Thailand Outreach!!!

Okay, so I think all of outreach phase to Thailand can be encompassed by one verse... "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his steadfast love endures forever." Psalms 136

Seriously, no matter what, God came through! In every obstacle, in every trial, If we gave it all up to him and placed it in his hands, he brought glory out of it! Even if I had thought I let God down by setting expectations so high for myself, I really couldn't disappoint God. All he asks is that we listen to his voice and be obedient to it. It's that simple! No matter what, God is going to get things done, whether it's through me, or someone else. Sometimes we can only sit back and watch him work. We're just in it for the ride... ultimately, he's the one operating everything. We have no control. We just have to let go, and let God. That is the biggest thing I have learned since being in Thailand. God has great plans for us guys, plans not to harm us, but to give us a bright future. That statement is so powerful! He cares sooooo much for us that he wants us to exceed at anything and everything that we do!  It is so great that we serve a God that loves us even more than we could possibly love ourselves.

One particular story that sticks out in my head from outreach is when I went on my first treasure hunt... if you don't know what treasure hunting is, it originated out of Bethel Church in Redding, CA. It's simply praying to God for answers, and receiving them :) You ask God for a description, emotion, location, etc. of a person that God wants to speak to/ show love to. That's really it! The rest of the work is all about finding the person. So it went like this...
              We were at a night market in Chiang Rai, Thailand. There was quite a crowd. It was right next to  a university, so there were plenty of students that went to the market at night to hang out and get some food. I sat down at a table with a friend of mine, just pressed into God, and within twenty minutes or so, I was positive that I had an exact description of the girl I was supposed to talk to, and I wrote a letter to her all the things I felt God was telling me she needed to hear. It was pretty specific too. She was wearing a black skirt, high heels, a white shirt, and she had a pink purse. I wrote a letter based off of the feeling that she was lonely and was having a hard time getting along with her family. I set out and was determined to find this girl, regardless or my fear of being rejected, or not being able to translate what I had written. Within five minutes, I bumped into two Thai friends of mine. One of them was a guy nick-named "Fountain" that I had met in the market a couple of days ago, and he showed up to hang out with us whatever we were doing. I was his closest American friend, and we had a lot in common, so I was really just building a relationship with him, and hoping that some Jesus love would rub off on him :) I also ran into a Thai that spoke fluent Thai, German, and English. That was an answer to prayer! If I ran into the girl now, I could get the letter translated!
              They were following me around for no less than two minutes, and I. Saw. The. Girl. No kidding. It was like the exact picture and description that I had visualized in my head. It shocked me so much that I just kind of stood there for a second; stunned. Then I was like, "okay, I totally gotta go give this letter to her!" But then Fountain asked me a question, and I felt obligated to answer it. I took my attention away from the girl for about ten seconds, looked back, and she was gone. Disappeared. No trace in sight. It didn't make sense to me... there was no way she could've vanished without fighting her way through the crowd for awhile, but she had completely disappeared. It didn't add up. Instantly, panic set in, and I started feeling disappointed in myself for letting her slip away, or had she? I jogged through the frantic mess of people in the market for nearly an hour and a half. The whole time, feeling terrible that I had lost her, but still clinging to the inch of hope that I had, that I would find her again. I was thinking, "God, please just make this happen so that Fountain could believe in you. Do it for him! This would completely change his life if he saw this girl that I had never met before and witnessed it all." Unfortunately, I never found the girl. So I dismissed them both, because they were following me the whole time and felt bad that I drug them through this chase without success. It all felt in vain.
              So I went over to a bench in the market, and started throwing a pity party. Wondering why God would put me through all of that without something... something that would bring him glory. I had set an expectation, even though I shouldn't have. I was mad at myself for not reacting instantly upon seeing the girl, and approaching her. All these thoughts were rushing through my head, when Fountain comes over to me and sits down. He kind of startled me for a second, but I recognized him and asked him "what's up?" He replies by asking what we were just doing. I realized after a short while that explaining treasure hunting to a non-christian, let alone a christian seemed silly. However, he was so intrigued, and wanted to know more. Before you know it, I was explaining who God is, and what he's done in my life. He was asking all the questions.... I just had to sit back and watch God do all the work :) We talked for about an hour or so, and then a team member came over to me and told me it was time to go. Curse you time restraints!!! Haha! Anyway, I asked him if I could pray for him, and he said yes. He even let me lay hands on him!!!
              God did so much work that night it was crazzzzyyyyy :) But what blew my mind, was that the treasure hunt itself wasn't even the whole purpose of the treasure hunt! It was the aftermath, that's when God provided. WHAAA???!!?!?! Isn't that amazing? We would have all the pre-conceptions in the world, and God would still flip them upside down! He is such a mystery, but that's why serving him is such an awesome adventure! We can simply do everything we can, and trust that he will come through with the provision. That's all that matters :D


