It's fathers day! God has blessed me so much with not just one dad but two!!! Love you both so much!!!! As a daughter my dad has always wanted to give me the world and provides for my earthly needs when I ask.....he's there for me.
Earlier today I was pondering on our Heavenly Father, and how he has adopted us as sons and daughters by killing His own son! He has loved us far beyond measure and we as children can and should abide in Him for he has given us everything! Today at church we heard a sermon on Romans 8:31-34, Pastor Mike talked about how as christians our hearts should not be fearful, anxious, or worried, all these things are contrary to a heart of a christian because even "when we walk through the valley of death, we can fear no evil." He is for us and no one or thing can take us down, how amazing is that! I loved the example of David and Goliath, David knew his father in heaven was with him and the armies and that was the greatest weapon at all. He approached Goliath with boldness and righteous anger and his faith in God defeated a very fearful opponent!
Today was so convicting, I often struggle with worrying and anxiousness and try to pass it off as "not to big of a sin." But I shouldn't worry, the things I do worry about are usually idols in my heart! When God is on the throne of my heart, He is all I fear, so praise God that through His Spirit living in me I can conquer this sin and be bold and courageous as a lion!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Friendships Part 2
So, it has been brought to light that my last blog is angering some people. I do not change my thought on the subject but have done an even deeper study on it, hoping to clarify myself and allow God’s word to do it for me. Thank you to those who gave words of encouragement.
I would like to first clarify “friends.” Here are two different friendships and definitions:
1. Close Friends–This to me means people you spend a great deal of time with (outside of a job or other forced time). You spend time by choice. This means you call each other often, email often, spend time together often, go out to eat, see movies, etc. These are people you trust, people you care very deeply about and usually have a lot in common with them. You have a serious and deep relationship with these friends. Close friends, these are the ones we should have the most common with and what better than the strongest common bond of all, Christ.
2. Acquaintance Friends–These are people you merely come across in you daily life. Perhaps it is a co-worker; perhaps it is a friend of a friend, perhaps a neighbor, someone online, etc. These are people who you like or want to stay on great terms with, but don’t really have enough in common with them, or for some other reason, simply never really spend any time with them. You tend to only see them or talk to them on rare or isolated occasions (unless you work together), and that is the extent of your relationship. These are usually shallower in terms of emotions and bonds, but still a loving type of friendships in the spirit. Acquaintance friends, those we know and show a love toward, sharing the gospel of truth with them.
Should we elevate ourselves as higher then them? Absolutely not, that is not what I am saying, I mean look at Psalms 14 and 1 Corinthians 1:26-29! I want us to look more closely and examine our human relationships.
Leading up to my last blog I had a lot of thought, study, and conversations about the Body of Christ; i.e. the church. How there seems to be a wall or division between many members, we do not put as much time into our relationship with those from our home church as they did when Paul spoke in Hebrews 10:25 “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Who should we lean on, trust, encourage, be the closest with here on earth concerning earthly relationships?
Hebrews 10:26-28 26 “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
2 Corinthians 6:14-15 “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?”
1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character."
Proverbs 13:20 He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.
Proverbs 22:24-25 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared.
Proverbs 4:14-15 Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil men. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way.
Psalm 119:115 Away from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commands of my God!
2 Timothy 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Mark 9:44-46 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell
These, and a number of other passages, with out a doubt show us that those you regularly hang out with will affect you. Some will say, "Well, what about Jesus? He's our example and he spent a lot of time with unsaved people." This is completely true. I do not deny that truth but, lets look at the whole picture, dig a little deeper. Jesus knew the truth what he believed, was unwavering in His belief, and did not just hang around the unsaved for friendship. He continually taught the unsaved, by His example and by His words (i.e. Mark 2:13). And still, Jesus had a close group of friends who were believers (the disciples) whom he spent more time with than anyone else. (Not to mention that He regularly took time out to be alone with God, out most important relationship, see Mark 6:46, Luke 6:12)
Another point I was addressing in my last blog was how these people are influencing us? If you go to where the unsaved go, and do the things the unsaved do, and laugh at the jokes the unsaved say, etc., etc., what witness do you have? And who is influencing who? What "new life in Christ" can you offer when you live in the old? Do we sin when we are around them? Jesus was a friend of sinners because he took the message of the gospels to them -- and lived out that message, being different (separate) from them, even while he was with them (see Matthew 11:19-24) This is where the enemies topic stems from, if you reread the part in the last blog about what Psalm 119 goes on to say about people who set traps for, dig pitfalls…why do we constantly allow ourselves to be influenced by the world, instead of influencing it?
I am all for missions trips, preaching the gospel to those around us and serving everyone in love.
I would like to first clarify “friends.” Here are two different friendships and definitions:
1. Close Friends–This to me means people you spend a great deal of time with (outside of a job or other forced time). You spend time by choice. This means you call each other often, email often, spend time together often, go out to eat, see movies, etc. These are people you trust, people you care very deeply about and usually have a lot in common with them. You have a serious and deep relationship with these friends. Close friends, these are the ones we should have the most common with and what better than the strongest common bond of all, Christ.
