Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

By Randall Loy M.D.

Daily readings to help you hear the voice of God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jan 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9780978678395

Book preview

Special Thanks

It is with profound gratitude that I recognize the remarkable team that took a bunch of loose-leaf notes and converted them into a book:

Vernon Rainwater, for his vision, encouragement, and title;

Connie Rainwater, for her gracious content editing; Rob Andrescik,

for his publishing expertise and coaching; Melissa Bogdany, for her meticulous copyediting; DeDe Caruso for the manifold book and cover designs; and Julie Loy, for word processing and so much more.

How to Use This Book:

For Fearfully & Wonderfully Made to be as useful as possible, please consider the following approach.

I. Find a dedicated, quiet place to be alone with God, and allocate sufficient time for the Lord to make Himself known to you. But when you pray, go away by yourself . . . and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you (Matthew 6:6, NLT). God is waiting for you and desires to hear your prayers and to answer you. Place time with God at the top of your daily plan; most commonly, this would be in the early morning before the dictates of one’s schedule. This morning watch secures the Lord’s presence and allows you to walk in His Spirit throughout the day.

II. Listen to worshipful music at the outset. One to several songs of adoration will usher you into His presence.

III. Pray an introductory prayer. One example:

Dear Father in heaven,

You are the matchless and ever-loving Lord, and to You belong all blessing and honor and glory and power forever. I pray that Your Holy Spirit, the Whisperer of wisdom, would help me to know You and Your Son, the humble, gentle Savior and Intercessor, Christ Jesus.

Please forgive my every sin and turn my heart away from every evil as I place all my trust in the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus.

Dear God, may I read Your Word in the power of Your Spirit, and may I gain understanding and insight. Please teach me to love what You love and to desire only what You desire. I ask that You would help me to always do those things that are pleasing to You such that I may grow in Your grace and truth.

In the name of Jesus, amen.

IV. Read one or more days of Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

V. Read Bible passages aloud. Recommended would be reading from different literature types and books of the Bible, but please consider, as a minimum, chapters from Psalms, Proverbs, the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), and the Epistles (Paul’s letters to the churches). Note what the Scriptures are saying in context and what the Holy Spirit would apply to the church universal and to you specifically. Reading aloud allows for God’s Word to enter the heart and the mind via the eyes and the ears.

VI. Listen, and write a prayer journal. With pen in hand, wait quietly and expectantly before the Lord. Give Him time to speak to you through His Word. Andrew Murray wrote that it is only as your soul is bowed in humble reverence that your heart will be opened to receive the divine impression of the nearness of God and the working of His power. In silent worship, one can tune in to God’s broadcast frequency. Write what you sense that is in perfect keeping with Scripture, and pay especial attention to seeming coincidences, that is, themes in common in two or more Bible passages read that are germane to your life.

VII. Pray a concluding prayer. This is one’s daily, lengthier prayer with elements of worship, confession, thanksgiving, and intercession.

The above is not intended to be a set formula, but is one simple guide. The best approach to God is with the sacrifices of a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

Introduction

Sola Scriptura.

Startling everyone, Dr. Robert Evans, a lean, graying obstetrician in his late fifties, burst into the Labor and Delivery waiting room of the Mansfield, Ohio, general hospital. Clearly distressed and still in his green operating room gown and cloth scrub hat, he asked for the family of the twenty-two-year-old in the delivery room. The tanned, athletic-appearing twenty-three-year-old father and his immediately panicked parents and in-laws—all dressed in their Sunday best—quickly gathered around the physician.

Without any introductions and with pointed urgency, Evans began, I’m afraid I have bad news. Looking penetratingly through tortoise shell-framed glasses at the recent seminary graduate, he continued, As you know, your wife has had very high blood pressure and has been in labor for almost forty hours. We were able to deliver the baby’s head, but could not deliver the body, and my partner and I need to do an emergency cesarean. He turned slightly toward the young mother’s Italian parents and continued, Unfortunately, Nancy has had some seizures and has slipped into a coma, and at this point, it does not look good for her or the baby. Then, glancing back to the dazed young father and his plain, Midwestern parents, Evans continued, It’s hard to tell you this, but if either survives, it would be remarkable. After an awkward pause, he continued: Folks, I’m sorry. That’s all I have time for right now. I’ve got to get back in there.

With tears welling up behind his round, wire-framed glasses, the portly, mustachioed Italian grandfather mustered his confidence and took hold of Dr. Evans’ left arm: Go, Doctor, and know that we are praying for you. This young man, his father, and I are all three pastors, and we believe in the power of the Lord God Almighty to perform miracles. Now, you go, and we are going to pray.

All five fell to their knees, seemingly unaware of the other expectant families, and interceded with compelling fervor. They continued with their tearful, visceral petitions until interrupted thirty-five minutes later by the haggard obstetrician.

In part, your prayers may have been answered, folks. Both your wife and your son are alive.

Erupting, the family showered Evans with jubilation and gratitude.

It’s a boy! I mean HE’S A BOY! the handsome, dark-haired, boyish father suddenly realized and exclaimed, looking at his parents. The new grandparents engaged in hugs as the other waiting room onlookers were likewise smiling.

Yes. Nine pounds, fifteen ounces and twenty-one inches, but the news is bittersweet, the physician added in hushed tones. Mom continues in a profound coma and is headed to the intensive care unit, and quite frankly, the baby had a really rough delivery. He was resuscitated and is in the newborn intensive care unit. It’ll be touch and go for both of them over the next few days.

With prayerful tears still in his eyes, the young pastor and new father queried, Are they going to live? Please, Doctor. Do you think that, that . . . .

It is too early to tell about your wife, Dr. Evans interrupted. She remains unconscious and also has lost a lot of blood. The baby is probably going to live, but was without adequate oxygen for quite a while. As difficult as this is to say, he will probably be, well, he will probably be profoundly mentally retarded and could need lifelong institutional care. You are praying people, and I would encourage you to continue praying because neither one is out of the woods yet. I need to go back to the recovery room now and write some orders, but I will keep you posted on your wife’s progress, and the pediatrician will keep you up to speed on your son.

The devastated young father roused his courage, looked the august Evans squarely in the eyes, and boldly pronounced, Sir, we are people of faith, and you should know that my wife is going to live and do well, and that my son will not be mentally retarded. Thank you so much for all you’ve done.

The obstetrician nodded an acknowledgment before he disappeared behind the Staff Only door.

Indeed, mother and baby did survive. The mother spent eight days in a coma due to seizures and pregnancy-induced hypertension, and awakened, as if from a prolonged nap, without any kind of physical or mental deficit.

I was the baby.

In the years that followed, I, quite literally, grew up in church with daily services or activities, and I logged almost as many hours sleeping on a church pew as sleeping in my bed. I became the stereotypical mischievous preacher’s kid, seemingly always in trouble for some misdemeanor or another (gluing little girls to their Sunday school chairs, putting rocks beneath the parishioners’ hubcaps, pushing white-suited little boys into mud puddles on Easter, setting off firecrackers during church, . . .). To a little boy, it was sometimes a life in a fish bowl surrounded by a multitude of officious, busybody church ladies. But it was also a time when I would learn the real power of prayer, as my parents spent many hours weekly in effectual prayer. It was also a time when I witnessed bona fide, life-changing, and life-saving miracles. From my preschool days, I have believed in the power of prayer, and beginning in childhood, perhaps like the young Samuel, I would intermittently hear God’s unmistakable voice.

The Bible only is the Word of God, and Scripture alone is absolutely complete, authoritative, and always true. Sola Scriptura, one of the rallying cries of the Reformation, means the Bible is the inerrant, authoritative, God-inspired truth and that Scripture is the perfect Word of the living Lord God. There are no legitimate additions to or deletions from the canon. Sola Scriptura, then, connotes that there can be no private revelations, no extra-biblical subjectivity, and no personal experiences that are Scripture-worthy or that take precedence over the Word, itself. This work is not an effort to define or refine Scripture; it is a prayer journal that at its heart attempts to honor Scripture and to correctly handle the Word of Truth.

Fearfully & Wonderfully Made came into existence day after day, in the darkness of the early mornings, while spending time alone with God. In silence and solitude, I began by reading all portions of the Bible, including its history, poetry, wisdom literature, as well as the Gospels, Epistles, and apocalyptic writing. Then, with pen, paper, and a prayer, I continued. The prayer was some iteration of: Dear Father, please illuminate Your Word. Speak to me, Lord, in the silence of my heart, and fill me with Your Holy Spirit, that I might know You and love You more. At that point, I listened and wrote what I had sensed. The words poured out of my pen, usually, almost too fast to write, and within moments each morning, there were two pages of notes. These times were not a matter of automatic writing, but freely flowing unthought-of thoughts. They were and are still an intriguing mystery; however, at no point were there any separate or novel revelations. All these things have been known to Christ’s followers in previous generations, and nothing new has been revealed to me.

Andrew Murray wrote:

God, by His Holy Spirit, conveys to our hearts the life and the light that can make us feel at home with these thoughts dwelling in us. But we need daily, prayerful fellowship with God if we are to enter into His mind and to have His thoughts make their home in us. It is by faith that God will not only reveal the beauty and the glory of these thoughts but will actually work in us their divine reality.¹

In his devotional writing titled, The Discipline of Hearing, Oswald Chambers notes:

Sometimes God puts us through the experience and discipline of darkness to teach us to hear and obey Him. Song birds are taught to sing in the dark, and God puts us in the shadow of His hand until we learn to hear Him (Isaiah 49:2). Whatever I tell you in the dark . . .—pay attention when God puts you into darkness, and keep your mouth closed while you are there. Are you in the dark right now with your circumstances, or in your life with God? If so, then remain quiet. . . . Darkness is the time to listen. Don’t talk to other people about it; don’t read books to find out the reason for the darkness; just listen and obey. If you talk to other people, you cannot hear what God is saying. When you are in the dark, listen. . . .

After every time of darkness, we . . . should experience delight in having heard God speak, but mostly humiliation for having taken so long to hear Him! Then we will exclaim, "How slow I have been to listen and understand what God has been telling me! And yet God has been saying it for days and even weeks. But once you hear Him, He gives you . . . a softness of heart—a gift that will always cause you to listen to God now.²

This journal represents a great grace in my darkness. It came after twelve-plus years of harrowing circumstances, wave upon wave of difficulties, and battles on various fronts that led me to the end of self and to a new beginning with God. He has meticulously shaped the circumstances that have shaped me for His glory. For these years, my family and I have lived in Lamentations but found hope in the Psalms and Proverbs. The Lord has become our portion, and we have learned to wait for Him. It was never the intent that these daily notes would become a published collection; in reality, once written, they sat for a number of months in a folder in an old desk drawer. These journal entries began to see the light of day as friends and family were going through especial difficulties, and notes from this collection were sent to them without attribution to an author. A number of close friends and family members were blessed by these writings and suggested that these be a benefit to others outside our circumscribed little circle.

Importantly, also, there was and is no desire to publish this collection under my name; however, with the attending logistics of editing and publication, it is exceedingly difficult to remain under pseudonym, especially in the age of the Internet. These notes have gone essentially unedited except for to depersonalize several entries by removing references to specific people or circumstances. The only other emendation was the addition of an appropriate, supporting Scripture prior to publication.

Although my family is replete with pastors, missionaries, seminary professors, and Christian counselors, I am not among their ranks, and this tome is certainly not the work of a credentialed theologian; it is a simple journal of a layman. Very few middle and high school students probably keep actual written diaries or journals any longer; however, in years past, reading another person’s diary or journal was considered somewhat of a social taboo. The present analogue would be to have access to another person’s smartphone such that the pictures, Internet history, finances, memos, books read, games played, and so on, could be known. In a sense, I am offering my smartphone—the one I used to listen each morning and the one with the transcription of those meetings. It is my hope that these daily notes will help conform you to the likeness of Christ Jesus, and I humbly offer them to you. My earnest desire is that they will edify your trust in the Lord.

With respect to being marvelously made, the human brain is God’s magnum opus, His toccata. With the brain’s more than 180 billion cells, about one-half of which are neurons, there is nothing in the universe that approaches the brain’s incomprehensible complexity, and relative to all other mammals, we have a huge portion allocated to thinking. As elegant as the cerebral cortices of the orangutan and the chimpanzee are, they pale in comparison to the sheer hardware, software, and interconnectivity of the human. Our brain is the crown jewel of creation—God’s virtuoso composition—and it has allowed for the towering accomplishments of Moses, Solomon, Aristotle, the apostle Paul, Copernicus, Isaac Newton, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Einstein, and innumerable others. The brain is the locus of the heart, soul, mind, and strength of Scripture, and hardwired into the human brain is the hope of heaven. This hope is universal and exists from the first man to the last. These brain nuclei are, of course, the means by which God speaks to those minds and hearts that are willing to listen.

Since earliest childhood, I have marveled at the central nervous system and thought that neurosurgery would be my life calling. Throughout undergraduate years and medical school, my burning desire was to make the brain my vocation. Only at the last, just prior to residency, did I change my focus from neurosurgery to reproductive endocrinology and infertility. Although our field includes considerable neuroanatomy and neuroendocrinology, it has much more reproductive physiology and embryology. It is through this lens of embryology that I have seen the last thirty years and that I have come to appreciate the continuum of human life, from gametes to early embryo to fetus. The petri dish has been the window into the remarkable early stages of human development, but it has not been sufficiently transparent to answer some of the questions that have perplexed philosophers and theologians for many generations. Indeed, human biology (or chemistry or physics) cannot ask or answer the same questions as philosophy or theology. As Albert Einstein has suggested, however, It is important that we never stop asking questions or lose our holy curiosity.

