I seriously can’t believe I am approaching week 12 and that I have been in Australia for almost 3 months. God has done so much in such a short amount of time. He has brought so much healing and freedom while showing me wha true intimacy with Him looks like. On September 29th, my outreach team leave for Africa already. Wow time really does not stop, what a great reminder to treasure every moment and to live in the present. I’m going to do my best to do a quick recap of every week hopefully not too long ;)
Week 8- Lordship
Lordship was an intense week looking at what rights or entitlements I have placed above God. I learned that Jesus Christ is Lord whether I think so or not. No one places Jesus as Lord, He is Lord and one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, the question is whether I do it now or later. The revelation of Jesus leads us to give our lives to Him. The application of this week was to say in front of the school my response to making Jesus Lord. For me, this was laying down my rights. My right to control and my right to having plans for my future, laying down my right to my reputation, my comforts, and my family, just to list a few. This is a daily commitment to surrender my rights and declaring Jesus as Lord.
Week 9- Submission to Authority
This week really tied into Lordship and was a extension of Lordship. Obviously God wanted to solidify that He wants me to surrender everything to Him and to make Jesus Lord in my life. The best thing we can do is say yes to God. God is wise enough and smart enough to run our lives. The safest place to be is in the center of God’s will. The biggest takeaway from this week is learning the difference between submission and obedience. Submission is our heart attitude and obedience is an outward action. We can obey without being submitted as we can be submitted and not obey. Complete submission and complete obedience is to God alone. God challenged me with my heart attitude and to submit joyfully to the authorities in my life. After class on Friday, my school leader felt like God was prompting him to baptize those who felt lead. I felt a stirring in my spirit to get baptized again. I was baptized when I was 10 and I meant it and it was very meaningful to me. Many things have happened since then and I felt that God was leading me to declare one and for all that I commit my life, my heart, everything I have to Him. To draw that line in the sand that I am following Jesus for the rest of my life. So on September 6th, 2019, I got baptized in the Indian Ocean. It was very simple and yet so special to me. A day I will remember for the rest of my life.
Week 10- Missions
This week we looked deeper into missions. I liked that everyday we had the opportunity to pick different ministries and how the ministry is used in missions. The first two days I learned about healthcare in missions, which I personally enjoyed being in healthcare myself. I love the freedom they have to openly pray while still administering care to people. How powerful to see God heal through medicine and miraculously. Then I learned about advocacy ministries, this includes working with women in prostitution, brothels, and sex trafficking. Another part of this ministry is a foster home called The Resting Place, this is for teenage girls who are often homeless. God calls us to love the poor, needy, and broken-hearted. God wants to raise up deliverers to meet certain needs. It’s not about what God is calling me to do, it’s about the One calling me to do it. My calling might not be in the gifting that God has given me.
Week 11- Relationship
This week was all about relationships. Our relationship with God and our relationships with others. All relationships are meant to be a gift. The trinity is the perfect example of relationship. The trinity created us in the image of perfect relationship. We were created out of relationship for relationship. God created us to be relational because He is relational. Relationships are not a means to an end. We need to have our needs met first by God then we can properly love others selflessly. Relationships of all kind needs consistent commitment. We need our relational mind renewed to get God’s worldview of people. Slowness creates opportunity for intentionality in the moment. The four building blocks of relationships are love, trust, honor, and understanding. Our application this week was to let the Holy Spirit convict us of things in us that damage relationships and to repent for those things then we went into our outreach teams and shared those things so that we can be kept accountable.
I am going to my best this week to write one more blog post before I go on outreach since I most likely won’t be able to post while I’m gone.
Stay tuned,
Katy