Month: January 2018

What compels you to be alive? 

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Does anyone else feel like 2018 is moving really quickly?

This year has movement on it, you can feel God breathing a new wind through it.

There is something new that he is doing. I continue to feel the Lord say it is time to step out and step in. I shared this in a past blog post. This is the year to step out of everything that has held you back for too long. It is time to confidently step into what God is calling you towards.

Compel. This is a word that God has placed on my heart, a word that seems to play on repeat through the most recent days.

What compels you to be alive? 

….

What compels you to get out of bed everyday? What compels you to stand up for, or fight against? What compels you to be alive?

I pray this is a year that we will be so compelled into God’s heart, and his calling upon our lives, as we embark on new assignments  and journeys, ones that we might have NEVER expected. It’s the new thing he is doing within us! But he needs our action and our yes, he needs our trust and obedience, he needs us to step into what he has waiting for us on the other side. Trading it in for something much better.

Would this be a year of new things, surprises, trust, and faith that walks blindly after his heart, trusting him every step into the unknown. I am praying for all of you that 2018 will be one of your best years yet. I feel like this year especially God is looking for the ones who will walk by faith! Who trust EVERYTHING in his the palms of his great and wonderful hands. He is looking for those souls who are compelled to chase after his heart with every fiber of our beings. This would be a year to leave every fear, doubt, and insecurities in the past and JUMP into what he has, no looking back, just walking confidently into the future he has promised us not by sight but through faith.

” I will walk by faith even when I cannot see.” 2 Corinthians 5:7

So, what is God compelling you towards? Take the jump, take the leap of faith!

You are all loved, have a great weekend 🙂

Dev!

Seeds and ripple effects

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I’m currently sitting in the airport in Orlando Florida, amazed, humbled and excited to see how God continues to grow and expand this vision, bringing new faces and lives into it for his glory.

I was invited to speak at a middle school in Orlando last year and came not knowing what would come of it. The kids reacted to my story in such a sincere and powerful way it left them and their amazing faculty saying what more can we do? It almost served of a call to action as I shared my story starting with taking a small step of faith to Africa for the first time to visit the wells not knowing what would come of it.

I visited the school and spoke getting time to spend time with the students. I am completely blown away by their compassion and the way it has lead them, hearing from them I have no doubt God is raising up mighty leaders coming from this school in Orlando who are fostered by faculty that truly love, encourage and support their students. You can feel it, and you can see the fruits of their labor in the lives and hearts of their students.

These kids decided that they were not too young to make a difference, so they planned for a walk for a well! Hoping, some doubting if they could raise 5,000 for a larger water system, through the hard work of parents, students and faculty who were passionately committed to help change lives through the love of Christ they raised 3 times the original amount!!!

3 times what they planned for!!!

That is our God, he does more and more and more!!! We cannot out-give our father when we give to things that please him. Today I had the chance to travel back, speak and see the students who are clearly a generation of world changers. We heard from one of the middle schoolers who shared how he wasn’t sure if they could do it and they did way above anyone imagined! He spoke on behalf of his peers and was proud that a group of middle schoolers have the chance to make a difference in the world and they did it! For the glory of God. He spoke about their chance to be kind and generous to change lives and represent Christ.

I shared what the Lord put on my heart, how humbled I was to see the continuous ripple effects of this once small vision. I spoke of the seeds they each have planted, how one day they will stand before the Lord and see from the other side the lives that were transformed through their response to a call to make a difference. I encouraged them that this seed they planted for the glory of God will never stop growing, and the effects it will have for Gods kingdom is unlike anything they could imagine!

Other groups and schools heard about this and now are starting to say well if they did it, we can too! This group in Florida is sparking a movement among the youth to be a generation of world changers! Their actions inspired other groups of young people! Their response is sparking a movement, and the beautiful part is they probably don’t even realize that.

I spoke to them saying they should never forget this moment in their lives and should allow it to pave the path of planting seeds for Gods kingdom in all that they do, to whatever he calls them. Would you be a generation that responds? Would you be a generation that cares enough to make a difference for God’s glory.

I’m honestly humbled sitting here seeing how God will NEVER stop growing and expanding this vision, and as time goes more people rally around this vision and uplift and support what started with an adventure to Africa with my dad, no thoughts of what God had in store for us.

When you say YES to God get ready because it will be much more than what you could ever imagine, it’s far wilder than any dream you have, and it’ll never stop growing for his glory. It starts with a step.

My dad also traveled with me and he spoke and thanked everyone who was involved. He told the students that when he looked out at the group of young people he saw Devon. What he meant was he saw some young person who had a hunger and desire to make a difference, he encouraged them to tell their story, share what God has done through their efforts and hard work, not knowing what will come of this! Tell their story and realize the impact they have created.

It’s amazing to see the ripple effects and how more and more young people are catching this vision, it’s inspiring and exciting to be on this God adventure, one in which is much wilder than anything I could have ever imagined!!

To say yes to God and to surrender your wants, hopes and dreams to him, just see what he will do! It will blow your mind.

This is a simple reminder seeing a group of young people in Orlando Florida make a difference, it’s so exciting to see how they were a group that responded to a call in which was presented to them.

God is SO good and he longs to do good deeds for humankind, he is just looking for the ones who will say YES! Let’s be those people today, tomorrow and forever because he is worthy of everything we can offer and surrender to him!

If you told me all that would have followed that trip to Ghana almost eight years ago I would have NEVER believed you, but that is OUR God! Looking out at the many young faces with hopes and dreams of their own I am reminded of all the lives that will be like flaming arrows in the hands of the Lord, the lives that lay it down in his hands, saying wherever you send me, I’m in your hands, not knowing where it’ll land, just knowing it’s greater than what they could imagined. A generation of world changers sat before me today. I am so thankful for each one of them.

Thanks for reading, you are all loved!

Time to leave the sunshine and head back to the cold!! Lol

Dev

here i will be, until he calls me to go

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It has been two months, since I have called this place my new home.

New York City

and until the Lord calls me out, or to go , here I will be, here I will stay.

I trust him, even when I didn’t want to,

getting to this exact point wasn’t easy.

From red dirt roads, to shining lights and busy streets, this is where I will be.

I too had to learn again to let go and trust him, even when it was really hard.

I remember saying “goodbye” to the kids until I returned a few months later, and will always go to and from Africa, but in that moment, on my end it was the closing of my year living in Africa. A significant and sobering moment for me. 

Holding myself together as the kids each wanted to roll my luggage and throw it into the back of the van. Climbing in asking if they could come with me to America. Holding onto my hands, wrapped themselves around me, goodbye. Looking into their little eyes, sparkling with life and joy, radiating light. Hearing their little voices say “Auntie Devon, when do you come back?” 

As hard and devastating moment that was, I saw a glimpse of why God even called me to this nation years ago. The prayers I prayed as a young child, each standing before me, a name, a face, a story, a salvation, a future. A nation changed stood before me in the form of young faces and bright eyes with hopes to become something they once never imagined. 

The faces of tomorrow, the dreamers, silence breakers, world changers. There they stood. God’s children who were once lost, and now found, there they stood. Healed and transformed through his love.

I caught a glimpse of this purposeful life I speak about, seeing a small bit of the fruit of a year loving on children who became my own when there was nothing I could offer but love, and knew that if this is all God had called me here to do, I was amazed, but I know there is more, a lot more! 

Being strong for them, waving to their little faces until the car drove up the hill and turned on the main road, I started sobbing the whole ride to the airport with my face cupped in between my hands. Gazing out the window to see the sun rise and give the orange dirt roads a golden glow, the very dirt roads that felt like home the first time I stepped foot on them 7 years ago. My heart was breaking, it felt like it was being ripped out and torn apart, telling myself this, God I trust you.

God I trust you.

I trust you.

I trust you with my life, even when it doesn’t make sense to me.

Trust you into the unknown.

I’d like to think I had a back and forth with God about this. I wanted to hold onto each and every memory and moment. Wanting them to last forever, which they will, but he needed me elsewhere and I needed to be obedient to what he was calling me, because there is NO place I would rather be than the center of his will for my life. That doesn’t mean easy, or it doesn’t make sense sometimes on paper, but if God calls, he needs our action, he needs our movement. He needs our yes.

So here we go,

Moving, again.

I went to Africa with this mindset. I will be here as long as the Lord needs me. It could be a month, it could be 2 years. Either way I am here until he gives me a clear signal that it is time to go home, until he sends me out again.

