Monday Morning Motivations

“...And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.”

If we aren’t careful, we can look at this story and say
… That’ll NEVER be me. I’ll never be like the prodigal son…<...

"... So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.”

As I was working out one morning, I was listening to one of my favorite gospel artists, Hezekiah Walker, and I came across a song called “99 and a Half”, and in this  song he sings, “Lord...

“The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’
He replied, ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.’ “

Complicated Situations.
When I said that, almost immediately something came to your mind.
For some it’s a job.
For others it might be a person… an entanglement  or situationship… whatever your word o...

“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.
Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.
Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first...”

What a...

"Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 
When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’

The sick man answered Him, ‘Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.’

Jesus said to him, ‘Rise, take up your...

“Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, 'Why stay here until we die?
If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.' ”

Transitions. 
Sometimes as we go through seasons, we b...

“A man’s gift will make room for him, And bring him before great men.”

When reading this verse, what comes to mind?
Does this verse excite you because of the opportunity to glorify God with your gift before great men… or do you feel this verse doesn’t apply to you because you feel that either:

• You don’t have gifts like that, or
• There is no way your gifts will bring you before great men.

Many times we fear the gif...

In Psalm 46. the psalmist speaks of the world falling down around him.
In verse 2… the mountains fall into the sea… the waters roar and foam so hard that the mountains quake. 
In verse 6, the nations are in an uproar and kingdoms fall.
… and in the midst of all this, the command that God gives in verse 10 is… “Be still and know…”

He says this because He knows that when things get hectic… the last thing we want ...

How do I reconcile my faith and my race?
One I was born into
… the other I was “born again” into.
Neither, in my mind, can I live without.
Both drive every decision I make
… but only one seems to drive every decision made towards me.

The world doesn’t see me as a Christian first.
They only see me as a black man.
And that one filter drives all of their subsequent actions.

So how do I rec...

Plan B… or our "Backup Plan(s)".
We know these very intimately.

We are told that we are foolish if we don’t have one when it pertains to every area of our earthly lives.

“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”
“Don’t put all your hopes in a person… People always let you down.”

It’s no wonder that we find it hard in our spiritual lives to “put all our eggs in one basket”.

In toda...

What are you focused on?

In your battle with whatever sin that may entangle you, what is it that you set your eyes on?

Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “The pursuit of purity is not about the suppression of lust, but about the reorientation of one’s life to a larger goal.”

Even if your entanglement isn't lust, in today's episode I want to take the time to examine why his sentiments of, &quo...

What place are you operating from?
Are you operating from a place of need?

I need affirmation. I need validation. I need reassurance

Or are you operating from a place of purpose because your needs are already met in Christ?

No matter what context we find ourselves in (business, ministry, volunteering, etc), to allow ourselves to operate from our “place of need” can put us at odds with God.

In today's episod...

Are you ready for your next steps?

Many times we can become so focused on our “next season” and getting out of our current season that we rarely ask ourselves are we even ready for what’s next?

What does Ready even look like?
How do you know if you’re ready?

In today's episode I want to walk through the journey of the children of Israel from Egypt to Canaan  to see what we can learn about “readiness” for the Promise...

During this time of self-distancing, I have seen people struggle with mini-storms inside of the larger storm.

Sometimes these mini-storms are a direct result of the larger storm, like depression from the loss of a job and the ability to provide for one's family or anxiety about the health of ourselves or a family member. 

Other times, those mini-storms are things that have always existed, but “busyness” was a...

In order to make sense of this season, we often find ourselves trying to understand God.

Trying to piece together, as best we can, a reason for it all.

 And if you aren’t, you’ve probably heard other people inject their “God reason” into the situation... using words like "judgement" or "end times" or a number of other rationalizations that help them cope with the stressful season that has descended on us...

I will walk in freedom BECAUSE I have sought out your rules.

Usually when we think about freedom, the LAST thing that comes to our mind is the word “rules”.

As a matter of fact, rules and restrictions are seen as the exact opposite of freedom. When we think of freedom, we think of a space without rules or the ability to do whatever we please without consequence.

So why does David seem to beg to differ?

In ...

In Acts 13:22 God refers to David as, “a man after my own heart…” 
The same David that slept with another man’s wife, got her pregnant, then killed her husband to cover up his mess.

How could God consider this man someone after His own heart?

In today's episode we dive into how David reflected the heart of God even as his life was being sought after for death. How did David remain calm in the midst of peril, and as...

When we think of blocked paths, the first thing that probably comes to mind is frustration from not getting what we want.

We handle these feelings and circumstances differently depending on how badly we want what’s being blocked.

But what about those situations where it was God who placed the blocker there?
In today's episode we look at one of the reasons why God may block our path, and how we, in turn, respond whe...

In John 10:27, Jesus describes His followers as sheep by saying “My sheep know my voice…” 

With this verse many Christians get discouraged because they feel like they don’t hear God speak. Many would even go as far as to say that God does not speak to them at all. 

But often it’s not that He doesn’t speak, it’s just that we aren’t trained to listen.

In today's episode we revisit the Prophet Elijah and see how he "h...