The Secret Chamber | A Digital Devotional June 2023 Edition
The Secret Chamber, the Department of Church Growth and Development’s daily devotional guide, is herein recognized as an aid to worship; it is also made an official periodical of the Church and listed in The Doctrine and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the annual report of the pastor on periodicals.
Bishop Adam J. Richardson, Senior Bishop, African Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, Commission Chair
The Reverend Dr. Marcellus A. Norris, Executive Director African Methodist Episcopal Church Department of Church Growth and Development
The Reverend Dr. Susan Hillary Buckson, Copy Editor
The Reverend Jarrett Britton Washington, Graphic Editor
Scripture taken from Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, NRSVUE
I Peter 2:1-3
1 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Embracing the Resurrected Life
First Peter is believed to have been a circular letter from the disciple Peter to the believers scattered across Asia Minor. Peter, the one whom Jesus reinstates after His resurrection, commands Peter to feed his sheep and lambs. The early church was experiencing suffering and torture under an oppressive Roman Empire. Like the early church, we are experiencing challenging times in this nation. Racism is on the rise, the impact of COVID is still in our communities, financial instability, threats to our democratic way of life, increasing mental health issues, trauma, anxiety, and grief are evident. This letter of encouragement helps us today. We are reminded that 1) Our Christian life requires a different appetite, 2) Our focus must be fixed on the spiritual, and 3) We must remember who we are.
Appetite is defined as a natural desire to satisfy a bodily need, especially for food. Newborn babies need and desire to be fed milk on a regular schedule to grow and mature as healthy children. The life of new believers and mature Christians need spiritual sustenance for a resurrected life. The old way of living to satisfy the desires of the flesh is now replaced by an appetite for the things of God. Peter encourages us to crave – to feel a powerful desire for something – spiritual milk.
What is spiritual milk? It is the teachings of Jesus, prayer, and meditation on scriptures, psalms, and hymns that nurture our spirit in God through Jesus. Spiritual milk allows one to mature in salvation so that those things Peter mentions in I Peter 2:1 are no longer a part of the believer's life: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. Embracing a resurrected life leads one to desire to live holy Christlike rather than like those who have no hope.
Every day presents a challenge. Remember who you are. We have been called out of darkness into the light. You are not weak but strong. You are more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus. You have been given mercy – shown compassion and forgiveness by God. With this mercy, we live our resurrected life by showing justice, righteousness, and steadfast love.
Pray: Lord, thank you for the pure spiritual milk that provides daily nourishment for my soul.
Rev. Dr. Gloria J. Barrett Hope Community Tucson, Arizona gjbtowncar@aol.com
Friday | June 2, 2023
Psalm 37:4
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Morning Delight
What does it mean to “take delight” in anything? When we observe the pure joy on the faces of children when they are gifted with something they really want or when the sports team you have been rooting for wins, or you hold a newborn child in your arm and there is an overwhelming sense of exuberant joy that just cannot be contained, that is delight.
How do you express your delight in the Lord? Most often, as we study God’s word, we tend to treat it as a most burdensome chore to get it over quickly so we can return to the good stuff. This taking delight in the Lord my brothers and sisters is the good stuff.
To delight yourself in God causes us to take our sights off what we want to become open and receiving of what He is and has for us. The command to take delight in the Lord appears amidst the list that David pinned in the Psalms as an antidote for his fretting people, and it also applies to us today this Psalm presents us with what we need to weather the storms of life.
Read all of Psalms 37, apply it to your life, and find many reasons to take delight in the Lord. Take delight in the one true God and how excellent God is. Take delight in God’ s power at work within you. Take delight in God’s love for mankind. Take delight in God’s unspeakable joy. When you fully understand the excellence of God, your life will constantly show the desire of your transformed heart.
Pray: God, show me the desires of your heart that I might take delight in you.
Mandy Powers Trinity AME Church Lansing Michigan
Galatians 4:8-9
8 Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”
Am I My Brother's Keeper
In Genesis 4, the first two brothers that ever lived on earth took two different roads. The elder brother took a road that led to curses, and the younger brother a road that led to blessings. Their names were Cain and Abel. Cain eventually took the life of his brother Abel.
God asked Cain, “Where is your brother?” Cain gave one of our modern answers, and after he had told that callus untruth, he turned around and, to cover his behavior, raised the question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
In the Matthew 22:37, Jesus declared the first and great commandment. He said thou shall love the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. What he was saying was that everything that makes you, you ought to serve God with that. And in Matthew 22:39, Jesus says, the second commandment is like unto the first. And that is, you shall love your neighbor just like you love yourself. If we practice that principle in society, we will eliminate many prejudices and problems. We live in such an interrelated world and society that we no longer can afford the luxury of walking by humanity and human beings on the other side of the modern Jericho Road.
I read a story about a fruit grower in California some time ago. Someone asked him how he protected his crop from insects and bugs. He said, “I always start with the best available trees. And then, I work on the soil with the best knowledge available.” The farmer said, “On each side of me is an orchard. There is one to the north, one to the south, one to the east, and one to the west. And before I spray my orchard, I spray the other four orchards that do not belong to me because I want my orchard to have clean air, so it can ultimately produce good fruit.” His secret of success was the commandment, “Thou shall spray thy neighbor as thyself.” In other words, if you are going to bear good fruit in this life, you must be concerned about your neighbor as much as you are concerned about yourself. Because if you do not spray your neighbor’s orchard, the bugs and fleas will make their way to your house.
Dr. Charles Reynolds Brown, the former president of Yale University, was asked this question. “Are you your brother’s keeper?” and he answered with an emphatic “No.” He said, “I am not my brother’s keeper until I become my brother’s brother.”
Pray: God, thank you for a mind to encourage, support, and undergird my brothers and sisters.
Sims,Mark 14:3-9 (v8)
3 While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. 4 But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish, but you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”
Do What you Can
Theologian and founder of the Methodist Church penned these words: “Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.”
In our text for today, we find Jesus dining at the home of Simon the Leper. It was a dangerous time for Jesus, as he was under great scrutiny by the religious leaders who wanted to destroy him. But Jesus was here at Simon’s home in fellowship with followers and haters and there was a woman who entered the room with what she had, and she used it to bless the Lord.
You may not own much but do what you can with what you have. You may not know much but speak on what you know. You may not have a big bank account but use that $1 to do what you can.
In our efforts to keep up with the Jones, we forget that God has blessed us to have something. Too often we fall to the lie that we do not have enough to be a blessing. But that is a trick of the enemy. No matter what you have, don’t hold back because you think it is not enough. You are enough and what you have is enough. Use it all to be a blessing.
Pray: God, help me to see how to use whatever I have to be a blessing to others today.
Monday | June 5, 2023
Mark 4:26-29
26 He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28 The earth produces of itself first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle because the harvest has come.”
Focus on Goodness
Too often we focus on the scattered seeds of doubt and negativity. We focus on what does not happen, what we do not have, who is not doing right by us or what is not going right. We focus on who is not building us up and on what we cannot do and why we cannot do it. Along the way, this focus on the negative limits our productivity and over overshadows our joy.
One gentleman tells the story of when he was in seventh grade, a classmate with whom he had had very little interaction, Scott, walked up to his locker and offered him some unsolicited counsel. “If you ever want to get married,” he spewed, “I would get rid of those Coke-bottle glasses and seriously consider some braces. Otherwise, no one will ever marry you.”
Deep down he knew Scott’s prediction was immature. Still, the words stung. A negative seed had been planted. It was not long before a regretful Scott offered myriad apologies to the young man sharing that his cruelty was a dare which middle school politics made impossible to turn down. But the facts made no difference. The seed had been planted. The damage had been done.
You may have similar experiences in your life, in childhood or even adulthood cruelty stuck in your memory and deep down the negative experience of it all affects your growth. We must be discerning and trust our spirit when we are exposed to negative words that we allow to sprout and grow and stifle our productivity. When we are exposed to such negativity, remember that God has already established a plan toward an abundant harvest.
Pray: God, keep me focused on the goodness.
Ephesians 4:17-24
17 Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer walk as the gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds; 18 they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. 19 They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 That is not the way you learned Christ! 21 For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, 22 to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Know Better
Have you heard people say, “He knows better” or “She ought to know better” when people are expecting a person to act in a manner that is more conducive to the current situation. If your friend is telling you about how another friend got dogged out by the community dog, your response might be, “She should have known better to mess with him.” If you have no business eating those Krispy Kreme’s you may just look at yourself in the mirror, as you lick your fingers from the last bite, and say, “Now I know better than this.”
There are always situations that we find ourselves in that cause us to give pause and reflect on how people not just others, but often we ourselves do what is not prudent in a given situation when we are clear that the person even we ourselves know better. You may never receive proof of the importance of your actions, but they are more important than you think. Paul understood this very reality.
We never know who is looking, who is watching us in or everyday walk, we never know who is mimicking, who is modeling, who is listening, who is following our lead. But Paul understood that as a church we live under scrutiny, under surveillance, under the microscope. Seekers are looking, the in need are looking, the imprisoned are looking, our children, and our children’s children are watching and so is the enemy is.
We can never forget that our lives are to be always lived to glorify God. Paul directs us to “live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. 18 Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. 19 They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.”
Paul reminds us that we, children of God, we know better.
Pray: God, help me to live a life that demonstrates my connection to you.
