All Things to Good

"Mercy is a sweet gracious working in love, mingled with plenteous pity: for mercy worketh in keeping us, and mercy worketh turning to us all things to good."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 48)

His mercy is His compassion for us in our troubles and hurts, our confusions and sins, all coming from His perfect love. It is the endless, unconditional compassion He shows towards us when we fall, fail, hurt or get lost. It comes from love and it is full of love and only love. It is the compassion He shows towards us like a shepherd with His sheep: He sees us like little sheep that get lost and need help and rescue and love, and He is the Good Shepherd always taking care of His little sheep. His mercy is tender, understanding and kind, never scolding or angry or disappointed. It is gentle and helpful and healing. This mercy keeps us safe no matter where we fall to, no matter where we roam, so that we are never out of God's loving hand and never in any ultimate danger. And this mercy turns everything to good for us, so every wrong turn just advances us on our journey, every sin just ends up bringing blessing, every hurt gets turned into glory. 

"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end."

Lamentations 3:22 (ESV)

"And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd."

Mark 6:34 (NKJ)

A Prayer: Thank You for keeping me safe with You.

Kept Soaring in Him

"For the ground of mercy is love, and the working of mercy is our keeping in love."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 48)

Christ's wonderful mercy or compassion is seen in the way He is our Keeper, holding onto us always, keeping us in His love and presence and victory. He is like an eagle carrying us on His strong back, so we are soaring on His swift wings, and we just keep going up with Him, no matter what. He has us bonded to Him in love and oneness, so that we can never fall out of Him or lose altitude. Instead, we just keep going up and up. Mercy has found us at our lowest point, picked us up and taken us to the highest point, and is keeping us there - right now we are soaring with Christ in heavenly places. That is the amazing grace of God!

"In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them.."

Isaiah 63:9 (NLV)

"I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself."

Exodus 19:4 (NLV)

A Prayer: I'm soaring with You!

He Forgives Our Wrath

"For we by sin and wretchedness have in us a wretched and continuant contrariness to peace and to love. (Yet) shewed He full often.. His lovely Regard of Ruth and Pity."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 48) 

He loved us even to the death, even when we in our misguided rage put Him to death on the cross. He forgave us, loved us, accepted us even at that horrible moment. When we did our worst to Him in all our confused frustration, He did His best to us and forgave the whole world! Whatever wrath or stubbornness or unkindness we feel inside or lash out with toward God or others or ourselves, He has already forgiven. He even says there is nothing to forgive, for we don't know what we are doing. We are little children who are hurt and confused by the lies we have been told of God being angry and of us being unworthy and unlovable. We have lashed out like little children in a tantrum of confused rage and hurt and He, Pure Love, doesn't hold it against us. He doesn't even see our anger, tantrums or hatred. He only sees His beloved children trapped in confused thinking, trapped in systems of judgment and division. He only looks on us with the eyes of love and compassion, only acts towards us with love and compassion. And His loving act towards us is to free us from the bondage to lies and wrong thinking, this way of sin that leads only to destruction. Athanasius of Alexandria spoke of this when he wrote that Christ came "to set free all beings in Himself, to lead the world to the Father and to pacify all beings in Himself." So Christ did not go to the cross to pacify a raging God but to pacify a confused and hurting humanity that was raging against the very One who had nothing but love to offer. He understood that we were wounded kids who didn't know what we were even doing. He came as a propitiation for our sin, a turning away or assuaging or pacifying of OUR wrath, not God's! 

And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 2:2 (KJV)

A Prayer: Thank You for understanding and forgiving the wrath and struggle I sometimes feel inside! Thank You that all my sin is gone, taken away at the cross!

Wrath is in Us, Not God

"For I saw no wrath but on man’s part; and that forgiveth He in us. For wrath is not else but a forwardness and a contrariness to peace and love; and either it cometh of failing of might, or of failing of wisdom, or of failing of goodness: which failing is not in God, but is on our part."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 48)

We may have been taught that God is angry with humans because of their sin. We may have seen God as so angry that He was ready to lash out and destroy or punish humans, till Jesus stepped in and took the brunt of that anger, letting God pummel Him at the cross, and that this act assuaged God's anger, calming Him down so He could tolerate or forgive us.  Yet we find out that the ones who had the wrath and anger, the ones prone to lashing out, were humans and not God at all! God has been there before us always, with open arms, yet we have been blinded by confusion and have had contrary feelings. When you are convinced God is against you and angry with you, it can make you feel against God and angry with God. So our dear tender-hearted God became flesh and blood to visibly show us the face of God: not an angry and unfriendly face but an accepting and loving face! Wrath is simply a lacking of peace and love, and so we see that God, visibly revealed by Jesus, is peace and love, is the opposite of wrath. And He completely understood, absorbed, and forgave all the wrath in humanity, all the lack of peace and love ever found in our lives or behaviors. Christ on the cross is God absorbing all the wrath of humanity and dissolving it in His love, for God has only love to give us, never wrath. For He does not conquer evil with punishment or rage; He simply overcomes it with forgiveness and goodness!

"With love I have held out my hands day after day, offering myself to this unbelieving and stubborn people!”

Romans 10:21 (TPT)

"Overcome evil with good."

Romans 12:21 (NIV)

A Prayer: Thank You for never failing to show me love, even in the midst of my wrath.

