Prayer is All Grace

"For everything that our good Lord maketh us to beseech, Himself hath ordained it to us from without beginning. Here may we see that our beseeching is not cause of God’s goodness."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 41)

It is so reassuring to see that all of prayer is really a work of grace. Grace is God giving gifts freely out of the goodness of His heart and without us having to do anything to get those things. Grace is when it is all up to God and not all up to us. So many times prayer can seem to be all up to us. We feel we must labor and pray harder, be desperate, have strong emotions in order to 'get God to move.' We long to see a move of God, a revival, an outpouring, and we feel it's up to us to 'get' God to do it. It is exhausting and it never seems like we do enough or are surrendered or dedicated enough. But prayer is simply a gift of God's grace. We are not having to 'move God' to be good to us by our perfect prayer. God is already good to us! And God has planned from all eternity and is now moving us to pray for the very things He has already set about to do. We pray and He answers, and yet when we look back, we see Him in the whole process. We realize He was the One who inspired us to pray, the One who gave us the words to pray, the One who prayed through us, the One who moved in so many ways. His hand was on us the whole time. Prayer, just like everything in our lives, really turns out to be a work of God in us. So nothing is really up to us. We seek, we pray, we ask, we receive, but it is really all God. He is behind us and before us. He is in every part of our lives making sure everything turns out right. All is grace. God truly does it all!

"You have surrounded me on every side, behind me and before me, and You have placed Your hand gently on my shoulder."

Psalm 139:4 (VOICE)

A Prayer: All my life is a story of Your grace.

Impossible Not to Have Mercy and Grace

"For it is most impossible that we should beseech mercy and grace, and not have it."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 41)

Whenever we ask God for mercy, for grace, we receive what we asked for. It's certain and sure. That is because it is always God's will to give us mercy and grace. He always wants to help us, to shower us with love, to show us compassion, to freely give to us. So there is no way that we could ask for help, for compassion, for tenderness, for love and care, for acceptance, and not receive those things. In fact, God is always pouring out mercy and grace on our lives. He is giving us compassion and unconditional love and help always, and even before we ask, for it is through His mercy and grace that we are even moved to pray for mercy and grace! And beyond that, even if we don't pray or forget to pray, His mercy and grace are still with us, working for our help. For that is just who He is. He is the God of all comfort, the God of all grace, the God of tender mercy, the God of compassion. So we can know for sure that grace and mercy are already with us to help us in our time of need. We can be sure we are gently enfolded in His arms of love and care right now, that His mercy and grace are here right now. Before time began, He had already planned to give us all we need in this very moment. It's just not possible to be outside of His mercy and grace. What rest there is in knowing this!

"But the Lord wants to have mercy on you. So he will rise up to give you his tender love." 

Isaiah 30:18 (NIRV)

A Prayer: Thank You that You are already pouring Your grace and mercy on me before I even ask for help!

The Ground of Our Beseeching

"I am Ground of thy beseeching: first it is my will that thou have it; and after, I make thee to will it; and after, I make thee to beseech it and thou beseechest it. How should it then be that thou shouldst not have thy beseeching?"

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 41)

Our prayer, or beseeching, is something we can feel anxious about. We may worry that our prayer isn't 'good enough' or that we don't have enough faith and trust to 'get' an answer. We may feel barren or dry or have no feeling at all. So God wants to reassure us that prayer isn't 'up to us.' God Himself is the ground or source of our prayer, for He draws us inwardly to incline to pray for something, and He draws us to pray. And after that, He answers the prayer. So He is over the whole process of prayer, from desire to prayer to answer. If God gives us the desire to pray for something and moves us to pray for it, then obviously He will give that very thing in answer! He has set it all up so that we don't have to truly originate or be ultimately responsible for anything in our prayer. He must love to have us participate in His work that He is doing. He must love to have us see the needs and talk to Him about them and then see how He meets those needs. What a loving and kind Dad He is, bringing His children along to be a part of His work so we can feel involved and part of things, when all along the responsibility is His, the work is His, the results are up to Him to accomplish and 'make happen.' So we don't have to worry that we don't 'feel' spiritual enough or have enough faith or say the right words. The important thing is that God is doing the work and He has brought us along with Him. He is spiritual enough, strong enough, does and says all the right things. He is accomplishing His beautiful will of love, peace and joy. And we get to be there to see it! And since God is the very ground of prayer as well as its fulfillment, the prayer is really already answered even before we pray! Prayer is truly a work of grace, not self-effort. This takes all the pressure off of us and puts all the praise on our heavenly Dad!

"I will provide for their needs before they ask."

Isaiah 65:24 (NCV)

A Prayer: You are the reason I want to pray.

Always Kept Securely

"And this word that He said is an endless comfort: I keep thee securely."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 40)

It is such a relief and comfort that He keeps us. This life is not "all up to us." We do not have to keep ourselves sinless. We do not have to keep ourselves faithful. We do not have to keep ourselves strong. We do not have to keep ourselves saved.  We do not have to keep ourselves at all. Instead, Someone so much bigger, stronger, more faithful, more perfect has the care of us. We are His responsibility. He has taken up our case. We don't go through anything alone and we don't have to struggle. He is taking care of us, no matter what is happening, no matter how we think, feel or believe. He is keeping us safe. Right now, no matter what the circumstances,  no matter how we failed yesterday or will fail tomorrow, no matter what trials come our way, He is keeping us safe. We cannot fall. We cannot fail. We cannot sink into nothingness or be lost from His grip. Everything will work out. Everything will be okay. We are safe, we are protected, we are sheltered, we are upheld. Right now and for always, He is keeping us. And we are absolutely, eternally secure.

"God's looking after me, keeping me safe in the kingdom of heaven. All praise to him, praise forever!"

2 Timothy 4:18 (MSG)

A Prayer: Remind me how safe I am with You.

Return Good for Evil

"He taught us to do good against ill: here may we see that He is Himself this charity, and doeth to us as He teacheth us to do. For He willeth that we be like Him in wholeness of endless love to ourself and to our even-Christians: no more than His love is broken to us for our sin, no more willeth He that our love be broken to ourself and to our even-Christians."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 40)

He asks us to return good for evil because that is what He does. He is not blame and retaliation (law) but love and blessing (grace). His love keeps on flowing whether we do good things or do bad things. It just keeps on coming to us. It never changes. He looks not at our mistakes but at the beautiful and valuable child of God that we are. When we see how He loves and values us in all our messes, and that those messes make no difference in Hi loving us, we relax. We are cared for, known and understood. We are cherished, valued and blessed. And we are freed to love ourselves and others in the same way, because His love is flowing through us to all. There is beauty and value in every person we meet, including the one we meet in the mirror. We can gives ourselves and others grace because He always does! In every mistake we make, He is doing us good, loving on us, reminding us how beautiful we are!

"Never retaliate; instead, cultivate the attitude to anticipate only beauty and value in every person you encounter."

Romans 12:17 (MIRROR)

A Prayer: Thank You for seeing beauty in me even when I can't see it!

Fullness of Joy

"He longs to bring us to the fullness of joy."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 40)

Christ longs to bring us to complete and utter joy, and His will is that we be absolutely the happiest we could possibly be. His kingdom is all about joy and bliss, because He that is pure joy and bliss is reigning over all. And we are in His kingdom already. It is already here, right now, right in the midst of our earthly lives. And there's one great thing about Him that can make us so truly happy - with Him our sin is never mentioned, because it is truly gone! He has no negative messages or rebukes for us. We are just endlessly celebrated as pure, wonderful children of the King! We are in the domain of joy, overcoming, laughter, and bliss. We are in the presence of Pure Happiness Himself, where there are hugs and kisses, smiles and happily ever after. Here we are all kids, running and playing so freely and lightly, without a care in the world. He is contagious joy. His merry look of love, the laughter in His voice, the lightness in His step is so contagious that it makes us relax and feel light, too. We can be sure that there is joy and more joy coming. His will is for us to be a happy as possible and He will bring that to pass!

"Joy is your constant! Your union with the Lord is your permanent source of delight."

Philippians 4:4 (MIRROR)

A Prayer: You make my heart feel light again!

I Have Ever Been With Thee

"Then sheweth our courteous Lord Himself to the soul—well-merrily and with glad cheer—with friendly welcoming as if it had been in pain and in prison, saying sweetly thus: My darling I am glad thou art come to me: in all thy woe I have ever been with thee; and now seest thou my loving and we be oned in bliss."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 40)

Julian describes  how a person can feel after some failure or sin, that we may be afraid God is angry with us and may try to feel very sorry, pray, or do some good work or even punish ourselves to try and 'make up' for our sin, clean ourselves up, and 'slacken the wrath of God.' We are looking for an ease of conscience that lets us rest, feeling that all is right between us and God again. This is the common situation so many times in our lives. And yet, Julian says that after all that worry, fear of wrath, and going through different rituals or works to try to 'get right with God' or 'in grace' again, God's response is to show Himself to us very happily and with a smiling face, letting us know that He has never left us, that no sin of ours could drive Him away, and we have always been 'ok' with Him. He wants us to see that we are always one with Him and always right with Him, and no sin ever changes that bond we share. God knows, though, that we have hesitation after we have failed or 'missed the mark' and that we can feel guilty, ashamed, or worried about approaching God because of fear that He is angry or disappointed. And He understands! 

That is why He sent His Son to become flesh and blood and show us visibly what He is like, kind and gentle and forgiving, not harsh or wrathful. Christ took all our sins on the cross and they are absolutely gone, along with all the shame, guilt and condemnation that can come along with sin. He even put in us His own righteousness and right relationship with the Father. He did that so that we would feel totally okay with God, with a clean conscience, and feel free to approach God with no fear at all. No rituals or works are necessary to get back to Him or get back His favor because we never lost those things! He keeps us one with Him no matter what. He wants to put our minds at rest. We are His dear darlings, and He only wants us to see, know and enjoy Him and the love relationship we share with Him. He simply wants us to relax and let Him love us!

"Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will purify our consciences from useless rituals, so that we may serve the living God."

Hebrews 9:14 (GNT)

A Prayer: Thank You for all You did to make me feel clean and safe with You!

Our Friend

"This is a sovereign friendship of our courteous Lord that He keepeth us so tenderly while we be in sin.."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 40)

He is always our friend. He is a true friend, not a fairweather friend. He is our friend when we are thinking spiritual thoughts, loving people and focusing on Him, and He is our friend when we are ignoring spiritual thoughts, bitter against people, and not thinking of Him. He is always, always, always our friend, whether we act friendly or don't act friendly. When we go down the wrong pathways and get into dark places, He is right there with us, protecting us, helping us, holding us, shielding us. Whether we know or acknowledge it or not, He is our friend! What a wonderful friendship this is, sovereign over anything else in our lives, reigning always over our every mood, behavior or situation. We are loved, cared for and kept so tenderly by our most tender friend of all, the beloved Jesus Christ!

"I call you my friends."

John 15:15 (EASY)

A Prayer: Thank You for being my true friend!

Peace and Love Are Working In Us

"Peace and love are ever in us, being and working; but we be not alway in peace and in love. But He willeth that we take heed thus that He is Ground of all our whole life in love; and furthermore that He is our everlasting Keeper and mightily defendeth us against our enemies."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 39)

At various times we can have negative thoughts or emotions swirling inside of us. At times we can feel self-condemnation or self-hatred, or we can feel fearful, anxious, or hopeless. Yet our beautiful God is always in us and His peace and love are always inside us, whether we feel peaceful or loving or not. He is always working from the inside to bring us to experience His peace and love. He is the One at the center  who is always radiating love and calmness, no matter what our surface thoughts or emotions may be, and He not only works to bring us to see His love for us, but He also protects us against despair and continually keeps us in His love. Negative thoughts and emotions do not have the final say and do not represent true reality. God has the final say and He represents true reality. And He says that we are His beautiful children, accepted, innocent, beloved, and held. It is His word of grace, love and peace to our souls that calms down and dissipates all the negative voices because He loves those voices to peace in His arms!

"When I was upset and beside myself, you calmed me down and cheered me up."

Psalm 94:19 (MSG)

A  Prayer: Thank You for Your peace and love reigning over my life right now!

Nothing Hinders His Love

"But our courteous Lord willeth not that His servants despair, for often nor for grievous falling: for our falling hindereth not Him to love us."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 39)

We are never a disappointment to God. We try so hard to be better, improve, stop sinning, and be more loving or spiritual or strong. And we tend to feel despair when we fail over and over, or fail in big ways. We wonder if we'll ever be the great person or great Christian we feel we are expected to be. But God knows that humans aren't perfect. He knows we won't ever 'get it completely right' or be perfect in every way. He has no performance expectations of us. So He is never disappointed in us. We may be a disappointment to others or even to ourselves, but we are never a disappointment to God. God isn't all about performance. He is all about love.  And His love keeps on loving constantly. It isn't hindered or affected by our performance at all. He shows us we are under the acceptance of grace and not the judgment of law. So we can fail miserably and He will keep right on loving us. Our mistakes don't make any difference at all. They don't change a thing. He just keeps on loving, accepting, and embracing us with the same infinite fervor that He always has for us. And when we see that with God, failure changes nothing in our relationship, we can relax. We can start breathing more easily. We can feel our despair turn into happiness. We can start living freely and lightly. Why? Because nothing will take us away from God, nothing we do, think, feel or believe. Nothing! We are eternally secure in His arms. 

"I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love." 

Romans 8:31 (NLT)

A Prayer: Thank You that I cannot mess up my relationship with You. Thank You for loving me no matter what!

Sin as Suffering and Sorrow

"For He [be]holdeth sin as sorrow and pain to His lovers, to whom He assigneth no blame, for love. The meed (praise, recompense) that we shall receive shall not be little, but it shall be high, glorious, and worshipful. And so shall shame be turned to worship and more joy."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 39)

God would never even allow a person to suffer through sin if He weren't going to reward that person later. God sees sin as suffering and anguish for a person. He hurts for all that we go through in the fallout from sin, even if it is our own fault that we sinned. He doesn't see us as evil reprobates; He just sees His hurting children and wants to make it up to us for all we have suffered from sin in this broken world! He wants to give a recompense to us for all that we have gone through suffering from sin. In heaven all that sin and all the wounds and pain we suffered from sin on earth are rewarded with bliss, life, honor and worship. Shame is literally turned into joy. And it is all because of the wonderful love and grace of God!

"The reward that wrong ways give is to die. But the gift which God gives is to live for ever. Christ Jesus our Lord has done this for us."

Romans 6:23 (WE)

A Prayer: Thank You for rewarding my sin not with shame, pain and death but with love, life and honor! You are truly a wonderful God of pure grace!

Not Shame But Honor

"God shewed that sin shall be no shame to man, but worship....For the soul that shall come to Heaven is precious to God, and the place so worshipful that the goodness of God suffereth never that soul to sin that shall come there without that the which sin shall be rewarded; and it is made known without end, and blissfully restored by overpassing worship."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 38)

We tend to think of sin as something awful and shameful, something that we will always regret or have scars from in our lives. Yet Julian says that our sins will not be a shame to us at all but will be turned into honor and worth in heaven. Christ has taken all our sins away at the cross and given us His own righteousness in their  place, giving us honor and worth. And this is all a free gift of grace. In heaven we will see fully how Christ changed all our sin, pain and shame into righteousness, life and bliss. And we will not be remembering our sins with shame but will be celebrating as holy saints in Christ. But that exchange isn't waiting to take place in heaven; it actually already occurred. At the cross God reconciled us to Christ, removing our sin and giving us His righteousness. Right now, even in the midst of struggles with sin, we can say, "There is no sin or shame on me, no guilt or punishment on me, for I am the righteousness of God in Christ! I am as righteous as Christ. I am given honor in Christ and I am as clean and pure as Christ." What a wonderful thing is the grace of God!

"God had Christ, who was sinless, take our sin so that we might receive God’s approval through him."

2 Corinthians 5:21 (GW)

A Prayer: Thank You for taking away all my sins and making me righteous with Your righteousness!

Wholeness of Love

"This shewed our Lord in [shewing] the wholeness of love that we stand in, in His sight: yea, that He loveth us now as well while we are here, as He shall do while we are there afore His blessed face."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 37)

We stand before God in the 'wholeness of love.' His love for us is whole, complete, and perfect, and it sees us whole, complete, and perfect. Love always sees the best in a person. God's perfect love always sees the perfectly best in us. We are not damaged, broken, insufficient or ruined to God. We are whole, complete, and perfect. There is nothing lacking in us in His eyes. He sees us as we were when He dreamed of our creation, and He sees us as we are fully redeemed and rescued in Christ. He loves us just as much here and now, in all our messes and confusions, as He will when we stand before Him in heaven with all messes and confusions healed. Let's see ourselves as God does, because that is who we really are, whole persons who are wholly loved by God!

"Love....is ever ready to believe the best of every person."

1 Corinthians 13:7 (AMPC)

A Prayer: Thank You for seeing the best in me!

Good and Godly

"There is a Godly Will in the higher part, which will is so good that it may never will evil, but ever good. And therefore we are that which He loveth and endlessly we do that which Him pleaseth."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 37)

There is a godly will in us that is always true, always pointing toward good, always oriented toward God. It wills only good and never evil. God has made us with this intact and whole godly will inside as our sure focus, intent and desire. We can know that there is in our very makeup a godly will, a godly desire, that always wants to do right, to love God and others, to follow the good. It is like a rudder that keeps a boat on course. This godly will is in our deepest, most inner, highest part, where the Spirit of Christ is, always propelling us onward like a wind in our sail. 

Maximus the Confessor spoke of a similar thing when he wrote of the logoi or divine intent of God that was put in every being by the Logos or Word of God, Christ. The logoi were all intrinsically connected to the Logos from which they came. The logoi represented God's will or intent for the created being, its purpose and the end that God had for it, namely Himself. We were meant to know God, trust God, love God, and be with God forever. The godly will inside is like a beacon God put within us always lighting the path onward to that end, always fixed on that goal and fulfilling that goal. In the deepest sense, the logoi is Christ in us all. Thus, the deepest part of us is not evil or rebellious; the deepest part of us is one with God and therefore always loves God, always pleases God and is always aligned with God. What a relief to know that our core is fixed and unmovable, focused on good and on God!

"Deep down I am in happy agreement with God’s law."

Romans 7:22 (VOICE)

A Prayer: In my inner self, I love and trust You and only want to do good and be kind!

Godly Will

"For in every soul that shall be saved is a Godly Will that never assented to sin, nor ever shall."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 37)

We were made in the image of God, and perhaps one way to look at this fact is to think of God's image in us as a godly will that always wants to love, not sin. No matter what mistakes or failures we may have in our lives, there is still the image of God within, always willing good, always choosing love. People have been created in the image of God who is love, so we naturally know that love is the way to act and we naturally want to act lovingly. We don't always succeed. We have gotten caught in many of the traps of sin and delusion. Yet still, the godly will remains, always willing to love, flowing steadily like an undercurrent in our hearts, no matter what turbulence we find on the surface. We are in the image of our Father God, and our deepest will is His will, and it is to love, just as our Father loves!

"When God created the human race, he made it godlike, with a nature akin to God. He created both male and female and blessed them, the whole human race."

Genesis 5:1-2 (MSG)

A Prayer: Thank You for the imprint of Your image on my soul that reminds me I am like You!

Kept Securely

"God brought to my mind that I should sin....And to this our Lord answered: I keep thee full surely. This word was said with more love and secureness and spiritual keeping than I can or may tell."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 37)

We don't have to be afraid. Our wonderful Father knows we are human. He knows we make mistakes, get confused and sometimes lose our way. He knows we will fail. But it doesn't matter. We don't have to worry that this failure will mean we've gone too far or gotten on God's last nerve. We don't have to wonder if we'll ever outsin His patience and be rejected or kicked out of the family. He has promised us that He keeps us securely. We don't have to keep ourselves - He is doing it, He is keeping us, He is upholding us, therefore we know we are safe. He is pure grace, and with grace, failure doesn't matter. We are upheld safely by the strength, love and assurance of Christ Himself. He has even given us His own righteousness and put us within His own relationship with the Father to protect our heart from any fear, so we would feel totally at ease and know that our behavior doesn't affect our place in the family. We can say, 'My behavior doesn't keep me close to God; Jesus keeps me close to God!' We can even see that He keeps our true identity intact within Himself, so even if we fail, we remain good at heart, pure in our depths, the very good children of God. We are kept in Him, so there is no risk of losing ourselves to sin or becoming evil. And He is keeping our relationship with Him intact, holding us in His arms in a love embrace, saying that there is no danger of being rejected, no possiblity of losing His love. Our place in the family is sure, no matter what we do, no matter how far we fall or how long we wander in sin. He wants us to relax, feel safe, and know that we are always kept secure. There is just no way to fall 'out' of this family. With God, family is forever!

 "I, your God, have a firm grip on you and I’m not letting go."

Isaiah 41:13 (MSG)

A Prayer: Thank You for Your love that won't let go of me, no matter what!

Miracles Happen

"He willeth that we be not borne over low for sorrow and tempests that fall to us: for it hath ever so been afore miracle-coming."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 36)

Sometimes life can be so hard, so grueling, so frustrating. Circumstances can wear us down with fear, sorrow, anxiety and despair. Sometimes things seem so bad that they can't get any worse, and we can feel there's no way that they could get better. But it has always been like that just before the miracle comes. We never know what wonderful thing God can do, and He is always working to bring help, support, peace, strength and hope in the dark times. And He is working miracles. The joy, the glory, the victory, the overcoming is already there, working its way into our situation. Heaven keeps breaking through on earth. And God keeps doing this without our effort, without our struggle, without our help. He will bring us through. He will bring the victory. We don't need to try, to work, to 'get' Him to do something. He already is doing something, because we are His dear children and He hurts with us, sorrows with us, and lifts us up with Him, brings us to heavenly joy with Him. He promises to bring everything to good for us. He promises to take care of us. We are His special concern, and no matter what the circumstance, we are already on top of it with Him, already in heavenly places with Him, in the place of wholeness, peace and joy. He will work His miracles and nothing can stop Him!

"Glory belongs to God, whose power is at work in us. By this power he can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine."

Ephesians 3:20 (TLB)

A Prayer: Thank You that I can always look forward to something good from You!

Still Doing Miracles

"He gave special understanding and teaching of working of miracles, as thus:—It is known that I have done miracles here afore, many and diverse, high and marvellous, worshipful and great. And so as I have done, I do now continually, and shall do in coming of time."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 36)

It's so wonderful to have a miracle-working God! Think of all the miracles Jesus did when He walked among us: He healed the sick and lame, He gave sight to the blind and caused the deaf to hear, He fed the hungry, and He even raised the dead! Most of Jesus' miracles related to our physical bodies, which shows us that He cares not just about our spiritual health but also about our mental and physical health. He did miracles then and He is still doing miracles now. He came that we might live abundantly, which includes our our bodies living abundantly just as much as our spirits and souls. He came to give us shalom peace, which includes all dimensions of our lives and is complete and whole well-being in every area. In a real sense, He has already given us that shalom peace and well-being through His finished work on the cross and resurrection, and so has already made us well and whole, and He is bringing that truth to be seen in our lives. How wonderful that He cares for and takes care of our whole person.

"I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows]."

John 10:10 (AMP)

A Prayer: Thank You for giving me peace, wholeness, and abundant life!

Dearworthy Children

"My dearworthy child: turn thee to me—I am enough to thee—and enjoy in thy Saviour and in thy salvation."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 36)

We are dear and precious children of God. Can we hear Him calling us "My dearworthy child," so dearly beloved and infinitely valuable, and saying our name with love and tenderness? He draws us to look at Him and see that He has always been looking at us with all the love in the universe. In Him is endless enjoyment, in Him is all the love and joy and peace we've ever wanted or yearned for. There is nothing left for us to do for our salvation; Christ has done it all and we are already saved, free, new, clean and holy. We have always belonged in God's family as His dearworthy children, and now the shame and delusions of sin are gone from our mind so we can truly enjoy life in this Trinity family of love. All we have to look forward to is an eternity of being loved, cherished and doted on as God's dear, beloved, precious, priceless children! It will be the most satisfying and fulfilling relationship imaginable, and it has already begun. He is hugging us and loving on us right this very moment! It's His favorite thing! He is all love and it's the infinite and perfect love that we were created to know, the love that truly fulfills us in every way and meets every need we have to be known, cared for and adored. He, Infinite Love Himself, is enough for us. He truly satisfies. He is everything we have hoped a God would be, everything we have hoped unconditional love would be! 

