The Daily Devotional Blog

Keep going, because this is a huge world and the Lord has given you the ability to possess the land. He has given you many gifts -- many ways -- to do what He needs you to do in order to reach people. It doesn't matter where in the world they are, you can indeed reach them. God is not concerned with space or distance. That's not a problem for Him. Do you remember what God told Moses to tell the Israelites, who were finally going to get to go to the land that was promised to them (after 40 years of wandering)? Let me remind you. In Deuteronomy 1 He said, " see, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.” Eventually they did in fact get to the promised land and it wasn't easy, but God kept His promise to them. What promises has He made to you? Whatever they are He will ensure they are manifested somewhere in the world He created for...

Proverbs 28 :26 says, "whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered." When I first started this blog back in 2013 I named it, In Sharon's Head and about two years ago I changed it to, In Sharon's Heart . You know why? Because this head of mine has gotten me in a bind or two regarding the things I acted on that didn't have my best interest. I relied more on my mind than what God placed in my heart. And I realized that it was wiser to go with God than with Sharon. Although things have not turned out perfect -- they never will -- they turned out much better than they would have if God were not a part of them. I made foolish decisions and just as the scripture above says, it was because I trusted more in myself than walking in the wisdom of the Lord.  I'm glad it finally sank in that God was the better choice 100% of the time. I'm glad God had patience with me in trying to get this walk right. Of course, li...

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning ( Luke 12 :35).    Another easy verse, would you say? It's about being ready for whatever comes our way. If I were to get super spiritual about it, which there's nothing wrong with that, I would say we have to be ready when Jesus comes back, because He's surely coming. When? I have no idea and I don't know anyone else who knows. At any rate, naturally speaking, we have to be ready for the next opportunity that comes our way. If we're not ready it could be that God hasn't positioned us for it yet and that's for our own good. If we're not ready simply because we were in dragging-our-feet mode, then we can't put that on God, right? We have to call a spade a spade and admit that we need to do more to stay alert to what it is He has for our lives. That means being watchful for what the Lord would have us pray for and be mindful of the details of such fervent prayers.  In a nutshell, we mu...

Blessed rather are those who hear [read] the word of God and keep it!” ( Luke 11 :28). I think this goes without saying that the more we read the word of God, the more blessed we will be . There's no denying that faith comes by hearing and reading the word of God. If we want to hear from God and what He has for our lives we have to become familiar with His word -- the bible. He doesn't speak as powerful through any other book. We have to read it and continue to go where we can hear it. I often tell my students and young people that they cannot continue to listen to speech or lyrics all day that have sex, drugs, and violence in them and continue to not be affected by them. At some point it's going to shift something in their thinking. It's going to convince them that they're invincible to some extent, then they're going to start doing some type of act as a result. I see it all the time. It's easy to spot a person who listens to such words...

Do you devote any time to the Lord each day?  Colossians 3 :16 says, "l et the word of Christ dwell in you richly..." W e can all make time for the Lord, for He is good and His mercy endures forever. There are many ways to devote time to God. It can be a few minutes or much longer. I use "few" loosely, because it may be literally a few for some and much more for others. To each its own. I do not believe God is interested in quantity. I think He's more concerned with quality.  Devoting time to God each day is meditating (intense focus) on His word and worshiping Him in some way, which is different from person to person. Now, I'm not a deep person, some people think I am, but I'm not. I like to keep things simple, so when I use words like devotion and meditation I don't mean something super spiritual like staying in a prayer closet for long periods of time. However, if that works for you, awesome. It's just not my thing. Personally s...

Being grounded means being the one with sound judgment and level-headed thinking. People with those traits are the ones God can use to bring about positive change. He needs stable, reliable, and steady people to impact and influence others. He told us to be fishers of men and that means we have to make long lasting connections, which means being disciplined and anchored in Him no matter the circumstances. Thus, when it seems all is going crazy around us, we can be the safe place. When it seems all cool has been lost, we can be the voice of reason. When it seems things have gotten nasty, we can be the sweet spot. People will really respect us for it, because everyone doesn't have it in them to lead during chaos. Times of trouble bring out the best or the worst in people. As people of God, being the one who looks more like Christ means things will turn out better than worse. Yes I do believe that, because I chose to come from a faithful place that no matter how things seem, wh...

