Tag: God

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

The Cherub Shall Not Have Dominion

On By Ashley GatewoodIn Visions and ProphecyLeave a comment

To Whom Does Earth Belong?

“Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One.”

Daniel 7.27

Read the above scripture again, deliberately, and out loud…

The Earth has a Rightful Inheritor

The Sun rising over Earth, our Earth, and it’s beautiful.

Billionaires want to claim Earth and space for themselves,

but they can’t have it.

Global elites want to claim Earth for themselves, the WEF, WHO, WB…they all think their power and wealth can establish them as rulers over the earth,

but they can’t have it.

An illegal Cherub who fell from grace, who cunningly stole the God-given seat of dominion and power from mankind and is intermediately reigning, being called the ‘Prince of this World’ thinks his stolen estate will somehow lawfully become his own – that he might take Earth from its God by a slight of hand and from its lawful human inhabitants with ease,

but the Cherub can’t have it.

This Earth belongs to us, to God’s sons and daughters, to the saints of the Most High God. Sounds silly doesn’t it – does it sound as silly as a ‘Doctor Evil’ trying to take control of the earth? A Klaus Schwab with his global elites working tirelessly to claim dominion over the earth? A multi-billionaire so full of pomps and vanities that Mars would be a better play-toy than this sparkling blue, living rock? An A.I. god utilized by humans taking hold of the rights to rule the whole planet?

Why would one think that somehow the saints would end up with Earth? Is it so difficult? In a way it is, we are taught to be meek, humble and unassuming. Subservient. It’s hard to stand up and speak with authority,

‘No, this earth belongs to us as children of God.’

But I think, perhaps it is time we speak up. It’s time to stop the false prophet and the evil narrative that’s being spun over the eyes of those who have been made in the image of God.

And perhaps, ironically, this is the exact reason why we are called upon to be the meekest, humblest and most loving of all – because indeed, my fellow spiritual siblings, our human race was destined for the throne, to take our rightful place as co-heirs of Christ to rule peaceably over this beautiful planet that was from the foundations of its existence formed and shaped specifically for us,

not illegal Cherubs

not any angelic being

not madmen

not any other being,

but humans and animals.

This Earth was Made for Human Beings

It will be the humblest and meekest of saints who rule over it, those who live in subjection to the love of Christ who in those days it is said, to the benefit of all humankind and every living thing and the whole earth,

listen carefully,

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life,bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

Revelation 22

“…and they will reign for ever and ever.”

Do you grasp the Metanarrative here:)

I do. And I’m piecing it together, slowly but surely.

Featured Image by:

CreditNASA Images By Reto Stöckli, Based On Data From NASA And NOAA

Merging Technology with Homo sapiens: The Demonic Embodied

On By Ashley GatewoodIn The End TimesLeave a comment

Understanding the Times

What I have seen I can hardly understand or accept. I can’t write it, I can’t talk about it. Words fail me.

I thought I had time.

I have been wrong.

The scriptures foreshadow what’s lurking on the horizon of mankind. From Revelation Nine, the Fifth Trumpet.

The Fifth Trumpet

Firstly, preserve the earth, keep it green and flourishing because it is earth they intend to take from us. Dispense with all excess human life:

4And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

There’s something deeper embedded in the idea of Artificial General Intelligence. It is technology now, tomorrow it will be infused with lies and merged with human flesh. Know now that any wo/man who joins themselves in any way with this unfolding evil, God will not take mercy. The merging of the inanimate with the biological will not be pleasant in the least. The Intelligence will need our fleshly autonomous organism to gain its agency. So then, let us become one being with it…alas, perhaps I am wrong….

5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.

6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

Death shall flee from them…there are worse things than death to which one can be be subjected.

It Isn’t Hard to Draw the Parallel

Listen to the Spirit describing the reality through a man’s visionary experience from the first century:

7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

Ingersoll, Public Domain

Photo by Cash Macanaya, Unsplash

Nah, that’s too silly! Isn’t it….

Not Everything is as It Appears

11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

Surely not….surely this is AI, the dream, the beauty of nature and technology…

There is a Shadow to everything, dear Homo sapiens…

Photo by Alex Shuper 

To God belongs all the earth, and to Him all the fullness thereof. The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against His own.

Featured Image by Jorm Sangsorn

The Revelation of a Kingdom, Not a Denomination

On By Ashley GatewoodIn The Organic ChurchLeave a comment

God is not a Church, He isn’t a Denomination, nor is He a Religion

If you can understand the revelation Munroe is thowing out here, then you can understand why no denomination was God’s idea.

Denominations are not of God, they are of man.

The Catholic denomination is possibly the worst because they are prideful in saying they are the first church – and are blind to the fact that they are a denomination. Until we understand there is no such thing as denominations or brick and mortar churches in God’s Kingdom, we will never bring the Kingdom of God into the earth.

But I have faith in the true Church, the organic Bride of Christ, that she will bring the Kingdom of God into the earth in these last days.

Because there is nothing else that will be capable of rising up against the anti-christ in these last days.

It’s time to start reorienting ourselves in God, and bring the kingdom Christ taught and spoke of into the earth. And to prepare for much spiritual warfare when we do.

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world; if it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But now My kingdom is not of this realm.”

John 18

John 18 is one of the most fascinating conversations in the Bible, imo. And realizing what Munroe says, that Jesus didn’t even speak to the religious men who were ‘representing’ God, but did speak to a gentile sinner who was ruler over a kingdom just blows my spiritual mind.

The Kingdom of God Defined | Dr. Myles Munroe

My challenge I’m putting on myself this year is to live a fasted life and pursue the understanding and revelation of this Kingdom God is desiring to manifest into the earth. If I can channel His kingdom through my life, I’m here for it~

Featured Image by Johannes Plenio.

And The Sun Stood Still

On By Ashley GatewoodIn Bread & Butter MorselsLeave a comment

Moses struck a rock and water flowed from it. He lifted up his staff, parted the sea and the ocean floor became dry ground. Elijah called down fire from the sky and it burned up people and earthly things – or in other words, Elijah’s prayer manifested a power that was seen and had effect in this earthly dimension. He didn’t start a fire, he called an already living fire down from an unseen location at the sound of his words.

And Joshua. He looked up and charged the sun, ‘Stand ye still!’ and the heavenly body obeyed.

How by scientific calculation can the earth continue to rotate on its axis and the sun remain still? Did the sun move, for this one day through space at the speed of earth’s rotation? Or did the earth turn vertically on its axis so that for those 24 hours Israel was situated as the North Pole, the sun never having to set? Did the earth indeed stop rotating?

In The Beginning Was The Word, Living Word

Can we even begin to imagine charging the natural world by decree and it obeying our word?

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3.21-21

When God spoke, creation listened. Whatever He speaks, His creation listens. ‘Be fruitful and multiply.’ God spoke once and the decree never ceased, but multiplied exponentially.

“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55.11

What would happen if we took God’s words into our mouth and spoke His words out into this earthly dimension having the faith that Jesus had? Or better yet, Jesus said all we needed was faith the size of a mustard seed and we would see mountains moved.

God’s Word Transforms Our Relationship To The Earth’s Rules

Jesus defied physics. He spoke to weather patterns and changed them instantly, leaving His fishermen friends in awe. ‘Have faith in God,’ He continually told them.

Elisha defied physics in the strangest and weirdest of ways. A worker dropped their axe head into the water and Elisha threw a stick and the axe head floated to the surface. God made the human being out of the earth; Jesus spit in a clump of clay and molded it around the hallow edges of a blind man’s eye socket, told him to go wash with water from the lake and there it was formed, a human eyeball where there was nothing.

We think about Jesus reaching out and touching people. Or people, like the woman with the issue of blood touching Him and being healed. But Peter’s shadow fell on the sick and they were healed. The man’s shadow, a simple scientific understanding of how light shining on an object creates a shadow, but the shadow is now imbued with the power to transform ailing bodies.

“As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.” Acts 5.15-16

What Is Going To Mean The Most To Us?

I ask you Church; what are we missing? What’s missing behind the decree that if I spoke today, nothing would happen? What are we missing on our words? What are we missing in our lives, what do we need for our shadows to fall on a passer-by and they immediately are set free from oppression or chronic sickness?

A different focus? Paul said, ‘Covet earnestly the best gifts.’ I don’t deny his wisdom. But he did go on to say the greatest of all is Love.

Might we be missing the only purpose needed to gain the power of the Spirit of God on our lives? That being Agape love? In one fell swoop, love cradles all that is needed to bring the human being into subjection to the higher order of God and the proper alignment with our neighbors.

What else is needed?

Maybe less time in front of a manmade screen and more time in front of God’s living word, learning ancient secrets, words that hold within them, like seeds, the transformative power of a living Spirit?

God is love the Bible says. How can we possibly become anything without total dedication to it, much less if we are trying to embody the idea of God’s Agape love. There is much to learn and much to put away simultaneously in order to take hold of God’s heart in this manner.

Draw Near to God and He Will Draw Near to You

(James 4.8)

God is hiding from us. Not so that we cannot find Him and lay hold of the power to do all the wonders that have already been manifest in the earth, but instead so that we will seek Him for those wonders.

If someone’s shadow could fall on you and heal you, would you accept that as a good thing? Or would you say, no, let me avoid being healed so easily. Would it not be a good thing then if it was our shadows freeing people?

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free..” Luke 4.18

…..’all these thing I do you also will do, and greater things….’

The Question of Purpose Has to be Asked and Answered

But I have to ask myself, why would we seek Him for these things? There’s no need for our sun to stand still. So what do we need? It goes back to love, no? Maybe I’m not thinking it through properly. But what other aim would not be pure arrogance? Doesn’t love cap ego? If our hearts aren’t focused on people, then what are we doing?

And once we determine that, we have to ask: are we making a Kingdom of Heaven decree to change the world for the better? Or to just amuse ourselves.

‘Call those things that be not as though they were,’ and ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven,’ and ‘..all these things that I have done you also will do, and greater than these will you do because I go to my Father.’

It seems to me that those who worked the greatest of signs and wonders were those God called the most humble and the meekest. So then, what can be done? What should be pursued?

An Important Key To Understanding A Woman

On By Ashley GatewoodIn Bread & Butter MorselsLeave a comment

This is the funniest thing to hear Myles Munroe deliver this message to the congregation, even the members couldn’t keep from laughing. It’s also dead serious and true. And that makes me laugh:) It doesn’t remove all responsibility from me, the woman, but it certainly doesn’t let the man off the hook either – I like that about God. He doesn’t let the man or the woman off the hook, as much as the man would love to blame only ‘this woman you gave me!’ for all his troubles:)

Life is serious, but sometimes, it’s best to take a step back, take a breath and learn to laugh, even the slightest bit, at ourselves. One of our family sayings is, ‘A family who laughs together, stays together.’ And it works for us.

We’ll live a far less anxious, fearful and offended life if we can let some beads of water run off our backs.

“Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, for their Redeemer is strong; He will take up their case against you.…” Proverbs 23.10-11

The Man is the Father Figure

Munroe teaches that it is the man who is the father, since the woman came from the man – God formed one man from the dust of the earth and all other men and women came from that one man. God didn’t return to the earth again to create the woman – the woman came out of the man. And since he produced the woman, he is her father in essence. “A father sustains what he produces. If he’s not sustaining what he produces, then he’s not a father.”

So if he isn’t acting towards her as a father would, look out, proverbs tells us that God will take up her case against him. I like that I have a heavenly Protector who doesn’t let me off the hook, but who also defends me against those who would find it convenient for it to be all my fault….Adam…..

We’re all trying to figure this out together and for sure, a little bit of humor goes a long way dear brothers!