That sign, it came in July.

For months I prayed, and waited, waited upon the Lord wondering when he would answer this question. I felt overwhelmed, and didn’t want to figure it out on my own. I didn’t want to make a decision in my own strength. I wanted this to be clearly of the Lord.

I was in Kenya in July, that was a hearing trip for me. I heard clearly from the Lord it was time to now go back to New York City. This was confirmed by many others.

I struggled at first because I wanted to hold onto my time in Ghana, but I felt the grace that he had given me for this part of my life was lifting, it wasn’t as “easy” as it once was. I felt myself getting annoying sitting in hours of traffic just to get a simple task done, I found myself not being able to deal with the lack of power and constant humidity, when there were months I didn’t even think about it or seem to mind it. I started to get frustrated that I couldn’t just pick up the phone and hear my parents voices when I felt I needed to. These things that God had given me grace to was starting to lift. What that means is he is starting to shake you out of where you have been because he is bringing you somewhere brand new.

Somewhere different. I look back on those days, the most joyful and challenging days of my life. I know that was not something I did in my own strength, that was all his grace that was made perfect in all my weaknesses.

Grace is simply this, a simple person doing what they could never do through God’s strength. This is what it all comes down too. Grace.

So then what?

I bought my plane ticket and started to prepare for my last few weeks living there. This isn’t something I have closed the door on, in my eyes this is a season, a chapter that the most perfect author has written, God needed me there in that exact time frame for a reason, he was preparing me for where he has placed me now, and until he calls me to go or move, here I will be, waiting and trusting his ways are higher than mine.

I had different things presented to me but I felt strongly that New York City was where God was calling me. That is all I knew and I trusted him.

There was a time where I really reconsidered not coming back, and staying there. My love for the nation and children hasn’t left, the calling is still there, but I want to share with you a little secret, you can be called to Africa, and that calling doesn’t mean you have to drop everything and move there forever and ever and ever( and if you do that is wonderful too)  you can be called to Africa and never even step foot there, but God has placed a burden so strongly on your heart where even your prayers are changing nations and people’s lives.

Callings look so different. Don’t think you can’t be called somewhere if you don’t permanently move there. I think of people like Katie Davis, who is called to Africa, I think of my dad who has never lived there but has a strong calling placed upon on his life with a heart and burden for orphans in Africa. I’ve learned that those burdens and hearts are the fathers, he gives us his heart for what breaks his, and he will give you a heart and burden for what he needs you to do, because if you weren’t moved, you probably wouldn’t care, and not caring is not doing or taking action! So God calls to different nations and cities and places, because his light needs to shine in the darkness! He needs to reach everyone, so we all have a heart for what he has given us! It is a blessing 🙂

So, I really had to trust him with what he was calling me back to. I needed a heart for this new place, this new city, I needed a heart because I know He is always going to use you wherever he sends you.

Last year, I was in the city, and said to the Lord, “God if I never get to live here, its okay, I surrender even this dream to you.”

Here I am, a year later, and NYC is my new home, I love following his steps, he never gives us the full picture, but he calls us, and he wants us to step out, again and again and again.

I think about all that God has done in my first 2 months in the city, and I think about how I would have missed out if I choose in my own strength to stay. I know God is growing and expanding this to change even more lives both in America and Africa and beyond for his glory.

So right now, on this day, he needs me here in NYC for such a time as this. There is a lot that I will be praying about to share with you!

If God is calling you and he only gives you a little bit, take it and trust him for the rest. I love how grand things can only start with small steps of trust and obedience. Big things never start with big things, they start with small steps and complete trust in who is directing their steps!

Obeying his will and knowing our father has the best for us in mind, better than we can imagine, even when we aren’t sure. It is easy for us to doubt but when God says go, we go in his name! Because when we know who our father is, we trust him with our lives.

“See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.”

Isaiah 43:19

 

Have a wonderful weekend

you are all loved,

Dev

 

 

impact, legacy and love

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Impact. Legacy. Love.

These three words keep resurfacing to my mind. They remind me of what truly matters in life.

