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

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..

Up or down?

Have you ever wondered how you can be in such a great mood and then one thing just ruins your day. Or maybe you wake up and nothing seems to be going your way. As Christians we can be so pumped up and motivated. Maybe we just seen a life long friend come to know Jesus, we just led someone to Christ, or even we in our own walk got our world rocked by a life changing message. They are many other things that can set you on fire spiritually! But what do you do when things just seem to steal your joy, take away from your life, or maybe you feel like your running on empty? Lets face it life is a challenge and being who Jesus called you to be and obeying him is very challenging but we have to press on. I'm going to share some scripture with you that helps me when i get down and out! Proverbs Chapter 3 Verses 1-10. 1 my son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart,2 for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. 3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck write them on the tablet of your heart.4 Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. You can continue this reading of scripture in your bible! I hope this lifts you up and gets you in the 66 book love letter he wrote to us! Have an awesome day!!!! Jason

PASSING IT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW! Its great to be back. I have been taking a blogging break, which is great to do once in a while. I am simply going to just share whats going on in my head and my heart. If you are offended I DON'T apologize. Here we go the other day I received a phone call (Which happens a lot about 130 received a day) and I was disturbed by what I was asked to do. I was told "Jason I just ran into a homeless guy he has no food and he is hungry so I gave him your card" WHAT THE HECK? You mean to tell me you depend on me to do everything? Just because I am a homeless outreach and street minister does not mean I can meet every need!!!!!!! I was not mad or angry in a bad way! I was just disturbed that the person seen the need, had the resources to meet the need and instead of being obedient to Jesus and feeding the hungry the person passed it off on someone else!!!! I truly believe that's the problem in Christian culture...people see needs and instead of meeting them when they have the resources to do so THEY PASS THEM ON TO SOMEONE ELSE!! Ever wonder if that person might have been put in your path for a reason? That's one thing that I love about the church in the book of ACTS they seen a need they met it. No matter what the need was the bible says there were no needy among them!!!! So they set the standard for how we should meet needs on an individual basis and as one body that has many parts. But if the body has missing parts it can not function like Christ intended it too! For too long people have been giving the Lord a half hearted effort! Then we wonder why the Church in America is steady declining!!! IT'S BECAUSE PEOPLE GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS AND DON'T SERVE ONE ANOTHER. People in the church depend on the leaders to do it all when in reality there is only ONE LEADER... THAT'S JESUS CHRIST! We are all commanded to LOVE one another and it's not a suggestion ITS A COMMAND! I will end with 2 questions to ask yourself. Are you serving the needy or passing it along to someone else? Are you serving your home church? I pray in Jesus Holy name that this blog post breaks through to those who read it and I pray for people to have the LOVE Jesus has! Remember ONE GOD, ONE LOVE, ONE WAY!

Real Man or NOT!

Have you ever noticed how our society has a way of turning things upside down? The gender roles are a good example. The feminist movement during the last three to four decades has tried to make women more like men, and men more like women. It has equated equality with being the same. Men have lost their identity. Being a man is not sleeping with as many women as you can(THAT”S A DOG) or hanging out with your buddies at the bar or better yet let’s take it a little farther, being a Man is not surfing channels on TV and barking orders at your wife and kids and this usually happens on Sunday’s! A true man as described in the bible is a man who is willing to love our wives as Christ loves the church. (Ephesians 5:25) That means even dying for her. That is the love God expects out of us! Have you loved lately? Be a Man and lead your family! More than anything love God!!!!

True Leadership!

The true leaders are people who never set out to be leaders. True leaders don't elevate themselves. Instead, the people elevate them. Some young men make a mistake in ministry by forcefully proclaiming that they are leaders. In fact, they love the power; they love to have authority and control over people because their egos get a boost. But they fail to realize that the power is not for them; it's for serving others!(Matthew Barnett said it all in his book "The Church That Never Sleeps" and I think he said it well!)