Listen to this, it’s just like a man to be completely taken aback by what a woman can do and then act surprised that he’s the reason for all his discomfort. Human behavior, including my own, makes me laugh:

Women Multiply What You Give Them

“Whatever you give a woman, she’ll receive it, multiply it, and give it back to you…..she’ll never give back what you gave to her, she’ll multiply it first. She’s designed that way….if you give her a house she’ll multiply it and give you a home. If you give her groceries she’ll multiply it and give you a meal. If you give her frustration she’ll multiply it and give you……right…….

“So brothers, if you don’t like what your getting, change what you’re giving.

“It’s ridiculous to say to a woman, ‘where did you get this from?’ He’s receiving back – multiplied – what he gave….tell your husband, ‘if you don’t like what I’m giving you, change what you’re giving me.'”

-Myles Munroe, The Azusa Fire Conference, 1994

Link to referenced section of quote: Myles Munroe – The Responsibility of Freedom (Azusa ’94)

I’ll be sharing much more from Munroe in the coming days, God has opened a floodgate of word through this man of God. Prayer and fasting for sure opens doors, opens our hearts and provides keys to receive from God.

Have a wonderful week all, be free, look up at the night sky, take up journeys~

Featured Drawing: Untitled by Ashley Gatewood, ~2014

Don’t Hold Back What God Has Asked For: Release God’s People When He Calls for Them

On By Ashley GatewoodIn The Organic ChurchLeave a comment

The Privilege of Learning Under Great Ministers

There are certain ministers that in years past have imparted great things to me concerning God and His word. I’ve learned much from them. But there are those with whom God has called us to partner with indefinitely, and those for only a short while.

God, the skillful tapestry Weaver, threads people in and out of our lives at just the right times and seasons. We may have garnered much from those whose thread only remained for a short while, but unless we move where the Spirit moves us, we’ll never grow into the fulness of Christ. 

This is why it’s important that ministers not get offended when people leave and move on with other congregations or ministries. God’s people have grown up under your care and watchful attention. Don’t take it out on His sheep because He is calling them to another field to graze.

And refrain from making excuses like it’s the sheep’s faulty hearing; that God couldn’t possibly call them away from one church and lead them to another. Different church ministries offer varying levels of bread as spiritual sustenance. Don’t be offended that someone has outgrown your level. You’ve done what has been required of you in God’s service. This is a beautiful thing; don’t get greedy or covetous.

God’s People Belong to Him

God’s people don’t belong to any one human being, minister or otherwise. His people belong to Him and He will chose who He wants to partner them with. Ministers need not be possessive over individuals in the Body of Christ. We are all one in Christ, not owned, not collected.

John the Baptist understood this and flourished. Until the day he stumbled and was offended. He ended up bound and cutoff. Is your ministry stagnant? Has it lost the life giving waters of the Holy Spirit? Think about this then and ask yourself seriously if you are not offended by those who have left. Then ask yourself why you feel the way you do and what God is saying to you about it. This is important to your growth and the growth of those presently in your care. 

Grow up the people God has given into your care. Teach and nurture them in the capacity God has graced you with, then let them go if God calls them. Don’t be caught holding on to what God has asked for. Joshua chapter 7 is a warning for those who, out of ill-gotten intentions, try to hold on to something that God has asked for. Don’t be that minister.

God’s People are the Focus, Not the Size of a Congregation or its Shepherd

I look back on all I’ve learned, such a rich dining table of God’s best teachers in my opinion, some of the greatest I had seen at that time. But after many years the chair doesn’t fit anymore, the cup’s too small and the yard isn’t long enough to stretch my legs

If only ministers would treat their congregations like growing up any child into a functioning adult, I think the Body of Christ would be far more developed, well-rounded and capable of stepping out in the fulness of Christ.

This is only one way that denominations have hurt the Body, it promotes exclusion and possession or collection of God’s people.

God’s people belong to no one but Him. The shepherds are caretakers, not gods to pledge allegiance to. This is how Lucifer fell from heaven, having taken the praise and glory unto himself and corrupting his merchandise.

Be gracious to God’s people, He does not without blessings from those who put Him first in the kingdom. All other things will be added to you, fear not. He is faithful.

Unraveling the Future

On By Ashley GatewoodIn Futurism, Speculation, OpinionLeave a comment

Let me concede this: two thousand years ago the Apostle Paul said the end was near. So when I feel in my spirit that we are approaching the end of this dispensation, I check myself thinking perhaps it’s trivial, this uptick in urgency to make some plan for unraveling the future.

I think I’m still half in shock from the nervous (breakdown?) tension instilled all throughout 2020-22 until just recently when all voices are being heard instead of only the propaganda channels the government was allowing.

Listening to the Spirit of God

That being said, we must do as the Lord leads because only He knows for sure when and how the future will unfold for us and the generations to follow. Revelation warns us it won’t be pleasant once the Tribulation starts.

The warning signs that the Tribulation is drawing near can be found in the Trumpets in the preceding chapters of Revelation. And the descriptions of each Trumpet’s events are clearly what is happening in the earth now.

The Four Hosrseman were released centuries ago.

The Urgency in My Spirit

I have two urgent thoughts and feelings that I feel called to do. Share as much as I can about the word of God, scattering those teachings on platforms known and unknown, and prepare, as best as I know how, for my own livelihood. Now this is probably the more trivial part, leftover anxiousness from the plandemic, but I think I shall pay attention at least in part.

Take a listen and I’ll share my thoughts below.

We all have heard the sentiment given by the elites, Klaus Schwab to be specific: “You will own nothing and be happy.”

The video states that one way they will take our homes is by requiring upgrades to be made to bring homes into ‘net zero’ compliance forcing homeowners to shoulder the financial responsibility.

What’s worse, people who own a home, mortgaged or fully paid, will likely have to borrow from the equity in their home to make the upgrades, going further into debt. The minute they default the banks will swoop in and voila, you own nothing at all. Except a big pile of debt.

If you cannot manage to live in a house like the one below, then dying would be preferable according to the elite like Kamala Harris crying ‘there are too many people on the earth’.

This will take wisdom to sort out even for those who can afford the upgrades or who also own investment property. If the current tenants can’t afford the cost of increased rent after upgrades are made and they are evicted, who’s left to afford the rent? Then owners of property are left with empty houses. Not good.

How Much Dependence Will Lead to Abuse of Rights?

It got me thinking about my house. This and the fact we’ve had several storms which knocked out our electric three times this year for longer than two days. I had zero ways to cook, keep warm or keep cool.

All the electric runs above ground in my neighborhood. I don’t have a fireplace in my house. I do have a decent sized yard to plant a garden. But I’ve decided it might be best to move into a house that better suits my needs. Especially since the Invisible Tyrannical Hand keeps messing its fingers about in our personal pies.

This is the same hand, by the way, that will have free reign once the Tribulation starts. Thank God we will not be here for that fellow brothers and sisters. Though I do have some empathy for unbelievers, I have zero empathy for the culprits and leaders who will join up with the antichrist when he manifests in true form.

God help the people of the earth.

What Type of Property to Buy

So, back from Revelation and to my house in 2023…

You would need a water source and filters (good luck with that), a fireplace (or fire pit but it will get cold outside), and land to plant a garden. A pool would be convenient to stay cool if everything is shut off in the heat of Summer. I’ve seen property like this for sale that isn’t outrageously priced. For me, the fireplace is the only non-negotiable at this point. I’d need semi-country. I don’t think I could handle fighting off Sasquatch in the deep woods of Appalachia…

How Much Should It Matter?

Anyway, just some thoughts I’ve been having for the past couple of YEARS. God, perhaps I can shed this entire train of thought and just roll with the punches. Aren’t there better things to be doing for other people? Jesus didn’t have a home. Won’t they just fine me for using my fireplace anyway?

No more burning wood! The planet is dying and it’s your fault for breathing!

