Tag Archives: devotions

January 17, 2014 · 7:56 AM

Ditch The Excuses

It’s Free Friday! Today is the day you let go of the things in your life that keep you down or hold you back. To celebrate, I’m giving away a copy of “The Power of a Half Hour: Take Back Your Life Thirty Minutes at a Time” by Tommy Barnett. Keep reading to find out how to enter.

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Today is National Ditch Your New Year’s Resolution Day. It’s the day where we break the promises we made just a few short weeks ago. It’s the day where most people go back to their old habits instead of embracing the new ones that they wanted to create in their lives. It only takes us 17 days to realize that breaking old habits is hard and creating new ones is even more difficult. When things go from hard to difficult, we quit. We give up on our dreams of being a better person and dive right back into the way of life that we weren’t happy with.

Today, you have two choices before you. You can ditch your resolutions and go back to who you were last year or you can embrace the changes you want to make and keep moving towards your new story. One of those is easy and the other is not. No one can decide for you. Only you can choose to continue to be free of the things in your life that you’ve resolved to let go of. Only you can push on just a few more days until your resolution becomes a habit. It only takes doing something for 21 days to make it a habit. Why give up 4 days shy of it?

Each of us have things in our life we’d like to cut out and be free of. Each of us feel like we have a better story in us than the one we’re living now. The difference between those that live the story if their dreams and the ones who only dream is persistence. Those who make their dreams a reality don’t give up. They fight through when everyone else quits. They push forward when they hit a wall and then find a way around or over it. They are prepared for the mental battles that lie ahead. You can be one of those people.

I believe we were made to live extraordinary lives. I believe God has planted greatness in each one of us because He has given us His Spirit. Too often we accept a life of mediocrity because it’s easy. We give up on the life God has called us to because of all the road blocks. If God has called you to live an extraordinary life, why would you settle for one that’s ordinary? The people who settle for the ordinary are those who are going back on their resolutions today. You made a commitment to make a change this year, to live the life God called you to. Free yourself from the excuses that are begging you to go back to an ordinary life.

In John 10:10, Jesus said, “I came so that they (you) can have real and eternal life, more and better than they (you) ever dreamed of.” That gift of life that He wants to give isn’t easy to live. It never has been. It requires commitment on our part. It requires moving ahead when all we want to do is quit. It takes daily reminders that God is on our side and is there to cheer us on when things get difficult. You can live the life you’ve dreamed of if you’re willing to be persistent when others ditch their resolutions.

If you would like to win “The Power of a Half Hour” by Tommy Barnett, all, you have to do is go to my Facebook page here and “like” it. I will randomly pick one person tomorrow (January 18, 2014) who has liked my page. If you have already liked my page and enjoy reading these daily devotionals, please invite your friends to like my page so they can receive encouragement from God’s Word too.

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January 16, 2014 · 8:03 AM

A Life Exposed

When I was a kid, there was a boy who lived in my town named David. I didn’t know him, but I knew of him because I had seen him on the news often. They talked about him at my school and we were encouraged to draw pictures and send him letters. David wasn’t like everyone else. He had a disease that gave him a weak immune system. In order to help him survive, they created a sterile chamber for him to live in. Everything that went into the chamber had to go through a seven day sterilization process. He became known as David the Bubble Boy.

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David never got to have skin to skin contact with anyone. His parents and doctors had to wear special gloves to touch him. He never got to experience the feeling of grass under his toes or to feel the wind on his face. His whole life was spent in that sterile environment. It was psychologically difficult for him to be able to see others interact and express love through touch knowing he could not. He struggled with being contained in that environment knowing that there was more to life than being in a bubble.

We have to be careful ourselves that we don’t live in a spiritual bubble trying not to get infected by the world. We were not meant to live our entire lives in the safety and confines of the church. We were called to go into all the world and to preach the Gospel to everyone. We can’t go if we are afraid that we will be exposed to sin and therefor be susceptible to it. Jesus took a lot of hear from the Pharisees because He would go to the homes of sinners and love them. He didn’t care if a person was unclean. He reached out and touched them because that’s what we all need.

The Pharisees had built a spiritual bubble for themselves. They thought it made them holier than anyone. What it did was separate them from their mission. Jesus looked at them and said, “Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.” We can separate ourselves from everything evil in this world and look the part of being righteous, but until we get out there and do the will of God, we are doing nothing more than living in a bubble. If we are to follow Christ’s example, we are to get out of those bubbles and minister to those who need it most.

