Daily Devotion

Living for Today

Day 1 of my fast is going well.  I woke up terribly late and missed the chance at a whole breakfast.  Nonetheless, I made a protein shake and here I am surviving lol.  But you know the devil is busy!  I walked into work to see every kind of treat--Twix, Milky Way, Snickers, rice crispie treats, everything!  But I successfully resisted.  I have been diligently drinking my water and drank some Hot Chocolate to stay warm (they keep it 60 degrees below zero in here).  I hope you are blessed and having a great day!

As you may know by now, I am a planner and somewhat an organizer, lol, by nature.  I usually come up with what I want to do and follow through with the plan.  For starters, I knew I wanted to go to college and graduate.  My original plan was go through undergrad and on to medical school.  STOP!  Clearly I didn't follow that plan, because I am a Computer Scientist and among other things, desiring to go back to school for Counseling and possibly ministry.  I know I previously talked about this, but it was on my heart again today because as each day passes, I realize more and more how planning does not always help if you are a Christian.  We are to submit ourselves to God's plan and His will for our lives and follow through with what He tells us.  In James 4:7-8 it says the following: "7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."(ESV)  Realize that things are not always going to go as you plan.  Rain, hail, tornadoes, and all the different storms of life come to confuse things and take your focus off God and His plan.  Instead of getting mad or angry, we should just be thankful that we have today to make a difference in.  If and when tomorrow comes, just take the chance that you are given tomorrow to take one more step on that path that God has laid before you, not the one of your choosing.

Matthew 6:34--"So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (NASB)

Fasting This Week

Hi everyone!

 

I want to invite you to fast with me this week, Monday thru Friday for the work week.  I will be fasting from 8am to 8pm everyday(I have to eat with some of my medicines, lol).  I am doing it because I really want to get in tune with God so that I can know what it is that He is preparing me to do next.  I will be drinking lots of water and tea though.  I will be praying throughout the day and I will make a specific point to go out to my car or somewhere I can be alone and have a few minutes to meditate on a scripture and get myself refocused.  Feel free to modify it specific to your health needs and concerns.  I love you as always and thank you for growing and going on this journey with me!

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God loves you...He blesses you with another day so make the most of it!


Marquita B. Priester

Daily Devotion

A Dream Deferred

1 Corinthians 2:9
However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"--

Sometimes I wish life was predictable. Then I could halfway expect or know what's gonna happen. Then I would have seen that I was gonna stay in the bed long, watch most of Creflo's sermon about faith--which actually tied in with what I heard today. But I'm glad its not predictable, because it wouldn't have the same effect. I was greatly affected by the sermon given today at my home church by a visiting minister from Liberia, West Africa. As you all know, I have been avidly pursuing finding a job in Atlanta, because of my feeling that my time has ended there and my general dislike for Charleston. I was a much happier person in many ways in Atlanta, and there is no saying that I will not be moving back, I just don't know when. But contrary to my wants and desires, God sees fit to leave me in Charleston for the time being, for what exactly I don't know. Its from this and the revelation I received at today's services that I take my devotion for today.

I, unlike no other person, would love to have all the good things that life has to offer. I would love to be able to pick out the things I want to go through in life. I would love to just pick up and leave Charleston today and have a job to start on Monday. But as I have learned, life is not like that. The pastor from today gave a very powerful sermon on Genesis 22--where Abraham was challenged to sacrifice the very son that he and Sarah prayed to God so earnestly for. Trusting and believing God as He spoke His wishes must have been very painful and confusing to Abraham. Now I'll stop here and relate this to the other sermon I listened to this morning. Creflo spoke of the different levels of faith--All of which Abraham had achieved, and many of the other great men and women in the Bible--but the one that he was speaking on today was the faith to be able to have confidence in the Word of God that is spoken to us (loose paraphrase lol). But Abraham had to trust that God knew what He was asking him and go forward and do it. Tying this to my own life, instead of dwelling on the whys of what happened with the job--I had been persistent in reiterating my interest by calling and emailing different things I had done to progress in my development at my current job--all things I had done to make myself seem the best candidate. Yet, I realized today during the sermon that God sometimes sends you somewhere (or makes you stay somewhere in my case) to prepare you for elevation. During that preparation time, He tests us and tests us and if we pass those tests, He gives us more responsibility and promotes us to be better equipped to continue to exalt Him. In my stubbornness, I have to step back and remember that this is not for me, but for God's glory and that in my choice to yield to His will, I have to wait until He prepares the way and tells me it is time to go as well as fulfill the things here that He wants me to do.

