Post-Monark

I feel like I'm not the only one who gets the post-Monark blues. For me, at least, Monark is essentially the greatest time of the year. It's a refreshing time to come to the Lord and seek to have His will in my life. Certainly, God was faithful again to meet me at every point where I needed help. Monark encourages, instructs, leads, and boosts us -- but it's only 10 days long. Make no mistake, it makes me tired, but those 10 days go by pretty quickly for me.

Every year I struggle with the battle of finding help and encouragement at Monark and then proceeding to allow the cares of life to get in the way and limit the blessings I receive once Monark is over. Every year, it seems, I purpose to ward off those hindrances, but sometimes fall short.

God has done very special things for me this Monark. He's met me in places where I was too afraid to go before. He illuminated my needs in a way that made them appear as though they can be conquered. I believe that's not just an appearance, but a reality. God does have victory for me. He showed it in the meeting. It's up to me, now, to have faith that He really DID meet my needs and to continue to live in that faith. I was reading in Colossians as I reflected on some of the notes I took during the messages, and I stumbled across Colossians 2:6-7, which says:

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: [7] Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."

The first part is interesting. It talks about receiving Christ. As I pondered the verse, God opened my eyes that there are more ways to receive Christ than simply to accept His offered gift of salvation. We can accept His will in many other ways. We can accept a walk of humility. We can accept a walk of longsuffering. We can accept a walk of patience. Likewise, we can accept Christ in His various dealings in a meeting. There was a lot of altar work at Monark, and many young people sought help there just like I did. We can accept the help we get there. That's how we can receive Christ. Being receptive to His dealings is vital to our success as a believer. Receiving Christ isn't limited to a one-time work of salvation. We must receive from God all throughout our lives.

But, the verse doesn't stop there. We've received Christ, so we must walk in Him. That can be tricky. What does it truly mean to walk IN Christ. In my feeble understanding, it signifies embodying the traits and characteristics of Christ -- and making a practice of the things He has revealed to us that we have received. If God deals with us about being more patient, walking in Him is to live that out, as Christ did. Walking IN Christ means conforming to His dealings -- not just receiving them intellectually -- but to live them out. That's something I struggle with. Most messages I hear I understand from an intellectual standpoint. I recognize the instruction God wants to give through them, but I struggle with part two -- conforming my lifestyle to accommodate Jesus' principles in my everyday walk. This part of the verse challenges me to that end.

The next verse begins by instructing us to be "rooted and built up in Him," which is a remarkable metaphor. A tree has roots, and the deeper the roots go, the stronger the foundation and the more sturdy the tree becomes. In the same way, the more we are rooted into God, the better our defense against the storms of life become. If a tree didn't have roots, it would blow down at the slightest breeze. So we can be carried away at every "wind of doctrine" if we aren't rooted down (Ephesians 4:14).

We must be established in the faith. An established business is one whose presence is well-accounted for. We want our lives to be accounted as Christians and something not easily moved. It also mentions that we're established as we have been taught. For the most part, we have all had a wonderful education in the things of God. That is especially evident at times like Monark. We have been taught truth and we have been taught life. That teaching is essential to our establishment as children of God. We can't neglect that blessing.

The last part of the verse is something I really feel like I need to work on. It says to be abounding in thanksgiving. I thought of the word abounding. It means active and plentiful. Our praise and thanksgiving needs to be characteristic of that passion. God has blessed us with SO much. He continues to bless us more than I can imagine. The simple fact that He cares enough to teach us lessons like these is truly incredible. As Bro. Darrell explained, God wants more for us than a religious rules and regulations. He desires to give us revelations and a living gospel. I am so thankful God revealed these verses to me in a special, personal way, and I pray it can be a blessing to you all as well.

Listen, I know these next few weeks are going to be tough. I've already battled with things God dealt with me about at Monark. It's not going to be easy to move on from Monark, and we can be sure the devil will be right on our trail. But let's take the same energy we put into Monark out of it. It's not the beginning of the thing that matters, it's the end. Let's be encouraged to receive Christ in whatever capacity He chooses to reveal Himself and then walk in Him. He has a special blessing for all of us.

I pray to see all of you next year at Monark (and hopefully sooner!) with a testimony of God's faithfulness and keeping power. I need those same prayers that I can have the same testimony. We're God's church, let's be faithful to Him with our lives.

Keep encouraged!