Tonight’s journey starts here.

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  1. Follow the instructions.

  2. Pack up, get in your car, and go to the following address that is only minutes away from where you are right now.

  3. Park and meet me in a circle close to the parking lot.

  4. Address: 285 Lynnwood Ave, Tyrone

Illustration of the Hero's Journey cycle, depicting phases like Ordinary World, Call to Adventure, Crossing the Threshold, Tests, The Ordeal, and Return with the Elixir.
Illustration of "The Hero's Inner Journey" cycle, featuring stages like status quo, new awareness, facing fear, commitment to change, rebirth, internalizing consequences, and integration. Includes facial expressions representing each stage.

  • Tests have revealed what is in our hearts; now we need to deal with what we have found.

  • These stages of Mythic Structure are called The Ordeal, and Seizing the Sword

  • So guess where we’re going today?

  • Deep into our hearts

  • Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”

    —Prov. 4:23.

  • And it is the seat of our wounds.

    A wounded spirit who can bear?”—Prov. 18:14

As we journey together, think on this: “Heroes come to decision points where their very souls are at stake, where they must decide “Do I go on living my life as I always have, or will I risk everything in the effort to grow and change?

Partially open door with bright light shining through, set in a dark blue room.

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Our invitation to The Ordeal is to engage the deepest, most hidden places in our hearts, and to seize the sword there.
Keep in mind that this is the crisis of the story, not the climax. This is where transformation occurs, the Hero’s true identity comes to light.

Abstract landscape with a curving path, vibrant colors, and a tree silhouette.

You’re learning to discern the Spirit’s voice.  You are learning to walk by prompts, nudges, and intuitions or clear instructions from the Word, by common sense and right, redeemed reasoning.  And you are learning to detect Satan’s deceptions. 

We have been so shaped by shame-based family or church systems that we resist “entering into deeper levels of self-knowledge for fear of feeling debilitated by shame or swept away by remorse. We are not sure we could bear facing the truth of our darkness without becoming completely unraveled. 

God is a Healer and Comforter.  He leads gently.  He identifies things for us, he doesn’t accuse us; he is the Great Physician coming with a diagnosis, and a prescription for healing.  

3. DESIRE

  • Thomas Traherne has said:

  • “Desire is a mighty force, one of your most divine attributes!  Whatsoever thing ye desire when ye pray believe that ye have received them and ye shall have them!

  • See the God-like quality of desire. For it is part of the Atomic energy of the soul.

  • The Kingdom of heaven within you is operating through desire.  Do not quench it or crush it or suppress it. Rather offer it to Me.

  • Offer Me your most elementary desires, your craving for happiness, for love, for self-expression, for well-being, for success, for joy, on any level of your being—

  • offer these freely and without shame to me and I will transmute them so that you shall achieve release and fulfillment and complete freedom from frustration.”

A dimly lit cave interior with uneven rocky walls and a bright blue light at the far end.

Remember:  

  • Our hearts are the place of transformation 

  • Jesus came to give us life in abundance; Satan works to steal, kill and destroy.   

  • Jesus will try to bring you into your deep heart, for healing and transformation;  

  • Satan will try to keep you out, to keep you in bondage and death.  Remember that his tactics are to keep you from knowing who you are, and what you are capable of becoming: a child of the King and destined for the throne. 

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Examine your heart as we walk to the next station.

. What is your desire?  

  • What have you found in your heart? 

  • If you know already of a heart issue you need to deal with, work with that;  

  • Invite the Holy Spirit to lead you into your heart and deal with one issue.   

WHEN YOU ARE READY… ENTER THE ROOM

  • That is only recognizable by going through an Ordeal and seizing a sword.

  • a nominal Christian into a son or daughter, a Jacob into an Israel.

  • but to seize your sword!

  • It will cost you everything you have.

Golden wheat field at sunset with dramatic clouds.

“Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”—John 12:24  

Acknowledge that we are designed to desire 

  • begin bringing your desires to God, rather than suppress them.   

  • To sift through them with him, discarding the chaff, but keeping the wheat. Learn to walk with and work with your desires;  

  • get them up and out of your heart, identify them 

  • petition the Lord about them.  

As you sit with Him

“In our caves, our task is to seize the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, which requires a death to self. In dying to self, we overcome our greatest fears and emerge transformed, in Holy Spirit power, as Jesus did.” Pat Butler

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As you finish, leave through the side door and meet the rest of the group.

What can you share?