Daily Devotional – 7/20/12 “Look through your spiritual eyes!”

While driving to work this morning, I had 2 people to pull in front of me and had I not being paying attention I could have had a wreck yet I’m thankful because I had my eyes open and my mind focused. Now, when I got to my desk I begin thinking about it and I realized that the enemy was trying to detour my path and had I not being paying attention, he probably would have succeeded. Then it made sense because while we’re working on this Christian journey , the enemy’s job is to make us unbalanced but if we’re paying attention God will have our eyes open to see the enemy’s traps AND then avoid them. Isn’t that great news? See, had I been texting or messing with the radio I could have had an accident the first time and when that didn’t work, he tried again but Oh, my God still has work for me to do here so the enemy’s attempts didn’t work. Yea, I know the devil’s sole purpose is to throw us off of God’s path but I’m reminded every day that God has us surrounded with his protection as long as WE STAY in his protection. Psalm 91:1-6 says, “Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.” See, God’s protection for us doesn’t change but we sometimes change the direction in which we’re walking which takes us from under it. You know good and well that God didn’t tell you to meet that man/woman at the hotel on lunch and now you’re mad at him because somebody backed into your car but had you had your tail at Taco Bell like you said your car would be fine. Oh and if I shall tell the truth you’ve been some places and done some things you shouldn’t have and the only reason why you didn’t get caught is because of God’s protection. (So I’ll pause and let you say thank you Lord).

The enemy uses the moments that we’re distracted to slip in because he knows we aren’t paying attention and we surely aren’t talking to God then so it’s his prime opportunity. That’s why the bible says in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” He knows you had an argument before you left home so he sends your coworker by, smelling all good, to see how you are and before long you all have exchanged numbers. Now, you’re walking around the house being real rude so that you can have an excuse to use that number in your phone but James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Or the kids have worked your nerves all the way to church so he allows you to go into worship with anger on your heart because he knows the Holy Spirit isn’t abiding in you and now you leave church worse than before you came and you want to blame the preacher. No, child; it isn’t the preacher, it’s all you because Ephesians 4:27 says, “For anger gives a foothole to the devil.” You have to stop being so wishy washy in your relationship with God and so easily persuaded. If you’ve made a vow to stop smoking, don’t give in just because somebody said you can’t do it. If you’ve committed yourself to making your marriage work, then stop responding to the text messages that are being received. You don’t have to go the wrong way just because you have the chance too because an easy route doesn’t necessarily make the best route to take. I’ve told you before the devil can make a patch of dirt look like fresh green grass, that’s if you’re looking through natural eyes, and you’ll fall for it every time. We’ve got to get back to this spiritual thing. See, in your natural eyesight you’ll see trust but in your spiritual eyesight you’ll see God saying it’s just temptation. In your natural eyesight you’ll see love but in your spiritual eyesight you’ll see God showing you that it’s just lust. In your natural eyesight you’ll see marriage but in your spiritual eyesight, God will show that it’s just misery looking for company. That’s why God says in 1 John 4:1, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

Please note this … Not all things we go through are caused by the enemy because God sometimes sends us test just to see if we are ready to be elevated but if you haven’t been studying His word, you won’t be able to tell the difference. That’s why you have to, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth,” as it says in 2 Timothy 2:15. Study God’s word and pray with a clean heart so that your eyes can be opened to see the traps, messy folks and situations that have been set by the enemy in order for you to avoid them or at least get the strength you need to handle them. If you go into a fight blind, you’ll lose every time. Be careful of the folks you call friends because not everyone has your best intentions in mind. Be careful of the roads you’re traveling because not all have signs letting you know that danger is ahead. Be careful of the Spiritual Guide you’re following because not all of them are reading the map correctly. Study for yourself so that when you seem to be off course, you’ll notice it in enough time to get back on it. Open your spiritual eyes and then look again because not everything is as clear cut as it seems.

Daily Devotional – 7/19/12 “I mean, really?”

I was listening to WDIA in the car this morning, not by my choice, but I heard Bobby O’Jay say that some white people try to act black and some black people, when they talk with sense, try to act white. Now, I don’t know about you but I’ve always thought he was kind of special (not in a good way) and this just further proved my point. I mean, why can’t all people just generally be themselves? Just because a white person sag their pants does it mean they are trying to be black? Why can’t they simply just want their pants to sag? And if a black person talk without using slang and Ebonics can’t it simply mean they just know how to talk without it being them trying to act white? God created all of us and in doing so, He created us in His image which means once we get to Heaven there won’t be an issue of race, anyway, right? It just saddens me the way some folks think. There isn’t a black or white way to act but there is simply a right and wrong way to act. Am I acting white because I choose to get a college education? Are white people acting black because they want their hair braided or they eat soul food? What is really going on in our society? Romans 12:4-5 says, “Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.” See, it doesn’t say we are divided by race/nationality but we are all one because when all the crap boils down we all bleed red blood, we have the same organs, we all put one leg in our pants at a time, a shirt over our head and one shoe on at a time. It doesn’t matter that your skin may be lighter than mine because if you need my heart and I’m a match it’ll be placed in your body. If we are Christians, like we are supposed to be, then we are keepers of each other and it shouldn’t matter about how different we look or speak. God didn’t place barriers on the relationships with each other, society did. God’s second commandment says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31) Do you think Jesus was concerned about the difference in the folks that he healed and delivered? No because Matthew 12:50 says, “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Yea, I know that the world has placed us in the predicament that were in but that doesn’t mean we have to stay there. You won’t go to a certain neighborhood because the news says it is the most dangerous but don’t you know that you can be killed on the streets of Collierville just as easily as you can in North Memphis? Death has no respect of person or place, so stop acting like you can only get killed at night around a certain group of people. When it’s your time to leave from this side, it’ll just be your time. We don’t have to try to be anyone other than who God made us because when we stand before Him at judgment, He’ll be concerned with the work that we’ve done not how we wore our pants or spoke with the proper grammar.

My prayer is for folks to be who God made them and not who the world has turned them into. God didn’t make you meaner than a rattlesnake that’s just how you choose to be because His word says in Proverbs 17:17, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born to help in the time of trouble.” God didn’t make a woman shave her head to look like a man, that was your choice, because the bible says a woman’s hair is her glory (1 Corinthians 11:15). God didn’t say you had to have a certain tie on to worship Him or a certain degree to read His word, society did, because He said in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” He didn’t say for whites to pray to Him on Tuesday, blacks on Wednesday, Mexican on Thursday and etc., but He said in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Never stop praying;” and Ephesians 6:18, “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion.” You don’t have to be anyone other than who you are because you are created in God’s image and for His purpose. You don’t have to conform to the world around you but let the world conform to you. It doesn’t matter that we look different because you are still my brother, my sister and I’ll pray for you no matter when or where. It shouldn’t be an issue of trying to be like someone else because if we are all living like we are supposed too then you trying to be like me should be you getting your walk with Christ right. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” God made each of us and yes our skin is different, our hair texture is different and the way we eat or dress is different but we are still the same underneath it all. No one has to act a certain way because the color of their skin dictates it but act the way you are supposed to act, the right way. We are all the same because we were all created by the same. “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him; Colossians 1:16.”

Daily Devotional – 7/18/12 “Faith is all you’ll need!”

Yea, I know that death seems to have you surrounded lately, it seems like you can’t get your head above water or you can’t get the sickness to leave you alone but hold on! You do know that God won’t allow His righteous children to be forsaken, right? Well, Psalm 37:28-29 says, “For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. They will be protected forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off; the righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.” That means if you are honorable, good, just and upright in the things that you do, God won’t allow you to be thrown out, discarded, abandoned or rejected yet you’ll always receive his favor. So, don’t fret because the devil seems to be busy in your life right now because God says; when you’re down He’ll pick you up, when you lean He’ll be your leaning post, when your way is dark He’ll be a light unto your path and when you can’t go any longer He’ll carry me. He promises to be your mother when she’s gone, a friend when they walk away, a healer when you’re sick, and food when you’re hungry… So why are you worrying about things of this world? Haven’t you realized that bills will still remain, lying will never die and folks will hurt you although God remains just who he says he is? Then why won’t you put your trust in God, this way those who you trust will have to go through Him to get to you which means He’ll protect you! I know you’ve heard the saying, put your heart in God so that those who want a piece of it will have to go through Him to get it? Then what are you waiting for? God says, “Why are you so fearful, oh ye of little faith?”(Matthew 8:26) When the door gets closed in your face, didn’t I give your hands strength to knock with? When folk talk about you, didn’t I give you knees to go down on to pray for them! When you mess up, didn’t I give you a mind to think and learn from your mistakes? When your heartache seems to be too hard to bear, am I not a heart fixer? When folk speak death in your life, didn’t I give you a tongue that speaks life? (Proverbs 18:21). When the car stops, didn’t I give your legs strength to walk? When money is low, am I not your provider! When times are hard, won’t I be your way-maker? When folk leave, am I not always there? When sickness comes, am I not a healer? When the job lays you off, don’t I always come through? When your husband/wife doesn’t act right, don’t I wipe your tears? When your gas light is on, don’t I get you home safe? Then where is your faith?

God is asking, “Why is your faith wavering, indecisive, uncertain or undecided? Do I give you a reason to question me?” God says, “You put more faith in material things and people than you do me, someone who has never let you down. You have faith that the chair you sit in will be strong enough to hold you but not my hands? You have faith to walk through the house in the dark without worrying about stumbling over stuff yet you won’t go where I send you. You have faith that the restaurant food won’t harm you yet you won’t feast on my word. Don’t you know that I am who I say I am? Where is your faith? Don’t you know that faith is being sure of what you’ve hoped for and certain of the things that we do not see (Hebrews 11:1)? Then why do you doubt the power that I possess and the power that I’ve given you?” See, God has given us the power to speak life over ourselves and He has given us power to overcome the strongholds and traps that have been set by the enemy but we have to believe, first in Him who gives the power then in the power that we receive. Ephesians 3:16-19 says, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Isn’t that enough for you? Stop fretting and worrying over things that can’t control you and stop putting your life in the hands of folk who can’t place you in Heaven nor banish you to hell. Put your faith in God, who is the only person who won’t break a promise; neither will He hurt, mislead or abuse you. Having faith allows you to win a fight that you weren’t supposed to. Having faith allows you to fall knowing that you’ll get back up. Having faith allows you to keep going even though your gas light is on. Faith gives you favor although you seem to have lost your flavor. Faith allows your fears to be faint and your fights to be few. With faith you get a solid foundation on which to stand and with this foundation you gain favor and with favor you’re fulfilled and with fulfillment you’re fruitful which means everything you touch is flowing with God’s fire and with this fire there is no fault because the Father has filled you with a fresh anointing that makes you feel like running when no one is chasing you, dance when it doesn’t matter who’s watching, sing even if it’s out of tune and shout because God is just that good. Yea, faith is all you need. Even when you can’t see the end walk like you know where it is because faith will be your guide! You better tell somebody about the faith that God has given you and show it to them every time they see you walk pass. Faith is better than sliced bread because it never molds. It’s better than milk because it won’t spoil and it’s far better than fake friends because it won’t stab you in the back. You’d better get you some!

Daily Devotional – 7/17/12 “Granddaddy’s Home-Going”

I wanted to stop in and share a few pictures of my granddaddy’s home going celebration. And oh, what a celebration it was. So many friends showed up to offer their support and it warmed my heart to know that granddaddy touched the lives of so many either personally or through his children and grandchildren. I am forever indebted to all of you who have prayed for us, who called, text, stopped by, brought food and who sent flowers. This has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to deal with but having such an amazing support system has made it bearable. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and may God continue to bless you in order for you to be a blessing to others.
Lakisha

Daily Devotional – 7/11/12 “God has a purpose for your struggle”

There was once this young lady who had endured tragedy for the majority of her short life. She had a mom who was on drugs, a dad who was nonexistent, family who didn’t want to raise the child of a crack head and a world who didn’t care about what she was going through. Since she could remember she has been bounced from foster home to foster home where either the parents were abusive or the one who truly loved her was too old to raise her and she just didn’t want to go on anymore. Yea, she knew God existed but it was because of the elderly lady who had once taken her in and since she wasn’t around anymore, she no longer prayed. See, she thought God had given up on her and she wondered why would he love her and then send her into a world with so much to deal with. How could this God possibly love her when she barely loved herself? So on her 18th birthday she decided this would also be the day she took her own life, she just didn’t want to go on because what did she have to look forward too? So she packed up the few belongings she had and she started walking. She didn’t know where she was headed or how she would end her suffering but she kept on. She walked and cried and she cried and walked for what seemed like hours and when she finally stopped to look around, she realized she was standing in front of a small church. She didn’t know what time it was just that it was dark and it seemed late and as she got closer to the steps she heard a lady singing, “I pray we all be ready; I pray we all be ready; I pray we all be ready for his return.” She fell down on the steps asking how she could possibly be ready or get ready for the return of someone who had obviously forgotten about her. She got up; angry, crying and yelling towards the sky asking God, “Why should I trust you to take care of me when you have allowed me to suffer for so long? Why?” As she fell to her knees, she felt the presence of someone in front of her who she hadn’t noticed through her tears. When she wiped her eyes, she realized it was the elderly lady who had taken her in some years ago but as the lady reached down to grab her, the young lady jumped back to avoid her touch. She screamed, “Why are you here now? You weren’t there when I needed you. You abandoned me and left me in a cruel world that has done nothing but hurt me. Where is the God you taught me to pray too? Why hasn’t he come to see about me or at least let me die the many times I’ve stood at death’s door? Why are you here? What could you possible do now?” The woman allowed her to scream until she was too tired to go on and once she collapsed she caught her in her arms.

When the young lady opened her eyes, she was in an unfamiliar place. It wasn’t like the many places she’d been accustom too because she didn’t feel scared. She was lying in a clean bed, the walls were clean and she could even see sunlight shining through the window. She sat up confused as to where she was and what was happening. Die I die, am I in Heaven, what is going on, she thought to herself. Then the door to the room opened and her first thought was to run but her legs were too tired to move. A lady and a gentleman entered, with a tray of food and juice, happy to see that she was now awake and for some strange reason she didn’t feel scared. She felt like she was home for the first time in her life and she began to cry. The lady ran to her and wrapped her arms around her so tight that she couldn’t fight and she melted into her arms. She didn’t understand what was going on and what was happening but she enjoyed the feeling. As her tears fell, the lady began to speak. She explained that they had found her outside their door 2 nights ago so they brought her in and cleaned her up and she had been asleep since. She said, they were happy to finally she her eyes opened because they had been praying for her. The lady went on to say that 3 days before they had buried their only daughter who had died from a rare heart disease and that they had been praying for God to send them a sign that everything would be alright and then she showed up on their doorstep. The young lady looked up and said that she had stopped believing in God because He didn’t seem to love her. She said she has been through so much in her 18 years of living that God had surely forgotten about her and she didn’t know how to start back believing because although they seem like loving folks, they would abandon her just like everybody else. She explained to them her plans to take her own life, how she ended up outside the church yelling at God, seeing the one woman who she thought would always be there and not remembering how she got to their home. She said this must be a dream. Then the dad came and sat on the end of the bed and he begin to say, “Young lady you don’t know us and we don’t know you but for some reason God allowed you to be on our doorstep after we’d prayed to him for help after losing our only daughter. I know all of this is new to you and it is to us also but I can guarantee you, God hasn’t given up on you. See, His word says in Deuteronomy 20:4 it says, “For the LORD your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies, and he will give you victory!” So, you see God hasn’t forgotten about you but he has been there with you all along. Don’t you know that if He would have forgotten you, the struggles you’ve dealt with would have killed you by now? He allowed you to endure the struggles early so that you don’t have to fight them anymore. He knew that if he allowed you to always have it easy, you’d never appreciate the hard; when they showed up. Baby Girl, God is always with you but you have to believe it for yourself. Please don’t give up now because you’re here for a reason and we’d love to keep you, if you’ll have us.” She jumped into his arms with her hands wrapped around his neck and for the first time in her entire life, she felt safe in the arms on a man.

Now, as she stands in the mirror, 10 years later, preparing to walk down the aisle to marry the man that God has sent her; she thinks back on the life she once lived, the streets she’d sometimes sleep on, the anger and bitterness and the lack of trust in God she used to have. She stands there looking at herself in the mirror as her mom and dad comes in to check on her. She turns to them and she says, “I wouldn’t be here today if it had not been for God and the love he placed in your hearts because after losing your daughter you all didn’t have to take me in but you did and I will never be able to thank God or you enough for believing in a dirty, filthy, homeless 18 year old who thought she’d never be anything. Thank you for teaching me about God’s favor and His word. Thank you for never giving up on me even when I wanted to give up on myself. Thank you for teaching me God’s word and for giving me understanding and wisdom. Thank you for being just the parents I needed when I thought my life was over. Thank you for trusting God because it was due to your trust in Him that allowed you all to trust me!”

The moral of the story; just because you think you aren’t worthy of the favor that God has placed over your life; it doesn’t mean He’ll stop giving it. Sometimes it takes struggle in order to appreciate the sacrifice that God made. Don’t give up on your life just because you feel like it should be better than it is because your life is going just how God ordained it so live it! You don’t have to be cleaned up for God to favor you because the bible says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” You don’t have to be rich for God to bless you because Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” All you have to do first is believe because Acts 16:31 says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Secondly, confess with your mouth your belief in God, “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).” And then be baptized because Mark 16:16 says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Don’t give up because you can’t see God, you don’t see air yet you trust it to be there. Don’t give up because you can’t touch God when you can’t touch light but you trust it to see. Don’t give up simply because you can’t hear God just believe that He’ll be right there when you need him. Go on through your storms and your circumstances but don’t let it break your faith. Strap it on like a shield of protection and it’ll never allow you to fall although you may stumble. God has a purpose for your struggle but you’ve got to believe it. Your purpose is bigger than your problem, so believe in yourself to come through it. I’ll share this again, “Although your problems come with pain, the pain is proving that you’re not perfect but yet a person who God has picked to be placed at this point and through prayer you’ll be prescribed a promise of praise that allows you to be purified and through this purification process you’ll prosper and through your prosperity you’ll get power and with this power you get God’s protection that allows you to prevail and once you prevail, you’ll have the patience to pursue your purpose.”