Wednesday
Ephesians 4:11-16
11 He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14 We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine by people’ s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
Good Measurement
Measurements that are not accurate provide data that is wrong. If something is based off an object or individual's weight, having an inaccurate weight is dangerous. For example, a prescription drug that has a weight-based dosage could have a dosage that is too low to treat a condition. If a lab experiment calls for a specific amount of a chemical, measuring the wrong amount may result in an unsafe or unexpected outcome.
Likewise, in cooking, learning how to measure ingredients is essential when you are learning how to cook. The correct balance of ingredients is what makes food taste good. We all know when there is too much salt in something, and we can certainly tell when something is too spicy or bitter.
Professional cooks make it look so easy by just throwing in a dash of this or a pinch of that, but they have the experience and the feel for measuring without always having to use the exact measuring tool. To know how much of an ingredient to use, someone had to be testing out the recipe. Someone had to try a dab of this and dash of that, an ounce of this and a cup of that to figure out just what combination of ingredients will make the recipe taste good.
In Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, he writes as a reminder to the church that though we are each different, we all add a needed ingredient to the body of Christ. We are all knit together working to promote the body’s growth.
Pray: God, help me to embrace my role in the kingdom of Christ.
Isaiah 43:1-4
1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 4 Because you are precious in my sight and honored and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life.
Making New Paths
Robert Frost is perhaps one of the most familiar names in the poetry of the 21st Century. His poetry has been memorized and analyzed in classrooms and lecture halls across America and abroad and this poem, “The Road Not Taken” is considered as canonical as any biblical text.
Yet, as I have been blessed to experience many dawns and dusks of days, I have come to understand that Frost, in this work, has captured the essence of the Christian walk. He shares that each of us has moments in our lives when the decisions that we choose make “all the difference.”
And there is no time like today to make the choice to walk in our anointing, to enlarge our tent stakes, to receive….with open hands…every blessing that God has for us…to stand as brothers whose steps are ordered by God…as sisters empowered with the voice of God. There is no time like today to reflect the decisions that we must make as individuals who walk or claim to walk in Christ’s purpose and power in the kingdom of God.
There is no time like this moment to reflect on purpose, self, and ministry. When the world needs us to shift from the complacency and comfort of the construct of the church as a Sunday morning social experience to an empowering place for men and women boys and girls to rethink how we more deeply engage in kingdom business and that begins with asking the Lord to search our hearts and test our minds and to remove anything that is not of God so that we might not cause harm, but that we might support, edify, empower, uplift, reconnect with others because God did the same for us.
Remember that we are each called for a purpose, and that purpose is to glean from the ministry of Jesus that disrupted the status quo, called out those who misused and abused their position and power to oppress, and who did not only give handouts but empowered the least of these toward freedom and our purpose is to “go and do likewise.”
Pray: God, help me remember my purpose.
Joshua 1:1-5
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’s assistant, saying, 2 “My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. 5 No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
Press on!
Joshua 1:1-9 is a call for all of us to stay the course, run the race, and find the strength to press on. After the death of Moses, God appointed Joshua to pick up Moses’ leadership mantle and press on. Likewise, as God spoke to Joshua, he speaks to us today when we are overwhelmed by life’s problems and setbacks. When we have tried our best, and it seems as if we have come up short and the enemy has made a disaster of our work, lives, and homes. When the odds are against us, and haters are all around us, God’s word to us is “Press on!” We press on because he who endures to the end shall win. We have heard this line, “Name it and claim it.” In other words, I name and claim what I want, and God drops it from heaven. God says to the Israelites, “Every place where your foot treads.” The Israelites had to claim the land with their feet. God said you can stay on this side of Jordon and pray all night long; you can have conversations about how great I am, but until you tread, you will not realize what I have promised you.
God says, “There are “Ites” in your freedom.” “Ites” are things and people who want to block you from getting what God has for you. The Canaanites, the Hittites, and others were hindrances that wanted to block what God gave. Maybe they thought there would be no hindrances once they got to the land. They had to be willing to face the challenges and stay the course. However, over and over, God says to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous.” in other words, do not be scared! Because I have promised you something. You are looking at the problems. Do not ignore the problems; they are real. But keep your eyes on me because I have promised you something. Therefore, do not let obstacles stop you from moving forward. God is saying to someone reading this, “Don’t let obstacles stop you from pressing on.” Stay the course. Stop giving excuses why you cannot be a better man; why you cannot attend church regularly; why you cannot be a better woman; why you cannot be a better Christian; why you cannot go back to school; why you cannot start making better grades. Stop giving illegitimate reasons why you cannot. Press on!
