Those that live in America are extremely blessed! We have freedom of speech and freedom of religion, amazing! God is so good! I just read a book about a guy who was imprisoned in Iran for 9 weeks. Not only did the book get me stoked to fall in love with Jesus so much that it doesn't matter if I get imprisoned or not, but it got me deeply thankful for the amazing blessing that we have in simple things like being able to talk about our relationship with God anywhere in America!
God also asked me to fast from speaking for 5 hours today. It was the hardest fast I've ever done! If anyone knows me in person, they know that I like to talk about Jesus a lot! Cause He's so awesome! The crazy thing is that when you're trying not to talk, God teaches you even more about himself! And the more you learn the more you want to tell people! And then God just creates this hunger inside you to tell the whole world about him! Oh GOD! TO PROCLAIM THE WONDERS OF YOUR HOLY NAME!
It seems that only once we have our freedoms taken away are we truly able to enjoy the fullness of them. Thank God that we EVER get to talk about how awesome He is.
Nathan's Adventures with Jesus
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Worship Duty
When we think of worship, I normally think of intense praise in the form of music. There might be some people dancing, a few people on their knees, and most people probably with their hands raised at least as high as their belly button.
The awesome thing that God has really been showing me is that everything we do can be worship unto God! The way we love each other, the way that we do our schoolwork, the way that we play sports, the way we spend all our of free time.
The coolest thing is that we get to do 2 hours of work every day as a part of our DTS learning experience. And its not actually work, its worship! And what better way to feel closer to Jesus than to actually do what Jesus did! For Jesus came not to be served but to serve!
So have a great time living a lifestyle of worship! And the greatest part is, that means we can enjoy dying to ourselves and loving our enemies just as much as our favorite worship service. Pretty Rad!
The awesome thing that God has really been showing me is that everything we do can be worship unto God! The way we love each other, the way that we do our schoolwork, the way that we play sports, the way we spend all our of free time.
The coolest thing is that we get to do 2 hours of work every day as a part of our DTS learning experience. And its not actually work, its worship! And what better way to feel closer to Jesus than to actually do what Jesus did! For Jesus came not to be served but to serve!
So have a great time living a lifestyle of worship! And the greatest part is, that means we can enjoy dying to ourselves and loving our enemies just as much as our favorite worship service. Pretty Rad!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Thailand and Cambodia!
By the way, I'm going to Thailand for 3 weeks, and then to Cambodia for 9 weeks for outreach! It's going to be really exciting, and God is totally gonna show up in massive ways!
So far we know that we will be:
So far we know that we will be:
- teaching english
- helping out the orphans
- doing street dramas and worship concerts
- helping and encouraging the local missionaries
- And much more! God full of fun!
- The soil to be ripe for the harvest in Thailand and Cambodia
- Unity in our class and outreach team
- More divine inspiration for ideas to reach out during outreach
- For a continued motivation to reach out while in Kona
- Continued wisdom and love from the leadership
- To be eternally minded in everything that we do
- Guidance for the leaders and kids
Happy Mother's day!
This is such a great day, we get to celebrate the amazing gift that mothers have been to us from God! I hope that everyone is able to have the joy of giving their moms an amazing day!
I have really been learning a lot about the importance of the family, and I'm so stoked about the body of Christ! I'm seeing how with Jesus we seriously have family all around the world, united with one heart, one mind, one spirit and one body!
God has totally healed me of all of the rejection and all of the judgment that has resulted from that. He's totally told me that no matter what I do, or where I go, that I am still loved just as much. And even when I hate him he still loves me the same exact amount. That truly is some crazy love that He has for us! It's amazing that when we find our identity in God love's and not our actions, its so much easier to love ourselves and love others!
I hope everyone is enjoying the things I write about, if anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to comment!
I have really been learning a lot about the importance of the family, and I'm so stoked about the body of Christ! I'm seeing how with Jesus we seriously have family all around the world, united with one heart, one mind, one spirit and one body!
