Simply put; don’t tarry, stay, remain, linger, stay put or get comfortable in that pity party you’re in. Yea, you can get sick and tired of being sick and tired; you can get frustrated about never ending bills, the sickness that won’t leave your body and you can even get mad about never having enough even though you’re working like a dog but have your moment; just don’t visit long! See, if you stay in your funk to long you get funky and then you start following and feeding off the feebleness of other fearful folks who have also fallen and are now filthy. And if everybody you’re around is filled with the pity funk, which one of you will make the suggestion to now get clean? I mean, somebody needs to stand up and tell you to put on your big girl or boy underwear, pull up your pants or pull down your dress; strap up your boots or step into your stilettos and let’s get this thang popping! Yea, I get it! I do, I really do but now what? After you’ve cried, things will still be the same unless you change. After you’ve yelled and screamed and cuss “them” out, things will still be the same unless you make some changes. If he is still mistreating you after the fight, then it wasn’t worth it. If she is still walking all over you after the talk, then it wasn’t worth having. If you’ve told them what you’re no longer taking then close your hands, legs and mouth and stop taking it! Stop visiting with pity every time stuff happens, deal with it and then move on. Stop allowing pity to make a necklace for you to hang around your neck. Stop allowing pity to attach to your legs and now you’re barely moving. Stop allowing pity to run rampant through your mind and now you’re not sleeping. Stop swallowing pity and now you have no appetite. Pity comes with the purpose of putting pain in places where your praise should be so, placing people around you so you have no peace and even planting persuasion to make you think you’re being persecuted when you’re simply being promoted. Baby, stop visiting pity because it means you no good! Where pity plants God will pluck up; if you let Him. Pity comes just don’t visit with it long!
Daily Devotional – 6/17/13 “Stormy Season”
Although you see the dark clouds forming, don’t fret because after the storm, the SON shines. Yea, this is why the bible says in Psalm 34:17-20, “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.” So, when I tell you that everything will be alright, it’s because I trust and believe it will be. Have I had a major illness, no, but I’ve been sick and now I am well. Have I been homeless, no, but that doesn’t mean I’ve always had a good night’s sleep but I’m functioning. Have I been without food, no, but that doesn’t mean I’ve always had an appetite yet I haven’t lost a pound. Have I lost my leg, arm, hearing or vision; no, but that doesn’t mean I always appreciated them yet God gives me the ability to use them every day. See, God doesn’t favor me because I’ve been good at keeping His commandments but He favors me because I am His child. God didn’t choose me because I was gifted but He chose me and then gifted me. Yea, it’s your season to go through the storm but don’t give up now because God won’t have you toiling in your storm too long but you have to go through.
And this stormy season you’re facing, it’s for your purpose, so instead of asking God when He will get you out, ask Him what He wants you to get out of it. You know how when you’re in school and at the end of the year you have finals to test you on what you’ve learned the past few months to determine if you should be passed to the next grade, well the storm you’re in is the final at the end of the level that you’re currently on but the great thing about God’s final exam, there are no failures just favor and no rejection just reforming. See, God can’t promote you until He knows that you’ve learned all that He wanted you to and this final is the storm and all the hell you’re going through is simply your evaluation. And if you go through the storm and come out refreshed, renewed and stronger then God sees that you’re ready for your next level but if you come out a little shaken but not defeated, then He knows that you need a little more time so He allows you to stay where you are. See, God uses edification, that’s instruction, in order to educate us and through education we are enlightened, then evaluated and after the evaluation comes elevation which allows us to exceed our own expectations. So, see you aren’t alone when it comes to facing trials and hardships, so stop thinking that you are. Yea, you may be going through something at this very moment, that’s ok, it simply God evaluating you on what you’ve already been through. So, sharpen your pencil and take the test because after you’ve been evaluated, push the button on the elevator that’ll take you to your elevation. Don’t fret because it seems like the walls are closing in on you or you think you can’t take anymore just shout through your stormy season and then receive what’s yours!
Daily Devotional – 6/14/13 “From but to yet!”
