The Disciple: Will you pay the price?

The theme of Faithwalkers this year was: The Disciple: Are you willing to pay the price? It was such a convicting time but also really encouraging at the same time. I wish I had a ton of free time so I could tell you all, everything that I learned and got out of Faithwalkers but I will do my best in this post to share with you those nuggets of Truth that I got out of Faithwalkers this year.

As I mentioned in my previous post the beginning of Faithwalkers was really hard for me because I had a hard heart, but as I have gone through my notes and listened to the teachings again, I learned so much truth and I so want to share these truths with you.

Matthew 16:24-25:this verse was a common theme through out the conference. If you are going to follow Jesus there is a price to pay, you have to die to yourself a thousand times a day. Something that Brent Knox said really was very encouraging, he said that it is a privilege to give things up for Christ and the glory that will be shown to us and then Brent shared something that really hit close to my heart he said: "it's an honor and a privilege to be a missionary", this is so true to how I feel, when people ask me or try and say "oh Alyssa your giving up a lot to go and be a missionary in El Salvador", but in the depth of my heart I am humble and honored that God has decided to use me to help reach the people of El Salvador, there is a fiery passion in my soul for not only those people to know Christ but to all to know Christ!!!

There is another thing that really hit me at Faithwalkers and it was during Tim Rude's message on the cost of discipleship. He talked about how you can not be lukewarm and be an effective disciple of Jesus Christ. He had a great story about his friend from Pakistan, He had asked his friend what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus and his friend said to follow Jesus and Martyrdom and this is so true, following Jesus does have a cost, but there is also a price for not becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ.


The biggest thing that I got out of Faithwalkers this year was I convicted by my prayer life and my lack of a devoted prayer life. If you would have asked me if I was faithful in my prayers for others and such I would have had said yes for sure, but Faithwalkers really was kind of a reality check for me. A couple things that Mark Darling said first he said "your prayer is a demonstration of your faith. If God where to show up on your phone bill, how many minutes would you use on Him?" This was really convicting to me, and really made me think am I talking my friends, family, etc more than I am talking to God. I should always be spending more time talking with God in my day, in my week, in my year than to anyone else. Another great bit of truth that I learned was a couple of things that Rory Whitney said, First he said that you should pray that you would love God more today than you did yesterday, that you would love your roommates more today than yesterday, etc. The Second, was that Rory said: "You have not because you ask not" God wants to bless us, God wants to hear what is on our hearts but we have to ask Him! Finally, Rory was talking about how a disciple prays for the lost, He gave the examples of Acts 4:23-31 and Luke 11:1. He said that our prayers need to be...1. Desperate in our pleadings. 2. Dependant on Him only 3. Disciplined in our practice. Prayer is hard work, so work hard. Then Rory said this " A sinning man will stop praying but a praying man will stop sinning" This quote hit me like a ton of bricks and convicted my spirit so much in the area of prayer, not in just the little things but also in praying for the lost. Rory's message really touched my heart and both encouraged and convicted me. The cry of my heart is to see all to come to know Christ and Rory's message was such a good reminder and encouragement to pray, pray and pray so more for those who are dying in this world because they don't know Christ!! Let's go out and make Christ know to this dying world!!


I just wanted to share with you a little bit about what God has been teaching me since Faithwalkers, there are still many things that I have to share with you about what I have learned. I just ask you to pray and think about your life, are you willing to pay that price to become a disciple of Jesus? Praying for all of you and for you to know God more and more each day!!

So I leave you with this video that was shown by one of the speaker called the fellowship of the unashamed.

"Break my heart for the things that break Yours!"

I had the opportunity to go to Faithwalkers last week, it's an amazing time where as an association of churches we gather together to hear teachings and to worship together. It's one of the most amazing times because it's so good to worship with two thousand other believers.

My prayer at the beginning of the conference was that God would break my heart for the things that break His heart. As usual God come through in this! From the drive to Omaha for Faithwalkers till the drive back to Ames, God broke my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh, I was drawn closer to Him! I'm still processing what I learned at Faithwalkers, so stay tuned for more updates, but for now here a piece of what God did in my heart during Faithwalkers.

As I mentioned my prayer at the beginning of Faithwalkes was that God would break my heart for the things that break His. He for sure did that. From the time when I started to drive to Omaha for the conference, I was for sure being spiritually attacked, I was being feed tons of lies (I'm not good enough to be a missionary, that I don't have what it takes,etc...). I was feeling really discouraged and my heart was hard. However, something struck me that first full day we met, Brent Knox talked a little bit about pouring your heart out to God and Mark Darling talked about it even more and I was just really convicted by that and that's exactly what I did, because it seemed like the only thing that I could do because I know that even though I was really discouraged and had a hard heart I knew and know that the only way to get out of the funk and become encouraged is to go to the one who gives encouragement, life and everything, which is God who is my Lord and Savior! It was Tuesday afternoon was when God really started to break through to my heart. I went to a seminar by Joy Whitney called "more than Enough" and everything in that seminar pierced parts of my heart and really encouraged me quite a bit. However, my heart was still a bit hard, but I continued to just seek Him and His face and then Wednesday God totally just broke my heart and softened my heart.

I also went to a seminar which was called "God in the storm" by Charlie Meyer and His father in law. This seminar also really pierced my heart, it was an amazing story of God, This man lost everything that he owned, his own wife was even ripped from his hands and still the first thing that he said when he recovered was he thanked God and just wanted to share Christ with people that just blew me away and convicted me so much. Then that night Rory Whitney gave a message that was probably my favorite of all of Faithwalkers because it not only pierced my heart and convicted me but it's also something is very close to my heart. His message was on loving the lost. This is an area where we can always grow in. One thing that Rory said was that "we have not because you ask not" and that struck me so much, and convicted me so much in the area of prayer. Are we asking God for opportunities to share the Gospel and to love the lost? I was convicted so much. Another thing Rory said was that you should pray "God I hope that I love you more today than I did yesterday, God I hope that I love lost more than yesterday, etc and that was again so convicting. The true cry of my heart is to see the whole world come to know Christ!!!

I also got to see God answer prayer and work in a miraculous way which only He can do. A friend of mine, Hui Zhou, came to Faithwalkers, even though he didn't know the Lord, but he was seeking. My prayer was that he would come to know the Lord. Slowly through out the conference I saw God working in his life and changing his heart. About half way through the conference he began to realize that he cannot live his life with out God, but wasn't yet ready to make that decision to give his life to Christ.I was blessed to have the opportunity to talk with him a lot about God and what it takes to be a Christian. Then God as he usually does worked in His awesome ways and while driving home from Faithwalkers on Thursday night Tim and I were talking with Zhou about what would happen if he were to die today and after talking with him, he prayed to receive Christ!!! Praise God!!

Hope you enjoyed and were encouraged by what I have learned and experienced in the past week. Let's go an reach this world for Christ!!! God is so amazing and He is so good!!! :) Praise Him!!!