Inspirational Thoughts for Today

Rounding the Curb

 

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. 1 John 3:9 ESV

 

I remember it like it was yesterday.  It was sometime in July of 2004, maybe the last weekend or so.  I was in the UC Davis Physics Dept's summer research program and one of our field trips was to the Lick Observatory outside of San Jose, CA.  I particularly remember the drive up to the observatory.  I must say it was one of the worst experiences in my life.  Don't get me wrong, my professor could drive very well, I was just petrified.  I tried going to sleep but I thought to myself if I was gonna die I wanted to see it coming smh.  Imagine making hairpin turns on the side of a mountain with no guard rails.  The link is below that shows the road and you can zoom in if you like.  Nothing but dirt, trees, grass and God knows what else would be on the roll down the hill.  I mean, think about this now, the turns on this gravel road up the mountain looked like hairpins.  We would go around the curves at only 20-30 mph.  Of course, when we finally got through to the top, we had beautiful sights of the moon and stars and other planets awaiting us.  (This within itself is another devotion, lol.)  Then we also had the drive back down the mountain...yeesh.

 

I realized today that sometimes its the hairpin turns, when we are slowly rounding the curb, that get us to where God wants us.  I know that I had digressed in the past months to a place of simply living life, progressing slowly.  I had to endure a few more trials but it still seemed like I was moving slowly around the bend.  But now that I am almost on the straightway, its time to complete that 180 and get to where God wants me.  And maybe its like that for you.  You have been turtling (I made this word up lol) along, whether by choice or the impositions of life's struggles, and ignoring the obvious signs from God to hurry up and get on with it.  But being the great Father that He is, He is not going to rush you.  God is a gentleman; He is patient with us, as long as we are yielding to His voice.  I know for me it is time to get on with it because I have been slowly climbing the mountain for a while now. 

 

This calls you to action in the following ways:

1-identifying strongholds and ways you have that oppose your progress.  When God opens your eyes and shows you an area you need to submit to him, you need to pray for the strength to overcome it and for deliverance.

2-seek God's will for yourself.  This is something you must do on a daily basis.  It is easy to get off track and to want to do things your own way.  Its not usually a major detour that gets you way off course.  Instead its the side roads that you accidentally or sometimes intentionally turn down that lead you off track and away from God.

3-submit to God's leading on the journey.  The only way you'll get there is to let Him lead you.  You have to realize that God has already empowered and equipped you with everything you need to get to your destination.  You are already strong enough--you will experience situations that show you just how strong you really are when you are operating in the power of God (through faith).  You already have enough faith (Romans 12:3). 

 

Now you all may not have experienced the road I experienced physically, but God will call you to make that 180 and turn around and away from where you were going.  He will tell you to turn towards Him so that He can use your life as He desires ONLY if you are listening and willing to be used.  Is it time for you to round the curb and get on your straightway?

 

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  Psalm 51:10 ESV

 

Satellite image of the ride lol:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=san+jose+to+lick+observatory&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1280&bih=851&wrapid=tljp1324332733362026&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=x7bvTvT1Morf0QG8nKT0CQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=3&sqi=2&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg
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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/

Daily Devotion

After the 40th

Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.  Nehemiah 9:21 NASB

August 3, 2008 was my official first night in the Charleston area.  I was staying in an extended stay when I first moved down here.  I had not had an opportunity for find a place to live prior due to my health issues taking precedence... But nearly four years ago I made the decision to move to this place.  At times I have felt like this was the worst decision I ever made in life, but no decision is ever without its downside.  I have experienced some of my most trying life experiences since I've moved here, and I am sure they have served their purpose in God's plan of making me stronger through each trial. 

I believe in Biblical Numerology.  For example here, the number 40 (forty).  Throughout the Bible, every major trial period occurred during a time spanning 40 days, weeks, months, years, etc.  The Great Flood of which we all know about Noah's Ark was caused by rain lasting 40 days and 40 nights. (Genesis 7)  The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before reaching the Promised Land.  As the scripture above says, during that time of wandering, they did not have a single need that God did not supply.  Even Jesus had his 40 experience--right before he began to preach, he was led into the wilderness for 40 days by the Spirit to be tempted by the enemy. (Mark 1:13, Luke 4:12, Matthew 4:1) 

In life we will not be without our 'wilderness experiences'--we will all have those points of testing and temptation.  It can be a purging and cleansing experience--in the 40 years, those that doubted God and were banned from entering the Promised Land died along the way.  In the 40 day rain, the world was rid of the evil.  It can be a strengthening experience--during that 40 years, Joshua and Caleb were men of valor and honor in God's sight.  They both came up under the leadership and tutelage of Moses, becoming stronger and rooted in their faith so that when they entered the Promised Land, they could win the battles necessary to claim it on God's behalf.  During each of these '40' experiences, those in them grew stronger in their faith--Noah had to trust God enough to even build the Ark, let alone inhabit it for the length of time it took for it to come to rest on dry ground.  The Israelites, although very fickle with their faith, had to trust God each day for His provision of manna and quail (although they were still ungrateful).  The experiences required total obedience--its clearly evident what happened with the Israelites when they chose to do things their own way--they lost battles, lives, food, and even God's favor at various points in their journey.  At the end of each of these experiences, a change had taken place and a goal had been achieved.  For Noah, the earth started out full of evil, at the end it was as if everything was new.  For the Israelites, they finally, finally made it to the great place God had prepared for them.  For Jesus, prior to his experience, he was already full of the Holy Spirit.  Afterwards, he had banished the devil away from him, and was filled with power from the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14).

I have had several 40 experiences thus far, but this last nearly 40 months has been most critical for me.  I have definitely experienced purging--purging of fake and phony friends/family members/relationships, purging of old attitudes and ways of thought, purging of unforgiveness and bitterness.  I have gotten stronger--I know that I am sometimes sensitive, but even now the wounds people try to inflict through blaming, lying, and accusing no longer sting as much.  I am still working on being more obedient; I know I have gotten stronger in my faith because throughout every situation I have experienced, I have only had God on which I could rely.  He will place people along the way, but ultimately you are to rely on Him for everything.  At the end of this, I realize how much of a different person I am.  I am not the same person that moved here nearly 40 months ago (my 40th month is December 3, 2011...when I take my test!)  In the midst of these situations I have not been happy.  I have not been pleasant about them because I truly could not understand some of them were happening to me.  But in it all, I know that God has changed me, and it is my prayer that the goal in all of this has been reached.  I know God has still got more work to do on me, but I'm definitely far better than when I came here.  So as I await my entry into my promised land, I'll keep trusting, believing, and obeying God.

These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 
1 Peter 1:7

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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/

Daily Devotion

God's Gift to Man

 

" The man said,

"This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called 'woman,^k'

for she was taken out of man."

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. "  Genesis 2:23-24 NIV

 

Inspired a recent string of conversations with many of my girlfriends and my own series of failed romances, I decided to share this today.  As a disclaimer, we may differ in opinion about this, so I'm open to debate on this...this is just what God laid on my heart on this topic.  I had forgotten my exact words from earlier, but like all God-inspired thoughts, it came back to me as I was thinking about something else lol.  To all my male readers, pass this along, and feel free to comment.  I'll be posting this on my Tumblr and Facebook pages as a note as well.  I decided several months back that I would take a hiatus from the dating scene to allow God to prepare and position me for His ideal mate for me.  Every guy that I had met had either repulsed me or had too many flaws that I care to count.  But then I thought, what is the common denominator, ding ding ding!! ME!! 

 

I had also realized I had much unforgiveness in my heart towards some persons and went through the necessary process of healing following a brief romantic involvement for the first half of this year.  I realized that I was too afraid to love that person because of the hurts I had endured both romantically and at the hands of my family and friends.  I was so afraid that I had blocked myself into a fortress, allowing only a select few into my heart.  Since that time, I've learned a lot, grown a lot, and am still growing.  I analyzed my problems and came up with solutions, and even found my ideal career (go figure!).  Needless to say, that situation is still sensitive to my heart, but has empowered me to share lessons with others that are going through the same or similar situations.

