Daily Devotional – 3/24/17 “It may not be your season!”

Have you ever walked past a plant and it looks as if it is on its last leg but then spring shows up and it sprouts again? I have and I used to wonder why Grandma would hold on to all this dead stuff but one day she told me, “This isn’t its season.” I didn’t realize it then but she was teaching me a lesson, I’d later need. See, I would get frustrated when it seemed like nothing I’d do would work. I was doing all I knew to do but it still seemed like I was in a dormant state. I prayed but nothing would manifest. But then, something started happening. I began to blossom and my life changed. I didn’t realize it then but what Grandma told me was coming to pass. For it was then it clicked, “it wasn’t my season.” What I didn’t grasp was, just like plants, we have seasons where we don’t blossom/sprout. We look, just like a dead flower, and if we fall into the wrong hands; we may get tossed out. For just like plants called “annuals,” although they ‘die’ in the off-season, the seed remains ready to sprout again in spring. Beloved, you aren’t dead, it’s just not your season. That is why nothing is working in your favor and no matter what you do, you can’t get anything to grow and prosper. You can try the miracle grow but it won’t work. You can move closer to the SON but it will still feel as if, your work is in vain. It is not your season.

But get this … although it isn’t our season to bloom, it is our season to grow because it is during the off-season that we rest up and live off what has been stored during the spring. (Come on God.) This is why you have to know what season you’re in because you will be in your off-season, believing folk who tell you’re dying. You will be in the resting state and have folk trying to pluck from your branches. You will be in your nesting season and trusting folk who say they can make you grow. Baby, stop! Don’t you know by now that as long as you are planted in God’s soil, you will blossom in YOUR season? Stop rushing it. Stop being concerned when it seems like it’s taking forever. You have to wait, stay rooted and close to the SON and it’ll happen! But in your season. Then you shall reap everything that your off-season prepared you for. Don’t give up, it may not be your season.

Daily Devotional – 3/23/17 “Friend, brother or both?”

The bible says in Proverbs 17:17, “A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.” But what does this mean? No, for real; what does this really mean? Have we ever stopped to think of what these titles, we so loosely give, mean? Because here in this scripture, it clearly defines the difference between a “friend” and a “brother” yet many times we tend to blur the lines. See, a friend has the responsibility to love me through hard times but a brother/sister is born to help me weather the storm of difficulties and misfortune. A friend is there to love me through tribulations but a brother/sister is supposed to help pull me through my difficulty. A friend, he/she is supposed to still love me if I happen to face trouble but a brother/sister is supposed to be there to help me shoulder the load. This is why you have to be careful with putting yourself into the role of somebody’s brother and sister and who puts themselves in the role for you. Please understand, I am speaking on the terms of being connected by the blood of Jesus and not DNA because DNA makes us family.

Look, I can’t call myself a sister to you if I jump ship the first time you do something wrong. The same way you can’t call yourself a brother to someone who face you’ll slam the door in, if they happen to let you down. A brother/sister is born for adversity. This means, when I’ve messed up, I don’t need a friend saying, “I’m here for you,” over the phone but I need a sister who can wrap her arms around me while saying, “let us figure this thang out.” I don’t need a friend who text me to say, “I’m praying for you,” when all my stuff has been thrown on the street but I need a brother who shows up with a truck saying, “I’m here.” I don’t need a friend who sends the heart emoji when my heart is breaking from my marriage ending but I need a sister who’ll show up with a bottle of wine and some words to talk me off the ledge. A brother or sister helps, protects, encourages, teaches, corrects, uplifts, prays AND loves like a friend. This is why, if you know you can’t handle the mandate of brother/sister, stick to being a friend because “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”

Daily Devotional – 3/22/17 “What is your meat?”

On last night, during our final class, we were divided into groups and our directions were that each group would be given a passage from the bible and as a group, we had to write a ten minute sermon. The class would then critique our interpretation of the passage. I was placed into a group with three gentleman and we were given, 1 Corinthians 8. Now, it normally takes me days to write a sermon but on last night, we had 40 minutes and I’d be the one “preaching.” Four people with different thoughts and interpretations are to compose a sermon and preach it. Needless to say, we used all 40 minutes. This is a snippet of what we realized. 1 Corinthians 8 is the church of Corinth who is having an issue with some who believe it is a sin to eat sacrificed meat and others who don’t. Because of this debate, there is discord in the church that Paul has to resolve. One of our group members, Pastor Walter, came up with the 3 points that we used as the foundation and here is how I “preached’ it.

    1. The power of knowledge – 1 Corinthians 8:2-6: We have to know the trueness of God because verses 2-3 says, “Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.”
    2. The position of knowledge – 1 Corinthians 8:7-8: We have to serve in love. Asking ourselves the question, “Am I strong enough to love my brother/sister more than I love the freedom to do what I want?”
    3. The predicament from knowledge – 1 Corinthians 8:9-12: What situation am I placing my brother or sister in by using my power and position of knowledge? For verse 9 says, “But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble.”

With verse 13 summarizing the chapter, for it says, “So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble.”

Let me break it down. I’ve grown in knowledge to know there’s only one God which means it isn’t a sin to eat meat that has been sacrificed to other gods. Sam, however, has been raised to believe it is a sin. He and I are meeting for lunch and I plan to order the fattest, greasiest hamburger they got. I know the cattle was just sacrificed but I don’t care, I can get whatever I want. Then, I see the way Sam is looking … Will I sit across from him with mayo dripping from my lip, tempting him to order a hamburger too, even though I know it’ll make him sin or will I love him enough to order a salad? This is the kind of question we have to ask when we are in fellowship with some who may not have the knowledge of God like we do. This particular passage talked about meat but what is your “meat” today? What are you eating and/or doing that could potentially make your brother/sister sin? And are you willing to give it up to assist them in growing in knowledge or will you do what you want because you can?

Just a few updates …

Hey guys!

 

I know I haven’t updated this site in a while but I’m here!! What’s up? LOL.

 

No, I’m kidding. However, I did want to stop through and let you know a few things.

 

  1. I’ve started a reading group on Facebook. It’s called Twins Write 2. It’s a group where I share short stories, giveaways and it’s open for you, as members, to join in. If you are not a part of it, JOIN US! Click HERE. You’ll love it.
  2. The Family that Lies has now reached 100+ reviews on Amazon! Can you believe it? Me either but I am so excited. YOU GUYS ROCK! If you haven’t had a chance to download the book, it is still on sale for $0.99. Click HERE to get your copy.
  3. Hmm, what else. I am working on releasing a new book as well as some short story episodes. Be on the lookout for the upcoming pre-order link (as soon as I can get the book to the editor.)
  4. Join me on social media. I’d love to hear from you.
  5. Did I say that you guys rock? Well, you do. Thank you for supporting LAKISHA, the author. It means more than words can say.

 

Love you guys and happy reading!

Daily Devotional – 3/21/17 “Know when it’s your fight!”

Lucy had been working with Maria for almost three years. Every once in a while, Maria would come in with bruises and she’d cry at her desk. After a few times, Lucy started documenting stuff. One day, Maria comes in and Lucy could tell she had a black eye so when she caught her in the bathroom, she offered to help but Maria said no. Lucy wouldn’t stop. Every day, she’d stop by Maria’s desk with words of encouragement. She’d bring her breakfast some days and had even started sending her daily devotionals. One day Lucy is called into the office by HR who told her, a complaint had been filed against her for harassment. They told her that she’d need to stay away from Maria or she would be fired. After the meeting, Lucy was devastated. All she wanted to do was help but what she hadn’t realized, it wasn’t her fight.

When I took a class, a few years ago, to get a gun license, one of the things that was overly stressed was, never jump into anyone else fight. For one, you don’t know why they are fighting and two, it isn’t your fight. Please understand, I am in no way saying you can’t help people but what I am saying is, choose your battles wisely. Don’t take on somebody else fight when they didn’t ask for your help to begin with. Stop jumping into other folk’s battles when you may be the one they end up turning on. Don’t get caught up in trying to help everybody fight because you’ll end up broken, battered and bruised; with them standing on the side without a scratch. Know when it’s your fight and when it’s not. Beloved, you can’t save everybody. Stop reaching to lay hands on folk who didn’t ask for it. Stop trying to cover folk who aren’t ready to be. Stop fighting for someone spiritually, when you don’t even know what they are fighting with.

Look, taking on someone else fight means you are taking on their weight. And trying to fight for someone spiritually, without knowing what they are dealing with, could mean you’re opening yourself up to something you may not have been anointed to fight. Sometime, you just need to mind your business. It’ll be like me walking up to the altar to lay hands on a person the Holy Spirit hasn’t led me too. I go and get all in their business, making it mine. Now, I’m at home trying to figure out why this spirit of perversion is in my house. Why I can’t get a good night sleep. Why it seem like everything is on me. It’s because I’ve taken on something I wasn’t prepared, spiritually, to handle. This is why you have to know when it’s not your fight. Discern when you should intervene because it may save you from going through some hell that didn’t have your name on it. Know when it’s your fight.