The third story I would like to share about Carnaval is probably my favorite. It was another one of those nights where I felt God calling me to go the evangelism team. So I was down by the gates of Carnaval with the evangelism teams when Jeremy, one of the evangelists went over to these 3 girls across the street. These 3 girls were dressed very provocatively but you could tell they were really young. So Jeremy brings these 3 girls who end up being the ages of 14, 14, and 18 and he tells me to start praying to God for a word for them. I’m kind of nervous but I’m like alright lets do this. Jeremy started to talk to them about the gospel. Then I felt I was supposed to talk to them about how God is romantic and about the heart of the bridegroom. Soon after this they all received Jesus into their heart. This was awesome but the story isn’t over.
After this happened God started speaking to speak to me about one of the girls and that she had huge relationship problems with her father. So I asked her about it and started speaking to her about the Father heart of God. She it totally being touched at this point and I know God wants to move more but I didn’t know what to say next. Right at this moment, my friend Christie comes up and asks if she can share her testimony. She had been sitting across the street when God told her to come over and share. She was resistant at first because we were already talking to her. However she finally came over and it was perfect timing. Not only was the timing perfect but her testimony was actual exactly what this girl needed to hear. By the end the girl is just crying and Christie was able to comfort her and console her.
Next God spoke to me about another on of the girls and about how she was a creative person and liked to do art. So I spoke to her about God’s creative side. Then God spoke to me about the last girl that she really struggled with her physical appearance. I told her that God created her perfectly and sees her as beautiful and that she doesn’t have to dress a certain way to earn attention or love because she already has all of God’s attention and love. She also started crying and was really touched by the LORD. We then had them pray to receive the Holy Spirit and then we gave them all Bibles.
This story is awesome because it shows how God just wants to encounter people. We didn’t argue with them about whether God was real or not, we didn’t have to convince them of anything, we just spoke truth and spoke into things they were dealing with in their lives and it allowed the Holy Spirit to come and encounter them.
For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
(1 Corinthians 4:20)
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Carnaval Stories (part 2 of 4)
My second Carnaval story is a story of obedience. Many times when we are doing things in ministry we wrongly go after success in our ministry as our main motive. While it is not bad to desire a successful ministry this should not be our focus. Our focus should be 100% obedience to God.
One night of Carnaval about 3 of us felt God telling us to set up a “prayer tent” in a sense. We made a sign that said prayer and stood under a Pacifico (Mexican beer) tent right in front of Casa del Marino which was our outreach base. So we were right outside our hair salon, coffee shop, kids ministry, and prayer room. However, this night of Carnaval there were barely any people walking by our building. This could have been an easy excuse to give up on the prayer tent and find something else to do that was doing more but we knew what God had told us so we stayed. People walked by and we’d ask if they wanted prayer and they’d say no. Then no one would walk by. However finally, this one guy comes up and doesn’t ask for prayer but starts asking us where we are from.
We end up talking to him for quite a while about Jesus, about his family and many other things. He was totally wasted but you could tell the Holy Spirit was getting through and he was being touched and really encouraged. He then proceeded to bring us over to his 3 friends who ended up accepting Jesus into their hearts as well as inviting the Holy Spirit into their lives. We got to give them all Bibles as well and really encourage them to seek after the LORD. It was really awesome because these were the only people we talked to all night. So it wasn’t that we got to reach a lot of people but we were obedient to the LORD and talked to the 4 men he had prepared for us to talk to that night. It is so satisfying to walk in obedience to the LORD even when it doesn’t seem to produce results. However even when we don’t see the results God knows what He is doing we just need to trust Him and obey. We need to find satisfaction in obeying Him not in the things that happen as a result.
"And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full.
(Deut 11:13-15)
One night of Carnaval about 3 of us felt God telling us to set up a “prayer tent” in a sense. We made a sign that said prayer and stood under a Pacifico (Mexican beer) tent right in front of Casa del Marino which was our outreach base. So we were right outside our hair salon, coffee shop, kids ministry, and prayer room. However, this night of Carnaval there were barely any people walking by our building. This could have been an easy excuse to give up on the prayer tent and find something else to do that was doing more but we knew what God had told us so we stayed. People walked by and we’d ask if they wanted prayer and they’d say no. Then no one would walk by. However finally, this one guy comes up and doesn’t ask for prayer but starts asking us where we are from.
We end up talking to him for quite a while about Jesus, about his family and many other things. He was totally wasted but you could tell the Holy Spirit was getting through and he was being touched and really encouraged. He then proceeded to bring us over to his 3 friends who ended up accepting Jesus into their hearts as well as inviting the Holy Spirit into their lives. We got to give them all Bibles as well and really encourage them to seek after the LORD. It was really awesome because these were the only people we talked to all night. So it wasn’t that we got to reach a lot of people but we were obedient to the LORD and talked to the 4 men he had prepared for us to talk to that night. It is so satisfying to walk in obedience to the LORD even when it doesn’t seem to produce results. However even when we don’t see the results God knows what He is doing we just need to trust Him and obey. We need to find satisfaction in obeying Him not in the things that happen as a result.
"And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full.
(Deut 11:13-15)
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Carnaval Stories (part 1 of 4)
A couple weeks ago I shared a bit about the Carnaval outreach we had back in February. I would like to take the time to just share a few testimonies of the goodness of God. There are many stories that I could tell from Carnaval and many others could tell as well as you could imagine when you see 2200 salvations in a week but here is a couple of my favorite.
I was on the prayer or WISE (Worship, Intercession, Spiritual Warfare, Evangelism) team so we focused mostly on keeping the presence of the LORD present in all of the outreaches being done. This was done through 24-7 prayer as well as a lot of worship and spiritual warfare. Mainly we were free to do whatever the Spirit was telling us to do in the moment so we could go into Carnaval and worship or we would stay in the prayer room and pray or we would walk the streets and do spiritual warfare. However there were also several times where we could go with the evangelists and cover them in prayer or evangelize with them.
My first story is in such a time as this. I felt God calling me to go with the evangelism group that was going to gates of Carnaval however we were supposed to meet as a WISE team in like a half hour so I knew I didn’t have a lot of time. I was excited but also a little bit wondering how much can happen in a half hour. Anyway we are all walking towards the gates and the evangelism team has signs that say like “free hugs” or “prayer” or “prophetic words.” This guy just all of a sudden sees my friends sign that says “prophetic words” and is like I want a prophetic word and then he yells at all the people with him to come over. He then proceeds to tell everyone that we should get in a circle and hold hands. I think we had about 20-25 people in this circle of random people holding hands waiting for a prophetic word. My friend decides to pray and he just starts praying (in Spanish) and then he gets done praying and just starts preaching the gospel. He gets done in about 2-3 minutes, and proceeded to ask if anyone would like to accept Christ. About 10 people raise there hands and receive Christ into their heart for the first time. WOW! It was so great we pretty much didn’t have to do anything. The LORD brings these people to us, my friend shares a basic message about Jesus and his death and BOOM! 10 people are brought into eternity with their new LORD and savior Jesus Christ. I believe this is directly related to what I talked about in my blogpost Fearless. We were walking in so much intimacy with the LORD and were just carrying the presence of the LORD and Jesus just drew these people unto Himself.
John 12:32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."
I was on the prayer or WISE (Worship, Intercession, Spiritual Warfare, Evangelism) team so we focused mostly on keeping the presence of the LORD present in all of the outreaches being done. This was done through 24-7 prayer as well as a lot of worship and spiritual warfare. Mainly we were free to do whatever the Spirit was telling us to do in the moment so we could go into Carnaval and worship or we would stay in the prayer room and pray or we would walk the streets and do spiritual warfare. However there were also several times where we could go with the evangelists and cover them in prayer or evangelize with them.
My first story is in such a time as this. I felt God calling me to go with the evangelism group that was going to gates of Carnaval however we were supposed to meet as a WISE team in like a half hour so I knew I didn’t have a lot of time. I was excited but also a little bit wondering how much can happen in a half hour. Anyway we are all walking towards the gates and the evangelism team has signs that say like “free hugs” or “prayer” or “prophetic words.” This guy just all of a sudden sees my friends sign that says “prophetic words” and is like I want a prophetic word and then he yells at all the people with him to come over. He then proceeds to tell everyone that we should get in a circle and hold hands. I think we had about 20-25 people in this circle of random people holding hands waiting for a prophetic word. My friend decides to pray and he just starts praying (in Spanish) and then he gets done praying and just starts preaching the gospel. He gets done in about 2-3 minutes, and proceeded to ask if anyone would like to accept Christ. About 10 people raise there hands and receive Christ into their heart for the first time. WOW! It was so great we pretty much didn’t have to do anything. The LORD brings these people to us, my friend shares a basic message about Jesus and his death and BOOM! 10 people are brought into eternity with their new LORD and savior Jesus Christ. I believe this is directly related to what I talked about in my blogpost Fearless. We were walking in so much intimacy with the LORD and were just carrying the presence of the LORD and Jesus just drew these people unto Himself.
John 12:32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."
Friday, April 16, 2010
Fireworks
Well it’s been almost 2 weeks since I’ve been back in Mazatlan. One week of introduction and one week of class are now complete and I don’t know if I could be more excited for the next 3 months. God’s been teaching me so much already and day in and day out I am just destroyed in His love I hardly know what to do with myself.
Our schedule looks awesome for WISE school. We have about 20 hours of class a week but some of those times are pretty informal question/answer things. Also we have about 12 hours of scheduled prayer/worship a week. For example today, we started at 8. Got caught up on some things and then we worshiped from 9am-1pm. One of the things I’m really excited for is that there is a huge emphasis on the prophetic. So we’ve gotten to pretty much prophesy in some way shape or form every day. Also were going to be pressing in for more of the supernatural here at YWAM Mazatlan and were going to be going to hospitals and praying for people to be healed as well as wherever the Holy Spirit leads us.
This week we’ve been talking about worship and one thing that God is bringing up is the importance of worshipping God in all things. That even while you’re cleaning a toilet or hanging out with your friends you can usher in the presence of God by your attitude and by your motives behind what you’re doing. It is so important that ”whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31
Also it’s so great that we can just worship the LORD wherever we want. Last Saturday night some friends and I we went over to Valentino’s (a club) and set up outside and just worshipped for a couple hours. Lots of people walked by some stopped and we talked and prayed with them. Then we went into McDonald’s and got some food and ended up full out worshipping inside McDonalds. God wants His will done “on earth as it is in heaven” and when we worship we are bringing the LORD’s presence; we are bringing heaven to earth. This is why it is so good to worship in all the we do wherever we go. Because when we carry the presence of the LORD into the work place, onto the streets, or into our schools, the spiritual atmosphere shifts and God is able to move quicker and easier and with more power.
God is so good. He is soooo worthy of our praise and our worship. Psalm 96:8 “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!”
God is a father full of good gifts for His children. Before I went home for a few weeks He gave me a guitar. This was awesome because I lost my guitar on DTS and had asked for one and then had forgotten about it and then BAMB! A guitar. Also I wanted a computer for WISE school so I asked God and while I was home that didn’t work out but as soon as I get here, BAMB! God gives me a laptop.
The title of this blog is fireworks because God told me to do that and He is awesome and has flashes of color all around his throne like fireworks, hallelujah Amen.
God bless,
Brother Chris
Our schedule looks awesome for WISE school. We have about 20 hours of class a week but some of those times are pretty informal question/answer things. Also we have about 12 hours of scheduled prayer/worship a week. For example today, we started at 8. Got caught up on some things and then we worshiped from 9am-1pm. One of the things I’m really excited for is that there is a huge emphasis on the prophetic. So we’ve gotten to pretty much prophesy in some way shape or form every day. Also were going to be pressing in for more of the supernatural here at YWAM Mazatlan and were going to be going to hospitals and praying for people to be healed as well as wherever the Holy Spirit leads us.
This week we’ve been talking about worship and one thing that God is bringing up is the importance of worshipping God in all things. That even while you’re cleaning a toilet or hanging out with your friends you can usher in the presence of God by your attitude and by your motives behind what you’re doing. It is so important that ”whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31
Also it’s so great that we can just worship the LORD wherever we want. Last Saturday night some friends and I we went over to Valentino’s (a club) and set up outside and just worshipped for a couple hours. Lots of people walked by some stopped and we talked and prayed with them. Then we went into McDonald’s and got some food and ended up full out worshipping inside McDonalds. God wants His will done “on earth as it is in heaven” and when we worship we are bringing the LORD’s presence; we are bringing heaven to earth. This is why it is so good to worship in all the we do wherever we go. Because when we carry the presence of the LORD into the work place, onto the streets, or into our schools, the spiritual atmosphere shifts and God is able to move quicker and easier and with more power.
God is so good. He is soooo worthy of our praise and our worship. Psalm 96:8 “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!”
God is a father full of good gifts for His children. Before I went home for a few weeks He gave me a guitar. This was awesome because I lost my guitar on DTS and had asked for one and then had forgotten about it and then BAMB! A guitar. Also I wanted a computer for WISE school so I asked God and while I was home that didn’t work out but as soon as I get here, BAMB! God gives me a laptop.
The title of this blog is fireworks because God told me to do that and He is awesome and has flashes of color all around his throne like fireworks, hallelujah Amen.
God bless,
Brother Chris
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