He's right there!!

There are times in our lives where as Christ Followers we feel like Jesus is right there with us. There are also times where we wonder "Where God is?". Life is full of high points and low points. Have you ever felt like your on cloud nine? Then just a short time later feel like life is passing you by? Jesus said so many things in the scriptures about our lives as believers. He said we will have trouble in this life and on this earth, but he also said fear not I have overcome the world. Our lives are full of emotion, that's why we cannot lean on our emotions but rather lean on the unchanging word of God. When life is good everything seems to be perfect we throw our hands up and worship him, we serve him more, we feel like nothing can stand in the way of us having joy( By the way it can't, only if you let it.... will it!!). Why is it when things are bad everything in us wants to run away from him? I believe sometimes we could be basing our lives off of emotion instead of reality. Our flesh is crucial that's why it is so important to die to ourselves everyday. It's so important to pick up our cross and follow Jesus everyday, not just when its convenient. Sin is crucial!!!!! TRUTH= Jesus defeated sin on the cross, He said "It is finished" so why at times do we not hold on to that truth when we are in the valley. There is joy in the Lord, unexplainable joy even though sometimes we may not feel like we have it. What is it that steals our joy, leaves us feeling beat down and broken? Where do we turn for answers? How can we change our way of thinking? Those are just some questions I've asked myself when I'm going through the valley. Sometimes we may no get an answer from God. Sometimes it takes us being broken to see whats really important. I have been in ministry for 7 years and I have all kinds of questions. Some I may never have the answers too( That's where I choose to live by faith), others I may have had answered and really didn't want to hear the answer. Whether you have the answers or don't we must choose to follow the truth and Jesus is The Way, The Truth, and The Life! If your going through a valley HE KNOWS! If your doing well HE KNOWS! I pray all of us as Followers of Jesus lean not on our own understanding, lean not on our emotions. I pray we walk in Spirit and in Truth. Realize that we are sons and daughters of the most high God. It's not easy but neither was the cross. Neither is our cross, at times it's heavy. I pray we pick it up and press on, persevere! As I close out this post I want you to know that whether your doing great or if your in a valley Jesus really does love you. Sometimes the best answer is one that we don't want to hear. One Love, Jason.

What is or isn't?

I write this post as a believer in Jesus that has struggled with forgiving people who have harmed and hurt me in ways you may or may not believe. I'm currently working out some of my own forgiving issues and just thought I would share with you what God is teaching me about forgiveness. I pray this post will shine light on one of the biggest problems we face in and outside the church in this nation and in the world. The church in America and across the world is full of people who have been hurt in some way, shape or form. Whether we were hurt by someone in the church or someone outside of the church it's painful and it can hinder our walk with Jesus. It can also shape and change who we are as Christ Followers in a great way. The issue I will be talking about if you haven't already figured it out is forgiveness. I am convinced that some people have unresolved conflicts toward a group of people or just one person and it has hindered their walk with Christ and it causes pain in their lives everyday. Forgiveness is a tough issue to write about. For some it may not be hard for you to forgive, but for others it may be very hard to let go and just simply forgive the person or persons that have hurt you. For some it may be a deep issue that you have tucked away and tried to forget about without forgiving but that NEVER works. It will ALWAYS resurface until you deal with the issue of forgiveness. Why is it so hard to forgive others? We serve a God who has forgiven us. He sent his son to die on a cross so we would be forgiven and made right in the eyes of God. Therefore you would think that it would not be an issue, but for some it is the very thing holding you back from being who Jesus Christ is calling you to be. So today I want to shine light on what TOTAL forgiveness is and what TOTAL forgiveness is not. I am currently reading one of the best books I have ever read in my life and the title of the book is TOTAL FORGIVENESS and the author is R.T. KENDALL. I encourage you to get this book and let it penetrate your heart and mind. Let it begin to help you work out the very thing or things that could be holding you back from being who you are in Christ Jesus. Jesus said in scripture if you have a problem with a brother that is unresolved to leave the altar and go work it out. So we as believers in Jesus need to work out things as we come across them in life. First lets look at what TOTAL forgiveness isn't. 1) Approval of what they did. 2) Excusing what they did. 3) Justifying what they did. 4) Pardoning what they did. 5) Reconciliation. 6)Denying what they did. 7) Blindness to what happened. 8)Forgetting. 9) Refusing to take the wrong seriously. and finally number 10) Pretending we are not hurt. NOW let's look at what TOTAL forgiveness is. 1) Being aware of what someone has done and still forgiving them. 2) Choosing to keep no record of wrongs. 3) Refusing to punish. 4) NOT TELLING WHAT THEY DID!!! 5) Being merciful. 6) Graciousness. 7) It is an inner condition. 8) It is they absence of bitterness. 9) FORGIVING GOD!!! 10) FORGIVING OURSELVES!!!! As I close I pray that you will take this and dig deeper into your heart and soul and deal with any forgiveness issues you may have in your life. IT'S WORTH IT.... BUT IT TAKES WORK SPIRITUALLY, PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY!! One Love, Jason Ashley

