It's not just writing, it's ministry
I’m in training this week, at work, so I didn’t get a chance to write a devotional this morning. However, I did take a few minutes to record a little encouragement.
If you follow me on Facebook, you’ve probably seen the two that I posted on last week. If not, please visit Kisha’s Daily Devotional on Facebook.
In the meantime, here is the video devotional from this morning. I pray it blesses you, in some way.
Be blessed!
Lakisha
Look, you ought to be at a point in your life where whining and complaining are no longer a choice for you or at best it should be minimal. Yes, I know things are going to happen but whining tho? When has whining and complaining gotten you anything worthy? When has throwing yourself a pity party ever resulted in something good? When has blaming folk ever paid off for you? When has making God the cause of your problems worked out in your favor? I get it, you see more bills than money, more sickness than healing, more death than deliverance, more killings than kindness, more situations than solutions, more problems than patience and more things than time but complaining won’t solve them. While you see an issue, God is giving you an instance to actually interpret His involvement as influenced instruction. See, God won’t ever allow you to go in a test without first giving you the directions of how to come out. God will not send you into a storm without the strength you need to soon come out. God won’t let you deal with defeat without having a plan for your deliverance afterwards. This is why you’ve got to get out of the comfortable state of whining and complaining.
Yes, I know you’ve gotten good at it but it’s meaning you no good. Yes, I know nobody tells you that you’re doing too much but let me be the first … you’re doing the most, chile! Stop focusing on the door that closed, you’re missing the one that’s opening. Stop being concerned about the folk who’ve left when God is sending you a group of folk to push you into your next level. Stop leaning on your past, you’re missing your present. Stop worrying about the few things that didn’t work when there are numerous ones that do. Stop looking at what you lost when God specializes in restoration. Quit looking at the start and work until the test is done because you may be surprised at the outcome. All you see is the storm brewing but you’ve yet to seek the advice of the meteorologist who is never wrong. I know it looks dark but have you spoken to the man who created light? Yes, your life may be hard, at this very moment but God hasn’t left you. Stop whining! As long as you go through with God, you’ll come out with God. Your troubles are temporary, your pain shall pass, your crying will cease, your meaning will manifest and your obedience to God will become obvious. What you need to do now is, stop complaining and whining through the obstacle of life in order to see that’s God’s miracle (which is you) can overcome it all.
“Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.” –Philippians 2:14-15
On my way to work (after a doctor appointment) I stop at Popeye’s. I order the $5 big box, chicken strips, only to get to work and have a chicken breast and thigh. Now, I could have been upset about it and simply thrown it away but I would still be hungry. The chicken is still good so I’ll eat it. What does this have to do with a devotional? I’ll tell you … Sometimes you have to eat what you get even though it’s not what you ordered. Sometimes you have to receive what God gives even if it’s not what you prayed for. Sometimes you have to accept the hand you’ve been dealt even though you were hoping for better cards. Sometimes you have to accept the fact that the odds aren’t going to always be in your favor, this time! Yes, I know I paid for chicken strips but they’re both the same price so I didn’t lose anything. I still received something to put inside to stop my growling stomach. Oh, I know that isn’t the car you wanted but the car note is what you needed. I know you’re ready to get married but be thankful for the time God is giving you to prepare yourself to be a husband or a wife. See, I’ve come to realize that God gives us what we need and not what we want. Oh, it’s quite possible that this can be the same thing but think about the times it isn’t.
You should be glad about that. God could have given you that man, you wanted but instead He gave you the one you needed and you find out later the one you wanted is an abuser. God should have given you that woman you begged Him for but instead He gave you the one He knew would help you in your ministry and you later found out the one you wanted, wasn’t first lady material anyway. Oh, yes; God could have given you that house you kept driving by but the next time you went, you found out it was built wrong and needed a lot of work so be grateful He gave you the one you needed. God could have given you that job you kept crying for but instead He blessed you with a career and you later found out why the turnover rate was so high on the one you wanted. Beloved, God gives us what we need and He’ll supply our every need, at His time. What do you do in the process? Wait with patience, praise and faith! So stop acting like God owes you everything you ask for especially when you know some of the things you’re asking for don’t belong to you anyhow. Trust God because He knows. And be glad He doesn’t give us everything we ask of Him because then most of us would be tore up, raggedy, divorced 13 times, in bankruptcy every 7-10 years, jobless, homeless and sick.
