Love Assures Us

"I saw that God can do all that we need."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 75)

It is not just that God can do all but that He will do all, all that we need Him to do. We see how strong He is, powerful enough to do anything. And we see how wise He is, smart enough to provide a solution for any problem or difficulty. So let us also see how loving He is, caring and kind enough to do whatever it takes to meet our needs. It is His love that gives us the certainty that He really will help us and keep every promise He makes to us.

He will always be there for us, to comfort us, defeat evil for us, protect us, help us, heal us, deliver us, save us, hold us and provide for us. Let us look at God's love and ask Him to show us His love and help us get to know who He really is, how good and kind He really is. This will help us to be assured that He will keep all His promises for us personally. God is only one way - love. He is so good and loving we can scarcely take it in! He will keep on showing us how good and loving He is and we will get to know Him better and better and we will find trust rising up in us naturally. We will be able to say that God is strong and can help us, and He is wise and knows how to help us, and He is love and WILL help us. Love assures us that He will not let us down. Love lets us know it is certain and done. Love lets us know all the promises are already complete for us. Love means we can count on God and know that all will be well for us!

"For everyone who knows your wonderful name keeps putting their trust in you. They can count on you for help no matter what. O Lord, you will never, no never, neglect those who come to you."

Psalm 9:10 (TPT)

"Love never fails."

1 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV)

A Prayer: Show me who You are, Lord. Show me how good and loving You are so I can trust You more and know You will always take care of me!

 

Reverent Fear

"All dreads other than reverent dread that are proffered to us, though they come under the colour of holiness yet are not so true."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 74)

Are we to fear God? The Old Testament speaks of the "fear of the Lord" that we are to have before God, but what does that mean in light of Christ's revelation of the Father as Perfect Love? We are not meant to be afraid of God, for God, Perfect Love, casts out fear. God doesn't want us to be afraid of Him, fearful and cowering, worried that He might destroy or hurt us or rage against us. He is great, and mighty and amazing, and we are small, and weak and humble. So it can be easy to slip into feelings of fear, especially fear of God's wrath or punishment. But this kind of fear is exactly what God, Perfect Love, casts out! Our God is pure Love and love does not harm. God would never harm us, for He is the One who keeps us from harm, rescues us from harm, and heals us from harm. Our God is pure Love and Love doesn't punish. Love isn't vindictive or retributive. Love is forgiving, patient and kind. Love puts up with anything and bears with everything. Love never goes into a rage but is instead always gentle and understanding. Love never rejects but always accepts and embraces us.

The fear of the Lord mentioned in the Bible must mean something else, then. Fear of the Lord, or "reverent dread," simply means being in awe and wonder at the greatness of God's goodness and love. He is so much more loving, kind, gentle, understanding, and friendly than we could possibly imagine, and when we experience and relate to this wonderful God, Father, and Friend, we have a sense of awe at how good He really is. It is mind-blowing. It is inspiring. It is full of wonder! It is not fear that we feel in the sense of being afraid but reverence and awe that One so great is so good to us and so loving to us! It is a reverence that leads to spontaneous worship, thanks, and praise to our God. It is a reverence that draws us to God irresistibly rather than making us cower or run away. That is "reverent fear" and the only kind of fear we ever have when we experience this wonderful God who is All-Love. 

"Love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love."

1 John 4:18 (NLT)

"They will come with awe to the Lord and to his goodness.."

Hosea 3:5 (CSB)

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, and his love endures forever.

Psalm 107:1 (NIV)

A Prayer: I am in awe of Your beauty, goodness, greatness and love! I praise Your name!

Dealing with Sin vs. Being Loved

"For when we begin to hate sin, and amend us by the ordinance of Holy Church, yet there dwelleth a dread that letteth us, because of the beholding of our self and of our sins afore done....And the beholding of this maketh us so sorry and so heavy, that scarsely we can find any comfort....For it is God's will that of all the properties of the blissful Trinity, we should have most sureness and comfort in Love: for Love maketh Might and Wisdom full meek to us.....He forgiveth our sin... right so willeth He that we forgive our sin."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 73)

We hate sin. We don't want to do it. But we keep falling into it. So we keep confessing it, promising to do better, recommitting ourselves to God, trying to make up for our sin. And yet that just makes us focus on our sin even more, filling us with shame and self-hatred and fear that maybe we didn't confess enough or repent well or dedicate ourselves well enough, and maybe God hasn't forgiven us, maybe there is something between us and God and we are not completely "right" with Him. We feel worse and worse and can seem to find no comfort. We feel that we are just not good enough for God and that He may be displeased or angry with us. We may feel afraid of Him, afraid to approach Him because we feel something is off and we are not measuring up to the standard, are not clean enough. We may even feel there is a wall between us and God. We may feel like giving up, like we just can't "do" this Christian life well enough. Our good intentions of wanting to be good and trying to stop sinning have snowballed into this endless cycle of trying and then failure, confession, trying harder, failing again, feeling shame and condemnation, feeling far from God, and on and on. 

