If you ever watch the original Peter Pan, you’ll come across a scene in which Peter Pan tries to keep up with his own shadow. His shadow has a whole new personality of its own that Peter Pan was never aware of. For some apparent reason, his shadow is detached from his body, and he spends much time in trying to reattach it to the bottom of his feet. Call it hilarious…I know. However, though it seems outrageously funny, this scene is actually the perfect illustration of the battle that everyone has in coming to grips with their spirit man.
II Corinthians 5:117 states: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Every follower of Christ is fully aware that when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we are reborn and made new. We are made dumb; we learn how to walk and talk again. Losing all of our innate abilities, like a fresh new born we study how to live; we learn about the newness of life. We pump our spiritual muscles with an in depth meditation of the word of God, unremitting and exhaustively pray our way through the narrow path that leads to life, and press against the natural grain of living with the daily routine of true worship and application of the word. We retrain our thought processes and behaviors to align with our new spiritual being. And though our outer, natural man stumbles and falls at times, for some reason God graces us. Why does He grace us? Because he sees us in the spirit; that new spiritual man that for some reason God sees, but many of us are unfamiliar with. That spirit man that walks around with a personality of its own that we can’t seem to keep up with. To our amazement, there are two of us walking around on earth: our spirit man that we don’t see that God sees, and our natural man that man sees. Our spirit man is our identical stranger whom we have never met. The majority of us are perpetually chasing our shadows, our spirit man, trying to figure out our new creature, and missing each time. Who is this person that I’m trying to become one with? Who am I in Christ? Like Peter Pan, until each one of us come to grips with our spirit man, that new spiritual being that God has made us and knows us by, we will forever run parallel and detached from who we really are…our true identity; because our true identity is our spirit man. Some of us, after much perseverance, catch our shadows, learn how to be one with our spirit man, and become the most influential people on earth. Others, don’t try at all, they just accept Jesus as their Savior, but not their Lord. And live the rest of their lives unfamiliar with their true identity, never answer their true calling and purpose in life, constipated with gifts that seem to never flow freely, and remain inflicted by their natural man. If you’ve ever wonder why there hasn’t been much progress, why there’s so much chaos and confusion in your life, why things are out of order, and why so many of God’s people miss their calling, it’s because they did not ever grab hold to their new and true identity. They never tapped into the spirit and remained sensitive to what God is doing in their lives. They continue to miss God. Before you know it, time passes you by, and you’ve accomplished only 10 percent of what God has ordained to do and be. The natural Ashley is loaded with spiritual gifts but hates being in the spotlight. The spiritual Ashley is bold, an ordained leader that has to be in the spotlight. I'm tire of being spiritually constipated...I want my gifts to flow and overflow for the world to see. I am who God says I am because he knows me more than I know myself. After all…he created me. So for Pete’s sake, I might as well get to know and become one with the new Ashley that God is trying to introduce me to. That way, I can fulfill my purpose. I’ve had a constant battle in my spirit, and I asked God, “How come I’m not consistent, I’ll stand strong one day, and shy out the next.” Then He simply stated, “Because you are afraid of yourself.” I cried with tears of joy because God, as always, was right. I was scared of myself; I’m fully aware of all the talents and gifts he has invested in me. And though I was bold, my boldness was shattered because of individuals who had mistaken my boldness for arrogance. So because I didn’t want to be labeled as arrogant, I silenced. Little did I understand that the ones who had mistaken my boldness for arrogance were those who were merely insecure, lacked confidence in their own gifts, and projected it out onto me. I had become afraid of my own abilities and how great I could become. Thank you, Jesus, for your many revelations. I want the real Ashley to SHOW UP!! “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away.”-I Corinthians 9:27 Lord, help us to come to grips with our spiritual man. Cause us to look at life through our spiritual eyes, and may we know who we really are. Let us not run from our callings, but be bold enough to become one with our alien being, and take on the cost of our purpose. In Jesus name…Amen. May God Bless you according to your faithfulness and obedience to Him. In Him, Ashley Philippians 3:7 Ashley Card 2008 ©
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A piece of coal with applied pressure is metamorphosed into a diamond. This scientific principle gives you a small glimpse of how God moves in hierarchic order. With each new level of spiritual growth, God applies added pressure to your life, peeling off layers of your flesh and removing that dark cloud of confusion that hovers over your mind. That God given fragment ,or piece of puzzle, to your life that at one time didn't make sense to you, begins to finally make sense. The big picture finally registers, and the puzzle becomes complete.Your spirit becomes at rest. And before you know it, your keenness in accurately hearing the voice of God, and understanding His direction and purpose in your life begins to develop even stronger and becomes clearer to you.
After each test that comes with your next level in life, you realize that you shine brighter. You're wiser.You have officially become a diamond. All because God saw that the condition of your heart was to persevere towards seeking truth, and well….he allowed you to find it. I said all that in reference to the miracle that I have experienced this morning. Though I've always known the gist of my purpose in life, there were still loose ends that left me in question. During undergrad, God specifically told me to major in psychology, concentrating on media psychology, and minor in dance. So trusting God, I did just that. I began to study the media's effects on the development of a human being. Now I'm in graduate school, and God tells me to get a Masters in Digital Media Studies, aka marketing, and human services counseling. Huh?! So again I stepped out on faith believing that God will give me the big picture. Then finally, while praying this morning I heard the voice of the Lord say, "your calling is to market truth." I began to smile because now it all makes sense to me. After many years of studying and evaluating human behavior and the media's tactics in marketing to the masses their identity and what reality is, it finally registers. My calling is to counteract against the false information that the media markets as truth: how a woman's beauty is based on her figure, complexion, and hair; how sexual activity means true love; how material consumption defines happiness, and etc.... As media illiterate individuals, we set our minds on autopilot, absorbing what the media markets to us as truth and reality.Therefore, we develop these cognitive processes and behaviors of how we think we should be based on these subliminal messages. So as a business research and development consultant I will do marketing research to study the habits of man, and learn how to counteract by marketing truth. "Marketing truth to redeem our culture"....Ahhhh.... i love it !! It's a great feeling to see clearly where my life is heading. I sought God's plan for my life and found it. In conclusion, each one of us has the Liberty in Christ to discover the mysteries of God and the plans he has for our lives. With it comes a hierarchic ladder of growth and discovery. So continue to run…run after God, climb the ladder of discovery, and hunger for Him until all is fulfilled in your life. And at the end, you see clearly, and you shine brighter. "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." {Philippians 3:14} May God Bless you according to your faithfulness and obedience to Him. In Him, Ashley Philippians 3:7 Ashley Card 2008 © Continue to fall in love with God's raw and uncut truth. Devour its unprocessed & uncompromising matter. For Swallowing God’s uncut truth is like a baby digesting its first solid substance. It’s hard to swallow, but it contains the nutrients we need to maintain vitality. Though God’s truth scrapes the soul, pierces the heart, and is emotionally and mentally hard to digest, out of it comes a true, authentic, and healthy relationship with a loving Father that grows through eternity; plus the opportunity to experience His realness and His fullness.
Take a minute to be your own psychologist. Better yet, allow God to be your ultimate counselor. Perform a detailed introspection of your behavior. Allow God to reveal to you who you really are ( your wretched soul, sinful nature, and the idiosyncrasies of your heart). Don't cheat yourself by skimming the surface of your habitual nature, but ask God for the specifics of where it comes from, whether it’s a generational curse that is genetically and spiritually embedded in your chemical makeup, or just mere insecurity, pride, greed, & selfishness. What is the root of your repetitive actions? After many years of frustration, I have finally come to the conclusion that only a few of us on earth actually experience the ultimate fullness of God and his abundant life on earth. A sample of the Christian population actually seeks God’s face and his truth. The rest of us, though still in the Body of Christ, are seeking his hands, the goods He has to offer, and the hype of the Christian image that comes with a package of religious fads. In other words, the rest of us thrive off of matter that the church caters to us as cheap grace. The material promises that God has in store for us should just be icing on the cake, not the essence of why you fall head-over-hills in love with Him. We should love Him for being who He is, and continuously thanking Him for His existence. God is a God of order, and because we do not seek his truth, we never obtain the promises that he has in store. So the one who is destined for riches, may never see those riches because you have not faced the fact that you have an unresolved issue of selfishness. Or the one who has trouble attracting the opposite sex may continue to be ignored all because you have not faced the fact that you do not love yourself. Or the one who is constantly traumatized over simple matters will remain emotionally distracted because you have not faced the fact that you simply do not trust God, nor keep Him as your focus. Be honest with yourself today, and may your relationship with God be authentic, not religious. The humor in the matter is that God already knows the complex ins and outs of our issues, and like a daddy He just sits and waits on us to be honest with ourselves. We are the hindrance to our own deliverance and emotional, spiritual, and physical prosperity. How come we have the hardest time in deciding to move out of our own way? Simple. Christians call every life test a tribulation that God allows the enemy to create, but honestly a lot of our tribulation is unnecessary temptation in which we have inflicted upon ourselves. "I had been at the same mountain long enough. I have spent 40 years making what could have been a much shorter journey had I known the truth of God's Word."-{Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyers} May God Bless you according to your faithfulness and obedience to Him. In Him, Ashley Philippians 3:7 Ashley Card 2008 © Our minds are constantly cluttered with incessant noise. The sound of the rushing car, the chattering of conversation in the public arena, the brushing wind against a tree branch, the instant images and sound effects that flash across the television and laptop screen, the ticking second hand of a clock, water dripping from the faucet, and the blowing AC unit. Because we’ve become so habituated to these sounds, we have created a false perception of what silence is. Come to think of it, silence never exists. Then what is silence? It is the unattainable, quiescent peace that is spoken of by mankind, but has never really existed. Why is silence significant? Because within silence lies God’s truth: the fullness of God’s presence, the clarity and stillness of His voice, and the unspoken truth and inner dialogue of man that is rarely carried in a casual conversation. So, what’s the likelihood of its full existence? Never…. It is likened unto an image of the perfected Christian; you can come close to its manifestation, but it’s impossible to attain. I believe it existed once in the beginning of God’s creation, but as time has progressed up to now it has been ruined.
To be called “Christian” is overrated. So I prefer the term “Stewards”. As God’s stewards it is our duty to restore this silence, so that the peace of God can reign on earth, and our society can reflect His existence. If you get the chance, lay your hands on the book Communicating Life by Quentin J. Schultze. Within this book, Schultze speaks on How God is the ultimate creator of Heaven and Earth, and as humans He has given us the task to be stewards over His creation. What does it mean to be a steward? A keeper…guardian….supervisor. Because we are stewards who are given the task to care for God’s creation, we are therefore co creators of our culture and society. So as communicators, whether an artist, politician, educator, pastor, and etc…, we should be stewards over what we communicate. Speak life into the culture, speak truth. Restore the peace of God here on earth. How is that possible when we live in a fleshy body that is bound to make mistakes? Yes, we naturally tend to compromise God’s truth. We break the Silence. In the midst of silence lies the fullness of God, and all the answers to life. As vessels, or funnels, we sometimes filter out the real truth of God because our minds are carnal and finite; we cannot comprehend all the things of God. So in our ignorance and short comings we communicate his truth as accurately as possible, though it’s still distorted. As God’s stewards, because it is our duty to communicate his truth accurately, we should constantly remain on the potter’s wheel. Fast, pray, allow our flesh to be crucified daily so that the fullness of God can outshine from within us, and everything we do be a mirror image of who He is. We must remain sensitive to the spirit, and pay attention to what he is saying. The more we take on this life process, the clearer and more accurately we hear from God, the clearer we see, and the better communicators we become. God give us the tongue of the learned, so that we can accurately communicate your heart. In Jesus Name, Amen. Restore the silence that was broken. “Death and Life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it.” {Proverbs 18:21 (KJV)} May God bless you according to your faithfulness and obedience to Him. In Him, Ashley Philippians 3:7 Ashley Card 2008 © Christian media and arts are in great transition. As America is transitioning from a modern to a postmodern society, the church is putting forth effort to transition from the modern, traditional religious practices,to the ancient, biblical, and true form of worship. People are experiencing God for who He is, and walking in the liberty of experiencing Him, without being bound to religiosity. People are understanding that Christ shouldn't be separated from the culture, but should be a cultural norm. However, the progression of the Chrisitian dance industry has not been parallel to the church's revolutionary movement. Christian dance is in need of improvement and growth. The first battle of the Church was the introduction of dance. Now that praise dancing has become the norm, its creativity has been stunted. Christian dancing is placed in two categories labeled "liturgical dancing" or "praise dancing". Wouldn't it be awesome if the society's perception of dancing could be broadened, and the line between Christian and secular dancing could be erased?
a) Both option 1 and 2 b) Let it the Christian dance industry remain the same and separate c)A filtered industry in which all dance is dedicated to the Lord d)More professional, perfected, and technical dancing for the Lord Who is “The Original”? God. He is the original of every art form, whether it's visual, performing, cultural, or mainstream. Why? He created it. Take a panoramic view around you. What do you see? The evidence of His artistic abilities. The complexity of His creation is a sign of His artistic skill and craft. The significant testimonies and life stories that take place within each persons' life span, is a mirror image of His writing abilities. He carefully writes the stories of our lives to touch the hearts of other individuals as a tool of encouragement. Look at the Bible. It is a record of God’s existence. Within the God inspired text holds comedy, tragedy, adventure, and romance.
Because man was created by Him, made in His image, and a user of His resources, we are simply borrowers of His originality. Some have legally gained access in borrowing His patented works by vowing to committing their lives to the divine mandate of devoting their art to Him; ministering life to their culture. Others have illegally borrowed His originality, claiming it as their own, and perverting the artwork. It is a privilege to even have an impartation of His artistic ability. It’s amazing to see how as God’s stewards, man has claimed to have progressed in visual and performing arts. Though it is partially correct in the “Christian world,” man has failed in the "secular world." Man is far from progression. We have failed to realize that everything belongs to God. All art is God. Man perverts the very essence of art. Therefore, the secular vocal artist that the church abstains from listening to must not have the revelation that the song artist's artistic ability is actually God. The tainted lyrics are just a distortion and reflection of lack of discipleship; a soul that is need of the Father. Since we fearfully isolate from the world, we ban so much until we filter out the artistic richness that actually is God. Filter the sin, keep the art. There is no such thing as Christian music, when God created all music. Music is Music. There is no such thing as Christian dance, when God created dance. Dance is dance. Christian music does not necessarily have to be Choir, when God created all genres of music. Christian dance does not have to be strictly miming and liturgical when God created all forms of dance expression. The term “Christian” is the biblical label of a group of people who choose to follow Christ. I don't necessarily believe in using the terms "secular" and "Christian" because all belong to God. I absolutely have no shame in being labeled as a Christian. However, society has abused this term as a means of separating Christ from our culture. Christ is the culture; not every art form must present with flashing lights "Jesus Christ is Lord," when Christ should be implied in all things. In Conclusion: The Church fears in losing God’s holiness. So they abstain from many art forms. Though it is wise to abstain and not accept, we must ask God for a balance. They abstain from so much until they miss who and where God really is. It is the duty of artists, God’s stewards and co creators of our culture, to not erase the art that is already there, but disciple the earthly artist that is lost. That way the art may be filtered, and they gain knowledge in their ability to speak life into the culture. Do not wait for the day when all art forms surrender to the man-made, indoctrinated, & traditional "Christian" art discipline, but press for the day that all entertainment conforms to a repentant art form and brought back to its original mandate, to speak life into our culture. It is not an art issue; it is a heart issue…. Let us reclaim art back to the “The Original.” "The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein." Psalms 24:1 (KJV) Ashley Card 2008 © |
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November 2020
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