It’s About A Kingdom

On By Ashley GatewoodIn Kingdom of God2 Comments

We Are Called to Establish A Kingdom

When Jesus taught, He preached a Kingdom. Along with that Kingdom there was a Government which rests on His shoulders and He called that Government the Kingdom of God. We as Christians are the people of this kingdom and our mandate is to establish this Kingdom on the earth. There is already a Kingdom of Heaven which belongs to God and other creatures. Our final destination as humans isn’t heaven. Selah. We are created as biological creatures, made of the substance of the earth and in the image of God. Our home is Earth.

Jesus never said the word ‘Christians’. He didn’t institute Christianity. It’s just the name given to identify Christ followers. It’s mentioned first in Acts 11.26

“…and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians”. 

Determinants Matter

We don’t even know who coined the phrase. Who first called us Christians because the Bible doesn’t tell us. For sure it was a man and not God. It could have been angry locals. Jesus didn’t call His followers Christians. I don’t think the use of the word Christian is as bad a determinant as being differentiated by religion, but it is strange and a bit mysterious to me when I think about it. And determinant is the right word because what you follow and mold yourself after will determine the final product of your being. One will be the image of a manmade doctrine. The other will be the image of God Himself. We’ve been lied to, a sophisticated and propagating lie, but a lie none-the-less.

We are kings and priests. We are not called by any other manmade religious affiliation in the biblical text.

…and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.

To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

Revelation 1.5-7

The Earth Belongs to the Children of God

We have mistakenly identified with the false pretense of any number of various religions, pick yours, they’re free for the taking as long as you abide by their doctrines and forget entirely that you are the son or daughter of the most High King, have been distinguished as a Priest and belong to a Kingdom instituted by God for all of us who rightfully inhabit this earth.

The Earth is ours brothers and sisters. That unemployed Cherub will not win against God and we will come back to this earth in new wineskins that are eternal of which Jesus Christ is the first fruit.

When people belong to a religion, they belong to other people who’ve placed themselves in high positions over them, according to a wrong precept. I don’t want to fashion myself in the image of other humans. God forbid. It’s a cyclical nightmare of fallen identity. I want to put on Christ.

“…in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Galatians 3.26-27

King David said, ‘Show me your precepts God,’ and nowhere in the biblical text does God ever say He is a Religion, or that He instituted religion or that He wants some religion of heaven to be revealed in the earth. There’s no such thing.

A Kingdom for which Christ Died

No. It is a Kingdom! Why do religious people get so angry about this? Why do they hate you when you tell them religion is not what Christ died for and that they are only serving the dictates of man, not God, when they bind themselves to a religion?

Religion is a ‘go between’ which wrecks everything. I hate it. I’m angry about it. Only Christ is set in the position as Intercessor, He alone mediates as The High Priest, the only High Priest, praise God.

Why is no one preaching the Kingdom? The few who were teaching it have nearly all passed on. The ministers God put before me back in the early 2000’s taught it, but I wasn’t able to discern it because I didn’t see there was a problem. I was too young in the Spirit.

The Pillars of Society are Of This World, Not of God

Now I see it plain as day. One of the pillars of the world is Religion. I don’t think anyone understands this. There are 7 main pillars that hold the worldly system in place: Arts, Media, Government, Family, Business, Education and Religion. But we know there is only one Prince of this worldly system and he is an illegal Cherub that stole the earth from its rightful, biological inhabitants: the kings and priests of God. We were ignorant to the serpent’s devices and lost our kingdom.

Why else do you think these 7 pillars are burning into ashes all around us? We’ve abandoned the original God-idea. We’ve neglected our rightful positions as kings and priests over the earth, so the thieving Cherub is winning.

Now here we are not even understanding our identity, who we are or who He is who made us in His image. Christ reestablished our rightful dominion in the earth and laid a righteous Government on the shoulders of the Body of Christ.

The Book is about a King. It’s not about a religion.

I’m angry about this. Too angry to do anything productive. It’s the ability to execute, isn’t it? A million truths discerned, a million ideas, a million keys of knowledge, yet they die tragically in the grave because we don’t know how to execute.

But God does know how to execute. And He will show me.

I’m done with religion. It tears everything to pieces, including Jesus Christ. The Religious killed God.

“If there were no great evils and no deaf hearts and no eternal consequences, perhaps the only fitting forms of love would be a soft touch and tender words. But such a world does not kill the Son of God and hate his disciples. There is no such world.” -John Piper

I don’t like it when people don’t like me, who does? It’s uncomfortable and you’re always wondering if you’re doing the right thing when so many people dislike you and even hate you. But Jesus told us how it was going to go:

Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.

John 15.20-21

Nostalgia: Days, Years, Blades of Grass

On By Ashley GatewoodIn Bread & Butter MorselsLeave a comment

Nostalgia is not my favorite past time. It slams into me sometimes, like a wake up call to get busy, get on with it, time is short and very few things in life are worth it. Everything our flesh desires is temporal and fades away. All the riches of this earth are never certain, things rot, burn, fade and disappear. For me, the ultimate essence of a life well-lived is how successfully we align ourselves to become vessels used by God for His purpose on this earth. The battle between my will and His will is no joke. But He is all that I am at the end of it all. Without Him I would surely pass away, my spirit could not handle remaining in this body if its Savior were to pull away. People can come and go, time can pass away, but if He leaves, I’ll leave with Him. Thank God He promises He will never leave us nor forsake us. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere God isn’t.

If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead), behold, You are there.

(Psalm 139.8)

What we misunderstand about the tapestry of life; some threads are woven in as accents to brighten an area of our life we couldn’t otherwise discern. Some threads start at the beginning and remain. Humans are strange and dangerous, here we are striving to birth a child savior in AI and we don’t have a clue what we’re dealing with. We’re lonely and aching for something or someone to belong to, yet out of pride we refuse our Maker and choose to make another in our own fallen image. It will be a catastrophe.

God Knows All Things

I remember several years ago, my father was still alive, it was 2022. I had found a decent amount of success after resigning from a corporate job that plagued my creative life, (as those 9-to-5’s always do), but my financial timeline wasn’t limitless. Through some meager successes I had added another year to the creative journey I’d embarked upon, but I was still nervous about it. And it was the height of covid B.S. and DEI insanity. I had caught on to the fact that for the most part, anyone white was being discriminated against, even if they were already established, much less if they were looking for a door of opportunity as a beginner. I was trying to break into the sci-fi publication corner. (There couldn’t have been a worse time to try.)

But on this morning in late Spring, I was floating in the strange sleep state of half awake, half asleep and a powerful vision unfolded before me. A golden sun hovered several hours above the horizon, the sky still blue but just below the glowing sphere emerged the pink and orange hues of twilight. I could feel His presence. Then I heard, as if audibly, a voice say,

‘The sun will not fall below your horizon.’

I awakened immediately, sitting up in my bed, in awe. Every part of my body felt it, that’s the best way I know how to describe it. I didn’t just hear the words, I felt them. I knew everything was going to work out and a sense of peace was tangibly present. It was the Holy Spirit because faith was also immediately available.

But like everything in life, especially as one gets older, there is no win without some other aspect of our lives being tempered. As blades of grass, my father passed away within a few months, hurricanes demolished the coast of Florida, and people can hate you not because of you, but because of envy, or lack of control over you, or just because they choose to be hateful. The massive amount of complications life can throw at us is sometimes unbearable to contemplate. The treasures of this world never last.

Covid Era Polarization

The years between 2020 and 2024 were nothing short of a preemptive horror show. I’ve said it before but I felt like one of the bizarre psychics in the conscious mind-pool of the movie Minority Report. I could see what was coming, the beast slithering its tentacles into the infrastructure of mankind and wrestling us to the ground, bound and shackled. I think what could be the most difficult part about the beast is that it perhaps won’t be a figure, a person or a point on a map with a location. It’s going to be an infrastructure, a thought pattern that becomes the final snare for mankind. I can barely think of it without having to break the vision. It’s too overwhelming.

For me, the only way to face something like this is through prayer. And not the daily prayer that keeps us in communion with God. A deeper, dedicated prayer life, one as a monk perhaps would have. There’s no other way to prepare the vessel for use by the Holy Spirit than to dedicate the whole self to Him. And I’m in a position to do that. I’d have to let go of a lot of things. Trust in God would be paramount.

A Strangely Mapped Landscape

People are difficult. I’m difficult. I’ve found the post-covid era demarkation lines to be quite brutal. I never knew just how liberal the majority of my friend base was. It didn’t matter because it wasn’t seen, and what isn’t seen can’t be mapped or known. Now with social media, things are getting mapped quickly and with great definition.

With a few of my friends, we hardly have anything to talk about outside of events and other people’s lives. And since I generally don’t get into these things, I don’t have anything to talk about with them anymore. It was the art scene that was the main draw, people love to associate with artists. (Just not conservative, God-fearing, anti-woke/esg/dei artists, I’ve come to understand.) These are friends I’ve had in my life for decades. But if they aren’t excited and curious and living for God, what do we have in common? The Lord is gently closing doors, and I must remember what I know about the tapestry…

Art Has Become A Conundrum For Me

It was my art. I realize that now. There are no better supporters of art than liberal minded people. And I had far less worldview problems pre-covid. Or maybe it was pre-Trump era. And though we all have much love for each other, the underlying hate and rage for anything Christian, Conservative and/or anti-woke was too much of a gap to bridge. You can feel it simmering under the surface, your friend loves you but loathes something about you too – even they are struggling to understand it. And God forbid anyone brings up the subject of politics while out to lunch. I’ve learned to not keep my mouth shut, whereas before I would have tolerated disrespect against my values and worldview, no more.

I once had a friend say to my face, after telling them how I was going to vote, ‘Yeah no, I can’t respect anyone who votes like that.’

Wow….and now they wonder why they don’t see me much anymore.

I’m Not Sure If Art Is Worth It, Nor Politics

On social media, I still find myself restraining my tongue. For various reasons, mainly on FB because this is where my friends and family are and my community. Why disrupt things? Then they just attack whatever I’ve posted. People follow me for my art. And the minute I express my views on political matters, my posts are ignored, or attacked or they stop supporting my art. And I totally get it, I do the same. This has got to be one of the most hostile environments we’ve had throughout all of history. Was the scare of ‘Communists among us’ back in the 1940’s-50s ever this bad? Maybe, but since I wasn’t alive then, it seems pretty damn bad now.

Almost once a month I’m seeing a post from someone who has lost a near lifelong friend over religion or politics. I love to see stories when Christians come together, crossing denominational lines and acting as one Body of Christ – as we should be acting! This is why any church that claims they are the only one going to heaven draws my fierce indignation.

Let Go Of Offense

There is a huge shift coming, I can feel it and have known it for years. The old movement of God is passing into the history books. I was on the end of that movement and believe me, when you move on and away from them, they will despise you. Offense is one of the worst sins one can commit against the self. If you find yourself despising someone outwardly, check that you aren’t inwardly offended. I always bear in mind what happens to those who remain in offense:

Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: the blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

(Matthew 11.4-6)

And the result of John’s offense towards Jesus was nothing short of deadly:

The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted and had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother.

(Matthew 14.9-11)

Jesus, upon hearing this immediately withdrew from the crowds to be alone. It shook Him deeply what had happened to John. It could have been averted, but John could not get past Jesus leaving him in prison, thinking surely He would have come to his rescue if He was the true Messiah. What a terrible thing to succumb to. “If you loved me you would have…..”

Stay out of offense, sweet people of God. It will behead your life and cease any forward movement in God. It’s not worth it, no one is worth that.

Pastors Need To Learn To Let People Go When God Calls Them Away: Pastors are Shepherds, Not Dictators, Not Wardens

It took me awhile to sort out what was happening, why some people were so against me for refusing to promote their sacredly held beliefs. Once you have a revelation about a previously accepted view and God shows you the error in it, you can’t ‘play church’ anymore. One must move on where the Spirit is beckoning. When God moves, you move with Him and those stuck in their own idea of what God is get left behind, grabbing at your coattails and calling you the bad one….let them be. Pray for them that they don’t drown in their offense, but don’t let God out of your sight.

They couldn’t learn from their mistakes and so they are being shut down. Not losing their salvation as individuals, but losing the Spirit of God and their compass. Whenever the old passes away, behold the new is arriving! Indeed, it’s already here. Now this is exciting to me:) Very little interests me outside of God. And it will be through prayer that fortitude and endurance is established over our lives. I still feel good about these coming four years of change. If I can get my act together, perhaps whenever the darkness comes up from the sea again, I’ll be prepared next time to rise from my dwelling and unsheath my sword.

It’s good to be prepared, in season and out of season, for the work of God.

Social Media is Getting Old, Or God is Trying to Tell Me Something

So this brings me back around to social media in general and the art of managing time. The absolutely useless arguments that we can get wrapped up in. I’m losing patience, especially with myself. Some discussions are interesting and worthwhile. Others are just time-drains. Now that things are looking a bit brighter out there, this might be the perfect time to draw nearer to God in an even deeper way. I will not allow myself to be caught unaware with only a half-filled oil lamp.

I feel as though whatever books I want to write, whatever paintings I may paint, they are hidden in Him. And unless I seek Him, I won’t find what I’m looking for. What sense is it for me to write a book? I’m not that interesting or good. But the book that is in Him, that’s the book I seek to write. I can feel it. And there is no chance I will find it or write it without first pressing into Him. This will take prayer, fasting and reading His word.

Not just for a few minutes a day. I believe this is going to be my career, if you will, for the next several months if not years. I just have to overcome my whole self. Simple enough, right?

I’m angry. I just hope I can turn it into a fervor that cannot stop me from drawing closer to God. Satan will do anything to keep us from entering into the presence of the Almighty. Because the devil knows, when we get our motives out of the way, God’s power through us to change and heal the world for good will be limitless. The sun will not set on us, my brothers and sisters. We have a great work to do in this earth still.

The Days are Coming

God will have His way in the earth. And it will be executed through a consecrated Body of Christ, His people. But the tempering must occur first, the price must be paid in prayer and fasting. And if you think this is an easily accessible goal, try to live even for a few weeks in a fasted, prayerful state. You’ll have so many doors of opportunity open to you that you won’t know which to open first. People knocking, events beckoning, distractions glaring…..

because……the devil knows us….he knows us all too well.

It’s difficult when we don’t just have an enemy in the devil, but we also have our own flesh to contend with and crucify daily. Time is tangible and adds up, it’s fleeting and adds insult to injury. We are third dimensional creatures with many things ticking outside and inside against us. If anyone thinks they can do it alone, they are sorely mistaken. God is our only hope, the Body of Christ our community of faithful believers. He will bring to us everything and everyone we need to make this life a beautiful consecration to Him, one that counts, one that lays up treasures in heaven where nothing and no one can destroy it, and that changes the world systems bringing heaven to earth; His government rests on our shoulders, the Body of Christ. Or didn’t you know that wherever you go, you present in the spiritual realm as an Ambassador of God’s Kingdom? His Body is going to shift worldly systems and bring salvation to billions of lost people.

This is what I’m aiming for, and a time of preparation will be necessary to fulfill it.

Featured Image by Mayur Deshpande 

Dreams and Patterns

On By Ashley GatewoodIn Bread & Butter MorselsLeave a comment

Two Consecutive Dreams

Last Monday night I had a dream which was unlike my typical meandering mazes. It was a story laid out in three scenes, each highly detailed and I knew nearly everyone in the dream, either personally or I knew of them in the general public.

I have considered and prayed about sharing this dream but I do not feel a release from the Holy Spirit to do so publicly. However, I do feel led to share a few components of it and maybe I’ll eventually get it interpreted in full. I can look up all the symbolism online but dreams are highly contextual and the dreamer’s emotions about objects and people are of utmost importance. One hundred people can dream of a bucket and each could have its own interpretation within the context of the dreamer’s mind.

On the following Tuesday night, after the narrative dream, I had another very detailed dream more in line with my typical dreaming pattern. I will share this dream as it was not as intricately symbolic or involving known figures as the first dream. It stands in stark contrast to the ordered, linear dream with a continuing narrative.

Some Questions About A Few Elements In The First Dream

Symbolism of the Unconscious Mind

Can you enter someone else’s unconscious mind in your own dream? Is the unconscious represented by water? I know sexuality is represented by water but the context didn’t necessary indicate this, not overtly anyway. The sides of the stream had luminescent vegetation and small creatures like fireflies. And what could it mean if you follow someone into the calm stream of water that is clear but dark because it’s nighttime and the figure leading has no problem with you following them in, nor are they disturbed or uncomfortable by it, but you grow increasingly uncomfortable to the point you clammer for the edge and they assist you out, only to turn and calmly continue their journey down the stream, disappearing into the darkness? And if it was my sub/unconscious then why was I ready to get out but they were completely not afraid of it?

The Meaning of Clothing, Exchange of Clothing

What does a coat represent, especially if someone asks for assistance to remove it and then you find yourself wearing it? You didn’t put it on and they didn’t put it on you, but more as if the result was assumed. Or maybe entrusted with it, as if care would be taken in handling it. And it remains a key feature for the entire length of the dream through all three scenes. So it doesn’t seem to be an arbitrary inconsequential event. Does clothing in general represent identity? There was not necessarily an overt feeling of protection, as if it was needed to shield or cover something…but the exact opposite, perhaps contextually like uncovering something previously unknown by enveloping oneself in it.

Apparitions

And there appeared, after so many other strange events, an unknown, unrecognizable person that was also a creature that revealed itself in the last scene. Can figures representing one idea then vanish and reemerge as wholly different archetypes? It was as if there were others transforming or events happening within the dream ‘off stage’ if you will, the dreamer not privy to those transformations or how they occurred. Or maybe, an apparition standing-in as another person’s thought.

And woods or forests – do they also represent the unconscious? Chaos even, as if crossing from civilization to wilderness, and all at night where things tend to vanish, and the night becomes a character in and of itself. The Lord will work this out perhaps one day for me. I do not know if the dream was in anyway events that have happened, are happening, will happen, or simply my mind creating stories for my own amusement. This is not my typical dream by any stretch, which you will see below.

Regardless, I will go on and share the second dream. Whether having the first narrative dream and the second more typical dream consecutively had anything to do with each other, I do not know. I’m inclined to say no. The peculiar timing of each may have been a prompting for me to take a closer look and even led me to share as much as I felt comfortable. I wasn’t thinking of posting anything about any of it and then sought the Lord as to how to proceed. I dream often. But it was the narrative dream that has me curious and searching. Strange, deeply intriguing me, and so many unknowns.

Dream One: My Typical Dream and its Patterns

The Ship

I find myself on a large ship. So large I cannot see all sides of it at once, even if I walk to find the other side, it simply opens up and the ship expands the area of my walk into other parts, corners, doors and floors under my feet. I have my own room and there are many other people also residing on the vessel. We are here for various reasons, I am here as part of a business trip. I have someplace to be but I’m not sure exactly how to get there, so I explore the ship.

This leads me to many different compartments throughout the inner workings of the ship. Sometimes I find myself outside with the sky always blue, sometimes I’m walking through a series of doors and steps and larger rooms I must walk across to get to other doors. Maybe I ascend up and maybe down but I find my way to the outside and perhaps to one end of the ship because I can see three corners.

Three Corners Lay Themselves Out

One corner is the open sea, the other corner is a vast, jumbled formation of rocks pressed right against the ships bow, the third side (or third as I’m counting but in the dream it was simply another side that was visible to me) were people convening, talking, enjoying each other on a more level surface of sand which spilled up onto the deck forming a ramp, so it was easily accessed if I wanted to walk towards them.

The rocks were separate and apart from the ship and I felt a good deal of anxiety looking in that direction; they were imposing and took up nearly my whole plane of view. What was the space between me standing on the deck and the surface of the rocks? Why were they so close and were they going to move? Was I supposed to attempt to scale them, leaving the ship behind me? They remained stationary and though the feeling wasn’t immediate danger, I was disturbed at their proximity to the ship, their height and the unknown that lay between.

I made my way back to one side of the deck where an acquaintance who was rather large in weight was sitting on an asymmetrically shaped object in the middle of the deck, maybe a quadrilateral. So I carefully sat down on the opposite edge but my fears were correct and the object deflated with my extra weight, so I abruptly stood up and she regained her seating beneath her. I made my way over to a door, now trying to find an exit off this portion of the ship but instead of leading me back to the main interior decks, the door opened to reveal a messy room with a woman and a child in it. I had walked into someone’s private quarters.

I closed the door and walked across the deck to the sand side but it had morphed into a series of stairs and ladders spread out over the sand and merging with the sea. I had somewhere to be but not sure where that was or how to get there. As I moved toward the sand, it changed into the boat again and I was climbing up objects, square metal panels, and other things on the ship to get to where I was going. Who knows where that was.

This dream then concluded.

A Final Thought

Maybe I’ll find a solution to understanding the narrative dream, or maybe I never will. God gives dreams and visions to us for a reason – but though I believe this, I also believe that at times, the mind can simply be working out its own patterns and the patterns of the world it encounters and there is no deeper spiritual meaning or foreshadowing to it. I do think our dreams can see into how others are functioning, like tapping into what our subconscious is picking up in our daily interactions that we may not be able to bring up and perceive outright. Intentions of others, for example, are extremely hard to know consciously, during normal interactions, but the subconscious can readily map such subtle indicators.

For now, I bid you farewell. And until next time, sweet dreams, beautiful people~

The Folly of Sacrificing Joy and its Benefits

On By Ashley GatewoodIn Love:: Lifestyle:: HealthLeave a comment

Joy should be a non-negotiable. There is no good substitute that brings the same benefits as Joy. The Holy Spirit is the one who allows for Joy, but we have the power to reject Him; and by rejecting Joy we quench His presence in both our lives and other’s. 

Why do some ignore and dismiss the benefits and strengths of having Joy in their life? And how might we quench Joy from our lives or from another? We can do that, esp if we ourselves aren’t experiencing Joy and our friends are. Maybe we feel excluded when this is the case.

Perhaps some people consider Joy trite or immature, yet, it’s all the more difficult to walk the Christian life when we sacrifice Joy in favor of suffering. As if life isn’t difficult and sorrowful enough…

Is there anything worth exchanging Joy for?

Or in a more profound sense, is there anything worth exchanging the presence of the Holy Spirit for? 

That’s when a cost-to-consequences analysis must be examined. This is crucial for the life of the Christian.

“Laughter doeth good like a medicine.”

Joy is like a healing balm and it’s one of three words attributed to the Holy Spirit. If we withdraw from Joy then we are quenching the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life, and in a Christian’s walk, that’s detrimental.

Take some time to look back over your life and see whether it was easier to manage more difficult endeavors when you allowed for Joy; or if somehow things went better for you by rejecting it.