If two football teams were getting ready to play a game and one team said, “We’d do better if that other team would stop getting in my way,” you would condemn them because that is what the enemy is supposed to do. Stop criticizing the enemy for doing its job. Because if greater, is he that is in you, then the enemy should not be determining your success. Press on!
Pray: God, thank you for supporting my press today. Rev.
Chestine Sims, Jr. St. John AME Church Pine Bluff, ArkansasSaturday | June 10, 2023
Revelation 2:4
4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
My First Love
Does God know just how much you love Him? Do you love God with your money? Do you love God with your time? Do you love God with your gifts and talents? Do you love God in your living? Do you love God with your praise? Do you love God through prayer? Do you begin each prayer with thanks and praise for the many blessings that God continuously pours into your life every day of your existence? Every breath we take, every beat of our heart, every blink of our eye, and every twitch of a muscle are abundant blessings from God.
There are times when we adore, devote ourselves to, and focus more on our blessings than we do the God who blesses us. There are times when we are more concerned about what should be secondary than we are about the primary. There are times when what should be first becomes last, and what should be last becomes the priority in our lives and in our hearts. God, we should remember that God alone should always occupy first place in our hearts, homes, and lives.
When we think about God as our true first love, as our heartthrob, as the very core of our being may we share the sentiments of Elizabeth Prentiss who wrote: More Love to thee, O Christ, more love to thee. Hear thou the prayer I make on bended knee. This is my earnest plea: More love Oh Christ to thee. More love to thee, more love to thee.
Pray: God, help me tune out the world to keep you first in my life.
Rev. Dr. Marietta Ramsey PastorBethlehem AME Church
Baltimore, Maryland
ramseyetta1@gmail.com
Romans 12:9-13
9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers.
Genuine Love
One of the songs that sticks in my mind when it comes to love is from the iconic Tina Turner. In a horrific, violent marital relationship, Tina Turner asked the question: What’s Love Got to Do with It? On one hand she was being beaten often to within an inch of her life, but on the other, she is being held and told, you make me so crazy, I only do it because I love you so much. The term love becoming more a declaration of pain than of unconditional and righteous goodness.
Many bear a misconstrued understanding of love. We equate it to gift giving, lust, and getting our own way. If you love me, then you will purchase fine gifts and you will “do what people do when they are in love” or “you will just do what I want you to do, if you love me.” If you love me, you will just settle for who I am and deal with what I dish out.
So many have a misconstrued notion of love. But genuine love seeks righteous goodness and desires the ultimate wellbeing of all people. Genuine love is self-sacrificing and focuses us on “the needs of the saints.”
Pray: God, help me seek God’s love in my heart from all people.
Matthew 11:2-11
2 When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” 4 Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with a skin disease are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. 6 And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” 7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What, then, did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. 9 What, then, did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ 11 “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Already Done
Anybody watch the same movie or TV series over and over, knowing the outcome, yet we still tune in? The Vontramps are going to make it over that mountain, Sidney Poitier is going to slap Endicott back, Rudolph's nose is going to be a blessing to Santa on Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge is going to have a change of heart, and Old Yeller is going to die. We watch, but we are just waiting to see if the outcome is the outcome.
Likewise, when we look into the annals of biblical history, God created creation with the word and wiped it out with a flood. God opened a path through the Red Sea, sent manna from heaven, and provided water from a rock. God took Joseph from the pit to the palace to save a nation, gave David the strength to fight lions and bears to protect his sheep, and made Esther Queen to speak for her people.
You do not have to believe me, if you just pick up the book, you can see for yourself, just like the outcome of your favorite movies never change, each and every time you pick up the word of God, you will see how the outcome remains the same: God always delivers God's people.
And I know that sometimes we get caught up in looking at life and we forget that the deliverance, the healing, the grace and mercy, the shift that we are waiting for has already happened because the same God who created something from nothing has forged a new path for you. Walk in it. The same God who provided water from a rock has already made the impossible possible. Receive it. The same God who protected David and shined favor on Esther has already done the same for you. Believe it.
Pray: God, help me to walk in the path already before me trusting your plan for my life.
Matthew 6:14a
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
Available Forgiveness
Have you ever wondered what happened to Judas and Peter after Jesus’ crucifixion? Well according to Matthew 27:1-10 after learning that Jesus was to be crucified, Judas attempted to return the money he had been paid for his betrayal and then he committed suicide by hanging. Peter, in John 21 when Jesus appeared to the disciples, is restored to the fellowship by Jesus even though he denied Jesus three times and Jesus entrusts Peter to feed Jesus’ sheep. After Jesus’ death, Peter served as the head of the Apostles and was the first to perform a miracle after Pentecost (Acts 3:1-11). Some scholars also believe that Peter wrote two epistles.
