Silence Can Be Deadly

Today’s message comes to us from Psalms 28. Psalm 28:1-2 are so powerful! “To you, O LORD, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.” (your innermost sanctuary) This tells me that when I lift my hands up, I’m appealing to my Daddy’s heart for me. Hear me, Mom, Dad! And, answer me; answer my need for reassurance, admonition, correction, instruction, encouragement, etc. Remember Job? Yeah, God answered him, didn’t He? LOL My favorite line from that whole book is when Job says, “I’ll just shut up now.” I giggle every time I read it. And, yes, I’ve said that same thing myself; more times than I care to disclose. God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Your silence can be lethal. Interaction stimulates even infants in the womb. Admonition, encouragement, instruction, empower us with knowledge, wisdom, and courage. Correction reveals error and makes way for instruction and encouragement. It also reinforces standards and boundaries; helping to realign us with truth and integrity. All of theses empower bonding in love, and cement relationships. Relationship empowers boldness. Verse 2 Begins “Hear the the voice of my please for mercy.” You can tell by the way that voice sounds what’s going on inside that person. (fear, desperation, frustration, overwhelmed, etc.) Those pleas for mercy. Mercy is defined as: compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm. (definition from Oxford Languages) We need to stop the onslaught dead in its tracks and make it manageable. My oldest daughter was just overwhelmed by a Math lesson dealing with decimal places. I drew a chart for her, like the one I’d learned decimal places on, and showed her how to use it. She aced that section in her math class. She hadn’t been shown that in class.

Psalm 28:3 is a powerful revelation about inappropriate places, people, and things. Some I thought of were bars, parties, gossip sessions, adult conversation, and age inappropriateness. That stuff comes back on us; we’re sowing seeds, and we will reap. That 9 year old that acts and sounds like a 37 year old comes to mind. Jesus did not take us to Hell; He went there for us. Psalm 27:7 is the next powerful one here. It gives us a revelation of two things. First, you must trust God to be helped by Him. (How can you believe and obey Him if you don’t trust Him?) Secondly, you must be trustworthy in order for your children, mate, friends, and others to feel they can be helped by you. (Why would, or should they turn to you if they can’t trust you?)

Proverbs 28 tomorrow.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

You Are Not Unemployed

Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us that there are no idle hours in the Kingdom of Heaven. There is no such thing as unemployment with God. If there is no work to be had, there is still work to do, the message tells us. First, then, we can work within ourselves, to conquer any evil, and to realign ourselves with God’s Will and Word. We can then become conquering forces in our homes, our communities, our workplaces, our world.

When I read this message, I thought about this Spring and Summer. The COVID-19 thing hit, everything shut down, and then the weather got much too hot for me to be very mobile in. I pretty much was stuck, spending much too much time just sitting on the sidewalk and trying to survive. I decided I would do a Bible study each morning. God began leading my Bible study, taking me through the Psalms and the Prophets. Oh, my! What wonderful revelations I got about the depth of God’s love; the intensity of His love for us, and His desire to see us overcome this world. As soon as the libraries opened up again, I resumed my daily blog posts. Recently, all those study notes began coming together into a book about generational curses. You see, there is no sitting still in the Spirit. LOL Don’t ever allow yourself to feel like you’re idling in your walk with the Lord. He can always work something good in you!

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Furnish & Refurnish Them

Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, bids us to furnish the quiet places in our souls; thereby, building our spiritual homes. Of course, spending time with God in prayer and praise is the most important part of that. But there’s more to this than meets the eye. We need to nourish the gifted parts of our beings, as well. God doesn’t give us gifts and talents for no reason.

At first glance, you’ll say, “What?!” Look at that again, though. God really did form your inward parts (heart and soul) “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139:13) Furnishing the quiet places in your soul, then, is furnishing that creative part of you, that craft-loving part, the author/storyteller, the artist, the list goes on and on, doesn’t it? It should. These are gifts/talents that bring us peace, joy, purpose, little pleasures. I’m not telling you not to seek God and spend time with Him. I am telling you not to get so caught up on the one road that you miss the whole country-side surrounding you. Whenever we traveled, my Dad would try to take the scenic route whenever possible-and he would actually pull off the road and take a break when the highway traffic got heavy. Sometimes, we need a little change of scenery. You may be surprised at how much peace and joy you can find in a cook-book, and an afternoon spent in the kitchen. It stirs up creativity within, it brings comfort and joy to you and those for whom you’re cooking, and gives you a little glimpse of a gift God has given you…and maybe inspiration will take you to new heights.

I’ve said this before, I know; but one of my favorite little daily inspirational reads is from a book titled: Simple Abundance. It really does reach the creative part of you. Not only that, but you will be surprised at how much more you will appreciate all you have, and all you already are. I refer back to it from time to time, when I’m feeling out of sorts and frustrated along that same road.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

I Am Thankful For…

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us that praise is the way to move mountains. Praise can make a molehill out of a mountain.

I used to write down ten things that I was grateful for, every evening, before bed. I learned this from a book titled “Simple Abundance,” by Sara Ban Breathnach. From this practice, I began to discover some beautiful simple pleasures, like that first sip of my morning coffee-especially Amaretto Coffee. LOL

What does this all have to do with praise moving mountains? Well, I got into the habit using that same technique, only, saying “thank you, Lord,” when faced with a difficulty-great or small. If you make the same list, citing the little difficulties that were smoothed out for you, the things God does that we take for granted…like waking up and having one more day here with loved ones, etc., you’ll see just how much God is there for us, and does do for us. This helps to get you into the habit of, not only blessing consciousness and thankfulness, but also of God consciousness and gratitude. You begin to become more and more conscious of His Presence in your day.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

All Of Them Were Written In His Book

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us that God is our savior every day! See, even those guardian angels need backup. LOL As I read the message at twolisteners.org, I thought of Psalm 139. It is so incredibly beautiful to me! I just want to throw myself into our Heavenly Father’s arms whenever I read it.

“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139: 16 (BSB)

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Think On These Things

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, bids us to look on the brighter side of things. We are admonished not to weigh our spirits down by dwelling on the sins and sordidness in our world. Philippians 4:8 bids us: “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.” (NIV)

In terms of overcoming generational curses, or even just recovering from a painful past event, this is very important. Dwelling on all the stuff that was wrong and went wrong, will only pull you down. It’s like trying to walk on quicksand. What we need to to is to collect up all the things that were right and went right. We need to meditate on those things; to explore them fully in terms of emotional impact, strength, and progress for us. The key is to recount our victories rather than rehearse our next failure; because you will go wherever you let your mind lead you.

God Calling has been my favorite inspirational read for years now. The only book I love more is the Bible. I’m grateful to the folks that put it online for us all to enjoy at twolisteners.org If you haven’t already, check it out for yourself. It completely changed my relationship with the Lord, Jesus. And yes, there really is wonder upon wonder of revelation in a life with Christ Jesus.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

What You Need For It Is There

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us that God gives us everything we need for every task He assigns to us. We are bid to “face each difficulty sure that the wisdom and strength will be given you for it. Claim it.”

Wisdom is found all through the scriptures. Two of my favorite books are the Psalms and Proverbs. But, if you read carefully, you can learn tremendously awesome things from every book in the Bible. And, it is like that field the man found a pearl in; filled with all kinds of treasure. It’s truly worth every minute you set aside, so you can spend time digging up all the good things in that field.

Psalm 90:12 is referenced by the message: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Numbering our days is good stewardship. It has to do with scheduling; budgeting our time so that we have time to spend with the Lord.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Start Where You Dwell

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, bids us to dwell in the secret place of God’s Shadow, or Spirit. I’ve written before, about entering into that place through praise and worship. I’ve written about making time to spend time alone with God. The message bids us to make that dwelling place our home; and not to merely visit there fitfully, when it all gets to be too much for us. “Dwell there,” we’re told.

Some years ago, I made the connection between the dwelling place of God’s Presence, and my own dwelling place. There’s a place in the book (God Calling), that talks about homemaking in the spirit. Jesus said, “the kingdom of Heaven is upon, or within you.” That means God’s there. So, how do we translate that into daily living? We do that by homemaking for our spirit, and our soul…This message ties in well with the one about cultivating ourselves.

Part of cultivating ourselves, is tapping into our creativity, embracing our loves, likes, passions, and joys. It involves managing our dislikes, and eliminating all sources of discord. This works at home, at work, at church, in personal schedules,etc. However, we’re talking about home. When I think about that, I remember when I had to settle for freebies, bargain basement, mismatched, eclectic stuff. Not that I wasn’t grateful; but, oh, the difference in emotional ease and joyousness of spirit, mind, and soul, when you get to purposefully pick and choose. You get to choose; you’re the designer. You are the creator of your sacred space. This is the place where your body, mind, heart, spirit, and soul dwell. Do you know there’s a difference between a dwelling and a residence?

To dwell suggests being connected, being a life-force in that place. It suggests a warmth, and a joyful habitation. It’s where we stop, stay, rest, linger, live, abide. To reside suggests a mere being there, without a real connection, or warmth. There’s really no life-force or joyful habitation. No engagement with or in the place. It is what we occupy, are placed, are found, and, are situated. Can you see, and feel, the difference? The bottom line, is that your surroundings affect your spirit, mind, and soul; and your heart, as well. After you design, or create, your sacred space, the chores, the schedules, all the daily living issues, etc., need to be addressed, so all discord is eliminated or brought to a bare minimum. What a wonderful difference, to walk into a welcoming home that wraps you in everything you love. How wonderful to feel the peace settle over you as you enter. Your home is sacred space. Be purposeful, be deliberate when you create it. You’ll soon find that God’s Presence dwells there with you. What you surround yourself with will be absorbed by your heart, mind, and soul. Let it be God’s Presence.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Saturday Silly – July 27, 2019

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I apologize this didn’t make it up at midnight. I was feeling pretty under the weather yesterday, and took the day off. At any rate. Saturday’s here…Thank you, Lord, for another week that you’ve walked with me.

I was on my way from breakfast this morning, and ran into a friend of mine. He preaches on the streets; you may have spotted him near the freeway exits and on-ramps. Anyway, he asked me if I knew how many books in the Bible start with the letter J. I hadn’t had my coffee yet. I have to laugh; I came up with two, and was at a loss for the rest. You see, I ‘m the kind of person that reads the Word, and knows the Word, but I’ll be hanged if I can remember what book, chapter, and verse I read that Word in. It’s all the same to me-God’s Word. Whenever I do my Bible studies and posts, I have to look them up to be sure I’ve got their placements right.

Anyway, I made my way to the park behind the library, and was having my coffee, and thinking about my next Bible study: Your Glory. “You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor” This is the verse that came to me. For the life of me, I could not remember where, in the Bible, I read it. This thought came to me: “coffee.” I thought, “What?” “Coffee,” it came again. OH! HEBREWS! I’m still laughing!

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu