Good Morning! Did you wake up excited on today? Simply because you got up, is enough to be excited. I am still excited about Bible Study on last evening at my church and the word that went forth. This led me to talk about THIS King that I met.

Chapter 24 in the book of Psalms talks about a man named Jesus and His kingdom. His kingdom never ends and it rules over all. He rules with grace and mercy and commands the people in His Kingdom to uphold the truth and to walk with integrity.

Psalms 24:1-4 (NKJV)
The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters. Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.

Wayment!

Before Jesus became King, we could not stand “in His holy place” mentioned in the scripture above. When Jesus died on the cross, He abolished the separation of people and created one body, of which His Kingdom rules, which is called the church of God.

Ephesians 2:15 (NLT)
He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups.

When Jesus rose from the grave, the Bible says God gave His Son Jesus, all power.

Matthew 28:18 (KJV)
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

I then began reading further down in the 24th chapter of Psalms. As I read this verse, I began to use my spiritual imagination.

Psalm 24:7 King James Version (KJV)
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

The almighty and powerful Savior, Jesus commanded the gates and doors of the temple to open and allow His majesty and glory to reign. He abolished the separation of people and COMMANDED these gates be open to the people in His Kingdom – GLORY JESUS!!!!

Psalm 24:8 (KJV)
Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

Then the word of God asks a question: “Who is this king of glory?” I’m so excited, I can hardly type. He is no ordinary person. He is not common as man and yet He humbled Himself as a man. His name is Jesus!

Who IS this King?

• He has placed all enemies under His feet.
• He has returned with all power.
• He destroyed the animosity and hatred that stood in the face of us who were without hope, in THIS world and without God. We were without hope because we did not have God.
• He brought us hope.
• He gave us peace.
• He brought us reconciliation back to our Father.

HIS NAME IS JESUS!

Ephesians 2:12-17 (NLT)
In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near.

In case you really didn’t get it the first time, the Bible poses the question again…WHO IS THIS KING OF GLORY?

Who IS this King? He is the TRUE leader of the free world.

Ephesians 2:18-19 (NLT)
Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.

Lord I thank you! Glory to the name of Jesus. I thank you. I thank you for the marriage that made me an in-law and now I am a member of God’s family.

GLORY TO THE NAME OF JESUS!

Do you recall being a first time driver? You are beyond excited, well at least I was. I remember when I received my driver’s license at age 16. Man, I was trying to think of everyone’s house I could pull up to, showing them I was now behind the wheel.

When you’re a first time driver, you also take notice of all the signs on the roads and in the car. Well, at least I did. I noticed the deer crossing signs, stop for pedestrians, one way, do not enter, traffic lights ahead, and the warning labels underneath the sun visor about the air bags in the car. They had been drilled in my head through memorization to pass the written test. Once I saw them on the road, my mind was able to recall reviewing them in the driver’s ed book. 

Then, once you become comfortable with driving, those less frequent signs seem to be less of importance as we begin to focus on the things we see more frequently like stop and yield signs. 

There’s one sign on the side view mirrors of our car that we may miss but it serves a huge purpose. It’s a warning to prevent the driver from having an accident.

“Objects in this mirror are larger  or closer than what they appear.”

I think this statement applies to people’s perception of who JESUS is. Simply because God made a decree that He would send us a Savior, Jesus, who would then die for us and send His Spirit back to literally dwell in us and guide us to live in holiness, we forget how big our Father is. He is closer than what He appears to be, but since we cannot physically SEE Him, He seems so far away. 

Jesus cannot reveal His proximity to us because we do not allow Him. We do not take the time to study Him and learn Him as we would a man or a woman we desired to enter into a relationship with.

Our Father is greater than the demonstration we have seen.

• He is bigger than our problems.
• He is bigger than everything we can physically see.
• He is bigger than death.
• He is bigger than the mundane and routine praise we give Him.
• He is bigger than the occasional scripture that we read but don’t apply.
• He is bigger than the thoughts you have about who He is or what He can do!
• He is bigger than life itself. How is that? You must be greater than the thing you create. Otherwise how can it be created?

He is greater than our enemy, but our enemy boasts more and is granted power through us and because of us. We give our enemy the power. We give the enemy the okay to control our lives when we live contrary to the word of God.

See, back in the day, when I was in school, the group of people who did most of the smack talking were the ones who had nothing to back it up with. They seemed to become more bold and boastful when there was a crowd. Their mouths spoke great swelling words when there was an audience. I learned that it was the quiet storm that you had to look out for; the one who avoided the conflict and did not respond to peer pressure and bullying.

