Week 1, Introduction

Okay, wow! This lady is amazing. Next time we meet, I'll ask her if it's okay to pass on her testimony. God is SO GOOD!!

Our 8 week study is entitled Living Life God's Way by Dennis Peacocke. Sandy says it's a great foundation of why their church believes the things they do and it will also give me a good understanding of spiritual gifts (since later, we will discover what mine is and have me use it). I will listen to 1 CD per week and then anwser questions in a work book. This week's title is Introduction: Inheriting God's Heart.

I have listened to the CD for this week already, and I wish SO bad that I could type out the ENTIRE thing. It was amazing, to say the least. Here are a few keys points that grabbed my heart:

1. Christ was free, unlike many 20th century Christians, to relate to the common person with conviction and authenticity. Our message must be relevant to the person on the street and in the office building, founded on truth. Religious unreality, that binds Christians into irrelevancy, must be broken.

2. Living life God's way is about giving you the ability to move through life with a plan and a vision that is on the offense. The Church is not a group of victims, but rather rulers set free by the Truth. Matthew 16:18 says, "And I tell you that you are Peter and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it." Gates are defensive, and we are warriors for Christ!!!

3. Hebrews 5:11-14 says, "We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not aquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by patience have trained themselves to discern good from evil." The key here is that the mature have TRAINED themselves. Living a victorious life is about practicing the Word of God and having someone, who knows how to make it work, train you. Many people who KNOW God's heart and aren't practicing it are still infant Christians!! This passage and explanation was tough to swallow, but life-changing.

4. On that note,1 John 5:3 says, "This is love: to obey God's commands. And his commands are not grievous." Yet, God's Word is so hard to keep! However, the more you practice a skill, the more it becomes second-nature or like a reflex. Truth that becomes a reflex makes life easy.

5. The positive outlook on pain is that it's a stimulant for growth (it is the sand in the oyster that produces the pearl). These pains force us to grow up, so the Father allows pain to grow us up.

6. "The joy of the Lord is my strength" = what makes God happy makes me strong.

All of his points seem random, but that's because they are (as I wrote them). His message tied together beautifully, I promise!! Have a good week! I'll keep ya updated :)

2009 discipleship

In my life, there is so much to be thankful for and look forward to in 2009. The most important one of all is spiritual growth.

Lately, I have grown closer to my aunt Celia and spiritual conversations have arose. Her church, Grace Fellowship of Augusta, is much different the Kiokee Baptist, so our talks have always been long and deep. I would carefully say that they are more Spirit-led and Kiokee is more knowledge-led, and both are Biblical. My desire is to find truth in both, because so far, each church finds fault with the other in certain areas.

I got saved at the age of 12 and raised up in Grace Baptist Church (different from Grace Fellowship). All of my spiritual growth came from Kiokee... however, because I was 18 at the time I joined Kiokee, I was thrown (not unwillingly, of course) into a leadership position and soon started feeling like I have missed out on the receiving end of discipleship. Not only do I desire to be poured into, but I have an immense amount of questions and searching that I want to do with someone at my side. Because I'm not married yet, it is only appropriate to do the deep, intimiate searching with another woman (preferably an older one). I expressed all of this to my aunt and she was so excited to hear it because she has been praying I would desire this!! After much prayer and consideration, I decided to ask my aunt's best friend, Sandy, who is an AMAZING woman of God, to say the least. Sandy replied by saying she has been asking the Lord to bring her a girl to disciple!! WOW!!

Our first meeting is this Friday for lunch. She likes meeting in public places so that we can pray the Lord will allow us an opportunity to share the gospel with people around us. I cannot barely contain myself, thinking that I will be studying the Word with a more knowledgable woman who will help me through my confusions, struggles, and pain! I will be posting revelations that I'm coming to. Oh yeah, that's Sandy and her family in the pic!!

Matthew 28:19: "Therefore go, and make disciples of every nation..."