you know all of this.

There will be circumstances that you face that seem like they are too big for you to handle.  There will always be more bills than money, some dark clouds looming overhead, sleepless nights, tears to be shed, going left when you should go right, being talked about & lied on, being overlooked for a job that should have been yours, being misused by so-called friends, hated on by family who is supposed to love you & sickness in your body.  These are just some of the things that have been promised.  The bible says, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble,” (Job 14:1)

But we have been equipped with all that we need to handle trouble on this side.   God said he’d be our refuge in the time of trouble  (Psalm 9:9).  He said when we walk in darkness; he’d be our light & our salvation (Psalm 27:1).  He said when mom & dad forsake you; he’d pick you up (Psalm 27:10).  When you feel like your enemies outweigh your friends, he said “I’ll make your enemies your footstool” Acts 2:35.   He said when facing trouble, “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.” (Psalm 27:5)

Take joy in knowing that no matter what you face on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday; God is able to bring you through it.  These may just be mere words to read, but if you ask God in FAITH, he’ll show you the sun even when its raining.  He’ll show you the good even when you think it’s all bad.  He’ll send you food when you’re hungry.  He’ll send a blessing your way at the very moment you need it.  Stop being too proud to ask for help even if you simply need prayer.  Prayer can bring you out & remove a lot of things faster than friends. 

Talk to God today because he’d love to hear from you. 

Daily Devotional – 9/11/11 “Isn’t this God’s house”

1 Corinthians 11:17-33 was written by Paul about the conduct of Christians Worshipping. Verse 17-18 says that when we come into God’s house it’s mostly for the mess not the message. That when we enter into God’s house, we come in divided. Choir members fighting, deacons not getting along & ushers not serving and then we wonder why we leave like we came.

Don’t you know the church is in you? You are suppose to come into God’s house with a praise already in your heart and on your lips but instead you got both filled with gossip. You are so busy talking about what folk got on, who went where last night and whose sleeping with who that you don’t even realize when God is talking to you. You’re so busy texting during service that if God sat right next to you, you wouldn’t notice. You’re so busy looking at folk, talking & playing at the Altar that your prayers aren’t getting through and then you say God ain’t hearing me! Chile, God ain’t got time to deal with your mess every Sunday. He’d rather have 2 genuine worshipers than 56 unworthy ones. At some point & time you’ve got to be accountable for you. You’ve got to get yourself up for Worship service, pay your own tithes, pray for yourself! Stop gossiping and start glorifying God. Stop complaining! If every time a non Christian come to you & you’re complaining what good are they seeing in coming to God? Most times the only God they get is what you’re giving them but if you’re too busy texting during worship service how can you relay the message to others? God ain’t texting and whoever it is can surely wait until after church.

John 6:53-54 .. Jesus said unto them “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Choose the side you’re standing on. You can’t have one foot in the world and one on God because he doesn’t deal in halves only whole!