Category Archives: Gentleness

ITZ ALL ABOUT THE CROWN

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SELAH Daily Devotions!

 

Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. Revelations 2:10-11

 

PARDON ME, again! I know this isn’t religiously correct, how—evrrrr sometimes, it’s just hard!

Here you are, as the ol’ saints used to say, ‘living all u know how 2 live for JESUS’, with everything in you clinging to The Testimony of God’s Faithful Witness, who is TRUTH, YET …EVERYWHERE U TURN, U GOT TROUBLE BREAKING OUT!!! #WHADA…???

Seriously, none of us normal human beings enjoy suffering, right?
Nevertheless, life has taught you (and even the Word admonishes us) that those who Name the Name of Jesus must expect trouble. Afterall, even “Jesus learned obedience through the things He suffered”! (Ref. Hebrew 5:8)

“Yeah, but but butt”…I feelya, okay? Yet, according to The Scriptures, God has Sovereignly linked suffering and glory into the lives of those who have confessed their trust in His Plan for our lives. Remember the words of The Apostle Paul? “As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Roman 8:36

I know, sometimes that doesn’t help MUCH! BUT! We have this confident assurance that before God permits sporadic seasons of tribulations He sets an expiration date before the test begin! Aren’t U Soooo glad, trouble don’t last always!

Beloved, there’s always a greater purpose behind our pain! And no, it ain’t always God punishing you for your disobedience! For His own reasons, God has elected to allow test, trials and trouble along the landscape of our journey to draw us closer to Him, to purify, purge and position us to partake of His Divine Nature—HOLINESS!

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18

This life has a way of putting you through the ringer, huh? But God has decreed, that nothing you will ever experiene can separate you from His Love! “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

Rest Assured, GOD KNOWS!

Today, receive His Words to The church at Smyrna, as your very own! Don’t allow fear of this temporary situation to deter you from your eternal goal! The King of Glory has declared and decreed that I AM ALPHA and OMEGA! I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU. LO I WILL BE WITH YOU ALWAY!  FOR WHO CAN STAY MY HAND! (Ref. Rev. 22:13; Heb. 13:5; Matt. 28:2o; Isa. 43:13) Didjaheardat? #WOW!!!

Precious ones,  endure persecution with fidelity, confident that “I AM THE RESURRECTION AND YOUR REWARDER! DON’T QUIT! YOUR CROWN AWAITS YOU!”

SELAH!

Pause, Ponder, Pray & Praiz!

Ann Caffee

GODZ EXPECTATIONS!

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GOD'Z EXPECTATIONS

SELAH Daily Devotions!

 

Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?  shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Micah 6:6-8

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 2 Corinthians 2:10

 

For those of us, who truly love God with all of our hearts, spirit, soul and body, yet feel an intrinsic urging to apologize to Him each and every day because it’s a guarantee that at some point between the time you get out of bed and the time you crawl back into bed, you have inevitably fallen short of living up to God’s Righteous expectations of you, have I got some great news for you!

Given the fact that He is our Creator, God is perfectly justified in establishing specific standards of behavior for us to live by. Hence, it also stands to reason that because He has shown such unfathomable loving-kindness, tender-mercy and unmerited favor towards us, that the only reasonable response should be radical thanksgiving and faithful obedience! Yet, try as we may, left to our own efforts, we’re totally incapable of reaching this level of holy worship that God so richly deserves.

I mean, even on those day where we actually do some righteous things, they could never equal out all our unrighteous thoughts, words and deeds! So we certainly can’t gloat in our self-righteousness. However there’s yet Hope for our terminal dis-ease!

According to God’s Word, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32

Truthfully, my precious ones, what God really expects from each one of us, is failure! And from sixty something years of personal experience, I can testify, with absolute confidence, that we can surely do! Royally! Can I get a Hallelujah and Amen 3x?

Dontchakno?  It’s only when we come to the end of ourselves and acknowledge our weaknesses that God is truly glorified!

For without Him, we can do absolutely nothing, however through Christ’s strength, we can do all things.(Ref. Matthew 19:26, Philippians 4:13) As long as we think we’re capable of doing anything on our own, we deceive ourselves and deny God the pleasure of delivering us from any and everything that is trying to hold us captive. That’s why The Bible encourages the weak to say I am strong. (Ref. Joel 3:10) Therefore, with holy boldness, we humbly confess that the only thing standing between our strength and weakness, righteousness and wickedness, success and failure, is Jesus!

GLORRAAAA 2 GOD! Christ IN us, The Hope of Glory, guarantees our victory every single time! (Ref. Colossians 1:27)

WHO NU ACCOMPLISHING GOD’S EXPECTATIONS WAS THAT EASY, huh?

SELAH!

Pause, Ponder, Pray & Praiz!

Ann Caffee

DESERT GRACE

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SELAH Daily Devotions!

 

“Thus saith the Lord, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.

Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things. For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God.” Jeremiah 31:2-6

What a Life, huh? Sometimes, you just gotta take a deep breath and make a moment of reflection and introspection in order to put things in proper perspective. Granted, this is no easy feat, given that we’re all so busy now with so much to do and never enough time to do it, right? However, these day it’s no longer optional, but rather essential! Didjaheardat?

Considering the very fact that God communicates with such lowly creatures at all yet continues to baffle the regenerated soul. BUT HE’S JUS THAT KINDA GOD! What a blessing God has reserved for those who seek His Presence and guidance in the pages of His Holy Word.

Today’s scripture text allows us to mine the surface of our Creator’s loving devotion towards us as God unravels the historical context of a somewhat capricious (on our part) relationship with His Beloved Israel. Notice how tactfully The Holy Spirit enumerates the way that God’s endless loyal love is reciprocated with our disloyalty, rejection and unfaithfulness!  Even so, God’s desperation, despair and disappointment seeps out of His Yearning Heart onto the pages of these sacred writings, piercing the hearts and minds of generations who earnestly await, longing for His appearance. Don’t you just Love The Lord? Who else would go to such lengths to draw such a people, steeped in rebellion and prone to wandering back into His Providential Care?

The Holy Spirit labors to impress upon us the attentiveness by which The Heavenly Father consistently demonstrates His commitment to gently lead, guide and train us thru courses of harsh terrains, plagued with extreme hot and cold, poisonous thorns, sand storms and drought of desert life!

Lest we forget that it’s God’s Faithfulness that gives us the faith and hope to live through the dearth, every now and then we come upon random respite oasis of joy-filled celebrations to convince us not to focus on present temporal circumstances but entrust our hearts to His Hands that He might carry us to the places He wants us to go.

For some of us, the journey may start out as a dance through the tulips filled with wonder and hope-filled ease until the tide shifts and we’re encompassed about with confusion, heartache and void of all reason to hope. It’s at this point, that we come face to face with J The Good Shepherd and Savior. Christ JESUS! Much to our amazement, we soon discover that it is HE who has choreographed our steps and stops all along. More astonishing, we realize that while we have been slipping and sliding all over the place, searching for the promised land of contentment and solace, God has been right with us, waiting for us to acknowledge our intimate need for something (SOMEONE) greater than self!

Fortunately for many of us, that’s when we discover personally JESUS CHRIST! DESERT GRACE!

SELAH!

Pause, Ponder, Pray & Praiz!

 Ann Caffee