"To me, you are very dear, and I love you."

Isaiah 43:4 (CEV)

A Prayer: I love being Your dearworthy child! Thank You for Your love, Your presence, for all You've done to help and save me so I could enjoy a family relationship with You!

Enjoy God

"For my love, enjoy [thou] in me: for of all things, therewith mightest thou please me most."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 36)

Sometimes we ask, what does God most want of us? How can we please God? What is it that would please Him most? What touches our dear Lord's heart the most is when we simply enjoy Him! Just like a father wants the child to be able to totally relax in his presence, settle down in his arms and just rest and be at ease with him, so our God wants the same. He wants us to feel comfortable with Him, to feel relaxed and easy, to just be at ease in His presence so He can simply love on us and we can simply enjoy Him. He loves hanging out with us. He loves living our life with us. He asks nothing of us but just to let Him love us, let His give us joy, let Him put a smile on our face. Every father loves to see his child happy and carefree, and our God loves it when we are happy, carefree and full of joy. He loves to make us laugh with joy and He loves to hear us laugh and He loves to join in and laugh with us! It's always joyful and refreshing in His presence. What a happy God we have who loves to see us happy and loves to make us happy. Let's enjoy our happy God today because all He wants is to bring us joy, and the joy He brings is total, indescribable, unshakable joy!

"Delight yourselves in God, yes, find your joy in him at all times."

Philippians 4:4 (PHILLIPS)

"You will make me full of gladness with your presence."

Acts 2:28 (ESV)

A Prayer: Thank You for being happy with me; I am happy with You!

God Will Do It

"It shall be worshipful and marvellous and plenteous, and God Himself shall do it; and this shall be the highest joy that may be, to behold the deed that God Himself shall do, and man shall do right nought but sin." 

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 36)

Grace has the most wonderful sound to our ears, like a melody so beautiful it almost makes you cry with joy. Grace is simply God being good to us without asking anything of us at all; in other words, it is love freely given. It's such a blessed relief and joy to know that God is taking care of things, God Himself is doing something good, something so beautiful and marvelous and generous it almost makes us cry with joy. Everything is going to work out because God is at the helm steering the ship. So we can rest and even go to sleep in the boat. It is not all up to us to get the boat safely to the destination. Our Captain is taking care of things, and this boat is going home even if we sailors makes mistakes, fail or feel lost at times. In fact, even if we fail completely, what matters is that God succeed, and He surely will. The outcome was never in our hands; it was always safely in God's hands, and thus, it is done, it is sure, it is certain, it is inevitable. Noone, not even our own selves, can snatch us out of His hand or get us fatally off course; He would never let us perish but will surely keep us safe with Him forever. This is a God we can rest in, a God we can feel safe with, a God we can trust, a God we can love! 

"I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand."

John 10:28 (NIV)

A Prayer: Thank You that You will love and bless us even when we fail!

Sin Won't Hinder His Goodness

"Our Lord God shewed that a deed shall be done, and Himself shall do it, and I shall do nothing but sin, and my sin shall not hinder His Goodness working. And I saw that the beholding of this is a heavenly joy.."

[Pg 73]

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 36)

Sometimes we can feel lost or 'apart from God,' seem to wander off on our own or get into downward spirals. We may feel that our failures or just our situations have gotten our life 'off track,' and made it impossible to get back 'on track' again. But none of this phases God at all. He is constantly with us, even if we fail or 'feel lost' from Him. He is doing something good in our lives that we just aren't strong or powerful enough to stop. He has promised to do His good work whether we do everything right or not, whether we think about Him all the time or not, whether we pay attention to Him in everything or not. Even if we do nothing but sin, God will complete His good purposes in and for us. It's really always been up to Him, so we can relax and feel the pressure to 'make everything come out right' be lifted off our shoulders; He is ultimately responsible for us, and He will make sure we get to the good place we are meant to end up! Our lives can be a total washout and yet we are still victorious in and through Christ. Our actions can be epic fails and yet He continues to bring us through in His success. He keeps on holding us up in His life, keeps on being good to us no matter what. And He promises to bring absolute good and victory out of our lives! It was never up to us; it was always up to God. That's what Grace is all about!

"God began a good work in you. And I am sure that he will carry it on until it is completed."

Philippians 1:6

A Prayer: Thank You that my failures never stop Your goodness in my life!

Never Truly Lost

"And Mercy is a working that cometh of the goodness of God, and it shall last in working all along, as sin is suffered to pursue rightful souls. And when sin hath no longer leave to pursue, then shall the working of mercy cease, and then shall all be brought to rightfulness and therein stand without end.  And by His sufferance we fall; and in His blissful Love with His Might and His Wisdom we are kept; and by mercy and grace we are raised to manifold more joys."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 35)

We are always in His keeping, safe and sound. Yes, we can get into messes, confusion, and trouble here on Earth, and God allows our wayward thoughts and acts within the merciful boundaries of His love. But He is always holding onto us. And at a certain point, He draws us right back to His arms. We can't get away from this amazing love that just won't let us go. He brings us back to seeing His love, seeing our belovedness, and the 'things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.'  This is our Father's wonderful work with humanity. Sin is only allowed to pursue us for a little while, and all the while that we have 'fallen' into the sin trap our Father is keeping us, holding us, never letting us be truly lost. Then sin is no longer allowed to pursue us and we are raised again to our true nature of rightfulness, in unity with ourselves and God, and more joy than we could imagine, forever!

"For God has given them all up to sin so that He could have mercy upon all alike."

Romans 11:32 (TLB)

A Prayer: Thank You for always coming after us when we fall down, wander away  or get lost. It's good to know we cannot really be lost from You!

Made Right, Kept Right

"All the souls that shall be saved in Heaven without end be made rightful in the sight of God, and by His own goodness: in which rightfulness we are endlessly kept, and marvellously, above all creatures."

Julian of Norwich (ch. 35)

We have been created and made in true rightfulness by God. That is our original design. Humanity was created totally innocent, pure and right in God's sight. He created us out of Himself, out of His own goodness and in His own image of righteousness. Our true nature is like God's - it is good, beautiful and right. Since the introduction of sin, things have gone wrong in so many ways in our lives as humans. Yet God has preserved our true identity and rightfulness, keeping it perfectly pure and right before Him always in Christ the source of our nature. It's like our true nature and identity has been hidden in Christ all along, and revealed and rescued through Christ when He took on flesh. Because of His keeping, there has always something deep down inside us  that has been good, wanting to do right, seeking God, and wanting to love. Deep within, we are good. Deep within, we are tended to and kept by God and never forsaken or abandoned. In what seems to be the hardest, coldest heart there is still something that is innocent, lovely and attuned to God. The spark of His Spirit, of His image, still shines in every person, no matter how faintly. Christ has come to free that inner true God-given and God-like identity that He has kept safe in us to shine forth, for our core identity is really Christ in us, just waiting to come forth.  We are truly kept and held by a Life so much greater and stronger than our own. And we always will be.

"I'm feeling so fit, so safe: made right, kept right."

Psalm 7:10 (MSG)

A Prayer: Thank You for preserving me righteous in Your sight!

A Good Future

"And right as He ordained unto the best, right so He worketh continually, and leadeth it to the same end; and He is ever full-pleased with Himself and with all His works. And the beholding of this blissful accord is full sweet to the soul that seeth by grace."

[Pg 72]

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 35)

We may think our life isn't going anywhere, or that so many things have gone wrong that it cannot have a good outcome. Tragedy, trauma, difficulty and hurt can wear us down and make us feel hopeless. But God has beautiful plans for every single one of our lives. He has ordained everything to work out to the very best end for us. And what He planned in advance He is working on right now and will surely bring about. He will give us the good, beautiful future that we hope and long for. It will be a future filled with peace, well-being, abundance, and happiness. When we see this, see the grace He has for our lives, working out the end from the beginning, working to bring good to us, simply giving us gifts freely by grace, bringing it all to a beautiful fulfillment, we are able to relax and rest. The future is not hopeless or in doubt. The future is in God's hands and He will bring wonderful things to pass for our ultimate future.

"I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for."

Jeremiah 29:11 (GNT)

A Thought: I can't wait to see the wonderful plans You have for me unfold in my future!

Rightfulness

"Rightfulness is that thing that is so good that [it] may not be better than it is. For God Himself is very Rightfulness, and all His works are done rightfully as they are ordained from without beginning by His high Might, His high Wisdom, His high Goodness."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 35)

God is the absolute fullness of goodness and righteousness. There is noone as sweet, kind, loving and good as He. He is the epitome and zenith of all those attributes. God and His ways are so good they just can't be any better.  He is full of being good and right, a goodness and rightfulness that is always radiating out like the rays of the sun to saturate this whole creation. And so we can trust that everything He does is right, beautiful and good. If something bad is happening, God isn't doing it. Instead He is doing good in spite of and even in the midst of whatever bad comes to us, even if it is by our own doing. We can be sure in any situation that God is up to something good, that God is always doing good. He is sending love, healing, beauty and joy our way in the midst of whatever circumstance we go through, ultimately transforming difficult times into times when we see the love and goodness of God even more. He has planned to do good to us from before time began, and neither we nor any situation we face is big enough to stop Him. Whatever we face, God is greater. His goodness is greater. Isn't He so wonderful?

"Everything God does is right - the trademark on all his works is love."

Psalm 145:17 (MSG)

A Prayer: You are a God beyond all my wildest dreams..I can't even imagine a better, kinder, more loving God than You!

