Hi everyone, and hello to those that just joined the news letter!
I know, I know, I am behind lol. But praise God for His grace and mercy. I am currently actually at home, and I am excited to reflect on the last couple of weeks.
I’m not sure if you guys are tired of hearing this.. but I am not tired of saying it lol : CRX changed my life! The Lord used this time to do so much and for that I am eternally grateful. I pray that the Lord has been touching each and every single one of you guys that continues to read these newsletters in Jesus name!
Week 8 was: Preparing for Life week.. I know.. lol. When I first heard of the title, I was like – what is this lol. But to be fair, the majority of my class’ age averaged out to be 19-20, and.. this week was nothing I would’ve expected it to be. This week actually marked me so heavily, and in all actuality, a lot of the videos and posts I have been making have been revolving around the revelations from this week. So let’s get into it!
This week’s heart was to encourage everyone that these past couple of months of discipleship training school is not real life. I mean, we were engulfed an in environment where everyone is on fire for God. We had worship sets 3 times a week, class every day except for weekends, and were constantly being poured into! Our missions field is the world! Those who do not yet know who Jesus is.
Not to mention, there will be some of us that get sent into the business field, or maybe some of us go back to school. There will be some of us that continue in the missionary/ministry space, but this is not the case for everyone! And that is okay!!
I think sometimes we feel as though we are not doing enough because we begin to compare our lives with others. The reality is that true success is measured by obedience. When we give God our continual yes, we are living a successful life!
This week we had Pastor Derrin from Garden Church, Barbara from Google, and Pastor Steve Fry from Tennessee, and each session was so incredibly fruitful.
Some of the key takeaways of this week are as follows:
Pastor Derrin talked about what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus. He talked of the importance in regards to integrity and walking in true fear of the Lord. It’s not just about the overly spiritual things, the mundane things matter too! As a matter of fact, they are connected!
He went on to talk about: attention.. ‘Attention fuels your desire, and desire directs your attentions’
True discipleship is to have our gaze fixed on Jesus… and distraction is the biggest threat to your discipleship. Hence, we shouldn’t see daily tasks as distraction, but rather understand that it is worship unto the Lord! We must recognize that everything we do is unto the Lord, and in having that mindset we will be able to see the Lord move and flow through and in everything!
Pastor Steve Fry talked about preparing for the long game.. Essentially he encouraged us to keep our first love flame burning. He talked about longevity with the Lord rather than just zeal that burns out. One of the keys for longevity with the Lord is:
rest & contentment
It is from that place, that you will realize that true success in life is to reflect Christ in every situation and circumstance.
He talked about our purpose & how our purpose in God is to be loved! We were created to be loved, and enjoy Him. It is through receiving His love that we are able to freely give out what we have freely received. We discover our identity from being loved and we discover ourselves by discovering God. When we remain in the truth that we are loved by God, we will see fruit! The goal is to abide by faith in the truth that we are loved!
I talked a bit about this in a couple videos I had posted on the social media platforms, but this revelation dramatically changed the trajectory of my walk with the Lord. For years I struggled with striving. Being a former athlete, and always feeling the need to preform to not only please those around me but to even be loved, I found that this dynamic carried into my walk with the Lord.
Realizing that my literal purpose is to simply let God be God by loving me, and it is from that place that everything else will follow completely freed me and the challenge now is the constant renewal of the mind! I began to understand that I can rest and be content in this truth.. everything else should be from the overflow of recognizing that God is love and that He loves you and I!
Honestly, the amount of wisdom that was poured out from this week alone would have me typing out pages and pages lol, but I just wanted to give a quick update and touch on some gems in hopes of wetting your appetite to dive deeper into these topics.
It is crazy to think of how fast time has been flying.. even re reading some of these notes, I feel like I am back sitting in my favourite seat at the front of the class in sunny side Huntington beach lol.. but instead I write to you from a warm coffee shop back in Canada preparing for Mexico and Guatemala, which I hope to go into more detail about when I upload the week 10 newsletter (final week).
Anywho, I love you all with the love of Christ, I hope this newsletter was edifying for you and that you are all continuing to walk with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ <3
Yours in Christ,
Rachael Niles