Lakisha, the Author

Daily Devotional – 8/17/16 “The pull!”

As I journey this Christian walk, things happen that I cannot understand. People act in a way I can’t make sense of and changes occur I probably wouldn’t have made yet I’ve come to realize that not everything that happens will make sense to me but as long as God ordains it; I’ll be it, go, do it and say it. Why? Well because I’ve finally understood that God cannot launch us into the next level without first pulling us out of where we are. And guess what, it hurts. That means we may lose some people, move from some places and sever some relationships. And it hurts but it’s necessary. Think about a sling shot. In order to propel the object within the sling shot forward, you have to first pull it back. And the further you pull it, the farther it can go. This is what happens when God snatches us out of our comfortable places, when He shows up and pulls us out of messy conditions and when He plucks from our grasp those things we thought meant us some good. Beloved, this is why things around you look distant. This is why it seems like some people are far away. This is why you can’t seem to grasp ahold of what you used to. And this is why you can’t make sense of some stuff today that you understood yesterday. Baby, God is pulling you in order to launch you forward. No, you may not understand it but trust whose hands you’re in. It may seem hard but trust the hand of the one pulling you. You may have not been ready but when has God ever worked on your timing?

See, God has a way of getting our attention and if that means snatching our ignorant behinds out of the confines of comfortability, He’ll do it. If that means hauling us from the hands of hindrance, He’ll do it. It that means plucking us from some pleasures, it’ll happen. If it happens to mean pulling us from some people and places, it’ll be done. And we can’t stop Him. Yes, we can fight it but it’ll only make it harder. Yes, we can run from it but it won’t go away. We can even ignore it but it’ll happen eventually. So why prolong the inevitable? The pulling, the snatching out and the plucking … it’s necessary and if you’ve yet to experience it, your time is coming and you need to be ready. The bible says in Psalm 119:71-73, “My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees. Your instructions are more valuable to me than millions in gold and silver. You made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands.”

Daily Devotional – 8/16/16 “Want it or need it?”

I walked over to the cafeteria at work this morning, thinking I was going early enough, to get me a blueberry muffin. Only to get there and there wasn’t any left. I mean, I had my mouth set for that muffin. Instead, I had to get some eggs that didn’t satisfy my want but they met my needs. Somebody missed that so let me break it down. Many times WE make plans that meet our wants but not necessarily our needs and when they don’t work out like we’d hope, we get upset or in our feelings instead of recognizing the blessing in it. See, I WANTED a muffin but in actuality, all I NEEDED was food. Yes, the muffin would have been better yet the eggs still satisfied my hunger pains. So I have no reason to complain. And many of us ought to take a moment and reflect on some things. There’s probably some stuff, right now, that has you pissed off because it didn’t work out the way you wanted. Yea, your attitude is probably on ten simply because what you want you can’t get. Never mind the fact you have all you need, you’re still focusing on what you want. I want a six figure paying job but in the meantime I’ll appreciate the one I have that keeps meeting our needs. I want a big, fancy house however I’ll appreciate what we have that’s exceeding our needs, in the meantime.

I’m realizing now that sometimes OUR plans won’t work out like WE planned but they’ll flow like GOD ordains. This is why I’m working on not complaining. We can’t change the outcome, every time. We can’t fix everything. We can’t make it all work out. God is awesome all by Himself and he doesn’t need our help. All we need to do is trust in Him and then move. You may not be in the house you desire, driving the car you had your heart set on, working in the career you want or doing the things you thought you’d be doing at this age but in the meantime (while you work to get there) ask yourself this question … is it satisfying my needs? Is the car you drive taking you from point A to point B? Is the house sustaining your roof, wall, door, heat/air, etc., requirements? Is the job achieving what you need, right now? Is the food you have access to fulfilling your hunger needs? If the answer is yes, stop complaining because it could be worse. This is why the bible says in Philippians 4:6, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” You may not have what you want but you have what you need so appreciate it because it could be gone in the blinking of an eye.