Psalm 139 gives us insight into some of these confounding questions, not through the microscope of an embryology laboratory, but through the inspired writing of King David. He tells us that God knows everything about us and searches our thoughts and words, and there is no place that we can go to escape His watchful eye. Even if we hide in the darkness, He sees us. He sees right through the dark as if it were light. In verses 13-16 (NLT), David writes:

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

We are formed in the warm, watery blackness of the womb, cell by cell, tissue by tissue, organ by organ, as the genetic switches of fetal development are amazingly turned on and turned off with ultimate precision. God is the Designer, Creator, and sovereign Supervisor who has planned each and every moment of our seventy or maybe eighty years, and He has known each day before a single one was lived. Just as we are in darkness and yet in formation under God’s watchful eye physically, so are we spiritually. No one can control the development of his own body or soul; such growth is by God alone. Physical birth, perhaps the most dangerous journey of one’s life, involves emerging into the light; however, it is quite different with the life of the spirit. Spiritual birth also involves moving from darkness into the light; however, the formation of the heart and soul comes after being born anew. Then, after being spiritually reborn, walking with Christ is the most dangerous, exciting, and intimate adventure conceivable. The relentless pursuit of Jesus becomes a torrid love affair that fully engages the greatest capacities of both heart and mind, and conforming to Christ’s image becomes the consuming passion, indeed the raison d’être. Through His grace, we are formed into His likeness, and through His love, we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Soli Deo gloria!

¹ The Best of Andrew Murray on Prayer. August 29

² Oswald Chambers. My Utmost for His Highest, February 14

I always begin prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence—we need to listen to God because it is not what we say but what He says to us and through us that matters most.

—MOTHER TERESA

There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of continual conversation with God.

—BROTHER LAWRENCE

Lord, teach me to listen. The times are noisy and my ears are weary with the thousand raucous sounds which continuously assault them. Give me the spirit of the boy Samuel when he said, ‘Speak, [Lord], for thy servant heareth.’ Let me hear Thee speaking in my heart. Let me get used to the sound of Thy voice, that its tones may be familiar when the sounds of the earth die away and the only sound will be the music of Thy speaking voice.

—A. W. TOZER

There is a different kind of prayer: without ceasing; it is longing. Whatever you may be doing, if you long for the day of everlasting rest, do not cease praying. If you do not wish to cease praying, then do not cease your longing. Your persistent longing is your persistent voice. When love grows cold, the heart grows silent. Burning love is the outcry of the heart! If you are filled with longing all the time, you will keep crying out, and if your love perseveres, your cry will be heard without fail.

—AUGUSTINE

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

You have searched me, Lord,

and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

you, Lord, know it completely.

You hem me in behind and before,

and you lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,"

even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place,

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, God!

How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand—

when I awake, I am still with you.

If only you, God, would slay the wicked!

Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!

They speak of you with evil intent;

your adversaries misuse your name.

Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,

and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?

I have nothing but hatred for them;

I count them my enemies.

Search me, God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.

Day1

A Change of Perspective

"As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,

so will your God rejoice over you."

—Isaiah 62:5

Just because the calendar changed to a new year does not mean your world has changed substantively. The perplexing, anxiety-producing problems of yesterday have followed you into today, and after all of the revelry, you are still in the midst of the same circumstances. But before I change your perspective, I have a few comments. As you look forward (with some trepidation) to this coming year, remember My faithfulness to you last year and every year of your life. I will be with you once again in the coming days and months. I am your Peace and your Presence and your Power.

You are wholly Mine, and nothing and no one can ever take you from Me. No circumstance and no person—physical or spiritual—can remove your precious hand from Mine. You are one of My chosen ones, and you are advancing with Me to the Promised Land, a land of unimaginable abundance, a land that is multidimensional and multi-sensual, a land of unending milk and honey and with all things to a superlative, supernatural degree. Let your anxious moments drift away, and accept My way of profound peace; accept My plans for blessing and hope and a future. Accept Me, the strong Son of God.

Now from My perspective: On this day, I want to take you up above the rain and above the gray clouds to the highest heights, to the vast range of mountains before you. Look out at the sun playing on the panoramic peaks. The hues of blue, lavender, and white. The rugged, the jagged, the craggy. But you do not see the valleys. As we climb and descend during the coming days, we will spend most of our time in the valleys. But I am the God of the mountaintop as well as the God of the valley.

But here and for now, you stand in silence along with Me, and I just want to pledge My boundless love to you. I delight in you! You are My bride, and I am your glorious Groom and Guide as well as your shining Savior, and if you listen carefully, you can hear the angels and the saints just above us singing, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. Just stand here for a few more moments with Me, and look ahead to our future together. And before we descend, I want you to look behind us. Look where we have come together. Just look what we have successfully conquered together! Bask in the triumphs with Me and in Me.

