June 2007

CLU Student Newsletter

Dr. Karen King

Let’s Run the Race Together!

When the Lord asks me to master an area, I take whatever time is required to do so. Generally it takes me a year, which includes clearly presenting what I have learned so that others may follow my steps, if they choose. This year I am working on “activating the gifts of the Holy Spirit.”

You, as a CLU student, have also been led by the Lord to master an area. We believe that with excellent course materials and a great coach/instructor, you can achieve in three months what it takes me a year to accomplish. I hope it is your goal to complete your course within three months of receiving the materials.

I want to encourage you to press in and set aside an hour each day to complete the courses you have started. If you do, many rewards await you, especially:

1. You grow and develop mastery in one more area of your life.
2. You become larger on the inside so your ministry will expand.
3. Your life is more satisfying because you are more at peace with yourself and your God.
4. You are satisfied that what you have begun, you have also finished.
5. You realize that you did not let the seed that was planted in your life get torn away by the weeds or the cares of life, but they grew to maturity, producing a 40, 60 or 100 fold return.

Some of you need to make a decision to re-commit yourself to the completion of the courses you have ordered from CLU. If this is you, then I encourage you to make a commitment NOW to one hour a day for coursework. I suggest that you become accountable to a friend who will check up on you and make sure you are keeping to your schedule. You should also email your instructor and let them know of your new dedication, and ask them to hold you responsible also.

Since these courses increase your sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, the result you gain will be an increased anointing in your life. This is worth a commitment of your time!

Blessings as you travel the road of life.
Mark Virkler – A Teacher in the Body of Christ

My Spiritual Life is Changing Every Day
by
Sahr G. Thomas

In 2006, I enrolled in Christian Leadership University to study Church Leadership. My first course Communion with God included “Dialoguing with God” and “How to Receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit” which have changed my life! Thanks to this anointed teaching, I can now hear the voice of God clearly!

God has shown me what CLU is all about. It is opening my heart to receive the flow of the Holy Spirit. My previous years of Bible Study were meaningless compared to my CLU study. I had never been led into such wonderful Biblically real-life experiences of transformation.

The course has completely transformed my life, my family, and community. God’s Word has joined my heart and spirit, and I have concluded that CLU is a school of Spirit anointing. My spiritual life is changing every day from glory to glory. The most exciting thing about the course is that each topic is practical and can bring rapid changes when applied.

When I started teaching others about what I have learned, people’s perspectives about the spiritual aspect of their lives changed. In one of our Bible Study programs, I taught on the topic of Dialoguing with God. Through this, a lot of people were touched, gave their lives to Jesus Christ, and confessed Him as their Lord.

The Communion with God course is essential for building up the inner life. Because of it, God has transformed me from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son, Jesus Christ. I love every aspect of the course!

I am so grateful to the founder, Dr. Mark Virkler, his wife Patti, and the entire CLU staff for this life-changing, anointed Bible teaching! One of the most important things about my study with CLU is the strong presence and revelation of the Holy Spirit. It has made me a Spirit-filled Christian who can now enjoy an intimate relationship with God, my Maker!

I grew up as a “Christian” in a church, was baptized, and confirmed, but my life was the same as the leaders who were living in sin. Later, I became born again during a crusade but still had a sin problem.

I inquired of the Lord how I could be set free from sin, “Sahr, I knew you when you were in your mother's womb. I knew your parents and the home you would grow up in. Though you have sinned, I still love you. My son, fear not. I chose you even before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame in my sight.”

“But Lord, I am not worthy to stand in your presence because of the many sins and offences I have committed against you and your Son, Jesus Christ.”

“Sahr, You are my son. I love you. I cried with you when you cried and laughed with you when you laughed. I was grieved when you were misunderstood and treated unfairly. I watched and waited, looking forward to the day when you would receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. This is the day.”

“Thank You, Lord, for loving me and forgiving me of all my sin.”

Through this journaling, I know the Lord longs for my fellowship and intimate relationship with Him and desiring for me to know Him more and more intimately. I realized that whatever my life may have been like up to this point, the voice and grace of God can change the regrets and the wounds of the past into THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE.

Each CLU Course is an Adventure
by
Dave Huysman

I recently had coffee with a brother in the Lord whom I hadn’t seen for over an entire year. While driving home from our meeting, I began to think about how much the Lord had done in my life during the past twelve months since enrolling at Christian Leadership University where I’m pursuing a Master’s Degree and accompanying certification in Christian Counseling. Enrolling at CLU was precipitated by a season in my life when, deep down, I knew that I could have a conversational relationship with God, but I just wasn’t clear on how to hear His voice. I’d leave times of prayer still hungering for communication with Him.

The initial course in my degree plan, Communion With God, gave scriptural understanding for my desire to commune with God. It also provided practical steps to aid me in that pursuit. I’ve found that one of those practical steps, journaling, has progressed from simply expressing a desire to hear God’s voice to writing down a spontaneous flow of thoughts that I sense to be specific and practical.

In fact, just recently I sensed the Holy Spirit impressing me with the following: You woke up this morning with a list of things to do. You could have done them in your own strength; however, you would have finished the day empty and frustrated. It’s the same way with working out your own salvation. You could have another list, only this one would be of things for you to figure out and do. This places tremendous pressure on your soul. Things get done, but they are done apart from My life; therefore, they are done in your energy and wisdom. I’m calling you to a life of faith, trust, and total dependance on Me. This will beget revelation which will replace your own wisdom. Anointing will replace your strength.

Through CLU, I’ve been introduced to the works of Christian leaders from John Arnott to Paul Yongi Cho, Jack Winter and, of course, to Mark and Patti Virkler among others. Their perspectives and insights have proven beneficial in many areas of my Christian life. Along with communing with God, I’ve learned principles of resisting and overcoming the enemy. I’ve learned how to allow the life of Christ to indwell me and become my point of reference for righteousness and victory. And even though I often feel as if I’m still in spiritual Kindergarten, God’s unconditional love, acceptance, and mercy toward me have been consistently reinforced throughout my courses.

It’s obvious that if I am to listen to and counsel broken people I must have some personal experiences in the issues being discussed. I must also have received, to some degree, personal healing in the issues. I feel that the CLU courses have been designed to send healed people into their callings and vocations. I’ve benefited greatly from them.

The assignments that accompany the courses have provided a sort of informal accountability system with my advisor, Dr. Karen King. The options for fulfilling graduate-level requirements are incredibly diverse ranging from book reviews to sermon preparation. The discipline required within the courses has developed habits of study that, previous to enrollment at CLU, have been missing in my life.

I look forward to each course since each one is an adventure that takes me to destinations I haven’t been before.