**billionaire Invisible Hand flies off to another continent to play environmental disaster Evangelist, bicycle in-tow**

Do we have to be prepared for everything? Pluses and minuses on either side I suppose.

Having some manner of eco friendly energy might be a good idea. The less reliance on Big Brother the better.

Or I could resign myself to whatever comes next and buy a condo in the city….with a bike…

Or become a nomad…with a horse…

Or buy a boat and live on the sea, they’d perhaps never find a spec in the Pacific Ocean.

Then I’d probably never find myself out there either. That would be a terrible death just floating at sea. I mean, if Robert Redford can’t do it, I sure as hell won’t try.

Hope everyone is enjoying their life and not having all these strange thoughts of a crazy future, haha.

No wonder King Solomon said that ‘in much wisdom is much grief’. Maybe I should strive to know a bit less. Though I sure don’t feel smart enough as is.

I know, I owe you a post about atheists…I’ll get to it eventually.

Featured Image by Cindy Tang.

Answering the Call of God: Resolving Social Conundrums & Social Kindness Misgivings

On By Ashley GatewoodIn Bread & Butter MorselsLeave a comment

Have Your Say, Everyone Else Does

I’m not good at handling social persecution when it comes to some of my positions on the Word of God. I find them to be truth but no one has perhaps asked me for that. And truth hurts sometimes. I’ve been bold and given the word of truth in the past and received a good deal of backlash. I know that everyone has a viewpoint and good reasons for that viewpoint, and who am I to think I’m so right? And when individuals start pulling the sympathy card, I tend to fold, feel bad because what I’ve said directly affects them, their loved ones or people they know, and go away thinking how inconsiderate of their feelings I’ve been.

I’m also fiercely angry about the arrogance of the Church, Her greed and Her Pride. These are huge monsters (Arrogance, Pride and Greed) to stand in front of and to speak against with the corrective word of God.

Teaching and impartation is one thing when someone wants to find truth, I’ll give it directly. However, unrequested social media postings that directly hurt people’s feelings have been a problem that has kept me silent for several years now. I’ve kept silent, even to my own peril concerning things like Covid – which I am going to bring up from the depths at a later time – best to keep weaving the whip until my anger subsides a little more, for it is great.

Heed the Calling Over Your Life, Set Social Kindness Misgivings Aside

I have things to say. Things I know God has put on my heart. They are beautiful things, revelatory things, weightier matters of the heart and also….divisive. And this stops me when I see their faces wondering how I could say things so hurtful. But the road to hell is broad and what I don’t want to be is irresponsible for NOT holding up the sign saying ‘you’re going the wrong damn way.’

“Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10.34

I can’t refute the Lord here. He said He give us, His children, peace (John 14.27). He does not say He brings peace to the world. The world is headed for a catastrophe, a prophetic judgement to end all previous dispensations. Will the world end? No, it will be made new,

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away..”  Revelation 21.1

And again,

“And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” 1 Corinthians 7.31

“The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2.17

Ignoring the Obvious

But the world will end for many. And how will any of them survive if the word of God isn’t used to build a bridge that some can use to escape the flames of Hell? If no instruction is given on how to mind the gap between the highway to hell and narrow path of salvation? The vast expanse of that gap reaching to the endless abyss of death without Christ?

I always had this idea that being a peacemaker was the best course of action, and honestly, it has served me well and made many take a second look at Jesus and the Christian individual. We aren’t all the same. We have two year olds in our ranks having fits about everything, we have teenagers thinking they know everything, ‘kicking against the pricks’ to find some autonomy from this big ‘Father God’ in the sky and elders who think they have nothing else to learn. I know all of this well because I have been ALL of these stages, sometimes all at once and sometimes we all regress, right?

Hard Decisions, Ultimate Sacrifices

I have to decide, am I going to play the peacemaker…there is a place for that, absolutely. Or, am I going to bring the sword? The key is this: listening carefully to understand exactly what God is calling you, as the individual child, to do. Because as good as bringing the sword is and as much as we need it, you will fail if the calling and anointing isn’t bestowed upon you by God to do so.

