An Incredible Week

       Well, this week at Ellerslie we had many sessions. Many people here were in (some still are ) what has been termed “the dark night of the soul.” This is when a person awakes to the fact that they are helpless in and of themselves. They do not have the resources to perform that which is required of them. They fully realize that they cannot live the victorious Christian life in the flesh. Eric gave Reckoning with Truth, which brought many people out of the dark night. This was my summary of the message that we were assigned to do for homework:

Today we went through Reckoning with Truth. This message is incredible. First, two points must be established: God has promised and God cannot lie. Therefore, His Word cannot lie. The Word of God declares that when Christ died 2,000 years ago, I died. When He rose again, I rose again. When He ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father, I too ascended and am seated at the right hand of the Father. I am IN CHRIST. Therefore, where He goes, I go. I must take these truths as my own. I must not let them just sit in the Bible, but I must believe them and reckon them to be true.

This message has had an incredible impact on me. I first reckoned with truth a little over a year ago, after I first visited Ellerslie. I read Romans 8:2 and Ephesians 1, 2. This message is such an amazing reminder. Sin does not have to have dominion over me. I AM victorious. I am IN CHRIST. Therefore, all things are under my feet, since they are also under HIS. I do not have to be under the thumb of the enemy, but I can live a mighty, triumphant existence. I can say NO! to sin because it has no legal access! Oh, what a truth that has transformed my life!

      We also had a session called Opposition, basically exposing how the enemy attacks. Then, we had one called the Nine Lies, which is a message describing 9 lies that the enemy brings against us and how to combat them.  We dove deeper into these during our individual family group on Friday.

     The nine lies, taken from the book of  Nehemiah, were:

*You are too weak; after all, don’t you realize that you are in captivity? You are not able to undertake such a project as this—it is foolish, scornful, and ridiculous.

*All this work is for nothing; the progress you have made is not real. There is no real strength in your wall; even the slightest breeze from the enemy will knock it down. You cannot take the rubbish of your inner life and expect to revive what has already been burned.

*You are too tired to continue; you need your sleep. God knows you need your sleep.

*I have the power to sneak up upon you when you least expect it and wipe out everything you have done; all the spiritual steps you have taken will mean nothing when I come in the night to slay you.

*You are currently under enemy siege; you’d better stop working and protect yourself.

*You are building this wall for you own blessing, to be your own king, to rule for your own glory. You should stop working on such a vain self-aggrandizing project.

*Meet me for coffee in Ono. I’m concerned for your well-being, and I might be of some help in your current endeavors. I know of things that you aren’t privy to know. If you listen to my counsel it will make your work go a lot smoother.

*You need to consider your own protection. I know of dangerous things that loom on the horizon, large enemy forces are gathering together to come against you. Go and hide. For if you don’t concern yourself with your own safety soon, it might be too late. Listen to my counsel, and you just might escape this whole matter alive.

Eric gave the Costly Gospel, all about the fact that the Gospel requires that we give up everything. Then we got to hear Within the Ranges, which  talks about protecting and guarding that which God has entrusted to us or put within our range. The Position of Faith was the Sunday sermon, which was an incredibly helpful message for me. Eric taught on how to know when to wrestle in prayer persistently and when to rise up from prayer in faith, absolutely confident that God will perform that which has been prayed for. Finally, we had a message called Overcoming Sin, which was basically about getting IN CHRIST and yielding to Him, not letting the enemy have any access to our lives.

     This whole week has been incredible. I’m still soaking in all the messages. Tomorrow we get to witness the wedding of the worship leader here at Ellerslie to a beautiful lady from South Africa. Their love story is incredible and totally orchestrated by God. We’re very excited and expectant!! God is so faithful and good. He just is continually revealing his character to me. :)