Daily Devotional – 5/14/15 “Get your faith up!”

I declared on 3/31/15 that by 5/1/15, I wouldn’t be the same and I’m not. See, on 4/26/15 I was officially ordained as Rev. Lakisha Johnson – my name changed and as I study my bible I recognize that when God change folk name their responsibilities change (somebody will miss that)! I recognized and realized that when God changed my name things around me would have to change. Yea, I even realized that the attacks of the enemy would have to change – they would get harder but I’m ready as I have my prayers stored up. Let me explain something to y’all. I’ve been on my job for almost 13 years and although I have the potential and the experience (not boasting just facts) I was just promoted on last year to Sr. Rep. Then when our manager was promoted two months ago, they didn’t even open her position; they simply filled it with another manager from another department. Yet, in my recognition of my name change I have to realize that things have to happen in God’s time. So, I’m taking it all in. Then I had an interview on yesterday for another position, in another department, in a total different realm of work. I am confident about the position but not so much about the pay (if they can match what I make now) but you know what I did this morning, I put it in God’s hands because I know a man who can work everything out according to His will! Won’t He do it? So, I’m going to wait. I have faith enough to believe that what God has for me is for me, in due time. I have enough faith that God will do it and if this job is for me that they will blow my pay out the water! And if it’s not, it’s not the end; my faith is crazy enough to know that too.

And somebody today, right now, reading this; you need to reach down and get your faith. You’ve reach the end of your rope, you’re right at the edge of give up, backed up at the end of give out street, looking out over jump cliff, standing at the side of suicide bridge, facing depression avenue, staring at the bottom of alcohol bottle number two or four, about to light blunt number six, getting ready to snort your next vial of cocaine or shoot the next hit of crack; but hold on … baby don’t give up! I don’t know what you’re in need of but wait. I don’t know what you thought you should have got but wait. I don’t know what you’re going through, what you’re dealing with but my sister; my brother, wait! I know that you are unsure about what the next moment holds but I can be sure about who holds the next moment. All you have to do is wait for the Lord and in your waiting, cry out to Him, He hears you. You don’t have to take me at my word but the word says in Psalm 40:1, “I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.” And baby, after He hears you, things will start happening. For David said in Psalm 40:2-3, “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him.” Yea, I know you’re in a bad place right now, your refrigerator may be empty, body may be sick, you may be tired of waiting, finances may be low, friends may be gone, family acting funny, nobody will call you for a job, Christian folk acting worse than the unsaved but wait and in your waiting, cry out to the Lord because when He brings you out; thangs happen. Come here Job, in his waiting he got back everything he lost. Come here Lazarus, he was dead and was bought back. Come here grandma, doctors said cancer years ago and she’s over 80 and getting around better than you and I put together. Come here sister, doctors said suicide disease; a disease that have claimed the lives of many yet she’s still alive now! Come here you who are reading this … you’re still here! Baby, get your faith up!

Daily Devotional – 5/13/15 “Night time!”

God will speak to us at night to help us with our day – isn’t that something? I sometimes wonder why God will use my dreams to speak to me, why He would have me up at night, why He would give me these strange thoughts, at night; no less and then it was said to me; God can speak to us in our night to help us in our day. Ok! I often time find when I am toiling with something, it is then that God speaks to me in my dreams. I say it is His way of calming my wandering mind. Has anyone ever been there? Have you ever had God to show up in your dreams to calm you down? Ever had God to show up to rock you to sleep? Ever had God to walk through your dreams and give you peace that surpassed even your own understanding? Baby, have you ever had God to show up to let you that everything would be alright and all you had to do is rest? I have and let me tell you, it’s better than good and none you’ll ever find on earth! Oh but get this … I’ve also found that when we, as Christians, are running or being disobedient, God will use our dreams as a way to speak to us too because it is then that we cannot run. How many of you have been there? God will allow us to have a shifting in our spirit, at night, which will cause your entire being to be different, come the morning. Yea, it’s easy to ignore God speaking during the day but what can you do at night while you are asleep? Have you ever had God to show up and run rampant through your dreams because you were running from your dream? Ever had God to hi-jack your dream because you were heading down the wrong road? Have you ever had God to kidnap your dream because you were knocking off your purpose? He’ll do it! Baby, God will have you feeling some type of way by the time you get up in the morning. Try Him if you don’t think He will. Keep playing if you want too.

The bible says in Job 33:14-18 when Elihu was speaking to Job, he had to get Job to understand that sometimes God will use other ways to speak to us for he told him, “For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it. He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds. He whispers in their ears and terrifies them with warnings. He makes them turn from doing wrong; he keeps them from pride. He protects them from the grave, from crossing over the river of death.” See, sometimes God has to get us in our inconvenience to make us see when we aren’t doing what we should be doing. Are we listening? But why should it take God snatching our dreams to make us listen? Why isn’t our trust stable? Why isn’t our foundation stronger? Where is our faith? I don’t know about you but the last thing I want is to be chastised by God in my sleep. It is one thing to be calmed by Him but whooped is something I don’t want. What about you? Oh but the great thing about the night-time is that the morning time comes! It is my hope that you (we) listen!

Daily Devotional – 5/12/15 “Your season change!”

