James Week

Last week was a good week. We went up to Bishop, CA to a resort in the mountains called Cardinal Village resort. We weren’t there for a vacation. We were there to work. We had class on Monday morning and had Monday afternoon to do homework, and then on Wednesday morning we loaded up in the vans and headed out for Bishop. It was good to get out and not be inside all the time for homework. The cabins we stayed in were pretty cute, too.

This is the cabin called "Golden Trout," where all the single ladies stayed. Sorry, no pics of the inside.

We were split into teams for working around the place. Some worked outside, digging a ditch, some cleaned the cabins, getting them ready for the summer season, when the resort is open. My team was in the store and café, cleaning, cooking, shelving things. It was actually fun. We worked form 9 am to 4 pm. Both days (we came back on Saturday, so we were only there two full days) we some of us went on hikes. The first day, we went to this beautiful waterfall and then to an old gold mine. The second day, we went up to Lake Sabrina, but I didn't make it all the way (Migraines, and high altitudes don’t mix well). Several people got excited about iron pyrite (fool’s gold), but were disappointed to find out that it wasn't actually gold.

The waterfall

Really, really cold water

The abandoned mine shaft

James was a good book. Often times, people misuse James 2:26.  It is used as a way to guilt trip people into going on mission trips, or giving to charity. But this is looking at it from the pagan mindset that we must perform in order for God to love us. This is not what God wants us to think. I wrote about it for my homework:

We don’t see it. If we have faith, then we have it right. But that’s not it. We often hear people say “Faith without works is dead,” but we never really understand what it means. We think that to have salvation, we have to be good people. It is because we take James 2:26 out of context. James wasn’t saying that salvation comes from works. He was saying that to keep our faith alive, we have to feed it. It’s like a fire. There cannot be fire if there is not something to burn. If you light wood, it burns, but after a while the fire starts to die, if you don’t add more wood to it. So faith is fire and works is wood. Without one there cannot be the other, because one has to be kept alive.

Fuel the fire. Keep your faith alive. Let it burn hot and bright. Let it be seen forever by everyone.

I’ve never really struggled with my faith dying since I gave my life of God, but I’ve also never known that if I don’t feed my faith, it will die. James has given me a new perspective on faith and works. I used to get frustrated with the whole “faith without works” thing. I used to think that it was just people trying to force me to do what they wanted, using it as a guilt trip for not helping people who were in need. But now I see it as a challenge. I’m being challenge to keep my faith alive.

I’m taking up the challenge to fuel the fire.

This week, we are back on the YWAM base, and we will be studying Galatians, and 1 & 2 Thessalonians. I’m excited to see what God’s going to blow my mind with. I’m always surprised by what he reveals to me, either about his character, or, now that we’re in the New Testament, about Jesus, and what it is to be a follower of Christ.

As I said in my last post, I still need this quarter’s tuition, which is $2700. I’m praying, and I ask that you would join me in praying. If you feel led to give even a small amount, you can call the base, or you can go straight to the website and give. Phone number and link are at the bottom.

If you want to contact me directly, my email address is also at the bottom.

Timeless Truth of the Week:

Whatever is in your heart usually come out of your mouth.

Where is your heart?

Where is your mouth?

Watch what you say.

Because not only sticks and stone hurt.

Words hurt just as much.

Maybe you think you don’t mean it,

But it still might hurt.

Words cut deep.

Words sting.

Even if you think that you don’t mean it,

You do.

If it came out of your mouth,

It came out of your heart.

So don’t just watch what you say,

Don’t just watch what you think,

Watch what is in your heart.

http://www.cardinalvillageresort.com/

https://ywamla.org/donatepay/

+1 818 896 2755

MadelineBHendley@gmail.com

This Week...

This week was good. Our homework was Luke and Acts. We had to do a timeline of the New Testament, a map of Paul’ missionary journeys, and an essay about the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. It was easier for me to do that than I thought it would be. I’ve never really understood the Holy Spirit before this week. He never made sense to me. I would always get frustrated when people would talk about him. But now I see what he is. He’s a comforter, a counselor, a companion. It makes more sense now.

The Holy Spirit is the one who carries out the commission that Jesus gives his disciples before he went up to heaven. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit so that the believers would have the boldness that it would take to proclaim the good news. The power and the presence of the Holy Spirit is obvious throughout this book.  The “acts of the apostles” should be called the “acts of the Holy Spirit,” because everything the apostles did was through his influences and empowerment.

The Holy Spirit was Jesus’ promise to be the disciples “companion” and “counselor” after he [Jesus] returned to heaven. The Holy Spirit would continue the ministry that Jesus had begun. The day of Pentecost, Jesus’ physical presence was exchanged for his omnipresence in the person of the Holy Spirit. It was the advent of the Spirit’s presence in the lives of the believers which started God’s missionary work among the peoples of the world. It is the Holy Spirit who inspired the consuming passion behind the missionary task given to the believers. After all, the promise had been given that when the Spirit came upon his disciples, they would be witnesses of Christ to the very ends of the earth (1:8).