Some people are introverts and some people, extroverts. Yet too much of both is a problem, so we have to find  a way to find balance.  I'm an introvert by nature. I like to retreat and self-reflect whenever I'm having a challenge or I'm struggling with something. The only problem is that I used to do it too much when I should have been reaching out to people. God doesn't want us to isolate ourselves when we're having an issue with something. He made people to help people and there are trustworthy people who can help us when we open ourselves up to them emotionally. It may mean being around people instead of being alone. I know enough about God that He will not give us anybody crazy when we earnestly seek Him for guidance and direction. He loves us and wants to help us. That goes for extroverts too. God wants to direct their paths, as well. And like introverts, they need to know what to do to find what works for them. It may mean doing more self-reflection and...

"Grace means to get something that you do not deserve; unmerited favor." 1 That's a true statement, because God gives us so much more than we deserve, doesn't He? Many of us don't take the time to thank Him though. And when we really think over a few things that happened or didn't happen just this week, we may realize how much God was in those things. In 2 Corinthians 12 :9a  Paul talks to the Lord about his challenges and the Lord tells him this: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” How awesome is that? Very, I'd say. God is always there when we need Him and even when we think we don't need Him. He's there no matter what we may be going through.  Paul was struggling with some challenges and he sought the Lord, which was a great thing. God set him straight and encouraged him when he was weak. After the Lord told Paul that His grace was sufficient, Paul said,  "therefore I will boast all the ...

Remember Jesus is still Lord. It doesn't matter what we're going through. We just have to trust in Him with all our heart, and do not rely on our own understanding ( Proverbs 3 :5. When we do that we can sustain anything that comes our way, because our strength comes from the Lord. I was listening to a sermon by Sarah Jakes-Roberts titled, "Mirror Mirror" and she said God gives us challenges and obstacles in order to develop us. He gives us such things, because that's what He knows we can handle. It's "a reflection of what He thinks of us" says Jakes-Roberts. I never quite heard it put that way, but it does make sense, doesn't it? I agree, because how can we be everything we're supposed to be if we're not strong enough to endure the obstacles that will surely come? How can we help others if we've never been where they've been and if we never had the challenges they've had? You get it? We will be able to handle it if we...

Jesus said, “everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” ( John 4 :13/14). That's what Jesus told the woman from Samaria, who went to the well to draw water. That was her first encounter with Jesus and of course her life was changed forever. She went to the well to draw natural water from the earth and she left with heavenly/eternal water -- an endless life with Jesus. Eternal means never ending. Before her encounter with Him she had led a wretched life. She was an outcast and a reject by many in society because of her bad decisions and mistakes. People may have rejected her, but she wasn't rejected by Jesus. He never overlooked her. In fact, just the opposite, He loved and embraced her. Even His disciples didn't approve of her, but guess what? Don't you know Jesus accepts al...

Strive: to devote serious effort or energy,   endeavor strive to finish a project ; to struggle in opposition, contend (merriam-webster.com). Does any part of that definition fit you? Are you striving? If you are still here that means you must go on. All of us. We must go out of our way constantly to connect with God. I don't mean pray every now and then when things get tough. I mean ongoing communication and like the definition above says, to "devote serious effort or energy" towards. Yes we can all make the time to strive to open ourselves up the Lord. We go out of way to strive in other areas of our lives, why not make Him a priority? It's something to think about if you're not already doing it. It's something that each one of us should be dedicating our lives to.  Jesus said, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" ( Matthew 22 :37).

Overall, life is easier when we live for Jesus. I didn't say perfect. I didn't say mistake-free. I didn't say never falling short. It's just easier putting Him first and denying a life of doing and saying things that look nothing like Him.  Do you know know why living for Him is better than simply living for ourselves? Because whenever we're high He has our back and whenever we're low He has our back. We can't rely only ourselves. How would we know if we were on the right track? How would we know if we were going to end up in a good place? You understand? What I'm saying is that if we're not led by the Lord, we're not being properly led and we will end up in pretty bad shape. So to me, it's a no-brainer -- living a life with Jesus in it, simply makes life better. We have direction and guidance. He loves us unconditionally and He is available any time. Therefore we have a right to call ourselves blessed. Matthew16 :24-26...

Proverbs 18 :16 says, "a man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before the great." Don't think your gifts won't position you around great people and wonderful places, because you read that scripture yourself -- they will indeed. All you have to do is continue to work on your gifts and the flood gates will eventually open. We have to use them or we will lose them. Why do you think God blesses people to do different things? That's right, even if two people play the same exact position in a sport, they will never play exactly the same, because they have different gifts -- they are different people. No two people are alike. God doesn't make copycats, so there is no reason for us to think we don't bring anything unique and special to the table. We absolutely do, because we possess the God-given gifts that He's blessed us with. Don't think that anyone will do anything better than you, because that's impossible. You're you and nobody ...

