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, May 24, 2021.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.  Acts 2:4

Alwaya There 

Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost is the day that we take out to recognize the birth of the Church and the coming of the Holy Spirit. While we recognize the birth of the Church and the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, we must be careful that we don’t forget the Church and the Holy Spirit the other 364 days of the year.

Pentecost is an amazing celebration, but it is a celebration of an ever-present reality. We must remember that we are the Church every day. The Church is the called out gathering of disciples who are the hands and feet of Jesus. That means when we become believers, every day, everywhere, we are the Church. Every day, everywhere, we are the light of the world, bringing hope into the most desperate situations. And as the Church, we have the Holy Spirit.

On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fell on believers, but we as believers have access to the power of the Holy Spirit every day. Every day we have the power to make a difference. Every day we have the power to change lives. Every day we have the power of God inside of us to bring joy, peace, and hope to a sin-sick world. Pentecost is a day that serves as a reminder that there is power available to us every day!

This week, remember that we celebrated Pentecost, but live in the power of Pentecost. Live knowing that you are part of God’s Church and that as a part of the Church you have POWER!!

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, May 17, 2021.

This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

Everyday Struggle?

I hope your Monday is off to a rousing start and that you are having a great day. I remember a time when I dreaded Mondays. After a great weekend and being away from work, Mondays had a feeling of impending doom. It would start on Sunday nights as I could feel Monday creeping up on me. I would begin to have a feeling of dread that the fun was over and it was back to the grind. I am sure many of you have had that experience.

One Sunday, as I started to complain about the weekend being over, a friend asked me a question. She asked me, “What made weekends better than weekdays.” As I explained all the reasons weekends were great, she reminded me that the weekend was two days, but a week has seven days. That was when it clicked for me. I had made weekends great because I looked at them as being great days and the other five days of the week as being somehow less than, especially Mondays. So I made a decision to make every day great.

As you begin this week, you have a choice, survive until the weekend or make every day great. If you choose to survive until the weekend, you choose to let five days be less than they can be. You choose to have 71% of your week be a struggle so you can live up 29% of your week. By contrast, you can choose to find joy, fulfillment, and fun every day of the week, even on Mondays. I promise, if you approach every day with joy and gladness, you won’t be looking for great weekends; you’ll have great weeks.

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, April 30, 2021.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. Psalm 107:8-9

Satisfaction

In 1965, the Rolling Stones released one of their most popular songs, Satisfactions. If you’ve heard it once, you’ll know the words forever. It starts off, “I can’t get no satisfaction, I can’t get no satisfaction, ‘Cause I try and I try and I try and I try, I can’t get no, I can’t get no!” As you listen to the song, you can feel what Mick Jagger is singing about. He’s looking for satisfaction in life and just can’t find any. He is trying everything that he can think of but still, he can’t get no satisfaction.

That actually is the story of many of us. We are looking for satisfaction in life and can’t quite find it. We often think that something will give us satisfaction right up until we get it. We think that money will do it until we get money and look for something else. We think power will do it until we get power and it doesn’t quite work. We keep looking and like Jagger, We try and we try and we try, but we can’t get no satisfaction.

Friends the joy of the Lord is that in Him we can finally find satisfaction. When we get into a deep relationship with the Lord, we begin to see that there is satisfaction there. With him, we can find unfailing love, holy ghost power, and a release from the pressures of the world. When we fully connect with the Lord we begin to see not only what we are looking for, but we also get a glance of all that we already have and that God has already done. It is in him, that we can truly find rest from our searches, love that fills our heart, and finally find satisfaction. So take some time today to be thankful that with the Lord you can finally get satisfaction.

Be Blessed,

Rev

 

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A word every day to get you through the day.

Here is the Daily Dose for Thursday, April 29, 2021.

All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. Proverbs 14:23

I have a confession to make. Many people do not know this but I should be a billionaire. One of my friends and I came up with the idea for the iPod. I remember the day very clearly. A friend and I were walking from the car to House of Wong in St. Louis when we began to talk about the nature of buying albums on CD vs buying CD singles. We both agreed that most albums were  terrible and you really only wanted to buy a few songs on any given album. So we started thinking, what if there was a way to just buy the selected songs you wanted on an album and carry all of them around with you in one place. Then we got to the restaurant and never thought about it again, until we both owned iPods and remembered that conversation from years before.

While my friend and I came up with a great idea that has sold millions, saved Apple and remade the music industry,we did not get a thing out of it because all we did was talk. We didn’t do any research. We didn’t do any development. We didn’t look into copyright and publishing in the music industry to see if our brilliant idea would even work. We thought of it and went on to lunch. Great ideas are a dime a dozen, profits come to those who do the work to make them into a reality.

