Tis the Season

Tis the season to be jolly,

...the season to be full of cheer.

....the season to also have hurt,

....the season to be unsure of life.

Tis the season to remember loved ones,

...the season to morne over lost one.

...the season to make new friends,

...the season to show love to all.

Tis the season to remember the hurt.

...the season to remember the lost.

...the season to remember the sick,

...the season to remember hungry.

Tis the season to remember to give to those in need,

....the season to remember the needy are always there.

...the season to remember to help,

...the season to remember to spread love.

Tis the season to remember Christ,

....the season to start afresh.

...the season to get right with God,

...the season to receive forgiveness.

Tis the season to open your heart to Jesus,

...the season to seek Him and accept Him.

...the season to count on Jesus,
...the season to worship the King.

My heart

Today I write to you dear ones about something close to my heart. I know its close to my heart because its close to Christ's heart too. I remember someone a few years ago was talking to me about missions and had asked me how old my husband and I were. When she was found out we were still under 30 year old
she said, "that makes sense, your still young wait til you get older." I didn't understand what my passion for missions and my age had anything to do with each other, at the time. And I was pondering on it again the other day and I still do not understand what they have anything to with each other. There is a lost world out there who doesn't know who Christ is. They need to know God. Period. Dot. End of story. Excitement for missions to reach out to the lost, the sick, and the hungry is important. God called us to missions. If you don't go across the world you are to be a missionary to your neighbor, your friend, the lady in front of you in the store. Go and make disciples of all nations. Not 'go if you feel like going and making disciples' or 'go when you think the time is right.' Jesus said GO! Please, dear ones, be willing to go and share the truth with someone today. Don't deny the one thing God really wants you to do. Share Jesus with someone today. Stand up for what you believe in. Who will tell them, if you don't?

The least of these

Hello friends, today I write to you about something I feel God placed on my heart to share with you. 

God asked us to care for people who are in need. He wants us to be show his servants heart to the world. Caring for others and helping those out in need is somethings we all need to practice. It is not hard to do either. See a need, meet a need. God asks us to help out widows, care for them in their time of need. Help them how ever they may need it. Being alone in the world without anyone to help care for them has to be hard.

God also asks us to feed the hungry, help those in trouble. When we help others we become a light to the world showing Christ in us to them. I love helping out at our church's food ministry we do. We are helping out others in need, showing them Jesus and praying with them if they have a need. Telling them God bless and just being there to talk to them. Showing them someone cares. But not only that, we are to help anyone with a need.

Jesus spoke in Matthew that when we help the hungry, homeless, sick, and those in prison that we are helping Him but when we refuse to help those in need we are refusing God. We are showing God's love by helping them. When we show the heart of Christ to anyone who needs it they will see Christ in you and want to know more about who God is. Remember to always help them. If we are not willing to lend a hand and help out those in need, we are not going and doing. We are not being the hands and feet of Christ.

Lastly I want to say to you my dears that God wants us to feed his sheep. What does this mean? God wants us to help them and show them the truth. We need to preach the word of God to everyone we know. When we have that willing heart to share God's truth to anyone and everyone we come in contact with, then we are being his hands and feet. We are showing with love and compassion to the lost the way and the truth and the light. Never forget to share His truth to everyone you meet, do it though meeting the need, then share the truth about our Father God. What better gift can you give someone then eternal life? 

Ichthus

Greetings Friends,

Firstly, I hope you all are doing well. I'm a little heart broken over some news I heard the other day from a friend. Can't go into detail til the whole family know but be praying. God knows the needs. 

Secondly this is a shout out to someone I know questioning and seeking answers. You know who you are, I hope this blog entree helps.

 Some may ask, I am a 'good person' and try to what's right, will that be enough? But in Romans 3:23 it says we are all sinners. This is because we were born into sin.



In Romans 3:10 it says that there isn't anyone righteous except the Lord. The Lord alone is the only one who walked this world with out sin/ without doing anything wrong.
So what do all these verses mean? To sum it up, the creator of the universe is Holy! God is the light and there is no darkness in Him. He has set laws in place for his creation. We can't even compare to His goodness. Have you ever even told the smallest lie? Then you have sinned. We all have. James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. When we sin we disobey God.

You may ask is there hope? Lets look to Romans 6:23. Disobedience to an eternal God will cast eternal punishment. God has written His laws in our hearts so we may know the truth and He has also given us His word, the Bible. Not even a just judge would let a criminal go free. God though loved us so much that He sent His son, Jesus, to free us from our sins. Jesus died in our place that we could be free from these sins.


John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus), that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." ...We don't have to suffer for eternity. We have hope, can have eternity with Jesus Christ in Heaven. No suffering, no pain. Just praising and worshiping God forever. While Christ was on the cross he was mocked and cursed at. Yet Jesus cried out, "Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing." Such love is it that Christ would died in our place for our sins knowing every wrong thing we would do. This is unconditional love.


Now this is the best part. How we can be saved and freed from all the sins we have committed. Romans 10:9-10 tells us exactly what to do. Being a good person is not enough to be saved. In Ephesians 2:8-9 it talks about by the grace of God we have been saved by faith, it is only a gift of God to be saved, not by works or good deeds. All you have to do is talk to God saying you know you are a sinner and you ask for forgiveness for all you have done wrong. Then to believe it with all you heart the He is Lord.

