The More I know Him

The more I know Him,
The more I love Him,
The more I want to serve the Lord.
The more I serve Him,
The more I need Him,
For He is who I'm living for.

Every day with Jesus
Is like a fresh wind blowing
Fresh wind blowing
Everyday with Jesus
I'm learning things I never knew before,
Never knew before!

The more I know Him,
The more I love Him,
The more I want to serve the Lord.
The more I serve Him,
The more I need Him,
For He is who I'm living for.

Every day with Jesus,
I can't get enough of His love and mercy!
Every day with Jesus,
Can't wait 'til tomorrow when I can know Him more,
I can know Him more!
I can know Him more!

The more I know Him,
The more I love Him,
The more I want to serve the Lord!
The more I serve Him,
The more I need Him,
For He is who I'm living for!

Sorry, I don't know who wrote the song, but I thought I would share it.

The other night I went to bed tired, yet restless. I was tired but I hadn't really spent any time praying or reading my bible on my own that day.

Whenever I go through a season of zeal and growth, a dry spell seems just around the corner. Recently, I've felt like I'm going through a dry spell. You know, you can't get enough of God for a while a first, and then you can't seem to find much time for Him.

I hate to write that.

Inside of me an argument started:
"I should get up right now, read my Bible and pray."
'No. Oh, I'm so tired! I'll just wake up earlier tomorrow and ask God to forgive and tell Him I'll do better from here on out.'

Inwardly, I knew what God was telling me to do. But I didn't want to climb down from my bed.

'I'll set my alarm clock for 4 in the morning! I'll spend hours praying and reading Your word,in the morning. I'll pray most of the day tomorrow, I'll hardly do anything else.'

I don't know why I was so adamant about not getting up. I don't know why I was so tired. But I was so convicted about not getting up. I'm sorry I fought, but as I thought of excuses for staying in bed, clear as crystal, plain as day, ringing in my ears: "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams."

I could picture the fiery prophet Samuel saying, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams." It was as if God was asking, "Won't you just obey?"

I had been pondering all week, why was I so ... apathetic recently. In my prayers, my time reading God's Word, it was all just something I was doing to "check off my list". Why didn't I feel the passion I used to? I was copying the Israelites' pattern of drawing closer to the Lord, falling back, drawing closer, falling back.

I had just been reading to my grandmother that day, and in the book we were reading the main character did something he called "praying through". What he meant by that was to pray until he heard God's answer clearly. I was stuck in a rut just like him, and felt like this is what I needed to do. So I did.

God was continually bringing the verse to mind, "And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment."

'How?' I cried. 'How! That's impossible!'

"And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." -2 Corinthians 12:9-10

I don't know where you're at right now in your relationship with Christ, but let me tell you, our Lord is a great and awesome God, Who keeps His promises and is merciful to all. And He says, "I love those who love me, and those who seek Me diligently will find Me." (Prov 8:17)

He is so good! Pray that God would make you hungry for Him, that He would give you a brokenness and a longing for Him. He is always faithful! A broken and contrite heart, God will not despise. He tells us "Call to Me, and I will answer you!" (Jeremiah 3:33) God will answer you! He delights in fulfilling His Word! Seek and you will find!

‘But you shall hold fast to the LORD your God... for the LORD your God is He who fights for you, as He promised you. Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the LORD your God."(Joshua 23:8-11).

The more I know Him, the more I love Him, the more I want to serve the Lord. The more I serve Him, the more I need Him, for He is who I'm living for!

Blog Award

Today I'm awarding the lovely girls below:

Ashley

Three Maidens
Shelby

Breana
Heather
With the Liebster Award!

Thanks so much Mareelana and Eve for giving it to me!

The Liebster is awarded to bloggers with less than 200 followers. It is an opportunity to shine the light on great blogs and their authors in an effort to build readership.

Rules:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them.

2. Give the Liebster Blog Award to five bloggers and let them know in a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Have faith your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

5. Have blogging fun!

Verse of the Week

Ways To Give

Looking for ways to give to great causes without spending a penny of your own?

I recently joined GoodSearch.com – and now every time I shop online and search the internet, a donation is made to my Gospel for Asia. It’s easy, doesn’t cost me a thing, and has turned my every day actions of searching and shopping into ways to help further the gospel and save souls!

Oh…and even better…GoodSearch.com provides over 100,000 of the most up-to-date coupons so not only can you do good, but you can save money too!

Please help me support Gospel for Asia or choose your own favorite cause and start making a difference today! Click for instructions.

Ever shop at Tom Thumb, Randalls, Kroger, or Albertsons? To find out how they will donate to GFA because of you, or other cost-free ways to give check out www.gfa.org/costfree/

Another way to give, maybe the most important way of all, would be by signing a petition.



callformercy.com

People, Problems, Prayer

I was gone for a while. Let me say, there are a lot of pros to not having the internet! I’ve had a lot of time to think and pray. And I’m not to sure if this blog post I’m writing will in anyway further your walk with Christ, though I hope it will. I think this is more of a vent for me at the moment. To tell the truth, the main reason for this blog was simply to write out things I hope to learn and am going through.

Now, enough sprawling thoughts, onto the post: People, Problems, Prayer.

The reason I haven’t had internet access is because I’ve been traveling. Albeit, I see strangers every day, seeing the many different people from all different places made me hurt. I hurt because I thought of the many souls who were lost and didn’t know what (or for Whom) they were searching, and the many more people who thought they had found the answers yet were just as lost as the others. It made me think of my cousins, friends, and others relatives who do not know Jesus as their Savior and Lord, going down a path that only brings them closer and closer to destruction.

All too often I come to loss. And I begin to wonder “Should I have started up a conversation with that person?”, “I could have shared the gospel with them. Why didn’t I?” “Why have the seeds I’ve planted never brought forth fruit?”

I know that God cares for each and every one of the sparrows, and He cares for each person abundantly more than any sparrow. The Spirit reminds me that no matter how much or how little I share ultimately it makes no difference, I am only a tool. It is His Spirit that draws people to Him, not me. If He uses me, praise the Lord.

However if I continue to obey the commission given to us (‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations’) I can believe He will be faithful to perform His promises.

"He continually goes forth bearing seed seed for sowing shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his with him". Ps 126:6 "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much" Lk 16:10 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." Mt 7:7
"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Gal 6:9

The words like 'faithful' and 'continually' pop out at me. I remember once, listening to a sermon, I heard something that made me think. The pastor said, 'Bareness is the soil in which God grows desperation and a sense of need.' A while ago I posted this video because it was such a wonderful reminder to me to never lose heart. If I sow and another reaps do they get the greater job? Certainly not! If another sows and I reap still I have done nothing, but the Lord works mightily through our weaknesses!

 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God."

Bareness can be such a gift! It is like 'the gift of tears', the gift of drawing us closer the the feet of our mighty God sitting on His high thrown!

Praise God for giving us the powerful gift of prayer! The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much! (James 5:16b)

Verse of the Week

Oh, Reader! My apologies. For the time being I have no internet service, excluding free Wi-Fi areas I can use. (This is the first time I've been able to use any Wi-Fi or else I would have posted sooner, I assure you.) Ya'll hang in there a few more days, and then I'll have internet back.

P.S. You may have noticed that there are two authors for this blog, they're both me, google just won't let me use the original user. (Urg blogger!)

Have a wonderful week. Spend more time than usual with our sweet, sweet, Savior! God bless,

Ashlin

Devotion

"And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night."-2 Samuel 21:10

If the love of a woman to her slain sons could make her prolong her mournful vigil for so long a period, shall we weary of considering the sufferings of our blessed Lord? She drove away the birds of prey, and shall not we chase from our meditations those worldly and sinful thoughts which defile both our minds and the sacred themes upon which we are occupied? Away, ye birds of evil wing! Leave ye the sacrifice alone! She bore the heats of summer, the night dews and the rains, unsheltered and alone. Sleep was chased from her weeping eyes: her heart was too full for slumber. Behold how she loved her children! Shall Rizpah thus endure, and shall we start at the first little inconvenience or trial? Are we such cowards that we cannot bear to suffer with our Lord? She chased away even the wild beasts, with courage unusual in her sex, and will not we be ready to encounter every foe for Jesus' sake? These her children were slain by other hands than hers, and yet she wept and watched: what ought we to do who have by our sins crucified our Lord? Our obligations are boundless, our love should be fervent and our repentance thorough. To watch with Jesus should be our business, to protect His honour our occupation, to abide by His cross our solace. Those ghastly corpses might well have affrighted Rizpah, especially by night, but in our Lord, at whose cross-foot we are sitting, there is nothing revolting, but everything attractive. Never was living beauty so enchanting as a dying Saviour. Jesus, we will watch with Thee yet awhile, and do Thou graciously unveil Thyself to us; then shall we not sit beneath sackcloth, but in a royal pavilion.

[Taken from Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotional book]

A Must Read

I want to lend this book to everyone, and yet I want to keep it so that I can re-read it.

It's written by K. P. Yohannan, one of my favorite speakers, so I knew I would like it... But I didn't know I how much would love it!

Excluding the Bible, I don't think I've ever been moved by a book so much! It is convicting, inspiring, and God glorifying. I'm telling you: you have to order this book right now.

You can get your free copy of REVOLUTION IN WORLD MISSIONS. I'm positive you will not regret it. It will convict, challenge, and change you.

If you prefer, get the PDF or MP3 downloads.

I've been wanting to post quotes from the book here on my blog, but I end up wanting to do whole pages, then the entire chapter, then I just wanted to post the whole book chapter by chapter. It's that good!

But you don't have to take my word for it.



What are you waiting for? Get your book today, and be prepared to be challenged!

My Hiding Place

I am lost. . . He is the Way! John 14:6

I am weak. . . He is my Strength! Psalm 27:2

I stumble. . . He is a firm foundation! 1 Cor. 3:11, Ps. 62:1-2

I have failed. . . He is Victorious! John 16:33

I am a slave to myself and my sin. . . He has broken all chains. Romans 8:37, 2 Cor 5:17

I will run away. . . He will come for me. Isaiah 40:11,

I will leave you. . . He shall stay. Deuteronomy 7:9,

I am forsaken. . . He will take care of me! Psalm 27:10

I feel useless. . . He has a plan for my life! Jeremiah 29:11

I cannot see. . . He showed me His Light. John 14:19, Psalm 27:1

The Lord is so good! (And that's a huge understatement.) Spend time with your Creator today. Make Him your All in all. Seek His will for you in His Word, the Bible, daily. Come before His throne in prayer each day. Taste and see that the Lord is good!

The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
as long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
and mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
a life of joy and peace.

Who I Am

I am not what I ought to be; I am not what I would like to be; I am not what I hope to be. But I am not what I once was, and by the grace of God, I am what I am." -John Newton