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, July 19, 2019.

Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Matthew 28:20

Never Alone

Sometimes it can seem difficult to follow the commands of God. It certainly is not that our hearts are not in the right place, but rather that it can be a little scary. Before Jesus left the earth he gave his disciples a great commission. He told them to go into the entire world and make disciples. He told them that they should teach those new disciples what they had been taught and follow the commands that he had given them. The only problem is, he never said exactly how to do it. What if you are an introvert and are shy around people? What if you are socially awkward and no matter how hard you try you seem to put your foot in your mouth over and over again? What if you think you have it all together and would do great at this but you are just really busy? Then what?

The problem with all of these thoughts and many of the thoughts that we have about stepping out and doing God’s business is that we think it depends on us. We are under the impression that we will walk out by ourselves and do the work of God on our own. Yet, that is not what Jesus promises us. Jesus promises us that when we do his work, we can be sure that he will be with us. In other words, we are never doing it alone. We have Jesus with us in every interaction, every conversation and with every step that we take on his behalf.

Friends, take heart, Jesus is with you. When you make the decision to follow him and to devote yourself to his work you are never alone. If you are inarticulate, he will give you the words when you need them. If you are shy, he will stand with you and give you the courage to be bold. If you think you have it all together, you’re wrong, and he will be there with you to pick you back up when you inevitably stumble and fall. So take a chance, step up, step out, and do the work of God because whenever you do you are never alone.

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, July 18, 2019.

My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Psalm 62:7-8

Somewhere to Hide

I had never experienced a tornado until I moved to the Midwestern United States. As a kid from New York City, all I knew about tornados was that they picked up your house, and transported you and your dog to Oz. Once you got there you had to make sure you had nice shoes and clicked them together so you could get back home. So suffice it to say, the first time I heard the tornado warning alarms I was at a loss for what to do and when one of my coworkers stood up and said we have to get to the area of refuge I was even more confused. But like anyone else who is confused in an emergency I just followed the people who looked like they knew what they were doing.

So off to the basement we all rushed. As we stood there huddled watching the storm tracker I noticed a sign that I had walked past dozens of times but never noticed, Area of Refuge. What I discovered that day was in most buildings there is a place where you are supposed to go to take shelter when something goes wrong. That area of the building is the safest, most protected part of the building and is designed to give you the best chance to survive whatever problem is going on around you. So as we hoped and prayed that the tornado would not form and land on us, we were all quite comfortable knowing that we were safe in the area of refuge.

Friends, in life you need to have an area of refuge. There are going to be times when storms will rise in life, problems that you can’t handle will present themselves, and you will need somewhere to turn. In those times remember that God is our refuge. When we put our faith and trust in God he stands as the place where we can run in times of distress. In those times, he is the place where we will not be consumed but we will be safe, secure and able to ride out the storm. So the next time a storm rises up in your life run to God and take refuge with 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, July 17, 2019.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They can not be numbered. Psalm 139:17

Thinking Of You

I know it is old fashioned, but I love greeting cards. I can spend hours in a card store or the card section of the grocery store looking through and reading greeting cards. Where there was a time that greeting cards were limited, you can find greeting cards for anything these days. Now along with your typical Happy Birthday, Happy Mother’s Day, Happy Father’s Day and Sympathy cards, you can find many cards for a wide variety of occasions. You can find cards congratulating you on your wedding or your divorce. You can find cards that express sympathy that you lost your job. You can also find cards that wish you well as you “finally move out of Mom’s basement.” There really are greeting cards for everything now.

While I am entertained by the new cards that have come out, my favorite card remains the “Thinking of You” card. The Thinking of You card exists simply to let someone know that they were on your mind. It is the card that you send to someone to tell them that they are important enough to you that they are occupying space in your mind and you want them to know it. You want them to know that they are important to you, cared for by you, and they should know it. The “Thinking of You” card does not require an occasion or a milestone, it simply requires care, concern, and love.

Friends, one of the awesome things about God is that He is constantly thinking of you. You are on His mind all the time. God thinks about your past, your present and your future. He has redeemed your past, is caring for your present and has a plan for your future. It is wonderful to know that the ruler of the universe has a place in His mind that is reserved for you. So never feel alone, unloved or in despair the creator of the universe if thinking of you.

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, July 16, 2019.

The Lord will fight for you; you only need to be still. Exodus 14:14

Not Your Fight

If you have ever been in trouble or attacked you know that the first response is to do something. We want to go after the person that is attacking us and make them stop, or better yet make them pay. We want to confront them, or challenge them, or attack them and inflict the same level of pain on them that they are inflicting on us. It is the normal human response to want to do something, anything, everything in our power in order to make them stop. So we start to fight back, claw back and do things so that we can have the resolution to the problem that we want. We do everything in our power to win the fight, but what if what we should actually be doing is nothing.