But this is not what God has for us in the Christian life! He has for us a life of peace and joy, knowing that we are alright before Him no matter how many times we fail. He has for us a life of confidence knowing that Christ already took away all our sins at the cross and gave us His own righteousness, meaning that we are perfectly right with God and sinless in His eyes at all times. God doesn't want us to be focused on getting rid of or dealing with sin. He doesn't want us to focus on something He already got rid of! He wants us to focus on His love. That is what the Christian life is all about, a love relationship with God. His love is the ruling factor. We can be assured that God is perfect, infinite, unconditional love toward us at all times. This is a love that has already forgiven us of all the sins of our whole lifetime! This is a love that understands our struggles and never turns His back on us but supports us at every moment, whether we are standing or falling. This is a love that accepts us unconditionally whether we ever stop sinning or not. This is a love that is so wonderful and life-giving and transforming that it fills up every need we have for friendship and support and affirmation, and we find ourselves naturally being kinder, friendlier, gentler, more at peace, and more loving effortlessly just by being in the Presence of this Love! 

Love has defeated sin in our lives already, and Love will bring that out without our efforts. Love will keep drawing our eyes away from our sin struggles and onto the One who loves us so much. All we need to do is let Love love us. We don't need to worry about trying harder, focusing on sin, feeling guilty or being sorry enough, confessing and repenting over and over, trying to make ourselves better, or condemning ourselves. We don't need to focus on sin or behavior improvement at all. God isn't focusing on that. God already forgave our sin and completely embraced us in love. So we can forgive ourselves of our sin and completely embrace ourselves in love. Love has cast out all our fears about sin, for Love has cast out sin and filled us with Love. So we can revel in this Love and enjoy our perfect relationship with God that is always there for us!

"Be kind and ·loving [compassionate; tenderhearted] to each other, and forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ."

Ephesians 4:32 (EXB)

"For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us!"

2 Corinthians 5:21 (TLB)

A Prayer: Thank You for dealing with sin so I don't have to. Thank You for Your love that changes everything!

He Is All-Love and Will Do All

"Some of us believe that God is Almighty and may do all, and that He is All-Wisdom and can do all; but that He is All-Love and will do all, there we stop short. And this not-knowing it is, that hindereth most God's lovers, as to my sight."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 73)

We can see that God is Love is a general way. But can we see that God is Love for us personally? Can we see that God is delighted in us as a person, cares about our every need, accepts us unconditionally, and will do everything we need Him to do and be everything we need Him to be, holding nothing back? It can be a challenge to believe such a love can come to us and is coming to us. It is easy to believe God is all Powerful and able to do all things for us. It is also easy to believe that God is all Knowing and wise enough to do all things for us. But we hesitate when it comes to God being Loving and actually choosing to do all things for us. So God keeps on reassuring of His Love. He keeps on persuading us till we are convinced that He truly is Love and will do everything. He will do everything for each of us and He will do everything for all of us. He will make all to be well for each of us and  He will make all to be well for all of us. So we can each say, "God is strong and able to save me, and He is wise and knows how to save me, and He is Love and will save me!" And we can also say, "God is strong and able to save all humanity, and He is wise and knows how to save all humanity, and He is Love and will save all humanity!" And all will be well!

"They will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest."

Hebrews 8:11 (NIV)

"Love never fails."

1 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV)

A Prayer: Thank You for Your love that will do everything for us.

The Most Understanding in Love

"The soul took most understanding in Love; yea, and He willeth that in all things we have our beholding and our enjoying in Love. And of this knowing are we most blind."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 73)

Sometimes it can be confusing to understand ourselves, our life or even God. The simplest and best, deepest and most profound way to understand is by simply looking at Love. God is Love. That is the easiest and deepest theology. God wants us to focus on His love, know His love, understand His love, and enjoy His love. Yet sometimes it is His love that we can be blind to. We may have theologies that talk about God's wrath, how He wants to punish us and even punished His own Son, theologies that say God sends sickness onto people, or that call terrible disasters "acts of God." In these ideas we can see a blindness to the truth that God is Love. Love doesn't have wrath but is instead gentle and open-hearted. Love doesn't punish but instead forgives. Love doesn't send bad things to people but instead heals and supports people in the worst times. We can simply ask "What would love do?" And then we can see how God truly is, for if it isn't love, it isn't God! Love does no harm. Love thinks of others first. Love is humble and vulnerable. Love cannot be offended. Love always forgives. Love never runs out. Love is stronger than anything. Love wins against all hatred and unlove. Love will never fail us. Love has no conditions. Love is the most beautiful thing in the universe. Love is God, God is Love! It's as simple as that!

"So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." 

1 John 4:16 (ESV)

A Prayer: Thank You for loving me! I love You, too!

In His Beautiful Gaze Is Only Blessing

"For in that precious blissful sight there may no woe abide, nor any weal (blessing, well-being) fail."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 72)

From the beautiful loving face of our Lord, all sorrow, pain, confusion, darkness, shame and trouble flee and recede into nothingness. In this presence of such love, of such a wonderful Father and Friend, only joy, merry-making, celebration, peace, rest and happiness exist. For in the light of His beautiful face, no hurt or darkness can exist, only wholeness and light.

So we can see that the best thing for us to do while we are here in this life is to look upon our Lord within us and know more and more His how He sees us, experiencing all His love for us. And just to be with Him and see His loving face is healing, brings joy and peace, gives rest, makes sorrow and anxiety and negativity flee away. We were made to be held in that gaze. We were made to be loved on for all eternity by the Love that made the worlds, that died to have us with Him, the Love that brings us home to Him forevermore.