Daily Devotional – 8/15/16 “A change is needed!”

We are living in a time where traditional worship no longer reaches EVERYBODY! Please understand, I enjoy the Dr. Watts however, if your place of worship is flowing with youth and young adults, they probably don’t know who or what Dr. Watts is. Yea, responsive reading is alright but chile, have you even explained what it is? See, I’ve learned that you have to meet people where they are. Everybody can’t handle the meat of God’s word so you have to give them little by little until their spiritual stomach can handle it. Everybody didn’t come out of their mother’s womb being a bible scholar, a sanctified servant and Holy Ghost filled; you need to meet them at their need. And sometimes, you need to take worship to where they are. This may be on the gym floor of the community center, in the middle of the mall, school auditorium during lunch or in the neighborhoods on Saturday morning. Because whether you believe this or not, everybody isn’t coming inside the four walls of the church.

And as a pastor and governing board of your respective worship places, you have to ask yourself the following:

1. Is service meeting the needs of the majority?
2. Are the youth and young adults covered?
3. Am I speaking King James to a Message Bible relating congregation?
4. Am I teaching and preaching on the level of the members?

And if the majority of your members have their head down, during the entire service, they either don’t understand you, are more intrigued by their phone or asleep. This is when you need to rethink your approach. Everything is not meant to stay the same and what used to work may not work anymore. Poll your congregation but in the midst, you have to be open to constructive criticism, really hearing them out and willing to change from the 50-year-old traditions. And members, you need to be active enough to give constructive criticism. Stop showing, after two years, requesting change when no one barely recognizes you. We’ve got to do better Saints of God. It’s mandatory that we do, now!

“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.” — Colossians 2:8

Daily Devotional – 8/12/16 “People pleaser or God’s servant?”

Because we are spiritual beings in natural bodies, we sometimes seek the approvals of others. Please understand, it’s not something that most of us set out to do yet we find ourselves doing it without even noticing. Think about it. Many times we post things on social media for likes and comments and because we do this, we get our feelings hurt when we get 10 likes instead of 100. We tend to get dressed with the thought, in the back of our mind, ‘what will they think.’ And we’ll even go places we know we aren’t comfortable just to please people. Well beloved, I’ve lived long enough to now know and understand, people pleasing isn’t for me. See, I’ve come to the realization that when you try to please people, you’ll get let down in the process because what you thought they should have liked and accepted, they won’t. Now, you’re all in your feelings because you’ve been disappointed by somebody you had no business trying to please anyway.

Look, we have to make it up in our minds that we are no longer working for the approval of man because when you work for their approval, you’ll also get their opinions. So instead I’ll just say like Galatians 1:10, “Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.” Don’t you understand that there will always be somebody who don’t like the way you talk, somebody mad at the way you walk, somebody looking you up and down for the way you dress and somebody speaking on your blessing. Chile, folk get mad talking about you think you better than everybody else all because you can rock a $10 dress from WalMart. This is why, as children of God, we’ve got to get away from being of this world and seek to please our Heavenly Father. You won’t be liked by everybody, deal with it. Everyone won’t celebrate your accomplishments, get over it. Everybody won’t give you a 5 star review, suck it up. Because if pleasing people is your goal, obviously you aren’t a servant of God.

Dose of Encouragement

As an author, there will be bad reviews, it comes with the job. See, when you open yourself up to the public, you also open yourself up to the public’s opinion but what I’ve realized is this … For every ONE (1) bad review, there are TEN (10) good ones. Now, understand this, you need to read them ALL however don’t dwell on the bad ones because if you do, you’ll run the risk of missing out on the good ones.

Continue to use your gift because it’ll make room for you and take you to places you only dream about.

Keep writing!
Keep hustling!
Keep grinding!
Keep believing!

It’ll pay off!

Always
— Lakisha

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