But I can recite word for word from the statement of beliefs you might say. or I am a pastor of a church. Do we still chose the things of the world over God? If so, then there is something missing in our theology.

As we develop this ministry/family/experiment called “Casa Libertad” our group has been in a season of understanding and examining what we will stand for and what culture we will set. We are questioning everything. What is the Gospel? and How can we help fulfill God’s dream for this earth in Mexico, in Spain?

We are all followers of Jesus in our group, but we all come from very different backgrounds although we have all been with YWAM. Some of us grew up Catholic and others more traditionally evangelical.

It gets uncomfortable for some to dissect the comfortable theology that we have in our brains. Perhaps this is why we have denominations. We want the comfort of not being questioned in this area, and if we are in a group that believes the same thing about, say, speaking in tongues, then we are safe.

About 4 years ago I exited everything I held comfortable at the time, including my geographic, family and church (and its beliefs) to venture into the world. The organization (YWAM) that I am a part of is labeled as Para-church, meaning working for the church but not identified as a church itself. This has allowed me to see the functions of most of the major denominations as I have served them.

“Every church has people trying to love God the best they know how.” – Liam Byrnes

During the process the Spirit started to convict me of my prejudices toward other believes inside the body of Christ. One thing that continually sticks with Camille and I is what our friend Liam said to us, “Every church has people trying to love God the best they know how.”

But they don’t have instruments other than a piano in their church! But they are so uptight and religious! But they do weird things like have flag dancers! The insults and judgements fling left and right. Are they (insults and judgements) part of your theology?

I don’t mean to be so pointed but I see a horrible trend of mudslinging in the body of Christ in America. I just read a blog that rebukes a movement of which I know some of the leaders. There were many accusations un-investigated but freely wielded as fact.

I am not saying things shouldn’t be done against serious issues (especially sin issues), but the best way always is relationally.

Where should our focus lie? Where should our passion be exerted into?

Do we see a need in the body? Maybe this is highlighted because the Spirit wants to work through you in that area. We can use frustration as a good weapon to build up the body or a bad one to tear it down in bitterness.

Awhile ago, I realized that there are things I “believe” that I don’t do, which actually makes it unbelief. Our theology’s testing ground is action. Our teacher is the Holy Spirit. We are tested on a daily basis on our theology. Thank the Lord, the Spirit, for his grace and patience in this eternal journey toward the knowledge of God and his Kingdom.

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Gospel of John – Chapter 17, Verse 3 ESV

Lord, may we see each other as you do and love each other as you do us. I pray that you strengthen us to act what we believe in the power of your grace. I pray that you develop patience in us as we refine our theology by your Holy Spirit of revelation. May we humbly walk in what we believe in this day as we learn more about you for eternity. Amen.

There are also interesting cultural differences infused into the language. Americans are known for their open (yet sometimes empty) LOVE. Eg. I love bananas and I love you…hmmm. In Mexico, they have “levels” of love.

Me gusta el plátano= Literally, The banana is pleasing to me, but more like: I like the banana

Me encanta el plátano = Literally, I love the banana, but more like: I really like the banana

Me cae bien = Literally, (someone) falls on me well, but more like: That person I met is nice

Te quiero = Literally, I want you, but more like: I really really like you

Te amo = I love you

Note: There are probably more but I don’t know them :)

The last example is of course the strongest and rarely used sometimes not even very much between spouses! I appreciate this separation of love and appreciate the use of a special phrase reserved for those that I really love. I also see the danger in both extremes! People we care about need to hear we love them (and shown of course).

An interesting question to ponder: how big is our inner “love” circle? Some people readily love many people in the “te amo” way while others reserve it for scarcely one. What is more healthy?

This is an interesting word use by Jesus when he says the greatest commandment (and the second that follows):

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

The word (conjugated verb) is agapaō in both “love the Lord” and “love your neighbor”. Scholars say Agape is the highest form of love in the greek (more on the 4 greek loves). The verb would be used to mean Te Amo or I love you.

If this is correct than as much as we love God, we must love those that God puts in our path. This is the way God shows his love as well. Most of us know John 3:16 and other verses that can be summed us as: He loved the world, even in our sin, and sent his son to die and be resurrected to express his love and show us HOW to love again and find freedom in it!

This is not an excuse to burn out as we try to love and serve everyone, but an invitation to go deeper with God and with those that God has put in your community. As we see how the Father loves, we model our life after this. He loves each one of us uniquely meaning we as his children have the same capacity. In order to see how to love, we must ask the Spirit how can I best love this person and obey his promptings.

Lord, may we all be open to love and be loved and may your Spirit continually teach us how to love! amen.

Art for this posts image was created by Camille! Like her page! Special thanks to Joan Godard for helping me birth this idea while training our team!

Of anything the Lord has been teaching me about, forgiveness is at the top of the list.

I was sitting at a house church and was given the floor to speak about what God was doing in our lives. When I went to speak, I couldn’t and just began to weep. Camille spoke for me knowing what I was going through. I hadn’t known how deep the Spirit would hit my heart and it overwhelmed me. I could not control it. I can’t even explain all of why I was weeping, but I think the Spirit was driving home a point in my heart that forgiveness is one of the most powerful forces we can release on this earth!

The past few weeks had been hard at times. I had been in a battle of dodging statements that could offend and extending forgiveness freely. It is indeed a battle, but God has given us a great weapon called forgiveness! I’m realizing that forgiveness is at the center of the Gospel message. God sent his son to forgive us. Wow. Dwell on that for a second.

His forgiveness for us involves sending his only son to show us how forgiveness is administered. He forgave when many didn’t even know or think they needed it. He offers it freely to all, we just need to accept it. I’m seeing this is how Truth works. We don’t wait for the opportunity for others to come and say, “love me!” we love them first. God loved us first according to 1 John 4:19.

In the same way, should we wait for others to forgive us or should we extend forgiveness? Our Gospel is empty without forgiveness, but the Gospel moves in power in our lives when we extend it and receive it freely. How will people know how to forgive, if it isn’t exhibited by those that follow The Forgiver?

I’ve seen unforgiveness play out badly and its not pretty. Both parties wait for forgiveness…and wait years…maybe even one has forgiven them in their heart, but just hasn’t verbalized it in fear of the others rejection. It sits in the heart and festers and grows until there is a giant gap that doesn’t seem possible to cross.

On the flip side, I just finished the Wild Love of God by Chris Dupre which is all about his bold, vulnerable forgiveness of his dad whom had physically beat him in his youth. It is powerful to see the transformation in their relationship! If we do as our Heavenly Father, forgiveness is active and intentional and over-the-top.

God didn’t just forgive us, which would have been more than enough, He became the curse we were under by dying on the cross so we could have freedom and life abundant. He sent his own Spirit to dwell in us! Forgiveness brings us to a metaphorical “0″ but it is just the beginning of God’s way of forgiveness. How far are we willing to go to show our forgiveness? God showered blessings and gifts upon us as we receive the forgiveness he extended us! This blows me away.

The Kingdom comes upon receiving God’s forgiveness for us. The Kingdom comes as we forgive those around us. May the Kingdom of heaven continue to come to earth through forgiveness! Be free and forgive—70×7.

Lord, May we all be like our Heavenly Father by forgiving and blessing our friends, enemies, brothers, parents, sisters, kids and spouses and showing it through abundant blessing. I ask for your Spirit to strengthen us and reveal to us the power of forgiveness in our lives. Amen.

There is a shift in Romans 8. Paul brings up 2 laws: The Law of the Spirit of Life and the Law of Sin and Death. Are there 2 laws? No, there was only one law given to Moses, but two perspectives we can look at the Law from.

The Law of Sin and Death as chronicled by Paul in Romans 7 shows the focus:

SELF, SLAVERY, SIN, JUDGEMENT, SHAME and RIGHT and WRONG.

In contrast, the Law of the Spirit of Life shown in Romans 8 focuses on:

GOD, JESUS, SPIRIT, ADOPTION, FAMILY, INHERITANCE, GLORY, and LOVE.

If we focus on our sin, we will live a life of slavery and isolation. If we focus on the God of Life, He will pour out true life abundant and we will live our life of destiny and inheritance with our Kingdom family and share it freely with others.

The obvious choice is ours to make. Step out of dark shadows of slavery and isolation into the glorious light of a Heavenly Father that loves you very much and wants to introduce you to your Kingdom family and life!

O Spirit of Revelation and Life, I pray for those that read this message, my brothers and sisters and future brothers and sisters stuck in slavery and fear that they would cry out to you as Father and run to your arms! May we all live together in freedom by the law that you set in place from the beginning of time the law of the Spirit of Life. Amen.

The common response to people viewing abstract art. What does this statement actually say? Maybe, “I don’t know what the painting is” or “It doesn’t fit my paradigm of what art is or what ‘beauty’ is”

Those that enjoy abstract art are ok with the unresolved unfinished nature of it.They see it as finished, resolved, and perfect or beautifully unresolved and unfinished. They aren’t looking for details in the way a more realist painter paints which is equally as beautiful.

As I observe super creative people, I notice a common thread among them: They disconnect ration or reason sometimes and go on feeling or spirit. They don’t create for a purpose other than expression. In order to create something unique you must let go of the rational, if not just briefly.

As a graphic designer, I learned to think more abstractly through creating logos for businesses. The letter “A” can be an arrow or the bottom half of a man or something else or sometimes it can be there to just communicate “A”. I learned to use not only the positive space, but also negative space to communicate. I learned color creates moods and each font communicates something different.

Is there any value in thinking or creating more abstractly?

Think about the Creator God and what he has created. Can you explain why one leaf is different than the other or when you view them in different seasons from afar they take on different moods? The normal person can’t (but maybe a botanist can lol), but leaves are beautiful nevertheless. Our world was created by a very abstract artist.

Exhibit A: Human.

Many people wish they looked like someone else. They don’t see the beauty of themselves. Why? The perspective of society or those around them have so influenced the way they think that they think they have to look like someone else to be “beautiful”. The “right” beauty is being fed to them. Yet, God is saying, “I created you uniquely! You are like no one else!” We are beautifully unresolved and unfinished.

I just heard something the other night that is really interesting:

This guy had a dream where God took him and was showing him all these people and they looked beautiful but the same. When he asked God why they were like this, God said, “This is what the world would look like if the Devil created it.”

Food for thought. Think about all the things that were created by evil and you will see an element of the generic eg. Hitler and communism. The devil is not creative nor wants to be. He wants to destroy creativity and expression to create boredom that leads to sin. He is against Godly contentment and adventure. Through fear, he paralyzes people into conformity to the spirit of the world for his ultimate goal destruction. In contrast, the Creator frees us from fear so we can be free to express who we are meant to be in Christ. He allows us to create with His Spirit inside of us. He helps us break the mold of the world and what it thinks.

Creative expression is warfare. Create and invite God into it! It’s going to be beautiful.

The blog header is a painting by Camille

This journey sometimes gets hard. My faith is usually fine unless it gets tested. When the rubber hits the road then I start to see some of the weak areas. Walking with Jesus is so rich but also hard in many ways. Time and time again, I find myself having to have faith for something. These things seem to get bigger and bigger. Faith is believing in the unseen and unknown and waiting for it to come to fruition and putting as much trust in God as we can muster.

I find myself wondering what if God doesn’t show up? what if I heard him wrong? why it can’t be easier? why we can’t have things on a silver platter? Why does God usually wait until the very last minute for things? I then realize it would be totally LAME and BORING. We so desire the easy life and all its snares and traps.

The facade of comfort trying with smoke and mirrors to be the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3 ESV). It can’t even compare. I have to find my comfort in the Lord or I have developed a worship of  an idol called “comfort”. God contains all comfort and he created us in his image. We therefore have the capacity to be comfortable with Him in any situation he leads us into.

This brings about some questions/fears of trust in Him. What if he leads me to some place dangerous and I get mugged? or what if he leads me to a place where I have to sleep on the floor?

Life isn’t always going to be peachy but there is comfort hidden in every situation in this life that can only be found through looking to Jesus and following him. Maybe comfort as my culture has defined it, is actually wrong. What if comfort flows from the inside out and not the outside in. We are the temple of this God of all comfort and he dwells in us with the purpose of transforming us.

The beautiful thing is he is looking after us as a personal Father. He loves His children. He can be trusted. He will bring comfort.

Here’s a testimony of the Goodness of our Father to end this post:

We didn’t have any housing for our Debrief time in Kona, HI for our Awaken DTS. We were getting nervous and kept praying for God to move and open up something. The YWAM campus is packed with the biggest quarter in history so our whole school has to stay in a hotel. We were unable to stay there because we didn’t lead a team and didn’t have it in our budget. 3 days until we leave, no sign of housing, 2 days nothing, 1 day until we take off, I prayed as I was every morning for housing and I get an e-mail from our friends. They offered to house us!

This is how God hooked is up: We are staying in our own room and bathroom, we have a kitchen to cook for our friends, we are right next to campus, we have a pool, our friends have offered to us their car and mopeds to drive when they aren’t using them and we potentially saved $700. A week before Kona, we also stayed in Laguna Beach with a friend who also blessed us like crazy with an amazing week of rich and fun times. Wow, God is crazy good! When we lay down our rights to the comforts of this world (even partially), he leads us and blesses us more than we could imagine!

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

~Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians 3:14-21 ESV

God is speaking. Have you heard him?

One of the ways that this faith in God is different than any other belief system is that we can hear from God—presently, today. There is a freshness and a closeness to God the Father. This is perhaps the greatest opportunity we have in our lives. His words are life to our souls. He has a feast prepared for us every day of fresh bread and the best drink.

What has changed my life? If I could point to a single thing it would be

HEARING HIM SPEAK TO ME

It was the same for John, a man I met the other day. Here’s how our lives collided:

The other day, Camille and I were almost out of gas as we were heading to eat in Little India outside of Los Angeles. I pulled off the freeway and was having no luck finding a gas station. We were thinking worst case senario: we break down with no cell phone in a place we don’t know at all. We prayed to our Father and sure enough He helped us find a gas station.

It was a beautiful site to see the glowing gas station sign. As I got out to pump gas, a man approached us to wash windows. He was homeless or extremely poor and his name was John. As I started talking to him while pumping gas, I thought he seemed like he had more hope than most people in his situation and a glow about him. I asked if he was a believer and he said yes enthusiastically!

He said he had been an alcoholic for 24 years and lost everything in his life (family, house, car, job). One day, he said he had decided to stop drinking and looked up to see a sign for a crusade with the verse John 3:16 on it. Suddenly, he realized his name was John and his birthday was March 16th. God was speaking to Him. He went to the crusade and gave his life to the Lord.

After his story, I prayed for him and payed for my cleaned windows. With tears in his eyes, He said we were like angels for him this night and that we had the same glow of Christ I thought he had! God set us up to lift both of our Spirits with a divine appointment.

You never know how God is going to speak and move. If we hadn’t struck up a conversation in the gas station, God wouldn’t have been able to move like he did. For example, if I was afraid of John and turned him down for window washing.

How do we control hearing God? We can’t, but we can be open to his voice and show love. Love is a great opener to the Lord speaking and moving. Stay open and don’t fear what the Lord has to say, because it is full of more life than anything on this earth!

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

1 Kings 19:11-13

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

John 10:27-28

Photo provided by vxla on Flickr

Camille and I have had to prepare 15 minute reports in Spanish as we learn the language to help us in communicating, writing, presenting and speaking in Spanish. To tell you the truth, I dread these reports, but I know they are actually probably one of the best things for my Spanish speaking. I feel like I’m at war with the evil verb conjugations!

Last week, Camille taught (in english with translation) a group of girls about the Holy Spirit and the gifts He gives. God used her and her translator (Joan) powerfully and as a result our teacher Tere wanted her to present a similar message at the Pastors meeting on Thursday, but this time in Spanish! I was content with watching and learning from Camille but all of a sudden found myself roped in as well!

We found ourselves in front of the pastors of 5 churches speaking in Spanish about spiritual things like the Holy Spirit and the creative heart of God and man. A cool thing happened the moment we began to speak. We realized we really could communicate with them. They actually received encouragement and inspiration from our messages. Camille and I really felt the grace of the Lord with us as we brought teaching! This was combined with some grace from the pastors ;)

I am learning that learning a new language actually helps me communicate more clearly and simply. I have a fresh start and have the opportunity to shed some of my english Christianese ingrained in me and though it is replaced with a bit of broken Spanish, Mexicans can understand it. Camille and I joke that we actually are better at Spanish grammar!

The Holy Spirit can work with the most simple messages and people can be encouraged with something as simple as “Dios te ama!” Who knows maybe when you or I open our mouths we will be filled like Peter was and speak fluently for a time so that the Holy Spirit can release His message. His Kingdom is always in season!

The above sentence is actually quite complicated. Spanish isn’t spanish, just like English isn’t english. There is Columbian Spanish, Castilian Spanish, Mexican Spanish, and Spanish local to Guadalajara and pretty much every pueblo around it. In English, we have England English, USA English, Australian English, South African English and we can’t forget Southern English, y’all.

That being said, I think I am learning a Castilian-Mexican-Universal Spanish, if that exists.

Spanish or any language learning endeavor is one of the most challenging things to do in life—unless you have a gift of languages. I’m not talking about just being able to ask where the bathroom is or to say “I love you” (which isn’t just thrown around in Spanish!), but truly to use the language in the way the locals do.

Parallels between entering the Kingdom of God and another “kingdom”

Just as we are born-again into a new family as we become followers of Jesus, we also are born-again in a sense as we learn a new language—at least we should view it in this way. I realize as I learn that I am trying to keep English as my reference point for Spanish.

I think to myself, “Well, this phrase should be said like this as it is in English” (meaning its wrong any other way). I am realizing more and more I have to let go of my first language and seek the second. Similarly, as we enter the new family and new life in Christ, we have to put to death the old life. We can’t be double-minded or we will drive ourselves crazy!

Now, as a side-note, the parallel fails to an extent because we do have to communicate with family and friends back home and ex-pats abroad. Oh, the glorious release of communication with my birth language in those times!

Total Immersion and Grace through the Spirit

Success in a language comes through total immersion. Language is more than words you have to memorize. As we have been inside the culture of Guadalajara and Mexico, we feel the language around us and I think we take in and learn more than just words. Its hard to explain but its kind of like memorizing bible verses but not living them out. They don’t have life without the Spirit. Language was also created by the Spirit. Interestingly, the splitting of the first language came through disobedient man (see Tower of Babel Story in Genesis ch 11).

When the Spirit of God came to dwell in man at Pentecost (Acts 1), everybody understood what Peter was preaching through the unifying and redemption of the Spirit—a little glimpse of heaven. I read that and pray for it every day for Camille and I! I believe although I don’t understand Spanish in an instant, the Spirit is still giving us grace to learn it quickly.

The challenges of Total Immersion

About 80% of our time is spent with people who speak a language I might know 20% of. Take into account that everybody has a slightly different tone that they speak in, and it makes it hard to comprehend what people are saying. We try to understand and catch the “key words” that will help us understand the gist of what is being said. I’d say I am 50% wrong. This means half the time I am failing (or half the time I am succeeding, right optimists!?).

When I do understand, I struggle in my mind to come up with the right conjugations and I make sure if I use a pronoun it goes before the verb, and if I use an adjective it goes after the noun with the correct gender—you can see the challenge! It makes me want to lock myself in my room! Camille and I realize we have to fight this inclination to hide and find freedom in the process. Laughter is a great method especially when we try to say preocupado (worried) and it comes out “preocupopo”.

We almost daily have to tell ourselves we are learning a language that millions of people learn from birth and a language that contains thousands of words and phrases developed over thousands of years and we want to know it right away. I think the nerve that learning a language hits the most is my “American microwave generation” nerve.

Definition of a romance: “What in the world are we doing? oh well, I love it!”

Learning a language isn’t separate from our walk with the Lord and He is teaching us so much through the process—and mainly that it is a process. It seems so romantic. Live in Guadalajara with a Mexican family eating tacos and learning Spanish. Well, in one way, it is a romance. As one of our DTS speakers Matt Rawlins said to us, “Seduction requires technique, if you know how to have a romance then its not a romance, but a seduction—its not about management or control.”

We follow Jesus in a romance—we fail, we learn, we strive, we find freedom, and he leads us deeper into love and we forget about a destination. When we learn a language, we let go and find joy in the journey—we make friends, we get sick from tacos, we get frustrated from not understanding, we have a great conversation where we actually communicate, we learn a new word, and we go deeper into understanding a culture and gain keys in our hearts to best love them like Christ loves them.

Father, I pray for all the language learners in the world, that you would give them fresh grace in their language learning abilities. Pour out your Spirit of wisdom and revelation so we can know your love and how it communicates cross-culturally and it would fuel us to keep on going for the sake of your Good News. AMEN!

What comes first to your mind when you think of Bosnia? For me, I think of my first third-person shooter video game that featured a war-town town in Bosnia that was harboring terrorists. I think many people at least from America would have a similar view of this country—war torn.

As I entered Bosnia, I really had no idea what to expect because all I had heard about was the wars the country had been apart of. After 18 hours in a taxi, we arrived in Sarajevo at 2am to our contact, lets call him “Frank”, on his motorcycle. We were so excited after all the travel we started yelling his name and laughing out of the relief of finally arriving, alive. Take a “road” trip from Kosovo to Bosnia and you’ll see what I mean!

Sarajevo as a city is one of the most picturesque I’ve ever seen. It sits in the center of a steep valley that goes around the city about 320 degrees. Most of the cities development happened around the 1984 Winter Olympics. The city has a big Muslim population and from a high place we counted 10 or more mosques. The main city center is full of shops selling Bosnian coffee pots, copper crafts as well as some antique shops that sell Nazi and world war paraphernalia. Bosnia coffee is a must-try. It is very similar to thick Turkish Coffee and even served with a sort of Turkish Delight. There are still landmines in the city from the war and as a result we were cautioned not to go into any open fields.

Out of any place on the trip, I felt Bosnia’s cry of hopelessness and lack of life. Skyrocketing unemployment rates, corrupt unstable government, and a focus on the past has created a hole that is hard to get out of.

In the midst of this, there are the stories of hope and heroism. Stories like the one about the Bosnian newspaper that wouldn’t stop putting out news even with the daily shelling of its building by Serbia. People would go into and out of the building risking getting themselves sniped. Little did  the Serbian Troops know that the Bosnians were taking out the press bit by bit and assembling it in a different location. They would go in and out like usual to keep the facade up! The paper kept running and bringing hope to the people.

It makes me wonder: why has this area endured so much conflict and tension? I really can’t answer the question, but someone once said that the greatest victories in our lives come from the areas of greatest weaknesses.

The Bible says that the Kingdom of God is within us. It also refers to the kingdom as like a treasure hidden in a field. We have royalty inside of us waiting to be released out of our weakness.

Without weakness how can we have victory? There is great opportunity for God to move and show Himself in countries like Bosnia. May we pray for the people that are being the vehicles for the Kingdom of God to move and multiply and pray for more of them!

Info on the Series: From the Journey

I am now on a blogging journey! I’m telling stories from every country that we stayed in on our faith trip and including what God taught me and our team. View ALL POSTS

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