Today as I was listening to a youtube message by Graham Cooke, I was both blessed and challenged to pray with greater assurance rooted in a self-identity that I am a much loved son of my Father in heaven who longs for me to begin to walk in my inheritance now. And what is my inheritance? That I live and move and have my being in Christ who is fully able, ready and willing to give me the resources of heaven (not a synonym for just money) to carry out his will and be an agent of breakthrough for the advance of the Kingdom. I particularly enjoyed the following comments of Graham Cooke:
“We sometimes pray for our needs when God wants to give us our inheritance. We sometimes pray like a baby when God wants us to pray as a son. We sometimes pray like a widow when God wanted us to pray as a bride. I have a 6-month old granddaughter called Penelope. The kid doesn’t DO anything. She’s a noise at one end and a smell at the other. This kid, since she was born, hasn’t cooked a meal, she doesn’t know how to use a vacuum cleaner, she doesn’t know how to keep her room tidy. The kid does NOTHING! But—she gets her needs met.
Getting your needs met is the baby end of life in Christ. If you’ve been in the ministry for 20 years and you’re still desperately praying in your provisions and needs, there’s something wrong with the dynamic of your relationship with God. The Bible says we are meant to go from glory to glory and to grow from measure to fullness. The more mature we become the more God wants to give us our inheritance. At some point you have to stop praying for your needs and start praying, “Lord what is it you want to give me so that I can take this city?” If you’ve got a prophetic word from the Lord over you about a nation, or a group or a city, you’ve got resources that are tacked on to it. We ought to say to the Lord, ‘I receive that prophetic word, I receive that identity, and I also receive by faith and assurance all the resources that come with that identity.’ If you live in your identity the resources of heaven can come to you. If you’re not living in your identity and your trying to just make life work—then you’ll always just be praying about more personal needs. There is a time when you have to stop praying about your needs and start standing and walking in your inheritance. You will have a different level of expectancy when you know what your identity is.” -Graham Cooke
A Theology in Tension 
great thought, so needed! I need it today! I was thinking about Graham Cooke yesteday for the first time in many months, wondering what he’s up to (saw him once in Albany NY, have loved his messages) — I think I’ll be looking him up and listening!
Yes, I was introduced to him about 5 years ago. His messages brought me out of depression and disappointment then, and his messages continue to be water during periodic desert journeys. He challenges me to look UP for the “upgrade” God has for me when I am overly turned inward upon myself and my circumstances.
Matt, if you are interested in the topic of education … you might check out the (shorter, first) videos on Youtube by a man named John Taylor Gatto. He is a 77
y/o Roman Catholic, public junior high school teacher of 30 years (the
last three honored as NYC and NYS Teach of the Year). He quit teaching in 1992, and has been speaking and writing and researching the history of Western-style schooling ever since. He is RICH in his perspective, incredibly insightful and well read … and very hard on two men I had thought were on the opposite sides of the religious and political spectrum: Charles Darwin and John Calvin (ie, The Descent of Man and Institutes of the Christian Religion). After a lot of reading and listening, I found out this “lapsed Catholic,” Ivy-League-educated child of the Great Depression has discovered the real Jesus in his old age (although like many of his generation, he is a little reticent about discussing religion directly). You will enjoy his stuff immensely — I just have a feeling, mostly based on my assessment that you are a very intellectually and spiritually curious man. If you want a great lecture to start with, try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkpoP6Q0BsM. His masterpiece tome “The Underground History of American Education” is available free online here, http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm — and his most direct statements about the value of the way of Jesus are in that book in chapter 14, “Absolute Absolution”.
Enjoy!
Thanks Tim, I will certainly be checking him out. Shalom.