Stars in the Dark; Tenth Avenue North

Now this is good news

Written into His Story

"The Inheritance" (Message by Graham Cooke)

Trash N Treasure

God excels in turning trash into treasure 

Paul Manwaring ‏@Paul_Manwaring

He likes you too

"I don’t have to understand everything to believe. I just know that God is faithful, He is generous, He is good, He loves me, He is kind, and He really likes me. I just know that! He really, really likes me, and He likes you too! None of this whole “Well, if God knew what I was like, He wouldn’t like me” stuff. It is His desire for you, His affection for you, that worked out the cross in the first place!"

 From THE RECOVERY OF WHOLENESS by Graham Cooke

Grace

Hope

How He loves us

Busyness - frustration

We’ve got to learn to not let the busyness, the frustration, the stress get on the inside. It may be very hectic on the outside, but deep down in your Spirit, there needs to be a calmness, a rest to where you know God has you in the palm of His hand.
 Joel Osteen Ministries

I've come to these Islands

I have come to these islands
To undo heavy burdens
Set the oppressed free.
Give bread to the hungry;
I have come to these islands
To loose chains of injustice,
Reach the rejected.
Cover the naked.

Yes the light will break forth like the morning
And your healing will spring everywhere;
Then your righteousness will go before you
And when you cry - I shall here.
I have come to these islands
With no pointing finger,
But the hands of a builder,
A homelife restorer;
I have come to these islands
To rebuild ancient ruins,
Raise up the foundations,
For this generation.
Yes your light will shine out in the darkness
And the darkness become bright as day;
You will ride this earth's highest mountains
And all your work will be to my praise.
(Godfrey Birtill 98© Whitefield Music)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETKv0oxESVY

a dancing God

From the beginning, He delights in blessing you, in empowering you to live the life He created you to experience, and in giving you everything you need to fulfill the wonderful plan He designed for your life. He’s no frugal, uptight, legalistic, cosmic killjoy... Our God is a joyful God, a dancing God, even a laughing God. He delights in seeing you happily receiving His love.

by Steve McVey in his new book Beyond An Angry God

From the beginning, He delights in blessing you, in empowering you to live the life He created you to experience, and in giving you everything you need to fulfill the wonderful plan He designed for your life. He’s no frugal, uptight, legalistic, cosmic killjoy... Our God is a joyful God, a dancing God, even a laughing God. He delights in seeing you happily receiving His love. Steve McVey, Beyond Angry God - See more at: http://edsanganyado.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/book-review-beyond-any-angry-god-by.html#sthash.vhg1Yn3v.dpuf

From the beginning, He delights in blessing you, in empowering you to live the life He created you to experience, and in giving you everything you need to fulfill the wonderful plan He designed for your life. He’s no frugal, uptight, legalistic, cosmic killjoy... Our God is a joyful God, a dancing God, even a laughing God. He delights in seeing you happily receiving His love. Steve McVey, Beyond Angry God - See more at: http://edsanganyado.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/book-review-beyond-any-angry-god-by.html#sthash.vhg1Yn3v.dpuf

From the beginning, He delights in blessing you, in empowering you to live the life He created you to experience, and in giving you everything you need to fulfill the wonderful plan He designed for your life. He’s no frugal, uptight, legalistic, cosmic killjoy... Our God is a joyful God, a dancing God, even a laughing God. He delights in seeing you happily receiving His love. Steve McVey, Beyond Angry God - See more at: http://edsanganyado.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/book-review-beyond-any-angry-god-by.html#sthash.rWfzL6yj.dpuf

From the beginning, He delights in blessing you, in empowering you to live the life He created you to experience, and in giving you everything you need to fulfill the wonderful plan He designed for your life. He’s no frugal, uptight, legalistic, cosmic killjoy... Our God is a joyful God, a dancing God, even a laughing God. He delights in seeing you happily receiving His love. Steve McVey, Beyond Angry God - See more at: http://edsanganyado.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/book-review-beyond-any-angry-god-by.html#sthash.rWfzL6yj.dpuf

You are now light

Christ did not only take you out of darkness, He took darkness out of you. You are now light.

Georgian Banov ‏@GeorgianBanov 

Find your life

Did you believe that I loved you? by Brennan Manning

In the 48 years since I was first ambushed by Jesus, in a little chapel in the Allegheny Mountains of Western Pennsylvania, and in literally thousands of hours of prayers, meditation, silence and solitude over those years, I am now utterly convinced that on Judgment Day the Lord Jesus is going to ask each of us one question and only one question, 

“Did you believe that I loved you? That I desired you? That I waited for you day after day? That I longed to hear the sound of your voice?”

The real believers there will answer, “Yes, Jesus, I believed in your love and I tried to shape my life as a response to it.”

