Daily Devotional – 2/27/18 “Clapback!”

Clap back is now a common term being used in reference to a response to criticism. Urban dictionary defines it as, a comeback most likely pumped with attitude, sass and/or shade. I know you’re wondering how this ties in to a devotional but let me share with you something. We are quick to clapback to what folk say yet we won’t clapback on the enemy that shares our bed. We are quick on our feet when we think somebody is coming for us yet we shy away from denouncing evil that’s in our worship places. When are we going to clapback, with some attitude against the way things are; those we know are not right? When will we clapback on these perverted, proph-a-lying prophets, idol worshipping intercessors, marred and messy ministries and selfish seed seeking serpents? When will we clapback against those who aren’t speaking the truth of God’s word? When are we going to clapback against those who always got their mouth of the church but never go to church? When are we going to clapback on those deacons who run the church their way and not God’s way? When are we going to clapback against the Facebook Live Preacher who doesn’t have a bit of oil?

Yeah, even the bible speaks of the clapback in Isaiah 58:1 where it says, “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.” Isaiah 40:6-8, “A voice said, “Shout!” I asked, “What should I shout?” “Shout that people are like the grass. Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field. The grass withers and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the LORD. And so it is with people. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.”” Beloved, where is your clapback? Yes, you are great at calling folk out on social media but what about speaking against that’s trying to prevail in your home? You are quick with the clapback against the folk at the job but what about crying out against the war within your children? Where is your clapback against sickness, depression, suicidal thoughts, crooked politicians, government shutdowns, school shootings, mass murders, police brutality, sexual abuse and molestation, spousal and elderly abuse, cancers, heart attacks, strokes, aneurysms, unfair wage gaps, miseducation of our children, predators and predatory lending? Where is your clapback on stuff that matter because this is where we need your voice?

Daily Devotional – 2/23/18 “What are you doing with the change?”

I wish I had the antidote to cure what ails you. I wish I had enough money to pull you out of debt. I wish I had the one prayer that can ease your troubled mind or to take away your worries. However, I don’t have all the answers but what I do have is faith and who I have is God. Yes, I know it doesn’t make your pain disappear but beloved, sometimes the stuff we are going through isn’t due to our sacrifice. If I shall be honest, some of our suffering is because of our sin. You can stop reading if you want too but the fact still remains. Yes, the enemy is busy, the storms are raging and you got hell in your home. Yes and yes but the enemy isn’t always to blame for the misery, it could be the company you keep because misery does love company. Confusion always seem to break loose in your home, watch who you’re inviting in because evil is an intentional spirit. You keep ending up in dead-end relationships, be careful of the ‘who’ you allow to drive your heart. Sir, you cannot keep complaining about your inability to find a wife when the places you’re looking do not hold wife standards. Ma’am, your argument cannot be “there are no good men,” when your basis is by the job he has. Your missed promotions could be due to your lack of valuable work ethics. Keep hearing no, look at who you’re asking. Can’t get well, watch what you speak with your own tongue. Ends never meet, look at the end you’re starting with. Your gift isn’t being multiplied, count the number of times you’ve used it versus taking it for granted. Can’t sleep, check where you’re laying your head and who you’re sleeping with. Can’t bear any good fruit, reevaluate where you are planted.

I shared on Facebook yesterday, “God doesn’t need our help to change our situation but He does need our help in making sure ‘said change’ isn’t in vain. What are you doing with the change?” Yes, God will hear and answer us but what happens after He delivers us from evil? What happens after He walks with us in the valley? What happens after He has given us strength to climb the mountain? What happens after He has changed our walk and talk? What happens after God changes our situation? Is it in vain? What are you doing with the change? Because we cannot keep asking God for a change and then doing nothing with it. It’s like dropping change in the cup holder of your car. You don’t use it until you find yourself in a situation of really needing it. Well, it’s been there all the time and just because it doesn’t look as grand as that twenty-dollar bill, it still has the power to pay for what we need. What are you doing with the change?

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Since the age of 14, Jayme’s life has been hell and she has one person to thank for it, Pastor James Madison.

He stood in the pulpit on Sundays waving the same hands that abused her at night. He glorified God with the same mouth he used to chip away her self-esteem, daily. He was a man of God who had turned her away from the same God he told people they needed to serve.

He was the man who was supposed to pray for, take care of and eventually love her. Instead he preyed on, took advantage of and shattered her heart before it had a chance to truly love someone else.

Now, 14 years and a son later, she finds herself needing God yet she doesn’t know how to reach Him. She longs for God but isn’t sure He can hear a sinner’s prayer until she starts to pray, Dear God…

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EXCERPT:

“Jayme, you will make some mistakes. There will even be days you’re going to lash out and push Jacob away but he will be there.”

“Until he’s not.” I say.

“I’m not going anywhere.” He says coming into the kitchen.

“You say that now but one day your patience will run out. Every day I wake up thinking I am going to fail my son or that I’ll make you hate me because I can’t let you in. I’m trying not too but it’s hard.”

“Where is God Jayme?” His mom asks.

“I wish I knew.”

“He’s right here.” She says touching my chest. “He’s in your heart. You just have to trust that He’ll strengthen you when you’re at your lowest.”

“I’m trying, I promise I am.”

“Can we pray for you?” She asks as Michael and Jace walk into the kitchen.

Jace walks over and grabs my hand. They all surround me and his dad begins to pray and his mom begins speaking in a language I’d never heard of. The more they pray, the harder I cry until I am down on my knees. Jace wraps his arms around me.

“Oh God! Please help me because I am tired and cannot do it anymore.” I hug Jace tighter. After a few minutes I feel hands on my back as Diane begins praying, “Dear God…”

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Daily Devotional – 2/20/18 “Mistakes happen!”

As a writer, I sometimes find myself reading things before I post or publish them, over and over. I will read, line by line to ensure there are no mistakes and wrong place punctuations. Yet, sometimes once I release it for the world to see, I will spot a mistake. This doesn’t mean the work or the post is any less valuable but there are some things I miss and/or messed up. Why am I telling you this? Because no matter how many times you start over, try to be right, read over stuff or even think before you speak; there is a chance you will make a mistake. It happens and regardless of the safeguards set in place, mistakes can happen. For me, I can hire an editor but a mistake can happen. Why? Because there is nothing or nobody perfect but God. Due to this, you’ve got to stop beating yourself up over something that happened. Yes, it happened. Sure, you said you’d never go again. Okay, you called him/her and flesh took over. You drank more than you said you would. You hung out with old friends and did some things you hadn’t done in years. MISTAKES HAPPEN!

And when they happen, it doesn’t mean your effort was in vain; reality is, stuff just happens. However, my question to you is, what are you going to do about it? For me, I edit my body of work or my post and publish again. I get up, dust myself off and try again. I apologize and try again. I own up to my mistakes and try again. I ask God for forgiveness and I try again. I forgive myself and try again. What I don’t do, I don’t count my mistakes because that will drive you crazy. What I do, I try again. What about you? What will you do? You’ve made the mistake, now what? You have to start over again, will you? Understand this ma’am/sir, every mistake you make isn’t a sin. Sometimes you were just plain stubborn, hard head and stupid resulting in your actions costing more than it was worth. Will you forgive yourself? For the bible shares in James 3:2, “Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.” If it were that easy, we’d all be ‘greater than’ but because we’re aren’t, we have to deal with the ‘equal to’ that solves the matter at hand.