Tag Archives: Restoration

A Thankful Heart

There are so many things I could speak of that I am thankful for that it’s hard to zero in on just a few, but I will try for the purpose of this writing. To tell of them all would be a book of which the volume is far too large for a blog like this.

But just to frame what I’m about to say, it’s important to remember how essential it is to have a thankful heart – a heart that is grateful for all things. This is more than just a cliché. This is a principal for living an overcoming life in the Kingdom of God. Being thankful comes against any prideful attitude that may hinder our spiritual growth. Thankfulness presupposes humility, which is in direct contrast to pride. And we all know that it was pride that got satan kicked out of heaven  (Isaiah 14:12-15)! Continue reading →

Beauty for Ashes (Pt. 1)

We recently celebrated my 57th Birthday and as with most of our life events, we celebrated on the show with family and friends, and our extended family and friends which means all of you! It was a wonderful day as my amazing husband, children, and family along with my mentor and friend, Lloyd Zeigler, recalled the moments of my life that brought me full-circle to where I am right now. It’s truly been a fairytale story, with all of the tragedy and triumphs that make for a good television drama – except it was all very real. The life and times of Lori Graham Bakker could have been a great soap opera, if it were a fiction. But my life was not fiction. It was real – and God has given me “beauty for ashes” as it says in Isaiah 61. Continue reading →

Are You the “Real Deal”? (Pt. 2)

David was well aware of his own failures and he grieved over them!  He hated the weaknesses of his own flesh and despised himself for giving in to them.  But one thing he could not and would not do is to deny who he was in God.  If there was one thing he was sure about – it was his identity and the anointing that was on his life.  God had ordained him in his youth to be a king and a king he would be!  Though the world, the flesh, the devil and all of hell had tried to remove David’s God-given purpose, they could not!

Saints of God, the enemy of your soul is after your very identity in these last days!  Do you remember when Jesus asked the disciples, “who do you say I am”?  Every single religious authority had challenged Jesus’ very identity.  In fact, they crucified Him for telling the truth of Who He really was!  If those who said they loved him didn’t know who He was, then how could the world be expected to?  Only by divine revelation of LOVE can any of us love the other as Jesus commanded.  Continue reading →

Time to Pull Some Weeds

Your job is to pull up and tear down, take apart and demolish, and then start over, building and planting. Jeremiah 1:10 MSG

Unfortunately, through the hardship and persecution and tribulation of life, certain weeds and tares can actually get planted in the heart that touches everything you do and can negatively affect every aspect of your life, even what you’re called to do in the Kingdom.

One of my main issues was abandonment. This was a weed that had a huge stronghold in my life. I had watched as nearly everyone in my life walked away when my sin was exposed to the world and my soul suffered beyond measure. Continue reading →

My Amazing Glorious Ride

After you walk through some hardship, you’re almost a different person. You can then say to those who are going through the same thing, “Boy, I understand what you’re going through!” You have so much more empathy for people that are going through hard times, like those who have cancer who have to endure treatments… their radiation and chemotherapy.

But it’s in the journey; we are walking through this journey called life. We are living in the most amazing time ever in the history of mankind. I mean He chose you, He chose me, He chose Kevin, Zach, Tammy Sue, Sasha, Mondo, and all of us – our whole team here… and He chose you to do something for the Kingdom of God. Continue reading →

Kidnapped Teen Found 10 Years Later

Police in Santa Ana, California have arrested a man who kidnapped a 15-year-old girl ten years ago and then forced her to marry him and have his children.

Isidro Gracia disappeared in 2004 with his live-in girlfriend’s daughter who he had been raping for three months.  He then drugged her and kept her addicted to drugs while they moved to a house in Compton, California.  He obtained fake IDs for both of them and then kept her locked in a garage until her mid-20s.

He brainwashed her into thinking because she didn’t speak English, she was illegal and would be deported if she contacted police.  He then forced her to marry him so she would be “legal” and then have his child so she couldn’t be deported.  He said the girl’s family told him they’d given up looking for her and no longer wanted her.

Police discovered the situation when the women found her sister on Facebook and contacted her.

The 41-year-old Garcia is facing charges of kidnapping, rape, false imprisonment and other charges.  He is facing life without parole if convicted on all the charges against him.

The woman, who is not being named because she was a minor when taken, has been reunited with her family.  She said that she plans to raise her daughter in a loving family environment and to obtain an education.

What Easter Means to Me

On Easter Sunday, 1989, I wandered into a wonderful church and heard the pastor tell me that I could be forgiven and saved by grace; I didn’t have to do it myself. That day my scarlet sins became white as snow. And for the next ten years, I went through God’s training program, conducted by the people of the church. Little did I know that God was preparing me to speak to millions of women and that I would be an instrument to help heal their scars from abortion, drugs, and sinful living. Nor did I know that He was also preparing me to be the wife of Jim Bakker. But I’m beginning to learn that broken and wounded people make the best healers. Continue reading →

“End of construction – thank you for your patience.”

Recently, we were in Charlotte, North Carolina where we visited the Billy Graham library and placed flowers on Ruth Bell Graham’s grave.  As most of you know, Ruth and Billy Graham were valley-walking friends with Jim when he went through some very tough trials.

Billy Graham visited Jim in prison several times, and Franklin sponsored him when he was released.  The very first week Jim was released from prison, Ruth made it possible for Jim to attend her church and sat with him in a very public display of love and support.

To say that the Graham family has been a friend to us is an understatement.

The Bible says that the spiritual people restore others when they have fallen:  “Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”  Galatians 6:1 ASV

Jim and I attended Ruth Bell Graham’s 80th birthday celebration and the program that evening presented her life through music and drama, using her own writings, and it was very moving.  PBS was there filming a documentary on her life.

That evening, when Jim introduced us, Ruth Graham reached up from her wheel chair and cradled my face in her hands.

“You’re so beautiful,” she said. “God hand-picked you for Jim.”

I was so touched by her words, I nearly cried.  I managed to thank her for what she had done for my husband and for being such a great example of a woman of God.

Ruth Graham had much to be proud of in her accomplishments in life, but instead of pride, Ruth exhibited the ultimate humility by recognizing her life as a work in progress all the way to her home-going, her meekness engraved in her self-chosen epitaph:

“End of construction – thank you for your patience.”

 

God Loves to Come Full-Circle – Mourning to Joy

When I was young and foolish, I destroyed the ability that God gave me to be a Mother.  I suffered tremendously because of my decisions back then, especially as I matured and realized what I had done.  I had wanted to be a Mother since I was a young girl.  I loved to play with dolls and play that I was a Mother, even from the very early years of my life.  To have that taken away from me was devastating, and I grieved over it for a long, long time and still do at times.

But God has a plan for all of His people that does not include grief and sorrow.  Instead of the ashes of my barren life, God gave me 5 beautiful children to love and raise.  He is a God that loves to restore and bring your life full-circle back to what He intended for you from the beginning.  He loves to give you beauty for ashes, and He will when you love Him and seek Him with all your heart.

I love the beauty for ashes verses in the Bible.  Isaiah 61 reads like my own personal memoirs from God:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me”…oh yes, it is!  He has given me His Spirit!

“Because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor” …oh yes, He has!  I preach whenever I get a chance that God has a better life for you to live, God has a better plan and He will show you that you don’t have to be poor in spirit; you don’t have to grieve over past sin and past hurts your entire life.

“He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted” …oh yes, He has!  I love to tell people that God is not mad at them!  He does not hold sin against you when you are brokenhearted over it yourself!  He wants to heal your heart, and heal your spirit.  He wants you to come full-circle and back around to what He intended for your life from the start.

“To proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” …you see, just as God has a plan for your life from the very beginning, in this fallen world we have an enemy in the devil, and He will do everything he can to steal, kill and destroy the plan of God for you.  Sometimes we succumb to the enemy and he gets us all bound up in sin and unable to get free.  But God knows how to get us free and He will do it!  Once you get free of the enemy’s grasp, you can’t stop telling of the Lord’s freedom!  I will never stop telling people that you too can be free!  You too can be out of the prison of sin and free from its effects!

“To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God” …God said that vengeance belonged to Him alone.  God loves to put the devil in his place.  I like to think of the big hand of God just smacking the devil away as we repent, love God, praise Him, and thank Him for His loving kindness!   When we do this, a miracle occurs;  God exacts his vengeance through us, the born again ones,  in the form of FAITH.  Faith in God destroys the enemy!  When you believe God, and you resist the devil – He has to flee!

“To comfort all who mourn,  to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” …there it is!  This is what God will do for all of His people who come to Him heavy laden with sin!  As soon as you repent and give your heart to God, He starts bringing your life full-circle back to where He intended you to be.  He takes the stick that the devil beat you with and hands it to you so that you can beat the devil back.  Your mess becomes your message, your test becomes your testimony!  You can’t stop telling about the goodness of God and His restoration of all parts of you;  that child that loved to play Mommy, that little boy that loved to preach, that teen-ager who wanted to change the world for Christ…. When the devil comes in like a flood, God raises a standard against him.  God’s standard is truth and justice.

“For I, the Lord, love justice” …

There are many out there who are broken-hearted over sin.  You have gone down a wrong path and you want desperately to turn around.  You can do it today.  You can be restored to everything God intended for your from the beginning.  You can come full-circle in your life.  God can bring you right back to where you need to be.  Call out to Him.  Come to Him and you will see that His arms are wide open and He is ready and waiting for you.  He loves you and He hasn’t changed His mind about you.  He will receive you and He will comfort you and restore you.  He will give you beauty for ashes, and joy instead of mourning!

Shackles of Shame

Every so often, I feel impressed to give my testimony again.  Getting free from the shame of the past is something that people everywhere struggle with every day.  It is like being shackled to what you were, and unable to walk in the freedom of who you ARE – saved, healed and restored by the One Who suffered this shame for you so that you could be free (Isaiah 53:3, Heb 12:2).  I pray that this message of redemption and restoration touches someone’s heart today and frees them from the shackles of shame.

