So why are you waiting on folk to confirm? If God has already opened the door, why are you waiting on people to tell you to walk through it? I don’t understand why we, as Christians, need three or four confirmations to take God at His word when the last time I checked He was the ultimate approver. So tell me again, why do we need to hear it from the mouths of folk who can tell a lie so quick? Haven’t you realized yet that not everyone who says they are for you are actually for you? Yea! That same friend you keep running to for advice on your marriage hasn’t told you that hers is on the brink of divorce. That same friend who you call to always share your good news maybe the same one wishing you’d fall. Baby, not everyone who says they are praying for your healing is actually doing it. Someone in your circle could be the same one secretly wanting your spouse. Someone close to you is probably the same one that keeps stabbing you in the back. Someone close to you, yep that same one you need confirmation from, is still trying to figure out why doors keep opening for you. Someone close to you, yep that same someone you keep abreast of all the information, maybe the same one trying to figure out why your gift is anointed. This is why the bible tells us in 1 John 4:1, “Dear friends, stop believing every spirit. Instead, test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Just because folk say, “God told me to tell you,” it doesn’t mean it’s true. All you have to do is check their references (that’s their life) and if it doesn’t match the way and will of God, keep walking. If they are speaking about the Holy Spirit and you’ve never seen them be affected by the Holy Spirit, keep walking. If they’ve been praying for your healing yet you’ve never seen them sick and praying for their own, keep walking. If they claim to know that God is a provider but they can’t be called as a witness, keep walking. You don’t have to wait to hear confirmation from man because John 8:47 says, “Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” Check your membership because if you ask God, He’ll tell you and when He tells you, He confirms it!
Daily Devotional – 5/16/14 “It is done!”
It’s Friday May 16th and for some reason when I started to write the devotional for today all I keep hearing is it is done. See, if you look at the date for today, 1+6=7 which biblically, seven is the number of completion. Now, I said that to say this; whatever it is you’re toiling with, it’s is done. Whatever prayer you’re praying, it is done. Whatever you’re crying over, it is done. Whatever you’re undecided about, it is done. Whatever broke your heart, it is done. Whatever had you afraid, it is done. All you have to do now is trust in God. I know you probably don’t want to let go, you’re afraid to fall, too scared to take a breath, too fearful to open your eyes or even terrified to open your heart again but God said it is done. I don’t know what you are dealing with beloved but I am simply relaying the message, God said it is done. Maybe its death that’s looming around your house, maybe sickness has invaded your personal space, maybe hurt has found its way into your spirit; whatever it is let it go because whatever hurt, pain, confusion or fear that has a hold of you is done, today! Maybe it’s the uncertainty of something that kept you up last night, maybe it’s an offer that you’ve been given or a call you received and it’s still weighing heavy on you but if you’ve consulted God about it, He says; it is done. You don’t have to take my word for it but take God at His because it says in Psalm 12:6, “The LORD’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over.”
When the Jericho wall came down, Joshua 6:4-5 says, “Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”
Daily Devotional – 5/14/14 “God doesn’t need a reason!”
If God doesn’t need a reason to bless you then why does He need a reason to allow your test and storm to come? Chile, stop whining about what you think you did to deserve the hell you’re going through because baby it’s just your time. God doesn’t have to have a reason to allow sickness, death, financial strain and stress to stroll into your house because if you’re up on your studying then you’d know that Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” Didn’t you read the story of Job? Then you’d know that Job 1:1 says, “There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless–a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil,” yet God allowed Him to be tested but get this, God wasn’t testing Job, He was testing His faith. Oh but here we are; back sliding, lie telling, cursing, some timing, holiday serving Christians who drop like flies at the first sign of trouble and then you go whining to God asking what you’ve done wrong. (WTF – Where’s the faith?) See, many times we allow our faith to fail which then allow us to fall and we got the nerve to question God. Baby, God doesn’t need a reason to allow a little struggle in your marriage; He’s simply testing to see if your faith in each other is strong enough to get through it. God doesn’t need a reason to allow sickness to invade your body; He’s simply testing your faith to see if it’s strong enough to make you well. God doesn’t need a reason to allow you to go through financial hardships; He’s simply testing to see if your faith will withstand to bring you out of it. Let me say this again, God doesn’t need a reason! God doesn’t need a reason to take you through hell when He was the one who created you yet you still doubt His power and His promise. Where is your faith? Faith in the dictionary is defined as to trust in somebody or something, strong religious belief, the intention to do right or loyalty. Yet the bible defines it this way … “Now faith is the assurance that what we hope for will come about and the certainty that what we cannot see exists (Hebrews 11:1).” Lakisha’s definition; faith is the guarantee God gave when He allowed His only Son to be beaten, starved, hung, pierced, killed and buried so that we could have a right to the promise we can’t even see yet we partake of it every day. God doesn’t need a reason yet you need a reason to serve. How crazy is that?
