For those of you who don't know what ARME is, ARME is a bible camp that is dedicated to "arming" God’s soldiers and seeking to bring about
revival and reformation in four ways: By bringing people back to deep
personal time in the Word, by bringing people back to their knees in
prayer – individually and corporately, by a re-emphasis on God’s call to
health of mind, body, and spirit, and lastly by equipping people
through the power of the Holy Spirit to move forward in active
evangelism in all areas of personal and public life.
This was the first time that ARME had a camp on the East coast! I didn't think I would be able to make it due to certain circumstances, but just a few weeks before the first day of ARME, I was registered and overly excited that The LORD opened doors for me to attend!!!!
I was deeply convicted and converted by all the seminars and presentations at the camp. Pastor Ivor Myers showed us how to go deeper in our bible studies by using patterns and dimensions (I bet you didn't know there were 5 dimensions to bible study huh)!! Andre Waller challenged us to having an arsenal of scripture memorized for defending our faith; and Dr. Subodh Pandit compared and tested out highest claims from the top 5 religions in the world, proved Christ's resurrection and also validated the New Testament writings.
ARME also has a prayer component. We were exposed to United Prayer (which I was already acquainted from attending a few GYC conferences), and our mornings began with this United Prayer model. We follow the A.C.T.S. prayer pattern which stands for 'Adoration', 'Confession', 'Thanksgiving' and 'Supplication' where everyone was able to pray when we got to these different sections of collective prayer. On Thursday night, we had our all night prayer meeting and it was beyond powerful. There were many tears, supplications and praises offered up to The LORD during our many hours on our knees. Many of us who didn't think we would stay for more than one hour, stayed well into the wee hours of the morn. We pressed closely together to seek The LORD's face and His will in our lives and the lives of our loved ones, and I know He heard us!!! To learn more about United Prayer, and to take this model to your home church and/or family, go to The Revival and Reformation page and download the 'Praying for Rain' booklet.
Sabbath was truly a high sabbath! ARME opened up the camp to anyone who wanted to attend on Sabbath, so we had folks from Pennsylvania and other states join us for the day. I was pleasantly surprised to have my significant other show up to worship with me! Oh it was truly a grand day!
For Sabbath school, we had 'the mock trial'. A new friend from the camp (who attended another ARME) told me that this would be a soul-shaking experience and it was!!!! The congregation was challenged 'in a court of law' to defend our faith using the Bible and material we had learned so far. This was a perfect training field for when we are called to defend our beliefs on the spot! It is humbling to find out how ill-prepared I am to give an answer for everything I believe. I was encouraged to work on 'arming' myself with scripture for whatever I believe from now on. Challenge accepted!
For Sabbath service, Brother Waller preached on Revelation 10. Using the instructions found in Isaiah 28:13 (taking a little here and a little there, and using the Bible to interpret itself), we were able to identify the Angel in verse 1, and the many symbols found in the early verses of that chapter. For the afternoon program, Pastor Myers went into The Blueprint message; proving that salvation, Christ's descent/ascension, the Old Testament patriarchs (in order), the major movements of the reformation and sooooooo much more, can ALL be found in the sanctuary. Truly, HIS way is in the Sanctuary! I was in shock and awe to learn how deep The Lord's Word can go; and we haven't even scratched the surface!!! Learning and studying the sanctuary is one of my favorite topics in bible study, so I was speechless at times at this presentation!
We had an 'army' of children that attended the camp with their parents. The children displayed the many truths and songs they learned during their children's program. They were so precious to behold. I was impressed with level of topics that were taught to them (they learned about the brain and how the enemy uses their minds to lead them astray)! I even learned some things from their lessons! It made me think about many children/VBS programs: many may be aiming too low in lessons they teach to the young ones. We should be aiming a lot higher to teach our children lessons from the great battle between good and evil; they are indeed sponges, they will easily soak up the principles found in well-developed object lessons.
