Lakisha, the Author

Daily Devotional – 10/4/16 “Are you willing to get up and go?”

You’re sitting around waiting for stuff to happen instead of getting up making it happen and then got the nerve to get mad when it don’t. You’re wanting stuff to just magically drop in your lap but baby this isn’t TV and we aren’t in magic land. Don’t you understand that YOU have to get up and go? Haven’t you realized yet that YOU have a part to play in this? Yes, God is in the blessing business but you have to put forth an effort to get the blessing. It’s like you going to church on Sunday just to see if God will drop off what you prayed for on Saturday but where is your real devotion? I mean, when was the last time you spent intimate time with Him in prayer? When was the last time you simply thanked Him instead of begging Him? When was the last time you trusted Him to do what a title loan can’t? When was the last time you waited for Him to move instead of depending on men? When will you get up and release the things holding you down? When will you get up and let go of that woman’s husband, that man’s wife, that car or house you can’t afford, that abusive spouse, that stressful job, that child that’s sucking you dry or that woe is me attitude? When?

You have to decide but in the meantime, while you sit there in your self-made prison of pity; don’t put your mouth on me. While you’re trying to figure out if you should trust God, don’t lie on me because I do. While you lay there on your bed of bitterness, don’t try to block my blessing. While you’re walking the wrong way, don’t try to trip me on my way to destiny. Baby, you can be mad at me for moving on, if you want but wish me well in passing. You can roll your eyes when I pass through but just wish me well. Don’t blame me because you’re still in the same place since ’92 when the only difference between you and me is I chose to get up! What will you do? Today, what will you do? Will you get up or will you stay stuck? Are you going to stay where you are or are you willing to let some stuff and people go? I’m only asking because there’s some things with your name on it that God is ready to release but you’ve yet to get up and ask. So today, get up and dry your tears and go get your stuff! Yea, get up and go get your healing, your blessing, your tears dried, your bank account increased, your territory enlarged, your heart mended, your mind regulated, your situation changed, your obstacles moved, your husband or your wife, your career, your home, your car, your happiness and your sleep back! Get up, grab your faith and go!

Daily Devotional – 10/3/16 “When will you rest?”

Stop burning yourself out trying to be a helper to everybody, a ride for all who need it, a cook for everybody whose hungry, a prayer partner for every person who asks, an encouraging word for every situation, a ‘yes I’ll go’ person all the time, ‘call me if you need me’ to everybody else circumstance or ‘yes, I’ll do it’ to every request. Baby, sometimes you need to shut up, sit down and regroup. Every once in a while you need to take some time for yourself because there’ll be a time when your body won’t get up like it used too, your feet won’t move as fast as they ought to and when pain from everywhere will make you take an unexpected time out. Keep thinking that you have to do everything, right now! Keep saying, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” because it may come sooner than expected, if you don’t rest! Chile, we all need it and there’s nothing wrong with taking a moment to get some.

It’s okay to put the phone on do not disturb for a little while. It’ll be alright if you don’t answer the call, this time, from that same person who needs prayer 4 times a week. It’s fine to go to sleep at a decent hour. It’ll be alright if you go visit tomorrow instead of today. It’ll be just fine if you said no, this time. Baby, you cannot attend every event, every worship service and accept every preaching opportunity because you need to rest. And I’ve found out that you can either rest on your own accord or your body will do it for you. The bible says in Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” But if you’re constantly running around filling everybody else tank with oil that keeps their light shining, whose filling yours? If you’re constantly doing the feeding, when are you eating? If you’re always the one praying, who’s covering you? If you’re always the visitor when will you be the visited? In other words, when will you rest?

Daily Devotional – 9/30/16 “Lord, I surrender!”

Sometimes, you may have to get help for yourself. Sometimes you may find the need to check yourself into rehab. Sometimes, instead of waiting for someone else to step in, you may have to step in for yourself. In other words, you may have to stage your own intervention. This means, you may have to get in the mirror and tell yourself, “Self, we’ve messed up.” “Self, we’re in a bad place.” “Self, this isn’t good for us.” “Self, this isn’t working out.” “Self, what in the hell are we doing?” See, I’ve found that when you’re truly tired, you’ll do something about some things. Yea, when you get tired of being walked over, you’ll walk out. When you get tired of being addicted, you’ll get help. When you get tired of being without, you’ll manage better. When you get tired, things change. But it’s not just any tired, it’s that fed up, pissed off with self, kind of tired. You’ll be mad because you’ve wasted time you can’t get back. Upset because you’re an adult yet you’re still living, like my grandma says, without a pot to … You know the rest.

