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

Going Deeper

Good morning to all I am going to be talking about friendship in this post today. Friendship is a key element to establishing great community. Friendship is special and everyone desires someone they can trust and share their lives with. So I am going to start this off with a question. WHAT DOES FRIENDSHIP MEAN TO YOU? I am going to share my personal view on what friendship really means so here we go. I believe that friendship involves a mutual exchange of knowledge, service, kindness, and celebration. I also believe it is a growing commitment among peers to seek and serve each other. Philippians 2:1-11 explains this well. The core of this scripture teaches us to pursue others and sacrifice our own desires and serve others as Christ served us. That goes for friendships as well. We should always listen to our friends and be constantly moving forward in our relationships with them. Offering up our time and ears to them. I had a man tell me one time "We have 2 ears and one mouth for a reason". I believe that to be true as well however, I myself sometimes struggle listening to others. If we would all be honest we all do. I constantly beg Jesus to give me his eyes and ears so that I can listen better and be ready to act on the opportunities he gives me. We all have a choice to build relationships or to let them crumble. I want to encourage you to only listen to people that you know Love You. If we listen to everyone we will be in a constant state of pleasing them instead of pleasing God. I pray this post encourages you but challenges you to go deeper with your friendships and also go deeper with your relationship with Jesus Christ. Read Philippians 2:1-11 sometime today and live by what it says. Remember to establish great community we have to establish great relationships. Love You guys and gals, Jason

Values for Spiritual Formation

THE TEN CORE VALUES FOR SPIRITUAL FORMATION 1. Spiritual transformation...is essential, not optional, for Christ-followers. 2. It is a process, not an event. 3. It is God's work, but requires my participation. 4. It involves those practices, experiences, and relationships that help me live intimately with Christ and walk as he were in my place. 5. It is not a compartmentalized pursuit. God is not interested in my spiritual life; he's interested in my life-all of it. 6. It can happen in every moment. It is not restricted to certain times or practices. 7. It is not individualistic, but takes place in community and finds expression in serving others. 8. It is not impeded by a person's background, temperament, life situation, or season of life. It is available right now to all who desire it. 9. And the means of pursuing it, will vary from one individual to another. Fully devoted followers are handcrafted, not mass-produced. 10. It is ultimately gauged by an increased capacity to love God and people. Superficial or external checklists cannot measure it. WOW now that is good stuff. I have applied this teaching to my life and WOW at the result. John Ortberg taught this in a series about 9 years ago called "The life giving power of community. I hope you enjoyed this post. I felt I needed to share it with you guys and gals. I will be writing alot about community over the next few weeks. So check it out as I update and be open minded about what God might want you to learn. Love you all, Jason