Author: Mike Cooney

     The thought of a flying animal makes me smile with the same child-like smiles that filled my face, watching the movie Dumbo at the Capital movie theater on the south side of Chicago, many years ago. I just watched and listened to an excerpt of the movie on You Tube.  Two magpies were singing a song, “When I see and elephant fly.”  It made my heart smile.

     Poor little Dumbo with his massive ears, the object of contempt and ridicule by others.  Cursed with being so different.  Alone in her misery. Crying out loud, “Oh that I had wings like a dove!  For then would I fly away and be at rest.  I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.” You know the rest of the story.  The source of Dumbo’s sadness and hopelessness were transformed into unthinkable Wonder.  “He gives power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increases strength.  Even youths, all Dumbos at heart 🙂  shall faint and be weary, and stumble and fall into despair.  But they that wait upon the Lord, who find themselves helpless and without strength; they shall renew their Strength.  They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary.  They shall walk and not be faint.” 

     How about God’s sheep?  Yes, they have funny ears.  Ears that only hear their own thoughts; thoughts about the meaning of life, the source of happiness in life; the treasures of life, the riches of life. “Labor not to be rich; cease from thine own wisdom. Will you set your eyes and listen with those ears upon what the world says will bring happiness?  Riches and treasures in every form, certainly make themselves wings.  They fly away as an eagle towards heaven.”  God has given His sheep big ears to hear Big things from His own mouth, “My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow me;  and I give the Eternal Life.  They shall never perish.  Nothing that happens and no man,can take them from Me.” 

     He hides them in the shadow of His Wings.  He Flies them away to a place of Peace and Rest.  He Makes Himself their Source of Life.  He is their Riches.  He is their Wealth. He is their Happiness. He is their Joy.  “For God has not given you a spirit of despair and fear but a Spirit of Power, and Love, and a Sound Mind”.  Silly sheep with big ears, Filled with God Himself; soaring in the sky, “Blessed with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places.

     Things are looking up, little Dumbo sheep.  “As birds flying, so will the Lord defend his children and as He is defending them, He will deliver them and as He is passing over them, He will deliver them.” They will soar with wings like eagles.  A flock of flying sheep.

The definition of the word “Free” takes up almost an entire page in Webster’s Unabridged Third New International Dictionary and the word “Love” and words associated with it also occupy a good  portion of a page.  Each word is an expression of a variety of meanings, or better yet,  the two words together comprise the plants and flowers of a heavenly landscape in a Divine Garden, tended to by the Creator.  A Bouquet for His children.

“Asshur will not save us;  we will not ride upon horses:  neither will we say any more to the work of our own hands, Ye are our gods:  for in Thee alone the fatherless find Mercy.  I will heal their backsliding, I Will Love them Freely:  for My anger is turned away from them.”  His words to the little flock, “Free, My Loves.”

FREE. . .belonging to One’s Own Family and  no longer a slave;  not being subject to authority or obligation and instead, enjoying a Special Privilege and Immunity;  not determined by anything but its New Nature;  Magnanimous and Generous; exempt, released, relieved;  not obstructed or impeded, open;  unfettered, freed from prison;  Liberal, Open-handed, Lavish;  gratuitous, given without cost or payment, granted admittance without charge;  Free-for-All;  to cause to be free, to set at liberty; to liberate, to emancipate, to discharge debt.

LOVE. . .the attraction, desire or affection felt for a person who arouses Delight or elicits tenderness, compassion and benevolence;  the Benevolence attributed to God as resembling a Father’s affection for His children;  a Beloved person: dear, sweetheart;  devotion;  choose, prefer, select.

“He that spared not His Own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall he not with Him, freely give us all things.”   Freely Love, Freely Forgive, Freely Give all things.  All Things,  and without cause or condition.

Free Love.  It’s free My Loves.  My sheep Hear My voice speaking Peace in their soul, “It is done, all has been completed and furnished for you.  I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.  I will give unto him that is thirsty, to drink from the Fountain of the Water of Live freely.”  God’s Love Freely.  Free Love Indeed.  Behold!

We are pleasure seekers, continuously searching for the treasures of life to bring enjoyment to the soul.  Where your treasure is, there your heart is also.  God Himself is the Supreme Pleasure Seeker. His Heart is Eternally Fixed on His Own Enjoyment.

