So, posting a weekly blog in Australia was harder to do than imagined. A lot harder. While Internet availability was difficult; free time was even more scarce. I apologize to all of those who were checking up on me and wanted to follow the trip closely...but I am grateful for the disconnect in a way too. I was free from everything at home, every person and circumstance. God took me totally out of my element and into severe uncomfortability, but how else can you be "ruined for the ordinary" unless you are in an unordinary position? Let me catch you up on the rest of my lecture phase and time in Australia. The next posts will be about my Outreach Time spent in Thailand and India (September-November).
On my previous posts, I had covered the first 4 weeks of lecture. They were
Evangelism,
Hearing God's Voice,
Father Heart of God, and
Prayer Week. I loved my first month in Oz. Even with all my experiences with Campus Crusade, in the church and at Christian School...I discovered there is still so much left to be learned about God. In fact, I will never know it all; but I want to try. I want to pursue him and get to know him better so I can get to know myself better as well. One of the topics I've kept with me and utilized the most was
Hearing God's Voice mixed with the idea of
Intercession. I am amazed that in the past 12 years I've been a Christian, no one ever took the time to explain how to "hear God's voice" or explained to me the difference between prayer and intercession. But now that I know, I am challenged to teach it to my peers, friends, and other believers, because I believe it is a powerful tool and amps our relationship with God so much.
But onto the new stuff.
The next 8 weeks, I studied the following topics:
Missions, Fear of the Lord, China's Church, Spiritual Warfare, Covenants, Outreach Preparation, Relationships, and Kingdom.
Missions: The highlight of this week was probably the teacher. While the topic was not a new one to me, our teacher was a pioneer of YWAM India. His name is Merv McDermand and I have never met a person with such a passion to share Jesus and be Jesus with the whole world. He is fearless because God is the foundation for his confidence and boldness. Merv, an Aussie native, has spent his whole adult life in YWAM, traveling all over the world and reaching people in different cultures, religions and hobbies (I believe 40 years). I learned so much from his character alone, plus the great tools and insight from his experiences really blessed me.
Fear of The LORD: taught by a New Zealander (Kiwi), Mark Parker was an amazing speaker. He was very passionate, vulnerable, straight to the point guy. He had ideas and ways of viewing God that totally shook my previous ideals. He taught me:
-True worship is a sacrifice and commitment. It is in the Spirit and truth, not a feeling or experience.
-If Ido something for God, do it with passion and do it with zeal, don't worry about tomorrow.
-The easiest part of Christianity is salvation...the hard part is living out Kingdom with help of the H.S.
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I will never mature if I do not recognize that He is Lord and I am not.
-My generation is so quick to repent and so
slow to obey.
-God will never make me do something that He hasn't given me the desire to do.
-Jesus is not a meek Savior but a roaring lion of a ruler!
-Don't be overwhelmed by the sin in the world...overwhelm it with his love and power.
-Remain consistent, forgive easy and don't give up!
-On the contrary to what John the Baptist said, More of Jesus=More of me (as God created me to be) and less of the crap.
This was huge for me:
1. Who is your Master? Once I experience Jesus as Lord and experience his manifest presence...I will receive my mission.
2. What is your Mission? Once I know my master and my mission, I'll be ready to get married.
3. Who will be your Mate?
*I think as an American culture we get our priorities out of order and this was really insightful for me.
Also, Mark explained to us that every person has a Spirit, Soul and Body; and he defined the differences between each one.
We spent the week discussing:
what the Fall means for us as humans,
what true Salvation looks like,
Fear of the Lord vs. fear of man,
and finally Preparation for the Tabernacle.
On Friday, we spent the entire day (8am-7pm) walking through the steps of Tabernacle like in the Bible. It was the most amazing thing I've ever been a part of. All I can say is, that was my first introduction with how big and amazing the Holy Spirit is. I experienced the manifest presence of God and it was so thick and so heavy. I have never felt so much, as I did in that room that day. I could go on forever, but I won't. Just ask if you are interested, I'd love to share more.
