Offense or Defense REPOST!

by John Mason.....Never try to defend your present position and situation. Choose to be a person who is on the offensive, not the defensive. People who live defensively never rise above being average. We're called, as Christians, to be on the offensive - to take the initiative. A lukewarm, indecisive person is never secure regardless of his wealth, education, or position. Don't ever let your quest for balance become an excuse for not taking the unique, radical, invading move that God has directed you to take. Many times the attempt to maintain balance in life is really just an excuse for being lukewarm. In Joshua 1:6-7,9 the Lord says three times to Joshua, "Be strong and courageous." I believe that he is saying the same thing to all believers today. When you choose to be on the offensive, the atmosphere of your life will begin to change. So if you don't like the atmosphere of your life, choose to take the offensive position. Taking the offensive is not just an action taken outside a person; it is always a decision made within. When you do choose to be on the offensive, keep all your conflicts impersonal. Fight the issue, not the person. Speak about what God in you can do, not what others cannot do. You will find that when all of your reasons are defensive, your cause almost never succeeds. Being on the offensive and taking the initiative is a master key which opens the door to opportunity in your life. Learn to create a habit of taking the initiative and don't ever start your day in neutral. Every morning when your feet hit the floor, you should be thinking on the offensive, reacting like an invader, taking control of your day and your life. By pulling back and being defensive usually you enhance the problem. Intimidation always precedes defeat. If you are not sure which way to go, pray and move towards the situation in confident trust. Be like the two fishermen who got trapped in a storm in the middle of the lake. One turned to the other and asked, "Should we pray, or should we row." His wise companion responded, "Let's do both!" That's taking the offensive.

NO GOOD WORKS

John 6:28-29 Then they ask him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this; to believe in the one he has sent." JESUS made a way for us and we could never earn our way into heaven by doing good works. We have to believe in JESUS CHRIST the Son of God through FAITH, that's what saves us. Then we are FREE INDEED! So today live like your a child of God. If you believe in JESUS CHRIST as Savior and Lord you are his and nothing can pluck you from his hands! Let's live everyday as VICTORS AND NOT VICTIMS! Be blessed I LOVE YOU ALL, Jason(I'M IN AWE)

LOVE

Good morning to everyone reading this and if your not your missing out! Nah just kidding! Today's blog is going to be about LOVE I pray this post changes the way you LOVE your family, your friends and more importantly your God. "Love shows the true character of a man, according to the object which he loves more than anything else: for as is the love, so is the man. According to his love, so might you confidently designate the man. If he is a lover of honour, he is an ambitious man; a lover of pleasure, a sensual man; and if he chiefly love the world, he is a covetous man. If a man loves righteousness, he is a religious man; if the things above, a heavenly-minded man; and if he love Christ with a pre-eminent love, he is a sincere man: "Rightly do they love you.," Song of Songs 1:4.
If Christ has our love, he has our all; and Christ never has what he deserves from us, till he has our love. True love withholds nothing from Christ, when it is sincerely set upon him. If we actually love him, he will have our time, and he will have our service, and he will have the use of all our resources, and gifts, and graces; indeed, then he shall have our possessions, freedom, and our very lives, whenever he calls for them. In the same way, when God loves any of us, he will withhold nothing from us that is good for us. He does not hold back his own only begotten Son, Rom.8:32. When Christ loves us, he gives us everything we need-- his merits to justify us, his Spirit to sanctify us, his grace to adorn us, and his glory to crown us. Therefore, when any of us love Christ sincerely, we lay everything down at his feet, and give up all to be at his command and service: "And they loved not their lives unto the death," Rev. 12:11."

CHANGING LANES!

