Mar 31, 2016
This past weekend I was able to go to a Women’s Conference. The theme of the conference was “Take your Jericho”. The Keynote speaker shared stories from her own experiences and testimony to demonstrate her points. The passage she shared from was Joshua 6-8; the Israelites had to keep walking and trusting God even when they were tired and wanted to give up. They wouldn’t have defeated Jericho after only six times around the wall, they had to walk the seventh time around. There are many times when I’ve wanted to give up the battle and go the easy way. How can we keep from the discouragement that causes us to give up?
The speaker shared three ways for us to fight our battle. The one I want to point out is the second one because it is the most important to me at this time. Self-confidence is a big way that causes us to lose our battles. In Joshua 7, Joshua is ready to fight another battle after watching God defeat Jericho before them. He doesn’t realize God isn’t with them anymore because of disobedience in their camp. They go up to battle against the smaller army of Ai and are defeated. Then Joshua falls on his knees and cries out to God.
Suddenly I realize I am like this so often. I go forward confident that I can do it and I will come through okay. Only to fall on my knees, moments later in complete defeat.
God commands Joshua to get up and cleanse the sin from their midst, only then will they have victory. It’s the areas where I am disobeying the command of God, that cause me to fall in defeat, but when I come before God asking Him to show me my sin and cleanse me from it, I then can go forward in His strength.
And the Israelites attacked again the city of Ai and this time they defeated it because they obeyed the command of God. It’s in obedience and humility that the toughest battles are won.
—School of Discipleship student
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Mar 30, 2016
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jer. 29:13
“Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.” Isa. 26:8-9
This past month God has been teaching me what it really means to seek after Him, not for what I can gain but for Him alone.
So often the time I spend with God each day is only to bring to Him all of my wants and needs.
Yes, God desires to meet my needs and hear about my struggles but he also longs for true fellowship with me.
God wants to share His heart with me. Just as He knows my thoughts, desires, hopes, and dreams, He also wants to reveal to me who He really is.
A truly close and intimate relationship is one in which both people involved are willing to give of themselves, holding nothing back from each other.
If I am only concerned with my own wants and need I will never fully experience a close fellowship with Jesus.
I must be willing to humble enter into His presence and just be still before Him allowing Him to speak to my heart. My whole being should be devoted to knowing all that He is and what He desires for me to be.
To pursue means to strive to gain; seek to attain or accomplish a goal.
“God, teach me how to pursue You and You alone with my whole heart and life. Let my only goal be to seek your presence.”
May the following words become my desire as I learn to follow after Christ
Strip everything away till all I have is You
Undo the veils till all I see is You
I will pursue You
I will Pursue Your presence
I’m pressing in to You
so do not pass me by
I’m breaking through the boundaries
I will not be denied.
Open my eyes, search me inside
I can’t live without Your presence
—Pursuit by Daniel Bashta
—School of Discipleship student
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Mar 28, 2016
Just a few weeks ago, I heard the song of a robin for the first time this year and I saw new life beginning to poke out of the ground. It just amazes me how God created His masterpiece so perfectly. How is it that plants, know when it is safe to poke their little heads out of the earth, or hibernating animals know when to wake up from their winter sleep? Or, how about the thought: of how birds know when it is time to come to their summer home.
Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.”
Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind-livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened.
God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.
—Genesis 1: 20, 24-25
As I ponder this season of new life I also can’t help but be in awe of the New Life we are offered through the suffering of our Lord and Saviour. How precious this gift is and how He delights to give it to His children.
Let’s embrace this promise given to us!
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly.”
—John 10:10
—School of Discipleship student
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Mar 26, 2016
Today, as I was praying, God reminded me of a phrase that was once quite special to me. The phrase is “a man after God’s own heart.” In my early teens, I spent a lot of time reading the books of Samuel and Kings. At the time I was looking for insights about faith and how people were demonstrating faith. I didn’t really understand faith so I ended up reading these books over and over and I became very familiar with the stories. It was at this time that this phrase began meaning a lot to me.
In my early twenties God brought me to a place where I spent a lot of time in the gospels and the teachings of Jesus. This concept of being a man after God’s own heart was kind of placed on the back burner for a time. Now God is bringing the two concepts together for me.
In class we have been learning about having a radical Christian lifestyle. A lifestyle in which we renounce and hate everything, that would keep us from pursuing our Father with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It is a lifestyle where we renounce everything as we pursue Christ.
What is it that enables us to do these things? How do we get from knowing that these are the right things to do to the place where we are able to do it? This is where I see being a man after God’s own heart fitting in. It is when we have that heart that we are able to pursue Christ radically without worrying about what others will think.
What does it mean to have a heart after God? I believe it means to be absolutely controlled by the Spirit of God. When we are totally yielded to His Spirit, we can live the radical life. The life and love of God will flow out of us. It will no longer be a standard that we are attempting to attain to but it will be a lifestyle that naturally flows out from the Spirit within us. This is having a heart after God. This is being a radical disciple. The life controlled by the Spirit is the life of True Discipleship.
—School of Discipleship student
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Mar 25, 2016
“For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for his sake.” Philippians 1:29
What a blessing to have studied the book of Philippians and “The Calvary Road” in class the past couple weeks. I certainly feel like I have a greater understanding of suffering and the glories thereof. Time and time again the Holy Spirit has brought me to a place of sweet brokenness, as I am reminded of my Lord Jesus Christ hanging on a cross for me. It remains a mystery to me that God would go about bringing redemption to the world, through the ultimate sacrifice, our Lord Jesus Christ. Seeing as though I will never figure out God or His ways with my mortal mind, I am coming to a place of acceptance and faith realizing that in suffering is a hidden fellowship with God that will not be experienced in any other manner. O WHAT GLORY! WORTHY IS THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN!
—School of Discipleship student
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This past weekend I was able to go to a Women’s Conference. The theme of the conference was “Take your Jericho”. The Keynote speaker shared stories from her own experiences and testimony to demonstrate her points. The passage she shared from was Joshua 6-8; the Israelites had to keep walking and trusting God even when they were tired and wanted to give up. They wouldn’t have defeated Jericho after only six times around the wall, they had to walk the seventh time around. There are many times when I’ve wanted to give up the battle and go the easy way. How can we keep from the discouragement that causes us to give up?
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