 

So ladies, yep, this one is for you.  In Genesis, when our Great Heavenly Father saw to create man (man being the human being Adam, a man, not mankind), He said this: "The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."" (Genesis 2:18NIV)  Adam then went on to name all the animals and yet God still saw that there was no suitable helper for Adam.  Genesis 2:20-22 details that process:  But for Adam^h no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribsⁱ and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib^j he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.  No where in this account does it say, God told the woman to find a man, or God told the woman that she could prepare herself or the man.  None of that is listed in this passage, or anywhere in the Bible for that matter...so please internalize that.

 

I think the most critical part of this message is that God brought the woman to Adam...as a gift.  You see, everything God had given to Adam at that point was a gift.  And what more suitable a gift than the person created perfectly for him, made especially to his needs, than someone that was to become a perfect part of him???  This is why I firmly believe that there is just one person out there for me...the problem with the world is that too many marry for the wrong reasons and try to force the wrong person into the right mold.  You do have the freedom to choose...and you can choose the wrong person again and again until you give God the reigns and the space to work on you and mold you into His vision of perfection so that when He makes that presentation, you will not be rejected.  I'm just saying that you cannot force that person that is everything you want on the outside to be who God wants for you.  All you are doing is guaranteeing yourself misery.  And you cannot get mad at the world when that person shows you who they are because you chose to ignore it or overlook it.  Be mad at yourself for getting caught up in the hype!

 

I'm learning to be content in my singleness--because God created us as individuals.  We do not need another person to complete us--God made Eve into a complete person; on the contrary, we are made to be helpers, and to become one with our husbands.  So how can I thus be presented if I have not allowed God to finish preparing me?  Ladies we get caught up in the excitement of being in love, of being in a relationship--and I am not trying to hurt anyone or preach at you, because these are things I have done myself.  But we have to get caught up in God, let Him strain all the bad behaviors and past wrongs out of us so that when we are ready, we can enter into that perfect partnership.

 

So look at what God did, He made the woman--let God remake you and mold you into His perfected work.  Let His love and beauty radiate from you.  Now lets be clear, while you are on this path, there will perhaps be many to come along to distract you.  But if you are focused on God, only the right one will catch your eye--and that is when you are ready.

 

He who finds a wife finds a good thing And obtains favor from the LORD.  Proverbs 18:22 NASB

He that finds a wife finds a good thing, and receives the will of Lord Jehovah, and he that puts away a good wife puts away good from his house.  Proverbs 18:22(Aramaic Bible in Plain English)

--
"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/

Daily Devotion # 2

The Not-So Innocent Bystander

 

"But you have desired the truth and you have shown me the hidden things of your wisdom."  Psalm 51:6

 

I wonder why it is so easy for some of us to lie to ourselves.  As a former victim, now victor!, I understand all too well how you can get caught up in the things that are happening to you, seemingly without your consent.  Life will throw curve balls, screwballs, and line drives at you and can catch you unprepared.  As each circumstance threatens to wither away at your faith, you stand and just allow it to happen, not intervening on your own behalf.  I call out to you right now to stop standing there as if you cannot do anything about things.  Recognize whose you are and call out to God in faith to change you from a bystander that has nothing to protect him or herself and into the mighty man or woman of God He is calling you to be.

 

Stop acting as if the world is out to get you.  Okay, lets be real, it is--the enemy is using the ways of the world, your weaknesses and fleshly desires to turn you away from God.  But its not like you cannot do anything about it.  You can pray--which is one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal.  No matter how things may look to you on the surface, your prayers are being heard, your prayers are being answered.  They may not be the answers you want, but they are there if you are looking for them.  Stop acting as if everyone is against you...because that is not true!  Even if the whole world is against you--which it isn't, God has placed some people along the way to help you, if you are looking--God is for you!  And as the Good Book says, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?" Romans 8:31 (NASB). 

 

I ask you to be real with yourself and see things as they are: you are not that innocent.  We all have a part in our mess.  Yep, I had a part in my bad relationship choices, I had a part in my health (as much as I would like to believe otherwise), I had a part in everything (well, as far as my adult years are concerned).  You had a part in picking that wrong guy, you had a part in picking that wrong job...whatever.  Its not like there were no signs and be honest with yourself by looking back.  God has shown you the truth; it is more so whether you are willing to look at it for what it is.  God wants us to be real with ourselves, and that starts by looking within and seeing things for what they are.  Life is not a drive-by shooting that you are just standing by...if anything sometimes you load the gun and shoot yourself.  Stop living like this and ask God for His divine wisdom and then ask yourself what is in your control, what can you change.   You are not an innocent bystander!

 

"If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking."  James 1:5 NLT

 

 

--
"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/

Daily Devotion

Wrong Side of the Bed

 

Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.  Psalm 50:15

 

Good morning!  I hope that yours has begun much better than my own has.  Ever since the smoke detector went off at 5:30 this morning, I've been angry.  I mean it woke me up in the best part of my sleep...mind you I was supposed to be waking up around that time anyway.  I turned my heat on last night in anticipation of the temperature drop down here.  I knew it would be chilly this morning so I went ahead and turned it on, and ignorantly to me, it would start smoking when it started.  So then when I finally woke up later around 6:30, I was irritated.  Then my yorkie Parker was insistent on staying under my bed even though he is banned from my room lol...when I finally left the house there is traffic, then I make it to the highway only to have more traffic, then I make a detour to try and beat the traffic only to experience the jarring halt of a TRAIN!  So I'm sure you can imagine my intense distress.

 

So finally I broke down and had only a mini-pity party because I immediately realized, thanks God, what the enemy tried to do to me today.  I hadn't really prayed, I mean I spoke to God in anger of the things that were going on this morning.  But I had not thanked the God that woke me up this morning, the God that allowed my body to function to its proper intent, the God that allowed me to get to work safely without harm, the God who is the lover of my soul.  I had not prayed!  I know we all have those days when everything from the start seem to go wrong.  Some things that seem to be outside of your control and without sympathy--we all experience them.  Good and bad, saved and unsaved, we all have them.  But the beauty of this is that as a believer, if I am in tuned with my Guide, we can quickly readjust.  The Holy Spirit will provide you the tools to tune yourself up and get you back in the right place.

 

For me this morning, it took listening to Smokie Norful's 'I Need You Now'...because I desperately needed God to come and touch me in my weakness.  I had to listen to Kirk Franklin's 'Hold Me Now' because in the state I was in, I needed God right then and there.  I needed Him to hug me and tell me it was okay to have those feelings.  God loves us so much that He gave us His Spirit to re-center us when our center of gravity turns us into depraved headhunters.  I'm sure if I had not prayed, had not listened and cried out for God's help, somebody would have gotten hurt or told off this morning.  But I can truly say THANK YOU LORD because He is always there to hear my cry and start me over on the right side.

 

"He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them."  Psalm 145:19

Daily Devotion #2

Pushed to the Limit

"Get out of here, Satan," Jesus told him. "For the Scriptures say, 'You must worship the LORD your God and serve only him.'"  Matthew 4:10 NLT

I hate the hair scrunchies that get stretched out.  Because once you've used them too much, on that last stretch...POP!  And in my case I usually have to scramble to find another one or doctor on that one till I can get another one.  We all get to that place where we have been stretched, pulled, pushed, forced, and pummeled beyond our limits.  I realized last night (Thanks Dad bka God) that once we get fed up, we finally have the guts to do whatever it takes to get out of that situation.  It is at the point of being fed up, the cliffhanger syndrome, that we can have the courage to do whatever part God needs us to do.  That's right--after you have been pushed too far, used too much, trampled on and beat on too many times, you finally have had enough and are willing to do something, albeit anything to make your situation change.

But ask yourself, at that point, have you called on God, or used His word to change your situation?  You see here in the passage above, Jesus had been in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by satan.  So on the last straw, Jesus told satan to get away from Him--using His God-given authority and coupling it with the Word--He trusted and rested in God's promises, submitting all to Him, remaining in God's will for His life even after His resurrection.

Many days during these last few months I have cried tears from anger to my best friends and my mom, and even God.  I have quoted scriptures to myself, which worked to change my mood and mindset for that time frame, but nothing seemed to fully break it.  The enemy has been determined to deter me from this place that God is leading me to...by employing a 'by any means necessary' tactic--stopping me from writing devotions, some days blocking me from reading the devotions I get daily, putting up all sorts of road blocks, even knocking my feet from under me, so to speak.  And I finally had enough last Friday.  I have been pushed too far.  Its time for me to do something.

But in reading, I realized that I had neglected to do one thing.  I had not fully submitted my problems to God.  I had prayed about it, cursed satan, prayed for the people coming against me, employed a 'kill em with kindness' attitude, and even forgave each person.  In reading a devotion from Dr. Charles Stanley, I realized I had allowed my need to control and fix my problems (my problem solver syndrome in overdrive) to block me from fulling giving my issues over to God.  You see, I thanked God for the revelation and asked Him to continue to show me myself, but I had not fully submitted to Him to finish the process.

Once you get fed up, you submit to God.  You recall His Word and promises to you; you pray and pray and pray and pray some more.  You go to church, you link up with other Christians, and you pursue a deeper relationship with God.  But if you are anything like me, you forget to submit to Him.  James 4:7 says "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (NIV)  How could I expect the spawn of all things evil to really leave me alone when I'm still holding on to my problems?  With full hands you cannot grab hold of God's hand.

God told Paul in 2 Cor 12:10 that "And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me."  I was and am still weak but I tried to do God's job rather than letting Him strengthen me in my weakness to get through.  It took me getting fed up, sick and tired of being sick and tired (as the 'seasoned' folks say, lol) to finally open my hands.

I firmly try to live life by the Serenity prayer's first stanza:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.

In living my life by this, I acknowledge things that are out of my control, and make an action on the things I can control.  But being in control also means knowing when something is outside of your control, when you have to take it to God.  Its only when you get pushed to the limit that we all cry out to God to fix it.  If we start taking things--scratch that, EVERYTHING, to God and get His will on the way ahead, we can always have the 'Upper' hand.

"we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body."  2 Cor 4:8-10 NASB

Daily Devotion

Devise Your Defense

Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

I know I have not written in a long time, and truthfully it was because my thoughts were on my own situation, and during my hiatus I have been able to draw closer to God.  However, He quickly brought to mind that this is something that I should be doing, because not only does it help me, but I have the fortune of helping others.  I pray that all is well with each of you and that God has been keeping you in the interim.

The scriptures referenced above are most frequently referenced when a pastor does a sermon or series on spiritual warfare.  They do prove most appropriate in that context because it tells you who your true enemy is and how God has equipped you to be a victor.  Lately I have had to realize just who my enemy is.  He has roamed about like a lion, jumping from person to person that unknowingly allowed themselves to be used.  Some close to me and not so close have all played the puppet and it has served as a discouragement to me.  But once I realized that it wasn't the people (rather it was their own sin that made them susceptible to being used by the enemy) but the enemy trying to keep me from my destiny, I had the heart to pray for the people and myself.  See as long as you are focused on what the person did to you and not how you may have played a part in contributing to what they did, you will not be able to see what God wants you to see.  I had to look at each situation in two ways: 1: that the enemy was trying to discourage me but 2: that I had helped to contribute to the situation!  In a defensive strategy, you cannot have any holes or else the other side will break through!

It took me going to God and asking Him to show me myself for me to forgive the people and actually come to a place of prayer for them.  But I had to really see through the people to the devil trying to knock me back to who I used to be.  So in devising your defense, you have to have your best player (Jesus) involved.  You have to know the playbook (the Word--the scriptures to confess and how to use them against your opponent).  You have to know your weaknesses (how you may be contributing to the situations that are happening; what sin have you not acknowledged in your life) and that is where you get your best player to fortify you at.  You must definitely recognize and know your opponent because you aren't fighting against that physical person, but as said above, against principalities and evil rulers in high places (the devil).  Listen to your coach (God) and don't be defeated--because your best player already won!

"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."  1 Cor 15:57 KJV

Daily Devotion #2

To Believe or Not to Believe?

'Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,' John 11:25

I think I was hurt the most recently to hear (or read rather) that one of my best friend's brothers decided to no longer believe in God.  I was so hurt that I asked to talk to him.  That ended up in me being very angry because he accused me of only believing in God because I did not want to go to Hell.  I was infuriated!!!  How dare he simplify my suffering to merely not living in Hell?  Then the next day, I saw an article about a black man being an atheist.  His belief, of what I could skim, involved him being responsible to himself for his actions.  After that, I decided to write, but only after I had time to gather my thoughts on this topic.

To Believe or Not to Believe?  I asked myself this question.  Could I live my life not believing in God?  I immediately realized I could not, because I have experienced and witnessed too many miracles amidst great suffering in my only 26 years on Earth.  I cannot and will not ever doubt that God exists, because I have felt and seen His hand move in my life in many different ways.  I think I have experienced about every emotion known to man, and from every one that was bad, God has pulled me back from.  From losses to gains, God has been present in them all.  I can recount every situation in my life and in the lives of my family that show that God is real, and He exists, but most people that don't believe would try to reason them away with some scientific or philosophical jargon.  The truth is, I believe because I have a real-lationship with God.  I know that He is real because I have experienced enough situations that had God not been there, I would have been dead and gone.  It is so crazy how the near-death experience, or in my case, almost near-death, will cause the blinders to come flying off, and it is there that you see God's glory.  I won't, however, act holier-than-thou and say that I have not doubted that God heard me, because He has shown me in the lives of those close to me and in complete strangers that He is real.  It is only in growth that I realized that God did answer and maybe my ears were too clogged to hear Him.

I am a firm believer in accountability.  If only everyone would hold themselves accountable to how they played a role in the lives of those around them, I think people would see life differently.  Prime example, if a boy is told by his mother he will never amount to anything--and he actually never amounts to anything, is it his fault wholly?  No!  We must hold the mother, and undoubtedly his environment accountable for his failure in life.  Of course at some point he could have chosen to try the opposite, but can you really expect him to do opposite of what he has known his whole life?  However, had he known his worth as a child of God, maybe his life would have turned out differently.  Yet still, people tend to do what they see, and as a child, you feed off of the words of your parents. 

I don't know what experience my friend's brother had in a church, let alone much of his life. Maybe it was the strong hand of judgmentalism and Biblically unsound traditions like I experienced in various aspects of my traditional Baptist upbringing that would cause any free-spirited person to turn away from God.  Maybe in an extreme case he was abused by someone in the church in a position of power to make him doubt God.  Or maybe it is all the evil in the world, like he stated, that he 'doesn't see God doing anything about', or maybe it is like my opinion, he just hasn't held himself accountable for his role in the state of his life.  When we get tired of blaming God, He often hands us the mirror so that we can truly see ourselves, and how when we tried to run our lives, we miserably missed the mark.  He then shows us how much easier life is with Him, than it is to spend eternity without Him.

In having a better relationship with God now, I understand the purpose of my suffering.  I don't like it, I don't like it, I don't like it (did I say it enough?) but I know it is only in the midst of difficulties that these impurities of my character are extracted and God continues to mold me more into the likeness of Christ.  I believe God exists because in His awesomeness, He finds ways to show us how much He loves us everyday.  I know there is much evil and poverty and unfairness in the world.  I don't try to reason them away that because a person sinned, they are doomed to their state forever.  I do know that just as God is real, so is the devil.  I know that anyone willing to be used by the devil, both rich and poor, young and old, black, white, yellow or blue, will be used to bring his ultimate desire of dooming humanity to eternal suffering.  But at the end of the day...believing all comes back to accountability.  At the end, we all have to go before God.  We can choose to live our lives how we want, 'responsible to ourselves' and blaming the world for everything wrong.  Or we can believe in God, His word, His Son, and let Him lead us to make a difference and change it all.

"Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."  John 3:18 NIV

Daily Devotion

Dispel the Curse

 

"And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."  Genesis 12:3 NASB

Good evening everyone!! I know, I know, its been way too long since my last post.  But I've been on a soul searching and spiritual journey as of late, abandoning all and everything just to get my life in proper perspective.  I had a fabulous time in Jamaica with one of my best friends for her birthday (and well, one of my delayed gifts to myself).  It was so appropriate for me to go then; God blessed me to realize just how much He favors me.  And to be honest, He favors us all the same way.  As long as we commit our lives to doing His will by accepting His Son, we can rest assured that God's hand of blessing will be upon us.

So irony struck me today because God orchestrated it that all of my devotions that I read at the start of the day were all discussing blessings and curses.  It lead me to share my take on it; for a long time I would complain and have a 'woe is me' attitude towards my life.  We all received the ultimate blessing of eternity with God by accepting Christ as the supreme sacrifice, the great atonement for our sins.  We are to repent--that is, forgive and be forgiven, and then turn away from our former behaviors towards God.  Once we repent and sin no more, we are reconciled to God.  From the time we accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we share in the blessings--and the inheritance.  Because of my journey lately, I know realize how blessed I really am.  But that prevalence of 'blessings and generational curses' discussions forced me to really look at why things happen, and seem to keep happening to people.

My fascination rose when I came to read about curses.  I'm not versed in the occult, but I do know that it exists, simply because the enemy satan exists.  His desire to pervert everything that is God--the purity, the love, the family, the marriage, everything, so why would he not provide for a way to pervert God's way of showing He loved us by creating a way to show how much he hates us?  So I came to understand that curses can only come upon us when we step outside of God's will for our lives.  Looking at Numbers 22-23 in my bible study showed me that nothing God has blessed can be cursed.  Nothing (See Numbers 22:12 and actually read both stories...this shows you where God will use anything and anyone to speak to you!) can remove the blessing on you but you and your own sinfulness.  The Israelites were blessed and it was their own sin that caused them to become cursed in latter centuries.  These curses fell upon them because they opened the door and let satan take up residence among them--in fact many of them were sleeping with the enemy (God forbade the Israelites to marry outside of their race, but many disobeyed and it is even evident in some of the most famous kings, i.e. Solomon, who left their love of God for the love of these foreign women, and eventually their idols.) 

When we fall outside of God's will, there are all sorts of evils awaiting us.  Because our flesh is sinful in nature, it is easy to get caught up and drift away in sin.  It is only then that the enemy can get us. In the case of the Israelites, they kept on sinning, generation after generation, each worse than the one before.  It was not until Christ came and died, that through Him we are able to again direct communion with God.  I started working on this devotion nearly 3 weeks ago (Aug 17) and it was only a few days ago this week that I found the scripture I was looking for. In Exodus 34:6-7, "Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation."  So I remembered that without Christ, without accepting His seed of eternal life and rebirth as a child of God, we are doomed to these 'curses'.  By turning back to that life without God, outside of His will, I overlook the best blessing He gave, Christ.

 

So I believe that when we accept Christ, we are freed from the curse--in fact Galatians 3:13 says so!  We are no longer bound by generational curses and self-inflicted ones because the blood of Jesus was the ultimate atonement.  Believe in Him and be free!  He redeems and saves us from our greatest enemy, satan and our own selves.

 

"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."  2 Cor 5:21 NASB

Daily Devotion

He's Getting You in Line

"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today."  Genesis 50:20 ESV

I was watching a movie today--Love Chronicles: Secrets Revealed.  It was a pretty good movie.  But something one of the characters said stuck with me.  She was a caller into the radio station, and was sharing her testimony.  She had dated many wrong guys, and finally decided to stop everything she was doing to get right.  She had realized that all of her 'Mr. Wrongs' were helping to get her in line, get in line for the right one.  Well all I could think about today was getting in line.  God has allowed a whole lot to transpire in my life for me to get right and get in line with Him.  What things has God allowed to happen in your life, and are you even recognizing them?

I'm sure my friend meant no harm, but she commented how young I looked two years ago.  Two years ago, I was in a totally different place.  I was on a high, somewhat, because I had a new lease on life with my newly transplanted kidney.  I still had some of my innocence.  But in the course of two years, well truthfully less than a full year later, I had lost that light in my eyes, and the blinders of what life really was had fallen off.  I was still hurting and wounded deeply, but I recognize now that had those things not taken place in my life, I would not be in line.  God allowed that hurt and pain to root some things out of me so that I could cut out things that were keeping me from my destiny.  Even now, every hurt I have experienced helped to get me in position to hear God, to pay attention and take heed to the things He plans to work in me. 

God can and will allow whatever He needs to get you in position for His will.  You must recognize that by looking back and observing those things.

"Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 1:13 NASB

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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/

Daily Devotion

Reflecting Season

"For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven."  Ecclesiastes 3:1 NLT

 

Everyone of you that know me, know that I am not one to just simply sit still.  I always have to be doing something, on to the next task or assignment, never sitting to reflect.  But lately, I have been taking a little more time out to look back over my life this far.  And yeah I am only 26 haha, but like everyone, I've lived long enough to experience things.  A lot of times I am not happy at the things that have happened, but what can I really do about it at this point.

 

Reflection is a good thing to do.  It allows you to take the time to look back at the things that have happened in your life and actually identify things you can change.  Yes life is a roller-coaster!  You can expect for you to experience periods of turmoil and difficulty and for there to be times of peace.  It is during those 'peaceful' times that you must look back and take notes on how to deal with what may come.  God prepares us for the things we experience in life, and in wisdom we should always reflect on where our life's journey takes us.  I admit, I have not always looked back on things in an attitude of reflection.  On the contrary, it was always in pain that looked back--I looked back at the things I have experienced that caused me pain.  Instead we should look back at life in triumph, with a victorious attitude, because God has allowed us to get past whatever circumstances we have faced, and He has allowed to keep living.  We all make mistakes, we all fall short, but when we have another day to look back and another day to get up and move forward, we have truly won.

 
'Thank God that he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.'   1 Corinthians 15:57 GWT
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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/

Daily Devotion

Praise in the Midst

 

"<<A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed.>> I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth."  Psalm 34:1 KJV

I know I haven't written in while...and truthfully I've been too distracted to write.  I have been hopping on and off the merry-go-round and sometimes the stops haven't been so pleasant.  I can say thank God that my most recent stop was awesome (I turned 26 last Tuesday yay).  It was much better than last year, but I think I was too heartbroken from losing my daddy to enjoy it.  Life and everything in it serve as distraction enough, and when troubles arise, it is easy to forget God or the things He desires of us.  I was reading to catch up on some devotions...because I get like 5-7 everyday and sometimes I just ignore them.  Well its been many days now and I just can't stand looking at the pile of emails any longer...OCD I guess lol.  So the one I just finished was on praise.  And I thought, how can you praise God in the midst of your suffering?  Because I have and I am sure you have too, experienced difficult things in life, where you could not even bring yourself to think of praising God.  I've asked God, "Why did you allow this" or "How can this work out to my good" or "What did I do to deserve that" only to hear nothing.  After some point, someone I trust and confide in will often awaken me from my pity party and remind me of who God is and what He can do.  So I asked myself how can you praise God in the midst?  How can a person like me, who has heard everything  from "People have it worse than you" or "You are so blessed", keep praising God when life knocks you down?

 

And my answer is now that I have to stay in the Word.  God gives us promise after promise that things will work out for our good.  Romans 8:28, which is one of my favorites, was a scripture I recited over and over to myself to encourage myself.  I recently found a few others that help to make the devil flee.  Isaiah 61:7 states, "Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, Everlasting joy will be theirs." NASB  There has been many a day that I have felt shame, either self-inflicted or out of my control, and knowing that God will in essence, give me double for my trouble is comforting.  Luke 1:45 says "You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said." (NLT)  So by simply believing in Romans 8:28, Isaiah 61:7, and countless other scriptures, I can praise God, even when I don't feel like it.  Even when my mind is running and my heart is heavy, when you experience losses and death, you can still praise God because of the promises in His word.  As I write this right now, I don't feel like praising God because I have my own ambushes to deal with right now.  But some how these things are going to work in my favor because even if they are from the enemy, trusting in God's abilities instead of my own will prove advantageous for me always.

 

"Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus."  1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT

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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/

Daily Devotion #2

Your First Love

 

"I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me."  Proverbs 8:17 NASB

 

For sometime now, the lyrics of "Go Back" by Israel and New Breed have been on my mind.  A while back, I finally downloaded the song.  Only now in light of some major changes in my life, do I realize why I needed to listen to this song.

