Tag Archives: drive

ARE WE THERE, YET?

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R WE THERE YET

 

SELAH Daily Devotions!

 

Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward. Deuteronomy 2:3

 

You’ve probably heard or seen the movie entitled “ARE WE THERE YET?”

Many of my fellow kinsmen in Christ have found ourselves trapped in this dilemma (whether or not we’re willing to acknowledge it publically or even privately). What am I talking about? In a hurry, but going nowhere fast! While many who  has professed a sincere desire to obediently follow after the heart of God, life has a way of teaching us that it’s not a ‘one and done’ phenomena but more like ‘a little by little’ process, huh?

Two of the greatest deterrents to successfully reaching our goals are contentment and indulgence! I’m not trying to negate the validity of The Apostle Paul’s revelation “Not that I speak in respect to want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content (Philippians 4:11) GOD FORBID! However, if we linger here too long, our contentment becomes a comfort zone that could potentially diminish our hope, dreams and drive for attaining better…there!

God promised to bring His Chosen people into their good land, flowing with milk and honey! But they got so comfortable going around Mount Horeb that they were willing to settle for a piece of God’s Promise! This was unacceptable! So God intervened reminding them that not only is partial obedience is disobedience but it also robs Him of the opportunity to fully express His Glory!

Oh yeah, the Israelites were free from Egyptian slavery. They’d seen with their own eyes Pharaoh and his army drowned in the Red Sea! That’s all good, right? But God had told them GREATER WAS COMING! Now,  we can’t keep pointing our fingers at them Israelites without looking back over our own lives and recognizing how many times we settled for less than God was offering. Remember when they said, ‘a piece of a man is better than NO MAN at all’, huh? How did that work out for ya? Okay?

Have you noticed how the New Millennium church has gotten away from praying for deliverance these day?  Don’t shout me down, yall! #ijs! Perhaps, it’s because true deliverance requires discipline! And we all know, ain’t nobody got time for dat! We want everything now! So to appease our conscience we settle for indulgence, ‘I ain’t what God wants me to be, BUT…at least I ain’t where I used to be’! Huh? Don’t  you look at me with dat tone of voice!

But Thanks Be To God Who is still able to redeem the time! God said, “It’s time to head northward! Shake the dust of compromise off your feet and keep it moving—FORWARD”!

Didjaheardat? God IS reminding us that “the race is not given to the swift neither to the strong, But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved”Matthew 24:13  Hence, as long as you have breath in your body,  you have a chance to possess everything GOD Promised, as long as you don’t give up. Oohhh Glorraa!!!

Beloved, today God is inviting you to exhale the fear and doubt and inhale the Breath of His GRACE and getta steppin!

It’s timeout for just singing about it! Pull yourself up out of the pit of complacency, procrastination and stagnation and GO GET UR BLESSING!

Why settle for little when God’s promised you BIG! ARE YOU ‘THERE’ YET? SERIOUSLY?

SELAH!

Pause, Ponder, Pray & Praiz!

Ann Cafee

DRIVE AND GO FORWARD!

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DRIVE & GO FORWARD 2

 

SELAH Daily Devotions!

 

“Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.” 2 Kings 4:24

 

The context of today’s scripture text tells the story of a Shunammite woman’s unselfish generosity towards God’s Servant, Elisha! Being so grateful for their hospitality, The Prophet sent his apprentice, Gehazi, to find how they might be a blessing to her.

Sometimes people will do something for you yet their motives may be suspect, if you will? Sometimes, their generosity comes with strings attached. You know, you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. Remember, sometimes, you might get what you wanted but lose whatcha had, huh?

However, this woman’s generosity towards The Prophet was never intended to obligate him in any manner. She simply recognized a need and was convicted to meet it.

When Gehazi inquired if they could repay her by hooking her up with the King or the Captain of the Army or something, she respectfully declined. Yet, Elisha , determined to reward her kindness, refused to let it go. Then Gehazi spoke up, “Sir, I did notice that they don’t have any children .” Elisha immediately sent for the Shunammite woman! After thanking her and her husband again for their hospitality, the Prophet began to prophesy to her, telling her that “because of your kindness, this time next year you shall have a baby boy.” 

Can you imagine the astonishment of this woman? Obviously, nobody BUT GOD could’ve revealed this secret desire tucked away in the heart of this barren soul!

Nine months later, she gave birth to a son just as God’s Servant had spoken. The next several years their home was filled with such joyful laughter more than she ever thought possible. Until that day, while in the fields with his Dad, apparently from a sun stroke, and died sitting on his Mother’s lap. Has the devil tried to kill your promise?

After carrying her dead son upstairs and laying him on the same  bed that she’d prepared for Elisha, she immediately called for a servant to take her to see The Prophet. Shaken and perplexed, her husband inquired, “why you going to church, it ain’t even Sunday!” Sounds like some of our relatives, huh?

Not bothering to explain, she simply said, using today’s vernacular, “it’s all good”! When the servant arrived with the donkey, she instructed him, “Drive and go forward and don’t slack up until I tell you to”. She didn’t do what some of us do—throw up our hands and start accusing God and stop coming to church. But she kicked it into 4th gear, put the pedal to the metal and kept it moving!

I submit to you, my brothers and sisters, that in the seat of the soul of every individual, there is something that is driving them to either push beyond their inabilities or admit defeat and throw in the towel! What drives YOU?

Contrary to popular opinions, there are  many other things that drive a person besides sex. Some folk are driven by fear of rejection, a compulsive need to be the greatest, the bestest, the smartest; the cutest, an insatiable, unquenchable, uncompromisingly addiction to succeed no matter the cost or the loss!

Living in a world  hurling with gianormous (datz my word, yall) distractions, it’s easy to become entanged with seductive spirits that promise multiple avenues to epic fulfillment!  I’m talking, even God’s elect, yall! Hence, failure to keep your faith  firmly rooted and grounded in the faithfulness of God’s Love, you might suddenly find yourself stuck in spiritual quicksand, sucked under by a spirit of complacency, and ultimately lose your drive to go forward.

Perhaps, today you feel like you’ve hit a brass ceiling, reached a plateau in your level of consecration, your prayer life, even your relationship with Jesus? Well, honey, you are not alone!  Don’t allow what you’ve been going through, to shut you down. Know that Now is Not Always!  

Trusting God means not only trusting His Word but trusting His Timing! Beloved, if God is for you, regardless of what the circumstantial evidence says, it fails to compare with God’s plans for your future! (Ref.Jeremiah 29:11)  After all, WHO CAN STAY GOD’S HAND, huh?  (Ref. Romans 8:31) Just like the Shunammite  mother, you grab hold to  the promise God gave you in HIS Immutable Word and come hell or highwater keep saying “IT IS WELL!” Beloved, look around, someone’s depending on you to raise the bar!

Didjaheardat? DON’T SLACK UP NOW, “DRIVE AND GO FORWARD”!

SELAH!

Pause, Ponder, Pray & Praiz!

Ann Caffee