1 Peter 1:7--The purpose of these troubles is to test your faith as fire tests how genuine gold is. Your faith is more precious than gold, and by passing the test, it gives praise, glory, and honor to God. This will happen when Jesus Christ appears again. (GWT)
See also James 1:2-4

So because I choose to present you all with a problem and a possible solution to that problem, the problem that I see for myself is that I desire to move because I feel its time for me to leave. I'll admit, I am sometimes impatient, I want things when and how I want them, and sometimes I am selfish but ask yourself, is there a point in your life that you have not exhibited these characteristics yourself? The generalized problem is sometimes we desire things that may not be good for us ever or in God's will for us at that time--and because we are sometimes selfish in nature, when we want it, we want it right then. In your case, you could be desiring a new job, a husband, a child, a new car...etc., but ask yourself--are you truly trusting God? Are you doing what you should as far as listening and yielding to God? Are you doing what God has asked you to do? Sometimes God will put us through difficult situations for refinement. Sometimes things will be hard and you will have the choice to be obedient and receive the blessings that are promised.

Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.(NIV) Deuteronomy 31:8
The LORD is the one who is going ahead of you. He will be with you. He won't abandon you or leave you. So don't be afraid or terrified.(GWT)

Back to my title, A Dream Deferred. You must be willing to put your dreams and wishes on hold sometimes because they may not be in God's will for you at that particular time. But rest assured because if you put your faith and trust in Him, He will give you the desires of your heart.(Psalm 37:4-5) Don't be a part-time Christian! Be blessed and I love you!

Daily Devotion

You Can't Predict the Future For Your Life

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Ahhh what a day!  Well for starters I hope that you had a fantastic day!  Mine was quite eventful.  First, I've been sleeping extremely long hours but waking up in between.  I woke up at 9:00--mind you I was in the bed well before midnight. Work was great but I found out I didn't get the job I had been praying for.  I had the entire next year of my life planned out. I even had the remainder of this one planned too from something else I had prayed for that did not come through.  From this I give today's devotion.

Sometimes God does not give you the things you ask for and for many reasons. The main one is that this was not in His plan for your life. There are many other reasons, maybe there would have been something negative to come out of the situation, maybe He has a better plan for you, maybe it's just not time!  But clearly in Jeremiah 29:11 above, He has a plan and it's a good one!  So in my case, I'll yield to His will and wait and see what He has in store for me! 

http://enterthemindofmarquita.blogspot.com

"The joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10


Marquita B. Priester

Daily Devotion #2

Crabs in a Bucket Mentality

Yes I was feeling a little inspired today lol. I just had a lot to write about.

Have you ever been talked about? Lied on? Judged prematurely? Picked on? Quite simply hated on because you're smart or you look good or just any random reason? Or in my case, have you tried repeatedly to speak to people and they look you up and down and don't speak? There is a young lady at work that always just stares at me and ignores my smiles, hellos, and other attempts to be friendly. Then you find out later that you were the topic of their conversation.

These behaviors bother me in particular because not only does it happen among unfamiliar company but it happens in our families too! In my own family people talk about someone whether are doing well or not and try to bring them down. My solution has been to just keep to myself and my immediate family and avoid any others altogether. This may not be right but hey...I'm working on it!

The real solution here is to love them anyway. Although when you are doing well or trying to do better they try to discourage you and dishearten you, love them anyway. Matthew 5:44 says "But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you." CEV-Sidebar: I really like this translation and NLT because they seem to be plain English.