"Here's the one thing I crave from Yahweh, the one thing I seek above all else: I want to live with him every moment in his house, beholding the marvelous beauty of Yahweh, filled with awe, delighting in his glory and grace."

Psalm 27:4 (TPT)

"You pile blessings on him; you make him glad when you smile."

Psalm 21:6 (MSG)

A Prayer: The more I look to You, the more my worries and dark thoughts fade. Those worries don't have a chance before Your presence of love. Looking at You I know I am well and whole.

In That Precious Blissful Sight

"And ever the more clearly that the soul seeth this Blissful Cheer by grace of loving, the more it longeth to see it in fulness. For notwithstanding that our Lord God dwelleth in us and is here with us, and albeit He claspeth us and encloseth us for tender love that He may never leave us, and is more near to us than tongue can tell or heart can think, yet may we never stint.... of longing till when we see Him clearly in His Blissful Countenance."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 72)

The more we see the face of God all loving and joyful towards us, the more we long to see it. Christ has shown us that the face of God is always towards us, always looking at us with love, always happy with us. And this just makes us want to know God more and more. Where before, we shrank back from God is fear and confusion, now we reach out for God in love and longing to know Him more. This beautiful loving God is endlessly attractive and draws us like a magnet to His marvelous love. Once we get a taste of that love, we just want to know and commune with Him more and more. And even though He is always here with us on earth, embracing us in tenderness and never letting go of us, closer to us than we can even imagine, still we long for the day when our faith will be sight and we will be face to face with God in heaven forevermore. One look at His lovely face, one gaze into those tender eyes, one sight of His merry smile, and every sorrow, pain or trouble we had on earth will be dissolved into nothing and forgotten. We were made to be held in that gaze. We were made to be loved on for all eternity by the Love that made the worlds, that died to have us with Him, the Love that brings us home to Him forevermore.

"I will be full of joy when I see Your face."

Acts 2:28 (NLV)

A Prayer: I will look on Your face for all eternity, and eternity won't even be long enough to rejoice in Your presence of love!

His Full Bliss in Us

"He shall never have His full bliss in us till we have our full bliss in Him, verily seeing His fair Blissful Cheer. For we are ordained thereto in nature, and get thereto by grace."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 72)

Our wonderful Lord won't stop showing us how good He is, drawing us to see Him smiling at us within, drawing us to see His constant loving regard of us, till we are fully caught up in that gaze of love. He won't stop wooing us until we are caught up in the love that is better than anything in the world. It is almost as if He were saying, "I can't be completely happy till I know you are completely happy in Me, My dearest darling!" This has been the plan and intent of God since before time began, for us to be caught up in the love dance of the Trinity, caught up in Their love and celebration over us, the children of God. God has always wanted to simply love us and have us find our true happiness in being loved. And God will complete His wonderful plan. It is absolutely sure and certain. We can be sure that even if sometimes we lose sight of God's oneness with us, His smiling gaze towards us, or His love for us, He will draw us to know and experience that reality, and we will know and experience it fully. We will gaze forever on the face of God, filled with love and wonder at His beautiful look of pure love and happiness towards us. We will find our full joy in God and He will find His full joy in us, and all will be well! We will gaze forever on the face of God, filled with love and wonder at His love and happiness towards us!

"How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son."

Ephesians 1:3-5 (MSG)

A Prayer: I am so glad to know that You will make sure I get to the place of full joy in Your presence. I love being loved by You!

The Highest Bliss

"The highest bliss that is, is to have Him in clarity of endless life, Him verily seeing, Him sweetly feeling, all-perfectly having in fulness of joy."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 72)

The best and highest joy is to know that Christ is inside of us, giving us endless life, to really see Him as He is, full of love and grace and goodness towards us always, and to experience Him, experience His love and peace and joy in us. That is the fullest joy, just to have Christ and to know and experience Him loving us within. He is always there within us, always loving us, always accepting us, always delighting in us. No matter what may be going on on the outside, no matter what failures or flaws we see in ourselves, inside everything is perfect. Inside Christ is one with us and we are in perfect harmony in a perfect relationship of love, and all is well! It is the highest joy to know Him, to know He is within us, to know the high regard or blissful cheer He has towards us always, to know His love that passes knowledge, and to know that this relationship of oneness and love with Him is permanent and nothing we do, think or say can change it! We encounter Him within and see that this is what God is truly like, a lover who keeps no score of wrongs, a friend who is loyal no matter what the cost. a companion for the journey who will never leave us, a God beyond all imagining who always believes the very best of us, who is always rejoicing over us, who is tender and affectionate and merry and sweet!

"God said, 'Light up the darkness!' and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful."

2 Corinthians 4:6 (MSG)

"You have everything when you have Christ, and you are filled with God through your union with Christ."

Colossians 2:10 (TLB)

A Prayer: Knowing You are inside me always, loving me always, makes all the difference.