“He will once again fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.” Job 8.21  

Do you believe the Word of God for your life? Or do you reject it? God can move mountains, but it takes faith. 

“I lay before you today the path of life and death…choose Life.”

God Knows Your Limit, And Everyone’s Limit Is Different

On By Ashley GatewoodIn Bread & Butter MorselsLeave a comment

God’s Word Will Rearrange Your Life to Align with His

There’s a spiritual aspect and a physical aspect. We want more of God and to journey with Him as far as we can go. This journey is limited for humans – though the limit is far beyond what many have reached and different for each individual. This striving for more of God also rearranges our physical lives. And this is why we so often hit our limits early. We are connected to other people, and to what extent determines how far we will go.

We All Have A Purpose In God to Fulfill

The gift of the discernment of spirits works upon my life – which can be difficult to bear. It is exacting and carries a great responsibility.

Discernment is an extremely sharp, but not always welcome ability. This is the price I pay from a human standpoint.

All that being said, I have my own path to walk. All are welcome here and on any of my platforms, but it’s not my responsibility to control another’s choices. I can compel no one to read what I post on my own platform discussions or other random platforms online.

What I say, if one is listening and implementing, will transform one’s life, and that’s exactly it – don’t expect to listen and have nothing change. Change is uncomfortable, frightening and to many people unbearable. I’m like anyone else and feel the same about change, it is a difficult thing that cannot always be accomplished in one’s life.

People are human and flawed, we walk as far as we can with God but we all have our limit. If you find yourself at your limit and what I’ve written throughout these pages is making you miserable, then I’d say stop listening to me, because the Spirit of God will continue to call through my words.

And above all, try to refrain from blaming God that your life is being shaken – the word of God is a two-edged sword that is living and active in the hearer’s life, the double-edge means I too receive judgement as I wield it. He will prune away everything that we are willing to let go of. This is a personal matter.

This walk is no joke, and nothing to play with. This is why joy and peace and love are all so important.

God’s Word Will Transform Your Life, But Use Wisdom

Sometimes we can’t see that we’re habitually reaching into the fire that perhaps once transformed us but now feels like it’s burning away too much. The discerning of spirits gift is like that burning fire. Most people don’t need this ministry continually in their lives. But those interested in my teachings have to understand, this is my gift from God. It’s not for me to stop, but for them to leave. I’m very serious about this, the gift is given without repentance – it works in and through me always. Perhaps there is a more favorable season at a later time. Use wisdom and above all, love.

If my words or this ministerial gift bother you, maybe it’s not a good idea for you to be here or on any of my platforms looking through my posts. You’re welcome to be here, don’t get me wrong, but know that God is no respecter of persons and the working of His gift through me will affect every aspect of your life.

I’ll say it like this; God can speak to you directly through anything I say and break the chains off your life and destroy the yokes around your neck, and I will have no idea what He is accomplishing in your life or what is transpiring. It’s HIS word, He is the one performing the action – living and active – not I. I am the vessel. You’re approaching a living force in the words I speak when I’m hearing from God properly.

This Walk is Not Easy, There is a Price to Pay

His word will not fall short of His purpose to lead you into the fulness of Christ. And this changes everything around you. Our human hearts can’t always bear it, our shoes must come off, and sometimes, we can’t finish the conversation with God due to fear, crippling thoughts of inadequacy, or sheer lack of ability to allow change. We all feel this. It’s a heart matter that is personal to each child of God. We are all called to do what we don’t want to do in order to follow Christ fully. (This mind you, has nothing to do with salvation.)

This is why the limits are different for each individual, why some are called and few are chosen, why some go far and some remain within the bounds of everyday life. We are all different with different circumstances to manage, some more, some less.

Every gift is for a reason, a purpose, and a time. That’s why the Spirit gave multiple gifts to mankind. The shepherd tends to the sheep (pastor), and shearing is a necessary part of the maintenance of health (prophet). But so is grazing by the waters and feeding in lush fields of grass.

“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.” Psalm 23.2

Make sure your attention is ultimately on God, (not me or any other minister), and that you take care of yourself as well. No sheep needs to be sheared constantly – and I can’t make this decision for anyone. If I am a fire, so-to-speak, you have the choice to approach or go lay in the grass and enjoy a reprieve. We all need rest dear brothers and sisters.

May God bless you and yours on your journey, people of God.

Featured Image by Chris Klein

Stuff To Do: Your Talents and Purpose

On By Ashley GatewoodIn Bread & Butter MorselsLeave a comment

Journeyed out with friends for a hike this past weekend. Nature has a stillness and peace that calms the soul. Red River Gorge is beautiful in Autumn but can get insanely crowded during peak season. We rose up early and carpooled into the mountains. There were very few people on the trail and we had the perfect view to watch the mist clear from the canopy in the valley.

Princess Arch, Red River Gorge Ky

These Next Four Years

I’ve been thinking about the election and I do believe God has heard the prayer of His saints. The prophecy Kim Clement gave will be fulfilled and Trump will serve the remainder of his two terms. I don’t think it will be a quiet four years, but it will hold us back from the edge. I have a lot to do, scared as I am, and these four years will have to be the window. Then anything beyond that I will count as a blessing.

If censorship is already upon us, how much longer can we hold out? I’m still wondering what the best way is to preserve the word that is spoken since even YouTube is notorious for censoring. At some point, the edict will come down that all Christian related content be removed from all international platforms.

But perhaps this isn’t what should concern me – I’m just going to share what God puts on my heart and He can handle the rest.

Something New:)

I purchased an interesting piece of equipment and received it in the mail last week. Nothing fancy or professional, but it will be fun to play. It’s a midi keyboard. When I pulled it out of the box, I smiled.

