Cover: Doorways of Grace, Photo Credit: Allison P Adams
This is the first post in a new prayer series. My prayer for you is that He will open supernatural Doorways of Grace for many wonderful things in 2018.
On September 20 2017 during Rosh Hashana, the Hebrew Calendar began the year 5778; Grace (5), Completion-Perfection (7), New Beginnings (8) Many are calling this the Year of the Open Door and with it high expectancy of a great year.
Unexpected open doors are not something that should be overlooked, ignored or dismissed. Unsolicited offers can come with no warning, often times requiring a decision to take a course direction that defies rational thinking and a circuitous route rather than a straight flight pattern. These can come from the mind of God and the plan of God as He has all foreknowledge; knowing the beginning from the end, and where He needs you to be to blend together the proper ingredients to create a Masterpiece of purpose and destiny.
It is our responsibility to be ever watchful for these doors and to seek His Presence and confirm they are from Him. These can be Kairos and And Suddenly moments through which doors of opportunity swing wide into an exciting territory of fruitful super abundance and a place that welcomes into your Assignment. These swing only on 2 maybe 3 hinges, fashioned by Him on your behalf, through circumstances that allow these Doorways of Grace to swing open.
I Pray For You This Year –
That you will have encounters with Holy Spirit, the One who grants favor while deeply learning to understand the importance of honoring Him. To know that He is the One who formed you in your mother’s womb (Job 33:4) and deposited your spiritual giftings, skills and talents (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). He is a Person and the Spirit of Jesus Who seeks to point you back to Jesus when needed. Holy Spirit determines your Assignment (Acts 13:2-4) and it is He that prays for you on the Earth (Romans 8:26). He will be the One that raises you from the dead just as He raised Christ from the dead (Romans 8:11), when Jesus returns to the Earth. He is the One that navigates through tight corners and high ledges. The Holy Spirit, is the One that can and will remove fear and is the ultimate Mind Manager. The chastisements Jesus took on His body for our Peace (Isaiah 53:5) – make a way for the Holy Spirit to control the operating panel of our minds if we allow Him to take over (Galatians 5:22,23) . Jesus before His death and resurrection bequeathed us the Gift of Peace.
That you will come to know, worship and adore King Jesus, the Christ, the Anointed One, who is The Door (John 10:9) and the way, the truth and the life as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11) for the sheep. Anyone accessing life through the gateway of His Blood has gained eternal life. Jesus is the Chief Intercessor (Heb. 7:25) , and petitions on your behalf to God. His death has redeemed ( bought back) all human sin from the beginning of time to the end of time, disconnecting the sin line of Adam and creating for those who believe a pathway of life by Covenant with a holy God. Jesus as High Priest, represents you to a sacred, sinless God and has become your righteousness. When God looks at you, He views through the lens of the blood of Christ which pronounces you cleansed and perfected.(Heb 10:14) Jesus is the Mediator of the Eternal Covenant – He reconciled the enmity working between every man, making peace in each body through His own body and blood (Ephesians 2:15,16) He is working in you even now to complete, perfect and equip you with every good thing to enable to work out His will for your life (Heb 13:20-21).
Tracy L. Gatewood
2017 All Rights Reserved Doorways of Grace
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Driving home after a long day, my radio tuned to a worship music station, praise music saturated every inch of my vehicle’s interior. Despite the frustrations and strife of the day – the negative emotions clinging to my soul fell away, as a welcoming spirit of peace wafted through my mind, lifting up and away all the tensions of the day. This effortless transference of peace was sent special delivery from the courts of heaven. Peace is a gift bequeathed to us from Jesus, by Jesus Himself, as reward when we focus on Him.
II Chronicles 20:21-25 AMP“When he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers to sing to the Lord and praise Him in their holy (priestly) garments as they went out before the army, saying’Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever’!
And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushments against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were (self) slaughtered; For (suspecting betrayal) the men of Ammon and Moab rose against those of Mount Seir utterly destroying them. And when they had made an end of the men of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another. And when Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked at the multitude, and behold they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none had escaped!
When Jehosophat and his people came to take the spoil, they found among them much cattle, goods, garments, and precious things which they look for themselves, much more than they could carry away, so much they were three days in gathering the spoil.
On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah. There they blessed the Lord. So the name of the place is still called the Valley of Beracah (blessing).
Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, Jehosophat leading them, to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them to rejoice over their enemies.
They came to Jerusalem with harps, lyres, and trumpets to the house of the Lord.
And the fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel.”
I believe the Lord has provided a spiritual tactic designed to strategically dismantle dangerous mayhem. This is an interior piece of the puzzle given just to believers who are forced to confront a unified tsunami of opposing forces that incite strife, division and evil across the globe. The piece? TheWeapon of Praise. A powerful tool that can be enacted outside of the four walls of the church, strategically positioned in external outposts at the forefront of the lines of battle.
In today’s society, the media is weaponized, some departments of our national intelligence community appear to be weaponized, and even certain members of the conservative movement are weaponized – but these are not spiritual weapons of warfare from heavenly places.
In II Chronicles, The Lord provides for us an example of ‘battle’ in spiritual places, instructing us to ‘battle’ with praise to Him then promising to deliver us from our enemies. Seems simple. So why aren’t we using it?
With the clashing of swords in this Hebrew year 5782 , we are witnessing unprecedented levels of lawlessness and civil unrest, and not witnessed since the 1960’s. During the latter part of the Obama administration, the cities of Ferguson, Baltimore and Miami – were hosts to incendiary levels of rage and violence incapacitating city governments, in some instances, destroying the livelihoods of people that they purported to defend. The American people have been clashing over its very history and heritage and we watch helpless as a tyrant of one nation seeks to overcome Ukraine in a scenario not witnessed since 1938.
But are believers in Christ truly helpless? But what about praise? Jehosphat sent his worshippers praising God while walking ahead of these armies, each wearing priestly garments saying ‘Give thanks to the Lord for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!’ I have a theory – and as yet untested on a modern-day battlefield; to release praise music in advance of or during demonstrations to disengage these spirits of violence. Like opening a fireman’s hose on a raging fire, the aggressive flames of emotional spirits of anger, hatred, aggression, murder and rage, could go silent. and fall to the earth. I ponder why the impact of praise music would be any different within the atmosphere of my own vehicle than on any modern-day battlefield. Imagine the impact of Hillsong, Chris Tomlin, Kari Jobe, Christy Nockels songs released prior to a demonstration or during the fray in the heat of the battle – singing the name of Jesus over and over and over again – above these protests. It is Jesus Christ Himself that has bequeathed us Peace. Would He not send us His Peace if we proactively sought it? Peace is a spirit. [ July 2017 The Spirit of Peace: http://wp.me/p1zoxs-24p ]
ll Timothy 1:7 AMP “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but (He has given us a spirit) of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. “
To effectively confront the societal enemies of our time we must come from a secret place of ‘power, and of love, and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control’. The songs of praise set us into another dimension – apart from fear, self-righteousness, and our human tendency to dissect the what’s and how’s of every situation. Praising God is a declaration that He is trusted as our defender (Jehovah Nissi). Praise positions our minds for right instruction and divine strategy from Him in how to move ahead in these troubling and even dangerous environments.
Could Jehosophat have understood that the instruction from God to send the ‘Praise Team’ ahead of the armies would result in a strong confusion and in-fighting among the enemy camp? Could Jehosophat foresee that a win of his armies positioned his people for a significant wealth transfer? I doubt it. He simply followed God’s orders and won….. BIG.
We must engage in praise to God while listening for the the Holy Spirit’s direction for ourselves and our nation amidst the clamor and chaos of today. He is surely speaking.
Tracy L. Gatewood
The Weapon of Praise Sharing Link: http://wp.me/p1zoxs-2iC
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Luke 19:41 – 44 AMP
“And as He approached, He saw the city, and He wept [audibly] over it. Exclaiming, Would that you had known personally, even at least in this your day, the things that make for peace (for freedom from all the distresses that are experienced as the result of sin and upon which your peace – your security, safety, prosperity, and happiness – depends)! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For a time is coming upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank (with pointed stakes) about you and surround you and shut you in on every side. And they will dash you down to the ground, you [Jerusalem] and your children within you; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, [all] because you did not come progressively to recognize and know and understand [from observation and experience] the time of your visitation [that is, when God was visiting you, the time in which God showed Himself gracious toward you and offered you salvation through Christ.]”
In this passage of scripture, Jesus grieved openly knowing what would be forthcoming for the people of Jerusalem. Despite what the people had personally witnessed, Jesus the Prince of Peace, Who had been presented to them as the living Son of God, would not be received into the hearts of the Jewish people.
What He knew for them: Know Jesus-Know Peace, No Jesus-No Peace
All Christians are commanded by God to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (PS122:6). The passage continues,”May they prosper who love you, May peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces” To be a Christ-follower is to love and pray fervently, frequently for the entire nation of Israel. Although the peace of Jerusalem was not accomplished in Jesus’ earthly life, it has been left for us to cover His people in prayer and other means until His return. I fully believe that America’s first responsibility is to cover and protect Israel.
The following scripture describes the Peace that will come with God’s Reign: Isaiah 32:15-18
“Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is valued as a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness will abide in the fruitful field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace [internal and external], and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever. My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting places.”
We can experience His Peace Prior to His Reign Through the Understanding of Righteousness. Righteousness means in right-standing with God and in conformity to His will and purposes. We cannot be righteous, or in right standing with God without understanding and accepting the working power of the blood of Jesus. The Blood is Heaven’s Clorox, its only cleansing agent.
It is impossible to work or perform our way into right-standing with God. Churches may teach that by watching our words, making our vessels (our bodies) more holy [yet holiness is important to God], or praying lengthy prayers every.single.day, or confessing sin can put us in right standing. This is erroneous. True righteousness welcomed by God comes by complete acknowledgement that His Son’s sacrifice fully achieved everything necessary to remove the dividing wall between God and You. This puts the focus (and responsibility) totally on Jesus for this achievement, one that no mortal could ever accomplish. To assume that one could actually be made righteous by a person’s own merits, clearly illustrates a lack of understanding of the magnitude of the Cross. This positioning creates ‘self-righteousness’ There may be nothing more noxious to God.
The Book of Romans could easily be named ‘the Book of Righteousness’, providing more information on this subject than any other chapter in the Bible. Romans 4:3 refers to Abraham, the Father of our Faith –
“For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.”
Have you ever exhibited ungodly behavior? Yes ____ No ____ Is it comforting to know that your behavior has already been justified by God through the blood of Jesus? Yes_____ No _____Does this make you want to sin more? No ______ (of course not)
One cannot be justified by works – God imputes His righteousness ASIDE FROM OUR WORKS in exchange for our sin. This is called Grace – undeserved, unmerited favor which is freely given. We are only made righteous BY FAITH in Jesus and His sacrifice. His resurrection served as ratification for a New Covenant. This is the only way pleasing to God. Does this soothe the soul (mind, will, emotions) bringing a quietness and a confident trust? (Isaiah 32:17). That peace you may feel is the result of Jesus’ righteousness and the acknowledgement, by resting in faith, that He (not you) has paid it all on your behalf.
Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Doorways of Grace
Tracy Gatewood
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Amazon: Doorways of Grace: My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus (2015)
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty. [ Whose power no foe can withstand.] I will say of the Lord, His is my Refuge and my Fortress, My God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I (confidently) trust! For (then) He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and the deadly pestilence. (Then) He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings shall you trust and find refuge; His truth and His faithfulness are a shield and a buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor of the arrow (the evil plots and slanders of the wicked) that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor of the destruction and sudden death that surprise and lay waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand but none shall come near you, only a spectator shall you be, yourself inaccessible in the Secret Place of the Most High as you witness the reward of the wicked.
Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place, there shall no evil befall you, nor any plague or calamity come near your tent. For He will give His angels (especial) charge over you to accompany and defend and preserve you in all of your ways [of obedience and service]. They shall bear you up on their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone, You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent shall you trample underfoot.
Because he has set His love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands my name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness – trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no never]. He shall call upon Me and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him, and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.
Genesis 45:4-8 “And Joseph said to his brothers, Come near to me, I pray you. And they did so. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now do not be distressed and disheartened and angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to preserve life.
For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years more in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a posterity and to continue a remnant on the earth to save your lives by a great escape and save for you many survivors.
So now it was not you who sent me here but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”
The Old Testament story of Joseph is a verdant treasury of how to handle adversity. Many know this story well – a young Joseph boasted to his brothers that he saw them in a dream all bowing down to him. This enraged his brothers and they threw Joseph into a well then sold him to slave traders en route to Egypt. Joseph was purchased at a slave market by a man named Potiphar who was a leader in Pharaoh’s court. Joseph performed his job with such excellence for Potiphar that he promoted Joseph to a position of influence.
Genesis 39:4 So Joseph pleased Potiphar and found favor in his sight, and he served him. And his master made him supervisor over his house and he put all that he had in his charge. Joseph definitely knew how to make lemonade out of lemons.
The story progresses where once again Joseph is betrayed by Potiphar’s own wife who lies to her husband while asking for Joseph to be put to death. Potiphar, recognizing that Joseph was incapable of what he was being accused, sent him to prison instead. The story ends in a miraculous release when Pharaoh himself asks Joseph to interpret a dream which he did successfully. Pharaoh appointed him Governor over all the land of Egypt.
Many years before – God made a covenant with Abraham and stated that his descendants would number the stars in the sky. He made the same covenant with Abraham’s son, Isaac as well as Isaac’s son, Jacob. Jacob was the father of Joseph. Joseph was promoted by the hand of God right on time to deliver not only his own family from famine but millions of Egyptians and people from surrounding nations that had no food. Joseph saved the remnant of people that God had promised to his father, grandfather and great grandfather. Joseph knew why he had been spared: Gen. 45:7 “God sent me before you to preserve for you a posterity and to continue a remnant on the earth, to save your lives by a great escape and save for you many survivors.” Joseph was strong in his own identity, and purpose and knew that God had saved him for this very important work despite a life of difficulty and a level of rejection few have experienced.
As God Himself is wisdom, He saw the exact recipe of circumstances that would blend Joseph into the man He required, and because He has all foreknowledge knew the exact moment Joseph needed to be drawn from the oven of prison. Our God sees the end from the beginning.
“Wisdom, among other things, is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve those ends by the most perfect means. It sees the end from the beginning, so there can be no need to conjecture. Wisdom sees everything in focus, each in proper relation to all, and is thus able to work toward predestined goals with flawless precision. All God’s acts are done in perfect wisdom first for His own glory, and then for the highest good of the greatest number for the longest time. And all His acts are as pure as they are wise, and as good as they are wise and pure. Not only could His acts not be better done, a better way to do them could not be imagined. An infinitely wise God must work in a manner not to be improved upon by finite creatures.Oh Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom thou hast made them all. The earth is full of thy riches!” A.W. Tozer Knowledge of the Holy
Joseph spent 13 total years as a slave or imprisoned. He was 30 years old when Pharaoh promoted him to be Governor of Egypt. (Genesis 41:46)
Few, if any, personally know anyone that would embrace the notion that slavery was permissible or acceptable in any society. Slavery is the enslavement of an individual that historically is forced to live and work under mostly inhumane conditions, suffer abusive treatment at the hands of “owners” – and for all of their days live a life of servitude. The slave trade in Africa began in the 15th century not long after traders from other nations like Portugal, England, Spain and Holland landed. The United States took much lower numbers of slaves than many other participating nations. By the time the united colonies became the United States of America, descendants working for landowners had been enslaved between 3 to 5 generations, with most North American slaves coming from western Africa – now modern day Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia and the Ivory Coast.
Without question, the day that slavery was abolished was a Red Letter day, ending a destructive and evil culture that harmed an entire race for hundreds of years. But can we consider something new into this equation – the possibility of a new possibility regarding slavery and the perpetuation of this evil? If we understand that God sees life and all circumstances from the beginning to the end, and we believe that God is a good, good Father, is it plausible to assume that He allowed Africans to be brought to the United States, despite the TRAGIC circumstances, knowing that He Himself would produce great good from great evil? That in the United States, Africans could be free to worship, many coming to know God as well as His Son Jesus, saving entire generations of families from eternal destruction. That when delivered to the shores of the United States these Africans and their ancestors could have opportunities and a way of living reaching far beyond what their forefathers in West Africa could ever dream? Like Joseph, they were destined with a purpose that required them to experience hardship, not to break them, but to refine and to re-purpose.
As monuments of Confederate generals are being dismantled and removed as they serve to some as a reminder of slavery, this raises questions. Because Egyptians enslaved the Jews for 400 years (Please Note: the Jews are God’s Chosen People), have the Egyptians destroyed the pyramids and temples that were built as monuments to Phaorahs by the enslaved Jews because it was wrong to use slaves? Have the Italians bulldozed the Colosseum in Rome where Christians were impaled and lit on fire as human torches or fed to lions for sport? Have they destroyed monuments to Roman Emperors? No and No and No. In fact the Colosseum in Rome is a major tourist attraction with tourism a primary source of revenue, but only ISIS and al Qaeda think its cool to kill Christians.
Despite the obvious evil that slavery is – it is pointless to erase historical references, and unnecessary if people understand and believe that their hardship can achieve or has achieved a higher, more prevailing purpose. Through history we learn a better way, with some history left to serve as a reminder that it never bears repeating. When hardship does not result in God-framed and God-inspired revealed purposes, it will result in a demonstration of revealed destruction and bitterness. Perspective is Everything.
Tracy L Gatewood
Sacred Ramblings May 2017
Perspective is Everything: My Response to the Removal of Monuments
Twitter: @TracyLGatewood
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Author: Doorways of Grace; My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus
We come before you with praise and thanksgiving for the many blessings that you have bestowed on us, on our families on our communities and on our great nation. We thank you for placing us in this time and season of history because we know that your divine timing is perfect and You make no mistakes. Your ways are as pure as they are wise and your ways are as good as they are wise and pure and ALL of your actions are done for Your glory.
Today I petition for your help for our nation the United States of America. This beautiful country which was crafted by your hands through men and women placed in a holy crucible, as they were led by your spirit to form this nation. Lord we ask you for your mercy on us as we again come to a crossroad of opinions and agendas. I ask you to blow the smoke away from the nation and set a right order, your order – within every official – coming in or departing. Show them the way – the right and honorable way – to lead during these times. I ask that You please move to restore order to our communities and across this Land with speed.
You are the Almighty – El Elyon – and as those who believe seek you in the Secret Place, we know that we remain stable and fixed under your protection, while covered underneath the shadow of your power. We call out the death spirits of LAWLESSNESS and FEAR and command them by the power of Jesus Name and by our authority in the Blood of Jesus that these spirits be bound and silenced across our communities and this nation. We accept our duty as Holy Warriors of the Kingdom to exercise our abilities to defeat demonic forces through spiritual means by taking our authority in prayer to dismantle their assaults. We also call on angelic forces to surround our communities and bring them to order. We ask that in Jesus Name. I decree a bloodline of protection around my city, my state and our nation from these demonic spiritual attacks.
In these uncommon times Lord, we ask for uncommon levels of GRACE – for you to show yourself as Mighty, calming the hearts of the people and showing them that your hand is on this hour for all people, not just the ones that claim you as Lord. We pray that quivering hearts and minds will turn toward you in this hour and claim your truths afresh rather than defaulting to fear and the fearful tactics of anger, rage and even murder.
We need you Father here in America. We depend on You to navigate our nation through supernatural means to extricate our government away from the precipice of economic destruction due to $20 trillion dollars of debt. We depend on You for wisdom in how to make determinations on people that have moved into this country by illegal means. We depend on Your wisdom Lord to shine the light on all of the major social issues that are consuming the minds of the American people and to assist our leaders in making these profoundly impactful decisions. We cannot move ahead successfully without you, Father. We must have your strength, your power and the wisdom that comes through You from above.
Hope defined is a confident expectation of good in every situation. Please restore HOPE and CONFIDENCE in the people of America, reminding each one of the great things that you have done in past times. Remind them that You are God – and Republicans and Democrats are not nor will ever be. That You alone direct the water courses of Kings and Nations and that work in this Nation will glorify You or change can occur with no notice to insure your will is done. We ask for your Spirit to lead our Nation to a balance of HOPE and RESTORED ORDER beginning now, today. Shut the mouths of the slanderers, mockers and gossipers who are filled with hate and who are stoking the flames of fear among the people. Quench the fire of the Religious and Fan the Flame of anointing in people that are in true authentic relationship with Jesus. Draw people to your Word for Truth and Knowledge, away from political pundits and mere men that cannot properly discern these times and seasons. Give your people 20/ 20 Vision in the Realm of the Spirit to see what you want us to see and to help those that cannot see You in these circumstances and have them help without judgment.
Now to the people listening – I speak to every spirit of Fear and I rebuke you in Jesus Name. Jesus bequeathed peace to everyone that claimed a relationship with Him and I release Peace into your mind. Jesus bore a crown of thorns on His head that drew the blood that Purchased peace in our minds for all of mankind so by the power and authority that I have in the Name of Jesus and By the Blood of Jesus – I bind up Fear and I release Peace, and Calm. I decree that the Tormenter be Silenced in Jesus Name.
From October 2009 to early summer of 2012, I earned a PhD in FEAR during a remarkable season of transition. From the time that I made a commitment to move back to my hometown in July 2009 until 3 years later – I white knuckled my way through a lengthy list of peaks and (far and away mostly) valleys. If you have ever walked through a Job season, then you can clearly relate to what I am referring. My family and close friends watched in disbelief as a series of extreme circumstances came in wave after wave over several years, but in the fullness of His time, but by His grace, God redeemed my desperate and bleak situation, opening up new avenues of hope and restoration.
Joel 2:23-26 AMPBe then glad, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord, your God; for He gives you the former or early rain in just measure and in righteousness, and He causes to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain as before. And the (threshing) floors shall be full of grain and the vats shall overflow with juice (of the grape) and oil. And I will restore or replace for you the years that the locust has eaten-the hopping locust; the stripping locust, and the crawling locust, My great army which I sent among you. And you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord, your God. Who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never be put to shame.
During this season I had well-meaning friends, say to me any number of things, “Tracy, where’s your faith?”, I had never struggled with my faith, actually I always believed that I had very strong faith but no amount of faith was turning around these problems or “Why don’t you just get a job!”, like I had not been looking under every rock for one for over a year, or telling me that I was going in the wrong direction in returning back to my home town – even after I had explained exhaustively that God had told me to move back. One couple whom I mistakenly trusted, successfully convinced me that I had waited too long to move after being called by God to do so and I was obviously being chastened. Unfortunately, I allowed this latter remark to seep into my soul, and this was one of 3 primary reasons that I slipped into a downward, even vertical spiral of total condemnation that almost destroyed my mind. Condemnation will kill you. Fear will kill you, too.
A Description of Fear
Fear is an evil spirit. That’s right, what most people associate with horror movies or witches, fear spirits are in the unseen realm that surround us. Just like Angels are in the unseen (Recommended: Angels: God’s Secret Agents; Billy Graham, author), a person cannot see an evil spirit. If you accept one you should accept the existence of the other. Fear is also an emotional response to a real and undesired situation however it is when fear is left to run rampant and unabated, continually flailing around in a person’s mind, is when this spirit has the ability to lodge into a soul and wreak havoc in the life of anyone. All people are made up of (3) things: Spirit, Soul and Body. If you have accepted Christ, then your spirit is connected to the Holy Spirit which is how you hear the will of God, your soul is comprised of (3) things: your mind, your will and your emotions.
Throughout this season of fear, I had the choice of either learning how to combat this spirit or allow it to kill me. I decided I wanted to fight and to live. After observing the effects of extreme fear at a very close range for a prolonged season, I concluded the following:
1) The enemy always enters a person’s mind or soul cloaked in a spirit of fear or cloaked in a spirit of condemnation. Even the slightest root of fear can open the door to a full-blown attack. Keep the fear door closed tightly.
2) Fear acts as a portal into a person’s soul through which every negative emotion can and will flow: confusion, depression, suicide, insecurity, greed, envy, jealousy, trauma, abuse, shame, and terror. Its always Fear (or condemnation) First before the associated negative emotion kicks in.
3) The immediate response to a spirit of fear must be trust in God (belief versus unbelief). Keep faith building scripture verses close at hand to combat fear, just as you would keep Vitamin C and Zinc close at hand if you have a cold. Faith is the antidote to fear. Speak these verses ALOUD.
4) Fear is the enemy’s heaven – fear is like oxygen to the demonic.
5) If the spirit of fear is not present, the enemy has nothing to convert to evil – he has nothing on which to “latch” himself to a person. This is an essential point to grasp in the understanding of the subject of fear and strategy of the enemy.
Jesus, Your Great High Priest Hebrews 8: 6-7 “But as it is now, He (Christ) has acquired a (priestly) ministry which is as much superior and more excellent (than the old) as the covenant (the agreement) of which He is the Mediator (the Arbiter, Agent), is superior and more excellent, (because) it is enacted and rests upon more important promises. For if that first covenant had been without defect, there would have been no room for another one or an attempt to institute another one. “
This might be your first exposure to New Covenant terminology, and if so, I wish that I had the time to completely round out this wonderful topic in its entirety but this article is blog length. When Jesus was sacrificed on the cross, His resurrection served as ratification of a New Covenant (agreement) with all people that have accepted Him as their Savior. There are many, many things that shifted from the Old Testament over to the New following the crucifixion; Jesus’ death and resurrection. Specifically, His blood, redeemed back from the enemy, our ability to walk in total freedom. You have been given the ability to self deliver – you have the ability to pray for healing for yourself and call on God’s power to answer your prayer. If you are struggling with any emotional issue in your mind -(1) picture yourself standing firmly rooted and grounded in the love of God – God’s perfect love will cast out fear. Drawing on God’s love for you will bring confidence.(2) Understand that Jesus has purchased your right of ownership to a sound mind (He is Jehovah Shalom-the Prince of Peace), and your mind can now be calibrated into rest and to the perfect mind of Christ. This was won for you at The Cross.
Binding and Loosing
Although rarely taught, the scriptural way to eradicate a spirit; fear, depression, suicide, confusion, condemnation or anything previously mentioned is a technique that is so simple, and it is how Jesus Himself instructs us to control things we choose to declare to be unlawful or improper. In fact, He states in Matthew 16:19 that He is giving us the ” keys to the kingdom “.
Matthew 16:19 AMP “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven: and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.”
When you bind, and rebuke a spirit – you send it packing. Binding it up, renders it null and void. Conversely, you can loose or release an opposite spirit (joy, hope, a sound mind), right back into yourself or another person for whom you are praying. It’s right there in the bible. Jesus Himself holds the Key of David: Isaiah 22:22 “And the key of the house of David I will lay upon His shoulder: He shall open and no one shall shut, He shall shut and no one shall open.”
This is Jesus. Jesus is the literal Tree of Life.
The Gospel of Grace allows us to be transformed by Jesus from glory to glory and it also allows for some tactical “moves” that are administrated by the Holy Spirit. If you want to free yourself from fear – declare it aloud and speak to the fear like it was a person (actually it is a thing). Tell that spirit that you are binding and breaking it in the name of Jesus and by the blood of Jesus. Acknowledge the work of Jesus on the cross in Isaiah 53. Stand firmly planted in the love of God and believe that you are standing firm from a victorious stance, never fighting from a position of defeat. You are not your emotions, and these things cannot continue to remain if you identify them, carefully bind them, rebuke them and ask God to send them away. Although you are speaking the words, this is a work of the Holy Spirit and Jesus holds the keys to close the door on these offenders.
It is so simple – no process – and it is God’s Recipe for Success and Freedom From Fear and Condemnation.
Tracy Gatewood
Keys to Freedom from Fear
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Psalm 89: 19-29 AMP Once You spoke in a vision to Your devoted ones and said, I have endowed One who is mighty ; I have exalted one chosen from among the people. I have found David My servant with my holy oil I have anointed him, With whom My hand shall be established and ever abide. My arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact from him or do him violence or outwit him, nor shall the wicked afflict and humble him. I will beat down the foes before his face and smite those who hate him. My faithfulness and My mercy and loving-kindness shall be with him, and in My name shall his horn be exalted (great power and prosperity shall be conferred upon Him). I will set his hand in control also on the (Mediterranean) Sea, and his right hand on the rivers (Euphrates with its tributaries). He shall cry to me, You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation! Also, I will make him the firstborn the highest of the kings of the earth (Rev. 1:5). My mercy and loving-kindness will I keep for him forevermore, and My covenant shall stand fast and be faithful with him. His Offspring also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. (Isa 9:7, Gal. 3:16).
An indication that the Lord planned the execution of the New Covenant from the beginning of time is found in Psalm 89 which depicts David as a type and shadow of the New Covenant Jesus Christ. The terms of Jesus’ Agreement in walking out the covenant with the Father were agreed upon from the beginning. God would never allow Jesus to leave His sight or His Presence while He was on the earth, The Spirit was sent to assist Him without measure, (it is the Holy Spirit that conceived Jesus in Mary, empowered Jesus to walk to Golgotha and resurrected Him from the grave), and great reward and honor would be bestowed upon His return. Jesus agreed to be born of a woman; to become human in form, divesting Himself of His glory. He accepted the assignment of becoming a humble servant and understood before He came that wicked people would dishonor and attempt to destroy Him before His work was complete. Jesus, our Chief Advocate and Mediator of the New Covenant, faithfully agreed to walk out the terms of the agreement with His Father to ensure that His Offspring and Seed would be guaranteed all the benefits planned for them.
As we know, the Eternal Covenant made between God and Jesus for all Believers (accepting by faith His Sonship and understanding He is the required sacrifice for all sin ) was a blood covenant requiring His life. Jesus by His own volitional will, came in the volume of the Book it was written, and timed with perfect precision. (Hebrews 10:7 AMPBehold, here I am O God ( to fulfill ) what is written of Me in the volume of the Book . vs 9: Behold here I am, coming to do your will). We now have the ability to live a life pleasing to God, with that ability given to us by God Himself. John 6:32 NKJV Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world”. Does this confirm with you how much is the love of God?
Psalm 89: 30-37 AMP If His sons forsake My law, And do not walk in My judgements, If they break My statutes And do not keep My commandments, Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My loving kindness I will not utterly take from Him, Nor allow My faithfulness to fail, My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, And His throne as the sun before Me: it shall be established forever like the moon, Even like the faithful witness in the sky. This passage also represents a foreshadowing of the crucifixion: Isaiah 53: But He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
John 17: 1-5 AMP When Jesus had spoken these things, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify and exalt and honor and magnify your Son, so that your Son may glorify and extol and honor and magnify You. Just as You have granted Him power and authority over all flesh (all humankind), (now glorify Him) so that He may give eternal life to all whom You have given Him. And this is eternal life: (it means) to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with and understand) You, the only true and real God, and (likewise) to know Him, Jesus as the Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), whom You have sent. I have glorified you down here on the earth by completing the work that You gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify Me along with Yourself and restore me to such majesty and honor in Your presence as I had with You before the world existed.
The Agreement was struck in Heaven before the creation of the world, then Jesus walked out the terms of grace, by grace.
While walking out the Agreement, the Great Shepherd of the sheep ~
(1) showed the people they have access to divine healing/freedom by healing them
(2) showed the people they have access to God’s provision by feeding them
(3) showed the people that peace could be attained by focusing on Him
(4) admonished all people to Fear Not and removed their fear
(5) taught and cared for multitudes as their shepherd and teaching pastor / rabbi
(6) taught forgiveness and showed the people they must forgive
There is also every reason to assume that Jesus even knew the names of the people He would encounter while on earth, the ones that would be coming into His own body, The Church.
He finished the work of the New Covenant (new agreement) at the Cross. Jesus shed blood in 7 places; His back took lashes from a rod, both hands and both feet took nails, His head wore a crown of thorns, and His side was pierced by a Roman soldier. The Number 7 is the number for perfection and revelation.
2 Timothy 1:9 AMP
(For it is He) who delivered and saved us and called us with a calling in itself holy and leading to holiness (to a life of consecration, a vocation of holiness); (he did it) not because of anything of merit that we have done, but because of and to further His own purpose and grace (unmerited favor) which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began (eternal ages ago).
11 But (that appointed time came) when Christ (the Messiah) appeared as a High Priest of the better things that have come and are to come. (Then) through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with (human) hands, that is, not a part of this material creation, 12 He went once for all into the (holy of) Holies not by virtue of the blood of goats and calves (by which to make reconciliation between God and man), but by His own blood, having found and secured a complete redemption (an everlasting release for us). 13 For if (the mere) sprinkling of unholy and defiled persons with blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a burnt heifer is sufficient for the purification of the body, 14 How much more surely shall the blood of Christ, who by virtue of (His ) eternal Spirit (His own preexistent, divine personality) has offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God, purify our consciences from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the (ever) living God? 15 (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. 16 For where there is a (last) will and testament involved, the death of the one who made it must be established, 17 For a will and testament is valid and takes effect only at death, since it has no force or legal power as long as the one who made it is alive, 18 so even the (old) first covenant of God’s will was not inaugurated without the shedding of blood.
Jesus’ Blood is different, it is very different. The precious Blood of Jesus is the single most powerful tool (and weapon) that we have as Christians. We do not need to yell or pontificate to win our battles but acknowledge and apply the Blood of Jesus for Him to take us through the process to claim a victory already won. Many people were put to death on a Cross, the universally recognized symbol of Christianity – but as important as Jesus death was for the activation of the eternal covenant (binding, unbreakable obligation between parties) the equally active power of Christianity resides in the Holy Blood of Jesus. Jesus’ blood is alive, it has infinite power when applied by faith – power administrated by the Holy Spirit. The work has been finished – Hallelujah!
Leviticus 17:11 AMP “For the life (animal soul) is in the blood and I have given it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the Blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life which it represents. ”
So what is this saying?
That the soul and life is carried in blood
Blood has atoning power
The value of blood corresponds to the value of the life in which it rests
As a sacrifice, the life of an ox, bull or a ram has more value than the life of a sheep or goat. The life of a bird is of less value than the life of a lamb or a goat. The life blood of a man has more value than any animal –
How much worth, redemptive, atoning power does the Blood of a Perfect Deity carry ? The Blood in which rests the soul of the Most Holy Son of God whose sacrifice establishes an unbreakable Covenant saving all of mankind from eternal death, releasing benefits that cover the scope of every human need.
Even the most glorious Blood of Jesus is incomplete without the Spirit – as the two work together, actually there are 3 that work together: water, blood and Spirit. Water represents repentance and the laying aside of sin, blood is the cleansing agent for sin and even the stain (guilt) of sin and the Spirit activates the power of Jesus’ blood when appropriated by faith (the leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom andgoodness). This lesser recognized Trinity comprises the essential ingredients for freedom from every form of bondage – a Crimson Flow of Freedom.
Every single drop of Jesus’ blood is powerful and holds infinite worth. The process of scourging then execution by crucifixion allowed for the greatest amount of blood loss which for our benefit covered the greatest amount of sin. If Satan could have known the end result of this process, would he not have simply left Jesus alone to die a more likely death from a natural cause? The sovereignty of God’s will prevailed –
Isaiah 53:10-12 AMP “Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise him, He has put Him to grief and made Him sick. When You and He make His life an offering for sin (and He has risen from the dead, in time to come) He shall see His (spiritual) offspring, He shall prolong His days, and the will and pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see (the fruit) of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; by His knowledge of Himself (which He possesses and imparts to others) shall My (uncompromisingly) Righteous One, My Servant justify many and make many righteous (upright and in right standing with God), for He shall bear their iniquities and their guilt (with the consequences, says the Lord).
Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great (kings and rulers), and He shall divide the spoil with the mighty, because He poured out His life unto death, and He let Himself be regarded as a criminal and be numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore (and took away) the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors (the rebellious).”
Father, I thank you that by the power of the Holy Blood of Your Son Jesus that no good thing will be withheld from us because we can dwell in Your presence and live uprightly because we are forever righteous in Your sight. AMEN
Tracy Gatewood
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Most Merciful and Loving Father –
Tracy Gatewood 