Outer Cheer toward Inner Cheer

"And thus, I hope, with His grace He hath [drawn], and more shall draw, the Outer Cheer to the Inner Cheer, and make us all one with Him, and each of us with other, in true lasting joy that is Jesus."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 71)

Our inner spirit has been captivated by the beautiful One indwelling us, Christ Himself. Even if we forget this on the outside in our everyday life, inside Christ is dwelling, loving, caring, supporting, keeping us, and our inner person or spirit is always looking to Christ and happy with Christ within. So our Inner Cheer or expression is always one of love, hope, joy and peace, for our inner person is looking always at Christ and is fully satisfied, resting in His loving presence. And Christ keeps drawing and drawing our outer part to look inward to Him in the inward part, drawing and drawing us by grace to consciously be aware of, focus on, and know the beautiful and loving One inside us and to be captivated by His beauty and gaze, His loveliness and grace. And so by grace He is bringing our Outer Cheer or expression to match our Inner Cheer. And in our conscious mind we become more and more aligned with who we truly are in our spirit, more and more aligned with Christ within. Christ is doing this with us all, so we are becoming more and more consciously aware not only of our union with Christ but with each other, for Christ is in each of us, connecting us and bringing us into unity of mind and heart all together with Him!

"In us God desires to exhibit the priceless treasure of Christ's indwelling....the unveiling of Christ in human life completes man's every expectation."

Colossians 1:27 (MIRROR)

"We are not keeping any score of what seems so obvious to the senses in the natural realm, it is fleeting and irrelevant; it is the unseen eternal realm within us that has our full attention and captivates our gaze!"

2 Corinthians 4:18 (MIRROR)

"Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us."

Colossians 3:11 (NLT)

A Prayer: Draw my gaze to You inside of me!

Blissful Lovely Cheer

"Glad and joyous and sweet is the Blissful lovely Cheer (countenance) of our Lord to our souls. For He [be]holdeth us ever, living in love-longing: and He willeth that our soul be in glad cheer to Him, to give Him His meed (reward)."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 71)

What do we see when we look upon the face of Christ as He gazes on us? What does His countenance look like? We see "blissful lovely cheer." We see a smile for us, we see absolute joy about us, and we see pure sweetness of manner. He is always looking at us and His look is always one of love and delight. He is always smiling at us. He is always happy to be with us, happy with us. He is always radiating the fullest love we could ever imagine. In that one look, we know we are home. We know we are cared for as we have always longed to be. We know we are His forever. For Christ see us living here on earth in love-longing, that is, longing for love. Every person innately longs to be loved. And since God is love, what we are all longing for is God Himself. He is the love we have waiting for and longed for. Christ wants us to see that He is loving us continually, unconditionally, fully and infinitely. We are held in the gaze of love, a love that is brighter than a thousand suns and deeper than the deepest sea. What He wants is for us to see that love and rest in it, be happy in it. He longs most of all for our happiness, for our sheer joy, for our smile. Parents wait for weeks to see their newborn baby's first smile. And when they finally see that little one smiling up at them, it gives them so much joy. They love seeing their little one happy, love knowing that their little one is responding with joy to their love. And so it is with Christ, who longs to see a smile on our face and says that is all the reward needed for all the work that was done to birth us into endless life! The kingdom of God is righteousness, pure goodness from God that lets you know He fully accepts and approves of you, and it is also joy and peace for us, being completely happy and completely safe and at rest. God wants us to be satisfied with His goodness, at rest, full of joy, and happy in Him for always. He loves us more than anything and wants us to be freed to revel in that love and be full of smiles!

"May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace."

Numbers 6:25-26 (NLT)

"God’s kingdom consists of God’s approval and peace, as well as the joy that the Holy Spirit gives."

Romans 14:17 (GW)

A Prayer: I love to know You are always smiling at me. I'm smiling back!

Kept by His Faith

"For we have by His goodness and His own working to keep us in the Faith."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 70)

We want to have faith and we want to keep the faith. We want to believe strongly and keep believing strongly. We may worry that our faith is lacking, inconsistent or weak. But Jesus is in us as the very faith and faithfulness we need. Does Jesus ever have weak faith, struggle with inconsistent faith, or find His faith to be lacking in some way? No! Jesus has perfect faith in the Father. His faith is strong and mighty. He is always full of faith, so His faith is consistent and unchanging. There is nothing missing or lacking in Jesus' faith; it is perfect and complete. And that is the faith we live by. Not our own weak or changing faith but His sure and unchanging faith. Christ knows that we can feel weak or struggle to  have faith. He sympathizes with us. He knows what it is like to be human and tied to the sensory realm in a fleshly body. Christ is the only One who ever walked the earth that had perfect faith, always trusting in the Father, always sure of His goodness and power and love. His faith has never wavered and never succumbed to doubt or struggle, and it never will. He is in us having that faith, exercising that faith as our faith toward the Father. He draws our attention to Him within, to see His Spirit rising up in faith. For faith is a fruit of the Spirit within us. So we don't have to worry about having faith, but just know that Christ is having faith at all times from within us, and it is this faith that keeps, holds, and sustains us no matter what. So whether we feel weak or strong, doubtful or certain, we can know that Christ is perfectly trusting the Father through us today and always.

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

Galatians 2:20 (KJV)

"The fruit produced by the Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit."