God has totally healed me of all of the rejection and all of the judgment that has resulted from that. He's totally told me that no matter what I do, or where I go, that I am still loved just as much. And even when I hate him he still loves me the same exact amount. That truly is some crazy love that He has for us! It's amazing that when we find our identity in God love's and not our actions, its so much easier to love ourselves and love others!
I hope everyone is enjoying the things I write about, if anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to comment!
Friday, April 23, 2010
The power of youth
Its amazing how God works, no matter what your age! We just had a speaker who was telling about his teaching a 3 day conference on church growth even though he was 23! Because God has no age limits, whether young or old, everybody gets to be in the party!
God has really been showing me and a few others the power of being child-like. You see, children have everything else that we need to be complete Christians. Because Christian means "little Christ," we need to have the faith and boldness that Jesus represented all day long. Many Christians have the knowledge and wisdom part down, and I feel like God really wants to remind many of us, no matter how old or experienced we are, that need to be like children to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Children have dreams that are amazing! Have you ever met a kid who didn't believe in his heart that he could be an astronaut, brain surgeon, professional sports player or world peace hero? I mean kids have such faith and vision for the future that it just gets you pumped! When I was 5 years old, I believed in my heart that anything was possible! I thought I could win the lottery, no matter how crazy the odds were! If we can unleash a spirit to dream like children, we could really see the whole world revolutionized by the power of Christ.
Another thing that children really have that everyone needs is acceptance. A child will get to know someone, and they have had no time to develop preconceived notions that will be used for their judgments. I think you get the point, that children are just awesome! So innocent, honest, accepting, faith-filled and bold. Could you imagine if every christian was child-like, and filled with the holy spirit and wisdom? I pray to God that this will be restored!
And how much more amazing will the body of Christ be if everyone has the exuberance, adventurous spirit and gung-ho attitude that every 18 year old has? If we could take a generation that has been walking away from church doing the peak of their high school years and show them that they can go travel the world and make a huge difference right out of high school, how much greater will the body of Christ be? And where does it say in the bible that you have to go to seminary or get a degree first to make a difference? By the way, I love education and hope to spend the rest of eternity getting one. But seriously, why go to college to get a degree that you won't do anything when you can just go to the mission field where you'll do some serious learning? Now, its totally different if God calls you to get an education, which is awesome! But don't let the world tell you that you have to meet their requirements to be effective for Christ. All that God cares about is your heart to know him and make him known.
What if we could grab every young person that is walking away from the church during their late teens, which is reaching 90% these days, and tell them that they can make the change? What if we could tell them that their anger towards the church is a good thing if it motivates them to BE the change? Could you imagine! I declare over this generation that their passion will be used for the good of the kingdom of God. We need a restoration of the early new testament church, and I declare that it will be through all generations partnering together and getting a fire under our buts that will do it!
A whole world tasting the goodness of God through child-like faith, 18 year zeal and elderly wisdom... sounds pretty good doesn't it? I just really pray that we as a body can harness the power of youth.
God has really been showing me and a few others the power of being child-like. You see, children have everything else that we need to be complete Christians. Because Christian means "little Christ," we need to have the faith and boldness that Jesus represented all day long. Many Christians have the knowledge and wisdom part down, and I feel like God really wants to remind many of us, no matter how old or experienced we are, that need to be like children to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Children have dreams that are amazing! Have you ever met a kid who didn't believe in his heart that he could be an astronaut, brain surgeon, professional sports player or world peace hero? I mean kids have such faith and vision for the future that it just gets you pumped! When I was 5 years old, I believed in my heart that anything was possible! I thought I could win the lottery, no matter how crazy the odds were! If we can unleash a spirit to dream like children, we could really see the whole world revolutionized by the power of Christ.
Another thing that children really have that everyone needs is acceptance. A child will get to know someone, and they have had no time to develop preconceived notions that will be used for their judgments. I think you get the point, that children are just awesome! So innocent, honest, accepting, faith-filled and bold. Could you imagine if every christian was child-like, and filled with the holy spirit and wisdom? I pray to God that this will be restored!
And how much more amazing will the body of Christ be if everyone has the exuberance, adventurous spirit and gung-ho attitude that every 18 year old has? If we could take a generation that has been walking away from church doing the peak of their high school years and show them that they can go travel the world and make a huge difference right out of high school, how much greater will the body of Christ be? And where does it say in the bible that you have to go to seminary or get a degree first to make a difference? By the way, I love education and hope to spend the rest of eternity getting one. But seriously, why go to college to get a degree that you won't do anything when you can just go to the mission field where you'll do some serious learning? Now, its totally different if God calls you to get an education, which is awesome! But don't let the world tell you that you have to meet their requirements to be effective for Christ. All that God cares about is your heart to know him and make him known.
What if we could grab every young person that is walking away from the church during their late teens, which is reaching 90% these days, and tell them that they can make the change? What if we could tell them that their anger towards the church is a good thing if it motivates them to BE the change? Could you imagine! I declare over this generation that their passion will be used for the good of the kingdom of God. We need a restoration of the early new testament church, and I declare that it will be through all generations partnering together and getting a fire under our buts that will do it!
A whole world tasting the goodness of God through child-like faith, 18 year zeal and elderly wisdom... sounds pretty good doesn't it? I just really pray that we as a body can harness the power of youth.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Video and pictures
I put together a few tours of the campus, some videos from friends and its on vimeo: YWAM Hallelujah!, and all the pictures that I will be taking will be on Facebook!
The first week!
This has been an amazing week so far! Praise God for all that he's been teaching me! We have been learning so many things just in this first week! Every day we have 3-4 hours of lectures in the morning, with amazing teachers from 21 to 40! They all love the lord and have had some really amazing God things happen to every single one of them!
We also spend at least 2 hours monday, wednesday, friday in the prayer room, worshiping and interceding before the lord. For those that don't know, to intercede means to stand in the gap, just like Jesus is interceding before God the father on our behalf.
One of the coolest things is learning to hear God's voice! How cool is our God that he still speaks to us no matter how deserving we are! Once we ask God's heart for something, whether its a country, people group or sphere in society, we pray God's heart back to him. Intercession is extremely effective because we ask God what he wants instead of simply praying what we want!
We are also learning to cultivate intimacy with Christ! I am getting taught a whole new concept from God, that the most intimate thing we can do is rest with someone else. Just like a child in a fathers lap, if we just relax in God's presence it really brings us closer together. A great example of this is shown in Genesis. On the 6th day God created man, and then next day he just wanted to hang out with him! It sure seems like God just wants to hang out with us! And the cool thing is, intimacy with him makes our missions SO much more effective because he will give us his heart for things and we will be able to hear his voice so much clearer! PRAISE THE LORD!!!
By the way, if anyone has any prayer requests, I would really love to pray for everyone of you!
Peace out with the Prince!
We also spend at least 2 hours monday, wednesday, friday in the prayer room, worshiping and interceding before the lord. For those that don't know, to intercede means to stand in the gap, just like Jesus is interceding before God the father on our behalf.
One of the coolest things is learning to hear God's voice! How cool is our God that he still speaks to us no matter how deserving we are! Once we ask God's heart for something, whether its a country, people group or sphere in society, we pray God's heart back to him. Intercession is extremely effective because we ask God what he wants instead of simply praying what we want!
We are also learning to cultivate intimacy with Christ! I am getting taught a whole new concept from God, that the most intimate thing we can do is rest with someone else. Just like a child in a fathers lap, if we just relax in God's presence it really brings us closer together. A great example of this is shown in Genesis. On the 6th day God created man, and then next day he just wanted to hang out with him! It sure seems like God just wants to hang out with us! And the cool thing is, intimacy with him makes our missions SO much more effective because he will give us his heart for things and we will be able to hear his voice so much clearer! PRAISE THE LORD!!!
By the way, if anyone has any prayer requests, I would really love to pray for everyone of you!
Peace out with the Prince!
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