 

It was revealed to me that I have always in some way, since I was at least 14 years old, in some type of relationship with a guy.  I either had a boyfriend, a friend or two, or just some guy that liked me, that I would talk to.  Of course, I would develop an attachment to those people.  Instead of seeking after God, I would be more concerned about that person and where our involvement would go.  I got saved and baptized when I was 9 years old.  Don't get me wrong, I was excited about being 'born again' and 'getting saved' and just learning more about God.  But I didn't understand the brevity of the commitment I had taken.  I didn't realize that God, who is love, wanted to love me more than anyone in the world.  More than my momma and daddy ever could.  You could say I had a misconception of God and Jesus for a long time.  But as I learned this about myself, I realized I had never taken the time to love God and let Him love me back.  I had never been in a relationship with God.  Initially, having a boyfriend was just something to do, so I often didn't keep one too long.  But once I had my first few 'serious' relationships, I got into the habit of succumbing to the other person and losing myself by not nurturing my relationship with God.  The truth is I did not know myself, because living a life without a true relationship with God will never allow you to know yourself. 

 

As I experienced situation after situation, sometimes in a relationship, other times not, but still 'talking' to someone, I would question and ask God why, as I built the wall around my heart and against Him.  Why had this person hurt me, when they said they loved me?  Why did I get sick in college, have my kidneys fail right after my 23rd birthday, have a transplant, lose my cousin, and most of all my earthly father--if God loved me, why did He allow it to happen?  Well, as I listened to this song a few nights (literally, I'll play one of my playlists the entire night) I realized it was to draw me closer to Him. It is His turn, He says, to be in a relationship with me. 

 

Many of us, both men and women alike, try to fill the voids with people--family, friends, and romantic relationships.  We then put God on the back right or left burners to simmer and we check in with Him from time to time.  Meanwhile, all the hurts, hang-ups and pains in our lives continue to grow in the back corner like ignored dust bunnies.  And all along, God is back there, reminding us who He is to us and that He wants to save us, heal us, deliver us and make us whole.

 

I know it is often easier said than done to 'be' in a relationship with God.  But like I said, I was saved at 9.  So for me, He really is my first love.  He stirred something within me then that has always sustained the need to return to Him.  I encourage you to evaluate your relationships, and make sure God is your first love--not money, not a person, or some other inanimate thing...because all those things fade and when it comes time for God to call your name it would be sad if He said He doesn't know you.

 

"Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"  Romans 8:35 NASB

Daily Devotion

The Art of Noise

"And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper."  1 Kings 19:12

 

I hear from God.  Sometimes He is always speaking, other times not so much.  A lot of times I have so much noise, so many distractions in my life and heart that I cannot hear Him speaking. 

 

God speaks to all of us.  I have learned that God has allowed some unsettling situations, difficult experiences, and quite frankly, destruction to wreak havoc in my life just to get my attention.  I realized that though I have a relationship with God, I demoted Him.  God was not number one in my life--no He came a distant second to whatever I happened to be dwelling or focusing on at that moment.  From work, to family, to school, and let me not exclude them, relentless pursuit of a relationship...they have all taken precedence over God at different times in my life.  And when anything does that, that is noise for you because you will not be able to hear from God clearly.  I have even lost what I felt was seeking His will to become noise for me, noise to not give Him the time, attention, and affection He needs.

 

My last nearly three years back in South Carolina have been tumultuous to say the least, from my surgery to my cousin and dad's deaths, to finally having a plan and perspective for my life.  But at the heart of these things has been the call of God drawing me back in relationship with Him.  Yet instead I focused on each event--the noise, most definitely the negatives of these situations, rather than seeking God's purpose for each event.  We have to acknowledge life for what it is because it would be foolish to walk around in denial.  However, the distinction is that we can walk alone and continue to live in a noisy world, without God's guidance and direction, straying ever so far away from His planned destination.  Or we can cling to God in the midst of each situation and learn more about the person God is creating us to be.  We can learn to love ourselves in the reflection of God's presence--because God is love.  We can step out of the noisy room and get quiet.  For me, God sent me on trips...go figure...where I would inadvertently be alone, and He would speak crystal clear so that I could not deny Him being there.

Noise can be used to create some of the most beautiful things.  Look at the precious stones created after the explosion of volcanoes.  I most certainly know that God has created in me some beautiful things, out of the hard, painful things life has dealt to me.  I realize though that it is through the noise that I have learned to listen more carefully. 

 

"Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say." Isaiah 28:24 NIV

Daily Devotion

In Uncharted Waters

 

"Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, "This is the way you should go," whether to the right or to the left."  Isaiah 30:21 NLT

 

Hey!!!!! Today is a great day.  It started off great, got a little bumpy, but its gotten better and I have to thank God.  This is a new place for me.  I've never been in a place of praying and trusting first, then acting.  I've always been a go-getter, a solve the problem and act type of person.  I admit I am a control freak, lol. I can fix everyone else's problems but I finally had to realize I could not fix my own...and that mess hurts!  Although this very seldom applies to me, because I have a great sense of direction, I have had the occasion of being lost once or twice.  Now I know plenty of people who cannot say the same.  But when you get lost, after you didn't follow the directions you were given, or if you were bold and went the trip without even asking, do you humble yourself and use your GPS/ask directions, or do you keep driving past the same gas station in arrogance?

 

Today I realize I am in a new place.  Its uncomfortable by every standard--I'm forced to be patient and wait, I'm forced to let go and let God, I'm forced to forgive and start over.  Yes, I have a choice in all of this, I could step out of God's covering and do what I want.  I could voice my opinions and desires and potentially lose a valuable friend.  I could ignore the pressing need for me to forgive and let go of all my hurts that stem from my father's passing, and potentially die from the negative effects of unforgiveness.  I could take all of my mess back from God and try to fix it myself, and put myself in a worse hole.  But I'm deciding this time to go God's way.  Why?  Because truthfully I am tired of running things, time to let someone else make all the decisions and I follow.  I'm tired of being that go-to person for every single person and feeling burned out when I get to my own stuff.  I'm tired of hurting after I tried to do something my way and got scarred when I fell down.

 

Now I can clearly hear God as I am in the midst of this storm.  It has the potential to be turbulent--in fact, it is turbulent, in my mind and heart as they are both heavy right now.  But the good thing is that God is steering the ship and He knows the course very well.  He knows where I am going and He knows how to get me there safely with everything I need.  Hopefully at the end of this leg of the journey, I'll be a much wiser and stronger person--but I can trust and rest assured that I will because trusting in God grows and stretches my faith.  It is tough, Lord knows it is, but I want to say I'm happy and at peace with where I am going, because I waited on God's direction.

 

"He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way." Psalm 25:9 NIV

Daily Devotion

Hanging on a Prayer

 

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done."  Philippians 4:6 NLT

 

God has been calling to my mind and heart to do some things that require obedience, humility, and selflessness on my part, and all I can think of is that I love God more than these things, so I must be obedient to Him.  I have to let my love of God and my desire to do His will overpower my reluctance to act.  All I have had the energy and heart to do is pray.

 

God has shown me in the last few weeks that He hears my prayers and remembers them even when I don't.  He answered prayers I've had from months ago within recent weeks and all it served to do was blow my mind!  Have you ever had that experience of God answering a prayer so clearly?  It is a very eye-opening experience.  In light of that, God has been teaching me patience and above all else to trust Him.  The things that I'm dealing with right now require me to pray many times throughout the day to God asking how, why, and just trusting in His word.

 

At the beginning of the year when my baby brother got into a car accident in my old car (RIP Tina hahaha), I was in no position financially to get a new car.  In fact, Tina was soon to be paid off.  It hurt, to know that I, a problem fixer and solver, had no earthly power within me to solve my own issues.  I could not do anything.  I remember praying though, 'God teach me to trust you without a doubt.'  And don't you know God gets excited at these types of prayers, because they cause your faith and trust in Him to grow as the experiences will do exactly that. 

 

So I started this devotion 8 days ago, and never came back to it.  And how appropriate that I picked it back up today...God has been blowing my mind since I got on the plane yesterday.  Prayers I have been praying and thanking Him for the answers in faith for months now...He showed up for me in a major way within the last 24+ hours.  I went from various uncertainities in every area of my life to a place of unspeakable JOY as every thing I could ask for was revealed to me. 

 

All I can say is hang on to your prayers.  Thank God for the answers that He will reveal...yes, no, not right now.  And trust without a doubt that He will answer you and see that the Lord is good!!  Good night!

 

"In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight."  Proverbs 3:6 NASB

Daily Devotion

Love and Grudges Don't Mix

 

"It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]." 1 Corinthians 13:5 AMP

 

I've been thinking a lot lately, well truly, God's been weighing some things heavily on my mind and heart.  The distinguishing factor between Christianity and other religions is supposed to be that we forgive.  Matthew 6:14 says 'For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.'  There are many other scriptures throughout the Gospels and the New Testament that drive home this point of radical forgiveness.

 

What I realized the other day is that holding a grudge is very much having unforgiveness.  I have to say thank You God because I used to be the queen of grudges.  If you hurt my feelings, I would never forget it and mull over it everytime I saw that person, resulting in a scowl or stank eye being thrown the way of the offender.  But God calls us to live a life of love, much like Jesus--in fact, He calls us to live exactly like Jesus.  To do this, we must first accept Him into our hearts and minds, and allow the presence of His Spirit to transform us.  But this love lesson is a hard lesson because it involves so many challenges.  Forgiving and turning the other cheek to every injustice, pain, and undeniable wrong that is inflicted upon you at the hands of another, that total complete letting go of ill feelings in order to bring healing.  It is hard! And if you are a grudge-holder like I used to be, it feels virtually impossible to give away that pain.  Its like taking a pr"ized possession that you have had for some time and giving it to Goodwill--all of the emotions associated with it begin to resurface and cause your heart to wrench.

 

But we have to live this way, in order to show the world that Christians are who they say they are.  How can we call for the death of someone who violated or injured us--as a true Christian?  How can we dig up the past and relive the injustice--as a true Christian?  We are called to love all unconditionally, even those we personally feel are un-lovable.  We have to have compassionate hearts, which can only be created by the molding of God, and let everything go. 

 

This has been an especially difficult lesson for me.  But when we decide to allow God to have control of the situation, we must be willing to go forward at all costs, even if we lose those grudges and bitter feelings we take comfort in.

 

"Be tolerant of one another and forgive each other if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, you also should forgive."  Colossians 3:13 ISV

Daily Devotion

A Lesson from a Child

 

"Did not He who made me in the womb make him, And the same one fashion us in the womb?" Job 31:15 NASB

 

Hi everyone!! I know, long time no writings.  Jury duty two weeks ago made it virtually impossible for me to write--only because I have not quite mastered writing these in the mornings.  But I have spent a lot of time lately thinking about life.  Most of my last writings focused on forgiveness.  And mainly so because that has been something God has been working on in my life lately.  You see, there are a great deal of people that I had not quite forgiven.  When I would hear or even see their name, I would wince at the memories of their wrongs to me.  But I heard a life-changing view point recently: life for the people who wronged me still goes on.  For these people, life has continued with some having new beginnings, new blessings, and new chapters to start in their lives.  Whereas, me, I have been stuck in unforgiveness and I have not allowed myself to go on from some of the things; as a result, I have not fully moved forward.  Even at the possibility of new relationships, I have shied away from the potential hurt because I have been afraid to trust and thus I have allowed my wounds to fester and not heal.

 

Then God spoke to me one day as I asked yet again what was I doing to not receive the things I asked Him for.  And as clearly as if you were standing next to me and spoke it, I heard that I have unforgiveness in my heart.  In the days and weeks that have transpired since, I had the favor of stumbling, literally, upon a great book on unforgiveness.  Now I have read on this topic before, and it helped me a great deal last year when I first brushed up on this topic after my dad's death.  During that time, I focused on the most prominent offenses I could remember, reaching all the way back to my childhood.  I can say that many of those things I no longer remember, having reconciled those things to the past and buried them once and for all, because I now have the wisdom and knowledge I need on those situations to let them go.  So on this second go-around, I can move on quickly and possibly help others in the process.

 

So I prayed and waited as God revealed the contents of my heart towards those people and how they have affected me still.  Some infractions have bruised me to the core and allowed me to become fearful in being too deeply involved in other relationships of that nature, where others have only served to be mortar and brick for the wall I already had up against my family.  But I go back to the statement above...how these people have gone on with their lives, while I still stayed in that broken place.  And no more I say!  No more will I allow the enemy to cripple my mind to that powerful gift God gave us through Christ, and that is the ability for forgive.

 

It is a known fact that there are learned behaviors and innate behaviors.  When a infant is born, it instantly trusts its mother.  In fact, even if a newborn cannot flat out say, 'that's my mother', it knows her based on her scent and her voice to name a few.  It relies on her for very survival.  Then as the child grows, he learns to not trust as a result of some action.  Example, we don't trust strangers because we are told not to by our parents.  We don't trust a faulty scale after it continues to give us the same weight even when we know we have gained weight lol. 

 

What I have learned from this experience, and truthfully in reflecting over the last 3 years, is that we are to automatically trust God and what He says.  But it is through these types of experiences, injustices from friends, family, and foe alike, that we become reluctant to trust God or anyone for that matter.  It is after we are wronged that we allow unforgiveness to cloud our minds and hearts.  We allow that unforgiveness to block from receiving whatever messages God has for us and even more critical, the healing that He holds for our hearts.  The enemy's tool effectively keeps us in a time warp, immune to any form of deliverance until we recognize what's going on.

 

I had to become like a newborn--in the aspect of trusting God.  Much like innocent until proven guilty, we are to trust God and others with that same mentality.  Although God will not do us like   I had to go back to the beginning of why I was hurting and acknowledge the feelings I had.  In one situation, I read the emails I sent that person and finally acknowledged how foolish I had felt in loving and trusting them, how I opened my heart and self in obedience to God's call for us to love unconditionally.  And instead of it being reciprocated, I was burned and discarded.  I realized it was those same feelings that I hoped to avoid in future relationships, which had been crippling me with being open and honest to others.  I had to go back and relive the same pains I felt at my dad's death to acknowledge how my family had hurt me with misplaced and inappropriate words to forgive them.  I had to be trusting of God that He would not allow me to experience that again, but instead, give me the strength and courage to give it to Him.  And now, I ask God to give me the strength to forgive each day, and I also pray for these people.  It hurts a little less each day, and hopefully soon it will be completely gone.  But it takes us being willing to have that undeniable trust in God--the God that knit us all together in the wombs of our mothers--that He is faithful.

 

"The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving."  Psalm 28:7 NLT

Daily Devotion #2

He is Real

 

"But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name."  John 20:31 NLT

 

Growing up in a Baptist church and as the child of a PK (Preacher's kid, lol) I most certainly heard and knew a lot of hymns.  One of my favorite ones is 'My God is Real,yes God is Real'.  I did not really know what I was singing, but in growth I truly understand it now.  God is real, Jesus is real--in fact even history does not dispute He lived.  Even other faiths and religions recognize Him as a prophet and acknowledge the validity of His miracles.  Here are the lyrics to the first verse and chorus:

 

Verse 1:
There are some things I may not know,
there are some places I can't go;
but I am sure of this one thing,
that God is real for I can feel Him deep within.
Chorus:
Yes, God is real,
real in my soul.
Yes, God is real
for He has washed and made me whole.

His love for me is like pure gold,
yes, God is real

 

I was talking to my linesister Ebony yesterday and during the course of our conversation I said that I believed that if someone had an experience of which they cannot doubt Jesus' existence and presence in their lives, it would be impossible to question if He was real.  I have always believed in God (of course, being a PK's kid), but I did not always know or feel God's presence in my life.  I believed in Jesus truthfully because I was supposed to, but I did not really know Him for myself.  Only in recent years and in studying the word on my own lately that I really come to understand the brevity of what Christ did.  And even more recently on receiving an email from a friend about the ongoings in her life, I can truly say I thank God for the gift of Jesus.  But nothing has more clearly proved Christ exists to me than the acts of God in my own life--saving me from death time and time again and reuniting me with Him whenever I fall short--because, why save a sinner?  Why heal someone undeserving?(Rom 8:11) Why deliver me from certain death?(Rom 5:8) Why if He isn't real????  I have experienced for myself the loneliness of having people doubt, ostracize and scorn you...but were it not for God and Jesus in my life...I would have long given up.  Only through Christ am I--a sinner--able to go to God in all of His holiness and pray before Him.

