God, I know its early on a Saturday morning as I come petitioning your throne but your word says to always pray and God somebody needs to be prayed for right now. I don’t know their personal struggle but somebody is going through, this very moment and they need you. They’ve been up all night long pacing because their body has pain, worried over a sick child or crying because their child didn’t come home, seeking strength for the funeral they’ve got to attend today or even toiling with a battle that’s not theirs to fight; God grant them the request they’ve been crying out for, if its in your will. If its healing, a financial blessing, a stronger marriage, a job, a home, traveling mercy or deliverance; send it now because I know that you’re capable of doing it. For the person whose burying a loved one, for the one making funeral arrangements, for the one searching for a loved one and for the one whose loved one or even themselves is consumed by an addiction; comfort them today. God, send hope to the person whose hope is slowly leaving, send joy to the person whose allowed the world to take theirs away, send love to the person whose only felt hurt from others and guide the person whose taken the wrong turn on their journey. God, somebody wants to know you but they’re too concerned about what others say, somebody wants to come back to you but they are too scared to let the world go and someone is fighting the calling you’ve placed over their life but I know that you’re able to deliver them on today. Someone is about to give up because they can’t seem to stop drowning in the sea of worrying but I know you to be a life jacket in the time of need. Someone is about to give in because they feel like they can’t hold on to the cliff of debt they’ve fallen over but I know you to be a cushion when they fall. Someone is about to let go of their rope of hope because its breaking but I know you’re able to give them the strength they need to reach beyond the break. God someone’s legs is buckling under the pressures of the burdens on their shoulders but I know you’re able to help them carry them. So God, I ask you to do it now because I’m claiming victory! Yes sir, I’m claiming that we shall not be defeated in this round because you are patiently waiting to be tagged in. I come right now claiming victory during our sickness, our financial troubles, our heartaches, situations, circumstances, trials and tribulations because there isn’t anyone who can do us better than you! God, I thank you now and I’m still believing, I’m still claiming and I’m still speaking these things because you’ve given me the power too! Do it God! Do these things I ask in your name, in Jesus name and in the name of the Holy Ghost. Amen
Daily Devotional – 7/26/13 “Pain hurts but it heals”
Who ever said pain doesn’t hurt lied! It’s a known fact that pain, no matter how big or small, hurts. Yet, the good part about it, it heals! Isn’t that great news? Yea, see when he dumped you and you spent those nights crying, feeling like your heart was breaking every time your phone vibrated and it wasn’t him and it felt like it would never mend; the pain hurt. Well, look at you now with your heart fixed, your mind is on loving someone, this time, who actually loves you back and treats you like the woman you are meant to be treated like and now you realized that although the pain hurt then, it’s healed now. Yea, you’ve never felt pain like the pain you felt when momma or daddy died but then as time went on, the pain started to heal and now you’re able to look at their picture without crying. That pain you feel from being lied on, it’ll heal if you let it. That pain you feel from being knocked down by folk you trusted, it’ll heal if you let it. That pain you feel from that sickness in your body, it’ll heal if you let it. That pain you feel every time you get used by that person that leaves to go home to the one they actually belong to, it’ll heal if you let it. That pain you feel from being fired from your job when you were the best worker they had, it’ll heal if you let it. That pain you feel when you see him being a daddy over there but not to yours, it’ll heal if you let it. The pain you feel from being mad at the things that happened to you in the past, it’ll heal if you let it.
How do you let it, it’s simple; LET IT GO! Folks will lie on you and use you until they use you up but it can stop, if you allow it too. Stop allowing them access to you, stop agreeing to go if you don’t want too, stop accepting what you don’t want, stop giving what you don’t have, stop running your mouth when you should be quiet, start listening more instead of tuning folk out and stop putting your heart in places you know can break it. Pain hurts but it can heal. This is why God said in Luke 17:19, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” Rise as in get up; go your way as in walk on because Faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1). That sickness, stop claiming it as your way of life because if you keep saying you’re sick then you will be sick. Claim your healing, your deliverance and your break through because Jesus tells us in Matthew 17:20, “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Stop being someone’s second, third or fourth choice because yours is out there, if you stop blocking their way to you. How do I know this? Well, my bible tells me in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” This says, fit for him not them! Oh, that pain hurts now but it’ll heal. Stop bringing up the past, stop dwelling on that termination paper, stop looking for ways to still feel the hurt; let it go! And take note, if a boy chooses not to be a daddy to the child he fathered, there’s nothing you can do to change it. Yea, you can run down to get child support but it still doesn’t make him a dad. He can post pictures on Facebook or Instagram but it still doesn’t make him a father. Stop trying to make him into something he’s not. This is why you have to be careful who you lay down with because that girl could be your baby’s momma and that boy, your baby’s daddy. Yea, pain hurts especially when it’s new but it’ll heal if you allow the bandage to stay in place and the ample time for the healing. Healing doesn’t come overnight so yea, the pain hurts now but it’ll heal.