God promises that in John 1:12 "to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." If you called on God to forgive you and meant it with all your heart, then you need not to worry for God heard you. 


Romans 10:17 says, "So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ." As a new believer of the most high King your journey has just begun. Every day you must pray to God, everyday read the bible, tell others about God and to go to church to fellowship with other believers. My dear friends if you have any questions about this please let me know. I would love to help you understand more. 

Act of Worship

I love worshiping the Lord and breaking out into song giving God praise. I love lifting my voice to sing glory to Him. But lifting our voices is not the only way to worship our Lord. WE can give praise to God through dance. God made our bodies that we may move around and dance to praise him. Lets get up and praise the Lord through a dance. You don't have to do it public if you are afraid but try it. Try getting up and dancing now, today!

David danced with joy leaping before the Lord because he couldn't just stand still. He had to move around to give his full glory to God because he was so excited. 

I love to, while I am doing stuff around the house, crank up some worship music and start singing and dancing in praise to God. I am alive and able to move why shouldn't I give praise to God through dance?

While I was in Africa, it would be incredibly beautiful seeing the people every church service dancing around the church building and singing praises to the Lord. And they wouldn't dance like swaying back in forth but they would do it with everything they got. They had so little but were so happy about life and to be alive. They would be full of joy for life in its self. They would show the joy of the lord through their dance. They were getting into it like it was the song they were born to dance to, like dancing was their one job in life.

Lets give God praise through a song! He is the Lord of dance after all! Praise Him in the storm through a dance. Praise Him in the good time through a dance. In everything you do, praise the Lord. And whatever you do, don't be afraid to dance. Because I promise you if you dance before the Lord, He will smile on you and be happy for your worship and praise you give him.

Every knee will bow

Howdy you all, I hope this finds you all well. I been on a world wind of craziness with life. I am hoping to start blogging regularly though. I set reminders hahaha. Let me know what you think about the posts. Comment below on the blog. :)

Anyway I want to write something that is set heavy on my heart these last few months. We all need to be ready! The days are numbered til the Lord appears again.

Sure we don't know that last day we have here on earth. We don't know if we have tomorrow, 10 days or 50 years.  We are not guaranteed tomorrow. So why would you not live every day like its your last? For me, I know I sin and fell short of God's glory but there is grace!

Call on Jesus' name to ask Him to be your guide in life. Ask him to be the Lord of your life. If we go on living the we are and Christ comes tomorrow or if you died tomorrow, are you ready? Will you go heaven? I don't want to be left behind. I don't want to see my family or friends left behind. Hell is real. And it is a horrible place of suffering forever. I want to be where the party is with Jesus forever. With all the trouble in the world today that day of Christ's return is soon. Don't let time slip by you and miss the chance you are given today to come to know God as your savior.

I write this as a warning because I am scared not only for the nonbeliever but for those who believe in God. Check your heart and make sure there isn't anything that could be keeping you from God. Do you have some long lasting anger towards someone that you need to forgive? Or have you done something wrong that you need to ask forgiveness for? Do it, don't hesitate, go ask and let go of the sin. Ask God to forgive you, ask the person you offended to forgive you before its to late. Don't let something like this be the thing that holds you back from going to heaven. Christ already paid the price of your sin on the cross all you have to do is ask for forgiveness! Please I urge you to take that step in your faith today.

Final thought, its so easy to ask Christ to forgive your sins. Just talk to God like your talking to your best friend. Ask him to forgive you and ask Jesus to come live in your life and help you to make the right choices. Remember to follow after Christ means to turn from your old sins and habits and not to return to them. If you fall into that sin again its ok, we all make mistakes, ask God to forgive you and to help you not to do it again. Try to keep Christ first in your life. You can only have one master in life, if you love money more then Jesus then you need to get your priorities straight. Declare your freedom in Christ today share with someone the good news that you choose to walk in freedom.

BGMC

I love Vacation Bible School so much! I remember as a kid God calling me into ministry as a kid at VBS. I know God can touch the lives of small children and lead them into the ministry he has for them.

You see when I was like 15 or 16 years old my Great Grandma was dying. And we went to visit her at the hospital. I remember her not making too much sense. But before I left she looked at me and said, "Ashley speak to the children they are the ones who will listen to you." She repeated it a few more time to me. I didn't really know at the time what all that would mean in my life but I been trying to talk to children since then about Jesus.

Matthew 19:14 says, Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." 

At our Vacation Bible school we try to encourage our kids to seek God with everything they have in their hearts. Also we try to encourage them to bring offering for BGMC (Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge). Where all the offering goes to help missionaries through the Assemblies of God church that are reaching out to kids in need. We see some powerful stories from our missionaries from all over the world of how BGMC has helped them.


But let me tell you something. BGMC reaches to more then you or I could. Our change helps real kids around the world come to know about Jesus. Some of these kids may not know who Jesus is at all and get to know who Jesus is for the first time. Which is AWESOME!!! Our change that we give to missions is great because we are helping the great commission to happen.

I love seeing the hearts of the kids giving to missions and seeing these kid's hearts be changed to follow Jesus. I am so happy I listened to God and to what my Great Grandma said. I know the kids will listen to what I have to tell them about God. But it excites me to help be a part of the great commission.