 

In Romans, Paul talks extensively of what God did for us.  In Romans 5:6-11, Paul says the following: "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." Jesus died to redeem us (both Gentile and Jew) from life under a unlivable law--that really only applied to the Jews.  In the email my friend revealed how she tried to conform her life to the law and how miserable it made her, even down to how it affected her family life.  Reading that showed me that were it not for God's mercy and compassion, and Jesus' humility, we would truly be condemned to death, both in life and after life.  Because we know that no single good work will get us to heaven, but God's grace alone.(Eph 2:8-9) 

 

I read and actually heard someone mention recently how the priests of the Old Testament went once a year to offer a sacrifice of atonement to God.  The blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the mercy-seat that covered the Ark of the Covenant and as long as the Blood was seen, the people were forgiven and in right standing with God.  This no longer has to be done because God gave a better, all-inclusive sacrifice for our sins.  Being covered by Jesus' blood allows us to focus on God and His eternal grace, and thus conform ourselves to the image of Christ.  Because of Jesus, I have the Holy Spirit living within me, leading, guiding and comforting me.  Because of Jesus, I am alive and well to see another day.  Because of Jesus, I am forgiven and entitled to share in His glory.  Like the song says, Jesus' blood washed us--and made us clean of the guilt that sin brings.  We are no longer condemned; instead we are free to live with God forever.  Because of Jesus, we can come to God for ourselves instead of through a proxy--because He is our proxy!  No more animal sacrifices, no more going to the priests with our mess, but we can go straight to God, because Jesus is our High Priest and He lives.  Jesus is real...all you have to do is believe it...or better yet ask Him to prove it to you!

 

"Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith.'  Philippians 3:8-9 NLT

Daily Devotion

A Heart That Forgives

"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."  Matthew 18:35 NIV

Its this song by Kevin Levar...A Heart that Forgives.  It says my every feeling.  Everything I have felt over the years against everyone who wronged me all my life.  I look in the email listing and even my contacts list at some of the people in my family and former friends that I have refused to talk to because of the things they have done.  And the last few days God has caused me to see how important my forgiving them is. 

In the parable of the Unmerciful Servant, Jesus speaks of how the king canceled the debts of one of his servants that begged and pleaded with him for mercy.  The same servant then turns around and chokes another who owes him only a 100 denarii, and then has the man thrown in jail until his debt was paid.  The king was told of this by his other servants and had the same servant thrown in jail until his debt could be paid (Matthew 18:21-35).  I have been praying and asking God to show me what is hindering me from receiving some of the things I ask Him for.  And the most prevalent thought has been forgiveness.  I look at the names in my contacts that I will not allow my finger to touch, will not allow myself to chat with...and why because I have not forgiven.  Instead I hold on with a death grip to the feelings of pain inflicted by their actions and words and I just haven't let it go.  "Let it go Marquita" and "Give it to me" are things God speaks to my heart about the hurts.  To hear some of the names still causes me to wince with hurt.  I sit here tearing up again thinking back at the painful memories.  But its like the servant...not wanting to forgive a small error (or big), not letting go of the pain and consequently causing yourself to live it over again.  So how do I have this heart that the songwriter speaks of?

I take it one day at a time.  Because in essence, I am not promised tomorrow.  Neither are any of us.  Life does not owe us another day to make things right.  On the contrary, many people leave here with unresolved issues and never free the offender or themselves from the weight of the burden.  So I ask God each day to purify my heart and make it able to forgive.  Make it so that I can in my human strength through His supernatural strength forgive and forget the things that were done to me so that instead of tending to a festering wound, my body can heal the things that it was created to.  God is the only one that can heal broken hearts caused by the wrongs of others.  So like the king, like God who cancels our sins because of Christ's righteousness, I can cancel the debts caused by the offenses of yesterday, and start today anew.  Letting it go and releasing it to God, who releases me from my sins, releases me from carrying that forever.  It frees up positive, healing energy.  It allows me to fill that wounded place with God's love, which is greater than any force in the universe.  Just think about it: God who hates sin and turns away from it, did the inconceivable to allow us passage in His presence; He presented a better sacrifice--Jesus, who was clean and pure--as the atonement for everything we will ever do.  The only thing we have to do is forgive as He forgives and let it go. 

One thing I used to ask my mom repeatedly before my daddy passed was had he forgiven everyone.  I know he did because of the peace I now have when I think of him.  As for those people, I forgive each and everyone of them.  My family members, former friends and acquaintances, and everyone because I do not want to miss out on what God has for me by being in my own way.  I do not want to not be forgiven because I am too afraid to trust God to keep His word.  The greatest gift you can give yourself is the freedom to forgive because that is how you can truly love others.  Besides, it is of no use for me to ask God to answer my prayer it I do not apply what He reveals to my life.

"But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions."  Mark 11:26 NASB

Daily Devotion

Seventy Times Seven

 

Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"  Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.  Matthew 18:21-22 NASB

 

We all have our burdens to bear and our particular assignments in life.  Some days the weight of them can get so heavy because it seems that the puzzle is missing a few pieces to be complete.  I know I try to fix everything and everyone.  And so for me, life seems out of order and confusing when I cannot fix things.  It was a very hard for me to learn that I cannot control things, even my own life, and especially other people.  Now the other people part was not so hard to accept, because as quickly as things I am wronged by someone, I can just as easily write that person off.  All weekend long and actually it has been longer than that now, God has been weighing on my heart about forgiveness.  Forgiving others, ourselves, Him, and circumstances of life.

 

I read about a study that said there were people afflicted with serious diseases and illnesses and when instructed to forgive, many of them got better.  It has long been a no brainer that bitterness can cause serious health problems for you.  It really made me think about how nonchalant I can get about things, and really how I can shut people out of my life, namely my family.  A good deal of my hurts have been inflicted by them.  I think about how I tell other people to forgive and I have yet to forget the wrongs and let them go.  I do not want people to write me off because of things I have knowingly and unknowingly done to them. So I must forgive...even past seventy times seven.

"For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you."  Matthew 6:14 NASB

Daily Devotion

Faith to Believe in a Delay

 

"But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."  James 1:6 NIV

 

Over the years that I have been experiencing health problems, I have worked to taper down the number of days each year that I get overwhelmed with sadness about my circumstances.  I spent a great deal of time going to spiritual groups, counseling, and just in prayer to reconcile my feelings about my life.  I even barely think about it now as I methodically put the pills I take day and night in their respective boxes each week.  But for some reason, I was just overcome with sadness this morning, not wanting to accept this as the plight for the rest of my life.  I read scriptures daily to reaffirm my faith and healing and I know that God is still healing people.  I have been praying for my healing since the day I was diagnosed with kidney disease, and with every subsequent diagnosis after that.  It is my avid daily prayer that God takes away all of the things I deal with.  I was reminded this morning of both David and Job, who endured trying situations at the hands of others, and in David's case, some of his own doing.  In both of their relationships, God allowed them to cry out to Him...and God proved Himself faithful, because He restored them both beyond belief.

 

David was chased by King Saul for many years, having to live in exile with his men.  It was during this time that some of the most heartfelt Psalms claim their origination.  I cannot imagine the emotions David felt at that time as he fled to cave and remote village alike in fear for his life, but I'm sure like me he cried out to God and said he could not take anymore.  All I know is that God restored the order in David's life--He brought David back to Israel and made him king!  That's better than restoration--God brought David from the bottom to the top!