At the dedication ceremony the night the Village of Hope opened Terry Meeuwsen shared something I will never forget and I quoted her in this blog post. And just like I said in that blog post I will say it again, it will truly never leave me. And I will share it again today. The best investment we can make…

 It’s not enough to make a lot of money, it’s not enough to live in big houses. You want to leave your mark on the world and I admire that, that is a God call on your life. 

The world will have loud voices that will try to deter you from that, don’t listen.

Because the only game in town that matters, is the game that touches lives. You see none of these things we have not our clothing, not our houses, not our possessions, we don’t get to take any of it with us. There’s only one thing we get to take, other people. So you have the opportunity to invest in something of eternal significance. Not everybody gets that. 

This is what it all comes down too, leaving an impact for Jesus and leaving a legacy for Jesus and what he has called us to do. To play our small parts in this earth to fill it with his glory. To love others, and spend our lives sharing the love of Christ with everyone he leads us too. We don’t all have to go to Africa, but we all have the chance to love, create impact and leave a legacy. We all have the chance to invest in what truly matters.

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I think of my father and the love he has for people. He just radiates love, and everyone loves him back. It is so natural and so inspiring to see. He embodies Christ’s love and he already has made such a powerful impact on this world for the kingdom, I am excited to continue see God use him. An example and mentor that I am blessed enough to call dad.

 

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This women and her heart. Her love alone has left an impact that rings throughout the world and continues to change and uplift so many vulnerable lives for God’s glory.

To fall more in love with Christ is to become more like him, and when Christ is love, we become the love of Christ and other’s will see that inside of us. Each one of us has the ability and chance to create impact somewhere in our world, even our own homes and families. We have a chance to leave a legacy for his glory and kingdom and a chance to spend our lives loving the one who gave everything for us.

Be blessed today.

you are loved! you WILL create impact and leave legacy in his name!

Dev

Step out, and step IN

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I keep hearing the voice of the Lord, say

“Step out and Step IN”

I just wrote a Facebook post that said ” Step OUT and step INTO what God is calling you to, now is the time!”

and the Lord said, well write a blog post about it! So… here I am feeling almost confident this is a confirmation many of you have been waiting for, before you step out, almost making sure this is of the Lord, I am here to say… IT IS! If this is something that has been stirring within you for the past couple of months, but you haven’t had the green light, now is the time! God says go, the time is NOW!

I hope this serves as a confirmation to many of you. For those of you are holding back from a place of doubt, fear or insecurity that is NOT from the Lord. That is coming from the enemy trying to hold back what the Lord is breathing inside of you, that new direction, the new ministry, path, idea, passion, now is the time. Now is the time to Step out of yourself and fear, and step into who God is and what he is calling into.

Now is the time, now is the appointed time for the new thing God is birthing inside of you, it is time, and do not stay in fear, but boldly step with that the one word God spoke to you, and he will take you from there, but he needs you to step OUT first.

It requires our action, devotion and love. Undivided devotion is what the Lord is looking for in his people now more than every before. He is looking for the ones whose hearts are undivided so he can use them so powerfully in these days we find ourselves in. But it requires our action of trusting that he will do what he says he will do, AND MORE, much more than anything we can ask, seek, hope or imagine for. Because he is who he says he is, and he has much MUCH MORE than we can even imagine.

So, throw your fears out the window and take that next step, now is the time! He is pleased at your undivided devotion just to be with him, just to trust him and be used unto his glory. He is well pleased with individuals such as these!

You are ALL Loved,

Devon

Joshua 1:9

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

2 Timothy 1:7

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

John 15:16

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

James 1:22

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

Philippians 4:13

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

 

all it takes is one encounter

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All it takes is one encounter to experience Jesus, and be transformed through his radical love, all it takes is one encounter.

I don’t believe this is by a “feeling” and if you do feel something that is wonderful but the bible tells us it is by faith, not feeling.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

I think of Paul, what Paul experienced was a radical encounter with Jesus Christ that changed his life FOREVER, and our lives as we know it.

Paul wrote so much of the new testament and his knowledge came from that personal revelation through person relationship with Jesus Christ and knowing and experiencing his love!

Paul actually was persecuting christians…. can we stop for am minute here! He was in a position to kill other believers, KILL THEM …and then he has ONE encounter with Jesus and EVERYTHING CHANGES!

Talk about RADICAL TRANSFORMATION!

