Our Hebrew friends 😉
August 25: School starts for Johann
On the 25th of August, school started for Johann. A few days before, the whole picture opened up to him, why we are going to Charis Bible College as a family here. During his personal Bible study, the Spirit spoke to him through a Rhema word from the Bible. It is about the story in 2 Chronicles 20:20-25 where the Moabites and Ammonites fought Jehoshaphat.
And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” - 2. Chronicles 20:20 ESV
The last part of verse 20 spoke directly to Johann. Jehoshaphat trusted God and his prophets, so he gave the received word to the people. He was victorious, which can be seen in the verses that follow. Humanly speaking, Jehoshaphat's actions did not make sense. Sending the musicians and the choir to war before the armed fighters would naturally mean sure death for these people. But that was the instruction from God to the prophets and Jehoshaphat believed it and so gave it to Judah and the others. Johann wondered, "Why does this verse speak to me so strongly? Where is Jesus in this story? This is a historical record from the OT, so why the strong sense of stirring in me?" Two things following each other have led to the triumph here, which should not be interchanged or only partly carried out:
Trust in the Lord so that you may be comforted (grounded) in HIM, and
Believe in the word of the prophets, and you will succeed.
And especially the words "comfort" and "succeed" stood out strongly. What do the words mean in the original text?
comfort = “âman” → like a parent, care for, build up or support, nurture, be safe… (Strong Dictionaries)
succeed= “tsâlach” → push forward, go over, come mighty and break out… (Strong Dictionaries)
And this is what we would describe as the word we received from the Spirit for our situation and calling out of these verses: If we put our trust in HIM, He will care for us like a parent and build us up for His work. The Spirit encourages and reminds us of all that Christ has already accomplished. He will direct our focus completely to HIM. And at the same time, we need a push forward in our ministry. And this happens through His appointed prophets.
We are to trust in both so that we can come into God's calling and bring forth fruit. Does this mean that we shouldn't check what is said in school with the Bible? This should remain far away (#Paulus 😉). The Bible is very clear that we should check everything, that also applies when we sit in church on Sunday and the word is preached. Meanwhile, Johann was also taken down from his sometimes one-sided spiritual high horse. Correction was necessary to restore the biblical balance between the priesthood of the believer and the fivefold ministry of Eph. 4:11-13, to be equipped for the ministry and to grow in wisdom and maturity.
When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found among them, in great numbers, goods, clothing, and precious things, which they took for themselves until they could carry no more. They were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much. - 2.Chronicles 20:25 ESV
The school is currently the right place for us, because here people give us the necessary steps to break out into the fullness of our calling. God wants us to see, live out and pass on all the prepared fullness. The harvest will be different when we bring these things together. We have been blessed so that we can be a blessing.
Maybe you're wondering now why we keep talking about the calling? If not, you can also skip directly to the next section 😉 This section is important for at least one reader... We'll only go into it briefly so as not to turn this post into a book 😉 . In the sabbatical we went through the entire epistle to the Romans for just about 7 weeks. And there Romans 12:1-2 changed our life and became our prayer: «…that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.» Rom 12:2 KJV. We believe that God shows us His will in 3 levels. The context gives the instructions on how you can find the will of God. We decided to become the living sacrifice and offered our lives to Him. With this decision, our lives changed significantly. And after the seed rose in our hearts, we made the changes that the Spirit showed us. And yes, the first calling is to be and remain with God, but don't miss when He shows you the next steps. «And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach…» Mark 3:14-15 KJV. As mentioned before, just a brief glimpse of how God has spoken to us in this period. When God sends you to a place or to perform a service, He will also prepare you for it. However that preparation may look for you. Trust in the Lord and listen to His voice and RESPOND to it! AMEN?!
Thus, we can already say here that our goal is definitely to go into full-time service for the Kingdom of God according to God's timing. We also already know what the goal and calling is for us as a family. We have only seen a small part of the big picture, but that is enough for us to know which direction to go. One question that we have been asked independently since July has been with us daily and has a strong influence on our future. It is the question, "Are you willing to pay the price?" This question greatly stretched us in the beginning. We both asked ourselves the question, "What is meant by price?". And after prayerfully asking what it meant specifically for each of us, we had to stop and take a breath after hearing the answer... It definitely has an impact in many different areas of our lives…
And what does Johann's usual school day look like?
Every day a 40min car ride about 700 meters in altitude stands on the routine. The lessons always take place from Monday to Friday from 8am to 12pm. Johann spends most of his time on campus together with about 380 other second year students. The total of more than 1'000 students are between 16 and >86 years young. Johann has already met many different people from different nations and ages which has led to interesting conversations..
School for Betty
With school officially starting at Woodland Park, Betty has also begun investing time each day in studies. With online study, she can work at her own pace and remain flexible. Classes at Woodland Park are recorded every 3-4 years and the videos then serve as teaching sessions for online students. Betty spends the mornings with Elijah and if he naps for more than half an hour, she even manages to watch a lesson early. :-D Around 1 p.m. Johann is home and after lunch he takes over Elijah. So Betty has the afternoon free to study. When Elijah is in bed in the evening, we both have some time for self-study, to catch up on some work, to spend time together or with other people.
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