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HOPE UNDER SEIGE!

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SELAH Daily Devotions!

 

They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them. I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul. Jeremiah 32:38-41

 

As a child, I vaguely remember a glimpse of pride swelling up inside whenever I heard someone say,‘this is the GREATEST nation in the world’! I suppose that’s what they mean by ‘let’s make this nation great…again, huh? But, that was before I became abruptly aware that there were two nations co-existing in one! #ijs

According to historical accounts, Courage and Confidence was once the hallmark of our nation! Yet, some say that the infamous catastrophic events of 911 has radically stripped away this lofty heritage and the hope-filled future legacy  that was once ascribed to the land of the power, peace and prosperity is now being besieged by the rampant rage of darkening clouds of an evil foreboding fear, doubt, anxiety, stress, guilt, shame, confusion and condemnation!

Well, it’s not my intent to debate the inevitable result of widespread deviation from the moral standards as defined by The Holy Bible. Howeverrrr, may I submit for your consideration, that without a holy reverence, a clear vision and a Divine impartation of understanding of WHO GOD IS & WHAT HE REQUIRES OF US, people’s strength will fail and their expectations of security perishes! The past has proven that without the restraint of law and order, destruction prevails! Well, like the ol’ skool preacha used to say, “I jus lost half my churrch!” Seriously?

Honestly, when we don’t understand Whose we are, we’ll be inclined to doubt God’s ability and even His willingness to help us. Void of genuine hope and unable to trust God’s Unfailing Love, we instinctively depend upon self to take care of our needs and satisfy the desires of our own hearts. And we all know how that turns out, right?

But those of us who dare to risk resentment, ridicule and rejection from those who will slander our righteousness, labeling us as unloving and intolerant, WE DEFY the prevailing opinions of the worldly in favor of the guidelines of the Ancient Landmarks, rejoice in hope, fully persuaded that if we suffer for Christ sake, we shall also reign with Him!  #CANIGETANGOODAMEN?

Through faith and hope, TRUE WORSHIPERS develop a singleness of -heart and mind, stemming from personal intimacy with The Lord Jesus Christ whereby we experience the Abiding Presence of God, trusting wholly in His Sustaining Grace!

Instead of conforming to the ways of the world, believers don’t bail out! Hence, in the face of the calamity and chaotic circumstances, we stand steadfast, rooted and grounded in The Promises, Provision and Power, persevering in the midst of devastation, famine and plagues, confident that we’re covered! Remember Goshen, God’s Protected Place? (Ref. Exodus 8:22)

Beloved, trust 2 know that when it looks like your world is falling apart, look again! Don’t allow fear to drain your faith! From Heaven’s perspective, everything is falling right in place!  Remember, Jesus has already gone into Tomorrow to prepare a table before you, right in the presence of your enemies! (Ref. Psalm 23:5) #Didjaheardat?

IT AIN’T WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE, K? YOU GOTTA HOPE BEYOND THIS WORLD!

SELAH!

Pause, Ponder, Pray & Praiz!

Ann Caffee

THURSDAYS’ PRAYERS!

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SELAH Daily Devotions!

 

GOTTA MOMENT! GREAT!

Once again we are ecstatically glad that you’ve linked up with us today in our weekly Corporate Prayer and Fasting! With everything that going on in our nation and the world today, it behooves each one of us to stay close to the Altar…and linger in the midst of the Incense!! Amen?

JESUS, HE NEVER FAILS! JESUS, HE NEVER FAILS! HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY; BUT…JESUS NEVER FAILS! I’VE TRIED HIM! HE NEVER FAILS! I’VE TRIED HIM, HE NEVER FAILS. HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS WAY…BUT…JESUS…NEVER…FAILS!

AS WE’RE PRAYING WE’RE BELIEVING & DECREEING…

Abba Father, we come before You today, In the Magnificent, All Powerful Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus, we come rejoicing, praising and thanking You for blessing us to see a brand new day. We thank You, Father for every opportunity to embrace and enjoy the abundance of Your Mercy, Your Grace, Your Power and Your Peace!

Daddy, we’re eternally grateful that You are The God of our Salvation, our Deliverance, Breakthrough and Provision. Not only have You have done so much for us, we can truly say that You’ve been better to us than we’ve been to ourselves! And certainly more than we could ever deserve! You keep right on blessing us over and over again!

As we embrace the day ahead, help us to start this day with a new attitude and loads of gratitude knowing that it’s only because of Your Grace that we’re kept safe from all hurt, harm and danger. Precious Jesus, help us to make the best of each moment that You have gifted to us! Lord Jesus, clear our minds so that we can hear from You and cleanse our hearts that we may deny ourselves, trust and obey Your Will.

Help us Lord to not whine and whimper over things we have no control. Open the eyes of our understanding that we are able to see sin through God’s eyes and acknowledge it as evil. And when we sin, quicken our spirit to repent, and confess with our mouths every deed, word spoken or thought that was not pleasing in Your sight!

Sweet Jesus, we’re thankful that You, knowing our frame, Your faithfulness and compassion allow You to look beyond our human frailties, faults and iniquities to see and minister to all of our need! We believe and claim as You have promised the Gracious forgiveness that you offer to those who trust in You! We praise You today, from a heart open to, depending and relying only on You for renewing our strength, increasing our understanding and empowerment to accomplish Your Will bringing Glory and Honor to Your Name!

Father God, because no man can come to the Father except you draw them, Father we ask that as Your eyes continue to search the hearts of mankind that you draw and save the lost, and reclaim every back-slider and that You will direct their footsteps and place them and settle them into a church home today.

Father, we interceded on behalf of every unsaved soul, please quicken the Spirit of Godly-repentance in their heart and in their mind that they will come to you today and say “YES” to your Grace Gift and receive You as their Lord and Savior. Lord, we ask You to put a “COMMITTED YES” in the heart and mind of every backslider and let today be the day that they come back to You and come back to YOUR church.

Father, we pray that you will touch our brother, touch our sister whose body has been afflicted by all manner of sickness and disease, especially the spirit of cancer and at Your Word it is rebuked, dried up immediately and cast out at the root, for Your Name Sake. Lord, your Word declares that your stripes have redeemed and healed us and we’re yet standing on your promises that the prayer of faith shall save the sick and raise them up, In Jesus Name!

Lord, I pray for every believer whose heart may be overwhelmed by grief, confusion, worry, doubt, disappointment, rejection and fear yet they’re clinging to Hope in faith today, that You will release Divine power, Supernatural strength and health, provision, prosperity and protection, making ways out of no way, opening doors and closing doors, turning circumstances around for our highest good and Your Greatest Glory! We believing that Your Divine Favor is being poured out upon everyone now and their faith is rising to a level that they’re faithful and obedient to pay their tithes as You have commanded, releasing supernatural abundance in the area of finances, enabling them to not only come of of debt but also because they put You first, all their needs are met. In Jesus Name!

Father, we’re trusting that even in the midst of fiery trials, they will be preserved as You keep them covered in Your Peace, constantly aware of YOUR PRESENCE, fully persuaded of Your Faithfulness, confident that You will bring them out wholly restored, renewed, refreshed and with the reward as You have promised us in Your Word.

Abba Father, as You continue to bless us,  we will be a blessing to others. Keep us strong that we may help the weak.. Keep us uplifted that we may have words of encouragement for others. We pray for those who are lost and can’t find their way. We pray for those who are misjudged and misunderstood. We pray for those who don’t know You intimately. We pray for those who will delete this without sharing it with others. We pray for those who don’t believe that You sent Jesus, not to condemn us, but to convict us and to free us from the power, pain and penalty of Sin.

Father, we’re lifting up our children, our children’s children by faith, as many of them are beginning a new school year, we’re committing them into Your care, realizing that You have a plan and purpose for their lives too; we have the blessed assurance that their steps are being ordered by Your eyes!
Father, we know that faith in God not only changes people, it changes me; and only You, O God have the Power to change things!  As we’re praying we’re lifting up all of our sisters and brothers and every family members and their entire households! We’re praying for peace, unity, love and joy to abound in our homes! For You have promised that Your Power is perfected in our weakness! 
We bless and thank You for our President Obama and Secretary Hilliary Clinton and their families. We thank you now that no weapon that is formed against them shall prosper. We ask that You save and deliver Donald Trump, even as You touched others in the past, humbling them to bow before You and acknowledge that You as Lord!

We pray for every government, legislative,corporate and spiritual leader; that their hearts be continuously opened to hear and obey Your Will! Lord Jesus, we’re standing on Your Word as decreed that The government of this world shall rest upon YOUR shoulders and that You are The Eternal King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

Father, we thanking You for a fresh outpouring of Your Divine Favor upon each and every one of Your precious children who are seeking employment, promotion, prompt approval for student/car/home loans and assure them that YOU are YET HE, Jehovah Jareh, who shall supply all of their need according to Your Riches in Glory!

Abba Father. we declare and decree that every demonic-induced spirit of fear, anxiety, addiction, perversion, depression, oppression, bi-polar mental conditions is defeated NOW because of Your Anointing and that the Spirit of Love, Power and Sound-mindness and Purpose is being released in the lives of Your people now, in Jesus Name!

