“I have created the blacksmith who fans the coals beneath the forge and makes the weapons of destruction. And I have created the armies that destroy.  But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord; their vindication will come from me. I, the Lord, have spoken!” Isaiah 54:16-17 NLT

I can’t begin to tell you how much I love these verses! It doesn’t matter what you’re facing today or how far away it may seem before you see your desires come to pass. Your enemies may have dragged your name through the mud, took you to court, sued and won. But it’s not over yet!

There’s coming a day and it’s close, for sure, that God will stand up and say, “That’s enough!” When He does, there’s not a weapon created that’s leveled against you that will come close to succeeding in taking you out.  He’s about to silence every voice raised up in accusation. These are your benefits. Your King will fight for you! He, not you, He will vindicate you!

Let me just take a moment to praise the Lord! Come on, it’s an oldie but a goodie and it should be your Friday Praise song today, especially when you remember just how good God’s been to you!

Just remember what He said to you, “Their vindication will come from me. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Until Next Time Keep Praising!

Sandy G

You will be secure under a government that is just and fair. Your enemies will stay far away. You will live in peace, and terror will not come near.  If any nation comes to fight you, it is not because I sent them. Whoever attacks you will go down in defeat. Isaiah 54:14-15

As I continue in my ‘Promise’ series, this is so needed in the political climate we find ourselves facing today. Regardless of your personal views or opinions, it’s so important to set that aside and again, get Gods views on what HE wants us to declare over our nation.

There is so much I’d like to say, but seriously, nothing I say is going to influence you if you’re closed minded to the truth. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” John 14:6

Nothing, absolutely NOTHING is worth forfeiting my peace! If you’re more interested in pushing your agenda or your version of the truth, you miss the point of this post. We must be God seekers before all else. When we know the Truth (Jesus) it truly makes us free.

This verse is simply my promise that I speak over my family. I believe God more than I believe anything. I believe Gods Word is more real than what I see in the natural. I believe that God is the one who raises kings into power and takes them out of power. It’s all a part of His grand plans in which He’s planned from the beginning of time.

I speak peace and security over my family today. There will be no threat of terror, it will not come near our homes or cities. I believe that You thwart the plans of the enemy, and that every trap they set for me, they fall into themselves. I thank You that Your Word says, “Perfect, absolute peace surrounds those whose imaginations are consumed with you; they confidently trust in you.” Isaiah 26:3

Until Tomorrow,

Sandy G

All your children will be taught by Yahweh, and great will be their peace and prosperity. Isaiah 54:13 TPT

And all your [spiritual] children shall be disciples [taught by the Lord and obedient to His will], and great shall be the peace and undisturbed composure of your children. AMPC

I have so many promises that I have lay hold of over the years and have continually spoken over my life, as well as the lives of others, but this one is a favorite. If you’ve ever had children, had friends with children or perhaps you’re a teacher (bless your ever-loving soul!), this will soon become a favorite of yours as well.

Regardless of choices or anything you may see happening in their lives, Gods promise over your children rings true.  Hey, I know you’re going to find this hard to believe, but I was a challenge to my parents and look how I turned out! So it doesn’t matter what you see happening in this natural realm, God is able to deliver on His promises. This is your part—just believe!

“But Sandy, you don’t understand! You don’t see what I see!” Let me give you a little bit of an insight that took me years to understand; God doesn’t see things as you do–He sees so much more. He calls those things that aren’t yet as though they already are and He wants you to do the same.

Don’t continue talking the problem, talk the solution, the promise. Shift your focus from what you ‘see’ them doing, to what God sees them doing. If you can’t see that, you’ll never believe for that. Ask Father to show you how He sees your children. Ask Him for the plans He has for them so that you can get your words and vision corrected and speak them continually over their lives.

This also works for your spouse. No you can’t choose for them, but in faith, hold fast to the promises and let God do His perfect work in their hearts. Your job is to speak the Word, stand unwavering on the Word and let the Word work. You don’t need to say a word to them, the Word will work on it’s own.

