Today in Quiet Time we reflected on a song written by a friend of another YWAM DTS student, about God's heart, and love for us. I enjoyed reading Isaiah 44, especially verses 22-23:
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud
and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you.Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it;
shout, O depths of the earth;
break forth into singing, O mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
and will be glorified in Israel.
He had already "blotted out your transgressions" - removed all our failings and failures and rejection of Him, but in the Old Testament - but through what Jesus did on the cross in the New Testament!
Our teaching on Grace today was absolutely fantastic. I took about 6 pages of notes! And here they all are......ok, maybe not, but here is a taste:
We started off by being given a quote by District Bonhoeffer regarding Grace, and how the life which springs from Grace is Discipleship, and Discipleship is grace.
Then we moved on to seeing how the enemy has kept using the same attack through history - attacking our identity. In Genesis 1 we are told God created man in his image. In Genesis 3 we see the serpent telling the man he would be like God if he ate the fruit. But he was already like God - made in His image. The same thing happened when Jesus went in to the desert - Satan went to him and said "If you are the Son of God, then...." and tempted Him with all sorts of temptations. But just a few days previously, God had declared at the baptism of Jesus that He was God's son, so Jesus didn't need to prove it with the temptations Satan presented Him with.
The teacher also talked about how many of the problems in our lives are because we are not focused correctly: if we focus on ourselves, then we are focusing in the wrong place. Only God can satisfy the deep needs of our lives, and so we need to focus on Him.
We also looked at God's will for our lives again: if we give God our hearts, we will automatically move in His will!
Additionally we reviewed the thought that the world says our identity is found in what we do, but God says our identity is found in who we are (in Him), which will lead on to what we do. Then the teacher quoted himself: "There is no greater threat to the Kingdom of Darkness than believers who know who they are".
We also got another definition of discipleship: "Learning to live consistently with who you already are in Christ".
A great bit of the teaching today came with the revelation that the "spiritual disciplines" - fasting, prayer, Bible reading etc, are not to make us more holy, as we are already 100% holy in the eyes of God - they are to remind us of the fact of our holiness, if we are in Christ.
That was just a selection from the first three pages! There was plenty more after that too, but let's just say: I really enjoyed today's teaching, and it just made me so glad to be here, once again. To really grasp Grace, and the fact that God sees us in the light of Jesus, and His perfection, is just so liberating and life changing. It gives us hope: we don't need to struggle with religion or ritual to be made acceptable to God. He makes us acceptable through his gift of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, which completely removes our sins from history.
Our Wednesday prayer session today was for the home countries of the STS staff and students, so all of the English people (all five of us!) got together and prayed for various aspects of life here in England. This was a great time of prayer. Following this we took part in our usual Community Care activities.
Then came the next meeting to discuss our outreach. We have now been told a bit more about what we will be doing in India, and where exactly we will be going. Most of out time will be spent in the region of Tamil Nadu, specifically Chennai. We will be working with street kids, helping with prayer and ministry including healing and deliverance, as well as talking to prostitutes and feeding abandoned children at the train station. We will also be visiting the community I talked about a couple of weeks ago (a 36 hour train journey away!), and various other activities as and when they come up. The trip will cost about another £500 on top of what I've already paid to be on this course. If you would like to help with these costs (and please feel under no obligation to do so, although all donations would be warmly welcomed) please see the Support section of my web site (or contact Cath at the King's Church Portsmouth offices on 02392 987977).
Then we had this week's country themed dinner - a barbecue, in honour of the Australian residents of Holmsted Manor. It was very nice.
Tonight I had my one to one chat with a DTS leader. These are very encouraging times for me, where I see that things really are going well and it isn't just my imagination. It is good to have someone there to make sure I'm not deluding myself!
A quick prayer request: I've (and a few others), have picked up colds, and are suffering from coughs and sneezes. Please could you pray for the good health of the entire base?
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“Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