Often times we forget that every minute we spend “fighting back” is a minute that we don’t spend doing something else. The time we fight back with is the time that we aren’t making a difference in the world, we aren’t fulfilling our calling, we aren’t being kind to someone and we aren’t doing thousands of other things that would make the world and our lives better. Consider this, distracting you from the things that are really important may be the very reason that you are under attack. You may be getting attacked simply so that you will not do what is most important and concentrate on something that doesn’t really matter. So what is one to do?

When you are attacked and find yourself in a fight, do nothing. That’s right, nothing. Let the God that is keeping you and protecting you, fight for you. When you make the decision to let God fight for you, it is a declaration of faith that God is bigger, stronger and more powerful than any enemy that may come against you. Letting God fight for you, allows you to not only grow in faith but to concentrate on what God has for you as opposed to what the enemy is trying to do to you. So the next time you feel under attack, don’t respond, don’t fight back, and don’t focus on the attack, instead be still and know that God will fight for you.

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, July 16, 2019.

But now, this is what the Lord says, he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1

He Knows Your Name

There was a TV show in the 80s called Cheers that I used to love. It was about the lives and times of the patron of a pub in Boston and was absolutely hilarious. One of the things that I loved about the show was the theme song that began each episode. The song went like this:

Making your way in the world today
Takes everything you got
Taking a break from all your worries
It sure would help a lot
Wouldn’t you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name
And they’re always glad you came
You want to be where you can see
The troubles are all the same
You want to be where everybody knows your name

You want to go where people know
The people are all the same
You want to go where everybody knows your name

The idea behind the song was quite simple. In the busy fast paced world we live in, sometimes we just want to be known for who we are. We don’t want to be a part of the crowd, we want to have someplace where people know and care about us simply for who we are, even if it is just for a little while, in a bar.

Friends, it can be easy to feel alone in the world and to think that nobody knows your name. With so many people and so much going on, we can all feel a little lost and insignificant from time to time. I want you to know that no matter what is going on, God knows your name. God loves you so much that with 8 billion people on the planet He knows exactly who you are. He doesn’t just know your face, he actually knows your name and he loves you. So the next time you feel alone or like nobody knows who you are, remember the creator of the universe, knows you and He knows your name.

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, July 12, 2019.

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for  I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 42:11

Get Well Soon

What do you do when you aren’t feeling well? The answer usually depends on what is wrong with you. First, you diagnosis your symptoms and then you look for an appropriate remedy. If you have a headache there is a pill for that. If you have an upset stomach, there is something you can take for that as well. If you have restless leg syndrome, acne, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, or any number of other physical ailments, modern medicine has developed something that can help you out as long as you are comfortable with the possible side effects. But what if you’re not feeling well, but the problem isn’t physical.

There are times in life when we aren’t feeling well but everything is physically fine. We feel stuck in a rut, worn out or sometimes just completely out of sorts. In those moments what we are suffering from is a worn out and downcast spirit. When our spirit gets worn out there is no pill for that. The spirit isn’t moved by chemical combinations or topical solutions. The spirit is only moved by a connection with God. Only God can begin to put your spirit back together and get you back up and at em again.

Friends, we all have times when our spirit gets down. In those times we have to look to the only source that can heal us. In those times we have to take a break, slow down and reconnect with the Lord. When we reconnect with the Lord, it gives us hope, joy, and peace. When we have hope that things will get better, joy in our current circumstance, and peace about the future we go from downcast to uplifted. And when we are lifted up, the only right response is to give praise to the one responsible for our lifting, the Lord. So the next time you get down in the dumps and can’t see your way out, reconnect with the Lord and you will get well soon.

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, July 11, 2019.

The Lord says, I will teach you and guide you in the way you should live. I will watch over you and be your guide. Psalm 32:8

Guided Tours

I have always loved traveling. I think it goes back to my parent’s commitment to helping me see the world as a child. As part of that commitment, when they went somewhere, I was there too. Whenever we traveled somewhere, my father had a knack for making friends with people, and they would take us around to see “their town.” These tours were awesome because they were like a behind the scenes tour of the locale we were visiting. By making friends with a local resident, we not only were able to see the normal tourist spots but we also so the things that only the locals would know about and they were usually far more interesting than the stuff on the normal tour. One day I asked my dad why he did this. His answer was simplicity in itself. He said, “If you don’t know where you are going, get someone to show you.”

Often we limit our lives because we depend on what we know to get through life. When we depend only on what we know, we rarely find anything new, discover anything different, or see the whole picture. No matter how smart and exposed you are, there is always someone who knows more and can give you a new insight but only if you are willing to ask. If we are willing to ask someone who knows more than we do we can be exposed and guided into places that we could never have imagined on our own.

In the same way that a human guide can expose us to new places and new things, so can God. When we let the Lord guide us, He will show us where we should go, how we should live and will protect us in unfamiliar places. To get the most out of life, stop trying to do it on your own and let the Lord be your guide.

Be Blessed,

Rev