I didn’t have any real sense of God’s power. I didn’t read the Bible very much and strongly doubted its infallibility. Dabbles in systematic theology and Christian philosophy had left me cynical toward Christianity—God wasn’t a power in my life, merely something to be put into a logic formula or defined by a set of verses.
At the Journey to the Heart, away from all the noise and distraction of the world, I began to see God’s power through the individuals around me. They could pray with such power! Speaking blessings to each other and crying out to God had real meaning! At first I thought it was showy, extravagant zeal—as if like the priests of Baal, we were dancing and cutting ourselves on an altar for a god who wouldn’t really work the way we asked him to.
But when our group started to talk about secret sins and several of my teammates gave testimonies about how freeing it was to talk to their parents about their struggles, I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit and called my father to repent of something I had hid from him for three years. The freedom I felt was amazing! I couldn’t describe it, yet it was so real.
The next day our team got with another team to pray for a young man who felt he needed to call his parents concerning a secret sin. As we prayed together in one accord, I felt God’s Spirit pour out grace, humility, and strength, not only on the young man in the center of our circle but on all of us. I began to cry as I realized what I had been missing: God was real!
Over the next few days the Word of God became living to me. I now understand how easy it is to trust God: His Word explains the world better than any human reasoning and gives our lives principles to live by that are so true and cannot be found elsewhere.
I am so thankful for the opportunity to discover the power of the God of my Salvation at this journey!
~ Tim
August 2008 Guys Journey
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September 11th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Praise the Lord, Tim! Sadly, a lot of NCFCAers are in the same boat you were in…I just wish they could all hear your testimony and experience the power of God, too!
~Joy
September 12th, 2008 at 3:34 am
Amen…what an awesome testimony of the power of God’s presence. I too have sensed His presence there in an amazing way as groups of young men would gather together in a circle of prayer on the behalf of another brother. May we daily sense His presence in our prayer life as you all did on that Journey.
September 21st, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Thank the Lord for true Salvation! He comes and gives us His goodness in ways hard to express. This is a work only of God Himself. Hold on to this experience and make it new every day. The devil will try to make you go back, but praise be to God He gives us the power in the Holy Spirit to stay faithful to Him! Blessed be the name of the Lord, and peace to you, brother Tim, in Christ Jesus.