Giving My All...

“When I think of the goodness of the Lord and all He’s done for me, my soul cries out…Hallelujah! Thank You for saving me!”

 When I sat down at the computer to write today, this phrase was ringing in my spirit. You know when you really feel something; you might a get a tingle? Well… I felt that thing, y’all! But then I was waiting for the next step. Where do you want to go with this, God? So I waited and it came so clearly – It’s time to take the routine out of our praise! Wooooooo, God! Okay…

Most of us have heard this line so much growing up that we don’t even have to think about it. It just rolls off our tongues without a thought. We have a lot of sayings like this one in the church, phrases that we call on depending on the situation or the preacher might use when they want to get a response. We use them so much that even the world knows them and uses them in movies or sometimes when they are mimicking the church. But what happens when we really think about what we’re saying. Have you stopped lately for a check in with God? Have you just sat alone and thought about what the Lord has done for you in 2011? Last year? Your whole life? If you haven’t…stop right now! I bet if you just think back a few minutes, you can see something that God has done for you.  But that phrase says, ‘when I think of the goodness of God and ALL He’s done for me!’ That’s enough to send routine running out the door!

God is looking for true worshippers, those who will give Him their very best. John 4:24 says those that will worship Him in spirit and in truth. It doesn’t get farther away from routine than that, does it? Worshipping in spirit and in truth is giving it your all. John 4:24 also reminds us that God is a spirit so this passage is telling us that we have to meet God in His realm! Spirit to spirit! There’s no room for playing church when you are a true worshipper. When God has brought you from some hard places, only authentic praise will do! I often think about the old Ebony. She LOVED to party! She could get to the club and give it all she had…shut the party down! It was a rare occasion if she and her friends weren’t still there when the slow song came on and the house lights started flickering on. I know there are some witnesses out there! I had to get the most out of her experience and I usually did! After all, what was the point if you didn’t go all the way?

So now…how would I look if I give God a halfway praise? What sense would it make to say that I am too ashamed to jump for God or run if the Spirit says so when I wasn't anywhere near shamed in the world? It doesn’t… God has done too much for me to keep my praise in a box and pull it out routinely when a preacher reminds me to think about God’s goodness! If I could give the devil my best, I’m certainly going to give God my ULTIMATE!

On this Thanksgiving Day, let’s pledge to be true worshippers! Let’s decide that from here on out, we are going to be thankful EVERY DAY! Psalms 100:4 says “Enter His gates with thanksgiving AND His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.” Notice that not only are praise and thanksgiving partners but enter and give are in the present. That means whenever we read this verse, we should be entering in and giving thanks! 

So next time you hear one of those good old church phrases, really think about what they are saying and give God an unusual praise! Isn’t He worthy of you stepping outside of your box?

When I think of the goodness of the Lord and ALL He’s done for me, my soul cries out Hallelujah!

Be blessed, everyone and  Happy Thanksgiving! 

Peace be with you...

This has been a crazy day! I’ve been going since 4:00 this morning and it’s now well after midnight. Every time I thought I would have an opportunity to write, something would come up to distract me. I’ve been sitting here for almost an hour trying to still my mind enough to hear what God was saying. Finally, I heard the word, ‘keep your mind stayed on me and I will give you perfect peace.’ I felt my whole body relax. I exhaled. It was a healing word for my soul. Sometimes, we get so busy doing this or that and when the day has passed, we can’t even remember what we did. God wants so much to spend time ministering to us but we have our minds on everything but Him. Will you turn your attention to God today?

I’ve talked to so many people this week, struggling with decisions or battling the enemy for their family or healing from a broken relationship. All of those people were seeking one thing - peace. When Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6 to “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God", he isn’t giving us something to write in greeting cards. He is telling you how to get the peace of God. It’s a peace that surpasses all understanding. How many of us are really going after peace? Its time out for allowing the enemy to send you to the hospital with chest pains because your family members are acting crazy. Lay your concerns at God’s feet and that perfect peace will come. Will you trust God to handle your brokenness today?

Far too many of us as Christians are walking around bound up in worry or frustration, not understanding why we are in certain situations. But instead of casting our cares on God because He cares for us, we carry them around, wearing them like a coat.  God is waiting for us to let go and allow Him to rain peace on us. Isaiah 53: 5 tells us that Jesus took care of all of our concerns on the cross. The Message Bible makes it very clear, “He took the punishment and that made us whole.” So why do we feel the need to become best friends with our worry? Why do we pray for deliverance only to turn right back to the same attitudes? Jesus went to Calvary and suffered so that you could have peace. Will you give away all of your old burdens today?

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be our comforter. Do you think He meant only on special occasions? No, He meant when your child is unrecognizable to you because of their behavior. He meant when your heart is broken and you think it will never be healed. He meant when you’ve believed God for a breakthrough but it takes longer than expected. 2 Thessalonians 3:16 says “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation...” (NLT) That says at all times! God is willing and able to give you a peace that heals and restores and keeps you, if you will keep your mind stayed on Him. Will you focus on God today?

Don’t let the enemy or your family or any outside circumstance have your peace! Determine in yourself that you will keep your mind stayed on God. When you feel your peace slipping, encourage yourself knowing that God is the ultimate keeper. And when nothing else will do, remember the words of Christ in John 14:27. “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”(NLT)  That’s good news, family! Stand on it…

My prayer for each of you is that you will have peace! AMEN…

Enough is Enough!!!

I woke up this morning and got mad with the devil! I know what you’re thinking. Is there a theme going here? She keeps writing about the devil. Well, there is a theme of sorts because the devil is working like a theme. Just like in writing, you decide on a topic and that’s what you focus on. Well the devil picks up on a target and that’s what he focuses on. First, I have to acknowledge that everything is not the devil. Sometimes we make decisions and we are just dealing with the consequences of those decisions. But I’m not talking about those things. I’m talking about that lying, destructive, evil being that walks the earth looking for who he will devour.  Fear comes from him. Guilt comes from him. Shame comes from him. Sickness comes from him. Deception comes from him. You see where I’m going with this?