The enemy is a taunter and a bully. He taunts and dares us to deny our Savior because everyone else is doing it- it must be right. He speaks great swelling words against the Lord and has us debating about God’s word and if Jesus is real. We KNOW and are witnesses of all that God has done for us, yet we sit and listen to this mess and begin to give place to these stupid seeds that are planted. Jesus, on the other hand, is confident of who He is and knows that He can literally destroy the enemy. In one day, God destroyed 23,000 people in one day because of their sinful acts.

1 Corinthians 10:8
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.

Our Father is loving, kind and has compassion on His children, but please don’t get beside yourself. It’s time out for pretending. We would love to see the miraculous demonstration of His power- but in a good way; but you do not want to fall into the hands of an angry Father.

God, our Father, is greater than what you can physically see!

1 John 4:4
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 

We must stop treating Him as if He is like us, because He is not.

“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” ‭‭Numbers‬ ‭23:19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

It’s a new year, the start of a new week and a new day. Things that can be easily done, are also easily taken for granted. For example, you wouldn’t think about not having the ability to intake air (breathing) unless you were suddenly faced with the challenge to do so – like anxiety, asthma, or an accident involving your lungs.

We simply cannot take life, breath and the act of moving for granted.

As we head towards the closure of the day, consider this:

1. Someone is holding the hand of a loved one for the last time.
2. Someone is sacrificing their life to bring forth life through child birth.
3. Someone will close their eyes to lay themselves down to sleep, only to never open them.

Our life is not our own. It behooves us how we treat ourselves and others.

Romans 14:12
So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

• What are you doing when you leave the grounds of the sanctuary?
• What are you saying when you get into your vehicle to yourself, your spouse, or whoever you carpooled with?
• Do you talk to your children differently in church than at home? You know, more harshly? A non-loving tone? Less patient? Abrasive in your speech?
• Are you wishing, pleading and praying that your co-worker loses the job, so the two of you have no more dealings (but wait! What if that’s the person you need to reach and to display the character of Jesus to)?
• What are you thinking and saying in your mind, but have not verbally stated? Oh yeah, He knows your thoughts also:

Psalm 139:2 (NKJV)
You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.

What are you doing in the presence of God?

Proverbs 15:3
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

2016 has been filled with misfortunes and deaths. December alone has been brutal. 

We dwell so much on the negative, let us not forget to reflect on the good as well. The Bible even asks us to do this. Why? You begin to become what you think and reflect upon. Pretty soon, we fail to see any goodness in the land but this is so far from the truth. Although we witness many misfortunes and tragedies daily, the goodness of God is visible everywhere. If we didn’t believe that good exists, we would’ve given up a long time ago:

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭27:13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

As we prepare for another year, let’s learn to gravitate to the positive and not the negative. Don’t even waste time responding to negative social media posts. It’s too consuming and draining. In fact, start a new challenge, the clean up challenge:

1. Go through your phone contacts of those people who only see negative in everything, then mark and avoid them. 
2. Go through the list of folks you follow on your social media accounts who have such negative views and opinions of others, then mark and avoid them. 

Romans 16:17
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

Take a moment and reflect on 2016. Write down all of the good experiences, fun times, things that made you smile when you would’ve cried and use those times as a memorial to build upon a new way of thinking.

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Why think on these mentioned? Because these “things” are a reflection of who our Savior is. He is true. He is honest. He is lovely. He is the epitome of virtue and we praise His holy name. Ooh, that’s it right there! I bless your name this morning Jesus.

Our thoughts form the basis of our behavior.

“But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” Matthew‬ ‭15:18-19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

To lose weight, we must make a mental decision that we will change our habits which will then produce an outward physical change that can be seen. Our thoughts lead us to throw out the chips and cookies and then feed our bodies with foods with more nutritional value such as fruits and vegetables.

Just as we feed our physical bodies with good sources of vitamins and minerals, our minds must be fed with the highest sources of spiritual vitamins as well: F, H, and C:

Vitamin F: Faith
Vitamin H: Hope
Vitamin C: Charity (love)

1 Corinthians 13:13
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

What is a problem? What do you consider a problem for you? A problem is defined as something that is difficult to deal with.

Life brings many problems. Not all problems are actually problems. Some situations in life are presented as a problem only to catapult you into your purpose. Other problems are presented to protect you from the enemy’s ploy of destruction.

The problems you face will either defeat you or develop you. It all depends on how you respond.

Some problems are associated with being good.

David was presented with a good problem. If he was able to defeat Goliath, he would live tax free, get to marry the king’s daughter and receive a reward. That’s not a bad problem, provided that you win. You lose, then that’s a problem. David could not lose because he had the true and loving God on his side, of whom David chose to obey.

There are also problems associated with disobedience. The greatest problem that exists is that of sin, which causes us to be disrespectful and disobedient. Because of sin, we are separated from our Father.

“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” Isaiah‬ ‭59:1-2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Sin is like a spiritual disease that corrupts our hearts and minds. It affects every one of us, no matter who we are. The question is are we willing to apply the guaranteed surgical procedure to remove this disease?

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” Romans‬ ‭5:3-6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Listen! I have no time to be determining if my Father can hear me when I pray, or  if He will continue to protect and guide me, or if He will cover me. Nope! I need to KNOW. In order for me to have this blessed assurance, then I must be confident in knowing that I am upholding the spiritual integrity that He continues to instill in me. 

What about you? 

I might have 99 problems, but living wholeheartedly for the Lord, ain’t one! 

This is a special devotion today, honoring the gift of life that was given to us by our Father, through Jesus Christ.

As we post pictures and images of family gatherings, don’t forget to keep Christ in Christmas. In fact, there’s no Christmas without Christ.

Think about this. All day today, we will salute one another with the statement of: “Merry Christmas.” Let me break this down real quick.

Merry means: causing joy and happiness

If we then break down the word Christmas: Christ,  He is Lord.

 In Spanish, the word mas means more.

“For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke‬ ‭2:11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Soooooo….Merry Christmas means Christ The Lord causes more joy and happiness.

We don’t even realize how the world is trying to remove Jesus from everything- through a simple phrase. 

 In fact, the next time someone texts or post “Merry X Mas,” don’t be too quick to respond and say the same thing. You are “x’ing ” or excluding Jesus out of your happiness. 

Let me tell you- this one thing I know: when you remove JESUS, it is impossible to get MORE (mas) happiness without Him.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

During this time of the year, we experience the joys of seeing both adults and children appreciating what matters most: family, life, and love. The appreciation of these 3 things are demonstrated through gift exchanges. For some, this time of the year is also one of the most depressing, especially if those you desire to share this time with are no longer present in your life due to illness, death or distance. Christmas also is a time of heartache for those who desire to do more but with the obligations of life, they simply cannot financially afford to fulfill their heart’s desire.

Whether the holidays represent good or bad times, it seems as if the story of Christmas and the circumstances of which Jesus was born has become so familiar and traditional, that we sometimes miss its beauty and power. Think about it. The gift was a surprise.  We didn’t receive this give because of a holiday or because it was our birthday or some grand celebration. The gift was unexpected until the Lord revealed it and allowed the angels to inform the shepherds in the field about this precious gift that was about to be delivered.

Luke 2:11-14 (NKJV)
For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

The Bible says THIS day (not implying on December 25th, but the actual day Jesus was born) Jesus was born for us. God then presented this gift in the most humbling way. Not in a palace, not in the most expensive clothing – but in a manger. A manger is a box for food or animals. This day should be a day of rejoicing. Not for the gifts but for the fact that God cared so much for us, He was willing to send Himself to redeem us back to Him. If the heavenly host praised God, what about our praise? When we clap our hands in the assembly, is it really a hand praise or are we just clapping our hands?

Grace and mercy gave birth to the truth and life! When we read the scripture closely, we can discover or rediscover the amazing wonder of God’s word made flesh!

John 1:1-4 (NKJV)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Heaven sent us a supernatural gift, greater than any earthly gift. The real message of Christmas is not the gifts we give to each other. Instead, it is a reminder of the gift that God has given to each of us. Oh my God, our Father gave us a gift when we were enemies. Bae baeee, would you give a gift to your enemy? Would you give an invaluable and priceless gift for someone who does not care to love you? God did!

When you are seeking to get a gift for someone, you consider their likes/dislikes and what they need. The gift given tells you something about the giver of the gift – Here it is…FATHER I THANK YOU!  God knew the gift we needed and could not afford! Glory to the name of Jesus:

Romans 5:8  (NKJV)
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Even in the midst of your losses, the blessing is about Jesus. As hard as it may seem, even if we lose everything, but still have Jesus, that is enough to start over again.

Today’s world is inundated with the use of technology and media. Most media outlets compete to see who can break the best story first, all for ratings which ultimately results in more money from conglomerates or large corporations.