Thailand was soooooo amazing. We went to prisons, universities, high schools, and markets. God made us a very talented team, so we were able to perform as a band, a dance team, and we did some dramas. It was great that God could use our creative art-edness to gather crowds so that we could share testimonies and deliver sermons and alter calls. We saw over 100+ salvations!!!! WOOHOOO!!!! God is moving in Thailand, and he's not done yet ;) There are a plethra of other stories that I could share with you, and if you want to know more, ask me sometime... let's have coffee :) But God wants to give you your own story! Try treasure hunting sometime, ask God to get a word or prophesy for someone, listen to God and ask him about his plans for you... but ALWAYS thank him. "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his steadfast love endures forever." Amen!




 

Healing

John Goodfellow, the father of one of our DTS staff members spoke for our last full week of lectures on the topic of "Evangelism," however, it actually turned out to be more of an outpouring of Holy Spirit, and lots of healing from past afflictions. This man was so annointed by God! He started out the week by walking around the room for about ten minutes just looking at all of us, and asking Holy Spirit for knowledge on what to do with us. Then he called up women who had things they still wanted to be free from, and had us guys stand behind each of the girls in case they fell over from the Holy Spirit. Let me just start off by telling you that the presence of God was thick in the room! I could just feel it. I was behind a girl named Rose Fredell. John went down the line of girls anointing them with oil, and he prayed/prophecied/healed them as he went. I started interceding for Rose, and I just felt the Holy Spirit flowing through me. I just cleared my mind, and talked to God. I just let it flow. There were girls collapsing on the floor, and lots of them were crying. As I was praying I got a tingly sensation in my face. It feels like when your arm falls asleep, that kind of tingly :) It was a powerful morning, and so many girls were set free of the past that they've held onto.

Second day: John called up all of the people who were called to evangelize, and be leaders and warriors for God's cause. I went up. John told me that I was going to transform from a lamb, to a lion for God. He also told me that I need to let go of the lies I have believed for so long. The lies that I am not accepted, I don't fit in. I was fighting it though. It was a weird tension. Almost as if I was doing it subconsciously. However, as soon as I let go, I really let go. I mean, I fell to the ground! Apparently I almost took out one of the guys praying for a girl nearby too when I went down! As I was on the ground, once again I was somewhat conscious. Odd enough though, It was like I was stuck between a dream state, and reality. I was stuck in limbo :) I couldn't move again, but I didn't want to. During this moment, God started interceding for ME! Immediately, I was like, "hold the phone, isn't it supposed to be the other way around? I'm supposed to be interceding for others and praying for them, not receiving it from God..."But then God just kept rattling off visions he had for me. He saw me as a leader, He gave me the picture of a guitar bar chord with a major 7th and pointed to the finger out front. He told me that not only am I a part of the frontlines, but he is calling me to lead the front-lines. He wants me to lead the charge in His name-sake! This probably makes no sense to you what-so-ever, but it really touched me, and gave me confidence to trust in him. God speaks to us in ways that we can understand. He loves presenting His ideas to me through creative arts. It was very self-edifying :) Also, while I chilled out on the floor, God told me to just take in all of the sounds around me. The sound of His people obeying and worshipping Him. The sound of passion. He just told me how much he loved those around me, and that He was going to impart that love to me so that I can love everyone through His eyes... through His perspective. Whammo! I love it!!!

One of the biggest breakthroughs I had during the whole DTS was the last day of this week's lectures. We were each instructed to take about five minutes to write down a list of all the people we needed to forgive, and haven't completely forgiven yet. Initially, I couldn't think of the people who had hurt me in my past, because it had been nearly four years since I've seen them, and I had pushed all of the pain they caused me out of my memory. God told me that I not only need to face the brutal memories of being bullied by them relentlessly during middle school, but I need to forgive them, and view them as children of God as well. Haha! Not nearly as easy as it sounds. I was so angry at them before... and I even tried to be angry just thinking about the names they called me, and the physical pain they had inflicted on me, but God did what he said he would (figures). He gave me a completely renewed perpective of them. There was nothing like it. I felt so free, like an anchor had been lifted from my shoulders (cliche, I know). Now when I face the same kind of comments that remind me of my former enemies it doesn't phase me, because God has replaced my frustration... with liberation.

