My favorite part of Cooke’s The Secret of a Powerful Inner Life comes early on, as he discusses life in the Spirit and Paul’s declaration that there is no condemnation for those in Christ. Most Christians know this, but my own experience and observation suggest that many Christians don’t really believe it; they have head knowledge–a fact and a memorized verse–but they don’t have the reality of it–belief–in their hearts. Cooke personalizes this vital truth, making it clear and believable:
God does not beat us up over missing it one day. In fact, His love bubbles over for us: “I know the struggle you’re having, but it’s a good fight. I promise, it’s a good fight you can win. Just stop condemning yourself for it. If we don’t win today, we’ll win tomorrow. Every day is a new day, by My mercy.”
The next morning we wake up, and God says, “Okay, it’s a new day. I’ve gotten rid of yesterday; let’s not carry anything forward into today. Let’s have a fresh crack at it, together. I refuse to allow you to beat yourself up over what happened yesterday.”
Meditate on this for a while: can you hear your God and Father saying this to you?
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I got up this morning ready to write more about Graham Cooke only to discover that my laptop wouldn’t boot. You likely know what that meant: a day spent reinstalling software, trying to figure out what I hadn’t backed up and therefore lost, getting everything back in order. I’m still not there yet, but I’m close. At any rate, in the midst of all this turmoil, this passage from Cooke seems appropriate:
When the soul comes under the rule of the spirit, life and peace are the result. Suddenly, we do not have to know everything–we just become wise about where to stand at any given moment. We do not know how everything will pan out, but we learn to be happy with the process of getting there. We become fixated on holding God’s hand and do not worry about the trouble around us.
While I can’t say I had this attitude all day, I had it at least part of the time. I didn’t get in a tizzy this morning because I knew God would work it out, and at 6 (I had been up for an hour and half at at point trying to solve the problem), the Spirit prompted me to drive to campus to get my Mac mini and bring it home. I figured I would use it to work if I had to take my laptop in for repairs. As it turned out, having the mini was a huge blessing but not as I expected: I was able to copy all my applications and other files over, saving me from a very frustrating hunt for installation CDs, serial numbers, and so forth. When I realize that I could connect my laptop to the mini and copy, I was excited: not only because it was a great solution, but more importantly, because I realized that the Holy Spirit was looking out for me even before I knew I needed the help. Or, to put it another way, He’s got my back. When you see God at work in unexpected ways, you can’t help but be filled with love and gratitude.
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