This is why, beloved, you’ve got to make it up in your mind that today I no longer want to live the way I’ve been living because I’m tired of struggling to survive and still not. I’m fed up with being called by my shame and not my name. I’m tired of my past keeping me last. I’m sick of being addicted to folk who mean me more harm than good. Today is the day for you to declare, this is my intervention. It doesn’t matter what you’re cleaning yourself of, do it today. Rid yourself of negative people, anger from the root, worrying that’s killing you, excuses and reasons, bitterness that’s blocking you, unhappiness and its causes and anything that keeps you from being your greatest self. And you’ve got to do it now because you’re wasting precious time. Don’t worry about if it’ll work or not, it’ll work if you work it. Make the first step and trust that God has already laid out the plan for the bible tells us in Deuteronomy 31:8 “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” All you need to say to begin your intervention is … “Lord, I surrender all to you.” It’s going to hurt and you’ll lose some people but trust God’s process! Hello my name is ____________ and today I’m staging my own intervention!

Daily Devotional – 9/29/16 “Choose wisely!”

Eyes squinted and lips puckered, Wendy William’s voice) … How you doin?

Look beloved, the Lord made a new day that He has allowed YOU to see, that alone ought to be enough to make you rejoice and be glad! Chile, you’re alive and in your right mind. You got up this morning which means the enemy’s plan to kill you on last night was aborted. Yea, if you’re reading this, the plan of the enemy to steal your mind was interrupted. And if you think about, he didn’t destroy what he set out too. That’s enough to praise! It doesn’t matter if your account is in the negative, you can’t change that right now, praise! So what if everybody else is bitter, you don’t have to be, don’t join them.

What you need to do on today is this …let it go, live and be great doing it! And when/while you do, stop explaining to people why you have! You don’t owe them an explanation. They weren’t there when you were going through hell and if they can’t be there while you’re adjusting to coming out of it, let them go! Trust God because He’ll never let you down. Trust God because His love never fails. Trust God to deliver you from the circumstance that has you bent, the situation that has you confused, the friends that have you angry, the family that has you crying, the grief that’s about to do you in, the depression that has you shut off, the pain that has you about to end it all and the mess that’s about to take everything you’ve ever known because when it all boils down and the smoke clears, God is yet able. Even when the water gets too hot and the smoke too thick to see, God is still able! All you have to do, today, is decide the way in which you’ll take. You can either be mad or be made in God’s image. You can hold on or let go and let God. You can trust them or trust Him. The choice is yours but choose wisely!

“Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.” – 1 Samuel 12:24

Daily Devotional – 9/28/16 “It’s in the book!”

A few weeks ago I attended a training, here at work that I now have test for in order to be certified. The test has about 60 questions and although it’s tedious, I am able to use my book, online articles and notes. Now, I don’t know about you but I sometimes find ‘open book’ tests harder. However, the blessing in it is this … the answers are in the book, I just have to take the time to find them. Isn’t that something? I could bypass this certification and chalk it up to excuses but why when all the answers I need are in the book. I could say forget it but why when the answers are in the book. Do you see where I am going? A lot of us are missing the credentials we need to complete our appointed assignments simply because we won’t open the book. There are some, even, in their assignments that are failing tests week after week and it because they won’t open the book. It doesn’t matter that this book has all the answers, we won’t take the time to find them. We have all the excuses in the world. I can’t understand it. Well get another version. I don’t have time. Well get the audible version. Or asking something foolish like, “What’s the sense when I go to church every Sunday?” Because the bible says in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Oh, you’d know this if you opened the book.

Look beloved, if you’ve yet to study the word of God then it means you don’t have it on the inside of you. And if you don’t, how in the heck can you fight the enemy and win? Don’t you know the bible says in Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart?” This means, the word will do the work. This means, I don’t have to fight the imps of the enemy because the word will do it. This also means, I don’t have to put my word on the naysayers because the word of God will cut them deeper than I ever could. See, the word digs into the soul and spirit, whereas my word may simply go in one ear and out the other. So, while this book may be a slow read, baby the answers you need are in this thang! You want to know how to defeat your enemies, open the book. Need to know how to deal with this life’s circumstances? Everything you need is in the book! Need, I say more?