Don't fight for victory, fight from victory!

I can't believe the time has come! It's slowly settling in, but I still can't believe that I'll be in the Philippines tomorrow!  I am so overwhelmed with how blessed I have been & my newest adventures are just getting started!  Coming into this week I was feeling drained & I wasn't sure how ready I was going to be for outreach.  After this past week of lectures on Spiritual Warfare however, I am way stoked to move in God's power & spread his truth to the lost nations.  Our speaker was Neil Champion who was arguably my favorite speaker that we've had.  He is a local guy & just has a passion for Christ like no other.  The ways that he moves in the Holy Spirit are incredible & he has had a lot of experiences in Fiji, so he was able to share a lot of stories & ideas of what to expect.  This got me so amped & I never would've guessed I'd be this pumped to head off for two months.

It's sad saying bye to my fellow DTS buddies, but we will have a debrief week at the end of our journey so I will see them all again.  There have been some hard things going on as far as kids unable to go on outreach & others getting really sick.  Originally, we had 12 people on our outreach, but now we are down to 10.  Unity was already a tricky thing for our team, so this adds even more distress & questions.  Through it all God is still good & there is obviously a reason behind all of this.

Throughout the week we discussed a lot of spiritual gifts & how to act properly when using them or how to know if you have a gift.  So often we automatically think that raising someone from the dead is the greatest miracle, but really it's salvation, because you are bringing someone out of death & into life.  Healing someone doesn't give them eternal life.  Imagine this... if you had the cure for cancer, what would you do?  Hopefully outside yelling to everyone about your discovery & I don't think that's really the way to go about evangelizing, but it gives you a perspective of the excitement you should have when sharing eternal life with others.

One thing Neil continued to stress were personal quiet times.  You cannot just switch God on & off when you want to.  The greater the work in you, the greater he works through you.  When you're in your quiet times, there is enough power in the room to create a universe.  Instead of inviting God to join our stories, we need to join his ultimate store.  I know this kind of contradicts what I said a few posts back, but I feel this is a more accurate outlook on things.  Spiritual warfare is being connected to the source.  Here are some really powerful/interesting points that Neil made:

• Every morning ask yourself, what would a man/woman of God do today? Then do it!
• When someone persecutes you, ultimately they are saying: Stop preaching or I'll send you to paradise.
• We should know & be familiar with God's voice.
• If God stopped speaking to you, how long would it take for you to notice?
• It is so important to connect with God each morning through quiet times.
• This is something I'm still struggling with but "dead men don't have rights."
• "For our struggle isn't against flesh & blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world & against the spiritual forces of the evil & the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:12
• It says we are not fighting against flesh & blood, so why do we fight each other?
• If it moves pray for it, if it doesn't well push it & pray for it.
• Don't be worried to step out in boldness.
• The Bible tells us that the devil is below our heals, so how does he get in our heads?
• We give him a foothold & lift him up with sin in our lives.
• The Bible says we need to humble ourselves before the Lord.  This is for us to do not him.
• "God resist the proud, but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6
• Truth doesn't need to hide from anyone. You get intimidated when you don't spend time with the Lord.
• Do you think you need to defend a lion?

These are just a few of the things we learned, along with how to deal with intense spiritual warfare, which is very prevalent in Fiji.  Here's a tentative schedule of what we'll be doing.

Philippines:

• Week 1: Preparation for "kids" camp that will go the entire day.  We've been told they will be waiting outside when the sunrises ready to go.
• Week 2: We're running a camp & will each have our own tribes to lead!  I'm so pumped & the ages will vary from 12-25yrs old.  Hopefully we'll be able to do some basketball camps there!  I would be so thrilled!!!
• Week 3: Feeding some villages & bringing the gospel to some islands for the first time!

Fiji:

• Week 1: Staying at a YWAM base & working with them.
• Week 2-3: Working with a pastor who works with the poor & need.  We'll be doing door to door missions, evangelizing, working with single women & possibly inmates.

I'm not sure how many of these things will really go as planned, but these are just ideas we've received from our contacts.  Either way God's hand will be in the entire process & we'll be doing his work.  Thanks for all your support & feel free to leave a post below (You don't need to log-in).  I won't have my laptop on outreach, but I will try to blog when I can.  However, we will have a team blog at http://ywamteam2012.blogspot.com.au/.  Hope Tulip Time is wonderful & GO BULLS!!!

Prayer requests:

• Boldness to step out in the power of Jesus.
• Safe travels.
• Ability to stay united as a team.
• Our leader to be healed so she can rejoin us.
• Love for the people of the Philippines & Fiji.

It's a Relational Life.

Welcome to Jason's world!  Where unopened milk doesn't need refrigeration, where long-boarding injuries are quite common, where plugins have switches, where looking like a caveman is acceptable, where it's weird to carry American cash, where slushies cost $4, where geckos are more common than squirrels and your family is 30+ students with all different ethnicities.  Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read this each week!  It is super encouraging when I hear that someone is enjoying the things God has been revealing to me. I just want to make it clear that the ONLY way I'm able to write the things that I've written, is through the power & discipleship of our All Mighty God.  I pray that your heart is open to what he is trying to say through these posts & that you understand that the stories I share come from me joining God's journey for my life, not my journey trying to involve God. I am continuing to grow & struggle through the things I've been experiencing.

This week in lectures, a Godly couple spoke on relationships.  They have been serving our base for years throughout their marriage and do an awesome job of working together in unity to demonstrate what Godly relationships look like.  We learned about 1) Our relationship with God, 2) Our relationships with others, and 3) Our relationship with that special someone.

"Relationships are what's most important." - Michael Scott (My father, not that other guy)  These are the words that I carried into this week and these are the words that I carried out of this week.

1) Greatest commandment "Love God'

• God has always been a relational God.
• Genesis 1:26 "Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image."  Who is "us"?
• Father, Son and the Holy Spirit!
• Our relationship with God will improve our personal relationships with others, along with our character.
• Those who walk with God have a Christian community around them.
• You must be committed to a local church so can be encouraged in your faith & journey.

Committing to a local church is something I really struggled with back home.  I felt warn out and like I was wasting my time, because everything seemed irrelevant.  They talked about the importance of church and how it is Christ's bride.  For example:  If our best friend met a guy or girl we didn't necessarily approve of, we would either need to change our attitude towards that person or we would become disconnected with our best friend.  God intended for a body of believers to gather in his name to praise him.  Also, no church is perfect, but when you get involved with a small/core group of believers, you can share your struggles and ask for prayer!

James 5:16 "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." - We are our brother's keeper and it is our business to help those who are close to us that are struggling.

2) 2nd Greatest commandment "Love Others"

• John 14:15 Jesus says, "If you love me, you will obey what I command."
• In order to obey his 1st commandment, we need to obey the rest of his commandments.
• 1 John 4:20 "If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar.  For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen."
• Ouch, there are so many people that I don't love...

Motives: Can I be a great person & love others without Christ? Do I love others for personal fulfillment?

Our relationships with others needs to glorify God in all ways and this doesn't mean putting on a front and not allow others to see us when we're weak.  When conflicts arise it is easy to run, hide, or ignore the issue.  However, conflicts can: create opportunities for growth, heighten creativity, help people think with a broader perspective, help others express their true feelings.

When confronting:  Go to the person, think it through, no personal attacks, use "I" not "You" language, listen, offer a solution & pray.

When confronted: Paraphrase your understanding, ask questions/clarify, ask for time to pray/process the situation, reveal thoughts & solution.

Both parties: Seek Godly mature counsel, express sympathy & sincerity, make plans for next step, pray for each other and a heart for each other.

