Category: Devotions

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Separating Old Tangles

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1 KJV

Saturday I worked all day at my part-time job. When I got there, I was immediately drawn to this tangled mess of necklaces. Apparently, a customer from the night before desired all of the necklaces, threw them in her shopping bag and demanded that someone untangle the mess and get her one of the necklaces. What was left the morning before was a huge tangled ball of necklaces and the attached stones hanging in the midst. I am one of those persons that finds joy at fixing things, so this seemed the perfect challenge for me in between customers.

How often do we find ourselves caught up in the midst of something, that on first glance, seemed pretty harmless? How often do we gravitate back to that old crowd and get busy doing things we used to do? Even in new situations, how often do you get entangled–be it in the other person’s messes or in sin created by your own fleshly desires?

I know I have fallen victim to that many times in the past. I’ll approach the situation thinking, ‘I know better, so maybe things will turn out differently this time?’

As Einstein so affectionately says: null”

It’s insane of us to think that we, in our own power, can overcome the same struggles we have battled indefinitely without that vital lifeblood power from God. It was insane of that customer to expect some to fix the mess she made…however retail isn’t like life in that the customer is always or most times, right.

I had the favor this year of God giving me a vision for this year. He showed me what will happen this year…and as I approach every situation, I am grateful to know that in those situations I now expect, I can, with God’s direction, eliminate possibilities getting entangled with things…people, places, things, and ideas (because we can get caught up in those too folks) because I was forewarned and freed from them.

Needless to say, at about 5:30 or so that afternoon, me, along with two other co-workers were able to untangled the entangled necklaces. I felt such a rush in doing it, because I had worked on it all morning. It was while I was starting over the 3rd time (twice before someone else had messed with the necklaces and forced me to restart) that God spoke to me that as long as I accept His helping hands to guide me, I too can permanently disentangle myself from everything that is blocking me to reaching my full potential in Him. I too can conquer. Don’t you want to try it? It is much more freeing to be untangled than being kept bound to something that isn’t any good for you.

“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36 NASB

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Right on Time For My Divine Appointment

Sometimes we want to do things, but God has other plans for you. From the start of this week, I was a goal of mine to get to a bible study somewhere. I reorganized my schedule Tuesday to get the day off at my part-time job so I could go to bible study at this one church, but something in me was uneasy about it. After calling my mom and one of my linesisters, I got in the car and God just said I don’t want you to go…so instead, I went grocery shopping to make myself a salad. And do you not know, that was the best salad I ever made(smile)! So yesterday, I had every intention to go to bible study after work. I even finished up with my meeting a little early, but my best friend from work Kelly was actually in the office, so I went back inside to talk with her. And I felt the strong urge to just talk with her and catch up instead of going to bible study. So we went to Chili’s…mind you I had been there earlier for lunch. We talked for over three hours about everything. The relationship we have is just amazing, I only have a few friends that sharpen me spiritually like that, and for her I’m grateful. As we leave, we hug outside and I say, I wasn’t supposed to go to bible study, I’m sure I would have gotten something from it, but I feel refreshed. And in an instant, a car pulls up and the driver is screaming, ‘somebody help.’

Countless times in the Bible, God tells people the phrase “at the appointed time.” At the appointed time is where actions take place, where you do something or you don’t. As this woman drove up tonight, all I kept hearing was divine appointment, and that it was His will that we be there, walking out as that woman pulled up. Her 27-year-old daughter, who is 9 months pregnant and due next week, was having a seizure. My phone had died, so I told Kelly to call 911. The only thing I knew to do was pray, and pray I did. I didn’t know what words to say, so I just let God guide me in what to say…and the beauty of it was that I was calm in the midst, and available for His use…at the right time.

Divine appointments can occur anywhere. It does not matter the place or the time or the person you meet, but if you are a willing instrument, God will use you to bless someone else. Whether it is simply a hello, a smile, or a hug, God can work in and through you. Take Moses–the adopted grandson of Pharaoh, then a murderer with a speech problem. God used this man to deliver the children of Israel from slavery. Take Esther, one of my favorite women in the Bible, God used an adopted niece of a Jew who became Queen to save the entire population of Jews from their imminent slaughter at the hands of Haman. God used Paul, a well-known persecutor of the Jews to bring Jesus and salvation to the Gentiles!

I know God would have had someone else be there had Kelly and I not gone, because the mother was just calling on the name of Jesus. But I’m humbled, glad, excited, and overjoyed to have been there. God used someone like me, nobody more important that the next person. He had it so we had walked outside right before they pulled up. He made it so Kelly’s phone had battery life, when normally its the other way around. He made it so the paramedics were not far away. He made it so this young lady decided to stay with her parents versus staying in her own home alone that day. He made it so that I could learn that He can use me wherever I am…even if it is leaving Chili’s. In the midst, I was RIGHT ON TIME.

“There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven–” Ecclesiastes 3:1