Well, this morning I said enough is enough! As I was praying, I heard so clearly – STOP RELINQUISHING YOUR POWER TO THE DEVIL! Woooooo! Okay, God! Then it was so plain to me. We give Satan most of his power. Don’t get me wrong, He has his own kingdom of demons and imps whose sole purpose is to kill, steal and destroy. But how many times have you spoke death into your own situation? How many times have you opened the door to Satan by doing something that is contrary to God’s word? How many times have you thrown your faith out the door as soon as a storm rose up in your life and instead let fear come in? That’s giving Satan power! And guess what? He doesn’t deserve it!

Satan was one God’s beloved angels! He was set apart but he decided that he wanted to be greater than God. The Bible says his wisdom was corrupted by splendor.  So he had a certain amount of power and authority as one of the angels but God cast him down out of heaven. Ephesians 2:6 says that we are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. Now…if we are seated in heavenly places with Jesus and He is seated far above principalities and powers (Ephesians 1:21), what does that mean about us?! It means that we are seated above Satan and his foolishness! Stop allowing the devil to be on equal footing with you!

1 Peter 5:8 says “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” He is looking for someone that is not paying attention. Someone that he can overwhelm! The Message Bible says someone he can catch napping! That tells me that if we are alert and paying attention, we can stop Satan in his tracks. Verse 9 says stand firm in your faith. Faith is your weapon! Knowing who God is and what He has done in your life should give you power! Knowing, not just reading and thinking it’s nice, but KNOWING that God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and what He did for others He can do for you gives you POWER!!

I am not giving the devil one more ounce of power over me! I am more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus! No weapon formed against me shall prosper! I want everyone that reads this blog or devotional or whatever you want to call it, to stand up and tell the devil that he is defeated! God reigns in me! I have power over you, Satan and you will not win! Thank you God for victory! Thank you God for healing! Thank you God for peace! Thank you God for joy! Thank you God for power! I am who You say I am and not what the devil would have me to think. No matter what my circumstances are I will go forward because You said that I am a joint heir with Christ!

THE DEVIL IS DEFEATED!!!! We are taking our power back!!!!!!

AMEN

It's Mine and the devil can't have it!

Is anyone out there tired of the devil?! I know I am! He has been running to and fro looking for who he can devour. And truth be told, he’s had a lot of success. I have been going through a season in my life and family where it seems that the devil has put a photo up of us and he looks at it every day for what he can stir up in our lives. Little attacks, big attacks, frustration, irritation, doubt, fear – they all come from the devil and they are designed to throw you off of your course. We all have a purpose and calling that God has put inside of us but the devil doesn’t want us to find out what that is and he certainly doesn’t want us to get to it! But guess what he doesn’t hold the power over your life! The devil only gets away with what you allow him to.

Remember Sampson?  He was anointed with supernatural strength from his mother’s womb to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines and the devil was determined to find out how to stop him. Sampson was a thorn in the Philistine’s side. He burned up their fields, killed their men, and kept them guessing. They wanted him gone and tried a number of times to take him down. They finally decided to send Delilah. You know the story…how she did all that she could to convince Samson to tell her where the secret source of his strength lay. She basically worried him to death, begging him to tell her but to no avail, every time he lied. Then one day, he finally had enough and he told her everything. She then got him all comfortable on her knee and rocked him to sleep. Delilah called for someone to come and shave him. That quickly his hair and his strength were….GONE.

So what is the story of Sampson telling us? The devil doesn’t know your strength until you tell him! He’s basically sitting there throwing darts hoping to hit the target because he doesn’t know exactly what will be your weakness. Our problem is that we usually tell everything we know. All the devil has to do is send someone or something that looks or sounds good and we are ready to give all of our secrets away. Instead of going to our secret place and telling God our concerns and issues, we tell Facebook or our coworkers or friends. We all need support but don’t give the source of your strength away! Think about it. If the devil had known how to defeat Samson, he would have done it from the beginning. The Spirit of the Lord was with Sampson even at times when he made mistakes, showing him mercy. But when he told his secret and his hair was cut, the Spirit of the Lord left Samson. He was out there on his own and the Philistines gouged his eyes out and captured him.

Have you let the devil capture you lately? Because when he does, he will torture and torment you and it’s unnecessary. The Philistines made Samson grind grain in prison and had him perform in front of them for entertainment. The devil wanted to make a mockery of God. He wanted to show that he had taken one of God’s most beloved and captured him. Read the story in Judges 16 of how the Philistines rejoiced that their god had delivered Samson to them. Have you given the devil the power to make you his showpiece? When we choose to go against what God has put inside of us to do, that’s what we are doing. We are saying, “Hey Devil! Take me and use me!”

But aren’t we grateful for a merciful God?! Even after all of that the Lord restored Samson. His hair grew again as a sign of God’s mercy. And when he asked God to allow him the strength to take vengeance on the Philistines one last time, God did it. Samson pushed over the temple and killed more people in that moment than he had killed in his life!

But we don’t have to go through all of that. Stop allowing the devil to have the power in your life! Determine in your mind today that you will walk in the power and gifts that the Lord has anointed you with. Determine that you won’t give those gifts away to things and people that don’t deserve them. You will not allow the enemy to make a mockery of God! When the devil comes trying to tempt you into doing something that you know is not of God, tell the devil NO!!! You are more than a conqueror and you are one of God’s beloved.  If you have fallen, get back up and ask God to restore you. He is faithful and just to forgive.

AMEN