Living the Journey

Enjoy listening in as the Wilkes brothers recount all that the Lord taught them on their recent Life Focus Journey to the Heart!

Matthew:

I went to Northwoods not sure what to expect on a Journey to the Heart. I had heard testimonies; but what was my experience of it going to be?  While going through the each day, the Lord deeply encouraged me with particular passages of scripture that gave new purpose and, in addition, forged a deeper desire to study and apply Christ’s commands.

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Joshua:

Through embarking upon this Journey, I recognized anew the fruit that results from coming apart to rest a while. (See Mark 6:31.) The usual busyness to which we subject ourselves provides a natural tendency to overlook the needful thing of sitting at the feet of Jesus. For almost an entire week, the team reaped unspeakable joy (see I Peter 1:8) that comes through searching our hearts, acknowledging failure, meditating upon God’s Word, and partaking in one-accord prayer. I returned with a renewed vision, powerful tools, and the life changing principle of Psalms 119:165, “Great peace have they which love Thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”

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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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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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It is so vital to stay in the Word daily and to meditate on Scripture…not just read, but meditate. I’ve been talking to my dad a lot and he’s been keeping me accountable. It is amazing how much freedom one gains when they surrender areas of their life that they do not want anyone to know about. Those secret sins are what keep people in bondage. Even those who are Christians who do not surrender to authority will remain in bondage to sin.

I’ve grown up in ATI and have heard the message spoken about how important it is to surrender to your authorities on several occasions, but refused to let the Lord use it in my life. I thought I could make it through on my own without my parents. I always told myself, “It’s just me and God…just trust in Him.” Satan wanted me to believe I was all alone and that I should not trust the authority of my parents because it would make me look like a horrible sinner, which is exactly what I am anyway. Satan had me believing that I could break the habits on my own. I truly thought I could separate myself from my sin without assistance, yet the whole time I was falling deeper and deeper into more sin.

But I forgot the rest of the puzzle that God commands of us, so no matter what I did or said the sin weighed even more heavily on my soul. The last piece is complete surrender to Godly authority. In Romans 6 Paul said, “What shall we say then, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” I understood this with my mind, but not in my heart, and therefore could not apply it to my life. But now, in freedom from sin because I am under the authority of my parents, I have the freedom to live in the grace that God provided.

~ Drew
June 2008 Guys Journey

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I came on the Journey not really knowing if I had anything major that God could take care of. I couldn’t recall any sins that I’d kept secret from my parents, so I thought these ten days were going to be a lot of little changes and give me a hunger for God’s Word. The first few days of the Journey, I found myself having a love for God’s Word like I’d never had before. The day of delighting in the Lord came and I felt like something was missing that God was convicting me of, but I still could not see entirely.

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~ Camara
June 2008 Girls’ Journey

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I planned to go to the Journey in November but God had other plans. He provided a free plane ticket and sent me in March instead. When I started planning to go on the Journey I asked God to prepare my heart to meet Him. He brought to mind some things that should have long been confessed to my parents and helped me to take care of them before I went. I was really doing great, I felt free, like, there was nothing between me and God. Well…I was in for a surprise.

The Lord showed me many things during the week of the Journey that I needed to deal with. I loved each morning and the three hours we had to spend with God uninterrupted. The only down side was not having that much time when I returned home, I felt like I was starving. The Lord is still working in my life and I feel I have never had such a relationship with Him. I prayed with my team for some specific things, God has far surpassed my prayers for what He would do. Praise God!

~ Hannah, Gal. 2:20
March 2008 Girls’ Journey

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