Week 7- the Lordship of Christ

Journal entry no. 7

The Lordship of Christ

This has been the best week of DTS thus far.

It was also the most difficult as far as lectures go.

On Monday, I didn't know if I'd make it through the week. Lectures were intense and long and they convicted me in all the right areas.

And our speaker had the to-the-point style of teaching that I didn't particularly care for at first, but knew the whole time that I needed.

The things I learned this week were 'life lessons', not just information to keep in my head, but new perspectives on life itself and how to live it to the full.

That's my kind of lesson!

So the main points that hit me hard this week were these:

1. Maturity

Our speaker (Mark Parker) was very passionate about the subject of maturity, Spiritual and otherwise. And rightfully so! Because our attitudes, ability to control feelings and emotions, body language, the way we interact with other people, and our  sense of responsibility are all based on our level of maturity.

This hit me really hard.

My biggest struggle is with the attitude, which Mark pointed out much is harder to get over than drugs and alcohol.

Hello, conviction! We talked about maturity the most at the beginning of the week, which was good because that gave me the rest of the week to work on denying myself and choosing to be cheerful even when I didn't feel like it.

It's been good for me, and it gets easier all the time.

Not just with attitude, but every area of maturity. :D

2. Being a useful part of the Body.

I feel like over this week we students and the staff have become a family all over again. Somehow we've been unified in a whole new way and on a much deeper level.

It's awesome!! Mark talked a bit about how the parts of the body must work together and how each member should not just do it's own 'duty', but assist and encourage the  other members as they do theirs.

One thing that Mark said that also really convicted me was this:

"Everything that you do affects the entire body"

I suppose I had been thinking that my problems were my problems and only sometimes would they effect others. Wrong!

Every single word and action and certainly my body language effect everyone around me. This certainly helped motivate me to adjust my little "woe is me" attitude.

Far be it from me to drag others down!

3. Laying things down/demolishing idols

In anticipation of the subject of Lordship, many of us would make comments like "watch out, Lordship week is coming up. You might just have to give up that chocolate!" Because if Christ is really Lord over your life, you've got to be willing to hand everything over to Him if He asks for it.

That's why everyone feels so free this weekend :) we're not all holding on to our precious little idols anymore.

Friday was a very long, full, exciting, exhausting, amazing day.

We started at 9am and ended at 1am. Yes, really.

We did a 'tabernacle' process. Thanksgiving, praise, publicly handing our lives over to   God, giving things away, repenting publicly, laying things down, breaking off bondages, praising more, praying, overcoming obstacles as a body, encouraging one another through the hard things.

It was absolutely awesome.

And I've never felt more free and real and alive and in love with Jesus :)

I know it's not always going to be so fantastic to lay things down, and I won't always have the awesome community around me like I do right now, but another point that Mark made quite a few times was that we have to live today. Not being held back by yesterday, not being afraid of stumbling tomorrow. Just do what you know you have to do today and trust the Lord with it all.

Amen?

Next week we tackle the subject of Spiritual Warfare. o_O

I don't know what to expect with that, but I think I'll just live today while I have it here. And I do believe I'll enjoy it, too.

Bye!

Chelsea