"Back to the Basics"

From Paul “AV Guy” Johnson

As Heart Rev’s first Advance Camp quickly approaches it seems as if the Lord has been calling me back to “the basics”. This journey started for me back in June when I went out to Colorado Springs for some training classes at “Focus on the Family”. Our time in Colorado had been tightly scheduled and what little free time we did have was quickly slipping away. With the help of some dear friends we were able to get away and spend an afternoon up in the mountains. Now for a Minnesota flatlander like me hiking up in the mountains was a real treat and a physical challenge. As you may remember from the Boot Camp I am the large boned ruggedly handsome member of the team. Somewhere between the thin air, altitude, and one too many switch backs on the trail the Lord showed up. We did not have to call in the mountain rescue team although the lack of oxygen getting to my brain may have been a contributing factor. This was a meeting between me and God. The rest of the group was not aware that anything had happened. Simply stated, God showed up on the side of that mountain. In that moment I knew that He was near and in absolute control of my life. All was right with the world. In my time on the mountain with God He pointed me back to the basics of what it really means to walk humbly with your God. I was not glowing like Moses when I got down off the mountain that day. I just knew deep in my spirit that I had met with God and he would be taking me on a journey “back to the basics”.
The first area the Lord decided to take me into was prayer. Prayer was going to be a big part of this adventure. Now don’t get me wrong I can send up prayer as good as the next guy but it seemed that He wanted more from me. I had fallen into a pattern of using prayer as some kind of a party line. I could get on line when ever I felt like it and give God my list of things for him to work on. On really good days I would even take the time to thank him for what he was doing in my life. As I went deeper into the subject of prayer it became apparent that prayer could only be described as a “life line”. People like David, Daniel, and everyone in the book of Acts lived lives of prayer. The life of Jesus is an eye opening model of how prayer should work. Jesus and His heavenly Father were one through prayer. If you would like to join me in this journey I want to invite you to pick up a copy of the book “Experiencing Prayer with Jesus” by Henry Blackaby. I just pulled it out of my “must read” pile of books. I am going to get started on it this week. I would love to have you join me and hear your thoughts on prayer.

Thanks for checking out our new BLOG. Stop back when ever you have a few minutes and see what’s going on. Our prayer is that this will be a place of real connection for the Men of Heart Rev. We are looking forward to hearing your thoughts on prayer or anything that may be on your heart.

Psalm 103:1-4
Paul Johnson