The Way of Mercy

"But our good Lord the Holy Ghost, which is endless life dwelling in our soul, full securely keepeth us; and worketh therein a peace and bringeth it to ease by grace, and accordeth it to God and maketh it pliant. And this is the mercy and the way that our Lord continually leadeth us."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 48)

He is always in us by the Spirit, dwelling within as our Friend. And no matter what negative feeling we have, no matter what mistake or confusion, He is always loving on us and showing us compassion. He is always reminding us we are secure. He is always telling us the truth of our belonging and our union with Him. He is always reassuring us that He won't leave us, no matter what we do. We are safe in His keeping. And He is always working peace in our heart, bringing us to be at rest and calm. He is always reminding us of His perspective, to see that He is taking care of everything. He is always loving us till we calm down and tensions cease. He is always loving and accepting us right where we are, just as we are, with no requirement to change, and yet it is in that embrace of unconditional love that we find ourselves changed, and we feel we can relax and be able to love ourselves and others. Rather than feeling tense or agitated or angry, He brings us to feel relaxed and gentle. Rather than feeling rigid or judgmental. He brings us to feel adaptable and empathetic. Whatever selfish or negative feeling we may be having, He doesn't judge or berate us, He simply loves on us. He keeps on embracing us and reminding us of how special and accepted and beautiful and innocent we are. And we find the negative feelings dissolve in the light of His love and tenderness. This is how He shows mercy to us, and it comes to us unceasingly. We can never outrun or outsin the mercy and compassion of God!

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life."

Psalm 23:6 (ESV)

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end.

Lamentations 3:22 (ESV)

A Prayer: Your compassion for me melts my heart and dissolves all my bad feelings.

Weak, Yet Strong in Christ

"Man is changeable in this life, and by frailty and overcoming falleth into sin: he is weak and unwise of himself, and also his will is overlaid. And in this time he is in tempest and in sorrow and woe; and the cause is blindness: for he seeth not God. For if he saw God continually, he should have no mischievous feeling, nor any manner of motion or yearning that serveth to sin."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 47)

What is the reason that people fall into sin? It is not that we are inherently evil and rebellious, because God made humans with a good nature like His own. But people, unlike God, are changeable and frail. We can get confused and be unwise. Though we have a good core and know that we are meant to be loving and kind, we are weak and our will to do good gets overwhelmed by our strong emotions, passions, and desires connected with this world. And most importantly, we are blind and cannot see God. If we could truly see God, who is only pure unconditional love, who is embracing and protecting us at all times, giving us a place of safety and belonging with Him forever, accepting us with no chance of ever being rejected, we would not have any desire or movement toward sin. We would see we have all we long for in God and feel totally satisfied, safe and beloved. But dwelling in human flesh in this material world, we cannot see the spiritual naturally. 

So Christ came, God becoming flesh to live and walk among us. Jesus is God become man, both human and divine. He comes before us as someone we can see, hear and touch. He comes to show us the face of God, to show us He is all love, and to show us we are in His image of love and belong to Him. He comes to free us from our bondage to sin and open our eyes so we are not blind or in the dark anymore. He comes to give us His power over sin, His sound mind that thinks clearly and wisely, His life that conquers death, His righteousness that is unchanging. He comes to give us Himself, for He is one with us forever, giving us freedom from sin's power and freedom to enjoy wonderful relationship with God. We may be weak and frail humans, but our Brother Jesus is strong and sure, and He has saved us from sin, darkness, and corruption and brought us into life with Him forever!

My body and my heart may grow weak, but God is the strength of my heart and all I need forever.

Psalm 73:26 (NLV)

A Prayer: Thank You for upholding me with Your strength!

Wonderful Mercy

"By the teaching that I had afore, I understood that the mercy of God should be the forgiveness of His wrath after the time that we have sinned... I took that the forgiveness of His wrath should be one of the principal points of His mercy. But howsoever I might behold and desire, I could in no wise see this point in all the Shewing.

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 47)

We may have been taught that mercy is God holding back the wrath and punishment that we deserve for our sins. But Julian saw something different in God's revelation to her. She didn't see wrath anywhere in God. So if there is no wrath coming from God to us, then mercy must mean something other than "holding back wrath." Julian comes to see that God's mercy doesn't have any connection to anger, violence or punishment. God's mercy is instead connecting to His intense tender feelings of compassion for us who are hurting and suffering from sin and its effects in the world. The Hebrew word for mercy comes from the word for "womb," a place of connection, safety, tender care and love. God has the tender feelings of mother love towards us when we are hurting, even if we caused the hurting ourselves. He has no anger, only compassion. So Christ on the cross was not diverting God's anger against our sin onto Himself so we could be forgiven; there was no anger on the part of God at all, and He certainly didn't need to vent His anger in order to be able to forgive us. Instead, Christ on the cross was taking upon Himself all the pain and suffering and hurt that humanity has suffered from sin, feeling every hurt and pain that we feel out of intense love for us. With compassion, tender emotions, and kindness, He bore that pain away from us and into the grave, where it will stay forever. Mercy is compassion that knows no bounds, that suffers along with the hurting one, that cares for people like a mother would her tiny baby. Mercy has nothing to do with judgment or anger. It has everything to do with compassion and love. That is how wonderful our God is, a God who is pure love and nothing else!

He surrounds me with loving-kindness and tender mercies.

Psalm 103:4 (TLB)

A Prayer: Thank You for the mercy and tenderness You always show me!

Fully Oned to God

 "For our soul is so fully oned to God of His own Goodness that between God and our soul may be right nought."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 46)

We are "fully oned to God." Nothing can ever come between us. We always have the perfect friendship with God. There is never any distance between us. There is never any separation. There is never any offense, misunderstanding or estrangement. There is only perfect harmony and intimacy. We are completely accepted with no way we could ever be rejected. We are completely loved with no way we could ever be disdained. All that is between us is pure love, pure delight, pure joy, pure unity. We have a bond nothing can break. We can't fall out of God's arms, can't sin our way out of His love, can't ruin this relationship no matter what we do, think or believe. We have been put into an unbreakable union, and through Christ we are already brought up to heaven and sealed into eternal union with God, brought up into Christ's own love relationship with the Father. Can anything ever come between Christ Jesus and the Father? No! Then nothing can ever come between us and the Father. We are in the fellowship circle of the Trinity. We are safe in the place we've been created for and have always belonged. We are in Christ, in God, in happiness, in love. We are home!

"Your life is hidden with Christ in God."

Colossians 3:3 (GW)

A Prayer:  I love being oned to You!

Nothing Between Us

"God is the Goodness that may not be wroth, for He is not [other] but Goodness: our soul is oned to Him, unchangeable Goodness, and between God and our soul is neither wrath nor forgiveness in His sight.

Julian of Norwich (ch. 46)

The first century Christian leader, Clement of Rome, wrote that "God is free from wrath toward all creation." God is only good. There is no mixture of bad in Him. He is pure goodness and nothing but goodness, and this goodness leaves no room for evil, anger, wrath, violence or vengeance. We are one with this Pure, Unchanging Goodness. We are aligned with Him, in unity with Him, at peace with Him. There is nothing but peace between us. There is nothing but goodness between us. There is nothing but harmony between us. There is nothing but friendship between us. So being oned with goodness like this, oned with God like this, how could there be any offense, disunity, misalignment or upset between us? How could there be any irritation or wrath? God is totally at peace with us and nothing changes this peace. Nothing we do ever alters our relationship because God is holding us in oneness with Himself. According to God there is not even a need for forgiveness, because there is nothing to forgive. All is well. All is friendship and peace. We may see our sins and think fellowship is disrupted or that God is offended or angry, but God doesn't see our sins. He sees only a beloved innocent child of His very own. He has already overcome all our wrongs with His goodness, for Christ took away all our sins at the cross so we could feel clean and relaxed with God. We might have felt uneasy about our relationship with God, but He never feels uneasy about us. He is always extending love, grace, peace, healing, joy and friendship to us. He wants to put our minds at ease and let us know there is absolutely nothing between us and God, and nothing can change the love He has for us. He is at peace with us. He is at rest about us. He is fine with us. We are in oneness with Him, a place where there is no possibility of anger, rejection, disappointment or loss of fellowship!

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His lovingkindness (graciousness, mercy, compassion) endures forever."

Psalm 136:1 (AMP)

A Prayer: Thank You for Your goodness that radiates only mercy and love towards me always!

Wrath Is Against His Unity

"For He is God: Good, Life, Truth, Love, Peace; His Clarity and His Unity suffereth Him not to be wroth. For I saw truly that it is against the property of His Might to be wroth, and against the property of His Wisdom, and against the property of His Goodness."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 46)

God is a Unity. All His characteristics align with each other and are never in opposition to one another. He is the epitome of Love. All His attributes stem from Love, and He exudes goodness, life, light, joy, peace and kindness. His character is represented by all the fruits of the Spirit pouring forth from Him at all times. Wrath is absolutely opposed to this goodness and gentleness of character, opposed to the very essence of God's nature which is Love. Love is who He is, so wrath is not who He is. The ancient Epistle to Diognetus, a Christian letter from around 150 AD, talks about this wonderful unity of character in God, saying, "He was always of such a character, and still is, and will ever be, kind and good, and free from wrath, and true, and the only one who is [absolutely] good." Bible passages that seem to show God as being wrathful in the Old Testament can be seen as simply a misunderstanding or incomplete revelation of who God is, with the full revelation being seen in the Son of God who had infinite kindness and forgave all who hurt Him. The wrath of God mentioned in passages in the New Testament can be seen as the passion of God to obliterate all the things that hurt His children - in other words, the passion of God against sin and death, not against His children! So there is absolutely no wrath or anger in God against us at any time. It is simply unfitting to the all-loving, all-wise, all-powerful Being we call Father and Friend who radiates only patience, kindness, gentleness and love. For God is a Unity; He is only love, only life, only light, only gentleness. He is only one way, not two. Jesus showed us the true character of God so plainly in His actions and words. He showed us a God who is so gentle that children would run to Him and sit in His lap with no fear and people who were called great sinners would seek out His company without fear of condemnation or a tongue-lashing. What a beautiful, calm, patient and gentle God we have! It is simply impossible for Him to be wrath!

"I am gentle and lowly in heart."

Matthew 11:29 (ESV)

A Prayer: Thank You, Jesus, for showing us a God that is love and not wrath. Thank You for showing us we never have to be afraid of God!

Mercy Not Wrath

"Methought it was needful to see and to know that we are sinners, and do many evils that we ought to leave, and leave many good deeds undone that we ought to do: wherefore we deserve pain and wrath. And notwithstanding all this, I saw soothfastly that our Lord was never wroth, nor ever shall be."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 46)

We see the sins, the evils that are done by men. We see the acts that are good that we don't commit and the acts that are bad that we do commit. We see the bad attitudes, the inner prejudices, the hateful thoughts. We see the impure motives and selfish ways. We see that according to the law or legal justice, we deserve wrath and punishment. 

And yet...God is never angry with us and never shall be!  Isn't it the most wonderful miracle to look into His face expecting nothing but wrath and condemnation and to see only love and compassion!  No matter what we do, we cannot ever, ever make Him lose His temper or "be the last straw" that sends Him over the edge in fury and punishment. We have feared His anger, His rebuke, His punishment, His rejection. And He keeps showing and telling us, in His perfect Son who forgave all who murdered Him, that He is only love and forgiveness and healing and never wrath and condemnation and punishment. He is the infinite One, infinite in patience, kindness, compassion and tenderness. It seems too good to be true, but it is: God is never wrathful and never will be! He knows every one of us has failed and sinned and disobeyed. Yet He uses that occasion of everyone's failure to show mercy upon everyone by sending His Son to take away every sin, every failure, every penalty or consequence or punishment that sin could ever bring down on us. (And let us notice that it is sin that brings the wages of death on us, not God. God brings the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord!) Jesus hanging on the cross, forgiving everyone, shows us God is all mercy and compassion and no wrath or punishment. What a wonderful God of all comfort, Savior of the lost and Friend of sinners!

"For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all."

Romans 11:32 (KJV)

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 6:23 (NIV)

A Prayer: Thank You that when we have expected wrath and punishment, You have given only mercy and salvation and life!

Never Angry

 "Our Lord was never wroth, nor ever shall be. For He is God: Good, Life, Truth, Love, Peace; His Clarity and His Unity suffereth Him not to be wroth."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 46)

Not only does God promise never to be angry with us right now, but we find He has never been angry with us in the past and never will be angry with us in the future. It is just not in the nature of God who is love to have anger or wrath towards us.  These things just don't fit His character or accomplish His purpose, which is always to love, heal, forgive, save and uplift. What a relief never to have to fear any anger or wrath from God. What a relief to know He is a safe God who won't blow up at us or erupt in rage at any  moment. What a relief to be able to trust this gentle and patient and understanding God who never loses His temper, never lashes out at us, never would hurt or harm us! We are safe with Him. We can open up with Him and share our worries, weaknesses and even failures because we can know that He will only embrace, love and care for us and never rage, punish or reject us. He will never, ever get angry with us. Wrath is not part of God. God is ALL love and NO wrath. What a blessing to know this!

"God is Love."

1 John 4:8 (NIV)

"Love...is not provoked to anger."

1 Corinthians 13:5 (GNV)

A Prayer: I am safe with You.

Even Now Happy in God

"We shall long to be fulfilled of endless joy and bliss. For we are made thereto, and our Nature-Substance is now blissful in God, and hath been since it was made, and shall be without end."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 45)

The more we come to know God as He truly is, all loving and all gracious and all kindness, the more we want to just bask in His presence and be filled up with the joy and bliss of God. That's what we were made for. We were made to be thrilled with the wonder of oneness with God. We were made to be fulfilled by knowing Him and enjoying Him forever. We were made to be totally, infinitely happy in God. For He is true happiness. Even now, our spirit or nature is one with God, enjoying God, happy in God. It always has been and always will be totally full and fulfilled in God, rejoicing in His presence. Our conscious awareness will catch up to this reality and know it fully, too, one day. And we'll be swept up in the love and bliss and presence of God forever!

"You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."

Psalm 16:11 (NIV)

A Prayer: I am always in Your presence, rejoicing in You!

No Blame or Wrath in God

"The doom of Holy Church.... by this doom methought I understood that sinners are worthy sometime of blame and wrath; but these two could I not see in God."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 45)

From the human perspective, we see that we do things wrong. Human or religious  legal "judgment" calls for a guilty verdict, condemnation of people as sinners, and wrath and punishment. Yet these things are not in or from God! These things are just not found in our loving, gentle, forgiving God and Father. God shows us the secret - we are not under law (which condemns and punishes) but under grace (which heals and blesses). He is not calling us guilty sinners, He is not condemning or blaming us for sin, He is not wrathful or punishing.  Our tender Father God is only radiating love and kindness and gentleness toward us, forgiving us, calling us innocent and sweet, and lifting us up with healing and help whenever we get into trouble or mistakes. He is radiating Grace, not Law. He only cares about helping us, not punishing us. He sees the inner beauty and innocence that we sometimes cannot see. He doesn't look at our sins but at our belovedness as His children. To God we are not worthy of blame and wrath and punishment as sinners. To God we are worthy of love and help and blessing as His dear children!

I swear an oath not to be angry with you or punish you.

Isaiah 54:9 (GW)

A Prayer: I feel safe with You, knowing You will never get angry with me, blame me, condemn me, or punish me!

God's Sweet Judgment

"The first doom (assessment, judgment), which is of God’s rightfulness, is [because] of His high endless life [in our Substance]; and this is that fair sweet doom that was shewed in all the fair Revelation, in which I saw Him assign to us no manner of blame....this was sweet and delectable,"

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 45)

