Weekend Ministering in a small town church

It has been really on my heart the last few weeks to go on outreaches to plant churches in "the interior" (the villages, towns and cities further inland, in the countryside).  The places that have been less reached with all forms of the gospel.

And a few weeks ago a minister from a small church in a little community, Serra do Felix, of about 3,000 people, found our team and asked us to come share with them about missions… or something.  It was really vague, but yesterday 4 of us went to do a meeting with their church Saturday night and then today about 30 of them had breakfast with us at the church and another time of worship and ministry.  I was so refreshed by the dirt roads, and random donkeys and cows and chickens roaming the streets, and being able to walk across town in 15 minutes.  They were so hungry to experience more of God.  I really felt that they have a kindred spirit with us as a group, and that some of them will go out as missionaries and that they have a heart to cultivate the presence of God and to pursue him diligently and to love well.  It was my first time to go with our Iris Fortaleza team somewhere outside of the city.  

God really met us, and met the people there.  We came with great expectation, but God really surprised us and did more than we could have imagined!  We were sooo excited to participate with him. God really brought out a new level of authority in teaching, and preaching and leading in Ned.  And God introduced something of a new intimate and personal way of worshipping there.  And he gave Bruno words of knowledge for healing, and all of us many prophetic prayers and words for the people there.  And he healed a mans vision who had cataracts.  And he gave Paulinha a prophetic encouragement for the church.  And he let many people encounter his presence thru prayer and impartation.  I got to practice a lot of Portuguese!(and Praise God its getting fun to successfully communicate some of it)  Since I didn't have a translator during ministry at the end of our first meeting, I felt just to hug the first person, without asking what they came to receive healing for… And it was one of those hugs that became really long and I could tell God was doing something, she just melted in my arms and eventually she just fell back on the ground and laid there.  And I thought to myself, oh, thats what God is doing.  ok then.  So I just kept praying over people gentle and slow and hugging/singing/ saying actual words occasionally.  The people were in no hurry.  They were encountering God personally. I asked several different people from the church to help minister to one another to come help lay hands or pray or hug another person.  One mom who was struggling with depression, really got touched and a lot of soaking prayer from different people and she really had break thru.  And a group of teenagers at the end of both meeting would just stand in a circle together worshipping/praying and laughing or crying or whatever, just wanting to keep experiencing more of God.  It was really amazing to see so many people's countenances change after their encounters with God.  He is so good, and so personal, and he loves so well.

In our time together this morning, after worship, we felt to pray for the kids and to have them minister to the adults.  But by the time we finished praying for the kids, they were mostly all lying on the floor continuing to receive from Jesus.  One boy, Santiago, 9 years old, he really went for it as we brought him to pray for people.  It was amazing!  And he and another teenager prayed for a woman's shoulder injury to be healed, and her pain left.  Some of the other kids kept coming to get us to pray for their other friends that had wandered into the meeting.  One boy, who was a trouble maker, they asked to Bruno pray for.  And during the prayer, he fell back and afterwards Bruno asked what he had felt, and he said that he had a vision.  He had been taken to heaven and Jesus was talking with him and asked him to sit down, and Jesus prayed for him in the vision.  Whoa!  

One of the young people asked me afterwards if we had an anointing at our church for people getting slain in the spirit and falling over, haha.  I said, 'I don't know, I guess now sometimes we do, this has never happened to me so much before.  God does something different all the time' :)

It was a beautiful beautiful time of loving and showing the love of God and seeing all the unique ways that God was touching people.

I felt that I wouldn't be surprised if some people from that church come with us on outreaches to plant churches in less reached parts of the interior.  They seemed like partners and family in the Spirit.  God really connected us on purpose :)  I am praying we can go back soon and maybe some of them will get to come to some of our training weekends here.

More of you God!!!  Thank you for showing up in love and power!  And thank you for such a bold and hungry team to run with!

prayer processing

Part of my prayer today-

'In the midst of loving living here, I am also experiencing the phases of cultural adaptation, including being disenchanted.  Some things about life here are very disenchanting, like walking on the pier at night on the beach; and seeing very boldly close rats and cochroaches crawling by.  And the overtones of sexual perversion covering the people on the streets, the beautiful homosexuals and transvestites, the prostitutes who try to adapt and cope with life in "the program" and lose hope and self worth.  It also feels weird to be here as a missionary, as an evangelist, because there are so many preaching partial gospels and religious gospels without power.

God, I really want to know and experience you and your gospel in fullness.  I want to know the raw power of your love.  I want to trust you enough to dream with you and to walk each day radically and willing to do with you the crazy normal stuff of your upside-down, supernatural kingdom.  

Many days still feel so 'normal' and I wonder again, am I really trusting you enough?  

Am I really giving you freedom to do anything you want to thru my life? 

 ... I don't know.  

But I do know that I want to encounter you today.  

More than yesterday.  

I want to invite you to take over new places in my heart.

And I want to enjoy the process with you.  I don't want to live in a constant state of frustration about where I'm not yet  (or how much Portuguese I haven't learned yet) or what greater works I haven't experienced with you yet.  I want to be like the child who gets hungry often, but knows that my father will give me good food.  Just the right nutrients at the right stages of development and that he will walk with me into maturity.  I want to trust you today.'

This is an unrelated picture of from a community outreach this week.  I was checking the bloodsugar  of my dramatic Brazilian friend and laughing at her pain.  
Because I'm a good missionary :)

Fortaleza Day 20 and Day 22

Fortaleza  Day 20

10/16/12

Wow time is flying. I can't believe i've been here for 3 weeks almost.  I feel really ready to have a more normal schedule, just the disorganization of everything is kind of overwhelming.  I am kind of caught up trying to get several projects done simultaneously to get ready to host this next team in two days.  They will be here for 10 days and have more of a planned schedule, which I is pretty refreshing to me at the time.

Maybe the second month in Brazil I will get to practice Portuguese :)  haha,  I got to escape to Nadyla's house yesterday to spend the night and day there. It was so refreshing!  I loved staying in the slum.  You hear the birds chirping different good morning sounds, and neighbors calling over the wall or at the door hollering throughout the day to talk to Nadyla, or for her to come get a plate full of food from the old lady next door who treats her like a grandkid :)  I know all those same things can wear on you after a while, but I thought it was so refreshing.  And to be in a small simple space, instead of a gigantic house was nice for a day too.  And I was just soo happy to get to practice Portuguese all day.  Even though in the morning I hardly said anything, it seemed so hard, and like my brain was in slow motion.  But slowly I gained confidence and I am at a place now where even though I know I am making many mistakes in each sentence and pronouncing most of the words wrong, especially the new ones, and using a lot of spanish grammar instead of portuguese, I am so glad to be at a place where I feel able to practice what I do know.  Now I can learn more as I go.  Like I made it over my first hurdle in communication!!

And we had a birthday dinner in the House of Prayer for Lorelei last night, with just our Iris Fortaleza team (10 people).  I love being with those guys, my new family here.  

Praying for health for everyone, several team members have gotten sick with cold and fever this week.  

Last Saturday night outreach at Beira Mar, a beach with a lot of bars and prostitution etc.  It was so surprising to me what God's agenda was like for the night.  A group of us ended up walking into this tiny catholic church that was open late that night, which they've never seen open.  Turns out that they were doing street outreach that night too, and some were in the church interceding and others on the street visiting with people.  They were surprisingly joyful and passionate about preaching Jesus and many of them had also given their lives to be missionaries and share the story of Jesus.  Outside of the church, one of the leaders shared about a powerful encounter he'd had with God and how it changed his life and we shared a few testimonies of healing from our journeys. We wanted to pray and prophecy over them, and they asked us to pray for them to have more of the gifts of the Spirit and to minister in power.  Then they invited us in to the front of the church so that they could all pray for us.  They all started praying outloud in the Spirit.  I was so humbled, honored, and surprised.  I was really touched and cried like a baby, which I haven't done in a while.  It was an amazing moment.  I felt like we had met our cousins in the Spirit or something.  It was a really big deal to our Brazilian team members because here there is a huge enmity between the catholic and evangelical churches, they don't usually talk or associate, and are kind of like rivals, and certainly we didnt' expect to have such a common vision or passion.  It was so great to get to bless and honor one another.  And who knew God had some reconciliation like that on his agenda?!? we didn't.

Now I am listening some of the Iris Latin America team playing soccer in the courtyard and wishing I could go to sleep :)  Have big plans of going to the food market in the morning and getting Aliza (a missionary from Australia) to show me around and show me all the coolest stands and friends she's made there in the past 2 weeks of helping to cook for the team.

Fortaleza  Day 22

10/18/12

What a ride.  Yesterday was busy with a lot of projects around the house.  We are trying to get beds/mattresses in for the new team that is coming today.  And install a new tiny bathroom while we have a construction genius from the first team still with us!  And many other tiny projects.  Its quite a transformation of this house to get it ready to host people straight out of America.  I want them to all at least have mattresses and a fan or I feel they will just be exhausted and miserable instead of able to enjoy their time here and to enjoy giving what they have brought to impart.  I was a bit stressed and scatterbrained the first half of the day, until I had the courage to delegate almost every little project I was taking responsibility for and to let go of the last one until today when Nedson can help me with it.  Then I felt so much peace, and relief, and so grateful for all the help!

God you are so good. Only you know what each one of your kids can handle, and what challenges are good for us, and how we can give to one another and encourage one another at just the right times.  Your giftings are beautiful.  Your love makes all things beautiful.

Then last night we did another soup outreach at the prayer house.  The most soup I have ever seen in one pot in my life.  In my baby Portuguese I told the amazing woman from the community who cooked it, that it was like the love of God… deep and big :)  haha.  And so good!  It was so different from last week, everytime with God is different.  Only the kids were going upstairs last night for prayer/worship.  I was downstairs serving soup and could hear them playing so hard for a little while, then suddenly it was quite for the rest of the night, but all the kids were still up there.  Later I went up to grab a coffee (with lots of sugar) for a woman we were ministering to downstairs, and I saw all the kids chilling out around the prayer room worshipping/praying/resting, it was so peaceful and amazing time in the presence of God.  They had listened really well to whatever Nedson shared with them and there they were receiving the love of God.  At first Nedson had been kind of disappointed that there were less people than last week, and only kids going in further, but then he saw what God was doing this week, and it was awesome.  

So downstairs, a 51 year old woman was receiving prayer, and God healed her vision to be able to see every detail on the face of a watch where before she could hardly make out anything on it.  Then we were encouraging her and sharing the gospel.  She was afraid to receive Jesus in her heart because a nearby Catholic church helps her with food every week and had said that if anyone became "a Christian" they would not help them anymore. (its that weird religious rivalry mindset that seems prevalent in many churches). And then come to find out she believed that only babies who have never sinned can go to heaven.  I realized that this was a moment like in "Peace Child" where she believed a lie that could actually help her understand the truth.  I told her, yes!  Thats true.  Only a baby without sin can enter heaven.  But the Bible says that when we believe in Jesus, we are born again, and we become like new babies, without sin.  She said, "but how can we be born again?!"  You should have seen Nadyla and Bruno's faces when she said that! Just like Nicodemus.  So I ran to get show her a Bible and Bruno showed her how that exact conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus, and eventually she did want to receive Jesus.  When she did, then also a reoccuring pain she had had in her head behind her eyes, disappeared.  Praise God!!!  Haha, what a fun day.  I wish I had a video of all Nadyla and Bruno's faces throughout that conversation, and of them preaching the gospel so simple and thorough.  It was a fun moment, and I was glad that they helped me participate even though the woman and I couldn't understand each other's Portuguese most of the time.  :)

Love looks like Soup and Sandals

  Last night at the House of Prayer, which is in the middle of the slum, we had our first soup outreach. They have been wanting to do a soup outreach for a while but this was the first night!  It was awesome. They made a giant pot of soup, and we prayed and then I went around part of the neighborhood with Andrew and a couple others to invite people. (Andrew knows everyone there)  They served soup in disposable cups on the first floor of the prayer house and prayed with people as they came in.  Most people left from there after they got soup, but if they wanted to talk or pray more, we would invite them up the stairs to a little seating area for coffee and ministry time, and if they still wanted more or to stick around we invited them into the top worship room and later had a 7 minute message, worshipped and prayed more.  The room was full of ministers and people of all ages. It was amazing!!  It went so well, and was such a perfect set up for people to receive as much ministry as they were ready for and to get more of a taste of the presence of God if they wanted.  And it just felt so natural and like a family to worship with them all, only God makes family so well!  So glad to be a part, and experiencing supernatural as natural.

   One girl is 16 and very pregnant.  She came to the city from her hometown and family 4 hrs away.  She is selling her body for food and crack, and has no support system, and was barely clothed.  She said she wants to give away the baby when it is born because she can't take care of it...  She was so hungry and got lots of prayer, told her story a few times and cried a few times especially during our short worship time together.  Lorelei gave her her sandals.  She received Jesus!  And she picked out a couple of dresses from the bags of clothes we keep there, then took a shower and changed, she looked so beautiful and had a huge smile on her face.  Hopefully she will keep in contact with us.  She is the type of situation that we would like to be able to invite her to stay with us at the big house once we get settled in there and ask God about how he wants to do that.  Lots of things to consider and to learn, but for sure it will be an adventure.

  Oh also, at the beginning of the night another teenager, who I had met in March and who has had a baby since then, she wanted to dedicate her baby to Jesus that night.  Which was an amazing decision for her, as she has been friends with these missionaries for a long time, but not usually wanted to make decisions to follow Jesus.  And also, she herself had been dedicated to Macumba (a regional witchcraft) when she was a baby by her mother.  So this was a huge breakthru and blessing for her and her adorable baby girl....

Jesus is so amazing!  Love is just so simple sometimes.  And supernaturally powerful to change our lives and hearts.

Fortaleza week 1

    Just in the last few days before I got here, God basically is giving Herbert and Lorelei and this Iris team a new base.  Its a huge house in the center of the city.  MUCH closer to the slum than their current house.  Its only a 10min drive/ 25 min walk.  As opposed to a 1-2hr bus ride.  It has 12 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 2 kitchen areas...  It has been one of their dreams to expand the team and 

missional community, but I don't think they were expecting it so fast, God just gave them this open door suddenly.(on Herb's birthday)  So the rest of the Iris team is praying about moving in, it will be another big step of faith for everyone, financially and time commitment  ministry possibilities etc.  We will be paying 1/3 the rent that it is worth, but still much more than anyone on the team is currently paying while living with parents or with current support.  Hopefully we will get the keys tomorrow so that this huge 28 person Iris Latin America team (that just arrived tonight) can help get it cleaned up and fix it up and have somewhere bigger to stay while they are here.

The only photo I could find that captured part of its mansion aspect well :)

We went to the beach Friday night to worship and minister to the prostitutes.  Lorelei is so passionate about this, and has made many friends there.  One girl in particular, R, has experienced the Lord and is kind of on the fence about taking next steps of faith and being obedient to follow the Lord in a new life.  She and her 'boyfriend' came to church with us tonight and to eat dinner at our house, so that really represented a big step for them hopefully.  They complain that since the team has been ministering to them, their business has slowed down and they are not getting any clients on that corner anymore. haha.  Also, Friday night, another girl was with them so we met her and heard part of her story, super hard family dynamics, and prayed for her.  Then she told us that she had a nervous disorder that made her move/twitch all the time, all over her body.  I thought that she had just been cold and nervous.  So she let us pray for her, and I asked to give her a hug.  She needed a hug really bad, and just held on for dear life, it seemed like forever.  I could feel her little body shakes/twitches.  Finally she started to relax, and then Bruno prayed for her.  She said that she was totally better and that she started to get healed when I was hugging her!!!!  Wow.  It is true, Jesus heals thru hugs!  Its what I have always hoped.  Especially while I can't use words yet. 

Painted this while praying for street outreach Friday night and gave to one of the girls there

This month is full of short term teams coming in, and moving, and preparing for the Call in Sao Paulo in November, so its a big transition month for the team, and I feel like the Kingdom of God is ambushing our lives and the city.  The Iris Latin America team, that has been traveling the continent all year arrived Sunday night.   And a team from Exodus Cry in Kansas City is coming in 2 weeks, they are passionate about impacting sex trafficking and it will be great to have them with us for a while.

The Iris Latin America team camped out in the courtyard of this neighborhood church the first night they were here, waiting  for the new house contract to open.  These guys are hard core, they've been traveling the continent all year.

a couple of Iris Latin America team members spending free time eating the white  part of a watermelon rind,  and braiding some tree roots into a rope.  See what I mean, they are out of control in their resourcefulness skills!

Peru with Dunamis!

   So I am in Peru with Dennis and Lynnie Walker and Carl Garitson from "Dunamis".  http://www.dunamisarc.org/  The Walkers have lived in Peru many years and sown a lot into the people here, and come back every year to visit.  They take turns preaching at meetings, and they all really emphasize moving in the power of God for signs and miracles and healings.  They preach from the word and share testimonies, and demonstrate the power of God in whatever he wants to do in a particular meeting, and then find ways to activate the people and train them to listen to God, and ask him what he is doing in heaven and release it on earth.  They call it getting an "initiative of heaven", and thats how they train believers to move in miracles flowing with the Holy Spirit.  Like how Jesus says, "I only do what i see my Father doing and say what my Father is saying."  

   I am really blessed to be with them all this time, and getting extra training and encouraged in my faith, and being activated to move in the Spirit in a whole new level and learning how to activate others as well. 

   We first went to Chiclayo and Lambayeque (cities on the coast).  We had meetings there Thursday and Friday, then I went by bus with Lynnie and Carl to Trujillo for meetings on Saturday and Sunday.  Several people wanted to accept Jesus and prayed before the different activations to hear from God.  Then Sunday night because we were in a hurry to finish the meeting and get back on the road to Chiclayo to fly out this morning, we did a 2 man fire tunnel, to have them receive impartation/blessing and after they went thru to give out to someone else a blessing/prayer/prophecy/testimony whatever God had given them/shared/shown them etc.  They didn't really seem to catch on to that part of the activation much, but it was a good idea I want to remember for activation.  She was demonstrating different ways we spend time receiving from God and then giving out, and that allows the Holy Spirit to flow.  Establishing receiving the power of the Holy Spirit and whatever gifts/revelation he gives us, and then giving it out and blessing others.  I don't think the people were used to the idea that they can receive something specific from God, and then be used as a blessing to others.

  They did well when she activated them in prophecy by partnering them up and having them wait a minute to listen, then bless/prophecy or pray whatever God showed them.  They were all hugging and crying after that.  So I know that people actually blessed each other then.  Also she had a word of knowledge to have people stand if they had back pain and then had whoever was next to them lay hands on their back and pray, and all 4 people who had stood afterward said that they experienced healing.

After the Sunday morning meeting, we went to the pastor's house for lunch.  Every meal we have been treated so well, and had 3 course meals, very flavorful.  And the famous ceviche 3 times in 2 days!  Anyway, we went to the beach for a few minutes before lunch, awesome.  Its desert and beach in Trujillo.  At the end of the meal, the Pastor Rosi told me she had been having pain in her chest/breast the last several days and it was really bothering her.  Then when we went to take a nap, I imagined a prophetic act to demonstrate God healing her (I caught an initiative of heaven, I saw what was being done in heaven so I could release it on earth).  So after our nap, she mentioned hurting again, and I could tell she was really wanting prayer/healing.   (Of course I was not really sure if it was my random imagination, or an actual idea from heaven of how God wanted to heal her, but I figured it was worth a shot that it might be God since he does like to heal and he likes to use my imagination, and I've been hearing all these crazy testimonies from this team of God using weird ideas from him (initiatives of heaven) to heal and perform whatever miracles he wants us to release on earth).  So I showed her the idea God had given me, for her to act like she was wiping off the area of pain, and a rolling it into a ball in her hands, and flicking it off her hand.  So she did and we laughed and said Amen.  And rushed into the car for the evening meeting.  After the meeting she said that the pain had gone and laughed about the way that God had healed her.  Crazy.   

Carl, who's been to Peru several times with Dunamis, is a really funny guy and even uses his limited Spanish to make jokes all the time.  One of his catch phrases this week has been, "Are you expecting something?" (i.e. are you expecting God to do something powerful in your life? miracles or whatever you need?) At Carl's meeting Sunday night a paralyzed man stood up and walked and the small crowd went crazy.  Carl didn't realize he had been paralyzed, just knew he needed some kind of miracle to walk and said to him, "are you ready? Are you expecting your miracle?" and took him by the hand and he stood up and walked!

Monday we flew over the Andes Mountains in a small plane from Lima to Huanuco.(so high!! so fast in a 45min flight which would take 8hrs on a bus ride thru the mountain roads).  We had a little informal meeting with a lot of teenagers.  This church seems more like family, a little closer to my tribe culture, and knows this ministry team better.  Several were healed of neck and back pain, and even the common cold of all things!  Haha, and several kids had a sign of oil showing up on their hands, and gold, and a little 6month old baby even had oil show up on her hands and all the teenagers got so excited about the baby, and the mom brought her up and was crying and saying that another year when Carl visited, he had prophecied that she would have a healthy baby after she had had two miscarriages and this was her baby, born healthy but having a lot of visits to hospital and she had come that night hoping for help and healing… So of course we blessed that beautiful little girl.  It was super fun.

Today and Thursday we will be going for meetings in TingoMaria which will be totally different, its in the jungle part of the mountains a few hours drive from here.

Anyway, so yes, this trip is definitely a hijacking by God in my life.  He is giving me tools and impartation I didn't even know how to ask for!

Here's some comments from Lynnie's and Carl's facebook posts, from part of the trip:

Sept. 13 Thurs. pm Dennis- Lambayeque, Peru

(Lynnie facebook)Great first meeting last night here in Lambayeque, Peru. Dennis preached and

had words of knowledge for bronchitis, lumps in breast, pain in right knee, injuries from

playing sports. Many responded, and many were healed or improved. At the altar call for

salvation, 40 came forward, including re-dedication. Carl had an initiative from heaven

for a teen (after saying 3x he was not better) to drink water. Suddenly he had a smile on

his face, as his throat-swallowing issue totally straightened out and he was healed! Yay,

God.

(Lynnie facebook) Sept. 14 Awesome meeting last night here in Peru. Salvations, healings,

baptism of Holy Spirit. One lady I ministered to had come forward for salvation, then got

bapitized in Holy Spirit, and then she showed me her hands full of oil. Two young men

were excited about gold glory dust on hands. There was a large youth dance team.

Today I take a bus with part of the team to Trujillo, while part stay here in Lambayeque/

Chiclayo. Yesterday we ate at someone's house. Ceviche, rice, beans, beef, and maracuya

juice. We rented a van here with no power steering. Edgar is getting a real workout.

From Carl facebook: "10 salvations, with instant baptisms in the Holy Spirit, deaf hear

approx. 7 people hear as i snapped my fingers all went out in the Spirit. vocal chords

healed. Diabetes healed but, time will tell after they test. All in all a very good meeting."

Lynnie: At an altar call for salvation where many responded, one of the ladies got saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, and immediately glory oil

flowed from her hands. After my session, I had the people practice soaking in the Spirit

to see and hear from Heaven. Sandra Zarate, who was one of the city pastors, shared that

she saw rain. Then it literally rained inside the building on one side. Andrea and Carl got

showered on. Even Carl's i-pad got wet!  Meanwhile, Dennis

and team in Chiclayo had the glory fire fall on a huddle of people as they all went out

under the power of God. For two meetings! So Water and Fire from heaven. Carl and I

went to 2 separate churches on Sunday 2x. I finished with Andrea and I forming a tunnel

for the 200 or so to walk through and get impartation. We jumped in a car, rode 4 hours

to Chiclayo, slept a few hours, flew to Lima, then flew to Huanuco. Powerful meeting

last night: fragrance of heaven, healed necks and backs, oil and gold, including on a

baby's hand.

Reminders from the little Giant Killer

I was reading in 1 Samuel this week and really encouraged by some of the things God brought to my attention in Chapter 17 with the shepherd boy David before he kills Goliath.

David knew who he was in this assignment.  He was a only a shepherd.  And a child of the living God.  Not even a soldier in the armies of the living God, just a shepherd of some flocks of the living God.  So he took only a shepherd's staff and sling.  He did not try to be something he wasn't, and didn't even take a sword or shield.  He trusted that all he needed was the Lord himself to rescue him and to defeat the enemy.  And he could be himself, totally.  His trust was in the Lord to be the one to give him victory.

Saul offered David false armor, armor that didn't belong to him and that represented fear.  If he had accepted that armor it would have impeded his chance operate in the faith and freedom of movement that God was actually wanting to use.  David's measure of faith for this assignment didn't include that armor.  That "extra" armor would have impeded him in this battle.  Even though he seemed totally ill equipped by anyone else's standard.

"David replied to the Philistine, "You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Heaven's Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied."

This is a key encouragement for me as I am preparing to go into South America and entering the relationships and assignments that God has for me there.  I don't have to come up with some extra equipment.  I just go as myself (happily inadequate on my own) and trust that it is the Living God himself who goes with me every step of the way and HE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH.  And he is delighted to be strong in my weakness!  And I am delighted in it too.  I am free to be exactly myself and know that with him, that is totally adequate for every assignment and encounter ahead.

I just need him, on the mundane day of cross cultural life, just as much as on the most intense day I can imagine!  And I look forward to depending on him and trusting in his Presence on all of those days.  For days with the sheep and days with the giants.  I come in the name of the LORD.

(I leave for Peru this Tuesday Sept 11, and to Brazil Sept 27th!)

Restoring the Kingdom: The Baton Has Been Passed to Us

I've been so challenged by the boldness of the disciples in the book of Acts!   They just asked for trouble over and over again.  A) Get miraculously set free from prison. B) Proceed immediately to preaching the very same message that got you thrown into prison in the first place.  What!?

But even the earliest disciples were confused by the way in which Jesus intended to bring the kingdom of heaven on earth.  After he was resurrected, in Acts 1:6 they asked him, [so... now that all thats taken care of, now are YOU going to RESTORE the KINGDOM to Israel??]  And Jesus basically tells them, [NO, you are, thats why I'm leaving and you are waiting for the Holy Spirit to fill you, because now its your turn, YOU RESTORE the KINGDOM!  Here's your baton.]  

Here's the story in NIV Acts 1:3-9

 "After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

6 So when they met together, they asked him, 

“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight."

   Jesus did his part.  It is finished.  But its a relay race, and by giving the Holy Spirit to live in us, to be himself in us, he has effectively passed the baton.  He made possible the restoration of all of us to the Lord.  And made an open door between heaven and earth, he is the access to the Kingdom of God from earth.  And then he began empowering each believer with the Holy Spirit, that we can be his personal agents of restoration.  So that he goes wherever we go.  That we can extend the Kingdom of God in each of our personal places of influence all over the world, wherever we go, he goes, and he hopes to restore justice through us.  To extend his kingdom of love through us everywhere we go.   God has always wanted us to partner with him in bringing his kingdom reign on the earth:  

Isaiah 59: 15-16

"...The LORD looked and was displeased

to find there was no justice.

16 He was amazed to see that no one intervened

to help the oppressed.

So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm,

and his justice sustained him.

God was looking for his friends to stand up for justice on the earth.  He is waiting for us to accept our true identity as sons and daughters of the King, and to represent his Kingdom everywhere we go, in love and power.

I can remember a walk in the park years ago, crying out to God for revival, 

and he very gently  reminded me: 

"You are revival."  

The baton is in your hand.   

"The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, now lives in you."  (Rom 8:11)

You restore the Kingdom.

God is reminding me again and again, as I see injustices in the world all around me, and cry out for mercy and justice and righteousness and life.  He is reminding me, 'yes, lets go restore the world to my love, together.'

Praying for wild boldness... :)

The power of agreeing with God!

Reading Luke 1 today.  I am amazed by the power of agreeing with what God says.  And the power of disagreeing with it.

Zechariah doubted what the angel said to him about the son God was going to give him.  So God shut his mouth for the next nine months and didn't let him speak.  And he didn't speak when the child was born either, not until 8 days later when he officially agreed with God and named him John.  And then he immediately prophesied and praised God for his own son and Christ who was coming.

Elizabeth agreed with God and praised him for answering her prayers and giving her a son.  Then when Mary came into the room (carrying Jesus who couldn't have been more than a few days past conception at that point) and the baby lept in Elizabeth's womb... she agreed with God!  She was filled also with the Holy Spirit and immediately gave a glad cry and exclamation and praise and prophesied about Jesus.

Mary agreed with the impossible sounding word of God for her life.  And Elisabeth told her what's true for all of us, if we will agree with what God says about us, Luke 1:45:

"YOU ARE BLESSED BECAUSE YOU BELIEVED THAT THE LORD WOULD DO WHAT HE SAID."

The other thing I learned this time reading is from 1:41-46 and 67

1:41 "At the sound of Mary's greeting, Elizabeth's child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit."

This is the traditional and expected response :)  When the Holy Spirit recognizes Jesus nearby, he often causes various outbursts of joy, leaping, praising and prophecy, and its often contagious to anyone nearby willing to agree with him and join in the praise.

So my prayer today is:  "Abba Pai, when I feel that little leaping inside.  Help me to agree with you in joy.  I want to pay attention and lean into what your Spirit is saying in my heart.  I want to recognize you when you come in the room in a new way and praise you for it.  And I want to feel your heart more and prophecy over my circumstances and proclaim whatever you are saying....   So yes to the leaping!  Haha.  Thank you for declaring words of life and destiny and identity over me from every heartbeat in the womb.  From every swoosh of circulation in the placenta, you have been my source.  Tune my spirit in to the swoosh.  To your declarations over my life.  I want to agree with you more and more."

Revival Rains in Fortaleza Brazil

It was a huge honor to be a part of what God is doing in Fortaleza, Brazil.  Without our knowing it, he invited us to come at a really strategic week of breakthru for the missional community there.  We met up with a team of Brazilians and missionaries there who are totally sold out to Jesus, and passionate about serving him at any cost and pouring out his love in power.  Our first time to worship together, God poured out his heart on us for one another and we had a powerful time of prophesying and praying for and encouraging one another, in incredible freedom and love.  All week Holy Spirit just poured encouragement and refreshing into that team of revivalists.  Our teams were like two chemicals that when mixed together have an intense chemical reaction/explosion.  God brought us together as a catalyst for what he is doing.  Blasting them into a new season of revival of hope, love

power for freedom and heart transformation.  

