When life decides to be unrelenting in pressure, sneak attacks, and opposition, it helps to remember a few things: 

•We win.

•Defeat is not an option.

•God is good, He is always faithful. 

•Love is the most powerful force in heaven and on earth. 

•There are lesser realities seeking to set themselves up as counterfeit governments in our lives, and to rule us from the place of power we give them. #getoutofthematrix 

These days, I have had to declare these things to my heart on a daily basis...sometimes moment to moment. It’s been a rough couple of years, and the last few months have been more brutal than I bargained for. But here’s the bottom line: joy cannot be stolen without my permission. Promises cannot be abandoned and left on the side of a bumpy road without my consent. Are we weary? Yes. Have our hearts been broken and discouraged at times? YES. Are we stopping? No. Is our joy absent? No. Do we understand? No, we don’t. But we do understand that fact are facts; and that what we are experiencing is, in all truth, inferior reality at its core. A counterfeit government which seeks to convince us into buying into its false framework over our lives. 

Go sell crazy somewhere else, we’re all stocked up here. 

Again, we win. Defeat is not an option. Our God is good, He is always faithful. And His Love is the most powerful force in heaven and on earth. So we stand. We love. We laugh. We cry. We believe. We move forward. And we live in victory. We agree with the government of God in our lives; a government of order and justice where all the wrong things are made right. Chaos, calamity, sickness, etc. are counterfeit governments which pose as reality and deceive us into believing we are powerless over them. 

I think one key to walking through difficult times, and cooperating with the increase of His government in us through them, is remaining.

Remain connected: to Him (abide) and others; At least a few people. Sometimes in times of difficulty it’s nearly impossible to keep up with everyone in your Rolodex (Do those exist anymore? They were cool, we should bring them back if they don’t. #vintage). Remain in the knowledge and experience that you are loved. Intentionally baptize yourself in the love of God. It never fails, remain there. Let others love you as well. surrender to love in every way you are able. 

 Remain in the rest and peace of God. Rest is a weapon. Wield it as such.

Remain gracious. Even when we feel broken and unable to offer anything, the world is not less in need of the sweetness of your spirit poured out in it...even in the midst of your broken bits of life. It doesn’t have to look like a party all the time. It doesn’t even have to look happy, but happiness and joy are two separate things...joy can exist even in the most broken places. Joy supersedes emotion. You don’t actually have to say a word to change the atmosphere or pour love into it. We need only expand our hearts over it in love (blog on expanding our hearts coming soon). The world changes when love soaked people pour their genuine and authentic selves into it; in the midst of the battle, in the midst of difficulty love can still win if we let it. We change when we keep ourselves in the healing oil of God and allow it to work in the midst our sadness. I want to give this to the world; This peace that resides in the healing oil of God. In the middle of heartache and brokenness it remains, it works, it flows, it heals. 

Remain kind. Remain generous. Let your heart remain, and even become more generous; more generous with beautiful words and encouragement, more generous with love and support, more generous with your resources. In love and giving, there is life. And in the middle of what seems like the opposite, we have the opportunity to create life, to banish hopelessness in our hearts and the hearts of others, and tear down counterfeit governments seeking to convince us of false realities. 

I’ll be honest, some days I do well to simply remain in the knowledge that I am loved. However, when I can do that, it opens the door for the rest to come in and set up camp, to have the government of God established and increased in my life...the government of peace, generosity, strength, kindness, love, justice, gentleness, mercy, joy. So I declare that the increase of His government and peace will know no end in me today. I agree with the reality of His victory, love, and promises over my life. We must live in this place in the middle of challenge and difficulty. It’s the only place of victory.

©Elisabeth Cooper 2017