You Influence the Countenance of your Friends

By: Donovan Parker

I first heard the scripture - Proverbs 27:17 before an MVP Men's Conference at New Covenant Christian Church in the summer of 2012. The Scripture reads as such ...

Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. -Proverbs 27:17

In my research of the term 'countenance' I came across the following definition from the Merriam-Webster dictionary ...

1 obsolete : bearing, demeanor

2 a : calm expression b : mental composure c : look, expression

3 archaic a : aspect, semblance b : pretense

4 : face, visage; especially : the face as an indication of mood, emotion, or character

5 : bearing or expression that offers approval or sanction : moral support

In summation, as sort of a working definition, the term 'countenance' can be thought of as an external expression of internal influence.

Mood, emotion, and character each have to do with issues from within.

If we take and apply this particular definition to Proverbs 27:17, we know that you influence the being of your friend.  The reason why this is exciting is because the influence that you have is so great that not only will change occur internally, but it will be evidently EXPRESSED in the appearance.  

Most importantly, we must note that it is the contact of the iron with the iron that sharpeneth each.  Likewise it is the interactions and contact that we share with one another that elevate us in Christ.  

I am so fortunately blessed to have a body of brothers and sisters in Christ to grow alongside and fellowship with.  If I never express how encouraging it is to be in attendance with the like-minded - let me take this opportunity.  

To all those who shared moments in fellowship (whether on the court, at the crib, or even in passing), I appreciate you! 

Proceed in Christ knowing that your interactions with others affect their character, mood, and emotions.  Those will be reflected in their countenance.  YOU must make it your duty to be a reflection of Christ.

Dear Lord, 

Thank you Jesus for being the ultimate example of Victory by coming to earth in fleshly form to show us the way. Continue to help us become more like You. Thank You for the influence and dominion You've given us here on earth until Your second coming.  Extend our reach.  Thank You for allowing us to fellowship with one another.  You are PERFECT in ALL Your ways. Thank You for these and all of Your many blessings. Lord, we love You.

Amen.

Trust

By: Monique Smith The one who understands a matter finds success, and the one who trusts in the Lord will be happy. (Proverbs 16:20 HCSB) Life is tough and having faith sometimes is even more difficult, but it is a must when following Christ. Simply think about that phrase, "following Christ". It's not anything we tangibly do, as far as visibly seeing a man in front of us daily and walking where He walks. Even that statement is a faith proclamation! When our life is going good, it is so easy to trust God! We don't even think twice about it! But once situations come to challenge/increase our faith, that's when what we have seem to break down.  Romans 8:28 says- We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28 HCSB). Since this is a FACT, we must begin to understand all matters in light of this scripture. When we do so, that is when success will come from that matter and we will be happy! I love being happy! With all of that said, the crux of this devotional is: Trust in God is vital.  Prayer: God thank you for life! God you are so cool! All I have to do is ask you to help me serve you better! That's crazy! If it's faith I lack, then when I ask for it, you will give it to me. If its love I lack, you will provide me with that as well! So I'm asking you to fill me with those things I lack! Help me maintain and not grow weary also! Love you! In Jesus name, amen. 

Eden Situation

     One of the main things Christians say at some point in their lives is something along the lines of “None of this would be happening if Adam aint mess up.” People are quick to blame his bad decision for the struggle that we have to go through and the reason for Jesus coming to earth to redeem us, but what about your part in all this? For starters the fact that you would blame Adam for the things you have to go through is already like him since he blamed Eve for causing him to sin.

            But there’s no need to get overly deep or intellectual on this one, this devotional is about not giving up your Eden situation. Jesus came to make us who we were originally when God made us, before sin came in and had us settling for less and confused about who we really are. Thus Jesus is called the second Adam, partly because essentially He led us back to Eden. So at this very moment while you are reading this (if you have given your life to Christ) you are presented with the opportunity to have/be EVERYTHING God has presented you with, or like Adam you can pervert God’s plan with sin.

            Sin is simply separation from God, which is why it leads to death because God is the very source of life and all things good; the further away you get away from that…well that’s the reason the word death was created lol. But let’s examine Eden in order to present the parallels between Adam’s choice and ours. Once Adam sinned and part took of the fruit, (this passage can be found in Ch. 3 of Genesis) mankind began settling. God didn’t kill them, I’d say because He loved them too much, but He put them out of the garden. Instead of chilling with God in the cool of the day and having all their needs met by God, they had to work the ground  to get their food and it’s even mentioned that man would sweat from the work that he was doing. Furthermore, the earth began to change, now animals hunted and killed each other, sometimes even man! Trees became poisonous, later brothers began to murder brothers all the way until today with all the horrible things that happen in our generation.

            In your situation, once Jesus redeems you, you are on your Adam tract. Once you compromise to sin; you began to alter your Eden. Instead of the original plan of God where He provides you food to eat, you get to chill naked with your spouse all day,  name animals and learn from God which in our generation would look more like God leading you in your career,  putting you together with the spouse that will aid you in completing the Kingdom work that’s on your account  as well as whatever other needs you have of them and receiving witty inventions and other lucrative ideas that allow you to help others without exhausting yourself (this is a crucial run on sentence smh);  sin will cause you to choose to be stressed trying to figure your life out on your own because you won’t seek or recognize the voice of God, not eating right which slowly complicates your health, and pushes back the prosperity that God has laid up for you.

            Now I’m NOT saying that once you sin it’s over Eden burns up and you’re stuck in the desert. But I am saying that there are consequences of sin and your original Eden changes based on the decisions your make. Jesus has redemptive power that is FAR greater and stronger than sin, but we HAVE to realize we are simply giving away the things of God (our power, worth, finances, self-esteem, health, etc) when we choose to step outside of God’s will to please our flesh. Knowledge is power and people perish from lack of knowledge, thus the more you learn about sin and holiness the more power you’ll have to walk upright. But in that process I would encourage you not to lead yourself into temptation and ultimately to understand that the pleasure of sin is only for a season; while the works and blessings of God are for eternity!

Over and Out 

Storms!

By: Monique Smith Quick point-- I was just reading John 6:16-21.  When evening came, His disciples went down to the sea,  got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. Darkness had already set in, but Jesus had not yet come to them.  Then a high wind arose, and the sea began to churn.  After they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea. He was coming near the boat, and they were afraid.  But He said to them, "It is I. Don't be afraid!"  Then they were willing to take Him on board, and at once the boat was at the shore where they were heading. (John 6:16-21 HCSB) I have come to realize that everything in the Bible is there for a specific reason, so I kept pondering about the details in this passage. If you notice, when the disciples started out to sea, the sea was calm. But soon after, a storm came, followed by Jesus. This is significant because many times right before God does something spectacular in our life, we may go through a "storm". Think about the scripture again, right before Jesus WALKED ON WATER, a storm came up! Walking on water is miraculous! It's not something you normally see!  This has been true and evident in my life as well. For example, right before I got a job as a college adviser, I went through the "storm" of being rejected from a consulting firm, rejected from Teach for America, deferred from my  graduate school of choice, and experiencing high levels of fear, doubt, stress, and frustrations due to possibly not having a job after college. BUT after that "storm", here comes Jesus, providing me employment with UNC- Chapel Hill admissions as a college adviser! You all don't know how truly thankful I am to be employed by this program and the joy I feel while serving my students! It's an overwhelming feeling! I'm so blessed! So you all just hang in there and stick  it out! This may be your "storm" or you recently experienced a "storm" but If you stay on track (staying faithful and in the Word-- notice in the text the disciples didn't stop their journey or turn astray during the storm, they stayed on path--), God WILL come through in a major way! Prayer: God, you are my best friend! Help me love you more! Help me with my unbelief and eliminate my fear! Help me meditate on your word and realize that your plans are best for me and help me not lose faith in the process! I love you DADDY!

I'm a snitch!

Snitchn’! The title comes from a song called “Snitch” by our brother known as Trip Lee.  The song is based off of James 5:16 about confessing your faults to those who you “walk” with.  One quote from the song is “I ain’t just trying to look Christ like, I’m wanna walk this!” and that’s really what I’m trying to do.  I want to live inside out with no dirty little secrets so I thought I’d start with this testimony.  Pray my strength! “Snitch” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrOjxo3b9EA&feature=related James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.  The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So, my homie Monique came to my dorm yesterday and asked me if I wanted to ride to ATL.  I was a little hesitant because I don’t have money for gas or a hotel at the moment; it’s not really in my budget (if I had one lol) but she told me not to worry about it!  I started thinking about the work I have to do as well but then I promised myself that I would get work done if I go (I’m up and about to get started on some work after I finish this).  So yeah, here I am on my way to ATL, out of the blue!  Another one of our friends who was “in charge” of finding a hotel for us decided that maybe we should stop in Charlotte to not have to drive the whole way to Georgia at once.  She told us that we could stay at her Grandma’s house.  She called her Grandma and let her know that we were in need of a place to stop on our way to Atlanta and she welcomed us to come. (I’ll come back with another testimony about her Grandma next time!!) On the way to Charlotte I sat in the back seat and reflected a little on this past week.  It has been a rough one.  After church on Sunday for some reason I was frustrated.  I can’t recall my thought process but somehow several things were heavily on my mind.  I am focusing more on trying to apply messages that I receive from services rather than just hearing them and that message was so powerful that I honestly did not know where to start in terms of applying it to my life.  My family was on my mind as well, along with things that I want but don’t have.  Of course this frustration and anxiety was from the enemy because I had just been empowered after that service. Long story short all this week I felt myself reverting back to the old, dead, buried DD.  I just shut down.  I didn’t want to be around anyone, I felt bitter, aggravated, a little depressed, and stressed.   Small things were bothering me, I was upset with my roommate and avoided her most of the week.  I didn’t even sleep in my room, but in the lounge in my dorm instead.  Many of you don’t know but for about two years since I’ve been at UNC that’s how my life has been.  Of course no one knew because I can easily put on a smile and act silly to hide what I’m going through.  There were several weeks in the past two years where I have avoided close friends, wouldn’t sleep in my room, cried myself to sleep, walked around feeling depressed in my spirit, etc. all while wearing a smile when need be.  During this time was when masturbation became my stress reliever and during this week of resurrecting the old DD I fell into that sin and I subjected myself to movies (not necessarily porn) but movies with sexual scenes that I should not have been viewing. Whenever I fall knowingly like that I learn from Adam and Eve’s mistake and make the choice to go to God immediately.  I know I have victory over sin and every sin I commit will be forgiven so I confessed and repented.  I felt forgiven by God but I still felt guilty because I know that I also let you down, my brothers and sisters in Christ, the body of Christ.  I did not want to stay in this guilt and condemnation so it didn’t last too long. I made myself listen to the Holy Spirit encouraging me not to isolate myself any longer.  I honestly believe there is a spiritual reason for everything that happens.  My friend Moriah wanted me to chill with her after class on Thursday (this was before I fell but still during my time of isolation) which forced me not to go back to my room and sleep for the rest of the day and fall more and more into a “pit.”  Then today after my first class I told myself I was going to skip my next class and just go back to my room and sleep.  However, during my first class my TA told me she wanted to see me after class to talk about my paper.  She knows I have a second summer class so I’m sure during our meeting she would have stopped to give me time to go to class.  It may sound weird but In my heart I would have felt guilty and probably would have told her that I wasn’t going to go to class (idk why but my conscience makes me do stuff like that lol) I don’t like feeling that way in front of people so I decided to skip all that, let her know that I would need to meet with her later since class was running over the allotted time and I needed to get to my other class.  She said that was cool and told me to come to her when my second class was over.  In my mind that was going to mess up my plan to go back to my room and sleep after class (even though I could have slept after our meeting it wasn’t the same because I had a plan to be in my room at a certain time to sleep my “problems” away but to still wake up at a somewhat decent time so I could get other stuff done).  After my meeting with her (it was around 1:30 pm by this time) I remembered that I signed for an experiment at 3pm, so if I went to sleep I knew I would miss the appointment!  I decided to just walk around the Arboretum (our school’s garden) and started talking to God.  Then one of the girls I mentored last year popped in my head and I forgot I hadn’t returned her text from the other day.  I found out that she was in class on campus but didn’t think I’d run into her.  I was on my way to get food before the experiment; to relieve my hunger so that I would be able to go back to my room well fed after the experiment and SLEEP, when I heard someone call my name.  I turned around and it was her.  I talked with her for a few minutes and told her I’d join her again after I ate.  She ended up leaving before I finished my food so instead of going to my room and risk missing my appointment I went to the library to read and pray.  The Holy Spirit led me to write a letter to my roommate explaining what’s been going on with me this week because I had been rude to her earlier that week and had been avoiding her.   All of this lifted a weight off of me and my desire to sleep everything away was diminishing because I was actually casting all of my cares onto God and he was giving me things to do to handle my stress instead of sleeping.  However, after the experiment was over I still ended up going to sleep but only because I was sincerely tired, not to sleep on any cares.  I was sleep for about an hour when Monique and two other friends showed up at my door.  I’m glad I decided to join her on the trip because although I was feeling a lot lighter, I still would have stayed to myself this weekend because that was my plan to get my work done.  Isolation for me is a killer though!! Although sometimes it’s healthy for me to be alone I’m able to discern when it is or isn’t.  I honestly believe that the enemy would have had his way with me this weekend had I not decided to go and be around my strong sisters in Christ. Final Note: please obey the Holy Spirit when you feel led by Him to give someone a call, invite them somewhere or to encourage them in some way.  You really have no idea what may be going on with them and in the spiritual realm where that one simple act of obedience may change their life!! Prayer: I thank you Daddy for who you are.  I thank You that you use my terrible choices to display your grace and mercy and I am humbled by it.  Thank you for my angels around me; my friends.  Thank you for your love and light that shines through them.  I am so glad your love for me is unconditional because I am not perfect.  I thank you that I can finally admit that I am not perfect and that my mistakes serve as a testimony of your goodness, forgiveness and love.  Help me to never be ashamed of the power of the Good News and to never steal your glory by not telling others about my testimonies.  Help me to uphold the standards that you have given me to walk in holiness and purity!  Help me to go back to abstaining myself from ALL things (TV shows, music, movies, conversations, etc.) that don’t glorify you despite what others may think so that I can truly please you.  From this day forward help me to have more evidence of the fruit of the spirit in my life, especially those I seem to be lacking like self-control, peace and goodness.  In Jesus name, Amen. Deborah

