Tag Archives: Healing

A Merry Heart is Divine Medicine

27 Monday May 2019

Posted by in #HolySpirit, Christianity, Emotions, Fear, God, Healing, Jesus Christ, Keys to the Kingdom, New Covenant, peace, Prayer, soul, The Bible, the Spirit, Tracy Gatewood, Tracy Gatewood Prayer, Wisdom

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Red heart icon with sign heartbeat.

“All the days of the desponding and afflicted are made evil [ by anxious thoughts and forebodings ], but he who has a glad heart has a continual feast [regardless of circumstances ] ”  Proverbs 15:15 AMP 

” A happy heart is good medicine, and a cheerful mind works by healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones”.  Proverbs  17:22 AMP 

” Attitude is a little thing that can make a big difference“.  Winston Churchill

Many of us will agree there is a direct, undeniable connection between the mind and the body. It is how to calm and tame the soul (mind, will, emotions) – bringing it to cheerful joy and peace despite circumstances – is what eludes so many.

In 2009, I made a personal decision to return to my hometown after being away since 1979. I put my home on the market and began a job search, hoping to find something quickly as I had been a marketing freelancer which did not translate well in this new much smaller, college town environment. In the summer of 2009, I went on a spiritual retreat designed to free me of fears and habits that had accumulated over time. This was my hometown and a place in which I held unhappy memories and conflicts with family members were ongoing and troubling. In the natural, this did not seem like the right move however, I believed that God had a plan and a purpose for my return.

Following this 4 day retreat, I was attacked by something that I can only describe as a “spirit” as it was supernatural in its make up. Nothing I did would cause it to release. A trained Intercessor, I prayed, and then yes, begged God to remove this spirit that was causing me to stay awake at night – I only received at most 4 hours of sleep, and my heart raced uncontrollably as if I was literally having a heart attack.  I felt like I was having what a nervous breakdown must feel like – but understood there was something very different about what was happening and I was correct.

During that 6 week period – I experienced a consistent feeling of terror, the highest degree of fear – that would never disconnect, day or night. It was not brought on by emotion, or circumstances but was supernatural in nature and demonic, a “thing” that tried to take my life and almost did. Suddenly, six weeks after the attack began, it released. I was standing in my living room praying and I felt it lift away – with no warning, just as quickly as it had come upon me. I had been praying for 6 weeks and believe there was nothing unique at that time as to what I said or prayed. Following that attack, I lived in an unfocused fog and detached confusion but months later thankfully that too lifted. This attack taught me survival training regarding prayer and how to hold peace in difficult circumstances. [A near death experience does have a way of gaining your attention. ] Your most important friend in time of great fear and distress is Holy Spirit. He is the Administrator and Coordinator of the Peace that was bequeathed to us from Christ Jesus.

Begin by embracing the Truth that God loves you and that He is for you, no matter what your circumstances. Even if you made a mistake you can always ask Him to turn your mistakes around for your good. He is there with you and sees everything. You must lean into Him and build your relationship with Holy Spirit so that you can hear His direction. He is speaking – you must learn how to hear Him and then do what He says. This is the fastest way out of your circumstances. Pray for Him to impart to you His discernment and skillful and Godly wisdom.

FEAR magnetizes all other unrighteous thoughts, drawing them towards an individual. FEAR is the Red Carpet that provides the jetway for jealousy, murderous rage, anger, covetousness, bitterness, shame, rejection and more – Get your mind under control and press out ALL fear. There are a several ways to tame the Fear dragon, and not one is difficult but each requires enough discipline to become a habit and better still – a default setting – whenever you are hard hit by a Fear Wall.

A) Read God’s Word. It acts as a water hose, rinsing off the dirt and grime that builds up from conversations, watching terror or violence laden TV, or just from being in the workplace. The Word of God is SPIRIT and is living and active. There is actual power in speaking aloud God’s Word – power that moves in the supernatural realm to accomplish our goals, and helps us take dominion over circumstances. There is a wealth of wisdom just in The Proverbs alone. There are 31 chapters of Proverbs, and one for each day. Commit to reading this powerful book.

The word “health” in Hebrew means ‘medicine’ and God’s Word is medicine that brings health to the soul. There is a difference between divine health and divine healing. John G Lake stated, ” Divine healing is the removal by the power of God of the disease that has come upon a body. But divine health is to live day by day, hour by hour in touch with God so that the life of God flows into the body just as the life of God flows into the mind or flows into the spirit.”

B) Call on the power of the Holy Spirit and invoke the Cross in Prayer. This is key. Fear is a spirit – as are the associated spirits of dread, terror, worry and anxiety. Before His death, Jesus bequeathed to all Peace as a gift from Him: “Peace I leave with you; My (own) peace I now give and bequeath to you“. John 14:27 AMP So if Jesus actually gave us His own peace – shouldn’t we have the ability to access it when needed ? Well…. yes we should.  Ask the Holy Spirit to cover and protect your mind with the Blood of Jesus and the Helmet of Salvation – a helmet of hope. Pray and acknowledge the verses describing the sacrifice of Jesus: Isaiah 53:5 and place emphasis on the Crown of Thorns that caused the blood of Jesus to flow. This allows for the healing in our minds.  I have personally experienced the effect of this many times. Imagine an etch a sketch pad with scribble across it and as you lift up that film, the scribble disappears. This is how thoroughly clean the Holy Spirit can remove unrighteous thinking in your mind when you partner with Him, the Paraclete.

C) Intensely focus your mind on Jesus who is ALL supply. There is no lack in Jesus unless you restrict His supply through your own lack of faith (your fear).  Not only is He the bright radiant Son that lights up all of Heaven, He is the Mediator of the Eternal Covenant, our High Priest, the Chief Shepherd, and the Chief Intercessor.  His sacrifice created an Eternal Covenant that ties back to the Covenant that God made with Abraham (father of a multitude) because Abram (high exalted father) believed in, trusted in, relied on and remained steadfast to the Lord Who counted it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6) Every citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven owns a title deed to the Covenant that God made with Abraham and with Jesus.

You, child of God, walk with favor, even if your present circumstances do not appear that way but you must hold fast to the hope that the Cavalry is coming because Calvary came! 

Hope is a confident expectation of good, in every situation, praising God for His goodness. 

Frequent drops of hope raining onto a person’s soul creates a consistent flow of faith. Remain in hope. Hope is much different than wishful thinking which is only based on man and not on God. Immerse yourself in hope-filled teachings avoiding teachers of behavior modification that do not understand that Jesus’ power is transformational through faith in Him.

C) Speak Words of Life during difficult circumstances.  “Death and life are in the power of the tongue”.  Proverbs 18:21 The rest of the verse states “and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof”.  Watch your words. Your words set the course for your life and you will have what you say. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34)  If you guard your heart – and do not allow fear and emotion to penetrate, this is the surest way that words of hope and life pouring from your mouth.

Remain in innocence – understand that the Lord is your Defender and Avenger. Do not respond in kind to people that are harmful or hateful. The Lord will take care of them in due time. And lastly, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and understanding and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.” Proverbs 3:5-6  Embracing this truth of trusting God will put your heart at rest then follow with prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to the next step of your journey.

 

Tracy L Gatewood
#TracyGatewoodPrayer
All Rights Reserved 2019

Twitter:  Tracy L Gatewood
Wordpress: Sacred Ramblings
Facebook: Tracy Gatewood Sacred Ramblings
Author: Doorways of Grace: My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus – this book is available on Amazon
SoundCloud:  Tracy L Gatewood

 

 

We Are Not Given A Spirit of Fearj

04 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by in Blood of Jesus, Disasters, Emotions, Fear, Healing, Jesus, Mercy, New Covenant, the Spirit, Tracy Gatewood, Tracy Gatewood Prayer, TracyLGatewood

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

CanvaFearlGirlBest
[Author’s Note: I have studied physical and emotional healing for 20 years and the Lord continues to deliver new ah-ha’s!  The effects of extreme negative emotions on the body, in particular fear, are undeniable. This article addresses “inherited” generational physical conditions. This will be new information for many of you. ]

II Timothy 1:7 AMP   For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven, 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. [ The 2nd letter of Paul to Timothy written while Paul was imprisoned in Rome. ]

In preparation of writing this article, I found these public definitions helpful

Timidity – a lack of courage or confidence.

Fear – a painful emotion or passion excited by an expectation of evil, or the apprehension of impending danger. Fear expresses less apprehension than dread, and dread less than terror and fright. The force of this passion, beginning with the most moderate degree, may be thus expressed;  fear, dread, terror, fright. Fear is accompanied with a desire to avoid or ward off the expected evil. Fear is an uneasiness of mind, upon which the thought of future evil is likely to befall us. Fear is the passion of our nature which excites us to provide for our security, on the approach of evil.[Definition from the KJV Bible ]

It is interesting that Fear as defined is more related to apprehension or expectation of evil rather than its actual occurrence.  The damage of Fear occurs more in the build-up to the unknown and in the unexpected  where it blooms, builds, breeds and then bleeds. It is in this breeding that Fear seeps from the mind into the soul and then into the physical body.  Fear is the Red Carpet on which every single negative emotional spirit strides with confidence into the realm of a person’s soul.

Fear is the devil’s key that turns, unlocks then swings wide open the door into the soul of a person that buys into its effects.

The conditions that stem from fear, anxiety and stress are numerous.   [ The spiritual root cause of stress is fear; a lack of trust, and unbelief. ]  The following are just a few conditions that are medically proven to have a spiritual root cause based in a spirit of fear: angina, hypertension, arrhythmia, mitral valve prolapse, all number of cardiovascular issues, coronary artery disease, strokes  (also related to anger and rage), IBS, Colitis.  < ref.  A More Excellent Way,  Dr. Henry Wright  >

The roots of fear and condemnation are typically at the base of practically every disease.

Emotional damage from specific external circumstances are detrimental to the human body:  the after-effects from abuse, shame, trauma, rejection, and abandonment are the most damaging to the human mind and soul, requiring immediate healing attention before their effects take root and flow through the body. Typically, the damage comes from protracted, or consistent occurrences of these negative emotions ( fear, abuse, shaming, trauma, rejection and abandonment). Exposure to these extreme occurrences must be dealt with through spiritual means; spirits must be dealt with by The Spirit.

There are numerous references to evil spirits, foul and unclean spirits in scripture. The following are found in the New Testament –

Matthew 10:1 AMP  And Jesus summoned to Him His twelve disciples and gave them power and authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out, and to cure all kinds of disease and all kinds of weakness and infirmity.
< Example of an unclean spirit today would be an STD  >

 We have authority and dominion over our own bodies, our emotions and our physical well-being.

The Jews thought even Jesus was possessed by a demon ( which was a very bad move on their part ) – and recognized spirits and demons as harbingers of disease and mental illness: John 8:48 AMP  “The Jews answered Him, Are we not right when we say You are a Samaritan and that You have a demon (that you are under the power of an evil spirit)? “

Referring to actions of the Apostles – Acts 5:16 AMP  And the people gathered also from the towns and hamlets around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those troubled with foul spirits, and they were all cured.

Acts 8:7 AMP ” For foul spirits came out of many who were possessed by them, screaming and shouting with a loud voice, and many who were suffering from palsy or were crippled were restored to health. “

These same evil, foul and unclean spirits are alive and moving with great intentionality on the earth today. Medical science has now simply given them a sophisticated name. If a person is not delivered from a spirit – that spirit can remain in them throughout life. What happens in the next generation to the child of that parent that comes into the same disease, condition or infirmity?  What we call “inherited”, typically was simply legal access opened by a spirit of fear or traumatic event, a spirit that should have never gained entrance in the first place.

Scenario:  A parent goes through a traumatic occurrence; divorce, car accident, extended job loss with no income, etc. There is tremendous fear, trauma and possibly shame and if divorce is involved then rejection. This parent then develops cancer. This parent then develops fibromyalgia or rheumatoid arthritis. This parent then suffers a stroke. Whatever the scenario – from that point forward – in the history of the child, it is assumed that they have an inherited “chip” for the disease that the parent developed due to their body’s response to an extreme emotional circumstance. They are now in fact considered predisposed to a disease, because an emotional spirit gained access causing a disease, infirmity or condition due to an extreme event that was not managed or delivered.

Do you see how important it is when Jesus exhorted us to ‘ Fear Not ‘? What diseases are in your family line?  Are you aware of the history leading to the onset of the disease ?

We do not have to live at the mercy of our ancestors’ emotions or external occurrences that opened doors to disease nor our own emotional wounds that turn into physical conditions.  As Christians we have been gifted with the Great Stabilizer, the Son of God, Christ Jesus. When we walk in knowledge of Who He is and What He has done – it has an immediate effect on our bodies.

The following are focus points for all who believe –

1) Deep understanding of the authentic, infinite and immutable love of God and that His heart is always turned toward you – the royal law of love: Matthew 22:37-40  2) The Finished Work of Jesus through His sacrifice  3) A thorough knowledge of the New Covenant benefits, those promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Genesis 4) When walking through seasons of lack, an unbending focus on Jesus who is ALL SUPPLY  5) Recognition of the advocacy and the leading of the Holy Spirit  6) Knowledge that a lack of faith will block the flow of the favor of God and   7)  the understanding of the law of faith; Romans 3:27-28

Proverbs 1:32-33
” For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them and the
careless ease of the (self-confident) fools shall destroy them
But whoso hearkens to me [ wisdom] shall dwell securely and in
confident trust and shall be quiet, without fear or dread of evil. ”


Tracy Gatewood
We Are Not Given a Spirit of Fear
Sacred Ramblings
All Rights Reserved 2022

Sharing Link:  We Are Not Given a Spirit of Fear    http://wp.me/p1zoxs-1VW
Twitter  @TracyLGatewood
Facebook: Tracy Gatewood Sacred Ramblings
Amazon Author: Doorways of Grace, My UnCommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus –
https://www.amazon.com/author/tracygatewood

Related: Jesus the Bishop of Our Souls        http://wp.me/p1zoxs-vq
Related: Healing and the Armor of God      http://wp.me/p1zoxs-tg

Prayers of Grace – Day 2

06 Tuesday Sep 2016

Posted by in Blood of Jesus, Christianity, Jesus, Keys to the Kingdom, the Spirit, Wisdom

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Whitedove

Most  Precious Heavenly Father,

Thank you for your mercy and great kindness.  Your love endures forever.  When I ask, you impart gifts from your Holy Spirit and as needed,  the gifts of love, patience, kindness, self-control are brought to me without delay. Through my failures and successes, you have equipped me with sound wisdom, but your correct time and seasons are without fault or error to impart this wisdom.  I seek timing, leading and most importantly, even more of your wisdom.

Because I walk in undeserved, unmerited favor, I live expectant  that doors of great opportunity unlock on my behalf and in their correct time and season. The favor of the Lord opens doors that no man can shut. The favor of the Lord is upon me, and He confirms and establishes the work of my hands. Because of the New Covenant and the finished work of Jesus, my career is blessed, my family is blessed and my ministry work is blessed. I have been granted the keys to the Kingdom. Because I have dominion on the earth, what I bind on earth will be bound in heaven.

I decree that the favor of the Lord surrounds me like a shield against all enemies. When I call forth the blood of Jesus as protection – I speak into existence an impenetrable fortress.   I am always above and I am never beneath. I am always the head and I am never the tail. Jesus has acquired all heavenly wisdom and because I am in Him and He is in me seated in heavenly places at the Father’s right hand – His Spirit counsels and teaches me skillful and Godly wisdom for any circumstance. I have the Spirit of Jesus Christ living in me and possess the identical power that raised Him from the dead and back to life. Thank you, God for the gift of your Spirit to me.

In the Name of Jesus I Pray – AMEN  (So Be it)

Prayers of Grace –
Tracy Gatewood

Twitter:  @TracyLGatewood
FB:  Tracy Gatewood Christian Writer and Teacher
Author:  Doorways of Grace, available on Amazon

 

Healing and the Armor of God prayer

07 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by in Armor of God, Blood of Jesus, Bride of Christ, Christianity, Emotions, Fear, Gospel of Grace, Grace, Healing, Healing and the Armor of God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Leadership, New Covenant, redemption, soul, the Spirit, Tracy Gatewood, Tracy Gatewood Prayer, TracyLGatewood

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Armor of God image

Few of us live with the reality that there is a spirit realm that has an ability to impact our minds through thoughts, ideas and suggestions. All thoughts, good and bad, right and wrong are not all completely generated from within our minds. Because our flesh has actually been circumcised – cut away, made separate from us [ Colossians 2:11]  we can, through the power of the Holy Spirit and because of Christ’s sacrifice take dominion and authority over our flesh and this disruptive spirit realm.

The Apostle Paul instructed the Church at Ephesus to put on the complete Armor of God as a primary source of resistance in combat against “spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) spheres” Eph 6:12 AMP. “ Therefore put on God’s complete armor, that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day (of danger) and having done all ( the crisis demands), to stand ( firmly in place). Eph 6:13 AMP  Notice the Apostle Paul says here to stand, so we must be able to do it. We must stand rooted from a position of victory, not pleading from a defeated stance. Our victory has already been won by Jesus.

A little known truth is that most disease begins from within the mind and travels through the body wrecking health – either through emotional spirits (ie fear, bitterness, condemnation, anxiety, trauma, shame, abuse)  or generational spirits that repeat patterns of disease from prior generations. Through prayer, we can take authority over spirits of disease and infirmity and the Spirit of God will move forward to do His work [ Matthew 12:28 ]. Like prayer, the partaking of the Lord’s Supper should become a daily part of times of devotion; properly discerning the Body and expressing gratitude and appreciation to Jesus for the lashes that He took, to purchase health and healing. The blood spilled from His head by the crown of thorns purchased healing, and restoration for our minds to enable rest. Prayer and the Lord’s Supper are readily available and much easier than driving to a pharmacy.

Fear is enemy #1. The spirit of fear is the red carpet on which the enemy makes a grand entrance to walk out onto the stage of a person’s mind. Fear is like oxygen to the enemy, the atmosphere in which he thrives. Both fear and condemnation open portals from hell, allowing the sewage of paranoia, bitterness, anger, malice, mistrust, confusion and even lust, and addictions to pour forth into a person.  It is for these reasons, Jesus commands us not to fear. If we remain free of fear, the enemy has nothing on which to grab hold to move us into poor decisions, and life altering reactions, or to damage our emotional or physical health.

The following is Ephesians 6:14 -18 from the Amplified version which highlights the key components of armor as described by Paul:

Eph 6:14
Stand therefore, (hold your ground), having tightened the belt of truth around your loins and having put the breastplate of integrity, and of moral rectitude and right standing with God.

The belt of Truth is Jesus Who is the Truth and the One who holds the armor together, keeping it securely in place. The breastplate of righteousness guards the heart and chest cavity.  For those who have accepted Jesus as Savior, we are the righteousness of God by faith in Christ Jesus, so therefore in right standing with God. Righteousness is a free gift that cannot be earned, nor can it be lost. Guarding the heart, which is the gateway to the soul (the soul is comprised of the mind, will and emotions), could be second in importance only to the direct protection of the mind.

Eph  6:15 And having shod your feet in preparation (to face the enemy firm-footed stability, the promptness and the readiness produced by the good news) of the Gospel of peace.

Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace. This rich Jewish word also means wholeness, safety, completeness, perfection, prosperity. Strong’s Concordance further states that shalom means rest and the absence of agitation or discord.  Jesus is Shar Shalom, the Prince of Peace and the Prince of Rest. Jesus bequeathed peace to His followers [John 14:7]. We possess it and own it by right as a gift from Him. When you are prepared you can be at peace – in peace there is no fear, and without fear, the enemy has nothing on which to grasp.

For many of us, it takes more than just the knowledge that Jesus gave us peace to actually be peaceful. Enter God’s Holy Spirit to bring a person into rest as the comforter.

Phillipians 4:6-7 AMP
Do not fret or have anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. And God’s peace (shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort is, that peace) which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians vs 6:16
Lift up over all the {covering} shield of saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked (one).

As previously mentioned, our minds can become mine fields of thoughts, ideas and suggestions that are not our own nor are they from God. It is our responsibility to fix our focus on Jesus, keeping minds focused on things above and not beneath while standing on faith in His finished work. Faith defined in the Amplified as the leaning of the entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power.

Have you ever put out a candle with a wet paper napkin and heard that quick sizzle sound when the candle snuffs? That is a quench. Your faith acts as a shield around your mind, quenching harmful effects of negative thoughts, keeping them from penetrating further into your soul. Ask the Holy Spirit to apprehend every spirit that is not from the spirit of God out of your mind. This works.

Ephesians vs 6:17
And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God.

Like Hebrew word Peace (Shalom), the word Salvation (Sozo) has multiple meanings translated from the Greek: healed, made whole, forgiven from sin, saved, deliverance, financial prosperity. It is a beautiful word of hope. We are seated in heavenly places and free in Christ Jesus, holding all hope; a confident expectation of good throughout any  circumstance.

When the Holy Spirit revealed to you the truth about Jesus and you asked Him into your heart, that same revealed truth and your willingness to be healed can through that same action provide your healing. The word Sozo means salvation and healing. Your mind is made whole, and healed by putting on the helmet of knowledge that Jesus’ death and resurrection was all that was required for your restoration, and that the blood of Jesus will re calibrate your mind and emotions to a state of rest and freedom if it is applied.

The Sword of the spirit is the Word of God and one of the two offensive weapons in the Armor of God prayer.  Reading the Word of God provokes a cleansing action over your mind, rinsing away dust, debris and toxic thinking that collects on a daily basis. Reading the Word aloud allows not only you to hear it but you-know-who hears it as well. Significant power is released into the atmosphere when speaking God’s Word aloud. In God’s Word there is Spirit and life! The Word, and the Blood and Name of  Jesus are the most powerful tools of weaponry for a Believer. No foe or circumstance can withstand these three sources of Holy Spirit packed dynamite.

Ephesians vs 6:18
Pray at all times (on every occasion and in every season) in the Spirit, with all manner of prayer and entreaty. To that end, keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding on behalf of all the Saints (God’s consecrated people).

Praying in the Spirit refers to a heavenly language, or a prayer language, that is only revealed to God and unlocks great mysteries in and by the Spirit. We are exhorted by the Apostle Paul to use our prayer language at every opportunity and to intercede for fellow Believers. To intercede means to stand in the gap for a person, nation, or organization. We are to be very intentional with our prayer habits and intercession. We live now under the Eternal Covenant of Grace, leaning with full confidence into Jesus and the blessed assurances that have been purchased for us.

Here are the verses in sequence without my comments:  Ephesians 6:10-18 AMP

10 In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that strength which His boundless might provides].

11 Put on God’s whole armor [the armor of a heavy-armed soldier which God supplies], that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and the deceits of the devil.

12 For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.

13 Therefore put on God’s complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands], to stand [firmly in your place].

14 Stand therefore [hold your ground], having tightened the belt of truth around your loins and having put on the breastplate of integrity and of moral rectitude and right standing with God,

15 And having shod your feet in preparation [to face the enemy with the [a]firm-footed stability, the promptness, and the readiness [b]produced by the good news] of the Gospel of peace.

16 Lift up over all the [covering] shield of [c]saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked [one].

17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit [d]wields, which is the Word of God.

18 Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people).

Tracy Gatewood

Sacred Ramblings

All Rights Reserved 2020
TWITTER: @TracyLGatewood
FACEBOOK: Tracy Gatewood Christian Writer and Teacher
SHARING LINK: https://tracylgatewood.wordpress.com/2015/06/07/healing-and-the-armor-of-god-prayer/
Amazon Author: Doorways of Grace: My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus
Copyright:  Doorways of Grace Ministry – All Rights Reserved

You Can Do It Yourself

28 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Blood of Jesus, Christianity, Emotions, Fear, Gospel of Grace, Grace, Healing, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jesus, Blood of Jesus, New Covenant, redemption, the Spirit, Tracy Gatewood, Tracy Gatewood Alabama, TracyLGatewood

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Moses

Young children depend on adults to accomplish most every task on their behalf. As children grow they develop skills allowing them to complete a wider array of responsibilities without the aid of an adult. Most often a parent will provide oversight as a child performs a task over and over again until the responsibility can be entrusted to them to fully execute. It could be something simple, tying a shoelace, or a much more complicated assignment – walking alone to catch a school bus – but at some point a parent will look to the child and say, “OK, loved one, you can do this yourself.”

In the same way, our Father wants us to grow in knowledge of our own capabilities as His beloved children. Jesus’ sacrifice, has opened a gateway of blessings for you and for your use. Jesus has left His Holy Spirit to train, teach, guide, comfort and counsel – and to administrate blessings to God’s people. God’s Holy Spirit administrates and coordinates the work that the now resurrected Jesus finished on the cross. Christ Jesus is not walking the earth, but seated at the right hand of His Father, mediating the Eternal Covenant (Agreement) for which He gave His life while also interceding on our behalf.

Hebrews 7:25 AMP Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost (completely, perfectly, finally, and for all time and eternity) those who come to God through Him, since He is always living to make petition to God and intercede with Him and intervene for them.

We have been given His Spirit to assist in every aspect of living; to enhance and order our lives, enabling us to reach our destiny and purposes for the greater good of others.

Getting Free Can Be Beautifully Simple

Two primary benefits that the Spirit can administrate to an individual are healing and deliverance. Because God’s Spirit lives within us, we have the power and we have been given the authority to thwart disease, infirmity and emotional illnesses within our own bodies and minds; ie prolonged depression, suicidal tendencies, extreme and protracted fear and anxiety, even severe psychological conditions.

Praying to release healing is different than simply pleading with God to be healed – prayer of this type spoken aloud requires faith and understanding in the grace that has been provided through the stripes that Jesus bore, the eternal power of His blood and acknowledgment of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 3:13-14 AMP Christ purchased our freedom (redeeming us) from the curse (doom) of the Law (and its condemnation) by (Himself) becoming a curse for us, for it is written (in the Scriptures), Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree is crucified); Deuteronomy 21:23) To that end that through (their receiving) Christ Jesus, the blessing (promised) to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might (all) receive (the realization of ) the promise of the (Holy) Spirit.

Despite “religious” activity that does more to complicate the benefits of grace and the gift of the finished work, what is illustrated in scripture by Jesus with healing is really so beautifully simple. He did not require healing retreats, counseling referrals, hand holding, or even hand-outs. Jesus simply prayed with faith and love while oftentimes, laying hands on the afflicted person to transfer His healing power. The Holy Spirit within us is all that is needed to exert the same power that Jesus Himself has for all mankind. I believe there is one thing that Jesus wants you to know about praying for your own healing. By partnering with His Holy Spirit in faith-filled prayer, “You can do it yourself“.


Boot Camp with the Master Teacher

I have walked my own personal journey of revelation on this very important subject. Over a 10 year season, the Lord was gracious to heal me of 3 medically documented conditions; a misaligned hip turning arthritic, degenerative disc disease and a migraine headache / vertigo combination, starting out as a virus that lasted 5 years. Each time these conditions were overcome by prayer; twice as the Holy Spirit acted through my own prayers and once by a well-timed intercessor. These conditions have never returned.

During another 2.5 year Boot Camp season of trial, the Holy Spirit again trained me to enlist him to arrest emotional conditions of the mind through prayer; panic, torment, fear, depression, suicidal thoughts, and despair relating to poverty, lack, rejection, trauma, shame and abuse – and a rarely used, biblical referenced “technique” of identifying an offending emotional spirit and binding it.(Mark 3: 26-28) In wrestling with the spirit realm, binding is the “flying cobra hold” of healing prayer. Binding disengages a spirit, and renders it powerless.

The Time is Now

Can we collectively embrace that a wise and loving Father would create for us a way by which we can walk in fullness and joy to freely live the radical message of the Good News? If there was something consistently better, more accurate and more powerful than Jesus’ stripes to achieve our healing, wouldn’t it make more sense for God to point us in that direction rather than ask His Son to endure 40 lashes or wear a crown of thorns for our healing and deliverance?

Isaiah 53:5 AMP 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.

In 2010, there were 35.1 million inpatient discharges in the U.S., 100 million outpatient discharges and 51.4 million procedures performed in our hospitals. If even 15% of these intakes were avoided by Christians taking hold of God’s supernatural promises and benefits for them, that would be a tremendous victory. We must have resolve and determine to take hold of what Jesus has already done for us – He has gone before to prepare a grace-way for His people, just as God did for Moses and the Israelites. The present “Red Sea” of disease and infirmity, seemingly incapable of navigation, can be parted by rejecting fear, embracing faith in the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s power, a power that lives within every person that has a relationship with Jesus. It is important now, more than ever, that we learn to walk out what Jesus has given us as a gift from the Father

Tracy Gatewood
Sacred Ramblings
You Can Do It Yourself
All Rights Reserved   2020

Tracy Gatewood
Author:  Doorways of Grace: My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus
Facebook:  Tracy Gatewood Sacred Ramblings

Forrest, Moses and the Mercies of God

08 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by in #HolySpirit, Blood of Jesus, Christianity, Emotions, Grace, Healing, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jesus, Blood of Jesus, New Covenant, redemption, Mercy, New Covenant, redemption, Sin, Tracy Gatewood Alabama, TracyLGatewood, Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Moses

FORREST GUMP TRAILER 3:12

FIRST please click on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPIEn0M8su0


Psalm 5:12 AMP For you Lord, will bless the (uncompromisingly) righteous (him who is upright and in right standing with You); as with a shield You will surround him with goodwill (pleasure and favor).

Forrest Gump is a beloved movie character that stole hearts across America. Despite Forrest’s well below average IQ and slow speech, a flow of God’s mercy and compassion were evident in his life. He was blessed with a mother that worked diligently to give him a life of normalcy, he possessed extraordinary athleticism, and had a vast list of achievements; All American football star to war hero and as a Medal of Honor winner he even met two Presidents. Forrest also played on the winning National Championship Ping Pong team that traveled to China.

Forrest purchased a shrimp boat and asked Lieutenant Dan to go into business. When a Hurricane blew through Forrest’s south Alabama shrimping fields, every shrimp boat but his was destroyed, leaving the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company to net all the shrimp for their own gain. Following the death of his mother, Forrest chose to remain close to home, allowing Lieutenant Dan to run the business and invest their personal earnings, which Dan did in a “fruit company” called Apple Computers. Forrest became a multi-millionaire and given the ability to retire at an early age, all the while carrying an innocence about him that surrounded him like a shield. Favor is a shield.

Romans 9:15-20 AMP For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion (pity) on whom I will have compassion. So then God’s gift is not a question of human will and human effort, but of God’s mercy. (It depends not on one’s own willingness nor on his strenuous exertion as in running a race, but on God’s having mercy on him). For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, I have raised you up for this very purpose of displaying My power in dealing with you, so that My name may be proclaimed the whole world over.

In real life, God’s gifts are not bestowed to an individual due to intellect or performance. Although God may bestow a gift on a person because of character displayed during a season of difficulty, a person cannot intentionally earn His gifts through works – gifts are administered by the Holy Spirit and given out at His discretion. Holy Spirit gives each person spiritual gifts and abilities that no man can take away, and gifts God wants used for His glory and important Kingdom purposes. Moses, like Forrest, was slow of speech, but up in years yet was given a great mantle of responsibility by God. After hearing God speak through a burning bush that never really burned, he left armed with a wooden rod (Staff) and a discerning inner circle, charged with leading a few million people out of Egypt, no small feat. (Exodus 3:1-21)

Moses could have passed on the assignment but we know Moses today because he trusted in the nature of the One who made the request. Moses was given uncommon favor to accomplish an uncommon assignment which was not without its share, too, of uncommon hardship and difficulty. Mercy and compassion become highly valued attributes around hard and difficult times. We thank you Lord for your mercy.

It is the Holy Spirit that grants favor but it is God Himself, again in His enduring mercy and lovingkindness, that has set forth the principle of Grace by offering the life of His Son to complete the terms of an Eternal Covenant. Grace is both a Noun and a Verb. It is Grace that we can walk by faith in what Jesus has done and in close partnership with the Spirit to accomplish all that God desires for us. It is through Grace that God offers us a way around the sin conscious Law and the continual cycle of self-effort, self-consciousness and performance – a way that leads to death; death of relationships, spiritual death and even physical death. We cannot achieve through our own self effort being good enough to receive God’s gifts or even His mercy and compassion. If we could be good enough, there would have been no need for Jesus to die to redeem (buy us back) from Adam’s fall and sin.

When you accept Christ You are given as a Gift to Jesus From His Father. Isn’t that a beautiful revelation of the love that God has for each of us?

John 17:24 AMP  Father, I desire that they also whom You have entrusted to Me (as Your gift to Me) may be with Me where I am so that they may see My glory which You have given Me (Your love gift to Me): for You loved me before the Foundation of the world, O just and righteous Father, although the world has not known You and has failed to recognize You and has never acknowledged You, I have known You (continually): and these men know and understand that you have sent Me. I have made Your Name known to them and revealed Your character and Your Self and I will continue to make (You) known, that the love which You have bestowed upon Me may be in them (felt in their hearts) and I (Myself) may be in them.

Certainly we are all far more important to Jesus than a box of chocolates. Each one of us is a perfectly faceted jewel containing unique qualities fashioned by the hand of God, gifted and skilled for critical missions that only we can fulfill. We must only accept our mission knowing that the power of Christ lives within us and the mercy of God is with us to assist with our assigned task.

Twitter: @TracyLGatewood
Wordpress Direct:http:// tracylgatewood.wordpress.com
Author on Amazon: Doorways of Grace; My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus
Facebook: Tracy Gatewood Christian Writer and Teacher

Related Articles:
The Assignment http://wp.me/p1zoxs-4C
Purpose Driven Bride http://wp.me/p1zoxs-S
My Journey with Jesus http://wp.me/p1zoxs

 

Happy Independance Day

04 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by in Blood of Jesus, Bride of Christ, Christianity, Emotions, Grace, Healing, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jesus, Blood of Jesus, New Covenant, redemption, Sin, Tracy Gatewood, Tracy Gatewood Alabama, TracyLGatewood

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

HEBREWS 8:10-12 AMP For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will imprint their laws upon their minds, even upon their innermost thoughts and understanding, and engrave them upon their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be My people. And it will nevermore be necessary for each one to teach his neighbor and his fellow citizen or each one his brother saying, Know (perceive, have knowledge of and get acquainted by experience with ) the Lord for all will know Me, from the smallest to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful and gracious toward their sins and I will remember their deeds no more.

The Lord is describing the New Covenant, and that we no longer must live with the aid of the Mosaic laws, but that He Himself has put in each of us an innate ability to know right from wrong, and that understanding will come through His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is imparted to us by Jesus Himself when we accept by faith that He is the Son of God and understand that His sacrifice was required to pay our sin debt. Equally important for us to note in this passage, not only are we being given the Holy Spirit but God’s statement that He will remember our sins no more. God has established a higher and better, and more fair approach for those that believe in Jesus. We are not to be sin-conscious, but filled by and with faith as righteous children of God, our righteousness paid for by Jesus Himself. Righteousness could mean Right Living – but like the Ten Commandments, we could never live right enough so we look again to Jesus who paid for our righteousness. Romans 1:17-19 AMP – For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live by faith. For God’s (holy) wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness make it inoperative. For that which is known about God is evident to them and made plain in their inner consciousness, because God Himself has shown it to them.
In other words, live by faith in the Gospel and stop your sinning because you know that you are doing it.

Colossians 2: 13-15 AMP And you who were dead in trespasses and in the un-circumcision of your flesh (your sensuality, your sinful, carnal nature), (God) brought to life together with (Christ) having (freely) forgiven us all our transgressions, having cancelled and blotted out and wiped away the handwriting of the note (bond) with its legal decrees and demands which was in force and stood against us (hostile to us). This (note with its regulations, decrees and demands) He set aside and cleared completely out of our way by nailing it to His cross. God disarmed the principalities and power that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, triumphing over them in Him and in it (the cross).

Most calling themselves Christians have a clear understanding that when Christ was crucified, that He paid for their sins. God being Holy and Perfect, can never look upon sin so He placed all of the sin of the entire world committed from its beginning to its end on His Son. Jesus took all of His Father’s wrath so that we would never be judged for our own sin. Colossians 2 refers to the nailing of laws to the cross of Jesus, because they were hostile to His people. These refer to the Laws of Moses. How could laws that seem so perfectly just be viewed as hostile to God’s people by God Himself? Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy, Honor your Father and Your Mother, Do Not Murder, Do Not Commit Adultery, etc… you know them. Remember, the Holy Spirit wrote the bible and this is all in there. It is not the laws themselves that were hostile, but that for them to be fulfilled – ALL of them had to be adhered to perfectly for us to remain out of God’s judgment. This was an impossible exercise for His people to accomplish making these decrees and demands HOSTILE and also making His people SIN conscious rather than GRACE conscious. (Grace is undeserved, unmerited FAVOR)

And because God is God, He knew we would miss this one, and so planned from the very beginning in agreement with His Son (before the earth was formed in fact) that Jesus would return and walk out this agreement on earth that would complete a new, more perfect and everlasting covenant. This is the Gospel and the (very) Good News – because what Jesus gave us as the gift of grace, no man can boast. He freely gave up His life of His own volitional will (now if that’s not more grace, I do not know what is) to open the door so that all the blessings promised to Abraham, as his seed, are given to us.

Because God recognizes a legal system, His covenants can only be ratified through blood which always results in death. A person’s Last Will and Testament only becomes activated at the time of that person’s death, and the same with God’s New (and Final) Covenant for His people, which too became active at Christ’s death. His resurrection signified that the actual exchange at the cross took place proving to everyone that He had completed His assignment. After showing His disciples that He was ok and that His work was finished, He filled them with His Holy Spirit, giving them passion and momentum to forward what He had taught but now with holy, dunamis power. He then went back to Heaven, to hang out and rest next to His Daddy where He prays for us and mediates His covenant. His return to earth after his crucifixion demonstrated to all of the (now former) powers and principalities that previously ruled the earth that He had successfully completed the job of disarming them and He was now heading Home, but not before He released His Spirit which would give them an additional kick in the pants. There was no one ranking higher than Jesus, the sinless, blameless Son of God, that could pay for our iniquities; addictions, adultery, thefts, lies, envies, lusts, slanders, unforgiveness ….. you get the picture. It had to be Him – this was a very big job!!!

In recent months, I confess, that I have pondered the practice of churches offering their attendees the opportunity to “nail to the cross” their unforgiveness, shame, porn addictions and various other muck and weaknesses. I am now so grateful to understand that Jesus has already taken away all of this JUNK on His own body. A person nailing an iniquity to a cross in their own strength may not be truly aware of the magnitude and the complete truth of what Jesus has accomplished. “It is Finished!” – their acts do not count against them as sin. What we are left to manage is our own emotional condemnation; guilt, shame, or a weakness of will (unforgiveness) etc but God is not seeing any of these iniquities (iniquity means to go your own way) because He now sees all of us through the lens of the Blood of His Son. Jesus’ perpetual flow of blood never stops, constantly cleanses, purifies and even sanctifies those that belong to Him. Christ is in you, you are in Him and you are the righteousness of God through Jesus. If there was anything you could do in your own strength – even nailing your bad actions to a cross – then that act would be more transformational and more effective than Christ’s own sacrifice. Turn by faith to God and speak His promises to yourself ALOUD and thank Him and Jesus for what they did for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to cleanse you from unclean spirits and torment that plague your soul and body. You yourself are a One Stop Deliverance Shop! Jesus has already released us from oppression! Freedom is in the simple Gospel message – Jesus has paid it all. Believe and you can receive. Happy Independence Day!

Constructionzon
TWITTER: @TracyLGatewood
Wordpress Direct: tracylgatewood.wordpress.com

RELATED ARTICLES
The Crimson Flow of Freedom http://wp.me/p1zoxs-1Y
The Assignment http://wp.me/p1zoxs-4C
From the Beginning http://wp.me/p1zoxs-97

My Journey With Jesus Part Two

01 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by in Blood of Jesus, Christianity, Emotions, Grace, Healing, Holy Spirit, Jesus, New Covenant, redemption, Sin, Tracy Gatewood, Tracy Gatewood Alabama, TracyLGatewood

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

North Point Auditorium
North Point Community Church auditorium during 7:22,
Louie Giglio teaching, 1999

I was working for an Atlanta church that was growing as fast as the national debt. The decision to close my business was not made lightly but I continued to sense that God was trying to do something very different and He had my undivided attention because of the intense pain. I was numb with pain. Had I recovered and brushed myself off, and continued on as usual running my business and ignoring these promptings, I would have missed one of the most important seasons of my life that God wanted to use. By not medicating the pain of this very deep betrayal through breakneck secular ‘busyness’ God was able to heal me one layer at a time; peeling off the past while re-framing the future.

Living at a more deliberate and much slower pace throughout this traumatic event allowed me to watch God’s hand moving on my life, shuffling people and circumstances into place in His perfect timing in the precise time of need and almost always at the very last minute. I knew it was Him because no one else could do what I was seeing happen. It was remarkable to watch this process unfold adjusting to new realities; church worker rather than business owner, singleness, entirely new group and type of friends. My position provided instant access to new relationships with hundreds of single adults and I was even the one planning their entertainment so always had something fun to do and people to be around. God did not miss one detail.

One afternoon in late 1999, I was standing totally alone in the church’s main auditorium (above photo) then watched as I saw myself teaching to hundreds and hundreds of people. I was not thinking about becoming a teacher, this just happened, like an out of body experience – wide awake and watching myself on a stage teaching. (I know this sounds wierd but this is what happened). I knew exactly what city I was in teaching and it was not Atlanta. This scene replayed twice more in 2000 with no warning, searing a distinct picture of an auditorium in my mind.

Nine years later, the first week of July 2009, I met with my pastor and after explaining that I was moving from Birmingham, (I had moved there in 2002), displayed a picture of the Atlanta church auditorium filled with people and recounted the spirit scene teaching story. His response was that I had gotten what he had gotten (“Tracy, you got what I got!”) referring to his own experience with God showing him something in a supernatural fashion that confirmed a very important decision.

I put my house on the market in Birmingham, and nine months of misery later, sold it to a member of the family that owned the office complex in which my Birmingham church began. The woman walked in the door said she saw her piano in my living room (I did not have a piano in my living room), walked through twice, left and wrote a contract the next day. It was the ugliest house in an otherwise very beautiful area so I was grateful she only came over once before she wrote the contract. That was God, too. I also owned an investment condominium that I had been trying to lease for many months – my father told me that I would have to live in it if I did not get it leased before I left. The Thursday before the Saturday that I was scheduled to move, a young woman called, saw it then wanted it. She then asked if she could pay me for one full year in advance because she had no credit history. Nobody does that. There was God again. She was moving into my condominium as my movers were loading up their van at my home. These circumstances marked the beginning of another season of transition and change.

When God wants to build your spiritual muscle, He will allow you to walk through neck deep waters of opposition for a protracted period. It doesn’t feel like a gift at the time but if you survive the stretching without becoming bitter from the losses, remain yielded to the voice of God and find its purpose, it can become a gift. He will remain with you at the front of the boat – the Captain, giving you instruction, comfort, guiding, teaching, consoling, advocating, bringing connections / contacts in your path to assist you – but you must continue to row and if you actually fall in the water, you must quickly start to swim.

I love to walk along the river and watch the University’s rowing teams glide across the water and hear the coach in the opposite boat giving instruction, keeping the team in perfect rhythm to achieve their best result. This is what the Holy Spirit will do for every Believer if they will listen and not depend on the voices and the pressures of other people. Your experience is one that He customizes uniquely to you, in His own way and timing.

{ I must insure that my readers understand distinctions about the Godhead; it is Triune – The Trinity being God, Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit – a great mystery but so perfect in their individual responsibilities and assignments to each of us. It is crucial that we understand that they are separate but still the same. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who is the Father of all things. Jesus sits even now at the right hand of Father God to intercede for His people all day and all night. He is our High Priest and mediates from heaven, a new covenant made between Himself and God on man’s behalf, and sealed with His own body and blood. The Holy Spirit is equal yet less understood, but is God and lives within each person that has accepted Jesus Christ as Son of God and understands that Jesus’ blood paid their sin debt (redemption). The Holy Spirit is a person; a Comforter, an Advocate, Teacher, Consoler. The Holy Spirit’s power is actually The One that conceived Jesus in the virgin womb of Mary, He empowered Jesus to walk to the cross, and raised Jesus from death to life.}

It is essential to attend a church that teaches on each member of the Trinity, while acknowledging the importance of the roles of each all.

Twitter: @TracyLGatewood
Follow on WordPress: http://www.sacredramblings.com
Facebook: Tracy Gatewood Sacred Ramblings
Author: Doorways of Grace: My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus

Special Note – This article is a follow up to Part One which is essential for the clear understanding of Part Two.

<Related Articles
My Journey With Jesus Part One tracylgatewood.wordpress.com/my-journey-with-jesus-part-one/ January 2012
The Assignment tracylgatewood.wordpress.com/the-assignment/ December 2011
Purpose Driven Bride tracylgatewood.wordpress.com/purpose-driven-bride/ June 2011

My Journey with Jesus part one

01 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by in Blood of Jesus, Christianity, Emotions, Grace, Healing, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Tracy Gatewood, Tracy Gatewood Alabama, TracyLGatewood

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I was a late bloomer in knowing Jesus. As a child, I grew up attending church every Sunday, sitting there week after week believing I had everything necessary to get to heaven when it was my time to “pass” (I never liked that term – still don’t). In college and in my 20’s I steered clear of churches but in my early 30’s I lived on an Atlanta street that bounded the largest Presbyterian church in the country. The pastor was an older gentleman and great communicator of masterfully crafted moral essays that made my sharp young mind really think about moral virtue, where I was headed and why, but he rarely mentioned Jesus.

Time wore on and 4 days shy of my 35th birthday, I married a quiet, reserved man unknowingly that was hiding a profoundly advanced addiction.The next 1.5 years were chaotic adjusting into newly married life, moving twice and for him – trying to slay this addiction before I found out about it. Did I mention advanced. Three years into the marriage, after his repeated job losses, I was well fed up with the bizarre, unexplained behavior. The confrontation finally occurred, the truth came out and the magnitude of the circumstances were beyond anything that I could understand or imagine. We attended a great church but were not deeply involved and I was a base level believer. Immediately following the “exposure” he moved out to live with his Sponsor (I had no idea what that meant), living away from our home for over a year. It was during that time of total devastation that my walk with Jesus started as does this story.

At 37, I had no friends that had been divorced and had waited late in life to marry, determined never to end up a divorce statistic myself. My parents divorced while I was in college so I fully understood the damaging impact on families and individuals that walk through that trauma and wanted no part of it. I became acutely aware that I needed a place of belonging and began to search earnestly for answers to all of the pain. I was told of an evening bible study that was meeting up the street from my Dunwoody home; it was called 7:22 and geared toward college students and younger singles. I knew no one going there but heard that the teaching was sound, and it was taught by some guy named Louie Giglio.

I had also tried out a church a few times that was meeting on Sunday evenings while they raised the funds to build their own. It was called North Point Community Church with a pastor named Andy Stanley. He was an excellent speaker. I watched him actually teach straight from the bible, at times word for word,making sense of the bible for me for the very first time. I was hooked, learning about Jesus. He was cool. (I mark this as the time that I accepted Christ and began my relationship with Him and was baptized shortly thereafter in a North Point elder’s swimming pool) Both of these meetings were occurring at the same church about 2 miles from my home. Within 4 months, I was working for North Point and about 6 months following that, became responsible for non production aspects of 7:22 (volunteers, prayer, resource sales, customer service, etc.) 7:22, an interdenominational service for Atlanta college and single adults, quickly grew to a weekly attendance of 2800.

Although the Lord had miraculously opened a door of grace for me through this dark time, I was still actively searching for answers. Jesus seemed very far away, He was up there with God, but I needed Him down here with me ~ desperately. My marriage had imploded ending 12/1999, I could no longer afford my home, my now former husband had no job and had returned to his south Alabama family. When I went to work for North Point, I decided to close my successful staffing business. I had no active relationship with my own family. Jesus felt way “out there”, and I needed Him to be way “inside”. My prior idea of personal success had always been defined very differently. I felt as if I was treading water with no sign of moving upward, little understanding of my identity in Christ.

During this very confusing time, I left my position at the church in 12/2000 and began to prepare to leave Atlanta which felt like a tremendous relief. I put the house on the market and watched as month after month passed – no one came to look at it. I was desperate to leave the city that I associated with so much pain. In the waiting, I was told of a 28 week program that would assist with my healing and felt the Lord’s confirmation to me to take that direction. The house came off the market and I took the course. Each week, a guest lecturer spoke on an important topic of healing and then our leaders prayed over us for one solid hour each week- we were not allowed to speak, and prayers of deep healing were prayed over each of us and our individual circumstances.

I am convinced that the reason that I am healed and restored today over this situation is because 1) I forgave my former husband and 2) from the effects of these healing prayers. I am free of that damaging wound purely by the grace of God and the active working of the blood of Jesus. (the latter of which I have not understood until the last six years).

  To God Be the Glory.

http://www.268generation.com Louie Giglio
http://www.northpoint.org Andy Stanley

Twitter – @TracyLGatewood
Website – http://www.sacredramblings.com
Facebook. Tracy Gatewood Writer Teacher
Author: Doorways of Grace: My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus
Instagram: tgatewood1

RELATED ARTICLES
My Journey with Jesus Part Two http://wp.me/p1zoxs-gR
The Assignment http://wp.me/p1zoxs-4C
The Wisdom of God http://wp.me/p1zoxs-6

Faith, Forgiveness, Favor

02 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by in Blood of Jesus, Bride of Christ, Christianity, Emotions, Gospel of Grace, Grace, Healing, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jesus, Blood of Jesus, New Covenant, redemption, New Covenant, Sin, the Spirit

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

https://soundcloud.com/tracylgatewood/a-time-to-dream-interview-tracy-gatewood
A Time to Dream radio interview   Topic: Forgiveness   Time: 28 Minutes

Hebrews 9:11-14  AMP
“When Christ came as High Priest of the good things that are already here, He went through a greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal (not temporary) redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

When Christ was crucified, His Blood served as the total redemption for every sin committed from the beginning of time to every sin that would ever be committed. God’s wrath was taken out on one perfect sacrifice in strategic points on Jesus’ body, redeeming every known sin; perfectly and completely. This sacrificial act also had the power to cleanse our consciences from actions that lead to death so we can get about the business of building His Kingdom. (read the verse).  Jesus has sprinkled His own Blood on the Mercy Seat of Heaven, allowing us access to the power of Heaven to work through any obstacle. Now Heaven is actually in you – your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit does not simply vacation at your address ( you are not Aspen) He lives in you  ALL THE TIME.

Jesus’ sacrifice was perfect and complete, it had to be done this way because we cannot purchase our own freedom from sin or acts of sin. There was no higher sacrifice than God’s own Son. Jesus never struggled with sin so we look to Jesus as our hope to destroy the power of sin (in this case unforgiveness)  instead of our own willpower. Willpower could be renamed ‘Soulpower’ because our souls are comprised of our mind, will and emotions. It takes God’s supernatural grace to overcome unforgiveness and other sin. When partnering with your faith, God can transform and release you from unforgiveness and sin, when your soulpower will not. When we accept Christ, we access His nature; He is in us and we are in Him. We must have a higher degree of faith in His character and His willingness to heal, deliver and transform us,  than faith in ourselves.

Romans 5:20 NKJV
Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more!
Romans 5:20 AMP
But then Law came in, [only] to expand and increase the trespass [making it more apparent and exciting opposition]. But where sin increased and abounded, grace (God’s unmerited favor) has surpassed it and increased the more and superabounded.

Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, resting in His own work, and praying for all of His Saints.  If you are “in Christ” you are no longer a defeated Sinner but a very precious Saint in the eyes of God. His Spirit lives in you – would He call His Spirit a Sinner? Would God who created the Universe put His very Spirit in someone that was a Sinner that could still be sinning?  Yes, He did. And that person, after accepting by faith that His Son paid for all sin,  is now called A SAINT. If that is not grace, I do not know what is.

Ephesians 4:32 states, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

Bring each unforgiven person before the Lord and tell Him that because you are forgiven by Him through Jesus’ sacrifice without deserving forgiveness for your own sins, that the person that hurt you is now forgiven in your sight, then release all anger in Jesus’ Name and believe that God will do the transforming work. Forgiveness by faith (not through emotion), puts God in the driver’s seat. Forgiveness is not for people that deserve it.  Extending forgiveness is simply extending grace ~ undeserved, unmerited favor.

Tracy Gatewood
All Rights Reserved  Doorways of Grace
Twitter: @TracyLGatewood
Amazon Author: Doorways of Grace, My Uncommon Journey to Healing, Wholeness and Meeting Jesus
FB: Tracy Gatewood Writer Teacher

Related Articles on Sacred Ramblings:
The Assignment   http://wp.me/p1zoxs-4C
Canceling The Code  http://wp.me/p1zoxs-19
The Crimson Flow of Freedom   https://wordpress.com/post/sacredramblings.com/122

I drove down to the Bay Revival in Mobile AL 11/30/2012 to hear Steve Hill teach on ( I assumed) the subject of healing because he has spent the last 3 years battling melanoma and appeared to be well. Instead Pastor Steve spent well over an hour talking about sin.  Bummer. It was a good sin sermon but nonetheless, it left me flat. At the close of the service, he asked everyone to raise their hand that needed forgiveness from sin and then asked everyone that had raised their hand to come to the front for prayer for forgiveness of their sin. I started working through this;
(1)  I am forgiven of all sin through Christ’s final sacrifice that also redeemed me back from Adam’s fall and an Adamic nature (2) That Holy Spirit lives and works in me as partner to conquer all sin (3) The veil in the temple was torn signifying that I can come into the very presence of God to speak to Him and repent from any sin issue. (4) I have Jesus Christ as my High Priest seated at God’s right hand advocating me to God. (5) When I have a sin issue, I can repent (change my mind/ change direction) with the assistance of accountability partners or in partnership with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Certain pastors possess an anointing to break spirits and yokes that bind. It is beneficial for us to recognize them and take these opportunities for healing and deliverance.  Sin is no small issue. Sin matters greatly to God because His Son had to die to defeat its power. Holiness matters greatly to God, too and
I AM FORGIVEN.

Tracy’s Prayer returning from the Bay Revival ~

Dear Father – I love you so much and thank you for this day. Thank you God for forgiving me for every sin I have or ever will commit because you see me through the lens of the sacrifice of your Son. Jesus, I am so grateful today for what you did for me on the Cross. I am filled with such joy and gratitude and hope because your actions defeated Satan, and sin cannot control me and your Father sees me clothed in a white robe of righteousness. I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, an heir and Offspring of the seed of Abraham and every covenant blessing has been redeemed for me. I rest in the work of Christ and so very grateful that I am cleansed and protected by His holy blood.  Holy Spirit, I ask you for favor today in every place I go – and thank you for being my teacher, my comforter, my counselor and best friend. Please administrate and coordinate every area of my life today in a way that is pleasing to God.
I pray all these things in the Mighty and Supreme Name of Jesus Christ My Lord – AMEN.