Jesus will give us the keys to the kingdom if we let Him.   "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven" ( Matthew 16 :19). That is what Jesus told Peter and the other disciples regarding the power Jesus had given to them and how they would " continue Christ’s work on earth in preaching the gospel and declaring God's will to men, and they were armed with the same authority as He possessed" 1 That didn't mean the apostles took the place of Jesus. There's only one Jesus. It meant they could walk in authority, leadership, confidence, and power that they could, should, and would draw all men unto the Lord. It meant they could, should, and would walk in their God given abilities to influence people to walk towards the Lord. It meant they could, should, and would take Jesus' Word seriously in order to impact ev...

If God said it was going to happen, it's going to happen. If God said it was going to get done, it's going to get done. Nobody can stop it, nobody can block it, and nobody can influence the outcome. You see, when God makes a promise, He stands by that. And when we take Him at His glorious word (the bible), when we put all our faith in Him, then there's no reason to think otherwise. He wants to bless us. He wants us to live an abundant life. He wants us to be fruitful and multiply. That means He doesn't want us to stop living. He doesn't want us to give up. He doesn't want us to ever lose hope that He will do what He said He would do.  For many of you reading this blog post, He has made a promise to you that you are holding on to. He has sent you numerous reminders through His word, and through His prophets, apostles, and teachers. Only you know exactly what I'm referring to and that's for you and God. Yes, that is the thing I'm talking a...

I read John Maxwell's blog post about growth. The title is, Finding the Courage to Grow , dated November 29, 2016. Maxwell says courage is the main ingredient to growing, because it takes so much discipline and commitment. Being average, he says, is part of the problem, because "average doesn’t require much more than showing up. Average gets you through life with minimal fuss, which makes it very appealing to some folks." That's a fact, isn't it? Sometimes I look back over my life, from what I was doing then and how much I'm doing now and let me tell you, I was pretty average. I used to watch TV alot (now I don't even have cable and for someone my age, that's a feat) and I procrastinated by constantly putting things off that I should have been doing like writing and doing more productive things (now I push myself to write even when I don't feel like it). It's obvious now how much I wasn't growing back then. I'm not that person an...

What would happen if we never read anything? What would happen if we never read anything valuable and substantive? What would happen if we never read the bible? Ok, I'll just speak for myself and say, if I never read, I'd be stupid, ignorant, and lacking in knowledge.  Proverbs 12:1 says, "the person who loves correction loves knowledge, but anyone who hates a rebuke is stupid." What we can take from this scripture is that we have to listen to smart wise words from smart wise places (and from the people who speak them and who are trying to help us). Wise people read and they tap into the things of God. We all need to be those people and  be around such people.   You know anyone who thinks they know everything and who have no personal accountability? You know anyone who has no one they listen to, because they refuse correction or respectful rebuke? That is a dangerous thing, because it leads to a false sense of security, where we may think we're ok whe...

Life comes at us fast sometimes and when it does, we have to keep it moving. We can't get down and stay down. There's always scripture we can stand on and if you don't think words are powerful, perhaps the bible should take on a more meaningful purpose for you. It is the most powerful book in the world. It is the breathed words of the Lord God. I stand firm on it. It is the power I carry around with me. I may not know every single thing in it -- far from it -- does anybody? I think that's impossible. At any rate, what I'm trying to convey is that we must find the strength to move along when we have struggles and circumstances that come our way. Part of why we have to deal with our challenges is because they allow us to identify with the people who need us to help them. Our life experiences allow us to be able to connect with others. It's part of why our testimony has to be told aloud. It really helps people to hear it.  The testimony I will share again is...

Believe or not, some people don't think God is real.  Some of them may say His name in a sentence every now or then, but they really have no real concept of Him. They just imagine Him as a far-off entity that has no real bearing on their lives and/or they just consider Him a "higher being" of some sort. Some of the people who have been blessed (by God) with monetary wealth are sometimes the most challenged when it comes to that mindset, as well as, some of the people who have had really negative and awful things that happened in their lives. The former thinks they've acquired their wealth all by themselves (self-made) and they think God (Jesus) had nothing whatsoever to do with it. They consider themselves "lucky." And the latter questions where God was to allow such bad things in their lives and thus, does not believe He really exists either.  Let me say this, God is real . How are you breathing? How is your blood flowing? How was your brain mad...