“For the Lord taketh Pleasure in His people:  He will Beautify the meek with Salvation.”  Before the universe existed, before the reality of time and space;  and creatures and things, God was Perfectly Filled with His Good Pleasure.  His Enjoyment was in His thoughts of His Love to His children who were to come.  He Knew every one of them by name.  He Was filled with Joy as He Fashioned every moment of their life, and Furnished them with circumstances and events that would Provide them with absolute evidences of His Love towards  them.

“Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times before time, the things that are not yet done, saying ‘My counsel shall stand and I will do all My Pleasure:  Yea I have Spoken it, I will also Bring it to pass;  I have Purposed it, I will also do it.”  Divine, Complete, Perfect and Infinite Enjoyment.  All things Determined before time for His Good Pleasure.  His Enjoyment towards the children.  Joy for the children as they come into existence in time, discovering that they have always  existed as a reality in His Own Heart of Love towards them.  Known and Loved by Him for as long as He has Eternally Existed.

“Fear not little flock; for it is the Father’s Good Pleasure to give you the Kingdom;  it is for His own Personal Enjoyment to give you the Indescribable Gift of His Kingdom, His Own Son in you.  What Joy in Believing, what quiet Delight in knowing that all things are yours because all things are Treasured up  in Christ Who Lives and Moves and Has His Being in the little flock.”  What comfort to know that in Him we have been given freely an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose and good pleasure of Him Who works all things after the counsel of His Own Will.

Freedom from guilt, freedom from wrath, freedom from condemnation, freedom from trying to please Him, freedom from the yoke of “doing”, free from the law, Free in Him Who Is the Source of all our Good Works.  What Enjoyment.  What Joy.  To Him be the Glory.  To Him Who Has Loved His little flock with an Everlasting Love.

When my adult children were young and we were attending a local church, they were in the kid’s choir. One of the very energetic songs that they learned and sang contained the lyrics, “Cause I got Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy, down in my my heart. Where? Down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart.” I loved to hear them sing that song, and wondered what Joy was.

I would go searching for Joy, down in my heart and never seemed to find it. I was looking for enthusiasm or strong happy feelings, or lively singing of praise songs, or unbridled worship of God. Was it there in my heart?

I remember having breakfast with my pastor one morning, excited about something that I read in a book by Andrew Murray, who was a pastor in Scotland in the 17th century. Over and over again, the theme of the book was, God is the Origin of Everything; and Everything that He is, Comes as a Gift from Him to His Elect Children. I read a paragraph to my pastor that included a verse from the Bible that included the word, Joy.

“But the Fruit of The Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Self-control.”

I looked up at him with a smile on my face and said, “It’s only His Fruit and He makes it mine by His Presence in me,       because He Loves me.” He sat quietly smiling at me, delighting in the Presence of Truth.

The word Joy in the Bible means, “Quiet, calm Delight.” Only God could Possess Quiet, Calm Delight, because He never changes. He is the Same yesterday, today and forever. More recently He Has Shown me the Joy in my Heart. Where? Down in my Heart.

He is my Heart and He Quietly Delights in me.   .  . and I Quietly Delight in the ones that I love. He Calmly Loves me without conditions, and in spite of the kind of person that I am at times. What Joy down in my heart.

What a LOVE to Possess, that Possesses me. What a Gift from Him. He is the GIFT. He is JOY. He is the Delight of my soul. He is the Peace in my heart. I do have Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy, down in my Heart. What Heavenly Fruit.

Freely Given.   Freely Received.   Free, to the seekers of Joy.

My favorite breakfast. This morning a Breath of Fresh Air came unexpectedly to my soul, and said, “When Your words came, I ate them. They are my joy and my heart’s delight; for I bear Your Name O Lord, God Almighty.”

He feeds the Elect children with the only food that their new heart craves, and their thirsty and hungry heart cries for, like newborn babes.
And He opens their mouth and with lovingkindness, He feeds them the Bread of Life. And washes the food down with Water from the River of Life. And includes some Fruit from the Spirit of life.

Each morning the little ones, the poor and needy ones, the tired and weary ones, the beggars and paupers, the publicans and prostitutes. . .all of the chief of sinners, eat from the Breakfast right off the Eternal Menu, the exact breakfast determined for them before the creation of the world. Each day, A Perfect Breakfast from His Good and Perfect Will.

A bowl of Life with Bananas. Heavenly Food,