Sometimes in our lives, people and things have to come to end and as Christians, we have to get to a point where we recognize when their season is up and are alright with it. There are seasons for relationships (not marriages), for jobs, for sickness, for that battle you’re fighting and even for the tears you’re shedding. There are seasons when things have to come to an end but you have to be willing to see the season change and then be willing to accept the change. Yes, I know you’ve been trying to make that relationship work but baby if you’ve yet to move past boyfriend and girlfriend status and it’s been over 10 years now and there are still trust issues; the season may be up. If you’ve been on that job giving them more dedication that you do your home life and they’ve passed you over for yet another promotion, the season may be up. I get it; that’s the church you grew up in, grandma is still a member there, everybody knows your name but if you aren’t growing spiritually; your season may be up. Beloved, stop thinking that you won’t get well; that sickness will end because it too has a season. My brother, you won’t always be down and out because what you are facing, it has a season and it’s coming to an end but you’ve got to hold on. My sister, your tears won’t always be tears of hurt and sorrow because they too have a season but you’ve got to increase your faith. Dear family who is grieving, grief too has a season and you won’t always feel the anger, bitterness and emptiness you feel now because it’ll be replaced with the memories and joy of your loved one who is now resting in peace but you’ve got to find the comfort in God through His word. Oh pastor; the negativity, pushback, no commitment and back biting you’re getting to the plans of your vision won’t always be there because those folk who mean you no good have a season which is coming to an end; wait it out.

You, whose faith is wavering in this battle, hold on because your battle has a season, it’s about to end. You, whose hope is dwindling down, push through because whatever has you burdened down, it has a season and it’s about to end. You who is depressed, your season is about to change. You who is without a job, car, house, or those of you who have all of these things and still struggling to make ends meet even though you’re working every day; hold on to your rope, your season is about to change but you’ve got to be willing to change with your season. How strong is your faith? How committed are you to God? How willing are you to walk into your new season? See, you can’t go into spring dressed for winter and you can’t go into winter dressed for summer. You have to be ready for your season change, are you? Will you notice when the change comes? For the bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:1, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Are you ready and prepared for your season change?

Daily Devotional – 5/7/15 “Never stop praying!”

On this “National Day of Prayer,” are you praying? On the day before the “National Day of Prayer,” did you pray? On the days, weeks or months before the “National Day of Prayer,” did you pray? You do know that prayer is simply a personal conversation with your Father, don’t you? Yea, you don’t have to babble on (God knows) or go all kinds of details about what your problems are (God knows) because all you need to do is talk to your Father. This is why 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Never stop praying.” Or in the King James Translation it says, “Pray without ceasing.” See, we ought to have God so embedded in our spirit that prayer resonates from within us without us even mumbling a word. We ought, as children of God, to have Him so in us that prayer should continually be a part of us and not just on a day that man has deemed a National Day of Prayer. We ought to have God so in us that prayer should be as natural as breathing. In Ephesians 6:18, Paul says, “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” Baby, it doesn’t matter that you don’t know what to pray for, open your mouth. It doesn’t matter that you don’t know every scripture in the bible, go before the Lord in prayer. The bible says in Romans 8:26, “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.” It’s not about how you pray as long as you pray.

And if you’re still having problems figuring out how to pray, I’ll tell you where to start; begin in the word of God; for the bible says in Matthew 6:9:13, “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” See, it doesn’t take much to pray to our Father. Have a simple conversation and allow the Holy Spirit to intercede on your behalf. God will do the rest when you come before Him with a clean heart. Pray without ceasing. Don’t take for granted the chances you’ve been given to pray because you might not be granted another chance!

Daily Devotional – 5/6/15 “Who are you hooked too?”

When your car battery is dead, you hook it up to another battery that is full of life for a charge. When your electronic device dies or is dying, you plug it into an electrical outlet to recharge its battery – it gets hooked back up. When your tire is low, you hook an air hose onto the tire to re-pump it full of air. When man is on the verge of death, life saving measures is sometimes taken in the form of them being hooked up to machines that breathes for them. When you’re in heart surgery, you’re hooked up to a heart bypass machine that keeps your body alive while your heart is being worked on. When you’re addicted to something, you’re hooked on it. When you can’t get enough of someone, you’re hooked on them. When you go fishing and you catch a fish, it takes the bait; it’s caught on your hook … What am I trying to say? Well, you need to be careful who and what you hook up too. Yea, Psalm 1:1 says, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.” See, not only are you blessed by what you do but you’re also blessed by the company you keep. You need to be careful who you hook up with! Who are you hooking up with? 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”

Yea, I know you’re trying to show yourself friendly but baby; you’ve got to be careful who you hook up with. It’s like buying a cheap charger for your expensive phone, they won’t all work. Haven’t you seen the warning that comes up on the iPhone when you plug just any charger into it? It’ll say, “This accessory may not be supported,” well that’s how some folk and things are to our spirit, “They may not be supported!” This is why you have to be careful who you allow to hook up to your spirit. Yea, I know you want everybody to go with you but beloved, everybody won’t make the cut, everybody can’t handle your elevation, everybody can’t take it – they may not support your spirit! My God! You’ve got to be able to unplug before it overloads you and then you’ve got to be alright with it. What’s the sense of constantly having something plugged in that’s draining your spirit? What’s the sense of consistently having something hooked up to you that’s not replenishing your power? Chile, you’d better learn who you need to be hooked up with. The greatest power source there is to have is God. He, who can recharge, refreshes, restores and renews you all in one sitting. For Isaiah 40:29 says, “He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.” Be careful who you hook up with!