Daily Devotional – 8/3/18 “Struggling Vine!”

A migraine had me down for two days but on yesterday, while home, there was a movie on the Hallmark Channel about a wine vineyard. I forget the name but there was something said that stood out to me. It was, “The harder the struggle of the vine makes better the wine.” If you know me then you know, I jotted this down because I knew this statement is exactly what one or two of you needs to hear today. See, somebody laid down last night dreading a day that hadn’t even showed up yet. Some of you laid down and tears covered your pillow and somebody else laid down with so much on your mind that you fought with the sheets and they aren’t the ones you’re mad at. Why? Because you expected your August to erase the toil of your July and it hasn’t. Well beloved, the harder the struggle of the vine makes better the wine. What do I mean? According to what I have read on wine vines, if you make their habitat easy, the bitter the grapes because then the vines would focus more on growing leaves and shoots, not grapes. In other words, the vine is comfortable with just growing and not producing. However, if you make them struggle for the resources they need like water and nutrients and if they are pruned while being crowded with other vines; they work harder which kicks in their reproductive mechanisms. Sounds crazy, right? But it works.


Think about it. How good are you at producing when you’re comfortable? How much beneficial work do you get done when you’re comfortable? If you’re like me, if you get too comfortable with a lot of time on your hands, you just might do everything but what you need to do. Oh but when you are crunched for time, when the baby is sick and you have a project to finish, when you have a hungry family and money is scarce or when you’re in the struggle of your life; your surviving mechanisms kick in, making you work to produce what you need to survive. When this happens, you produce quality work. Crazy? This is why sometimes, beloved, you have to struggle as the vine. The harder the struggle of the vine makes better the wine. In vineyards, some growers have adapted a technique called partial root drying because normal watering of the vines was making them lazy. In restricting water, the vine pushes deeper into the subsoil to search for what they need to survive and produce. And get this, although a struggling vine produces smaller bunches of grapes; the smaller bunches is of high quality. My brother/my sister, your struggle isn’t to kill you because God knows how much you can handle, but it is to make you push deeper into the subsoil, God, in order for what you produce to be of high quality. Your struggle isn’t for suffering’s sake but it’s to get you to sink deeper into God in order to bear high quality fruit. Stop worrying about how big the harvest is, when it’s not the quantity but the quality that will reap the biggest reward. “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it (Matthew 21:43).”

Daily Devotional – 7/31/18 “Different level, different labor!”

Some of you are working so hard to be seen, become prosperous and known that you’ve lost the passion within your purpose. What happened to you? You used to love what you do but now, you’re so focused on becoming rich that you’ve lost the fire. What happened to you? You used to preach from the focus of God’s word but now it’s from your flesh because you’ve gotten used to your pictures being on flyers and your Facebook page likes increasing. What happened to you? You used to help because it has always been your passion but now you’re selling your soul for a few minutes of fame. What happened to you? You used to speak from the depth of your soul in order to help free your brothers and sisters but now it’s to go viral. What happened to you? I get it, believe me I do. I get that you want your name known for your hard work and I get that you want to be financially sound but don’t do this at a risk of losing who you are. Don’t rush to be the pastor of a mega church when you’re stressed out over the 30 faithful members. What I am sharing is, don’t rush for the title if you are not prepared for the toil. Folk always say, “Different levels, different devils.” And while this is true, let me add in different level, different labor. Baby, when your business moves from the garage to a store front, your labor is different. When your membership grows, so does your labor. When your calendar starts to fill up, so does your labor.

Are you ready for it? If not, you will quickly burn out. If not, you will no longer enjoy what you used to love. If you are not ready, your passion then turns to pain and you’ll lose your patience and your peace. Look, I’ve been preaching now for almost four years and there are still times I stand and preach a 30 minute sermon that took the Holy Ghost and I hours to put together and I may or may not get paid. I’ve been publishing books for years and up until this year, I rarely received a royalty payment. However, I didn’t stop because this calling on my life isn’t about me neither is it for profit. I show up and preach, I blog this devotional, I answer inbox messages and reply to emails because there are lives on the line. I write books because I need to get people to God, by any means necessary and if that’s through a message on the pages of fiction books like Dear God and 2:32AM, so be it. I don’t preach because it’s glamorous neither is it wealthy, I do so because God trust me enough to carry this anointing. I don’t write because I have nothing better to do but I write because God trust me with this gift. I don’t portray to be holy because I need the likes, I changed the dynamic of my life because of the oil that changed my life. Where is your fire beloved? Where is the passion you once had? Don’t lose your anointing trying to be accepted. Don’t lose your oil trying to get to overflow. Don’t jeopardize your character being carnal. And please don’t lose grace looking for gratification. All that you desire will come, in due time, because we serve a God who can turn the tables in your favor, shift the dynamic of what you know, enlarge your territory and increase you in name and stature; in the blink of an eye. Don’t rush to get to a new level unless you are ready to put in the labor that comes with it.

Daily Devotional – 7/30/18 “Preparation!”

Some years ago, I was angry at God. I was upset and in a place of not understanding Him. I could not understand why He wasn’t listening, why He wasn’t answering my prayers and why He wasn’t giving me the things He knew I desperately needed. Night after night and day after day, while I renewed check advances and paid on title loans, juggled bill after bill, trying to feed my family, keep gas in the car and maintain my sanity; I prayed for help. Just a little help, God; is what I would pray. Do you know what He did? He sent help but not in the way I wanted it. Yet, He sustained us. Sure, we struggled but we survived. We never went hungry, was never homeless, lights were never off and car was never repossessed but I was still angry. How could God allow His children to suffer this way? Then I realized, it wasn’t to suffer us. The fact is, we weren’t ready then for the things we have now. Listen to me. Four years ago when I accepted my calling and stopped running from God, when I began to have a relationship with God instead of just Sunday morning quickies and when I gave Him all of me; my (our) life changed. We went from struggling to surviving with the same checks being deposited. We went from paying every bill late to paying none late. In other words, God gave us what we needed when He knew we were ready. I have shared this before but I need to remind somebody today.

