After the DTS ended on November 14th, I flew to visit some of my dad's family in Florida for Thanksgiving. It was a great time to look back at all the Lord had done and be very thankful. I have so much to be thankful for! Thank God for awesome family, 3 meals a day, being able to go to the sink and drink the water... the list goes on and on and I'm sure yours does too.
One of the highlights for me was getting to spend time with my dad's mom, who is 86 and has many memories of working in Haiti. She spent about 25 years working with CrossWorld, a missions organization in Haiti. She now lives in a retirement community with many other missionaries who went to Haiti as well. During my stay I was able to hear many stories of the testimonies of those that have gone before me, which was very encouraging. I was also able to connect with my dad, as we enjoyed the tasty tangerines, warm weather and beautiful beaches of Florida.
After staying in Florida until Thanksgiving Day, I flew to Los Angeles to a global missions congress named Call2All that had about 500 leaders of international missions organizations coming together to pray, partner and strategize to finish the great commission better and take the gospel of the kingdom to the whole earth. I had the incredible privilege of being a volunteer and at the same being apart of all of the teaching times as an usher.
There was lots of worshiping together, preaching and teaching, and round table discussions about how to better do what God called us to do.
Before the congress was over, everyone was challenged to ask God what kind of commitments He wanted them to make with His help and His grace. This list is what leaders have committed to do by the year 2021. And here is list: 70,301 new consistent prayer meetings or House of Prayer, 1,807 Unreached and Unengaged People Groups reached, 46,448 new teams committed to take the bible to new locations through oral teaching and story telling, 217,789 new churches planted, 584,345,463 new exposures to the gospel, and $36,524,466 donated to factors involved in fulfilling the great commission.
The last day of the congress was committed to 8 hours of prayer and worship, as we prayed for the ending of abortion and revival in the nations among other things. It was awesome!
Here we are praying on a giant map of the world
So for now I'm spending time with my family in Sisters, Oregon. I would be happy to figure out a time to spend time with anyone that is interested in hearing about all the God has done in Haiti, or just to hang out! On January 8th, I will be flying to Kona Hawaii, and I will start staffing again, committing 20 hours a week to Student Services, and the rest of my time to staffing the prayer room, which consists of leading corporate prayer and worship, as well as discipling others in the life calling we all have of loving God with all of our hearts! From Kona I plan on going to a School of Biblical Studies in Taiwan, which starts March 23rd.
Please partner with in prayer for the following areas:
1. Deeper revelation of God to my family, my town Sisters Oregon, and to America
2. All the funds needed for my 3 months of staffing in Kona (at least $5,000), and at least $10,000 for SBS in Taiwan
3. My Haitian friend Robert is also going to the school in Taiwan, and will be needing at least $11,000 for everything he needs.
4. A deep refreshing restoration in my life after a good long year of ministry that would cause me to pursue God and love people even more next year.
Starting June 11th and ending November 11th, We have seen so many testimonies of God's faithfulness!
Here are some of my favorite photos and favorite testimonies:
-Over $100,000 raised throughout the DTS for the cost of lecture and outreach phases for needy students.
Working at Mission Riscate in Port-au-Prince
-Visas through America are difficult to obtain for a Haitian, but God gave us all we need to get to our outreach team through America to Benin
Worship at Mission Riscate in Port-au-Prince
-7 Outreach teams from Haiti going to other parts of Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Benin in Africa, Brazil
Haiti is beautiful!
-We didn't know where the water for our house was coming from, we didn't have a well, but God provided by sending lots of rain, helping us concern water and providing through our neighbors
- 1 church getting planted during lecture phase, along with 30 people saying with their mouths they wanted to follow Jesus
- about 20 physical miraculous healings during the lecture phase
- 9 water tanks that can constantly supply water to about 100 people for a person's lifetime
At Morri working with an orphanage
-Many foreigners finished the school speaking Creole well enough to translate between English and Creole
-A staff member is now on his way to China with a School of Worship for outreach
Praying over Port-au-Prince
-We are seeing Haitians awakened to Jesus with hope for the future, many of them continuing in YWAM to staff or study
-An outreach team and their work in Brazil was filmed and put on national news because of Haitians being a blessing to that nation.
Prayer and worship in our prayer room
-80 people staying in one house, 5 bathrooms, 1 gallon of water to shower a day, and still having incredible relationships that will be remembered a lifetime.
-And so many more lives transformed, so many more little things that we'll only hear about in heaven.
Words can barely do justice to all that God did in us and through us during the DTS. Enjoy some pictures and a video about our outreach.
Thanks again for all of your amazing prayer and financial support to partner with me in establishing God's glory to the earth!
Thank you all so much for all your prayers! I feel much better know health wise and am able to function 100% by the grace of God! I have some very good news, because of all of your prayers and support our outreach team of 10 people were able to build two water tanks in the first 3 weeks of outreach. These tanks are able to provide 100 people with continuous water for a life time, which is a huge blessing to many people. So thanks again for all of your help and support!
We were very encouraged because the leader of the church said that even though we weren't working directly with the people, they could still see something was different about us. God was able to show himself simply through the way we worked!
Here we are building our first tank for the local church:
A huge encouragement and answer to prayer is that we now have a Haitian man joining us for the rest of outreach named Chenet! Now we have so much more spiritual authority and are able to encourage and equip him to be a nation changer! Another answer to prayer is that he needed $90 US to be able to purchase his visa to go to the DR, and God provided all the money through various people.
Denz and I in Morri
We also got to work on the tanks with a local name Denz, who is a brother of two other men in our DTS. One cool thing about Haiti is there is such a value on family and everyone seems to have relatives or friends everywhere they go.
It was also an incredible unexpected blessing that we were able to spend the time at a beachside resort! We sure experienced a different side of Haiti that isn't on the news very much: it is an incredibly beautiful place that will surely be the premier vacation destination in the future. Many people have even felt the Holy Spirit saying that it will be a destination instead of people trying to leave all the time. Well if God said it then it will happen. It is getting easier and easier to believe that Haiti WILL be a blessing to the world!
The beautiful sunset at the beach in Morri
We were also able to build a tank at a local orphanage where about 25 girls and 2 boys ages 9 and under are staying. The highlight for me was working with a little boy named John Kelly, who even from the age of 5 was working side by side with us the whole time. He was helping me carry sand, he was bringing water and had such a servants heart. Everyone on the team agreed that he was certainly growing into a mighty man of God!
We have been affectionately named Ekip Bab'n (Team Bab'n) by our own team members, which simply means we think we're pretty cool, which is true cause that what God thinks!
Thanks again for all of your prayers and support! God surely is doing a lot and thank you for being a part of it!
If you could continue to pray for the following things that would be a huge blessing:
For God to continue refining and strengthening our team so we can be the pure and spotless bride that God desires us to be!
Provision for everything needed to get a passport for one of our Haitians
Vision for the fullness and God and the grace to fast and pray to make it a reality!
Continued growing in our Knowledge of God that we may share it with others.
Hey everyone, thank you so much for all of your prayers! It case you didn't hear, I had dengue fever and went to the hospital in Haiti August 22nd 2 weeks ago. Doctors thought I should leave Haiti so my mom flew to New York to meet me at my aunt and uncle's house in Lynbrook, New York. I've been resting here for the last week. Jesus is healing me and I feel much better because of many people's prayers. Life is not boring!
Someone asked me what God wanted to teach me, and I learned that it really is possible to experience the fruit of the Spirit in any situation. I actually was laughing at various points in the hospital because of the Holy Spirit moving in my heart. At the same time, it times effort. We have to press in and really fight to focus on God throughout any circumstance, many times choosing faith over what our emotions may say. I didn't do that at certain times, and suffered loss and let the enemy get me down. But when I did choose to focus on Jesus I was delightfully full of joy.
During the process of being sick I did get frustrated honestly, but I realized that every negative thing that may be frustrating ultimately is a result of Satan's influence on humanity. Even sin is a result of Satan's influence, so we can be furious with Satan in a godly way in difficult circumstance and use that Godly emotion to wage war on the evil one. God has also showed me how much fun music is and he is calling me more and more to worship Him with music.
To top things off, my mom had an accident with power tools and had to go to the emergency room on Saturday September 3rd (which can happen to anyone by the way). As a result her finger was damaged and is in pain, but we're believing God will heal it supernaturally as we do all we can physically.
So now I get to go back to Port-au-Prince, Haiti tomorrow and rejoin my outreach team as we leave for other parts in Haiti on Wednesday Sept. 7th.
We will be going to another town in Haiti called Morri to build water catchment tanks so that people would have clean water to drink and to know Jesus as the provider of living water.
Another exciting thing going on is that there is a 9 month School of Biblical Studies (SBS) in Taiwan that many students, both Haitian and foreign are interested in going to! Of course, they will need much prayer as well for the application process, learning English and for all the finances necessary to get to the school.
As my mom is healing and we get out on our assignments from the Lord, if you could agree with God and pray in the following ways I would be so happy!
Pray that God would pour out His spirit on our team and bring unity, love, wisdom and the power and authority of Jesus Christ, to see many hearts turned back to the Lord and a release of signs of wonder to confirm the message that we preach in word and deed
Pray that God would pour our His spirit and turn the Nations of Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Benin, Brazil, Panama back to Him!
Pray that God would do a miracle and make my mom's finger better than it was before.
Pray that God would open all the doors to get visas, passports and all the favor necessary to get the destinations that the Lord has ordained.
Pray that students feeling led to the SBS will have everything they need (finances, passports, visas, english)
Lately God has been encouraging us to pray and worship even more! Recently I started talking with a student and friend named Stephen about doing a burn, which is a specific amount of time of ending worship and prayer in a community of believers. He said “Let's just start right now! Lets just go for it!” So after praying about what that would look like, we just decided to start worshiping and praying in our lovely prayer room, trying to worship 48 hours straight through the weekend, with everyone signing up for a 2 hour shift with a couple friends. The main focus was simply to encounter Jesus and praise him for who he is, and then as people were led they would pray for the things on God's heart as well!
Desure and me
During our burn we had a great time, with so many people getting involved and students really leading it out. It was really encouraging because everyone just wanted to hang out with Jesus!
Here's some personal testimonies from the students of the DTS:
Stephen: We just had an amazing time of worship from 9 to 11 Saturday and then me and two friends stayed up all night and prayed for the nation. Then we went up on the roof to watch the sunrise and it was beautiful.
Jordan Halperin said: I woke up at three in the morning and devoted 2 hours for prayer and worship and I loved to please God. I loved sacrificing my sleep and time I felt like it was such a simple way to show my love and appreciation to the Lord.
Desure Demero said: "I was born in a christian family. But I never used my time for Jesus. I never told anyone about Jesus.
When another student in the school called me and told me it was time for me to pray in the prayer room, I felt a big blessing and joy to pray. Everyday I pray to Jesus to use me in His work. During this DTS is time for me to start walking with Jesus. I know Jesus wants to change every Haitian in their heart, so please pray for this in Haiti.
During the prayer session, I prayed for my finances and all the finances in the school. We saw a huge victory this weekend because on Monday July 18th all the students needed to pay their money for the lecture phase. After praying all weekend, all the students were able to pay the $200 needed for the lecture phase. This is a huge victory and miracle because of Jesus.
Please pray for me because my friend is discouraging me for doing DTS because afterwards he thinks I won't be able to work with Coca-cola like I did before. I need lots of prayer because Satan is giving me lots of discouragement."
As well as praying and worshiping God ourselves, we've been able to share the love of God with Haiti in practical physical ways, to give strength to the message of the gospel.
To do that we went on mini outreaches throughout Haiti, and I was able to work with a team around the area of Cite de Soleil. My brother came to Haiti during that time, and we were able to work side by side, which was quite a blessing! Josh took many incredible photos, and it was incredible to see him using the talents that God has given him.
During the outreaches we were able to give medical care and education to about 500 people as well as making 2 large tanks that catch rain water and store it. With an average rain fall each tank can supply water to about 100 people consistently, and God willing the tank will last a lifetime.
Another highlight for me was to see God heal 12 people miraculously before our very eyes. While people were waiting in line to see an earthly doctor, we asked the great physician to heal their bodies, and we saw every person that we prayed for get healed! It was so encouraging to see God's power and love at work in these people's lives!
Thank you all so much for praying and support me and this school, and partnering in all that God is doing. I truly wouldn't be in Haiti right now without your incredible faithful prayers and financial contribution! Thanks again!
So this past week we have settled on outreach teams, and I get the privilege to lead a team in Haiti! It is so exciting as we are literally living in a time and place where things are moving quite rapidly in the spiritual realm. Over the past four weeks since the school has started, we have seen many amazing things happening, including people getting healed and deciding to follow Jesus, students getting set free, and a church getting planted.
I'm leading the team with two other amazing woman of God, Dani and Jesselyn! Dani is from Texas and has been here a year already and Jesselyn is from Canada. There are both amazing and I'm so excited to be leading with them!
The Students on our team are Stephen and Katie who are both from America and Widline who is from Haiti.
At the same time this path is marked with lots of unknown things, and the teams could be morphing and changing all the time! Because we are trying to get everyone to go to another country if possible, we need to get many passports and visas so that at the very minimum we can go to the Dominican Republic!
So if you could pray for our teams to get all the passports and visas that we need it would be amazing!
Please ask the Lord to pour out his spirit and give us the fruit, gifts and power of the Spirit! We also really need direction so if you could pray for that as well it would be amazing!
Hey Everyone! God has been some amazing things through our community outreach in the past week!
This is an awesome testimony from our student and my good friend Stephen Davidson-
Last Tuesday during our time of ministry my team went to the tent city. We met a guy named Edma and talked with him for a little while. He didn't have Jesus in his life and we asked him if he would like to accept Jesus as his Savior. He didn't want us to help him do that, but he let us pray for him. His entire body was in pain and we prayed for healing. We asked him if we could come back and see him and if he wasn't healed we would pray for him again and he agreed. This Friday we went back to see him and he was so excited to tell us that he had been healed the morning after we prayed for him. He then wanted to accept Jesus into his life! Praise our Father in heaven!
-Stephen Davidson
Then I asked him: “How did you feel Stephen?”
“So happy that we had the opportunity to let God heal through us as a testimony so that he would come to Jesus, because if he wasn't healed he would've accepted Jesus, and now he wants to attend the church service in the tent city!”
Also, we've been able to have a church service at a tent city that is a four minute walk from our base, and just today there were 11 Haitians that decided to follow Jesus and be in a relationship with Him! Thats amazing! God is so good!
So now we get the incredible privilege to disciple them even more in the ways of God, and to help them grow deeply in love with Jesus!
Please pray for us that God would continue to bring many people to himself in intimate relationship, and that he would give us the guidance, time and resources to do our part in there lives! Thank you so much!
Hey everyone!
Because there is an awesome blog that is constantly getting updated with all kinds of updates from the school, I would love to share it with you!
Here is the link: http://portauprincedts.wordpress.com.
I hope you enjoy it!
Here we are on arrival day! Thank you God! Jesus this is so good! Thank you so much for bringing us all to Haiti for a time such as this! Thank you so much that you have fulfilled the words that you have spoken to me. Thank you that you said that I would come to Haiti with YWAM, and that I would lead a prayer movement starting in Haiti and going to America with a banner of intimacy and love. Jesus I thank you so much that you're so much more committed to me than I could ever be to you! I ask God that you would continue to give me such divine revelation about your will during this time Jesus! You're so good God! Father of glory would you show me even more the way that you love me and the way that you love these students. Thank you Jesus that every single student has been bought with a price, that you loved me even before I knew who you were, and you love them even before they love you. Thank you that they've come to this DTS and are here for such a time as this! Jesus its so exciting to be alive right now! Thank you so much that we could be the generation to which you return! Father I ask that you would continue to show us what's happening worldwide Jesus! God we want to get caught up in the global fiery movement of your spirit bringing the Church to greater levels of glory!
Father I thank you that we have been given such an amazing opportunity to disciple these amazing students, and I know that the staff is going to learn so much more in the process! God I ask that we would be filled with your spirit even more Jesus! Fill us up God with such an amazing encounter of your presence Jesus, show us the way of love, that we would die to ourselves every single day so that would be able to live in us! Jesus we really do love to be dead, because its then that we are truly alive! God make us alive by being dead!
Jesus thank you so much that you're so good! I thank you that there is none like you! I ask that above all that you would give us yourself! God we really do need to have dove's eyes for only you Jesus! I ask that you would help us Jesus just to be so fixed on you Jesus! God show us the way of love, show us what that looks like Jesus! Father of glory let us be so consumed with you above all else God! Let us be consumed by you Jesus! Lets us be consumed by your eyes of blazing fire! You are the one we want, you are the one we need, Jesus would you let us see more of who you are God! Thank you Jesus!
Life is all about intimacy with Jesus.
God keeps teaching me that again and again. The reason we were
created was for intimacy, and at the end of the age God will come and
make his dwelling among men, and we will see him face to face!
God is doing something world-wide from
what I've seen and heard. He is calling His bride to intimacy, to
seek His face and His heart as our chief pursuit, our one thing like
David said (Psalm 24:7): “One thing have I asked of the Lord...
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord... to gaze upon the beauty
of the Lord.” This is radically changing the way we do missions,
and the way we live our lives. God is stirring many people to give a
large majority of their time solely to seeking the Lord with prayer
and fasting, and the results worldwide are amazing!
I've recently heard so many testimonies
of people getting set free, delivered and saved as a result of prayer
and fasting, worship and just flat out passion for the tangible
presence of God. My friend was just telling me of a major awakening
at Lee University because of lots of prayer and fasting, and the
awakening resulted in many people turning to God in a greater way at
the Christian university. She told me that students were so hungry
for God that they wanted to come together and worship every single
night!
On an outreach to Iceland, a Fire and
Fragrance DTS outreach felt led to do 7 days of literally unbroken
worship and intercession. As a result, there was a lesbian couple
that came to the place where they were worshiping and both got so
encountered by the love of God that they gave their hearts to Jesus
right there!
In a Muslim country, there was another
Fire and Fragrance team that did a few days of unbroken worship and
intercession. As a result, about 4 of their Muslim friends came into
the places of worship and encountered the Holy Spirit and became so
excited that one of them gave their lives to Jesus right there on the
spot!
Amazing things are happening when we
make the manifest presence of God our primary pursuit, and biblically
and historically God's presence and Holy Spirit are poured out when
the church comes together for worship and prayer, seeking His face in
unity, just like in the book of Acts.
So we are pressing into God for the
fullness of His power to be displayed in this DTS, and I would love
for you to join us! I also want to encourage you to grab your
christian friends, find a time and place and just start engaging with
the God that loves you so much that He died for you! We can see the
glory of God cover the earth like the waters cover the see, and we
really could see Jesus come back in our lifetime!
Thank you so much for your prayers and
may God bless you in the pursuit of Him.
In the past year God has really been giving me such a paradigm shift that I just have to share. Especially during my DTS last April in Kona, God has shown me that He is so much more concerned about us being in love with Him and making Him a priority than He is about me doing good spiritual things.
He has been teaching me that really the first commandment is first for many reasons. When we fix our eyes on Jesus, and we're so consumed with loving Him, we will do anything with joy! We won't do good things for the praise and attention of man, to show off to everyone around us, we won't do good things because we're getting guilt tripped by other people. We will obey God and do what He wants simply because we love to make God happy! We love to please God and bring Him glory!
When we make our priority to be in love with God, everything that Jesus modeled for us to do simply flows out of our love for God. He said in John 14 that if will love Him we will obey His commands. He said in John 15 that if we abide in Him and His love we will bear much fruit, and that will give the Father much glory! This is good news, that the key to being an effective witness to the world and giving God glory is to be in love with Him!
Back in the garden, it all started with love and relationship. God created man on the 6th day, and then on the 7th day He rested, just to be with man. He said about all the other creation it is good, but about man He said they are very good, even before Adam started working. And later, when Jesus is coming out of Jordan river, having been baptized by John, the Holy Spirit comes and the Father says, so everyone can hear, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”(Matthew 3:17). Even before Jesus did any ministry, the Father was already pleased with Him! He made the Father happy just because of who He was and because of who God is!
Because we're united with Jesus through his death and resurrection, and we've been given His righteousness, we look like Jesus! Of course, we are only realizing that more and more everyday! That means that because of what Jesus has done, and simply because we have faith and repentance, the Father is pleased with us, even before we do any ministry! And at the end of this age, Jesus will come back to the planet and He will make His dwelling among us (Revelations 21:3). Its all about relationship!
And another paradigm shift that God has given me is that we're not making more workers who will make more workers, who simply perform, work and do the right things. We're making more people who will be with Jesus, who will love Him first and foremost, and then they will do anything He wants! And so actually my goal as a missionary is to connect people to Jesus, to love Him and adore Him.
So to connect people to Himself, God has really been giving me a heart for the house of prayer. Jesus said "for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” I really believe that God is calling His bride to greater intimacy with Him, I've seen it happening in my life and am hearing about it worldwide. God is birthing a movement of prayer and worship like never before! There are so many more 24/7 prayer ministries on the earth than there has ever been! How this looks practically is a lifestyle of prayer and fasting, bible study, worship and intercession with a community of like minded people, and an overflow of outreach fueled by the power and love of God, where more disciples in turn fall radically in love with God, and the cycle continues forever.
Right now I am a part of a community that really carries those values called Fire and Fragrance. Headed up by Andy Byrd, Fire and Fragrance runs the prayer room on campus, as well as several DTS's over the past years with many more to come.
To give you more vision and insight, here is a video with Andy Byrd himself:
To be completely honest, I've been struggling. Mostly just struggling with my faith, as the attacks from the enemy come more and more as I near my departure for Haiti. Some days I wonder if there really is a God, or maybe everyone is just making this up. But every single time I begin to wonder, I begin to doubt, I seek out the truth that I've discovered again and again so many times: Jesus is alive!
I thank God that even in my unbelief and weakness He still loves, even when I question His existence after He has does so much for me! I thank God that we are able to seek out the truth, to question Him, because in the seeking and the questioning we will find Him. And I find that very reassuring. Especially today, when we celebrate His resurrection all the world, I'm reminded again that just when it seems that Satan has had the final say, and darkness has won, Jesus Christ will always win. He will always overcome. He did it about 1980 years ago, He's doing it today, and he will eventually have the final victory when Satan goes into the fiery lake of burning sulfur along with everyone else who has ever partnered with Him.
Jesus is capable of overcoming the enemy in any situation. He'll overcome in our finances. He'll overcome in our health. He'll help us overcome in times of suffering and persecution. He'll help us stand strong to the very end. He'll help us love Him more. And one of my favorite things to think about: He'll overcome Satan in the land of Haiti!
So please enjoy this short movie about Haiti, and remember that country in your prayers, because Jesus is capable of completely overcoming the darkness in the land!
Hey friends, family and faithful supporters! It has been an exciting week here at the University of the Nations! God has been stirring in my spirit for some time now to go to Haiti, and I was really hoping I would be able to go with the April Call2All DTS (Discipleship Training School). When it looked like that might not happen, I began to seek the Lord on what His plan was.
I felt like I was to go to this DTS in Port-au-Prince this summer, and long story short I told my leaders what I was feeling, talked to my parents and got felt it was right every step of the way. My previous leader released me and my new leader accepted me, and God worked out everything completely! So while I'm not staffing the entire school, I will still be involved in the Call2All DTS in some way while I'm here. My primary role will be leading worship at the base as well as working in student services, helping students apply to schools.
The DTS I'm now staffing is going to be in Port-au-Prince Haiti! It is an incredible honor to be a part of, as it is the first one that YWAM has done in Port-au-Prince. It will be 5 months long, from June 11th- November 12th. We have an amazing staff, with both Haitians and “foreigners.” We are believing God for 50 students, both Haitians and international. The theme of this school will be to partner with God in making Haiti a blessing not a curse among the nations. If you're interested in taking this school, we would love to have you as a student! God will surely make a way and supply the finances if that is His will!
So I will need to be in Haiti by May 20th, with a school start date of June 11th. I would much appreciate much prayers for myself and the school, as well as for the nation. Another prayer point is the presidential election that is happening today. Lets agree with God's heart for this nation to see it transformed! Remember God uses our prayers to change the course of history! Thank you all so much for all of the love and support that you guys give me!
For more information check out the website: Haiti DTS
I hope you also enjoy this video that will give you a better picture of what the school will be like.
Recently I heard a teaching that really challenged and encouraged me, and I just had to share it with everyone!
This is from Daniel Lim, who is from the International House of Prayer in Kansas City (IHOP-KC), which is famous for their prayer and focus on intimacy with Jesus. He was talking about prayer, and he asked us all a question, why so we pray?
He listed a few different reasons of why we pray:
We have a need (someone is sick, we need a car, house, food)
We have work/ministry to do
The enemy is fighting against us, and we have to do spiritual warfare
We want to see the lost saved
We want revival to come in our area
These are all great reasons to pray, of course! Each reason that I listed is completely biblical, and Jesus and Paul encourage us to pray for everything!
