Most of my life I have struggled with the idea of God being my Father, or calling him dad. I grew up in a loving christian home, with a great dad! Why would I need God to replace him?? This was my thought process up until I went to Training Camp for the World Race. I arrived under the false assumption that I knew who God was in my life, and that I was OK with not really calling him my Father. I felt like as a “Man” I didn’t need to call Him, Dad. I rarely saw men in my life refer to God as their dad. In my experience women generally envisioned God as their Father.
So here I am at training camp with about 230 other souls who are all trying to figure out what they are really being called to for the next 11 months. As I register and begin to meet my squad, I am struck by how amazing it is that God chose us! You see my squad has an awesome opportunity to pioneer into countries that are un-reached by the Gospel! We are going into countries that are populated primarily by Muslims, and some of the cultures do not take kindly to Christians coming and evangelizing. Adventures in Missions the organization that is sending us has begun to feel like they have lost touch with the original vision of what God was calling them to do. In fact Seth Barnes the founder spoke with us on multiple occasion during our training, about how the World Race has become to safe, and how it needs to be dangerous.
In order to fully rely on God, our Father we must fully abandon what makes us comfortable, we must enter the dark areas, and shine light into them. We must deny ourselves and rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us. Matthew 10:16 “Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be as wise a serpents and harmless as doves.” We are embarking on a Kingdom Journey.
Jesus called his disciples to leave everything and to follow him both physically and spiritually. In essence going on a Kingdom Journey is what God has called all of us to. Now I realize that not everyone is called to the same Kingdom Journey. If you only take one thing away from this blog let it be this We are all called on a Kingdom Journey. Listen to the Holy Spirit, and see what they means for you. Maybe it’s volunteering in a soup kitchen, maybe it’s not driving to work, but instead you walk and you spend time in community with others during your commute.
My squad, the expedition squad is called to a pretty radical Kingdom Journey. God has called some pretty crazy people to reach the un-reached! We all have a thirst and a hunger for the Holy Spirit to move in radical ways in our lives! We expect the impossible, because we know our identity as children of God, and co-heirs with Jesus! This next season in our lives will be very very challenging, BUT we are up for the challenge! I know this because after we completed each challenge presented to us, we asked for more we asked for harder. We want to be stretched we want to be broken, so that we can fully embrace our Fathers love and grace for us! Instead of the standard 2 mi hike in 35 min required by other squads, we all completed a 4mi hike with 30 lb packs in under an hr. We spent 2 days, and nights on the Appalachian Trail with all of our gear covering 18 miles and climbing over 1500 ft in elevation! We had little food to eat, and tons of physical training to prepare us.
Physical preparation was only part of training camp. The others aspect was spiritual training, and guidance. My squad is blessed to have amazing leaders. Leaders that demand more of us physically and want more for us spiritually. The biggest thing they asked of us was to give it away! By that they mean our relationship with the Holy Spirit, our Identity in God, our thirst and hunger for more of God in our lives! They are truly making disciples who will in turn make disciples of the nations!
At training camp I truly discovered my identity in God, as his son. This does not nor will it ever replace my biological father, but how great is it that I have two fathers who I can rely on! A huge breakthrough moment for me was when I broke down walls of pride, and asked my squad to pray for healing for my back. As I was praying, and listening to the Holy Spirit I was challenged with the statement “You would not hesitate to ask for a band-aid from you earthly father, how much easier should it be for you to ask me to heal your back!” At that moment I asked my squad for prayer for my back, but in reality my heart is what received healing. I began to understand my true identity, and I became humbled and blessed to be able to call God my Dad.
My challenge for you especially the men is to shed your identity as a man, and humble yourself to be a child. Cast of the any stigmas or social norms that limit your ability to call God your dad. Out of the 230 people going on the about 30 are men! The rest are women! Men it is time we stopped trying to be Men who are concerned about the 9-5, and become Men who are concerned about what the Holy Spirit has for us. It is time we stepped up!