Daily Devotional – 5/13/14 “God’s Resuscitation!”
When I got to work this morning and started my computer, I got this blue screen that said the computer detected an issue and needed to shut down to keep from causing major damage to my system and all I needed to do was restart it. Now, this started the wheels spinning because in bible study on last night, Pastor Letcher stated that he was excited about the next bible study because he would be teaching on resuscitation. And then I couldn’t help but refer back to a devotional I did on 8/27/13 title, “Shut down to start up.” Oh, go with me now. See, to resuscitate means to make an unconscious person breathe again but it also means to make something effective or successful again. Yea, I know you thought that when you fell and all seemed lost that it was over for you but God was simply resuscitating those dead areas to breathe again. Yea, you thought that sickness was your final call but it was simply God resuscitating your dead life to give you the chance to live again. Yea, those folks at the job thought they could count you out when they handed you those termination papers but baby that’s simply God resuscitating that area of faith you’ve been too scared to step out on (now you don’t have an excuse). Sometimes God has to resuscitate the living because you’re acting like you’re dead. Sometimes God has to resuscitate your heart so that the blood starts to flow again in order to get your lazy butt up to do the work He left to do. Sometimes God has to resuscitate your mind because your thoughts and actions have become foolish. Sometimes God needs to resuscitate us so that we realize our purpose. Yea, sometimes God has to take us to the brink of death only to resuscitate us so that we realize our true calling. God allows our heart to stop beating and our lungs to stop functioning only to resuscitate us back to living with a testimony of, “I was once dead yet now I’m alive and well!”
In the natural world, when your heart stops beating, man can use a defibrillator that sends an electric dose of energy to your heart to start it beating again. Oh but in the spiritual ram of things; when you can’t understand why it seems like your life is in chaos, why all hell is breaking loose around you, why nothing can go right, why it seems like you’re wandering lost, not being spiritually fed or no matter how much you work you can’t get your head above water; that’s simply God shutting you down to resuscitate you by sending a spiritual dose of the Holy Ghost to get you living again. Yea, you’ve felt it. It feels like adrenaline coursing through your veins, it feels like love taking over your heart, it feels like you’ve got work to do and no one can stop you, if feels like fire that’s burning in your bones, it feels like a reason to shout in the midst of your job, it feels like a song that makes you dance on Tuesday in the living room of your home and it feels like that shout that’s in your spirit beckoning to come out. When you’ve been resuscitated by God; your skin has a new glow and your walk is no longer slow, your spirituality looks new and your talk sounds better too, your living is not in vain and you no longer give to gain, your work is not about you because now you understand what you’ve been commissioned to do for Matthew 28:19-20 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen” God’s resuscitation is worth it and it works every time!
Daily Devotional – 5/12/14 “Stop running!”
Today is one of those days when I’m feeling some type of way. I really think it’s the devil trying to block my progress because this spiritual thing is getting real. I mean, it’s always been real but it’s getting really real. Now, if you’ve never toiled with your spirituality or your gift then you wouldn’t understand but it’s like the deeper I get rooted, the harder my trials and it’s hard to understand, to comprehend and to wrap my mind around it. Oh, please believe me when I tell you; I’m not giving up, I’m not wavering in what I’ve been called to do, I’m not having second thoughts about my spiritual work but I’m just letting you know that my tests are getting harder. Yea, the more I ground myself in God’s work the more the enemy grinds into me. The more I study, the more obstacles I seem to stumble over. The more I write, the more the enemy tries to get me to weep. The more I encourage the more the enemy enters my personal space. The more I pray the more the enemy preys. Oh, but that’s alright, that’s ok because I’ll stand face to face with the enemy any day.
See, here I am writing this thang for me this morning but it might just be for you too so let me make this plain. Stop running from the enemy! Yea, God has given us everything we need to defeat whatever it is that is formed against us because our bible tells us in Isaiah 54:17, “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper.” Now, usually this is where this scripture, when anyone refers to it, stops but it actually continues on to say, “And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.” So you see we ain’t got any worries for Ephesians 6:10-17, The Message Bible says, “And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.” So, we got this because God has already prepped us for this fight! Hold on!
