Daily Devotional – 10/24/18 “But what do YOU say?”

People will sometimes use you against you. What do I mean? Abusive people, whether it be men or women, will use your fear of them against you. People who know you are in a desperate place will use that against you. You don’t have to believe me but need a place to stay and the person who can give you one needs a baby sitter. They will use you against you. When the folk on your job know you really need your job, they’ll use it against you. And when people know you’ve yet to rightly divide God’s word, they’ll use it against you too. There was a post someone made yesterday asking if women can be pastors. First off, I am sick of this conversation and it’s not because I am a woman assistant pastor but because we (Christians) like to pick and choose what we believe in when it fits us. Most of the folk who believe women can’t be preachers or pastors do so because somebody else instilled it in them. But to each its own. You not believing in me doesn’t stop God from using me. However, here’s something I want to point out. A lot of people who were commenting ‘no’ on the post yesterday referenced 1 Timothy 2:11-15 which says, “Women should learn quietly and submissively. I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly. For God made Adam first, and afterward he made Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived, and sin was the result. But women will be saved through childbearing, assuming they continue to live in faith, love, holiness, and modesty.”

Before you go any further, go back to 1 Timothy 2:1 and see what the first word is. Don’t have your bible? I’ll tell you. It says I as in Paul. Nowhere in this passage does Paul say God says. It’s Paul talking to Timothy and for those who will say he’s talking on the authority of God, well maybe you should know the word silence, as in women should learn in silence is translated as peaceable. In other words, women should learn in peace. As for the word submissively, Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11:3, “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” Get this though, this headship doesn’t change because a woman is your pastor. She is your pastor, your spiritual guide and your shepherd whose responsibility is to save and protect the sheep. A woman isn’t trying to assert her authority simple because she is pastor neither should a man. A pastor is God’s appointed shepherd for God says in Jeremiah 3:15, “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.” This scripture didn’t refer to a certain manner of person. Nevertheless, believe what you want but stop allowing people to use you against you. Stand up for yourself, fight for yourself, study for yourself and please do away with fear. Try and trust God for you.

Daily Devotional – 10/22/18 “Our youth is in trouble!”

Our youth is in trouble and here is a sad reality, most of them don’t have a relationship with God. I don’t care if they’ve been in the church since they were in diapers, if nobody is teaching them how to build a relationship with God, they don’t have one. And it is more than just dragging them to worship on Sunday morning, forcing them to sit in the back of the church during bible study because you didn’t have time to drop them off or telling them, when they face trouble, to pray. With the plight of our youth and young adults, prayer meetings need to start with them. Traditions, if they are no longer sufficient to handle the growing need of the church, throw them out because we need to get back to pure worship. The kind when deacons could pray and it sets the tone of service. When a Dr. Watts could slay the house long before some of these preachers started “slaying” service. When an altar call prayer could turn into an hour of worship and weeping. When the spirit was so heavy, no preaching was done because all folk wanted was to be under the Holy Spirit. Y’all our youth is in trouble and they are running from the church because so many Christians are worried about their rip jeans than their ripped relationship with God. They are being judged because of their tattoos and the turmoil they’re facing is being overlooked. Church folk are more concerned with their sexual orientation than whether they know what it means to be saved.

We are pushing our youth away due to the lack of sound doctrine and then get mad when they question about it. We are consistently having revivals but nobody is leaving restored or resuscitated let alone revived. Yet we’ll open up the door of the church at the funeral of another youth that has been gunned down, take in fifty youth who were driven to the altar by emotion but won’t take the time to follow-up with them, the next day. Our youth are in trouble. They are dying without knowing God, committing suicide because the weight of the world is heavy, being bullied and afraid to speak, being abused and thinking it’s loved, being sexually molested and covering up and facing mental illness, chalked up to acting out. Understand something, as a parent, I am not perfect and I know how hard it is to get and keep the youth in church yet I talk about Jesus, whether they want to hear it or not. I pray over their pillows and I walk around their rooms and I pray around their cars. I even pray about their friends, jobs and relationships. Even with me being the Asst. Pastor of a church, I don’t obligate them to that church because I want them to be connected to a place of worship that meets their needs. And my children are not perfect or all the way righteous but I will not stop praying because my grandma and momma didn’t stop praying for me. This is why we’ve got to intercede for them. They are facing more trouble than we ever did. So, will you take time today to pray for a youth/young adult? Will you call the name of a youth/young adult today? And if you want me too, send me their name and I shall go in prayer for them tonight at midnight. “In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; In the night my hand was stretched out without weariness; My soul refused to be comforted.” Psalm 77:2

Daily Devotional – 10/19/18 “There’s a reason!”

