Living the Journey

Congratulations! You have done it! You have done one of the most important and valuable activities possible on earth. You have internalized the rich wisdom and eternal truth of God’s Word. Nothing but the Word of God and the souls of men last throughout eternity and you have invested wisely.

Now The Real Challenge—Keeping What You Learned!

Have you enjoyed memorizing Hebrews 12? I know that for some it seems to come easily and for others it takes more work. One tool that I have found very helpful whether using it for new memorization, or simply as a way to keep memorized passages fresh is a web based tool called, “Memverse.” I heartily recommend it for both motivation and accountability.

Here are some of the features:

- The ability to add verses and sections that you are currently working with reminders so you do not abandon your goal

- Reports that allow you to track your progress over weeks, months, and even years

- User-friendly settings, allowing you to memorize in the translation of your choice

- Church, State, Individual, and Country leader boards for those who enjoy a little friendly competition (Be sure to note we have a special group for those who are signing up under Journey to the Heart.

- A Popular Verses section so you can see what others are memorizing

- Accuracy tests to see how well you really know your verses, and more!

Whether you’re just starting out or have been memorizing faithfully for many years, Memverse.com is the site for you. It just takes a few minutes to sign up, but the benefits can last a lifetime.

To start, click HERE!
~ David Waller

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You did it! Congratulations on finishing the Hebrews 12 Challenge in just 29 days!!! Your diligence in memorizing all those verses, and perseverance to keep pushing forward have paid off and now you hold a valuable treasure of God’s Word in your heart.

If you completed Hebrews 12 and were able to quote it from memory, you can have your father or mother call the Journey to the Heart office on or before February 2nd to verify your successful completion of The Challenge. The number is 630.323.9800, ext. 522.

We look forward to not only sending you a little something as a reward for memorizing Hebrews 12 with us, but also publishing a list of all those who completed The Challenge here on Living the Journey on February 3rd!!!

Also, we have some more things to share with you about Hebrews 12, as well as an exciting opportunity to continue memorizing scripture throughout the year with other Journey alumni. We look forward to sharing these things with you over the next couple of days!

God bless you all!

~ The Journey Office

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Welcome to Day 29 of The Challenge!

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“For our God is a consuming fire.”

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So the first thought that came into my mind when I read this verse was that of a massive and intensely burning inferno. This blaze leaves nothing left after it passes by, everything is consumed after the flames lick their way through. Can you feel the heat, almost melting your skin? Coming any where near this devouring wildfire would quickly make you wish you had never ventured close to it.

But imagine a life that is consumed by Jesus? It is something almost terrifying to think about because of the intensity of it’s meaning. If Jesus was to completely envelope and consume your life what would that look like? It would be incredibly amazing to get just a glimpse of a life that allows Him to do it.

First off a fire usually burns up the shrubs and weeds that have grown out of place. Have you ever seen a farmer set fires on purpose in order to purge his fields? That is kinda exactly what it would be like for Jesus to do that in our lives. This fire of His is all powerful and would come to burn out all the unnecessary parts that don’t need to be there. It is something that we don’t like to think about because it hurts and would be painful. But I love this quote, I just found it as I was writing this:  ”When you become consumed by God’s call on your life, everything will take on new meaning and significance. You will begin to see every facet of your life – including your pain – as a means through which God can work to bring others to Himself.” ~Charles Stanley  - Isn’t that awesome?! Let it come, let the fire consume and burn in my life if it means more will come into the Kingdom! How much more amazing could you get?!

So after it purges and cleans everything out, then it’s like having a fresh start. The ground is a clean slate, it can be tilled and seed can be planted for a plentiful harvest. Keeping those thoughts in mind it brings about a sense of awe at the amazing power that God holds. When comparing Him to this monstrous all consuming fire it makes me feel so humbled just at the thought of it. He is worthy to be revered and worshiped even for just this one aspect of who He is. But think of it this way as well, nothing can penetrate a wall of fire without being practically destroyed. Imagine Him as being a consuming protector of your life. Having this protective and jealous God guarding you should give an assurance that nothing could ever touch you or even come close.

Okay so remember those boys that got thrown into the furnace and then all of a sudden He was there with them? The guards that threw them in were not even able to survive being so close to the heat. But once the boys were in there it was like being in the middle of His protective presence. The entire time they were in that inferno nothing could harm them, nothing could touch them. They were completely enveloped in the flames of His refuge. The flames, of what I believe to be His presence, were their greatest defense.

So are you willing to be consumed by this God who blazes with jealousy and passion for you? Are you willing to be ignited and to burn for Him without shame? Yes, it might be something you’ve never experienced, but don’t hold back any more. Be released from the fear of the unknown and let Him burn those fears away.

~ Libby Zellon

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Welcome to Day 28 of The Challenge!

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“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:”

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The 27 verses before this one have stirred my soul. By verse 28, my conclusion is this “I cannot, I will not stand by as a mediocre American Christian, not partaking of the grace that is there for me, which enables me to fully and acceptably serve God!

Three weeks ago, I returned home from living, for a short period of time, in China. I loved my time there and in that time, I lived passionately. I lived deeply. In that time, I knew Christ, I lived Christ, I dwelt in Christ, I depended on Christ. Sometimes my mere day to day existence and exposure to an openly idolatrous society left me humbled, grateful and in absolute awe of God’s continuous, unchanging love for not just me, but for all mankind!

How easy it is, however, to return, to a country not so morally depraved, to a conservative church full of people who do good works, to friends and fun times, to what I ‘know’ and am comfortable with, to my family, to what ultimately is able to strip me of that deep need for Christ.

