It’s Ours To Care For

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 115. It’s a wonderful praise, and reminder of God’s glory on the whole universe. The verse I want to focus on is verse 16; reading from the ESV.

“The heavens are the LORD’s heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man.” I never did laugh at the so-called “tree-huggers.” I probably wouldn’t chain myself to a tree, but I do see their point. We need to manage the things God has given us stewardship over much more carefully. Being homeless, I see a lot of disrespect toward God’s creation. That’s not only disrespect for His creation, but it’s also disrespect for oneself. God made everything beautiful for us. He made it to replenish itself, to sustain life on it, and to give us everything we need to live in good health, comfortably, and happily. When we don’t take care to replenish what we use, we risk destroying that resource completely. The buffalo, and many other near extinct animals are proof of that.

Caring for the earth begins in your own personal space. From there, we gain the strength and energy to care for the world around us; to contribute to its beauty, and to keep it beautiful. God is a god of order, not chaos. When we stop caring for our personal space, we fall victim to chaos, dis-ease, energy sapping currents, etc. This radiates outwardly toward the world around us, in all our relationships, and in eternity, I believe. If you’re going to radiate something, let it be the love, peace, joy, and power within you, that comes from the loving, peaceful, joyful, and powerful personal space you create and sustain. There’s a reason God’s sanctuary is called a sanctuary.

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

Union In Everything

Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us that Jesus is present when there are two or three gathered in His Name. This presence is different from when we gather together to praise and to hear from Him. This is a sweet, sweet spirit filled to overflowing with His love, peace, joy, and with our Lord, Himself-His very nature. That’s one reason we need to get to know Him as intimately as we can. We do that by reading the Gospels, the Psalms, the Prophets, and Revelations. All these books speak of Jesus Christ, our Lord. In them, you catch sight of His heart, His compassion, His joy, simplicity, courage, and ferocity when it comes to us, his followers. He truly is the Lion of the tribe of Judah; in every sense of the word!

I discovered some time ago, that union has to come at all levels, in order to truly bring unity, and power. The best example I can think of to illustrate this, is your home. It is especially important that you feel unity and cohesiveness in your sanctuary; which is what your home is. When there’s a mess in the front hall, it’s not very welcoming, is it? You want to turn around and go right back out, don’t you? Yeah. The same is true of cluttered spaces within the home. God is a God of order; not chaos and confusion. Chaos and confusion bring division; they break up the unified space that makes up your sanctuary. They distract your mind and heart, and deplete positive energy. When that happens, we end up with negative emotions and energy. The same is true of family dynamics and relationships.

This is where standards and boundaries come in. When we set them, enforce them, and follow them, stick with them, we can bring about union in thought, attitude, and deed. We can truly bring about unity among family members, co-workers, team members, etc., and thereby, increase power and effectiveness; not to mention joy. It’s all about being of one accord; which is what unity and union are. And, Jesus truly does delight in these; you can feel it when it’s happening.

PS – I didn’t forget you, Will, I just forgot that I was posting a day ahead. Happy Birthday! I hope your day was awesome, and filled with all things wonderful!

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

How To Work In Peace

Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us that disorder and chaos, within or round about us, does not foster effective and successful work. It also stifles and squashes creativity.

The way to work in peace is to have a peaceful work space and atmosphere. That means organization and clean work area(s). Making sure all needed materials are at hand, and organized, and work tools are at hand and ready to use is the next step. Sometimes you may even have to send calls to voicemail, so you can work uninterrupted. This is what God did for us in the Garden of Eden. He put everything needed there, and helped Adam put it in order (naming the animals is labeling everything).

Creating order and peace within is a little harder to do; especially when there are issues you’re dealing with. One of the challenges I had as a battered woman was keeping my mind on task, and not getting ahead of myself in the project I was working on. You’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop then, so your mind races over a million things all throughout your work time. Praise music, or music that soothes your soul and slows your mind down helps quite a bit. it’s also important to continue to increase your spirit in the Word of God, and in positive activities and things that give you energy and increase your self-confidence. As we grow in these, we’re filling up the empty spaces and replacing the negative thoughts and attitudes we’ve had in the past.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:12 ESV) This scripture comes to mind when I read this message. The “world” refers not only unbelievers. It’s also “your world”, and all the things that are going on in it; especially the negative and/or unsettling things. That’s why we’re told: “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28)

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Walk In His Love

Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, bids us to walk in God’s love. I learned that this is a two-fold thing. First, walk in the consciousness of God’s amazing love for you. This elevates spirit, heart, and mind. The elevation of those manifests itself in your body, your space(s), your entire life.

This is one of my favorite songs by Chris Qualala. I hope it blesses you as much as it does me.

Love you from Café du Mondieu

Saturday Silly – August 15, 2020

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A friend and I were discussing recent news headlines. This included the Corona virus relief plan negotiations and Nancy Pelosi. The lady definitely does play hardball, doesn’t she? My friend-not a fan of Ms. Pelosi’s either, said, “Somebody needs to put that woman into a suitcase, and send her into outer space on the next rocket they launch.”

Being a Christian, I really don’t get too excited about politics. I try to stay aware of what’s going on, but I trust the Lord. God’s got it under control. I believe that with all my heart. Anyway, what came to mind was this image of all these little demons and devils and such, on all the planets out there, packing their belongings up and heading for the Black Hole in outer space… can’t you just hear them…-“OMG! They’re sending her out here! Oh, HELL NO!!” I laughed out loud; because the next thing I thought of was Hebrews 12:26, where God says, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”

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