Daily Devotional – 8/7/18 “Distractions!”

On my way to work this morning, the radio starting experiencing interference. At first it was minimal, you know, something I could deal with and it would clear if I moved. However, as I drove along the interference got louder. It started to overshadow what I was listening too. It was so bad that I eventually turned the radio’s volume all the way down. Why? Because the interrupted noise was drowning out the song I wanted to hear and it was becoming a distraction. Yes, I could still hear the song that was playing on 95.7 but I was becoming more interested in what the interfering station was saying. If I can be honest, I’ve been writing this devotional all morning but I keep letting small things distract me. I don’t know who this is for but somebody reading this or even somebody you’re connected too, is missing their purpose because of being distracted. Is it you? Let’s me truthful. How many times, man/woman of God, have you turned down God’s voice because of the interference of things? How many times, man/woman of God, has the interruptions of life drowned out what you know you’ve heard God say? You know you heard Him say wait but the distraction of past due notices drowned out what you heard and you got that title loan. You know you heard Him say, he or she is not the one but the distraction of seeing all of your friends getting married overshadowed the warnings. You know you heard God say, stand still but the takeover of wanting to be pastor drowned out the feeling in your spirit and you took the job. The interference inhabits your iniquities in order to intimidate you. In other words, the enemy will use the very thing that is keeping you up at night to distract you.

Oh and he’ll make it believable too. Don’t believe me. Stress out about that cut off notice for your electric bill and see if the lights won’t flicker, leaving you to think they are being cut off. Get worked up over your car and see if you don’t start noticing ad after ad for these tote the note car lots. Keep on complaining about your job and see if the perfect one don’t drop in your lap. See, when you’re desperate, you may rush to make a decision you’ll soon regret. Why? Because the enemy will use interference to interfere with the plans God has for your life. This is why you shouldn’t make rush decisions when you’re in your feelings, grieving, mad and/or desperate. Interference will overshadow what you know is right because it’ll be distracting you from what you know to be right. Don’t fall for it. Turn down the volume and sit in what God has told you. If that’s to wait, wait. If that’s to move, move. If that’s to hush, hush. Whatever it is, do not allow the interference to overshadow what you know to be right. Don’t get distracted because it sounds good. Don’t get distracted because it feels good. Don’t get distracted because it looks good. Don’t get distracted because it taste good. Don’t get bamboozled by the interference that’s dressed up like possibility when it’s really iniquity clothed in your imagination.

Daily Devotional – 8/6/18 “I called your name!”

Look… I don’t know everything but I know God.

This morning, leaving the neurologist AGAIN with another medicine to “try” and alleviate these migraines and vertigo, I began to talk to God. As my head pounded, I started, what I thought was, a simple conversation with God but then the Holy Ghost took over and my talk went from being about me to calling out the names of others.

Some are people I’ve never met but connected through ministry or books. Others were my family and friends. I called names because some of you have been portraying to be strong, in public and for social media but in the darkness you’re weak and crying. I called your name because you’ve been calling everybody else name. I called your name because you need God immediately. I called your name, beloved because you’re at your breaking point.

I called your name, for over 30 minutes because I need God to do for you what you’ve been praying for. I called your name because I need your tears to stop and your fears to subside. I called your name because I need you to trust your destiny plan. I called your name because you’re in an unfamiliar place and you’re scared. I called your name because you didn’t know what else to do.

Don’t worry about me because while I was calling your name, somebody is calling mine. Thank you.

Rest now, servant, God is working.

Daily Devotional – 8/3/18 “Struggling Vine!”

A migraine had me down for two days but on yesterday, while home, there was a movie on the Hallmark Channel about a wine vineyard. I forget the name but there was something said that stood out to me. It was, “The harder the struggle of the vine makes better the wine.” If you know me then you know, I jotted this down because I knew this statement is exactly what one or two of you needs to hear today. See, somebody laid down last night dreading a day that hadn’t even showed up yet. Some of you laid down and tears covered your pillow and somebody else laid down with so much on your mind that you fought with the sheets and they aren’t the ones you’re mad at. Why? Because you expected your August to erase the toil of your July and it hasn’t. Well beloved, the harder the struggle of the vine makes better the wine. What do I mean? According to what I have read on wine vines, if you make their habitat easy, the bitter the grapes because then the vines would focus more on growing leaves and shoots, not grapes. In other words, the vine is comfortable with just growing and not producing. However, if you make them struggle for the resources they need like water and nutrients and if they are pruned while being crowded with other vines; they work harder which kicks in their reproductive mechanisms. Sounds crazy, right? But it works.


Think about it. How good are you at producing when you’re comfortable? How much beneficial work do you get done when you’re comfortable? If you’re like me, if you get too comfortable with a lot of time on your hands, you just might do everything but what you need to do. Oh but when you are crunched for time, when the baby is sick and you have a project to finish, when you have a hungry family and money is scarce or when you’re in the struggle of your life; your surviving mechanisms kick in, making you work to produce what you need to survive. When this happens, you produce quality work. Crazy? This is why sometimes, beloved, you have to struggle as the vine. The harder the struggle of the vine makes better the wine. In vineyards, some growers have adapted a technique called partial root drying because normal watering of the vines was making them lazy. In restricting water, the vine pushes deeper into the subsoil to search for what they need to survive and produce. And get this, although a struggling vine produces smaller bunches of grapes; the smaller bunches is of high quality. My brother/my sister, your struggle isn’t to kill you because God knows how much you can handle, but it is to make you push deeper into the subsoil, God, in order for what you produce to be of high quality. Your struggle isn’t for suffering’s sake but it’s to get you to sink deeper into God in order to bear high quality fruit. Stop worrying about how big the harvest is, when it’s not the quantity but the quality that will reap the biggest reward. “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it (Matthew 21:43).”

