Proverbs 4:20-22 NLV “My son, listen to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings. Do not let them leave your eyes. Keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.”

John 6:63 NLV “It is the Spirit that gives life. The flesh is of no help. The words I speak to you are spirit and life.”

Did you catch that? The Word brings healing and life. Jesus said that “the flesh is no help.” Gods Word is where life comes from. I’m not just talking ‘life’ as in being alive and not dead, I’m talking about life we live in the Spirit of God bringing overflow onto our flesh.

If we’d focus our attention on the most important thing, our spirit, it would bring life to our flesh man. I think that what we truly miss is the big deception that Satan has tried to get us to buy since the beginning of time, and that is, focus on the wrong things.

To question what Gods Word really says in order to gain access to our rightful position in Christ Jesus. How better to do that than to keep us from reading and studying the Word of God?

If we don’t know the rule book, how can we play the game? I don’t know of any football team that would go out on the field without a clearly defined plan that fell into the perimeters of a rule book. You must study your opponents, know the game, and play to win.

Well, we as Christians can’t expect to run the race without knowing the advantages we have against our opponent. I want to run with winners! Those who have my back, who play as a team, not in it for themselves. There are too many of us trying to trip up our team members because we want to win. NO! That’s not how it’s played out, and if you’d read the rule book, you’d know this. We are one body, running together, loving the world, and winning the lost.

Each of us plays an important role in the race. If we don’t pray for one another, encourage one another, speak the Word into one another, we’ll be hopping across the finish line with missing limbs. I want to cross it whole, presenting to Jesus a whole bride. How about you? Are you in it to win it?

II Peter 3:14 GNT “And so, my friends, as you wait for that Day, do your best to be pure and faultless in God’s sight and to be at peace with him.”

Sandy G

But you are God’s chosen treasure —priests who are kings, a spiritual “nation” set apart as God’s devoted ones. He called you out of darkness to experience his marvelous light, and now he claims you as his very own. He did this so that you would broadcast his glorious wonders throughout the world. 1 Peter 2:9 TPT

God sees you as a personal treasure, His very own. You can choose to believe what others have spoken over you your whole life or what God has spoken.

If your view of yourself has been tainted by freely expressed observations and opinions, then it’s time to dismiss those things and throw yourself into those hidden treasures of His Word.

Begin reading what God says about you and believe it because it’s true. When someone says you’re going to die, tell them I will live and not die and declare the Word of God. Proclaim that He sent His Word and healed me, delivering me from all evil.

Simply don’t allow the voice of the enemy to be louder than the voice of God. Use your voice to proclaim what God says about you. You are chosen treasure and He loves you.

Sandy G

John 14:12-14 GW This is a part of what Jesus said to us, his disciples: “I can guarantee this truth: Those who believe in me will do the things that I am doing. They will do even greater things because I am going to the Father. I will do anything you ask the Father in my name so that the Father will be given glory because of the Son. If you ask me to do something, I will do it.”

There are some keys here that we need to see:

1. This is a guarantee. Defined; to make oneself answerable for (something) on behalf of someone else who is primarily responsible.

2. We will do the things Jesus was doing and even greater things. This includes; walking in unconditional love always; forgiving and letting things go; compassion that moves us to give of ourselves without complaint; no murmuring; forfeiting your own will and desires for the good of the Kingdom.

3. We can ask anything of the Father in Jesus’ Name that will give the Father glory. What? We can’t just have anything we want? We can’t ask for a million dollars and have it drop magically in our account? No, it can have no selfish ambition attached to it at all.

Jesus went about doing good and healing all. How many of us live our lives like that? How many of us can really say that our minds are so toward God that we never think of our own needs or wants because we know the Father will take care of us? Most, if not all of us, would have to admit to this.

Father, forgive me because I’m so not like Jesus. My eyes are still glued to my bills. I still have wrong intentions. My faith is still so small. The more I read about You, the smaller I feel.

So this morning, I ask to know You more. To hunger and thirst for Your presence. To overflow onto others the love and compassion that Jesus had for the lost You love.

May I not be critical of others and their motives. How do I know what their motives are,Lord? Open my eyes to try to find the good in all those around me, not just those who are nice to me. Only then will You be able to break through the walls they’ve formed from rejection and hurt. Only then will my own walls come down so that You can touch them through me. Jesus, give me Your eyes. I’m broken, please fix me.

Sandy G

Psalm 63:1-5 “O God, you are my God, and I long for you. My whole being desires you; like a dry, worn-out, and waterless land, my soul is thirsty for you. Let me see you in the sanctuary; let me see how mighty and glorious you are. Your constant love is better than life itself, and so I will praise you. I will give you thanks as long as I live; I will raise my hands to you in prayer. My soul will feast and be satisfied, and I will sing glad songs of praise to you.”

This morning, I wrote a similar song to the Lord as I journaled my thoughts to the King. I believe that this is why God had such a close relationship with David, calling him ‘the apple of His eye’. It’s the love songs, the pouring out of ones heart to someone that creates strong bonds of relationship.

Think of your closest friend who has seen you at your worst and best. The exchange of deepest dreams, the look of love, the understanding glance. If you’ve been friends for years, you just know when somethings wrong, when their heart is heavy, when they just need a friend. Well, thats who God longs to be to us, but unless we trust to share our deepest wounds and our greatest joys with him, we will never develop that ‘knowing’ trust I’m talking about. With each other, that kind of relationship can take a long time to develop, but with God, it takes a moment.

Start in the Psalms, read it out loud to the Lord just as David spoke them long ago, make it your own hearts cry. Weep before Him. Close your eyes and picture Him wrapping you in His arms of love. Now rest in that place and know that His love for you is constant, never changing, always present, even when you don’t feel he’s there.

“For He, God Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down relax My hold on you! Assuredly not!” Hebrews 13:5b Amp.

There is nothing to get you through your day like an encounter with God. Relax! He’s got this!

Sandy G

So no wonder we don’t give up. For even though our outer person gradually wears out, our inner being is renewed every single day. We view our slight, short-lived troubles in the light of eternity. We see our difficulties as the substance that produces for us an eternal, weighty glory far beyond all comparison, because we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16‭-‬18 TPT

That’s what I want, my friends. I want to focus on the unseen realm because that is eternal. It holds more weight than what you can see.

How can that be? How can the unseen be heavier? How can you weigh the unseen things?

Simple. God uses a different type of scale. Just like He uses the foolish things to confound the wise, love that covers a multitude of sins and a fish lunch to feed a multitude.

How wonderful are His scales. Mine can disappoint me, but His never does. Even when my body wears out my spirit lives on forever with Him. He’s my reward. To lose my life is gaining much more.

So I’ll keep reaching for things I can’t see, knowing that in the reaching, I’ll be finding treasure far more valuable than anything on earth.

Sandy G

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3 NKJV

If you’re wondering where your peace went, consider what you’ve been thinking on. You can quote the first part till you’re blue in the face, but the bottom line is, you will never have the first without the second.

I’ve had to practice that countless times over the span of my life. It’s so easy to get your mind stuck in your problems that I’ve had to shake my head hard and ask myself, “What are you doing? Will you never learn?”

But trust in God is only learned by firmly fixing your mind on who God is and what He’s capable of doing. You have to constantly remember what He’s done in your past and know He hasn’t changed and isn’t likely to.

So if you desire peace, examine your terrain. Get back on track and cast it all on Him. If He needs your help, He’ll ask. You just focus on keeping your peace.

Sandy G

While reading in Hebrews CEB this morning, I noticed the title of this portion of scripture said, “Run The Race With Discipline” and continued with these verses 3-6: “Think about the one who endured such opposition from sinners so that you won’t be discouraged and you won’t give up. In your struggle against sin, you haven’t resisted yet to the point of shedding blood, and you have forgotten the encouragement that addresses you as sons and daughters: My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline or give up when you are corrected by him, because the Lord disciplines whomever he loves, and he punishes every son or daughter whom he accepts.”

Sometimes, when we’re going through an exceptionally hard trial, it’s good to remember what Jesus went through. The only ones who accepted him were those who needed what he provided. But those were the first to turn on him and yell ‘crucify’ when given money by the religious leaders. Fickle people. And such were some of us!

When we don’t get what we want, we just give up, thinking that maybe God doesn’t love us as much as He does someone else. He calls us sons and daughters because He loves us, and as Paul said, He disciplines the ones He loves.

So when things aren’t so perfect in our lives, we need to yell out, “HE LOVES ME! I’M HIS OWN!” He’s only setting us on the right path so that we’ll be where He needs us when He returns to take us home.

Home sweet home. Let’s keep in mind that where we are today is not our home. We’re merely leasing for a period of time. Someday, He will call out to us, “Lease is up! Time to move on!” Don’t be so comfortable with your surroundings that you lose sight of who’s you are and where you’re going.

Remember what happened when Lots’ wife looked back with longing and turned into a salty statue. Let’s keep our eyes longing for our prize; Jesus, the author, and finisher of our faith.

Sandy G

Praise the Lord, my soul. Forget not all His benefits. Psalm 103:2 NIV

I began to write some of them this morning; home, car, furniture, food, electricity, running water, clothes, bank acct, health, peace, joy, love of family, great church….the list went on and on until I was overcome & in awe.

To focus on the plenty instead of the lack changes everything. The battle wages around us, but we remain stable in His arms.

Where’s your focus today? At 1:30 this morning, my focus was getting back to sleep (which didn’t happen). When I finally managed to crawl out of bed at 4:30, I realized that I could either focus on my lack of sleep or be thankful for the few I had. My choice. It’s always my choice!

I can focus on what I need or be thankful for what I have. I can murmur and complain, or be thankful and happy. Who would you rather be around today? Whiners or winners? Be a creator of joy today by keeping your attitude and focus right.

Father, I praise you because you are God and worthy of all praise. For what you’ve provided, I thank you! I will not forget all the benefits I have discovered in serving and surrendering to You. Today, may it be like I had 10 hours of sweet sleep, and may my body be strengthened for the task I have ahead of me. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen

“The good man from his inner good treasure flings forth good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil storehouse flings forth evil things. But I tell you, on the day of judgment men will have to give account for every idle (inoperative, non working) word they speak. For by your words you will be justified and acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned and sentenced.” Matthew 12:35-37 Amplified

I recently heard a message on this and thought I’d share my take on it. If you have a bank account, the only thing you can put in it is money, right? If you keep putting money in, you can keep taking money out. You can’t take love out of a bank account. You can’t take food out of a bank account. You can take money out and buy food, but you can only take out what you have put in.

Well, anyone who puts good things in their heart and mind will be able to withdraw good things and speak into others out of that treasure, but if you have deposited nothing into the account, you can’t withdraw from my account, her account or his account without having access to it. Am I right?

Ok, when we accepted Jesus as Lord of our lives, He gave us access to everything in His account and it’s accessed through His Word by speaking it and trusting in the Word, knowing that it cannot return empty but does what it’s sent forth to do. So that makes His Word is our withdrawal slip.

He’s provided everything we need for life and godliness and it’s all in the account of His Word. We can’t be speaking things opposite of God’s Word and expect to receive what was purchased for us by the blood of His Son. We can’t be loose lipped and say whatever we feel like saying and think there are not consequences, namely, getting what we speak. From the very beginning of time, God spoke and created. We were made in His image and likeness and yet we think we won’t get what we say?

I remember as a child getting my mouth washed out with soap for speaking a lie. It was to teach me that there are consequences to the things I say. Some of us need our mouths washed out with soap! We need to wash out our minds (by washing it with the Word Eph 5:26) and cast down thoughts that are contrary to the Word (II Corinth 2:5) so that we can begin to trust in the only one who has never broken His promises to us. It’s never too late to begin to make right deposits based on faith, not feelings.

Sandy G

And whenever you stand praying, if you find that you carry something in your heart against another person, release him and forgive him so that your Father in heaven will also release you and forgive you of your faults. Mark 11:25 TPT

I always loved playing peekaboo with my grandkids. Hiding behind my hands never really hid me, but as soon as my hand went up, it would always invoke a smile because they knew what was coming.

There are times in life when we try to hide our anger or hurt under a hand too small to cover. Everyone around us sees it. They feel the affects of it in our attitude towards them and others. If it were a neon light, it would be flashing. Yet we just choose to adjust ourselves to this new addition to our lives.

And we wonder why our prayers aren’t answered. We ask whether God still hears? Does He still do miracles today? The answer to that is a resounding yes.

So when will that happen? When you decide to forgive and let it go. If Jesus could forgive you for all you’ve done, you can also forgive them for what they’ve done.

Where can you lay it down where it won’t continually plague your mind? Under the blood of Jesus. It’s a place that covers and keeps covering. It makes us whole and healthy again.

“OH precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

Sandy G