Many condemn Peter for his actions; however, the fear of men came upon him, and the weakness of his flesh overtook him and under the pressure of accusation his resolution crumbled. Peter even recognized his wrong and weaknesses because the Bible says, “He went out and wept.”
Beloved, when we look at the lives of these two men, it should teach us that we all make mistakes and mess up from time to time. Remember now, this is the same Peter who when walking on water towards Jesus lost faith and sank. The flesh often causes us to make mistakes and embarrass God by our actions. When this occurs in our lives if we do not give up on ourselves like Judas, we will find forgiveness from our Father God. Judas punished himself by taking his own life, but Peter hung around and found forgiveness from Jesus and was restored.
May we always remember when we fall short and disappoint God with our actions there is always forgiveness if we seek it. Praise God today for forgiveness!
Pray: God, thank you for forgiveness.
Rev. Dr. Marietta Ramsey PastorMatthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
AWorthy Aim
Amid all of the craziness and foolishness we see and experience, God’s word still directs us to have some goals and aims in life. If the truth be told many of us have not gone any farther or accomplished more in life, not because of our race or gender or lack of education or because we are single or because we married the wrong person, or because of our family background or because of our enemies or because we cannot seem to catch a break.
Consider aiming for some goals given to us in the word of God. Living a life of good character is a worthy aim because the word of God says, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Living a life of virtue is a worthy aim because the word of God tells us, “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Living a life of respect for family is a worthy aim because the bible tells us, “Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.
Living a life that gives is a worthy aim because our Lord Jesus has promised “Give, and it shall be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap.” Living a life of service is a worthy aim because Jesus said, “inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it unto me.” And our scripture for today tells us that a life of righteousness is a worthy aim. I pray that as we move forward, we seek worthy aims found in the word of God and exemplified in the life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Pray: God, help me to live a life that is holy pleasing and acceptable before you.
Rev. Dr. Marietta Ramsey Pastor Bethlehem AME Church Baltimore,
Maryland
ramseyetta1@gmail.com
I Samuel 15:22
And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams.
Better than Sacrifice
It is extremely important for the children of God to not just know the will of God but once we know God’s will it is important to do God’s will. When we know God’s will and refuse to do it, we sin. Often, we make all kinds of excuses for our lack of obedience: “I’m just not ready yet” or “I’ll do it later” or “I don’t think it will make a difference” or “I can’t afford to.” We rationalize, we procrastinate; yet, in God’s eyes, rationalization and procrastination are nothing more than disobedience. At times we deceive ourselves into thinking that good intentions equal obedient actions. They do not.
A good intention without corresponding activity is disobedience. When we encounter God and He gives us a direction, it is not enough to write down the date in our spiritual journal, or even to tell our friends and church of our “decision.” God’s call is not to “make a decision” but to obey! Deciding to obey is not equal to obeying. Loudly affirming the necessity of obedience is not the same as obeying. Making commitments, even publicly, is not the same as obeying our Lord. Substituting our own good works is not the same as obeying.
God told King Saul to wait until the prophet Samuel arrived. Instead of waiting, Saul offered a sacrifice. Saul soon discovered to his deep dismay that other acts of supposed piety do not take the place of obeying a clear command from God. As with Saul, God expects us to obey everything exactly as God tells us. We must always remember that only obedience satisfies God. As the Bible teaches us, “to obey is better than sacrifice.”
Pray: God, help me to live a life of obedience. Rev. Dr.
Acts 5:5
Now when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard of it.
God Only Knows
When God brings judgment, our natural inclination is often sympathy toward the one being disciplined. Yet when God acts in judgment, our sympathies ought always to lie with God. Only God knows all that is at stake, and only God knows the full circumstances that provoked God’s wrath.
Ananias and Sapphira’s experience is one of the most perplexing stories in the New Testament. In a time when God’s grace had provided salvation for all mankind, God’s response to this couple seems unusually harsh. Yet there was much at stake in their deception. The church was in its formative stages. Ananias and Sapphira had witnessed the miraculous power of God and had seen thousands of people being added to the church. Nevertheless, they showed little regard for the Spirit of God when they blatantly lied to God and the church. Such irreverence would have been devastating to a church whose very life depended upon the presence and guidance of God’s Spirit. God left a sobering reminder that God would not tolerate sin.
Many times, the sin of one Christian has a devastating effect on others. At times, God chooses to judge someone’s sin severely, as a deterrent for others. Do not try to protect someone from the judgment of God, rather, take heed and examine your own life. God only knows what is at stake.
As children of the Most High God, we cannot continue to live in habitual sin. The Bible warns us that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.”
Pray: God, help me to recognize the sin in my own life.
