Daily Devotional Day & Night

HAPPY FRIDAY!

I pray all is well with everyone, and you're enjoying the end of another workweek (for most). I'm doing well, a little sleepy but I'll live, TGIF! We had a wonderful time at the play last night. The entire cast was great! Fantasia is very talented, and she and La Toya London, who played Nettie, mesh very well. It made me think of all those big words you see in reviews like Spectacular, Reviving, Awe-inspiring, etc. I would love to go back with my sisters and brother. I heard they’d be here through August, at the Kennedy Center, if you want to go check it out. I'm already looking forward to my next play. Laurence Fishburn will be coming next month in a play called Thurgood, I would love to check it out. Hopefully my next stop is Broadway! Have a wonderful weekend, and whatever you do, do it for the Lord.

Today's scriptures are about our Master, Jesus Christ. What do you think of when you hear words like Master, Lord, King, or President? I think of a leader, teacher, and a person you trust in to handle important affairs of your life. We'll Jesus is the Lord of all! He's our connection with God, and He makes sure our world is okay. He's our leader, and He led a life worthy to attempt to be duplicated. God gave Him dominion over "all things”, and appointed Him Lord and Savior. It's written in 1 Peter 4:11: If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen Jesus paid an awesome price to hold the title Lord, and His life on earth was very honorable. Granted, we don't have a play by play of His every move, but what we do have is the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and it’s enough for us to go by. My brother goes to Gonzaga College High School, which is considered a Jesuit school, with means "Society of Jesus". Their motto is "building men for others". This is exactly what Jesus was all about. His entire life was based on spreading the word of God, and showing love to everyone He came in contact with. He was a true leader, who stood by His word. This is what good Masters should do. They teach you how to get a job done, and lead by example. They make sure your every need is taken care of, and they expect you to follow with confidence in their leadership. There are numerous accounts where Jesus was traveling to different lands, and at some times thousands of people left their homes and families to follow Him. Whenever they got tired, He'd stop, gather everyone around, and started teaching about God, and how to live a Godly life. He made sure the sick was healed, the weak made strong, and that everyone with Him had food to eat, and clothing, before He would worry about Himself. Only a good Master would humble Himself enough to wash another man's feet when they got weary. This is what He wants from us, to be "people for others". I'm not going to tell you a lie, I'm selfish, and I always have been. When I tell people that, they often don't believe me, because of the things they see on the outside, but I am. I think we all have a little bit of selfishness inside of us. Still, God is working on me daily, where I become less and less selfish everyday; it's a "work in progress". I went through depression for some time in my life, and a lot of that had to do with how selfish I really was. I had the "what about me?" attitude. I literally prayed to God everyday: Why do I have to go through this? Why is this happening to me? What did I do so badly? One day God answered and me said, "Guess what Saundra, it's not always all about you!" At the time I was crying and complaining about something, and I dried my tears and said to God, "you're absolutely right". That was a true defining moment in my [Christian] life; it’s when I began to learn how to try to be like Christ. Now, whenever He's called me to do something, that I really don't want to do, I always say to myself, "it's not about you". Whenever I hear someone complaining about giving, or being there for someone, I always tell him or her, "it's not about you". Jesus even told His disciples that when they were upset that He had to die. Sometimes people don't take that very well, but that's priceless wisdom summed up in 4 little words. Just as Jesus, we're called to serve. We're to fashion our life behind His teachings, hence why we call ourselves "Christians". We have to wash some feet, help the sick, and feed the hungry, etc., because that's a part of strengthening the Kingdom of God; a part of taking up our crosses, and following Him (Mark 10:21). We are all leaders in Christ, however Jesus was as much a servant as He was a leader, and that's what our life is all about. We learned a few days ago in Proverbs that Honor comes after humiliations. Life wasn’t meant to be one big playground, it was meant to serve God, and do it with patience and joy. Joy and Happiness shouldn't be based on the frivolous circumstances of our earthly life. In the past, I've gotten depressed because I didn't have money to buy a new outfit to go to a party, when there are children in Africa starving, well there are children in the house across that street that are starving. I've been depressed because my car broke down, when there are perfectly good Metro busses outside of my house that I can use to go to work. When the man around the corner has a wife and three children to take care of, and just got laid off of his job. We have to be patient with God, and know that all things work together for our good. To a baby Spirit Jesus' death may have seemed like it was too much. When I first saw the "Passion of Christ", I thought to myself, "now did He have to go through all of that torture", when in all actuality He did. I was upset because I didn't want to see Him go through that, but guess what "it wasn't about me". Jesus did what He had to do to save ALL mankind, because He was appointed our Lord. He went through all of that with no complaints, and He's now and forever more honored and glorified. Hallelujah! Do you know how to be a Servant that's a Leader? Well I know how you can find out. The first step is to go to God and confess that you're a sinner, ask Jesus to come into your life as Lord and Savior, and then pick up the bible and start with Matthew. Time is very precious, we have a job to do for God, and Jesus died on the cross to make sure we have every opportunity to complete that job with peace, joy, and happiness. Try to adopt the slogan "It's not about you", and live by it, because that's what our Lord and Master Jesus did. My favorite verse today is: Forasmuch ... as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind. (1 Peter 4:1)

ENJOY! http://www.bible.com/scripture-detail.php?juli=2455023&dtype=Scripture
http://www.intouch.org/site/pp.aspx?c=cnKBIPNuEoG&b=4943197
http://www.intouch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=cnKBIPNuEoG&b=5283727&ct=7162505

I love you!