Have you ever had a hobby you enjoyed and just let it go in all the busyness of life? It might be a gift or talent that God gave you. Making music is a ton of fun and a huge stress release for me – I get lost for hours harmonizing and laying down tracks. The last time I did anything like this was in the early 2000’s. I own a keyboard and even took piano lessons, but it’s been awhile since I laid down tracks with voice, drums, bass, strings…..I’m excited.

Talents that we let go get rusty. I think that’s part of the ‘taking of unused talents and giving them to others who will do something with them’ truth. It is slowwwww going on the learning curve – I’m not 25 anymore and technology isn’t the same either – but the more we stick to what we don’t know, the more we learn about it. And since it’s fun, I don’t lose interest.

Time Is Short

I hope you are leaning into your talents and pressing into God in pursuit of your purpose. He knows the way. I would only say this; life is so busy, so distracting and the dangers so close that we often forget to take time with loved ones and do the things we enjoy. I know there are many matters that press us, deadlines to be made, obligations and duties – for some this may be a level of pressure beyond the average, affecting many people – but please, take time to relax and allow your body to rest, let yourself enjoy those around you who love you.

Love is the Most Powerful Force in the Universe

We need it like food and sleep. Why do we forsake it? Why do we leave so little time to be with others whose company nourishes our soul? Spend time with God, put Him first, strive to be called a Friend by Him.

If we put Him first, all else will fall into its proper order.

We can get lost in the mayhem of everyday life. Make a decision today not to do that. Love those who are with you now and support those you love that they might fulfill God’s purpose on their life. This is what creates a bond that cannot be broken because God Himself will honor it. He loves us that much. Serve others in the capacity of a support role that they might become all God has purposed for them to be.

If you want to lead, you must first serve. Start with those closest to you. Pass the tests, be genuine in your affection for Him and others and He will see to it that you also are exalted in due time.

When we make it about others, we ourselves are set free of inwardly focused condemnation and introspection. And that’s a beautiful attribute of God’s love.

Have a great week all you talented people and carry on in your purpose in God, many blessings~

Don’t Cause A Brother To Stumble

On By Ashley GatewoodIn Bread & Butter MorselsLeave a comment

So you found a new friend who’s pretty cool. He’s full of fun ideas, infinitely curious and easily keeps pace with you. You’re having fun examining some strange bug you caught and his parents call him inside. Bummer. You both head home but later you realize he didn’t come back outside.

So missing him, after you finish lunch you run over and knock on his window, ‘Come back out’. He doesn’t tell you that he isn’t allowed to, maybe he’s ashamed of that or doesn’t want you to know why, or maybe it’s because he really does want to play outside and if he told you he couldn’t you’d leave, and he doesn’t want that either. So, he hops out the window and all seems good.

Then when his parents find out he’s no longer there, they call him in again. But this time he doesn’t just get called in, he gets disciplined. And maybe this happens a few times before you realize your friend keeps getting in trouble. You’re not sure what happened but you know it wasn’t good for him.

To love your brother is to not go back and knock on the window.

And he may miss you not knocking, or he may be sad, or even angry. Though it’s not necessarily about you, (if it wasn’t you, it would be another friend in the neighborhood) the Word says if one is hurting then the whole Body hurts, and when one rejoices the whole Body rejoices. Ask Simon who was picked out of a crowd and ordered by the Roman soldiers to bear Christ’s Cross in the street. It’s about bearing one another’s burdens when the load gets too heavy. And it’s about the maturing of the Body of Christ as a whole, God expects us to do the right thing by each other. You may miss your friend, but the loving thing to do is to stop knocking.

“You Do Not Understand Now, But Afterward You Will Understand”

Sometimes we can’t understand everything, but when God says, ‘Not now,’ it doesn’t mean never again. We might think it’s not like God to say yes, then no, then yes but I’ll give you the perfect example of this. Christ says, ‘Go out into all the world and preach the good news.’

Then in Acts 16.6-7 we get this seemingly contradictory shift with Paul and his men,

“Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.”

Interesting, no? Jesus didn’t give the disciples any extra instruction, simply ‘go into all the world.’ No restrictions, no set timeline. This is another reason why it’s important to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Timing is everything.

Love isn’t always an easy thing, to love your brother isn’t always easy, it takes a great deal of maturity to fully embody the attributes of love. Agape love is impossible without God. If He is love, then one can’t have Agape without Him. He is made strong in our weaknesses. And Paul’s instruction to us in Romans 14 regarding stumbling means God expects us also to help each other.

One other simple example is this: if you’re having lunch with a friend and you know he struggles with alcohol, you don’t order a drink while you’re dining with him because you get to go home, go to sleep and carry on with tomorrow’s activities.

Meanwhile, he stops by the liquor store (since he poured out all the liquor he had, struggling to get well), and he falls dreadfully into sin and maybe doesn’t stop drinking for a week, missing work, forgetting obligations, etc.

Maintaining strength is important, God’s seasons are important and it’s important to do the right thing for your brother’s sake. God is faithful.

Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Romans 14:13-23

“So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.” I like this line. To some, a particular action or connection is considered evil even though we know no sin has been committed. But for the sake of good, you protect and take responsibility for your brothers or sisters who may be struggling. Even though the Spirit forbade Paul from moving into those regions he wanted to journey, didn’t mean the people there were forsaken or that God didn’t love them. It was because there was a more favorable season at a later time.

Love endures all things.

Have a blessed week, all you beautiful people~

Featured Image by Robert Collins

Opposing Forces Forms The Vessel

On By Ashley GatewoodIn Bread & Butter MorselsLeave a comment

The Storm Draws Nigh

Another huge hurricane is bearing down on the west coast of Florida and most haven’t rebuilt from Ian two years ago. I’m watching four live video cameras pointed at the Gulf of Mexico from Key West up the coast to Tampa Bay as I’m drinking my morning coffee and wondering to myself, ‘why do we hate adversity so much’?