Galatians 5:22-23 (TPT)

A Prayer: Jesus, I live by Your faith in the Father, and I know that faith is perfect.

We Shall Never Be Overcome

"And this word: Thou shalt not be overcome, was said full clearly and full mightily, for assuredness and comfort against all tribulations that may come. He said not: Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be afflicted; but He said: Thou shalt not be overcome. God willeth that we take heed to these words, and that we be ever strong in sure trust, in weal and woe. For He loveth and enjoyeth us, and so willeth He that we love and enjoy Him and mightily trust in Him; and all shall be well."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 68)

We can know for sure, without a doubt, with all certainty, that whatever trouble we go through here on earth, it will not have the last say, and we shall not be overcome by it. God gives us full comfort and full assurance, letting us know that He has already overcome the world and we will see that overcoming in our lives, too. We are already overcomers and more than overcomers through Christ, who has given us the victory already. We don't have to struggle, worry, strive or strain. Our efforts are not required. God is taking care of it. He is going to bring that victory to  manifest. He is already here working, and in fact He is always working. God laughs at the so-called power of evil because He knows it is absolutely nothing compared to His true and absolute power, the power of pure love. Love is the strongest thing there is, love never fails, which means love always wins! And God is that always winning Love! Nothing is too hard for Him. There is no situation too difficult for Him to handle it. There is only one way for things to come out, and that is in victory. 

He is always bringing His victorious life to bear on our struggles, pains, sorrows, hurts, dark feelings and weaknesses. He is always bringing His unstoppable life to well and bubble up inside us and carry us through till we see victory. And we will see it. Whether it is fast or takes a while, no matter what, we will not go down, we will not be overcome, we will come out of top in the end, we will experience victory in the end. It is inevitable, because light always defeats darkness, life always overcomes death, love always dissolves evil. That is what Christ has already done and we are already standing in that light, life and love of God. He will manifest that while we just rest in Him. So whether in good times or bad, wellness or woe, joy or sadness, we can know God is working it all out to good for us, and all will be well!

"Love never fails."

1 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV)

"Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

1 Corinthians 15:57 (ESV)

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

Romans 8:31 (MSG)

"In the thick of these things, our triumph remains beyond dispute. His love has placed us above the reach of any onslaught."

Romans 8:37 (NIV)

A Prayer: No matter what happens, I don't have to worry because Your love always wins!

First Word and Last Word

"And right as in the first word that our good Lord shewed, signifying His blissful Passion,—Herewith is the devil overcome,—right so He said in the last word, with full true secureness, meaning us all: Thou shalt not be overcome. And all this teaching ...(is) true comfort."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 68)

The first word - with the Passion the evil one is overcome - and the last word  - we shall not be overcome - Christ gave Julian in the revelation are both words of victory and overcoming. Because Christ, through His death and resurrection, conquered all evil, shame, condemnation, corruption and death once and for all, so we too shall not be overcome by any of those things. For we are in Christ. We died with Christ to sin, death, condemnation, accusation, judgment, struggle, sickness, shame and evil. And we rose with Christ to communion, victory, joy, peace, wellness, wholeness, righteousness, glory and life forevermore. All that He has done, He has done for us, and all that He has won, He has imparted to us. All that Christ has done, all that He shows us, is for our comfort and joy. He brings only peace and goodwill to us, only tidings of great joy for all people. What are these tidings? Christ has saved us! He has overcome all that would have pulled us down into death and sin, pain and shame, darkness and loss. We are rescued. He has brought from from confusion into clarity, from darkness into light, from death into life. Winter is over and Springtime is here, the time of singing has come. The last word will not be darkness or sorrow, it will be love and light. Evil will not win, goodness has already won and will show forth that victory everywhere, in everyone. Let us rejoice and be glad for the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of Christ, and He shall reign forever; of His kingdom of acceptance, grace, union, peace, joy, love and kindness there shall be no end!

"God defeated the spiritual rulers and powers. With the cross God won the victory and defeated them. He showed the world that they were powerless."

Colossians 2:15 (ICB)

“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”

Revelation 11:5 (NASB)

A Prayer: Thank You for the victory You won for me over all evil and darkness.

Beholding Christ Within

"The soul that thus beholdeth (Christ within), it maketh it like to Him that is beheld, and oneth it in rest and peace by His grace."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 68)

We come to rest and peace, see transformation to more and more likeness to Christ, not by working hard to keep rules and law, but simply by beholding Him within us. To see Christ within us, sitting at rest, one with us, rejoicing over us, fine with us, loving us, assuring us that He is here to stay, just seeing how loving and good He really is and that He is all of that in and towards us, we find ourselves coming to rest and peace. The old fears of being inadequate or needing to try harder to please God fade away, for we know ourselves as He knows us, complete and pleasing, accepted and loved. We find a wholeness within us, for the strife that was in us fades away as we find Christ is not striving or struggling with us, Christ is not angry or against us, but is instead happy with us, satisfied with us, at peace with us, and peacefully watching over our lives. Without even trying or doing anything, we reflect the One we are gazing at, and just like a mirror, we express Christ to everyone. The old way of trying by our own effort to improve did not work. Living by law only brings failure and condemnation and tends to make one feel far from God and inferior. But the new way of union friendship with Christ within is so wonderful and freeing, for it is a way of rest, not self-effort, a way of freedom, not pressure to perform. It is a way of completeness, for the good person we are trying to be we find we already are. We are full of Christ, and therefore full of all that He is, and therefore good and perfect, whole and pleasing. As we gaze at Christ and experience His great love, acceptance, grace and joy towards us, we naturally reflect that out to the world. Loved people love people, and grace people grace people. We are transfigured like Jesus was on the mountain, glowing with the glory of God that shines from within us. For we are the glory of God on earth, and the Holy Spirit is bringing out that glory, the glory of love and kindness, grace and peace, bringing it out so naturally, without our effort! We can simply sit at Christ's feet like Mary and behold Him, rest in Him, hear His loving words to us. Our faces are shining with the brightness of Christ without our even knowing it. And the brightness keeps growing and growing, all by grace. God's Spirit has come forth from our inner spirit out into our outer conscious life, filling every part of our lives with marvelous love. We are coming into our own as children of God, shining the glory of the presence of God everywhere we go!

"They turn to face God...there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him."

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 (MSG)

A Prayer: Looking at You inside of me, I know that all is well!

Enjoy God as He Enjoys You

"And what may make us more to enjoy in God than to see in Him that He enjoyeth in the highest of all His works? For I saw in the same Shewing that if the blessed Trinity might have made Man's Soul any better, any fairer, any nobler than it was made, He should not have been full pleased with the making of Man's Soul. And He willeth that our hearts be mightily raised above the deepness of the earth and all vain sorrows, and rejoice in Him."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 67)

What could make us rejoice in God more than to know how much He rejoices in us? We may worry that God sees and is disappointed with all our faults and weaknesses, but what God sees is our perfection. We are perfect to God. We couldn't be any better, any more beautiful, or any more honorable than we are right now, as the highest of all of God's creation. He is fully pleased with us! He is not looking at the weaknesses or faults in our thinking or speaking or behaving. Those are just things not true to your real nature, things that Christ already took off of you. So why would God look at things already done away with by Christ? He is just looking at the truth and rejoicing in that truth - that we are perfectly  made, that we are beautifully made, that we are His masterpiece! He wants us to lift our eyes from the weaknesses and struggles that we may see in ourselves, the sorrows and brokenness, and just rejoice in Him just as He rejoices in us, enjoy Him just as He enjoys us. 

Whatever struggle, or problem, or sorrow, or difficulty we have, God is and has already taken care of it. So we can just rest. We can rest in His arms and think of Him, not our faults or problems. We can look away from earth to heaven inside of us, where God dwells. We can think not of temporal things but of heavenly things. We can let His happiness make us happy, for His joy over us is contagious! We can hear Him laughing and see Him smiling and know that He is completely fine with us and completely proud of us, He is holding us and taking care of us, and we can sink into His total acceptance and love and just enjoy Him!

"Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, gladden yourselves in Him]; again I say, Rejoice!"

Philippians 4:4 (AMPC)

A Prayer: The way You smile at me lights up my whole world!

The Brightest Shining is His Glorious Love

"For in Man's Soul is His very dwelling; and the highest light and the brightest shining of the City is the glorious love of our Lord, as to my sight."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 67)

We are loved like we can't even imagine. We are loved at every moment. We are wrapped in a tender embrace at continually. We are bathed in acceptance and belonging and security and we are absolutely safe and secure, known and understood, celebrated and adored, by this love that is beyond anything we have ever known. It is love that makes all the difference. It is His love that heals our hearts, dispels our shame, melts our defenses, dissolved our strife, and brings rest to our souls. We have found that the place we were most longing for, that place of ultimate belonging and acceptance and love, is inside of us, holding us tight for always! He always has been holding us here in love, and He always will be. The light of our life is God's presence of pure love, for God who IS Love is in us living here with us in union forever.

Our soul, our humanity, is God's home, the place He chose to dwell above all other places. It is His glorious and dazzling kingdom, full of the brightness of His glory and honor. And the brightest and most glorious light shining in this inner kingdom of human hearts is His love! Nothing shines brighter. His love for us is the most splendid, beautiful, radiant and shining thing inside us. His love for us can't be totally grasped it is so amazing. It can't truly be contained and so it spills forth from us in marvelous rays and colorful prisms of light.We are filled to the full with God's love for us, and it spills over and out from us like a fountain of endless liquid light and grace. We are light in the Lord, and the light we are lit up by is His unconditional, never-ending, infinite and all-embracing love. We can say: "I am a city set on a hill, a light for all the world to see. I shine with the light of love, which is God Himself shining in me. I spread love everywhere, all around. I am the loving expression of God on this earth. I naturally manifest that love of God. I love myself and others with the love of God."

"I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love; and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God’s children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it. And so at last you will be filled up with God himself."

Ephesians 3:17-19 (TLB)

"Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven."

Matthew 5:14-16 (MSG)

A Prayer: I'm filled full of You, O God, filled full of Love. Let Your love shine forth from me to love all those around me.

