When I was a young child I use to watch my Momma (Debbie Pinnock) praise God! I vividly remember hearing her singing to the greats: Sam Cooke, Mahalia Jackson, Shirley Caesar, and more. Back then, I didn’t really understand the brevity and depth of what she was doing, but as I began to grow in my own personal relationship with God I quickly discovered that praising God comes at cost known to Him but unknown to others.

Hebrews 13:15 confirms that our praise to God should be sacrificial and the author of this passage said, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.”

My brothers and sisters, you don’t know the cost of my praise much like I didn’t know the cost of my momma’s praise and let me add, I don’t know the cost of your praise. A lifting of hands and a joining of voices to exalt God and extol His virtues at church in corporate praise and worship is a good thing and I amen that all day. However, the singing of songs and the clapping of hands is a very small part of what it means to offer praise.

As the author of the above passage says, praise involves sacrifice! It costs us something! King David understood this when he said that he would not give to God that which cost him nothing (1 Chronicles 21:24). Don’t get it twisted praise is not just about running, clapping, singing, lifting hands, and shouting. Our praise costs us dearly. It demands that we deny ourselves as we follow the way of Jesus. The way of the cross.

Indisputably, unequivocally, and irrefutably Jesus offered the highest form of praise on the cross. He showed us how to offer a sacrificial praise. Our hearts, like His, offer sacrifical praise when we are silent when we are accused, downtrodden, ridiculed, beaten, shamed, falsely accused, disenfranchised, hurt, misunderstood, and broken. Our sacrifice of praise is most spiritually real and authentic when we deny ourselves, pick up our cross, submit to God and follow Jesus!

Thank you Momma for demonstrating to my brothers and I the true meaning of sacrificial praise! Though we didn’t know the cost of your praise back then and now; God did and He still does!

It’s praise time y’all!!!

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#NAP

#TheCostOfPraise

We’ve all heard it said, “You only LIVE once”, but I am inclined to re-write that script with saying, “You only LOVE once.” So, stop taking your family, friends, people, and life in general for granted.

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 11:7-9 [paraphrasing included], “[It is good to be alive.] Nothing on earth is more beautiful than [the gift of] the morning sun. [Don’t take a single day for granted. Take delight in each light-filled hour.] Even if you live to be a ripe old age, you should try to enjoy each day, because [you will die and then] darkness will come and it will last a long time [You will be dead much longer than you were alive. And after you are dead you cannot do anything. So, enjoy life while you are young.] Be cheerful [and happy and relish your youthful vigour. Follow your impulses and do whatever your heart leads you to do.] Do what[ever] you want and find pleasure in what you see. But don’t forget that God will judge you [and you will have to answer to God and give an account] for everything you do [in your life].”

In Matthew 22:36-40 Jesus said the first and greatest commandment is, “to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And the second commandment is this: Love your neighbour as yourself.”

My brothers and sisters, we are all in need of community because in the blink of an eye everything can change. So choose to forgive often and swiftly. Love everyone with all your heart and take no one or nothing for granted because you never know what may happen in the next 5 minutes more or less tomorrow!

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#NAP

#YouOnlyLoveOnce

In the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus found in Lule 19:16-31 Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores. “Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the heavenly banquet. The rich man also died and was buried, and he went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side. “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’ “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’ “Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’ “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’ “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

What a mind blowing story and contrary to some contemporary thought, the Bible does teach that both heaven and hell are real places. Each person who lives will spend eternity in one of these two places. These two destinies are portrayed in Jesus’ story. While the rich man had lived for the day and only focused on life here on earth, Lazarus endured many hardships while trusting in God. So, verses 22 and 23 are significant: “So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”

If you didn’t know, Jesus was the and still is the greatest storyteller to walk the face of this planet and a parable is a simple story using earthly components to express a spiritual or heavenly truth. Therefore, Jesus’ use of the term “Abraham’s bosom” was yet another example of His collection of parables that focused the minds of His hearers on the fact that our choices to seek God or disregard Him here on earth literally affect where we spend eternity.

At the end of the day my brothers and sisters, I firmly believe that if the living knew what the deceased knew, the entire world would unequivocally follow Jesus Christ—-hands down!

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#NAP

#ToLiveForChristIsGain

Pray with me:

Father God, thank You that I can call You “Father”! It’s absolutely amazing the I can know You by name, and call You by Your name. What an amazing gift that I don’t deserve. Undoubtedly and unwaveringly, You never fail me, You always love me, and You give me dependable assurance and confidence for my future. Holy Spirit, thank You for consistently keeping me and never turning Your back on me. This is why, I am able to freely bend my knees and lift my arms to give You all the adoration, glory, honor, and praise that rightfully belongs to You, my blessed and most beautiful Father! In Jesus precious and righteous name, Amen and Amen and Amen!