God's Protection!

Soooo for the rest of the month, I'll be in Chapel Hill anddddd randomly enough this apartment, ON UNC's wireless campus, doesn't have wireless and I don't have an Ethernet cable at the moment... So these devotionals will be sent from my phone! Anyways, I wanted to check in and share how grateful I am for the protecting angels I have guarding my life! You all have no idea how many legit car accidents I SHOULD have been in but that I have never been in! The one that I was in, didn't scratch me or my car... Someone bumped my bumper at a stop light. I am thankful that he wasn't going faster because that would have been crucial! Psalm 91 is a passage that God gave to me which helps me realize the magnitude of how awesome His protection is!! I am simply amazed and overwhelmed when I think of how many situations tried to damage me and alter my life! God is protecting me to proclaim the gospel as I am doing now and for even greater works in the future!  Quick testimony-- God's protection has even protected my temple when I wasn't even trying to protect it! IN THE PAST (high school/ freshman year in college) there were many times on my way to have sex with someone, God would block it. In my dorm room when I would lay in the bed with my boyfriend... God would block it! Someone would knock on the door, my roommate would come back, and many other random things which always prevented me from contaminating my temple prematurely!  I THANK and PRAISE God so much for His divine grace and His wisdom! Most importantly I thank Him from saving me from myself! I don't have a "dramatic" or "extreme" testimony like many may have but I know that God has protected me from experiencing so much in my former ignorance! Now I am excited that I can be confident that my heart is pleasing to God and that I no longer have the same desires that I had three short years ago! God and His protection has been key to my life so far and I am blessed to know that God will keep His end of the deal as long as I stay focused on Him! In those times where I get distracted and complacent, God's mercy will offer me another chance to get it right! I could go on and on and on about God and His goodness toward me because this birthday is really emotional for me! God loved me enough to save me! To protect me! To give me 23 years of life! I'm alive! I still have a purpose! I have a college degree! I have a career working in college access! I am so thankful!  Thank you Lord!  Y'all be blessed and enjoy Jesus more! Love y'all!

Living in the Spirit: Galatians 5:22-26

By: Monique Smith

            Raise ya hand in the air if you like a good old in dept Sunday school lesson? I know I sure do! Wasn’t too fond of it growing up and didn’t get into it until about three years ago, but I now appreciate the foundation Sunday School has given me.

