The question of the week is outreach. Where are you going on outreach. Well I've known for a week where I'm going but we weren't supposed to tell anyone until the full teams were announced so now here we go. Last week Wednesday we were given our two outreach locatoins. Then we were pretty much given an hour to ask God and have him speak to us where we were supposed to go. Our options were Mexico City and South Africa. Mexico City didn't surprise me too much especially since i guess Mexico City is going to be a city of focus for all of YWAM next year and YWAM Mazatlan has ambitions to plant a base there as well since there is currently no YWAM base in Mexico City despite it being teh largest or 2nd largest city in the world. (it and tokyo keep switchin) South Africa meanwhile threw me off. I was expecting Africa, Chris our DTS leader had said a couple things about Egypt and i know they go to Morocco and I was like AFrica that'd be awesome its one continant besides austrailia i haven't been to sounds cool and i was kinda expecting Africa before they announced hte locations and was somewhat leaning that way. then they said South Africa and i was like what. Not expecting that.
Anyway they sent us off wiht a piece of paper. One hour. Kinda intimidating. But since we were learning about the voice of God and hearing the voice of God i was alright i got one hour that means God knows that and is going to speak to me in that hour. Get excited. For a lot of people they said it was hard to get to that place of neutrality between the two locations but for me I felt like I really wanted to go to both places. I really want to go to Africa and while i feel the urge to go to like a more northern country Africa is Africa and it'd be freaken awesome. Meanwhile I feel pulled toward Mexico and the Mexican culture and i want to learn spanish more etc...So was I like i really want to go to both but to be honest my desire probably was South Africa just because it'd actually be going somewhere a lot different. Mexico City is pretty close to Mazatlan.
I went out to the beach sat down by the tide pools listening to the waves lookin out over the city. God speak, just tell it to me. Make it easy give me a vision give me a verse blah blah blah. The biggest thing I learned through this process is that God speaks to us. But who are we to tell Him how to speak, yes sometimes we can ask for a dream and he'll give us one or we'll be like if you really want this have this person come up to me and say this and it will happen. But overall we have to trust God to speak and we have to be attentive because we aren't always sure how He's going to do it. Going on, I'm sittin there just lookin out over the ocean and the city. Kinda going through logic where I want to go and why and what would be cool about each one. And finally I'm like God which one Mexico City or South Africa and first thing that popped into my head was Mexico City. That you God? So again i tried to tell Him how to speak to me give me 3 obvious confirmations blah blah blah. And he really didn't. A lot of poeple get spoke to through the bible like God will turn the pages of their Bible with the wind and stuff or God will put a refereence in their head and it will fit perfectly so I'm like God give me a verse. So i tried forcing the issue and trying to come up with a verse. God didn't want to give me a verse.
So I'm going through all this and slowly God is just revealing to me why Mexico City, my heart for Latin America, my heart for cities, he gave me an image/vision of buildings and of me tlkaing on the corner of a busy street to some poeple. So He's showin me these things and reminding me my desire to learn Spanish etc...but I'm not really feeling to sure about this but my mind didn't really think about South Africa at all. So then God was like circle it and go. I was like what I dont feel like I've got any confirmations no cool vision (the images were kinda vauge and im gonna say lame) no verse etc...so i got up and went to turn in my piece of paper to Chris.
As I walked back to teh base I was just like God if this is the right decision give me supernatural peace about it. I went and handed it to Chris and since then the only time I've questioned my decision at all is one day for about 5 minutes but other than that I've just felt amazing peace. That night I asked for a dream to confirm my decision. didn't get it. God didn't want to speak to me through a dream or a verse or blah blah blah. He wanted to speak to me through peace. I'm usually terrible about decisions and stuff like this and I've never felt this much peace about something not even about coming to Mazatlan.
What I pretty much want to say through all this very choppy writing haha. Is that God WILL speak to you. He won't leave ya hanging He will show you where to go what to do etc...But its not always gonna come the way you want it. Sometinmes it will, my friend Caleb asked for a dream for his direction and he got one. Awesome. Didn't happen to me. God spoke to me through peace after making hte decision. I had to step out in faith with the decision first and then He spoke to me and told me it was right through peace. (He's also shown me how if i had gone to South Africa it would have been on impure intentions etc...also apprently theres prophetic words about reivial in Mexico in 2010 so heckz yea) Therefore...for my outreach, I'm going to Mexico City from December 26/27 to about February 5ish and then we have Carnaval outreach here for 2-3 weeks with our whole team which is pretty much mardi gra in Mazatlan, gonnna be intense i hear its a lot of sleepless nights with very little sleep days. then our whole team will do somethings around mexico and probably build a house through our homes of hope ministry. God has spoken I am officially a Mexican, I am a Mazatlecan and at least until March...VIVA MEXICO!!!!!!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Life in Mazatlan
Okay so I"m finally going to write a post that actually talks about what I'm exactly doing here, we'll see if i make it to the end. Pretty much I am here in Mazatlan doing my DTS for YWAM. I am expecting to learn a lot and to be strengthened a lot. I expect to learn how to walk in the Power of the Holy Spirit but also in the meekness, love, humility, and intimacy that Jesus walked in. Anyway God has done some crazy stuff here, our speaker the first week was Kelly Vargas she's on staff at the base here but she pretty much prophecied over our team that we would be a team of brokenness (which is already totally true) and that we would be a DTS that takes the base and the DTS school to the next level. Awesome.
I could outline a lot of events but I thought I'd just maybe go through the awesomeness of a day here. Today for example, i got up at 7am ate breakfast...went for a walk with God on the beach for a half hour, came back went up to the secret place (its what they call this cool garden quiet place where we have class) and had personal time with God for another hour. Then we either have worship or intercession or class for 2 hours till about 11. Then a break then class for two hours. then i have lunch at 1 and do lunch cleanup (my job) that takes until 3 and then i have freetime everyday until 6. Plenty of time to either just spend more time with God wohooo, read the word, listen to podcasts, go to the beach, jump in the pool, learn guitar, chill on facebook and skype etc...Then we have dinner at 6 and then have more freetime till 8. (I've never had this much free time in so long). Then we either have class 8-10 on mondays, tuesday is freetime and it looks like I'm gonna get to play soccer those nights the base has a team we play at this awesome ghetto cornerkick outdoor type place and we lose but its fun. Wednesday we have outreach meetings (i know where I'm going for outreach but blog on that will come later), thursday we have freetime but i got my team to turn that into a worship time wohooo! and firday we have fmaily night tonight we watched a movie. Anyway and then i usually go to bed at about 11 so i have another hour of hang/free time from 10-11. Then weekends are pretty much all free. Every other weekend we do an outreach thing and sunday at 12 30 is church and sunday night we do flagpole outreach which is awesome...we go down to the malecon by the beach and just have people worship and intercede and evangalize and pray for poeple its great though its tough not being able to speak spanish that well. So pretty much life is awesome. Everyday is filled with learning about God, worshipping God, talking to God, listening to God, and reading the word. However I'm already excited for outreach cuz pretty soon I need a way to release all this stuff God's just overflowing me with or I'm gonna explode.
Okay now something interesting...God's teaching me a lot...prolly the most He's teaching me patience and humility. For one i go from being a leader in many ways at home just with The Movement and such and being seen as a leader by others. Here i feel i am still called to be a leader but its very different becasue a lot of times its less visible...i'm not the one teaching i'm not the one leading the school or anything like that. Though its kinda weird it's good for me b/c it is keeping me humble realzing that I have so far to go still in my walk with God. I have also realized that a lot of teaching i have heard before but if i get past the lie that i've heard it all before i learn a lot of new stuff and can ask questions to dive deeper. I also realize that as described above I have a lot of freetime. I think that God has given me an oppertunity to spend time with Him so much and this is an oppertunity I may not get very often in life. He's teaching me how to not just talk to him but to listen and not just a couple minutes but to sit and listen to him for long periods of time. He is also teaching me patience. I want to be one place in my walk with God and I want our team to be one place but you can't just get to places instantly sometimes teh process of getting there is more important and valuable than actually getting there. And while I look and go wow i wish we were here, us as a team are already way farther than I ever thought we would be after being together for 2 weeks.
