Training Camp: Part 3- What did I Learn?

(part 3 of 3)

 

The Kingdom Of Heaven

 

    I’m sitting here at my computer staring at this blinking, vertical line. I’ve learned so much at camp, and I want to share some this vast knowledge that was dumped continuously upon me for 10 days, but where do I start? The baseline. The foundation of the World Race’s goal. The central focus that over-pours into everything else. It is the bringing of God’s kingdom to earth: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…” However, what does that specifically look like? Before we arrived, we were asked to memorize three different verses: Matthew 28: 19-20, John 15:4, and John 13:35. During the week, when they taught about the Kingdom of Heaven it was broken down into three parts each with one of these verses.

 

 

Intimacy

 

    “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (John 15:4 ESV)

 

My Gap Year Devotional says, “[Intimacy] looks like knowing Him, His heartbeat, His hopes and dreams. It’s hearing His voice and obeying, knowing His Word and worshiping Him. It’s being and staying connected to Him.” Before camp I would have said I was very intimate with God. I would have lied. I knew all about Him without REALLY knowing Him. I was the fanboy who met Him a couple of times at a few different conventions. I bought all His merch, and told my friends to listen to his albums. And I decided to go on tour with Him, but I didn’t get extremely close until we spent some time together at rehearsals. Now don’t get me wrong, I had a firm belief and faith in Him before Camp, and I had definitely experienced intimate moments with Him, but wow. The Holy Spirit is a marvelous gift. On the second night during worship I was feeling convicted by the Holy Spirit to grow closer, but I was scared that I would get close and then fall away again as seems to happen time after time. I must have been outwardly showing my inner torment, because not one, not two, but four people prayed over me that night, and even more laid hands upon me. “Philip, the same Holy Spirit that lives in me is in you, and He wants you to go to Him with everything. He wants you to know Him.” “Lord, show Philip Your excessive love, that no matter what he has done in the past, Your grace does not keep track. You will chase him down over and over.” “Show him that even though You are so, so Holy, You give worth to Your children.”

 

 

 

I broke down. The love of God was too overpowering, I couldn’t even stand. I felt the Holy Spirit destroy me and remake me with a softer heart. But immediately the Tempter was at it again. *I love this place so much; I love all these people. I want to live like this for the next year and show God’s love,* I thought, *but I’m not even close to my next fundraising deadline!* And as quickly as these thoughts entered my head, a voice in my mind that was not my own said these exact words: “I want you here, don’t be anxious about it. I’ve got you.” I kid you not, I have never felt more peaceful and joyful and confident as I did that night. I praised Jesus as loud as my lungs could sing. And worship was like that almost every day. And the sessions were like that too! One of the teachers, Dion, was a South African who told it as it is, and he had SO many good lines about living in faith and intimacy with Christ:

 

-”God loves me just the way I am, but He loves too much to leave me just the way I am.”

-”The grace of God gives life abundantly, but not abundant life.”

-”We need to stop talking to unbelievers like they’re oblivious of His Spirit, they just don’t recognise it. We cannot evangelize and antagonize.”

-”The Holy Spirit should have habitation rights, not visitation rights.”

-”It’s impossible to walk in greater freedom than the amount you have forgiven. You are a slave to people you don’t forgive.”

 

I’m still working on relying on the Holy Spirit and having a back-and-forth relationship with Jesus, but Training Camp has really helped me grasp the need for intimacy with the Creator if we want to bring His kingdom to earth. We cannot bear fruit if we do not abide in Him. I encourage you all to read John 17 and evaluate how intimate you are with our friend Jesus, and how you show that to others. Do you show it by separating yourself from the world or by going into the world with confidence in the Father and spreading hope to those have not seen the light? We cannot evangelize and antagonize.

 

Community

 

    “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

(John 13:35 NIV)

 

    Now, I’ve talked quite a bit about the community in my past two blogs, but I’m going to expand just a little. I’ve never before been in a room of 300 people who wish to be filled with the Spirit and go throughout the world to tell of Him. Normal church camp is different because not all of those kids chose to be there. At the World Race, each one of us know the challenges we each face and yet it is worth it.

 

 

 

So right off the bat, there is a different connection, but we can still act like we know each other. It wasn’t weird to embrace my team members on the third day of camp and kiss each others cheeks because I honestly loved them by day three (and it was funny when we just accepted it and made everyone else uncomfortable.). And not just bonds with the guys but also the girls. There was so much laughing, and joking, and familial community with my entire squad and the entire camp. It will not be difficult for the people of the world to see our love for each other and our love for them. As I dwell in intimacy with Jesus, and He dwells in those around me, we all create the body of Christ and His church. I cannot contain my joy when I think of getting to become more unified with my brothers and sisters in the next year. I encourage you to reach out to a fellow believer and show God’s love.

 

Mission

 

    “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.”

(Matthew 28:19-20) NKJV

 

    I am intimate with God and part of a community, thus we must do what we were told and go tell others. Luckily, I want to! He has chased me down to bring me to safety and rescued me from darkness. How could I not tell somebody? I don’t have much more to say about that since this is the one thing that I did not experience at camp in person. However, it’s never too early or late to start. Next time you are talking to a stranger, ask them if there’s anything you can pray for. Ask for prayer requests on social media, and take time to pray for them. Make disciples. Go.

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    Thank you for reading this far! I apologize for writing so much. Once I get started, I never stop. I’m sure my english and literature teachers hated graded my stuff haha… Anyways, if you would like to further support me you can donate at the top of the page or off to the left. If you would rather Paypal/Venmo or send a check comment below and I will email you my info. Any little bit will help me go and tell the life-changing news. I pray God uses you to get me there. Subscribe to the blog and feel free to share with your friends! See you soon…

 

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36 Hours at Training Camp Video

Photos and video by Aly Badinger