Lakisha, the Author

Daily Devotional – 12/2/16 “The Heart Matters!”

How can I truthfully tell you to follow your heart when I know good and well, it ain’t right and never has been? See, me telling you to follow your heart to find love when I know your heart still holds bitter residue from your last three failed relationships, is setting you up for failure number 4. If I tell you to follow your heart to choose a place to worship, when I know your heart is still filled with hatred from the last church hurt, you’re likely to get the same thing from every place you join. This is because, unless you deal with the underlying issues in your heart, you’ll never be able to truly follow your heart. Beloved, you can’t get anything out of an investment unless you put something in. What am I saying? Well, you can’t benefit from being in God, if your heart isn’t really in God. Yea, I know you’ve heard the saying. “If you place your heart in God, a man will have to go through God to get it.” And while this is true, the catch is, your heart has to be in God.

Don’t you know the bible says in Jeremiah 17:9, “”The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked? Who really knows how bad it is?” This is why our heart has to be in God, otherwise we’ll be a complete mess. How do we get our heart in God, it starts by praying as Psalm 51:10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” When you do this, God will do just that. But before you pray, you have to be willing to go through God’s open heart surgery. And it hurts! In fact, it hurts like you wouldn’t believe because it takes being put to sleep (that’s surrendering), some cutting (that’s losing some people, places or things), some healing (that’s being alright with the stuff lost during the cutting) and then some outpatient therapy (that’s prayer and fellowship). Understand, you have to be all in because you can’t do part of the surgery and expect to be fully healed. Yes, it hurts but the pain is worth it because afterwards you’ll be able to truly follow your heart to the right people, places and things. Because when its God filled, you’ll be God led.

Daily Devotional – 12/1/16 “Letter to my younger self!”

Dear younger me,

I never thought I’d be writing this letter to you but I recognize the need for it. See, there’s some things I need to say and thank you for. Growing up, life wasn’t hard for us but it was necessary. Yea, it was necessary that we saw the struggle because it made us appreciate what we had and what we’d eventually get. So, thank you for taking the time to learn to cook and keep a house because we can now you can take care of our family. Thank you for being attentive to the strength of our mom because she taught us how to be strong and now we can provide with a little or a lot. I even thank you for taking time for granted because it taught us how to appreciate the days of now. Thank you for making careless mistakes because it made us into the person we are now. Thank you for taking people and things for granted because we now value who and what we have. Thank you for not appreciating your credit history then because it taught us how to work hard for what we get now. Thank you for our past because it built our present. So, to my younger self, I appreciate you and I am thankful for the journey. Had it not been for the things we experienced, we wouldn’t be who we are today. Had life not knocked us down, we wouldn’t have been strong enough to get back up. Had society not deemed us unworthy, we never would have tapped into our worthiness of greater. Had we not endured watching momma struggle to survive, we wouldn’t know how to now push through. Had grandma not made us go to church, we wouldn’t be grateful for our worship now. To you, my younger self, I thank you because had anyone told me the things we’re doing now, I wouldn’t have believed them. But look at us. God did what He said He would do. He cleaned us up, made us brand new and gave us a new way of living. He kept His promise to us. And now, I can confidently say, I appreciate it all and you’d be very proud of us.

I don’t know why God had me to share this but whoever you are that’s still angry over your upbringing or mad about your past; know this, you aren’t there anymore. Your younger self is gone and you’re where you are now. So write the letter, tell the story, share your testimony but understand this — had it not been for the things you’ve been through, you wouldn’t be half the person you are now.

“That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10

Daily Devotional – 11/30/16 “Where are you planted?’

Matthew 7:16 says, “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” Reading this, I asked myself, “How many of us are producing edible fruit? You’re probably asking, “What do I mean by fruit? And how do we create fruit when we aren’t trees?” Well, the bible says in Psalm 1:1-3, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither– whatever they do prospers.” See, as children of God, we ought to be like a tree planted by the river because a tree that is planted there have roots that runs deep enough to make it unmovable. And just like the tree, our roots should be so deep within God that no matter what happens to us, it doesn’t blow us like leaves.