Anyway that's a lot and not sure how much of it you all actually care about but I figured i'd actually write about what I'm doing here and what God's showing me. Love you all I'm prayin for ya guys (I got enough time ha). God bless you all and may He teach you to love the process of growth.
I could outline a lot of events but I thought I'd just maybe go through the awesomeness of a day here. Today for example, i got up at 7am ate breakfast...went for a walk with God on the beach for a half hour, came back went up to the secret place (its what they call this cool garden quiet place where we have class) and had personal time with God for another hour. Then we either have worship or intercession or class for 2 hours till about 11. Then a break then class for two hours. then i have lunch at 1 and do lunch cleanup (my job) that takes until 3 and then i have freetime everyday until 6. Plenty of time to either just spend more time with God wohooo, read the word, listen to podcasts, go to the beach, jump in the pool, learn guitar, chill on facebook and skype etc...Then we have dinner at 6 and then have more freetime till 8. (I've never had this much free time in so long). Then we either have class 8-10 on mondays, tuesday is freetime and it looks like I'm gonna get to play soccer those nights the base has a team we play at this awesome ghetto cornerkick outdoor type place and we lose but its fun. Wednesday we have outreach meetings (i know where I'm going for outreach but blog on that will come later), thursday we have freetime but i got my team to turn that into a worship time wohooo! and firday we have fmaily night tonight we watched a movie. Anyway and then i usually go to bed at about 11 so i have another hour of hang/free time from 10-11. Then weekends are pretty much all free. Every other weekend we do an outreach thing and sunday at 12 30 is church and sunday night we do flagpole outreach which is awesome...we go down to the malecon by the beach and just have people worship and intercede and evangalize and pray for poeple its great though its tough not being able to speak spanish that well. So pretty much life is awesome. Everyday is filled with learning about God, worshipping God, talking to God, listening to God, and reading the word. However I'm already excited for outreach cuz pretty soon I need a way to release all this stuff God's just overflowing me with or I'm gonna explode.
Okay now something interesting...God's teaching me a lot...prolly the most He's teaching me patience and humility. For one i go from being a leader in many ways at home just with The Movement and such and being seen as a leader by others. Here i feel i am still called to be a leader but its very different becasue a lot of times its less visible...i'm not the one teaching i'm not the one leading the school or anything like that. Though its kinda weird it's good for me b/c it is keeping me humble realzing that I have so far to go still in my walk with God. I have also realized that a lot of teaching i have heard before but if i get past the lie that i've heard it all before i learn a lot of new stuff and can ask questions to dive deeper. I also realize that as described above I have a lot of freetime. I think that God has given me an oppertunity to spend time with Him so much and this is an oppertunity I may not get very often in life. He's teaching me how to not just talk to him but to listen and not just a couple minutes but to sit and listen to him for long periods of time. He is also teaching me patience. I want to be one place in my walk with God and I want our team to be one place but you can't just get to places instantly sometimes teh process of getting there is more important and valuable than actually getting there. And while I look and go wow i wish we were here, us as a team are already way farther than I ever thought we would be after being together for 2 weeks.
Anyway that's a lot and not sure how much of it you all actually care about but I figured i'd actually write about what I'm doing here and what God's showing me. Love you all I'm prayin for ya guys (I got enough time ha). God bless you all and may He teach you to love the process of growth.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Pressure
I have been here in Mazatlan for over a week now and there is so much I could write on. There are even things I was planning on writing on but when I sat down I asked God what the title of this post should be and He said pressure. And since this week we are talking about hearing the voice of God and obeying it, I am going to write on pressure.
I think a lot of us at different times in our life experience a lot of pressure. There's pressure when you play sports, pressure in performing a job, pressure in school etc...For me however I feel I have struggled a lot with pressure in what God has for us. Coming to Mazatlan I felt a lot of pressure. Coming in a didn't even realize it was there and maybe I haven't really realized it until now when God told me to write about it.
Anyway looking back on the first 9 days of this trip I have been under a lot of pressure. Pressure to fulfill God's plan for me, pressure to serve others, pressure find His purpose for me in this time, pressure to help others in their walk with, pressure to not only receive from the YWAM base here but to give to them what I can.
