I really don't know what to say. I have such mixed feelings about this. I feel like a guy who has to do a sync dive jump in a few moments. On one hand, he is preparing to do something that he loves doing and that he has passion for. On the other hand, he is scared that something might go wrong in the unknown seconds of the imminent future. What now?
I have learned so much during the past five months! It had been the best time in my life, because I walked so closely with God and I learned so much more about him and about myself during this walk. But that I will discuss in my newsletter. Here I would like to share about my feelings - the mixed up part.
First of all, since there is so much change waiting for me in the future, i became tense and I am a bit grumpy now. I pray that God will not allow me to say or do something nasty to one of my dear DTS friends. I pray that God will give me grace to be gracious to others, not to be emotional. Then there is thinking. Thinking! Constant THINKING!!! It feels like i am writing an MSc again - my thoughts are racing faster that wild horses across the prairies! There is so much to do int the next 2 months before I will be going to Ukraine, I do not even know how I will do all that! And in the middle of it all I still need to see Jesus - that's probably one of my biggest worries. God, I pray that I will not lose anything as i enter the new phase of my life. I pray that Your Loving Hand will strengthen me and not allow me to pull a shell over my head, but to remain open and receptive, just like I was here on the DTS in YWAM.
Then I also came to realize that there is a special anointing upon my life. So many times I just happen to be in the right place at the right time! And God is using me in an amazing way!! A few days ago I was led to give a word of encouragement to one of my friends here on the base. As we spoke I discovered that her struggles were almost like my own in the past, so i could share some of my personal testimony with her and relate to her very well. The words God spoke through me - I don't remember what it was but it was awesome - greatly built her up and she is looking much better now! Praise the LORD!!
This is what I hope to carry over into the future - not just sweet memories, but all that I have learned, all that the Holy Spirit had taught me. Man, talking about memories - I am going to miss so many things!!! Our staff, my DTS friends, my friends on the base in Worcester, even the food! It was the longest ever that I did not have to cook for myself since I left my parents' home. And I actually gained some weight! I will miss all the spiritual battles we had together, all the fun times and all the encouragement I had received here. I will miss the quiet times on the open field under the skies I had so often! I will miss Worcester DTS 2010........... ;-(
So yeah, now as my destiny goes into a new gear, I am standing on my knees, embracing the change. I cannot do that on my own - I am asking for your prayers. And I surely need Jesus, always...
The outreach is over... next week is the graduation day and then I am going home... Oh! I have somewhat mixed feelings about this season now... I am happy that a change in my life is coming, but at the same time I am sad because I don't want to leave the present ministry and people behind. The spiritual need Worcester and neighboring communities where we used to do the outreach is huge and I pray that God will send more workers for the harvest. Every time I come to any local school, I would see the beautiful vineyards, valleys and breathtaking mountains, and my heart would break because in the midst of this beautiful world of the Breede Valley there is an enormous poverty. There is addiction to drugs and alcohol. There is physical and sexual abuse - and the young children are all in the middle of it. I pray sincerely that the revival that began 150 years ago, will come again, that it will come in the hearts of all those who were reached by the Holy Spirit through us and our friends for the past 2 months.
Also I am planning to stay in South Africa for another 2 months, to finish up what I started in the past, i.e. to publish my MSc dissertation as well as to release the PC software for South African schools. I am also hoping to get some rest with my family - they are organizing a holiday for us in George!! I can't wait!!
Today was the International Prayer Day. I did not go to church: instead I made my own church today. Under a tree, at my favourite prayer spot! ;) I took some MP3 music on my laptop and then read from the book of Judges. Man, it was awesome! I realized again that just like in the case of Gideon, God uses small people with little abilities to bring about His purpose. Then all glory goes to Him and Him alone. Thats what He said to Gideon when He selected the warriors for the battle. He said that the number of soldiers should be MUCH less or else the Israelites will say that they themselves earned the victory and do not need God's miraculous help. This brought me back into the real time and I thought about Israeli people today. Yes, I do know that they are God's chosen people and that their land was restored 62 years ago from ashes because God prophecied it in Ezekiel 37 long ago. And God protects them today from all their enemies... but, it's all His grace! and no one should boast in that because God and God alone gets all the glory! But they are not giving any credit to God - on the contrary, they speak as if they are invincible and no harm can come to them because they are the best nation in the world. Well, if I read the prophecies, then I see that the state of Israel today is on its way to a very humbling experience - and all because of such words! Let's pray together that their eyes will be opened to their Messiah and that they will finally repent and give glory to the One who bought them from the slavery with His own Blood!
Since I went into politics now, let me make more prayer requests. Please pray for Europe and its people - that in the midst of the financial crisis they will seek and find the One true God who will be able to help them despite their problems. Please pray for the worls markets as they are beginnig to crumble again under a second wave of the financial crisis. Pray for the people of Mexican Gulf who are suffering the effects of the oil leak - let God provide in their spiritual and physical needs and let them take heart and have confidence in Jesus, the Beginning and the End.
The outreach is over... next week is the graduation day and then I am going home... Oh! I have somewhat mixed feelings about this season now... I am happy that a change in my life is coming, but at the same time I am sad because I don't want to leave the present ministry and people behind. The spiritual need Worcester and neighbouring communities where we used to do the outreach is huge and I pray that God will send more workers for the harvest. Every time I come to any local school, I would see the beautiful vineyards, valleys and breathtaking mountains, and my heart would break because in the midst of this beautiful world of the Breede Valley there is an enormous poverty. There is addiction to drugs and alcohol. There is physical and sexual abuse. and the young children are all in the middle of it. I pray sincerely that the revival that began 150 years ago, will come again, that it will come in the hearts of all those who were reached by the Holy Spirit through us and our friends for the past 2 months.
Also I am planning to stay in South Africa for another 2 months, to finish up what I started in the past, i.e. to publish my MSc dissertation as well as to release the PC software for South African schools. I am also hoping to get some rest with my family - they are organizing a holiday for us in George!! I can't wait!!
Today was the International Prayer Day. I did not go to church: instead I made my own church today. Under a tree, at my favourite prayer spot! ;) I took some MP3 music on my laptop and then read from the book of Judges. Man, it was awesome! I realized again that just like in the case of Gideon, God uses small people with little abilities to bring about His purpose. Then all glory goes to Him and Him alone. Thats what He said to Gideon when He selected the warriors for the battle. He said that the number of soldiers should be MUCH less or else the Israelites will say that they themselves earned the victory and do not need God's miraculous help. This brought me back into the real time and I thought about Israeli people today. Yes, I do know that they are God's chosen people and that their land was restored 62 years ago from ashes because God prophecied it in Ezekiel 37 long ago. And God protects them today from all their enemies... but, it's all His grace! and no one should boast in that because God and God alone gets all the glory! But they are not giving any credit to God - on the contrary, they speak as if they are invincible and no harm can come to them because they are the best nation in the world. Well, if I read the prophecies, then I see that the state of Israel today is on its way to a very humbling experience - and all because of such words! Let's pray together that their eyes will be opened to their Messiah and that they will finally repent and give glory to the One who bought them from the slavery with His own Blood!
Since I went into politics now, let me make more prayer requests. Please pray for Europe and its people - that in the midst of the financial crisis they will seek and find the One true God who will be able to help them despite their problems. Please pray for the worls markets as they are beginnig to crumble again under a second wave of the financial crisis. Pray for the people of Mexican Gulf who are suffering the effects of the oil leak - let God provide in their spiritual and physical needs and let them take heart and have confidence in Jesus, the Beginning and the End.
The aim of this post is purely to glorify the Name of Jesus Christ, because that which happened to us over the past three weeks is nothing less of a miracle!
Worcester and the neighboring towns are situated in the Breede Valley in the province of Western Cape, which is, according to me, one of the most beautiful places on Earth! The amazingly beautiful "blue" mountains are covered by shrubs, the climate is overall Mediterranean, and the area is the best spot to cultivate olives, grapes and apple and pear farms. Simply a chunk of paradise!
It is to this corner of the earth that the Impact World Tour came for the past three weeks. Impact World Tour is a profit-free organization that aims to spread the Gospel of Jesus via arts, dancing and other popular and multicultural ways of reaching out to people. You can read more about them on http://www.impactworldtour.com
Anyway, so these people came in three teams from all over the world. "Team Extreme" were the big guys, who, through bending steel bars, breaking bricks and tearing telephone books, showed that our God is a mighty God of breakthroughs and that nothing is impossible to Him. "Island Breeze" - a team of Indonesian and Pacific island natives, came to do their awesome Polynesian dances to show that God is very creative and multicultural and anyone can reach out to Him because of what His Son Jesus did on the cross. Finally, "GX" or "Generation Extreme" - personally my favorite! - was a team of hip-hop, rap and break dancers, who carried a message of God's mercy, love and acceptance to the youth, speaking into everyone's lives through dances and drama they did.
God provided for them during their stay in a miraculous way! To start, these guys came from countries like Australia, Brazil, Pacific islands, Canada, England and even Nigeria! God has provided over $100k for transportation, flight tickets and accommodation costs for them to come here. How? Ask Him when you meet Him!! He is good at those things! Then here they had to raise about $60k to rent the stage and the light and sound system for 3 weeks of everyday shows - and God gave them the money! How? I have no clue! I only gave what God told me to give, and that was about $15 - and wow, God even uses small people like me! Those people never NEVER lacked a cent, everyday they had plenty of food to eat and a roof over their heads, so that they could rest for they everyday performance.
And a performance it was!! The shows of the three teams alternated every evening, and the shows were the same but, man, I was touched every time I watched it! The dancers, the drama people, the strong men - all on fire for God! Their message was all unique: surrender your life to God and He will give you a new life, beyond your wildest dreams!!
The results were astonishing! Every night an altar call was made and hundreds of people streamed to Jesus. Often we would get a chance to do a pre-show at one of the local schools in the morning, and God would use us to reach out to hundreds of young kids! I realize now that we, as South Africans, are so very privileged to have a freedom of religion in our schools and other public places. I heard that in USA one is not allowed to preach the Gospel at schools - how sad must that be! No one is allowed to give hope to the kids!.. But here... Oh my dear God, you have answered our many prayers about a great harvest - and the past three weeks over 3,000 people committed their lives to You! You are the King of our hearts, we worship You and we LOVE You!!
God was changing people's lives right in front of my own eyes! We, as help crew, had the responsibility to pray with those who answered the altar call after the show. One night I prayed with a lady who was only two years older than me, but was already struggling with alcohol addiction. the Spirit revealed to me that she needed security and a love of a Father. After I took a step of faith and prophesied it into her life, she began shaking and when I hugged her, she would not let go! She left us that night with a new hope and a solid faith that God loves her. Another time a man in his forties came to repentance and I led him in prayer to re-dedicate his life to Jesus. he promised that he will allow God to restore his marriage and family life, that he will accept God's guidance and leadership. When I wanted to pray for him, he fell on his knees, dragging me along! What desperation!!! Another man came with his two kids, and when I asked him what he needed tonight, he said - nothing! Then I found out that this man attended our show yesterday, gave his heart to God, and today he walked 20km (over 10 miles) with his two boys just to ask for a blessing for them! Amazing!
I can just go on and on and on - truly the Psalmist was right when he said that the glory and mercies of God are without end! I saw deliverance and healing, evil spirits leaving people while we worshiped, ears opened, broken bones and other chronic pains were healed. I was weeping so often, shaking under the presence of God! It felt like I was drunk, like I had something really heavy on my shoulders and could not stand upright. Those who did bodybuilding might understand me if I say that it felt like I was pushing beyond my limits with heavy weights, and my muscles were shaking and trembling with spasms instead of working smoothly and evenly. And yet, miracles happened even when I did not feel this way, just proving that faith is not an "on-high" euphoric state of being or a super-trooper feeling in the gut, but a state of mind and a determination to stick with God's Word no matter what!
My faith was greatly built over the last three weeks and I realized that God is more interested in my readiness to serve Him than in what I have to offer. One of the YWAM values we have is to do first and then to teach and it says basically that God's call upon our lives carries much more value than our individual gifts and talents. You can be the most gifted speaker in the world, but if God calls you to preach the Gospel, He would not look at that - instead, He could only make use of you if you had a willing heart. I gave Jesus all of my heart, and He is filling me up with abilities and talents I never had before! The more I humbly and sacrificially allow His Divine Power to flow through me, the more He is revealed through me to others! And being used in this way is the most glorious feeling I could have ever wished for in my little life!!! Praise God! HalleluYah!!
P.S.: I did not take any pictures over the past three weeks because every night I was busy praying with people and interceding for the open heavens above the crowd. Now someone came to me and offered over a 1000 high-quality pictures that they took from their camera! Praise God!!!!!!
I am an honest guy who likes to spend time with his friends. I also like to read my Bible and to spend time in the presence of God, to sing praise and worship and to pray with people that share my faith and passions.
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