Daily Devotion

The Significance of Prayer, Praise, and Patience

 

"But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you."  Matthew 6:6 

"Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD." Psalm 150:6

"But if we look forward to something we don't yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)"  Romans 8:25

 

Evening everybody!  Today was my 25th birthday and I must say, it was wonderful.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Anyway, at some point during the day, I happened to think about the acronym PUSH.   And I've heard it said two different ways--Pray Until Something Happens and Praise Until Something Happens.  And I don't know why but I had to find another P word--patience/patient--that would fit into the PUSH.  So I came up with be Patient Until Something Happens--but only after you have done the other two.

 

See, we sometimes miss out on things we are supposed to receive because we decide to operate outside of God's will.  We pray empty prayers asking God for healing, wealth and success but we don't give God the praise.  Sometimes we get caught up with praising God in the heat of a song, and we haven't prayed enough about a situation.  We even claim to be patient until something comes along to distract, discourage, and defeat our faith. 

 

I use these three here because I've learned that you cannot do any particular one of these things without doing the other to receive from God.  You cannot pray and not have patience that God will bring to pass the thing you requested of.  You cannot praise and ignore the part that says to bring your cares, concerns, and worries to God.  You cannot be patient and not have offered any praise to the Lord.

 

Now that you have a third word, combine them all together: Praise, Pray, and be Patient until God moves on your behalf.

 

"I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!"  Isaiah 65:24

Daily Devotion--Sunday June 27

The Un-Payable Debt

"For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.". John 3:16 AMP

Good day beautiful people!  I have been in the spirit of thanking God...something we should do on a daily basis. But I had not felt like thanking God lately; I now recognize the only way the devil could keep me down was with a pity party. Fortunately God gave me an angel to catch me midway through and tell me to start thanking God for everything--because in truth my very existence was a blessing from God. So I have just been thinking of all that God has done for me and in my life today and listening to Shekinah's song "Praise is What I Do" coupled with the sermon for Men's Day today---I felt the need to bring to everyone's attention that we should be thankful because we owe God.

I say we owe God because He did the unthinkable: sacrificing of Himself to repair the channel to connect us back to Him. He allowed human blood to be shed, a human body to be bruised and battered, and a human life to be lost to restore the bridge sin demolished. I think of how we can pay back everyone else by repaying what we had gotten from them.  We can never repay God for what Christ had to experience but we are to try--in living like and aspiring to be more like Christ.

We try by doing what He intended of Adam and Eve. We build a relationship with Him. We commune with Him. We thank Him for every single thing He has ever done. We worship Him, spend time in the Word and await His instruction. How can you ever feel sorry for yourself if you really think of the favor God has shown you?  How can you have a pity party when you really think of God's mercy?  So start thanking Him now to at least show Him that you appreciate His gift.

"And he who believes in (has faith in, clings to, relies on) the Son has (now possesses) eternal life. But whoever disobeys (is unbelieving toward, refuses to trust in, disregards, is not subject to) the Son will never see (experience) life, but [instead] the wrath of God abides on him. [God's displeasure remains on him; His indignation hangs over him continually.]"
John 3:36

Daily Devotion

Shut up Your Accuser 

 

"No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, said the LORD."  Isaiah 54:17

 

Everybody always recites this scripture only in part because they only say the first part!  But do you really know what you're missing out on?  Do you realize what power God has given us?  If only people realized the power of their words, and the God-given authority implied by His Spoken Word to us, we would not let the enemy defeat us or overpower our minds with negative words and thoughts.  The second half reads (and read it out loud, lol)  and EVERY TONGUE THAT SHALL RISE AGAINST YOU IN JUDGMENT YOU SHALL CONDEMN.  THIS IS THE HERITAGE OF THE SERVANTS OF THE LORD, AND THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS OF ME, said the LORD.  God said this out of His own mouth, and His words do not return void.  God tells us we can cast down every tongue that comes to judge us.  This is our heritage as His servants and children.  Another translation says that "Their victory comes from me,".  So combined with the New Testament victory already given to us by Christ, what do we have to lose????  Why be afraid?  Why fear?  Why question and doubt?  Everything that is wrong in your life you can trust God to fix.  YOU can cast down demons and devils that attack you.  YOU can speak healing to your bodies.  YOU can learn to love others as God loves you by speaking the promise of His love.  The verse says every tongue that shall rise against YOU--not me, not the President, not your mom, not anybody!  YOU have the authority and the God-given power to shut the accusers that come against you.  Use it!