What I have realized is all that pressure is self-inflicted. It's all been put on by me. Not God, not friends or family, not other people, not my fellow students or my teachers here. God does not want us to feel pressure. In fact looking up the definition of the word (yes the classic dictionary definition), one of the meanings is harassment and/or oppression. Wow. Revelation. I have brought harassment and oppression onto myself because coming in I have expected so much of God but instead of just relying on Him to carry the things out He has already told me He's going to do. I have put pressure on myself that it is my job to make sure these things happen when really He's got it all under control. And while this doesn't mean I stop being a leader or I stop seeking Him with all my heart, mind, body, soul, and strength, it brings the realization that He's in control, He's got it all planned out and while I am going to be used by Him (in greater ways than I know) I am not the only one He is going to use or has to use to see these things through. That for me gives me peace. Thank you Jesus. This is why we are the body of Christ.
So while maybe most of you were hoping to here about my trip and cool stories and all that, they'll come (I have a lot already so maybe next post) I feel God calling me to write on this not only for myself but for anyone reading this I want to encourage you to let go of the pressure you put on yourself. That you have to do this that God is calling you to do this and you better not mess it up or that you are alone in the calling He has given you. If you have been putting pressure on yourself look around. Look at your brothers and sisters in Christ fighting alongside of you. You aren't alone, you don't have to do everything by yourself. Even Paul had plenty of people He worked with, that were there with Him in prison etc...Let God take control, He will give you the help you need when you need it. Trust in Him and let Him use you, but let Him use someone else too because the body of Christ together will go farther than any of us ever could on our own.
Peace and joy from Mazatlan, may God relieve you all of the pressures of life, and the pressures we put on ourselves that we may be consumed by supernatural peace, joy and trust in Him.
Your brother in Christ,
Chris Brands
I think a lot of us at different times in our life experience a lot of pressure. There's pressure when you play sports, pressure in performing a job, pressure in school etc...For me however I feel I have struggled a lot with pressure in what God has for us. Coming to Mazatlan I felt a lot of pressure. Coming in a didn't even realize it was there and maybe I haven't really realized it until now when God told me to write about it.
Anyway looking back on the first 9 days of this trip I have been under a lot of pressure. Pressure to fulfill God's plan for me, pressure to serve others, pressure find His purpose for me in this time, pressure to help others in their walk with, pressure to not only receive from the YWAM base here but to give to them what I can.
What I have realized is all that pressure is self-inflicted. It's all been put on by me. Not God, not friends or family, not other people, not my fellow students or my teachers here. God does not want us to feel pressure. In fact looking up the definition of the word (yes the classic dictionary definition), one of the meanings is harassment and/or oppression. Wow. Revelation. I have brought harassment and oppression onto myself because coming in I have expected so much of God but instead of just relying on Him to carry the things out He has already told me He's going to do. I have put pressure on myself that it is my job to make sure these things happen when really He's got it all under control. And while this doesn't mean I stop being a leader or I stop seeking Him with all my heart, mind, body, soul, and strength, it brings the realization that He's in control, He's got it all planned out and while I am going to be used by Him (in greater ways than I know) I am not the only one He is going to use or has to use to see these things through. That for me gives me peace. Thank you Jesus. This is why we are the body of Christ.
So while maybe most of you were hoping to here about my trip and cool stories and all that, they'll come (I have a lot already so maybe next post) I feel God calling me to write on this not only for myself but for anyone reading this I want to encourage you to let go of the pressure you put on yourself. That you have to do this that God is calling you to do this and you better not mess it up or that you are alone in the calling He has given you. If you have been putting pressure on yourself look around. Look at your brothers and sisters in Christ fighting alongside of you. You aren't alone, you don't have to do everything by yourself. Even Paul had plenty of people He worked with, that were there with Him in prison etc...Let God take control, He will give you the help you need when you need it. Trust in Him and let Him use you, but let Him use someone else too because the body of Christ together will go farther than any of us ever could on our own.
Peace and joy from Mazatlan, may God relieve you all of the pressures of life, and the pressures we put on ourselves that we may be consumed by supernatural peace, joy and trust in Him.
Your brother in Christ,
Chris Brands
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