A Higher Level of Surrender, but a Greater of Freedom

In many ways, the last 2 weeks have been very different. Many of the lectures in the first couple weeks brought new thoughts and ideas for me to chew on, and challenged me in new ways. The last 2 weeks have not been the same. Though the teaching, on Bible Overview and Christian Worldview, has been a great refresher and a great chance to reground, much of the content was what I studied in University. In some ways, this was probably a good thing, God knew I needed two to work through life things, versus learning new content. Many of the lessons of the past couple of weeks have come more from my own life, versus from direct teaching. 

One of the first lessons that I have been grappling with was the idea from week 7, “Satan loves to test our breakthroughs”. I have noticed in the past 3-4 weeks that the temptation in my life has increased, and this is probably due to the upcoming outreach in 2 weeks and the enemy's desire to knock me out before I get there. The enemy has repeatedly tried to come against old strongholds in my life to see if I will break again. Fortunately, God’s grace is enough. He has grown my self-control and maturity, as well as given me the necessary accountability in my life to overcome any temptation Satan has thrown my way. It is only through the power of Christ’s death on the cross and His Spirit in my life that I can walk in freedom. 

This freedom also goes beyond temptation. God is continually freeing me from the law and the regulations that have burdened me for so many years. As I walk with the Spirit the need to follow the law and be perfect fades, and the condemnation with it. Jesus does not condemn my sin, He just calls me into repentance, forgiveness, and a new chance at life. He asks me to walk with Him, to look at Him lovingly looking back at me, and He will help me figure out the rest. I do not need to try to attain my salvation, because He did it for me with His death on the cross. I no longer need to be religiously climbing this hill of perfection, because He sanctifies me daily, and over time is making me into His image. He is the one who gives me love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control. It is only through Him that I can do anything at all. Again, He just calls me to walk with Him and that’s it.

The third lesson I am learning is to be loved by my heavenly Father. For so many years, due to a variety of circumstances, I have struggled immensely with understanding and accepting God unconditional’s love for me. I always believed I had to earn it. This has been a lesson God has been slowly teaching me over the last 10 weeks, but 2 weeks ago He blew my mind. We had been given a long weekend, and my buddy and I wanted to do something to get away. The only issue was we both had very little money and did not where to go, the only thing we knew was that we wanted to be in nature. So, we prayed and asked if God would have us go anywhere, and if so, where. After about a week we felt the answer was to go to Geneva, so we booked cheap flights and continued to pray about where to stay and what to do. We prayed for nearly a month and a half but felt like God had not given us an answer. We did not know what to do, we had no money to book an accommodation, and the long weekend was quickly approaching. We planned to simply arrive in Geneva and pray that God would give us direction. The night before we left, a gentleman on base approached me and said, “Hey, I hear you are going to Geneva for the long weekend. I am on the same flight as you. If I paid for your accommodation, would you like to come with me and my daughter to Chamonix, France? You can drive yourself up with us in our rental car from Geneva.” So, my buddy and I went and prayed, and felt God say “Go!”. What I did not realize in accepting this invitation was that this gentleman would not only pay for our Airbnb for the weekend, but he wanted to spend the entire weekend with us, going hiking and enjoying the French skiing village, as well as blessing us with literally everything we needed (food, warm clothing, etc). If you had asked what my perfect weekend away would have looked like, it would have been hiking in the Alps, and this gentleman made a lifelong dream come true. Talk about a picture of God’s love for me. I could just hear God saying the whole weekend, “Get more of my love!” “Get more of my love!” “Get more of my love!” Just like the gentleman, God provides everything we need and He wants to spend time with us doing the things that we love. God is just that good. That is who He is.

The last thing God has been showing me is what my potential next steps might be. Over the last 10 weeks, God has begun to restore the dreams I had when I was 12-13 years old, to be a part of and to start revival globally. I have begun to sense God leading me to potentially stay in Europe and help pioneer an evangelism team that reaches the continent of Europe. God has also begun to place people in my life to affirm this call and desire to be a part of this ministry work. He has also begun to stir my heart to do outreach to Ukraine, possibly this coming Spring. God arranged for me to randomly have breakfast with a Ukrainian pastor one morning, while he was visiting the base. During our conversation, he shared his story and what God has been doing in his ministry and also expressed their continued need for help. Then I heard the quiet whisper of God say, “Go, help them”. So, I am praying through what this may look like and if this is really what God is calling me into this coming Spring. Right now, I do not believe it will be long-term, but you never know what God will do. 

Thank you again for taking the time to follow along and to support me both financially and in prayer. Please be praying for my continued growth in the final 2 weeks in London, our upcoming outreach, which begins December 16th, my potential call to bring revival to Europe, and my possible trip to Ukraine this Spring. If you want any further details about anything I have talked about or even just want to catch up, please reach out. I would love to chat.

Grace and Peace,

Cameron