During my time there, I was approached by a lady who told me she recognized me from watching my church's programs online when they are snowed-in. By the end of the camp, this dear sister discovered her husband would be driving to my home town AND that I could get a ride with him straight to my door step (saving me a cab, bus and train ride back to my home) !!!! Just one of the many, many testimonies from that awesome weekend!
This is just a short summary of an amazing and spirit-filled bible boot camp. I met some really awesome people who have become family in such a short time. Our final message was bittersweet to say the least. I don't like goodbyes :-( but we thanked GOD for our short time of learning together, and making bonds that could last throughout eternity *(now that is deeeeep). Praise The LORD for ARME!
I am now armed...help me LORD to study, watch and pray like a faithful soldier in Your ARME!
Sabbath was truly a high sabbath! ARME opened up the camp to anyone who wanted to attend on Sabbath, so we had folks from Pennsylvania and other states join us for the day. I was pleasantly surprised to have my significant other show up to worship with me! Oh it was truly a grand day!
For Sabbath school, we had 'the mock trial'. A new friend from the camp (who attended another ARME) told me that this would be a soul-shaking experience and it was!!!! The congregation was challenged 'in a court of law' to defend our faith using the Bible and material we had learned so far. This was a perfect training field for when we are called to defend our beliefs on the spot! It is humbling to find out how ill-prepared I am to give an answer for everything I believe. I was encouraged to work on 'arming' myself with scripture for whatever I believe from now on. Challenge accepted!
For Sabbath service, Brother Waller preached on Revelation 10. Using the instructions found in Isaiah 28:13 (taking a little here and a little there, and using the Bible to interpret itself), we were able to identify the Angel in verse 1, and the many symbols found in the early verses of that chapter. For the afternoon program, Pastor Myers went into The Blueprint message; proving that salvation, Christ's descent/ascension, the Old Testament patriarchs (in order), the major movements of the reformation and sooooooo much more, can ALL be found in the sanctuary. Truly, HIS way is in the Sanctuary! I was in shock and awe to learn how deep The Lord's Word can go; and we haven't even scratched the surface!!! Learning and studying the sanctuary is one of my favorite topics in bible study, so I was speechless at times at this presentation!
We had an 'army' of children that attended the camp with their parents. The children displayed the many truths and songs they learned during their children's program. They were so precious to behold. I was impressed with level of topics that were taught to them (they learned about the brain and how the enemy uses their minds to lead them astray)! I even learned some things from their lessons! It made me think about many children/VBS programs: many may be aiming too low in lessons they teach to the young ones. We should be aiming a lot higher to teach our children lessons from the great battle between good and evil; they are indeed sponges, they will easily soak up the principles found in well-developed object lessons.
During my time there, I was approached by a lady who told me she recognized me from watching my church's programs online when they are snowed-in. By the end of the camp, this dear sister discovered her husband would be driving to my home town AND that I could get a ride with him straight to my door step (saving me a cab, bus and train ride back to my home) !!!! Just one of the many, many testimonies from that awesome weekend!
This is just a short summary of an amazing and spirit-filled bible boot camp. I met some really awesome people who have become family in such a short time. Our final message was bittersweet to say the least. I don't like goodbyes :-( but we thanked GOD for our short time of learning together, and making bonds that could last throughout eternity *(now that is deeeeep). Praise The LORD for ARME!
I am now armed...help me LORD to study, watch and pray like a faithful soldier in Your ARME!
What an awesome recap, I am also glad and thrilled you were able to attend. I am glad that the Lord rewarded the prayers sent up not just for your sakes, but (I'm sure) for each and every attendee. We're going to have to get you a veil to cover your face lest folks see your face shining as the sun in its strength and flee :-D. The portion I was able to catch on Sabbath was Groundbreaking so I can only imagine what the other days must have been like. God Bless You & this ministry my Love. I'm excited to see where we go from here
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