Daily Devotion

Living Without Expectations
 
"Put not your trust in princes, Nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help."  Psalm 146:3
 
Hi everyone!!!  I know, long time, no hear…but the original purpose of my starting this blog was to share my experiences and possibly minister to you all through them.  The last few months have been extremely difficult.  Nonetheless, I have learned the most important lesson, that I cannot expect anything out of the next man.  I cannot expect people to solve my problems, deal with my issues, heal my hurts.  But lets be realistic here: you cannot expect anything out of other people.  You cannot expect them to tell the truth, to help you, to be there fully when you need it.  YOU cannot expect a mere man to do what GOD PROMISES.
 
Another translation of the above verse says "Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation."  The commentary of verses 1-4 says in essence that how can we trust a man, that dies, because once he returns to the earth, everything he every said he would do, wished he could do, desired to do, etc vanishes and goes away!  But the critical part that just dawned on me is that I have been expected everything and everyone for quite sometime now to help me or fix me–but lacking the most important element–GOD himself in it.  I can ask people for all of the help in the world, go to group meetings, counseling, etc. but without God, without trusting and seeking God in everything, there is no true hope.  We can expect God to hold true to His promises, mandates, and decrees.  We can expect His healing, His deliverance, and His love because His word is fact.  God's word stands and holds true, even when someone lets you down.  God's promise to provide your needs and give you the desires of your heart stands firm because it's in His word.  God promises to provide you a way of escape when temptations get too great.  All of God's word applies, not some.  And in that alone, we can truly be free to live in the moment–the truth that God will direct us each and every moment, that God will protect us and love us, each and every moment.  You cannot expect anything less of God.  Now I am not saying to not trust people–on the contrary, I am saying that you should trust God first to provide whatever it is that you may need, so that you may know who He sends your way; and thus, who you should trust.
 
Good night and love as always!
 
"O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!"  Psalm 34:8

Daily Devotion

What are You Giving Life to?

“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 18:21 NIV

Hello everybody! I hope this finds you blessed and favored on this Wednesday! I think now I have written a few devotions on healing and a few more on the importance of watching what you say. But today God gave me a different view on this scripture.

Lately, I have decided to embark upon a personal journey towards total healing; I believe that you must be healed in all three parts of the person: mind, body, and spirit and I want to be whole. I have realized that you can pray for healing and deliverance but if you are not getting to the root of the problem, most times a mental seed that you have planted within yourself, it will continue to grow because you have already nourished this seed with bad thoughts and words to yourself. Every time before that I have thought of this scripture I have always focused on the death part, how we can speak death and defeat inadvertently over a situation or ourselves. But today, I was praying on whether to talk about certain diagnoses I have received. And it hit me, well let’s be honest here, God laid it on my spirit that some of the things I have dealt with are resultant of the fact that I spoke life into whatever it was. I spoke life into the kidney disease; I briefly gave life to the false lupus diagnosis. I spoke life into the financial troubles I had by complaining and “woe is me-ing” over it. If I want to be healed and delivered, I cannot give life to these things; that is, by continuing to speak to them as if they exist. See, as a child of God, we have already received the promises of the word. Jesus has already died. He has already provided for that healing, deliverance or prosperity we want. Everything evil in the world is the result of the first sin, perpetuated now for many millennia. Now the way I see it, I must continue to cast down the words, or weapons, that come against everything I believe God for—Isaiah 54:17 in full states “No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, said the LORD.” In order to have life, I have to speak life into the right things, and I have to condemn the tools of the enemy that come against me. The verse says to condemn every tongue and especially your own—think about it, James 1:6-8 GWT says “When you ask for something, don’t have any doubts. A person who has doubts is like a wave that is blown by the wind and tossed by the sea. A person who has doubts shouldn’t expect to receive anything from the Lord. A person who has doubts is thinking about two different things at the same time and can’t make up his mind about anything.” You cannot be double-minded about GOD!!!

This does not say that things will not happen, because they will. But when they do, I know now what I am to do. I have to first check myself and my tongue so that I am not prematurely giving the enemy the victory over me. Because Jesus’ death already won every battle we face. We must remember that this is not just a physical battle, because if the devil can control your mind—by the words you say—he can plant seeds of doubt in everything you do. We have to tell ourselves that the past is dead and all of the things that happened in it—instead of continuing to feed those bad plants with the decay of unresolved pains. We have to tell ourselves that the Word is the Truth and that we are already victorious because of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57). We have to tell ourselves even through the tough times that it will pass and God has not stopped loving us and will never stop. We must stop giving life to these fruits of the enemy by uprooting them forever and filling up on the Word and the truth that is in it!

“But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.” Matthew 12:36