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31 Tuesday May 2022
Category Archives: the Spirit
The Spirit of Truth
07 Sunday Feb 2021
John 14:17 AMP
“ The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you constantly and will be in you.”
In the Church today, there seems to be some confusion surrounding the role of the third person of the Trinity. Holy Spirit is not the Holy Beater, nor is He the Holy Chastiser – He is the Spirit of Jesus, Who raised Christ Jesus from the dead and Whom was released at Pentecost 50 days following the resurrection. In Acts, The Apostle Peter explains the how behind The Who:
Acts 2:38 – 39 AMP
“And Peter answered them, Repent (change your views and purpose to accept the will of God in your inner selves instead of rejecting it) and be baptized, every one of you, in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of and release from your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise (of the Holy Spirit) is to and for you and your children, and to and for all that are far away, (even) to and for as many as the Lord our God invites and bids to come to Himself.”
The word ‘repent’ in Greek is described as Metanoia: to change course or direction. It does not suggest condemnation nor guilt which many modern churches teach. Jesus paid for guilt on the cross – Isaiah 53:5 ” ….. for He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities”. The Spirit of Jesus is a GIFT that is freely imparted through the acceptance of Christ. The Holy Spirit points us to answers held within Jesus. Jesus did not come to earth to condemn or judge, but only to save the lost. The reason people go to hell is not because of personal sin – Jesus has forgiven each of us. (1 John 2:1-2) People are condemned to hell because they do not accept Jesus as their payment for a sin debt they can never pay nor do they accept Him as their Lord and Savior.
John 15:26 AMP
“But when the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) comes, Whom I send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who comes (proceeds) from the Father, He (Himself) will testify regarding Me.”
There is a True North, or a “true Truth” that has been established on the earth by God the Father. This “True North” is available to all that hear the voice of the Shepherd and that will read God’s Word. The absolute truth of God’s laws and principles slice through clutter and confusion, clarifying difficult topics with application to all things past, present and future. God, in His mercy, also dispatches The Gift of His Spirit with periodic customized messages direct to our own spirit that bring clarity and truth to challenging circumstances, shining a light on the way forward. There is a reason that Jesus said that we should be glad that He was going away because something better was coming. The Cavalry has now truly come but you must get to know Him, spend time with Him and cultivate His presence.
So what is Truth ? Recently I had a discussion with someone that presented a narrative on circumstances of which I had observed at close range. What was true in his mind was 180 degrees from how I viewed the exact set of circumstances. He had crafted his own truth-narrative to cover for failures that he would not own. (We are all capable of espousing creative narratives to protect our egos and reputations.) To him, the facts he stated were unequivocally true – to me they were a ridiculous lie. It was pointless to challenge his story as it would only end in an argument and nothing I said would change his mind. I decided to pray that the Spirit of Truth would take care of the matter.
Another word for Truth is also “reality” – the Holy Spirit can be considered the Spirit of Reality, God’s kingdom reality – which is the only truth that matters. There is also a term called ‘universal truth’ which means what it says that a particular truth would be universally accepted by most people or a category of people (We’ll use Christians). For example: It is universally understood and accepted by all Christians that Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit, therefore bypassing the Adamic line of sin. Although we cannot ask Mary how this happened and discern for ourselves through first person testimony, we believe the Word of God and accept the account as being true. In the above illustration regarding the opposing narratives, there is no universal truth to which to refer and it comes down to character and perception. Fortunately, with the Spirit of Truth, we can always depend on the excellence of God’s character and His nature and trust that He is only delivering to us His “true Truth”.
John 16:13 AMP
But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole truth, the full Truth). For he will not speak His own message (on His own authority); but He will tell whatever He hears (from the Father; He will give the message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears (from the Father) and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come (this will happen in the future). He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take care of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (disclose, transmit) it to you.
Pray for a strengthening of your personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to make Himself known and shown to you. Honor the Spirit and acknowledge Him when He confirms or discloses (transmits Spirit to spirit) information from God to you. He is doing it for your betterment and to glorify the work of Jesus. He truly is a Gift from the Father and paid for with the Blood of the Son.
For further study: The Spirit of Truth | Reformed Bible Studies & Devotionals at Ligonier.org
Tracy Gatewood
Sacred Ramblings
Prayer University
Session #14
Sharing Link: https://wp.me/p1zoxs-2SM
All Rights Reserved 2021
Christ Jesus Our Hedge
13 Sunday Sep 2020
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As we continue to look at prayer through the understanding of Jesus the Master Teacher we must consider that now He has been installed into the office of High Priest, making constant supplication to the Father on behalf of the one’s that He has been given. Notice that I did not say, all of mankind. Jesus specifically intercedes for the people that God gave to Him as a gift (John 17:9 ). This does not just only refer to the disciples but in fact, God knows Who will come to His Son. Every believer is a precious and distinct gift given to Jesus. Isn’t it beautiful to consider that you are a gift to the Lord ?
In the story of Job, the writer initially portrays him as a successful man protected by God and goes onto state that Job was ‘blameless and upright, and one who reverently feared God and abstained from and shunned evil’. So why was Job allowed access by Satan – the Accuser ?
Job 1:9-11 AMP
” Then Satan answered the Lord, Does Job (reverently) fear God for nothing? Have you not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have conferred prosperity and happiness upon him in the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face. “
We know that Job constantly focused on the potential sins of his daughters and sons, making offerings for them to cover any sin in which they even might have been engaged. Job’s incessant fear that his family had sinned could have been the very thing that brought down his hedge of protection. The spirit of fear and the emotion of fear is the rope on which the enemy uses to swing into the minds of God’s people. Fear (and unforgiveness) is the great key that unlocks demonic force.
Job 1:5 AMP
“And when the days of their feasting were over, Job sent for them to purify and hallow them, and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed or disowned God in their hearts. Thus did Job at all times.”
Recently, I was listening to an audiobook of a highly respected evangelist who is now deceased. This is a man from whom I have learned much, particularly as it pertains to prayer and deliverance. He, too, addressed the passage on Job but his interpretation of the result of Job’s constant prayers on behalf of the sins of his family was completely different. His belief was that Job’s intercession was what brought him a multiplied blessing following the loss of everything he owned; children, livestock and money. No mention was made of the negative consequences of the constant fear that potentially opened the initial door to the enemy’s oppression.
The Bible states that it was when Job turned to God in faith, acknowledging that the Lord “can do all things and that no thought or purpose of Yours can be restrained or thwarted” (Job 42:2) was when Satan’s curse began to reverse. God asked Job to pray for his doubting friends. It is then that He healed Job, blessing his latter days more than the former, living to 140 years. God restored all that Job had lost and actually received double!
Our truth today is that we now walk in something else, a no longer new normal that was made permanent and ratified by the resurrection of Christ Jesus. Today we walk in a New Covenant or Agreement.
The cornerstone of this truth is to understand that Jesus paid for all of our sin and even guilt (condemnation) through His sacrifice. This means ALL sin from the beginning of mankind to the end of life. Christ Jesus ( Christ is an office meaning the Anointed One ) has made a covenant with God on our behalf and is now installed at the right hand of the Father as our High Priest, Mediator of this Eternal Covenant, Chief Shepherd as well as the Chief Intercessor. His sacrifice opened a way to a new and better covenant, one not built on the blood of bulls and goats, but one that was built on the Surety of Himself.
Hebrews 9:15 AMP
“[Christ the Messiah ] is therefore the Negotiator and Mediator of an [entirely] new agreement (testament, covenant) so that those who are called and offered it may receive the fulfillment of the promised everlasting inheritance – since a death has taken place which rescues and delivers and redeems them from the transgressions committed under the old first agreement. “
Hebrews 9:18-20 AMP
“So even the (old) first covenant (God’s will) was not inaugurated and ratified and put in force without the shedding of blood. For when every command of the Law had been read out by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of slain calves and goats, together with the water and scarlet wool and with a bunch of hyssop, and sprinkled both the Book (the roll of the Law and covenant) itself and all the people. Saying these words: This is the blood that seals and ratifies the agreement (the testament, the covenant) which God commanded me to deliver to you. ”
The Law given to Moses was the Old Covenant. The Israelites wanted written rules to live by but this was not God’s best for them. The good was traded for the best which was for the laws to be engraved onto their hearts and minds, that they would know by the Spirit that they were engaging in right or wrong actions.
When we remain in right standing with God, we are secured in the ark of Jesus. We are given protection based on His righteousness and not through our works but through His perfect right standing to the Father. This is not of anything that we can boast or perform to attain, it is a gateway that was opened by the blood of Jesus.
II Corinthians 5:21 AMP
“For our sake He made Christ [virtually] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become the righteousness of God “[ what we ought to be, approved, and acceptable, and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness].
As we see ourselves established in faith that we are in right standing with God through the blood of Jesus, Jesus becomes our hedge. We become the righteousness of God in Christ.
So my friend, see Christ Jesus as your hedge paid for by His blood and give testimony today of what His blood has done for you. As you pray, do so knowing that your Lord Jesus has made the ultimate down payment to become your eternal hedge of protection.
Isaiah 54:14 “You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror , for it shall not come near you.”
Tracy Gatewood
Sacred Ramblings
#PrayerUniversity
Session 8
All Rights Reserved 2020
Facebook: Tracy Gatewood Sacred Ramblings
Author: Doorways of Grace: My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus
Soundcloud: Tracy Gatewood
Christ, Healing, and the Power of Words
20 Monday Jul 2020
Posted in #HolySpirit, Armor of God, Christianity, God the Father, Healing, Healing and the Armor of God, Jesus, Blood of Jesus, New Covenant, redemption, Law of First Mention, Leadership, Prayer, Prayer University, redemption, Sword of the Spirit, The Bible, the Spirit, Tracy Gatewood Prayer, Unity, Wisdom
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Abraham, AbrahamandSarah, Christianity, faith, FirstMentionofPrayerrelatedtoHealing, JehovahRapha, Old Testament, Power and Authority, Prayer, Praying against a virus, Spirit of Infirmity, the Cross, TracyLGatewoodPrayer
“In the beginning was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. He was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being.” John 1:1-3 AMP
Words have Power. With no access to devices, medications, or advanced technology equipment, while moving from city to city, Jesus as The Word used His words to communicate a release of healing into the infirmed, the possessed and the diseased. The Greek word “Logos’ (lo-gaas) is translated ‘word, speech, principle or thought’. In Greek philosophy it is also translated into ‘the mind of God’ or ‘divine reason’.
“And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Good News (the Gospel) of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and every weakness and infirmity.” Matthew 9:35 AMP
Christ came to earth to reveal the will of the Father. It is interesting to note that two thirds of Jesus’ ministry involved healing. It was the perfect will of God for His Son to heal. When praying for healing, that oft used qualifying prayer phrase, “If it be thy will” can only be met with an emphatic “Yes!”
When learning to pray like Jesus – it is imperative to know the Word of God. Aside from the blood of Jesus and the Name of Jesus – the Word of God is power packed and the required dunamis or dynamite needed to move out negative circumstances and redeem, deliver, and heal. To pray effectively for oneself or for other’s in healing – there must be agreement with the Word of God.
The first mention of the word “prayer” was in relationship to healing when Abraham prayed to God on behalf of Abimelech, King of the Philistines so that God would forgive Abimelech for taking Sarah. His words, spoken in faith to God, produced a powerful result.
“So Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his female slaves, and they bore children, For the Lord had closed fast the wombs of all in Abimelech’s household because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.” Genesis 20: 17-18 AMP
We have no record of the actual words in Abraham’s prayer for Abimelech but Abraham operating as Priest released Abimelech of sin thereby restoring his entire household.
It is widely accepted by Christians that nothing occurs on the earth unless it is prayed into action by a Believer. God as Jehovah Rapha, is the God Who heals. It is in this knowledge of His desire and willingness to heal by covenant that we can pray boldly, and speak aloud with confident expectation. It is because of the eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ Who defeated, death, hell and the grave – the One whom took lashes on His Body for our healing, and thereby allowing access to His Name. He has enabled us to take authority and dominion over every sickness, disease, infirmity, even accidents: “and with the stripes that wounded Him we are healed and made whole”. Isaiah 54:5 AMP
There is power in every word of God.
“He sent forth His Word and heals them and rescues them from the pit and destruction. ” Psalm 107:20 AMP
It is important to note that there is a difference between power and authority. Power is the ability to exercise one’s will in the way needed to impact a situation and authority is exercised by someone holding a position or title. There is a legitimacy or at least perceived influence by a person that holds authority. Because of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, we have both power (dunamis) and authority to influence and alter negative behaviors, patterns and circumstances in order to bring heaven to earth. We use prayer and the Word of God to accomplish His will upon the earth.
Lucas Pols, a contributor to Forbes, describes secular servant-led authority this way – “Authority is about who you are as a person, your character how you interact with others and the influence and empathy you build with people.” While this is accurate, one has a God-given authority that comes with power; ratified by the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus who was raised from the dead by the very Spirit that now lives in you.
“Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon snakes and scorpions, and (physical and mental strength and ability) over all the power that the enemy (possesses); and nothing shall in any way harm you.” Luke 10:19 AMP
It is important to highlight that all confidence and power must be placed in the authority of God, Jesus and God’s Word and not in the actual pray-er. The Word of God is oiled with the Spirit of God and referred to as “the Sword of the Spirit” in Ephesians 6:17 AMP “And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God.”
Luke 10 continues – “Nevertheless do not rejoice at this that the spirits are subject to you but rejoice that your names are enrolled in heaven.” This confirms that we do have power over the spirits of the earth including virus’. To be specific, the Covid-19 virus is a spirit of infirmity. Virus’ have an intelligence. Covid seeks to aggressively insert itself into cells in order to explode in growth and then mutate, thereby causing “infirmity”. In scripture “weakness and infirmity” are almost always used together. When praying for someone with Covid 19, pray in the authority that Christ has given you to dismantle and decree that this spirit of infirmity and all associated weakness must leave in Jesus’ Name.
Session 7
#PrayerUniversity
Tracy Gatewood
Sacred Ramblings
All Rights Reserved 2020
Related Article: https://sacredramblings.com/2015/06/07/healing-and-the-armor-of-god-prayer
The Father That Answers Prayer
01 Friday May 2020
“When the disciples saw it, they marveled greatly and asked, “How is it that the fig tree withered all at once”? And Jesus answered them, Truly I say to you, if you have faith (a firm relying trust) and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, it will be done. And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and (really) believing you will receive. ” Matthew 21:20- 22 AMP
“Ask, and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will open. For everyone who asks, receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” Matthew 7:7-11
“If you live in Me [ abide vitally united in Me } and my words remain in you, and continue to live in your hearts, ask, whatever you will and it shall be done for you. When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine”. John 15:7-8
The first recorded prayer teaching of Jesus was the Lord’s Prayer. Recently, I spent a great deal of time reading various books or chapters on the Lord’s Prayer. There is an almost dizzying amount of information. In case you need a reminder of the Lord’s Prayer, please read further:
vs 8″ Therefore, do not be like them. For your Father knows the things that you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner (boldface mine) therefore pray …….. ”
” Our Father Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be Done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever and ever AMEN. ” Matthew 6:9-13
My emphasis on the word ‘manner’ above is to illustrate that the intention of the Lord’s Prayer was to be used as a guide or template on prayer, and not a substitute for one’s own personalized prayer while communing with God. The Lord’s Prayer, as a guide, begins with praise and honor to the Father, asking that things that are in heaven will also be available to us here on the earth. The prayer acknowledges that God is Holy – uncommon, set apart and separate from the world. “Give us this day our daily bread” acknowledges that provision comes from His hand, followed by a request of forgiveness from God as we forgive those who have sinned against us. We ask to be protected from being lead into temptation (Pls note: God will never lead us to be tempted – Jesus was lead into the wilderness to negotiate with Satan but that was prior to His death and resurrection) and we are to ask to be delivered from all evil.
I greatly admire the works of several theologians and have numerous books written by Andrew Murray in my personal library. Here is an short excerpt on what Andrew Murray says on the Lord’s Prayer:
Give us this day our daily bread – When the child has yielded himself to the Father in the care for His name, His kingdom, and His will he has full liberty to ask for his bread.
The Father in heaven will care for the child who has given himself up in prayer to His interests. Consecration to God and His will gives wonderful liberty in prayer for temporal things. The whole earthly life is given over to the Father’s care.
You may note that Andrew Murray believes that there are conditions to having your prayer needs met –
The following is another assessment of the Lord’s prayer – an excerpt from another Andrew, this time Andrew Wommack:
Notice that verse 11 is not a question, because there is no question mark. It’s not saying “Oh God, I know I don’t deserve it, but would you please give me a crumb so I won’t starve and perish today”? No. This is a demand. Its not an arrogant demand in the vein of “God I’m forcing you!” but more like a child who comes into the kitchen asking his mother for something to eat. Give us this day our daily bread –
God wants His will to be done here on earth as it is in Heaven – His desire is for no sickness, disease, poverty, despair. God does not cause bad things to come upon His people – we have an enemy, the devil, that is the root cause of evil. God wants His believers to be so bold that they just reach out and take their request by faith! He is a Father of love, a family man that seeks good for His family. When life does become challenging, we have His presence to walk us through it.
If I knew unequivocally how to have God answer all prayer, every one – I would be the most famous Christian leader of all time. I do not have that answer but I do know how to move the needle closer on the “acceptance” spectrum.
1) Change the focus of your prayer from primarily petitioning for your personal needs over to praise and loving God. He knows your needs. If you do incorporate personal petitions, do so confidently and declaratively, showing God that you understand that His Son has paid the ultimate price. You may be dying but praise God that He is healing you, because His Son has paid for it and thank Him.
2) You must have a Sonship perspective on prayer rather than a servant perspective. With Sonship, you are an Heir with Christ (Romans 8:17) and the Father has made spiritual promises that He will not deny. You approach the Father’s throne of grace surrounded by and clothed in Christ Jesus and His righteousness. The Holy Spirit is within so you are approaching the throne accompanied by two of the Deity; one surrounding, and one within. This should build faith and provide encouragement in your prayer time. You are not praying alone.
3) We must come boldly and bravely to God’s throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16) to obtain mercy and find grace during every time of need. A confident expectation at the throne of God is a major condition for answered prayer.
1 John 19 – 23 AMP
“By this we will know [without any doubt] that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart and quiet our conscience before Him 20 whenever our heart convicts us [in guilt]; for God is greater than our heart and He knows all things [nothing is hidden from Him because we are in His hands]. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not convict us [of guilt], we have confidence [complete assurance and boldness] before God; 22 and we receive from Him whatever we ask because we [carefully and consistently] keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight [habitually seeking to follow His plan for us].23 This is His commandment, that we believe [with personal faith and confident trust] in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and [that we unselfishly] love and seek the best for one another, just as He commanded us. ”
We are not to be weighed down by guilt and shame and were never designed to carry these emotions. All guilt and iniquity (iniquity means to go your own way – and presumably in a direction that was out of the will of God) was taken on the body of Jesus while on the cross. Shame and guilt strike at our identity, keeping us from believing that God will answer our prayers. This is a performance-based perspective and not a grace based perspective. Jesus has paid for your sin. Your flaws and sin have been washed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus.
Isaiah 54:5 “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement needful to obtain peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes (that wounded) Him we are healed and made whole”
“For as many as the promises of God , they all find their Yes (answer) in Him (Christ). For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it) to God through Him (in His Person and by His agency) to the Glory of God. ” 2 Corinthians 1:20
All the promises that God has given us pertaining to healing, health, provision, peace, purpose and power are found in Christ. Our responsibility is to say AMEN to Him and walk boldly as Sons and Daughters that will declare with Him in Agreement that He has given us everything that we need. We are to rest and live in the knowledge that Jesus has paid for us to have what is needed in our lives.
At the end of His life Jesus cried, Tetelestai – ALL IS ACCOMPLISHED – Tetelestai means the account has been reconciled. The debt has been paid.
So if Christ has paid the way for your healing, your health, provision, peace, purpose and supplied the power – we now pray from a position of victory and never from a defeated, begging, pleading stance. We also must pray God’s Word, phrasing our petitions regarding our circumstances to align with His promise then allowing time for the manifestation of the promise.
After consuming volumes of information on this subject, I believe that God answers all prayer that is within His will. Why would God give us prayer to use if not to our full benefit? There are however times that our prayers are not in His will. When Jesus prayed in the garden to have “this cup pass from Me” – the cup did not pass from Jesus, as it was not the will of His Father to stop what was going to happen involving His scourging and the crucifixion. If anyone had the power to have any prayer answered, it would be Jesus Himself. He submitted to the will of His Father which was to allow the crucifixion process to continue. The fact that Jesus prayed and even asked His Father, rather than command a legion of angels down to rescue Him, speaks volumes about His heart attitude toward God.
In this dark hour, Jesus could not stride boldly to the throne of grace because there was no throne of grace as it did not exist without Him. Jesus is ALL truth and ALL grace. (John 1:17) There was no grace until Grace Himself gave Himself – Tetelestai!
Personal Testimony and excerpt from Doorways of Grace: My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus
“I was in the living room of my friend’s condominium and simply walking across the room when suddenly and with no warning, an explosive impartation dropped into my spirit. I stopped in my tracks and watched as if a scene on a movie reel, a Technicolor Jesus, hanging from a cross, His head dropping. A saw His spirit leave His body. I somehow knew that He had released His spirit of His own will and that His life had not been taken from Him. No one person or culture of people had killed Jesus. It then began to be revealed to me by the Spirit that we had been given everything we all need in this life because it had been purchased for us at the Cross. This came to me like an impression in my spirit. God was unlocking His rich treasury and showing me a very great mystery on a divine movie screen.
The understanding that we already own our healing, our provision, our peace, and our sanctification, all through Him, that His body and His blood has paid for everything that we need was coming to me for the first time. I later learned how He became our righteousness and made us to be righteous in the sight of God (Romans 3:22-26). We need only walk with expectation in receiving these benefits. Our only requirement is to pray, be diligent, rest and have faith in Him. I could not believe what I was seeing in the spirit and had never heard this taught before nor thought that I had read this in the bible. I had never been reading the bible through the lens of grace!” (excerpt page 85 )
Prayer University
Session #2
Tracy Gatewood
Sacred Ramblings
All Rights Reserved 2020
Sharing Link: https://wp.me/p1zoxs-2I9
Facebook: Tracy Gatewood Sacred Ramblings
Author: Doorways of Grace: My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus (2015)
Twitter: Tracy L Gatewood
Lord Teach Us to Pray !
22 Wednesday Apr 2020
“ Then He was praying in a certain place (boldface mine) and when He stopped, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord! Teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’ ”
Luke 11:1
To attempt to instruct on prayer without deferring and submitting to the Master Teacher would be the greatest disservice to anyone desiring to learn. Jesus’ teachings on prayer are foundational and after all, Who would have a better understanding? As the Chief Intercessor, He is now seated at the right hand of the Father and His primary role is to intercede on our behalf.
If you are on a sincere journey to understand more about prayer, I encourage you to stop now and pray to Jesus in humility, asking Him to open your eyes on what He wants you to learn regarding HIS practice. This will require you and me starting over and learning afresh with no preconceived notions, templates or agendas. Today, I ask Christ to begin unlocking the rich mysteries and treasuries of prayer for us each day while we are meeting together in prayer school.
Luke 11:1 specifically mentions that Jesus was praying in a certain place – our first duty will be to establish a place of quiet to commune with Jesus, to hear from Him, allow to be taught and thereby develop a trusting relational fellowship; one so close that you will hear and distinguish His voice. The goal is for you and for me to ABIDE and to learn to rest and perpetually DWELL in Him.
The unstated objective of prayer is having power with God more than men. This objective cannot be overstated nor minimized and prayer is what achieves this power. Powerful prayer moves mightily from a combination of relationship with Him and through our ever deepening revelation of the Father’s nature and characteristics. Christ is the Breath of Prayer and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Prayer and they together will lead and guide us. Jesus sees our hearts and therefore what He desires to accomplish in and through us as we submit to His leadership and ask Him to teach us to pray but we must be able to listen.
” And when you pray, go into your (most) private room, and closing your door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret and the Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open. “ Matthew 6:6
God wants us to dwell or abide (spend time from a position of rest) with Him in the secret place – the place that delivers from the storms of life. This is THE place of protection; where one Abides in the Shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1) The Hebrew meaning of shadow is protection: from disease, terror, darkness, anything that comes against His children. Abiding with the Father is where you find true connection and will draw strength from Him. This only comes through acute focus on God, His Word and looking with expectation unto Jesus – the Covenant Son.
But there is more, much more – His Spirit has been poured into your spirit so YOU now are the dwelling place of God, the Secret Place is YOUR spirit, secured by the death and resurrection of the Son. The Secret Place is contained by the boundaries of your spirit – the true secret place is deeply within where you sense or feel the faint movements of confirmation or His jolting warnings as He shows you the way and how to walk in it. This is only revealed by devoting time in building a relationship with Him yet even then, He sometimes will hide His pathway to have you seek His will with everything within you. Ask, seek, knock! Take heart, if you seek you will eventually find.
To understand God is to know Him as a receptor of Light. As an ear receives and understands sound and an eye receives and processes images, translating them into objects or people – God is a Receptor that receives on a frequency of thanksgiving, high praise, righteous petitions, repentance, acknowledgement of His Son and His Spirit, intercession for others and petitions for ourselves. God is a Spirit and our highest form of communication with Him is spirit to spirit.
When we accept that His Son, is His Son and the only payment for our sin debt, we pass through a glorious invisible veil to what He has for us and it is here that He delivers us the GREAT reward of His Spirit. He actually makes a way for us to have what He desires for us through Himself. God as The Triune, is completely contained in perfection.
In the secret place is where Christ Jesus, the Anointed, will breathe on The Spirit, instructing as The Truth, teaching you the fundamental attributes of His Father, your Father – His Fatherhood and His Fatherliness through demonstrations of His infinite and immutable devotion and love for you. This love for His children is the cornerstone from which all prayer must be grounded and established. While on earth, He was the only one that addressed God as Father and He returned to make known the truth that God was and is a family man. Without the knowledge and confidence of God’s deep love there can be no trust and assurance that He desires to answer all prayers of His will. Without the knowledge and confidence of His deep love, one cannot fully accept that He is truly working things to the good for those who love Him and will walk according to His purposes. (Romans 8:28)
So in our opening session, we have learned the following truths:
1) We need a consistently quiet place to commune with God and to hear from Him
2) The journey of prayer is lengthy as it takes time to build and develop a relationship.
3) This prayer journey must occur with Jesus and the Holy Spirit and is not a solo flight.
4) Your own spirit is now the Secret Place where He dwells. (This is a New Covenant truth.)
5) God loves His children and is a true ‘family man’ (but really a Spirit but you know what I mean). #Godisafamilyman #GodthefirstFamilyMan
And off we go ……………………………..
#PrayerUniversity
Session 1 4/20/2020
Lord Teach Us To Pray
Tracy Gatewood
Sacred Ramblings
All Rights Reserved 2020
Twitter: TracyLGatewood
Facebook: Tracy Gatewood Sacred Ramblings
Website: Sacred Ramblings
Author: Doorways of Grace: My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and
Meeting Jesus
The Process of A Process
01 Wednesday Jan 2020
For the past few months I have had this unsettled feeling in my spirit that comes as part and parcel when I embark on the process of transition. I am feeling that it is time for a change, a move, a desire to go to something else.
One day this week as I was waking up in bed, and just as the sun was beginning to rise up and claim the morning, I began to ponder these unsettled feelings. As my mind began to track back through this decade and then rewind through previous decades, I noticed something interesting, well at least interesting to me. Since growing into adulthood, with every single change in a decade, I have moved to another city, and typically to another state. I have undergone many of my life’s most profound seasons of change while journeying through the ‘9’ and into the ‘0’ . 1) From an Alabama high school senior to Virginia-bound college freshman, 2) a career upgrade requiring a move from Alabama to Atlanta, 3) freshly single and broken in Atlanta to single yet still alive returning back to Alabama, 4) then 10 years later single and broken again (not marriage related!) and still in Alabama with a return to my hometown, and now this new decade (still single ha!) but strong, self employed and now stabilized in a foundation built upon Christ Jesus.
This week, I was reading a book on the life of King David. One of the chapters went to great lengths to show the process that David went through before God opened the door for him to become King. Even (and especially after) David became Israel’s second King, he continued to experience trial after trial. He was trained through so many trials that when he encountered his most serious they did not consume. We all know that David was by no means perfect but undeniably a great leader possessing a connection to God as His Beloved, that was and may still be unmatched. Only God knows this but throughout the process, David strengthened himself in the Lord and no other. This is a great lesson for all of us.
As I move through life, I see there are no shortcuts; neither in business nor in ministry nor apparently as David’s life illustrates, in kingdom management. Its all process, process, process. My life compared to King David, although not without some steep almost vertical degrees of difficulty, has been by comparison, simple. David got an early start as a giant killer and in doing so got an early leg up to be groomed for a great destiny. Despite being raised in the church, I was a late bloomer to Jesus and to the understanding of true faith. How I wish I had not lost those precious years circling in the weeds of life, unaware that there was a divine GPS to guide me along a righteous path but again I say – it’s a process, and don’t let anyone convince you differently. There is no microwave growth in Christianity – its water, son-light and roots growing deeper and deeper and deeper into the verdant soil of the Divine.
I have noticed that doors, particularly meaningful spiritual doors, swing open on just one or two hinges. These doors cannot be pushed, kicked or broken down – these doors swing wide with no known pressure. Again reflecting on David, he was thought the least of Jesse’s sons and was not even presented to Samuel. David was out in the field, diligently doing his job, minding the sheep and BOOM – a life changing encounter came out of nowhere, an encounter undeniably from the hand of God.
And the word of the Lord came to Nathan (the prophet) saying –
11 Samuel 7:8-9 So now say this to my servant David, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over My people. And I was with you where you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name like that of the great men of the earth.”
Some of the most important opportunities that have come my way, those of which I can take no credit, have emerged from out of the blue. These “doorways of grace” glided open easily with no striving, occurring only in their proper time and season. There was no planning, foresight or known cause for God’s invisible, provident breath to blow these doors of opportunity open wide. But there is something of importance to note: When these doors swing open we must be ready to move as they are on a hinge that snaps back and will slam like that old wood frame screen door on your grandmothers house. Whap! I can still hear that door slamming closed on a few opportunities that I did not walk through due to fear, self doubt and over thinking but because of the goodly nature of God – I, like you, can rest in His second chances.
Not typically associated with “fun”, the process of being in the process is certainly punctuated with times of enjoyment but rarely would anyone describe the work involved as “fun”. “Fun” relates to entertainment – if being constantly entertained is what it took to become great then one would not have to journey through “a process” to arrive. Entertainment is typically reserved for endeavors that engage the soul on a surface level but never engage with the spirit – as it takes The Spirit to successfully navigate The Process. Are you still with me ?
As I write this on the first day of the year and even a new decade, I remain expectant of what and where the process will take both you and me. As we look backward to 2010 and consider where we have come – remain encouraged. I am not where I wish to be but definitely have made significant progress in the 10 years spent (some would consider) in this wilderness, a place where I never desired to grow content or become familiar. When I look in the mirror I am reminded that although “my youth is being renewed as the eagles” those eagles are definitely older eagles – I’m no eaglet! But God has given me a greater peace for the process. Perhaps this is to become my desire for 2020 that I wish for you and for me: Peace.
Happy New Year!
Tracy Gatewood
Sacred Ramblings
All Rights Reserved
1/1/2020
Related article: My Journey with Jesus Part Two http://wp.me/p1zoxs-gR
Tracy Gatewood is the author of Doorways of Grace: My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus (2015)
Twitter: TracyLGatewood
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Why Jesus Could Not Drain His Swamp
25 Wednesday Sep 2019
Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah ] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and the recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed and broken down by calamity], 19 To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord (the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound) (see also Isaiah 61:1.2). 20 Then He rolled up the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were gazing (attentively) at Him. 21 And He began to speak to them: Today this Scripture has been fulfilled while you are present and hearing.
These are words of Jesus teaching in the temple in Nazareth on the Sabbath to the priests and to His people.
Jesus proceeded to explain to the crowd that a prophet is not accepted in his own town or welcomed in his own town (country) and then provided examples: vs 4:26 Elijah the prophet overlooked the widows of Israel during a 3 year period of famine and was sent to Zarephath in Sidon, and vs 4:27 Elisha the prophet did not heal the many lepers in his native Israel but chose instead to heal someone in Syria.
vs 28 And when they heard these things; all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage.
In fact they became OFFENDED. Jesus was merely the son of Joseph and He was saying that He had come to deliver them as captives. “Is not this Joseph’s Son”? Luke 4:22 The word Offense is Skandalon and in the Greek is defined as follows by Strong’s:
(skándalon) is the native rock rising up through the earth, which trips up the traveler, hence, of Jesus the Messiah, to the Jews who refused him” (Souter); “properly, the bait-stick of a trap, a snare, stumbling-block” (Abbott-Smith); “the stick in the trap that springs and closes the trap when the animal touches it” (WP, 1, 46).]
Did you know that when people become offended at the works of Jesus; ie healing, deliverance, supernatural signs – this disconnects the flow of the anointing within the one who carries the anointing? It is a focus on and faith in what He has done that provides the conduit and pathway from one person to another. This is why the devil’s favorite play is to orchestrate offenses.
So even if you are a Christian and embrace the works stated in scripture of what Jesus did and what you as well have the power to release – if you reject the vessel that is carrying the message – you disconnect the vessel from the anointing and the divine ability they have to pour into you.
Mark 6:3-6 Is not this the Carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses and Judas and Simon ? And are not His sisters here among us? And they took offense at Him and were hurt (that is they disapproved of Him, and it hindered them from acknowledging His authority and they were caused to stumble and fall. But Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor (deference, reverence) except in his own country and among [his] relatives and in his (own) house. 5 And He was not able to do even one work of power there, except that He laid His hands on a few sickly people and cure them. 6 And He marveled because of their unbelief (their lack of faith in Him). And He went about among the surrounding villages and continued teaching.
We have all heard of the spirit of Anti Christ. No one refers to this as the spirit of “Anti – Jesus”. Why? People in Jesus’ time were not against Jesus as a Man, but they became offended at Jesus in His position as The Christ – they were offended by the abilities that He displayed through the power of His anointing. This offense and absence of faith prevented Jesus from doing much to release them, leaving Him to teach and heal, not to His own countrymen, but across the surrounding areas. Christ Jesus, is a title, ‘The Anointed One Jesus’ which He was awarded following His death and His resurrection; the single act that ratified the new covenant. Christ Jesus now holds office in the triune Godhead.
Following His baptism by John and a 40 day wilderness journey where the devil showed up at the end to try to tempt Him in all number of ways (and failed), Jesus returned first to His own people, only to be rejected by the religious. The people of Israel had taken the bait of Satan, becoming hooked into unbelief through the bait of offense. Jesus threw in the towel to act on behalf of His own because the people refused to see who He was or acknowledge that He had been sent with an anointing to heal, deliver and restore. This act of disrespect was a tragic miscalculation.
A religious spirit is a counterfeit to the work of the Holy Spirit – the “religious” cannot duplicate the supernatural, nor can they understand it, so they seek to either discredit or even destroy a person that moves in this and that is Spirit-led. The religious are either puffed up or self righteous, believing that their own lengthy prayers, which are never spirit led, are working. It was this same spirit of religion that was responsible for putting Jesus on the Cross, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” screamed the religious rabbi’s of the day. They of course could not kill Jesus, no one could kill Jesus. He allowed Himself to be (for 3 days) and even then He dismissed His own spirit to return to His Father when His work was complete.
I am teaching on this subject so my readers will understand the power and consequences of remaining in a state of offense. Not only a prospective receiver of a gift through an anointing can deflect the gift through offense but a person carrying the anointing can have it blocked from release if they remain offended.
Moral of the Story: Remain Unoffendable.
Blessings!
Tracy Gatewood
Sacred Ramblings
2019 All Rights Reserved
Twitter: Tracy L Gatewood
Instagram: tgatewood1
Facebook: Tracy Gatewood Sacred Ramblings
Author: Doorways of Grace: My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus
Did you learn something? If so I would love to hear from you! Please tell me what you learned and also what topics on which you would like for me to focus.
True Health Comes From a Fit Mind
21 Sunday Jul 2019
Posted in God, Healing, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jesus Christ, soul, The Bible, the Spirit, Tracy Gatewood Prayer, TracyLGatewood
Earlier this summer, I attended a high school reunion and had a great experience, reconnecting with old friends, most unseen for many years. Conversations were filled with as many questions as could be inserted on spouses, children, careers, parents – attempting to hit as many high points as possible before the inevitable close of the weekend’s events.
One conversation I was having with a former classmate turned toward the topic of health. This woman was a lean runner and looked a good 15 years younger than her current age. I mentioned that I was not on any medications, and she turned and looked at me with that deer in the headlights look and commented, “I bet only 1% of the people here can say that!” This was very surprising and something I had never considered. Her response has caused me to consider sharing a routine that I believe serves as my daily health maintenance. This is a formula anyone can access.
But first I would like to make a point. There is a difference between Fit and Healthy. You certainly can have both however people that are fit can also be taking a handful of pills every day. People that are fit can be shooting their face with Botox. Although a person may look fit and be strong, this does not necessarily qualify them as healthy. Because I am healthy and walk in divine health, I have the ability to become fit – because I have my health to get there.
In the spirit of full disclosure – I may not be described as FIT however, I am healthy and know what I need to do to regain my Fit-Ness. (Start my running routine again). It is a personal priority to not take medications and strive to live whole in body and mind. As we learned in my previous post, wholeness and soundness are benefits that come from God and from His delivering hand of salvation. The photo below is me with a “would be” FIT body. A fit person could look like this and still be popping all shapes and sizes of medications (For the record, this is a cut out stand located in a Mexican restaurant. I do not drink Corona or even beer).
The following are a few disciplines and ones that I believe to be central to having and maintaining good health:
1) Connect with God, Christ and the Holy Spirit on a daily basis through a morning devotional and bible reading. There is no substitute for spending time with God and it is a non negotiable part of walking in divine health. The knowledge that God loves us immutably and unshakeably and is working on our behalf in all circumstances is the rebar in the foundation that is necessary to walk out each day. God’s unconditional love for you is infinite and He is the Creator of you AND the Universe. He is All Power. He sees everything happening in your life and you must pray and petition Him in your circumstances.
2) That your acceptance of Jesus as the Son of God places you in right standing with God. You are righteous if you acknowledge that Jesus took a debt of sin that you could never pay because He is Deity and Himself the Son of God. The knowledge of the work of the sacrifice of Christ while embracing His sacrifice is the Gateway to Wholeness and Soundness. You not only have salvation but you should have the knowledge of what He has done for you but there is one more piece –
3) The Holy Spirit holds the place for the understanding of your health. He is essential for walking in divine health. The Holy Spirit is the Divine Deliverer and holds the keys to health as the Administrator and Coordinator of the Eternal Covenant that Jesus paid to give you. I have a lengthy journey of how the Holy Spirit showed that He was the One that holds the Key to a person’s mind but think of it this way. If your mind was an Etch A Sketch pad, He can come in and pull up that thin piece of film and zip out all of your unrighteous thinking but you must know how to open the door for Him to move in that way.
4) Almost every disease has a spiritual root cause. I have studied the spiritual root cause of disease for over 20 years and this is the most true yet least taught truth in healing. Most disease starts first in The Mind. Your mind is a portal for great things or for destructive things. Fear is the portal and gateway through which every unrighteous thought walks onto its red carpet -jealousy, anxiety, condemnation, shame, abuse, bitterness. Fear kills more people than Cancer. Fear is Cancer and consumes individuals and entire families like a raging fire. It is total destruction and will first hit the mind then like a pinball – ricochets, striking then damaging and altering organs, joints, and body systems.
Extreme, protracted Fear alters the body down to the cellular level. Trauma is a protracted experience, different than Terror which is typically a short burst of extreme fear. Trauma is an experience. Traumatic events wreak havoc on an individual and can change the entire trajectory of someone’s life by wrecking the health of the individual going through it. Major diseases can emerge from cells that were impacted years prior. Divorce, death, shaming, major transitioning events all qualify as traumatic events. Trauma, the highest degree of Fear, is Enemy Number One.
5) When you pray you can speak directly to your body and command to heal in very specific ways. This is a lengthy topic, too long for a blog post, but it is very important that the body is free of fear and at a state of rest when fighting illness, conditions or disease.
Twice I have been broken almost beyond recognition then taken through the experience of restoration, being rebuilt brick by brick or more appropriately up practically from the cellular level. At times I could barely breathe my emotional pain was so excruciating. My book, Doorways of Grace: My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus describes many of these experiences so I will not recount them now but please understand, I teach what I have walked out.
My “medicine cabinet” is a pink and green bag consisting of a number of books, critical “pills” that do surgery into my soul (the mind, will and emotions) penetrating my body through spiritual surgical proceedings by the guided hand of the Holy God of Israel and the breath of the Holy Spirit.
I know God heals when true understanding of these principles are embraced 1) Peace has been eternally bequeathed to us as a gift from Jesus for all who believe in Him. Because you have the title deed to peace, you can own and experience it in your circumstances 2) When Christ’s sacrifice is fully acknowledged and the Holy Spirit called into action, He acts as the “spirit wrangler” and like a WWE wrestler, will take down any unrighteous thinking that is plaguing a Believer 3) Unforgiveness, if not dealt with, will open a portal of hell into a person’s mind. One can expect a steady stream of fiery darts from the enemy that will torment, hinder and distract. Forgive, move forward and depend on God to be your Defender. He is Jehovah Nissi. I do not minimize how difficult this can be for people that have gone through extreme betrayal as I have – forgiving does not negate or embrace the other parties wrong doing, but offers the person over to God and trusts that He will repay in His own way, time and season.
We all have stressors and challenges that occur over which we have no control. Each day I pray Psalm 91 aloud as if my very life depended on speaking it. I will not neglect this discipline. I also incorporate the prayer of Jabez, Psalm 122: 6-9 praying for the peace of Jerusalem, and Deuteronomy 9 that acknowledges that the power of wealth comes from the Lord so that He may establish His covenant on the earth. The world covenant here can also be substituted for ‘culture’ – that God wants to establish His Kingdom and His culture here on the earth.
But back to Psalm 91. I have been praying this Psalm for years. Train your children, your parents and your spouse to speak this aloud every single day. It is God’s Prayer for Protection for His Saints and when you embrace that God’s Word has true Power and can change the course of evil, along with the Blood of Jesus which is a Fortress, you are protected. The understanding of this principle brings peace and rest to the mind. Rest in Peace. Rest in the arms of Jesus and the truth that He is in you and you are in Him. You are God’s Beloved and here you can rest in the safest place on earth.
Tracy L Gatewood
Sacred Ramblings
All Rights Reserved 2019
#TracyGatewoodPrayer
Twitter: TracyLGatewood
Facebook.com/SacredRamblings
Instagram: tgatewood1
Author: Doorways of Grace: My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus
A Story of Salvation: A Marketplace Mini Miracle
07 Sunday Jul 2019
At the age of 51, my life started completely over in every conceivable way; new city, career seeker, little to no financial resources, no church home and no relationships. My 20 year marketing career had taken a vertical death spiral following a coup attempt by a disgruntled assistant who trashed me behind my back almost from the point of hiring. (FYI: The quiet ones, and the flatterers are always the most dangerous. ). After being terminated from a very public position, my career spun into a nose dive and stayed there from the ages of 48 – 50. The Lord started closing every door, I believe, to “encourage” me to follow His leading of returning me to a place that I very much did not want to go. At the age of 50, I relented, returning to my hometown confused, desperate, angry (very) hopeless, and near the point of nervous collapse.
A few years before this traumatic season, I had earned my real estate license but held it in inactive status considering to use it “one day”. Establishing a commercial real estate career can become an expensive proposition. That “one day” came when a family friend called 10 months after I had returned home, still unemployed, nor knowing where to turn. This family friend, graciously and innocently threw a lifeline to a drowning person that was going under for the third time. ” Tracy, this is Carl, don’t you have your real estate license?” “Yes” I said neglecting to mention that I had never transacted one piece of property ever. “Well, my #@%** restaurant tenant moved out in the middle of the night”, he explained “and I need someone to market my building and find me a new tenant as soon as possible.” I agreed to meet with him then quickly placed a call to inquire of what was needed to activate my license. The same day, I gunned it over to a local broker’s office, I explained to the owner that I was in need of a desk, a phone and a place to hang my license asap. He gave me a private office, a laptop computer and paid for my first year of dues, nothing for which I had asked but glad to receive. I was so poor five hundred dollars was more than I had to spare.
Nine months later, Carl and his new premier tenant, executed my first lease transaction for his 5000 SF corner landmark downtown property. A divine grace door had opened for me through Carl providing a clear path for provision because God had placed me on Carl’s mind and connected all the necessary dots. The process of securing the tenant was not simple, and entailed hard work. The money did not fall from the sky but the opportunity presented itself, the door swung wide, and I was offered a choice to walk through its frame.
Later in that same year, the Holy Spirit gave me a hot tip regarding a 5 AC corner parcel with an obsolete shopping center, strategically located 3 blocks from an SEC University stadium. Eighteen months later that property was under contract and closed for $5.1 million, at that time, the highest price paid per acre for any parcel in the city. That was my first sale. The broker that gave me the initial opportunity made $40,000 on that one deal for doing no more than investing in me.
It would be glorious to be able to say that every year has been just like these – and that year over year my production increased to such enormous heights that I would never have a financial concern for the rest of my life. Seven years later after walking through the door of real estate – I have had highs and lows. My rags story is transforming into financial stability and prosperity while allowing me to give to non profit causes at higher and higher levels which brings me great joy. But the greatest highlight of this journey is what I am gaining in knowledge of the rich treasuries of the grace of God and of Jesus. I am witnessing through my own personal experience the meaning of His salvation.
Salvation means “material and temporal deliverance from danger and apprehension, preservation, pardon, restoration, healing, wholeness and soundness“. Coming out of trouble is part of the package guaranteed to us by being in God’s Kingdom and belonging to Him. He has delivered me from ‘material and temporal danger’ and accomplished everything else on this list. I can tell you with certainty it was Him and not me doing the delivering. If you have never had a need to be brought out of trouble, I feel sorry for you because it means you have never experienced the full power of His delivering hand of salvation. The great news is that we can all look at Him with expectancy for something good to come our way, even despite our mistakes. And I have made my share.
For a number of wasted years, I lived in a confused emotional stew, swirling in extreme levels of condemnation, fear, anger and unforgiveness that kept me bound and broken. I was so messed up and discouraged that I was working very little – if at all. This was a mistake. We are all to be working. God needs us to move out in a direction, and as we set out, He swings in as The Rudder, turning us in His direction but first we have to get in the water and set sail. We have to move.
No doubt, I missed a number of life preservers tossed out in my direction by having no confidence in the basic truth of TRUST. I continued to look inward finding more confidence in myself instead of outward or better still upward, without expecting that God was going to work all of this to my good. Looking inward in prolonged introspection is self righteousness – a sinful action that dispossesses God from His rightful place in life and is based in pure pride. God loves our full dependence upon Him, where we are fully yielded and waiting expectantly for His best. This is the position of Abba and Heavenly Daddy – a Father God with arms wide open to heal and love us unconditionally.
It was only when I learned to focus on Jesus and His finished work and to stop allowing my thoughts to turn inward is when I began to claw my way out of the fog. When my outward confessions began to align with the truth of God’s word – I am the righteousness of God by my faith in Christ Jesus and in His blood and seated in heavenly places with Christ at the Father’s right hand – did the fear and condemnation begin to break apart and dissipate and my mind become clear from the fog. I began to acknowledge and embrace that my provision would definitely come because I Am In JESUS and that every good thing flows from and by the hand of God.
When I lean in and focus on Jesus – He brings clients to me in supernatural ways, He opens doors of favor (which is another word for grace) It is difficult to articulate but activity just begins to happen. At times there is nothing that I am doing, no striving, but an effortless flow that is coming straight from the throne of God.
It has been seven years since I walked through the career door of real estate brokerage. The Hebrew number of completion and perfection is seven. My craft, like me, is still being perfected but after completing my first seven years working for other brokerages, last week, I decided to set sail and work for my own. If you had asked me 10 years ago or even 7 if I believed restoration was possible I would have said probably not or possibly even given a resounding ‘no’! But yes it is – it most certainly is – through the merciful heart of a loving Father that loves to deliver His salvation.
My personal story may not mean anything to anyone but me but it is my hope that in reading or sharing it will encourage someone that needs to understand this same power of which He so freely gives.
“May He [God] grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the (Holy) Spirit [Himself ] – indwelling your innermost being and personality ….. that you may be filled (through all your being) unto all the fullness of God [that is] may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become wholly filled and flooded with God Himself.
Tracy Gatewood
Sacred Ramblings
All Rights Reserved 2019
#TracyGatewoodPrayer
Twitter: Tracy L Gatewood
Facebook: Tracy Gatewood Sacred Ramblings
Author: Doorways of Grace: My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and
Meeting Jesus
Instagram: tgatewood1
Tracy Gatewood 