Yes this is hard! I'm probably sometimes the queen of grudges. I had a conversation about this attitude I have about just kicking folks out of my life and how I shouldn't be that way. I then went on to have a conversation with myself and decided I would at least make an effort to work on it. I don't know about you, but loving people from a distance works well for me! Luke 6:27 says "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,"NASB. The truth is that when we operate in God's love He works on us so that our change can ignite one in those around us. So because of this I will keep smiling at the woman at work that just doesn't seem to like me for whatever reason and I'll be cordial and love those other people that I don't like because it is a commandment to us all by God! Don't let them pull you back into living outside of God's will. If you battle with this know that I agree with you that we will do better!

Luke 6:35--But love your enemies and be good to them. Lend without expecting to be paid back. Then you will get a great reward, and you will be the true children of God in heaven. He is good even to people who are unthankful and cruel.

Marquita

Daily Devotion

Make Me Over

Hey! I hope you are having a great day. I am although I wish for once it would rain down here before I go to bed instead of while I'm at work lol.

Have you heard this song "Make Me Over" by Tonex? I do believe it is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. Also Fall Again is great too! I mention these songs because sometimes we need to change. Well a lot of times we need to change. We need to let go of old habits, old people (not literally lol), old views, old excuses, and old thoughts. You can't do the things you used to do, hang with the people you used to, look at things the same when you give your life to Christ. When that happens you straddle the fence and slide back into old behaviors. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says "Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new." That means all of the old stuff is gone, nonexistent, vanished into thin air. This includes your sins, your faults, your hurts, your pains. Most times we don't pay attention to that part, that we become new creatures and we are made over. I have a hard time with this myself, that once we accept Christ He takes this all for us and I can let go. I'm going to add this scripture to my index card stack to remind me daily. In the most unselfish act ever, Jesus died so that we can live. The least we can do is let Him his job and quit being stubborn.

Marquita

Daily Devotion

Who is your Number One?

Heyyyyy!

I pray you are blessed and favored in the Lord today! Life is not guaranteed to be easy but by trusting in God and His promises wholeheartedly all things are possible..especially getting through today.

I read my personal devotion today on Integrity. Although it is not what I'm going to speak on, it spurred the fire for my devotion today. It mentioned how people will rate themselves higher than average and I didn't wholly see how that had anything to do with integrity, but it caused me to think: are we putting God first? Is He more important than anything or anyone in our lives? Including ourselves? I know you wonder how I came to that conclusion from that topic right, but it's like this: if you are glorifying yourself, more highly than you should, can God truly be your number one? Can He truly be your focus? God is selfish! He said it back in Exodus with Moses on the Mountain. Exodus 20:3 says "You shall have no other gods before me." Especially yourself! Don't you know everything you think you have can be gone in an instant!

I somewhat think that's why I have my scars. Don't get me wrong, I had self-esteem issues in the past and was very self-conscious and even compared myself to other people. But I have always loved taking pictures. When I first got sick, I was taking very high doses of Prednisone. It's like liquid poison in a bag or pill in my case now lol. Because the doses were so high, I gained like 40lbs in about 3 months. I now have these really bad stretch marks. When they first came up, I felt them happening and my skin ripping. I wouldn't take pictures or even look in a mirror without crying. People would ask me what happened but I really tried to avoid people to prevent from having to tell it so often. I have to relate this to 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 of when Paul complained of some problem to God that He would not take away. God told Paul that His grace is sufficient for us and weakness perfects His power. So that I will always remember it is God, not me, that has done everything for me; I have a constant reminder of where He has delivered me from. My stria and now my scar from the transplant are reminders to keep Him number one and remain humble. What is the thing that God has given you to remember to always keep Him first? For remember in our weakness, God's power is made perfect!

Be blessed!

http://enterthemindofmarquita.blogspot.com/

"The joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

Marquita B. Priester