“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart for my holy purpose. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5 GW

With all I’ve been through in my life, sometimes I need to be reminded of how God sees me. I need to remember that way back, I mean way, way back, before I was a gleam in my daddy’s eye, long before he was even born, God knew me and had purpose for my life in the earth.

And it’s not just me. You too! Most of you wouldn’t give me a cursory glance if you saw me at the mall but God knows me by name. That gets me excited! Of all the people on the earth, when I call on Him, He answers me. He’s not confused or left wondering at my voice. He knows exactly who I am.

And here’s another great wonder to remember and ponder on today; His Holy Spirit has been deposited in me so that we can share life together. He doesn’t just walk with me and talk with me, He’s in me constantly telling me things about Him and His deep love for me.

When I need a doctor, He’s mine! When I need a provider, He’s mine! When I’m feeling alone, His Presence fills me up until I overflow with joy. Oh and when He needs hands, I’m His. When He needs arms, I’m His. When He needs a voice, I’m His. When He needs feet, I’m His. Just as I have access to all He is, He has access to all I am.

You’ll have to excuse me now as I’m a bit overwhelmed with His glory as He’s just shown me another aspect of what He has planned for me today.

Until Tomorrow!

Sandy G

I’ve learned that there is nothing perfect in this imperfect world except your words, for they bring such fantastic freedom into my life! Psalm 119:96 TPT

That verse just says it all! His Words are true forever. His words formed the universe and keeps everything hanging and rotating with precision. His words are alive and powerful. His words are forever working. His words bring peace. His words satisfy and strengthen.

And the fantastic freedom it brings into my life when I place my trust in His Word! Now that there is the frosting on the cake, the ice-cream on the cone, the grand finale of the fire-works display.

Makes me want to just get on my crazy praise, my dancing shoes and shout praises to the God whose Word has made such a difference in my life and set me in a safe place where I can see what’s going on around me, but it just doesn’t affect me or take my peace away.

I will sing unto the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously! The only true and living God! I will continuously praise and glorify Your name for You are good, Your mercy is everlasting and You will never leave us or forsake us! Praise Your mighty name! AMEN!

Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free—not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past. Galatians 5:1 TPT

Today we celebrate our independence as a nation. As wonderful as that was, and as much as I appreciate the sacrifice of so many who made that possible, I’m also extremely thankful for the day Jesus came and set me free.

You see, no one can take that freedom from me. I was a slave to sin, lost and bound by chains and doomed to a horrific life until someone introduced me to a man named Jesus who set me free of my chains, rescued me from destruction and set me on a path that leads me closer and closer to Him.

If that’s you, Happy Freedom day to you too! If you’ve never met Him, let me introduce you. Friend, meet Jesus. Jesus, meet my friend. I ask You to reveal Yourself to them as You have to me. As they give to You all of their sins, wash them and make them new just as You did for me. Now invite them to walk with You and teach them Your ways so that they may enjoy the same freedom I have. It’s in Jesus’ name, Amen.

If you think that’s too good to be true, wait until you find out what He has in store for those who love Him. It will blow your mind!

Happy Freedom Day!

Sandy G

One of my many favorite verses is found in Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”

Let me just read this backward for a moment. He who trusts You and keeps his mind stayed on or focused on You will be kept in perfect peace.  Now I’m not a math whiz, but that equation adds up to me!

Now let me clarify this for a moment by giving you an example of what I’m talking about. We recently had some nasty storms come through the area. There were power outages, trees down, wind was whipping. When I drove home, I could see the damage of what that storm had produced, but guess what? While the storm was going on, I was sitting in my office at work focused on my work. I was aware of the storm, but safe at my desk.

Do you understand? When I’m encountering some nasty stuff in my life, I seek the Lord as to how He wants me to deal with it, I do what He asks and I praise Him. Each time it loops around in my head, I say, “Lord, I did what You said, now I’m casting the care of it onto You because I know You care for me. You care for my body, You care for my children, You care for my finances, I will praise You and leave it in Your capable hands.”

I trust Him. I fix my eyes on His faithfulness and rest in His perfect peace. He promised and I’m the beneficiary of that promise. It doesn’t mean I don’t get distracted or tempted to have a freak out moment. What it does mean is when I practice shifting my focus and remember that He’s never failed me, I can rest in that. Each time gets a little easier to shift my focus back until at last, I’m not even distracted by it.

My focus can’t remain on the storms of life or I would be of no use to God. I must learn to place those things that are out of my control into the hands of the one I’ve grown to trust, Jesus. To learn to do that, I must first know Him and be confident that He is the same God who healed the sick and raised the dead. The same God who supplied for the widow woman and her son. The same God who hears me when I call. I must know Him.

To quote a pastor/friend of mine, “The greater the trust, the deep the intimacy.” I would never know Walt and trust him if I didn’t spend time with him and learn about him.  He reflects God in our home and to those around us. But if we never talked and he never opened up to me and shared his secrets with me, I could not know him.

Peace comes when I train my mind to constantly and consistently think on God and His promises, even when bad storms come into my life and I don’t understand what’s happening. Creating habits, good or bad, comes by repeating the same behavior over and over again. I will keep bringing my mind back to what God said and rest in His promises.

Enjoy Your Perfect Peace! Until Tomorrow,

Sandy G

Faith opened Noah’s heart to receive revelation and warnings from God about what was coming, even things that had never been seen. But he stepped out in reverent obedience to God and built an ark that would save him and his family. By his faith the world was condemned, but Noah received God’s gift of righteousness that comes by believing. Hebrews 11:7 TPT

What kind of person builds a giant sized boat on the Word of an unseen God who said it would rain in a land that had never known rain. Can you even imagine the ridicule, the harassment against himself and his family? It took him 120 years. ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY YEARS!

Verse 8; Faith motivated Abraham to obey God’s call and leave the familiar to discover the territory he was destined to inherit from God. So he left with only a promise and without even knowing ahead of time where he was going, Abraham stepped out in faith.

David was anointed king of Israel, but after the anointing came a very long season where he was hunted. He continued to talk to God and get direction, using that season to learn how to lead men and hear Gods voice.

Who does that you ask? People whose focus remains intentionally unwavering regardless of the time involved in the process. These great men stayed focused on God and His promises regardless of what transpired in the span of time between the first step of obedience to the manifestation of the promise.

We live in a society where waiting 3 minutes at a stoplight causes anxiety attacks and heaven help us if the drive thru window attendant is too friendly to the person in front of us. Span of time? There’d better not be a long one or we’re skipping out to the next thing.

When what God has promised doesn’t manifest in the time we’ve allowed, we tend to toss our faith aside and assume God could care less.  We couldn’t be more mistaken! He is more than faithful to a faithless generation.

There is absolutely nothing impossible to those who believe. Don’t throw away your confidence just because it doesn’t show up when and how you think it should.  Every story in the bible began with a promise, the length of time is determined by unwavering faith regardless of the odds, and unchanging word of God.

Abraham possessed his land and ended up blessed by a son in his old age. Noah got his rain and was the only family saved from the flood. David took his throne and was the only king that God said, “He’s a man after my heart.”

You too will have what you’re willing to wait for. Just keep pursuing the presence of God and continue doing what He says. If our focus doesn’t change, our circumstances eventually will because everything changes in the presence of God.

Until Tomorrow,

Sandy G

So then, refuse to answer its call to surrender your body as a tool for wickedness. Instead, passionately answer God’s call to keep yielding your body to him as one who has now experienced resurrection life! You live now for his pleasure, ready to be used for his noble purpose. Romans 6:13 TPT

I believe somewhere along the road, we’ve lost the correct definition to the word yield. This word has always meant, to surrender or submit, as to superior power. In the life of a Christian, I am compelled to surrender or submit to the plans and purposes of God. As my dad used to say, “No if, ands or buts about it!” In other words, you can’t stipulate that if it’s not convenient, I’ll opt out.

The great things I can accomplish in life become greater when I allow God the opportunity to work in and through me. Yielding says I set aside my dreams and desires and say, “I am all Yours! I’m all in, spirit, soul and body! Do what You need to do because I make myself available.”

Jesus said, “Greater things than this will you do because I go to my Father.” He left, but we stayed so that the work He started would continue. I have the potential to do great things if I yield to God and His way of doing and being. If I continue in my own ways, seeking after my own desires, then I settle for mediocre. Sorry, but excellence has more value then mediocre.

So I will yield, arms open wide to Your plan for greatness in me. As others look on, may I move over so that You will be all that remains to be seen.

Until Tomorrow,

Sandy G

Then his disciples approached Jesus and asked, “Why do you always speak to people in these hard-to-understand parables?”

He explained, “You’ve been given the intimate experience of insight into the hidden truths and mysteries of the realm of heaven’s kingdom, but they have not. For everyone who listens with an open heart will receive progressively more revelation until he has more than enough. But those who don’t listen with an open, teachable heart, even the understanding that they think they have will be taken from them. That’s why I teach the people using parables, because they think they’re looking for truth, yet because their hearts are unteachable, they never discover it. Although they will listen to me, they never fully perceive the message I speak.” Matthew 13:10-13 TPT

I must always come before God with an open heart so that I can receive more and more revelation of who He is and wants to be in me. If I read with my intellect, my understanding is limited, but when I read with the passion of knowing Him more, He will always reveal Himself to me.

When I became open to knowing, He poured into me until my heart was overwhelmed. It’s more then a feeling that comes and goes, it’s a deep inner understanding that He made me new by wiping my past and creating a new future. I heard Him whisper, “Don’t look back anymore! I’m your future and together, we will change the world.”

I remember laying in bed beside my husband one night. We’d been married about 15 years at the time and as he stroked my face and began telling me how beautiful I was and declaring his deep love for me, I remember saying, “You really mean that, don’t you?!” It was as if a light came on and I realized that his love wasn’t based on how I felt about me, he deeply loved me.

That’s how it is with God’s love. To understand it, you must see how He sees you not how you see you. Taking off the smudged lenses of self loathing and condemnation, and using the lenses of God to see the right way. His way.

It’s time we addressed the lies so we can accept the truth. We are fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. Our spirits are one with His Spirit and there’s nothing He can’t do through us. When He sent His Spirit to inhabit us, He brought wholeness with Him. Trust Him to fill in all the emptiness and missing pieces. Begin to offer up your best praise as you open your heart to hear His sweet whispers of love.

Until next time,

Sandy G

Why doesn’t God do everything we ask? Why don’t we get what we ask for? Whats going on? This seems to be the question I hear from believers and unbelievers alike. We’re always looking for signs, miracles, to see a mighty move of the Spirit of God. Is it wrong to long for that? Is it wrong to want our loved ones free of disease? Free from bondage? NO!

I don’t have all the answers, but I know the one who does. His name is Jesus. There were many things He said that people didn’t understand but when the Holy Spirit was sent, it’s He who leads us into all truth.

“The prophecy of Isaiah describes them perfectly:

Although they listen carefully to everything I speak, they don’t understand a thing I say. They look and pretend to see, but the eyes of their hearts are closed. Their minds are dull and slow to perceive, their ears are plugged and are hard of hearing, and they have deliberately shut their eyes to the truth. Otherwise they would open their eyes to see, and open their ears to hear, and open their minds to understand. Then they would turn to me and let me instantly heal them.” Matthew 13:14-15 TPT

What I need to do is seek Him with all my heart and I will find Him, then listen and obey His voice. If I go where He sends me, He will do what He said He will do. I become His messenger, the rest is on Him. When He said He would watch over His Word, He meant it. When He said, “I will hasten my Word to perform it,” He meant it.

I can’t tell you WHEN, it will happen, but I can tell you that as soon as I obeyed and declared it, it DID happen. God doesn’t work on our time, He works outside of time. Who’s to say that the moment you spoke, He went back to fix what was broken. We must trust enough to rest in His promises and continue to seek His face, going where He leads, doing what He says, serving with child like faith in the Father.

Eyes on Him, not on the miracle we’re hoping for. Eyes on Him, studying His Word, worshipping Him and encouraging each other. Eyes on Him, our hope. Eyes on Him, always, He will direct our steps.

Jesus! I trust in you! Even when I don’t see it, I trust you. Even when it makes no sense, I trust you. I’ll keep doing my part which is small, so that you can do your part through me in the grand scale you desire to. It’s in your name I pray, Amen.

Listen to the truth I speak to you: If someone says to this mountain with great faith and having no doubt, ‘Mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the midst of the sea,’ and believes that what he says will happen, it will be done. Mark 11:23 TPT

So often we get this twisted around in our minds. We think we need to see it to believe it, but that’s not what God said to do. He said in order to see it, we need to say it first. Does that sound crazy to you? Well, let’s go back to the beginning when God created the heavens and earth. He saw darkness and spoke light. He didn’t say what He saw, He said what He wanted to happen.

Here’s something the Lord showed me the other day: If your focus doesn’t change, your reality won’t change. If you don’t fight the lies in your head with the truth of the Word, what you’re led to believe will become more real than what God says.

Let go of what your natural eyes see and allow the truth of His Word to reshape your reality. Nothing changes if your thinking doesn’t change. If you want to see what you say, you must begin to submit yourself to God and allow Him to change the way you think. Say what He tells you to say and do what you see Him doing.

Remember, Gods ways are better than our ways and His thoughts are WAY higher than our thoughts. If we are His children, we contain His DNA so therefore, we have the ability to get His mind on the matters we face. Ask Him and wait for the answer. He loves to talk with His children and show you things you don’t know.

Excited for what lies ahead!

Sandy G

“I met the man named Jesus! He rubbed clay on my eyes and said, ‘Go to the pool named Siloam and wash.’ So I went and while I was washing the clay from my eyes I began to see for the very first time ever!” John 9:11 TPT

I bet he never forgot that day, the day when he met a man who rubbed clay in his eyes and told him to go wash and he saw for the first time ever! Miracle after miracle happened everywhere Jesus went. He carried the very presence of God with Him where ever He went and did good everywhere.

Lately I’ve been spending much of my spare time just thinking about verses like this and wondering why I’m not doing what He did? This is my conclusion. Jesus said that all things are possible for those who believe so perhaps I know it in my head but not my heart.

I must be fully persuaded that He is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond anything I can think or even imagine according to the power that works in me. What power? Gods power. Where? Within me. I am a powerhouse for the Holy Spirit to work through. And I’m not alone! You are, and you, and even you! If you’ve received the Holy Spirit since you believed, than yes, YOU have that same power working in you.

So while I’ve been learning about the power I possess, I’ve also been learning to trust and surrender to the source of that power who dwells within me. I’m learning to hear Him clearer and follow His leading in everything. When to talk, when to not talk. When to move, when to not move. I’m learning to say what He says and do what I see Him do. If Jesus had to do it that way, I’m pretty sure I need to learn that too.

Whose in with me? Let’s get good at listening and obeying so that we no longer trust in ourselves, but in He who is in us. Then let’s get busy changing the world one miracle at a time. To God be the glory and may His Kingdom be evident in the earth.

Until Tomorrow

Sandy G