The following is a very interesting breakdown of the fruit of the Spirit that really blessed me. Hope y’all enjoy!

The following is an excerpt from the Free Will Baptist Press Foundation Sunday School books distributed at my church.

            Paul lists nine specific virtues the Spirit is able to produce through the lives of true believers, and this list can be further broken down into three distinct groups.

            First of all, love, joy, and peace are the inward fruit, so called because they directly affect the life of the believer. When we know Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we possess a love that was not present before our conversion. This love is, first of all, directed toward God, for He was the one who loved us when we were unlovable (see 1 John 4:19). But it does not stop there, for we also have a special love for other believes who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus said that others will know that we are His disciples by the love we show one to another (see John 13:35). But even this is not the extent of our love, for Christ commands us to also love and pay for our enemies (see Matthew 5:44).

            As love fills he heart of true believes, so does joy and peace permeate our very being. The Apostle Peter said His joy is “unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8), and the Apostle Paul said His peace also “passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).  Those who trust in the world to give peace and joy will find themselves lacking, for anything the world has to offer is both temporary and inferior.  But to know Christ and to faithfully serve His is to experience joy and peace in abundance. His joy will brighten the darkest of nights, and His peace will calm the severest of storms.

            Second of all, longsuffering, gentleness, and goodness are the outward fruit, so called because they have an impact upon those with whom we come into contact. As the first three fruits have a direct affect upon the life of the believer, the next three have an effect on others. To be longsuffering is to be both patient and tolerant, and to show gentleness and goodness is to be kind and compassionate with others.  Every Christian knows of people who are difficult, obnoxious, and rude, and while it may be tempting to treat these people the same way they treat us Scripture commands us to give sweet for bitter, good or bad, and love for hatred.  As we live for Christ and allow His Spirit to influence our lives others will see the difference He has made.

            Finally, faith, meekness, and temperance are the upward fruit, so called because they are directed toward almighty God. Faith is not only the means of our salvation, but it is also the motivating factor of our lives.  We are to daily walk by faith in order that we might please God in all things. Likewise, we are to be meek (tamed or controlled) in order that we might be submissive to His perfect will, and we are to be temperate (moderate, restrained) in all things. As we allow these three types of the fruit of the Spirit to control our lives we will be fully surrendered to God in all areas of our existence. 

Prayer: God, thank you for the fruit of the Spirit! Continue to help me cultivate these things in my heart and in my spirit. In Jesus name, Amen!

Just a thought!

By: Monique Smith Hey peeps! I'll send out a full devotional tomorrow but just want y'all to peep this:  Do not remember the sins and wrong things I did when I was young.  But remember to love me always because you are good, Lord. (Psalm 25:7 NCV) CAN I GET AN AMEN!!! I was young for soooo long! Young and foolish! Whew!  Prayer: Lord, thank you for being You! Help me! In Jesus name, amen! 

I ain’t got no worries! I ain’t worried bout a thang!

By: Monique Smith

            Hey folks! The title comes from a Trip Lee song entitled, No worries, I rocks with it! : ) Anyways, as I was reading my Word in 1 Peter 3, verse 14 stuck out to me.  I wrote a note to myself about it, so I decided to turn that into a devotional! The Word tells us, “…even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear or be disturbed.”  This immediately made me think about the philosophy my mother instilled in me as a youngin’,

             “Monique, don’t worry about these things going on in the world. If you gonna          trust in God, then trust in Him. Those people aren’t like us! God is going to          take care of us! Watch and see!” 

            I specifically remember her saying this back in ’96 during Hurricane Fran (wave ya hand in tha air at me if you remember Fran! She won’t no joke!). I remember listening to the weather and being scared out of my mind! Telling mama we needed to flee and go to another state to be safe.  Mama then dropped that nugget of wisdom on me, and I’ve been living by that statement ever since. I don’t fear bad weather. I don’t fear recessions. The stock market crashing doesn’t scare me. Why? Because my mama AND the Word tells me so!

