This past weekend I had not only the opportunity, but the privilege to spend some quality time with two of my good buds. These two compadres of mine are young, vibrant, seeking individuals who are searching for truth and willing to step out. So in the Manitoban cold we set out for 3 days on foot into the backcountry.
Our trip was a good time full of jokes, laughter, silliness (I’m with highschool students remember), and all out seriousness. As an older, more mature individual I would say that I still got pretty stretched in those 3 days. Alot of questions were fired my direction, and it was good and challenging to ponder through some of the things that I once battled when I was their age.
And so, the theme that came up on our weekend in the woods was FEAR. What is fear? Why do we fear? Is it good to fear? I am always fearful of this….! And so on!
Now many would have been fearful in the mere conditions we were in: minus 15 celsius, wet snow, 50 kph winds, 5 miles from the nearest road, and only embers for a fire. That wasn’t the fear we were conversing about. We were talking about Spiritual warfare. When we are overcome by an oppression that many around us don’t sense and we are so often too timid to mention. From day one of my involvement with the Race I have known different times of this fear. I wrote about it in one of my first posts called: The Lord Spoke . And that one night of intense faith stepping openned up the door to let the Spirit in. And that was the foundation of my year travelling the world. To live a life spirit-filled and boundless. To pray and discern in the spirit to set the captives free and to bind up the enemy by Jesus’ precious and mighty Name!
“I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” – Matt. 18:18
It was a great reminder for me to process through my mind to solidify in my heart once again. As we were bundled up in our fleece and down layered sleeping bags, we pulled our nalgenes full of freshly boiled water tight to our cores. And since it was only 9 pm we spend the next 2 hours discussing these ancient questions and feelings we as humans battle. FEAR!
I beleive it’s extremely important for us to ste out in confidence. Confident in who we ARE, in who we follow, and what we are called to do. Once we lose sight of who we are; we lose our loyalty to our King. Once we second guess the one we follow; we become lost and confused. And once we neglect our call, we lose out in destiny and settle. God has called us to much more than our mundane lives. He wouldn’t have given us choice and an oppertunity to do great things if he wanted us to have mundane, settled lives. And so fear, keeps us from many things. We are afraid to step out and risk, afraid to lay down what we have gained on the table for a chance at the greater things. And Satan attacks us with mere overwhelming fear because that’s how he so often gets under our skin. We give in to it. Once we know how to fight, we can be victorious. We need to fight fear with LOVE.
The closer we become to God, the closer he is with us. And so, when we love the Lord our God with all our heart, our soul and our strength, there is nothing we shall fear. The truth is that we often fear the fear itself!
I was encouraged with out talks in the tent. I was humbled asI felt I had to renew my mind and heart once again. And I was blessed to share some insight to to young men growing up to be the men they are called to be! All in all a wonderful white weekend!
