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.”

Daily Devotional – 7/10/12 “Church folk, I tell you!”

It amazes me how judgmental seasoned Christian sinners are. Yea, I said Christian sinners because we are all sinners but some of us play saved. I mean, how can you chastise a young girl for wearing a short skirt when that’s all you wore at her age instead of simply giving her something to put over her legs which may make her think about not wearing it again to church? You say a teenager shouldn’t do this, shouldn’t do that but what were you doing at that age? Didn’t you have to make mistakes in order to learn from them? It’s just mind blowing the rate we are losing our children to the streets and then we act like we don’t know why. Well baby, it’s because of folk who act like they’ve always kept all of God’s commandments when they are still sinning today. How do I know, because we’re human and will make mistakes? With the world today and the rapid rate of our children dying, we’ve got to make a change but we can’t do it pushing them away from God because some of them won’t get the chance to become adults and learn on their own. If every time a young lady or man comes to church and the first thing you do is start in on them about their makeup or clothes, you’re pushing them away. If you always got something to say about them having children out of wedlock, then you’re pushing them away. If you constantly bring them down because you think they should be living like they are 90, you are pushing them away. Don’t you know that God isn’t pleased? 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.” However, if you’re judging or talking about them behind their backs instead of trying to teach them then you aren’t doing your Christian duty. We’ve got to get away from that old mentality of do as I say but not as I do because that isn’t working. We need to grab a hold of our children because we are losing too many and I’m tired of it. Instead of telling them how they should look or act in church, get back to the old church days and have a lock in and teach them how they should carry themselves. Why don’t you start fellowshipping with the youth and young adults in order to give them role models to look up too instead of sticking them in front of a TV while you go to bible study? Children now are maturing faster than we even thought possible which means the things that you did at 17-18 are now being done at 12-13. Stop waiting for the right time to have the talk about sex because you’re probably too late. Stop waiting to teach boys and girls how to be respectful young men and young women because the world will do it for you. It’s time out for judging and it’s time out for having topics that cannot be discussed at the church because if I can’t learn the right way from Christian folks then I’ll surely learn the wrong way from the world.

The bible says in 2 Timothy 3:5, “They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!” You know how you shout on Sunday morning and then Sunday by 9:00pm you’ve already cussed 3 people out, you’re a mess! See, if you look like you’re saved but you don’t act like you are, I am supposed to avoid you because you’re what the bible describes as a wolf in sheep’s clothing ( Matthew 7:15) and if I let you get too close you may just attack me. As Christians, we have to understand what our role is which is why I posted the devotional about the Church Covenant which says, “We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember each other in prayer; to aid each other in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation, and mindful of the rules of our Savior, to secure it without delay.” It isn’t our role to clean up and save worldly folk but it’s our role to bring them in to hear God’s word and through their hearing they’ll want to study for themselves and through their studying, they accept God, confess a belief in him and be baptized. See, you have to study God’s word in order to get an understanding because through your understanding you find faith and faith covers you with God’s favor. It isn’t the water that saves you but it’s your faith in the power of the one who created the water. Matthew 3:11 says, “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” It isn’t up to us to save folk because we can’t stamp their ticket to Heaven nor condemn them to hell, so stop acting like it. Show them through God’s light that is shining through you why they should be saved and not through the harsh words that come from your mouth. This is why the bible says in Ephesians 4:29, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Yea, you may have a reputation for telling folks the hard truth and for running folks off from the church but you’re just like the seed that is talked about in Mark 4:14-15 that says, “The farmer plants the Word. Some people are like the seed that falls on the hardened soil of the road. No sooner do they hear the Word than Satan snatches away what has been planted in them.” Stop allowing how you used to be to affect who you are supposed to be. You have a responsibility to help fellow Christians but you are supposed to do so in a Christian way. And just because you think your way has been working, it doesn’t mean it has been. Why do you think everyone gets so busy when it’s time to work with you? If you don’t know then you need to take a hard look at yourself. We have to get back to doing God’s will before he takes his hands off of us. Let’s commit more to praying, helping and uplifting one another because sometimes you’re all the next person has. Don’t allow church to become a den of mess but allow it to be just what God has ordained it to be, a place of worship where he abides. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Daily Devotional – 7/9/12 “Earth has no sorrow..”

I know that it has been a minute since I’ve posted a devotional, please accept my apologies. My grandfather who I talk about often had been really sick but God took all of that away from him on Tuesday, July 3rd at 12:45AM and although it has been very hard and I would give anything to have him back, I wouldn’t want him to come if he would have to endure the sickness and the anguish he has these last few years. See, I’ve lived long enough to know that when the blood stops flowing and there is no more breath on this side, it simply means a new body on God’s side. So, I rejoice in knowing granddaddy’s suffering ended when he took his last breath and that feeble body he was locked in was left here because he received an entire new body that doesn’t have scars from the many surgeries he’s endured or the radiation he had to take. It didn’t matter about what he had on or that he had lost a lot of weight because none of that matters now. God had a new robe waiting for him that fit him perfectly, he had slippers that conformed to his feet because they were made just for him and all the weight he’d lost was restored back to him. So, don’t grieve for me yet rejoice at the goodness of God that took place the other morning at grandma’s house for granddaddy just received the rest that we all long for. John 16:22 says, “So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.”


Yea, we sleep on this side but over on God’s side you get rest that has no end. On this side we praise God on Sunday but over on the other side every day is Sunday. On this side we endure stress from all our labor, pain and sickness, being lied on, talked about and misused but on God’s side all we endure is rejoicing. On this side we die but on the other side we live. Don’t you know that in order to live again that you must die? Yea, so dying isn’t all that bad. Sure, it leaves families mourning but in the morning God will dry your tears and fill your heart with peace that no man can understand. See, through dying we gain deliverance because death is simply delivering us back to our maker. Is it hard? Yes but it’s bearable if you have your heart in God because he won’t allow no more to come upon you that he hasn’t already prepared us to handle. Is dying hard for those left here, yes, but living is even harder. I won’t lie like I won’t shed tears because I miss that man who has always been my daddy and the first man I’ve ever loved but that’s just my flesh talking because as foe me my soul is rejoicing for having him here with me for 35 years. Granddaddy did his living and even though God promised us 70, some 80 years, granddaddy lived to be 84 and he was in his right mind until he took his last breath so I won’t complain. He knew who I was and I was the last person he saw so I won’t complain. He is no longer suffering and in need of things that he can’t get or do for himself so I won’t complain. I know the sorrow this world has for me is nothing compared to the healing that Heaven gives so I’ll keep living until God says otherwise. Will you do the same? Don’t take life, especially your own, for granted because it’s precious and you, I, they or we can be gone in a blink of an eye. Yea, I know that sometimes the going gets hard but it’s not over so stop giving up and giving in. You have a Father who will do anything for his children, all you have to do is ask. And just like any parent, there is sometimes a no in the midst but don’t fret because the no’s are for your good.

I’ll rejoice in granddaddy’s living and I’ll rejoice even more in his leaving because it’s a way we all have to go in order to meet God. Now, I have to live right so that I can meet granddaddy again because I can’t keep dwelling on his passing for he paid the cost and is just getting what he purchased which is a new home with his Father so I can’t be mad at him for doing so. Jesus said in John 14:1-3, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” So I’ll just tell granddaddy goodnight until I see him again.

Daily Devotional – 7/2/12 “You can’t miss what you can’t measure!”

Grandma said this to some of my nieces on Sunday afternoon and I instantly grabbed my phone to make a note of it because I knew it was a perfect devotional topic. She told them this after listening to a conversation they were having about a boy because she wanted them to know that who or what is meant for them will definitely be. See, we spend so much time getting caught up in mess that we miss out on the opportunities of making memories or we lie so much that we don’t have time to leave a legacy but if you can’t measure who or what’s in front of you then you shouldn’t be allowing them or it to consume your world. I know it’s easier said than done but as I stood by my granddaddy’s bedside most of last night, I was sad at the frail body that now lies there, yet my spirit is rejoicing for all the good and bad times I’ve shared with him. Yes, even the bad because I wouldn’t take a dollar for the journey we’ve shared because it was ours to take and our memories and mistakes to make. Oh, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t give to get my granddaddy off his bed of affliction but it’s out of my hands. I’m so use to the strong black man that was the head of his household, who helped raise his 10 children, then his grandchildren and even some great grandchildren. A man who was known at our high school because he was a willing worker, no matter when or what they called him for. A man who didn’t mind giving out whoopings when you got out of line (ask any of those who grew up on Clovia Lane/Cloverdale) and a man who never sidestepped the truth, who always told you like it was regardless if it hurt your feelings and one who had your best interest at heart even though at the time it didn’t seem like it! I cherish the memories that I have with me simply because I can miss because I can measure.

We’ve got to stop worrying over mess and messy people, hurting each other, damming, condemning and fighting each other because time is winding down to get it right. More young folks are dying with old folk’s diseases, more women are being killed at the hands of those who are supposed to love them; men are killing each other over jealousy or because they’d rather rob than work and babies are dying because we are too selfish to take care of them like the bible says we should! Stop living like you’re better than me because we are all just saved sinners who still sin! Stop waiting for folks to encourage you to do well, do it for yourself! Stop living like you got all the time in the world to correct what you’ve done wrong, do it now because the next hour isn’t promised! Cherish the life you have now and stop wanting for things that aren’t yours. If folks have left, let them go; they weren’t yours to begin with. If the job let you go, press on; it wasn’t yours to begin with. If the doctors have given up, push on; it wasn’t your battle to fight anyway. You can’t miss what you can’t measure so get off your pity box and pray because God said He’ll handle your problems if you’d just give them to him! If they can’t measure up, then you shouldn’t be measuring them. You are worthy because you are God’s. You are gifted because you are God’s and if you don’t value yourself then you can’t expect anyone else too. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says, “Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people–none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” You aren’t perfect which means you will make mistakes but learn from them. You don’t have to chase a blessing because what’s yours is yours. Stop accepting everything and simply falling for anything. Just because you have children that doesn’t mean you have to buy what dude is selling when he smiles in your face, be patient God has your blessing coming so don’t block your view with mess. Just because your credit isn’t A1 it doesn’t mean you have to take the first offer the dealership or mortgage company gives you, be still and allow God to negotiate on your behalf. And just because you’ve had sickness for most of your life, don’t allow the doctors to treat you with half of what they should be because you’re still living which means God isn’t ready for you. Don’t give up on yourself because folks have given up on you, it was simply their mistake on missing a gem!

So stop focusing so much time on storing up junk in this world that you can’t take with you but store up treasures for your Heavenly home. Matthew 6:19-21 says, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. For wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” See, when you tarry over material things then you’re material minded which takes your eyes off your purpose but when you store up Heavenly things, your mind is steadfast on reaching Heaven. Now, when I say treasures I mean things like praying, praising, helping others, loving and giving because these things are like the materials you need to build your home here but you’re simply building your mansion there. When you use God’s measuring cup He’s making sure misery don’t outweigh the miracles he has for you through his message because in His message He’s ministering to your mind which allows you to be mindful of miserable, mischievous mockers who block your ministry by meddling when you’re meditating or being malicious when they should be merry so if they don’t measure up to your magnificence then don’t measure down to their mess!