Oh, you know how it is when things begin happening in our lives, we run like a leaf being blown in the wind. When trouble comes, we stop going to church. When death shows up, we grieve as if there’s no hope. When finances are out of whack, we start acting as if God isn’t our provider. But when we are rooted, our leaves of faith don’t wither when the seasons of life change. When the storm of situations show up, it won’t knock us out of our place. When the fire of burdens ignite, it won’t burn off our covering of faith because we’re rooted in a God who never fails! And when we bear fruit, it’s edible. What kinds of fruit? Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” This is why, beloved, you are known by the fruit you produce. And trust and believe, people will know if it’s good or bad based on where you’re planted.

Daily Devotional – 11/29/16 “Trust the one who knows the game!”

For the last few nights, my husband has gotten me hooked to the TV show Flip or Flop. It’s about a husband and wife whose business is flipping run down homes for a profit. On one episode, they received a call from a young man, new to the business, who needed help learning the game. They agreed to partner with him on a house but during the process the new guy would flinch every time there was money to be spent because he’d already said he was in over his head. His budget was $30K, they said $45K. He wanted to keep the old cabinets, they said they’ve got to go. He said $500 for new floors, they said $5000. Long story short, because he trusted them, they ended up making a profit of almost $40K each. What am I getting at? Had the new guy not trusted the ones who knew the game, he probably wouldn’t have made anything close to what he did. And for somebody reading this, you may not understand the plays being called in your life, but trust in the one who knows the game! I know you’ve prayed and it don’t make sense; surrendered and it still don’t make sense, cried and you’re still confused; meditated and still don’t know.

But don’t you trust the one calling the shots? And do you not believe in the one making the plays? I’m only asking because if you do then you ought to know by now that God has a purpose for the exact process you’re going through. Stop calling folk, they can’t explain it. Stop looking for help, it’s already here. Stop seeking for the answer in someone’s similar situation, it isn’t the same. YOU are going through because it’s your time. Your entire life is being shook up because God said it needed to be. So, hold tight while the remodeling of you takes place. Oh, it won’t feel good but trust the contractor because while you’re putting effort into why, you’re missing the blessing of … you could be broke down during your remodeling yet you’re still working. You could be out of commission yet you’re still popping. And you could look like what you’re going through but I see you and you still look fly. Whoever you are that’s going through the remodeling phase, right now, don’t walk away prematurely because it’ll leave you unfinished for business. Trust the process!

Daily Devotional – 11/28/16 “Weakness is not defeat!”

I shared a small bit of devotion on last Wednesday and it simply said, some of you are suffering now because you’ve yet to divorce your past. Oh, you know I’m right. For some of you, the past showed up over the holidays with a new smile and the same lie and you fell for it. Some of you dreaded opening your eyes today because you realized, after laying down with your past last night that it still holds the same hurt. For some, it’s not even the past but it’s your present circumstance that has knocked the life out of you, leaving you walking around spiritually dead. Life, for some of you, even a lot of pastors, have left you literally dying, spiritually, because you’re afraid if you let people see you hurt, this time, they’ll do you like they did last time. If I shall be honest, a lot of you don’t even have anyone you can let your guard down with and it’s silently killing you.

See, you’ve always been the strong one and now you’re too ashamed to show weakness. You’ve been the encourager for so long that you don’t even recognize your need for encouragement. You’re always helping that now you’ve yet to see that it’s you in need. You’re always the one feeding folk (physically and spiritually) that you can’t even hear your own stomach growling. Beloved; when will you surrender, take your own advice, rest, sit down and when will you let go? I shared a status by Pastor Jay Patrick that listed some things pastors should do. Things like take Monday off, find someone you trust to talk too and stop comparing your life to someone else. And while he catered this to pastors, it fits for everybody because every now and then, you need to take a day off and relax or sit across from someone, maybe with a glass of wine and talk without fear of it being shared. And all the time, stop comparing your life to that of someone else. You will get tired but don’t allow it to burn you out. You’re entitled to need help but you have to then let someone in to help! You can’t do it all. Even the strongest has a weakness.