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Neither do I condemn thee

Mar19

When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. [emphasis added]
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

One of the things I learned from The GRACE REVOLUTION (Joseph Prince) is that once you receive His gift of no condemnation, you will have the power to break out of the cycle of defeat and experience the abundant life that Jesus died to give you!

In a forum post at Koinonia Institue, I talk about my struggles with living a life pleasing to God:
As Paul said in Romans 7:

“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

Romans continues: “So then, I of myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

WHOA! I do not want to serve the law of sin. I am in the very same predicament as Paul. Thankfully, I am not left here. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Because Romans 8 follows Romans 7. And Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

I love this commentary by Chuck Missler that I found at the Blue Letter Bible: http://www.blueletterbible.org/audio_video/missler_chuck/Rom/Romans_Vintage.cfm#No_Condemnation_in_Christ

Chuck explains that Romans 8:1 says we have no condemnation in Christ Jesus. PERIOD. Chuck tells us to put a period here and explains that Jesus Christ died for ALL my sins, from the point when I accepted him AND also ALL my sins subsequent to my commitment to Jesus Christ. ALL of my sins were FUTURE when Christ died on the cross and said, It is finished!!

Like Chuck, I will put a LARGE period at this point and remember that I have been made FREE of the Law of Sin and Death. Chuck says to strike the phrase “who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit” (He explains why in the commentary.) Also I will add a reference here to Galatians 2:20-21: “For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

So I have learned from GRACE* that we must do things in God’s order: In order to “go and sin no more” I must first remember that
“Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.”

So by letting Christ live in me, I am able to love God with ALL my heart! So I say again: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Sincerely, Julie Ashley

* See Joseph Prince devotional: The Gift of No Condemnatoin

Winter comes…

Nov14

Many people, like me, struggle with depression and sorrow during the winter months. Important family holidays fall during the cold damp days of November and December, adding to the stress I am already feelilng.

It helps me to think completely through my situations when these feelings begin to try to settle in.

Below are some of my Winter meditations:

The Cold:
Born a southern girl, I embrace my Louisiana heritage, including the warm muggy days when only flopping in my cold pond water will give me relief. So the cold sneaks in around Haloween, backs off a bit and then teases me several times before slamming down for weeks at a time.

Instead of being unhappy about what is changing, I will focus on what remains the same: God’s Faithfulness:

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. Genesis 8:22

The Holidays:
Often I become anxious about meeting the expectations of my family during the holidays. Meals and Gifts are just a couple of things on my mind when I anticipate the holiday seasons.

Instead of wondering if there will be enough to go around and wondering what everyone is expecting, I will focus on letting go of my own expectations and enjoying the company of children and family members who take the time to fellowship.

Joy

Rejoice evermore. 1 Thessalonians 5:16

The LORD has commanded me to be joyful at all times. I am not a slave to my feelings so I will obey the LORD. and I will remember those who also struggle and pray for you, too.

Be JOYFUL! It is our strength.

Which candidate says, “Choose Life.”

Oct19

Most people who know me and my large family can guess where I stand on legislations that deal with the issue of abortion, adoption, life and death. My stand has always been, “Choose life”.

The Bible clearly tells me to “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute”.  Proverbs 31:8  So I will vote Pro-Life on Election Day.

The Bible also tells me:

1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

1 Timothy 2:1-4

So I will continue to pray for all of our leaders.

We are NOT prey to the thief.

Aug23

The last couple of years have been difficult on my flesh but Yeshua is always faithful.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
-Jesus (John 10:10) emphasis added

The thief is like a large black bird waiting to feed on the carcass. He is Satan, the enemy of God and the Sons of God. That thief and murderer will NOT feel sorry for you when one of his blows causes you an injury. Instead he will throw one blow to get you off balance and then attempt to hit you again before you can recover.

We have already been reconciled to God in Christ. We are not prey for the enemy. Be encouraged. Psalm 8 says…

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon an the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

*SPOILER ALERT* There’s noBunny coming to our house for Easter!

Apr5

No Bunny is Coming for Easter

No Bunny is Coming for Easter

Our family has created some special ways to celebrate our LORD’s resurrection.

In our worship and study of the Bible, we believe the LAMB represents the Son of God during the Feast of Passover. At our house, we use LAMBS, not bunnies, to celebrate the JOYOUS occasion of the Resurrection of our LORD after His crucifixion.

Although we do have some wicker and plastic baskets now, our treats and egg collections were more often placed in baskets of our own creation.

HERE’S HOW:

Roll down paper bags (usually free) and gently shape to look like a bowl.

Spray paint ($1 can) with pastel colors.

Shred colorful junk mail (also free) to create compostable grass/padding for your new home-made basket.

Fill with boiled oatmeal cookies and fresh fruit and, of course, the more traditional dyed boiled eggs.

Another ASHLEY tradition is to carefully construct and decorate paper LAMBS.

Glue curled papers (quilled) or cotton balls to simulate wool.

Let the children spend time making their LAMB very special.

Don’t forget:
Have them write their name and the year somewhere on the body of their LAMB.

On Friday night, we read about the crucifixion of JESUS.
Discuss how JESUS’ disciples and loved ones must have been feeling: the fear and disappointment.
Carefully place your crafted LAMBS into your basket.
Cover it with a red cloth to symbolize His shed blood.
On Sunday morning, when the children wake, the red cloth is gone and so are their own hand-crafted LAMBS.
In their baskets are all their treats- and usually some other form of lamb (chocolate or stuffed).
Discuss how JESUS’ disciples and loved ones must have celebrated when they discovered that JESUS had been raised from the dead.

We do hide and hunt dyed boiled eggs with the children. It is a good time to discuss with the children how some pagan traditions got mixed into the Christian celebration of the Resurrection. The pagans may have used eggs to symbolize life and resurrection or eternal life. Our LORD has freely given us the Gift of Life. (John 3:16)

Instead at Passover, the family tradition is to search the house to remove any leaven, symbolic of sin.

Donna of toteallyreal.blogspot.com tells us:

The days before Passover begins are spent cleaning the house and getting rid of anything with leaven in it. We have a “bread hunt” the night before Passover, where we search for leaven. I hide 10 pieces of bread, and my husband leads the hunt in the dark with a candle. The bread is swept into a paper bag which is burned the next morning. This is a wonderful illustration of getting rid of the sin in our lives. The leaven represents sin, and we need to search our hearts in order to make sure there’s nothing hiding in there that we need to get rid of. God’s light helps us in this search and reveals the leaven. Then we need to get it out of our lives and totally destroy it. It’s really quite a job finding all the leaven and getting it out of our house. There is leaven in the most unexpected places!

It is with GRATITUDE that I realize: We don’t have to search for LIFE (what the eggs symbolize)- JESUS has provided it for each of us.

We are all offered abundant life through the atoning work of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.

To learn more, read a LOVE LETTER.

We go out walking BIKING

Feb20
Julie on Bike Smiling

Just Shut Up, Smile and Bike

My journeys to the library have improved my stamina, balance, and, especially, my disposition! We ride in the wind, we ride in the rain.

It’s 2.5 miles from our door to the Sterlington Memorial Library driveway. We have improved our time to 25 minutes. You may think that’s nothing for those teens of mine. Pretty good for a gal who just turned fifty. Hey, it is “No Excuses” season on Biggest Loser.

Bob Harper, you would be so proud of me. When the railroad track grabbed my bike tire and flung me to the ground, I landed on my knee. Since the track is at the top of a hill, I was working a bit harder, putting my weight into peddling… KapOWWi. The tire hit the metal, slid into the groove and just followed the rut.

Sandy had done the same thing a few days ago so now we have matching boo-boos and I’m a lot more sympathetic.

Busted Knee

Yuk! That's not pretty.

Yuk! That’s not pretty. Matt was my chaperone so he helped me to my feet. I got back on my bike and we still made that 2.5 miles in 20 minutes. “Why are you crying, Julie?” “I’m NOT, Bob!

Julie on a Bicycle

Mom Riding Bike

We haven’t been doing this for that long but it is already making me feel better. Not just physically but mentally, spiritually! So if you pass us on Keystone, slow down a little, smile and wave. I’ll try to wave back but if I cannot take my hands off the handlebars, I’ll SMILE back at ya!

Going BACKwards TO THE FUTURE

Aug10

A friend and I were discussing our daily walk(s) with G_d. We talked about how difficult it can seem to walk in obedience according to the Word and not according to the flesh. As we shared the struggles we were each facing to get our financial, emotional and spiritual needs met, I had a re-revelation of something our Father had shown me during another dark lonely period about how actually walking with G_d differed from my expectation of walking with G_d.

My flesh wants me to do something and be productive every day. It wants G_d to give me a checklist of things to do every day to show that I love Him and that I love others. It wants constant and obvious feedback to soothe itself and reassure its owner that I am on the right path.

My flesh does NOT want to stride out into darkness trusting in the Vision of the Invisible G_d. Even my mind, at least the not yet renewed segments, rebels against walking when there are no discernable landmarks. My flesh cannot see, hear, touch, smell or taste G_d. Thank G_d, my flesh is dead:

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 AKJV

In Ancient Hebrew (as explained in this YouTube video), they used words that represented concrete concepts. For instance the word for past means in front and the word for the future is behind. The past is in front of me and myfuture is behind me. In the Hebrew thinking, the past is known so it would be in front of me where I can see it while the future cannot be seen so it is behind me where I cannot see.

So…If I walk forward toward what my flesh has known and in the patterns of my past, I am backsliding. While “advancing backwards” may sound like a contradiction, it means to allow G_d to take me safely where I have no sensual (flesh) experience and cannot see, hear, feel, taste or touch the path.

Have you ever watched someone play that game called “trust” where they fall backwards into the arms of their companions? I choose to fall backwards into the arms of G_d and rest in Him while He takes me to my destiny. I choose to obey the Word and walk in the Spirit and let Him be the light of my Way.

This does not mean that I will never have clear guidance and direction.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will make plain thy paths. Proverbs 3:6 (Darby)

It does mean that if I cannot see, hear, smell, feel, or taste anything, I will hold onto the Word I know and trust and I will not be afraid. The way to know the way is to KNOW THE WAY.

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. John 14:6