Father we wait in confidence and quietness, rejoicing in hope and trusting wholly that all workers of iniquity are trembling and suddenly departing in shame and defeat, running away from Your people, because You have heard the voice of our weeping, our supplications and received our prayer as a sweet savor coming up before Your Sovereign Throne of Grace and Mercy!

Father, we thank You NOW, for WE believe that it is done! In The Exalted Name of Jesus. Amen x and It Is So!

Now every child of God who is standing in agreement with this prayer, GO TELL SOMEBODY THAT JESUS LOVES EVERYBODY!

HONEST 2 GOD

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SELAH Daily Devotions!

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:7-10

O righteous God, who searches minds and hearts, bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure. Psalm 7:9

Sorry Father Adam, but once again this is on you! Because of our original progenitor’s high treason against the Righteous instructions given by The Creator of Life, we are all born naughty by nature! Thus, every human born into the earth since our fore-parents’ willful rebellion is corrupted by an innate disorder called iniquity! Now, don’t look at me with that self-righteous attitude! (Ref. Ps. 51:5) But, it goes deeper! Like Adam, the Glory of innocence that once covered us had now been disrupted by sin, exposing us to evil, guilt, shame and fear!

The precious intimacy with God that man once enjoyed in Paradise was violently yanked from him plunging all of creation into gross darkness and utter chaos!

Hence, there’s an inbred-inclination to cover ourselves with fig leaves attempting to hide from the Only True Source of Hope for deliverance and restoration!  The moment we allow our desire to satisfy the wickedness of self’s lust to take precedence over our desire to please God, the hedge comes down and all hell breaks out! And as they say, the rest is history, huh?

That’s why God hates sin! Don’t get it twisted like Eve and fall for the deception of the Tempter! Not because He’s trying to control us! Not because He’s arrogantly trying to keep us down! Not because He wants to keep us from enjoying ourselves! Not even because He’s Sovereign Lord! And He is! But God hates sin because it robs us of the freedom, peace and pure delight to openly commune with The Lover of our souls!

You do realize that God knew exactly where and what Adam had done when His Voice came walking through the Garden asking, “Adam, where are you?” God IS The All-Consuming Presence over space and time! There’s NO spot where GOD IS NOT! Someone once said, IF GOD MOVED TO THE LEFT OR RIGHT, HE’D BUMP STRAIGHT INTO GODSELF!

But do we also hear the pain of God’s Heart, knowing that He would have to evict His Family out of their home to keep them  away from certain eternal death and destruction...until JESUS came to our rescue? Do we realize that there’s no such thing as a little sin? SALVATION IS FREE BUT IT WASN’T CHEAP! #WOW! HONESTLY!

Yet, like David, sin perverts our mind and we foolishly assume that if we don’t tell God, He won’t figure it out!

Do you realize that confession benefits us more than it does God? “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.” Psalm 119:67 You do know that we don’t pray to inform God, but we pray to invite Him to step into our misery and fix our mess!

When we confess our faults (sin) to God, He’s able to heal our broken and contrite spirit, revive the brittleness of our bones and clear our hearts, minds and souls of the debris that’s left behind by sin’s breach! It was a good thing that God revealed that He knew David’s sin, sending His servant Nathan allowed David to repent honestly before God, liberating him from the burden, torment, tragedy, grief and condemnation that resulted from harboring secret sin in his heart and hindering him from enjoying the fellowship of God’s Presence!

If we confess our sins, HE is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 #Didjaheardat?

Jus wondering? When was the last time you had some REAL face2face time with God? THAT LONG, HUH? Well, last time I checked, JESUS WAS STILL SEATED ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE FATHER, WAITING AND WILLING TO INTERCEDE ON YOUR BEHALF! SOOO, WHACHA WAITING 4? HONEST2GOD!

SELAH!

Pause, Ponder, Pray & Praiz!

Ann Caffee

THURSDAYS’ PRAYERS!

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SELAH Daily Devotions!

 

GOOD MORNING FAMILY! Gotta Moment? Awesome!

Welcome to our weekly Thursdays’ Prayer and Fasting! Once again, we’re excited that you’ve joined us as we enter into The Glorious Presence of The Most High God! We’re blessed and honored for the opportunity to cast off the burdens that challenge our hope, peace and joy that is ours because we’ve been reconciled to The Lord of Compassion, Grace and Mercy! Shall we go in together?

Here we are to worship, here we are to bow down! Here we are to say that Your our God! You’re altogether Lovely, Altogether Worthy, Altogether Wonderful to Me! I’ll never know, how much it cost to see Your Son upon that crossss..So here we are to worship! Here we are to bow down…Here we are to say that You’re our God! …Bow down and worship Him! Worship Him! Ooooh Worship Him! Bow Down and Worship Him! Enter In, Oooh enter in! Consuming fire! Sweet perfume. His awesome Presence fills this room. This is holy ground! This is holy ground. This is holy ground. So come and bow down!

Let’s pray..

Abba Father, as we bow our heads and our hearts to thank You for this day, we honor our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ for the privilege to enter into Your Throne Room! We’re eternally grateful and confident that You welcome us with Lovingkindness! We rejoice in Hope that because You are listening to our prayers we believe that You are dispatching  the angelic hosts to save, heal and deliver us, even as we’re praying!
Heavenly Father, we thank you for watching over us as we slept last nite. We thank You for knowing it was Your Hand that awakened us this morning, safe from hurt and harm. You kept death, destruction, terror, the thief and robbers out of our way. Because of Your Sustaining Power, when we rose this morning we were yet able to stand, see, to hear, speak, to feel, and to taste of Your Goodness this day and every day. We thank You, Heavenly Father, even for the mind to say Thank You!

We’re blessed because You, being Holy and Righteous continue to be such a loving forgiving God, and such an understanding and caring God. You have done so much for us and yet you keep on blessing us. Lord forgive us this day for everything we have done, or said or thought that was not pleasing to you. Abba Fahter, we are sincerely sorry and humbly repent asking for Your forgiveness trusting in Your Promise! Because You are Faithful and Just to give us and wash us in The Cleansing Blood of Jesus, we have the assurance that we are  restored to our right relationship with You, therefore we may walk free from condemnation, guilt and shame!

We thank You Lord Jesus, for being The God of our Salvation, our Deliverance, Breakthrough and Provision. We’re thankful that because You know our frame, Your faithfulness and compassion allow You to look beyond our human frailties, faults and iniquities to see and minister to all of our need!

Father,  we’re believing that You are touching our brother, touching our sister whose body has been afflicted by sickness and disease, especially the spirit of cancer and rebuke and cast it out at the root, for Your Name Sake. Heavenly Father, You have decreed that You are Alpha and Omega, the same yesterday, today and forever! Even as you walked in this earth healing all who were sick, feeble, lame we know that You’re Well Able to do the same right now! Lord Jesus, Your Word declares that by Your stripes  we have been redeemed and healed  and we’re yet standing on Your promise that the prayer of faith shall save the sick and raise them up, In Jesus Name! Amen 3x!

Sweet Jesus, we’re asking that You search our hearts and see that we’re opened to Your Will and Your Way, totally depending and relying on You to work on, in and through us so that others may come to see Your Glory being manifested in this present world.

We believe that as Your eyes continue to search the hearts of mankind that you save the lost, and that You will open the eyes of their understanding that they may know that it’s ONLY in The Name of Jesus that any of us can be saved! Break up the fallow ground of their hearts and put a ‘SINCERE YES’ in them that they will humbly receive You as their personal Lord and Savior! Father we’re trusting that You will direct their steps, and place and settle them into a church home today.

Heavenly Father, we lift up every person who has walked away from You and Your church for whatever reason. Your Word assures us that You are married to the backsliders. Encourage their soul that because of Your Unfailing Love, You are praying and waiting for them to come back into Your Loving arms today! We’re believing that their hearts are being pricked at this very moment, compelling them to return with a “COMMITTED YES” determined to live out the rest of their lives devoted to serving and being a witness of The Goodness of The Lord!

Knowing that You Sovereignly Rule and Reign over the affairs of mankind, as our nation is in the midst of election season and many are overwhelmed with fear, doubt and confusion, we pray and thank You for our President Obama, Mrs. Hillary Clinton and Father, we ask that You help Donald Trump as only You can!

We ask that You continue to open the eyes of understanding so that your people are not easily deceived by those who would desire to entrap your children in bondage once again to anything that You have delivered us from.

Lord Jesus, we lift up every government official, education, financial, judicial, health care and spiritual leader, asking a special miracle for each and every one of them who are yet standing on the wall proclaiming Your Word under the conviction and anointing of Holy Spirit.

Father, we’re trusting and believing that you will Grace them to be the examples in their homes, churches and community that will cause everyone who comes into contact with them to fall in  love, trust wholly in and live their lives serving You!

Father, we commit our children, our children’s children and by faith, into Your providential care! Lord, we realize that You have a plan and purpose for their lives too and we have the blessed assurance that their steps are yet being ordered by Your eyes!