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#NAP

#StayingPrayedUp

Australian evangelist Christine Caine once said, “Sometimes when you find yourself in a dark place you think you’ve been buried, but you’ve actually been planted.” Boy did she hit the nail on the head with this profund truth.

Undoubtedly, you nor I are completely immune to struggles or hardships in life. And when we experience these difficult times, it can feel like we are trapped in darkness with no hope or escape. The quote above suggests that what feels like being buried in darkness may actually be a seed being planted – ‘an opportunity for growth’.

When we are “in a dark place,” we often feel overwhelmed and unable to see an illuminated path forward. The darkness can feel suffocating, debilitating, and inescapable, as if we have literally been buried alive. Even though it can feel stifling or confining at the time, like we have been “buried,” in reality we’ve actually been “planted” and our difficulties have created fertile ground for professional, familial, and spiritual growth-‘germination’.

Remember that when a seed is planted in soil (darkness) it may not yet see the sunlight, but it contains within it the possibility of sprouting and becoming a bew creation; much like the butterfly that lies dormant in it’s cocoon. Even in our darkest moments, we hold within us the seeds of positive growth and change.

My brothers and sisters, as faithful Christians our eternal perspective on struggles, difficulties, and hardships should always be: “We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16–18).

Here’s an idea, in lieu of seeing struggles as a permanent burials, we can choose to see them as an essential planting that allows us to grow stronger. Difficult times strengthen our roots, forcing us to dig deeper within ourselves to fully trust God. And just as a seed must remain in the ground for a time before it can emerge as a new plant and a caterpillar in it’s cocoon, we too must remain in the “dark place” long enough for transformation to occur.

Dark times are an inevitable part of life (John 16:33), but they do not have to mean the end. They can instead signal the beginning of something new, if we remain open to growth during our struggles instead of throwing in the towel. The darkness may be what we need to transform and blossom into a better, stronger version of ourselves.

So, if you are in a dark place and you feel “buried,” remember that you have actually been “planted” – now all you need to do is wait on God’s time, light, water and nutrients for growth.

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#NAP

#YouHaveBeenPlanted

Undoubtedly, God knows the deepest desires of our hearts. If we trust Him with the everything that we want most and if it lines up with His will, plan, and purpose He will take care of it. Ultimately, God knows what is best for each of our lives.

Simply put, having faith is having trust. We have to trust with our entire being that God has our backs, He will help us, and take care of us. He knows what is best, but in order for us to truly embrace what He has planned for us, we must fully, completly, and openly trust Him. Our trust is not foolish, for our God is both faithful and good. If you have any doubt in your mind I encourage you to dig into Scripture for yourself and acquaint yourself with the promises of God, with his longsuffering faithfulness to the Israelites, to Abraham, and to all all of us. Get to know the character of God and your joy and willingness to trust in Him will abound, increase, and grow stronger everyday.

Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”

So, my brothers and sisters, if you feel like your goals are hard to achieve or even impossible, think again. All things are possible with God. Jesus said this in Mark 9:23, “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

Unquestionably, God faithfully has our backs and will help us through anything we encounter in our spiritual and earthly journeys. All we have to do is faithfully trust God with everything and He will do amazing things!

God is always up to something good!

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#NAP

#GodDoesAmazingThings

God is a God of communication and He unequivocally enjoys conversing with His people. Psalm 50:3 confirms, “Our God approaches, and He is not silent…..”

So the million dollar question of the day is why are there times when God seems silent in a believer’s life? I guarantee you 90% or more born again-dip in the Holy Ghost fire believers have asked this question (myself included).

Undoubtedly, there will be times in our walk as born-again believers, when it may seem that God is silent, but God is never silent. What looks like silence and inactivity to us is God allowing us the opportunity to listen to “the still small voice” and to see the provisions that He has made for us by faith. God is involved in every area of a believer’s life–the very hairs on our heads are numbered (Mark 10:30; Luke 12:7). However, there are times when we have to walk in obedience to the light that God has given us before He sheds more light on our path, because in this age of grace God speaks to us through His Word.

That being said, let’s flip the script and ask the question in another way—is God ever silent when your Bible is consistently opened and your prayer life is consistently on point? Well, if you can testify to doing both of these things, but still feel like God is silent let’s briefly take a look at what happened to Elijah

In I Kings 19 we find that Elijah got himself in a little bit of of a pickle…. when the word reached him that Jezebel had threatened his life, he ran! When I say he ran, I want you to picture Elijah sprinting like Usain Bolt running the 100 meters.

Elijah prayed to the LORD and in effect complained about how he was being treated: “He replied, ‘I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too’” (1 Kings 19:10). The LORD’S answer to Elijah is thrilling: “The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:11-12).

We can clearly see in these passages of text what Elijah thought was not true. Elijah thought God was silent and that he was the only one left. God was not only “not silent,” but He had an army waiting in the wings so that Elijah was not alone: “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18).

