A Heart of Worship

 

There is nothing like being in the presence of God! I've said it once and I'll say it a million more times. God is truly amazing! There is nothing He can't handle. When you take your burdens to Him and lay them at the alter, He picks them up and takes them away.

 

God is so Good!

 

It's very easy to get in what I like to call a slump. When the stresses of life begin to be too great, when you are under attack by the enemy, or when you just can't seem to catch a break sometimes you begin to feel weakened. Your flesh begins to take control. You begin to take your focus off of God and His promises and start looking at the situations around you. The storms start raging, the wind begins to blow, and the boat begins to rock from side to side. But there is ONE who is STEADY, CONSISTENT, UNCHANGING, and able to say "Peace. Be still." and the entire storm ceases.

 

When you don't know what else to do, when you've ran out of words to say, when you feel lost or alone, GREAT! Now you're at a point that forces you to stop trying things on your own. You're at a point of total surrender. You have tried it all and realized you have nothing besides a broken spirit and a sincere heart. You can sincerely cry out to God and He will listen to the cries of His children.

 

If you truly need to be encouraged and desire peace, start with acknowledging God, The Creator of the universe, and tell Him how Great He is. I know, it sounds odd. Why speak amazing words about someone else when you need the encouragement? But, it is something so calming, reassuring, and fulfilling about finding an inward place of worship. It's about approaching the throne of God with an open heart and receiving from Him those things that He promises us.

 

It's difficult to change gears from solely depending on yourself to completely depending on someone else. If you need help getting to that inward place of worship, try this (it gets me every time! :)):

 

1. Get alone.

2. Get rid of distractions.

3. Clear your mind.

4. Focus on God.

5. Begin to verbally acknowledge who He is.

 

I MUST get on my knees to get to that place with God. It's just a sign...a symbol...of respect, honor, and to show God I AM WEAK and in desperate need of Him. Steps 2-4 might be the most difficult. It might be especially difficult while you are going through a storm...which is why it's so powerful! Before you acknowledge God, you must be sure that He is all that you are thinking about. Don't approach His throne, desiring Him, but your mind is on something else...how rude! ;) 

 

When you are ready to acknowledge Him (don't rush the process...I've had to kneel in darkness for many minutes before I was able to even clear my mind and focus on Him), just start by saying who God is to you and who He has been. Be specific and don't be afraid to sound uneducated...it's just You and Him. Here's something I'd start with to help you get started, but please know when you approach the King, He wants to know YOUR heart...not mine.

 

You are Worthy.

You are Awesome.

There is none like You.

You are Mighty.

You are my Strength.

You are my Song.

You are Holy.

You are Righteous.

You are Just.

You calm the storms.

You are Love.

My trust in in You.

You are Faithful.

You are The Author and The Finisher.

You are Alpha and Omega.

Nothing is Greater than You.

You are my Rock.

`You are my King.

 

This is just a starter. Let the Holy Spirit lead you in your encounter with God. Find time to enter into His gates today! Spend time with Him. You'll be surprised at how amazing you will feel afterwards!

 

Love,

Ashley

 

Your Marriage is Much Bigger than You! (free download included!)

Over the past few years my husband and I have watched marriage after marriage end. Lots of marriages that are still holding on are just holding on by a thread and full of adultery, deceit, discontentment, hatred, and bitterness. That small percent of marriages that are not on the verge of divorce, have somehow forgotten their purpose. These marriages I speak of are unions that proclaim Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

What's happening?

What's the problem?

Surely this isn't what God had in mind when he created the institution of marriage. Marriage is meant to be a beautiful representation of the love and commitment between Christ and his church. Do you see love and commitment in most marriages? More importantly, do you see a representation of Jesus and the church? If the answer to those questions are no, than I think it's safe to say, we have a problem!

There really aren't that many scriptures in the bible that pertain to the union between husband and wife. But if we can look at the entire bible, it's a love story of the ultimate husband and his bride. The love and commitment He has had from the very beginning of time to His bride...the church...His children...the believers. We think it's clear what God wants of us: to glorify Him.

In surveying many couples and the issues they have, the problems aren't necessarily marriage issues. The problems are really issues that pertain to their walks with Christ. Our observations weighed heavy in our hearts and we thought of how we can bring the focus of marriage back to real focus.

In one of our morning studies we read Genesis 2:24:

"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

The first instructions for marriage was established with the first union created, Adam and Eve. We asked each other, "What does that REALLY mean?" One Flesh? We know the scripture, but have we really thought about it?! We started with defining "one" and defining "flesh". There's unity and there's a body. A single body. We have 2 bodies coming together to function as one. For what purpose? Glorifying God.

We decided (being the science nerd that I am) to review the systems of the body. If we wanted to understand how flesh works, let's explore the flesh! We found that Jesus used a lot of a parables in his teachings that were about practical things the people would understand: gardening, fishing, etc. For the people to have an understanding of those things Jesus spoke of, he used things that they knew of. Can we understand the intent of the statement "one flesh" without understanding how flesh works?

In our study time, One Flesh the workbook was created. This workbook is a practical guide to use with scripture for both spouses to work together and growing in Christ for the purpose of edifying the entire body of Christ. What Chris and I have found is that the more we serve God together, the more enjoyable our relationship is and the closer we grow to one another - totally contrary to popular teaching these days.

So below is a link for a free download of the first couple of chapters of this book. Please sit down with your spouse, fiancé, good friend...whomever you are in a relationship with and are seeking growth together.

http://books.noisetrade.com/oneflesh/one-flesh-sample

Leave comments! Can't wait to hear what you think about it. Most importantly, can't wait to hear about how you and your spouse will work together in edifying the kingdom of God!