It’s gloomy outside and someone’s spirit is as dark as the sky and your head is hanging low like the clouds. Baby, lift your head. Why are you sad when God is your joy? Yea, I get it. Things may not be going like you think it should but things are going. Things may not look like you want them to look but find the blessing in the fact that you’re able to see. You might not have a lot of money in the bank but if the account is still open, you got a little. Stop dwelling on what you don’t have, what you could have or even what you should have because all that is gone and you can’t get it back. Oh but you can start new. Let go of the messiness of yesterday and marinate on the marvelous mercy that has been given by the Master. Leave the tears that you toiled with last night back there, wipe your face with the towel of thanksgiving and trespass into the triumphs of this time. Don’t worry about tomorrow when you’ve been trusted with today. Live today! Get up out of that slump you’re in and stand. Now that you’re standing, smell the Holy Spirit that has you surrounded so that you gain a natural high. Now that you’re high off the Spirit, feed your spirit with humbleness and honor and go forth and handle your business! Yea, you have everything you need to get through whatever it is you’ll face today, all you have to do is get up and do it!
Daily Devotional – 7/17/14 “Now faith!”
What is now faith? Well in order to answer that you have to first know the definition of now and faith. Now is defined as the present time or immediately and faith is simply belief or trust. Yea, I know most folk say faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” but that’s simply the description of faith because if you don’t believe in what you’re praying for you’ve already lost your faith. So, to get back to what is now faith; it’s simple. It’s trusting and believing now. See, you’re praying for God to come but then you say, God in your time instead of saying God I need you now and I am trusting in knowing that you’ll come and see about me now. It’s alright to ask God to come now because He will. Yes, God moves at His time but that’s to bless you but when you need God to come and see about you, He’ll come when you ask. God, I need you now is different from God, send your healing now. Asking God to come and see about you, is like asking your best friend to come and keep you company because you don’t want to be alone. Asking God to send His healing is like asking the doctor to do surgery; it has to be scheduled which is why God does it on His own time. This is why you have to have now faith or now trust or now belief and not the kind that waves like a flag, the kind that you turn on and off like water or the kind that you can set aside and pick up because 2 Corinthians 6:1 says, “As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.” If you call yourself a Christian, a child of the King, a holy roller, a born again blood bought believer or a blessed and highly favored saint you ought to have now faith yet if you cause your brothers and sisters pain, you find joy in their sorrow, you place obstacles in their way or even rejoice when they fall or have a hand in their demise; then your call may just go unanswered for 2 Corinthians 6:3 says, “We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited.” (Ministry is anything you do for the Lord that brings unsaved souls to him.)
And you don’t have to preach God’s word to have a ministry because your life, if you’re saved, is a ministry in itself because folks are watching you. I’ve said this many times before but it fits here… The closest some unsaved ever gets to God is you! Folk, who you might not see, is following you. Someone, you don’t even notice, is listening to you. Someone who never mumbles a word to you is watching you. What will they see? Will they see God working through you? Will they see your now faith and believe in this man name God like you? Will they see your now faith and trust in God like you? When will we get now faith to take God at His word? When will we get now faith to believe that God will cover us when He tells us to go? When we will trust God now? 2 Corinthians 6:2 says, “For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” The Message Bible titles 2 Corinthians 6 like this …“Staying at Our Post.” Yes, sometimes it gets hard to stay at your post but this is why we have to have NOW FAITH to believe that whatever God has for us is for us!
Daily Devotional – 7/16/14 “Last (right now) but first is coming!”
Somebody this morning is wavering on your journey because it seems like no matter how far you walk you still end up in the same place, oh but keep climbing. Yea, someone reading this right now is going through hell and you’ve looked and can’t seem to find a way out yet keep looking. Yea, it may be dark out but keep pushing through it, there’s a light at the end and this is simply your test. Haven’t you gotten it yet? Don’t you know that it won’t always be like this? That you’ll have to go through to get to where you need to be? The bible says in Mark 10:31, “But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.” I get it; you want the career, the house, the car, the financial stability and the spouse now but baby if it was that easy you wouldn’t work hard to get it. If you got everything you wanted, you wouldn’t appreciate them when you got it. All I’m saying is, the things worth having is worth working for and more importantly, waiting for. When a woman is pregnant, she has to wait 9 months to deliver the miracle of life. You have to go through 15 birthdays before you make it to 16 to get your license, 17 birthdays to make it to 18 when you think you’re grown and 20 to get to 21 when you think you’re real grown. You have to go through 12 years of school just to graduate with a diploma, 4 more years to graduate with a degree and even more if you pursue more. You have to go through the application process, interviews and testing to get the job. You have to go through applications and paperwork to sign your name for that house or car; many failed relationships to meet your wife or husband and maybe even many doctors, a lot of medicines and treatments and even surgeries before you get your healing yet you rush God. Why?
You won’t always be last because your time is coming, wait for it. You won’t always be without; your time is coming, wait on it. Yes, I know it seems like you got more hell when you accepted Christ and you’re probably saying to God the same as Peter did in Luke 18:28, “We have left all we had to follow you,” but Jesus answered in Luke 18:29-30, by saying, “Yes, and you won’t regret it. No one who has sacrificed home, spouse, brothers and sisters, parents, children—whatever—will lose out. It will all come back multiplied many times over in your lifetime. And then the bonus of eternal life!” So you see, you may lose a few folk and some things when you choose God but that’s alright, they didn’t fit in anymore anyway but if you don’t get anything else out of what I share today, get this … Even if it feels like you’re always at the back of the line, it’s simply your place to be (right now) because the last will soon be first. Even if you your name is the last on the list (right now), that’s alright because the bottom will soon be the top. Even when it seems like everyone is getting to the top but you, keep climbing because you’ll soon see the view from the top of your tree and it’ll all be worth it.