Without the Holy Spirit, what the apostles did would have been merely good works and good tales. The Holy Spirit goes beyond the human activity to a divine source. He is the main character in this story and the apostles are the instruments that he uses to achieve God’s purpose.

On that day, the lives of the apostles were changed forever. They would never have “normal” lives again. Who can, after being filled with the Holy Spirit? He was the one who came along side of them, and the one who enabled and equipped them to carry out the mission. As the challenge of the mission began to register in their minds, the apostles probably felt their lack of power. After all, the mission was to proclaim the good news to even the very ends of the earth. They didn’t know the languages of the world. They were fishermen, farmers, and Roman citizens. How were they supposed to do this? In contrast to Babel, where God confused mankind, separating them through language, the Holy Spirit united mankind through language. Through him, the apostles received the ability to communicate the good news freely, clearly, boldly and powerfully. Many languages became one language in the ears of the speaker and the hearer. Because of this, the good news penetrated the known world.

The filing of the Holy Spirit was not an experience confined to only on the day of Pentecost. Peter experiences many fillings, as did others. This fullness shows the dependence on the Holy Spirit that these missionaries has. Being filled with the Sprit did not mean that they were passive receptacles to be filled; they were to be under the control of the Spirit of God. To be filled with the Spirit is to allow one’s personality to be brought under the lordship of Christ, therefore being gripped by his passion.

The Holy Spirit exercises authority and power over the powers of darkness. At times, he empowers he apostles against satanic opposition. He imparted them with spiritual insight to discern the source and spiritual authority to deal with it. 

The role of the Sprit in the missionary enterprise is in the calling of the missionary. It’s not surprising that in the call, the initiative is with the Holy Spirit, not with the volunteer, or the church. Before any activity of the church or the missionary is the call. The church’s responsibility was to recognize this and act upon it. The role of the church leaders is to confirm the Spirit’s selection by begin sensitive to his leading and obedient to his command.  He provided guidance (i.e. the missionary journeys of Paul).  The expansion of the church to unexpected areas was dues to such guidance. The leaders did not follow their own wants, but what the Holy Spirit lead.

The role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of these early missionaries was huge. It was his calling, authority, guidance, and passion that made it all possible.

That’s the essay that I wrote about the Holy Spirit in the lives of the apostles in Acts. Then I had to write a paragraph about how the church views the Holy Spirit today:

What is the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives today? It was just in the Bible. It’s an old-fashioned thing. This is what I hear. People don’t understand the Holy Spirit, so they disregard him. They don’t want to be bothered with him, either. But of all the gifts given to mankind by God, there is none greater than they Holy Spirit. Through him, amazing thing happen. Things that could never happen through only human efforts. The Spirit applies the truths of God to the minds of men.

Most people today refuse to see the Holy Spirit because they can’t handle the idea that Jesus left him to give us the boldness to proclaim the good news. Why can’t we be like the apostles and accept the mission gladly and go out, proclaim the good news boldly, with nothing to fear?

The last question. It applied to my life so well before now. I was always afraid to proclaim the good news, even my faith. The idea scared me. What would people think of me? I didn’t see how I had the Holy Spirit. I don’t speak in tongues, I have never spoken a different language to someone who needed it, I’ve never healed anyone. Did that mean that I didn’t have the Holy Spirit?

Now I see that the Holy Spirit gives different gifts to people, depending on what they already have a talent for. This might not be everyone’s opinion, but it’s mine. I’ve seen many people with different gifts. No one person has the same gift. It’s ok that I don’t speak in tongues, or heal people.

Someone told me once that when I speak, they hear the very words of God. So I guess that’s the Holy Spirit in me.

So naturally, I wrote more than one. I get like that.

I need the last of my CSBS tuition paid off soon. It’s about $2700, so if you could be praying for that, it would be great.

I’ve been praying about what God wants me to do when I’m done with CSBS.I want to go to culinary school, but culinary school is expensive, but I’m learning to trust God with my finances, so it’s not a problem. The only solid thing that I know right now is that I’m supposed to move out to the Los Angeles area (I’ll most likely be living in Burbank), and work with the homeless. I’ll probably get an apartment and a job and work for about a year before I do anything else. Right now, something I need is prayer. Pray for guidance, so I know what to do and how to do it.

I also feel a very strong pull to staff a CSBS in the near future, but I don’t know if that’s my own wants, or something that God wants me to do.

On Monday, we start the book of James, and we go to a resort in Bishop, CA. Since James is about faith and works, we will be working at the resort, doing small maintenance jobs. But it is also a time of relaxation, so that we can enjoy the beauty of what God created.

Thanks to all for reading!

http://ywamla.org/training/chronological-school-of-biblical-studies/

https://ywamla.org/donatepay/

MadelineBHendley@gmail.com