Daily Devotional – 8/22/18 “Every season is not to reap!”

Sherry Mackey of 95.7FM said something this morning that I wholeheartedly agree with. Not every season, of our lives, will be a season of harvest or in other words, reaping. Sometimes, beloved, you have to survive on what you have stored in the barnyard (spiritually speaking). I know someone is asking, how do I store up anything when I am barely making it on what I have? Glad you asked. Bible shares in Proverbs 3:9-10, “Honor the LORD from your wealth and from the first of all your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.” I get it, it is hard to pay out when you barely have enough coming in but this is where your faith should kick in. No, this is not a devotional on tithing but it is one on faith. Faith to trust in God who has never let us down. Faith to trust that God knows what you have and what you need. Faith, the kind that lets you walk into the kitchen with a mind to prepare dinner with no food in the refrigerator because you trust God. Faith, the kind that allows you to drive your car to work, knowing you have 15 miles to empty with no money and its 22 miles to work and back but you trust God. Faith, the kind that allows you write the check for the electric bill knowing there is not enough to cover it because God told you to help somebody earlier in the week but you trust God.

Ma’am/sir, not every season is one of reaping, sometimes you have to sow. This is why bible shares in Ecclesiastes 3:1-3, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted, a time to kill and a time to heal, etc.” You know this, right? Then why are you getting defeated in this sowing season of your life? Why are you contemplating giving up when this is simply your season to plant not pluck up? Why are you crying about the harvest not being ready when God is still allowing you to make it on the crumbs? Why are you depressed by the draught when it has not affected your crops? Baby, you are still alive, with a reasonable portion of health and strength and in your right mind. You might not have steak but you got ground beef. You may not have Velveeta cheese but nice and cheesy is still cheese. All you have to do is be obedient to God and lean not on your own understanding because I have seen Him stretch $18 for my family when I did not think it would last. I was looking at what I had in my hands but God was looking at what I had in my heart. I had faith because I know God will not fail us. Moreover, I take comfort in the words penned in Deuteronomy 28:1-13, the blessings of obedience. Read it for yourself but verse 8 says, “The LORD will decree a blessing on your barns and on everything to which you put your hand; the LORD your God will bless you in the land He is giving you.” God will never give us a land He will not bless. God will never send us to a place that will not provide and neither will God call us to curse us. Whatever season you are in, will you trust God because this may not be a season to reap but to sow?

P.S. Check out my new book, Bible Chicks: Book 2 that was released today!

{New Release Spotlight} Bible Chicks: What Would Women Of The Bible Be Like Today? (Book 2) by Lakisha Johnson

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received_1934101326641474Good Morning! Last week, I introduced you to book one of the two-book Christian Fiction series Bible Chicks: What Would Women Of The Bible Be Like Today?. Today, book two, written byAuthor Lakisha Johnson, is available to download. Two amazing authors teamed up to bring you today’s perspective of a very interesting question: What would women of the bible be like today? This book focuses on the following women: Gomer, Hannah and Jezebel.

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Daily Devotional – 8/20/18 “Awake to righteousness!”

God’s assignment will NEVER cause you to sin. I do not care where He has told you to go or what He has given you to say, His instructions will never put you in a position to sin or be outside of His will. It can sometimes hurt, bring some confusion and anger, create restless nights and draining days but not sin. No beloved, the reason things are working out the way they are, for you, is because you allowed flesh to fight a battle only anointing could win. You were in your feelings and made a decision, flesh made look good and instead of owning up to ‘said’ mistake, apologizing and repenting; pride took over and by the time you realized what was happening, you were too far in. Can you guess what happened next? You had to do whatever it took to keep up appearances. You have to keep on playing the game in order to pay for being the boss. Sure, your pictures portray happiness but hell is all through your home. Your flyers are pretty but most of them are premeditated in pettiness. This is why you have to stop making rash decisions, in your feelings. God did not tell you to start that ministry, He never told you to leave your spouse, He never told you to take out that loan and He never told you to say yes to the job or get in covenant with them. Truth is, you were mad and in flesh and you struck out when you should have stayed. Somebody hurt your feelings and you lashed out when you should have left. Somebody removed you from a position and instead of being patient and praying; you permitted the pain to alter your posture.

Ask yourself these questions; is where I am God ordained, is what I doing God’s will for my life, is who I’m with helping or hurting me and is the place I’m residing delivering or depressing me? The most important question, am I still in God’s will? Reality is, you are in God’s will or you are not because there is no in between. And please, whatever you do; do not judge the success of your ability to slay people in the spirit, the amount of money in your checking account, the number of dates filled in on your calendar, the likes on your posts and views on your videos to being in God’s will. Some of you no longer have God’s anointing but are still being booked because of your name, not the oil. The oil of God anoints, it does not anger. The oil of God protects, it does not provoke. The oil of God enlarges, not endangers. The oil of God rebukes not rejects. The oil of God is deliverance not deceitfulness. The oil of God is beholding not betraying. Understand something, this devotional is not against anyone but it is my hope it ignites a fire of change in whoever you are who is in something you know God did not ordain. God ordained you, not for you but for those He knew you could reach. He called you because of the fire in your belly and you said yes, so now you have a responsibility to that yes. What are you doing with it?

AllAuthor Interview

Lakisha Johnson latest interview by AllAuthor Lakisha Johnson, native Memphian and author of ten titles was born to write. Growing up in a single parent household and stepping up to help the household which didn’t leave a lot of time to read outside of homework, Lakisha can’t remember reading a lot. But she wants her kids to read because reading stimulates the mind.

Her blog, Kisha’s Daily Devotional, is a devotional blog where she tries her best to blog, at least 5 days per week. Each day the topic is different depending on what God releases her to share. The author likes writing stories with hidden morals or meanings because she believes God uses her to get people to Him.

Quoting Lakisha, “If I can reach a person through the pages of a fiction book, if I can save a marriage through the pages of a fiction book and if I can get a person to begin praying again through the pages of a fiction book; then I’m standing and serving in my purpose. And I will not apologize for it.” She advises young writers to be patient and enjoy it. She has recently completed a book called Bible Chicks with another author. Now, she is finishing up another Christian/Suspense called “The Marriage Bed” that will be released in September.

Her hope is to do another devotional soon. Read full interview…

Daily Devotional – 8/16/18 “Stop praying for what you will not work for!”

Stop praying for a harvest if you are not ready to work the ground! Baby, God will give us what we ask for but it might not come the way we envisioned it would. Take for an example, a woman is getting ready to have a baby. She goes to Target or wherever and register for gift ideas. People go and buy the gift and brings it to the shower. After the shower is over, the parent(s) got what they asked for but get this … they may have to assemble it. In other words, they have to put in work for the thing they REQUESTED! What makes you think you will not have to work for what you request of God? You keep praying, “Lord, enlarge my territory,” and He is trying but you will not get up and survey the land. “Lord, let me reap a fruitful harvest,” and He is trying to oblige you but you will not even get up and water the seeds. Bible shares in Proverbs 10:4, “Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, But the hand of the diligent makes rich.” You have to work and sometimes that will take you putting your back into it, sweating out your pretty curls and getting dirty. Sometimes you have to tap into that strength you didn’t know you had and make it do what it do. It’s like shampoo. You can pour it in your hair but it will just be there but if you were to put your hands in your head and move them back and forth, you will cause a lather to form which then activates the shampoo to do what it was created to do. You had to WORK the shampoo.

Sure, we all wish we could pray for our bank accounts to be full of money by the time we woke up in the morning but truth is, you have to work. Yes, God provides but it takes God + Pray + Faith + Works = Manifestations of blessing. If you were to go through the bible and read any of the miracles performed, work had to be done. Jesus told people to get up, go wash, come forth, take up your bed, stretch out, etc. This is why you cannot just pray for a harvest if you are not willing to do the work because it takes work. A harvest is the gathering of crops. How can you gather crops you have not grown and how can you grow crops if you do not work? You have to know the season you are in because not everything grows in every season. You have to make sure the ground you are planting in is fertile. You have to sow multiple things, in the event one thing does not work out. You have to protect what you plant, feed the crops, manage the weeds, grass growth and give it the nourishment it needs to grow. While it is growing, you have to already be preparing for the next harvest and this one isn’t even done but this is called work because bible says in Proverbs 13:4, “The lazy person craves, yet receives nothing, but the desires of the diligent are satisfied.” Marriage = work. Children = work. Entrepreneurship = work. Ministry = work. To sum it all up, if you are not ready to work for it, do not pray for it.