joy

Watch “Graham Cooke – Moving In Your True Persona” on YouTube

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“Living in our true identity with God”  Isn’t this what we long for?  When God says we are more than conquerors do we say “I know that!  I live that!”?  Or do we say “Really?  That’s  not my take away.  I feel defeated more than not.”  Yet Paul said in Christ we are new creations.  Old is out.  In with the new that is a warrior, a winner, a prophet speaking the truth of God, a priest blessing and interceeding for others, an ambassador of the Kingdom of God, a fragrance of Jesus, the letter of God read by all mankind, entrused with Jesus’s mission to release the captives, bind up the broken hearted, proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord!

But a lot of us are living more in the shadows.  We feel chained to reputations and how people expect us to be.  The name Jabez, in the Bible, means pain.  Jabez’s mom made sure everyone knew how much she suffered giving birth to this baby that she named him pain.  Jabez.  How hard would it be to live that down?  First of all Jewish moms have the reputations of never forgetting–never letting up.  If its praiseworthy the child couldn’t ask for a better press agent!  But gotta say this must have been the WORST delivery EVER to hang this on her son for the rest of his life!  It got so bad the Bible says Jabez CRIED OUT TO GOD.  In the New Testament bad things happening to people was seen as punishment for sin.  When the disciples and Jesus came upon a blind man the disciples asked Jesus “Who sinned, his parents or this man, that he should be born blind?”  Because God’s curses were seen in loss of fortune, ill health, defeat, Jabez, a man undeserving of his name, for the Bible called him a man more honorable than his brothers, cried out for God to prove to everyone he was not the man they thought he was.  Pour out Your favor over me! Line my pockets with money.  Prosper me and expand my borders, my territory.  And God answered his prayer (1 Chronicles 4:9-11).

When I was about 4 years old our family went to the Fun Zone at Santa Cruz California.  My dad took me up a high stairs to a long wooden slide.  He wanted me to slide down it.  I was afraid.  I didn’t want to.  I cried.  I felt panicked as he kept insisting and got a splinter in my hand from the wooden hand rail.  My dad returned me to ground level in disgust and called me “panty waist”.  What would have changed about my selfimage after that if my dad said “You are so brave!  We are unstoppable together!  Let’s take on this slide together!  You sit on my lap and together we’ll see how scarry this slide really is!”

God says we are more, much more in Christ.  Listen to this message from Graham Cooke as he unlocks the mystery of being an OVERCOMER in Christ!

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Brokeness by Graham Cooke

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Can you embrace your pain? Yes you can. God heals the wounded soul and calms the storm inside. “The very pit, the very dry hole that you are in, becomes a well as the Holy Spirit fills you up with the truth and presence of God.”

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His Love Works

Brokenness: Graham Cooke

“If you have got a really high calling on your life, you have to go down low. It’s just part of the deal. And the depths that you allow God to take you will tell you how far God can bring you up into a place of prominence. You don’t let God take you into the depths; he can’t take you into the heights.”

“You can’t come into the fullness of God unless you go through brokenness.”

“You are either going to wait for God or you are going to promote yourself. You have to move from distress through development in God’s time. Development is where God is rebuilding our character and he is producing a true servant with a capacity for sacrifice.”

“People destroy with their character what they have built with their gift unless transformation has occurred.”

“The very pit, the very dry hole that…

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In the morning I will

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Sing to the Lord!
Bless His Name!
Expect great and awesome things for He is quite amazing.
Know He is good and His mercies touch EVERY life on this planet with air and sunlight and water.  He adorns this world with plants of every variety and set the moon in the sky to govern the night and set each season.
Yes I will sing to the Lord the song of the set free, the song of the adopted, the song of the forgiven, the song to the healed,  the song of the released to serve and heal and love without strings and without limits.

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Change: Its about THE DANCE

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He cradles us and delights in our trust.  He sings over us songs of deliverance and friendship and the dance.  He invites us to invite others into the dance that will never end but reflects His sufficiency in each new stanza.  Our partners may change faces but it is really Him in each refrain.  But must we change?  I am happiest with THIS SONG!  I know this one best but I feel the change is at the door and it feels like death not new beginnings.  Am I allowed to grieve?  Must I celebrate?  Must I dance?  “Yes, my beloved, dance!”  You smile as only you can, a smile that comes from a broken heart that carries our griefs and bares our sorrow to free us to love and receive love without borders.  “Yes, DANCE!” You laugh, “But let Me lead!”

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Change: Its about THE DANCE

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He cradles us and delights in our trust.  He sings over us songs of deliverance and friendship and the dance.  He invites us to invite others into the dance that will never end but reflects His sufficiency in each new stanza.  Our partners may change faces but it is really Him in each refrain.  But must we change?  I am happiest with THIS SONG!  I know this one best but I feel the change is at the door and it feels like death not new beginnings.  Am I allowed to grieve?  Must I celebrate?  Must I dance?  “Yes, my beloved, dance!”  You smile as only you can, a smile that comes from a broken heart that carries our griefs and bares our sorrow to free us to love and receive love without borders.  “Yes, DANCE!” You laugh, “But let Me lead!”

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A morning of splendor: A Psalm of Praise to our God

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My morning walk started dark and cloudy

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Then as the sun rose the clouds and everything became washed in hues of gold and red and pink blessing the day with radiant songs of God’s immense care and wisdom and kindness.

Like a powerful warrior our Mighty God exhilarates in His triumphal display over His enemies.  Is anything too hard for our God?  To ask is to know the very thought is ludicrous.  He clothes Himself in light and darkness runs from His presence.

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I hear Your song Dear Warrior!  My soul delights in Your power over darkness.  You are the giver of light and warmth and hope for You inhabit the praises of your people and have stooped down to lift up the weak and small to accomplish the impossible.  A-men.  Let all the earth stand silent before you.  Let all the earth shout praises to the Victor!  Let all the earth weep for Your music is too glorious to contain and Your beauty is inexpressible and calls for words that cannot be uttered for there are none yet invented that can adequately contain Your glory and Your worth.  But You have compassion on us for we are dust and yet you call us precious.  You wipe our tears and call us to joy.  You call us to sit and dine at your banquet table.  You surprise us with joy!

Have a blessed day!

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I bless you and yours this morning in the great and powerful Name which is above and greater than any other Name.  In the Name of Jesus I bless you this day with freedom.  In the Name of Jesus I bless you with extraordinary peace.  In the Name of Jesus I bless you with joy beyond words and beyond all other experiences.  In the Name of Jesus I bring you health. 

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Taste and see that the Lord is good!  Blessed is the man who puts his trust in Him!  Have a blessed day!

Update on Fly fishing: oil dedicated to Dwight

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Dwight is a dear friend recently diagnosed with cancer.  I want to gift him with words and reminders of things that are precious to him–things that fill his heart with peace and joy and hope.  Dwight and his wife, Jan are avid fly fishermen.  I googled images of fly fishing and was captured by this early morning one shrouded in mountain fog.  The picture did not have the amber tones my camera picked up and I added a verse to it on power point but decided to attach it to the back of my canvas in a card instead at the suggestion of my daughter.  What do you think?

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It’s been a long, hard journey for Dwight. He’s had chemo, radiation, a feeding tube and near death hospitalized for aspiration. It’s been a privilege to participate in Dwight’s recovery and, as a nurse, facilitate his rehab efforts. Now he is on the other side, praise God! Dwight’s PET scan showed no evidence of cancer in his entire body! Next stop: feeding tube out! Woohoo!!!

So, about the painting, the neatest and sweetest pay I could ever receive was when Dwight said he would visualize my painting every time he was in the radiation tube receiving treatment. It brought him peace and encouragement. Thank you Jesus!

Dwight had the painting framed and displays it in his living room on a cool easel. Here it is!
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You have a photo album for God.

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How many pictures are in your wallet?
http://bible.com/8/psa98.1

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In everything I do or see God shows me another glimpse of His character and face.  How I interpret the picture says more about me and my heart than about the mind and heart of God.  If my heart is dark, confused, disillusioned, resentful  then my mind will hear accusations, recriminations, and be closed to hearing messages of hope and joy and peace.  I pray for God’s peace.  I pray for God’s light and the ability to correctly appraise my circumstances and those about me.  I want to be whole as God defines whole.   I want to have eyes that see God moving, redeeming,  healing and lifting us out of our prisons. 

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