God isn’t ignoring you but He’s intentionally being silent while He prepares your next and you’ll get it when you are ready. Come here Joseph. He was 17 when things shifted in his life and although he carried the anointing of God, he was still 17. What do I mean? Joseph was the favorite of his daddy which means he was spoiled. He stayed snitching on his brothers and more than likely mocked them when they got in trouble. Sure, he had visions but we can probably surmise how Joseph told what he’d seen. He was 17, bratty and unshaped. He was anointed but he wasn’t ready for the weight of the oil. This is why God allowed him to go through all he did because by the time he was promoted to the platform God had for him, he’d been strengthened by his suffering. This is why he could run Egypt when the time came. And just maybe, God isn’t allowing what you think you’re ready for because He needs to prepare you for what’s to come. I know you’re ready to be financially secure, married, a mother or father, promoted on your job, pastor of a worship center, lender and not borrower and the head and not the tail but are you strong enough for it? Is your flesh ready to handle what comes with the responsibilities of leader? Are you truly ready for all that comes with what you’re praying for? If not, wait, even when it is painful, be patient until your platform of promotion is prepared.

Unsolicited advice

As an author …

I wish I could tell you I know all there is. I don’t.

Truth is, when i first started writing I barely saw a return on the investment I put in. Hours upon hours of writing but no money was being made. Time spent away from family and friends and even some of them will not support. My name printed real cute on the front cover of books and you can find me on Amazon but that’s about it.

I should quit, right? I BET NOT and neither should you.

Here’s some unsolicited advice.

1. Invest in yourself and your gifts. The same way you go to school for a degree or certification; study your craft. Spend money on the best book cover, editors, proofreaders and promoters. Cheap is not always the way to go. Trust me, I know.

2. Build you a team. People who will push you, encourage you and pray for you. Have someone on your side who will tell you the truth, even if it hurts your feelings. Get to know people who are on the level you’re trying to make it too and one day surpass. Ask their opinion and take their advice.

3. Do NOT write book series if you don’t have the time to finish it. You will lose readers that way. If I have to re-read the first book just to read the second one, issa no for me.

4. Believe in yourself. There will be some folk who will not like what you put out and you may get some bad reviews. Trust your gift. Family may not support. Trust your gift. Nobody showing up at your celebration, trust your gift. It will pay off.

5. NEVER GIVE UP. I told you, for years the royalties I received couldn’t even pay my water bill (the cheapest bill in the house) but I did not quit. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not in a position to quit my jobs but I am finally seeing a return on the investment I’ve been putting in. IT TOOK YEARS though! You will see it too.

6. Stop comparing yourself to someone else. You are you and they are them. I don’t care how many of their books you read, you will not write like them. It’s their gift the same as it is your. Find your own footing. Sure, I said before, take advice but don’t copy them because that will only make you a copy of them and not you.

That’s it for now.

I don’t know it all. I haven’t made the New York Times’ Best Seller. My books are not in Barnes and Noble or Walmart stores. My name is not rolling in the credits of movies. I am not being called on to headline book events. Fact is, I’ve never even won a book award but I’m Lakisha … Author Lakisha and people know me and they read my books.

“Writing didn’t find me, God etched it within my soul when He formed me in my mother’s belly.”

authorlakisha@gmail.com

Author Page

 

never-give-up-hand-written-brush-calligraphy-type-vector-17310432

Daily Devotional – 7/27/18 “What are you doing with your deliverance?”

I wonder how fast most our mouths would snap shut if God were to reveal the dirty parts of us. You know the contents of your heart when you aren’t worshipping on Sunday. The browser history of your internet, when no one is watching. The unfiltered version of your mouth, when you aren’t acting holy. The parts of you that you cover up when you’re shouting on the altar. Those parts that no one can see when you are preaching real good. I just wonder how you’d feel if God revealed those parts of you to people. If God pulled back the curtain and it came out that you really aren’t who you ‘post’ to be. If God uncovered the things we got away with. Stealing, cheating and intentionally writing bad checks. Or the many times you’ve had to sell the title to your car or get a check advance. Or the many times you’ve had to ask somebody for help or went to bed hungry. I wonder what would happen if God revealed what He allows to stay covered. Hear me or is it read me; whatever way is correct, get this … Just because you’ve been delivered, can pray out loud, can recite a few scriptures, you no longer need alcohol or pills to sleep, your marriage is going well, your children are halfway right, you got a few dollars in the bank; stop treating people like you didn’t go through what they have. What are you doing with your deliverance?

You are quick to offer unsolicited advice on somebody’s marriage when truth is, you and Mr. Jimmy haven’t slept in the same bed for 10 years. You can’t wait to tell folk how to raise their children when your son is in jail and you’ve been lying like he’s in the military. You want to tell Tay-Tay to pull her dress down but have you stopped to think, it’s the way you deliver the message? You all over Junior about his tattoos when you got some hidden on your forearm. Sometimes, holy folk can be too much. You talk too much. You are over the top, too much. You are in folk business, too much. You are just too much when the fact is, we all have a past we’d much rather forget about. We all have done some things we are not proud of. We all have made mistakes we wish we could erase from the book of life. But we can’t. And although I cannot see yours or I didn’t know you when you were doing any and everything; stop acting as if you’ve never sinned or done wrong when I make a mistake. My point is; don’t be quick to label and put your mouth on people, from your high place, today when God delivered you from your low place just yesterday. What are you doing with your deliverance? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:19, “Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ.”