I
John 3:1-3
1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. 3 And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Our Strength in God
It is a constant battle to remain pure in heart. As long as we live in the world, we have to try to overcome the temptations of the flesh. By ourselves, we are not able to overcome temptation, but we can as we become more knowledgeable about who God is and about who we are in Christ. Every day, as we experience trials, great and small, our relationship with God deepens. God begins to reveal more of who God is and we begin to see God’s love for us and build our resolve our hope for what is to come. We put our trust in God, and we eliminate doubts and fears. Most important, we find that the strength of God is reveled through us.
Pray: God, thank you for revealing your strength in me.
I Corinthians 4:1-4
1 Think of us in this way: as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. 4 I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.
God is a Righteous Judge
It is easy to try to judge ourselves by the standards of this world, yet our focus must be on living a life that meets God’s standard of righteousness. By ourselves, we are not able to do so, but with Christ we are able to live a life that is holy, pleasing, and acceptable to God.
None of us have the responsibility to sit in judgement over anyone, including ourselves. We can waste so much of our time concerned with what the world thinks of us, that we forget that it is God’s thoughts toward us that matter. God sent Jesus not to judge us, but to help us learn how to live as trustworthy stewards over the live that God has allowed. The more we focus on God’s thoughts toward us, the more we come to know that God’s grace and mercy abound.
Pray: God, thank you for being gracious and loving toward me.
Monday | June 19, 2023
Isaiah 65:24
Before they call, I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear.
Talk with God
During the pandemic, many churches, since unable to meet in-person, instituted prayer lines all while people were dying at alarming rates. Many were requesting prayer for their family and loved ones because of sickness and the rapid spread of COVID-19. Most pastors thought that a prayer line would be a blessing to their members. However, when you speak to many pastors, they complain that their members do not participate in the prayer line.
Many pastors say that often people do not come on the prayer line until they have a situation that they need God to handle: their loved one is diagnosed with a terminal illness, their son or grandson gets incarcerated, they receive an eviction notice, or a gas and electric cut-off notice then, they want to pray. But should prayer only come forth when we need something from God?
If we only pray to God when we need something, does that say something about us? If we only pray when we need something, does that mean we see God as a Santa Claus? Do you believe that God wants and expects to talk to us every day regardless of whether we need something or not? We were designed to live in regular, ongoing fellowship with our creator and Lord. Without that continuous and deepening bond, we will never fulfill the destiny God has planned for us.
As children of God, we should read our Bible and talk to our Father God at least two or three times a day. However, this is not the pattern of many Christians today. If you do not believe me then read Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Then, focus on the scripture for today which is a promise.
Pray: God, thank you for hearing before we speak and granting before we ask.
Rev. Dr. Marietta Ramsey Pastor Bethlehem AME Church Baltimore, Maryland
Ecclesiastes 3:1
For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven
Change
Change is a word that many of us fear. We fear it because it brings apprehension, that feeling of uncertainty. We do not know what to expect so we begin to build all types of scenarios that lead us through the best and the worse possible outcomes of the impending change When we face change, we must rip the dressing from some old wounds and expose some of the seething infections that eat away at our very spirits. But, some wounds, for healing to come, some wounds are left open so that they can heal from the inside and at some point, the bandage must come off so that real healing can happen. And would you agree that our current political and socio-economic climate have exposed wounds in our country while on the surface looked like they were in a season of healing, but are seething with infection, but a new season is dawning. But unlike nature’s seasons, our lives do not follow any strict rotational pattern. We might be in Spring today and skip right over Summer and Fall and find ourselves smack dab in Winter.
But no matter in what season we find ourselves, we know that the Lord has promised that “all things work together for the good of those who love him.” Walk into your new season. Whatever it brings, God has already prepared the way for your next.
Pray: God, thank you for preparing me for change.
Wednesday | June 21, 2023
James 4:1-4
1 If you return, O Israel, says the Lord, if you return to me, if you remove your abominations from my presence and do not waver, 2 and if you swear, “As the Lord lives!” in truth, in justice, and in uprightness, then nations shall be blessed by you, and by you they shall boast. 3 For thus says the Lord to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or else my wrath will go forth like fire and burn with no one to quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Prep Work
Farming is a year-round process. Before one task is finished, farmers are gearing up to do another. The pre-work before planting is no exception. Prepping the fields before planting is like building a foundation for a house: if you don’t do the proper work to make it right, then no matter how many things are going in your favor, the result is compromised.
In agriculture, a major part of the growth process is the preparation of the soil. Preparation involves both tilling the soil and removing weeds that threaten to harm the harvest. Tillage is the agricultural preparation of soil by agitation of various types, such as digging, stirring, and overturning. The purpose of tilling is to mix organic matter into your soil, help control weeds, break up crusted soil, or loosen up a small area for planting. Tilling is necessary to ensure a greater harvest. No farmer skips this step.