" Do not let kindness and truth leave you; b ind them around your neck, w rite them on the tablet of your heart" ( Proverbs 3 :3). I absolutely love kind people. Don't you? I love the spirit of the people who are friendly and courteous to people simply, because it's the right thing to do. You ever go to a restaurant with people who are respectful to the waiters and waitresses? That warms my heart. Or the people who are pleasant to sales people? It's one of those overlooked traits that some people have that others can take pointers from. People who possess genuine kindness and truth are more fun to be around. They operate in positiveness, which is welcoming and contagious. I wish there was more of that in the world. We can never have enough of it. Jesus was kind, I don't know any scripture of Him ever being mean or disrespectful to anyone. Even when he turned over the tables in the temple (Matthew 21:12), He did that with respect and he also had a goo...

I believe something is going to leap inside of you and it's going to be amaaaaazing. Do you believe it? I hope you do, because you're not reading these words by happenstance. You're reading them because they're for you today. In fact, you probably haven't been to this blog in a while and behold, you have a word from God. Look at that.  What an awesome thing for you. Your vision is near, your discomfort is almost over.  This is what happened when Mary visited Elizabeth, Zechariah's wife:  "and when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb" ( Luke 1:39-45 ). Something amazing was beginning to happen in Elizabeth, because of her faith and she would eventually give birth to John, the Baptist. Yes, the John who baptisted Jesus Christ.  “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man.  The things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Continue to love the Lord and have ...

What do you stand on regarding the assigned mission (and vision) God has chosen for you?  What is your go-to verse? What is your heart motive? What is the promise from God? What did God's prophet(s) tell you? What keeps you going? I believe that when God gives us our mission He does it more than one way because He wants to remind us He's still with us and will never forsake us. He wants us to know He's still in our corner and that will never change. He's a stable and reliable God who loves us forever. We can trust Him and have faith that we will carry out our function here on earth. We must get that down deep in our spirit, because as the roads get bumpy we will have something to draw from. We will have God's promise, which is like fuel for us. His promise is an endless energy source that we can tap into forever. Oh my gosh, just thinking about that is simply awesome. My spirit just leaped for joy.  God remembers, ok ? So, be encouraged by that.   " ...

We have to live life to the fullest. I know it's a process to doing that and it doesn't come over night. Yet God wants us to strive to do so. It doesn't matter what happened or didn't happen, we have to live our life unto Christ. How many of us are willing to let Him lead us?  "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore" ( Psalm 16 :11). If God still has us here, it's for a reason. I sometimes think over my life and I can't help but think, but God . Remember the ole saying about life being like a box of chocolates? Those chocolates that we sometimes get around Christmas or Valentines Day are kind of like life, aren't they? Well, some part of life anyway. Some of those candies are really great, some are disgusting, and some are just ok. You can't tell which ones taste like what until you put one in your mouth and start chewing. Then you can decide w...

We've heard so many people tell about the story of David and the evil giant Goliath, but I've never heard anyone say that there were actually two giants in the story. One was Goliath and the other,  David. Yes David.  1 Samuel 17 tells the story of how David killed the giant punk Goliath by casting a stone that hit him in the forehead. Goliath wasn't used to anyone going up against him. He would taunt the people of God and they were all afraid of him. He was a bully that ran his mouth all the time, but David was the one who eventually shut it forever.  I call this blog post The Sleeping Giant , because who would have ever thought the little ruddy David would be the one who defeated a great big giant? Goliath was the natural giant standing at "six cubits and a span" (v 4) , which according to Wikipedia, meant he stood at 6'9"! Yet David was the real giant and although he was very short even compared to regular sized men, he ran towards Goliath,...

I have a message from the Lord for you and it is the following:  "this is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all" ( 1 John 1 :5). You know what that means, right? God is where goodness and mercy endures forever. He is where light and brightness are. Where He is, is only glorious wonders and miraculous things happening. It never stops with God. Imagine all the people in the world and imagine that God is at work continuously. Isn't that fascinating? God can do anything at anytime. He is omnipotent and omnipresent. I googled "ominpotent" and I got: "having unlimited power; able to do anything; all-powerful, almighty, supreme, preeminent, most high." So, anything coming from God to you and I is amazing. 1 John 1:5 is a great reminder that we are to look no further when it comes to knowing where our love and the glorious light is, that shines so bright on us. Yes, God knows His people ...