A Lump of Potential

I think of how the artist presses their hands into the clay on the turning wheel and how without the skillful hands of the creator pulling, stretching and reconstituting, the potential would remain a lump of clay unusable and of little desirability.

But when our Creator works with us, part of the process that shapes our being is adversity. God sees unlimited potential in our useless lump of clay. We feel comfortable in our untamed lumpiness, no one notices us, we can’t be knocked over or shattered and we are familiar with our original elements and constitution. We don’t have to dare to be anything.

Adversity comes in many forms, sometimes one fiery trial at a time and sometimes multiple adversities hit at once. This is what happened to Jesus. It was one at a time and then all at once. These adversities in life are opportunities to ‘level up’, to be hewn, to be shaped and formed into something greater than we are today. And though the process can be frightening, bring sadness, seem daunting, God knows what He is doing. The final shaped vessel has to be fired in order to set the work, right? We fail continually sometimes, but God doesn’t stop giving us chances as long as we remain contrite.

God’s Acts are Meaningful, Never Trivial

I take comfort in knowing that I’m not assailed by the devil without reason or without gain. He’s a tool – puns welcomed – in shaping my vessel into a quality usable work in the Kingdom of God. If the devil wasn’t so prideful he could have slithered away out of sight and possibly preserved himself. But it is his pride that continues to dig his own fiery grave because every sin he commits against the Kingdom of God and it’s inhabitants (that’s you and me by the way) God turns for good – as difficult for us as it may seem, just check in with Job – God will turn the tide and deliver the spoil.

God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Being Purposeful About My Activity

Speaking of tides, I got a little gadget and installed a digital art software to play should I find myself waiting: in lines, in cars, at airports or just relaxing at home, etc. I can’t carry my physical art supplies with me everywhere and I’m hoping I’ll spend more time tinkering on this device making art than roaming around social media listening to everyone argue.

I’ve been working on the drawing below, learning the programs features and brushes, while listening to all the dreadful hurricane updates. No one wants it to hit them directly, but that means someone else gets hit directly – go north, go south – even local newscasters catch themselves when they say ‘it would be much better for Tampa if this goes South, well that means Sarasota gets hit but it would be awful for Tampa to get hit’…..

Well, it would be awful for Sarasota to get hit, no? I’ve been praying along with many others that the wind sheer brings the intensity down to a 2 or low 3. God can do anything, we’ll see what happens. Because even King David, with all his prayer and supplication could not save the first born. God is sovereign, I remain humble in this understanding.

Ian cost me great amount of money, but it coast others their memories, their happiness and even their lives. I have to keep my sense of victimhood in check. At least I have options, most people all they have is in the path of this dreadful storm – God may Your opposing wind buffer this monster’s strength to minimal impact.

The Time is Short, Make the Most of It

Making use of our gifts affords us opportunity and advancement. It also keeps what we have been gifted from being taken away and given to someone else willing to make use of it. So to put this truth into practice in my own life, maybe I’ll start making my own thumbnails on my Youtube channel, it’s a good investment of my talent, as feeble as it is. I’d rather use it than lose it.

Yes, I’m playing around with a channel and trying to figure out what direction God’s wind is blowing. It’s fun, it’s funny and altogether a bit annoying but as I’ve said before, as much as I hate the idea of doing a thing, I hate the idea of a whale lurking with its mouth open wide just beneath the surface of my complacency and fear.

Is there something under the water here?….is that why all the little houses are taking such a fright? I need to add a sea creature under there….maybe I should just put two glowing eyes peering up from the deep.

Featured Image by yours truly, and may the trials you’re facing right now not be for naught but instead transform your life by the skillful work of the Master’s hand. Let’s stay surrendered to Him, let’s stay humble so that we might learn and grow and ultimately flourish for His glory.

Catholic and Orthodox Conversations Online

On By Ashley GatewoodIn The Organic ChurchLeave a comment

Youtube Conversations

I’ve had some engaging online conversations recently concerning the Church. Some people were accommodating while others were highly offended, defensive and then robotic. By robotic I mean indoctrinated.

It really bothers me. On a fundamental level. I’ve prayed about it and asked God why I see these things when I don’t have the ability to fix them. It’s terribly frustrating. I’m fairly relaxed and easy-going, but not online and not concerning lies. I’m not a gentle, soft-spoken person online. Overall, I’m not afraid to say what I’m feeling and sometimes I can be too opinionated. I don’t mind a good tussle but at the same time, I’d rather not get involved at all – my carnal nature often interjects: ‘Who cares!?’ I wish I could believe it….so I could quit and feel justified.

Doctrines of Men

I get angry and disappointed when I see people who love Jesus and are so on fire for Him and they end up captured in these indoctrinated churches just spewing phrases they’ve been taught – as if they are scripture when they don’t remotely line up with scripture.

These doctrines box people in, “well, it’s not always about putting the word of God first,” and I say, there is no recourse with that kind of doctrine. It’s kingdom of God first and then all else. How can you win an argument with someone who isn’t even playing the same game?

God will have to show me how.

Why Do I Have To See It?

So I pray to God about this. Why do I have to see this when I can do nothing about it? But the Spirit won’t leave me alone. I think to myself that it must be for some future generation, once everything begins to fall apart they’ll be searching for answers.

But that’s silly, because surely I’m not the only one who sees this. People who know more than others tend to feel alone. I don’t just feel alone, I am alone in this. Somewhere there are the preverbal ‘7000’ that have not bent the knee and God has reserved for Himself. Maybe He will show me who they are because all my searches come up empty. No one seems to see it or think it matters.

So I think, then why should I?

Denominations, physical churches can be more easily captured than the ‘church which God writes His laws on their hearts.’ My heart is not easily captured, nor my thoughts. The Spirit is like the wind, He moves things around and you can see the affects of it, but you can’t see His Person. That’s the true Church.

No one understands this who also says that the denominated church is the one true church. This is a false narrative.

The Call Is Terrifying

So I have to move forward with this, and tell what I know about who the Church really is. How do you approach effectively discerning the church – counterfeit though it might be – that God has been using for millennia? With much reverence, trepidation, fear of the Lord and a boldness that only the Spirit of God could give me as I face this manmade construct. That’s how. God works all things together for good the scripture tells us, so He’s used this church overlay, the construct of mens’ imaginations, to further His purposes in the Earth. I think there are good reasons for that. One being that the fullness of the Gentiles had to come into the fold.

I suspect there’s no way this would have happened had the true Church, the Body of Christ been left unchecked in the earth. Satan is a balancing tool by the way. He buffered the Church, then captured it, once he figured everything out that had happened to him, ha, God is so brilliant. The Cross is the victory for us while making the devil a fool.

No One Has Brought A Legitimate Argument Against Me

One of the most interesting comments I received on my perspective was this:

I’d already been thinking about how the Body of Christ is comprised of multiple parts. It is one body with many elements and moving parts. We are all one in Him, but separate from each other. Yet, if we are moving and living and having our being within Him, then also we are one with each other. This is the spiritual mystery that Paul said marriage alludes to.

This commenter was arguing that by me calling the remaining church, (that would be either the Catholic or Orthodox Church since Protestant churches do not use the word ‘schism’), a denomination it wouldn’t be true because it is only the schismatic church that becomes the denomination.

But the Body of Christ cannot schism because all the elements are needed to make up the whole. This is where I can clearly see the ‘church’ which both these religions started are a construct of man.

Let’s Talk Elements

You cannot remove O from H2 and still have water. The Body of Christ has many elements which combine to show the ‘manifold wisdom of God’. So it is a combined element like water, it’s whole but made up of multiple parts. As soon as that first manmade church suffered schism, it became a part unto itself, it reverted to H2. And H2 alone isn’t water. So that argument also has been broken.

Creepy Indoctrination

The creepiest comments are the indoctrinated ones where a repeated phrase just keeps getting chanted in my comment section with little to know intellectual understanding:

“I believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.”

and again by another commenter,

“There is only one holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church.”

But the worst? Oh it’s far more sinister. It makes me cringe. It angers me and I find it deeply disturbing: “Outside of the Catholic Church there can be no salvation.”

As if Christ died on the Cross and it meant nothing because it’s a church that does the saving, not the Son of Man….

I have no love in my heart for these types of comments. I can see exactly how Christ did not restrain Himself from calling out with great passion,

“You vipers!”

I must weave my whip. There is no other way I can do this without sinning. And if Christ had to weave one whip, then I must weave ten thousand.

“Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!”

You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

I don’t want to do this…..

Through Broken Walls

On By Ashley GatewoodIn Bread & Butter MorselsLeave a comment

A Nuanced Tone

I read a verse in scripture this morning where God is being sarcastic. I’ve never really noticed it before. Maybe it’s my own mood this morning but, it does seem to qualify for sarcasm. And it made me laugh even in the midst of such a chilling address by the Lord.

It’s Amos 4.1-5. This passage is quite terrifying because whatever God speaks accomplishes that which it’s sent to accomplish…and it prospers in its purpose. Gives me chills…

God doesn’t play around y’all.

There’s another verse that really moved me which I’ll get to in a moment. But the sarcasm is found in verses 4 and 5 where God uses a nuanced tone with them and says in essence, ‘Come on to Bethel and transgress! Bring those sacrifices every morning, proclaim and announce your offerings, go right ahead! Because this is who you are and this is what you love!”

Whewwww~ NOBODY wants God speaking sarcastically to them, oh my goodness…

Evildoers Miss the Straight Path

He’s addressing the land of Bashan in Samaria here. I don’t know all the history but one of my favorite lines in this section is as follows:

“You will go out through broken walls..”

No hint of sarcasm there. This is an amazing imagery and description of an exit of power, or a driving out of evil from a place it once inhabited but is being rejected from the land. The scripture says the Lord will make our paths straight. Our path is made easy when we choose God’s way. We may not think this is true, because life is strenuous and confusing at times. But the Lord always makes a way where there seems to be no way. Isaiah 43.16, God made a way through a sea, He made a way through transporting in the belly of a whale, He made a way from death to life for Christ and all of us. There is no path, not even the path through the heart of evil, that God cannot make a way for us to walk out on dry land – a straight path.

But those who are evil, well their way is out through broken crumbled walls, falling debris, stumbling and even dying of their wounds just trying to get away from whatever is pursuing them. It is their own sin that has crumbled the walls of their life and existence. The word of God is tremendous. I like that wording very much, it’s concise and deadly.

God Delivers Us, But Evildoers are Delivered to Their Fate

In Amos 3.11 He speaks another powerful word:

“An adversary shall be all around the land; He shall sap your strength from you, and your palaces shall be plundered.”

Our enemies don’t stand a change against God. However, against us alone…well that’s a different story. But, alas!, we are not alone! We don’t have to deliver ourselves all the time. If we can’t admit we need help, then the issue is far deeper than just trying to act strong. The strongest are able to receive help willingly.

Evil never slips out of the snare – there will always be a final snare that never lets them go. God will see to that. We don’t see to it, God sees to it.

Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
Their foot shall slip in due time;
For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things to come hasten upon them.’

Deuteronomy 32.35

God works contrary to our understanding of the world. When we think we’ve won, we’ve actually lost. When we think it’s the end, it’s actually a newly created beginning. This only happens for those the Bible says are ‘hidden in Christ’. Hiding in any other way won’t save us from the exiting through crumbling walls. God protects and preserves His own, He watches over His word to perform it on our behalf.

Because God is just marvelous like that.

Featured Image by Pawel Czerwinski.