Daily Devotional – 6/24/16 “Benefits vs. blessing!”

I shared this story a year ago and for some reason it fits again today.

“There were two mechanics working on the tracks of the railroad, one was young and the other an older gentleman. One day, as the train came into the station, an older gentleman got off and shouted down to the older mechanic, “Hey Bob.” Bob, shouted back, “Hey Frank.” The younger mechanic was blown away and asked, “Do you know who that was? That’s the president of the railroad. How do you know him?” Bob says, “We started together at the railroad some 30 years ago.” The younger mechanic looking confused asks “If you both started together, why is he the president of the company and you’re still a mechanic.” Bob replied, “Because I started working for $3.13 an hour and Frank started working for the railroad.””

– The moral of the story is … You have to be mindful of what you’re working for!

Many times we get caught up in working for the benefits that we miss the blessing. I don’t mean blessings as in open doors, receiving that which you’ve asked for and such but I mean the blessing and the anointing of God. I mean the filling you up with the Holy Spirit so much so that you don’t even look nor sound the same. Beloved, don’t you know that when God places His hands on us to bless us; there isn’t an enemy, man or woman who can take it away? Don’t you know that when we get the blessing of God, things start to move in our favor? Don’t you know that when we get God’s blessing, folk see us differently? It’s not because of what we’re doing but it’s because God has now laid His hand upon us and blessed our life. Why do you think everywhere you walk is good? Why do you think every time you open your mouth, God can be heard? Why do you think every place you step is left with God’s presence? It’s not because of you but it’s because of the God in you. And you probably didn’t even recognize when the change happened. But I can tell you when it did. It was when you stopped playing with this thang! It was when you got up from laying out on the altar and told God, I’m ready. It was when you finally stopped running. It was when you allowed God to show up in your bedroom on that Wednesday night and blow your mind. It was that Thursday in your car when something took over you and you couldn’t stop crying. It was that Sunday, you started walking down the aisle of the church and surrendered. It was then you received the blessing of God. It was then you stopped working for the money and started working for God’s mercy. It was then you stopped working for the accolades and started working through the anointing. It was then you stopped working for the acceptance of men and starting working to be accepted by The Man.

Baby, it is when you stop working for the benefits of God and start working for the blessing of God that’ll you see your entire life change. You’ll start getting invitations from folk you didn’t even know, knew you. You’ll start reaping from harvests you didn’t even have to labor and plant. You’ll start going places you’ve only seen on TV. Folk that use to talk about you will now be the ones to bless you. And it’ll only happen when you stop working for the benefits and start working for the blessing. And get this… when you do, you’ll get God’s blessing AND His benefits. This is why the bible says in Colossians 3:23-24 “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.”

Benefit vs Blessing

Daily Devotional – 6/22/16 “Same question, different day!”

With technology, we can get in our cars or use our phones to input an address and it’ll give us directions. Some of us would be so lost if we didn’t have GPS capabilities to depend on. It doesn’t matter that it cost extra, we’ll pay it. It doesn’t matter that it could potentially fail, we still depend on it. We don’t count the number of times it has taken us the wrong way, we’ll still use it again. Even if it happens to take us to an unfamiliar area, we trust it to get us out. If it stays quiet for a long period of time, we trust it to kick in when we need it. We don’t check to see if it’s been updated with the latest software, we trust it. Even with a possibility of short circuiting, we still trust it. Without a passing thought, we trust it. And as I was sitting here this morning, the question crossed my mind, “Why don’t we trust God this way?” I mean, a lot of us are lost without Him yet our trust still wavers. We know there’s not a chance He can fail yet we still don’t trust Him enough. We know He’ll never lead us wrong yet we question where He’s taking us. We even know that in His quiet times of not answering us, He’s still there yet we’ll ask, “God why are you ignoring me?” We know and understand that God is all-knowing, all-powerful and everywhere yet we don’t trust Him enough to get us out of our dark situations. And even though He paid the cost, we’ll still scream it’s not enough.

Why don’t we trust God? We trust technology but not God’s teaching. We trust the unfamiliarity of the world but not the familiarity of God. We trust where the GPS takes us yet we stay stagnant on God’s command. The GPS can take us down a dark, dirt road and we’ll go but God gives us an order we can’t comprehend, we’ll question it instead of saying, “God, I don’t understand yet I’ll trust you.” Who told you God wasn’t worthy enough to be trusted? What has God done that makes you think He’s untrustworthy? When has God broken a promise? Where has God fallen short? And how has God forsaken you? Ask yourself these questions and take the time to ponder your answers because somewhere we’ve fallen short. Somewhere along this journey, we’ve lost sight of the power God has. The power to create Heaven and Earth out of a barren land. The power to say live when man says you should be dead. The power to make you first when statistics proved you should be last. The power to enlarge a territory your credit said you couldn’t get. The power to pull you from the pit and place you in a pulpit. The power to set your feet on solid ground when you knew you were about to drown. The power to open prison doors you know should be closed. The power to save you from a burning hell. So, answer this again … Do you trust God for real or are you just talking a good talk? I’m only asking this question again because somebody gets up every morning questioning where you are, how you got there, what you’re still doing here, why you’ve been there so long, who had a hand it in and when are you getting out. I don’t know the answers but I can tell you this, trust God. He hasn’t been wrong yet and I don’t believe He’ll start today!

Trust God

Daily Devotional – 6/21/16 “Do you for real trust God?”

Can God trust you

Are you standing at edge of give out and it seems like there’s nothing else to do but jump? Are you staring at the same negative balance in your checking account and you want to give up? Did you step on the scale this morning and it only increased and you’re tired? Are you driving down forget it all street and you don’t see any familiar faces that can help? Maybe you’re sitting in your car crying because you’re scared someone may see you. Maybe it’s you, lying across your bed in the dark; afraid if you get up all your problems will be real. Maybe it’s you who has all kinds of hell going on in your home. Maybe it’s you who’s trying to hold the rope and no matter what you do, you can’t reach beyond. Maybe it’s you! Well baby, I stopped by this morning to ask you one question … Do you trust God? No, I mean like for real trust in Him? No, seriously; do you for real, for real, trust God? Because if you do, then let go. If you trust God, jump. If you trust God, wipe your tears and get out the car. If you trust God, get out that bed. If you trust God; TRUST GOD! Yeah! Trust God to catch you. Trust God to make the way you don’t see. Trust God to provide. Trust God to navigate you through the rough streets of life. Trust God to restore what is broken within you. Trust God to give you back all that you’ve lost. And trust God to handle it.

Don’t you know by now that God won’t ever allow His seed to beg for bread? This would be like God creating the plants and telling them to now survive on your own. God doesn’t work like that. He created us so that we shall lack for nothing. But this also means, we have work do too. Don’t sit and constantly cry to God if you’re not willing to get dirty in the fields. You can’t expect God to bless you with a mansion when you’ve yet to live in the shack. You can’t expect God to increase that which you have if all you do is complain about it. Beloved, when we expect of God; He expects of us. Think about it. At your job, when it’s time for a raise, isn’t there an evaluation given? This evaluation assesses your level of growth over the last year/six months and it determines the raise, if any, you’re entitled too. Now, please don’t go sit in them folk’s office with your face turned up talking about you deserve a raise when you’ve only worked 3 days out the month. That’s like calling God when trouble comes but forgetting about Him when it’s all good. How do you expect Him to know your voice? God does evaluations too. He checks your devotion, the time spent in prayer, worship, loving and giving; and He checks to ensure you’re doing what you said you’d do. Then He decides if you’re ready for the increase. Trust His decision. It may not make sense at first but in time it will. So, I ask again; do you for real trust God? If you say yes, then do something for me … trust God!

Daily Devotional – 6/20/16 “Even if you lose!”

You should never, ever hold your head down after a loss. Baby the fact you tried, you got in the game, you stepped out on faith and you didn’t give up is enough for you to celebrate your doggone self. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t get the trophy, you tried; celebrate. Ok, you didn’t get the accolades for winning, you went; that’s enough to celebrate. Yea, you may have come in last place but chile; you ran in the race which means your name is still on the list, celebrate. So what if you got the L in your column, don’t you dare let anybody call you a failure, a loser, a letdown or the underdog when you, at least, got off the sideline. Even If you happen to lose, it means you tried and isn’t that worth something. Don’t you realize, there are a lot of folk who can’t say the same as you? Don’t you get that a lot of folks die with their dreams still being just that, a dream simply because they didn’t try? It’s not about you starting a business and it fails, it’s not about you going to school and dropping out and it’s not about getting married and then divorced; it’s about you taking the step of faith and trying. Yes, losing and failing hurts but the thing that hurts the most is not trying at all. Beloved, you have to understand this … You won’t win them all but you can surely try to. Does losing feel good? No but it also doesn’t feel good to live with regret. So you have to at least try.