Keep Climbing, Keep Writing!
I haven’t blogged in a while but I thought I’d share the post I did today on my devotional blog. Now, I don’t normally do this but I just feel like someone needs a little encouragement today. Yea, it maybe for you who thinks your writing isn’t going anywhere or for you who thinks you’re at a deadend. My words for you today … KEEP CLIMBING. Yes, it gets hard for a writer whether you are published or self published but keep climbing and keep writing. Your breakthrough is coming but you have to believe in yourself first before anyone else will.
Daily Devotional – 7/15/14 “Keep climbing!”
Have you ever paid attention to a squirrel? The way they move from tree branch to tree branch or the way they handle their surroundings? Think about it. Every time I see a squirrel they seem to only be focused on getting what they need down below and getting to the nearest tree. See, if they make it to the tree, nine times out of ten, they make it out of harm’s way. Is that interesting to anyone other than me? I wrote a devotional once titled “We need a squirrel like mentality,” and although it was wrote over a year ago, it still holds true today. See, when a squirrel is on a mission, it doesn’t allow the rain on the branches to stop him because it’s goal is to get to the highest branch away from any pending danger that maybe below. So, maybe it would be feasible for us, as Saints, to get a squirrel like mentality because it should give us the tenacity to be able to reach any goal and finish any mission we set out on. Yea, see, it shouldn’t matter about the rain that’s falling in your life, keep climbing. It shouldn’t even matter about those who are standing around the bottom of the tree trying to talk you out of reaching the next branch (that’s the next level in your life) because you should keep climbing. Yea, folk will try to throw stuff at you to knock you down but keep climbing. You may be waiting on test results from the doctor who said it didn’t look good but you’re not dead yet so keep climbing. You may have gotten laid off from your job but you’re not disabled so keep climbing.
Baby, if you keep climbing you’ll soon be out of reach of those naysayers who said you wouldn’t dare make it. If you keep climbing you’ll soon make it to the place man said you had no business reaching. If you keep climbing you’ll soon make it to the table some said you’d never sit at. Baby, if you just keep climbing you’ll soon reach the door that man couldn’t open for you. And don’t you know that when you climb with God as the lead and faith in your heart, no man can knock you down? Yea, you may get a few nicks and bumps from the knots (fake friends, enemies and obstacles) on the branches but don’t let it stop you because my bible tells me in Deuteronomy 28:13, “If you listen to these commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom.” And you have what it takes to climb if you let go of fear. Stop trying to see how high it is, just climb. Stop looking to see if someone is beating you, just climb. You don’t have to be in a hurry because it’s all in God’s time anyway so move when He says move. Climb with the faith that you’ve already made it and you will. Oh but let me add this … The only time you look down on those below you is to help them up. Don’t ever get to your treetop and get too mighty because although man can’t knock you down, God can!
Daily Devotional – 7/15/14 “Keep climbing!”
Have you ever paid attention to a squirrel? The way they move from tree branch to tree branch or the way they handle their surroundings? Think about it. Every time I see a squirrel they seem to only be focused on getting what they need down below and getting to the nearest tree. See, if they make it to the tree, nine times out of ten, they make it out of harm’s way. Is that interesting to anyone other than me? I wrote a devotional once titled “We need a squirrel like mentality,” and although it was wrote over a year ago, it still holds true today. See, when a squirrel is on a mission, it doesn’t allow the rain on the branches to stop him because it’s goal is to get to the highest branch away from any pending danger that maybe below. So, maybe it would be feasible for us, as Saints, to get a squirrel like mentality because it should give us the tenacity to be able to reach any goal and finish any mission we set out on. Yea, see, it shouldn’t matter about the rain that’s falling in your life, keep climbing. It shouldn’t even matter about those who are standing around the bottom of the tree trying to talk you out of reaching the next branch (that’s the next level in your life) because you should keep climbing. Yea, folk will try to throw stuff at you to knock you down but keep climbing. You may be waiting on test results from the doctor who said it didn’t look good but you’re not dead yet so keep climbing. You may have gotten laid off from your job but you’re not disabled so keep climbing.
Baby, if you keep climbing you’ll soon be out of reach of those naysayers who said you wouldn’t dare make it. If you keep climbing you’ll soon make it to the place man said you had no business reaching. If you keep climbing you’ll soon make it to the table some said you’d never sit at. Baby, if you just keep climbing you’ll soon reach the door that man couldn’t open for you. And don’t you know that when you climb with God as the lead and faith in your heart, no man can knock you down? Yea, you may get a few nicks and bumps from the knots (fake friends, enemies and obstacles) on the branches but don’t let it stop you because my bible tells me in Deuteronomy 28:13, “If you listen to these commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom.” And you have what it takes to climb if you let go of fear. Stop trying to see how high it is, just climb. Stop looking to see if someone is beating you, just climb. You don’t have to be in a hurry because it’s all in God’s time anyway so move when He says move. Climb with the faith that you’ve already made it and you will. Oh but let me add this … The only time you look down on those below you is to help them up. Don’t ever get to your treetop and get too mighty because although man can’t knock you down, God can!
Lakisha, the Author 