Whatever it is that you have been talking about doing for years there is no time like the present to stop talking and start doing. Doing things always leads to a profit. Not doing things always leads to losing out on opportunity. Sure, there is a high possibility that I would never have gotten the iPod to market, but I would have gained a lot along the way. I would have learned a lot of new things. I  would have met some really interesting people. I may have even made some money along the way. Instead, I had a great lunch. Today, is the day for you to get started on your great idea. It may not make you any money, but all hard work makes you something.

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, April 27, 2021.

For I am always aware of your unfailing love, and I have lived according to your truth. Psalm 26:3

Loved

For many of us, there are times that we feel unloveable. While we put on a great smile for the public and make sure our social media posts show us living our best lives, we sometimes struggle with deep-rooted feelings of insecurity, unworthiness, and self-doubt. We sometimes doubt that we will ever truly achieve our dreams. We sometimes doubt that anybody knows the real us. Worst of all, we sometimes doubt that if people knew the real us, the person under the façade, that anyone would ever really love us for us.

The truth of the matter is, no matter how you feel, you are loved. God knows exactly who you are, and He loves you anyway. God knows that we struggle, make mistakes, and often let ourselves down. That is not what matters to God. To God, you are not your accomplishments or judged by your performance. You are simply His beloved child. With your flaws, with your mistakes, and with your doubts, you are, always have been, and always will be loved by God.

Today is the day to accept the love of God into your heart. You are absolutely flawed, imperfect, and have all kinds of issues. Guess what; God loves you anyway. With your issues and flaws, God is not asking you to be perfect. He simply wants you to be you. He wants you to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that He loves you. He doesn’t love you because you’re worthy, and He’s not looking for you to try harder and do better.  He simply loves you because you are His child. So today, let go of the fear, the self-condemnation, and the doubt. God loves you, and so do I.

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, April 26, 2021.

I love them, but they try to destroy me with accusations even as I am praying for them! Psalm 109:4

It’s Complicated

Social media is a fascinating place. The original purpose of it was to connect people and let them socialize without actually being in the same place. So people started putting up their personal information so that you could get to know them. People added things like their names, photos, likes, and dislikes, and of course, their relationship status. The addition of relationship statuses started off with just single married or single. Then they added divorced, widowed, and separated. The final step in relationship status choices was, “it’s complicated.” It’s complicated was meant to denote those people who were in ill-defined relationships, not quite on but not quite off, and just didn’t fit any one category. It was immediately a hit.

What we often miss is that relationships are all complicated. No matter if you are married, single, or anywhere in between, it’s always complicated. It is complicated to love someone when they have hurt you. It is complicated to care for someone when you see them going down the wrong path. It is complicated to long for someone who does not see you in the same way. It is complicated to love a sibling who you think your parents like more. For believers, relationships are even more complicated because we are called to love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us. That’s complicated.

Friends, following God is rarely easy and is often complicated. Being a believer means doing the hard work of being the best you no matter what the people you are in a relationship with are doing. This means that sometimes you will have to love those who are hurting you, pray for those who are preying on you and remain true to you when you want to step down and be someone else. It’s complicated, but it is necessary. It is necessary because someone has to be above the fray. It’s necessary because someone has to love people even when they are at their worst. It’s complicated, but it is also what we are called to do.

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, April 23, 2021.

When everything is ready, I will come and get you so that you will always be with me where I am.  John 14:3

A Place For You

One of my favorite things to do is to stay in hotels. I miss it so much. There is just something about crisp sheets, basic cable, and room service that makes me absolutely happy. The only thing about hotel life that sometimes disappoints me is when I get to a hotel a little early, and my room is not ready yet. That’s always a bummer. Typically, I have just landed from a flight or finished a long drive, and what I really want to do is hit the showers, grabbed a bite, and get a little rest. But when the room isn’t ready, there is nothing to do but to wait.

I remember one time that I must have looked particularly disappointed because the clerk at the desk made a note of it. I wasn’t upset, just a little downtrodden, but she noticed and made a note of it. I know this because when my room was finally ready, there was a nice basket of fruit, bottled water, and a note from the front desk clerk. The note said, “Mr. Willliams, we are sorry that your room was not prepared when you arrived. We know it is disappointing to not be able to just walk into your room, but we wanted to make sure that it was completely prepared for you and that everything was just right. Thanks for your patience.” I was blown away. They didn’t have to do any of that, but they wanted things to be just right for me.