 

"See, the Sovereign LORD is on my side! Who will declare me guilty? All my enemies will be destroyed like old clothes that have been eaten by moths!"  Isaiah 50:9

Daily Devotion

Are You Holding Yourself Prisoner?

 

"For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."  2 Corinthians 3:17

 

I'm not sure if I read this or someone told me this, but when you isolate yourself, not even God can reach you.  Like a person in prison, you are kept guarded away from society, under the lock and key of your own mind.  Some people are in prison.  Not just in their minds, but in their homes, in their families, in their work environments, in bad relationships, in physical pain they imprison themselves because they do not seek their freedom. 

 

The word Liberty means "The condition of being free from restriction or control; the right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of one's own choosing."  One of the most famous quotations from one of our founding fathers, Patrick Henry, is "Give me liberty or give me death."  Let me explore this for you.

 

Before Christ, before He freed us through the gift of the Holy Spirit, we were destined to die.  Why?  Because we were outside of the covering and the covenant of God.  We were not redeemed, we were not victorious until Christ died.  He defeated the enemy and saved us.  We were not "given our liberty (freedom)" until the veil was torn when Christ gave up the ghost on the Cross. (Mark 15:37-38)  We did not break free until He rose on the third day (Mark 16:6).  We did not gain that liberating Spirit until Jesus returned to the Father and sent His Spirit to lead, guide, direct, and comfort us(Acts 2:3-4).  Before all of this, we were doomed to that death!

 

But here is how many people still keep themselves imprisoned; they do not realize that God has given us freedom through the Spirit, which is of Him, and therefore is Him!  By staying imprisoned in the ways of the world, we miss out on our freedom.  By staying trapped in our pasts, we deny ourselves God's grace and the love He has for us that is shed abroad through the power of the Holy Spirit.  We have been freed--freed from death, freed from separation, freed from eternal damnation and liberated into the body of Christ! 

 

"Creation was subjected to frustration but not by its own choice. The one who subjected it to frustration did so in the hope that it would also be set free from slavery to decay in order to share the glorious freedom that the children of God will have." 

Romans 8:20-21

Daily Devotion

In Crisis Time

 

"If you faint in a crisis, you are weak."  Proverbs 24:10(GWT)

 

 In periods of crisis and difficulty, the most common reaction is to flee or faint.  Think about all of the wars across history.  People do not make the most rational decisions.  Everything from financial crises to famine, family blowups to battles of the mind, it seems easiest to give up and give in to defeat. 

 

But being realistic, in trying situations, I know my first instinct is not always to seek God.  And you know why, after years of negative programming, the mind does what is natural for it to do.  It will send complaints to your mouth and repeat "defeat" in your brain.  Once you say it and it gets into your heart, its hard to react any other way.  The cure for this is to break that programming; rather, reprogram your mind with faith-filled words.  A commentary of the above scripture goes further to say "Under troubles we are apt to despair of relief. But be of good courage, and God shall strengthen thy heart."  Our hearts are weak because we do not give it what it needs to remain strong.  The only One who can get us through troubles is God.  The only One who can equip us with the tools is God.  But He already gave us the most important tool to stay focused and strengthened in the midst of trials...His Word!  He already sent Christ to redeem us.

 

"For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."  Hebrews 12:3

Daily Devotion #2

Do You Know Who You are?