When we hear the word "judgment" we may automatically think of something negative that involves condemnation or punishment. But Julian speaks of the dome/doom or judgment of God as His assessment of us that is all positive. This judgment is fair and sweet, not scary or condemning. This judgment is positive and in no way negative. God's assessment of us, which is perfectly right and just and perfect, is that we are completely, perfectly, purely innocent. He assigns to us no blame, condemnation or guilt of any kind! That is God's righteous assessment. When He looks into our essential self He sees His own life which we are sourced from and one with. He sees His own Son, the firstborn of all creation and the One through whom we are created and in whom we all exist. He sees beings in His mirror image because we are made in the very image and likeness of God, made with Christ Himself as our deepest reality. How could we be anything other than perfect to God? Our Father sees Himself in us, His children! We were declared "very good" at our creation and nothing could ever change the nature of that creation. No matter what lies we believed about ourselves or what confused actions our beliefs in those lies caused, the fact is that we are in essence, deeply and truly, always God's innocent children. That is the true self that God made and upholds by His own life and Spirit within us. It is this very good, true, innocent self that Christ came to rescue and free from the clutches of sin and death. We are like flawless diamonds that were covered in dirt and that Jesus came to reveal, or like a treasure in a field which a man gave up everything to get! We are innocent before God and always will be. He preserves our innocent nature intact in His Son and it can never be altered. This wonderful "judgment" of God is truly sweet and delectable!

"God made men and women true and upright."

Ecclesiastes 7:29 (MSG)

A Prayer: Thank You for created me in innocence and revealing and redeeming my innocence through Christ. I thank You for seeing me just as innocent as Your Son Jesus!

God Sees Differently Than Humans

"GOD deemeth us [looking] upon our Nature-Substance, which is ever kept one in Him, whole and safe without end: and this doom (assesment, judgment) is [because] of His rightfulness [in the which it is made and kept]. And man judgeth [looking] upon our changeable Sense-soul, which seemeth now one [thing], now other,—according as it taketh of the [higher or lower] parts,—and [is that which] showeth outward." 

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 45)

God assesses us as righteous, holy and whole, and always one with Him. He looks upon us seeing our deepest inner person, seeing our true essence. He sees our true nature as unchangingly good and righteous, since it was made in His righteousness and is kept in His righteousness. This is our spirit, which the Bible has called the "breath of God" in humankind. Our spirit is always one with God's Spirit and is therefore always good. Unchangingly good! 

Yet we humans tend to judge by appearances or by the clamoring thoughts and emotions of our "sense-soul," the outward conscious mind that experiences the material world through the senses. This judgment is changeable. Sometimes we may think we are good and have good thoughts and actions, and other times we may think we are bad and have bad thoughts and actions. 

So it is very important to remember that God is always looking at us based on the true good person or essence of who we really are, the good nature He made and keeps one with Him inside of us. Despite our changeable thoughts, words and behaviors, we are good in essence, good in spirit, righteous in our substance that we're made of, which is the goodness of God Himself. This nature, this essence that we truly are, is unchanging. It is constant, just as constant as God is, since it is from God and one with God. So we see that people may sometimes see us as bad, but God always, always sees us good and innocent and even righteous!

"God does not see as humans see. Humans look at outward appearances, but the Lord looks into the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7  (GW)

A Prayer: You look into my deepest parts and see the goodness there!

Made to Be Loved

"The clarity and the clearness of Truth and Wisdom maketh him to see and to bear witness that he is made for Love . in which God endlessly keepeth him."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 44)

God has put a Truth deep inside of us. This truth is our deepest reality that we know in our deepest heart of hearts. This truth is that we have been made for Love and that Love holds us. Deep down we know it is all about love. We sense that is what life is all about and what we are all about. We know that Love is the most important things and we naturally seek to know love. And deep down we know that there is Someone who loves and holds us and we reach out toward that Someone. That Someone is our Creator and Father and Friend, who has made us just to love us, who holds us continually in love. Love truly is what makes the world go round, what makes our life have meaning, what makes it all worth it. We are loved and always will be loved. Our Spirit deep inside has never forgot this truth, even if our surface thoughts and feelings have concluded otherwise. No matter what we have believed or how many dark unlovely paths we've gone down, the truth still stands, reality is still reality. We are loved. We are held, We will always be the beloved. Love is the meaning of life. Love gives us what we are searching for. It's found in God, the only One who truly loves us with the unconditional, perfect, all-embracing, never-ending love our hearts yearn for. He fills that place inside of us that needs love. He fills our cup to overflowing. We are loved! That's our deepest truth. No matter what our mistakes, no matter how wayward we've been, we are always loved, accepted, held. This is reality that nothing can change!

How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!

Psalm 36:7 (NIV)

A Prayer: I find that all You want is to love me, and I find that all I want is to love You!

In His Image

"He is endless sovereign Truth, endless sovereign Wisdom, endless sovereign Love, unmade; and man’s Soul is a creature in God which hath the same properties made, and evermore it doeth that it was made for: it seeth God, it beholdeth God, and it loveth God. Whereof God enjoyeth in the creature; and the creature in God, endlessly marvelling." 

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 44)

We are created in the image of God our Father and Creator. Being made in God's image means that just as God has the attributes of Truth, Wisdom and Love in uncreated form, we also have the attributes of Truth, Wisdom and Love - yet in created form. We are not God. But we are His children, His created offspring, in His image of truth, wisdom and love. This means we naturally look to God and love God. It's simply our nature to look to God our Father and Source. And it's simply our nature to behold or give our attention to God our Father and Source. And from this fixed attention of wonder at our Maker and Dad, we naturally love the One we behold. So God gazes on us with love and adoration and we gaze upon God in love and adoration! This is what is most natural to us, simply by being in the same image and nature as our Father God, simply by being God's children. Children naturally look to, long for, and love their parents. So we naturally look to God, long for God and love God!

Don't you know that we all have God as our Father? Didn't the one God create each of us?

Malachi 2:10 (CEV)

A Prayer: You are the One I long for.

