Daily Devotional – 3/27/18 “Make it personal!”

I don’t proclaim to be a bible scholar. I don’t know every scripture. In fact, I don’t even know where every book of the bible is located. I used to be able to name them all in order but child, time has changed some things. Anyway, my purpose in saying this is, in reading and studying the bible, God has given us answers to everything we can possibly think of. He tells us how to overcome evil, how to pray, how to seek Him, what to ask for, His promises, His commandments and etc. However, the one thing the bible doesn’t show us is how to deal when God is the one who is against us. In Matthew 27:46, while Jesus still hung on the cross, after He’d been nailed and pierced and while He suffered; He cries out from His flesh in Hebrew, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” Which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Now, what is interesting and important here is, Jesus said this in Hebrew. Why is this interesting and important? Because most of those standing below Him, didn’t understand what He said. I know this because bible shares in Matthew 27:47, “When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

Jesus was having a human moment, where He probably felt disconnected from His father. We’ve all had those but this is not what I need you to focus on. I need you to see that Jesus cried out to His Father in a language His Father understood but the people didn’t. They didn’t need to know that Jesus felt forsaken and alone by the one He’s been telling them about all this time. Jesus didn’t need to broadcast to the crowd, His pain of feeling like His Father had abandoned Him. Because no matter how Jesus felt, this was an intimate moment between He and His father. And sometimes beloved, you’ll feel just like Jesus; forsaken, suffering and alone. There might be a time you feel like God is intentionally ignoring you, a time you feel like He’s deserted you and you want to cry out. That’s fine but sometimes, the moment you need to have is not for people but for purpose. Sometimes, your cry needs to be personal between you and your Father because the fact of the matter is, some of those standing around are happy about your suffering and aren’t listening anyway. Those who heard Jesus, only caught the first word of what He said and assumed He was calling on Elijah. Imagine what those around you hear.

Book Lover’s Appreciation

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Hey Readers!

Please join me, this Saturday, March 31st for Book Lovers Appreciation Day in conjunction with The Life Center Community Festival. This day of family fun from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. will feature food trucks, entertainment, prizes, a Kids Korner with story hour (@ 2 p.m.), an Easter Egg Hunt and more! The best part is you get to mix and mingle with some of your favorite authors and receive a discount on their books.

This event will take place at The Life Center is located at 6385 Winchester Rd. (The Old Barnes & Noble). AND admission is FREE. The first 40 adults will receive a special gift bag.

For more information, check out the FACEBOOK Page

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Daily Devotional – 3/26/18 “Who are you beholding?”

As we get closer to the day set aside as Resurrection Sunday, I am still in the vein of Jesus being on the cross. While He hung there, He looked down to see His mother, Mary weeping to whom He said, “Woman, behold your son” and to one of the disciples He said, “Behold your mother.” (John 19:26-27). Now, I don’t know about you but the more I read this particular scripture, the more it confused me because I have to question the whereabouts of Jesus’ brothers? We know He had some but where are they? If your sibling is on trial and being prosecuted, would you not be there? Where are His brothers? However, here is what I have come to realize. Just because Jesus is in the home, it doesn’t mean everybody in the home is saved. Yea, you can say all day long, “As for me and my house,” but we all know you can probably save the actual house before you can, all the folk in it. This doesn’t negate your belief but people have to choose Jesus for themselves. Sure, you can drag them to church every Sunday and Wednesday but it still does not mean they’ll be saved. And we know the brothers of Jesus doubted His power because Jesus said in Mark 6:4, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.”

Beloved look, I don’t care how well I preach and teach the gospel; there are still some folk in my family who will not believe. However, I cannot stop because I still have others who desire the smell and taste of Jesus. By why would Jesus say this to Mary? Well, this is Lakisha’s logic of thinking and I believe when Jesus sees His mother weeping over the agony of His sacrifice, He needed her to have somebody to lean on that understood the pain she was going through. Yea, it’s fine to be around family but if said family isn’t saved, they might not understand the difficulty of Mary’s suffering. Get this though, Jesus didn’t tell John and Mary to take care of one another, He simply said behold as to watch, see and observe. In other words, Jesus was telling them to now see the new relationship amongst those who believe in His Father. What does this mean? Simply to say, you may have to depend on, walk beside and agree with some folk, now, who aren’t related by DNA but by GOD. Because we know, or we ought to know that if the relationship is right; everything else should fall into place. So I have to ask, what or who are you beholding and are they beneficial to your spiritual walk?

Daily Devotional – 3/22/18 “When your sound change!”

While Jesus hung on a cross, with nails through his hands and feet, with a crown of thorns on His head, a mocking sign of “King of the Jews,” over His head and a criminal on both sides; He was still concerned about saving those who desired to be saved. You know the story, right? These two criminals initially joined in on the mocking of Jesus but as time went on, one of them changed their sound. His sound went from that of suffering to now of surrendering. While the other mocked, this one criminal comes to Jesus’ defense. He didn’t need it but doesn’t it feel good when someone else can defend your honor? Well, this criminal says in Luke 23:40-42, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong. And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” In which Jesus replies in Luke 23:43, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” This was the second of the last things Jesus said on the cross. He’s in pain, He’s been ridiculed and made fun of, nails driven into parts of His body, His clothes divided over dice, given bitter vinegar to drink yet He’s willing to save the one who wants to be saved. Isn’t that good news?

And if I can be honest, many of us have been in the position of this criminal. No, I don’t mean hanging on a cross but we’ve been guilty of a crime yet Jesus is willing, for us. Willing to be mocked, suffer and die; for us. Think about it because we’ve all been at a place where we want to throw in the towel, turn our back on Jesus and give up but as time goes on our voice changes. You may not want to admit it but I am sure there have been times, during your pain, that you’ve cried out to God asking where He is. There have been times when the turmoil of this life almost made you curse God. When things were happening to you, in you and around you that made you feel like Job; tearing off your clothes, shaving your head and sitting in a pile of ashes. But then something happened. Time kept going and your mind changed. As you laid in your bed of burdens, your sound changed. For just like the criminal, you go from a speech of scorn to a sermon of surrender and from pity to that of purpose. For it is when your sound, mind, body and spirit changes that your destination does too because then you can clearly hear Jesus’ saying, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”