There is a reason. Yea, there is a reason God isn’t allowing the doors to open, right now. There is a reason God isn’t allowing the invitations to be extended. There is a reason God has you working but in the same place. What’s the reason, in order to increase your value. Think about it. You can create an outfit, write a book, develop a screenplay, preach heaven down, deliver folk with your mouth and your hands and nobody even knows your name. You can be the best in your city and still overlooked. Your work can be loved by a lot of people and it still goes nowhere. Yet, you keep working. You don’t give up, you keep creating because soon enough, you and your gifts will land in the right hands. And by the it happens, you’ll have your catalog stacked. By the time it makes it onto the right person’s desk, you’ll have plenty to offer. Why? Because God allowed you to not be seen until He increased the value of your gift. See, had you made it with the first book, you would have been eager to sell it and not gotten what it was worth. Had your first design made it, you would have sold your items for far cheaper than what they were worth. Had you been given access to the big stage, early in your preaching ministry, you would have messed things up. Oh but because God kept you sheltered while He increased your worth, YOU KNOW YOUR WORTH.


Beloved, I know you think you’re ready but if you jump out there too soon, folk will only pay you what they think your value is. And get this … you’ll accept it because you don’t think you can get any better. Well, I am here to tell you, that’s a lie, a whole lie and nothing but a lie. I know you’re ready for the increase in your finances. I know you look at other people’s books on the best seller list in anticipation of being there. I know you are admiring the conference fliers, longing for the day your picture is there. I know you are looking at your bank account, praying the day will come when you stop living paycheck to paycheck. I know you feel ready but don’t miss what God is trying to give you, in this moment. That’s why you have to wait until God says move. Wait, while God increases the value of your gifts. Wait, while God increases your worth. Wait, while God does the work because then nobody will be able to shortchange you without consequences. Don’t sell your rights because then you’ll have to fight to get them back. Instead hold them until people are fighting to get next to you. Then, they’ll pay what you’re worth and some! God is working on you and for you. Trust Him and His reasons.

“What’s the price of two or three pet canaries? Some loose change, right? But God never overlooks a single one. And he pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries.” Luke 12:6-7 MSG

Daily Devotional – 10/18/18 “Don’t lose hope!”

Growing up, when we’d get sick, Grandma would always have a remedy for what ailed you. Grandma was from an era where they created what they couldn’t buy. She’d have a remedy for a baby with colic, a cold/flu, fever and even constipation. When anything happened to you, you go to Grandma and let her look at it because she’ll know what it is. Anybody remember Father John cough medicine? It is probably the nastiest but it works. It takes you a minute to take it because it makes you question whether it even worth it, but it works. It’s hard to swallow but it works. It brings tears to your eyes but it works. I was thinking about this on last night and I realized, sometimes what Grandma would give us to alleviate our pain wasn’t always good to us but it was good for us. Similar to death. I know you’re trying to figure out how I compare the two but go with me. See, death is hard as it snatches air from your lungs, it brings tears to your eyes and it’s hard to stomach but it’s for the good. Good for who? The person who has experienced death. See, bible shares in 2 Corinthians 5:1-8, “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee He has given us His Holy Spirit. So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.”

Death is hard to us but it is also good for us as it is not that we (your mom, dad, sister, brother, child, cousin or friend) long to die but we take comfort in knowing that when we have to die; this earthly body is swallowed up, taken away from this world where our soul can be at rest and we now reside with the Lord. Yes, it’s hard to stomach and it makes you question if it is worth it, but it is. For in death there is no more. No more sickness, disease, heart-break and let downs. In death, although those of us who are left behind mourn, we should do so without losing hope. We should grieve but not grudgingly or with complaint. And understand, those of you who are reading this. I am not sharing this out of emotion but I am sharing this for those of you who need a little encouragement this day. Those of you who are angry at God for doing nothing wrong. Those of you who has had to drag the heaviness of grief, day after day. Those of you who feel like there is no one to talk to about it. Those of you who still grieve like it happened yesterday and it’s been years. There is hope, even in your grief and I am praying for you, praying that your faith does not fail you. Yes, death is a hard portion to stomach but it is also something we cannot stop. Yet, I am praying. Praying for you to make it through.