ARME in New York, July 2017

Guess who's coming to town? ARME is!


If you recall, I attended the ARME Bible camp in Pennsylvania back in 2014 and was empowered! The ministry helps 'arm' Christians with the tools necessary for Bible study and revival. The name is actually taken from the words "ARM" and "ME" placed together. It is the creation of Pastor Ivor Myers, and the camps take place in different parts of the U.S. to allow for people to attend from the East to the West Coast. Here is the link to my 2014 ARME Review to learn more about these bible study conferences.

This month, ARME's special city Bible camp will take place in Mt. Vernon, New York. It will run from Thursday, July 27 - Saturday, July 29, 2017. Unlike the one I attended, this one will not have accommodations and meals included, so plan accordingly. The speakers for this weekend will be Pastor Ivor Myers, Shian O'Connor and The Mercers. Visit The ARME Ministries website for more details. I can assure you, you do not want to miss it!!

Arming Yourself For Spiritual Battle

*****  Read my testimony about ARME Bible Camp here *****

It is always a blessing to attend a conference and to be filled with powerful tools for Bible study, witnessing and outreach....

but...

I believe the blessing is doubled when we actually implement these tools in our own bible studies and share them with others!

Since ARME Bible Camp ended on November 2nd in Pennsylvania, I have been able to share these tools with others, but have also embarked on an exciting project!

One of the exercises we did at the camp was to come up with 10 scriptural references for The Sabbath without opening our Swords (The Bibles)! Andre Waller spoke about the importance of having scripture memorized for all that we believe and I got convicted on this point. In 1 Peter 3:15, we are supposed to be ready always to give answers to anyone who asks us about our beliefs. So following this model, I am embarking on arming myself with scriptures for each of the fundamental beliefs. Below is an outline of what I have created to help me in this project. Feel free to modify ~

Here is how to do your own Bible Study/Memorization project:

1) Always, always, always start with prayer, and have a dedicated notebook/electronic note-taking app for all your notes.

2) Pick a topic/doctrine from the Bible: You can pick from the 28 fundamental beliefs, or any other topic. Let's use the Sabbath for our example.

3) Find 8-10 scriptures that speak about this doctrine and memorize their references: You can have as many scriptures as you want, but I think having 10 is a good strong number. References for the Sabbath we can use can be Genesis 2:1-3, Exodus 16:23-30, Exodus 20:8-11, Mark 2:27-28, etc...

4) As much as possible, memorize many of the scriptures for each topic: In instances where you referenced a whole chapter, you can just summarize the passage, unless you want to memorize the chapter! Go for it!!!

5) Take your time with each topic! The purpose of this project is not to boast about how many bible verses you've memorized or how quickly you can recite passages. The purpose is to grow in your relationship with Christ Jesus and to understand why you believe what you believe. Do not rush each topic, spend as much time as you need studying (not just memorizing!) each scriptural passage and making notes on each one.

6) Review! Review! Review! Once you have studied out a topic and you now have scripture to back it up, review the topic and its references repeatedly until they become part of your long-term memory. 

7) Move onto to another topic/doctrine and repeat the process.

The only weapon The LORD used when tempted by the devil in the wilderness was The Word (see Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13). Because He had the Holy Scriptures memorized, He was able to fight off the advances of the enemy with a "It is written". It is imperative we too have the Holy Scriptures hid in our hearts. 

So I leave you with these questions: What are you doing with The Sword God has given you? Ephesians 6:17 says the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. Is your Sword collecting dust? Have you been neglecting study and bible memorization? May I suggest to you to pick up your sword daily and put on the whole armor of God. I'm in the Lord's army, are you? Prove it...

 

ARME in PA: The Experience

I thank GOD I was able to attend ARME!

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!

ARME Bible Camp Is Coming To The East!

ARME Bible Camp is coming to the east coast for the first time! ARME is the bible study training ministry created by Pastor Ivor Myers. The camp will be in East Stroudsburg, PA from Wednesday 10/29/2014 to Sunday 11/2/2014. The mission of ARME  is to 'arm' God’s soldiers and seek to bring about revival and reformation in four ways: 

1) By bringing people back to deep personal time in the Word.

2) By bringing people back to their knees in prayer – individually and corporately.

3) By a re-emphasis on God’s call to health of mind, body, and spirit.

4) By equipping people through the power of the Holy Spirit to move forward in active evangelism in all areas of personal and public life. 

For more information, go to ARME Ministries.