Friends, when Jesus ascended to heaven, he went ahead to make everything just right for us. As believers, we are assured that when we cross over the Jordan, Jesus will have a place waiting just for us. So take heart, no matter what happens in this life, Jesus has made a place for you on the other side.

Be Blessed,

Rev

 

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A word a day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Thursday, April 22, 2021.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:13

Getting Closer 

Have you ever been on a moving sidewalk in an airport? I always think of moving sidewalks as flat escalators. They have the same base, handrails on the side, and take you from one place to the next. While escalators take you up or down from one floor to another, a moving sidewalk transports you on a flat surface from one place to the next. Like an escalator, a moving sidewalk gives you the option to walk or just stand still and let the machine do the work. Either way, they get you closer to your destination.

It wasn’t until I’d had a particularly harrowing travel day that I really began to appreciate moving sidewalks. I had gotten off my plane in a large airport, and I was exhausted. The problem was, my connecting flight was one terminal over. I didn’t want to miss it, so I set out to make my connection. But like I said, it had been a particularly harrowing trip, and I was exhausted. So as I made my way on the moving sidewalk, there were times I walked, but there were also times that I stood still to catch my breath. No matter if I was walking or standing still, the moving sidewalk kept moving, and I got closer to my destination and made my flight. Something that would not have happened if I’d had to do all the walking myself.

Friends, in the same way, that the moving sidewalk got me from where I was to where I needed to be, the blood of Jesus gets the believer from where we are to where we need to be. The blood of Jesus moves us closer to God day by day. No matter if we are feeling like it and doing all the disciplines that enhance our relationship with the Lord or just standing still trying to catch our breath, the blood is working to move you closer and closer to God. So no matter how you are feeling today, know that every day the blood brings you closer to the Lord.

Be Blessed,

Rev

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A word a day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Wednesday, April 21, 2021.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12

This Is How We Did It

All of us can remember when we knew it all. It was those years between 13 and 19 when you couldn’t tell is anything. We knew how the world worked, what everyone was doing wrong, and what we would do if we were them. We especially knew that old people, commonly known as anyone over 30, certainly were out of touch, out of date, and dedicated to taking the fun out of everything. Then, if we are lucky, a funny thing happens. We become what we made fun of and realize how little we actually know. That is why I enjoy talking to people who have lived a while.

When you talk to people who have been around awhile, you learn what you don’t know. I remember asking an older couple what the secret to a long life and happy marriage was. They told me there wasn’t really a secret. You have to keep a good attitude no matter what, work through hard times, and pray a whole lot. I was amazed at the simplicity of what they said and that they seemed to be quoting the book of Romans to me.

Friends, there is wisdom that comes with age. It is wisdom that comes not from theory or practice but from reflection. It is the wisdom that comes from looking back and taking stock of what did and didn’t work. It is the knowledge that comes from trying, succeeding, failing, and trying all over again. It is the insight you can only get by having lived enough to know what works and what doesn’t. When you have that kind of wisdom, you can tell those behind you on the path what that couple told me, “This is how we did it.

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, April 20, 2021.

Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Romans 12:10

It’s About You

One of my favorite restaurants is Chic Fil A, and it isn’t really about the food. Ok, it is kind of about the food, but not totally. One of the things I love about Chic Fil A is the experience. Chic Fil A is the only restaurant with a drive-through that I go out of my way to go inside. Yes, instead of just driving through and picking up my food, I used to get out of my car to go into the restaurant to get my food and often eat inside. I do this for one reason and one reason only, Ms. Mary.

Every time I walked in, Ms. Mary greeted me and told me she’s glad to see me again. When I got my food, Ms. Mary checks on me, asks if I need anything, and always has the brightest smile on her face. It was so different than every other fast food restaurant that I asked Ms. Mary to sit and chat with me for a moment one day. So I asked her what makes her do the things that she does. Her answer was simple, “We’re honored to have you here, and I make it my job to make everyone feel special.” And with that, she asked if she could get me a refill on my sweet tea. And that’s when I realized that I come to Chic Fil A because they make me feel special.

Friends, the word of God calls us to love one another and honor one another above ourselves. I see that in action every time I encounter Ms. Mary. Ms. Mary is older than me, has more experience than me, but she doesn’t put herself first or her position first. She puts others first. It is putting others first and making them feel special that is the essence of loving and honoring others. It is going beyond ourselves to bring joy to the life of someone else. So as you go through your day, take the time to make others feel special. That is who you love and honor one another.

Be Blessed,

Rev