One encounter, changes everything! I love how after that encounter Paul spent his life seeking the Lord, expanding his kingdom and preaching his word to everyone he could, because he knew his savior and had a deep knowledge of his love. That one encounter and he spent the rest of his days following and leading many to Christ.

Jesus appears to Saul (later Paul) in a vision!

” Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?” Who are you Lord? Saul asked. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, he replied. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what to do.”

Acts 9: 4-6

That deep knowledge of love changes everything. Because when we KNOW we are changed forever.

When we have knowledge of who we are it is SO POWERFUL!

I am praying this is a year of RADICAL encounters that will change everything for us.

I think of a boy in our home in Ghana. He was treated terribly his entire life, people spoke curses over him, they told him what he would never become, he told him he would never amount to anything, he was hopeless and lost. He was angry and confused. One Sunday he has an encounter with Jesus and surrenders his life to him. He is saved, and he is a new creation. I see how one encounter with Jesus has not just changed but TRANSFORMED this young mans life. He speaks of becoming a pastor, and he is a natural leader and people are drawn to follow what he does or says, what used to be something bad, God tuned to good and now at the age of 15 he is walking in love, leading in compassion and sharing the love he once NEVER knew and now freely SHARES with ALL of the people who cross his path.

He is the one to ask the tough questions being lead by compassion to help others. It is so moving. When I look at this young man, I see a man of God who carriers love and compassion. He is a new creation through one encounter of Jesus Christ.

He is made a new creation, just like Paul. Radical love, and knowledge that we are so loved by a savior who died just to know us, and not just to know us and make a way into heaven but to have heaven living inside of us, so that we carry his spirit, love and light and bring the kingdom of heaven down to earth.

TRANSFORMATION

change, alteration, mutation, conversion, metamorphosis, transfiguration, transmutation

These words also help draw on how we are made new creations once we invite Christ into our hearts and surrender our lives to him, through an encounter.

I am praying this is a year of radical encounters where we are changed and transformed by the power of his love. I feel God moving so powerfully swiftly this year, he is doing a new thing and he is turning hearts back to him! He is calling names back home into his kingdom. This is a year of GOD!

And christians can I challenge you to bring that love with you wherever you are, wherever you go. Would you stop for a cleaning lady, a taxi or an uber driver, would you share the love of Christ with waitresses or delivery men. Would you not let anyone cross your path without having a chance to know and experience his amazing, life changing love. I am praying for you that God would even use us in our day-to-day routine to make time for that one that we might pass and not consider. That these encounters would not just happen in churches but in our day-to-day routine. I am praying for you and waiting to see what God will do this year. He is on the move big time!

And if you are new here, and you are wondering what I am talking about, and how someone like Saul could be forgiven for killing christians, that is the reckless love of Jesus Christ our savior. His blood was shed for each person, all over the world, he actually became our sin, so that when he took it to the grave it would stay there, so we would be made clean by his blood and we do not have to pay the price of sin, rather have eternal life, because we are blames and holy in his sight. When we pray the salvation pray we are made new just like Saul, we are forgiven and we are loved! P.s. you are loved even before you pray this prayer.

You are loved, you are loved, you are loved, God loves you!

Today is the day for salvation, do not wait another day, you can have the relationship with Jesus TODAY!!! Start by asking for forgiveness of your sins, declare with your mouth by believing in your heart that Jesus died and rose again and is the way the truth and the life, that you can enter into eternity today because he made a way for you. If you prayed this prayer you are a new creation!! Praise God.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Blessing and love,

Dev

sorry… we are SOLD OUT

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COMPLETELY SOLD OUT!

on Jesus, for Jesus!

I believe 2017 was one of the most TRYING years for the body of christ, not just me personally. For each one of you saying “How long oh Lord will this last” 

and as we asked, waited, endured, and wondered “how long” and we faced and warred against trials designed to knock us out. Yes I said it schemes from the enemy that were created to KNOCK US OUT…

Take courage because YOU stood firm and were not moved God is going to move quickly and powerfully for you all the days 2018. You stood firm and your faith was strengthened in each trial, and know we can have a new appreciation for how even in times that were trying God as STILL making new wine through the pressing.

1 Corinthians 16:13

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.”

I say 2018 is a year of OVERFLOW and excess. It is time to lay down our vision for this year and trade it in for supernatural vision, for vision from the Lord to see past the things of this world and see into his plans for us.

