Prepare Your Hearts

Today while I was reading 1 Chronicles, I was revealed something that I really had never thought of before. In Chapter 9 towards the end it was describing the gatekeepers and all of their duties they had throughout every day and how day and night they were working to complete tasks for the Lord. They would stand around the house of God at night to guard it, they would open the gates every morning; some were assigned to caring for the various utensils used in worship so that none would go missing, some were responsible for the furnishings, the supplies (flour, wine, olive oil), some made the bread. Yes, these were their jobs, but they were still worshiping the Lord while doing it. They prepared the house of God from morning until evening and every detail was carefully maintained so them and everyone else could enter worship with their minds and hearts completely focused on God.

How often do we go into our hour and a half long church service prepared to meet with the Lord? For me, not at all. Just fifteen minutes prior to entering church I was probably getting dressed, getting coffee or eating something and then quickly drive over to church and go inside. Then I close my eyes when the pastor says to, say a quick prayer with him, sing some songs that I often don't pay attention to the words to and then, it's over. Yes during the service I may be in God's presence and hearing new things, but there are so many times I am spiritually disconnected during church. It's so easy to rush inside, still be thinking about this week's plans, be worrying about something or just pray whatever first thought comes into mind when the pastor asks us to pray. I am very guilty of this, and didn't really think of ever "preparing" myself before church. I guess I figured once I stepped into church I was already prepared, but this is definitely not the case.

In 1 Corinthians 14:40, it says, "Be sure that everything is done properly and in order." This could apply to many things in life, and one of those I see it as meaning to properly prepare myself before I meet with the Creator. He at least deserves my heart to be surrendered to Him for that full hour of church. Just as we prepare for a party we're throwing, a meeting for business, or a big date, we first and foremost should carefully prepare our hearts and minds as we go to meet our King in worship.

A Calling of Urgency

This week I have been asked by God to do some things that I did NOT want to do. I have those experiences a lot. God tells me that I need to do something, go be a light, talk to someone etc and I think, um well Ill see if this is really you first and dwell on it a little then go ahead and do it later. But the problem is later isnt when God is calling us. He is calling us NOW.

I was convicted the other day when realizing this. I pray and beg and ask God to use me as a vessel, then I totally decide if I want to do it or not. Its pathetic when I think about it, because He is giving me the desires of my heart, and then I lack in faith and cant trust God will see me through. It doesnt make any sense.

I was reading in the scripture the other day and found this:

James 4:13

" Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money" Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, " If this is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."

Thats like really heavy. That scripture totally reminded me that we arent promised tomorrow and God calls us to do things to further His Kingdom, to love on others, because its His plan and His plan is perfect. We are so blessed we get to be a small part of it. So we HAVE to go when He calls.

And the craziest part of that whole scripture is it says, "anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesnt, sins!" We are sinning if we know we are supposed to do good and dont. Its not like we do bad instead and that is sinning. Being disobedient to God is sin too.

I had it put on my heart to write a couple letters to people close to me that I was totally avoiding. This stuff is hard, because I never want it to be my words, but ONLY the Lord's. But the Lord TOTALLY worked through me when I decided to be obedient. PRAISE THE LORD!

I dont know if anyone else is in this boat, knowing the Lord is calling them to talk to someone they should talk to, or keep someone accountable for something that is hard to address, or even just love the ones that seem unlovable. But I encourage you to do it today. To realize that we arent promised tomorrow and more than that God is giving you a call of urgency. He puts us in places at specific times so we can be vessels. What an honor and high calling that is. Have faith today that you are good enough to be used by the Lord and that the Lord will guide your every step, even if it seems scary. :)

I love you girls,

Natalie

CONGRATS MAMA MEGS!!!

We LOVE you Megs!! Congratulations on a healthy, beautiful baby!! We are praying for you every single step of the way, knowing OUR God is a Provider and a FAITHFUL God! Keep growing that little belly!! What a precious time in your life! WE LOVE YOU!!! xoxoxoox

God is Able - 2 Corinthians 9:8 (Scripture & Bible / Zander and Janine /...

Hey ladies,

for those of you interested, here is the link to zander and Janine's songs "truth songs" is their name, below is one more of their songs straight out of the word. I'm like obsessed! I've been waking up singing these songs all night long, they are stuck in my head, which is BEAUTIFUL because it is straight out of scripture! I love it! Enjoy, hope you check out their other songs on youtube or on their facebook! Love Megs

http://www.youtube.com/user/truthsongs

Forever - 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 (Truth Songs / Zander and Janine / Scr...

1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18

The coming of the Lord:

"Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the res of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the arch-angel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words."

These verses are SO powerful. We cannot even begin to imagine how amazing or what it will be like when we, who are still alive in Christ, will float into the clouds next to our LORD with angels and the sounds of trumpets!!!! Are you kidding me!!!???!! Wow! What a holy day that will be to be in the clouds with God!

I don't know if you guys remember Zander and Janine from Vanguard, they graduated a few years ahead of us. They are SO musically gifted and blessed it's amazing! They were friends of David's from choir and sang in chapel a few times. They have twin girls and are pregnant again, and they have devoted their life to sharing scripture through song. All their songs are directly from the word and encourage others to memorize scripture through songs! She has the most AMAZING voice! She is kind of quiet in this song, so it is hard to hear but seriously, the girl is blessed! They both have the kindest heart and the love of God just flows out of them! I love that! Anyways, they put these verses to a song and it's just beautiful. I hope you will take just a few minutes to listen to it!! Lets keep our eyes and hearts on the cross so we will continue to be alive in Christ in go up into the clouds with him! Praise the Lord!! Love Megs

Blameless and Upright

“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.”

Job is one of those men in the bible that I would love to have been able to spend the day with. I wonder what he was like, how he acted and how he had such amazing faith and trust in God.

In Job chapter 1 verse 8 God says that there is no one like Job in all the world. Wow, what a compliment. Can you imagine if God said that there was no one as faithful or devoted to him, as you in the entire earth! And to the most faithful and devoted man on earth, in one day God allowed:

Satan to specifically attack Job.
All of his oxen and donkey’s to be taken.
All of Jobs servants to be killed.
All of his sheep to be burned.
All of his camels to be taken away.
All of his Children to be killed.

After Job learns of all of these terrible events in job 1:20 it says, Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped.”

HE WORSHIPED! Can you imagine worshipping after learning that all of your children were just killed? I think as Christians it is especially hard, because we know that nothing can happen to us unless God has first allowed it to happen. God deserves worship, at all times even when we do not feel like worshiping.

When reading this you might think that Job did not love his children, or that he was not close to his children. But in Job 1:5 it says that Job would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings for all of his children, just in case any of his children had sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Job was a man would loved his children. I someday hope to be a parent who wakes up early in the morning to go before the LORD for my children.

So how did Job become the biblical model of faith and patience? I think that the entire answer is summed up in Job 1:1

“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.”

Job feared God and shunned evil. If I were to fear God I would live a life fully pleasing to God. If I shunned evil I would only allow things that were holy into my life. If we live a life of fearing God and hating evil we will be called blameless and upright, just like Job.

LORD please help us to cling to what is pure and holy, hate what is evil and fear you above all others.

xoxo ashby

Love AdDICTION

God has been doing some cool things lately in me. They are things that are clearly of Him and NOT of me which I love. I am an artistic person. It is one of those gifts that I feel SOO humbled to have, because it is a total reflection of God and it makes me stand in awe of my creator and I feel so honored that He allows me to reflect a teeny tiny portion of what He does so perfectly.

Lately, He has been giving me visions of things to draw and create. Its the coolest thing because it is always right in the middle of when I am intensely praying. He puts words and pictures in my mind and graciously says "Go. Create this in my name!" I get SOOO overjoyed and excited, bc first of all, its just cool to experience the Lord CLEARLY speaking to you. Second of all, I LOVE to create and draw so that excites me everytime, but lastly, the whole experience is NOT of me. I create things that I cannot create without the Lord working through me and guiding my every step.

This happened last night to me. I was on my knees with a heavy heart last night and the Lord gave me a picture in my head. It was a bunch of bibles all stacked on top of each other and then one open on the table. Above it all it said "Love addiction." It was the coolest thing because I have been finding lately in my prayers that I have been telling God that I am addicted to His love, so this was cool. But I loved the way God laid this all out for me because it was a reflection of my heart and also where I desire to be. I do have a love addiction to God, and His Word, and at the same time, I always want to grow in my addiction and have a stronger desire to never leave this place.

I finished my time of prayer because I didnt want to make the project my idol, then I got up at like 12:30 am and started drawing. Its the strangest thing because ONLY when I draw things from the Lord can I do it so effortlessly. Usually I spend HOURS trying to create something I remotely like, but with these things I just do it, and God moves and literally 10 minutes later I am done. And I look at it trying to change or take away something, but I cant. Because its the Lords picture not mine.

I realized when I was writing out addiction that the word diction is in that word. It was so neat because it was a picture of a bunch of bibles and that also went together. I looked up the definition of "diction" and found this:

Diction (n) - style of speaking or writing as dependent upon choice of words: good diction

I thought about that in relation to Christ and I thought, shouldn't our diction reflect and be based upon the love of Christ? I want my words, my style of speaking, my writing all to be Christ's diction. Love Diction . I want to be addicted to love diction.

I read James two days ago and it not only kicked my butt like always but totally put me in place. It reminded me what were here for and that my heart is full of all kinds of things that are not of the Lord. I need to spend more time studying God's love, acting out on my addiction to who He is. I desire so much for my life and my love to reflect that of Jesus.

I love you girls and pray that each one of you would also be addicted to the Love, Truth and Word of God.

xoxo- Natalie :)

For such a time as this…

Last week I read the book of Esther. I have seen the play of Esther a few times, so I was excited to read this book with a clear picture in my head of what was happening. While I was reading through Esther the verse, “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Really struck me, I had never read those words before and applied them to my own life. When I read them they spoke directly to me. For the first time I saw Esther as a real person. She was a young girl who was going to have to risk her life to speak up for her people and her God. She must have been terrified. Her life was literally on the line. How many times do I stay silent out of fear?


The truth is that we are all positioned in our lives for specific purposes. Wherever God has you, it is because no one else can take the place of you! God has called each of us by name and placed us specifically to love those around us and glorify Gods name for such a time as this. Although none of us are the queen of a nation, trying to save a whole people group from being destroyed; we are all a part of the kingdom of God appointed to share the message of Christ’s salvation to save the world. You may be placed in your job, family or circle of friends for such a time as this.

Luke 15:7 “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”


As the week continued the words, “for such a time as this” continued to play over and over again throughout the week. Every time that I felt sick or tired or uncomfortable to share Gods love, get on my knees and pray, or cry out to God on behalf of a friend, I would hear a small voice, “For such a time as this I have called you.” My sweet ladies I know that God has placed a high calling on all of our lives. We need to hold ourselves accountable to doing God’s work. Soon we will see our king and it will all be worth it!

I love you Girls!
Xoxo Ashby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EBSvFlBoIs

Beautiful Exchange

This past tuesday Ash and I had the honor to go see Hillsong in LA. To say it was amazing would be an understatement. It was mind blowing. There is something about worshiping in a room with tons of strangers that is SO powerful. You know in those moments that the revival that is happening right now is no joke. As we battle to know Christ more in our daily lives, others are fighting the great fight alongside us, and there ARE hearts set on fire by the Living God to be passionate for His truths. We spent over 2 hours in huge, loud, beautiful and exhausting worship. I havent had a worship experience that raw and that precious in so long. I couldn't sing loud enough or raise my hands high enough. I was desperate for a taste of our Holy Lord and to offer Him just a pinch of what He deserves from me and my life. I wish I could have physically placed myself in His hands as a song of surrender and in response of my addiction to His love and ways for my life. I am in such great need for His everything.

The tour, as well as their new album just released, is called A Beautiful Exchange. One of the Hillsong pastors explained the meaning behind this wonderful name.

When we give ourselves over to the Lord, give Him the junk, the heartache, the guilt, the sin, the good, the bad, the ugly, in return He gives us His everything. We get ALL of Him when we give Him all of us. We give Him sin, He gives us life. If that isnt a beautiful exchange I dont know what is. I have never really thought of it that way. That Christ paid the price for us, but it is in the moment of exchange of our lives for His that we become whole in Him. What a gift!!!

When we give up areas of our life, we give God the room to move. He has room to invade to make His will in our lives. But if we keep our lives and our sin and our will, God cant move. He is stuck. We dont have a place for Him to be. What a revelation this was for me to hear this. We have to allow God room to move in our lives, if that is our desire to be covered by Him. I want to give Him as much room as I possibly can, bc the space that I am taking up is all broken. I need His ways not mine.

They have a new song called "Beautiful Exchange." The video is at the bottom, and is a long song, but I think it is a perfect opportunity for us to enter into a gateway for an exchange that you may be feeling needs to happen with you and God today. I have no idea what you may need to hand over to God to allow Him to fill you up with more of Him, but I know there is something. I have SO many things that I need to clean out and exchange with Him. I pray that as you listen to these words and read the lyrics, that your heart would be softened. I pray that you would understand the weight of the love of Christ and how deep it runs for you. No matter how far you have run from Him, or how much sin is clouding your view of His ways for you, I pray that you would be able to surrender that to Him today. That you would know that only His love can break through to make such a beautiful exchange.

I love you girls,

Natalie

This is quote from one of the worship leaders of Hillsong that I found that to me encompasses the truth of who we are supposed to be for Christ. May we really get this today:

“There are a lot of people who need to know Jesus. If our worship is just great youth meetings, nice songs, lots of jumping around and a few CDs, then we’re missing it. Our vertical expression must have a horizontal effect. So, we’ll continue to worship, praise and honor God with heart, soul, mind and strength the best we know how, but the fruit of that must be a generation who are totally committed to reaching the lost and helping those who need help, locally and globally.”

Quote by St Thomas Aquinas (Kathleen)

"It is clear that he does not pray, who, far from uplifting himself to God, requires that God shall lower Himself to him, and who resorts to prayer not to stir the man in us to will what God wills, but only to persuade God to will what the man in us wills."