3) Relationship with a special someone

It isn't healthy to skip steps in a relationship.  God created this type of Love to only be enjoyed between a man & woman who are under a covenant together through marriage.  Proverbs 18:22 "He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord."

Relational advice:

• What are your motives for this relationship?
• How you begin a relationship will influence how it continues.
• Be careful if you are "pot heavy".  In poker, if you have too many chips in it is extremely difficult to get out.  Don't commit too much too soon or you will experience great tribulation.
• Get to know their family and friends.  This is where their true character comes out.  Character will stand the test of time, but good looks will perish in time.
• PRAY ABOUT IT!!

For further marriage advice, contact my parents :)

I apologize for the extensive posts. I've tried to simplify, but there's so much to share. Here's my past week:

Tuesday - My outreach group met up & learned more of what we'll be doing (I'll share more next post). We worked on a couple skits we'll be performing & in one of them I'm Jesus. There's a decent amount to learn, but my beard does most of the acting anyways.  We're really coming together so thank you for your prayers!

Wednesday - We had a special dinner where we all dressed up & our staff served us our dinner & washed our feet. It was a really humbling experiences & brought back awesome memories of NTS (Never The Same) camp from high school. My appearance really flourished this night & there's a picture below!

Thursday - Five of our students decided to get baptized in the ocean and it was an incredible experience.  I have always had a love for baptisms and hope to personally get baptized this summer when I return home :)

Changing gears...

Friday night a group of us were at the beach when we saw sirens nearby.  We decided to go see what was going on & upon our arrival I saw a medical team performing CPR on a girl who had been hit by a car. A girl named Katelyn was crossing the street when she was hit by a car. Her friends were kneeling together nearby on the grass with emotions pouring out. I was in disbelief & never expected something so tragic to happen on such an ordinary night.  We started to pray with those huddled together, crying out to God to pour out his mercy. This was one of the most horrific situations I have ever experienced, even though I had never met this 20yr old girl. The ambulance eventually took Katelyn away & we said our last prayers with her best friends & boyfriend who were there. My heart cried out for this girl who supposedly had no relationship with her Father in Heaven. The following morning we heard that Katelyn never made it. Today, this only fuels my passion to tell others about Christ (the greatest relationship you will EVER experience!) so that they can be delivered from death & experience Eternal Life.

Apart from this event, I had a fantastic week/weekend.  The surfer guys got back from their road trip & it's good to chill with them again. We take off for the Philippines this Saturday (4/28) & I won't really have internet while I'm there. Our group will keep a blog so I'll post that before I leave. Shout out to all my supporters! Thanks to my family Mom, Dad, Jessica, Kendall, Tarah, Taylor, Mariah & Charlie for all your love & encouragement!  This is already a crazy week full of packing & last minute shopping.

My buddy Dayne & I before our dinner! Yes we used surf wax on our staches'.

Slowly yet surely

Surfers paradise!

Surf crew!

Prayer Requests:

- Unity & patients within our group & wisdom for our leaders.

- Love for the people of the Philippines & Fiji.

- Discipline for me to set aside time to seek God daily.

- Safe travels

- For boldness to speak out & discernment for spiritually heavy times.

Another Dimension

As Christians we are called to be supernatural,  God is super We are natural.

This past week our DTS went 4 hours south along the coast to a town called Byron Bay.  Byron is a hippie town full of backpackers & travelers from all over the world who are looking for adventure. The hippie/beach culture is a huge party attraction and so often everyone is lost & searching for something more meaningful in life.  Our weeks emphasis was Evangelism and we were able to meet up with 2 other YWAM teams for the entire week to practice evangelism in preparation for outreach.

Our speaker was Kevin Stickl who's been living in Australia since '99.  He shared his experiences with evangelism and how it is a different adventure each time.  So often the word evangelism can carry a sour taste and I can't say as if I've ever wanted to be apart of any evangelism.  I immediately think of someone standing at a street corner screaming at those passing by about how they're sinners and need to get their lives right.  I'm still in the process of changing these deprived thoughts and focusing on the good news we are called to share with others.  Here are a few thoughts that Kevin shared:

• Before evangelizing, we need to deal with our fears of man & pride.
• When we step out in faith in the strength of God, he will deliver us from these fears.
• We need to set our gaze on God and his abilities.

