Oh, What A Joy It Is

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, bids us to put our lives into God’s hands and trust Him.

Learning to trust His will for us is not an easy thing. He has promised that His will is to prospers us, and not to harm us. I have seen, more and more, God’s will for us, in learning God’s ways with us. You see, the first step in overcoming your past, truly is to be born again. Jesus said so. When you’re born again, you become God’s baby. So, let God raise that baby.

In studying God’s Word, and learning His ways with us, we can apply those to the way in which we deal with ourselves. An example is the spilt milk. You might have had parents that got angry and yelled at you, and imputed wickedness to you – “You’re always making messes!” God’s way is much different. He sees your heart, fearful and trembling inside you, and probably ashamed for being clumsy (self-condemnation). God rushes in to save you from that fear and condemnation. He says, “That’s okay; accidents happen. Let’s clean it up.” Now, He’s helping you to clean up the spilt milk. And, when it’s over, you get a pat on the back and a high five for it. The Bible tells us that God lifts us up and sets us in a broad place. That means you have room to grow; like you just did. God empowers us to come boldly to Him for help. He empowers us to walk uprightly before Him, by making things right, or setting things aright again. He builds our spirit up-always! Isn’t that awesome?! And the more we live in His ways with us, the stronger we become within. The stronger we become within, the stronger our walk in His Way becomes.

Love you from Café du Mondieu

Yea, Tho I Walk Through The Valley…

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us that we are human, fallible, and that our steps will falter at times. When I read the message, I thought of Peter walking on the water.

If Peter had never taken another step, his life would never have turned out the way it did. Before his life was over, Peter’s mere shadow falling on someone was powerful enough to heal them. Then, there was Peter, denying Jesus. He betrayed the Lord just as much as Judas had. Judas killed himself…never too another step. Peter wept; his heart wrenched with the pain of his cowardice and shame. Then, Peter jumped out of the boat to swim to Jesus on the shore. He was filled with joy at the Lord’s presence. What a beautiful moment! Breakfast with Jesus; I can’t even begin to imagine what that joy bursting within Peter might have felt like…after all that stuff…Wow! Peter might never have known that joy, had he not taken another step after those faltering steps on the water.

The message is that the 23rd Psalm is so very true. The Lord does lead us beside still, or peaceful waters. He does restore our souls. He does lead us in paths of righteousness. His rod and his staff do comfort us when our steps falter. Faltering steps are found in the Valley of the Shadow of Death-especially in the spirit. The shadow is the temptation to quit, to give up, to curl up, and to end up right back where we started from, or someplace even worse. Judas is the prime example. But Jesus is faithful to forgive us when we confess our sins. His strength is made perfect in, and through our weaknesses – when we allow Him to save us and bring us through. Remember Peter’s words? “Lord, save me!” We can do the same thing, and boldly; because there is now no condemnation in Christ. We need to take a hint from that. There should be no self-condemnation in us then, either. Remember Jesus’ words to all he healed, and to the woman he save from being killed? “Go in peace.” Go means take steps; keep heading for your horizon, your goal. You are on your way to somewhere, because this is not your home.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

He’s Only Just Begun

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us that Jesus doesn’t stop saving us when we get saved. I hope you’ll all check the twolisteners.org website out and read the entire message, to help you understand what I’m talking about.

Salvation is an ongoing thing. We get saved from death when we come to the Lord, accepting Him as Lord and Savior. (John 5:24) But we also get saved as we’re going along and trying to walk out this new life with Him. I can’t begin to tell you how many times Jesus has saved members of my family…from me. He’s always saving me from myself; you know, the salty fries I’m not supposed to eat, the cookies that I really only need two of…Yeah, and then there are the two sizes too small pants…worked when I was 25. But, if I tried that now, I’d have to call 911 just to get me back out of them. Then again, maybe not. Denim is so thin nowadays, I might be able to just bust out myself. Jesus knows this. So, He sends a little angel to whisper in my ear and remind me I have better sense than that. He’s my Savior every day, all day long, He is.

The point I want to make is this: Guess what, Mr./Mrs/Ms. Christian-you’re not perfect yet. You still need Jesus just as much after 20, 30, 40 years, as you did when you first came running to Him. And guess what else-He loves it! He loves it when you are bold enough to come running and say, “Lord, I need you, cuz I really messed up…” We shame and guilt ourselves out of that quite often, because we get under the mistaken impression that Salvation makes us perfect. It does in God’s eyes, because He sees Jesus when He looks at us. He sees Jesus’ righteousness; we don’t have any outside of Him. (Romans 3:10) But God also remembers that we’re just babies spiritually. That’s why Jesus is our Savior until that great day. (Philippians 1:6) He’s always ready, always willing, and always able, more than able!

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

It Is His Love That Saves Us…Daily

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This is my choice of praise music for the day. It does go with today’s message. Thank you, Aaron Shust, for a powerful reminder of God’s love toward us.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu