And the Blessings Just Keep on Coming, Again and again!

Today, the clothes dryer that we purchased on yesterday, which was totally the favor of God, was delivered bright and early this morning! People might think that I am crazy, but I have never been so excited to wash and dry clothes. I am having fun doing it. Just had to share. I love to tell about the goodness of God, and how He is concerned about what some call the little things in life. I always say, "if it concerns me, it concerns Him"!

I received a call a few seconds from a friend, even as I am blogging right this very moment. This friend just checked her banking account by phone, as she always does. I asked her if I may blog about her blessing, and she gave me permission to do so. Her husband's regular paycheck is usually direct deposited, and is usually $3600 every two weeks. Today when she checked to see if it had been deposited, it had been, and the amount of the check was $7500! She said that she was stunned. She asked her husband if he had gotten a raise, he said no. She mentioned that she had the amount repeated 3 times, so that she was sure that she heard correctly. Wow, what an awesome God!

This is why, I am a firm believer that I don't have to wait on blessings, for a certain time, a certain season, or for a new year. God is not bound by time. He can and will bless when He wants to.

I have a friend who is a bank teller. She shared with me recently about seeing an telecast of a couple on television who discovered a deposit was made into their account. They were on the verge of losing their home, and they had debts that they said they never could have paid back. in their lifetime. One day, they went  into their bank, and discovered a huge deposit that caused them to be able to pay all of their debts  and pay off their home-one deposit! My friend says that she is seeing that happen more and more!

God is not limited in any way. He is not bound by time, by calendars, time lines, or deadlines! He is supernaturally moving now!
I don't intend to miss out, how about you?

Sounds Like Favor to Me!

Wow, what a day! I have always  expected favor, every day, and everywhere that I go...whether in a restaurant, the mall, grocery store, it doesn't matter, I always expect Favor!

Today was one of those days, where the favor just keeps on coming. I am one who is always so glad to see the hand of God, on my behalf. It may be a parking place left open, just for me, or a sale on an item, just for me. I never leave home, not expecting the favor God!

Today my family left home to shop for a new clothes dryer, and an external hard drive that I was so desperately in need of. I believe in shopping around for what I want, usually I don't settle for the first item. I look for bargains! I believe that I can have the best for less!

I shopped at 3 local retailers who sell appliances. Store #1 had a very nice selection of clothes dryers. Before I left home, I knew what I wanted to spend, and that amount was my final answer! (LOL) I would not spend one penny more. Store #1 had a dryer that I liked and really wanted to purchase. It was a very good price, at the price that I wanted to spend. The item was in stock and ready for delivery, at a cost of $70 for delivery. Call me cheap, but no way was I going to spend $70 for delivery less that an 15 miles from my house. I politely thanked the salesperson, and said no thank you. She would not let me leave the store without telling me that her store does a price match: if I find the exact item at a lower price, her store will match it and take off an additional amount of 10%. She kinda smiled as if to say, "you'll be back". Store #2- I proceeded to the second store on my journey to find a clothes dryer. At this store, I found the exact same dryer, at $110 dollars less. Unfortunately, delivery charge was $70 also, but the store salesman told me that it could not be delivered until January 4th. I guess that you might say, "I know that you jumped on that". No, I didn't. $70 dollars is still, $70 dollars! and I needed a dryer yesterday. I then returned back to store #1, I told the same salesperson about the lower price at store #2. She then proceeds to pull up the website for the other store to see if in fact the item was lower. It was as I told her, but it was not in stock at the store with the lower price, therefore she could not match the price! Wow, what a mess. Because the store who advertised it at a lower price, did not have it in stock today...no price match! I always remember a former pastor's wife told me that sometimes we have to go out and possess our blessings. We sometimes want blessings to just fall into our lap, but sometimes we may have to go and get the blessing! Ok, next we proceeded to store #3. Somebody always want your money! Keep going from store to store, favor is at one of them! We go to store #3. Of course we find the exact dryer that we were in search of. It is at the original price. I tell the salesman that it is $110 less at another store. He asked me if it is the same, I showed him a picture of it that I took at the second store, along with the sale price. In less than ten minutes, not only did I purchase the dryer at a $110 lower price, but also it came with FREE delivery, and it will be delivered TOMORROW! That's the favor of God!

God never disappoints! When you expect favor, it will always show up! Oh the hard drive... I went to a store to purchase a 1 Terabyte external hard drive. I picked up a 1 TB hard drive, and the hanger that it was on, was marked $109. When the salesperson scanned it at the checkout, it rang up at $198. Of course, I politely returned it back to where I got it, because I was not about to spend that amount on that, especially when it was hanging in the $109 slot. When I returned it back to its place, why did I pick up a 2 TB external hard drive, surely this one would be even more than the 1 TB. Anyway, I took it to the price check machine, and it scanned at $179! Surely God had me to pick this up. I stood there and examined the box to see if it was really 2Tb. When I turned the box over, there was a sticker price on the box of....are you ready for this? $105! My mouth fell open! I took it to the counter to purchase it for sure, and the saleslady said that she did not have the authorization to give me that item at such a lower price. The manager was called to the Electronics Dept. and he said that he had to give it to me at $105! That's the favor of God! Who said that I have to wait until 2012 to receive the blessings that God has for me? I'll have mine now please! Thank you!

Hold Your Stones!

Have you ever had one of those days when you woke up smiling? When you just lay there smiling, so happy, wanting to get out of bed, and just run across the room, shouting, leaping and rejoicing? This morning, was one of those mornings! I woke up this morning, and as I lay there, I thought about the fact that, I am alive, and I am so happy. Everything is great in my world. I am having a great year, and I am living life at its best! This has been a great year, the best year yet! It has been eventful, but my best year yet!

God reminded me of something really awesome this morning. He put on my mind this morning, the thought: "What are you waiting for?" I am seeing and hearing so many people talk about 2012, and their hopes for the new year. Everyone is so excited, and I am excited for them, but you know what, I am excited about 2011. 2011 is not over yet! I am excited about right now. I am excited about God being awesome in my life, right now! I refuse to wait until 2012, to see blessings, harvest, and all that God has for me. Why put it off? I don't have to put it off! Every day is my day, every hour, every month, every season is my season! I have put off too much already! I don't have to wait until heaven to get what God has for me! What He has for me, is for me NOW! God is a right NOW God, a very PRESENT help, NOW faith is! Jesus is the same, yesterday, TODAY, and Forever! Not yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He is the I AM, not the will be (future). We are supposed to believe that He IS (present), not will be.

All of this suddenly hit me today, why wait for 2012, why put off blessings that belong to me NOW? Why do I have to wait until 2012? The same God who is going to bless me in 2012, is well able to bless me right now!
"Hold your stones! Don't stone me yet!"  I can imagine that some people reading this blog, would probably stone me if they could. LOL! Every year around this time, I hear a new saying about what God is "going" to do in the New Year...I am not knocking anyone about that. But  for me, God's child, His heir, the one who is just like Jesus, His righteous one, His beloved...why do I have to wait? He said that He has blessed me with all spiritual blessings, He said that all things are mine, that as Jesus IS, so am I in the world, not when I get to heaven. Jesus is not waiting for blessings to show up next year, next month, in a special season. He is blessed beyond measure, prosperous, right now! He is surrounded by blessings, abundance, wealth! God has already done everything! That is why I got up so excited this morning! I am sooo rejoicing right now! I don't have to wait. God's blessings are mine NOW!

I thank God for 2012, but I need Him to show up today! Thank you Lord for reminding me of this awesome truth!

Merry Christmas to All!

Well, if you are like me, you are coming down from a very eventful day. I love Christmas, and I must say that I enjoyed it even more because it was on Sunday this year. I was happy to start Christmas Day off, at church. Nothing like gathering with God's people, to celebrate Jesus, and to sing His praises! I enjoyed a good message, ate a wonderful Christmas dinner with family, enjoyed sending and receiving greetings from family and friends, napping, and enjoying a series of back to back NBA basketball games. I really enjoyed my day, and  really relaxed, and just did what I wanted to do, all day. In short, I had a good Christmas.

I do hope that you had a good day also. Just wanted to say Merry Christmas!

Goodnight!

33Years and Counting....

On this day, December 23rd, in the year of 1978, God changed my life forever. On this day, 33 years ago, God joined a man and a woman together, and our lives have never been the same. On that day, I married the man of my dreams, my one and only boyfriend, the one and only man that I have ever dated in life!

Thirty-three years later, he is the still the one and only! My husband, my confidant, my lover, my prayer partner, and my best friend. The wonderful father of our sons, and the one that I love now and forevermore.

I thank God for the years that we have shared, and I thank God even more, that a threefold cord is not easily broken. As a godly, christian man, I thank God that he joined me to a man that loves God, loves me, loves his children, and his family. I thank God that my husband loved me enough to pray for me, stand for me, believe for me, when I was lost. So often the stories are of women who stood and prayed, and believed God for their lost husband, but in our marriage, I was the lost one. My husband introduced, and led me to Christ. I was the one who needed saving, and my husband prayed, fought in the spirit, and lived the godly life before me. he never allowed me to stop Him from living for God. I am forever grateful to him!

I thank God for the ways that God caused us to overcome the challenges that we have faced in 33 years. Illnesses that he and I have experienced in our own bodies, the faithfulness of the two of us to take care of the other, deaths of both sets of parents, and loved ones, and other challenges that could have ended a marriage! We have weathered the storms, and by the grace of God, the love of God in us, and the determination to be together forever, and always have God and His Word as our solid foundation, we celebrate today!

I am a blessed woman, wife and mother. I give God all of the glory for this marriage. Yes, there were times when I wanted to send him packing, back home to his momma, and I am sure that he wanted to do the same with me...but it never came to that!

Marriage is a wonderful thing, especially when God is the head of it, and when two people determine to be one. No, I have not always liked some of the decisions that he made, but we did agree by faith. Believe me, many times it was by faith, but as a believer, all things are supposed to be done by Faith anyway!

So today, I am so excited, happy, joyful, fulfilled, grateful, Loved and so very thankful! Thankful for a life well-lived, thankful for a marriage still filled with love, laughter, faith, prayer, victory, and most of all God. We agreed from the very beginning, that we would not "tolerate" each other. We were going to love each other, and enjoy each other, grow old together, no tolerating here!

After 33 years, we still date, still laugh and be silly, and still want to be with each other. For this, I will be forever Grateful!

Awesome, Just Keeps on Happening!

Well, if you have been following me for any length of time, you know that if any little thing happens for me, I will brag on God about it!

Well today, I and my husband had to do a few things today, and after we finished what we had to do, we decided to stop and have lunch. My husband is on vacation until next year, and so we did not have to rush, but we could relax, sit and enjoy each other, and just expect the favor of God to show up in our behalf! Well, we were not disappointed.

We did enjoy our lunch, ordered all that we wanted, took our time and enjoyed it, and before we could ask for the check, the server tells us that the meal had already been taken care of! Someone had already paid for the meal! I don't know about you, but I call that the Favor of God! I love it when God does things in our life. I am grateful for all that He has done and is doing each day....but I really get excited about the little things that He does.

My husband and I, on a regular basis, will many times pay for someone's meal in a restaurant. We don't necessarily have to know the recipients. If we feel that God is telling us to pay for someone's meal, we just do it! We have done this in a grocery store, or anywhere. We have had persons to buy our meal also, but usually we have an idea of who it is, because usually we might see a friend in there at the time, and assume that they are the one who paid for it. Today, the server said that she did not even have an idea who it was. We were not trying to find out who it was, we knew that it was God, but He used someone to bless us!

We have learned to expect the favor of God, wherever we go. We expect something good to happen for us. When we leave the house, we expect God's favor to give us a safe trip, to give us sales and bargains at the mall, in the grocery store, to give us favor in restaurants, we just expect something good to happen to us!

Just had to brag once again on God! Have a good day. I think that I'll go out again...the day is still young, and I still expect favor! Let's see what else God wants to do!

Look To the Word, Not Natural Facts

        

So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

Numbers 21:9

“Pastor Prince, I know that God is my healer. But why is this sickness and pain still in my body?” If you have been looking at your sickness and pain all this while, stop looking at yourself and start looking at Jesus. Did He or did He not take upon Himself your sickness and pain?

God’s Word declares, “Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, and our pains — he hath carried them…” (Isaiah 53:4, YLT) Since Jesus has already taken your sickness and pain at the cross, then He cannot “untake” them. Even if you find it hard to believe that Jesus has paid for your healing, especially when the pain is unbearable, the truth is that it is still paid for. It is a finished work!

God is not saying that your sickness does not exist, nor is He asking you to pretend that it is not there. He is asking you to look away from the sickness, painful as it may be, and look to the truth that it has already been judged at the cross in the body of His Son.

Once, while still in the wilderness, the children of Israel were bitten by deadly desert serpents. The serpents were real. The bites were painful and deadly. So God told Moses to point the people to the bronze serpent put on a pole — a picture of the cross. (John 3:14) Bronze signifies judgment. In other words, the serpent — their problem — was already judged at the cross.

Those who kept their eyes on the bronze serpent lived. Those who focused on their wounds died. So stop looking at your sickness. Instead, look to the cross and see your sickness already judged in the body of Jesus. Surely He has borne your sicknesses and carried your pains! That is the truth of God’s Word. And His Word supersedes natural facts.

My friend, you let natural facts rule or establish God’s truths over your problem by what you choose to focus on. So decide today not to focus on the facts concerning your problem. Instead, establish the truth of God’s Word and Christ’s finished work over your problem — and live!

Thought For The Day
The truth of God’s Word supersedes natural facts.

To All Who Visit Here...

From me to you, 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

~ Gayle

I Have the Title Deed!

I will say this forever and forever, "God loves His people"! Every time that I say it, I am convinced more and more, that God loves us. He really does love us! He is a Father who cares about us, who is really concerned about the things that we are concerned about. He wants us to know Him, know what He has done for us through Christ, know what belongs to us in Christ, and just know how to live a life that is really alive, a life that is prosperous and a victorious life in Him. He really wants us to know! God tells us in the Word that His people are destroyed because of a lack of knowledge-knowledge of His Word, knowledge of Him, and Who He really is, knowledge of what He has done for us in Christ, knowledge of what is included in Redemption, knowledge of what all is included in salvation, knowledge of the truth of being a child of God. Not knowing all of this, CAN DESTROY YOU! God really wants us to KNOW! It is one thing to be able to quote the scriptures, but it is something else to really understand them, and to apply them in our daily life.

I am so amazed at the various ways that God deals with me, when He is trying to get me to really see and understand a truth. Sometimes it is so funny how He gets a point across, remember "Good morning, Blowpop!" from an earlier blog of mine (November). I still laugh at that today.

This morning, He was teaching me on faith. I know and can quote, probably like most Christians, Hebrews 11:1. "NOW FAITH is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". Most Christians know this verse, and can easily quote it! I must say that I have heard quite a bit of teaching on it, through the years. I have even taught it myself! I have heard that faith is the confirmation, the assurance, the title deed of what we hope for. I have heard that taught many times...but today when God talked to me in my quiet time this morning, it was taught to me, a little differently.

I know that many times, I can read the same scripture at different intervals in my life, and I have come away with a new revelation. Understand me, I am not saying that God changes what He has said, His Word is complete. The complete truth of all that God has said was there all along, but for me, I get a new, fuller revelation each time that I read a particular passage. I guess that is how faith comes, by hearing, and hearing, and hearing and keep on hearing, the Word of God!

Today, when I was meditating on Hebrews 11:1, God taught me today, using a situation that I am currently experiencing in my personal life. I want a new washer and dryer, as well as a refrigerator. I know that there are so many styles of both out there, and I was not really sure of what I wanted. Of course, I would need to go out and look around for what is available, and perhaps decide on what I like. I did go to Lowe's and a couple of other stores a few days ago, and I did find some brands and styles that I really do like. I have not made the purchase yet, but I am sure that I will.

Anyway, God used this experience this way...Gayle, (says God), "when you do make the purchase, and purchase the maintenance agreement as you usually do, suppose that due to the holiday season, the company is backed up on its delivery schedule, and it can't deliver your appliances for a week. (I said, ok Lord). He said, Because you are not really pushed to have them right now, you agree to a later delivery date, and you leave there, with only a sales receipt, and the maintenance agreement certificate in your hand." Ok Lord... Although you will not have the appliances in your house for a week, would you agree that they are still yours!(I said, yes Lord). You don't see them in your house, but you know that you still have a new washer and dryer, and a new refrigerator, how do you know this? You know because you have the receipt and maintenance agreement to prove it! He said, you have a healed body, you have prosperity, wealth and riches in your house, you have joy and peace, a life free or stress and worry, you are righteous, you are forgiven, you are loved! Why, because you have the (receipt), the title deed, which is The Word of God! Just like I would hold the sales receipt to show ownership of those appliances, I hold the Word of God, to show that my body is healed even if it hurts, even if a doctor's report is negative, even if I am taking medicine, even if there is a symptom. I hold the Word of God to show that I am prosperous, wealthy, have wealth and riches in my house, even if there is nothing in the checking account, even if there is a stack of bills that need to be paid, even if there is a past due notice! Just like those appliances have not shown up in my house, I still have them and I own them, they belong to me! Healing, prosperity, wealth and riches, joy and peace belong to you, the home that you live in, that you are still paying on, it's yours, you own it, the dream home that your faith is on, even when you can't see it in the natural YET, even if it has not shown up YET, it's yours. God's Word says that God will give us goodly houses, filled with all good things! Notice that it's a good house, filled with good things, and house is plural! That is more than one! Glory! God even says that we won't have to fill the houses, He will fill them for us! You and I have the title deed to home ownership! That verse didn't say anything about good credit, collateral and all of the other stuff that the world requires. God said that He is giving it. We have the title deed to it! (Read Deuteronomy, Chapter 6 it will bless you!)

According to God's illustration, I was fully persuaded that those appliances are mine, because I have the sale receipt, or as God called it, the title deed! It is the same thing with all of God's promises, if we stand on the Word of God, we have the title deed, and all of the promises are ours, even though they have not shown up YET! They are ours!

Thank you God for loving me so much that You want me to know and understand your Word

~Gayle

No More Toiling!

Work, work hard, do this, don't do this, you gotta this, you gotta that, you gotta stop doing that ...these are all too familiar phrases in the world today. The world is all about performance, merit, working hard for what you want, and sadly, I see the mindset has infiltrated into the church also. When I say church, I am speaking of the body of Christ. Please understand me, I am not against working to pursue something, or to achieve a dream or goal, that's not what I am saying at all. I am speaking of toiling, laboring, working and performing in order to get God's blessings, His love, His favor, or His approval.

I woke up this morning with a heavy heart. I have been on Facebook for about a year or more, and throughout that time,  I have noticed some pretty interesting comments on it. One thing that I have noticed, is that people are struggling...I see people who are struggling in one way or another. Struggling financially, struggling in relationships, struggling with sickness and disease, and many of these persons are persons that I know personally, who love the Lord, and really want to live for Him.

What gives me the heavy heart is how much people are struggling at trying to earn the blessings of God, and His love, and how they are begging God to intervene in their situation. God loves people. He doesn't want us to be beggars. No one wants us to live a more blessed, prosperous, victorious, abundant life, more than God! God wants us to really LIVE! Jesus died so that we can really live, not survive, as in a struggle, but thrive and flourish in this life. I am saddened by the fact that so many have put off the blessed life until heaven. That is not what God has in mind for us. He wants us to have heaven on earth, we don't have to wait! He wants us to really live, and be blessed and victorious every day of our life!

Psalm 3:8-Salvation belongs to the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people.
Psalm 103:2-6-Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not His benefits: Who forgives all thine iniquities, who heals ALL your diseases; Who redeems thy life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. The LORD executes righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.
Ephesians 1:3-Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
1Cor. 2:12-13-Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but he spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in words which men's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual with spiritual.
These are only a few of the many verses in scripture that shows us that God wants us to have things, yes things, not just needs! that He wants us to live a good life, and God sent the Holy Spirit to teach us about what God wants us to have, and what He has already provided to us, in Christ. As part of salvation and redemption, God has given us so much.

The world is all about working, toiling, striving, earning, achieving, performing, to get things! How many people are working 2 or 3 jobs? The world says that you have to work hard for a promotion, you have to work overtime to impress your employer, to have to have perfect credit, you have to meet certain criteria...you have to have certain qualifications, performance, performance, performance! This is the spirit of the world. Sad to say, this spirit has infiltrated the church, as well! I know that some will be angry with me for saying this, but the church has presented a diluted gospel...Salvation is free, BUT...you have to come to church, you have to tithe, you have to work in the church, you have to get up every morning at a certain hour and pray, you have to stop wearing makeup, you have to stop dancing, you can't wear slacks, if you are a woman...the list goes on and on! Please hear me, I am not knocking these things. You should tithe and give if you are a christian, you should go to church, you should give of yourself and your gifts in the local church, we do it because we love God, and we do it because we are grateful to God, we don't do it to perform in order to get something from God! God freely blesses us! We don't have to perform for His favor, His love or His approval...Jesus did that for us!

God loves us! He has already blessed us, prospered us, healed us, favored us, approved us! He has freely given us all things. If something is free, I don't have to work for it, I don't have to deserve it or merit it, I don't have to earn it, I simply have to believe that God loves me soooo much, that He wants me to have it, that He has already provided it, and  simply receive the gifts!

John 16 tells us about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our life. One thing that the scripture says is that the Spirit would convict the world of sin, not the individual believer, but the world, those who are lost. The believer's sin has already been dealt with at Calvary! Past, present and future! Glory! How many times have you said, after you have done something that you know that you should not have done, "the Holy Spirit really convicted me". C'mon, you know that you have said that at least one time if you are a believer. But guess what, the Holy Spirit did not convict you, but your own spirit did! The Holy Spirit convicts the believer of righteousness-John 16:10. Why am I saying all of this, you might ask. I am saying it because the Holy Spirit is here for the believer, to convict us when we are NOT living and partaking of the blessings that are ours in Christ, when we just let trouble, problems, lack, sickness, satan hang around. The Holy Spirit is here to tell us what belongs to us now, as a child of God, and to convict us when we are not living the abundant life!


Ok, I just had to vent! I just hate to see people struggling, especially God's children. I want to see people KNOW what belongs to them, what they are entitled to because of Calvary, overcome and conquering! Slaying the giants that show up in life, and WIN! We have so much available for us! I am going to shut up now. Love you!
~Gayle

And the Blessings Just Keep on Coming!

Well once again, here I am again, blogging about how Awesome that my God is! There is nothing that He won't do, according to His Word. Got the word today that two of my friends, both young, single young ladies, became first time homeowners TODAY!!! To God be the Glory!

I have always heard that Christmas is the season of miracles. Well, I am certainly seeing my share of them, especially this week, and the week ain't over yet! I know that that's not correct English, but I just had to say it, it ain't over yet!

I am in agreement with some friends for the manifestation of finances, and I just know that those finances will show up-SUDDENLY! I know my Father! I know that He will not fail us, forsake us, or forget about us! I cannot wait to share the testimony, and it will not be a long wait! Money you come to us now, in the Name of Jesus! I command you to come to us in supernatural abundance, in overflow. It is written in the Word that when I speak to the mountain, it will obey me. Money you must and you will obey me now! Come, in Jesus' Name. Thank you Jesus. Watch for the testimony!

~Goodnight

More Than Amazing, More Than Wonderful, More Than Marvelous...

Wow, have you ever had a day that was just different? A day that was exceptional, a day that was extraordinary a day that was just wonderful? Well, today is that kind of day for me!

God is more than Amazing. I have had so many Praise reports today! God is super-moving!

I have always loved to be able to minister to those in need. My joy in life, besides being a child of God, and having a  great family, is to be able to sit and minister, to encourage someone, to be able to pray and agree with someone, to just see satan stopped, and utterly defeated in someone's life. My passion is to see people walking in victory, and always winning in life. I have asked God to let me be able to minister to at least 5 people every day. I have been able to talk to one person so far in the last few days. I mentioned this to my son, about wanting to minister to 5 people each day, and his response was, "mama you minister to more than five people every day. He said, "every time that you post a blog, or post on Facebook, you have ministered to more people than you know!" I had never thought of it like that. I was thinking about actually talking with 5 people. I guess that I am then!

Today, the praise reports started coming in-

*First of all, last week on Monday night, I was able to minister to and pray with someone who was facing Foreclosure. The home was supposed to be sold by now. The person actually went to the court on the day that it was to be sold, in order to try to stop the sale, only to be told that it was too late and that there was nothing that could be done to stop the sale, but somehow, the person's name was "accidentally" left off of the list, and no one knew how that happened! (I certainly know) Today that person received a letter from the bank that held the loan, only to learn that the loan was sold, not the house, to another company, the past due amount rolled over to a new loan, with a new due date next year! Glory!

*Next, my cousin has a little boy who was born fighting for his life, he has down's syndrome. He is a beautiful, handsome little boy. Today, he took 3 steps by himself, walking on his own, not holding on to anything or anyone. These were his first steps! Glory! God is supernaturally moving in his life.

*Next, I blogged earlier about a friend's son who was in need of a kidney transplant. Last week, a kidney donor was located who was a perfect match. He had the transplant, and I received word that the transplant was successful, he is recuperating at home, and his body has accepted the kidney, all this in a matter of a few days! He is doing quite well!

*Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to pray with a wife whose husband would undergo a heart transplant this week. Not only was the transplant successful, but her husband is out of ICU and he is in a regular room, doing well, and asking for donuts! All of this happened in a matter of days!

Is God awesome or what! I have been teary-eyed all day! Not sad tears, but tears of gratitude and thanksgiving, for a God who really is more than amazing, more than wonderful, more than marvelous! God is really concerned about people! Nothing is too hard for Him. He does not get tired of blessing, and He wants to do good things for us!

There is nothing that we can't ask Him for. He knows how to pay off homes, he knows how to cause limbs to function, and He has a warehouse full of spare parts- hearts, lungs, kidneys. Whatever you need. Just ask Him! I guarantee you, He won't tell you No!

No Thank You...

Have you ever been annoyed by calls from "that" particular telephone company, who calls every day, always trying to get you to switch to their company, or always trying to get you to return to their company? We all know who it is that I am talking about! Well once again, they called me again today, for the 100th time. This time, I did something that I have never done before. I am so accustomed to them calling, and I really have their scripted speech down pretty good, so I know immediately from the intro...exactly who it is. Usually I allow them to give their speech (not because I really want to hear it, but they don't give you a chance to tell them no thank), then I politely tell them that I am not interested in their new promotions, or returning back to them!

Today when they called, I immediately said, "ma'am before you waste your time and mine, I do not want to switch companies, hear your new promotions, and please remove my number from your call list. Thank you"!
That just came out of my mouth so quickly, and I even startled myself. I could tell that even the person on the other end was quite surprised. She said, "ok maam, I will remove your number. She didn't even try to tell me anything"!

When I hung up the phone, God immediately said to me, "That's the way that you should respond every time that the enemy tries to come into your life with something that you don't want!" He said, "you didn't waste any time letting that person present their speech. You immediately stopped her. Do that with the enemy!" How many times have we let satan tell us some lies, things that we really don't want to hear! We are not interested in anything that he has to say, or wants to give us, yet we let him talk to us. Why? God said, "cut Him off!" Wow, God is so amazing! He will use every situation as a teaching, if we only listen, and expect Him to speak to us, all during the day! It is not always in a building, with a choir, a minister standing before us, it may not always be as a teaching on a CD or DVD, a TV evangelist, although He certainly speaks by these methods. It may be through someone constantly bugging you with telephone calls, through a sink of dishes, through any means that He chooses to use. We lock God into doing the same thing, every time!


Anyway, I just wanted to share again, how awesome that He is, and how much that God loves and cares about us!
Have a great day!


~Gayle

Salt and Light...

Good morning, I missed posting for the last few days. I enjoyed a great weekend away with my family, and as you see, I did not post at all. I had the laptop with me, but I resisted the temptation to post. I really gave my family all  of my attention. I enjoyed a great football game, which was played by our local high school football team (we had to travel away to a nearby city to play, because we are now deep into the playoffs). Everyone in the city is so excited, because the football team has advanced in the playoffs, further than they have ever gone before, in school history. They were able to play in one of the NFL stadiums. That was a great experience for all. After the football game , which we WON, we ate at this awesome restaurant, visited family in that city, and then, I attended worship with my sister, at her local church, on yesterday. It was a really great weekend. I was also able to visit someone who had recently had a stroke, I was able to minister to her and encourage her as well. My greatest joy in life, is to be able to minister to someone, to encourage someone, and to give someone hope, and a reason to go on in life!

The minister, where I visited, spoke yesterday on a topic that I am well familiar with, but because of the cares of daily living, I have a tendency to forget....that we are salt and light! As believers, we really are salt and light! We are here to influence, and change our world!

Sometimes, as wives and mothers, fathers and husbands, employees, we often feel unimportant, unappreciated, sometimes unnoticed. Ever felt that way? The message on yesterday, reminded me that God made me, and if I am not important to anyone else, I am important to God! The scripture reference was from Psalm 8:3-8. The Psalmist asked God, "what is it about man (Mankind), that you love so much, that you think about us so much, that you care about us so much, that you would visit? Good question! When I stop to consider how awesome that God is, how mighty and powerful He is, how He holds the entire Universe in His hand, wow, what makes Him love man so much, regard us so much? I tell you what, I am sooooo glad that He does! God loves us so much! I know that I have said it before, but I must say again, that God loves us even more than we could ever imagine! He is NOT mad at us, He is not keeping records of our mess-ups, He is not trying to come up with ways to punish us, He is just not that kind of God and Father! He is not in the business of punishing! Yes, I know that we have been taught that God punishes, that is not true of us today. Back in the Bible when the Jews were under the Law, a man was responsible for keeping the whole Law, and if he broke one of the laws, He would incur the penalty of the Law that he broke. But, Jesus came,(Hallelujah) and God put all of the punishment on Jesus! We don't have to be punished, Jesus bore the punishment for all mankind! GLORY!!! We are forgiven, reconciled to God, and counted worthy, not because of us, BUT because of Jesus! EVERYONE is forgiven! It doesn't matter what you did, God is looking at what Jesus DID!!! That's why God loves us so much, that is why he is mindful of us. We are His children! We are not filthy rags, wormy, sinners! As far as God is concerned we are saints, kings, priests, His own dear children, all of us! This is true of all of us, IF you have accepted Christ's finished work on the cross, as payment for your sin. God has all of these wonderful blessings for all of us. Jesus died for all people, but if you don't accept it for yourself, you miss out, and will be out of God's best for eternity! God left us here for a purpose, to influence this world for Him, to be a world changer! We don't have to be victims of the world system, we don't have to be overcome by the world's challenges, the darkness of the world. We have a voice! We can stand for what we believe!

We are in this world as light in a dark place. As believers, we have the answers that the world needs. We know how to solve the economy problems of the world, the education, government. We have the solution!
We are salt! Salt is a preservative. We know how to preserve and prevent someone from being lost and going to hell, for eternity. Salt seasons. We can season this world with God's way, His presence, His love, His victory! Salt makes one thirsty. We have the ability to make lost people thirsty for Jesus, saved people thirsty for righteousness.

We are here for a reason. We are here to impact this world for Christ, and God has already equipped us to do so! The Greater One is in us! Have a Victorious Day!

Joseph Prince Ministries-- Daily Grace Inspiration- December 1, 2011 God Hears Your Prayers

Romans 4:7–8  7“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”

Some people think that if they were more “right” with God, then He would hear their prayers. For example, they sometimes believe that if they had not quarreled with their wives or had those bad thoughts earlier in the day, then God would answer their prayers. God is not like that. He wants you to know beyond any doubt that you can always come to His throne of grace with boldness and have every confidence that you will receive His mercy and grace. (Hebrews 4:16) You see, because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross, you are already right with God. You don’t need to do anything to make yourself more right with God. In fact, by faith in Jesus, you have received the righteousness of God Himself! (2 Corinthians 5:21) And no matter how many mistakes you make, you will never lose that righteousness because in the first place, God gave it to youapart from your works. (Romans 4:5–6) In other words, God did not impute righteousness to you because you were good, but because you believed in Jesus. Because of what Jesus has done for you at the cross, all your sins — past, present and future — are forgiven. God will by no means ever remember your sins or count them against you! (Hebrews 8:12, 10:17) My friend, because Jesus has been punished for your sins, today, God is not counting your sins against you. This means that your sins won’t stop Him from hearing and responding to your prayers. So you can always run into His presence knowing that you can boldly stand in and enjoy His presence and His love. When you know this truth, it is going to set you free in your relationship with God. You can talk to Him without fear or any sense of condemnation. You can practice His presence and trust that He always hears you. Should something happen at home or at work, you don’t always have to call for your church leaders — you pray and God hears you! Beloved, you are righteous in Christ and God hears your prayers — all because of Jesus! Joseph Prince is one of my favorite ministers.

Even Oranges!

Well, I believe in sharing about how God blesses me in such awesome and sometimes unusual ways. I love Cheddar's Restaurant, and I am a regular customer. I am in there at least twice a week. You might say that I like the place. I always buy an unsweet peach tea. Cheddar's always places an orange slice on the glass. I love their oranges. They are always soooo sweet, and just right. I have never had a great orange like they have at Cheddar's. I have gotten to the place where I now ask for an extra orange with my tea.Yesterday my sons and I went to Cheddar's for lunch. I ordered my tea as I always do, asked for the extra orange as I always do! On the visit, the manager stopped by our table to see how me were enjoying the meal. I told him that it was very good. I then told him about how I have never found such sweet oranges, as the ones at Cheddar's. I asked him if he purchased them locally, he said no, we get them shipped in. Anyway, I told him how much that I really enjoyed them. He then asked me, if I would like some more, and of course I said yes! This man comes to our table with a saucer full of sliced oranges, and a bag of oranges to take home! Is that awesome or what? Wow, that was so nice of him...great customer service! I shouted, "that's the favor of God"! When you recognize favor, and call it favor, God will see to it, that you receive more favor! So many times, God blesses us in unusual ways, and we just think, "aww that was nice", we go on, and we fail to see blessings when they are right there in front of us! The manager did not have to do that. He could have stopped with the saucer of orange slices, he didn't have to give me a bag of oranges. That was the favor of God!

That's why I love God so much! He never ceases to amaze me. Doesn't surprise me, but He amazes me a lot. We limit God to what we call major issues-sickness, financial worries, issues with marriage, family, needing a job, etc. But God is interested in everything that I am interested in, even oranges. He knew that I like oranges, and He caused someone to bless me with oranges! Thank you Lord!

He does those kind of things for me, and He will do them for you too. He cares. He cares about you! He cares about what you care about!, even if it's oranges!

~Gayle

Faithfulness Every Night!

Good morning world! It is 6:25 in the morning, and I am up and blogging! I have actually been up since 4:30 this morning. I am not by any means complaining. I slept good as I always do. I am not up because I could not sleep. When it comes to sleeping, trust me, I know how to do that! Sleeping has never been an issue with me. I know how to sleep!

No, I am up because I had to be. Have you ever had to do something? Something that you absolutely had to do. Something that you don't know why, but you could not rest until you did it. That's what happened to me this morning. I had to get out of bed to read. Read what? Read for some reason, the 91st Psalm. Psalm 91 has got to be my favorite psalm. God's Word is powerful, God's Word is rich, but Psalm 91, is my favorite passage of scripture! Don't get me wrong, it is all good, it's God's Word, but it is just something about this psalm that blesses me. I have read it time and time again!

For some pressing reason, I just had to get up and read this at this time this morning. I read this psalm this morning, as I have done many times before, but I didn't stop at psalm 91, but continued to psalm 92. Usually I stop at 91. This time, I was impressed to go on, I went on and I read psalm 92, and verse number 2 jumped out at me, almost as if it literally came off of the page! Verse 2 states: "to declare your lovingkindness in the morning, and your faithfulness every night". It was the "faithfulness every night" that got my attention.

I immediately thought about sleeping, of course. I have several friends that have had trouble sleeping at night, for many years. One in particular, has taken every kind of sleeping aid possible, to no avail! For over twenty years this friend has taken prescribed sleeping medication. Others have just not been able to sleep either because of fear of being in the house alone (one has a husband who sometimes works night shift, and one is a single lady), or some deal with worry about an issue or something else. When I read this scripture (verse 2), I really got excited! Here was their answer! God is faithful every night! He is faithful to give them sleep when they are afraid to go to sleep when they are at home alone...He is right there with them to protect them, He is faithful to give them sleep when they are worried about something...He is right there to let them know that He knows all about what they are concerned about, and He is well able to fix it, and He is faithful to give them sleep when they are unable to sleep just because...He giveth His beloved sleep!

After I finished reading, I turned off the lights and I told God that I was just going to lay there and be quiet because I knew that he was going to talk to me about what I had just read, and He surely did!

He said that it was not only about sleeping, and it was not only when the sun goes down at that time that we call night. He said that "night" for some people was at noon! He said that for some people, it is dark in the middle of the day! For some people, it is dark and night at 1o'clock in the daytime. He said that because of issues that some people are dealing with, many are in a "dark" place, for many, the day is "night"! I knew that he was gonna tell me something, because anytime that God gets me up at 4:30 0R 5:00am in the morning, and it is as pressing as it was today, I know that He wants to talk to me! He said that it was not only concerning sleeping, but it was about anything that has troubled us at night. He said that some people fear night driving, some fear leaving their house at night, no matter what the instance is...I am faithful every night! That blessed me. That is major to me.

I think about so many people who have been in "bondage" because of issues dealing with the dark. God is God just as much at night, as He is in the day! I think about those "dark" times in people's life... times when worry, doubt, fear, depression plague them! God is faithful every night, even if your night is at 12 noon.

I don't know about you, but this ministered to me. It may not have meant a thing to you, that's alright, it may not have been for you. But for those who have struggled with sleeping, or night issues, this is your answer...God is faithful every night! The Message translation states it this way, "your presence all through the night". That's good!

Thank you Lord for speaking so powerfully this morning!

Have a good day!  ~Gayle