We had tremendous favor and safety as we went with missionaries who have been making friends and demonstrating the gospel in the little favela of Oeita Preito, for years.  It is a community that has historically been a stronghold for slavery, sex trade, prostitution and drugs.  But tons of love has been sown there and even as we were there together, we began to see the shift in the atmosphere and in countenances, as God is bringing hope, love, healing and new life to people there.  It was amazing to see the impact of a few encouraging words to people who have gone a lifetime without it.

On Saturday we joined with Nedson and Nadyla who are believers who have grown up in the community and live there now as Jesus with skin on.  They really have a heart for reaching the children there with the hope and love of the gospel.  I got to follow the local missionaries through the little cobblestone alleyways and streets in the morning rain and gather up a pile of children to worship and play together in a nearby church.  Kids love hugs and laughing in every culture (language fun but not necessary)!  

Saturday and Sunday night we got to minister as a team at a church in the city, for a prophetic conference.  God really loves to pour out his heart to people who are hungry for more of him, so we were all somewhat surprised and excited at the amount of prophecy he was pouring out thru us.  

Monday was a huge day of breakthru for the Kingdom of God advancing in that city and region.  We spent the entire day until midnight worshipping and interceding in a small building in the community.  God shifted my mindset in that day, about how I pursue breakthru and his will.  Although its fun for me to ask for specific strategies from Holy Spirit and words of wisdom, or knowledge, or prophecy, or ways to demonstrate love.  Everytime, I go in already have a foundation to build from, the platform of God's heart and nature.  I know that no matter what, in every situation, person, city, and nation, he is wanting to reveal his love and power, his goodness, the hope of abundant life in him, freedom, joy, peace, his mercy and justice, and every awesome part of his character.  So I can always pray and act in that direction and then take great joy in the specific ways he shows me to partner with him in that.  

     During that day, we would take turns going out in small groups of 3-4 with a local believer into the community to visit people in their homes and to pray and impart to them.  Sometimes it was simple words of life and encouragement.  Other times it was the Lord showing me how he had preserved people of peace and made homes filled with love in a dark place.  God healed hearts, brought hope, and some came back with us to the church so that they could get prayer and just rest in His Presence and get healing, which of course he gave.  Some of the kids came in that afternoon and the Lord released a lot of freedom and dance, love and hope.  Kids were getting played with and loved on while their mom was getting healed of cancer, after resting on the floor for hours, she left there without pain.  Later that night another woman testified of being healed from scoliosis and back pain.  God was really increasing everyone's faith and hope to a new level.  Our worship meeting ended about midnight.  

Tuesday the rain came!  It rained more that day than it had rained in Fortaleza in 15 years.  

http://www.opovo.com.br/app/galeria/2012/03/27/interna_galeria_fotos,179/leitores-do-o-povo-online-registram-dia-de-chuva-em-fortaleza.shtml

The meteorologist said that what caused the sudden 7 inches of rain was a "cyclonic vortex" (strong winds from a higher atmosphere) mixing with an "intertropical convergence zone" (where winds originating in the northern and southern hemispheres come together).  God gave us a sign in the natural of what we were experiencing in the spiritual as he brought us together in love and unity and created a downpour of his love and power in the area!  He is raining renewal, restoration and life on dry bones, and on the seeds of the Kingdom that have been planted over the years past and even this week.

Tuesday afternoon, passing the baton.... 

      I after the rain finally stopped, we had time for a few more house visits in the community before dark.  My little group visited the parents of 2 little girls, full of life.  Their home was different than most, full of peace, love and freedom.  We prayed over the Dad and restored honor to him as a son of God, he had been a believer for years but had lost confidence and felt ashamed and discouraged.  After praying for them, I felt that it was very strategic of the Holy Spirit to lead us to that family before we left.  It was as if we were renewing them and encouraging them to carry on demonstrating the love and light of God in their community.  It was so incredible and a great honor to encourage those people!

It was a huge honor to participate with the Lord in revival, and to experience so much love between his body and warriors of love in Brazil.  My heart was so encouraged that God is really doing the things I have hoped for and dreamed of.  I am not crazy!  But he definitely is!   He really is raising up a people all over the globe that love him radically and will experience his light in the darkest of places.  He really is rescuing people from the kingdom of darkness into his Kingdom of marvelous light, in a whole new way that the world has never experienced before.  And he really is wanting us to partner with him in it, everywhere we go!  What a relief to my heart.

I'm already having conversations with God about when I can return and finish learning Portuguese and getting to know my new and future friends there.  (BTW thanks for everyone who prayed for my language skills, haha, I prayed and sang more in the Spirit than I ever have in my life, hahaha, and Portuguese even started opening up more for me in the last few days.)  I had a blast practicing!

My favorite personal moment of the week was the multiple falls in the sand I had for the whole 15 minutes of soccer I could survive playing on the beach! It was amazing.

Call me if you want to hear more stories!?!?

addicted to outreach

I am addicted to encountering Jesus in unsuspecting places with unsuspecting people.  I love seeing how creatively and uniquely he wants to show up.  I love living in love with him in the midst of people who have never encountered his love and goodness before.  He is so different.  So other worldly.  He is so kind.  And powerful to rescue from darkness.  He is the light and his is not limited by darkness.   He is not the least bit intimidated or afraid of darkness.  He loves to show up in the middle of it and transform everything.  He shifts atmospheres and captures hearts, and builds relationship.  In laundry mats, on street corners, in classrooms, in nursing homes... he is no respecter of location.  He is over all and in all, and wants to show up everywhere, through us.  Poured out like living water.  Thats who he is and what he does and how he loves.... all the time.   I am more in love with him all the time, he never quits.  He is just so out of control.  His love is more wild than I ever imagined.  He knows no boundaries!  His love just is so ridiculous... and uncontainable.

Gift of Abiding

Prayer from John 15

Thank you God for the gift of abiding with you.

Thank you for making a way for us to be alive in you and you to be alive in us.  

To remain in your love and for your love to remain in us.   

You in me and me in you.   

Thank you that life flows from your love.   

You are consistently life giving.  

You give life in such a way that we bear fruit in every season.  

You are the living water, and you make us oaks of righteousness, planted in you, alive with you, and full of fruit in every season.   

The fruit of love.   

Thank you for love that means life.   

Love that bears the fruit of life... love. 

I will remain in your love, as your love remains in me. 

Fill me up God. 

Your love is unfailing. 

Never-ending. 

Thank you for the gift of abiding.

homework prayer discoveries

So, thanks to our homework of assigned Bible reading at CSSM, I have been rediscovering what its like to talk to God thru scripture. For him to share his heart and for me to respond with mine. And since we all see in part, to encourage each other, here's some of my part: a few days of my journaling conversations over the holiday break:

Philippians 3:7-11
(Andrea’s amplified and personalized from God)

[You once thought these things were valuable (striving, trying to make perfect decisions, trying to support yourself, reaching toward an ever ambiguous standard of ‘perfection’, trying to put yourself in a box that doesn’t fit, trying to fill other people’s needs with your own limited love, all the false comforts you went to instead of intimacy) but now you consider them WORTHLESS because of what Christ has done (loved you perfectly and completely and become your all sufficiency, filling you and all your needs and desires in every way, and died to freely do the same for everyone).  Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the INFINITE VALUE OF KNOWING CHRIST JESUS YOUR LORD.  For his sake you have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that you could gain Christ, and become one with me.  You no longer count on your own righteousness through obeying the law; rather you have become righteous through faith in Christ.  For my way of making you all right with me, depends on faith.  You want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.  You want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another you will experience the resurrection from the dead!]

Philippians 4
  Pray, give thanks, be honest with God about what I need, then I will have his peace guarding my heart and mind as I live in Christ.  I need that peace all the time.  I need to communicate with God all the time, giving thanks and praise and being honest about what I need….  I usually leave out the “supplication” or being honest about what I need, which leads me to also not be having conversation at all, so I’m not giving thanks/praise or covered in peace  ….   

So God, today, thanks for my job.  Thanks that I didn’t have to look for it.  And also, I need help to learn to spend less money.  And I need a new way to make more money this year.  I want to keep trusting you and to live and give generously, you are a generous Daddy.  I want a new creative income, but I have no idea how to do that.  So I need some help with that, I need wisdom.  Also, I am learning that you like to play with me, and you like to put me around other people to play with an audience.  So I am glad to have a job to play with an audience, you teach me so much.  I want to be really teachable.  Also I need wisdom about nursing again.  You know I have mixed feelings about it.  It seems good when I’m not doing it, or need to make some money, then I feel cramped and crazy resistance once I’m in it, so if my exchange is not over about that, help me out.  You are full of ridiculous wisdom and brilliant provision!  More than enough for every good work!  And you speak to me because you made me your kid, and you like to be a near shepherd.   So I listen, because you give me a soft heart and a flexible neck to bend toward you.  Thank you God.  Speak, I am listening.

Colossians 1:7-10
All from relationship.  When Paul and Timothy heard about the love for each other and for others that the Holy Spirit had given them, they began to pray for them constantly for ‘complete knowledge of God’s will, and spiritual wisdom and understanding.  That their lives would always honor God and produce every kind of good fruit.’  They knew that if Holy Spirit was giving them passion to love people, they would need wisdom and understanding so that their lives would honor God and produce good fruit from that passion.  I feel like someone must have been praying this for me for so long, maybe Holy Spirit has been.  Even these last few days, it seems like God is giving me specific direction in career and finances to position myself to be ready to go overseas and be involved with medical mission and children and their mothers and families in the dirt.  He has brought me to a new place of personal freedom that I can receive his wisdom and will, that I can put to action in my life, honoring God and producing all the good fruit that he has intended for me.  Holy Spirit is helping to put action to the passion and love that he put in me.

1:28 -29 “We want to present them to God perfect/mature in their relationship to Christ. That is why I struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.”  -This is what the process of labor looks like: struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power at work within. (I got to be around for my friend’s 24hrs of labor and home birth.  It had a profound impact on my spirit, the supernatural process God designed and initiates)  It is intense work for the mother in labor, but she is not in control of the work, it is involuntary processes and muscle contractions.  She is fully dependent on the design and process God has made for birth and life to happen, but she participates intensely in the process.