When I wrote my first book in 2012 entitled: “Who You Callin’ Silly? How a Silly Woman Becomes Virtuous,” one of the first requests of the marketing team from the publishing firm was for me to setup social media accounts. My immediate reply was why? Well, social media has been used to reach the masses for marketing tactics. 

There are many people that became famous as a result of social media. Social media will often drive the decisions of companies to introduce products or people, based on what “we” the people respond to. Honestly, had I not been led to write books, I would not have social media accounts. Why you may ask? I’m not a “social” person. Lol. I tend to be more discreet. I actually struggled with completing this phase of the marketing process until a thought crossed my mind:

“What if the one statement or image of encouragement that I post, would lead someone to desire a deeper relationship with my Savior?” 

After all, that is the goal, right? So I choose to post inspirational messages, information about my books or posts that reflect my humorous side, in hopes of lightening the loads of others.

However, social media can get out of hand, if you allow it to consume your space. Here are some questions that I have for those who confess to be a follower of Jesus and use social media:

• If someone would see your photos, review your posts and timelines, would they know that you are a Christian?
• What type of image are you portraying of Jesus?
• If you take a look at your own page as an “outsider” what would YOU say of yourself? 
• Do you send mixed signals? Are you always complaining? Is your appearance to be more worldly than spiritual? Are you always sending subliminal or indirect messages – going off on someone?
• Are your clothes revealing too much cleavage, insomuch that the crease of your bosom is on display? Or is Jesus on display?
• Are your clothes so tight that you see the print and shape of everything? 
• If Jesus was scrolling through your timelines, what would He say?

What you do on your pages is what you do but we must remember to represent JESUS at all times. What you do privately is demonstrated publicly. 

In case you weren’t aware, social media is not new. It has evolved into what we see today and continues to change. In fact, Jesus had a social ministry as well.

“Then the people began to murmur in disagreement because he had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” John‬ ‭6:41-42‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus reflected His Father in everything.

“Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.” They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.” Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me.” John‬ ‭6:26-36‬ ‭NLT‬‬

What would your followers think of you? Do you care? You should. You may be the introduction to Jesus for them. Will they accept or reject the invite, based upon the images and posts that you display?

People “unfollowed” Jesus because He stood on the words of His Father. Will you have that same boldness in your social media pages? Are you being unfollowed for foolishness or for righteousness?

“But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.” From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” John‬ ‭6:64-66‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Social media is a great way to connect with people you haven’t seen for years, find out about sales, or just socialize. Remember in ALL that we do, we must represent who we say we are. Matter of fact, who you SAY you are and how that is DISPLAYED should be the same.

Let us remember to put Jesus on display!

Ability: The power to do something.

That definition in itself says it all. When you identify yourself as having ability, it is in your power to do whatever it is you desire.

Jesus has both spoken and demonstrated His ability. The strangest thing is that- He has also communicated the abilities that we have THROUGH Him. This astounding ability has manifested itself for us, through Jesus like this:

Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

The word “can” is a lose variation of having the ability to do something. It describes what power we have been given. What a glorious privilege. If we learn to truly apply biblical principles to our lives, this ability would manifest itself as we have never seen. And although we have been given this special privilege, Jesus still is in control. Our distribution of power does not render our Savior to be less powerful. He has all power- to even loosen the strongholds of depression, suicide, identity confusion, and any type of addiction in our lives. Even right now. 

You do realize that you don’t have to be in any negative state or condition that separates you from the Lord. Because the Lord is ABLE:

“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,” Jude‬ ‭1:24‬ ‭KJV‬‬

The first word in this scripture is NOW! Now is the present time. Now is current. 

• If you don’t want to be sad, don’t. 
• If you don’t want to be in financial lack, don’t. 
• If you don’t want to be addicted to drugs, don’t. 
• If you don’t want to drink alcohol, don’t
• If you don’t want to commit lustful acts, don’t. 
• If you don’t want to have ungodly thoughts, don’t. 

It’s really THAT simple. We choose to be in the conditions that we are in. The Lord is ABLE to keep us from falling. He has the power to preserve and conserve. When will we allow that power to truly manifest in our lives?

Don’t allow yourself to be a stumbling Christian. A stumble is an error. It means it happens infrequent. It is not a consistent, repetitive thing. It is not something that you knowingly would do. If I know I’m about to stumble or trip up the stairs at my job, I would choose to take the elevator or escalator. Why in the world would I allow myself to go through stumbling, not knowing if I would seriously injure myself?

If by chance you do stumble, the Lord will restore. The Lord will redeem. The Lord will keep you. Because He has the ability. Walk in the ability of Jesus.