When God feels distant + a poem
What do you do when the way it used to be with God is not the way it is now?
I used to feel so desperate and insecure when the God who felt so near suddenly felt so far. How about you?
Graham Cooke has taught me such beauty in the seasons of God and how to think about it so differently in his various teachings on the Lord’s seasons of “Hiddenness and Manifestation.”
It was foundational in my life with the Lord because it allowed me to rest in seasons of rest, rather than freak out about them. And it allowed me to look and see when God was revealing. And it allowed me to feel and experience when He was manifesting. And expect less that He should have done this or that otherwise.
It helped me let go of the expectations I had of how I thought the Lord would or should move.
If you are in that place, here are some beautiful resources:
- Piercing the Darkness Prophetic Conference clip (1hr38mins; beautiful worship, intro by Bill Johnson of Bethel, powerful teaching by Graham Cooke): Hiddenness and Manifestation
- Book/Journal: Hiddenness and Manifestation: What Is Really Happening When God Doesn’t Seem to Be Present? by Graham Cooke.
To Everything:
by Danita Jenae 2016
There’s a reason for rain,a reason for draught.A reason for spring growth,a reason for winter dormancy.A reason for flourishing,a reason for wild fires.A reason for bread,a reason for fasting.
They are all beneficialfor all of creation.And our temptation…go! sow! grow! all the time.
Work six days and rest.Work during the day,be still at night.Harvest in summer,sow in spring.Let the soil rest every seven.Your kingdom come, Your will be done,on earth as it is in heaven.
There’s a reason for early rains,a reason for late rains.A reason for when God retreats,a reason for when He draws near.A reason for times He manifests,a reason for times He conceals.
To everything, in everything,His beauty, His glory, revealed.
Pause a bit. Mull it over. And when you have time, folding laundry, driving, running, not sleeping at night… listen to that teaching. Be filled.
Peace Himself be With You!
love,d