Daily Devotional – 1/31/18 “Why harbor unforgiveness when we’ve prevailed?”

I read a book on last night called “For You I will,” a new release from a new author, Chelsea Moore and although I will not give the book away, there is one line in the book that gripped me. Andrea, one of the lead female characters, said to her brother who couldn’t forgive the mom who abandoned them, “Why harbor unforgiveness when we’ve prevailed?” Beloved, this question caused a twinge in my spirit because living as spiritual beings in natural bodies, forgiveness is one of the hardest things for us to give. However, let me ask you, why haven’t you forgave the person who hurt you when you’ve survived and claim to be happy? Why are you still angry with the person who walked out on you, when your social media says you’re happily married now? Why are you still crying over spilled milk when you have been blessed with the means to purchase multiple new gallons? You are still mad at cancer when you’ve been in remission 7 years. You are still upset at momma and she’s been dead since 1990. You will not set foot in the church, where you were hurt 17 years ago but you’ve started your own ministry. Why are you still harboring the weight of not being able to offer forgiveness when you are succeeding?

Okay, they said you’d be nothing but you prevailed. Sure, they said you’d never make it out the hood but you prevailed. They called you names but you prevailed. They denied you but you prevailed. They hurt you but you prevailed. They abused and misused you but you prevailed. So tell me again why you are still having a tug of war with yourself trying to figure out if and when you should forgive? Baby, the time has long passed. Yes, what they did hurt you in places you didn’t even know existed but it’s time to forgive because you survived with more strength and sense. You made it out with your mind and mercy. You persevered through the pain and the persecution and you prevailed with possession of your purpose. This is why it is imperative to no longer fast at the fountain of un-forgiveness; it will leave you famished. Now is the time to move to the buffet of blessings and if you want to know where it is, you’ll find it through the door of forgiveness.

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:14-15

New book :: Pre-order Link

**Releasing February 20, 2018** Dear God by Lakisha Johnson
PRE-ORDER HERE

Dear God Banner
This book, although it did not take me out of my comfort zone, it is different from any book you may have read of mine. This book, it does have some curse words but NO sex. This book, instead, seeks to help someone who may find themselves feeling like Jayme. Feeling like she’ll never get out the hell that seems to have her surrounded.

I hope you will enjoy it as much as you have any other book I’ve written.

Lakisha

Synopsis:

Since the age of 14, Jayme’s life has been hell and she has one person to thank for it, Pastor James Madison.

He stood in the pulpit on Sundays waving the same hands that abused her at night. He glorified God with the same mouth he used to chip away her self-esteem, daily. He was a man of God who had turned her away from the same God he told people they needed to serve.

He was the man who was supposed to pray for, take care of and eventually love her. Instead he preyed on, took advantage of and shattered her heart before it had a chance to truly love someone else.

Now, 14 years and a son later, she finds herself needing God yet she doesn’t know how to get Him. She longs for God but isn’t sure He can hear a sinner’s prayer until she starts to say, Dear God…

PRE-ORDER HERE

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Daily Devotional – 1/30/18 “That’s what I get …”

That’s what I get … for fooling with folk who didn’t mean me any good, for staying in a place I knew didn’t welcome me, for holding on to a relationship I knew was breaking me, for putting my all into someone who didn’t value my worth, for being too impatient to wait on the morning which held my joy, for being in a hurry to get something I knew wasn’t mine, for giving more of myself than I should have, for always saying yes even when it hurt, for supporting even when they disliked me, for showing up even when they didn’t return the favor, for getting up with the pain in my body, for pushing long after my arms were tired, for climbing after my legs felt numb, for believing in them when they didn’t believe in themselves and for partnering with somebody I knew was too damaged to handle what I could bring. That’s what I get!

This is what we say, right? When things don’t go as planned, we say; that’s what I get for trusting, believing, going and/or giving my last. I know it’s what I used to say until I realized I had to change my “That’s what I get,” into positivity because what I really got was strength to separate myself from folk who could easily stab me in the back. What I got was perseverance when the pain almost shut me down. What I got was, how to be a diligent disciple instead of being a damsel in distress. What I got was, a divorce from my doubts and depression instead of being defiled and defamed. What I got was courage when they criticized my calling. That’s what I get … yes, you too can get it. You can get exalted if you endure instead of acting as if life has emptied you. You can get married if you forgive those who mishandled you. You can get free if you fight your fears. You can get victory if you stop claiming victim benefits. You can get prosperity if you put off the persecutions of your past.

Daily Devotional – 1/29/18 “Believe what you see, faith what you can’t!”

On my ride to work this morning, God dropped in my spirit, “Believe what you see, faith what you can’t.” I opened up Word and I typed it out, for this devotional but then nothing. I keep repeating it and starting over because I was having a hard time understanding this myself. I mean, how can I believe what I see and then faith what I can’t when I see this cutoff notice, the calls from the bill collectors, the report of the doctor, I see the way family treats me, the way I’m being misused on my job and I see the scars from abuse? How can I believe what I see when I see nothing that is of benefit to me? Then God said, I don’t need you to believe in what you see naturally but I need you to believe in what you’ve seen spiritually. See, spiritually I’ve seen the increase, my breakthrough, my deliverance, my gifts paying off, my new house, my new car, my ministry growing, my marriage being restored, my body being healed, my spouse and my children being saved and me being released from financial debt, the hands of my abuser and the bondage of my past. But I don’t see when or how it’ll happen. Well, this is when you’ll have to faith what you can’t. This is the part of not knowing actually when cancer will be in remission, when you’ll get that new kidney, when your womb will be open, when the grief will stop being so heavy, knowing who your spouse will be, when your children will act right and when you’ll finally get out of the water that’s been threatening to drown you.

Beloved, you have to believe what you see and faith what you can’t. The bible says in Mark 11:24, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, BELIEVE that you have received it, and it will be yours.” If you believe it can happen, it can. If you believe you shall have it, you can. What have you seen spiritually that you’ve doubted simply because you’ve yet to faith it? Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” I need you to get something today. Read the first two words of Hebrews 11:1 again. If you noticed it says now faith and not now, faith. What’s the difference? The comma. See, the comma signifies taking a pause and if you paid attention there is no comma in between now and faith which lets me know I need NOW FAITH. Now which is defined as under the present circumstances; as a result of something that has recently happened. In other words, under the present circumstances of your life, have faith. In the midst of whatever has happened, have faith. But not just any faith, NOW FAITH. The kind of faith that says, I’ve seen God’s work in others and I believe He’ll do it for me too. And the kind that says, I’ve seen what God can do so I’ll faith it until I can see it for me. In other words, believe what you see, faith what you can’t.

Daily Devotional – 1/26/18 “Grace AND Mercy”

While I was in school, I took a course on biblical history. One person I learned about was a preacher by the name of Jonathan Edwards. On July 8, 1741, he preached a sermon titled, “Sinners in the Hands of an angry God.” In this sermon, he preached a warning of hell if you didn’t repent and ask God for mercy. Edwards says, daily we walk under a cloud of destruction caused by our wickedness and the only reason we’ve yet to be given what we deserved is because of God’s grace. He says, (this is me paraphrasing) … Although we are, at present, under a sentence of condemnation and should be tried, sentenced and put to death; God spares us. We walk, as he says, over hell on a rotten covering that is filled with more rotten places yet we don’t fall. Even when our feet hit a place that should give out, it doesn’t. Even when we should slip, God steadies our walk. Arrows of death continuously pass us by yet we live. By the Will of God, we live. And the only reason God hasn’t removed His hand from us is due to His restraints, His pleasure and His will; not ours! In other words, our lives isn’t spared because we are good, holy and righteous; no matter how well we pretend to be but we are not consumed because we are covered by grace AND mercy.

See, grace is God extending to us what we don’t deserve and mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. Grace is God giving us the blessing of a new day even though we didn’t appreciate yesterday. Mercy is God saving us when we were supposed to die in sin. Grace is giving us the promotion our resume says we doesn’t qualify for. Mercy is stopping the enemy from cashing in on that agreement y’all made one night when you were lost. Grace is God approving the loan for your new house at the fourth bank when three banks had already turned you down because of your credit. Mercy is stopping you from killing yourself when you drove drunk again. Grace is God giving us those things we know we don’t deserve and mercy is God withholding the very thing we do deserve. So, when you want to complain about what you don’t have, thank God for grace and mercy. When you want to curse God because of the pain you’re going through, remember grace and mercy. When you want to throw in the towel, think about grace and mercy. When you want to shut up your mouth from praising, consider grace and mercy. When you roll over on Sunday and contemplate whether to go to worship, whether to be faithful, whether to pay tithes and whether to be devoted; count up the cost of all the things grace and mercy has kept you from paying for.