It is time where the Lord will turn things around, he is turning it right now, and every trial you endured prepared you for these very days that we are living in.

So my friends, my brothers and sisters BE EXCITED!!!

Philippians 1:6

” being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to competition until the day of Jesus Christ.”

That means, our best days are ahead of us!

It is time to be sold out to God to the point that if he asked us or moves in us, we don’t even have to doubt because we are SOLD OUT on loving and trusting and knowing our father that we don’t even have to worry! We just say yes!

If we know our father and love him, we trust our everything in his hands.

The promises are yes in Christ!

2 Corinthians 1:20

“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.”

COMPLETE SURRENDER

wholehearted  DEVOTION TO FOLLOW GOD

BEING SOLD OUT TO HIS WILL!! BECAUSE HE IS THAT GOOD

I am praying for a spirit of Caleb to fall fresh upon the body of Christ because he wholeheartedly followed God. Full devotion, no doubt, full trust in God and his word.

Jeremiah 29:13

“You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”

If God told him to move, he moved, he didn’t look around at the natural, because he knew who his father is, he knew that the Lord would surely protect and do what he said he would do. All Caleb and Joshua had to do was WALK IN IT and leave the rest to God! God needs us to move so that he can work through us.

Numbers 14:24

“But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.”

You see Caleb and Joshua trusted and moved on God’s spoken word because God said it. Their generation was marching in fear because their eyes were fixed on their circumstances and natural surroundings, when God is saying LOOK AT ME! Let us be like Caleb and Joshua when the masses are marching in fear and surroundings. Let our gaze be every fixed upon the Lord and HIS WORD that we are firmly planted! Let us follow him with our WHOLE HEART. Let’s take our eyes off the natural and look to the supernatural! Our God.

2 Corinthians 12:9

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” 

I love how whole heartedly can also mean unqualified in the terms of the world, that God might be asking us to step out into things that the world labels “unqualified” on us. God equips us, he isn’t looking for qualifications he is looking for a yes that comes from a heart that loves him, that wholeheartedly seeks his face in all that they do.

Because Caleb wholeheartedly followed and loved the Lord, the Lord blessed him.

I want to be sold out, completely to the point that whatever God asks of me in 2018 I will do because his word is where my feet stand firm, his glory is revealed through my weakness. That people would see “this could only be God.” I honestly think I was “unqualified” for a lot of what God has done through me at this point in my life, that is why HE GETS ALL THE GLORY. His strength is made PERFECT in MY weakness. Even Jesus we who are desire to be like surrendered to his father’s will. If Jesus is the perfect example and even Jesus surrendered to his father’s will, we should do out of a place of whole heart devotion, love and trust because our father holds a will just for our lives.

Luke 22:42

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

You know I struggled to write and read when I was younger, I was so insecure about it. I used to hide behind books and pretend I was reading in fear that someone might call on me to speak up. I struggled to write. And while everyone around me excelled, my teacher at the time spoke over me lies and said things that I couldn’t be able to be good at. Eventually I caught up and caught up quite quickly to the point I was reading at a 6th grade level in 3rd grade. I remember a very special women who played a role in helping me read, looked at me and said look what you can do! You are reading above the level that the teachers spoke over you. And there, BAM it hit me! In third grade, my greatest insecurity or what the world would say my weakness, where teachers and classmates spoke over what I wasn’t and what I could not be good at, was quite the opposite, that area my weakness was made perfect in the Lord’s strength. And the Lord changed the “couldn’t” to can in the name of Jesus.

I share this story because the very thing that you might be most insecure about, or shy away from because a lie was spoken over what you cannot do, I am here to speak the opposite and break that over you in the name of Jesus. And that very thing might JUST BE the greatest area that God will display his strength in your life for his glory.