Kick The enemy IN THE TEETH!!!

OK so I know on my blog I was doing some writing on some teaching about the Holy Spirit and I will continue doing that in the near future but today Jesus threw me a curve ball and told me to write about something that he has been teaching me through the many weeks of rest I have had. So let's dive in!! Day by day we must, notice I said we... illustrate our commitment to Jesus with a sacrifice that serves OTHERS in the midst of mounting opposition. Anything worth accomplishing requires great sacrifice in the lives of those that want to live out the great commission!! It's not easy as we walk by faith and carry our cross daily. There are times I myself as a follower of Christ want to throw my hands up and say "You know what the hell with it!" but there is something deep inside of me that wants to see people come to Jesus and myself mature and grow as a believer. NEVER NEVER let the enemy overcome who you are in Jesus. You are a child of God who has the king inside of you and with that YOU CAN DO ANYTHING. Step back for a second and just look at Nehemiah, read Nehemiah, heck read Phil. 4:13 YOU CAN DO ANYTHING IN THE NAME OF JESUS! Because there is mighty POWER in the name of our lord. MAKE SURE YOU DO IT FOR THE RIGHT REASONS! We must persevere til the end. Love you all. It is my prayer that you kick the enemy in the teeth and help the big C "Church" RUN UP THE SCORE. One Love, Jason Ashley

Holy Spirit? HIM!!

This is post #2 on some teaching about the Holy Spirit basically today we are going to look at the characteristics of Him. Let's just dive right in this morning. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is a person. Jesus never referred to "it" when He was talking about the Holy Spirit. In John 14, 15, and 16, for example, He spoke of the Holy Spirit as "He" because He is not a force or thing but a person. Whoever speaks of the Holy Spirit as "it" in uninstructed and perhaps undiscerning. In the book of Romans Chapter 8:16 the King James Version(Which is not the only version of the Bible!!!! Just figured I would throw that in there.) refers to the Holy Spirit as "itself". This is a mistranslation. Nearly all of the newer translations have changed "itself" to "himself". As we look through the scriptures we see that the Holy Spirit has intellect, emotions, and will. Also the Bible ascribes to Him the acts we would expect of someone who was not just a force, but a real person. So let's journey through the scriptures together. This is going to take time and effort on your part, because you have to look up the scriptures. He speaks: (Rev. 2:7). He intercedes: (Romans 8:26). He testifies: (John 15:26). He leads:(Acts 8:29 and Romans 8:14). He commands: (Acts 16:6, 7). He guides: (John 16:13 RSV). He appoints: (Acts 20:28). He can be lied to: (Acts 5:3, 4). He can be insulted: (Heb. 10:29). He can be blasphemed: (Matt. 12:31, 32). He can be grieved: (Eph. 4:30). Clearly the Holy Spirit is a person all of the emotions and acts I just listed are characteristics of a person. The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force, like gravity or magnetism. He is a person, with all the attributes of personality. But not only is He a person; He is divine as well. We will learn more about how Divine he is in my next post. Oh and just to throw this out there HE IS GOD!! One Love, Jason Ashley

Our needs!!