Daily Devotional – 7/25/13 “God’s choice!”
I am reminded that death nor trouble nor blessings have a specific date to show up. See, death comes at an instant; snatching the beating of the heart and the breathing of the lungs. Trouble, it also comes in a blink of an eye because one minute you’re driving home and the next you can be in the back of an ambulance fighting for your life. Blessings, they too, come in an instant because one minute you’re drowning in depression and the next you’re swimming in progression. My point is, don’t waste too much time wondering if, wandering lost and just simply wavering between to have faith or not because while you’re crying over the things that are going wrong you’re missing out on the things that are going right. This is why you have to stay prayed up, faith filled, favored down and salvation wrapped. Child, don’t even let the enemy get a foot into your home because you’ll have a hell of a time getting him out. Just to let you know; the only way the enemy gets into your home is by fleshly folk, so be careful who you invite in. Oh, this means your kids, family and friends too. Stop allowing those grown kids and other folks to continually run your house in the ground. You’re the adult, act like it! You are equipped with what you need to handle the struggles, strains, circumstances and situations of walking in the flesh but you have to believe that you can. The bible says in 1 Corinthians 1:27, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” See, God doesn’t choose folk who have already qualified themselves but He qualifies those whom He calls. You’re wondering why God chose you to be the Youth Director with all the stuff you’ve done in your past but He chose you because He knew those things made you strong enough to be a testimony to all those after you. You wonder how God could take somebody walking the streets, strung out on drugs, with a filthy mouth and attitude and turn them into a living testimony for the world to see but know that He had a purpose and a plan for them all along. Baby, God can take a whoremonger and turn them into the best husband. He can take an alcoholic and turn them into a Preacher who minsters to thousands without ever writing a sermon down. He can take a prostitute and make her one of the best Congresswomen. He can take a crack head and turn her into the best mother you’ve ever seen. And He can take a wretch like me who isn’t fitting to live and not ready to die; pick me up, dip me into his blood (baptism water), whisper to me “It’s all good now”, forgive me of my sins and erase my past and turn me into somebody who writes devotionals for you to read by simply putting my fingers to a keyboard and my eyes on Him! There isn’t anybody who can make me doubt this Man because I know for myself what he is capable of doing!
You know it too and with a strong belief in God and self; you’re ready to win this fight. See, sometimes you have to give your own self a standing ovation to admire the things you’ve overcome. Don’t be afraid to pat yourself on the back and don’t be afraid to congratulate yourself every now and then because if you don’t believe in yourself, you’ll have a hard time getting someone else too. Toot your own horn, congratulate, encourage and give yourself a round of applause but don’t allow your head to get bigger than what your body can carry because the last thing you want is to knock your own self down. Take the time to live before your chances run out. Your life has been purposely made for you so don’t spend time allowing your time to run out.
“Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (The Message Bible)”
Daily Devotional – 7/24/13 “It’s hard but get back up!”