And don’t you dare fix your ears to listen to someone saying, “I told you not to try it,” especially when they are still living at home with their momma and ain’t tried nothing but her cooking. Don’t you dare listen to the naysayers who are whispering defeat before you begin, they don’t want you to try it anyway because they are afraid you may succeed. And don’t you dare sit in a woe is me place trying to pick apart every little thing. Don’t even part your lips to say, “If I had done this,” or “If I had tried this way,” because you’ll drive yourself crazy and still have the same results. However, what you can do is this; buy another board and start again, this time change the areas where you made the mistake. Grab another pad and rewrite the vision, leaving out those folk who didn’t help you last time. And if this is not enough, the bible says in Romans 5:3-5, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”

And if you get nothing else, get this … It’s not a loss but it’s a lesson in this life to learn from. Take it in stride but don’t stop running because you have a race to win!

Looking for a series to occupy your time?

Looking for a series to occupy your time? I’ve got you covered! Ms. Nice Nasty is complete series that you should definitely read because it is a great series. It deals with real life situations, death, suicides, love and losing some things.

Camille thought she had it all together but life determined, that’s a lie!

All you have to do is download, read it and see for yourself. Then once you’re hooked, leave a review and share it with all your reading friends and family. I’d really appreciate it.

Here are the books within this series:

10927166_10200145892887160_782862172234870223_o Ms. Nice Nasty

Camille Holden-Shannon has always been who she says she is, a woman who can command a courtroom and bedroom without opening her mouth! She’s sexy, confident and not afraid; her credentials speak for themselves. She loves her family and her career but she cannot deny the fact that she loves sex and lots of it. She doesn’t break up homes; she simply gets what she needs and she’s gone!

Her career suddenly takes a turn in the right direction and she is thrown into the public’s eye and all hell breaks loose! A secret adds more fuel to the fire already burning inside her chaotic home and to make matters worse she finds herself being tormented by a ghost from her past! Can she hold it all together or will she break under the pressure? Will Ms. Nice Nasty hang up her stilettos or can she come out on top like she’s known to do.

You can download it for $1.99 by clicking HERE

11791849_861706553917678_840585635_n Ms. Nice Nasty: Cam’s Confession

When you allow your past hurt to push you into present sin, it may not work out so well!

For Camille, she proudly proclaims to be “unapologetic” about the way she lives her life but when her actions start affecting everything she knows, she has to make a choice between being ‘nice’ or ‘nasty’.

In Cam’s Confession, Camille finally takes therapy serious. She slowly opens the box of her past as she deals with the hurt that made her a woman scorned. Dr. Scott hopes with her finally releasing this demon, she can now move on with her life. But can she?

She thought revenge was what she needed but it only made matters worse. She thought sex would do it but it only made her worse. Now what?

With her life, marriage and career barreling out of control; will she be able to stop the train before it wrecks?

Find out in this 11,000 words special edition of Ms. Nice Nasty. Also, get a sneak peek into the first two unedited chapters of Ms. Nice Nasty 2.

You can download it for FREE by clicking HERE

11749690_857707930984207_1730763936_n.jpg Ms. Nice Nasty 2

All of her past skeletons come tumbling out at the same damn time!

Just when Camille thinks she has the chaos of her life under control, the clouds break and she has a hard time controlling the storm. Her already shaky marriage is crumbling before her eyes, add to it her husband’s pregnant side chick and all the skeletons in her closet; she may be in over her head!

Now, she’s standing face to face with Karma and it’s the last person she’d ever expect it to be. The same person, who has been tormenting her the last six months, is now threatening to ruin everything she has worked so hard for.

She should have listened when her mom told her, “your actions have consequences” because now she’s finding out the hard way. Will she back down under the pressure of being exposed or will she lay all of her cards on the table? What will it take for her to open her eyes?

Maybe she should have listened to her therapist or maybe it’ll take the possibility of losing her career, a near death experience of someone she loves or the unexpected death of a loved one, to open her eyes. Or is it simply too late?

Has her actions left her with more than she can conquer or can she survive with her mind, marriage and career intact? Find out in the series finale of Ms. Nice Nasty!

You can download your copy for (a limited time) for $0.99 by clicking HERE

I hope once you’ve downloaded, read and reviewed that you liked it enough to share with others. If you have a book club, reading group or social club that would like to feature any of these novels, please contact me at authorlakisha@gmail.com.

I look forward to hearing from you.

As always,
–Happy Reading!
Lakisha