This is something I shared a while back and it was on my mind again so I thought I’d share some of it again. See, most of us have become “but” type people and I’ve been wondering why when God says “Just trust Me.” You know when God says go and we say but I can’t right now. God says do this and we say but why me? God says let go and we say but I’ll fall. Why is that when God is a Man of His word and keeps His promises? Habakkuk 3:17 says, “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty,” but wait, I know you’re saying that if all these things have happened how could there be something good at the end. How can I rejoice with cancer, dialysis, no money, stomach growling, no car, no job and friends who are really enemies? Oh, but then Habakkuk 3:18 says, “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!” Now comes the rejoicing and the shout! See, this tells me; I may be struggling in my finances, yet I shall not be without. I may be drinking tears for water yet my weeping won’t last. I may be heartbroken at the moment yet my God is a heart fixer. I may have a few storms in my life yet God is my umbrella. I may have to lose a few friends yet God is a whisper away. I may lose a few loved ones through death yet God never leaves. I may get burdened down in my trials yet God is my strength. I may not always see my way yet God is my light. I may sometimes do wrong yet God forgives me. I may not always know my worth yet God continues to bless me. I may not always do what I know I should or go where I know I am supposed to yet God still uses me. Yea, I may fall at times yet I can still get up. So called friends may have dug a dusty grave for me yet I shake off the dirt, pack it under my feet and rise. Sickness may be attacking my body yet I’m living. My road may be longer and my fights may be harder yet I’m willing. I may not have done everything right yet God is keeping me. I may not have all the answers yet God is still teaching me. I may not hear everything I should yet God is still reaching me! Oh, I feel this thang because somebody reading this is being converted from a “but” person to a “yet” person and that’s enough to rejoice about. Stop questioning God and instead say, “God, I am not worthy yet I will work for you!”
Daily Devotional – 6/13/13 “Stop being setup to be upset!”
I know you’re wondering how you can stop yourself from being setup, well that’s easy. Stop allowing yourself to be in a place to be setup. Yea, you sit up and listen to Pastor Get Them who keeps telling you to sow a seed of $100 every Sunday and God will bless you when you know good and well that God ain’t (yep ain’t) told you to give all your bill money. Let me make this clear; I don’t have a problem with you sowing a seed for the building up of God’s house but don’t keep being played. Afterwards, you’re mad at God for not coming when the landlord comes knocking but it was the Pastor who set you up for disappointment. Oh, you’ve met the man of your dreams and he has promised he would be everything you need until you come up pregnant or stop filling his pockets with your check on Fridays and now, again, you’re mad at God but baby it’s not God’s fault because you set yourself up for this heartbreak especially if you got him out of the bed of somebody else. Yea, stop being setup. You’ve been praying for a new job and you won’t wait until God sends your blessing so you keep doing all the things the folks at the job tell you to do. They ask you to fill in at the position that was recently vacated and after months of filling in, they hire someone else and now you’re mad enough to quit when you should have seen the setup in the beginning.
When God sets you up, it’s in a way that you can’t be disappointed, hurt, knocked down or stepped on. Stop allowing folks to set you up! Stop allowing them so called friends to set you up to leave the house looking a mess when you have a mirror, look at yourself and if you aren’t comfortable with it, say something. Stop allowing that girl to set you up to be broke when you knew you couldn’t afford all the things she was asking for in the first place; say no. Stop allowing him or her to set you up to be the one crying yourself to sleep. If he or she has shown you once they’re capable of hurting you and they haven’t changed; it’ll happen again. Stop being setup! If it doesn’t feel right, if it doesn’t taste right, if it doesn’t smell right, if it doesn’t look right, if it doesn’t walk right, if it doesn’t talk right, if it doesn’t touch you right, if it doesn’t make you laugh right and if it don’t make you walk, talk, look or even smell right; then it probably ain’t right. You have eyes, open them and see. You have ears, use them to hear. You have hands, close them and stop accepting mess. You have feet, use them and walk away. You have a heart and mind that can feel and understand so use it and stop allowing yourself to be setup only to be let down. Yea, you can stop being setup only to be upset {same letters} if you stop being setup to be upset! (You’ll get that later!)
Daily Devotional – 6/11/13 “After the shout, change!”
See after you shout it’s over, some things begin to change. When you shout it’s over to those who’ve been blocking your blessings, you begin to sow and then reap from your harvest. When you shout it’s over to those who were consuming your life, you start living. When you shout it’s over to those who have been holding your heart hostage, you begin to love again. When you shout it’s over to the dark clouds of depression, you begin to feel joy again. When you shout it’s over to the addiction, you begin to grow again. Yea, change is canceling hurt, annoyance, negativity, gloom, envy and now you’re claiming healing, anointing, newness, glory and expectations. You go from carrying hostility, anger, numbness, grief and emptiness to choosing happiness, assurance, nurturing, gratefulness and encouragement. You go from being called hateful, annoying, nagging, greedy and evil to being called humble, accomplished, notable, grateful and esteemed. There’s something about being changed. When you get out of the mess you’re in, you start seeing things differently. When you let go of the stuff that was suffocating you, you start moving differently. When you no longer answer to your past, you start hearing God’s voice. When you no longer dabble in the places you shouldn’t have been, you start to see the path that has been set for you. When you stop looking back and start trusting God, you begin to see your potential. Oh, when you shout it’s over and you change for the good; you start to recognize your gift. Yea, there’s something that happens after the shout. There are some things that no longer matter, after the shout. There are some people who you no longer jump for, after the shout. There are some calls you don’t answer no more, after the shout. Baby, when you shout it’s over and you mean it; life takes on a new meaning. After the shout, change occurs so make it worth it.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Psalm 51:10-12”
Lakisha, the Author 