 

"If we are his children, we are also God's heirs. If we share in Christ's suffering in order to share his glory, we are heirs together with him."  Romans 8:17

 

Hi everyone!  I'm at a crossroads right now in my life, and I've decided to evaluate myself and who I am, including every relationship, every ideal, and everything I deem important in my life.  I've been really taking hold of some of things God promises us in the Word.  When you are having an identity crisis of sorts, you cannot base your identity on your circumstances.  2 Corinthians 4:18 says "We don't look for things that can be seen but for things that can't be seen. Things that can be seen are only temporary. But things that can't be seen last forever."  God is forever, His Word is forever, and because we are recreated in Him upon accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will live forever in Him.

 

Because of that alone, we must embrace and fully believe in who God says we are.  Galatians 3:29 says "And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise."  So we are descendants of Abraham--descendants of wealth, favor, love, and prosperity.  Ephesians 3:6 tells us "to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,".  This makes us members of the Body of Christ, the bride of Christ.  The verse above tells us that we are joint heirs with Christ--we will sit on God's right hand, we will live eternally.  Galatians 4:7 explains that we are sons (and daughters) of God. "If we endure, we will also reign with Him" from 2 Timothy 2:12 lets us see that we are a part of the Royal family of God--kings and queens through the Blood.  After reviewing all of this and seeing what God has provided for us, I cannot stay engrossed in the temporary ugliest of my circumstances.  Situations change, and if you have faith, they will get better.  And as a descendant of Abraham, the father of ALL nations, a co-heir with Christ, my Lord and Savior, a daughter of God, a member of the Body, and a QUEEN!!--I cannot stay in a pity party.  the most important relationship we have is with Christ, because He is the One that changed our destinies.  He blessed us with a new life---"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" (2 Corinthians 5:17)  Through Him we inherit all of this, through the leading of the Holy Spirit we can know what is important and which way to go.  Its like a king having a trusted advisor to guide and direct him in the right decisions.  We now all have that blessing.  And I now know who I am; by knowing this I trust in the things of God, the gifts that He gives, and most importantly I can relish in His love.

 

"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."  Matthew 25:34

"As a result, God in his kindness has given us his approval and we have become heirs who have the confidence that we have everlasting life."  Titus 3:7

Daily Devotion

Living In Insanity

 

"Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.""  John 5:14

 

You've been burned millions of times, because you keep putting your hands in the fire.  You keep getting into the same arguments over and over again.  Or maybe you do my number: drive the car until the gas hand gets very low, most times out of laziness, and then fill it up...wondering if you'll ever run out of gas.  Well, these behaviors and many other cyclic behaviors that produce the same result equal what we love to call "crazy" people--INSANE.  Insanity is contemporarily defined as doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result; you know, like a rat in a maze running to the same cheeseless corner.  Well maybe in the case of the rat, he does not possess a true capacity of mind to actually learn that his behavior is producing the same nonproductive result.  But we all have the ability to learn, to change, whether we believe it or not. 

 

Many times throughout the Bible, the Prophets, Jesus, and the Apostles all instruct the peoples to turn away from their sins.  But because of the inherent sinful nature of the world, we are naturally inclined to do wrong--thus sin.  You cannot get anything new if you keep doing the same old things.  In the above story, Jesus tells our "insane" man to stop sinning--which indicates that his perpetual sinning was the cause of his infirmity and that if he continued in it, he would suffer potentially greater consequences.  He obviously was still sinning, or why would Jesus say these things to him.  But the sinning isn't his only example of insanity:  he waited at the pool year after year for over 30 years in hopes that someone would help him into the pool first to be healed.  Rather than a)hmmm I don't know lay at the very edge of the pool so he could have rolled in or b)seek some other form of healing. He sat by the pool year after year in hopes that he would get healed...thank God Jesus came and healed him, else he would otherwise still be waiting and still be complaining about someone getting in before him.  Like this man, we are all guilty of insanity at some point; its at these points that we need to recognize that God is the only one that can bring sanity and peace to our lives.  For example, I go to sleep late night after night, hoping that I can get up early to get to work earlier...like tonight lol.  Yes how insane of me to think that without making an honest effort to adjust my sleeping habits that I will actually get up earlier on my own.  Here's the why not: I have four different alarms that I all snooze at some point or another...please don't laugh lol.  But like the man at the pool of Bethesda, I have to turn away from sin--my sin in this case staying up late---so that nothing worse will happen, like I oversleep for work.  We have to recognize our insane behaviors and submit them to God so that we can overcome them.  It is hard to overcome bad habits without fully making a commitment to God for Him to change them.  We cannot overcome our pasts without giving them to God because our weakness will force us to allow them to linger or to deny their existence.  We cannot tear down strongholds without first recognizing the damages they take on.

