The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Monday, November 11, 2019.

I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. Psalm 119:16

Get Up And Dance

“Cash Money Records Taking Over for the 99 and the 2000!” It may be the most grammatically incorrect sentence ever uttered on a record, but for people of a certain age, this sentence is a war cry, a rallying theme, and a time machine. You see this is the first sentence on the rapper Juvenile’s smash hit song Back That A** Up. If you went to college in the south in the mid to late 90s this song was played at every party, BBQ, hang out and from every car for miles and there was nothing you could do other than dance to it. The song brought people so much delight that right now if you turn it on is a large group you will hear a squeal and see people running to dance who should not be running anywhere at all now.

It is funny how we react to things that bring us joy. When things bring us joy, we react demonstrably. We smile, we laugh, and in extreme cases, we may jump up and down, but what we don’t do is nothing. Things that bring us joy are never left up to the guessing of others to interpret. We want them to know that this is great and that we love it. Yet, the one place that we do not allow this enthusiasm to overrun us is when we are dealing with the Lord, and that is the place when we should demonstrate it the most.

Friends, the word of God should bring us great delilght. When we hear verses of scripture it should put a smile on our faces, a song in our hearts and ocassionally move us to shout and dance. Unfortunately, too often we have lost our delight in the word because of a misunderstanding of the word. Somehow we convinced ourselves that the word was lifeless and something we should learn as opposed to living and there to make our lives better. When we remember that the word of God is a roadmap to life, a vote of confidence from on high and the key to having all that God wants for us, every time we hear it we should get a little smile, and from time to time get up and dance.

Be Blessed,

Rev

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Friday, November 8, 2019.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

Trust?

I am not sure these actually exist, but I have seen lots of videos of these things called trust falls. They typically are a part of some corporate team building event or a therapy session where they are trying to build or restore relationships between people. The trust fall works like this, one person stands facing away from everyone else and then they fall backward trusting that the other people there will catch them. Then the people switch places until everyone has fallen and been caught. The problem is, it only requires trust the first time. Once everyone sees how it works, you have moved from trust into a habit.

True trust only occurs when you don’t know how it is going to turn out, and that is what makes it so difficult. When you sat in the last chair you were sat in you did it out of habit, not trust. You had seen a chair before, knew that if it wasn’t broken it could hold your body weight, so you sat down. By contrast, if you were to see the same chair, attached to the back of a speedboat, with a parachute tied to it, you wouldn’t sit down quite so easily. You’d have questions, concerns, comments and if you’re honest, you’d probably find somewhere else to sit. Same chair, different circumstances.

Friends, when we make the decision to trust God, we have to make the decision to trust him all the way. That means trusting him when you think you know how things will work and trusting him just as surly when you don’t know how things will work. All too often we allow our trust in God to only go as far as the things that we have seen before, but there will come a time when you will have to trust God with what you have never seen before. Trusting God with what you have never seen before means trusting him when things are unproven, unknown and honestly when they scare the mess out of us. When you get to that level of trust, then you will begin to see all that God can really do in your life, not just what He’s done before.

Be Blessed,

Rev

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Thursday, November 7, 2019.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:4

After You

It is always fun to watch two people arrive at a door at the same time. There is often a pause as they try to make the decision, who goes first. There are probably all types of etiquette rules behind this, but most times the people just look confused. Do I walk forward as a confident assertive person? Do I ask them to go first, or does that seem old fashioned? Do we just keep walking and pretend not to have seen each other as we crash into each other entering the door? Do I slow down or speed up so that we won’t get there at the same time an alleviate all of this confusion in one fell swoop? The answer can be found in these two words, “After You.”

We live in a world that tells us that we have to take care of ourselves, but for the believer, nothing could be further from the truth. As a follower of Christ, you have been adopted into God’s family, and as your father, he takes care of you. When you know that God is taking care of you it gives you the opportunity to extend kindness, grace, and love so that you can take care of other people. Believers should be the first to extend ourselves to others because we know we don’t have to be first. We know that as children of God, no matter if we are first second or last, we will be just fine because we know who is taking care of us.

Friends, as followers of Christ, our fate is assured because Christ put us before himself. He took on our sins, and our faults and died on a cross for our redemption. If we are going to follow his example it is up to us to put others first every day. It is up to us to not only look out for what we want and need but to also seek the interests of others as well. When we do that we not only show others the love of Christ but we also become more like him.

Be Blessed,

Rev

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Wednesday, November 6, 2019.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. Philippians 4:6

All You Had To Do Was Ask

There are many things that go into finding your first apartment. You want to make sure that it is in a nice neighborhood. You want to make sure that you have a decent commute. You also want to make sure that there are nice amenities around you. Most of all you want to, as best you can, make sure you have nice neighbors and thick walls.  In my first apartment, I had great neighbors and it was a good thing too because the walls were so thin that you could hear every conversation in the adjoining apartment if they spoke above a whisper.

Next door to me lived the Andersons. They were newly married and seemed quite nice. We both lived on the third floor of a mid-rise apartment complex which meant that we didn’t have an elevator and had to take the steps to get to our apartments. One day the Andersons had an argument. It seems that Mrs. Anderson was bringing in the groceries and they were quite heavy. She struggled her way up to the apartment only to see her husband sitting on the couch watching TV.  When she saw him she asked him why he didn’t come out to help her with the packages. His response, “You didn’t ask me to.” Needless to say, she went off for the next 15 minutes. When she stopped, he simply said, Don’t be mad at me because you wanted to act single while you are married. You’re not single anymore. I am your husband and all you have to do is ask me for anything you need. (Told you the walls were thin.)

