It's not just writing, it's ministry
Good Morning! Author Khara Campbell has a new release available for pre-order. Bible Chicks is a two-book Christian Fiction series. Book two is written by Author Lakisha Johnson and will be available for pre-order on August 24th. Yes, these two amazing authors have 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 women with the issue of blood: Rehab, Leah and Tamar.
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On this 14th day of the eighth month, I had to stop and share a word for somebody who is right at the edge. You are at the edge of saying forget it all. You are right at the edge of ending it all and at the edge of walking away from it all. Why, because at the edge is where the pain is becoming too much, the tears are becoming more frequent, the darkness is staying longer and the hurt that used to be done in secret is now deliberately in the open. The edge is where promises are broken. The edge is where you keep being cut. The edge is where you are all by yourself. The edge is usually where you feel the most at danger. Yet, I need you to ask yourself a question. How many times have you been to the edge but have not fallen? How many times have you been to the edge but have not died? How many times have you been to the edge and have not lost your mind? At the edge of losing it all but still, surviving. At the edge of dying but still, living. At the edge of going crazy but still, smiling. At the edge but still … Think about being in a bed. Have you ever woke up, out of your sleep to realize you were on the edge and one roll away from falling? Or been snatched from your sleep to see that all it would have taken was one move to have you connecting with the night stand? I’ve had a few of those scary moments and in retrospect, they make me think about all the times I should have fallen over the edge of this thang called life but haven’t.
And get this … it is not because we’ve been strong enough to prevent ourselves from falling. Truth of the matter is, a lot of us should have fallen by now. A lot us should have failed many times before but because God loves us, He shields us when we are too selfish to see we need it. He protects us, even when we are playing patty cake with our prayers and the enemy persuades us into thinking we got wings and can fly. He stops us, even though we have gotten ourselves into another jacked up situation we promised we would never do again. God is right there, at the edge with us. I do not know whom you are but baby the edge may have cut you and it may be suffering you at this very moment but it will not be the end of you. You will not die because it is not your time. You can stay there but do not jump. You can stay there but do not sin. You can stay there but do not curse God because God can still perform miracles at the edge. Don’t believe me? Come here grandma. A few years ago, doctors said call the family in and prepare to say your goodbyes. She was at the edge but this year, Grams celebrated another birthday in her right mind. Come here sister. Man said Trigeminal Neuralgia (suicide disease), disability, never be able to work again and many have not made it. She was at the edge but this year she’s still singing and living. Baby, you might be at the edge but God can still work miracles. You just need to trust Him while you’re at the edge!
Happy Monday. I pray you have a week filled with joy and overflowing blessings, increased finances and continued health. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, let me hope a few of you to make your week or maybe even the rest of your year better. The reason some of you are so stressed out is because you are too busy praying for folk who ain’t (I said what I said) praying for themselves. You are about to starve to death fasting for folk who won’t give up an hour to fast for themselves. The floor in your closet is worn out from the hours you’ve spent stretched out for folk who won’t stretch out for themselves. Please don’t misunderstand me and don’t take this devotional the wrong way. Sometimes you have to pray people out of the place they are in but you can only help those who want to be helped. I shared this before but you cannot free people who don’t know they are bound. Look, I am all for warring in the spirit on behalf of others but why should I be praying harder for your deliverance than you. Why should I be stretched out before God on your behalf while you are sitting at Happy Mexican on your third Margarita and happy? Why should I be calling intercessors together to pray for your marriage and you aren’t even praying for it? Why should I have to continually pray for your healing when you don’t even believe you’re sick? Nawl, I am not about to call a pray meeting for Lil Junior’s addiction when he told you he didn’t want no help. Ask them first, are they praying?
I am all for helping but only if you are willing to put forth an effort because you know as well as I do, you can’t recoup a RIGHTFUL harvest unless YOU first plant a seed. Rightful is having a legitimate claim or deserving of it. When you put in the WORK = Worship, Obedience, Request and the Kneeling; then you have a right to the harvest. Yet, if the only voice God hears is mine, whose deliverance will He grant? Mine or yours? Beloved, our faith works better by linking it. This means I take my faith, match it with your faith and we work God for what we need. Whether it be for you, me, your family or mine. But don’t allow me to work harder for yours than you’re willing to work for it. This is why when people ask me to pray for them, for a specific thing, I sometimes ask what they want me to pray for. It’s not because I need details but I need to know, 1. They’re praying and 2. We’re on one accord. See, I can’t ask God to restore their marriage when they are asking Him for a way out. I can’t pray for God to promote them on the job when they are asking God to remove them from it. I can’t be praying for God to give them the means to fix their car when they’ve been praying for a new one. Our prayers need to be on one accord and your prayers, for yourself, ought to always outweigh someone else prayers for you. Don’t pray harder for them than they are willing to pray for themselves. Ask them, are they praying because it matters.
Dancing, in the bible, is symbolic of joy, rejoicing and thanksgiving. Dancing signifies you moving from a place of mourning. Dancing gives a sense of gladness within your heart. Dancing gives a voice to the joy within. Beloved, where is your dance? Dancing shows the working of your limbs. Dancing implies there is blood flow happening. Dancing confirms healthy brain function. Beloved, where is your dance. Dancing indicates life. Dancing denotes defeat didn’t win. Dancing declares, I’m still here. Beloved, where is your dance? I don’t know who I’m talking too but there used to be a time you’d dance with no music because the sweet sound of Jesus, in your ear, was all you needed. There used to be a time you’d let your dance carry away the weight of the world. There used to be a time you’d get lost in dance. Beloved, where’s your dance? There used to be a time you didn’t care about having no rhythm, you’d still dance. You didn’t need a drink in your hand, you’d still dance. You didn’t need a dance floor, you’d still dance. You didn’t need an audience, you’d dance. You didn’t need a reason, you’d dance. Beloved, where is your dance?
I am not going to drag this devotional out, I simply need you to find your dance again. Whoever you are, I need you to dance again because the very thing you are looking for, it’s in your dance. The answer you’re waiting on, it’s in your dance. The darkness that needs to move, it will, when you dance. The pain, it’ll get easier to handle when you begin to dance. The grief, you can control it when you begin to dance. The anger, you can manage it better after you dance again. Yes, there will be some tears but don’t stop dancing. It may take a few tries to get back in sync, that’s alright, just dance. Shake out your leotard and dance. Dust off your shoes and dance. Go buy a new dress and dance. Get to your safe place, cue up your music, turn off the lights and get in your zone. Whatever it takes, DANCE! Find your dance, beloved.
You cannot free people who don’t know they are bound. Imagine Jimmy. Your cousin. He’s an addict. Cocaine, alcohol, sex or whatever. You’re out on a date and see Jimmy and he sees you. The first thing he does, ask for money. You start to scold him over his lifestyle choices. “Jimmy, this stuff is bad for you.” “Jimmy, your family loves you.” “Jimmy, you’re too old to be making the same bad decisions.” Yada, yada. Jimmy isn’t listening, he just needs those loose dollars in your pocket. You give him what you have and you walk off, shaking your head because you can’t understand why Jimmy won’t take the help you keep offering or why he can’t just leave the stuff alone. What you don’t know is, Jimmy probably wishes he could get over his addiction too but it’s not as easy as you think it is. Someone on the outside thinks a person who smokes can throw down their cigarette and the taste will be gone, it won’t. You think an abusive person can up and walk away from their abuser, just like that, they can’t. You think a person addicted to drugs and alcohol can just give it up, they can’t. Yes, they wish they could but the reality of the situation is this … most of them don’t even know they are addicts. Their addiction is what their mind draws them too when they need to feel safe, it’s their comfort, what they have grown accustom too and until they are ready, they don’t need your belittling nor will they be receptive to your help.
But you know this because some of you have been addicts before. Maybe it wasn’t to alcohol, drugs, sex and etc. but it was drama, attention and anger. Admit it. You fed off drama and that’s why your baby daddy could never get peace for the first seven years of his son’s life. You were comfortable in your addiction to attention and this is why you could easily bust windows, slash tires and break phones then act like everything was cool. You were an addict and didn’t know it and until you recognized your need for help, none offered you would have accepted. This is why I said, in the beginning, you cannot free someone who doesn’t know they are bound. I don’t care how much oil you slang on them or how many times you pray over their pillow; they will only be free when their mind is transformed. Bible says in Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Beloved, you can change your clothes, your hair, your shoes, your purse, your wallet, your car, your job, your lipstick and even your spouse but none of that will do any good if you don’t change your mind. When you change your mind, you change your thoughts and actions and then your freedom comes! You are set free by the renewing then rehab! Who needs to be free today?
Lakisha, the Author