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

 

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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.”

Daily Devotional – 7/25/18 “My NOW is sacred!”

My “NOW” is sacred. I shared this the other day but I felt the need to say it again for somebody else. See, for some of you, the pain you’re feeling is because you have allowed some folk access to your NOW who has no right to be there. Folk who don’t like you but you keep calling and inviting. Folk who really don’t fool with you but you keep paying their way in. Folk who are praying and fasting for your demise but you call them each time you’re depressed. Can’t figure out why your marriage is in turmoil, can’t seem to get your finances in order, can’t make rhyme or reason as to why you can’t get the job and you can’t find sleep during the day or night? Check the people in your NOW! Understand me … this isn’t something that happened overnight, I learned the hard way. After failed attempts to get people to support me, I stopped trying. After worrying about how folk would receive this heel wearing preacher, I stopped worrying. I stopped giving any and everybody access to my now. And get this though, the majority of everything I post on Facebook and Instagram is public yet I’ll still decline some friend requests. Why? It’s simple really. We don’t have to be connected in order for you to see me working. (That will preach!)

Beloved, my NOW is sacred and this means, everybody isn’t privy to be in my space. This doesn’t make me conceited neither do I think I am better than anybody else. In fact, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. As a matter of record, I’m still the same chick that will rock an $8 dress from Family Dollar. I’m still the same chick who will feed those who are hungry. I’m still the same chick who will give, if you ask. I’m still the same chick who will pray for you. I’m still the same chick God saved, one Friday night while at revival and answered God’s call one Thursday in the bathroom stall at work. I’m still that chick however my NOW is sacred. This means I don’t eat with just anybody because your table manners may not match mine. I don’t church with everybody because our perspective of God may be different. I don’t answer every invitation because that meeting might not be for me. I don’t even party with everybody because you might tell how many times I stepped on the dance floor. I’m protective of my NOW because I realize everybody who smiles at me may not be good to or for me. I’m defensive of my NOW because I don’t need no dark spirits penetrating my home. And I’m unapologetic about my NOW because you weren’t there THEN and this means I don’t owe you an explanation. My NOW is sacred. What about yours? “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. – Proverbs 13:20”

Daily Devotional – 7/24/18 “Stretch out!”

Sitting in worship service, a few weeks ago, God gave me two words … stretch out. I jotted them down, like I always do, until the time comes for me to use them as He will see fit. And this morning, He saw fit for me to tell somebody, stretch out. This is for somebody who is being pulled on and you don’t know why. This is for somebody who is being stretched and it doesn’t make sense. All around you, it feels as if hell is breaking loose and no amount of praying has halted your storm. You are being hurt with words and actions and you haven’t done anything to anybody. You keep being sent into dark places and God hasn’t turned on your nighttime vision so fear is starting to set in. Things are happening, you cannot control and crying seems to be all you have the strength to do. Well beloved, stretch out! What are you stretching out? The parts of you that are ready to receive from the Lord. When God stretched out, He created everything from nothing. In Genesis, Abraham stretched out his hand to slay Isaac – his obedience was being tested. Whenever Moses stretched out his hand, things God promised happened. The plagues happened and the Red Sea parted because Moses stretched out. In Joshua 8:18, God commanded Joshua to stretch out his hand and He’d give him Ai and defeated his enemies. When Elijah stretched out over a child, man deemed as dead, the child lived again. In Matthew 12, when the man with a withered hand stretched it out, it was made healthy. When Peter’s doubt caused him to sink, Jesus stretched out His hand and grabbed him.

Beloved, stretch out. See, when you stretch out you keep your muscles from being fatigued. When you stretch out, you keep mobility in the parts of you God has need of. When you stretch out, things God promised, happens. And sometimes, your stretching out will not just involve your hands but it’ll be you, stretched out before the altar of God. Yea, you may find yourself in a place that only stretching out can make right. Yea, you may come face to face with some stuff that only stretching out can get rid of. You might just have to toil with some stuff, for a few days that only stretching out will give you the strength to handle. So, will you stretch out, this time? Will you take your pains and burdens and stretch out, this time? Will you not give up and just stretch out, this time? Stretch out on God’s word. Stretch out on God’s promise to never leave or forsake us. Stretch out and trust God. Instead of trying to fix it yourself, stretch out. Instead of trying to handle it on your own, stretch out. Instead of relying on man, stretch out. Stretch out on God’s word. Will you? Will you stretch out?