When looking to reach out to others in evangelism, we need to know:

• It is GOOD news!
• It's a free gift. If we had something of value (gold) to just give out to others for free, wouldn't we be excited!

There are so many different types of evangelism and it should become apart of our lifestyle to share about God's love & forgiveness for others, rather than just setting time aside to go specifically evangelize.  When we evangelize, there are 3 different types of outcomes.  1) someone is saved. 2). we plant a seed. 3) we are rejected.  1 Peter 4:14 "If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you." That being said, every time we step out in faith, there is a 66.6% chance that you'll be successful.

Jesus is either a Liar, a Lunatic, or The Lord.

    - For those who say that he was just a good man, I tell you this can't be, because he states that he alone came down from heaven and is the only son of God.

Going into the week we were told that Byron was a really heavy place spiritually and that we needed to be ready to experience things we had never witnessed before.  This was not an understatement, as I honestly wasn't sure what the words "spiritually heavy" really meant.  This week God blessed me with multiple opportunities to talk with heaps of people in Byron about God and the deep desire he has to build a relationship with them.  Every night we'd have a barbie in the park, serving free pancakes & chai tea with music for the locals to stop by.

• My friend Osama & I spoke with a homeless man named Feron, who's life had been ruined because of "Christians" and how he hated them.  Feron played his guitar for money on the street he told us that his dreams were that his nightmares would disappear.  All we could do is love on him and pray for his hardened heart.
• My friends Amanda, Megan & I ran into a guy named Scott from NY who was on vacation with his son.  He was searching for his soul-mate & longed for inner peace.  Scott had been divorced 3 times & had a successful construction business.  He had some knowledge of God, but also believed in extraterrestrial life & was confused about heaven.  We were able to pray for Scott & he knew that our encounter was not by coincidence.
• My friends Steph, Mich, & I had just finished praying for peace & comfort when 5 Jewish guys walked up and wanted to know what was going on.  They had been living in Australia because there was too much pressure in Israel to be religious and it didn't seem real to them.  Surprisingly, they were really open to hearing about our beliefs and who God is to us.

These are just a few encounters I had throughout the week and there was also a varieties of healings that took place.  Spiritual healings and YES physical healings!  Until this week I've never witnessed any physical healings, but God showed up and a girls foot was straightened, a girls shoulders were re-aligned, & pain was taken from a variety of people's broken bones & past injuries.  It was NUTS!!!

Even today this sounds ridiculousness & unattainable for me.  And indeed it is ridiculous & it is unattainable for me alone.  John 14:11-14 "Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.  I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." BAM!

After reading all this, it may seem like this has been a glorious week, but it was actually a huge battle.  The spiritual world was heated and the devil was trying hard to dis-unify our groups and tear us apart.  Those with discernment could since the heaviness, because anytime there is a fight for souls the devil is going to be upset (no glory to him).  This was a really unique experience and I definitely grew in so many ways.

Making pancakes for our gatherings! 

Nothin like the Bay!

My Friends :)

Personal highlight of the week! Some mornings we were able to go surf & I saw my very first dolphins! So sweet! haha anyways... Love God, Love Others!  Have a wonderful week and please facebook me & let me know what's going on in your life!  Otherwise leave a comment below about anything that's on your mind or anything I have said.  It is possible that not everything I wrote is true, so check it with the Bible aka The Truth!  I can't believe I only have 2 weeks left here in Australia, but God is still good!

No Time Off.