We Work His Will Without Ceasing

"GOD shewed in all the Revelations, oftentimes, that man worketh evermore His will and His worship lastingly without any stinting (ceasing)."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 44)

According to God, humans are always working His will and are to His worship. How can God show humans as always doing His will and bringing Him glory, when we humans can see many behaviors, words and attitudes we have that are not according to God's will or glory? We see the outward expression but God sees the heart. He sees the deepest parts and sees into our true inner man. That inner man or spirit always wills, intends and does God's will and glorifies God. Our outward acts don't define us. God defines us and He defines us by our inner spirit that is one with Him, made like Him, and in tune with Him. We can rest assured that even if we fail on the outside, on the inside we have pure motives and a good heart. 

There is another way that we can look at this, too. God sees us innocent and good because He sees us cleansed of all sin through Christ's work. Christ took away the sin of the world, of all humanity. He did that in historical time 2000 years ago, but in God's eternal view He was "slain from the foundation of the world." God is outside of time and sees the work of Christ to cleanse us from all sin as happening outside of time in the eternal Now. So in that sense, according to God we were cleansed of all sin before we even committed one wrong act, before we were even born. So we are always clean and pure to Him, always living and walking not in our own failures but in Christ's perfect righteousness. For that is what we became in Christ on the cross: He became our sin and we became His righteousness. We are now in the purity of Christ Himself. Christ is always doing the will of the Father and bringing Him glory, and since we are now His righteousness, innocence and holiness, we too are always doing the will of the Father and bringing Him glory!

Isn't our God so wonderful? He has created and preserved us with a pure spirit and He has redeemed and cleansed the flesh that fell into sin, so any way you see it, we please and glorify God without ceasing or failing!

"I will glorify your name forever."

Psalm 86:12 (NIV)

A Prayer: I bring God glory without ceasing.

We Shall See Him Face to Face

 "We shall endlessly be all had in God: Him verily seeing and fully feeling, Him spiritually hearing, and Him delectably in-breathing, and [of] Him sweetly drinking. And then shall we see God face to face, homely and fully. The creature that is made shall see and endlessly behold God which is the Maker."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 43) 

We can experience the joy of His presence here in this life, enjoying communion with God. But the knowing and experience of oneness we have with God here is just a foretaste of heaven. What we have now in Spirit we will have there in fullness of experience. We will see our wonderful God. We will feel Him, hear Him, drink in His presence, breathe in His love. We will experience union with God in a full way that we can't even imagine completely! It will be a joy and peace and sense of belonging beyond anything we've ever known. It will be an immersion in the loving Presence we have always dreamed of and were created to know forever. Even now we can start to enjoy that union. We are one with God right now. And He is just as close and as real as He will be in heaven when we see Him face to face. By His Spirit dwelling in us in oneness and love, we are already enjoying heaven on earth, and our experience of Him will only grow more and more in the future. All we have to look forward to is an eternity of enjoying relationship with our wonderful loving God!

 "I will see your face! When I awake, all I want is to see you as you are."

Psalm 17:15 (CEV)

A Prayer: One look on Your face will make me happy for all eternity!

Overpassing All Our Imagining

"He draweth us unto Him by love....His continuant working in all manner of things is done so goodly, so wisely, and so mightily, that it overpasseth all our imagining, and all that we can ween (believe) and think; and then we can do no more but behold Him, enjoying.."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 43)

In the midst of all our worries, concerns and difficulties, His love draws us to Him, to be with Him, to look at Him. He shows us that He is taking care of everything so perfectly. He is doing all that needs to be done, doing it with more goodness, more power, and more wisdom than we can imagine. He is truly doing far beyond what we could think or dream, overpassing all our hopes and thoughts. The joy and peace and comfort He gives right in this moment are exceedingly abundant. All needs are being met. Everything is safe and good and well, here in Him. And we come to rest. We float in His sea of love and grace. We are hushed and still, meeting His gaze. He knows. He understands. We are completely held and taken care of. We are surrounded by His love and protection and strength. All is well and whole and free. And we can do nothing but gaze into His eternal loving eyes and enjoy Him!

Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.

Ephesians 3:20 (TLB)

A Prayer: You make everything work out beyond my wildest hopes and dreams!

He Gives Us His Perspective

"But the soul by no manner of prayer maketh God pliant to it: for He is ever alike in love."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 43)

We don't need to worry that we have to somehow bend God to answer our prayer or help us. We are not needing to influence, change, or persuade Him to hear us, help us, or come to our aid. We don't need to change God, change His mind towards us, or change Him to be more favorable to us. We don't have to try to 'get' Him to answer or help us. For God is always the same in love. He is always bending towards us, always on our side. He is always coming to our aid, helping us, caring for our needs. Grace means we always are in God's favor and "good graces" and He is always favorably disposed towards us. He is always on our side, always for us and never turned away from us or against us. It is not God who needs convincing or persuading or changing; it is us! God is always the same in love. He is always healing, always helping, always blessing. But sometimes we don't see that. Prayer is not so much getting God to align with our need but getting us to align with God's character and perspective and working. He is always showing us how loving and kind He is, how He has got the situation in hand, how He has already won the victory, how we are already whole and full in heavenly places with Him. Prayer is not so much for God as it is for us. God uses that time together to remind us of His promises, of His love, of His power, of His wisdom, of His reign, of His character, so that our minds can be at ease because He has persuaded us that whatever is going on in our lives, He's already there and He's already won and we are going to be alright in Him! He shows us His perspective, and we can relax. We can breathe again. Prayer changes things. It changes our worries into peace and our fears into faith. It changes our viewpoint from earthly to heavenly. It changes despair to hope and sorrow to joy. Anxiety turns to peace that passes understanding. Weakness turns to a sense of protection as we see He is guarding our heart. We become more in touch with what our spirit has always known to be true: God will take care of everything. What a wonderful God we have who changes our perspective to His!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

A Prayer: No matter what the situation, You know just what to say to give me peace, joy and hope!

It Is He That Does It

"God shewed so great pleasance and so great content, as though He were much beholden to us for every good deed that we do (and yet it is He that doeth it).."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 43)

Our Father God is so good to us, His kids! He is always encouraging us, happy with us, lifting us up. When we do something good or spend time praying for others, for example, God shows such pleasure and praises us, though these good deeds are actually the fruit of God working in us. It is actually He that has created us with a nature like His that longs to do good, and it is He who inspires us to do good things, gives us motivation to do them, and does these good deeds in and through us by the Holy Spirit! He is undergirding the whole process, yet He is so thrilled for us to be part of His working in the world, so thrilled to have His children join Him in His favorite thing - loving people - that He gives us all the credit and cheers us on for every little good thing we ever do. Nothing escapes His notice. He would love and adore us just the same no matter what we did, but He knows the happiness we will feel acting according to our true nature of love, and He is so thrilled so have us as part of His work of love in this world. It's just like a father who is so happy when his child wants to sit with him on the seat of his tractor and be part of his daily work on his farm. Isn't He the best Father to us?

"For the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort—for the sake of his good pleasure—is God."

Philippians 2:13 (NET)

A Prayer: I love and bless others by Your Spirit in me.

All Doubts and Fears Overcome

"I saw a full overcoming against all our weakness and all our doubtful dreads."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 42)

He is the One who is taking care of things. He has already taken care of the biggest things of all, salvation and new life. So of course He will take care of everything else. We have a God who is all love and not a trace of anything else. He is only for us. He is only good. He is always doing good, always blessing, always healing, always helping, for that is simply who He is. He is the One responsible for us. He is the One responsible for everything working out well. He is constantly reassuring us, constantly reminding us of the truth that He has already done all that needs to be done and will manifest that. He is constantly persuading us of His reality, of what He sees, of what He knows, and will keep doing so until we see and know it, too. His assurance that all is well and all will be well, that He is doing it all and has done it all, is what overcomes all our doubts and fears. All of them! They are all driven out by His perfect love. We are safe in the arms of this completely loving, completely strong, completely safe God!

"He freed me from all my fears."

Psalm 34:4 (NLT) 

A Prayer: Doubt and fear cannot have me, because You protect and free me from every anxiety and every dread.

Already Done

"He willeth that we have understanding of the things that follow: the first is our noble and excellent making; the second, our precious and dearworthy again-buying; the third, all-thing that He hath made beneath us, [He hath made] to serve us, and for our love keepeth it....It belongeth to us to learn that the greatest deeds be [already] done."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 42)

He has already done the greatest deeds. He has created us, made us in His good image and likeness and declared us "very good." He has already rescued us from sin and death through the work of Christ the Son, who said, "It is finished." And He has already set in place everything for our benefit and good in our lives. It is already done. We don't have to worry about what will happen today, or if God will come through for us tomorrow. In God's eyes, everything is already done. So we can be sure that we will see that visibly in our lives through each and every day. We are His glorious created children, we are redeemed and justified by Christ's Passion, and we are given everything we need for life and living well. We are living in the "already" of God now. We are already whole, already victorious, already strong, already free, already renewed. The greatest deeds are already done, the main victory is already won. So of course He will work out, manifest, and show off that finished work, that complete victory, in our lives!

"With God on our side like this, how can we lose?"

Romans 8:31 (MSG)

A Prayer: In You I have all I need, and more than enough, for every day of my life!

He is True Being

"He willeth that we have true knowing in Himself that He is Being; and in this knowing He willeth that our understanding be grounded, with all our mights and all our intent and all our meaning; and in this ground He willeth that we take our place and our dwelling."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 42)

God is True Being itself. He is the Source of all that exists and the Ground of our being. We exist only in Him and He is the center of all creation. He is at the base of everything, the spring from which our lives flow. We can take our place here in Him, the One we come from and never go out of. This is our true dwelling, our true home, the God who brought us into being and sustains us in being. We are branches of the tree of the Living God and are found in Him always. We are of His nature and character; we are the God-kind. God is our true home that we can always think of and remember and dwell in. We belong with God. We live in God. We are home in Him always!

"In him we live, and move, and have our being."

Acts 17:28 (KJV)

A Prayer: I have never been apart from You. My whole life is grounded in You!

Enjoying Him

"And truly to enjoy our Lord, it is a full blissful thanking in His sight."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 41)

We want to be reverent before God, who is the awesome Creator and Lord of all. We wish to be worshipful and respectful, honoring God and thanking Him for all He has done for us. But our God is more than a Sovereign Lord; He is a tender-hearted Father who loves us, His beloved children. His 'main thing' is not requiring worship and obeisance. His 'main thing' is loving us and bringing us to experience deep relationship with Him. We want to be thankful and praise God, and that is wonderful. But for Him, the greatest way we can praise and thank Him is simply to enjoy Him! He desires to hold us and love on us, to  spend time with us doing whatever we like doing, to see our face light up when we see His smile. He is a happy God and He wants us to be happy in Him. He is a God of laughter and light-heartedness and pure fun. What a delightful Father we have, who loves to bring His kids happiness and joy!

The Lord makes me very happy; all that I am rejoices in my God.

Isaiah 61:10 (NCV)

A Prayer: You give me happiness that nothing can take away!

Rehearing the Good News

"And sometime when the heart is dry and feeleth not, or else by temptation of our enemy,—then it is driven by reason and by grace to cry upon our Lord with voice, rehearing His blessed Passion and His great Goodness; and the virtue of our Lord’s word turneth into the soul and quickeneth the heart and entereth it by His grace into true working, and maketh it pray right blissfully."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 41)

We can get to feeling dry and distracted, losing focus and feeling out of sorts. We might be asking ourselves, "Now what was that truth that set me free?" God has a way of bringing back our focus to Him. He reminds us of what Christ has done for us and where we stand right now, in victory, union with God, and peace. So let's "rehear" the good news of God's goodness and Christ's finished work: "God is love and nothing else. We are His children and nothing else. Christ took away our sin for all time and defeated the enemy for all time. We are free, righteous, beautiful, strong and joyful in Christ. We are filled with God's life and nothing else. We are victors over every situation. We are God's beloveds. We cannot lose Him. We cannot lose life. There is no pressure on us to perform perfectly. Everything has been given to us already as a pure gift. We have permanent joy and peace. We are seated with Christ in heavenly places. We are home free. We are good and holy in God's eyes. All will be well!" This is the good news of God's grace, and it supercharges our hearts!

"It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace."

Hebrews 13:9 (ESV)

A Prayer: Tell me the good news of grace again!

In Dryness and Barrenness

 "For in dryness and in barrenness, in sickness and in feebleness, then is thy prayer well-pleasant to me."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 41)

What if sometimes when we try to pray, we are feeling nothing but emptiness, having lost hope, struggling to believe God is even there, just being sick and tired of it all? We may think those prayers don't 'count' because they aren't spiritual enough, are too full of doubt, negative emotions, and struggle. Yet God says that those prayers are well-pleasing to Him!  He wants us to be real with Him and say exactly what is on our mind, even if that word is, "I am angry with You! I can't see You. I don't even know if You are real." Those prayers are well-pleasing to God. They are just the kind of prayers He loves to hear because they are the honest thoughts of His kids, and He hangs on our every word and rushes to help us whenever we have a need. So we can rant and rave and cry and sulk, feel everything or feel nothing with Him. He sits with us and feels all our emotions with us, and continually works to uplift us. We can relax because we can be completely honest and real with this wonderful Father and Friend!

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28 (NIV)

A Prayer: Sometimes I feel like I am terrible at prayer. But You show me my prayers are perfect to You!

God is Happy with Our Prayer

"Full glad and merry is our Lord of our prayer; and He looketh thereafter and He willeth to have it because with His grace He maketh us like to Himself in condition as we are in kind: and so is His blissful will."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 41)

God is so happy to hear from us, to just be with us! In a real sense, prayer is just being with God.  We don't have to get into a super spiritual attitude or have amazing faith. We don't have to be perfectly peaceful or calm. We can just 'be' before Him, with all our concerns and feelings, not even needing to talk about them, because He knows all about what we need. And in that moment of simply 'being' together, He is to us all we need. He is peace that makes our worries flee, joy that sends sadness away, love that makes us feel so accepted and known, strength that gives confidence about the future. He is everything we need a God to be, and He brings heaven to earth right at the moment we are experiencing. He is filling our thoughts with His perspective, our emptiness with His fullness. We find ourselves seeing with His eyes, find trust rising up and know God has everything in His care, that everything will be okay. Everything makes sense again and we are in our right mind again. Our spirits have always known, but our hearts needed reminding. And just being with Him, face to face in our heart, we are reminded, we are realigned with His peace, His love, His joy, shining with His glory.  All He ever wants to do is hold us close in our awareness so He can love on us and fill us over and over again with Himself!

"Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face."

2 Corinthians 3:18 (MSG)

A Prayer: You know just what to say and do to help me.

God's Treasure

 "Our Lord Himself, He is the first receiver of our prayer, as to my sight, and taketh it full thankfully and highly enjoying; and He sendeth it up above and setteth it in the Treasure, where it shall never perish. It is there afore God with all His Holy continually received, ever speeding [the help of] our needs.."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 41)

What is it that God treasures, that is so special to Him He keeps it forever in heaven? As the very best Parent, God saves saves up treasures from us, His dear kids. Whenever we talk to Him or just hang out with Him, our heavenly Dad takes that conversation, those moments, as priceless and special and He stores them in His treasure box in heaven forever. Those moments of communion, those times of sharing, those things we say to Him, will never be lost or forgotten. God keeps and treasures those times with us in His heart forever and never forgets them. That's how special we are to Him and how much He loves spending time with us! And whatever we do ask, whatever we talk about with Him or say we need, those concerns of ours, no matter how big or how small, are always on God's mind and He always loves meeting those needs. He never forgets us or what we need. Our prayers are always remembered and always answered. He hold us and all our concerns in His hands and in His heart for always!

The four living beings and the twenty-four leaders kneeled down in front of the Lamb. Every one of them had a harp and a gold bowl. The bowls were full of incense that smelled very sweet... These bowls are the words of God's people when they talk to him.

Revelation 5:8 (WE)

A Prayer: Thank You for keeping in Your heart every word I say and answering every prayer!