Heavenly Father, stir up the hearts and minds of those who are professing Your Name that they will have a desire for an even greater personal, intimate relationship with Creator God through fellowship of Holy Spirit that they might prove what is the perfect and acceptable will of The Lord Jesus!

Lord, I pray for every believer who is yet holding on to Your Hand by faith today, that You will release Divine power, Supernatural strength and health, provision, prosperity and protection, PEACE, comfort and encouragement. I pray also Father, that You will preserve us thru the tests that they must go thru and that You will bring us out completely restored, renewed, refreshed and with the reward as You have promised them in Your Word.

Father, we rejoice now in confidence and quietness, trusting wholly that all workers of iniquity are trembling and suddenly departing in shame, turning their backs from Your people, because You have heard the voice of our weeping, our supplications and received our prayers as a sweet savor coming up before Your Sovereign Throne of Grace and Mercy!

Father, we thank You, honor and praise You now, for we believe that it is done!  In The Exalted Name of Jesus. Alleleujah! Amen 3x and It Is So!

Those who stand in agreement with this prayer, GO TELL SOMEBODY JESUS CARES!

 

SELAH!  

Pause, Ponder, Pray and Praiz!  

SLAVE 2 HOPE!

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SELAH Daily Devotions!

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”…being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Romans 4:18, 21

 

Do you remember, as a child, ever being warned by your parents (supposing to avoid the pain of disappointment),“Don’t get your hopes up”? For many of us, the devil was laying a foundation for years of pessimism, doubt, unbelief, hopelessness, low self-esteem, depression and despair! WOW! Who Knu?

Ever wonder why God told us not to walk by our feelings? Well, if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably accumulated enough regrets, resulting from poor choices you’ve made listening to your fickle-feelings, to realize how irrational flesh can be, huh?

Let’s set the record straight! Sometimes, it’s difficult to ascribe a tag to feelings; feelings jus are! Directed by proper motivation, feelings are good! That’s why we need the Spirit of Discernment! Remember, when out of no where, you felt that bleep that kept on bleeping up  out of your spirit and something told you…‘don’t go that way, stop right now and turn around or call so-and-so, pray for him now?

Unfortunately, more often than not, we’re tempted to dismiss things if it doesn’t fit within the realm of our logic. Kinda like Abram’s first response to the burning bush! Yet, something pricked his curiosity to closely investigate and ultimately leading him into a personal encounter with The Supernatural Almighty God!

Abram over-ruling emotions and human reasoning, choosing to consider not what he could see (circumstantial evidence) but rather believed and reached for what was not seen! That was faith, yall!

Now, the world looks at this and calls it foolishness, weakness and denial! However, the scriptures reveal that Abram was clearly aware that except by Divine Intervention, it was impossible for a 100 year old man and a 90 year old woman to conceive and birth a child! Because God does nothing in the earth until He gets a man to come into agreement with Him, have you ever wondered what if Abram and Sarai had continued to jus laugh off the promised as an impossible pipe-dream, if perhaps…???

No doubt over the next 25 loonnng years, Abram faced many demonic challenges tempting him to give up his hope of  living to see the manifestation of such a miraculous feat. Yet, against all hope, Abraham hope on! Oooh Glorraa2GAWD! God testified that because Abram believed that His God had the power to shift nature and call those things that be not as though they were, Abraham received the Promise and thus became the Father of our faith!

Howeverrr, how often have we insisted upon ignoring that still small voice of conscience to satisfy feelings of our own lusting, self-centered emotions driven by fear of ‘What if and What’s in it for me’? Even if it means forfeiting our Hope and God’s Peace?  OMG! The next time, perhaps we need to re-think before we act on them, huh? #ijs

Beloved, HONESTLY! This walk of faith that GOD EXPECTS is NOT REALLY all that unreasonable when your HOPE is firmly rooted and ground in Jesus Alone, consistently trusting, wholly relying upon HIS Supernatural Grace to strengthened us to walk out our faith, looking unto JESUS, obeying HIS teachings and patiently awaiting HIM to fulfill every Promise that HE has ever spoken over our lives! #Didjaheardat? SLAVE2HOPE!

SELAH!

Pause, Ponder, Pray & Praiz!

Ann Caffee

COURAGE!!!

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courage

SELAH Daily Devotions!

So do not throw away your confidence, it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. Hebrews 10:35-36

I believe that most of us remember The Wizard of Oz, right? If not, perhaps you’re familiar with Michael Jackson’s rendition of the 1939 Classic, The Oz! Aahhhh!, the gathering of the ‘least of the likelies’, comrades in arms unified by one common denominator! They each had a need that could only be fulfilled by the same source! Dorothy and Toto wanted to get back home to Kansas; The Tin Man wanted a heart; The Scarecrow wanted a brain and The Lion wanted some courage! Now, forgive me if I’m infringing upon the sanctity of the religiously sanctimonious. But! Guess that’s how I’m wired, huh? When I look at The Body of Christ, I see certain similarities between us and them!

C’mon now! You gotta admit, looking around the sanctuary on any given Sunday Morning, that it’s uncomfortably obvious that God’s perception of Footmen in The Army of the Lord destined to dominate the systems of this world, contrasts profusely from those that human wisdom and intellect would nominate! Hence, I stand eternally grateful, with both hands raised high in the air, that God saw fit to choose such a wreak like I to be a part of His Family! So I’m totally convinced that God indeed does have a sense of humor!

Nevertheless, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:”! 1 Corinthians 1:26

The Sovereign Creator and Lord of Life individually hand-picked us out from amongst an unusual conglomerate of ethnic, intellectual, social, financial and spiritual backgrounds. I would imagine, that since He ia Alpha and Omega, being fully aware of not just the common need (A SAVIOR) but also the gi-normous potential of resounding Glory that would resonate throughout the universes as we’re being made holy (HOLY SPIRIT) was too much to resist, therefore motivated Him to draw some of us, huh?

I mean who would’ve thought YOU would be saved, sanctified and serving The Lord with all of your heart, mind, body, soul and spirit…everyday? #4REAL! #ijs

Howeverrrr, contrary to the world’s notion, saints ain’t no chumps! It takes tremendous strength, fortitude and determination to walk worthy of this calling! Those who’ve walked with God for any length of time, know that even after we’ve confessed our faith in The Lord Jesus Christ, you can’t expect that deceitful devil to wave a white flag, pat you on the back and throw you a retirement party! In fact, for lack of a better word, he is committed to tearing down The Kingdom of God, one soul at a time.

Nevertheless, every Blood-washed, born-again child of The Most High God must be armed with the same mindset that Jesus had! (Ref. 1 Corinthians 2:16) Just as sure as there is an enemy determined to destroy you, you have The True and Living God, Who has sworn by Godself, to always cause you to be victorious!(Ref. 2 Corinthians 2:14)

Oh, and don’t forget as you wield The Sword of The Spirit, (THE WORD) it comes alive, releasing supernatural power to rebuke threats and pull down the strongholds of your enemies, unmercifully! If he is bold enough to raise his ugly head above your feet, because you are IN Christ, you have been authorized and empowered to step on his throat and cut off his head!

Lastly, always be aware of the enemies attempt to strip away your confidence and trust in God by manipulating the circumstances thru FEAR (FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL)! Anything that the devil says is a lie! (Ref. John 8:44) Satan ain’t GOD and he certainly ain’t running nothing! The only reason he even showed up is because God allowed him to tempt you to test your faith! (Ref. Job 1:8) WOW! #Didjaheardat?

Precious ones, don’t abandon your confidence in The Faithfulness of Your Heavenly Father! Trust to know, God’s Love will never abandon those who will persevere, enduring the stress and hardships of being aliens of this fallen world! (Ref. Hebrew 13:5) What’s coming is so much greater than what’s been! (Ref. Romans 8:18)

Be encouraged Believer! It’s through much tribulation that we enter into The Kingdom of God!’ (Ref. Acts 14:22) Remember, Beloved, we’re not home! Yet clothed in Hope of The Celestial City awaiting, we forge courageously Heavenward to be united Eternally with our King!

SELAH!

Pause, Ponder, Pray & Praiz!

Ann Caffee

SILENT PRAIZ!

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SILENT PRAIZ 2

SELAH Daily Devotions!

 

“Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.” Psalm 65:1-2

 

Being Pentecostal, born and bred, means that I am accustomed, and I might add, a willing participant, to exuberant praise and worship. So can you imagine my surprise, to discover that God-Honored Adoration is not necessarily limited to loud singing, hand-clappin’, foot-stomppin, shoutin’ and dancing to drum thumping, key-board tickling, guitar pick’n tunes escalating His Glory!

Who nu? There is a high praise in God, where the weary souls, thirsty and hungry for an escape from the chaos and confusion of this world’s clamor, finding rest, peace, security, strength and hope, fall prostrate into HIS PRESENCE!

There’s a secret place, a Cleft hued out in The Impregnable Rock of Salvation, where mere words are no longer necessary, and sighs are welcomed, giving way to hope-filled silence, birthing unspoken-bellows of acceptable obedient prayers and God-Centered Praise and Worship!

There is an epiphany where we all must ascribe to reach in God, where we practice appreciation and respect for HIM by disciplining ourselves, focusing our minds and making a conscious decision that regardless of my circumstances, I’m going to Bless God—not just for all of His Goodness to me—BUT for WHO HE IS!

In this lofty estate, time spent waiting on The Lord is no longer full of anxious frustration, but quiet peaceful resting in child-like confident anticipation, trusting that you’re being kept safely, far from your conspirators’ reach, hidden in The Glory of His WONDEROUS PRESENCE.

As God’s Chosen, you’re surrounded by a Fortress, the Builder and Maker is The Creator of The Universe, where we can breathe easily, waiting patiently, for as long as HE says,  fully assured that everything we will ever need and hope for comes from HIM—JESUS!

#DIDJAHEARDAT? The Holy Spirit is calling! Be still, in that Peace-Filled-Knowing that all of your Help and Hope of Glory abides in The All-Powerful God,  EL SHADDAI…your GOD! SILENT PRAISE! #WOW #AWEMAAZIN, huh?

SELAH!

Pause, Ponder, Pray & Praiz!

Ann Caffee

IT’S TIME 2 PRODUCE

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IT'S TIME 2 PRODUCE

SELAH Daily Devotions!

 

Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. Isaiah. 54:1

 

When I think of the word ‘barren’ I get an image of a desert, a wilderness, dry, desolate, unfruitful place. Obviously, The Prophet Isaiah could not be talking to God’s Chosen Ones. Or could he? I know this doesn’t quite fit in the New Millennium Church Prosperity Theology. After all, aren’t we the head and not the tail, above not beneath. Aren’t we the blessed coming in, and blessed going out, right?

Well, I don’t mean to intrude into your celestial comfort zone and burst your balloon, but for those of us who’ve been walking with The Lord for more than a week, can testify that sometimes real-life contradicts everything that we’ve ever heard, studied and believed about what it means to be “saved”.

Many times the saints believe because we love God and know that God loves us, the favor of God automatically guarantees a life of levitating thru this world on a flowery bed of ease; that is until life doesn’t produce the fruit of righteousness that we expect! That’s Barrenness! I’m talking about even after, we’ve made all of our faith confessions, planted faith seeds all across the nations; only to end up broker, busted and even more disgusted. Don’t shout me down, nah? #ijs!

What about when Prophet Lightning Buzz told you that your soul mate was on his way to you and up pops Sis. Rahab or Bro. Bozo and she or he snags the very one you just knew God said was yours? I’d call that a barren place!  #4REAL!!!

And what about this one, you make up your mind to stop robbing God and start paying your tithes and giving your offerings faithfully and consistently, and you still can’t make ends meet? Okay! Now you see what I’m talking about, huh?

Sometimes it appears as if God brought you into the L&D room, watched you suffer the pain, exposing you for everyone to see and then stitched up your womb and left the building!

O YE BARREN, HEAR YE THE WORDS OF THE LORD! “It ain’t what it looks like!” God uses our barrenness, to mature us and to prepare us to take possession of our heritage!

Perhaps, some of you have been wandering around the desert for quite a while, aimlessly drifting without direction or purpose. Have you considered that God’s been trying to bring you out, howevvrrrr, because you’ve refused to trust Him and keep trying to deliver yourself, you continue to go round and round in circles!  Beloved, might I offer an alternative perspective,  God had to make the brook dry up just to get you in position for your miracle!

Stop It! It’s time to go in and to take possession of everything that God has promised you.

Remember, your  next blessing is never in what you’ve lost, but it’s always in what you’ve got left! God can produce more in a famine than the wicked can in his wealth. It’s time for you to stop trying and start trusting.

O Ye barren; get ready to enlarge your tent! TRUST2KNO, IT’S TIME TO PRODUCE!

SELAH!

Pause, Ponder, Pray & Praiz!

Ann Caffee

SACRED TRUST

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SACRED TRUST!

SELAH Daily Devotions!

 

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. Psalm 91:14-15

Ever heard, (perhaps you’ve said it yourself) “I’ll forgive you, but I won’t forget!”? What I think the person’s really saying is, “To err is human, but trust is Divine”!

One of the most catastrophic casualties of any broken relationship is trust!

Personally, I believe that’s why God hates sin. Given the uncertainty of the expansive lapse of time and the incomprehensible impact of the devastationing consequences of their high-treason against El Elyon, any attempt to describe the weight  and wealth of this trusting intimacy and fellowship that Adam and Eve enjoyed with The Creator as unimaginable, would at best only be a severe under-estimation! #IJS

Nevertheless, The Bible does reveal sporadic glimpses into the pure delight of The Heavenly Father’s Heart strolling through The Garden in the cool of the day, the intimate communion with the most precious of creation, sharing secret Eternal Wisdom, proudly affirming and re-affirming man’s authority and dominion over all living creatures and expressing Loving-Providential Care towards that which was created in His Own Image!

Despite the palatable convenience and more advantageous point of view for man to deflate the effect of our transgressions, both in Heaven and in the earth, from God’s perspective sin corrupts! Therefore it demands separation from Holy. Hence, sin brutally interrupts the intimacy that God purposed between God-Self and humanity when He formed us! Thereby emphatically grieving the Holy Spirit of God! Yet, we have the audacity to describe our unrighteous infractions as ‘my little issue’, ‘a slip up’ or ‘to miss the mark’! WOW!

Fortunately for us, God’s love would not be denied! Today’s scriptures tells us that knowing the innate frailty and the proclivity of human flesh to fall hopelessly into the temptations of sin’s lure, The God of Compassion and All Comfort , determined to restore the sacred communion (trust) with His Family, sacrificed His Only Begotten Son, the 2nd Adam, to repair the breach ruptured by our rebellious nature. (Ref. John 3:16)

Even more awesome, is the reality that we, (the offender), have only to accept this free offer (made by the Offended), Salvation by Grace, by confessing a faithful-heart-filled prayer of repentance (Godly sorrow) and professing a solemn commitment to live each day of the rest of our lives wholly unto The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! 

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

WOW! #didjaheardat? NOW THAT’S AWEMAAZZIN! 2 KNOW GOD IS 2 TRUST HIS LOVE! SACRED, huh?

SELAH!

Pause, Ponder, Pray & Praiz!

Ann Caffee

THE PERFECT STORM

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THE PERFECT STORM 2

SELAH Daily Devotions!

 

“One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.” Psalm 27:4-5

 

Aaawwwww…Fantasy! Believe it or not, that’s where many escape to when the painful realities of life become much more than a person can bear. Perhaps, this might explain why that 1965 Classic American Sitcom “I Dream of Genie” (staring Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman) drew such a faithful following!

Week after week families gathered around their b/w TV’s anxiously gasping for any momentary retreat from the real-time burdens facing our nation. I mean who wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to have anything their heart desired suddenly appear simply by swiping a lamp, right?  Yep, those were the good ol’ days, huh?

History records President Lyndon B. Johnson struggling to lead the nation through a multiplicity of vexing controversial challenges and at the same time maintain some semblance of the homeland security that many cleaved to so dearly.

Remember, The First Combat Boots landing in Viet Nam and the Dominican Republic, the arrest of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King along with 2,600 others in Selma Alabama for demonstrating against voter-registration rules. Malcom X was shot to death in a Harlem rally, while the newly recognized Afro-Americans were rioting in Watts and others were rudely awakened to the undeniable existence of racism in The Land of the Free? Yep! Yep! #thoseweredadays!

The point is, despite the torrid winds of time, we survived!

Truthfully, as long as we live and breathe on this earth, there will be storms of adversity. In today’s scripture text, the Psalmist offers a brilliant ray of confident hope, strength and encouragement to those who yet contend for the faith found only in an intimate personal relationship with The God of all flesh.

Having been victimized by jealously, hatred and malicious rejection from those closes to him on numerous occasions, David sticks out in history as a true, honest, God-revealing companion to the desperate and down casts. A recap of God’s servant’s life depicts one who repeatedly finds himself besieged by fear, doubt, betrayal, death and isolation from human kindness. Yet in the midst of chaos, terror and tragedy, The Shepherd boy/King, David discovers the Source of true solace under the watchful care of His Sovereign Lord!

Beloved, we’re living in a day in time where it’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind of hussle and bustle, striving for the world’s standards of successful accomplishments and accommodations! However,  in spite of those poignant pathetic prophetic voices declaring peace and prosperity, sometimes we are left trembling and shaken by the inscrutable ungodliness of the systems of this world!

Nevertheless, if we keep our eyes pointed Heavenward, we too can be blessed, revitalized and restored by that Peace that passes all understanding, swept over by the unspeakable joy and resting assured in the Presence of the One Savior and Lord that David delighted in, Jesus Christ!  THE PERFECT ANSWER TO THE PERFECT STORM!

SELAH!
 
PAUSE, PONDER, PRAY & PRAIZ!
 
Ann Caffee