 

Many of us know the story of Job...he lost everything including his health.  Even his wife wanted him to give up and curse God.  I felt like I could most closely relate to Job, because most of my problems I did not realize what I had done to contribute to their happening.  I often felt like there was some health miser that has a lottery ball full of issues that he randomly picks to pick on me with, hahaha.  But Job defended his innocence to his accusing 'friends' and even had the favor of hearing from God.  In the end, God restored everything Job lost times two...making him a 'greater man' than he was before (Job 42). 

 

James 1:6 above says "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."  The one thing I can say is that neither Job nor David wavered in their faith.  They believed beyond all reasonable doubt that God would hold true to His word and promises.  We are reminded of God's faithfulness in Numbers 23:19--"God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?"  God cannot tell a lie!  If He made a promise, it is what He will bring to pass.  So knowing this I hold on to the truths He gives me about all I have lost.  Even in Jeremiah 29:11, He says He has good plans for us--plans to give us hope and a future...and I know that does not only apply to eternity.  The enemy only inflicts us with memories of our afflictions and circumstances to defeat us right when our breakthrough awaits.  Just like Job's wife, he wants us to curse God and die, give up without realizing dreams, promises, and our futures.  I also know that God is not a respecter of persons, and can do the same things He did for both Job and David in my own life, if I just remain firm in my faith and hold on to the promises.  So when I get to the point of 'no more,' I can trust that He will very soon bring me justice. 

 

'Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.  God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.'  Hebrews 6:17-18 NIV

Daily Devotion

Saved by the Prayer

 

"But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer."  Psalm 66:19 NASB

But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.  Luke 23:34 NASB

 

I know that everyone has woke up on the wrong side of the bed once or 10 times lol.  And to tell you the truth actually I didn't this morning.  I was in a great mood; I had been playing my praise and worship music, singing as I got ready for work.  Then one thing after another started to make me angry.  My own lack of awareness and clumsiness caused me to hit the corner of my eye really hard against the molding in the linen closet...which, by the way, still hurts, ouch.  Then the usual horror played out as I dodged someone turning into oncoming traffic causing me an early morning shake-up and my other personality took over, enraged at the driver's miscalculations.  I took the time then to pray and ask God to forgive me for not praying and started the day over while I was on the highway.  Then I was angered once again when I realized I left my ID card to get on the base and on my computer.  By sheer favor, I got on base.  However I wasn't sure if I had left my ID at the gym the previous day or in my clothes.  So I searched my purse and gym bag...I think by then the anger was nicely boiling over.  Fortunately, thanks to God again, it was in my clothes and my brother sat it out for me.  So at my desk, I started the day over for the third time.  And shortly thereafter, I started to notice some blessings God sprinkled along the way. 

 

But I remember this poem about how rotten the person's day was when they did not pray.  It seemed like everything that could go wrong, did...and that is how I felt this morning so fortunately I did not let it go too far before I fixed my error.  It made me think, thank God for reminding me to pray because I could only imagine how much worse my day could have gotten.  Prayer has a way of framing your mindset, regardless of when you take the time to utter one.  Prayer does many things, most importantly having a life-changing impact on the user.  Prayer can ease physical pain, emotional distress, and spiritual anguish.  Prayer, when done correctly and repetitiously with fervency, even gives you great things like unbelievable blessings, favor, and peace.  The key is to recognize that when we pray, we are communicating with God.  We have to wait to hear back from Him, and be sure to not run ahead and do our own thing.

 

I know there have been many instances in my life when my day and nerves for that matter have been saved by the prayer.  Today could have been down right rotten had some of the blips along the road actually been worse.  If it were not for prayers of our own or of someone else, most likely we would not even be here.  Ironically, if it were not for God ignoring Jesus' prayer the night before He was crucified--had God decided to spare Jesus' life instead, levying the weight of all our sins upon us, we very well may not even be here.  But God chose to redeem us once and for all, forgiving us for things we are unaware of and restoring us to our place as His children.  If you have nothing else today, and you feel like you have tried everything and it did not work for you, try praying to God for His help.  He sure saved me today!

 

"I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.  Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live."  Psalm 116:1-2 NIV

Devotion posted on StreamingFaith!

Hey everybody!  Just wanted to share with you the link to my writing on StreamingFaith...God is amazing as I went from angry to humbled in a matter of seconds lol... But it is one of my devotions from Monday I think.  Anyway here is the link and be sure to pass it along!  And the title is much better lol...

 

http://www.streamingfaith.com/news/church/story/let-god-do-god/

--
"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17
http://lifeinspiredbygod.blogspot.com/

Daily Devotion #2

The Master of Confusion

"For God is not [the author] of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints."  1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV

 

A little over two months have passed since I have had this fog around me.  It was the day I found out I did not get the scholarship I applied for.  Around lunchtime, I had finally crossed off my list the long-postponed (and quite frankly, procrastinated) meeting with my pastor and began to take steps towards embracing and acknowledging my calling.  This has been a journey for me since I first acknowledged it, and it has been full of naysayers and opinion-givers.  I know I am not perfect and I thank God for His hand being on me, molding and scolding me.  But as far as the scholarship was concerned, it was my second time applying to this program, and I just knew I would get it this time.  I had an amazing (or at least me, my proofreaders, and friends so thought) essay submission, and it seemed like God had opened every door for me to get it...including extending the submission deadline after I missed the original one.  I just knew I would soon be relocating back to Atlanta and going to Emory in the fall for seminary.  I had no doubts at all that I would get a job offer and that all would fall into place after that.  I had made a mental note to call the school to find out when they would be notifying students.  Then shortly after that, the same day actually, I got the email and my heart sank.  "Although we loved your essay on The Alchemist,..." and the rest is history. 

 

Then immediately after that, the enemy had those close to me and not so close to me to throw all kinds of monkey wrenches and kinks in my machine.  Between conflicting advice and guidance to flat out lies, he had every kind of attack thrown at me.  And needless to say, for the last two months, I have been in a whirlwind fog about it.  I have felt confused, distressed, uncertain, oblivious, and flabbergasted about what steps to take ahead in my life.  For once in my life, I, Marquita that has everything seemingly under control, realized I had no plan, no goals, and no clear strategy for what I wanted to do with my life.  I will tell you, I have been trying to move somewhere away from South Carolina since 2008 (smile) with no avail.  Every significant event that has happened since I moved here has added fuel to my moving fire...and then about three weeks ago I realized maybe I am not supposed to move yet, maybe not ever.  And of course it is always when God has me speak into someone's life that I get the revelations I need...because no message I have ever given to someone else has not been applicable to that exact situation in my life...go figure.  My heart was crushed, and it served to bring on yet even more confusion.  I had to accept it, but it did not clear the fog.

 

I accepted that cold, harsh fact only yesterday after talking to my mothers here at work that maybe I am not supposed to move yet.  There is a such thing as unfinished business and I have not known God to leave things undone...no where in the Bible has He done that, nor in my life thus far.  I have left things undone, and quit on things that I thought served no benefit to me, and I wish I could say I did not have regrets about them.  And yet this confusion has persisted...why you say?  Because the enemy tries to do everything he can to get us off our God-appointed paths onto those side streets.  He does not want us to fulfill our destinies or to walk into that greatness in which we are all called.  Why?? Because to do so, draws us closer to God in ways we cannot fathom and gives us that sense of peace and fulfillment material things, people, and we ourselves fail to do each time.  It is easier to tempt us with the promise of temporary satisfaction time and time again to keep us lost or in my case, trapped momentarily, in the mist.  Because what happens when we resist his attempts and cling to God??  In essence, he loses and we win!  James 4:7 says "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."  That clearly says loser to me...

 

So I've been praying persistently, fervently, with constant petition to God about all the things on my heart and ironically enough...I am seeing, hearing and realizing the answers.  And now I clearly understand, that sometimes you just will not understand how God is working.  I had to simply lay my heartfelt feelings out before God.  Life is definitely not going according to my original plan...but I thank God for His plan, and how He always, always has a plan to reel me back onto the path that lies ahead.  Now I won't say that I will not fall victim to confusion again, or rather more aptly applied, a persisting diarrhea of thoughts, but I will be more prayerful and seek God's voice until I know without a doubt that it is His voice that I hear.  I will keep on knocking and calling God until I know the path by heart.

 

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;"  John 10:27 NASB