Hi y’all camp is coming to a close and it is about time for us to launch into the field! This last week was full of wonderful and bitter sweet moments. We experienced the highs of many great teachings and team building activities such as squad wars. However we also faced lots of challenges like eating and using porta johns outside in freezing temps, half of the folks on base getting very sick and even one of our alumni racers being admitted to the ICU. All of these ups and downs has given us plenty of reasons to praise God and also surrender completely to Him. He is already showing how faithful He is and all the ways that He will be protecting and providing for us while we are out in the field. All of the other squads have left the World Race base here in Gainesville GA and have made their way to their first stops. We will be leaving Monday around 5PM and head to Houston where we will then be flying to Guatemala! In Guatemala we will be partnering with a ministry called Give to Give where we will be doing manual labor and home visits/street evangelism in the surrounding towns. I am very excited to serve this ministry and also see what the Lord is going to do through us as we go on our home visits. During these home visits we will be able to pray over the locals for physical and spiritual healing as well as encourage the locals in their faith.
Another cool experience this week was a teaching that we received about the Kingdom of God. In Matthew 4:17 we hear Jesus begin to preach for the first time and he says “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In this teaching we first focused on what the word repent or metanoia in greek meant. Metanoia can be broken down into two words meta or change and noia or mind so it literally translates in english to change mind. Therefore we can conclude that when we repent we are in essence changing our mind to be like Christ. Next in the verse Jesus tells us why we must repent, He says to do this because the kingdom of Heaven is near. To some this may sound scary or like we should repent because the world is about to end. However I do not think that is what Jesus meant. In Luke 12:31 we are told to seek the kingdom and that in doing so our earthly needs will be met. This leads me to believe that the kingdom is a gift and something that exists here on earth now and that we should seek to be part of it and tap into the authority given to us by being apart of the kingdom. That is why Jesus states the kingdom of heaven is near, not because the world is ending but because He came back to earth bearing the kingdom on His shoulders as is prophesied in Isaiah 9:6.
So knowing that Jesus came to earth bearing the kingdom on His shoulders and that we are members of His kingdom we must continually renew our mind to be like Him in our every thought and in doing so have access to the resources that exist in heaven for us. Furthermore when Jesus ascended to Heaven we received the Holy Spirit in us as the Bible refers to as “the helper”. This is further proof that we have access to the power and authority that Jesus had while He was on earth as Luke 17:20-21 says “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you”. So we can conclude that the Holy Spirit and the gifts that accompany it quite literally reside inside of us when we invite the Holy Spirit into our lives just the same way that Jesus activated them while He was on earth. We have the authority to heal and cast out demons in the same way that Jesus did. This is not a salvation issue as many believers will live their whole lives never activating these gifts and still be saved. But I want to experience the fullness of God not a partiality of the gospel. I am very excited to be used in this way and to encourage and educate other believers that they too can be used as a vessel for the Holy Spirit.
Be blessed and know that God wants to use you too!
