TRAINING CAMP: WORSHIP
From August 8-18 I got to spend some time in Gainesville, Georgia at training camp for the World Race. Essentially, it was a time of physical, spiritual, and emotional preparation for the World Race (which is just 6 weeks away – AH). You’ll hear more about those topics in later blogs, but here I would like to just focus on worship.
Wow.
For the first sixish days we got to have designated times of worship (because worship isn’t just an event but the way you live your life) two or three times a day and it was AMAZING. It was so beautiful to be able to just sit and sing and encounter our Papa in ways that we hadn’t before. It was so beautiful to sit and listen as the 99 racers around me sang with genuine hearts of thankfulness and expectancy. It was so beautiful to be able to hear from my Papa as He reminded me of how much He loved me, places in my life that I still need to grow, and as He gave me words of encouragement for my brothers and sisters around me.
For those of you reading who don’t really know what I’m talking about, I’ll try to explain a little bit.
I believe that God is our Father – I like to call Him Papa. And just like a father, He can talk to us. So sometimes when I’m just sitting with Him, He’ll whisper in my ear words of love and encouragement, sometimes He’ll gently discipline me, and sometimes He’ll just tell me to tell someone else in the room that He loves them. It’s not an audible voice necessarily, it’s a deep knowing inside of you.
On day two I actually had somebody share with me what Papa told her to tell me. For a little bit of context I have to go back to last year.
Early last year I was reading about Elijah and Elisha – two prophets in the Old Testament. Elijah was sort of like Elisha’s mentor, and so Elisha spent much of his life watching, learning from, and joining Elijah in whatever he was doing. In Elijah’s time on earth he preformed many miracles which consisted of causing a drought, ending that drought (lol), parting the waters of the Jordan river, and more. Elisha, seeing all of this happening, asked for a double portion of the spirit that Elijah has. Essentially, all of the authority and amazing things that Elijah was able to do, Elisha had asked for double it.
And it happened.
Elisha was blessed with a double portion and did literally TWICE the number of miracles that Elijah did – he also parted the waters of the Jordan river, healed a man of leprosy, multiplied loaves to feed a multitude (just like Jesus, hey?), and more. If you’re into any of this stuff you can check it out in 1 and 2 Kings!
And don’t worry, I’m almost at my point.
After reading about this last year I asked God for a double portion. Whatever I had, I wanted more. More faith, more confidence, more authority to do everything that Jesus said I would do. And to be honest, it seemed like not much happened. My faith seemed to be the same last year as it was going into training camp. To be honest, I’d even forgotten that I had asked God for it.
But on day two of training camp, a new friend (who I hadn’t told this to) came up to me and told me that the double portion was coming. That this night was the giving of the single portion, but that very soon I was going to receive the double portion.
Memories of asking for the double portion flooded into my mind and I cried realizing that even if I’d forgotten my request, Papa hadn’t, and He brought me all the way to Gainesville, Georgia to have this new friend remind me He hadn’t.
Worship is a sweet sweet time. You get to learn about the heart of God and about your own heart too. If you’ve never done it, it’s not really hard, it’s just being still and knowing that He is God, that He loves you, that He’s in control, and that He’s got you.
A new friend Connor graciously recorded a little bit of our worship time and it is beautiful. Take a minute, listen, enjoy, and rest.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bmo952RAPNr/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1pgkw6f04a9fd