Likewise, you cannot skip cultivating our relationship with God. It takes time and intentionality, and you must be willing to do the prep work necessary to grow spiritually through prayer and worship and fellowship.
If you plant the seed before you till the soil, you will not reap and abundant harvest.
Pray: God, help me till the soil of my heart in preparation for an abundant harvest.
Thursday | June 22, 2023
Habakkuk 3:17-19
17 Though the fig tree does not blossom and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation. 19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer and makes me tread upon the heights.
To the leader: with stringed instruments.
ThanksgivingAnyhow
Our text today finds the prophet Habakkuk in a moment of distress. Nothing was going right in Jerusalem. The Israelites were struggling to live. Help was impending, from people foreign to them. Stress-filled times loomed heavily. Habakkuk foresaw doom that awaiting Jerusalem and was troubled. So, he went to God and God responded giving Habakkuk far more than what he had asked a vision of God Himself. This gave Habakkuk the courage to live through those dark days with a sense of focus and determination.
This vision of God allowed Habakkuk to be thankful even in the onset of the doom that awaited Jerusalem. Habakkuk stands as an example of one who trusts God enough to thank him even in while in the midst of distress. And, if we have lived anytime at all, we know that we are never far from problems in life. From our first cry to have our diaper changed, we have experienced time of trouble, but we must learn to give thanks to God no matter what our circumstance. When we do, we take our focus off our circumstance and put our focus on the one who guides our every footstep through our circumstance.
Pray: God, thank you for every moment that you have allowed in my life.
John 1:12
But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.
AMatter of Choice
Jesus Christ left heaven, came to earth, walked among us, and died on an old rugged cross just so we might have a right to the Tree of Life and yet many still reject him. The writer of the Gospel of John pointed to this truth when he writes: “He [Jesus] was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or the will of the flesh or the will of man, but of God. And the word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”
Do you ever wonder how the miracles of Jesus could be received with suspicion, rejection, hostility, disbelief, and criticism? In Matthew, even after Jesus had cast out demons, he was accused of being in the camp of the devil. In Matthew 13 and Luke 4 when Jesus visited his own hometown of Nazareth, he was resented and rejected, despite the miraculous things his hometown people had heard he had done. Clearly, man does not accept and follow Christ because of who he is and what he has done. Remember, faith is a matter of choice, not a matter of physical evidence or proof.
Pray: God, help me to have a heart, spirit, and mind to serve and follow Christ.
Rev. Dr. Marietta Ramsey Pastor Bethlehem AME Church Baltimore, Maryland
I Kings 3:5-12
5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I should give you. ” 6 And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you, and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. 7 And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. 9 Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil, for who can govern this great people of yours?” 10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or for the life of your enemies but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, 12 I now do according to your word. Indeed, I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you, and no one like you shall arise after you.
What are YouAsking of God?
We all have wants and desires. We have also learned to go to God and ask. Who among us has not quoted or paraphrased Matthew 7:7-8, ” 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 has been associated with “name-it-and-claim-it” prosperity gospel and it has been used to criticize a person’s level of engaging God in prayer. Yet, our text begs the question, what are you asking God for? Yes, there are moments when we petition the Lord to intervene immediately, but in our text, Solomon petitions the Lord for insight. As such, he is asking God to give him the power to see into a situation, to understand the inner nature of things, and to acquire knowledge that will bring about discerning solutions. If we had only one prayer to bring before God, this would be it. Certainly, God hears all the desires of our heart before we even utter them, yet, if our desire in all situations is to understand more deeply and acquiring knowledge that will bring about discerning solutions, what greater insight do we need?
Pray: God, give me insight.
2 Peter 1:3-9
3 His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. 4 Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust and may become participants of the divine nature. 5 For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with excellence, and excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. 8 For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Support Your Faith
Often, we look to the world as a barometer for success. We can easily get caught up in thinking that an abundant life is one filled with material possessions and socio-economic prowess. However, the only litmus test for success is if we are living a life that glorifies God. To some, this is an abstract concept. We can quantify abundance in a bank account and from the economic status of the zip code where you live. The degrees on your wall and the line of credit you get because of your name are tangible assets. Yet none of these assets compare to a life well-lived for Christ.
Peter reminds us that God’s divine power at work within us gives us all we need to live an abundant life. There is nothing wrong with having fine things in life. But if the fine things go before our faith in the one who provides all things, then we do not pass the text. The most important aspect of our living is how we live our lives with the finer things of the Spirit: faith with excellence, knowledge with self-control, endurance with godliness, and mutual affection with love, “For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Pray: God, increase my faith.
Monday | June 26, 2023
Psalm 13:1-6
1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I bear pain in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, 4 and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me.
