Article 21 – July 19, 2018 It Was a Wonderful Camp
I have been to numerous gatherings of Christian believers through the years and to a number of summer Christian Camps as well. Last year we attended our first Harbor Light Christian Family Camp. I can’t even remember the theme, but it inspired and blessed us so much that we decided to go again this year. Having said this, Matthew 18:20 comes to my mind, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” We had eighty five people or so at this camp, but it felt like one of the old Rock of Ages with many thousands from my perspective.
What a joy and privilege it is to be gathered together with lots of like-minded believers and men and women of God who teach because they love the teacher’s task and have people receptive with minds that ask. In Luke 4:18, Jesus said: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor: he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” That’s a very power packed verse! We were gathered together to hear the Gospel. Some that were there were perhaps broken hearted to a degree. Fear is a great captivator and we heard about deliverance from fear. Some of us were perhaps spiritually blind in certain ways, and the Word recovered us. And certainly, all of us get bruised in our hearts at times, and the Word of God taught lovingly will wash all of that away. I quote this verse because of how the presentation of God’s Word at the Camp came over to me.
Perhaps others who were there did not see it in that particular light, but it would have been difficult to have sat the five days involved and to have come out uninvolved. The simplicity of salvation as set forth in Romans 10:9 was handled and it was awe inspiring. Salvation has been referred to as “the miracle of miracles”. And why not! People look for miracles and speak of them often very lightly, when really a miracle is a supernatural happening and certainly not a light thing in the eyes of God. Things of the spirit are always awe inspiring, because it’s our wonderful Father God, Who is at work, via our believing. To think that a person can go from spiritual death unto life in a moment of time is incredible and to think that from that moment on, that person has everything spiritually they’re ever going to need to live a life that is more than abundant. John 10:10b: “…I am come that they might have life, and they might have it more abundantly.”
We worked our way through prayer in one of the sessions and saw examples of people who were strong in believing and prayer. I’ve wrestled with understanding prayer in years past, and it’s wonderful to know that prayer is simply either speaking in the spirit which is speaking in tongues, which is perfect prayer or just talking to God. And God loves to have us talk to him.
We also saw that it’s available to have freedom from fear. How much freedom? As much as you want to have: How much can you believe for, because it’s the same God in Christ in you as it is in the examples we read about in Acts and the Church Epistles. We were challenged to face the fears in our lives which hold us back from believing and to know that God would never tell us we can do something if we were not able to do it according to His Word. 2 Timothy 1:7: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” What men wouldn’t pay for a sound mind: yet the irony is that most men think that they do have sound minds. They have working minds, calculating and cunning minds, but it is impossible to have a truly sound mind without a working knowledge of God’s Word. Now you can challenge me on that statement, but I’m simply quoting what God’s Word says.
We ended with the Hope of Christ’s return and the period following that into the new heavens and the new earth, because the believer’s hope is largely energized in knowing that some day life won’t be as it is today. One great aspect of the believer’s hope is in knowing that Jesus Christ will gather us some day and we will be free from the wrath to come. Revelation 21:4 tells us, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Isn’t that a great thing to look forward to, and that’s part of our hope as well.
Whether you are a new or old student of the scriptures or just an interested person, there’s no escaping the warmness of the fellowship and the healing wholeness of the Word taught and shared. So the next time you’re looking for a wonderful time in God’s Word during the middle of summer, try a summer camp with the believers. I’ll bet that it’ll just hit the spot.
Funglimpses and all! Thanks for reading. Respectfully submitted, Will Grove