In a palace you find many kinds of containers and tableware for many different uses. Some are beautifully inlaid with gold or silver, but some are made of wood or earthenware; some of them are used for banquets and special occasions, and some for everyday use. 2 Timothy 2:20 Passion Translation

I heard someone singing with such a beautiful voice and I wondered why her gift wasn’t being used. What a shame, I thought, my voice sounds like fingers on a chalkboard compared to hers.

Then I heard a voice say, “The deceiver comes to convince people that they have no gift, that their gift isn’t good enough, pretty enough. He even convinces them they have no talent at all until they place the gift upon a shelf or only use it for themselves.

“He makes them ‘shy’ so they say, ‘Oh no thank you, I’m not good enough.’ They refuse out of fear, self deprivation and just plain selfishness. I gave them a gift so that My plans and purposes could come in the earth. When you bless Me with your gift by using it as an offering, even if it’s not perfect in your ears, it is perfect in Mine.”

Don’t let Satan steal your gift. The world needs what you have inside of you. If it’s dancing, dance. If it’s singing, sing. If it’s laughing, laugh. If it’s cooking, cook. If it’s writing, write. We’re all part of His palace and each one of us has our uses. I can’t be you and you can’t be me, but we need each other.

Father, I humbly offer my old gift to you. May it be sweet to Your ears and bring glory to You. For all the other gifts I hold, may I not discount them based on my abilities, but Yours. It’s faith in You that allows me to be successful in all I do. As I discover these gifts, may I open them up and ask you for instructions so they may bless you and others. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Love Your Gift!

Sandy G

You can pass through His open gates with the password of praise. Come right into His presence with thanksgiving. Come bring your thank offering to Him and affectionately bless His beautiful name! Psalm 100:4 Passion Translation

If your home is anything like mine, it’s going to be busy! We’re having the remnant of our Florida family together for dinner at our house. There are a few missing faces around the table, but instead of focusing on what is no longer there, we’ve invited a couple who have been staying with us this month.

Our lives are to be lived to the full, till it overflows. That can only be done in the now so that we don’t miss opportunities to welcome others who don’t have family close by.

Don’t get me wrong, Peggy and my mom will be missed deeply. We won’t ever forget them, but they’re enjoying a greater community in Heaven and I’m thankful for the season they were a part of our lives.

Keep looking for opportunities to be thankful and bless His Name. He’s good all the time and is always looking for ways to bless us.

Have a Wonderful Day,

Sandy G

Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Then He will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine. Proverbs 3:9-10

Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to poverty will be cursed. Proverbs 28:27

Let’s remember this as we enter this Christmas season. Always put God first in all you do and you’ll never lack for any good thing. Instead of buying for those who already have, find a family who have lost part of their income and make it a good Christmas for them.

Adopt several families as a church and give them gift cards to local grocery stores so they can get what they truly need.

While you’re doing your grocery shopping, watch the faces of those around you. It’s easy to see the telltale signs of worry, those who pick up packages of meat and put them down because the price is too high. Allow your heart to be softened to the needs around you.

Ask God for discernment and a new sensitivity. We must stop thinking of ‘me and mine’ and think about those in need we pass by everyday. Make shopping a fun thing this year.

Have fun being a blessing!

Sandy G

All patience and encouragement come from God. And I pray that God will help you all agree with each other, as Christ Jesus wants. Then you will all be joined together. And all together you will give glory to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ accepted you, so you should accept each other. This will bring honor to God. Romans 15:5-7

And there you go! Let’s speak well of one another, even if we don’t agree on some things. Satan always spreads chaos, distraction and disunity. His goal is to keep us divided in every way possible, but God wants us to be one. Let’s work on that today.

Let’s pray together, Kingdom of God, come on the earth. Your will that we walk in love, be in us deeply. May we be a reflection of You in the earth. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8 NKJV

Every action causes a reaction. Once the first domino is tapped, the rest fall as a reaction to the first. That is the crux of what Jesus is saying. The asking prompts an answer. The seeking prompts a finding. The knocking brings an open door.

You had His attention when you stepped out in faith. Each and every step thereafter simply lead you to the place where God arranged for you to be. It could simply be someone just needed your smile, an encouraging word, a hand to hold or a listening ear. Your story is still being written so just keep moving, keep asking, keep seeking and you’ll find it.

Somewhere, somehow, someone has been effected by something you have done or said. May our action cause those to be blessed that felt the reaction.

Don’t stop now!

Sandy G

Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him! Then He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rain in early spring. Hosea 6:3

Know-to be certain of.

Press-to advance strenuously.

Respond-to return an answer.

I am certain that if I advance strenuously toward the Lord with all my heart, He will return an answer to me just as surely as the arrival of dawn and the coming of rain in early spring.

In the meantime, I will wait in His presence, worship at His feet and remain in expectancy until I hear His voice whispering in my ear giving direction.

Sandy G

He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

This tells me that the work is continual and ongoing. What God began in me, He is faithful to complete it.

I may look like a hot mess, a hopeless case, but you should have seen me before God began to work on me. When I look back over my life, I’m reminded of a sculptor working on an image. It takes lots of time and patience as he gently carves away small amounts of unwanted or unneeded material. If you’ve ever watched a sculptor in process, it always looks weird until it’s finished. At that point, it’s a masterpiece.

What I didn’t expect is that as the piece is finished, it looks nothing like me, but more like Jesus. What you behold on the outside is merely a shadow of what He’s created inside of me.

Psalms 51:16-17 MSG says it so well; “Going through the motions doesn’t please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you, I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.”

This is what my praise should look like, an offering of myself, daily, moment by moment, laying down my desires, my ambitions, my goals and dreams for His.

Father, as I walk this out today, may my offering be a sweet incense to you. Thank you for being so patient with me. For creating in me a clean heart and renewing a right spirit in me. Don’t ever stop working on me! I want to resemble you more and more everyday, in every way.

Sandy G

For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends. John 15:13 TPT

Jesus demonstrated this when He gave up His life for us. He wanted so badly to allow us to have the same access to God as He did, to know Father God in all of His fullness. Do you know God like this?

It’s possible to have that, not just imagined or hoped for, but real conversation with Him. He’s not a far off Father who we’ll know someday. He’s a right now God we can call out to anytime in any place. When we call on Him, He will answer us and show us things we don’t know.

I’ve sacrificed for my children many times. Why is it so hard for people to believe that Jesus would do that for us?

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? 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 fed them all! He loved them all, even the ones who didn’t love Him back.

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 are in me.

Sandy G

Sometimes when we’re in the middle of a tremendous, overwhelming situation, we lose sight of how faithful God has been to us in the past. My God is able. That’s where Israel was when their enemies threatened them. They fell on their faces and cried out to the Lord and He answered them.

II Chronicles 20:15-17, “This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow, march out against them. You will find them coming up through the ascent of Ziz at the end of the valley that opens into the wilderness of Jeruel. But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow, for the Lord is with you!”

And what a mighty victory it was. They rested in Gods Word to them and went and gathered up the spoils. God did it all.

Stop fighting battles that you weren’t intended to fight. There’s a time to fight and there’s a time to rest. Learn what season you’re in. Provision has already been made for your situation so stand on the promises of God, even when you don’t see it happen for a while.

Learn from the past, live in the present and trust God for your future.

Sandy G

“The eyes of your spirit allow revelation-light to enter into your being. If your heart is unclouded, the light floods in! But if your eyes are focused on money, the light cannot penetrate and darkness takes its place.  How profound will be the darkness within you  if the light of truth cannot enter! How could you worship two gods at the same time? You will have to hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t worship the true God while enslaved to the god of money!” Matthew 6:22-24 TPT

When we worry about where our next meal is coming from or how we’ll be able to afford to buy clothing, we’re not trusting God. Perhaps you’re thinking, “I don’t worship money!” But if you can’t trust God and money at the same time.

Perhaps you’re finding yourself in a very dark place and wondering why. Because it’s truth that makes you free from darkness, but that light of truth can’t come in if you’re always thinking of money or the lack thereof. What we focus on grows, but when we focus on God and His truth, the darkness yields to the light of truth in us.

Do you want to break this power of darkness over your life? Here’s what Jesus says to do in Matthew 6:31-34:

“So then, forsake your worries! Why would you say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32For that is what the unbelievers  chase after. Doesn’t your heavenly Father already know the things your bodies require? 

“So above all, constantly seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness, then all these less important things will be given to you abundantly. Refuse to worry about tomorrow, but deal with each challenge that comes your way, one day at a time. Tomorrow will take care of itself.”

Open the eyes of my heart Lord, I want to see You.

Sandy G