ReFRESH 2012

We just wrapped up our 10th annual ReFRESH® Conference at Sherwood, and we met with God during an incredible four days. We were blessed to hear from Bill Elliff, Tom Elliff, Ken Jenkins, Ed Litton, and Daniel Simmons. Plus I was honored to have many dear friends attend the conference, including Gary and Dana Miller. Gary wrote about his experience from the conference, and I wanted you to read what he shared:

“A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.”
Proverbs 29:1

Dana and I are attending the ReFRESH® Conference hosted by Sherwood Baptist Church of Albany, Georgia, and led by their pastor, Dr. Michael Catt. It has become an annual pilgrimage for us. It is not a shrine, but it has become a place of spiritual adjustment for us, as we focus our attention on the need for Spiritual Awakening in our own lives, before we head out on the road to lead others to experience it.

Recently, my renewed experience with chiropractors has led me to have a profound respect for proper alignment of the spinal cord. Fatigue, falls, and fear have a way of putting tension on the muscles of my neck and back, weakening my capacity to walk straight and to swivel my neck to see what is going on around me. They consistently remind me, “If you don’t move, you lose.” Flexibility is a huge part of life. Locking up and refusing to move in the way the body was intended to function is a prelude to death

Proverbs warns about becoming so stiff necked that the cure will kill you. There comes a time in God’s eye when He perceives the obstinate have become so set in their carnality that any adjustment made on their lives would break their necks, not set them straight.

ReFRESH® has become a way for Dana and I to set aside time to allow God to readjust our backs and the load that we have been carrying and find R.E.S.T. for the walk today and the journey ahead. Releasing Every Single Thing and rolling our burdens over on to the shoulder of The Master of The Yoke is a tremendous relief. Of course, doing this once a year is not enough, but it helps us regain our flexibility to do it daily.

The critic may say of chiropractors that their cure doesn’t last. The same is often said of Spiritual Awakening. I am reminded of the words of Billy Sunday. When he would encounter that piece of advice, he would say, “A bath doesn’t last either, but it is still healthy to take one once in a while.” I wish I had said that. Words to live by.

ReFRESH® is not a cure all for all that ails me. But it has the capacity to reveal to me what needs to be adjusted in my life. A few days with the people of God, focusing on the Word of God delivered by men of God has proven to be a divine X-ray that points out to me what others can’t see, but God already knows. I have a tendency to gradually get out of alignment with Jesus and take on more of the load than He ever intended me to carry.

WHAT A RELIEF! Being reminded that God loves me, Jesus walks with me, and the Spirit dwells in me is…well, it is ReFRESHING. Pray with me to maintain this renewed adjustment and to know that a catch in my back reveals that it is time to shift the load over to Jesus. Pride always leads me to develop a stiff neck that refuses to allow me to bow my head in prayer. It is always a sure sign of a need for a spiritual adjustment.

TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!

Dr. Gary Miller,
TALK LESS! PRAY MORE! Ministries
www.garydonmiller.com

One thought on “ReFRESH 2012

  1. Many thanks for such an eloquently stated analogy. Both my wife and I attended our first ReFresh conference and found it much life Dr. Miller explained it. We all need such an adjustment of our own limited and sometimes self-deceiving viewpoints. Even with daily prayer and study of God’s word, we need something outside of our own selves to help us realign our lives and hearts with God, becoming more Christ centered. For us, this year’s ReFresh conference has help my wife and I do just that.

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