So, although this gray day may not seem too different from yesterday, this should not concern you. You are to be absolutely carefree and abandoned to My peace, for all your hope lies in Me. Let Me bear your every burden. We are on the way to heaven, and you are one day closer than yesterday.

Day2

Sufficient

"But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you,

for my power is made perfect in weakness.’"

—2 Corinthians 12:9

Going into this new year, I give you My peace, not a peace that the world knows, but the transcendent peace that I have brought from the Father. Be still and know that I am the Lord, your God, and I do not change. I am with you, in front, behind, above, below, and at both sides—in every moment, in every skirmish, in every battle, and in the cosmic war itself. Do not be afraid, even of great enemies, for I, the Lord your God, will be with you. Relax, let go, and let Me have My way with your life. My peace and your fear were made for each other, and My all-sufficiency and your emptiness were designed for each other. Let go, and let Me have My way; trust Me with all that you are, all that you have, all that you hope to be.

I know your heart, and I ask that you trust Me this year so that in the days to come, I might give you your heart’s desire. The door has closed on the past, and now this is all about Me. I have promises and plans for you that you do not yet know. Go boldly, take risks, and seize what is yours by My provision and your obedience.

Be still, continue listening, and know Me by My Word and My whisperings.

Day3

Dream!

"My days have passed, my plans are shattered. Yet the desires of my

heart turn night into day; in the face of the darkness light is near."

—Job 17:11-12

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

—Psalm 37:4

The present season in your life is passing; it is fading away, and I want you to return to your dreams. It is time to dream again about what you can be and what you can do in the power of My love. From time to time, when the smoke of the battlefield has cleared and the dust has settled, you have had momentary glimpses of the vision, the desire, the passion, the dream, but you realize you are not there yet. Then, the battles rage on, and you trust that somehow you are being shaped for your heart’s desire and that in some manner the buffeting of everyday life is bringing you closer to My ideal.

You must realize that the dream is given by Me; the pursuit of it is directed by My Holy Spirit; the accomplishment of it is incremental via trust (with determination and desire) on your part. The very pursuit of My purposes for you should not be restless and certainly should not be aimless. Study the desires I have strategically placed into your heart, and learn from them. Pursue these desires perseveringly and relentlessly with profound focus. This is the adventure of a lifetime, becoming and doing that for which you were designed. You have not yet fully been or fully seen what you are to be. You must rise above the present, passionless complacency and even apathy, for there are huge opportunities ahead! Continue this dialogue with Me, and let’s continue to discuss the big dreams I have for you. As you pursue Me and obey what you hear Me telling you, I will conform you to Me, make you what you should be, and take you where you should go.

Your life and the dream are not only for the next few days or decades, but forever in My kingdom. You are in preparation, and your dreams will come. Although you will know some measure of success in this lifetime, in the countless ages to come, your dreams will be completely realized and fulfilled, and you will be functioning perfectly, according to your gifts. Your passions will meet your abilities in absolute alignment with My Spirit. Long for the joys of heaven, looking past the transient afflictions of this time. Dream big for this life, and do great exploits, but again, do not think it all ends here. This is just the season of training, of practice, of rehearsal. This life is a dim foreshadowing of what I have in store. When your goal is eternity with Me, the momentary or seasonal reversals will be far less discouraging.

Do not be slowed down, deterred, or diverted by demanding people or difficult circumstances. Neither exists without reason, and each is there to bring you to completion. Dream! Dream big! Trust in Me and in the power of My Holy Spirit. Do the things that bring Me glory. My purpose for you is that you demonstrate My love for your world.

Day4

Waiting

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

—Psalm 27:14

You are in a time of waiting. Just as you are waiting for My coming back to earth, you are waiting for the promises I have made that have not yet come to fruition. Although My Word is certain and My every promise comes true, and although you have the guarantee of My Holy Spirit, you continue to wonder if I have forgotten you. I hear each of your cries and queries of if and when I am ever going to act in your behalf. At times you have little faith or little certainty that your prayers are being received, and even less faith that I will answer your petitions and open doors of mercy and open doors of ministry for you. Currently, you are in a waiting mode, a growth mode, a preparation mode; your faith in Me is being expanded daily, and you are less and less concerned with the things of earth, the things of the senses that do not matter. Your focus is more and more upon Me.

As a woman with child grows in joyful expectation, she is detached from extraneous matters of the external world. She is focused on the new life and prepares her heart and home for the coming one. The baby within her is an absolute promise, of which she has certain inescapable evidence. That growing promise is a guarantee of a very different future. The mother-to-be detaches from the external things that do not matter as much and attaches to internal things. Her life becomes one of waiting and preparation and education. She gives her very life to nurture that which grows inside her. You are to do likewise. You are to have unwavering trust in the promises I have given to you and grow in My truth and My grace. You are to be attached only to My plan and My impeccable timetable, and in just the right moment, in your travail and pain, I will deliver you. I will provide you with the new life from the bittersweet pain, the life you have prayed for and the life in Me that I have promised.