Father, thank you for Your powerful Word that’s always working. It’s working when I’m sleeping and when I’m awake. You sent Your Word (Jesus) to save, heal and deliver all who are oppressed, depressed or possessed. There’s nowhere Your Word had not been or will not go, no one can run or hide that You can’t find them. Change our vision! Give us eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to obey. It’s in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Until Tomorrow,

Sandy G

 “Make your tent bigger. Spread out the curtains of your home, and do not hold back. Make your ropes longer and your tie-downs stronger.  For you will spread out to the right and to the left. Your children will own nations, and they will fill the destroyed cities with people.” Isaiah 54:2-3 NLV

Have you ever had someone try to hold you back, restrain or contain you? Or perhaps trap you into believing something is impossible even though God Himself gave you that promise?

It’s what Satan does everyday, uses people to say, “You can’t have that, be that or go there.” He gets you accustomed to your surroundings, comfortable in your settings and soon you find yourself stuck, simply because you limit yourself based on the lie he’s told you.

Some dreams can’t be shared! As Mary kept certain things tucked away in her heart, you must too. The moment you open your mouth to share, Satan comes immediately to try to take the word from your mouth, or the dream from your heart.

Surround yourself with like-minded people. People who have ventured past the lines of traditional or religious thinking. Those who dare to dream and hold fast to their confession of faith regardless of what the natural realm dishes out at them.

My dear friends, just because you’ve been in an extended dark season and can’t see the light, let me assure you, the Light is in you and He’s working. He never stops working! Remember that babies live in darkness for a season, but through much pain, they are pushed out into the light.

Break the restraints, bust out of the box. Live the Truth of His Word. The only limits to your dreams, are the ones you believe are there. All things are possible to those who believe!

Until Tomorrow,

Sandy G

“Listen to me, O royal daughter; take to heart what I say. Forget your people and your family far away. For your royal husband delights in your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.” Psalm 45:10-11

I honor my husband today. Walter Gregory has made me the happiest woman in the world because of his great love for me. He respects me and speaks highly of me to others and I can’t begin to tell you how much confidence it’s built in me.

That word ‘honor’, is translated high respect, as for worth, merit, or rank: to hold in high respect or revere. It’s not just how you treat someone, it’s how you talk about them and treat them when they’re in the room or far away.

There was a time when I didn’t treat him with respect and honor. Because of the funny things he did and my ability to tell stories, I would regal people with tales that would make them roar with laughter. I didn’t realize that in the process, I was undermining his self-esteem for others enjoyment. It took years to reverse the damage I’d done at his expense.

In John 14:6, Jesus explained, “I am the Way, I am the Truth, and I am the Life. No one comes next to the Father except through union with me. To know me is to know my Father too.” Thank God that when I discovered the Truth and sound teaching, I could make course corrections in the way I honor God and man.

Over the years I’ve heard a lot of women say how much they want a man like Walt because of the way he treats me. I would say to you that you can, if you’re willing to start with what you have and apply honor. It won’t happen over night and you won’t want to do it most of the time, but you don’t do it for any of those reasons. You do it because God said to! You do it because it’s just the right thing to do! No one deserves the grace and mercy of God, yet He extends it freely if we receive it.

There’s not a perfect person in the world, but if you set your heart on things above (Jesus) and seek Him with all your heart, the overflow of that love and honor will spill over onto the relationships around you. Sometimes the evil in us can only be replaced with that overflow. Let His love fill you up and let all the other stuff go.

I close with a portion of Pauls letter to the Philippians; I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead.  I run straight for the divine invitation of reaching the heavenly goal and gaining the victory-prize through the anointing of Jesus.  So let all who are fully mature have this same passion, and if anyone is not yet gripped by these desires, God will reveal it to them.  And let us all advance together to reach this victory-prize, following one path with one passion. (Philippians 3:14-16)

Until Tomorrow,

Sandy G

There’s a private place reserved for the lovers of God, where they sit near him and receive the revelation-secrets of his promises. Psalm 25:14

Have you ever been invited to a special event and when you arrived, you were asked to sit at the head table with the guest speaker? The first time it happened to me I thought I was back in school and was being placed in the front of the classroom so the teacher could keep an eye on me. You know, so you wouldn’t keep talking and disrupt the class? I’m sure some of you can relate!

The second time it happened, I became a little too comfortable in saying what was on my mind. Everyone was laughing, not sure if they were laughing at me or at what I said, but I loved the affect laughter had on them. Some people just thrive on attention. It’s part of their personality so don’t hate!

Several times in my life, I’ve heard the Father laugh and I’ve seen Him smile. You see, it’s our ‘thing’ we’ve got going on. He understands me because He created me. I try not to make Him angry (I don’t think I’ve crossed that line yet!), but I truly hate to disappoint Him.

My favorite times are together, where I snuggle up on His lap, feel His arms around me, His lips on my hair and His words of love in my ear. “Tell me a story, Daddy! I love the way you speak to me.”

As I settle in to His presence in that place where nothing can touch me, the ‘private place’ as David so aptly penned, He begins to speak and I ask questions. He loves it when I ask questions about what He’s telling me. It’s never an interruption. He knows my attention span is like a squirrel. He patiently explains, than peels back the layers as my understanding increases.

“Remember when you asked me how my Spirit works and I told you that? Well here’s another thing to add……” I usually respond with a gasp and an ‘ahhhh, that is SO COOL!’ To which I hear, “You think that’s cool, listen to this!”

Oh my friend, all the pleasures of this world cannot compare to the riches in His presence. When you begin to prioritize Him, He will share secrets with you as well. He’s no respecter of persons. He loves us all the same and invites us all to have intimate relationship with Him, but it’s always your choice.

Until Next Time,

Sandy G

“Loving me empowers you to obey my commands.  And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Savior, the Holy Spirit of Truth, who will be to you a friend just like me—and he will never leave you. The world won’t receive him because they can’t see him or know him. But you will know him intimately, because he will make his home in you and will live inside you.” John 14:15-17 TPT

Jesus replied, “Loving me empowers you to obey my word. And my Father will love you so deeply that we will come to you and make you our dwelling place.” John 14:23

Seems like Jesus thought this was very important to hear because He said it twice! What is there about loving Jesus that empowers you to obey? This seems to be a concept that few of us understand or puts into practice today.

Think about this for a moment. If loving Jesus gives me the power to obey, why don’t I obey when He asks me to do what I don’t want to do? I know this is an odd question, but it’s just the way my mind works. It’s a struggle at times!

Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Jesus! For all He’s done for me, I owe Him my life big time! But this obedience thing, it’s truly a struggle at times. It’s a battle that wearies the best of us. If Love truly holds to power to obey, I need access to that kind of Love.

1 John 4:7-8 says this about love: Those who are loved by God, let his love continually pour from you to one another, because God is love. Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of him.  The one who doesn’t love has yet to know God, for God is love.

So this is my simple conclusion to this complex post; If the Spirit of God is in us, Love is in us. If Love is in us, we have access to the greatest power in the universe and beyond. Unless we flip the switch, though the power is in us, we will never see or know the brilliance of the light we contain and the world won’t see the overflow of it.

Each time we obey, it’s like a power surge that brightens the light. It puts another log on the fire, causing the fire to be bigger and stronger so that others are warmed by the heat of it. The results become so overwhelmingly powerful that it’s hard to contain and simply impossible to disobey.

Until Tomorrow,

Sandy G

“So this is my parting command: Love one another deeply!” John 15:17 TPT

If there’s one gift I can give everyone this year, it’s love. Sounds sweet, doesn’t it? Most of us just want something tangible, but what we really need is love.

I was reading 1st John this morning and everyone knows that John was the disciple Jesus loved, but something struck me; when we understand the depths of Gods love, when it’s affected us so much that it oozes out of us, than we will also be recognized as the disciples Jesus loves.

I John 4: 17 says it this way; “And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.”

How will the world know Him if we don’t love like Jesus when He was here on the earth? Moved by compassion, he didn’t ask if they knew Him before he healed their bodies and raised their dead. He healed them all! He didn’t ask the multitude he was teaching if they qualified for food, He fed them all! He didn’t ask the people if they were worthy of His love, He loved them all, even the ones who didn’t love him.

Oh come on Sandy, how can we do that! Surely He doesn’t expect us to feed everyone, to love everyone, to heal everyone. Yes, why yes He does. He expects us to infect everyone in our sphere of influence with just that same unconditional love.

Trust me when I say this, if you’re looking for or expecting something bigger, you won’t see it until you’ve been faithful over the ‘little’ in your life. If it feels you’re stepping backwards, perhaps you’ve missed that the very foundation of our faith–love. Ask God to open your eyes to see what’s been in front of you all this time. It’s only when you’re faithful in little that He makes you ruler over much.

If the capacity to love like that isn’t in you, I’m afraid that Jesus isn’t in you either. Read it for yourself, verse 20, “If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?”

God, give me that kind of love. Turn on Your love hose and flood me with so much love that I drench those around me. Out of that love, may healing and deliverance flow. May peace flow. May needs be met on any and every level. Help me to be You to those around me, great lover of my soul. May there be no doubt that You, Holy Spirit of God, are in me. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Until Tomorrow,

Sandy G

“I leave the gift of peace with you–my peace. Not the kind of fragile peace given by the world, but my perfect peace. Don’t yield to fear of be troubled in your hearts–instead, be courageous!” John 14:27 TPT

I was awakened this morning with a heavy heart and began to cry out to the Lord for someone. Perhaps it was you, I don’t know. What I do know is that God loves you very much, enough to wake me up to pray for you.

Whatever you’re going through, the Spirit of God is near. Call on Him and He will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you know not of. I will stay on my knees till this lifts and I know you’re going to be alright.

I commission angels to go, take the Words spoken that they may pierce this situation and bring freedom. I speak peace over this turmoil. Peace, be still to the storm. Peace to the battle raging on the inside of you.

Father, You sent Your Word (Jesus) and healed them, delivering them from all disease. You are the great I AM and there is no one like You. Nothing is too hard for You and there is nothing You haven’t already made provision for.

I bind the spirit of fear and discouragement trying to hinder your work in them. You’ve not given us the spirit of fear, but power, love and a sound mind. Guard their heart and mind as they focus on You. May they sense a rushing, mighty wind blowing away away all the doubt and unbelief. It’s in Jesus’ mighty name we pray, Amen.

Until Tomorrow,

Sandy G

“Do you know of any parent who would give his hungry child, who asked for food, a plate of rocks instead?  Or when asked for a piece of fish, what parent would offer his child a snake instead?  If you, imperfect as you are, know how to lovingly take care of your children and give them what’s best, how much more ready is your heavenly Father to give wonderful gifts to those who ask him?” Matthew 7:9-11 TPT

So many times I’ve heard people say things like, “I don’t believe in God. I asked Him to do something and He didn’t do it.” If your whole preface for believing in God is to get what you want, my friend you’ve missed the point. God isn’t a ‘sugar daddy’, He’s our spiritual Father, our creator, who has good plans for us and longs to care for us.

To not believe in God based on this assumption is equivalent to me not believing I have a body because I don’t like what it’s given me. Yet here I am, staring at myself in the mirror. I may not like what I see, but that’s on me, not God!

Jesus was trying to show people that God is a generous and loving Father. It’s not in His nature to be anything else. When you’re hungry, He’ll feed you. He did it for the children of Israel in the desert. He did it for Elijah under a broom tree. He doesn’t always do it the same way, but He’ll do it.

The thing is, we tend to focus on our physical needs when we should be focused on our spiritual ones. Look at Solomon. He could have asked for anything and God would have given it to Him, but He asked for wisdom and ended up with it all.

In Luke 12:22-23 (TPT), Jesus says, “Listen to me. Never let anxiety enter your hearts. Never worry about any of your needs, such as food or clothing. For your life is infinitely more than just food or the clothing you wear.” Verse 30-31, “People everywhere seem to worry about making a living, but your heavenly Father knows your every need and will take care of you. Each and every day he will supply your needs as you seek his kingdom passionately, above all else.”

Let’s be passionate God seekers. Not for what He can do for us, but for what we can do for Him.  Let’s know all about Him intimately, spending time in His presence so that when we go into the world, we reflect the light in us.

Until Tomorrow,

Sandy G