Today is the first day of many days I will be writing about what God has been teaching me about the Holy Spirit. I pray as you read and learn with me our lives are transformed and made even more complete through the work of the Holy Spirit that works within us to shape us and lead us into total and complete truth. So here we go...........Man has two great spiritual needs One is forgiveness. The other is for goodness. Consciously or unconsciously, his inner being longs for both. The Spirit of the living God has already given us both we just have to walk in it and live it out day by day. We have to realize that God does not want us to come to Christ by faith, and then lead a life of defeat, discouragement, and dissension. Rather , He wants to "fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power; in order that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in us" (2 Thess. 1:11, 12). We have to realize as children of God that we have been given the authority and the power through the Holy Spirit to bring Jesus ultimate Glory. I read a quote once that stuck out to me it read like this "I need Jesus Christ for my eternal life, and the Holy Spirit of God for my internal life." As Christians we tend to wait on God or wait on the spirit to tell us something, when we need to realize that the Holy Spirit is waiting for us. We are no longer living in a time of promise, but in the days of fulfillment. Let's live lives that shake a generation. Let's start walking in the POWER and LOVE God has given us as children as Him. I pray this post changes your life. I am currently working on my next post titled "Spirit it or HE?" One Love, Jason Ashley

DJGF EMOTIONS!

The fourth century theologian Augustine: insights on fear. Augustine teaches that humans are created to love and designed to love. He teaches they are four principal emotions that shape us as we pursue love. They are DESIRE, JOY, GRIEF, and most of all FEAR! John Charles Selner, who studied Augustine and wrote many books on this subject, tells it like this, “Desire attracts us to what we love. Joy accompanies the experience of love. Grief is what we feel when we lose love. Fear is the emotion we experience when we believe we may lose love.” This is so true; I have felt this way many times in my life and as a matter of fact this week. You see pursuing love is an emotional battle. However these emotions can shape us if we let them. So many of us are control freaks. We try to control everything even love when the reality is we need to pursue love instead of trying to control it. I have never been great at this at times I’m sometimes lazy at pursuit. Whether it be planning a date night or just stopping and listening to my wife. You see that’s the secret to a successful marriage listening to your wife. Although I struggle at this from time to time I try my hardest to listen to my wife. That is all women want we as men to listen. If were honest we all struggle with pursuit in some way. Whether it is laziness, fear, or just not making the time to pursue. So do we acknowledge? Or do we ignore pursuit? Is today the very day you try harder to pursue your spouse? I am going to pursue like never before. Remember the four principal emotions that shape us as we pursue love. Desire, Joy, Grief, and Fear let them shape you! Have a Jesus filled day!

LOVE TANK!!

This is straight from the heart, to the notepad, to the keyboard. I have been on empty several times in my 7 years of ministry and I don't want you making the same mistakes that I have made. I pray that through the power of the Holy Spirit this blog post changes your life. So let's get started!! Luke chapter 8 verses 45-48. In these verses a women reaches out and touches Jesus on his cloak. Though he is in a large crowd he feels this energy comes out of him. He turns and asked who touched me and then an unclean woman fell at his feet and worshipped him. He told her your faith in me has healed you. Then it hit me when you love you get, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritual depleted. Love takes a lot of energy from you Christ felt this energy leave him in this text. You know you work hard all day. You come home and is it the TV you choose or playing with your kids? Love is tiring at times. However it’s the most important thing in your life! Christ is Love! Sometimes the best thing for us to do is stop and rest. Refill your tank(BE A SELFISH CHRISTIAN AND LET OTHERS LOVE ON YOU) and it will not cost you $2.50 a gallon to do it... Ha! Ha! I look through scripture and I see Jesus rest, He takes a boat across the lake to get away from the crowds. He takes a rest on the floor of a boat. Often He would go to a solitary place. He rested when he needed to rest. See Satan wants us to be so busy and caught up in the motions that we never rest. If you never rest you can’t love the way you should. My question to you, are you on empty? Are you to drained to love the way you should? If so rest its important. Love is everything! Jesus said come to him and he will give you rest. Matthew chapter 11 Verse 28 read it for yourself. Love you all and pray that the LOVE in you is recharged and then released into the lives of others around you. AND IT STARTS AT HOME!!! I would love to hear some feedback and pray for you, so leave your prayer request under comments and I will pray for you..

