I don't know about you, but ever since 2012 began I've been feeling this incredible momentum that seems to be picking up fast. I sense the kingdom of heaven is advancing quickly and God is desperate for His children to become broken vessels strengthened by Him, trained, refined, purified, transformed, redeemed, restored, freed, healed, fit and ready to serve Him in complete abandonment! This is why I am here. And if you are REALLY ready to go deeper... if you have HUNGER for the Lord you can not satisfy anywhere else... then I'd love for you to run down this path with me with a pace He's set before us. This next challenge will go even further in preparing us mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally for what's ahead!!! As we begin to give our mind, body, and soul over to the glory of the Lord... the total transformation from the inside-out will be the most exciting adventure of your life thus far. If you are someone who doesn't quite feel the excitement of God gathering His kiddos together and prepping us then set time aside for HIM... clear your mind, listen, be patient, dig deep, ask for more hunger, be faithful, claim His promises, and praise Him no matter where you are in life. I'm telling you, He doesn't want anyone to miss out on this!!!
What exactly is "the twelve"?
There are three main things that I felt the Lord was calling me to do this season. After last year's blog: the 90 day extreme... I learned a lot about who God really is and who He says I am as a child. I also learned how connected the mind, body, soul and spirit are and how important it is for us to recognize this so we can truly glorify Him with EVERYTHING. I do strongly believe that when we see God for the truth of who He is and see us in His image we become recklessly abandoned for this faith and hope letting go of all that holds us back from serving Him wholeheartedly. With that said.... There are 3 main areas this little challenge or season will be focusing on.
If you still aren't sure who our Papa is or who you are as His child then I recommend starting with the first blog: http://ninetydayxtreme.blogspot.com/. For those of you who have been following that one, you might be ready for the next step. The "training" period. During the next 12 weeks I'm going to take the necessary steps for God to train my body, my mind, and my spirit. I want to be a fine-tuned organ playing beautiful music for His kingdom, I want to be a double-edged sword ready for the spiritual battles at any moment, I want to be sharp, quick, prepared so that I may honor Him and be the disciple I know He's calling us to be. Will you come with me on this journey??
The Story...
It all started back in November while I was in New Zealand working with YWAM. I had the privilege of being part of an amazing "training base" where people come from all over the world to go deeper in their relationship with the Lord and get prepared for global missions.
Often times we identify with the lives of the twelve disciples galavanting around the world with just a few personal items never really certain what we will eat or where we will sleep or what kind of shananigans we will run into....but God ALWAYS provides. I think this is what has given me such a love for these twelve men who followed the commission of the Lord so wholeheartedly. Not only did they believe in "the mission" but they believed and knew the main character of the story in such a way that their love for his sacrifice and heart for the world would drive them to giving up their own and following him.
One gorgeous day in new zealand I decided to go for a run. As I was jogging I felt like the Lord gently whispered, "You're a pretty good sprinter, you know that?". To which I replied, "Awe, thanks God...I like to go fast". Then he said, "Long-distance is not exactly your forte, is it?". And well... it was true. Ever since I was a young girl I avoided the long runs... my side would start aching, my knees would get sore, and frankly I was bored out of my mind! Then I truly felt like God said, "I want you to become a long-distance runner for me." All the sudden it hit me. Just like in the physical, I was doing the same thing in the spiritual with God. I had been going from one "good thing" to the next, sacrificing the bare minimum, giving very little commitment, moving on quickly before I got too bored. I realized in that moment there was so much I was missing out on by not going the distance....
Right then, when I made the decision to obey and go long distance for God something broke in the spiritual. I could almost physically feel the chains fall off and a new sense of freedom as I made this commitment... then something crazy happened. Believe it or not, I actually ran longer that day than I had in years and ever since then I have not had a pain in my side or knee trouble from running! God also told me that in order to transition into this new "running" position He was going to have to train me... much like one does for a marathon. Just a few days later I was talking with a friend of mine about goals for the year and she mentioned running a half-marathon. That day I decided to run the music city half marathon this coming April! Oddly enough it has a 12 week training program that begins today!
Oh... but that's not all. Also while I was in New Zealand God began to bring the "Spiritual Disciplines" to mind again. The more I began to research, study, and walk out wholeness... I saw how elemental these disciplines were to this journey. As soon as I returned in December I ordered Richard Foster's "Celebration of Disciplines" only to find out there are actually 12 of them!!! Can you believe it??? Is this starting to connect yet? Right then and there I knew a new challenge was developing that would take us even deeper into the spiritual realm and the heart of God, higher into the heavenlies, and closer to His throne.
So... there you go. You are welcome to join me in any or all of this or just read along in the blogs :) Either way we will all be challenged and I know find more treasure in Him the deeper we go.
Today as I was praying into this challenge I thought it might be neat if God sent 11 other people to do this with me. That way there is 12 of us, like the disciples :) Then, once we are finished we can encourage 12 others with these same type of challenges and so on.
The Week's Schedule:
1- Studying The Twelve Disciples: Every week I am going to take a different disciple and research them a little bit to go deeper into their lives... and how to apply the things they learned with how we are called to live today! Here's a list of them: (I'm just gonna start with Peter and work my way down)
- Peter
- Andrew
- James the Greater
- James the Lesser
- John
- Philip
- Bartholomew
- Matthew
- Thomas
- Thaddeus
- Simon
- Judas Iscariot
The inward disciplines-
meditation
prayer
fasting
study
The outward disiplines-
simplicity
solitude
submission
service
The corporate disciplines-
confession
worship
guidance
celebration
3-Training for the half-marathon: During this time I'll be running 3-5 days a week doing yoga, some fast twitch, a little weight training, and plyo on the off days. If you need me to help you with a schedule just let me know!
On top of this I'm still trying to find a good healthy balance in life. I do believe that God wants to nourish us and the enemy wants to toxify us... and that shady little booger will do it any way he can: through our food, what we watch, what we hear, read... etc. I have decided to not watch anything throughout the week except the occasional movie on the weekends. I also want to try to eat as whole, raw, and fresh as possible during the week allowing myself some tasty treat on the weekend. You may find a different plan that works for you... but if you need help, please let me know!!
Excerpts from "Celebration of Discipline":
"God has given us the disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving his grace. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us....
They are our way of sowing to the Spirit. The Disciplines are God's way of getting us into the ground; they put us where he can work within us and transform us. By themselves the SD can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where soething can be done. they are God's means of grace. the inner righteousness we seek is not something that is poured on our heads. God has ordained the Disciplines of the spiritual life as the means by which we place ourselves where he can bless us....
Our world is hungry for genuinely changed people."
Lindsey, I love it! I am going to do my best to follow along with you. Thank you for doing this!
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