2. Acquaintance Friends–These are people you merely come across in you daily life. Perhaps it is a co-worker; perhaps it is a friend of a friend, perhaps a neighbor, someone online, etc. These are people who you like or want to stay on great terms with, but don’t really have enough in common with them, or for some other reason, simply never really spend any time with them. You tend to only see them or talk to them on rare or isolated occasions (unless you work together), and that is the extent of your relationship. These are usually shallower in terms of emotions and bonds, but still a loving type of friendships in the spirit. Acquaintance friends, those we know and show a love toward, sharing the gospel of truth with them.
Should we elevate ourselves as higher then them? Absolutely not, that is not what I am saying, I mean look at Psalms 14 and 1 Corinthians 1:26-29! I want us to look more closely and examine our human relationships.
Leading up to my last blog I had a lot of thought, study, and conversations about the Body of Christ; i.e. the church. How there seems to be a wall or division between many members, we do not put as much time into our relationship with those from our home church as they did when Paul spoke in Hebrews 10:25 “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Who should we lean on, trust, encourage, be the closest with here on earth concerning earthly relationships?
Hebrews 10:26-28 26 “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
2 Corinthians 6:14-15 “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?”
1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character."
Proverbs 13:20 He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.
Proverbs 22:24-25 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared.
Proverbs 4:14-15 Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil men. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way.
Psalm 119:115 Away from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commands of my God!
2 Timothy 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Mark 9:44-46 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell
These, and a number of other passages, with out a doubt show us that those you regularly hang out with will affect you. Some will say, "Well, what about Jesus? He's our example and he spent a lot of time with unsaved people." This is completely true. I do not deny that truth but, lets look at the whole picture, dig a little deeper. Jesus knew the truth what he believed, was unwavering in His belief, and did not just hang around the unsaved for friendship. He continually taught the unsaved, by His example and by His words (i.e. Mark 2:13). And still, Jesus had a close group of friends who were believers (the disciples) whom he spent more time with than anyone else. (Not to mention that He regularly took time out to be alone with God, out most important relationship, see Mark 6:46, Luke 6:12)
Another point I was addressing in my last blog was how these people are influencing us? If you go to where the unsaved go, and do the things the unsaved do, and laugh at the jokes the unsaved say, etc., etc., what witness do you have? And who is influencing who? What "new life in Christ" can you offer when you live in the old? Do we sin when we are around them? Jesus was a friend of sinners because he took the message of the gospels to them -- and lived out that message, being different (separate) from them, even while he was with them (see Matthew 11:19-24) This is where the enemies topic stems from, if you reread the part in the last blog about what Psalm 119 goes on to say about people who set traps for, dig pitfalls…why do we constantly allow ourselves to be influenced by the world, instead of influencing it?
I am all for missions trips, preaching the gospel to those around us and serving everyone in love.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
God is so good
So, it is time. The first day of summer is days away and like my wardrobe, time for a blog template change, from spring green to summer blue (plus I love the cute little humming bird!).
Anyways, I wanted to take this time to thank those who have been praying with me and following me in this blog and encouraging me with your comments. Delivering praise to God! :]
I've been thinking lately its time to make it less like once a month huge study blog, to day to day thoughts about God and discussions with you all. So, I'll still post my study blogs (because sometimes theres just so much to ponder about!) but God reveals so much to us day by day that I can't ignore it any longer. I just love sharing with you all the awesomeness of our God and pray that this new venture glorifies him all the more!
So, keep an eye out and join in with your comments, opinions and verses about certain topics placed on my heart! I'm looking forward to hearing from you all more and getting excited about the Word!
P.s. Resolved is in like less than a week and I'm like way excited!!!! I'm sure I'll have a lot to talk about afterwards :]
Psalm 66:5 "Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man's behalf!"
God is so good! Even when life seems at the pit of darkness, it isn't, because God has granted salvation to his children and we can trust in HIm that as he carries out his will for our lives it is best and through all He conforms us to be more like his Son each day in sanctification! Glory to God in the highest!!! I am so excited to see what God will do this summer and how he will grow me and my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and I hope you are too!
With Kingdom Eyes!
Ashley <3
Anyways, I wanted to take this time to thank those who have been praying with me and following me in this blog and encouraging me with your comments. Delivering praise to God! :]
I've been thinking lately its time to make it less like once a month huge study blog, to day to day thoughts about God and discussions with you all. So, I'll still post my study blogs (because sometimes theres just so much to ponder about!) but God reveals so much to us day by day that I can't ignore it any longer. I just love sharing with you all the awesomeness of our God and pray that this new venture glorifies him all the more!
So, keep an eye out and join in with your comments, opinions and verses about certain topics placed on my heart! I'm looking forward to hearing from you all more and getting excited about the Word!
P.s. Resolved is in like less than a week and I'm like way excited!!!! I'm sure I'll have a lot to talk about afterwards :]
Psalm 66:5 "Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man's behalf!"
God is so good! Even when life seems at the pit of darkness, it isn't, because God has granted salvation to his children and we can trust in HIm that as he carries out his will for our lives it is best and through all He conforms us to be more like his Son each day in sanctification! Glory to God in the highest!!! I am so excited to see what God will do this summer and how he will grow me and my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and I hope you are too!
