Lakisha, the Author

Daily Devotional – 2/16/17 “Don’t let go!”

Do you ever reflect back over your life? Ever take a moment and think about where you were ten, five or even two years ago? I’m only asking because my husband reminded me this morning of how far we’d been bought by God’s grace. Yea, I could have easily said, how far we’d come but we only made it by being carried by God’s grace. And as I look at the tattoo on my right wrist, I know exactly when the renovation process, for us began. It was August 29, 2014, the day after I accepted God’s call. See, I toiled for over a year trying to figure things out on my own, struggling and barely surviving and fighting spiritually against myself. I blamed the enemy when truth is, it was me, I was fighting God. I was against everything God was trying to do in my life because I was worried about what ‘they’ would say. And it almost cost me everything. I don’t usually get this personal but I need our testimony to speak to somebody on the verge of giving up. I need OUR testimony to become somebody else victory speech. I need somebody else to trust and know God won’t leave you. Even when you’re fighting Him, He’s still there. Even when you’ve walked away, He’s still trailing behind. Even when you act like He doesn’t exist, He does. I learned this, the hard way and yet, it is part of the process I wouldn’t change because it taught me to trust God more.

Look, my husband and I were young when we bought our first house and the entire process wasn’t in our favor. We stayed there ten years before we moved into an overpriced apartment, we couldn’t afford. Stayed there four years until 8/29 when God told us we had to move. And we did! We moved the contents of our family in 2 days. Didn’t even have a place to stay but we moved. Lived in an extended stay for a month before moving in with my husband’s parents for a few weeks. We went from there to a home we rented for two years. But let me tell you what was different. From 2000 (when we bought our house) until 2014 (in the apartment), we struggled. BAD! Yet we moved when God said move and from November 2014 to October 2016, we never missed a bill. Our credit score started to rise and things were different. It was God keeping His promise. Never paid rent, gas, electric or car notes late. Never went hungry. God did it! And this year, 1/31/17, we became re-NEW-ed home owners. And as I was leaving this morning, I began chanting, “Thank you Lord.” Whoever you are, hold on. Don’t give up but be patient while trusting God. He’ll show up for you just like He did for us.

“Dear God, Help me to trust you even when it doesn’t make sense. Guide me and don’t take your hands off. Although I may fight, I won’t and can’t let go until you bless me. Amen”

Daily Devotional – 2/15/17 “Simple prayer!”

Sometimes, all it takes is a simple prayer filled with the power of the Holy Ghost to get what you need. Beloved, when you don’t know what to pray for, sometimes you need to take a few words and do what my Grandma say, put your weight on it and get it through. See, I’ve been to a place of darkness and praying the Lord’s Prayer would take too much time. I’ve dealt with some pain and didn’t have the time nor strength for more than three words (Lord, do it!). I’ve been knocked down and all I could scream out was, Lord, have mercy! I’ve had the door slammed in my face and God, have your way; was all that came out. Been turned down and “Lord, you know,” was the answer.

What’s my point? Sometimes you have to let the Holy Ghost take over and get your prayer to places you’re too big to go. Put some weight on it, some bass in your voice and let the spirit of the Lord have His way!

Daily Devotional – 2/14/17 “Create in me, oh Lord!”

Love doesn’t hurt people but it is those people who have been hurt who do. Yes, I know it’s cliché to talk about love on Valentine’s Day however, there are a lot of people who have never felt genuine love from anyone. It doesn’t matter how many relationships you’ve been in, if you are harboring an unhealed wound, i.e. hurt, you won’t be able to allow genuine love in. This is why you always lash out, especially on days like today. This is why you start arguments when you don’t know how to respond to the affection he/she is given you. This is why you have trust issues that makes you go through phones and social media accounts. This is why you get upset at small things like him/her liking other people’s photos or them not responding to you right away. Why do you think you act out when they go out with their friends? It’s because you’ve been hurt and your mind takes you there, thinking they’ll hurt you too. So you set out to hurt them before they hurt you.

Beloved, what happened to you? Who hurt you? Who made you feel unloved? What turned your heart to stone? Why is the wall up? Who did it? And why haven’t you forgiven yet? These are all the questions you need to answer in order to get free. Aren’t you tired of carrying around a heavy heart? Are you not tired of crying over the same stuff? Are you not ready to come out of the hurt and dark place? Aren’t you ready to know what good love feels like? Even Anita Baker got it for she says, “Ah, many days it goes unspoken but this desire never seems to go away. It’s gonna take much more than hope to bring you close, I think I’ll pray – I want to know what good love feels like.” What about you? Are you ready?

Dear God,

Help me to forgive those who hurt me so that I may love and be loved again. Remove this heart of stone and create in me a new heart, restore the joy God. Search me and remove everything that keeps me on unsteady ground because I’m tired of carrying this heavy load of a battered heart. I need more of you so that I heal from the inside out. I need more of your love within me that I might love myself, first. Do it for me God!

Amen

Daily Devotional – 2/10/17 “Make me careful!”

Yesterday, I came across a song on YouTube titled, “Make me careful,” being sung by Tamela Mann. I’d never heard it before but in the lyrics she says, “Much is given, much is required yet I am a servant but sometimes I get tired. I won’t complain, this is my prayer; a job I must do until I am over there. Make me careful of what I’m asking for. Make me careful of what I’m praying for.” See, many times we ask for things, in prayer, without realizing the cost. We get in the midst of darkness and instead of seeking God who is the light, we begin bartering, asking for things we think we need yet never really taking into account what comes with it. What do I mean? With a new house or car comes new responsibility of paying and taking care of it. When you open a business, it requires a lot of your time. When you accept God’s call on your life, it comes with demands that sometimes overshadows your personal life. When you pastor a church, it comes with the personality of every person you shepherd. When you ask God for the blessing, you also get the burden. This is why we have to be careful of what we ask for. We have to be mindful of praying for stuff while in a crisis that we can’t handle when it is over. Because beloved, there’s some blessings that come with chains, hurt and pain. There’s some gifts that come with groans and some elevations with enemies already attached. And if you aren’t careful, you’ll end up cursing your blessing. This is why you have to be careful because you may just get what you ask for.

Dear Lord,
Make us careful of the things we ask for that we may not be able to handle. Lord, even when we think we need that which we are praying for, make us careful to not ask for stuff that takes us out of your will. Lord, block anything that hinders your call on our life. Make us careful so that we only receive what you have for us. Lord, we know that what we receive becomes what is required of us so let us not ask for things that will dampen the light within us. Block anything we ask for that brings more harm than happiness, more worry than wonders, more stress than strength, more pain than praise, more tears than testimonies and more burdens than blessings. Lord God, make us careful that we don’t ask for what we can’t handle. Make us careful that we don’t seek stuff we can’t hold. Make us careful that we don’t move too fast into something we aren’t ready for. Lord, make us careful so that we don’t miss what you have for us trying to get what’s not meant.
Amen

Daily Devotional – 2/9/17 “Stop running and heal!”

Yesterday I told you that you are wounded but not out. And this is true, if you stop running. I know you made excuses but the fact still remains, you are wounded. I don’t care how you cover it up, you’re wounded. It doesn’t matter how fancy you dress it, you’re wounded. You can talk with the big, fancy words, you’re wounded. Work at the prestigious job, still wounded. Own your own business, wounded. Pastoring a church, still wounded. Married or dating, yep you are still wounded. And your wound won’t go away simply because you’ve covered it. If anything, you are making it worse. See, when you have a wound, the doctor sometimes tell you to apply some ointment but leave it uncovered. This is because covering a wound allows a scab to grow quicker and although a scab closes off the wound to protect it from infection, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is healing. Think about it. Have you ever removed a scab only to find the wound isn’t healed? That’s due to the scab slowing the growth of new skin cells needed to heal the wound properly. You don’t have to believe me, look it up. When all you really need to do is clean it, apply some ointment and leave it open. Ok, you don’t want folk to know you have open wounds but aren’t you tired of buying bandages that aren’t helping?

Look, you don’t have to broadcast your wounds but it’s time you stop running from relationship to relationship, from church to church, from apartment to apartment, doctor to doctor and bed to bed. Stop running every time your feelings get hurt, it’s time you get healed. And the first step is acknowledging you have a wound. Next, you clean it by washing away folk and things who can potentially infect it. Next you add the oil of prayer and fasting that prevents harmful particles from getting in. And then you follow that up with connecting to someone who has access to refill your oil when it gets low. This can only happen when you stop running and hiding. And you will but it’ll only happen when you get tired of bandaging the same wound that’s been bleeding for 15 years. It is then you’ll become like Jonah who was tired of being tossed around in the belly of darkness, reaching for protection but not finding it and peeking into the face of death and he knows your name. It is then you’ll stop running and start crying out for the bible says in Jonah 2:1-2, “Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from inside the fish. He said, “I cried out to the LORD in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and LORD, you heard me!” You’re wounded and not out but you are also not healed.