However, one day there will no more need, no more work, no more spiritual warfare! Do we still need to come before Jesus? What then is the reason to come to Jesus?
And this is simple, yet profound: when every demon is bound, there is no more work to be done, no more sickness or pain, Jesus is the reason to come to Jesus.
Jesus is the reason to come to Jesus!
He said that prayer is not a means to an end, prayer is the end. The final destination of every christian is going to be an ongoing worship meeting in heaven. What a glorious day that will be!
So in a world that is so driven by works and getting things done, what do we need practically to truly be with Jesus just to be with Him? What can we have so that we're not always thinking about what we need to do, but just loving being Jesus?
We need the knowledge of God. We need to know that Jesus desires to be with us. Jesus prayed in John 17 24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. (NIV, emphasis added)
And I really believe that if we see God not as someone who just wants us to serve Him, but also to be with Him, it will radically transform our view of prayer! When we truly realize that God loves us not because of what we do, but because of the way He is, we will WANT TO PRAY instead of having to pray.
If you're having trouble loving your prayer times, and feeling more like its more of a duty, than anything something you like to do, here is something you could pray that I believe could be a spark to your prayer life.
Father who loves me, thank you so much that you loved me so much that you sent your son on a mission out of glorious heaven down to earth. Thank you that you love me even before I love you. And Jesus, even before I did anything for you, you died for me. Thank you Jesus that like a shepherd after a lost sheep you're pursuing me with your love, like a bridegroom chases after His bride. Holy Spirit, thank you that you, the infinite, all powerful God, are dwelling inside of me, and I am your temple. God, thank you for love, and you want to be with me where I am. I ask that you would help me to know your love and your delight in me even more. Thank you Jesus, in your name amen.
I, Jesus, take you, Church, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life. I, Jesus, take you, (insert your name), for my lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death brings you to heaven.
Song of Songs 8 6 Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy[q] unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.[r]7Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away.
Lately at our base we've experience quite a bit of sickness. Nothing serious or life-threatening, but just enough to humble us and bring us to our knees and our beds. And its in the place of weakness that we really do discover God's amazing love.
You see, while we were still sinners Christ loved us enough to die for us (Romans 5:8). "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy." (Titus 3:5) Jesus said: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17) And thank the Lord that the strength of our relationship does not depend on our pursuit of God, but of His pursuit of us!
Because of who He is, Jesus is an unending, unrelenting wedding vow to love us, to honor us, to pursue us no matter what our condition is. What a glorious truth!
I discovered that as a follower of Jesus I have to continually keep coming back to that reality. Even when I'm doing good, I'm fasting, praying, studying the word, evangelizing, giving, and loving, He loves me the same. And when I'm in rebellion, falling into temptation, sick and tired of being disciplined, He loves me the same! When I don't want to read my bible, He loves me the same. When I say no to the Holy Spirit, He loves me the same. When I sleep 12 hours and completing miss my appointment with Jesus, he loves me the same. When I disciple the nations and bring a whole country to Jesus, He loves me the same. When I give all of my money away, He loves me the same. When I memorize the whole bible, He loves the same. He already loves me, is already proud of me, He is already pleased with me. If I never opened my bible again, we would still want to be my friend. God loves me the way God loves God, even when I am as far away from being like God as possible.
This amazing, unconditional, unrelenting love is what keeps us going. Its what keeps us coming back to our first love. So please, wherever you are, just remember the He already loves you. And be compelled by His love, and let it be an overflow of this amazing love that touches the world around you.
And Please pray for the YWAM base in Kona that the God who loves us and can heal us would fill us with the knowledge of His love and His healing power. Thank you.
Jesus has been teaching me something so precious: its all about Him. This life is not about living for people's approval, fame or fortune. Its not even about having fun, or even living life to the fullest, although those are all good things.
This life is about being in love with our creator. Falling in love, and then going where he goes. Abiding in the vine, and bearing much fruit. Being like a tree planted by streams of living water, so that our leaves are always green.
This is my prayer for my life, that I would be solely focused on one things: intimacy with Jesus. Please join me in praying that we would be so consumed with loving this man that our only desire is to love him more.