For the here and now, continue to pray in faith the prayers you have prayed, but also continue to focus on My love and its expressions. Be concerned with those things that stir My heart, and be concerned about compassionate service to others. Be an intercessor always, but meet practical needs whenever and wherever possible. As you feed My sheep, I will come to you. Devote yourself to Me; attach yourself to Me during your waiting, and watch what happens!

Day5

Hope

"Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks

to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking

forward to the redemption of Jerusalem."

—Luke 2:38

I came from a limitless, timeless, multidimensional kingdom into a tightly confined, three-dimensional time-space continuum. In great constraint I grew, as any human does, from a tiny ball of cells, and I chose the precise moment to be born; I picked the place, the date, and the time to enter human history to maximize My impact and My glory. I interjected Myself from timelessness—two thousand-plus years ago—to change your past, your present, and your future, and My mission was to reconcile you to the Father in heaven and to bring you, as a whole person, into perfect alignment with the Father’s plan for you. I came such that the grace and love of the Father could be manifested in you and through you, body, soul, and spirit.

I do not regard externals, and I do not see you as others see you. I look at and examine your heart. I speak to your heart—the center of your being—and your heart speaks back to Me without words, just as it speaks to your world without words. I come and write on your heart, and you translate what you sense; even so, words are poor, but the only vehicles. Make sure you are living from the heart and your heart is living first and foremost for Me. Become what I want you to be, and do the things I do. You only have this one life—just seventy years, plus or minus—and only things you are doing for Me, only the treasures you are laying up in heaven, go with you into your eternal future. Do not squander this one chance. Live for Me and Me alone.

Ask Me, and continue to ask Me, for a huge dream, a unique dream, no longer being satisfied with the things of this world. Do not let the things you can see, smell, touch, taste, and hear steal your heart from Me. Be passionate about doing great exploits in My name, and persist in your deferred hopes, for when dreams come true, there is life and there is joy! So in the power of My Spirit, come alive to your otherwise impossible dreams, and be fully alive to the seemingly improbable desires, and I will meet you and guide you.

Needing Me is the doorway to knowing Me. As you approach your dreams, realize your insufficiency, dependence, and powerlessness, and humbly ask Me to help you. I will. I will give you the life you have always desired, a life lived more fully for My glory.

Day6

Life to the Fullest

"Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was

talking about. So he tried again. ‘I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate

for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers,

every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate.

Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go

in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and

kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life,

more and better life than they ever dreamed of.’"

—John 10:10 (MSG)

As My daughter or son, you have access to Me at any time you desire, and you can always approach Me knowing that you are going to be treated with kindness and tenderness, and that I am going to have sincere interest in anything that is on your heart. You are My beloved one, and I want you to come multiple times per day and talk to Me. I want you to relax in My love and acceptance and realize I have taken care of all your needs—past, present, and future. You can relax in My paternal love for you and just enjoy the strength and security that I provide. Be fully alive knowing I am your Safety Net. Live abundantly knowing that nothing and no one can bring charges against you and that nothing can ever separate you from Me.

With Me, you have the freedom to be yourself, to use every gift I have placed within you, to explore what it means to be human and absolutely loved and eternally secure. That should mean living a life of joyous freedom, a life of expecting the unexpected, a life of romance and adventure, and a life filled with laughter and all things good. You should come to Me as your doting Father and know I am interested in hearing your every desire and I am focused on perfecting you. Ask boldly with the ease and freedom of a little child with his or her father. Ask confidently, knowing I want to meet your needs and give you good things. Ask perseveringly; if it is important to you, show Me, and let’s discuss your heart’s desires at length.

I want you to pray for others, that they might know and understand Me as loving God. Pray fervently, and pray effectually that your world might take hold of Me in trust and in power. I desire to communicate with all people, deep unto deep, and have a parent-child relationship—easy, relaxed, secure, fun, and ever-loving.

Day7

The Highest Good

"Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.

And yet I will show you the most excellent way."

—1 Corinthians 12:31

Today is a glimpse into the way I want you to live. It is the most excellent and the noblest way, but it is a way traveled by few; in fact, almost none. I want to impart some observations on love, and I want you to attempt to see things from My perspective, that of a loving father.