Now, of course, he could have gotten up and went to help her uninvited, but he did have a point. All she had to do was ask. Many times we do the same thing with God. We assume that God does not see us struggling or does not care that we are struggling. Perhaps God is just waiting for you to ask for help. When we ask God for help it is an expression of relationship and faith. Asking God shows that we know that He is there for us and that our relationship is strong enough for us to go to him in our times of need. It also shows that we have the faith that God can do whatever we ask if we only take the time to ask him. So the next time you are struggling, ask yourself, have you asked God for help, or are you pretending you have to do it yourself?

Be Blessed,

Rev

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Tuesday, November 5, 2019.

For we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7

Get Moving

I am one of the most thankful people on the planet for the invention of GPS systems. GPS systems allow you to find your way almost anywhere in the world without you having to know anything. All you have to do is turn on your device, put in where you want to go, and the system will tell you how to get from where you are to where you want to be. It does not matter if you are familiar with where you are going, or even if you know where you are, a GPS system will give you step by step directions to get to your intended destination. What fascinates me about all GPS systems is that they all have one thing in common. Once you figure out where you want to go they all either make you press a button that says either “go” or “start.”

You see a GPS system knows how to get you from here to there, but it won’t tell you until you press start and start moving. Once you start, the GPS will tell you everything you need to know. It will tell you when to make a right or a left. It will tell you how long to go in a particular direction as well, but what it won’t do is start for you. The GPS system depends on you to trust that it will show you the way by getting started and trusting that it will do the rest for you, but only after you start.

Friends, faith works in much the same way. Faith can get you from where you are to where you want to be, but you have to start. You have to start by believing that you can get to where you are trying to go. You have to start believing that God is powerful enough for you to trust in dark times, hard times, and trying times to keep you moving in the right direction even when it seemed wrong. Finally, you actually have to start moving. You have to put action to your beliefe and see what happens. Starting does not require that you see the whole road, or know where you are going it only requires that you get moving without seeing and have faith that the God who sees all will keep you on the right track. So today make the decision not to just stand there anymore but to get moving, knowing that not sight but faith will get you to your destination.

Be Blessed,

Rev

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Monday, November 4, 2019.

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14

Waiting Well

When traveling the one thing that bothers me most is a flight delay. As a person that is constantly running late for the airport, I am always blown away when my flight is delayed. I have typically bent, but not broken, a speed limit, possibly bribed a shuttle driver to not stop at red lights on the way to the terminal, and may have sprinted from the security screeners to my gate, only to see that my flight has been delayed and all that rushing was for nothing. The thing is, I’m not bothered by the rushing, the delay, or the fact that I have typically been in a panic about missing my flight for the better part of an hour. What actually bothers me is that I am now trapped at the airport with nothing to do until my flight finally leaves.

When you are trapped waiting at the airport there are not a lot of options. You can buy overpriced food, stock up on magazines you’d never read, watch the airport news without sound, or just people watch. None of these are completely terrible options but when you have been rushing to get to a flight they all seem like a letdown. One day I was watching an older gentleman who had a whole set up going on in the airport. He had a snack set up, workstation, and had put on slippers while we waited on his delayed flight. I was absolutely amazed. Coincidentally we were seated next to each other on the flight so I had to ask him about his airport ritual. He told me, “Son, I’m an old man and have been traveling for years. I have learned not to be in a hurry. The plane is going to leave when it is going to leave. So I bring the things I need to be comfortable while I wait. I can’t control the plane but I can make myself comfortable while I wait.” And with that, he put on his slippers, a sleep mask, and took a nap.

Friends, we often get frustrated waiting on the Lord. We have been rushing to get to where we need to be only for the Lord to tell us to wait. It seems as if the Lord is running behind schedule and now we are sitting here with nothing to do. So we will often get angry and frustrated waiting on the Lord because we did so much to get here and now nothing.  Instead of getting frustrated we need to learn to wait well. Waiting well means resting assured that God will show up when it is time for him to show up and in the meantime, we just need to make the best use of our time. The best use of our time, while we wait, is to prepare for what we know is on the way. Preparing means making sure that you are well prepared for the season that God is bringing you into. Preparing means knowing that when God opens the door you won’t be out of breath from running to get there but energized to walk through the door. So don’t worry about the delay, God will show up. Just learn to wait well.

Be Blessed,

Rev

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Friday, November 1, 2019.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10

Masterpiece 

All of us have walked into someone’s home and saw artwork hanging. No matter if it is a Rembrandt, a Picasso, a Monet, a Jacob Lawrence, a Romare Bearden or an Alma Thomas we are impressed by its beauty and the aesthetic it brings to the home. But what we all know is that the best art is never hung on the walls. The best art in the house is the art that is hung by a magnet on the refrigerator. That is typically where parents keep the ongoing collection of art that is produced by their children in school and at camp. This ever-changing gallery showcases the masterpieces of the little ones who bring light and life to the house.

While those paintings and drawings are not world-renowned and sometimes look like just a jumble of squiggles and lines on paper, they are more valuable to the owners than the high money art because they are the masterpieces of those who mean the most to the owners. While they don’t look perfect to everyone else, the parent of the artist remembers the look on their little artist’s face when they presented them with this work of art. They can picture the little eyes staring at the page and the little hands making the choice for each squiggle and line until everything was just right and able to be hung on the refrigerator gallery for all the world to see.

Friends, you too are a masterpiece. You may look like a bunch of lines and squiggles to others but when God sees you he sees His handiwork. He chose every line on your face, every squiggle in your personality, and every curve in your mind. He carefully took the time to create you, define you, and design you, just to be you.  So while you may not be hanging in the world’s museums of life, and everybody may not be able to appreciate your beauty, you are a masterpiece and beautiful in God’s eyes.

Be Blessed,

Rev