Recognize His Glory

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 102. The psalm is a prayer of one in the throes of affliction. “All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse. For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink,…” (V9) We can see how the enemy wears us down in our weakness. This makes me think of those times when you’re doing that self talk, convincing yourself that God could never forgive you, never love you, or love you after all that, etc. Words like, “stupid, worthless, hopeless, etc.,” come to mind. That’s the enemy taunting you. He loves to put those doubts about God and His love for us into our hearts. He loves to beat us up with lying words. He’ll tell you everything you aren’t. God sees you in Christ Jesus. You are precious and honored in His sight. Precious, because He came to die for you; to pay the price to redeem you from Hell. Honored, because you are created in His image, after His likeness, and He believes in you. If God didn’t believe in you, He wouldn’t have entrusted you to care for His creation; to manage it, and to harness it’s power. And, He hardly would have died to save you from going to Hell, if He didn’t think you could overcome the world and worldliness, and the devil, who rules it.

Verse ten is the one that gets me. Every time I read it, I just want to shout, “No, no, no! God doesn’t pick you up just to throw you down!” We, unfortunately, have this tendency to sabotage ourselves. We squirm and fuss and fight Him, until we slip from His arms and fall. I finally figured out that I need to check myself for self-sabotage when I feeling not in sync with God. This is usually the case whenever I’m stepping into new territory, or moving on to the next level in something. See, that’s the devil pushing your doubt and confusion buttons again.

Verses 16-17 are powerful. “For the LORD builds up Zion; he appears in his glory; he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer.” God always builds you up. He’s never the one who casts you down; we do that to ourselves, or allow others to do that to us. He appears in His glory. This is an important statement. At first glance, you’d think, “Oh, I need to expect bells and whistles, and radiant blinding lights, etc.” God is love, so His glory is love also. Do you know who that little old lady was, that walked with you from her house to the corner of your block when you got lost? Yeah, that was God; His glory resting on that little old lady. That little birdie on the wire, that flirted with me that day a few years back was God. Same thing, His glory on that little bird. That scripture in Philippians 4:8 comes to mind. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” These things are some of the things that make up God’s glory. They’re all in His character. We need to learn to look more closely at those little, seemingly insignificant things and events. God is in everything; and is everything. His glory fills the earth.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Love Like That

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 98, and is a party in itself! Oh, what a wonderful example of joyous praise; and of a deep, deep love for the LORD/Lord! I’m reading from the ESV.

“Oh sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The LORD has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody! With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD! Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it! Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.”

Sometimes it’s hard to understand just how deeply God does love us. We have a hard time allowing ourselves to be as intimate with Him as we are with our spouse, our children, all our loved ones. But, that’s exactly what God wants from us; that intimacy, that boldness when we approach Him, that confidence when we need Him, that trust. Of course, that intimacy isn’t possible unless and until we allow God into that deepest part of our hearts.

One thing I love about this psalm is that it beckons even to the rivers to clap their hands, the hills to sing for joy. The sea is bid to roar and make a joyful noise to the King, the LORD. It makes me think about waking up in the mountains, just before sunrise. You can hear everything waking up, and it all comes together in a symphony of praise to God. The water begins to gurgle and run a little faster, the wind begins to whisper through the branches of the trees, and sometimes you even hear a bird whistle out there. It’s one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve ever had. Each time we get a glimpse of God’s working in the world around us, we can see a little more of His deep, deep love for His creation. Even the colors of the sunrise and sunset are rich with His love for us; His desire to share His own beauty with us.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

He Loves You More

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us that God loves us, and longs for our love and companionship, as much as we do (or should) His.

I began to see God’s way of reaching out to me in the little birds I love so much. I’ve shared some of the funny things that have happened-and I just know He was behind them. Then, there are those quiet interludes of peace. He makes His presence known in so many ways, if we just pay attention-look, listen, and live with our hearts. I believe the best way to cultivate that intimacy with our LORD/Lord is to make time to seek Him; time to be alone with Him.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Every Day’s Chock Full of Miracles

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us that we are walking around in the midst of a world full of miracles. Every day is chock full of miracles when we walk with our Lord.

I want to share a little miracle, and God’s sense of humor, with you. As you all know, I love those little mocking birds. I was sitting at my favorite picnic table a couple of mornings ago. There’s a little bird that has learned how to sound like an alarm clock. He also says good morning, and sweet talks in this teeny little voice. I just love him. Anyway, I’d finished my prayer, and was enjoying the morning, when the “alarm” went off. I said, “Everybody’s awake already; who are you trying to wake up?” “Good morning,” the little bird replied. Then he sang a little tune. I said, “I love you.” He didn’t like that. He squawked a couple of times, nastily. Now, I thought he just might have a jealous girlfriend birdie up there. So, I said, “I don’t want your boyfriend; I’ve got my eyes on somebody else.” I was quite amused. He said something that I couldn’t quite make out, so I said, “Oh, really, Sparky?” He got quiet then. I get such joy out of those little birds, I said, “Thank you, Jesus, I love you…forever.” That little bird piped up with what sounded exactly like, “Oh, really, Sparky?!” I laughed so hard. I can just see Jesus up there laughing at me. And, do you all know that was a miracle, tailor made for me? Yeah, God will do that just for you! Every day is chock full of miracles. We just don’t often look in the right places for them, or recognize them when they come to us.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Seek Him Early & You Won’t Have to in the Storm…

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Happy Fathers’ Day, Gentlemen, one and all!

Today’s message from God Calling -A.J. Russell, bids us to seek the Lord early-before He gets crowded out by what we call life. We are admonished to rest in God’s truths, to walk in His ways, and to seek that rest just as eagerly in the good times as we do in the bad times.

When I read this message, I think about mornings when I’m sipping my coffee outside. Often a little bird or two, sometimes three or four, alight close by and begin to chirp and trill happily. Do you know that’s God? Yes, indeed. That’s one way in which He sends us joy and beauty through His creation. Experiencing that completely changes your day. There’s a joy that settles on you and stays with you throughout the day, all because of the silly little birds. That’s the resting in His ways and truths. When we seek God in the things around us, He will be found by us; and the question of whether or not He’s with us in the storm, won’t even arise.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu