Training Camp.
It always gets me.
It never fails to move me to tears and a place of deep gratitude in awe of how far the Lord has brought me these past five years. At this past training camp, the beginning of June, I had the privilege of working with V-squad to train and prepare them for the World Race and this journey the Lord has in store for them over the next year.
As I was serving, I could not help but reflect back on my own experience at my very first training camp with Adventures in Missions back in May of 2012. I was about to embark on the World Race and I had no clue what I was getting myself into. I remember driving up that dirt road completely unaware of the mark those 7 days would leave on my life. My eyes were opened to a whole new realm I never knew existed. I realized that the Holy Spirit was indeed alive and active and living inside each one of us. To be honest, it was all so overwhelming. How had I missed this? It was unlike anything I had ever seen or experienced before. Did God really speak to us? Could we actually feel the Holy Spirit and be in God’s presence all the time? Was it possible that healings were real? Did people still prophecy? Did supernatural miracles still happen and was God using ordinary people, people like me, to participate in it all?
How many years had the power of the Holy Spirit been laying dormant in my very soul? How long had I heard and read of the Holy Spirit, but never truly knew Him? How in the world had I been missing out on this abundant, spirit filled life?
These were just some of the questions I asked during that year of my life on the World Race. I discovered more about the Holy Spirit and true freedom in those 11 months than I had in the span of my whole life growing up in church. This is not to blame or discredit the church, but to motivate and activate Spirit filled believers to get IN THE CHURCH and give away what you have been given in the Spirit. We must teach others about this life with Holy Spirit. It’s the greatest gift we can give the next generation. They need to know that God IS alive and He wants to use us to bring Kingdom to earth! THAT is what it’s all about!
“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” – John 16:13
What are we teaching if not the Holy Spirit? How are we to lead others into truth if we ourselves are not following and listening to the spirit and giving AWAY what He has imparted to us?
I am forever changed because others who have gone before me chose to give away what they have been given. They chose to believe the power of the Holy Spirit. They chose to obey. They chose to trust. They chose to live without fear of man and be bold witnesses of Jesus Christ. They lived in close communion with the Father through the Holy Spirit and I knew that’s what I wanted in my life too. I had been a believer for 18 years by the time I went on the World Race. For three years prior to that I had been plagued by the feeling that I was missing something. This couldn’t be all there was to the “abundant life” I had heard of. I knew Jesus, loved the Word, and was extremely active in ministry and my local community. I went on mission trips several times a year and still often felt unsatisfied.
I didn’t KNOW the Holy Spirit. He wasn’t a friend like He is now. The Holy Spirit is a close confidant who connects me to the Father. Jesus spoke of this kind of overflow in John 4:13-14 as He prophesied to the woman at the well, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
He spoke of the Holy Spirit who the Father would give to abide with us forever.
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor known Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” – John 14:16-17
Now, nine training camps, four squads, and hundreds of World Racers later I am still being moved by it all. I am so blessed to be a part of it and every time I see new racers embarking on this journey, I get excited about what’s to come. It’s not because of the World Race program, it’s because the Holy Spirit is coming alive in their hearts because they are saying “YES” to Him.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believe in Me, the worlds that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” – John 14:12
Jesus believes in us because He believes in His Father. He has empowered us to not only continue His work, but to do even greater works than He did.
Take a second. Let that sink in.
I am nowhere near perfect. I don’t have it all together. I definitely make mistakes, get complacent, lose focus, and fight to stay connected with the Father at times, but He still uses me. I can’t understand it. I can’t make sense of it, but He still loves me and pursues me. He calls me out of my comfort and asks me to trust Him. He beckons me to “fear not” and follow Him with wild faith and obedience. All I have to do is say, “YES“. I’m so glad I didn’t stop when I got a little freaked out. I’m so glad I didn’t give up when I didn’t have all the answers. I’m glad I kept pursuing more even when I was uncomfortable and felt way out of my league. It has been worth every adventure filled second.
Life with Holy Spirit is anything but boring.
Will you say yes to His invitation?
It will change your life forever.
