Category: Devotions

Good evening everyone!

…For this day is holy to our Lord. And be not grieved and depressed, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and stronghold. Nehemiah 8:10

Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. Romans 5:3

[The Lord God says] And the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing to Zion; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isaiah 51:11

I hope your day is going well. Today has been a difficult day for my family, and I lost one of the most beautiful people I know. My cousin Timika is truly an angel and God saw fit to end her suffering today. I am going to talk about Joy.

Ironically, I have been rereading the Purpose Driven Life, and the devotion from one of the days I read as I was catching up talked about temptation. God allows us to be tempted to teach us the fruits of the spirit–Galatians 5:22-23–which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Something stuck out in Rick Warren’s words…God often allows us to experience sorrow to seek joy. Joy and sorrow, quite frankly, don’t go together to me. But low and behold today, I experienced them both at the same time. I have sorrow and sadness at my cousin’s passing but I have joy for so many reasons. Number one and most importantly, she is no longer suffering and has gone home to wait for my Lord. What a wonderful privilege that is! Some of us are forced to endure earthly struggles and hardships throughout our entire lives and at the day of Jesus’ coming, all of that will end! Doesn’t that make you feel great! I know it makes me happy. Two, it taught me this very lesson: I can rejoice because I know (and she knows :D) the goodness of God! All sufferings do eventually end and there is exultation and happiness at the end! That is blessing enough for my heart! Whenever we experience any bad thing, it always has a point of stretching our faith and growing us in one of these areas if we welcome it. We must be on guard because the devil seeks to keep us at the opposite end of the spectrum and wallowing in self-pity or regret. Take me for example–haha–as many people know, I get my ends trimmed regularly but with an air of precaution: sometimes I get butchered. And these “trimmings” always serve to make me depressed. Rather than dwell on an inanimate thing like my hair that will grow back, I will rejoice at me not losing more hair and at the fact that it does grow fast. Of course, sometimes we allow ourselves to slip back and complain or make tough situations seem like a personal attack from God, but remember in His word that He always tells us how much He loves us! (John 3:16) So be joyful and guard it! Because the devil seeks to make you suffer and miserable all your life and for all eternity…a very long time.

Be blessed!

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.] John 16:33

Labor for God’s Glory

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. Romans 8:28

Happy Labor Day! I’m looking forward to going home and hopefully there being some barbeque waiting for me. Labor Day officially ends most of summertime fun and other things to me and I enjoy it. I’m in Atlanta right now and I’m sealing the deal with an affordable pedicure versus one from home.

I was going to talk about something else, but it lays heavily on my heart about the labor of enduring troubles. We all go through things and have difficult times in our lives, and sometimes there truly seems to be no way out. But the purpose of these problems are to purify us and bring us closer to the only Great God in Heaven. Troubles always seem to isolate us and get us alone. You can’t go to your best friend, your mom, or anyone sometimes. Only calling on God at that lowest point serves to get us some consolation. Problems and troubles will always come. They do not stop because it is Satan’s goal to have us! Everyone has suffered since the beginning of creation including Jesus! And when we suffer in His name, it is well! (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

Nothing rang clearer to this than my random reading of a message on Greek organizations. I cannot speak for all or tell of all things that go on in an organization, but how we are taught to bond together and lean on each other to get through all things that may come is exactly what we must do in our own lives. We must bind ourselves to the truths of God’s word, bind ourselves to the promises the Word gives us, and lean on God to give us the strength to get through. I
fight a daily battle trusting God sometimes because I have put trust in people so many times and have been let down. This will continue to happen to you if you don’t trust God. But the only truth I need to get through and to learn to trust God is the Word. Everytime someone went through difficult times, God was right there guiding them. So in trusting God, we must wholeheartedly labor to overcome our need to control and sometimes to give up. We must work to get through and trust that this Word He has given us is true and He will do what he says.

Be Blessed today and I’m gonna make a pittstop before I get on the road!