 

Stop doing what you've been doing all along--whatever it is that is keeping you in insanity, away from the fullness of God's grace.  We live in a crazy world, but if you submit your life to God, He will break those cycles and make the road straight for you.  And with this, I bid you all good night and many blessings!

Daily Devotion

What Have You Done for HIM Lately?

 

"Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else?"  Romans 8:32

 

I've been asking God for a lot lately.  I've been hurting in every area I tell you!  I've been asking God for healing, deliverance, clarity, guidance, direction, discernment...lots of me asking Him for something...and no, because of Christ I can ask God freely. We can ask because of the Blood, because Christ is our Intercessor, bridging the gap between us and God that we had previously severed through our sin.

 

But have we done all that God asks?  He asks for our obedience: "If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the world." Deuteronomy 28:1  He asks us to listen diligently to Him: He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you." Exodus 15:26  He asks us to love Him and others: He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Luke 10:27  Give Him your burdens and do not worry: "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7 and "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."  Philippians 4:6

 

There are many more things that God asks us to do, to make our lives easier and the simplest thing is submitting to Him. Give it all to Him, your worries, your needs, your desires, your concerns, your family, friends, and loved ones, your job, your career, your future and your plans...everything to Him and let Him order it for you!  Let Him lead you, guide you and direct you.  Let Him carry you through every difficulty and circumstance because without God, your life will be unbearable.  Without His love, you will not know true love.  Without His Son Jesus Christ, we are forever separated from the beauty of he promise awaiting us in eternity.

 

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:38-39

Daily Devotion #3

Heard My Cry

“Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me." Psalm 50:15

Throughout the book of Psalms, many times the Psalmist (often thought to be David or someone else) cries out to God for deliverance. We have all done it at some point—I’ve been crying out to God daily because of so many mixed feelings and just a need for guidance, direction, and clarity. We need to cry out to God and let Him know we need Him—that’s called humility and reverence! Revere God and let Him know He is supremely able to do everything you need because that is what He wants to do.

All of us will or have experienced sorrow. We have lost loved ones, experienced attacks in our physical bodies, been tried at work, been broken-hearted and desolate, lost friends, and witnessed the brokenness of our families. We have had many things to cry about to come against us. Yet because of this verse and 5 others, we can cry out to God and trust that He hears us. We can trust that if we know that God hears us, we can know that we have what we ask for (1 John 5:15). Here God tells us that He will rescue us whenever we call upon Him, so do not be afraid to cry out to God for help. Quite frankly, He is the only one that can help us!

“"You called in trouble and I rescued you; I answered you in the hiding place of thunder; I proved you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.” Psalm 81:7

Daily Devotion #2

Sorry for the delay...I hadn't had an opportunity to copy and paste this over...sigh!

Living in the Right Now

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34

Hi everyone! Well I am back! I have a list of titles and plan to write them all! Anyway, one of my new mantras is to live in the moment, courtesy of the persistent hammering of a friend. But I really thought about this. I cannot spend my life worrying about tomorrow, next week, next year, or anytime after that. All I have is today, this very second, this minute, the very time now. I just at first took this living in the moment thing as something someone says to get away with just doing whatever they feel—which is not the case.