First, you are to have no enemies, no one you hate, no one you curse. No doubt, there will be many who hate you because of Me and others who will have a jealous dislike for you because of My blessings, but you do not have that right. You do not even have the right to have biases because of others’ differences. Differences in religion, differences in ethnicity, and differences in culture or customs are not licenses for hatred. Prejudice and bigotry are based on lies from the father of lies. Hate is from the evil one. I am Lord over all peoples. I am God over all nations and tribes, and I love all. If you do not love your enemies and do not do good to them, then you are not close enough to Me, and you are not sufficiently conformed to My image. Those who do not know Me have no problem loving those who show them kindness and favor, but they have no love for their enemies. Those who do not know Me tend to harbor hatred and grudges toward their enemies.

But you are not of this world, and I ask you to truly love everyone; find good in them; find the common goal of all men: love and acceptance; see their need for a Savior and Redeemer. I am asking you to go above and beyond a neutral disposition for those you would consider enemies. I want you to reach out to them on a regular basis and show them My care and concern, and do for them as you would have them do for you in a perfect world. Do good to them without any expectation of any reciprocal good. The reward of living like this is you can change the world one person at a time and you can become more like Me. Give, and it will be given to you; love, and you will know greater love; forgive, and you will be forgiven; do not judge others, and you will not be judged.

So love is the highest good and the most excellent way. Do not be defined by whom or what you are against, or by who or what angers you, but be defined by Me, and love everyone as I do.

Day8

I AM Is the Word

"God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the

Israelites: I am has sent me to you.’"

—Exodus 3:14

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the

Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all

things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."

—John 1:1-3

I AM. I am God, and I have given you the greatest of all treasures in My Word. The Word, of course, is Christ Jesus, and My Word is the library of love letters, sixty-six books, which speak of My salvation plan through a messiah. From the ram at Abraham’s altar to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, of the last pages, I AM.

My Word is a living document and alive forever. It is new each time you read it, for the Holy Spirit allows it to penetrate your heart and soul, and He applies it to your particular circumstance. My Word gives you Me; it reveals who I am and shows you what I desire; it shows you the one and only way to approach My throne. My perfect Word also shows you your imperfections, your very sin nature. Nothing anywhere, at any time, has been hidden from My sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before My eyes. As you read my Word, you begin to appreciate what I see in you and others. There is nothing that escapes my attention and nothing that is not recorded in my books.

My Word gives you the ability and the power to do My will. My Spirit empowers and enables you. My Word brings righteousness, and such righteousness and integrity exalt an individual, a people group, and a nation. My Word teaches you how to communicate with Me, how to pray and trust that I will meet your needs. The Word takes you to my throne of grace, the seat of mercy, where I, your Helper-King, sit to pour out My great favor upon you. I am the Captain of your salvation and the Finisher of your faith and the incarnate Word of God.

The Word teaches you who you can become in Me. I understand the limits of temptation better than any man; I was at the edge of infinite temptation and have explored the very reaches of temptation but did not sin. I can teach you how to rise above temptation and sin to become like Me. I am the Word and the great Intercessor, and I have called you into My glorious light and into the magnificent understanding of My truth. You are to be progressively more transcendent, day by day, as you become more like Me, as you ingest and incorporate the Word.

Day9

Continual Communication

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

—1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

For My name’s sake, for the glory of My name, I have atoned for your sins, and I will deliver you. Even at this very moment, I am at the right hand of the Father Almighty and His glorious, dazzling throne room making intercession specifically for you. We are Father, Son, and Spirit of absolute holiness, worthy of worship, worthy of praise, worthy of thanksgiving.

I want you to pray and ask Me questions, and I will answer each one. Surrender your queries to My love. Trust My faithfulness to meet your every need, and obey Me at each point along the way. Come with Me, hand in hand, and know that I listen to your every word and am interested in your every thought. Do not ever stop praying; you are to pray in unison with My Holy Spirit within you, who makes intercession for you before the throne. Follow Me, listen to the Holy Spirit, and give your life to interceding to the Father for the needs of those around you. Pray for the extension of My kingdom; pray for those who do not know Me; pray for the sick and dying; pray for the great needs of your world; let your heart, without words, cry out to Me with anticipation and waiting. Let your heart continually long for Me to come and meet your needs and your deep desires; let your heart yearn for Me to set your world straight and to right all the wrongs. Persevere in your hopeful waiting, and do not grow tired in your expectations. While waiting, continue to worship Me and praise Me for who I am and the countless miracles, past, present, and future. Let gratitude fill your soul, as you know that My second visitation to earth grows closer by the day.

Continual praise and continual longing and continual aching for Me—with and without words—bring you closer to Me, and such prayer changes everything in your everyday world. Prayer actually changes you and allows you to rise above more and more challenging circumstances; praise, worship, and thanksgiving will bring fullness to your life, satiety to your soul, and a sense of abundance of the good. Prayer keeps you firmly in My grip, allows you to hear Me, trust Me, and obey Me. Prayer, also importantly, is a continual dialogue with Me that keeps you out of the hand of the wretched one. When you live with such a heartsick longing for Me and for home, you are physically in this world, but not spiritually or emotionally part of it.