He is Satisfied with the Making of Our Soul

"He showed the satisfying that He hath of the making of Man's Soul. For as well as the Father might make a creature, and as well as the Son could make a creature, so well would the Holy Ghost that Man's Soul were made: and so it was done. And therefore the blessed Trinity enjoyeth without end in the making of Man's Soul: for He saw from without beginning what should please Him without end."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 67)

God could not be more pleased with the making of humanity. As well as the Godhead might, could and would make a creature, that is how well the Godhead did make us. We could not have been made any better. There is absolutely nothing wrong with us as human beings. Our design is perfect, and it was perfectly executed in our creation. After all, we come from and were made after the perfect Blueprint, which is Christ himself, the first-born of all creation, the Progenitor of human nature. We are not Christ but are like Christ. Christ literally IS the image of God, and we are simply IN the image of God. Yet all this points to humanity being perfectly made, perfectly formed, perfectly pleasing, and perfectly good and acceptable in God's sight. He knew all along what kind of creature would bring Him endless joy and delight. He lovingly formed us and knew every single tiny component that went into our makeup. He couldn't be more proud of us, the apex of His creation, His very own offspring in His image and likeness!  We may have heard that we were born defective, flawed, evil and not like God. But according to Genesis, we were made in God's image and likeness and therefore just like God, and were declared very good by God Himself. In fact, after He made us as the pinnacle of creation, He rested because He was perfectly satisfied with what He had made in human life. And that has never changed. Our basic makeup and design is just the same as ever. Humanity is still very good, pleasing in design, satisfactory to God in our being. That is our identity, not our beliefs, or thoughts, or words, or acts, but our being as God made us, our good and noble humanity that is still just as much in God's image and likeness as ever. The image may have gotten hidden from view by our confused beliefs and wrong acts, but it was and is always still there, complete and perfect, underneath any of our thoughts or behaviors. If we could only see ourselves as God sees us for just a moment, we would start to understand how wonderful we are, and we would not put ourselves down as inferior or "not good enough." One of the reasons Christ came is to show us how beloved and precious we are to God, and how wonderful humanity actually is, wonderful enough for God to choose to inhabit a human body forever! Truly, God celebrates us endlessly. He will spend all of eternity rejoicing over us, His fearfully and wonderfully made children! For no matter how the children act or think, they are always the Father's pride and joy!

"So God created man and woman and shaped them with his image inside them. In his own beautiful image, he created his masterpiece. Yes, male and female he created them. And God blessed them in his love.."

Genesis 1:27 (TPT)

A Prayer: Help me to see myself through Your eyes of love!

His Permanent Home

"And the Godhead ruleth and sustaineth heaven and earth and all that is,—sovereign Might, sovereign Wisdom, and sovereign Goodness,—[but] the place that Jesus taketh in our Soul He shall never remove it, without end, as to my sight: for in us is His homliest (most intimate) home and His endless dwelling."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 67)

The Godhead is everywhere and in all things at all times, and rules and reigns over all. But Jesus, God who became flesh and bone, the God-Man, always dwells in the soul of humans. God chose to take on flesh and Jesus was born on this earth. He lived and died and rose as a man. He ascended to heaven and lives in our hearts as a man. He is both God and Man. This was a permanent commitment. Christ Jesus will always be the joining of God and man.He will always be one with our humanity, will always have His home in us, will always reign in love over His kingdom of humanity! He is never going to leave us or forsake us. He has made a permanent commitment to be with us always, dwell inside us always, be tied to us always, be one with us always. He is permanently connected with us, and therefore we are sharing in all that He is and has. He is victorious over sin and death, so we are, too. He has eternal resurrection life, so we do, too. He is righteous and perfect, so we are, too. He trusts the Father, so we do, too. He is reigning over all darkness, so we are, too. He is one with the Father in continuous fellowship, so we are, too. He is pure love and goodness, so we are, too. He has tied Himself to us and pulled us up to where He is in resurrection life in the heavenly places, and we are blessed and filled and overflowing with life forever! What a wonderful Savior, who chose humanity as His permanent home and favorite place to be in all of creation!

"The Word became a human being; we are his address; he resides in us. He captivates our gaze."

John 1:14 (MIRROR)

"I heard a loud voice from the throne say, 'God lives with humans! God will make his home with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God.'"

Revelation 21:3 (GW)

A Prayer: Thank You that our union is permanent!

The Son Reigns in the Soul

"I understood that it (the human soul) is a worshipful City. In the midst of that City sitteth our Lord Jesus, God and Man, a fair Person of large stature, highest Bishop, most majestic King, most worshipful Lord; and I saw Him clad majestically. And worshipfully He sitteth in the Soul, even-right (properly and squarely in the middle) in peace and rest." 

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 67)

Christ sits rightly and properly in the center of our soul. Here is the One who is both God and Man, dwelling within us. He is majestic and regal, the One who has the highest honor and authority, the rightful Lord and King. He is sitting on the throne of His kingdom and reigning forever more! He is seated in peace and rest because all the work of saving us and defeating all darkness for us, and bringing us into life and light and perfect fellowship with God, is already complete and done. It was perfectly done and nothing more could be added to it. So Christ is seated. He is at rest. And He is at peace. He is at peace with us, in harmony with us, one with us in perfect friendship, and all is well between us. We are perfect to Him, and He is so satisfied with the union we have with Him, the oneness and sharing and fellowship. It is what all the work was for, for this moment of perfect and peaceful fellowship and oneness together, this moment that will last forever in endless joy and bliss! Christ is reigning in us and we are reigning along with Him in life, in union, in freedom, in righteousness, in joy and in peace. Sin can't touch us here, death can't touch us here, for all is life and light here in the Son's kingdom of love. Heaven is in us, eternal life is in us, the victorious God-Man is in us. We're in the heavenly places of blessing and bliss with Him right inside our souls. And all is well!

