-Lord...I want to go "from strength to strength"....how does this happen? 

+ What thrills your Father is when you really believe in how much He loves you. This is healing. This is wholeness. This is why I came…that you may be filled with the eternal “Yes!” of the Father! This is the key…the gift that transforms every moment you live. With this gift received…truly…you can do everything, everything He created you to do. Your most perfect prayer has always been that you learn to love. The gift you have received – My Presence in you, by the Power and continual working of the Spirit – makes this more than possible, it makes it inevitable! God’s very Love has been released in your heart. This Love is what heals and frees and empowers You and what then flows out of you to bless and enrich all who He brings into your life. Give yourself completely to this Perfect Love…to your Father…to the Bridegroom of your soul…and allow His Love to percolate through your being. Light…Laughter…Joy…Contentment…Praise…Thankfulness….all these qualities take up residence in your spirit. Patience…Kindness…Forgiveness…Peace…these are yours without measure. Ah…such good news – such cause for rejoicing! You have been dressed like a bride with garlands, like an apple orchard in full bloom. Bloom this day with your whole heart – one with Him. The Spirit has come alongside you…has infused you with all you need to live in perfect union with Me. This is exactly what your Father wants. This is the center of His Will. All other details fall into place. Nothing is impossible…all things are possible with the High and Holy God of the Universe…Lover of your life. He keeps you safe always and anoints you to accomplish wondrous things in Him. The tiniest thing you do…done with a heart filled with love for Him…is transformed. This is “going from strength to strength”…Love creating more love….creating more love….. This indeed is LIFE to the FULL!!

-The Lord brought to mind a photo I saw of hundreds of Muslims - prostrate in a big town square. I was impressed with the devotion. This is what He told me.

 

+ It is impressive...those pictures of the vast throngs prostrate together for morning/afternoon/evening prayer. You think, 'look at that devotion'! I see something different. The problem is the forced obeisance… the group think… the melting in… the ideology that can bow one minute and the next (because the individual has no worth… the one counts for nothing), a bomb can be strapped on a child in the name of this god that is being worshiped. Here's the difference. To Me, each prostrate Muslim bowed down into the oblivion of the masses… each one is precious. I am the God of the one. I am the God of the one lost sheep. I am the God Who, in essence, strapped a bomb on my Only Beloved One to rescue the masses from all that would destroy them. I was willing to destroy My own, not as a mindless action to appease a heartless God, but as an intentional gift to transform the life of every one of My creation. The difference is massive. I let My Beloved suffer because this Sacrifice had power to unleash faith and freedom and love and salvation on the earth. Of course, the plan was always that My beloved One would rise from death – victorious…alive…honored above all, for all time. Imagine the beauty of One Who goes to each one of those bowed souls and reveals to them a Heart that cares for each one… that approaches.. bends low and picks them up one by one and embraces them and calls them by name. This is Who I am… not a distant-impersonal-demanding God Who is incapable of being placated, uninterested in relationship, but a God Who loves, Whose love has cost Him everything… a God Who has sacrificed was what was most precious to Him to break the hold of this very type of cold, heartless religion that is antithetical to everything He is. So imagine My Son - in all His resurrected glory -coming to that bowed throng… lifting one trapped soul up to his feet looking in his eyes and telling him He loves him. This soul, suddenly illuminated, would indeed fall to his knees, but this time, it would not be a forced ritual but a deep response to the power of Pure Love. What a difference! Pray for those lost in the depths of the darkness. Pray for the light of My Son to shine forth. I desire that none should perish. Let My light shine always in you.....           

 

-Ah.....Helen Keller....so full of joy and life and light! Lord help me embrace everything about my life the way she did. What a woman!

 

+ My love, it’s no accident that I have you reading Helen Keller’s autobiography. I want you to have a great example before you of light in the darkness. But see – the agent of her freedom was her beloved and ever-present teacher, Annie Sullivan, of which she said;

“My teacher is so near to me that I scarcely think of myself apart from her. How much of my delight in all beautiful things is innate, and how much is due to her influence, I can never tell. I feel that her being is inseparable from my own, and that the footsteps of my life are in hers. All the best of me belongs to her – there is not a talent, or an inspiration or a joy in me that has not awakened by her loving touch.”

So…..when you feel the darkness closing in, see the Holy Spirit as the One Who ever holds your hand…forming the words of encouragement and truth on your palm….opening the eyes of your spirit to the beauty in all situations just like Annie Sullivan did for Helen. Ah…but she is just a shadow of what the Holy Spirit can be for you! I made you! I know you! I understand the nature of your battles and I can lead you safely through every one. I can even guide you away from the fray and out into that wide and spacious place where you feel the expansiveness of my unfailing Love filling you with joy and peace. You are beginning to understand how Graham Cooke calls the enemy my sheep dog. When you start using everything he throws at you as a touchstone for praising Me…turning your spirit to Me…waiting for the pressure of My still small voice forming the answers in your hand…revealing the great and wonderful things you do not know….Ah….this is Glory!!! Angels rejoice because you have eyes that SEE and ears that HEAR!!!! You belong to Me and I am truly able to set you completely free from all that is death and loss and pain in your life. It’s time to give all that stuff a “decent burial and get on with your new exuberant free life. God’s Spirit beckons!” (Romans 8 ~The Message) This so aptly illustrates “what the enemy meant for evil, God means for good.” You have passed through the suffocating waters…all the enemy’s attempts to drown you in the darkness of disappointment and instead, you have started your day...hands open listening and looking for the goodness of the Lord! This is life as God designed it and it’s only going to get better! Your inheritance is just beginning. Hold on!!! Joy. Joy. Joy !!!

-Speak to me, oh Lord of my heart. I’m struggling. I need to wrap thanksgiving around every detail of my life. I feel too fragile. The insecurity of my lack of accomplishments lurks too powerfully just beneath the surface. Help me Lord to Magnify You…to release the tight grip I have on this hazy imagery marking the “well done!” ...the sense of faithfulness to the call. Help me to uncurl the tightness in my chest when I sense others’ acclaim (even if only to themselves!). Let my life be enough. Let what You have chosen to allow be met with great gratitude. Help me be that child….without guile…without expectations…just an accepting, wanting-to-just-be-with-You child. Teach me to breathe when the contrasts make my chest constrict. Take me to the place of worship where freedom is all I know. This is why You came…to peel off the sin nature and show me why You love me…to help me accept who I am with grace…contentment…”not better than…not worse than, not comparing at all…..Humility”  Why am I still so proud Lord, with no reason? You know me…the real me and You love me still. Thank you.

+ Take a breath, my love, Know that all is grace…the air….the design of your lungs distilling the oxygen, sending it on its way to renew and restore. I’m right here! I understand your sense of loss. Give it to me. There’s no reason to cling to it…..no reason to hold it up to your face like a mirror as if this is your identity. You once were lost, but now…and for a long time now…you are found.! I’m here to help you see the wide place and believe it is yours. This is why you can release the pain and the loss and the ways you feel like you’ll never measure up. My love….come and rest and just BE with Me. I know how to make sense out of all the things that still confuse you. You are forgetting Heaven! You are forgetting the heavenlies. You can know that your mind is not set on things above when you feel this tightness grip you and hold you hostage to the lie. Use the will I’ve given you to resist the enemy of your soul. He will flee. You can learn to totally rest amidst all the unanswered questions. You can still feel favor even when it seems to hide from you. Faith is the substance of things not seen. Believe in the favor that I have for you…believe it because of Who I am for you right at this moment… and give thanks.

 

    -Over and over I come to You, my Lord....so conscious of all my faults and failings. Help me to understand You like Graham Cooke does. Teach me how to bask in Your favor and to obey Your slightest desire. I know that's why he walks in Your pleasure...because he is so willing to do anything You ask, even if it makes him look like a fool! Free me and help me to fully be who You have designed me to be. I love you Lord.

       

 

+You feel the ebb and flow of your resolve as your heart and spirit seek to belong completely to me.  Stop looking at how well you’re doing (or how dismally you feel you fail.)  Look constantly at Me.  This is the secret… You live like a favored child when your eyes never leave the source of favor – the look in your Father’s eyes.  You must train your mind and will and spirit to do just that.  You recognize that you are weak in so many areas in your life, but these all can be paths leading you straight to the arms of your Father, Who can help you “Get over your bad self”, (as Graham would say).  Fix your heart, secure your gaze on Him.  A ship’s captain steers the course and has all the controls fixed on the destination.  Winds, waves, unexpected storms may require adjustments, but the harbor never changes.  So too with you: when I tell you not to look to the left or right, it refers to more than comparison to other people (which it includes), it refers to the habit of tearing yourself down.  When you fail – which you will in this world  - immediately take all the fall-out: the self-recriminations, the sense of isolation from Me (a tool the enemy loves) and come to Me.  Come to Me when you’re feelings tell you that you are not worthy…. not good…not true…not loyal.  Come to Me and let Me cover you over with the sweetness of acceptance and forgiveness.  The heart of the Father is forgiveness.  He’s not looking for perfect children but for those who love Him.  The Holy Spirit’s job is to conform you to the likeness of the Son.  Only He can do this.  So give yourself into the loving and true hands of your beloved Papa and let Him love you completely throughout this day.  When you choose to allow your faults and failings separate you from His tenderness, you let the enemy win. There’s nothing about you that your Father doesn’t know. That’s why His love is so enduring and freeing.  Dive into this living water and feel the clear freedom of being totally loved.  You are accepted in the Beloved.  You are in Me and I am ever and always in you.  I will never leave you or forsake you.  I will never let you down.  Come My little one and let Me fill you up this day with joy the world can never offer.  Come to Me and find rest for your soul…your mind…your heart.  Every care that arises – hand it over and stay calm at the feet of the One Who caresses your life with His freedom and unfailing Love.  You are cherished.  Believe it!