Daily Devotional – 4/3/17 “Suffering now for the blessing later!”

For the first time, in my ministry journey, I’ll stand on Resurrection Sunday morning and deliver God’s message. This may not seem like a big deal to most but it’s huge to me. And get this, God had already given me my message on the way to service but it didn’t resonate until Pastor announced, I’d be speaking. So, I began to look at what God has given me to jot down, an hour before. And it blew my mind because God had given me, “David’s suffering, Jesus’ sacrifice.” You’ll have to tune in that Sunday morning for the full message but as I looked it over, it donned on me that David’s suffering in the Old Testament was the prophecy of Jesus’ sacrifice in the New Testament. And somebody, reading this, is in the midst of suffering. You can’t understand why things are happening to you. You can’t make sense of why folk, who used to love you, are now plotting your death. You can’t reason with why your name stays on the tip of folk’s tongue. Why it’s always you. Why it’s always your business being told. Why it’s your home being attacked. And it’s leaving you to cry out, like David from a dark place because you can’t seem to wrap your head around it. I mean, you didn’t ask for the anointing. You didn’t ask for this gift. You were simply being obedient to God’s called assignment on your life yet now you’re catching hell.

Well beloved, this might just be your Old Testament suffering making room for your New Testament blessing. Yea, you may be suffering now in order to enjoy the fruits of your labor later. You might be suffering now but it’s just laying the foundation for your faithfulness later. Don’t discount your suffering, it has its purpose. Don’t count out your suffering, it has its place. All you have to do is stay in it, move when God says move and trust Him. Yes, you’re going to make some mistakes, ask David. You’re going to lose some people and stuff, ask David. You’re going to have to hide out in enemy territory, ask David. You may even have to fight for your life a few times but it’ll all be worth it, when you’re standing in front of the biggest blessing of your life saying, “It is finished!” You are suffering now in order get the blessing later. 



“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” – 1 Peter 5:10





Taking a pause!


Hey, to all of my faithful devotional readers…

This week I am taking a pause (for a week or a few days) from posting and from social media. Nothing is wrong, I simply need a moment of uninterrupted time with God.

If you need something to read, during this time, I pray you will reflect back on some of the older devotionals.

Prayer requests will be still answered so if you need me, message me on Facebook or email me at authorlakisha@gmail.com.

Until then,
I’ll be praying for you.

Lakisha

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?