Living the Journey

If you wanted a walking definition of a “good kid” it was me. I grew up in a Christian home, asked Jesus to come into my heart when I was 7, and went to Church twice a week. However, something was missing in my life! Reading my Bible was a struggle and giving in to peer pressure was not something new. The only difference between me and my friends was that they were cold and I was lukewarm. Something needed to change and I knew it.

That is when I decided to go on a Journey to the Heart. This was the best decision I have ever made. It was a “launching pad” and the real beginning of my walk with God. I rededicated my life to Him and gave Him the next 10 years to do whatever He wanted with it. The small coal of my spirit was alive and the next couple months proved this as I encountered major struggles and the devil threw all the fiery darts he could find at me.

At this point, my relationship with God can be summed up in John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” Loving God is the only thing that matters. This is a simple applicable truth that I am and will continue to apply on a day to day basis for the rest my life.

~ Philip
July 2007 Guys’ Journey

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Landon just returned from a Journey to the Heart, where he enjoyed a refreshing week of drawing closer to the Lord and seeking His will for future ministry.

Landon has always had a love for broadcasting and for many years wanted to have a television station. However, he began to feel that the Lord was not leading in this direction. Completely surrendering this desire to the Lord, he purposed to seek God’s Kingdom first, even if it meant never seeing his dream come to fruition.

Soon afterward, the Lord surprisingly opened up an opportunity for Landon to work at an FM radio station. He saw firsthand how it would be possible to run a radio station with just a few people and began seeking the Lord’s will as to whether this might be a possibility for ministry.

Through a miraculous series of events, God provided a large and unique library of melodious music! He also provided a team of quality people to help set up the station. Their goal has been to bless each listener by providing them with melodious music that clearly glorifies to the Lord.

Unlike most radio stations these days that play “Christian” music, InBalanceMusic plays only music that is balanced and orderly. It broadcasts around the world twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, through the Internet at InBalanceMusic.org. Tune in and enjoy!

InBalanceMusic.org

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In my last post, I wrote on how the Lord had cleansed me from worldly music. He did. However, it was only another step through the door of true understanding. Although there was a new found resolve in my heart from the vow I made to the Lord, I felt as though I was still putting forth most of the effort in every area of my life and spiritual maturity.

It was like a shadow on the wall of my heart. No matter where I went, I couldn’t get away from it, and trying to wipe a shadow from a wall doesn’t work. This shadow was not specific unconfessed sins, but rather the core of who I was illuminated by God’s Word. Stopping the Light of God from purifying me completely, this darkness of self led me into deeper and deeper misery.

In my outward life, things were actually going the best they ever had. The Lord had cleansed me from a stronghold, I was striving for righteousness, and I felt confident that I was doing what the Lord wanted me to do. But there was still the shadow. When I wouldn’t get up for devotions, a sweep of hate would fall upon me—a hatred of myself. I wanted to kill myself. “Either Christianity is miserable or it isn’t real.” That is where my thoughts often directed themselves. When the ever-looming fact of my inadequacy to please God would continue to present itself, I would continue to run back to what I believed, to what I had done to prove that I was God’s child.

Truly, everything good is the work of the Lord. It comes only from His mighty grace which flows from His heart of love—the Life of Jesus. In my pathetic state of strong-willed iniquity, God still sought me. The Lord kept knocking—calling to me tenderly. All He wanted me to do was open the door, see who I really was, confess my absolute inadequacy, and let Him and His goodness fully into my heart.

O how we are blessed with a God that pursues us diligently! On my knees—powerless, hopeless, and defeated—I opened the door. When the genuinely evil motives of my self-righteous heart were revealed, God poured down His grace from heaven and glory filled my soul.

At first I felt no different, but knowledge of the truth of His Word in my heart grew. By that night I couldn’t sleep for the joy that was burning in me. In the morning, when the pure excitement of true salvation began to sink in, I noticed something else. No shadow. I had it all backwards. This was never my own journey to my heart. It was God’s journey to my heart! And now, “It is finished.” He has won and cleansed me. I am His. And now the journey of Christ in me, which I knew nothing about, begins.

~ Tim
June 2008 Guys’ Journey

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When I learned that the laying on of hands was for every believer (see Hebrews 6:1-2), I was very excited and asked if I could have this done for me! In May, several elders and my dad laid their hands on me, anointed me with oil, and prayed that the Lord would make me a laborer in His harvest field and that I would lead many to Christ. I had no idea how this would change my life!

In II Timothy 1:6 we read, “Stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.” The next verse explains the powerful gift of God that comes through the laying on of hands, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

Fear had hindered me from many spiritual blessings, especially the blessing of witnessing to others. I would give out tracts but when it came to explaining the gospel I was disabled by fear.

Since receiving the laying on of hands, I have had a greater level of boldness and liberty to witness to others. In Acts 4:25 we read, “And now Lord, grant unto thy servant that with all boldness they may speak thy word.”

The Lord has opened many doors for me to boldly share the gospel. Wherever I go, there are hurting people that need to know the good news.

We were at a friend’s house and there was a girl that came who was having some health problems and was thinking a lot about eternity. The Lord prompted me to pray for her and to share the gospel with her.

The Lord gave me His boldness to ask her questions about what she thought she needed to do to go to heaven. She said, “If I tried really hard to obey the Bible and not to sin then I will be able to make it to heaven.” I then was able show her in Ephesians 2:8-9 that salvation is a free gift, “Not of works least any man should boast.” I shared that it is through Jesus that our sins our forgiven—not through our good works.

She broke down and wept and prayed to receive the free gift of salvation. She asked Jesus Christ to be her Lord and take “first place” in her life.

She thanked me over and over again and said, “I never understood until you explained it to me.” She went and told a lot of people what God just did in her life. She was full of joy and I was too, because I knew it was the Lord that did the work in her life.

I am so grateful to the Lord for removing my fear and replacing it with His boldness.

~ Priscilla
May 2008 Journey Guide

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The first evening of my Journey, I sat down with my Bible to read.  For the past few months, I had been reading a couple of chapters from Psalms each day and highlighting a verse or passage that stuck out to me.

The Psalm for that day was number 49, and God knew that was exactly the chapter that I needed to read.  I had been convicted a few months ago that the thing hindering me from having a “ten” rating in my relationship with God was fear, especially the fear that my brothers might follow in my cousin’s footsteps and make similar mistakes, and thereby sacrifice the wonderful God-given potential that they could otherwise have had in God’s service. Because of that fear, I found myself reacting harshly to my brothers and having a very difficult time loving them as my Lord desired me to. I had surrendered my fears to God and given my brothers to Him in prayer a number of times before, but it was still laying as a heavy burden on my heart.

As I began reading, it was as if I had been reading it for the first time. Portions of the chapter seem to leap off of the page and my eyes filled with tears. “Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil…?,” Psalm 49 said, “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:) … But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.  Be not thou afraid…”

After this new reminder that He was so lovingly looking over those who are so dear to me, I could again freely surrender all of my fears to Him, and trust Him with the future, because I know that He has a bigger purpose in mind than what I can see, and that He will work all things together for good!!

Since coming home, although at times it is still a struggle, I have had a greater freedom to love my brothers and treat them in a Christ-like manner.  I am truly thankful to God for each one of the eight younger brothers that He has blessed me with, and, through God’s grace, I am looking forward to continuing to improve my relationship with each one of them!

I am so very thankful to God for allowing me to have the privilege of going on my Journey to the Heart!!

~  Sarah, II Timothy 2:20-21
June 2008 Girls Journey

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As I came away from this Journey to the Heart, I was a little worried. I didn’t feel a whole lot different than when I had gone.  Had I just wasted a week and a half of my life?  Was I really too far gone to be responsive to the Lord?  Sure, I had asked for anointing, but was that because everyone else was doing it?  But now, two days after coming home, I do indeed see what God has done in me.

First, God healed my thought life.  I hadn’t noticed the change, because I simply wasn’t thinking the thoughts I had been struggling with.  They had disappeared so completely that I forgot that they even existed in the first place.

Second, a desire to meditate and study came over me, and a sense of the futility of the pleasures of this world.  The company I work for hosts a picnic with all sorts of games every July.  But this year, as I wandered around, I felt the emptiness of it all.  I felt extremely bored and wished I had brought my Bible so I could study it.

Third, I am really excited about the work of God and His people.  I want to get involved in an even deeper way than before.  I want to have good Christian fellowship every day.  I enjoy discussing God’s Word and His Work with fellow believers.

I wish that all of my friends would go on a Journey.  I am eager to go again and see how much deeper I can dive into God’s Word.  But in the mean while, I will keep meditating.  This Journey was a springboard for me, and I intend to keep growing.

~ Allen
July 2008 Guys’ Journey

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