Always Doing Good Even When We Fail

"All that our Lord doeth is rightful, and that which He suffereth is worshipful: and in these two is comprehended good and ill: for all that is good our Lord doeth, and that which is evil our Lord suffereth. I say not that any evil is worshipful, but I say the sufferance of our Lord God is worshipful: whereby His Goodness shall be known, without end, in His marvellous meekness and mildness, by the working of mercy and grace."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 35)

It is wonderful to know that God only does right, He only does good. God never does evil. Instead, He simply tolerates it temporarily, knowing that He will bring good from it and transform every evil into good somehow. So if we are doing evil acts, God is not hating or rejecting or punishing us but instead having compassion on us, doing good to us, bringing good forth and working to transform even our mistakes and evil acts into good. So even our mistakes somehow propel us forward by the working of mercy and grace. No failure is fatal or final. God just keeps giving and doing good, blessing us when we do right and blessing us when we fail. God just keeps on being God, being love, being good. Everything, even our failures, He somehow turns into the very best scenario, working things out to our advantage! Good will win out in the end and God's goodness will be known in every situation by every person! The only response is simply worship, knowing God is so good to us!

"Meanwhile we know that the love of God causes everything to mutually contribute to our advantage."

Romans 8:28 (MB)

A Prayer: Thank You for Your grace that blesses me and brings good even out of my worst failures!

All Things to the Same End

"All shall be well. For the fulness of joy is to behold God in all: for by the same blessed Might, Wisdom, and Love, that He made all-thing, to the same end our good Lord leadeth it continually, and thereto Himself shall bring it; and when it is time we shall see it."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 35)

Everything and everyone will find fulfillment and perfection in Christ. This is how it was always planned to be from before the foundation of the world. God always planned to become human and always planned to take humanity up into the divine Godhead. All of creation is waiting for the revelation of the sons of man as sons of God! For when the effects of Christ's work are fully revealed in each person and each person has found complete and forever 'being well' in Christ, then all of creation will rise in praise to God and be filled with His glory so that God will be all in all. All of history, all of the created order, all of God's plan is leading up to this crescendo moment when all will within the divine heart of the Trinity and experience fully the joy of the Trinity family! God will bring all people, things and events to the same glorious end by His all-Loving, all-Mighty, all-Wise plan. We can even now look around us and see the work of Christ already complete in each person, seeing each person as clean, new, free and beautiful in Christ, seeing God in all people and all things, seeing that God is working in every moment to manifest His beauty, experiencing Christ's 'being well' within us even now, and looking forward to the day when all that is now invisible will be fully visible, and heaven will saturate earth, and all will be well. Everything and everyone is going to the same wonderful goal and happy ending, what a wonderful thing to know!

"I’ll see to it that everything works out for the best."

Isaiah 54: 17 (MSG)

"For God had allowed us to know the secret of his plan, and it is this: he purposes in his sovereign will that all human history shall be consummated in Christ, that everything that exists in Heaven or earth shall find its perfection and fulfilment in him."

Ephesians 1:9-10 (PHILLIPS)

A Prayer: Thank You that even right now, in Christ all is well for me and everyone, and that one day it will be fully manifest and all will be eternally well for all in the best possible way!

Showing His Goodness

"God Almighty had shewed so plenteously and joyfully of His Goodness."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 35)

God shows Himself to us. And when we see God as He is, we see how good, loving and kind He is, more than we ever imagined. He is always wanting to show us His goodness and always wanting to lavish good on us. And He shows us His infinite goodness with joy because it makes Him happy to be good to us. He has always longed to pour out His goodness and love on us. He pours it out plentifully and generously, holding nothing back. He will be as good as possible to us! And the ultimate way He will show how good He is and bring His goodness to us is to make all things well!

"Give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!"

Psalm 107:8 (NKJV)

A Prayer: Thank You for always being so good to me!

All Is Well, All Shall Be Well

"When I saw that God doeth all that is done, I saw no sin: and then I saw that all is well. But when God shewed me for sin, then said He: All shall be well."

Julian of Norwich (Ch. 34)

God's glory or presence is everywhere and in, around, and encompassing everyone. He is in every situation and circumstance doing good. He is doing all that needs to be done. Right now He is working good and love and kindness in this earth and in people's hearts. So all is well. But people don't always know this. We can lose sight of God's presence within us and His love and goodness towards us. We can lose sight of the fact that we are His created offspring and made in His image, and therefore good and one with God in our core being. Losing sight of these truths is the most basic definition of sin: to believe a lie about God and yourself and others. We see these delusions as real sometimes. But God doesn't see delusions or lies. God only sees and lives in reality, in what's actually true - that He is love and that He is one with us, His lovely and beloved children. Christ came to make this truth known and to remove the lies that have been like blinders over our eyes, so we can see what God is really like in Christ Himself, and see what a true human is like in His incarnation as a man. God's Spirit is continually working, loving, speaking, wooing, bubbling up inside us to keep on showing us the truth. One day all people will finally be aware of the presence and glory of our God of love in and with us. One day all will know Him, from the youngest to the oldest, the littlest to the greatest. And the whole earth will be filled with the knowledge and awareness that God is with us, God loves us, and we are His beloved children! And all will be well!

"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea."

Habakkuk 2:14 (NIV)

A Prayer: I praise You for Your love that makes all things well!