So be ready, we are moving into great days! Since I started this blog it has been read in over 80 countries!!! Wow I never imagined I would make friends and have readers from all over from 6 of the 7 continents. So welcome!! I never imagined when I started this little blog sitting on my back porch writing my first post called “home” that God would use it to reach people all over the world! It feels like God has done SO MUCH since that day, it feels like a different girl that sat under the sunset writing my first post, not knowing where this journey would take me, and how look at what the Lord has done! I love how God multiples what he does in our lives, but first we need to just step out and say yes! I remember feeling resistant to start this blog the year leading up to it! AN ENTIRE YEAR…then the holy spirit nudged me to start, and I was scared of who would judge me or be reading behind the other side of the screen, and then I felt vulnerable, and sometimes still do, not knowing who is pointing fingers or only reading to make fun of me or call me a Jesus freak… but I chose peace and purpose over that fear, and know I am NOT writing a blog to attract followers or please man. If I did my reward would be on earth, and I’d never please everyone, and after trying and trying to I’d waste my time! No I am writing for an audience of ONE! Jesus, the one who called me to step out and write, so I write for his glory and see what he does with it and who joins me from the other side of the screen from all ends of the earth!

I love you all and will start praying for God to move in your nations, because he has been stirring my heart for the nations like never before!! And wherever you are reading from whether it is Jordan, Algeria, India, Peru, China, Philippines, Israel, Uganda, Bahrain, Russia, Brazil, Canada, Norway or South Africa!!!! God is going to USE YOU MIGHTILY in these days! Wow just typing some of these nations gets me excited, I wish I could hug each one of you and hear how God is moving in your life and in your nation! Pray for your government and your leaders wherever you are in this world that God has created. Be excited. WOW, wow!

Psalm 105: 1

“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done.”

I also wanted to share that don’t think that you need to be in full-time ministry to be used by the Lord. Don’t believe that lie either, God has strategically placed you in your exact location to be a light wherever  you are. You carry influence in your streets, your cities, your offices, your countries in the name of Jesus.

Whatever city, state, nation or job. Let your light shine before men, let others see the love you carry, and let them be drawn to Christ inside of you. If you aren’t carrying the love and walking in love wholeheartedly seeking God they might not want what you have, because “what you say you have” might not look attractive in their eyes.

Walk in love and love where you are, see how things will change when you start to declare “I love my job” over the atmosphere, even if you don’t believe it, speak it out, your words matter! Speak it out over your cities and nations!

THIS IS NOT THE YEAR TO DULL DOWN OR BE ASHAMED!

Romans 1:16

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”

You have been given influence in your sphere of influence. Whatever job you have, don’t demise it, be encouraged because God is using you to speak life into the location you are, and to let your light shine into the darkness around you. God needs his people in all areas and fields of life. Where there is light darkness cannot hide. You carry love and you are a changer of the atmosphere around you, so do not think you are not where God needs you! Stay planted, but be ready to move out if he gives you a chance to! Whether that is a location change, or job promotion.

With all that being said, God has put a word on my heart for my generation. I am praying about how to share this word whether that is in the form of a video on social media, so can you join me in prayer that God will make this SO CLEAR! Will you join me that God gets this message in front of those who need it the most.

And if you are new here, and you are wondering who Jesus is, you can say a pray TODAY for salvation so you can know with confidence where you will spend eternity. The bible tells us salvation is today, not to wait another day! You will be made a new creation, and the old will go. You start by confessing your sins and believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth that Jesus died and rose again after three days, you can invite him into your heart, and there he will dwell.

2 Corinthians 6:2

For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.”

Romans 10:9

“Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

If you have questions about this, feel free to email me!

Blessings and love

TODAY is the day for salvation.

you are loved,

Dev

Ephesians 3:20

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,”

 

will you join me?

.Reading time 10 minutes.

A new year, another year of surprises of all that it’ll bring.

It’s a humbling and sobering moment to think and reflect on how far the Lord has brought us this far.

I’m deciding to be intentional about this one thing for this year, and I challenge and encourage you to join me.

Will you join me in completely surrendering everything that you planned or expected this year to be and all that it will bring at the feet of Jesus.

Will you lay every hope, dream, worry, concern to him. Giving it over to the author of creation , the lover of our souls, the king of all kings. The one whom our souls yearn for. Lay each desire unto him, and say have your way in me. Have your way in my life. Have your way in my job, my finances, my dreams, expectations have your way in my family, have your way in my life!

I’m deciding to trade it all in for what HE has in store for me! I’m trading in dreams that are limited to a limitless God. I’m trading it in to a God who cannot be outdone. I’m trading it in believing that he will expand, multiple, increase and breath life into every aspect.

I’m giving him everything. I have counted the cost, this isn’t something I do lightly. But the more in love I fall with Jesus the easier it gets to surrender it all to the one who gave me it all.

It’s gets easier to give and lay my life down at the feet of my savior who gave me this very life that I have.

He gave me what I didn’t deserve. I deserve to pay for the sins, my wrongdoings, the consequences of my action is death. The wages of sin is death, rather we have life that is offered to us, by the one who died just to know us, to set us free, to break chains and set captives free. And heaven isn’t just opened but now heaven come come to earth through us. Let heaven come down through us and how we will be used.

Free in Christ. I’m declaring that this is a year of freedom, freedom that we know we will be cataylysts to be used to unlock freedom in others lives in the mighty name of Jesus.

Who is bold enough to give up everything and lay it down at the feet of Jesus and say have your way! I’m trading it all in for something even greater than I can even imagine.

I’m trading it all in just to know you even deeper because Jesus you are that beautiful. And even if my life is just is to know you that is worth giving up everything.

I have lived with access to a lot, and I have lived with the bare minimum and I can tell you none of that matters as long as I have my Jesus.

Will you dare to surrender everything to the one who gave you everything. Watch what the Lord will do when you submit yourself unto him and say Lord here I am! Use me, take this little life of me and do the extraordinary with someone as ordinary as me! You alone are worth all my praise and adoration.

Who but God can change a nation in a day? Who but God can spilt the sea?

Who but God can melt a mountain like wax before him?

Who but God can save this world?

Who but God sits on the throne of heaven and earth and sees each one of us, and has the numbers of hairs on our heads numbered?

Who breathed this world into existence but God?

When we have this full revelation and we decide to be radical about our salvation and faith, we grow to be bolder and trust the life we have into the one who gave us life. When we trust our father we trust our lives in his hands because he is worthy!

I attended a conference in DC this weekend and I am leaving now on a train back to New York. Taking each moment in, soaking in each word that was spoken and pray it continues to echo inside my soul.

This morning as the sessions were wrapping up I sat next to a young man who didn’t have arms. I watched him praise God, there I stood near him with two arms lifted high praising my God. And it hit me, we have been GIVEN life, to praise Jesus! And this isn’t new, but it hit home, on a deep and real way. It is so real to me, and I pray it deepens all the days of my life.

With all that we are, and some times we take it for granted, we become complacent or ungrateful. Here is a young man praising God in a way that was so beautiful and touched me. It hit me that I never want take for granted everything the Lord has given me, even as something we don’t think about, like our arms. To praise him with all that we are, for all of our days. To him the glory. I think about the people being persecuted for their faith. They are giving up everything just to know him. That is how real and beautiful Jesus is. That these people lay down their lives just to know him. I think about them meeting in secret, hiding their faith, just to know him. And we have the chance to worship and praise Jesus in freedom, this is a privilege and honor that I never want to take for granted.

I encourage you to spend time in his word, in prayer, invite the Holy Spirit to do life with you, to help guide you and give you wisdom in all areas of life. Seek Jesus in all that you do and you’ll find him. Everything will start to pale in comparison to how beautiful he is. This world and what is offers and throws your way will fade away. Once you look into his eyes, know your worth, know your savior everything changes. You’ll never want to do life apart from abiding in him. Your desires and dreams will change and you will be used to glorify the Lord Almighty, so when people see you they see Jesus, they are drawn to his love inside of you and we get to be his hands and feet in this life. To praise him with all that we are and lead others by love we know through Christ to set captives free.

We are each flaming arrows in the hands of the Lord and we shouldn’t be concerned about where we will end up because we can’t imagine! We are just along this journey with God saying take me father, take me deeper, I’m available and I want to be used for your glory. We can’t even compare our small dreams or hopes to what we will do with our lives when we say yes! All we know is what we will do when we land and that is to light fires for Jesus wherever he sends us. To carry the gospel and share the love with people around us, whether it’s India or Washington DC in the capital building. We are carriers of the gospel and we desire to spend our lives for the one who gave it all for us!!!

I am so excited to continue to surrender it all and watch and see what God does best with our lives! Even more so than we could ask, seek or imagine! To him be the glory both now and forever more.

So will you join me in the greatest adventure of life…knowing Jesus!

You are all loved!!

Devon