Spiritual Warfare: I think it is only fitting that during this week, I happened to undergo spiritual warfare with my health. I was diagnosed with Epilepsy 5 years ago. I had done so much testing, and all the doctors in Las Cruces told me my tests were negative...there was nothing wrong with me. Yet, during strangely coincidental times, I would have an episode (once a full on seizure, but other times I would just forget what I was saying or thinking). I went to the best, the Mayo Clinic, and the neurologist there found a nerve bundle in my brain that may be causing the problem, although it is hard to tell. I've been taking medication consistently and have had no problems for a year...until this week. I was having an intense conversation with my discipler, Fleur, and totally forgot what I was saying, and then it happened again later with my other leader, Callie. Also, all this week, everyone in my house had been abruptly awakened during the night by loud unexplainable noises. People were struggling with unusual fear and anxiety. Needless to say (and sorry if you disagree with me) but Satan was on the move.
The man who taught us this week, Glen Vines, was a missionary from Tibet, and a counselor and pastor dealing with Spiritual Warfare. While some of what he taught was intense, everything he taught was Biblically based. Spiritual Warfare, Satan, demons, strongholds, generational "sins"...we just don't like to talk about that in America. Everywhere else in the world, they know that the Spiritual World is alive and well.
The one thing that was interesting for me this week was something Glen said. He said in the middle of his teaching that a lot of young people with unexplainable epileptic symptoms have one big similarity...they deal with abandonment issues with their father. In the Bible and in his experience, epilepsy is sometimes a result of Spiritual Warfare and demonic strongholds...especially when addiction in parents is involved, and that it is a very tough stronghold to break. One of the biggest symptoms is the "deaf and dumb spirit" which is characterized by a loss of thought or inability to verbalize a thought temporarily. Now Glen knew nothing about me, and this made my ears perk up a little. I did go and seek counsel and prayed about it. I met with Glen separately and we prayed that I would be released from any strongholds and prayed against Satan in this and other areas of my life. Now I'm very logical and I received my degree in a medical field so I know the implications. I will not stop taking my medication, but I do have faith that I am free from seizures, and I continue to pray against that, because I know God is the ultimate authority in both the Physical and Spiritual realms.
Covenants: This was like being in a college lecture all over again. The teacher, Neville Strachan, is a pastor and a teacher at a Bible College in Australia. He is as Aussie as you can get...and man he is well read when it comes to God and the Bible. I loved just sitting and having lunch with this man. I probably took 50 pages of notes on just his lectures. I have never looked at all of the Covenants in the Bible between God and his creation, until now...and I will never read the Old Testament the same again.
Nev taught us the difference in meanings between: LORD, God, and Lord.
It was amazing to see all of the Covenants and how they all point to, foreshadow Jesus. He "paid in full" all of the previous covenants. It is AMAZING!!!
Kingdom: This was the most applicable week for me, because it changed my entire outlook on life and how I experienced my Outreach time.
I think that this topic is commonly misunderstood, it is a word said like "Gospel" but yet no one is really sure what it means. What was Jesus talking about in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John talking about in the Gospel? The Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not focused on how we can escape earth to get to heaven, but how we can bring the Kingdom tangibly to earth.
Salvation was not the goal of the Gospels, living the Kingdom is...salvation is just the beginning
Christians in the Western World are guilty of thinking agnostically and enlightenment rather than Kingdom. The Bible tells us "how to think" but not "what to think". The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve the world's problems.
Something that stuck with me about "Fair Trade" amongst my retail purchases was: "If you are going to enjoy jeans, shirts and shoes made by developing neighbors...then these people are your neighbors"...and doesn't Jesus say one of the most important commandments is to "love your neighbor as yourself"?
Well those were just some brief highlights of my lecture phase.
