Leaving in Two Days

Well hello everybody, this will be my last post from New Zealand this time around. We head out for Guam on Thursday afternoon. I'm not sure what the Internet will be like there, so i can't make any promises i will be able to keep in touch.

This short week we are learning some skits to perform in front of churches and public. Its funny because i know if YWAM came to our church to do these skits i would definitely call them lame and laugh a bunch, but here i am doing them!!!

Last weeks lectures were on Identity healing and intimacy. It was really good. I found it very interesting that our first speaker and last speaker both hammered home the importance of being real - with ourselves and others. To others so often its easy to be fake and pretend you have all the answers when it comes to God, having no doubts or questions. To ourselves its easy to fell like its wrong to experience pain and lack of faith, and so we can sweep in under the carpet and try to pave over the holes instead of dealing with them and finding true healing.

The week before that we had spiritual warfare. We learned the authority we have as followers of Jesus and how to walk in and increase the authority in your life through God. Our culture is very blind to many things spiritual...both to the good and to the bad.

Overall i would say this lecture phase was very good. If i think back to my original expectations, i thought a DTS might be some sort of magic thing, where you go into it one way, and come out another. But the truth is, DTS does not change your life, God does - and when you give him room to do so. But the day is very structured here and everything is planned out for you - quiet time, praying, worship, and lectures...just like camp or conferences. But the reason it is so hard to come away from these things is you must make all the effort on your own. The truth is, no amount of lectures will ever mean anything if you don't get personal revelation of the topic, and put it into practice. Take this cliche - God loves you. Doesn't sound very interesting or exciting....until you experience it. That is what changes lives. Learning about things like healing or miracles isn't exciting if they only stay stories, but experiencing it is something completely different.

The truth is, you gotta want it. The most important thing is the personal relationship with God - your quiet time, hearing his voice, seeing him work in your life. I realize that back home i didn't even have a quiet time, something so simple yet so powerful for understanding who God is. Like i said, you can hear all about it, but until it becomes real to you, its just head knowledge. Its easy with the amount of "Christian material" (music, camps, books, sermons, etc) available to us nowadays to get lazy and not put in the effort. But of course you shouldn't feel guilty - that isn't what it is about. Its discovering how much there actually is to discover and coming into understanding of how much God actually wants you and has done for you, and you falling in love with Him.

Proverbs 13:4 "The sluggard craves, yet gains nothing. But the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied"

These are just some thoughts...i could be way off, but that's how i feel right now. Really all i can apply any of this is to myself, i cannot generalize for other people. But I must be honest and admit I'm on a journey and still have much to learn. But that's exciting!!! And thats what im doing!!!! WOOO

Well...that's about it. Thanks to all those who care to stay updated!!!