"Death once held us in its grip, and by the blunder of one man, death reigned as king over humanity. But now, how much more are we held in the grip of grace and continue reigning as kings in life, enjoying our regal freedom through the gift of perfect righteousness in the one and only Jesus, the Messiah!"

Romans 5:17 (TPT)

"Now God has us where He wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus."

Ephesians 2:7 (MSG)

A Prayer: Thank You for reigning in me and causing me to reign with You in life and peace and fellowship with You.

An Endless World

"And then our Lord opened my spiritual eye and shewed me my soul in midst of my heart. I saw the Soul so large as it were an endless world, and as it were a blissful kingdom."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 67)

Can we really imagine how wonderfully our God has made us as humans? We seem so little, so unimportant and miniscule in the grand scheme of things, yet we are made just a little lower than angels, made in God's glorious image, and crowned with glory and honor. We are so intricately and wonderfully made by God, and there is a marvelous beauty and endless wonders inside of us. Our soul is like an endless world that Christ loves to dwell in. It is a blissful kingdom where He loves to make His home and reign. We are beautiful, wonderful, fascinating creatures, and we can give ourselves and others the dignity we all deserve as such wondrous creations in God's image and likeness. We can honor the infinite beauty in each person and the marvelous wonders of their being. Humanity is so lovely and special and is like an endless and wonderful world to love and explore, and God loves living in us. For we are truly His dwelling, His magnificent and splendid temple, holy and beautiful in His sight!

I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex! Everything you do is marvelously breathtaking. It simply amazes me to think about it! How thoroughly you know me, Lord!

Psalm 139:14 (TPT)

A Prayer: I honor myself and each other person as wonderfully intricate and amazing beings where God dwells.

Our Friend's Victory

"It is His will that we perceive that all the might of our Enemy is taken into our Friend's hand."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 65)

Christ has already defeated all evil or negativity that could come against us. He has already emerged victorious over all that, through His perfect obedience, passion and resurrection. Christ is reigning in heaven, seated because He has finished the work. He holds all the power of evil in His hand and makes it nothing. And so we are safe evermore. Evil cannot have us. Evil cannot defeat us. Evil cannot ultimately harm or destroy us. Evil has no say in our lives, because in our lives Christ is Lord, reigning and ruling over it all. So we don't have to be afraid of whatever comes against us, whether evil, or deception, or trouble, or temptation, or doubt, or fear, or anxiety, or sickness, or calamity. For none of that can ultimately defeat us, and all of that is already defeated in Christ. We are in Christ, so we have already defeated all that in Him. Negative things can seem so strong and powerful, but they have no power at all before the infinite power and might of our wonderful Friend Christ, who has an indestructible life that no negativity, no evil, and not even death can touch! He is already past all that, in the winner's circle already, wearing the victor's crown in heavenly glory. And we are there, too. We are ruling and reigning with Him from heaven. We are not looking up at the problems trying to crush us; we are looking down from heaven at them, for we are already over them and above them and past them. We are in the victorious One and we are victors as well. We don't focus on negativity or evil, we focus on love and light, the love and light that have already come and dispelled all evil and darkness. The victory is already complete and Christ will manifest that victory, that overwhelming light and love!

"Light is not threatened by darkness."

1 John 1:5 (MIRROR)

"You are full of light in the Lord. So live like children who belong to the light." 

Ephesians 5:8 (NCV)

"In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

Romans 8:37 (ESV)

A Prayer: Thank You for being in authority over any problem or negativity that could come my way. Thank You that Your light and love have already dispelled all the darkness for me!

Just for Me

"It is God's will that I see myself as much bound to Him in love as if He had done for me all that He hath done; and thus should every soul think inwardly of its Lover. That is to say, the Charity of God maketh in us such a unity that, when it is truly seen, no man can part himself from other."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 65)

We are all one in the love of God. Noone is above another, noone is inferior to another. Noone is closer to God or farther from God than another. Noone has more of God or less of God than another. Noone is more loved or less loved than another. We are all one in Christ and each one is equal to all. This means that we cannot say, "Oh Christ loves and helps others, but not me." We are all the same, all equally loved and helped, all one to Christ and in Christ. So we can realize that all that Christ has done, all His love and salvation, all His blessings and care,  are for each one of us just as much as for another. We can say, "Christ died just for me. Christ brought salvation just for me. Christ rose just for me. Christ has love just for me. Christ gives blessing just for me. Christ overcame all evil just for me. Christ reigns in life just for me." He did it for all, and since we are all one and each is equal to all, then He did it just for each one of us! If one person was the only one needing salvation, Christ would do all that He has done just for that one person.

"You are all one in Christ Jesus."

Galatians 3:28 (NIV)

A Prayer: Thank You that I am just as loved and helped by You as any other person!