            So to go back to the Word, in life, even if we have the utmost faith in God, we may go through tough situations and suffer at times (even during Fran, our trees were knocked down and electricity off like the rest of folks), but God will still bless us in that (My family's house was still in tack and all of my other family members still had everything in tack).  God did not give us the spirit of fear but the enemy wants us to adopt that characteristic SO bad! In all walks of our life, there is something we can choose to be scared about, even in our choice of entertainment, we can choose to watch movies that scare us. But I want to encourage you all to take a second look at whose you are and realize that God doesn’t want us to adopt those ways contrary to Him, but wants us to live a life of faith and truth!

Prayer: God! You are the best Daddy EVER! Thank you so much for having my back, front, side, and all my other body parts in between! You are so amazing! Help me to not sweat the small things and build my trust and my faith in your ability to provide and protect me as well as my family! God I love you and I thank you! In Jesus name, amen.

Jesus is about REAL life

By: Fred Reid

Jesus is the king of kings and Lord of Lords, He is the lover of our souls, the savior of the world, He is the word of God that was slain from the foundation of the world, but He is also about real life. By this I mean Jesus is there for the people that find themselves in some REAL situations. Like when some unexpected expenses come up and you don’t know how you are going to cover them so you have to make a real life decision, are you going to do something croquet to get some money or will you wait for Him to tell you what to do and trust that He HAS provided for you. Or when you have neglected the word and now have a baby on the way and are considering abortion, or instead of a baby you have an STD, or when you are really depending on somebody to come through for you in a major way and not only do they not help you they actually try to make these worst for you! All of these are situations in which you NEED Jesus, and fortunately He is about that life!

Then why write this devotional?

From what I’ve noticed, the persona given to Jesus in the modern day church is something more closely related to someone that is all powerful, all loving but somehow too holy to deal with dirty people. I think this is mainly because church folk forget where they come from in an attempt to feel worthy of heaven but we’ll save that for another day. But do you see the problem here? If the drug addict really wants a way out of that lifestyle but Jesus is portrayed as someone that would not want to deal with him until the addict cleans up his lifestyle on his own some…where is the hope? Or better yet, if you are too embarrassed by satan’s latest device that you have entertained to pray to God for help you will be stuck forever! So it is on my heart to reiterate that though He is the epitome of holiness, Jesus loves to deal with broken people. That’s what He was made for!

As already previously stated in other devotionals I LOVE that fact that the Father is mighty in battle! He knows that there is a war going on, in my mind, in my flesh, in my heart and He is not only willing to along my side but also He is MIGHTY in the fight. So if you are in a fight and not including Jesus….I don’t get it.

I need some scriptures to back me up though right?

Matt 11:28-30 Jesus says to come unto Him all those who have everything put together and are  just waiting to get into heaven, wait that’s not it. He said those who have got a little knowledge about righteousness and are ready to condemn others that are struggling with things, nah that’s not right either. He actually said those that labour (not sit around hoping) and are heavy laden…take my yoke upon…and you shall find rest unto YOUR SOUL for my yoke is easy and my burden is light! You don’t get heavy laden and in need of rest from having the good life where everything is constantly going right…nah those are symptoms of someone who is stressed, worried and possibly about to give up. THIS is who Jesus asks to come to Him. The people that most folk want to avoid because they tired of hearing them complain and what not.

Luke 15:1-8 and Matthew 18:11 expressly state that Jesus has come to save the lost and go after those who can’t find the way to salvation.

Finally Matthew 20:28 says that just came to minister not to be ministered to, and to give His life as a ransom for ours. I just really wanna drive home that fact that whatever situation you find yourself in Jesus is right there beside waiting to show you the way out. If the way out has some opposition and requires a little fighting, that ok because the Lord is mighty in battle. If you have done some hideous things that you never thought you’d do or you are too embarrassed to tell anyone else, Jesus is not surprised because He already knows everything, not only is He still interested in helping but He request your presence, He ASKS that you bring Him that mess! And ultimately He died so that God would punish Him for your sin instead of you having to take that punishment yourself. This is why He is WORTHY to be praised!

Suzy Rock's Dirty Little Secrets

Hey y'all!  No devotional tonight but I want you all to check out this teaching series Deborah sent me earlier today.  It's a message by Suzy Rock, a gospel rapper, who is dealing with the topic of dirty sins we try to hide. This message had me thinking about a lot in my life so I feel it would be a great listen for you all as well! Go to rapzilla.com and type in Suzy Rock Dirty Little Secrets.  It will rock your world!  Have a great one! 