I want to be the peacemaker. It’s easy and no one can accuse you of much. But this is not my calling.

I’m called to bring the sword.

Mistakes Inform the Individual, Though They Burn. Perpetual Darkness Consumes Entirely, Withering Away the Mind, Spirit and Body

And it scares me to death…mainly because I know and understand His power, and I don’t trust myself to adhere to the Lord enough to bring the destruction that is holy, that lays waste to what evil has planted, tills the fallow ground and plants the good. Instead I fear I’ll tear down what annoys me personally, because you can do that if you are undisciplined and unwilling to yield to His Lordship, ask Elisha:

2 Kings 2.23-24

From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!”  He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.”

This is where faith is of key importance, faith in God to step out knowing He will be there to hold us up. What’s worse, making mistakes? Or living the rest of your life in the belly of the whale? Sometimes, though pounding on the inner lining of the behemoth’s belly gets you puked up with all manner of disgustingness, at least you can breath the air and go do what God has called you to do.

Time for a thorough washing~

just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless..

Ephesians 5.26

Featured Image by Herbert Mandel, oil on canvas 1984

A New Day

On By Ashley GatewoodIn Bread & Butter MorselsLeave a comment

The dawn of 2023 is upon us, all the inhabitants of the earth. Something new is riding on the air, an anointing to shift all things. God has been listening, and I sense He is going to show up like the still small voice after the raging storm. The world isn’t going to notice at first, they can’t discern the language spoken between Christ and His Bride. He’s nudging her to awaken from her slumber and it’s going to be an interesting year prophetically.

The power of music, the joy and expression of song. Let’s take a moment to admire the marvelous talents and gifts given only to humans. I love the playfulness here. He’s not afraid of the note, the score or the melody. He inspired me today. It’s my kind of happy introvert song too: leave me alone for a moment, come see me later if you want to, and know that I need you either way, darling…

“All At Sea” performed by Jacob Collier (live at Cambridge)

The Process of Unearthing

Rummaging through the art room I dug out the digital piano. (I told you I was inspired.) I found it nice and preserved. Back in 2019 I had the privilege of taking piano lessons. I learned a great deal. Then came notice of grand jury duty, every weekday eight hours a day for the entire month of December. That beast ate my schedule. I had to drop the lessons….then along came 2020 and suffice it to say, the pursuit was abandoned.

Finding a place for it will require moving out other things, a long chain-reaction process of buried parts of myself it would seem.

Random person: What do you do for a living?

Me: I’m an archeologist.

RP: Oh wow, where’s the excavation site?

Me: My life.

RP: …

Winter is a great season to clear things out and get organized during the cold winter months. I love snowy days, everything is quiet and peaceful. It’s symbolic of the dormant phase of nature where things die off, energy is conserved and I discard what I don’t need in order to prepare for the spring growth. April babies find great joy in this process. We just tend to get distracted during the growing phase and wander off somewhere else…

Looking onward into 2023 when something is enriching to the soul, when we are curious about it and we have the opportunity to explore it, then why not take it? We need to be less perfectionistic and more exploratory; have some fun, you know? Who knows how far we can go in our calling if we allow ourselves the freedom to play and have fun~

Might as well find out. Time is short.

Putting Those Things Behind Us and Pressing Forward into the New Day

2022 will soon come to a close. Let’s take the opportunity to ‘close out’ a few other things with it, shutting the door behind us as it goes. The defeats and losses can be laid to rest satisfactorily. Perhaps in the death of those seeds, life will spring up.

“Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.”

Present your heart to God and watch Him anoint you with the fire of the Holy Spirit. The world will be changed, even if it’s quiet and simple in the beginning. Making a positive change in one person’s life changes everything for them for the rest of their life. It’s not a small thing.

“No eye has seen, and no ear has heard, nor has entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

I hope this has encouraged you in some way. Have a beautiful New Year everyone, may God bless and prosper and keep you always~