Many of you know my background in the 70’s and 80’s which has now become part of my testimony. I was a ‘party girl’ – living a wasted life of parties, drugs and rock ‘n roll. Enter God! When you are truly born again, God removes your appetite for such things, and then He transforms your mess into your message. You live to give Him the glory and praise for restoring your life and delivering you from a meaningless and hopeless existence and giving you purpose, passion and purity!

Yet, I will tell you outright that a religious (Pharisaical) spirit will keep you shackled with the shame of your past – when God has already set you free! I have only one reason to refer to the former things which God brought me out of into His redemptive life – to give glory to the Lord Who has the power to save, heal and deliver! Those may sound like “churchy” terms so let’s break them down.

Saved – Forgiven! Period. No more condemnation for I am in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.)

Healed – All my hurts, hang-ups and bad habits – gone! He has given me beauty for ashes. Isaiah 61:
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
Because the LORD has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To grant those who mourn in Zion,
Giving them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
The oil of gladness instead of mourning,
The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of despair,
So they will be called oaks of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

Delivered – The Lord has now caused me to know that I can take the stick which the devil beat me with and use it on him instead! The Lord has given me an international ministry out of my testimony that will help to free others of the same shame and condemnation from which He freed me! The enemy can’t hurt me, shut me up, or sit me down with any kind of accusation ever again. I live and move and have my being in Jesus and in Him alone.

Lori is dead to what others say or think about my past; where I’ve been, what I’ve done and all the shame associated with it. As my Mom often says “It is what it is” – or in my case, I can say “it was what it was”! It is now my testimony and I am not ashamed.

Shame is much different than guilt. We feel guilty for what we do, whereas, we feel shame for who we are. I was guilty – but I’m forgiven. I am now a new creation – washed in His Blood and I’m free from shame! As an old, old hymn says “White as snow, white as snow, though my sins were as scarlet, Lord, I know, Lord, I know, that I’m clean and forgiven!”

I’m telling you – you who are reading right now at this moment – you who may have been born again for many years yet not free – there is freedom – there is deliverance – there is joy!

Don’t allow the enemy to keep you from complete restoration. Don’t give him that power. Don’t give place to shame or any tormenting spirit! Forgive others who have hurt you and forgive yourself for the harm you’ve done to your own soul. If you have asked for God’s forgiveness, accept that you have it! He will not withhold it from you as if He is waiting for you to make some sort of recompense. That’s what the Blood of Jesus did! He made restitution not only for our sin, but our shame!

In Revelations, it tells us how we overcome: by the Blood of the Lamb (saved!) and by the word of our testimony (healed and delivered)!

Be humble – yet bold in your testimony, and open your mouth and sing, pray, and declare His great salvation! Give God the Glory for the things He has done!

When Jesus met the woman at the well, He knew she had a very ‘checkered’ past. Yet the love He poured out on her that day was to save, heal and deliver her! There was, no doubt, awful things that had hurt her tremendously in her relationships with 5 former husbands! Shameful indeed! And religion would never let her forget it or be free of it! Yet, after she encountered Jesus, she ran to the city with a testimony of His love and healing and declared “he told me all that I had ever done”! His great love had delivered her of her guilt and shame!

When Jesus comes into your life and saves you, then heals you, then delivers you of shame, you will never live in silent bondage again. Be free! Free to live and to dance and to testify of Him! Give God all the glory for what He has done!

If you haven’t heard this song by Mary, Mary, please look it up and play it today!

I’ll be dancing with you.

Love,

“Shackles (Praise You)”

Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance
I just wanna praise you
(What’cha wanna do?)
I just wanna praise you
(Yeah, yeah)
You broke the chains now I can lift my hands
(Uh feel me?)
And I’m gonna praise you
(What’cha gon do?)
I’m gonna praise you

In the corners of mind
I just can’t seem to find a reason to believe
That I can break free
Cause you see I have been down for so long
Feel like the hope is gone
But as I lift my hands, I understand
That I should praise you through my circumstance

Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance
I just wanna praise you
I just wanna praise you
You broke the chains now I can lift my hands
And I’m gonna praise you
I’m gonna praise you

Everything that could go wrong
All went wrong at one time
So much pressure fell on me
I thought I was gonna lose my mind
But I know you wanna see
If I will hold on through these trials
But I need you to lift this load
Cause I can’t take it anymore

Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance
I just wanna praise you
I just wanna praise you
You broke the chains now I can lift my hands
And I’m gonna praise you
I’m gonna praise you

Been through the fire and the rain
Bound in every kind of way
But God has broken every chain
So let me go right now

Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance
I just wanna praise you
I just wanna praise you
You broke the chains now I can lift my hands
And I’m gonna praise you
I’m gonna praise you
[repeat x3]

Take them off
What’cha gonna do, yeah

Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance
I just wanna praise you
I just wanna praise you
You broke the chains now I can lift my hands
And I’m gonna praise you
I’m gonna praise you