Wash Da MuDDDDDDDD!

Good afternoon to all! I just finished a killer workout and some lunch! Today I plan on relaxing and taking some time for myself! I believe quiet time is essential in our walk with God! When I say quiet time I mean complete quietness; no cell phone, no TV, no radio just total silence! This is so necessary it’s amazing how clear you can hear the voice of God when you just get alone with him and LISTEN! Try it! I have been wondering what to blog about today and I was told Character! I usually write all my blogs in advance on paper after alone time with God, but this one is coming straight from my fingers! The title “Why do Christians waver?” I believe it’s because our commitment to stand is not grounded in God’s character, but rather upon the characters with which we are standing or our circumstances. We as believers must be anchored in the God who does not change. Malachi Chapter 3 verse 6 says “I the lord do not change”. You see we can’t base our lives off of emotions and circumstances, we would never be happy! The kind of character you have reflects who you are as a person! You see Jesus is reliable and trustworthy. That is the kind of character he is looking for in his children! If any of you have kids you can honestly say you want them to be reliable and honest with you all the time! It’s the same way with Jesus Christ he expects us to be true to him and to others! Life is hard; no one can say it’s easy. I firmly believe character is important; your word is all you have so when you give it to some one follow through with what you said you would do! Remember your children learn from you! Have a great day! With Love Jason

The Enemy SUCKS!

Good morning everyone! I would like to talk today about EXPOSING. Nobody likes to here the word Satan but I’m going to be talking about him today. I will be exposing him. Please pay attention to this verse especially the first part. 1 Peter Chapter 5 verse 8 says. "Be self controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."As I unpack this text it may get very personal, but that’s ok. The first part I think is the most important be SELF-CONTROLLED AND ALERT! You have to be constantly aware of your surroundings and use the knowledge the lord gives you. Some people think they can live like hell 6 days a week and then come to church on Sunday and everything is ok. Newsflash its not, if your doing this you have no self control and you’re using Jesus as a prostitute! Yes I said it a prostitute, you go to him whenever things get hard and turn away when things are great! Sometimes you may do this and be so caught up in the motions you don’t realize it. Others may no they are doing it and really could care less and that’s sad. If you can do this every week and feel no conviction it may be time for a salvation check! We must live in a constant state of repentance and not give the Devil one inch because he can come in and rule your life if you allow him to. A lion is very sneaky and after he has made his kill he will always roar! Why the roar? Is it because he is getting emotional about the kill? The answer is no. Often when a lion makes a kill a pack of scavengers will come up and run him off! You see the lion roars to make everyone think he is big and bad when the truth is he is submissive. So basically he is a wimp with a big mouth! Sound familiar Satan has a big mouth and it’s filled with lies! He will lie to you. He will tell you God does not love you, you’re worthless, you will never make it, etc….. Folks I’m telling you we don’t have to listen to that garbage. We must realize we can keep Satan in proper perspective. He is submissive to God and if God lives in you. You can resist him! You see we are children of the most high and he created us for a purpose. He has a great life already planned for us! You see 1 John 4:4 says, He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. So if you are struggling and Satan is attacking you! Tell him Go to Hell! Jesus Christ is Ruler not you! He will flee! If your on the front lines for Jesus he wants to destroy you more than anyone so always be Self-Controlled and Aware! If this offended you take it up with God he told me to blog about this today and I will be held accountable for what he ask me to do! So get over it and smile! Have a Productive Day! Love Jason

Ever turn your back?