Greetings from Australia!  I hope you're all having a wonderful Easter and enjoying time with friends & family!  Even though it is one of the less popular holidays, I am totally bummed to be here and not with everyone back home eating cheese potatoes & 7 layered jello!  It has been a great past week here and the time has definitely started to slow down, knowing that I leave for outreach in only 2 1/2 weeks I believe.

For lectures, a man named Bryon Hunsburger spoke on the Living Word and we pretty much just skimmed the surface of the whole Bible in a week.  We looked at different stories in the Bible that are maybe less popular and how we can still relate and receive insight into what God is trying to show us.  It was a nice refresher for the Bible and how we can choose to make it exciting when we do some background research.  Even classic Bible stories that we read as kids, have deeper meanings if we just put the time in and look at the surrounding context of each stories.  Bryon was an awesome guy with some sick stories.  He went sailing for 5 months with a crew to distribute Bibles in the Philippines & started SBS (School of Biblical Studies) here in Sunshine Coast, which is the next level beyond DTS.

Beyond lectures, this has been a very eventful week.  Ultimately, I learned that God never takes time off, which is pretty obvious but sometimes it's hard to believe.  On the flip side, God doesn't expect us to take time off either.  Saturday night I was out with my buddies Osama & Tyler hanging out at the beach & McDonald just like any other night, when all of a sudden we were a loud BANG!  Immediately we took of running in the direction of the sound assuming it was something serious.  Adrenaline pumping, we ran up the hill and were the first ones on the scene of this car accident.  It was 3 college students who had totaled their car into a light pole.  Only 1 of them had a dislocated leg & the others were able to walk away.  In no time it became a huge scene as neighbors gathered & emergency vehicles came to light up the scene.  The 3 guys, Luke, Mitch, & Jye, were hysterical in disbelief and confused about what had just taken place.  A woman started asking if there were any Christians who could pray for these students emits all the chaos.  This was something I had never heard someone ask before and I wasn't really sure how to respond.  Eventually, we were able to pray over each of the guys and there is no doubt in my mind that God was there and angels were surrounding the car.  Right after we prayed, you could sense a change of heart in the guys and instead of freaking out about their destroyed car, they became thankful that they were still alive and could wake up the next morning a new day.  The whole event was a whole God thing and Luke with the dislocated leg, told us "I've never met anyone who would do this. People don't do this around here because they don't care."  This statement alone was so encouraging.  I'm not telling you this to brag about something I did with my buddies, but to show you how crazy God is and how he is always working in our lives and we just need to be ready for anything at anytime.  All glory to God!  There is a lot more that happened this night and we were able to discuss our beliefs with some of the neighbors before we headed home.

Everyday now I pass by that light pole and it is just a great reminder of God's devotion to our lives.  Often times it is just an ordinary day that God decides to wake us up and as Christians we can't take time off.  This doesn't mean that if we give our entire lives to Christ that he won't bless us with peace or rest, but he wants us to rely on his love everyday.

I went to the doctors on Tuesday and found out my eardrum has already started to heal so I'm back in the water!  Thanks for your prayers, not being able to surf for a month was starting to take a toll on me :)  This whole week we'll be staying in Byron Bay and meeting up with 2 other YWAM bases.  The week emphasis is evangelism and I'm stoked to put everything into practices for outreach preparation.

My outreach team bowling!

Glass House Mountain!

This is my outreach team!!! Fiji-ppines 4-Life!

I think it's really incredible that you've taken this time to read my blog and I hope you're able to take something away from it.  I honestly feel blessed for your interest in what God is doing in my life here in Australia.

Who's your best friend?

I have a handful of "best friends", but can I honestly say Jesus is my best friend?  This can be such an odd question/thought process and our speaker this past week, Dan Baumann, did an EXCEPTIONAL job of showing me what this actually looks like.  Dan's with the YWAM base in Kona Hawaii and it would take multiple pages to write down everything he was able to teach me. Best week yet? No doubt.  Dan has one of the most passionate relationships with Jesus that I have ever witnessed.  He has lived an incredible life of obedience to God and his insane stories are nothing but a testament of how God longs to be our best friend.

A short clip of Dan's testimony:  Dan spent 9 weeks in an Iranian prison, where he experienced the darkest times of his life.  Dan was beaten multiple times and lost over 40lbs without any sort of explanation for his imprisonment.  After 9 weeks, Dan was brought before a court to determine his future.  When asked what he was doing Iran, Dan responded by proclaiming the Lord as he began to preach uncontrollably before the Iranian court for nearly 45min.  In the end, Dan was released from prison because the Holy Spirit had moved so swiftly within the room and through his sermon.  His passion & sincerity showed the court that he was indeed a missionary & not a spy like they had suspected.  Dan walked free the next day.

Relationship with Jesus:

• Being 100% sure of what God is calling you to do is overrated.
• It is more important to know God's character so you can hear his heart.
• Everything you do for God has to come from intimacy with Him.
• Jesus wants to hangout...he likes everything about you & wants to unconditionally hangout.
• God just wants to continually show his revelation of love upon us.

Hearing God:

• Often God will lie something on our heart & then not say a word.
• We need to trust what God says first.  He is just waiting for us to commit to him.
• God is more committed to fulfill his will for our life, than we are to find it.
• The will of God, is that we fall in love with him.

Praying:

• Ask God to grab your heart to feel what he longs for.
• Lift someone up in prayer.
• Their name may have never been mentioned in heaven.  What a privilege!

God is with you:

• Where does God want you to be?
• Right where you are.
• Where is the safest place to be?
• Right where God wants you.

If we are willing to listen to God and be obedient to his calling, to the dreams he has for our lives, then we need to realize that often we're NOT going to feel ready.  God won't ask us to do something if he doesn't think we're ready & when we aren't ready, we are forced to rely on God 100%.

Not only does God want to fill our lives with surprises, but he planted our passions & interests within us so that he can use us for his purpose.  Once we place God in the middle of all our priorities, we just need to ask him to walk with us and hangout.  Yeah that may seem goofy, but all he wants to be is our best friend and that's what best friends do.  They hangout! Whether that's playing sports, cooking, going for a joy ride, a lunch date, working, watching tv, or anything you do throughout your day.  It's not about separating our sacred & secular activities, because when you're in love with someone, you welcome them into your entire day.

Something else that I found really intriguing was the fact that your emotions don't determine your passions for God.  Your emotions change all the time & often in the morning you don't feel as passionate about God as you did the night before.  But that's NOT it!  God loves us in the morning just the same & our passion for him doesn't change.

What keeps us from having passion?  Dan said passion is related to not sinning.  When we focus on not sinning, it's selfish because we're focused on how we need to change.  We're trying to fix ourselves, when Jesus is the one fixing us.  The best way to get over your sin - fall so madly in love with Jesus that you become obsessed & lose yourself.

Fact: Many Christians are so bored.  Well I have news for you... God is NEVER boring.  Passion is a steady long-term growth.  There will be ups & downs, but you need to continually seek the heart of God.

I'm sorry, but I had to share all of that.  Dan spoke so much truth and I found it so influential.  I hope there is something you're able to take away.  I am growing even closer with the community here and it's depressing to think how fast the time has flown by.  Every day that passes by here makes this place seem even more like home.  Everyone is striving to seek God with all their heart and learning these important lessons together brings us all so much closer.  I just don't feel like I could ever thank you all enough for all your support.  I can feel your prayers & I know they are making an impact!!  Gooo God!

Saturday we had Outreach Olympics & my team surprisingly took home the Gold!  The most interesting event was eating Ox brain.  Yes, Ox brain.  It smelling like grilled chicken & had the texture of a mushy egg.  It was rubbish.

Love to you all!  I enjoy hearing about your lives back home so please continue to comment, message, skype, and email me :)

"If we are told to do something, but don't know where, go somewhere!  God loves the whole world."