Life in the bubble is nice for a while. There’s no risk, no chance of failure and no fear. The problem is the Gospel doesn’t flourish in a bubble. It only grows when it’s exposed to the outside world and sin. It can only touch the lives of those who touch it. It cannot be contained and therefor neither can you or I. We must break out of our safety bubbles and risk our lives for the Gospel. We are going to run the risk of failure, but we can’t let failure stop us. Every person that rejects the Gospel from you gets you one person closer to one who will accept it. Every life you touch will have a seed planted in it or a seed watered. We have to be about the Father’s business and we can’t do it in a bubble.

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January 15, 2014 · 8:01 AM

How To Detect A Counterfeit

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Not long ago, several of us were at my brother’s house looking at the new hundred dollar bills. They looked fake to us. We held one up to the light to see the strip in it. We tilted it to see the color shifting ink. We smelled it (don’t ask why). We did just about everything to it to try to tell if it was a fake. Then my sister in law walked in and asked what we were doing. She said, “Let me see it.” She then did what none of us had done. She rubbed it between her fingers. She worked at a bank years ago and could tell a counterfeit by how it felt.

You don’t learn how to tell if something is counterfeit by studying counterfeits. You learn by studying the original. You have to be around it and use it all the time so that when something counterfeit does come along, it won’t feel right. The best counterfeits don’t look like Monopoly money. They look as much like the original as possible. If you ever accept one, you’re the one who just lost money. Yes, the bank will take it from you, but won’t give you anything for it. You’re left empty handed and short on money.

It’s important that we as Christian recognize counterfeit religion. If we aren’t careful, we can be sucked into things that aren’t really from God. Jesus was clear that many false prophets would come and try to deceive us. They will come in His name, but won’t be from Him. The only way to tell is for you to be grounded in God’s Word. It’s up to you to know what it says. It’s not your pastor’s job to give you your only reading of scripture each week. How would your physical body survive if you only ate one meal a week. You could survive, but would that really be living?

It’s a new year and people are making lots of resolutions for their physical bodies. I can’t tell you how many people have told me they’re joining a gym. If only we made resolutions to get our spiritual bodies in shape. What if we committed to reading through the Bible in a year? What if we decided to pray 15 minutes a day. Instead of spending that time at the gym, what if we joined a Bible study? How would our lives change? We would have enough of God’s Word in us to recognize when something isn’t from God. That’s for sure.

We each are responsible for our own spiritual growth. Just like I can’t watch a trainer work out and get fit myself, I can’t go to church and hear what my pastor studied and get more spiritual. I have to study. I have to meditate on what scripture says. I have to put in time and effort into my spiritual being or I am susceptible to falling for counterfeits. When I fall for a counterfeit, I’m the one who has to pay. There’s no one else to blame. I was deceived because I hadn’t taken the time to know what God really said. It’s not too late to make a resolution to spend more time in God’s Word and to start working out your spiritual man.

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January 13, 2014 · 7:49 AM

A Life In Limbo

I have a friend who recently mentioned that they were struggling with all the outside forces in their life. All of their external circumstances seemed bent on crushing them. They didn’t want to give up or go back to a past that’s gone, but didn’t really know how to move forward either. They were stuck in this limbo of life with no good alternatives. It’s a scary place to be when today’s problems are so consuming that you can’t see a future for yourself. It’s hard to know where to go or what to do when you don’t know which way is forward. I can only share some of the things that helped me.

The first advice I give is to fill yourself with God’s Word. When the outside forces are greater than what’s in you, you’ve got to put something more powerful in you. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. The way to get more of God in your life is to spend time in His word. You have to make it a priority to read it. Mark Batterson says, “Reading is how you get through the Bible. Meditating is the way to get the Bible through you.” You’re not only going to have to read it, you’re going to have to think about it, chew it up and talk through it in order for it to fully strengthen you.

The second advice I give is to pray. God is not intimidated by your honesty in how you feel. In fact, I think it’s refreshing to Him when we are honest with our struggles, fears and thoughts. He gets enough surface level prayers every day. The ones where we cry out in desperation get His attention. The ones where we seek Him honestly draw Him in. The ones where we admit we can’t do it on our own cause Him to rush to our side. God knows we can’t make it through storms on our own. We weren’t created to. They’re meant to cause us to draw on His strength instead of being stubborn and trying to stand on our own. Prayer is how we communicate that need for God.

The next piece of advice I give is to surround yourself with other believers, especially those who know you and love you. Yes, some of your circumstances may be embarrassing, but trusting your family of God is what you need. Their prayers will be more passionate because they have a relationship with you. They won’t forget to lift you up in prayer. They’ll follow up with you and check on you. They’ll be that safety net you need in case you fall. They’re not there to condemn you. They’re there to help you. God placed them in your life to be a support. Let them be that for you.