A Professed Christian who Turns away from the truth and turns His back on Jesus Christ and refuses to suffer for His sake was NOT a True Believer in the first place. A person who Genuinely belongs to Christ may sometimes be Disobedient, but he will Never Reject His Lord. The person who Belongs to Christ continues to Confess Him, to Serve Him, and to Suffer for Him when that is necessary. He does not endure because of his Own Strength but because he is consumed by Christ’s own Spirit, who Never Fails to give sustaining Grace to God’s Children. False Converts— They will put their hand to the Plow of Discipleship, but they will NOT Forsake the Old Life (Matt 7:21-23), Demonstrating that they have Never Received the New. They are therefore Not "Fit for the Kingdom of God," Jesus said, because their Hearts have NEVER been with Him (Luke 9:57-62).

1, 2, 3, ACTION

What is the Fifth book of the New Testament? The Acts of the Apostles. It is not the thoughts of the Apostles or the ideas of the Apostles. It is the Acts of the Apostles. Why? Because following Jesus is more than thinking or imagining, it is about doing! Actions bring about results. Have you not acted on something God clearly told you to do? Life is short, now would be a great time to ACT like a Christ follower. I pray all who read this love like Jesus, serve like Jesus, and ACT like Jesus. Life is too short to be hesitant, people without Jesus die and go to hell. Let's be the light that Jesus called us to be. Let's make a difference in people's lives. Let's become less so he can become more and more. Love you all!!!!!!

Are you on empty?

What up everyone? Today during my study time this morning I learned about a story in scripture Luke chapter 8 verses 45-48. In these verses a women reaches out and touches Jesus on his cloak. Though he is in a large crowd he feels this energy come out of him. He turns and asked "who touched me?" and then an unclean woman fell at his feet and worshipped him. He told her "your faith in me has healed you." Then it hit me when you love you get, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritual depleted. Love takes a lot of energy from you, Christ felt this energy leave him in this text. You know you work hard all day. You come home and is it the TV you choose or playing with your kids? Love is tiring! However it’s the most important thing in our lives! Christ is love! Sometimes the best thing for us to do is stop and rest. Refill your tank and it will not cost you $3.00 a gallon Ha! Ha! .I look through scripture and I see Jesus rest often, he takes a boat across the lake to get away from the crowds. He takes a rest on the floor of a boat during a severe storm. He would often go to a solitary place and get alone and pray. He rested when he needed to. See Satan wants you to be so busy and caught up in the motions that you never rest. If you never rest you can’t love the way you should. My question to you, are you on empty? Are you to drained to love the way you should? If so rest its important not to just you but to everyone around you. Love is everything. Jesus said come to him and he will give you rest. Matthew Chapter 11 Verse 28 read it for yourself. I pray this helps someone out there who is running on empty! Love, Jason

Do you UNDERSTAND?

Good morning to everyone! Do you ever have trouble understanding things? I do and in this post I will talk about our understanding, verses God’s understanding! Let’s dive right in! Life is full of things I don’t understand…why people hate on other people that are succeeding in life….why my kids do the complete opposite of what I tell them at times, can you relate to that?….why life at times seems so great but at other times it's very frustrating. I can't seem to understand why people do not get along any better than they do, nor can I figure out why special, loving people seem to die young while mean, cranky people seem to live forever. What do you do when you just don’t understand something? Sometimes I think about the fact that I do not even understand why I do what I do, so it is not unreasonable that I sometimes cannot understand why God does what he does. The fact is, there is much in life, much about God himself, much about eternity, that I will never understand. The question I need to ask is, how much understanding does it take for me to trust God. Leaning on our own understanding and on human wisdom instead of trusting Jesus leads to a lifetime of frustration and confusion instead of contentment and joy. God alone is the sole source of all understanding. What a freedom we find when we put aside our demands to understand everything and relax in the knowledge that because he does, we don’t have to. Asking him for understanding is great and we should. In fact, David cries out for it no less than 5 times in Psalm 119 as he pleads, “Give me understanding that I may live.” But the measure of our trust is revealed when we do not understand but are content to know that God does! In other words we TRUST GOD NO MATTER WHAT!! Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make your paths straight.” That is a verse to live by! I pray you have a blessed day and know that someone loves you, his name is JESUS!