Everyone well almost everyone hates the word CHANGE! However CHANGE is not a bad thing. In our culture its sweeping a lot of people by! The world is constantly CHANGING but we as adults don't like to embrace it! Today I'm going to talk a little bit about CHANGE and how if we take the right steps toward CHANGE it can be one of the best things that we can ever embrace. First I am a firm believer that we will never become who God intends us to be by remaining what we are. It's not enough to be open to CHANGE, we need to pursue it. We should not CHANGE to just run from our problems-we should CHANGE enough to solve them. We should not CHANGE our circumstances to improve our life-we should CHANGE ourselves to improve our circumstances. Let's face it the same old things don't work like they used to. If we continue to turn to the same old things we should not expect great results-we should try something new and expect different results. Don't view CHANGE as something hurtful that must be done-see it as something helpful that can be done. In scripture we see James talk about this in the first chapter verses 3-4. "When your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing." Building our character is a slow process; it happens day by day not overnight. Whenever we try to escape the hard times in life we think we are shortening the process when we are actually prolonging it. It delays our growth and it always ends up hurting us worse if we ignore it. So be very open to CHANGE and be very willing to pursue it, CHANGE is a good thing!I Love You all, Jason

Thank You

In the ministry it is a tough but awesome job and every once in a while we get a simple encouraging letter or even just a sentence to help us along. The day Jennifer sent this to me I was exhausted but her encouragement lifted my spirits! I encourage you to lift your Pastors and staff up on a regular basis! They pour out so much and they need to hear encouraging things to give them more and more motivation to push a little harder! Here is one letter short and sweet that JACKED ME UP! Thank You Jennifer! "Keep it up Jason! I am so proud of you! I remember that it wasn't that long ago you was telling me that you felt God calling you into the ministry but he had not revealed his plans yet.....seems like you are following his will! :-) Thank you for what you are doing to help others! Jennifer Campbell"

Building a foundation at home!

Building a good relationship at home is like building a wall: It’s done brick by brick. And the mortar that holds it together is UNCONDITIONAL, UN-CONDEMNING, UNSELFISH LOVE. The only way you’ll know how good a job you’ve done is when it’s tested by the storms of life. One of the most important keys to succeeding at home is- communication. So: (1) Become creative. Spend time together as a family. Call your spouse during the day and plan date nights. Send her flowers love on her all the time instead of just one flipping day a week! Treat her like Christ treats us. As for your kids, communication with them is also huge! Build your relationships with your children on a solid foundation! Spend quality time with them instead of buying them whatever they want! Stuff will fade but the time you spend with them will never be forgotten! The next thing is one that I will say takes work because it’s so easy for it to work its way in to your family time. (2) Identify communication killers. Internet, cell phones and TV are the worst ones! The average couple spends less than 1 hour a week communicating with one another, and we wonder why the divorce rate is skyrocketing! (3) Encourage one another at home; build each other up instead of tearing one another down! Differences of opinion are very healthy for building a great relationship with your family members if handled right WITH LOVE. The final one is very important. (4) Be conscious of how you interact with your family. You may have unwittingly adopted a style of communication. Stop and consider; do you: (a) retaliate- that has a degrading effect; (b) dominate- that has an intimidating effect; (c) isolate- that has a frustrating effect: (d) cooperate- that has an encouraging effect. If you’re in the habit of using any communication style other than a cooperative one, start working immediately to change it. You’ll have to, if you want to build a good relationship with your family. The most important thing when building family relationships is to keep JESUS CHRIST FRONT AND CENTER IN EVERYTHING! I pray this helps you realize just how important building relationships are! I love you all, with love Jason

THE CROSS

Good morning on this Saturday May 2nd 2009. Only 12 more days until my birthday(27 years old)! Write that down! HA HA.... nah I'm just kidding! I want to talk about the cross and what we have through the cross! Jesus Christ died for all of us and through the cross we have 3 things! (1) Reconciliation. "God...reconciled us to Himself." (2) Regeneration. "Having been born again" (1 Peter 1:23). (3) Resurrection. "Everyone who...believes... i will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:40). Thank God for the cross today! I love you all, Jason!