Day10

Choices

"This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against

you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.

Now choose life, so that you and your children may live."

—Deuteronomy 30:19

"The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things,

but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,

for, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’

But we have the mind of Christ."

—1 Corinthians 2:15-16

Choose Me. Choose faith over doubt, choose peace over strife, choose joy over boredom, and especially choose love over discord. Your life is a grand compilation of the choices you make and the thoughts you entertain. You reach a turning point every few seconds throughout each and every day. A thought or decision presents itself and must be judged in light of good and evil and in light of the present and eternity. Each moment is pregnant with forever.

One should not be buffeted by his thought life but is to take all thinking captive under the power of My all-powerful Spirit. At each decision point or thought, you should ask, Is this thought from the Lord, or from the evil one? You also should ask, What are the spiritual implications of this decision, and will it ultimately bring me closer to, or drive me further away from, Christ Jesus?

One must actively manage his thought life; to be passive in this regard is to allow a field of weeds to grow up. To always be separating wheat from tares means you will not be producing a crop of tares. Producing a harvest, fulfilling what I have asked you to do during your few years on earth, requires active management of your thought life. You must realize that Satan comes to you in many guises—even ones of good and pragmatic choices. But reject these, for they are in opposition to the best way—My way. I want you to realize your potential in Me by rejecting sin and self, and accepting Me and My pathway in every decision, every thought. Learn to hear the whisper of My Holy Spirit. Learn the sound of My voice, and learn to say yes to Me and to thank Me for My direction. Put aside all unbelief, and realize the freedom of belief. Learn in any given moment how to come into My presence and have dialogue with Me. Learn to think like Me and choose what I would choose. I am the will of the Father. Always choose life and love. In this way, you walk the path of peace.

Day11

Love and Prayer

"There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope

when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

—Ephesians 4:4-6

As a Father, who loves each of his unique and variously gifted children distinctly and differently, I love you. Yes, there is a universal, overarching love that I have for all of those I have called out—My family—but I am in love with each and every member individually, and I know each one better than each knows himself or herself. So it is not a blind love; that is, it is not a superficial love, and it is not an ignorant love, but a profound, all-encompassing, never-failing love for each individual that will be forever. I have called each of My children to a different way—through his or her time, place, position in history, and skill set I have given. Each one has been provided a maximal chance to live for Me and to display My glory to the world. Each individual believer, through the love of My Holy Spirit, is to be generally interested in the entire family—My church universal. All called by My name are to live for, to help, to serve, and to intercede for all the others. Believers are one body, one faith, one baptism, and one family, with one Lord and one Savior, and should pray not only for themselves and their individual needs and desires, but also for the best for all believers and for the furtherance of My kingdom through all present and future believers. Just as you pray unselfish prayers for your earthly children, grandchildren, and perhaps unborn future generations, so pray for their counterparts in My kingdom. Be devoted to living in a mode of prayer for the spiritual needs of all the saints everywhere, and pray for the future of the church. Intercession is one’s most notable contribution to My kingdom, for I will hear and answer the prayers of the saints who ask according to My desires using My name. Pray for unity in My church around the world and a love for all believers so the family would be glorious and not fractious.

Pray to the Father using My name, Christ Jesus, the name above all names. Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit for all believers everywhere, that the church would truly love and that the family of saints may be one, even as the Trinity is one. Pray that others will be included in the dance of the Trinity. Pray in the confidence and boldness of the love I have for you. You are Mine, and I delight in you. You not only are part of my beloved family, but are one of my saints, and the prayers of the saints are sweet-smelling incense in heaven’s throne room.

Day12

All Hope

"The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look

at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

—1 Samuel 16:7

You do not see yourself as I see you because you do not look for what I look for. That which you hoped to be by now, you are not. That which you had hoped to accomplish, you have not. The legacy you had hoped to build, you have not. But you can never become the person I desire you to be in the strength of your own power, and I would never desire for you to be that person you started off to be—one without Me. However, your hopes have been deferred and deferred by circumstances until your heart is sick. You cry out, How long, O Lord, will You turn a deaf ear to me? How long, O God, will You forget me? How long, dear King, must I beg at Your feet until You grant my request?

You wrestle with thoughts of who you should have been, or could have been, and you struggle with your unmet desires, yet you have not completely surrendered the course of your life to Me. You live in two worlds; however, you are often more comfortable in the one that is passing away. Are you afraid to really live wholeheartedly for Me for fear of rejection by men? In short, do you fear men more than you love Me? If you really believe Me and if you are filled with My Holy Spirit, you can do nothing but speak