God, our maker, has placed something on the inside of us that allows us to overcome any obstacle that’s thrown by simply rearing back and then getting back up. Yea, see rearing back means you get knocked over yet you don’t get knocked out, you might wobble but you won’t waiver in your trust, you may get the wind knocked out of you but you’re still winning or you might fall but you won’t fail! It’s like when the enemy came in and attacked your body with sickness but now it’s been 5 years and you’re still cancer, high blood pressure or dialysis free. It’s like when man handed you that pink slip 6 months ago yet you haven’t missed a meal or a bill. It’s like when that man or woman who was supposed to love you until death did you part left when times got hard, yet your heart didn’t turn to stone. It’s like when your so-called friend was the one who stabbed you in the back even after the numerous times you bailed them out yet you still trust folks. It’s like when family talked about you because they thought your blessings should be theirs and yet you’re still being favored by God. Humph! Don’t you know that God won’t allow you to be hurt at the hands of your enemy? I know it seems like they’re winning the battle but baby that’s just one round; you got plenty more to go so just hold on. Who cares because they got you breathing hard or your legs shaking, you’re ready for this if you’ve been paying attention to your trainer because Psalm 144:1-2 says, “Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle. He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.” Psalm 18:2 says, “The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.” So why are you worried when your team mate is waiting to be tagged and He’s never lost a match? Yea, they may be laughing at you from the sideline, that’s ok, because you got somebody on your side that doesn’t worry about the naysayers because He can’t be counted out only counted on and He can’t be defeated yet He doesn’t have to boast of his winnings. Stop being concerned about the lengths folks will go through to hurt you because although it’ll sting your flesh, it’ll only last as long as you allow it too. You are destined for trouble because you’re living but don’t allow the trouble to turn you into somebody you’re not. You don’t have to be mean because folk are mean to you, smile in spite of the way your heart is feeling. You don’t have to do folk wrong because they do you wrong, laugh in spite of the tears that are filling your eyes. You don’t have to push folk down because they pushed you when all you have to do is pray while you’re down and then dust yourself off when you get up and keep on moving! When the world seems to be throwing stuff at you to knock you down, simply rear back but then get right back up! Being down doesn’t mean you’re out; it’s just a momentary time out to catch your breath. Being talked about doesn’t mean a thing; it simply letting you know that you’re on the mind of those talking. Now, get up and get back out there because there is work to be done. Yea; things will be thrown, tribulations will come, tears will be shed, lies will be told, secrets revealed, battles will look as if they’re worth fighting, folk will talk and call you names, sickness will come and look like it’s winning, death will show up and your storm will blow but when it’s all done and it’s over (because it shall end); get back up!
Daily Devotional – 7/19/13 “I’ll just pray for us!”
Our Father whose in Heaven, hallowed will be your name and may your kingdom come and your will be done. Lord, I come before your throne this morning to first thank you. I must thank you for sight, hearing, feeling, touching and tasting. Lord, I thank you for blessing my hands so that I can work, for blessing my feet so that I can walk the right path, for blessing my mind to know the difference between right and wrong, for blessing my heart so that I can love, my tongue so that I may speak life and my ears so that I can hear when you’re speaking. Lord, I must thank you for giving me skin that heals when folk stab me in the back and when I have to spend more times on my knees praying. I thank you for the tears on days when folk do me wrong, I thank you for the comfort you give when I feel so all alone, for the help when I feel helpless and for hope when I feel hopeless. I thank you for strong shoulders to endure life’s troubles and hardships. Lord, I thank you for using me to be a vessel of your word and even when I’m not perfect you still use me for your good because you know my worthiness. I’m grateful for the path you’ve placed me on and I’m even more grateful for the forgiveness you give me when I sometimes stumble. Thank you for being a light in my dark places and my gps when I’m lost. I thank you for my family, friends and for my enemies who you use as my footstool to elevate me higher.
Now, Lord I ask that you bless the person reading this. Let them know that you’re comfort when they’re grieving, a tear wiper when they’re crying, a deliverer through trials, a company keeper in their lonely hour, a sleeping pill when they’re tossing and turning, a healer when they’re sick, hope when doors are being closed, a guide when they can’t see their way, help when their back is against the wall, a bill extender when money is low, medicine when they can’t afford it and joy when the world has taken all they have. Lord, I don’t know the needs of all those reading this but you do so I ask, if it’s in your will, to stop by and grant the needs that are being whispered this morning. Enlarge territories, break down walls and remove the stumbling blocks that have been placed in their path. Lord, I know that you’re able and I believe that you will. Bless and continue to watch over the children that are growing up in this mean world. Bind peer pressure, bullying, sex, teenage pregnancy and thoughts of suicide. Whisper to them now, oh Lord and let them know that you’re a prayer away. Remove the anger from hearts and tongues and renew in your children the right spirit. Do these things for your child now as I humbly submit this prayer to you because its in your name I pray. Amen
Lakisha, the Author 