My right wrist was injured after about the first week of my DTS from playing Basketball. It had not completely healed anytime someone prayed for me, and always acted back up whenever I played a sport or practiced dance choreography in preparation for outreach. I realized that it was getting in the way specifically of me playing my part in the dances. There was a certain lift me and another guy had to do where I lifted the girls left arm, and he would lift her right, picking her off the ground. For this lift, my wrist had to go under her armpit bent backwards, but whenever I tried to do it, my wrist would get a searing pain, and I would drop her. I knew that God wanted to heal me, but I had to be patient. Some of our dance members prayed for me one time before we started rehearsal, and it was healed for that practice, but afterward it acted up again. Later that week during a session where we were praying for healing for others, I decided not to go up because I thought my injury was somewhat minor, and just wanted to pray for others. Well I went over and prayed for a few people and then we concluded the session. Later that evening we were doing dance rehearsal again, and I could do the lift!!! Not only that, but I had no problem with it what-so-ever from then on!!! It had been completely healed!!! God had healed me, even though I was praying for others to be healed rather than receiving it!!! God is sooooo good :D

Prophesy

Wow! So much has happened between my last post and this one, and I will have to result to the highlights, but let me just say God is so real! He has been working in and through me, pruning my branches and taking away the things that were dead in me so that I can produce more fruit for Him. I am a piece of clay in the hands of a master sculpter!

I'm going to give you an overview of "Holy Spirit" week. The lectures were centered around spiritual giftings and the characteristics of Holy Spirit that we either didn't know, or can go to Him for help. I was super excited for this week because Holy Spirit is definitely the most unknown of the trinity, but He's right here in our hearts everyday ministering to our spirit.

Right off the bat Nick Gough (our speaker) started prophesying over all of the students in the classroom. He was speaking truth over many of my friends, and he was even being very specific in some cases. I had never seen this done before so I was feeling a mix of confusion and excitement. As he was prophesying over the students I had one thought in my mind: "maybe if I stare at him long enough, he will notice me, and then he will prophesy over meeeee!!!" However, once he looked at me and waited for God to download information to him, my heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest. I was ready for it, but just really anxious and even kind of intimidated that he is going to tell me about my life... it's kind of a weird idea when you think about it.

Here's what I wrote down right after he spoke... so you know it's accurate: I will be like a brother figure to the people around me. I connect with multiple groups. I have completely put my trust in God. On outreach I will be a peacemaker; a buffer. People can come to me and feel safe and secure; at peace. I will prophecy with authority.

Isn't that ahwesome!!! I felt strongly encouraged and uplifted after hearing that. Especially that I will prophesy with authority! The fact that what I experienced through prophecy will also be something I can give to another. Shazam! Everything he said is so true with my character. I love comforting others when they are going through conflict. I feel like it is my job as a brother in Christ to give hope to others when they are down and out. Fellowship through the body of Christ is an important thing to me.

This is interesting too... while Nick moved on to prophesy over others, I got a verse. John 4:44. Check this out, John is the fourth gospel. Look at that verse like this now: 4 4 :44. Boom! So I figured God was trying to say something to me through the number 4. I thought maybe it had something to do with the connotation of numbers in the Bible, how they have a deeper meaning when they are repeated. I researched the meaning behind the number 4 in the Bible for awhile and found out that it is the number of creation. Four seasons, four points on the compass, four times of the day. I just thought that was quite a quinkydink :) It's like God is creating prophecy in me so that I can take to every corner of the Earth and use it for His glory! Also, later after prophecy week (10/7/11), I gave a prophecy for my roommate. Right after that I flipped open my Bible to Mark 6:4, which goes even further into describing how a prophet is not welcome in his own hometown.

Sheesh! There's soooooo much I could tell you guys! These last couple of weeks were quite eventful. Day two of Nick Gough's week of lectures, we had an intense time of worship at night. People were screaming, praying in tongues, falling asleep in the Holy Spirit. I gotta admit, it was freaking me out. I was such a skeptic of this kind of stuff before I came to DTS, but that has completely changed. It all started with me getting a couple of prophecies from two completely different guys, but the message of the prophecies were similar in content. They both said that I was very gifted and there were many things that God could unlock in me if I only let him. Also, they both stated that I would step out of my comfort zone to trust God, and the gifts he's given to me. So I thought that was pretty cool, and I was just anxious to see how it would turn out. Later that evening, I went oer to give a prophecy I had gotten to a guy I barely even talk to. After that, a staff leader comes over and prays over us. He was just speaking truth into our outreach teams when I started nodding me head. At first I just thought of it as acknowledgement of what he was saying, but then my head kept nodding... and nodding. Even after he had finished praying for us, I felt like a bobble-head! For some reason though, I had such a peace about what was happening. Even crazier, my head bobbing had now increased to a full blown writhing on the floor without the utmost control of my body. I was just shaking back and forth, not really thinking of anything. Then God told me he was taking control of my body, and that I just needed to stay calm. All of a sudden, God said "be still," and it all stopped. I was literally frozen. I couldn't move, and didn't want to. This whole time I was still, God was just telling me that he loved me, but I am not giving Him all of the credit for the prophecies he had given to me. That really humbled me. I realized that I had just gotten into the fascination that I could speak truth to come over people, and not point it all back to God. After God let me out of my stillness I literally repeated the phrase "it's all you God" for about an hour and a half. Once again, I just lost control :) I felt so relieved though after that night. GOD IS REAL!!! He moves in ways that are a mystery, and I'm still confuzzled by some of the things he's done to me, but He does it so that we come to a conclusion that we really don't have anything figured out for ourselves. He holds the reins :)

The Oregon Trails... n stuff

Howdy!

Just got back from Oregon about a week or so ago, and it was a blasty-blast! The road trip there took about 14 hours, but I love van rides so there's really no harm in that! Some people got drugged up on Dramamine and slept the whole trip, and others (me) would be that annoying guy in the van that everyone wants to shut-up :P I just don't have the self-discipline to sleep the whole way. Nevertheless, the trip there and back was pretty smooth, and the only problem was that a tire on one of the vans got flat... or exploded... or something.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2115579651458&set=vb.1304713176&type=2&theater

The Salem base was pretty cool! It was very roomy to say the least. They had about 15 acres of land, whereas, we only have about 7. In other words... it was a big base :) The guys all were cramped into a couple of rooms. I was in the room that looked like your typical bunk-bed kids retreat setup, with about 40 other guys. Now, I'm used to having two roommates, so this is quite the transition. I talk in my sleep, so I was a little hesitant to stay in a large room due to recent outbursts of involuntary verbal statements in my sleep. For example, just last night I apparently woke up one of my roommates. I said, "Daniel!... base jumping. Base jumping!!! No..... Parkour.....Parkour!!!" So nearly every night of my time in Salem I would talk in my sleep and wake someone up. Or if you're another one of my friends, he delights in interrogating me in my sleep. Talk about a living nightmare... because I actually answer some of his questions.
           Anywho, God showed up sooooo much! The highlight for me was when I walked around at night looking at the stars and just waiting on God (I do that quite often). I asked Him the questions, "who are you? Where are you?" and I looked back up to the stars. I started thinking that God was in the stars and the trees and around me, but then I stopped all of a sudden. I was looking straight ahead, and there was a double-shadow. Usually when you see a double shadow, it is around the same size as your original shadow, but this one was different. It was gigantic! Instantly I knew that God was right next to me. Even funnier, I was holding hands with my "double shadow." So I walked around with God for awhile just acknowledging that He was there, and telling Him how much I loved Him. He said "I love you too." And when God starts saying 'I love you,' He doesn't stop until you tell Him you get it, and then His love is still too deep for us to understand.
         

Experiencing Injustice. Something every human being should go through in my opinion. Right up there with visiting a third world country. You're just not the same after you've seen (and I'm not talking about on the NEWS), ya dig? Basically, this is a program that happens in every DTS where stations are setup for seeing the things that need to be set right in this world. Immediately we all prepared our hearts, and then we split up into teams of about seven and headed out. As we were walking over to the first station, God spoke to my heart. He said, "Be strong, but get hurt." over, and over, and over. Very calming words huh? So I was already pretty riled up when we got to the first station: Human Trafficking. This really made me mad. Like none other. Some actors played a scene where they were in a brothel, and a man came in and wanted to buy a 15-year old girl for sex. She was resisting him, so he smacked her and she fell to the floor. At this point, my blood was boiling... my teeth were gritting. I had to keep reminding myself that this was just a scenario, or I definitely would've been involved, and I would've unleashed the hurt locker on this guy. So right from the start, I knew that I wanted to fix this injustice with a passion. There were many others, but the ones that impacted me the most were unclean water (we got to drink a cup of taco seasoned water), persecution, and abortion. Persecution felt so real. We were bagged, pushed around, verbally abused, forced to pull the trigger on some people. One girl told me during that experience, one of the persecutors told her that they were going to rape her. Just when she said that to me, I was outraged. There really are no words to describe what we went through. So many people were crying after we gathered together again. The good news is that God is sooooo much bigger than these injustices, and He is equipping us to help fight against them. Our hearts are being stirred up to go out to the nations and fix what the corruption of the world has set into motion. I don't know about you, but that just makes me so stoked that I get to be a part of God's great plan! Slowly but surely, He is raising up world changers in us!!!


This week's lectures were on the topic of "Hearing the Voice of God." Haha! Just going into this week, I was pretty scared, gotta admit. I do not have much experience with listening very well, even though I know God is constantly talking. Surprisingly though, I have heard Holy Spirit so clearly in some of the exercises we do. One morning we interceded for a woman by the name of Christine. All we knew about her was that she had an adult daughter. That's it. So we were instructed to press into Holy Spirit and ask for things we can pray for/pictures/words/etc. Instantly when we started interceding, I got the feeling that there was an intense hostility between the two of them. Like that there were some things that have gone unforgiven in their relationship, and that has corroded their relationship almost in its entirety. BAM! Mike told me that ever since Christine had gotten divorced, she was sleeping around with men, and that had separated her from her daughter, and they were both pretty angry with each other. CRASEY!!!
           We had a day of fasting on Thursday, and we gathered together in our meeting area. Right from the start we had some quiet time with God, and I sort of slipped into somewhat of a dream-like state. It was sooooo weird. almost like I was daydreaming, but so vivid. I got a picture for two girls, and then God spoke to me what he thought of another girl in our DTS, and a prophecy of what she'd do. It was shweeet! Here's the quirk though... He didn't want me to tell them right away. I got the thought that He wanted me to tell them later so we could continue interceding throughout the day instead of just pouring everything out during session and then shutting down for the rest of the day. Even better, both of the words I got were spot on for each of the girls. BOOM! Holy Spirit knows what's up :)


I started recording my song yesterday in the studio for about an hour. I LOVE STUDIOS!!! Sorry, just had to get that out :P Right off the bat, I pounded out the guitar scratch track, and the vocal scratch. So stoked! Now I just need to practice my face off with the band for the next week before I get back in the studio. There are still many things to add to the song. It's very complex, and I'm very OCD... bad combo. It sounds pretty good so far though! I'm excited to see how it will turn out!

Godspeed!

-Spencer

         

What's new?

Sorry that I haven't updated my blog in awhile, been pretty shtinkin busy, but here goes:

Let me just start off by saying how relentless God's love is for me. He has just been pouring out His love on me these past few weeks. Actually, He has been showing it to me all of my life, but I just now realized the fullness of His passion for me! It has completely changed my life! I can easily say that if I even went home right now, I would be a changed man. I am slowly learning how to hear the voice of God in my daily life, and the importance of realizing that God is with me wherever I go. There is nothing better than acknowledging God's presence in my life, wherever I'm at, and just soaking in our companionship with each other. Gosh, I can't even put into words how much I love God! He is truly relentless for me. Almost every time I talk to Him, he says "I love you" right at the start, and it gets me every time! Even just simply opening my eyes to pray has brought revelation in my life. If I was talking straight to you I wouldn't close my eyes :) The only reason we close our eyes to talk to God is so that we can focus, but if you can keep focus when your eyes are open... why not talk to Him as if He's there? Then look around and see all the things He's created and be amazed while you're talking to Him. Ahhhhh this is sooooooo awesomeeeeee :)

This week Volleyball started and it is so much fun! We've had some pretty intense matches thus far. We play in the gym on a women's net, and we mean business. It seems that we play volleyball everyday for about one or two hours. Fun stuff!

Music track is underway, and I have written a song called 'Wake Me Up.' We also were split into bands to perform with. They gave us the task of learning two cover songs, and two worship songs. Also, we were required to write a song, all in the timeframe of one week... talk about pressure. It was so much fun though! I wrote my song in about two days, and in the meantime I practiced with my band. The songs we are covering: Getting Into You by Relient K, I'll Be by Edwin McCain, All Around Me by Flyleaf, and Everything by Lifehouse. I'm super stoked! A couple of days ago we performed our songs in front of everyone else, and then we voted shortly afterwards. It was actually very intense because we had to choose the songs we liked by their "rough draft," obviously we couldn't get a whole band set up in a week's time. Everything was acoustic, which was tough, because I wrote a song similar to the style of Saosin or Falling Up. All in all, my song was voted #2 of all the songs (I think there were about seven, and only four made it through). That was pretty exciting!

Miracles:

One day I was sitting on some chairs on the side of the Lecture Hall, and I asked God to open up my spiritual eyes to see what he wants me to see. Then all of a sudden I saw in my mind's eye a huge battle breakout between angels and demons. I didn't physically see it, but I knew it was happening. Immediately I started to doubt whether this was really happening or not though, so I thought about leaving, but then I realized I had left my water bottle in the music room, which was on the opposite side. So I start walking over to the music room slowly, and I hit this spot in the room where I feel really good instantly, and I got goosebumps all up my arms. I walk about 5 feet further and I seriously felt like I was going to puke. I felt terrible. This happened in pockets of the room all the way to the music room. That was weird. I retrieve my water bottle from the music room, and I realize that everything seems calm. Then I walk outside of the music room and I see all of these angels (must've been around 15) celebrating and pumping their swords up in the air. I have no doubt in my mind now whatsoever that there was indeed a spiritual war going on in that room at that moment. I am the witness :P But the main point is that the angels won. Boom!

A couple of days after this first miracle of seeing angels, I am walking through the dorms with my friend Hannah Travis. We walk past my room, and I notice the door open slightly. I assumed it was Daniel opening the door so I kind of laugh for a little bit, and then the door closes very smoothly. So we chill outside the door for a second or two, and then I open the door completely. My roommates are both standing by the farthest bed from the door. I asked them if they opened and closed the door. They reply by saying that they were both standing by the bed the whole time. Daniel even said he watched the door open and close. If that isn't weird enough, I have another witness... Hannah. She said se saw the same thing I did. Miracle!!! A draft of air cannot open AND close a door in one smooth motion. Plus, as I crawled into bed thinking about this, I notice that I keep staring at my roommates closet. I would be looking at my computer screen, and then I would notice a flicker out of the corner of my eye, and it was not Daniel sitting on his bed. It was an angel.

I hope you had as much fun as I did experiencing them! All you need to do is ask God to open up your spiritual eyes, and be aware of what is really around you and BAM! God will show you things you've never seen before. You have to have faith that He will show you though.

So we're heading out to Salem, Oregon Sunday. We will stay there for a week. I'm super stoked!!! We will be meeting with the Salem DTS there and will do some evangelism on the streets and whatnot. I will also be fasting from all electronics (except my iPod) so I implore you not to contact me. As soon as I get back, I will fill you all in on what amazing things happen there. I can feel it!

Please pray specifically for protection. There was a two night stint where I was attacked in my dreams (my roommate Levi also encountered the same) by demons. I would appreciate it tremendously if you would just pray for protection in my sleep, and throughout the day. There has been a strong opposing force at times during the night, and almost everyone got some of the same vibes until we started realizing it, and prayed for all of the dorms to be alleviated of any evil spirits. This is some serious stuff, and we need all of the prayer we can get! Let's win this war together! Hooah :)

501 Blacktail Road
Lakeside, Montana 59922
USA

Love you all!

-Spencer

Father Heart Of God

Wow! So this week has been so busy, but incredibly awesome at the same time! Matt Atkins from Bellingham, Washington came to give lectures on the Father Heart of God. Wait... back up. Bellingham?!?! Yeah that's right :) He just happens to be about 30 minutes away from where I used to live. I guess it really is a small world, isin't it?

