Daily Devotional 7/9/15 “Do not resist it!”

Good morning all! I’m not at my computer today but it doesn’t mean I can’t share a quick word.

I’m sitting here waiting on my sister (who’s having gallbladder surgery today) and in my waiting I’m reading. On next week I’ll be teaching VBS at my cousin’s church so I’m sitting here studying up. I’m teaching on Matthew 13 but I like to dig deep in this thang and in my reading I stopped at this particular passage and baby it went all over me! Matthew 5:38-42 says this, “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.”

Say what now? Ok God, I’m standing face to face with evil, hateful, angry folk; folk who constantly pick at me and I ain’t done nothing, folk who lie on me and I ain’t said nothing, folk who scandalize my name and I ain’t did nothing but helped them and you want me to just stand here and deal with, be okay and take it? God says YES! See, God says bear that which is given to you because I’ll fight your battle. God says let them take what is yours, I’ll give you back double for your trouble. God says if they ask you to go one mile, go an extra one out of love because you are supposed to love your enemies! My Lord! God says take what they say, take what they post, take what they whisper and even let them take what they want because I’ll handle it! God says let them put it on Facebook while I favor you! God says let them tell folk while I take you places. God says I got this while you continually walk in my grace! It ain’t your battle so stop trying to fight it!

Be blessed y’all!

-Lakisha

Daily Devotional – 7/8/15 “Don’t ignore the warnings!”

Usually there is a warning before things happen. Before your battery goes dead, you get a warning; battery low. Before you run out of gas, you get a warning; a low gas light or there is these many miles left before empty. When it’s time for an oil change, there is a warning. On these new model cars, they even tell you when your tire pressure is low. Your body gives you signs of a heart attack, sometimes. There are sometimes warning signs before sickness. Doctors advocate checking for lumps for breast cancer, screenings for diabetes and heart disease and such. A woman’s body gives her a warning that she is about to go into labor. My point is … there are, at times, warnings given yet we choose to ignore them. God even gives warnings but they too are overlooked, ignored or dismissed. Yea, you felt that tugging in your spirit before you signed your name on the dotted line for the car but you did it anyway and now you’re spending more money than it’s worth. Yea, you were hesitant about going there and you had a right mind to turn around but you went anyway and it was a huge mistake. Yea, you saw the flashing warning sign all around him or her but the loving was good and now you feel like you’ve been cursed.

Why do we ignore the warnings? We can be watching the news and see the warning of a storm and still don’t believe it until we are caught in the middle of it. And it’s the same way spiritually. God can flash the warning before us and we act as if it’s a joke until we are lying flat on our back crying out! Shouldn’t a warning be enough? Would you continue to drive down a lane after the warning has told you that it’s going to end? Would you walk over a frozen lake that has a warning sign of possible cracks? Would you drive a car with a warning flashing of no brakes? Then why are you still ignoring God’s signs? Isn’t He warning you that you need to have your butt at church when He allowed you to be off on Sundays? Didn’t He giving you a warning to get your house together when the enemy came knocking but didn’t get in? Didn’t you get the warning when that sickness could have been worse? Didn’t He send the warning about those so-called friends before they stabbed you in the back? Why are we quick to ignore them when God has given us the means to see and hear them? Proverbs 20:12 says, “Ears to hear and eyes to see–both are gifts from the LORD.” All we have to do is open our eyes and ears and close our mouth! God didn’t make us to fail but He will allow us to go through some things for our benefit. Some things we go through can be avoided, if we pay attention to the warning signs! Don’t ignore the warnings!