But many of us who are so faithful in our ministry, in our practice, in our churchgoing, are gonna have to reply, “Well frankly, no, sir. I mean I never really believed it. I mean I heard a lot of wonderful sermons and teachings about it. In fact, I gave quite a few myself. But I always thought that was just a way of speaking, a kindly lie, some Christian’s pious pat on the back to cheer me on.”
And there’s the difference between the real believers and the nominal Christians that are found in our churches across the land. 

No one can measure like a believer the depth and the intensity of God’s love, but at the same time no one can measure like a believer the effectiveness of our gloom, pessimism, low self-esteem, self-hatred and despair that block God’s way to us. Do you see why it is so important to lay hold of this basic truth of our faith? Because you’re only going to be as big as your own concept of God.
 
Remember the famous line of the French philosopher, Blaise Pascal? “God made man in His own image, and man returned the compliment.” We often make God in our own image and he winds up to be as fussy, rude, narrow-minded, legalistic, judgmental, unforgiving, and unloving as we are.
In the past couple three years I’ve preached the Gospel… (all over the world) … and honest to God, the God of so many Christians I meet is a God who is too small for me, because he is not the God of the Word, he is not the God revealed by and in Jesus Christ who this moment comes right to your seat and says,  
  “I have a word for you. I know your whole life story. I know every skeleton in your closet. I know every moment of sin, shame, dishonesty and degraded love that has darkened your past. Right now, I know your shallow faith, your feeble prayer life, your inconsistent discipleship.
And my word is this:
I dare you to trust that I love you just as you are and not as you should be, because you’re never gonna be as you should be.”

From a sermon by Brennan Manning

"Believing is simply trusting that you will forever be in the hands of a loving God."

 - Winnie Banov

Get ready

Doug Addison  Daily Prophetic Word for July 31, 2014

Get ready for something new to happen. You are crossing into a time of all things being new.

http://dougaddison.com

I want to surprise you

I don't want to disappoint you with my absence;
I want to surprise you with my presence,
in you!
JESUS

          By Francois Du Toit

In spite of appearances to the contrary

To affirm a person is to see the good in them that they cannot see in themselves and to repeat it in spite of appearances to the contrary. 

—Brennan Manning

Changed by Love

"God's gaze is so full of mercy, favor, laughter, love, grace, compassion, revelation and wisdom. When He looks at you, He sees who you really, really are in His heart. He sees who you are now, but He also has a picture of who you're becoming, and He loves to stand in the middle place between your actual and your potential and love you into being something different."

 From A WAY IN THE WILDERNESS by Graham Cooke

Turning evil into good

"God-conscious spiritual warriors do not allow anything to take their focus off the Lord. We use bad circumstances, as well as good, to advance the Kingdom. Nothing bothers the enemy more than seeing what he meant for evil being used for good! The harder he pushes, the more ground he can lose to a warrior."

From COMING INTO ALIGNMENT by Graham Cooke

The Father's Blessing

On the Verge of a Miracle

Destiny Moment

When God puts something in your heart and deep down you know it’s a destiny moment, don’t wait for ten confirmations. Do what God is asking you to do now.

by Joel Osteen

Afflictions eclipsed by glory

Come out of Sadness

Live and Breathe

“You’ve got what it takes.”

There will always be negative voices trying to talk you out of your dreams. But God is saying, “You’ve got what it takes.”  

Joel Osteen ‏@JoelOsteen 

If you need healing

Healing stands on the firm foundation laid out by God - the stripes (the suffering and wounds) of Jesus Christ on his way to the cross. Standing in Christ on this foundation, I proclaim healing for you. Body be restored. Supernatural strength and health fill you and overflow to others. Fear leave. Faith rise up. The joy of the Lord is released in your life. 

Robert Lipsys, Australia

The One

Life

If there is any situation in your life that seems dead and hopeless, Jesus says to you, “I am the resurrection and the life” (see Jn 11:25).

 by Joseph Prince ‏@JosephPrince

Imagine Your Life Without Fear

“Can you imagine a life with no fear? 

What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats?”

― Max Lucado, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear

Who Cares?

The impossible and outrageous

"Christians are not supposed to be doing what is possible. We're supposed to be doing what is impossible and outrageous! To accomplish our calling, we must put our hand in the hand of God, learning to be completely dependent on the Holy Spirit for everything."

Graham Cooke
From THE NATURE OF GOD

Start with the answer

He doesn’t say: Why no faith? He says: Here’s the Answer. He doesn’t say: Why are you sick? He says: Here’s the Answer. He doesn’t say: Why are you poor? He says: Here’s the Answer. He doesn’t say: Why is your marriage broken? He says: Here’s the Answer. Having spent years in healing ministry, I’ve seen the whole machine become obsessed with looking for roots and causes to the problems of sickness, rather than resting in the simple reality that by His stripes we are already healed. The Gospel is always the antidote. Let’s start with the answer, not the problem. It is the higher reality to which we continually appeal, even when circumstances fly seemingly opposite.

from Cosmos Reborn : Happy Theology on the New Creation       by John Crowder