— “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19
Stop crying because of the closed door you’re currently standing in front of. Baby, as long as you’re in the hallway of the Holy Spirit, you ought to know that God doesn’t close doors that belong to you. So what should you do? Praise for the pain He just pushed from your life. Dance for the disaster He diverted from your dreams. Shout for the stuff He saved you from. Yea, you ought to be rejoicing in the fact the hallway never ends and the door that’s purposed for you is a few steps away. That’s the entire devotional right there but I need to encourage somebody on today. Who is it? It’s you who are mad at God because you think He took something that belonged to you. It’s for you who still want to question God over something that happened last year. It’s for you who’s stuck at the closed door and can’t move. I simply stopped by to tell you, God doesn’t owe you an explanation. He closed that door because He could and because he knew it wasn’t right for your life. See, whether it’s a closed door on a job you thought was yours, it wasn’t. If it was a denial on the application for that house or the car, it isn’t your time. Or even if it’s the closed casket of a loved one; they didn’t belong to you either. Stop questioning God when God doesn’t owe us an explanation.
Beloved, God doesn’t owe us an explanation for coming back to get those who belong to Him. God doesn’t have to tell us when He’s coming to repossess what’s His, He has a right. God doesn’t owe us a reason as to why HE shut that door. God doesn’t have to explain to us why He does what He does. God has no need to plead His case as to why He allowed them to leave you. God owe us nothing yet He still gives. God doesn’t owe us a thing but He still shows up. God doesn’t have to prove His love to us, it’s already been done yet He loves us regardless of the mess we get in. So what are you doing, other than standing in the hallway crying over a closed door, a failed relationship, a denial or folks leaving you? What have you done for the Lord lately other than questioning why you? What do you plan to do? Either you get comfortable sitting in front of that closed door or get your butt up and move until you get to the door God opens. Yea, you can stand there whining about how your life isn’t this or that or you can rejoice in the reality that you’re living. God has a purpose for everything He does. Stop looking at the closed door because as long as you have VIP access to the Holy Ghost hallway; you have a way out, a way over and a way through! Now, you have to decide whether to stand there or move!
— Proverbs 8:34-35, “Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For those who find me find life and receive favor from the LORD.”
Don’t spend your time rushing to accomplish everything, now, that you don’t leave yourself anything else to strive for. What do I mean? Well, if you rush to be CEO by 25, what else will you have to work towards? If you rush to be a bishop at 19, what else is there left to be? If your fifth marriage, by the time you’re 30, is ending when will you have time to really get the one God has for you? What I am asking is, why are you rushing the process of what God has ordained for your life? Yes, God has given some of us, in the ministry, the anointing of being a pastor but you’ve got to first get the part of associate minister, down. Yes, God has given some of us leadership ability but you can’t lead if you’ve yet to follow. Yes, God has given some of us the victory but it was only after running the race. Yea, some of us have received a breakthrough but it was only after the suffering. Yea, some of us have been restored but it was only after being broken. What’s my point? You can’t rush the process of what God is doing. Haven’t you realized by now that when you rush you mess up? When you’re rushing to leave the house, you forget something. When you rush to get something done, you don’t notice the mistakes until it’s too late. When you rush into a relationship, you realize when you’re too far in, this isn’t what I needed. When you rush worship, you miss the fire of the Holy Spirit. When you rush to grow up, you regret it once you’re actually grown. When you rush to get to the future, you miss the present. Slow down!
It’s like this … For me, being in ministry is what I was called to do but it’s a process. Yes, I know God has something more for me but I can’t rush the process of what He’s doing, not only in my life but in the life of my husband and my children because it affects them too. This is why God won’t allow me to move until He’s processed each of us for where WE are headed. It isn’t just about me because with ministry comes work for not only me but for them as well. And we all have to be ready. This is why you need to slow down and allow God to do the work. If what you’re asking for hasn’t happened yet, your process isn’t done. I know you’re ready to get married but are your children ready? I know you’re ready to move out-of-town but is your spouse? I know you’re ready for God to enlarge your territory but can your family handle it? When God moves in your life, those attached to you are also affected. This is why you have to be mindful of what you’re asking for. Being in the ministry, my family has to expect there may be more than one church service, there may be late night phone calls, early morning prayer requests or there may even be times I can’t go out-of-town that weekend. It’s part of the process. But don’t rush it! Allow God to process you along with everything and everybody around you. This ensures that when it seems as if the fire is getting too hot, they won’t run because they’ve already been prepared to withstand. Don’t rush the process.
“But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.” Romans 8:25
Lakisha, the Author