If life has you in limbo or is pushing you down to see how low you can go, doing these three things will help you. If you’re life is going great and the sun is shining, these three things will help you. We never outgrow our need for God or to have His strength in our lives. We all need the inner strength that comes from a relationship with God. If we don’t need it to keep us from getting crushed, we need it so we can help someone else who is getting crushed. If you’re not in limbo right now, look for someone who is. They need your help more than you know.

What advice do you give to someone like I described?

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January 9, 2014 · 7:27 AM

Planning For Greatness

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I once had a friend that lived according to her Franklin Covey planner. She scheduled everything in that binder. If it wasn’t in there, she didn’t do it. I, being young, made fun of her. I asked her if she was ever spontaneous. She responded that she had time on Thursday evening to be spontaneous and wrote it in. Her life was mapped out and she was going places. I lived by no schedule and was going no where. She went where she wanted in life and I went where life took me. It’s not hard to see how important it is to make a plan and to work that plan.

I talk to a lot of people who are going to do great things for God. They tell me what God wants them to do with their lives. I ask, “What are you doing today to prepare for that calling?” Usually I get the religious answer, “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. He’ll prepare me in time.” I ask them what they are doing to today in the form of that calling. I usually hear crickets chirping. They, like so many of us, expect God to give us honorary doctorates in whatever field He’s called them to with no work on their part. They believe it will just happen.

I believe things don’t just happen. God expects us to plan, prepare and practice before it’s time to perform. We have to schedule time with Him, start out small and invest in our calling. When Jesus gave the Parable of the Talents, He said, “You have been faithful over a little; I will put you in charge of much.” So many Christians shun the little things because we want to do big things for God. We forget that God won’t give us the big things until we show we can be faithful over the small things. If you can’t spend time alone with God when your life isn’t hectic, how will you do it when it is?

I remember hearing Andy Stanley speak at Catalyst two years ago. He said that none of the speakers at Catalyst had an easy road to that stage. They paid high prices in the little things before God would trust them with the big things. Greatness in life only comes from being faithful when you aren’t great. All giants in the faith started out small. Major churches, giant Christian organizations and well known preachers started somewhere small. They had God’s call on their life to do something great and they started small. They scheduled time with God and began doing things that wouldn’t be noticed by most.

Do you feel like God has called you to do something big for Him? What are you doing today to prepare for that? What is a little thing that you can put on your schedule to do this week to move you closer to greatness? I heard someone once say, “If you were going to do it, you’d already be doing it.” If something is important to us and will pay out greater dividends, we wouldn’t wait until later to do something. We’d already be doing things to make that happen. We’d already have it on our schedule. Be faithful now when no one is looking so God can trust you when people are.

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January 8, 2014 · 7:09 AM

The Best New Year’s Resolution

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I had a Bible teacher in high school who had us write something in the front cover of our Bibles so we would never forget it. I’m glad he had us do it because I haven’t ever forgotten it. He had us write, “This book will keep you from sin. Sin will keep you from this book.” It strikes a chord with me as much now as it did then. In order to lead a successful Christian life, I’ve got to spend time in God’s Word. I’ve got to consume it it like I would food for my physical body.

The more I know God’s Word and what it says, the more I’m aware of what He wants from me. The more aware I am of what He wants from me, the less likely I am to stray from its commands. The less I’m in it, the less I know what God wants from me. The less I know what God wants from me, the more likely I’ll stray from His commands. Psalm 119:11 says it best, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” The only way to hide it in your heart is to read it and study it.

Since it’s the start of a new year, it’s a great time to start investing in your spiritual life. There are many resources to help you read through the Bible in a year. The Bible app offers multiple types of plans to help you read through the Bible. I don’t think you can make a better resolution than to put more of God’s Word into your heart and mind. It’s an investment in the quality of your spiritual life, eternal life and relationship with God. It’s a tough habit to get into and requires sacrifice of your time, but the dividends paid are out of this world.

I once read that it takes doing something 21 days to make something a habit. I also recently read that January 17th is “Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day”. That’s the day most people quit doing their new year’s resolution. So sad that they were 4 days away from making it a permanent habit in their lives. We should all be able to go 21 days straight of reading God’s Word. You can find time by getting up 15 minutes earlier, listening to it in the car on the way to or from work, on your lunch break or 15 minutes before going to sleep.

If you want to live a life with a minimal amount of sin in it, start consuming the Bible. We have a guarantee from God that if we will hide it in our hearts, it will keep us from sinning. We also have a guarantee in verse 105 of Psalm 119 that His Word will be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. So, not only will it keep you from sinning, it will give you direction in your life. I believe we could all use help with that. My challenge for you is to start reading God’s Word daily. If you’re already doing it, stretch yourself to read more than you were before.

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January 7, 2014 · 7:22 AM

How To Value Grace

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Several years ago the cell phone industry gave out free phones if you’d sign a contract with them. They also offered buy one get one free offers all the time. For the most part, they have abandoned that practice of selling phones for one simple reason: customers didn’t value the devices. Even though that device was worth several hundred dollars, because it was free to the customer, they treated it poorly thinking, “It’s a free phone. If anything happens to it, I’ll just go get another one.” Now customers are charged hundreds of dollars for the devices and they take better care of them.

I wonder if we’ve done the same thing with God’s grace. Do we treated it poorly because it is given to us freely? While it really doesn’t cost us anything to accept it, it did cost God His only son. When we face temptation, we think, “God will forgive me. I’ll just ask for forgiveness later.” We get an “it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission” attitude with God. Because grace is free to us, we don’t value it like we should. We know that the more we sin or fail God, the more abundant God’s grace is. There is enough to cover our sins, no matter how bad they are.

Paul must have been experiencing the same lack of appreciation for God’s grace with the Roman believers. In Romans 6:1-2 he wrote, “Should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace? Of course not!” He knew how valuable God’s grace was and it upset him that people just treated it as commonplace. It bothered Him that people used the free gift of grace to live their lives in sin apart from the way God wanted them to live. He saw that they placed no value on what grace really cost.

It’s easy to devalue something that is free to us. It’s in our nature to treat it poorly. Unlike the cell phone companies, God is not going to start charging you more for His grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God; Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law’s demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself] (AMP).”

We can’t earn God’s grace or salvation by doing things. Since the price was paid by the death of Jesus on the cross, it has been made free to us. It’s paid for. We simply need to find a way to value it in our lives and to learn to not treat it like it didn’t cost anything. If we consider what grace cost Christ each time we’re faced with temptation and ask ourselves, “Is doing this worth a nail in the hands of Jesus,” we’ll learn to value it more and follow through with temptation less. We’ll find that we will live like He asked us to and place a higher value on something that cost Him so much.

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January 6, 2014 · 7:41 AM

You Don’t Have To Be Lonely

Some coworkers and I were talking about all the online dating sites. There are ones dedicated to Christians, black people, those looking to get married, those who are already married and even one for farmers. The last one mentioned has most people thinking it’s a joke. The commercials are very low budget and goofy, but their jingle is catchy. It says, “You don’t have to be lonely at farmers only dot com.” While their commercials are notoriously bad, their slogan resonates with so many. “You don’t have to be lonely.”

In today’s world, we are connected more than ever, but somehow feel alone. Whether you’re single, dating, engaged or married, you’re still susceptible to feeling lonely. Since creation, God has been calling out to us telling us we are not alone. He has tried to grab our attention in each sunset and sunrise. He has called to us in the beauty of nature. He paints us a picture each night with the stars. He calls to us with each wave that crashes on the shore, “I’m here. You are not alone.” He has tried to let us know since we were born that we are loved, but we ignore His signs.

We try to fill that loneliness with imperfect relationships, sports, exercise, addictions, online gaming and the Internet. None of it really satisfies us, but we keep trying to fill that void. There is something in each one of us that desires companionship. God placed it in us. His desire is that He would fill that void in each of our lives. When humanity ignored Him long enough, He became one of us so that we would listen to Him. On His mission here, He told us how much He loved us and that we weren’t alone. In fact, one of the very last things He told us was that He would be with us always.

In the last verse in Matthew 28, Jesus’ last words were, “And you can be sure of this: I am with you always.” He knew that we would feel lonely and wanted to encourage us that we would never be alone. He wanted us to know that even though He was taking His place back in Heaven, He would still be here to guide us and to comfort us. He has no desire that any of us would ever feel alone. Hebrews 13:5 reiterates what God told Joshua in the Old Testament. He said, “I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake you nor let you down or relax my hold on you (AMP).” He was emphatic that He will not leave you so that you would know you are not alone.

What things have you put into your life to try to keep from feeling lonely? In what ways are you ignoring God’s voice calling out to you that you aren’t alone? What can you do today to start recognizing His presence in your life? The jingle to that commercial is right: you don’t have to be lonely. You have a God who desperately loves you and wants you to know that He is with you in whatever stage of life you’re in. When He is in His place in your life, everything else will fall into its place. He has not left you alone. He is with you all the days of your life. Will you recognize Him and let Him fill that void?

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January 3, 2014 · 7:38 AM

Free From Dark Clouds

It’s Free Friday! What are you going to let go of today? What’s holding you down that you need to be free of? Today’s the day you can make that choice to let go. To celebrate Free Friday, I’m giving away “Epic Grace: Chronicles of a Recovering Idiot” By Kurt Bubna. Keep reading to find out how you can be entered to win it.

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Disney put out a movie recently called “Frozen”. My favorite character has to be a snowman named Olaf. He’s the world’s only snowman who loves summer. He’s always upbeat and looking at the bright side of things. Even when he’s melting, he’s saying positive things. In the end, he gets his wigs to live in summer. He’s given his own snow cloud that follows him around so he can live through the times that would normally wipe him out. We can learn a lot from that snowman.

Many of us walk around with a dark, rain cloud over us instead of having our ideal climate overhead. We see the world through lenses that are tainted by the things that have brought us pain. We see negativity in every situation because that’s all that we believe will happen. We’ve lost our ability to see good coming from anything. When something good happens to one of our friends, we aren’t genuinely happy for them. Instead, we’re either bitter or we believe that the floor is going to drop out from under them too.

For many of us, that dark cloud is caused by our past. We’ve never learned to forgive ourselves from the things that God has forgiven us of. We allow others to label us with a scarlet letter. We love under condemnation instead of freedom. Romans 8:1-2 says, “Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air (MSG).” Once you are forgiven from Christ, you are free from the black cloud of your past.

The first part of that scripture says that we no longer have to live under that cloud. That means that if it’s still there after you’ve been forgiven, it’s there by your choice not God’s. He wants to come in and clear the air over your head. He wants to create your ideal climate so that you can be who He called you to be. He knows you’re still going to mess up from time to time and He knows you aren’t perfect. His desire is that you understand He is a God of second (and third, and fourth,…) chances. He’s not there to hit you over the head and put a dark cloud over you every time you mess up. He’s there to clear the air and to forgive you.

If you’re living under that dark cloud today, let God’s Spirit come in and clear the air over your head. Get free from that cloud that affects you negatively. You simply do it by accepting His forgiveness is enough. Don’t condemn yourself or allow others to condemn you for the things you’ve been forgiven of. Let God use the dark things in your past to be a positive testimony of what He can do. The choice is yours. Will you let go and be free today?

In order to win “Epic Grace: Chronicles of a Recovering Idiot” by Kurt Bubna, go to my Facebook page for Devotions By Chris here and “like” it. I will choose a winner at random tomorrow, January 4, 2014 from the names of people who have liked the page and post it on my wall. If you win, private message me how you would like to receive it. If you know someone that needs to hear this message, please repost or share from your own wall.

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January 2, 2014 · 7:47 AM

The Recipe for Success

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I was raised on the tradition of eating cabbage and black eyed peas on New Year’s Day. My Facebook feed is filled every year with photos from all of my friends who also partake in this tradition. The black eyed peas are meant to bring you good luck and prosperity while the cabbage is supposed to bring you wealth. Everyone is looking for something to bring them a better year than the year before and more success. I can personally tell you it doesn’t come from following this tradition.

One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible actually talks about how to be prosperous and successful. The recipe is simple, but hard for us to follow for some reason. It’s found in Joshua 1:8. It says, “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do (NLT).” This was God speaking to Joshua as he was about to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. He was telling him all he needed to do to be prosperous and successful.

The first thing God said in this recipe was to study scripture continually. If you ever went to school, you know that studying is hard work. I remember reading the chapters over and over, looking over notes and writing things down on flash cards to help me remember things. If I wanted to be successful on the test, I had to put in the work ahead of time. If you want to be successful in life, you are going to have to put in some work on the front end. It will not just happen. It takes time and discipline. It also means you have to have an understanding of the material God provided to help you live.

The next part of this recipe is to meditate on scripture day and night. God doesn’t want us to check off a box each day by reading a chapter or two. He wants us to read it and then to think about it both day and night. He wants us to think through how we can apply His word to our lives and how we can out it into action. He wants us to know what He said so that when the time comes, we’ll obey what He says instead of what the world says. He doesn’t want us fooled by trick questions, so He encourages us to know the material inside and out.

Obedience is probably the hardest part of this recipe. It’s the secret ingredient to prosperity and success though. When you look at everything God requires of us, it all boils down to obedience. We have to choose our will or His. If we substitute our will into the recipe, it won’t come out right. Only through obedience does the recipe work. If we can learn how to be obedient to His will we will find success in all we do. The only way to be obedient is to follow the first two steps. We have to know what God says first and then understand it. Success comes from reading God’s word, meditating on it and obeying it not from eating cabbage or black eyed peas. I pray you find much success and prosperity this year.

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