I really believe that God is calling the church to really put the first commandment first in our lives, and we will see the world truly transformed when our walk is not just about doing ministry, doing good things and not doing bad things, but being in love with God!
So please, pray for the church of Jesus Christ, that we would not be swayed by any other mission, other than loving our precious King.
Hey everyone! I'm here at University of Nations where I am on staff with Youth With A Mission. It has been a week now of being on staff, and it is an incredible experience. I feel like I'm exactly where God wants me to be, and I see His goodness all around me. I've been rejoined with so many good friends, and have made many more. Everyone is so eager to talk and be friends. And everyone has the pursuit of one person on their mind: Jesus.
We spend much time as a campus and as individuals simply being with our precious savior. It is in His presence that we get transformed, we get refreshed and we receive new strength for the new battles. It is in His presence that we find out who we really are, and who God really is. What a privilege to live in the presence of the Almighty God!
Looking ahead to future, we are very excited about the April Call2All DTS. We already met as a school and have been hearing so many good things from the Lord, who is giving us our identity as a school. So far we have 11 staff, and they should all get here early February.
We are in the process of praying for and recruiting students. We are expecting the Lord to send a huge workforce into the harvest fields, and we are hoping for 60+ students in our school. Will you be part of the faithful intercessors who join us in praying for these students?
Also, here is a little more information about the school and how you can join us as we follow the Lord.
This is one of those exciting moments where I can just see God's hand at work in amazing ways! I'm finally going to Kona! After three and half months, I am soon going back to the YWAM base to start the work the Lord has prepared for me! I now have enough support where I can confidently go back, knowing that I am in God's will and He is providing for me! Its so exciting that after talking about it for so long, its actually happening! Praise God!
And I have really cool news about my family as well. They are just so fired up for God! It has been such a blessing to see in each one of my family members. My parents are coming back from Haiti with a week long missions team that they are leading! They continue to amaze me everyday by their willingness to go wherever and do whatever the Lord has them do. I am truly blessed to have such amazing parents. Papa mweh aye Mama mweh, M' reme ou. (My father and my mother, I love you, in creole).
My brother is doing amazing at Oregon State University, where He is studying Graphic Design. He is working hard, getting good grades, working a job on campus, and He has just started leading a high school group at his local church. It really is incredible to see God just dramatically turn his life around! Please continue to keep my family in your prayers, because we know that Satan doesn't like it when people follow Jesus.
If you could partner with me in prayer for the following things:
For spiritual authority in our staff team to lead a powerful school
For all of our financial and housing needs met
For God to send the right staff and students to our school
For vision and passion to really see this school be the best it can be
For us to be focused on intimacy with Jesus, that ministry would be an overflow
For my family to have unity, God's direction and deeper intimacy with Christ
Thank you so much! Your prayers make a difference!
Also, I hope you enjoy this awesome video about the Call2All Discipleship Training School.
Merry Christmas! I know its a little late, but at the same time I'm getting an early start on this year! I hope everyone has had a great holiday season, full of family, friends and lots of JESUS!
Its been a while since my last post, so this one is a recap of everything that has happened over the holiday season.
The first big event was having Tom & Alex Purvis leave, a young couple that are on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. My parents were very generous in letting them stay with us. We really miss them not being here, but we're very excited that they get to do the work of the Lord! They are going to be working in Utah, which surprisingly is an unreached people group, with about 1% of the population Christians. Feel free to check out their website: tomandalexpurvis.com. I highly recommend them as people to support. From the first day they stayed with us through the very end they were incredibly encouraging, friendly, hard working and have amazing hearts to pursue God.
Next, we had all the family home! And this was the first Christmas where everyone was believing in Jesus! We had a really cool time reading the story of Jesus' birth and praying and worshiping together.
The day after Christmas, I flew to Kansas City, MO for a young adult conference called "onething". It was put together by the International House of Prayer in Kansas City (IHOP-KC). There were amazing times of worship and teaching, and everyone walked away more encouraged to live what society says is radical, but the bible says is normal. I want to highly encourage anyone that is interested to check out the free archives of teaching and worship, its powerful. Click this sentence to watch the onething archives.
So now I'm in Sisters, Oregon getting the final details taken care of before I head to Kona January 17th.
Merry Christmas! Here is a video showing the highlights of this past holiday season:
