Have a Cookie....or Not!

(The following is the article I wrote for my monthly ezine column “Sense”sational Musings for the April, 2010 edition of www.ithristnw.net.)

One day the Lord gave me a vision in my mind’s eye. I saw a woman taste a chocolate chip cookie and throw it down in a fit of rage, obviously upset with what she tasted. When she did, crumbs shattered all over the ground. Then she tried frantically to eat the cookie, but it was difficult because of all the crumbs.

I inquired of the Lord about the meaning of this vision. What came to me was that the lady represented any one of God’s children. The cookie represented the lady’s false image of what she thought God was. When God did not do what she thought He should do, she threw the cookie down in anger and it shattered. We need to keep in mind that the cookie represented the lady’s image of God; it did not represent God Himself. God did not shatter, because that was not who He truly is.

I then saw many cookies--each on their own platter--on both sides of a big hallway. These cookies represented more wrong concepts of God. They are cookies, because everyone says "He is good." Some that have been around for a long time are crunchy. Others are fresh-baked and soft.

A crunchy cookie has been the wrong concept of God for a long time in a person's mind. A soft one is a new wrong concept of God that is fresh baked. When one eats of it and throws it down, the newly baked cookie doesn't shatter, because it is soft. Consequently, though the taste of the soft cookie does not satisfy, it is not as disappointing as the old cookie that shatters into crumbs and is harder to eat afterward. Trying to pick up all the shattered pieces only leads to more anger. I had the sense that the first cookie in the vision was a very old cookie from the batch and that God understood that.

The Lord was showing me that even though the lady in the vision was so angry with God, deep down she really desires Him, or she would not have tried to eat all the crumbs afterward. He knows that. She will find Him because somewhere deep in the recesses of her heart, she wants to.

When we find ourselves holding on to cookies and we are angry at God, we need to surrender to Him so that He can take our deceptions and replace them with truth. This will only happen when we turn to Jesus. We have to go to Jesus without any of the cookies--or crumbs--in our hands, because if we have them when we approach Him, we will still be looking at the cookies instead of genuinely seeking God to show us who He truly is. We can either lay down the cookies before we approach the Throne, or we can ask God to take the cookies when we get to Him. Either way, we cannot hold on to them after we get to Him and expect answers. Jesus IS the answer, and He IS there. However, as long as we hold the platter of cookies we will not be able to see Him, because our focus will be on the cookies instead of Him. We will find that as we surrender our platter of misconceptions to the Lord, He will then give us food from Heaven that will be better than any cookie we have ever tasted! Unlike cookies, His food has everlasting sustenance that brings us nourishment for specific needs we are not even aware we have. 2 Cor. 3:14-18 talks about the Jews having a veil over their eyes when they read the scriptures. They have the truth in their hands, but they cannot see it. The Bible then says, "Nevertheless, when one turns to Jesus, the veil is taken away! Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty!" FREEDOM!! He is FREEDOM--not just “good” like a chocolate chip cookie.

When we see Him as He truly is, love and true worship automatically flow out from the deepest part of us to God. Right now He reveals to us His character one concept at a time. Each time another false conception of God is taken away, we truly taste and see that He is good in that aspect of God, and it is everlasting! One day, when our corruption is overtaken by incorruption, and we are changed in the twinkling of an eye, we will see Him as He is--in His entirety--not one concept at a time, but every concept. 100% purity---and it is GOOD! It is then that we will experience everlasting FREEDOM forevermore!