Living the Journey

Thank you so much to all those of you who completed this years Challenge!

Here is the list of those who went all the way:

Erin Bates
Jonathan Bell
Mickaiala Bellamy
Grace Benson
Lydia Borengasser
Rebekah Cook

Nekoda Cook
Lauren DeFouw
Rachel DeFouw
Hannah Dove
Rachel Dudley
Amanda Dudley
Crystal Dudley
Sarah Espineda

Hannah Espineda
Dinah Espineda
Grace Everson
Bethany Ferraro
Emily Garfat
Jayla Gillaspie
Ryan Hargett
Joanna Johnson
Matthew Johnson
Timothy Johnson
Laura Johnson
Mark Johnson
Sarah Johnson

Rachel Johnson
Elizabeth Kilpatrick
Nawon Kwon
Cynthia Larson
Hope Linton
Carolyn Lo
John McLean
Victoria Marie Morrison
Esther Olson
Katie Reeves
Christen Richardson

David Staddon
Jonathan Staddon
Daniel Staddon
Esther Staddon
Michael Staddon
Barbara J. Sutton
Bethany Vanderford
Teresa Vanderford
James Vanderford
Lydia Vanderford
Erika Wenzel
Bethany Xiques

If we missed your name, then please email us at journeytotheheart@iblp.org.

Lord willing, we hope to have your small thank you/reward to you by the end of this month!

God bless each and every one of you, and thank you for journeying with us through this special challenge!

In Christ,

The Journey Team!

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Wow, the month of January is now over, and it’s time to wrap up our challenge. What an amazing way to start off the year.  There have been priceless truths shared during these past weeks, and the scripture itself that you’ve committed to memory is the most valuable treasure of all!

To each of you who have completed, or even done a part of this challenge, we want to thank you.  It is a huge encouragement to see others who are willing to take the time and put in the effort to make God’s Word a priority in their lives!

So now that we’re done, here’s the next step.  If you have successfully memorized the chapter and quoted it to your parents, then have them let us know via email by midnight on Sunday February 5th.

They can email us at journeytotheheart@iblp.org.

After the cutoff date we will post a list of the names, and then we will be sending out a reward to those who have finished the challenge. It won’t be anything too spectacular, but we do want you to know that we appreciate your effort and accomplishment!

So email us if you have any questions, and now, begin to enjoy the new treasury of verses and truths that you’ve been given through this time!

Congratulations!

In His service,

~The Journey Office

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“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39

“OK, you’ve convinced me.”
“Naw you don’t really believe me.”
“No, I believe you!”
“No man, come on!! You still don’t believe me.”
“No I really totally do believe you, I believe you 150%!”
“No you don’t!”
“Yes I do!!”
“You do not either!”
“No, I really do!”
“No you don’t, because if you did then you’d do it!”
“I really believe you and I believe you even if I don’t do it.”
“But if you don’t do it then there’s really no way for me to know that you believe me!”
“Well I do believe you!”
“ARGGHHHHH!  Listen to me!  I will never know if you actually believe me unless you DO IT!!”
“Look, you told me that jumping off a bridge hundreds of feet in the air with a big rubber cord tied to my feet was one of the most incredible things that I could ever experience. And I believe you!”
“Sigh….No, you don’t believe me, because if you really did, you would actually jump.”

Ok, so I’m not necessarily advocating bungee jumping, but I think many of us have that exchange with God all the time, and we’re not even aware of it.
Some of us are standing on the brink of real life in Christ, and we are proclaiming with all we have that we are all in! Oh yes; we believe that these two incredible verses are true, and that God loves us, and nothing, NOTHING, NOTHING! can change that!
But, for many of us our lives proclaim a very different message.
We’re on the brink but we haven’t actually jumped.

When we are faced with different aspects of life, or pierced by the pain of death, we start to wonder. When we come up against the reality of the spiritual realm and the war that is raging, we begin to fear. When we are under authorities who are difficult, corrupt, or evil, we tend to resent. When we are in the middle of things currently happening that seem to have no reason and no hope, or when future possibilities loom ahead of us with uncertainty and possible hardship and pain, we feel doubt. When we experience the heights of success, and the depths of despair or defeat, when we’re trapped with people, or in circumstances that seem to drain all hope, when all these things happen to us, our hearts often scream “WHERE IS THE LOVE OF GOD NOW?????” while our heads, and our mouths declare, “Jesus loves me!”
We’re on the edge, and we “believe” in jumping, but we haven’t jumped.
It’s a heavy thought, to suggest that we don’t really believe that God loves us.  But here’s why this challenge may be needed.

If we jumped, if we truly, really, completely, and with everything that is in us, believed those verses, our lives would be an explosion of the power, the victory, the grace, the love, and the light of God; and this world would feel the effects of it!
When I say explosion, I truly mean it.
It sounds extreme doesn’t it?  It sounds very “out there”, and if you’re anything like me, then when you hear someone talking like this, you may be thinking thoughts like “This isn’t for me. I’m just not spiritual enough to live an explosive Christian life. This is for the Navy Seal Christians who ingest scripture and drown themselves in prayer, but I’ll never be able to be like that.”

If that’s how you think, then I just want to remind you of two things. Number one:Jesus came for sinners (Lu 5:32), and number two: He came to give them abundant life. (John 10:10) “Abundant life” that’s the explosion we’re talking about! So as long as you’re not perfect, then Jesus meant this for YOU!

Here’s where the whole explosion thought came from:
If we believe Romans 8:38-39, then what we are saying is this:

I believe that:
The Being who made wondrous planets, countless stars, and innumerable galaxies,
The Artist who made color, and created sound, brought forth music, painted the sunset,  and sculpted the mountains,
The Scientist who designed gravity, made time itself, and formed cells and organisms so small and yet incredibly complex,
The One who created the world of spirits,
The One who designed order to sustain life,
And the One who created life itself in all its mystery,
This is the One who loves me, and this is the One who says, that nothing that has been made will ever separate me from that love.

If we really believed that the God of all gods, the Ruler, the Maker, the Designer, and the Creator, loved us to that extent, don’t you think that our lives would be explosive?

When you jump off that bridge tied to a bungee cord, what you are saying is: “Ok! I believe, and I am NOT TURNING BACK!”
When you “Jump” into the fullness of life in Jesus, what you are saying is: “I am ‘persuaded’, and I am NOT TURNING BACK.”

…….So Jump.

~ Laura O.

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 “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us!”- Romans 8:37

Wow! I love this verse! If we back up to verse 35 and 36 we see that suffering is promised. Tribulation is inevitable! For indeed those who live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution! But! We can choose to glory in these trials because NOTHING can stop us from the LOVE of Jesus! From conquering our adversaries in the spirit of praise of WHO He is that has loved us! Our heart is fixed! We will not fear! We will press on! We will stand in the face of condemnation and triumph covered in the blood of Jesus! We will not back down, we will not relent, surrender is not an option we are redeemed, we are sanctified, we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS!!! As excited as all this gets me, I believe my favorite line in the above verse is not so much that we are more than conquerors, although what does that mean? That means that, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, death (to name a few!)…it cannot defeat us! In fact it can’t even touch what we have! We serve the One who has the keys of Hell and of Death in His hand and He is the Author and Finisher of our faith! But…getting back to what excites me the most is that it is through HIM that LOVED us!!!

Why would Jesus love me? Why did His Father love me more than 2,000 years before I was born and send His living Son (His ONLY son) to be slaughtered as a lamb for the sacrifice of my sin? I don’t understand that. I don’t understand His love for me in that while I was yet a sinner HE died for me! I don’t understand Him. I just worship Him because of it! I adore Him because He rescued me and secured for me a place in Heaven! His love for me is from EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING! He has never left me nor forsaken me! His thoughts for me are more than the sand on the seashore! I have been to the beach and let me tell you that is a lot of sand! He loves us! Even in our weakness, even in our shame! He loves us! Even when we spit in His face and deny His presence through our thoughts, actions and attitudes, He wipes the tears from our eyes. He weeps over our sin. He stands at the door and knocks even when I shut Him out. He picks us up when we have fallen into sin and can’t find a way out. He has sealed us and He is preparing a place for us even when we find in our hearts and conversations no room for Him.

He is beyond my comprehension. He is beyond my imagination! He has bought me with the very blood flowing through His veins and He loves me today and I will spend forever with this King of Kings and Lover of MY soul who has made me MORE than a conqueror! He has defeated the greatest trial I could ever go through and uses the trials of our faith to bring forth His perfect and loving work to make us into the image of His dear Son! Oh how I love Him! How I adore Him! Join me in Praising Him today and everyday! Do not let a day go by without reflecting and basking in this amazing love! He, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah delights in you! Delight in Him! Seek Him first! Look for Him and for the treasures of this relationship unlike any other relationship in your life and you will find them! You will see Him with a pure heart! You will stand amazed in the presence of Jesus your Redeemer and the Avenger of your faith! Hallelujah! Holy is the Lamb and Holy is the Lord God Almighty who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord in Heavenly places! May we see Him High and Lifted up! More than Conquerors!!!!

~Liz Baldwin

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“Who can seperate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: For Your sake we are  killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” -Romans 8:35-36

Jesus loves me this I think hope  know!

“How deep the Father’s love for us

How vast beyond all measure

That he  should give his only Son

And make a wretch His treasure

“Why should I gain from his reward?

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom”

A young Christian man was once confronted by his skeptical college teacher about the “love” of this God he believed in. She boldly questioned, “If your God is so loving, why is there only one way to heaven and everyone who doesn’t accept it goes to hell?” The young man thought about this and wisely responded “I don’t know why God didn’t make 10 ways to heaven, or 7… or some other number. I’m just thankful he made a way for me to get to heaven (considering the condition I was in).”* God made a way to us. We did not make a way to God. We’ve heard about it so many times that it is easy for this idea to lose its excitement and power but God’s love truly is the amazing story of the ages. God loves us so much that He initiated the process, paid the highest cost, and made a way for us to have a relationship with Him on earth and spend eternity with Him.

Paul asks what can separate us from this love. Can tribulation (which can literally mean pressure), or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  It has been said that God takes us to the top of a hill to look into the distance and see the awesome vision He has for us, then He leads us down through the valley to mold us into that vision. It is in the valley that many fall away. It is in the hard times that we feel forgotten and even abandoned by God. But these verses remind us that absolutely nothing can separate us from His love. Often the reason that we fail to recognize His love in the trials of life is because we have a false perception of success. Success is not achieving things that make me money, make me laugh, or make me famous.  Success is achieved when my character is made more like Christ’s (Col. 1:28), when I make disciples (Matt. 28:19-20), and when I bear fruit that will last (John 15:16). These are the things that bring true joy and it is through the deepest love that God refines us and helps us achieve these.  It is in this light that we should evaluate the shadows of our valleys. When we understand true success, we position ourselves to be able to understand true love.

Years ago, there was a Christian in Communist China who was arrested for his faith and thrown into prison. He was placed in solitary confinement with little food for 12 months. This man survived these harshest of circumstances but when he was released he could barely walk and even the sunlight hurt his eyes. People asked him “what was it like for you in there?” He softly smiled and replied, “It was like being on a honeymoon with Jesus!” God’s love will always be there for us no matter how trying the circumstance!

God loves me so much that he wanted to be my Father! He wants a personal, daily relationship with me – right now in 2012! The realization of what this deep, personal love really is can means the difference between working for Jesus or working with Him. It means the difference between doing things to make myself more “Godly” vs. doing things because I am God’s. It means the difference between doing good things to ease my conscience and try to earn a better standing with Him vs. doing “everything as unto the Lord” because I know how much He loves me, I want my daily actions to be pleasing in his sight, and I know His plan for me is the most rewarding.

Sometime back in the mid-1900s, there lived a young man in the sparsely-populated woods of northern Michigan. He had an older brother whom he dearly loved. One day, the young man’s “hero” was summoned to the army and went away to war. He was tragically killed and never returned. The young man was devastated. In reality he would never see his brother again and yet he could not accept this – his “hero” would return some day he told himself. The boy would eagerly walk to the train tracks and wait, expectantly watching the horizon for the first glimpse of his brother coming home. He made this trip for over 12 years, waiting there day after day but never saw his brother again! As sad as this story is, it helps us realize the joy of God’s love – because it’s just the opposite! This young man would never again be united with his brother, we can never be separated from God’s love! The young man’s brother would never return, God’s love will never leave! But because this young man could not comprehend the fact that his brother was really gone, he did not live in the reality of his true circumstances and this defined his life for over 12 years. May we live in the full reality of the true greatness of God’s love! Someone once said, “I don’t have hold of God’s promises, God’s promises have hold of me.” His great love is one of those promises!

~Brent

 *not a direct quote

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“Who is he that condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen. Who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” – Romans 8:34

“Who is he that condemns?”  A beautiful picture of this is the woman caught in adultery. Surrounded by her accusers  before Jesus, she must feel overwhelmed by judgment and condemnation. Then with a simple question, she and Jesus are all alone. Now the question in her mind must be, “Will this man also accuse and condemn me?”  She  knows she is guilty  according to the law, but this man does not condemn her! He sends her with a mandate, “Go and sin no more.”

When all the accusers have left  and we are all alone with Christ, who is it that condemns? Jesus has every right, but He settled that question when He took upon Himself the sin of the whole world. He defeated sin, rose from the grave, and is sitting at the right hand of God. Yes, if anyone has the right to condemn us Jesus does. What does He do, though? In the climax of the moment when our judgment should be death? He forgives.

Now who is left to condemn?  The accusers, who have sin themselves, cannot cast the stone. Jesus, who has every right, forgives us. Shouldn’t we be rejoicing, embracing this forgiveness and walking in it? Though this is true, sadly there is one more condemner with a voice sometimes louder than all the rest, ourselves.

We are forgiven, but doubt, shame, and pity, put upon by ourselves do not allow us to walk in the truth of that forgiveness.  We let self rise up and completely overwhelm our soul. We become weighted down and become completely occupied with ourselves. Andrew Murray puts it this way:

“It is the sinner dwelling in the full light of God’s holy redeeming love in the experience of that full indwelling of divine love, which comes through Christ and the Holy Spirit-who cannot be anything but humble. Not to be occupied with your sin, but to be occupied with God, brings deliverance from self.”

When Jesus gives the mandate to the woman caught in adultery to, “sin no more.” He then addresses the crowd saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

How do we become completely free from the last condemner, ourselves? Go and be “occupied” with God.

~Abby Swanson

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