I Trusted
Life comes at us very fast and sometimes, life is ugly; it does not taste good or smell good either, but it is life. When we wake up in the morning, we are blessed to have another day in the land of the living. On any given day, live can be amazingly taxing. One of my family members went to the freezer last month and a back of hot dogs fell on her foot and fractured her foot (the hot dogs were fine…wink). Life, right? While we think we believe we know what to expect, life has shown us that at any given moment a shift (good, bad, or ugly) can happen. And though we may ask, “how long,” like the psalmist one thing must be clear for we who believe we can trust God with our life. We can each look back and recall moments when God showed up and does what only God could do for us in those moments and every time, we found that we could trust God more and more. And, yes, like the psalmist, there will be moments ahead of us that will cause us to still ask, “How long,” yet because we trusted God before, we can trust God now.
Pray: God, help me function from a place of trust in you today.
Romans 8:36-39
36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Victorious
Sometimes we need a reminder that God already knows that we are “being killed all day long.” It feels like it sometimes, right? However, we also need a reminder that despite all of the all-day killing and attacks, “we are more than victorious through him who loved us.”
No matter what the natural realities of our day bring, we can be assured that the love or God has already ensured that we are victorious. Like Paul, we must be convinced that God’s love supersedes death (remember the resurrection), the trials of life (remember Jesus’ contrived court case), and heights and depths (remember Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson wrote ain’t no mountain high enough ain’t no valley low enough...wink).
God has already ensured, through Christ, that we are more than able to overcome any of this life’s trials and tribulations.
Pray: God, thank you for giving me an overcoming spirit.
Wednesday | June 28, 2023
Exodus 19:2-8a
2 They journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. 3 Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the Israelites: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now, therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, 6 but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.” 7 So Moses went, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. 8 The people all answered as one, “Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do.”
God’s Promise
In our text, the children of Israel, the elders, and the people, declare that “Everything the Lord has spoken, we will do.” That sounds like a promise to me. Having seen the Lord’s power to deliver and protect and experiencing the Lord’s provision, three months after coming out of Egypt, in the mist of the wilderness of Sinai, at the foot of the mountain, the people make a promise to the Lord. Well, we know that by the time Moses came back with God’s law, the people had already broken their promise to do “everything that the Lord has spoken.”
Have you ever made a promise that you have not kept? (Be honest.) It can be difficult to keep a promise not because you did not mean it, but because we get sidetracked life happens, ego happens, complacency, and impatience happen. As it did for the elders and people of Israel, it does for us especially when it comes to doing what God has called us to do. We have all been there. We have all sinned and come short of God’s glory. (Romans 2:23)
The good news, however, is that God always keeps God’s promise to us. God never gets sidetracked, complacent, or impatient with us. God promised that the descendent of Abraham would inherit the world not through the law but through the righteousness of faith. (Romans 4:13) Instead of making promises to God, let’s believe that God has given us the faith we need to sure we are walking in God’s promises.
Pray: God, give me the courage to walk boldly in your promises.
Thursday | June 29, 2023
Psalm 33:1-5
1 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous. Praise befits the upright. 2 Praise the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings. 3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. 4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
Full of God’s Love
Perspective matters. Focus matters. What we choose to ingest emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually matters. We have a choice in what we allow to be our focus. We can get bombarded easily by horrific world news, challenging statistics, manipulative politics, and devastating local experiences. However, the psalmist, considered to be David, reminds us that “the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.”
When we see the negativity that gets so easily publicized, make a choice to seek the steadfast love of the Lord. In every negative, there are moments of humanity that always shine through. In the wake of mass shootings, there are heroes and advocates who shine through, and shoulders extended for comfort. There are voices of reason and compassion and calm that are often drowned out by boisterous bullies, but our responsibility our calling is to seek the moments of righteousness and justice and love that remains faithful and steadfast. Make a choice, to choose to see God’s love today; the earth is full of it.
Pray: God, focus my spirit on your steadfast love.
II Corinthians 13:11-13
11 Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Be restored; listen to my appeal; agree with one another; live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. 13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
Be Restored
Much of life is built on trying to build our independence. From the two-year-old who establishes that he or she does not need any help to an aging parent who still wants to hold on to the keys to drive, we fight for our independence. The paradox, however, is that we are created for community. We were created to support on another. COVID-19 further showed us how difficult is on our mental stability when we are isolated from community. Likewise, we must be in community among those who help to bring peace and love.
Wading in a sea of dysfunctional people presses us to seek independence as a protective shield. However, when we are surrounded by those who support us, we are more likely to embrace the productivity, the union, the peace, and the love that restores us in nurturing communities. Today, ask yourself an evaluative question: Am I in community with those who help to restore me?
Pray: God, show me the restorative power within my community.