Hell No!

This is what I call good old home cooking straight from the heart. Here we go!! Is arguing causing people to bust Hell wide open? I think it is. Please let me explain! Some Christians and Churches would rather argue amongst themselves than reach out to their communities and reach out to one another. If I were the Devil I would keep Christians arguing all the time. Because if Christians argue people don’t get reached for Christ.You see some arguments I have overheard are about the most ridiculous subjects and most of the time based on man made religion, not scripture. If the Church and Christians would take time to look at what truly matters, think Kingdom Minded and simply open their hearts and doors to the lost Jesus could RADICALLY change the way non-Christians view THE CHURCH as a whole. Race does not matter whether your Black, White, Hispanic, Latino or Green or Orange the truth is color of a person should not matter! We are all God’s children! What a person wears should not matter! If you don’t like what they are wearing you need to realize everyone is different and not every person that goes to Church wears a suit and tie or a skirt and dress. They should be welcome any day, any time, and in any Church! What a person drives, where they live, and who their mommy and daddy are should not be the reason you want them to stay or go! I am the son of a drug dealer and alcoholic that does not mean I am also living that lifestyle. Yes he is in jail and has been for over 15 years, which does not mean I will follow that same path! You see Jesus said come as you are! So why in the HELL would Christians put up a wall and actually think they can say who comes in and who goes out of the Church! The facts are Denominations and man made religion puts people in HELL! The same goes for arguments if we are arguing, people are not being reached! I am not saying that Church leaders and members should never argue that would be unrealistic! Good things can come from arguing, but arguing about some of the things I have discussed in this post could never have a positive impact! DO NOT FORGET…. THE CHURCH WAS CREATED TO REACH PEOPLE FOR JESUS CHRIST AND MAKE HIM FAMOUS! IT WAS CREATED FOR THE LOST! IT WAS NOT CREATED SO CHURCHES COULD TALK ABOUT ONE ANOTHER AND TEAR DOWN WHAT SO AND SO CHURCH IS DOING! WE ARE ALL ON THE SAME TEAM SO LET”S ACT LIKE IT! I will end this post with a question Would Jesus be welcome at your Church? Remember he dressed homely, most scholars say he had long hair, and he hung out with people that the religious despised! That’s the Jesus that changed the world forever! With Love for all Jason

Washing Mudd!

Good morning everyone. I am going to be talking about being spiritually blind. In John chapter 9 verses 10-11, and also 35-38,39. Jesus has healed a blind man in these verses. I find it funny how the religious leaders demanded the man tell them who done this for him! Anyway that's another story for another time! Jesus said something in this scripture that blows me away. ' I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind!" The last part rocks my world. He is saying we should become blind to our plan and follow his! That's awesome that the creator of the universe would choose us. In this text the miracle is great. Jesus encounters one who has never seen or known light-a blind man from birth- and he gives this man sight and light. After Jesus spit on the ground and made mud, he covered the mans eyes with the mud. What happens next is a sign of how strong the mans faith was. Jesus told him go to the pool of Siloam and wash this off and you will see. So the man had to step up and go! After he washed his eyes he could see i can only imagine the excitement that came over him! He never had to go back to his begging post again! You see in verses 35-38 was the conversion. Jesus gave him a spiritual light also he could now see with his heart. The way to see in this world is a willingness to admit we are blind. The blind man did not argue with Jesus. He acknowledged his condition and his need. He submitted himself to Christ and was OBEDIENT! My question for you is we all have certain things we try to keep in the Dark! What are you trying to keep hid in your life? You see Jesus sees it all you can't hide it from him. Instead of hiding it ask Jesus to take it away and watch him do another awesome and great work! Love you Guys! Jason