The first day was quite a trip. Matt felt like a lot of people were carrying the burden of being arrogant, or being called arrogant. He asked the people that felt that way to stand up. At first my reaction was, "I'm not arrogant! I am pretty humble. I don't show-off (too much), and I compliment people who I think do good." However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that my defense carried a hint of arrogance in itself. I stood up, along with others, and felt really relieved once I was prayed over by a guy named Chase. Everyone who was standing up though was crying. It was quite the scene. Then progressively over the week, it turned into more of an actual lecture, where Matt gave us notes, and we jotted them down obediently. That was the program for the remainder of the week.

Sunday, I got to go to a church where the whole service was a webcast of the preacher. So he wasn't actually there, but we were watching a previously recorded session of his sermon. It was kind of weird, but he had a great message about the half tribe of Manassah, the Gadites and whatnot. I love it when Pastors deliver a sermon about the old testament and relate it to today. It gives it a whole new life.
      I got to experience drifting in a car for the first time Saturday... secondhand of course :) A couple of my buddies and me drove up to Blacktail mountain summit. On the way up, my friend thought he would utilize his emergency brake, stick-shift combo. So, although we almost hit a guardrail on the way down, it was super fun! When we were on the mountain, we found a logging trail while we were exploring around. Naturally, we followed it into the unknown for about 3 hours. Half the time we talked about who should walk point or at the end to be the sacrifice if a wild bear snuck up on us. Sometimes it's good just to get away from the vast majority of the people on base and just have some good male bonding hiking time. That was my adventure for the week :)

Random spurts: I just love how visible the stars are at night! There really is nothing like it! Soooooo many of them!!! I wish you could see it, and pictures just wouldn't do it justice. Man, God is good! Also, one person got sick at our base. Two days later, everyone was sick. I have now been informed via word of mouth that anyone who is sick is subject to quarantine until they are fully recovered. Sickness spreads like wildfire over here :P

P.S. My mailing address is:
501 Blacktail Road
Lakeside, MT 59922

I like letters :)

Love you all!
-Spencer

The Recent Changes We Go Through

My blogs are going to be way less frequent because I just don't have the time anymore for this :/ I will most likely just doing one per week or two. While I'm here, I want to get the most I can out of this experience, and if I I have to spend an hour or two blogging AND writing it in my journal, it will be taking its toll.

Yesterday was miraculous. Benji went up to speak for our morning lecture. He spoke about pride, how it affects our view of ourself, how it skews our view of God, and how it can ruin the way we think. He also shared a lot about himself, and pretty much gave his testimony. I gotta admit, I was sorta out of it this morning. It's about 8:30, I haven't had my coffee, and I was just having a hard time connecting with the Holy Spirit this morning. It was a little cloudy for me. After he was finished speaking, we prayed, and repented of our pride and the things that we need to get rid of that were holding us back from God. Almost every single person had confessed what they wanted to repent of, and near the end, one of my friends stood up.

In the middle of this conviction of the Holy Spirit, he stands and admits that he was using YWAM as a get-away. He confessed to have abused his two sisters before he came here, that he was struggling with the devil condemning him, and that was the main reason why he ended up in YWAM. He started to break down. Everyone got up to lay hands on him and pray. The prayer went on for about 10 minutes, when all of a sudden I felt a rush of the Holy Spirit. I started shaking, or shivering. I don't really know how to describe it. It was uncontrollable. All of a sudden, I just started speaking, and I had no idea what was coming out of my mouth until I had said it. I was proclaiming the Holy Spirit to take up his sanctuary in this place. I also said something like this: "Father, in the name of your Son, we commit this room to you, we commit our hearts to you. We know that the devil is trying his very hardest to stomp out the words that we are saying, but Lord we demand that you eliminate him from our presence and our thoughts. Do not let him invade our thoughts father!" In the middle of my prayer, I heard a girl speaking in tongues next to me. It was refreshing to hear. Also, after I had finished praying, my face felt really tingly, which was kinda weird. Instantly I felt the annointing of the Lord fall down on us like a blanket, and a lot of people were crying. It was intense!

Also, yesterday was the Montana night square dance fun night :) I will post pics of that.

Today, we got into small groups and got our small group leader. My group is Caleb, Levi, Matt, and I. Benji is my small group leader. We all took vans as a school and went to Glacier Park. There we hiked about 2.5 miles out to the lake, and sat down as a small group and shared testimonies. I already feel like they are my second home. BTW: That lake was Colddddddd