You gotta obey and listen to those folks!

By: Monique Smith

“Obey ya elders and the people over you baby. That’s what the good Lord wants us to do.”

Sigh.

“But what if those people are straight up TRIPPIN’?!!!”

“You still gotta obey baby”

I’m not sure how many of you all have had a similar conversation, but I find myself struggling real real hard to abide by some of the literature in 1 Peter 2:13-17.

^13-17Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God's emissaries for keeping order. It is God's will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you're a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government. (MSG)

The main thing I struggle with is submitting to authority when I completely disagree with things they do or say, especially when I am forced to participate or follow a new order.  I struggle so much because from my perspective either what they are doing seems pointless or more of a hassle or their orders are extremely strict and something that I am unfamiliar with.

Here is an example in my social life. I went to TGIF Friday’s one night and the rule in that area was past 9 p.m. everyone has to show an Driver’s License to enter, regardless of how old they looked. I was with a group of friends and everyone had their ID except one person, and they turned us back, even though she had other forms of ID. The same thing happened in another area at Friday’s, and it frustrated me because it was a huge inconvenience. I figured, if she could identify herself, she wouldn’t specifically need a license. Ugh! I know that was small and I definitely can understand why they may have such things in place, however, at the time, it was frustrating and I ain’t wanna submit!

Other things happen to me at work, with my family, and at church that I completely disagree with but realize that according to the Word, I have to submit no matter how I feel or what I know. In doing this, God’s will is accomplished AND my obedience may cure the ignorance of people around me.

I honestly don’t know what it is that has me that way, but when something is not logical to me, I have a hard time participating or agreeing with such things. Some people are easy to let it ride, but that’s not me.  I know God has people in leadership for certain reasons and I may be placed in specific situations and struggles with leadership as part of God’s ultimate plan for my life in pruning something in my spirit that isn’t right. 

SOOOOO I need y’all out there to pray with me and if you’re dealing with the same issues, pray for yourself and reach out to others to pray as well. : ) Hope this helped in some way! Be blessed y’all!

Prayer: Whew God. This is a tough one! Sometimes I don’t understand these stupid policies and rules I am faced with at work, at home, and at church.  Lord, help me to be more humble in my spirit and obedient, even if I feel contrary to they way they feel. Lord, I want your will to be done in my life and I don’t want my fleshly desire to interfere with your holiness. God, please help me! In Jesus name, amen.

Protected.

By: Monique Smith

(Background text for this is Psalm 91)

This weekend I was in Virginia on vacation with my family. On Friday night, before heading into the hotel, we stopped at Walmart. When we walked in the store, nothing seemed strange and the weather was nice. But about 20 minutes later, we walked outside and it legit looked like a tornado! At first it was kind of cool because my cousin and I had on dresses and they were flying up like Marilyn Monroe’s in that movie…lol….but then it got a little scary when shopping carts started rolling into peoples cars and it was hard to see. Thankfully we made it back to our hotel safely. The next day, later that afternoon, my grandmother calls from NC telling us that 6 people were killed in that storm and over 1 million people from the VA and DC area lost their electricity. As we rode around, we began to notice trees split in half and other destruction the storm caused.

As I began to think more about that, I got so much joy! All this destruction was going on all around us, but we slept sound all through the night and woke up with nothing damaged. Oh how great it is to be protected! And then, I started thinking about my unfortunately terrible driving earlier that day which could have resulted in a 10+ car pile up, but God protected me and my family! It is such an amazing feeling!

My challenge to you is to think about how you have been protected this week, or even today! Don’t take God’s protection for granted, because it is priceless! Isn’t that amazing?! Just wanted to pop in and share this! If you just THINK about the GOODNESS of JESUS….and Alllllllll He has done for you, your SOUL will cry out! Hallelujah!

Prayer: Lord, I humbly come before you sincerely giving you praise for your mighty hand and for your unfailing protection. Thank you for allowing me to flourish in this world when everything around me seems to be in shambles. Lord, I love you and want you to help me in my commitment to you as well as to others. Lord, have your way in my life! In Jesus name, amen.