A Piece of Cake (2)

In Psalm 131, David says something that strikes me.

He says in verse 2, “Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, Like a weaned child with his mother; Like a weaned child is my soul within me.”
It’s an extraordinary image of a Christian in this world. 
Before giving ourselves to Jesus, we were attached to a system of nourishment which is not sourced in God, but in culture, secular education, philosophy, religious systems void of truth and substance… etc. We were finding among this system of nourishment the direction for our life, it’s value, meaning, as well as the development of our mental reflexes for responding to the everyday situations of life. This system of nourishment taught us to live in anxiety as a solution for our problems, to satisfy our life by the fulfillment of our soul’s lusts… etc.
When we gave ourselves to the Lord, he severed us from such a system. Yet, in looking around us and considering Christianity, there is a question that comes to my mind and that question is this: 
Why, if we have been severed from this system of nourishment, many times we don’t have a calm and quiet soul like this child of which David speaks?
This child is next to his mother yet he doesn’t feel needy. He is calm and quiet. Normally a weaned child still wants to return to the nourishment of his mother, so how come this quietness and this calmness?
The answer is simple. God hasn’t weaned us without giving us another system of nourishment. He has given us his word, which he supplies to us with abundance. He has supplied of his Spirit with abundance. He has given us a life to live and it is abundant.
The problem is therefore simple. The Christian who deprives himself of the new system and supply of nourishment will always be tempted to return to the old system. He cannot have a quiet and calm soul next to the old system.
Jesus said that we are in the world but not of the world.
We are right in the midst of our old system of nourishment like that child next to his mother, but we can have a calm and quiet soul because we know how to be nourished, not depriving ourselves of our new system and supply of nourishment which God has given.
Friends, let us not rob ourselves of God’s nourishment for our lives, and let us live with a calm and quiet soul even in the midst of our greatest of difficulties.

Pastor Luigi Palmieri

Visit to Benin, our Canaan

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The team is ready to go to Benin, but there is just one small detail to resolve: the housing. 
We therefore decided to send two of us – as spies into our Canaan, Benin. 
It was decided that I would go with Daniel. The others remained in Lome to keep us in prayer. 
God has prepared angels to help us in our search. 
First, while we did not know where to stay, God had prepared a room with a Christian family where we would stay and eat for free. 
Then Pastor Boucari, who is pastor of a Baptist church, and Raymond, a member of his church, would transport and accompany us throughout our stay. The pastor is a friend of Pastor Bamouni who has been trained in our Bible school in Lome. 
We visited several houses and apartments, but we left having found nothing suitable. 
Nevertheless, as we told the rest of the team, Paul, Christine and Isabelle, where there is a giant in the land (housing), yet it is a land flowing with milk and honey. Indeed, we have had wonderful contacts. People prayed with us to receive Christ, and many times we were able to be a comfort and encouragement to several brothers and sisters. If you do not know, Benin is the cradle of voodoo. The country is steeped in this religion that makes people slaves of millions of small gods called fetishes; But today we can say that many Beninese desire to meet the true God who made heaven and earth.
We have been witnesses of that, and because of this we are assured that He who called us into this mission to Benin will take care of that little detail called housing.

Thank you for your prayers and for your support. 
May God bless you. 

P. Luigi, for the whole team 

Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Visit at Be-kpota Church (Togo)

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Visit to Kagome Church (Togo)

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