Can’t Help But Tremble

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 114. It’s a short one, but a great reminder of God’s power, love, and sovereignty.

“When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs? Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.” (ESV)

As I’m writing this, I’m thinking of my morning coffee in the park today. Some of the birds were following one another around and squawking, holding their beaks open, and wanting to be fed by the other. At first, I kind of laughed, and said, “Mama says you’re old enough to feed yourself now.” But then, I remembered those times when my husband would feed me a bite of his meal, or vice versa. Feeding one another is a sign of affection between couples, and family members. The impact of that truth, that family relationships are also that emotional and tender, even among birds, caused that sort of trembling within me. The presence of God, of His character, His traits, is in every living thing. I think we all too often miss those awesome moments of the revelation of God in the world around us because we don’t prepare our hearts to see Him there. I know that every time He reveals Himself to me this way, I cannot help but tremble.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Generations Behind You

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 112. It gives us a picture of just how much our faithfulness and obedience to God means to our children and grandchildren…and even theirs. Generations behind us can be blessed by our faithfulness and obedience. The psalm is a short one, so I posted the whole thing.

“Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!
His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous. It is well with the man who deals generously and lends; who conducts his affairs with justice. For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever. He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD. His heart is steady; he will not be afraid, until he looks in triumph on his adversaries. He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honor. The wicked man sees it and is angry; he gnashes his teeth and melts away; the desire of the wicked will perish!”

Boy, am I humbled reading this! And, boy, am I grateful when I read this; for those in the generations ahead of me, who were faithful and obedient. Thank you, LORD/Lord, for my grandmother! Thank you, Oma, for teaching me about God’s love, and for showing me His love in you!

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

We Magnify What We Receive

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 70. The psalm is a short one; a prayer, actually, of King David’s.

Make haste, O God, to deliver me! Hurry, O LORD, to help me! May those who seek my life be ashamed and confounded; may those who wish me harm be repelled and humiliated. May those who say, “Aha, aha!” retreat because of their shame. May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; may those who love Your salvation always say, “Let God be magnified!” But I am poor and needy; hurry to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay. (BSB) How many times have we prayed this; or something like it, eh? “Get ’em, Jesus!” Then, “Ooh, LORD/Lord, let me jump for joy when you do! LOL You know God doesn’t want us to rejoice, though, over their wrongdoing and downfall. And, when you think about them falling into God’s hands, you want to hit your knees and pray for mercy for them, don’t you? Yeah.

Verse 4- Go my attention. “May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; may those who love Your salvation always say, “Let God be magnified!” It had me thinking about that phrase, “what goes in comes out.” Jesus said it this way in (Matt. 12:35) (NIV) “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. There are some powerful revelations in this. First, it tells us that we need to strive to put good things into others; especially our children. We’re told to build one another up. (1 Thessalonians 5:11) This building up includes ourselves, by the way. Stop beating yourself up, if you do, and start recalling to yourself, all the things you can do, and all the things that are right about you. Secondly, and this reinforces that last sentence, we need to recount the love others put into us. We need to recount, especially, the love that God puts into us. I got the pleasure of a surprise visit last evening, from a little sparrow mama looking for something to eat. Of course, I couldn’t resist. I thanked the Lord, for her visit; because I believe He sends them. He has a way of knowing when you need a little touch of His love. This morning the little mama came for some breakfast morsels for her nestlings. What a joy to be loved by Almighty God and His creation!

When we find ourselves doubting, recalling those acts of love toward us is crucial. It builds our faith, and our self-esteem. I know it’s so easy to start feeling like nobody in the world cares whether you live or die. This is where you sit down and remember how Gramma spoiled you with cheesecake make just for you; or the rides you got to take on uncle’s motor-scooter, the soccer games you got to tag along to. This is where you sit down and remember how God came in at the eleventh hour and said, “Oh, no, sir; not with this one, you’re not going to!” -and pulled you through that health crisis. I still keep a journal; and let me tell you, when you start writing that stuff down-and referring to it when you need to, you can feel your faith muscles growing. We magnify what we receive. Here’s the third revelation; based on that statement. Be careful what you receive into your heart. Be careful who you surround yourself with; especially in your inner circle.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Yes, Over ALL The Earth!

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 47. It is a praise offering to the LORD, by the sons of Korah. The psalm is a short one, so I’ll post the whole thing here.

Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.
He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah God has gone up with a shout,
the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! God reigns over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted!

Does that stir you up? It fills me with a deep and awesome joy; and I can’t help but praise Him! Verse 1 tells us God is a great king over all the earth. That means there is nothing outside of His control; nothing. Verse 4 confirms that God chose us! Not only that, but He chose us to be His children! Is that awesome?! Hallelujah! In verse 8 we are assured that He reigns over all the nations, and that He is definitely on the throne! In verse nine our royal status is confirmed. But, when Jesus died and rose again, He raised that status. We are kings and queens in the earth. We are, in Christ Jesus, seated at the right hand of the Father. That’s both awesome and more than a bit scary, isn’t it? It lets us know though, that we have a responsibility to the earth and its inhabitants. Remember Jesus’ words? He came to serve; not to be served. There’s a reference in this verse to the shields of the earth. When I researched it, I found that Jupiter, the magnetosphere, and the atmosphere are called shields of the earth. Here, actually on Earth, “a large area of exposed Precambrian crystalline igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks that form tectonically stable areas. These rocks are older than 570 million years and sometimes date back 2 to 3.5 billion years.” These are also called shields. They have to do with the earth’s crust, and plates that shift or don’t shift. Can you imagine God’s workload? These things are changed every time there’s a fire, flood, earthquake, or tornado and hurricane. (volume and weight) He has to adjust for all the depletion of the forests, the strip-mining, etc. WOWWWWW!!!!! Just think, if the weight of the earth was thrown all to one side? We could be careening through outerspace at breakneck speed and on a collision course with another planet. We might even be shot straight into the sun. No God? I beg to differ with you! This made me think of Psalm 104-a must read! That one will leave you awestruck and breathless.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Maybe He’s Doin’ You A Favor

Today’s message comes to us from Psalms and Proverbs 30. Psalm 30 is King David singing to the LORD. The whole thing is beautiful! (Psalm 30:6-7)”As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”
By your favor, O LORD, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed.” (ESV) This one really caught my attention. I’ve had three or four of those mountains in my life. There’s a twofold revelation here. First, we can get so caught up in our success(es) that we forget who got us there. “King/Queen of the hill, I am.” You’re already in trouble the minute you think it. I know; you think God would say, “Oh, yeah?” He doesn’t. God says, “Oh, no!” He knows what you’re in for. The devil loves to knock you down. That’s where the second revelation comes in. “By your favor,” O LORD, you made my mountain stand strong.” Oh, oh; what happened to my mountain? My high place just turned into a desert wilderness! It’s a mountain of sand! And here comes the storm! “God, why did you let that happen? God, can you hear me down here?! GOD, ARE YOU LISTENING?!! GOD, HELP ME!” “Yes, my child, I am listening. Now you’ve got it right.” (Matthew 5:1-14) (ESV)

Proverbs 30:1-9 reinforce Psalm 30. It’s almost like a small recap of Job. “I’ve learned my lesson, and I’ll just shut up and praise you now, LORD/Lord.” LOL Proverbs 30:7-9 go on with a short request by Agur, of the LORD. Then the rest of the proverb gives us some observations Agur has made. He ends with a bit of wise advice.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Joy Is The Reward

Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us that there is joy at the end of the journey. Though the journey be long, and grueling at times, and sometimes we may wonder if we’re forsaken, we surely are not! Due to library closures, the rest of my posts for this year will be short, and hopefully, I can find a song for each day. I hope you will continue to read the messages at twolisteners.org, as I will.

This one is by Jeremy Camp; perfect for a mid-week pick up.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Interludes Of Peace

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, bids us to protect our peace at all costs. We’re told to stop everything and regain our peace whenever it’s been disturbed. As I read this message, I think about Proverbs 4:23, which tells us to guard our hearts above all else because everything we do flows from it.

I found, some time ago, that little interludes of peace throughout the day help to keep me unruffled. These can include a few minutes of some quiet instrumental music-I love bamboo flute music for calming and refreshing my spirit. I used to take a short 30 minute “awake nap” after work each day. This helped me to switch gears and get back into Mom mode. Of course, an evening drive after dinner, or even a sunset picnic out in a quiet area make for a wonderful interlude of peace. I wrote a song titled “Little Wild Rose,” after a drive in the country with my then husband. See how that works? Creativity is always refreshed after an interlude of peace.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Saturday Silly – July 18, 2020

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, bids us to walk humbly with our God…which had me reminiscing about a little reminder God gave me about that.

I’d spent a few hours in the park that day. I needed to use the restroom before I left, so I did. As there were no paper seat protectors, I took some toilet paper and laid it on the toilet seat. I was more than a little disgruntled. I thought to myself, “Now why can’t they budget to provide the seat covers in the park restrooms?” I finished by business, but, as I got up, I lost the toilet paper that I’d put on the seat. It wasn’t there. I finally figured it just fell into the toilet. I flushed the toilet and headed out of the stall.

Now, there’s an apartment complex adjacent to the park. As I was strolling by on my way “home,” this nice little lady pointed out to me that I had toilet paper hanging out of the back of my shorts. It’s a good thing stuff like that makes me laugh. And, laugh I did. See; and some of you think God lets me get away with stuff. LOL

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Staying Close To The Lord

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Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us to stay very close to the Lord; to remain always in His Presence.

This is going to be a short and sweet one. As I’ve said before, that closeness comes from seeking God in everything around us. It comes by staying in His Word, through prayer, and through praise. It also comes through that joy we carry within as a result of our seeking Him and abiding in His Presence.

Whenever I feel as if there’s a distance between my spirit and the Lord, I look around to see where I’m at, what am I doing, what am I not doing. Usually, I find that I’ve gotten off the path and am slipping in my standards and boundaries things…my diligence is lacking, etc. That’s when it’s time to turn and start seeking Him like a little child that’s lost his/her momma would.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu