This word is submitted by Teresa Seputis (ts@godspeak.org)

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                        Experience My Faithfulness

My desire is that your joy might be full.  This type of joy comes from a 
deep seeded assuredness of My love for you and of My faithfulness to you. 
The certainty of My love and faithfulness allows you to feel secure in any 
circumstance.  

My faithfulness is not something you can know in your head or your thinking 
patterns.  You can know about it, but you cannot know it.  It must be 
experienced, not conceived intellectually.  Knowledge from that intellectual 
arena is always subject to fear and doubt. But the faith that passes all 
understanding does not come from the arena of your minds or of your thinking 
patterns.  It is not logical -- in fact it tends to defy logic because it 
looks at My unseen truth and reality. It does not look at what you can see 
and measure in your natural surroundings.  

Allow yourself to see as Elijah did.  Look beyond the natural circumstances 
into the reality of My kingdom realm.  Elijah was surrounded by enemy soldiers 
that wanted to capture him, but he did not fear.  Why?  Because He was able 
to look beyond the soldiers and see My army of angels surrounding them.  
Elijah knew and understood that My forces were much greater than the forces 
massing against him. Elijah saw in the spirit instead of seeing with his 
natural eyes.  He saw the certainly of My love for him and of My provision 
and protection on his behalf.  

He was able to do this because He had experienced My reality and My 
faithfulness when he was hidden in the valley by the brook.  I fed him by 
ravens at My command.  I protected him from Ahab, who was bent to destroy 
him.  He had first hand experience of My protection and of My provision.  
He experienced My love and My faithfulness over and over again, day after 
day.  And as time progressed, it became real to him experientially.  After 
a season  Elijah did not have to wonder if I would send the ravens that day 
with his allotment of meat.  He had come to know, through his experience 
with Me, that I was dependable.  He had learned, experientially, to be secure
in My love for him and in My faithfulness to him.  This is why He was able 
to look beyond his immediate circumstances see into the spirit realm where 
My army had massed on his behalf.

Child, I desire to teach you experientially of My faithfulness.  I want you
to know -- with a certainty deep in your innermost being -- that I will 
come through for you, just as I did for My servant Elijah.  But in order to 
demonstrate My faithfulness, I must allow you to be put into situations that 
require Me to come through for you.  I must allow you into situations that 
you cannot handle from your own resources or abilities.  For it is only in
those type of situations that I can demonstrate My love and My faithfulness
to you in a way that is real to you.  It is only as you are forced to depend
on Me and I come through for you that your faith grows.  This is where you
become secure in My love for you -- this is where you become assured that
I will come through for you.  This is how you know that I am faithful.

So do not fret when I put you in faith-producing situations.  I have not
allowed you into them for your harm, but that you will learn experientially  
how faithful I am to meet you in them -- to come through for you.  For if
you are committed to obey Me and to serve Me with all your heart and to 
walk in My ways, you will see My faithfulness demonstrated to you over and
over again.  I will not leave you in trouble, I will deliver you and bring
My glory into your situations.  And as you experience this over and over
again, you will become secure in My love and provision for you.  And you 
will be able to see past the natural realm and into the spirit.  And your
joy will be full, regardless of whatever situation you are in.