Transformation Brings A New Perspective!
This week's blog is written by Miles who has just graduated from AST this year:
‘So what is this Academy then?’ was the most common question I was asked when I started. Fortunately it’s an easy one to answer… simply it’s where you learn more about who God is, who He says you are, and how that impacts you and the world around you.
A simple summary, but of course there is so much on the Academy to absorb and process then that.
Personally, I’ve loved the variety of the Academy evenings, never really knowing what will happen from one week to the next. Worship, encounter, prophecy, teaching, our time with courage groups to pray and reflect, outreach, book reports - all part of the Heinz variety that makes up the Academy experience. It’s good fun too…I laugh a lot.
During the first term we focused on identity and it helped lay and re-lay vital foundations that I am still mulling over, and has left me thinking that if I could just get my identity in Christ sorted, then I would be a very different person in how I react and interact with the world and people around me.
This is certainly a process which I feel God has started in me. I’ve realised that I’ve had inaccurate and faulty thinking tightly woven and stitched into how I have approached life. Over the course of several months I feel that God is gradually unpicking those faulty threads, and weaving in instead a deeper sense of identity, authority, and intimacy with the Father.
What has this actually meant then? Here are three ways in which I think the Academy is impacting me practically on a day to day level:
Being more equipped to intentionally look for opportunities to share my faith and the goodness of God with those around me, particularly the vulnerable.
Being able to lead from a place of greater security and being able to bring challenge where needed where I would have struggled before.
My prayer life has gone up a notch. In all aspects really - frequency, praying with more authority and confidence, and a more intentional daily walking with God.
If you are thinking of doing the Academy – do it! You’ll be challenged, but it’s all good. We were never meant to be comfortable anyway - God has far too much in store for us!!