With Kingdom Eyes!
Ashley <3
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Stubborn Fat
"The insolent smear me with lies,but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law." Psalm 119:69-70
Okay, so the topic is fat. And no I'm not talking about that stuff hanging out in places you really wish it wouldn't and yet at the same time let's see how we relate with that "fat" and then move on to what I really want to talk about. In today's culture there is so much pressure to have the "perfect body", having no fat. (I know your feeling me on this one girls!) We do anything it seems like to get rid of this fat, we work so hard, take supplements, eat right, don't eat at all, spend money on gyms, work out and try to look good before going to the gym we pay for, and we are constantly on that bathroom scale, which we all know is so not accurate. ;] So, we will do just about anything to get rid of this fat right? But what about other "fat" in your life?
"Do not be deceived: Bad company ruins good morals." 1 Corinthians 15:33
So, you may be thinking, "Ashley, what's up with that Psalm and why is it making you freaking out about fat?" Well, it's because we as christians will work very hard to get in shape, but do nothing about the "good friends" in our lives who have hearts of fat!!! That verse is referring to the proud whose hearts are so thick that the Word is unable to penetrate, like the heart of stone. Yet, do we keep non-christians close to us? Think about it this way, if you are trying to lose weight you probably wouldn't hang out with people who do not want to lose weight and eat all the food that is causing the fat right? Then why are we making non-christians our friends when we are striving to delight and obey in the Lord, when they want to mock and denounce Christ?
These people are our mission field, not our best friends. In fact they are our enemies, because they are enemies of God. Psalm 119 goes on to say that these same people "lie in wait to destroy me" (v.95), "put me to shame, because they have wronged me with falsehoods" (v.78) and they have "dug pitfalls for me." (v.85) We are to witness to them and share the gospel with them, nothing more.
When you are around these people are you more tempted to sin....do you sin? I remember when I was first saved I didn't have to many christian friends at my school, so I hung out with people I was friends with before...a lot. This caused me to stumble and stunted my growth so much, but I was afraid of being alone at school. Eventually, I was convicted, God showed me it was more important to delight in his word then to have "friends." So, I ate lunch alone in my car, spent many breaks in my car, and even sat alone in class to be away from sinful conversations. Was it hard? You bet it was! No one likes being alone. But what is more important, God or company? Now, I have such amazing godly friends, who I call my brothers and sisters in Christ, they love me and lift me up, encouraging me to strive after God and admonish me when I sin.
So, I urge you brothers and sisters, to examine your relationships, are you equally yoked? Or are dead oxen keeping you from moving forward and striving after God with all your heart and all your soul?
Okay, so the topic is fat. And no I'm not talking about that stuff hanging out in places you really wish it wouldn't and yet at the same time let's see how we relate with that "fat" and then move on to what I really want to talk about. In today's culture there is so much pressure to have the "perfect body", having no fat. (I know your feeling me on this one girls!) We do anything it seems like to get rid of this fat, we work so hard, take supplements, eat right, don't eat at all, spend money on gyms, work out and try to look good before going to the gym we pay for, and we are constantly on that bathroom scale, which we all know is so not accurate. ;] So, we will do just about anything to get rid of this fat right? But what about other "fat" in your life?
"Do not be deceived: Bad company ruins good morals." 1 Corinthians 15:33
So, you may be thinking, "Ashley, what's up with that Psalm and why is it making you freaking out about fat?" Well, it's because we as christians will work very hard to get in shape, but do nothing about the "good friends" in our lives who have hearts of fat!!! That verse is referring to the proud whose hearts are so thick that the Word is unable to penetrate, like the heart of stone. Yet, do we keep non-christians close to us? Think about it this way, if you are trying to lose weight you probably wouldn't hang out with people who do not want to lose weight and eat all the food that is causing the fat right? Then why are we making non-christians our friends when we are striving to delight and obey in the Lord, when they want to mock and denounce Christ?
These people are our mission field, not our best friends. In fact they are our enemies, because they are enemies of God. Psalm 119 goes on to say that these same people "lie in wait to destroy me" (v.95), "put me to shame, because they have wronged me with falsehoods" (v.78) and they have "dug pitfalls for me." (v.85) We are to witness to them and share the gospel with them, nothing more.
When you are around these people are you more tempted to sin....do you sin? I remember when I was first saved I didn't have to many christian friends at my school, so I hung out with people I was friends with before...a lot. This caused me to stumble and stunted my growth so much, but I was afraid of being alone at school. Eventually, I was convicted, God showed me it was more important to delight in his word then to have "friends." So, I ate lunch alone in my car, spent many breaks in my car, and even sat alone in class to be away from sinful conversations. Was it hard? You bet it was! No one likes being alone. But what is more important, God or company? Now, I have such amazing godly friends, who I call my brothers and sisters in Christ, they love me and lift me up, encouraging me to strive after God and admonish me when I sin.
So, I urge you brothers and sisters, to examine your relationships, are you equally yoked? Or are dead oxen keeping you from moving forward and striving after God with all your heart and all your soul?
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