Daily Devotional – 7/31/18 “Different level, different labor!”

Some of you are working so hard to be seen, become prosperous and known that you’ve lost the passion within your purpose. What happened to you? You used to love what you do but now, you’re so focused on becoming rich that you’ve lost the fire. What happened to you? You used to preach from the focus of God’s word but now it’s from your flesh because you’ve gotten used to your pictures being on flyers and your Facebook page likes increasing. What happened to you? You used to help because it has always been your passion but now you’re selling your soul for a few minutes of fame. What happened to you? You used to speak from the depth of your soul in order to help free your brothers and sisters but now it’s to go viral. What happened to you? I get it, believe me I do. I get that you want your name known for your hard work and I get that you want to be financially sound but don’t do this at a risk of losing who you are. Don’t rush to be the pastor of a mega church when you’re stressed out over the 30 faithful members. What I am sharing is, don’t rush for the title if you are not prepared for the toil. Folk always say, “Different levels, different devils.” And while this is true, let me add in different level, different labor. Baby, when your business moves from the garage to a store front, your labor is different. When your membership grows, so does your labor. When your calendar starts to fill up, so does your labor.

Are you ready for it? If not, you will quickly burn out. If not, you will no longer enjoy what you used to love. If you are not ready, your passion then turns to pain and you’ll lose your patience and your peace. Look, I’ve been preaching now for almost four years and there are still times I stand and preach a 30 minute sermon that took the Holy Ghost and I hours to put together and I may or may not get paid. I’ve been publishing books for years and up until this year, I rarely received a royalty payment. However, I didn’t stop because this calling on my life isn’t about me neither is it for profit. I show up and preach, I blog this devotional, I answer inbox messages and reply to emails because there are lives on the line. I write books because I need to get people to God, by any means necessary and if that’s through a message on the pages of fiction books like Dear God and 2:32AM, so be it. I don’t preach because it’s glamorous neither is it wealthy, I do so because God trust me enough to carry this anointing. I don’t write because I have nothing better to do but I write because God trust me with this gift. I don’t portray to be holy because I need the likes, I changed the dynamic of my life because of the oil that changed my life. Where is your fire beloved? Where is the passion you once had? Don’t lose your anointing trying to be accepted. Don’t lose your oil trying to get to overflow. Don’t jeopardize your character being carnal. And please don’t lose grace looking for gratification. All that you desire will come, in due time, because we serve a God who can turn the tables in your favor, shift the dynamic of what you know, enlarge your territory and increase you in name and stature; in the blink of an eye. Don’t rush to get to a new level unless you are ready to put in the labor that comes with it.

Daily Devotional – 7/30/18 “Preparation!”

Some years ago, I was angry at God. I was upset and in a place of not understanding Him. I could not understand why He wasn’t listening, why He wasn’t answering my prayers and why He wasn’t giving me the things He knew I desperately needed. Night after night and day after day, while I renewed check advances and paid on title loans, juggled bill after bill, trying to feed my family, keep gas in the car and maintain my sanity; I prayed for help. Just a little help, God; is what I would pray. Do you know what He did? He sent help but not in the way I wanted it. Yet, He sustained us. Sure, we struggled but we survived. We never went hungry, was never homeless, lights were never off and car was never repossessed but I was still angry. How could God allow His children to suffer this way? Then I realized, it wasn’t to suffer us. The fact is, we weren’t ready then for the things we have now. Listen to me. Four years ago when I accepted my calling and stopped running from God, when I began to have a relationship with God instead of just Sunday morning quickies and when I gave Him all of me; my (our) life changed. We went from struggling to surviving with the same checks being deposited. We went from paying every bill late to paying none late. In other words, God gave us what we needed when He knew we were ready. I have shared this before but I need to remind somebody today.

God isn’t ignoring you but He’s intentionally being silent while He prepares your next and you’ll get it when you are ready. Come here Joseph. He was 17 when things shifted in his life and although he carried the anointing of God, he was still 17. What do I mean? Joseph was the favorite of his daddy which means he was spoiled. He stayed snitching on his brothers and more than likely mocked them when they got in trouble. Sure, he had visions but we can probably surmise how Joseph told what he’d seen. He was 17, bratty and unshaped. He was anointed but he wasn’t ready for the weight of the oil. This is why God allowed him to go through all he did because by the time he was promoted to the platform God had for him, he’d been strengthened by his suffering. This is why he could run Egypt when the time came. And just maybe, God isn’t allowing what you think you’re ready for because He needs to prepare you for what’s to come. I know you’re ready to be financially secure, married, a mother or father, promoted on your job, pastor of a worship center, lender and not borrower and the head and not the tail but are you strong enough for it? Is your flesh ready to handle what comes with the responsibilities of leader? Are you truly ready for all that comes with what you’re praying for? If not, wait, even when it is painful, be patient until your platform of promotion is prepared.