As a child of God, to live in the right now, this very moment, we are supposed to die to self and surrender all of ourselves, every area of our lives to Him. Not just our finances, but our relationships. Not just our families, but our careers. Not just our dreams, but the emotions and feelings that propels us in the wrong directions. But let me explain it this way: God tells us in the Ten Commandments to never have any other gods before Him. If there is some area of your life that you refuse to surrender to God, you are deeming yourself more important than God and quite frankly discounting the miracles He can perform for you. So, in essence, you are idolizing that thing—worshipping that thing, and what is that doing? Dishonoring God! You can’t live right and straddle the fence on any area of life! Dying to self is total surrender to God. So living in the right now should be lived with God leading you every moment, guiding your every footstep and trusting His every instruction to you. It is only in this way, in the true and supreme wisdom of God that you can truly live in the moment!

Daily Devotion

Use Your Words for Good

 

"The words of the godly are a life-giving fountain; the words of the wicked conceal violent intentions."  Proverbs 10:11

 

Hi everyone!  I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday afternoon.  I'm better...each day brings more clarity, direction, and guidance as I try to practice "patience" and feel my way through with God's guidance.  I wanted to talk about something that is very near and dear to my heart, and especially important to me because I have been trying to be more mindful of the things I say.  It is very important that you get this into your spirit.  It is essential to your faith walk that you say things to align with the Word of God, and believe them.  It is also important that you watch what you say to someone else. 

 

Have you ever noticed how if someone is being very negative or worse yet, talking badly about someone, just being very hurtful with their words, how it affects you?  I know when my family members begin talking about other people in our family, berating and belittling them, it makes me mad.  And now since I understand the power of words, it especially hurts me because think about the words you sow into someone else, the curses you speak and the blessings you don't, and how you box that person in.  The scripture above says that the words of the godly are a life-giving fountain.  You give life to others by speaking encouraging words, blessings, health, wealth, and prosperity.  You curse them and condemn by wishing ill of them, constantly talking of all the bad things they have done rather than attempting to change it.  God does not condemn us; rather He freed us from condemnation through the blood of Christ.  So what do you think gives you the right to condemn someone?

 

Even with yourself, you can choose to nurture your mind with faith-filled words, words that inspire you and remind you of your position as a child of God or you can choose to believe and feed yourself with the lies you may have told yourself your entire life--the lies of the world, the enemy--the devil--that keep you hovering in the same place year after year.  "The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just."  Psalm 37:30  Don't let your mouth send you away from God!

 

"And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell."  James 3:7

Daily Devotion

Living Without Expectations

 

"Put not your trust in princes, Nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help."  Psalm 146:3

 

Hi everyone!!!  I know, long time, no hear...but the original purpose of my starting this blog was to share my experiences and possibly minister to you all through them.  The last few months have been extremely difficult.  Nonetheless, I have learned the most important lesson, that I cannot expect anything out of the next man.  I cannot expect people to solve my problems, deal with my issues, heal my hurts.  But lets be realistic here: you cannot expect anything out of other people.  You cannot expect them to tell the truth, to help you, to be there fully when you need it.  YOU cannot expect a mere man to do what GOD PROMISES.

 

Another translation of the above verse says "Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation."  The commentary of verses 1-4 says in essence that how can we trust a man, that dies, because once he returns to the earth, everything he every said he would do, wished he could do, desired to do, etc vanishes and goes away!  But the critical part that just dawned on me is that I have been expected everything and everyone for quite sometime now to help me or fix me--but lacking the most important element--GOD himself in it.  I can ask people for all of the help in the world, go to group meetings, counseling, etc. but without God, without trusting and seeking God in everything, there is no true hope.  We can expect God to hold true to His promises, mandates, and decrees.  We can expect His healing, His deliverance, and His love because His word is fact.  God's word stands and holds true, even when someone lets you down.  God's promise to provide your needs and give you the desires of your heart stands firm because it's in His word.  God promises to provide you a way of escape when temptations get too great.  All of God's word applies, not some.  And in that alone, we can truly be free to live in the moment--the truth that God will direct us each and every moment, that God will protect us and love us, each and every moment.  You cannot expect anything less of God.  Now I am not saying to not trust people--on the contrary, I am saying that you should trust God first to provide whatever it is that you may need, so that you may know who He sends your way; and thus, who you should trust.

 

Good night and love as always!

 

"O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!"  Psalm 34:8