My brothers and sisters, you may feel like Elijah today, but I encourage you to rearrange the letters in the word silent so that you can spell the word listen. Anytime God seems silent to us as born-again believers, it may mean that we have stopped listening to His voice, we have allowed the cares of this world to plug our spiritual ears, or we have neglected His Word. God may not speak to us today in signs, wonders, fire, or wind, but His Spirit will always speaks to us through His word, prayer, and intentional listening (meditation)!

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#NAP

#ListeningForGodsVoice

When we feel failure come against us, our first reaction may be to run or give up. When it comes to sin, we are all capable of avoiding it. Even in complete love, faith, and devotion to God, we can fall (Romans 3:23), but God is not shocked by this which is why He sent His Son to die for our sins. We get back up again, and we start over. But we should know that we cannot do it alone. We must keep our eyes on our Savior, following and obeying Him and laying aside the sin that inevitably leads to spiritual failure, as Hebrews 12:1 says, “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” God has marked out a course for each of us, and sometimes that course includes failure. But when we cling to the Savior, even our failures can be turned into successes by the One who controls all things and who strengthens us in our weakness (Philippians 4:11-13). Our ultimate victory in Jesus is assured, but complete victory will only come when we are out of this world of temptation (freed from the presence of sin) and safe in the arms of the Lord in heaven.

In his book entitled, ‘Failing Forward’ John Maxwell said, “People are too quick to isolate events in their life and label them as failure. People need to see their failures in the context of the bigger picture.”

He then listed 7 things failure is not:

1. Failure is not avoidable – humans are bound to fail sooner or later.
2. Failure is not an event, but a process. Success is not a destination – it is the journey you take and what you do day to day – success is a process, and so is failure.
3. Failure is not objective. You are the only person who can label your actions a failure.
4. Failure is not the enemy – it takes adversity to achieve success. It is fertilizer.
5. Failure is not irreversible.
6. Failure is not a stigma – they are not permanent markers. Make each failure a step to success
7. Failure is not final – failure is simply a price we pay to achieve success and if we learn to embrace that new definition of failure, then we can move ahead. It’s the price you pay for success.

Life is full of trouble, even for those who belong to God through faith in Christ. We are to expect it (John 16:33). This means God does not promise life to be without problems, sorrow, and, yes, failure, just because we believe in Him. However, according to Romans 8:28, “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”

Let’s be clear my brothers and sisters, in Romans 6:1-14, Paul spoke about the dangers of exploiting grace and he said, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” He gave a short, explosive answer: “Certainly not!” (vv.1-2) and used an analogy that starkly contrasts death and life. “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (v.2). No Christian resurrected to new life should be pining for sin.

So today, I want to you to remember that we are all a work in progress, failure is not final, and because of Jesus Christ, grace means all of our failures now serve a purpose instead of serving shame! Amen and Amen!

Ben Franklin said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#NAP

#failureispartofsuccess

I know I am not the only one that have asked God to do a certain thing and He turns right around and does the complete opposite. Initially, when God flips the script (aka chose an alternate route) on our prayer request it seems so unfair and unjust because we didn’t get what we want. Can I get an amen?

But wait…that’s just it…when we experience moments like this in life we must remember that God don’t think the same way we do (Isaiah 55:8) and He has called us to trust in Him in all circumstances (Proverbs 3:5).

Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” I believe, Paul was being both literal and figurative when he penned these words. If you didn’t know, one of Paul’s maladies was his eyesight…something may have happened to his vision after God restored on the road to Damascus, but that’s a story for another day.

The Bible promises blessings for all people who walk in God’s ways: “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!” (Psalm 128:1, ESV). In the original Hebrew, the word translated as “walk” in the above passage means “to live or behave in a specific manner.” Reverence for God expresses itself in actions and behaviors (Ecclesiastes 12:13; 2 Corinthians 7:1). My wife recently said to me, “Behavior is language” and you know what….she is 1,000% right.

Those who genuinely worship and serve the Lord God Almighty will devote their lives to Him not only with words but also by obeying His commands even when they don’t get what they expected.

My brothers and sisters, the Bible is the definitive roadmap for walking in God’s ways (Psalm 119:105). The Scriptures illuminate the path for our feet to walk, guiding our way in this world (Proverbs 6:23). To walk in God’s ways describes a lifestyle of daily seeking to know God and living in obedience to His will. It means delighting oneself in the Lord, meditating on His Word, and discovering His will (Psalm 1:1–2; 40:8).

The caption in the meme says, “One of these days you will look back in the rearview and be extremely thankful that it went God’s way and not yours.” That said, I want you to also remember that everything you lost in the past has or will be replaced with something better because God knows what He is doing, even when we don’t!

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#NAP

#GodsWayNotYourWay