Daily Devotional – 7/7/15 “God will give you what ask for …”

You asked God to enlarge your territory and when He cleared those unfriendly folk from grazing in your pasture, He was giving you room; why are you looking lost? You should be roaming in the fields trying to see where you should be planting your harvest. You asked God to elevate you the next level and now that the folk on the job increased your work load, why are you complaining? You do know that with elevation comes enlarged responsibilities, don’t you? You asked God to send you a husband but now you’re complaining because the mailman is hitting on you. You ask God to manifest His gift in you then you complain when folk ask you to use it. You ask God to use you spiritually then you got the audacity to say no when the pastor call on you. Baby, be careful what you ask God for! See, when you ask God for things, He allows them to be manifested in the natural. It’s not so He can see if we will fail in doing that which we’ve asked of Him but it’s because He’s providing for His children. Luke 11:9 says, “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” For Luke 11:10 picks up and says, “For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

This is why you have to be careful what you ask for, if you aren’t ready to receive. Stop asking God to open doors that you know you are fearful to walk into! You ought to know by now that God didn’t make His children with a component of fear. Build your faith up! Stop asking God to elevate you to places and then when you get there you realize you are petrified of heights. Chile, don’t you know being in God’s hands in the best parachute to be in? He won’t let you fall even if you happen to fall? Build your faith up! All I am saying is this … When you ask God for something; He gives you that which you ask for but greater. When you ask for water, He gives you living water. When you ask for life, He gives you living. When you ask for a blessing, He gives you an inheritance. When you ask for a gift, He gives you a talent. When you ask for a husband, He sends you a help mate. When you ask for a financial blessing, He sends you favor. And when you ask for grace, He sends grace and mercy! God gives you what you ask for but you have to be ready to receive it. Don’t ask in vain.

Daily Devotional – 7/6/15 “It’s praying time!”

I normally don’t give the enemy a lot of credit because as a people of God, we have to learn to stand firm in the faith that God will give us the strength to fight the enemy and win but the enemy is running haywire! Not only is he running rampant in our communities but he’s in our homes and our churches. When will it end?

  • When he can’t get the parents, he attacks the children and as parents we have to be attentive enough to know his schemes. Stop leaving the children at home on Sunday morning or bible study/prayer meeting nights because something will eventually rub off on them. Stop allowing them to go any and everywhere because something can rub off on them there too. We’ve got to get back to praying over our children because the enemy is preying on them!

  • When he can’t get the pastor, he attacks their spouse; this is why it’s not enough to just be praying for him or her but pray for their spouse as well. Don’t you know the enemy’s job is to keep the church off balance and what better way than to give the pastor something else to worry about? Oh but if he or she had folk camped around him or her praying like we ought too, he or she can make it through this thang!

  • Yea, it’s great to pray for our city but let’s start praying for the people in the city. Let’s start praying for the leadership. Maybe they need to get closer to God and then it’ll trickle down from their administration to the streets. Yea, it’s cool to pray for the city but the city isn’t the one doing all the killing, let’s pray for the teenagers who are killing one another. Let’s pray for parents who have to keep burying their children. Let’s pray for racism to end. Let’s pray for unity. Let’s pray for hate to be sent back to the pits of hell. Let us lay out in the streets praying to God before the killings instead of after.

When the enemy can have families fighting and they classify it as hating, we have a problem. When the enemy can sit down next to you in church with the intention of killing you, we have a problem. When you can be killed in your own home by a stray bullet, we have a problem. When you can no longer walk the streets safely in your own city, we have a problem. When you have to worry about the police who have taken oath to protect you, we have a problem. When the cemeteries are increasing minute by minute, we have a problem. When girls don’t know their purpose or destiny in life but they’ve already become mothers, we have a problem. When boys can’t vote but already have a record, we have a problem. It’s time we go before the throne of God, praying in our houses with our families. It’s time out for playing and it’s time in for praying!

Book Cover Contest – Ms. Nice Nasty

Hey All! My book cover has been entered into the UBAWA Best Book Cover Contest and I need your help to win. This contest is on Facebook and all you have to do is click HERE and locate my book cover of Ms. Nice Nasty and press LIKE!

THAT’S IT!

The contest runs until September 1, 2015!

Please share it with others and ask them to vote as well.

Thank you in advance.

–Lakisha