This passage, these words preserved throughout history, has called me to action! It plainly states my next step our next step, “let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear”. It’s that simple.

My decision for today is this: Today I choose to walk in holiness. Today I choose to put into practice the spiritual things I have been comfortably neglecting or forgetting to do. Today I choose to accept the grace that is so abundantly available that I may acceptably serve God!

Now let me ask you… What is your choice?

~ Brooke Martens

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Welcome to Day 27 of The Challenge!

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“And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”

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Have you ever been reading through the Bible and come across a verse, and thought,  “What does THIS mean?” At first glance that is what came to my mind as I read Heb 12:27. But after some study it was encouraging to see what the Lord showed me. I pray that it will be a blessing to you as well.

It is interesting how this verse starts. It begins with the word “and” which indicates that it is connected to a previous thought or verse.  So as we read verse 27, it is important to have an understanding of the context in which it was written.  Starting in verse 18, the writer of Hebrews is comparing God’s relationship with His people on Mount Sinai when He gave them the law, to His relationship with us as New Testament believers.

While looking at this verse,  the phrase “signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken” stood out to me. The word “removing”  when I looked it up,  means change, translation, or the disestablishment of a law. This last meaning caught my attention because the word disestablishment means, to take away something that was previously established or put into place.  That is exactly  what Christ did! For a believer in Christ as the Messiah Jesus fulfilled the law, so it no longer has authority over us or the power to condemn us!

Matthew  5:17: ”Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

Romans 8:2-3: ”For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus [new covenant] hath made me free from the law of sin and death [old covenant]. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.

Galatians 3:24-25: ”Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” God is showing us how the law was temporary and that it was given to prove our inability to reach God’s mark of perfection on our own. So He sent His son Jesus  to fulfill the law and provide a way for us to walk in that fulfillment without fear of being “shaken.”

Hebrews  9:15:  ”And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.”

I am thankful that as Christians we have a new law, the law of love.  John 15: 12-13 says, “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this,  that a man lay down his life for his friends.”   The question that we need to regularly be asking ourselves is,  “Am I living my life in a way that demonstrates the change that Jesus has accomplished for me on the cross? Or, does my Christian walk show that I am still trying to obey the law to earn something.

The beginning of verse 28 confirms these ideas when it says, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved….”  WOW! That is powerful.  May we desire to build our lives on the solid and unshakable finished work of Jesus Christ – the Rock!!

~ Eric Barth

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Welcome to Day 26 of The Challenge!

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“Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.”

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“You stand in amazement as you watch what’s happening. Right before your eyes the heavens become mysteriously dark, you hear the rolls of distant thunder and see the sky flash around you. Suddenly, the storm descends on you with such intensity unlike anything you have ever seen before. Massive lightening bolts rip through the sky in sharp tatters of blinding flame, followed almost instantly by deafening crashes of thunder. Now the wind picks up, howling across the landscape, wrenching at your garments and nearly carrying you off your feet. In all the overwhelming sounds, you sense something else.

A rumbling vibration starts out low, but soon the whole ground is shaking, you can’t stay on your feet. You’re confused, you feel so small, those around you are screaming in terror, the commotion is so great that you can’t even think clearly. You want to run and hide, try to find somewhere safe, away from this dream, to somehow make it all go away, but you can’t even move. You watch in numb fascination as a colossal lightening bolt touches down on the top of a formidable mountain just in front of you, and you see the mountain start billowing thick, dark smoke.

What is all this? What could possibly have brought all this about? There is only one thing that could. It was the Voice of God.”

Do you ever wonder what it must’ve been like to have been one of the Israelites back then? To have sheer power blowing in your face? To feel such energy in the air just because of Someone’s voice? Of course, we know that this wasn’t the first time the High and Lofty One allowed the world to experience His voice. In fact, His voice was the first thing the Earth did experience. He used his voice to create everything that is. Can you imagine? Oh, it would have been so spectacular to see the Mighty One call out for light, and to see it instantly appear. Or to watch Him breathe out the difference between water and earth. To fashion trees and creatures alike with his voice. To completely create all things… without even lifting a finger.

Can you do that? Someone once called God the ‘Star-Breather’ based on Psalm 33:6;

“By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of  his mouth.”

I like that so much because it helps to put the Creator into a little better perspective. His power is matchless. I mean, who do you know that can breathe stars? We can’t even breathe pebbles; we can’t even breathe at all on our own!

Throughout the ages, the God of all mankind has made His voice heard to those who sought Him,..and even to many of those who didn’t. He has spoken into the lives of countless followers, leading them in His perfect will.

He still speaks today. He doesn’t usually shake the world much anymore, but His voice can still be heard. It’s that Bible verse that just jumped off the page at you. You know, the one you’ve read dozens of times, but this time it suddenly made sense to you. He sounds like a gently flowing brook, or a soft wind through the trees, in the quietness where you rest and simply feel His pleasure. His voice is what you hear when your heart is broken, but through it all you know that it will be alright. His voice could even sound like your mom and dad, or your pastor, even that small voice you hear inside you that always agrees with scripture. Our God is always actively working and speaking into our lives, and we must take heed to all that He says.

So one day soon our Messiah will return, He will come in power and glory, waging war with evil and utterly vanquishing it. He will thunder through the sky, this time returning as our mighty Warrior, and His war cry will rend both the heavens and the earth. At that time all things will be made right, justice and righteousness will rule the day, and in those days we will speak to our Ruler and Saviour face to face!

(Think about that for a while!)

But until that day, our Good Shepherd leads us through this weary world on a grand adventure, armed simply with the words He has spoken and the precious promises He has given. But strangely enough, these beautiful gifts are all we need.

~ Sam Oliverio

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