Updates

So it’s been pretty eventful hear Daniel got sent home my partner was getting depressed I’m a little sad and just the devil is really attacking all of us. My partner was a bit depressed just because he did not really understand the meaning of confrontation. He felt like when he was confronted with anything we did not trust him and everyone did not like him. I think it’s a Peruvian thing and also Peruvians care too much about what other people think of them but it’s also because there always being judged. But any way I confronted my partner and told him to quit his attitude because it was affecting everyone in the group. I told him, I said “Jogre you can’t not talk to me we need to communicate to have an affective relationship. I want to help you please tell me how I can. My job here is to plant churches but also to be your partner and help you when you’re down and help you carry the weight of the problem.” After that he felt a bit better and God is good because that was the best Spanish I’ve ever spoke. I’m just a bit sad but excited about moving on Sunday to Cusco. Why you ask well I’ve meet some awesome friends during my 9 months of being here and now I’ve got to move that part blows but I am thrilled to start me work and destroy the thrown of evil in Cusco. Please just continue to pray for both Arequipa and the Cusco team as we push and strive to the goal that the Lord has appointed us to. Thank you God Bless

100%

The Lords been showing and teaching me a lot lightly about giving our 100% to him in everything I do and I know we aren’t perfect I know I’m not perfect. But the lord calls us over and over to give our 100% best to Him. I mean even in Genesis. God says “make an ark for there will be a flood” and Noah does. God give him exact instructions.
Genesis 6:14-16 ( NLT )
“Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior. Make the boat 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. Leave an 18-inch opening below the roof all the way around the boat. Put the door on the side, and build three decks inside the boat—lower, middle, and upper. “

Think about how big that boat would be, I mean that would be massive no a day’s let alone thousands of years ago. Now do you think they would have survived if Noah had not followed Gods instructions exactly to the tar drop to waterproof of the boat? If Noah was feeling tired or sick or just being persecuted by other people because he was building this massive thing called a boat, do you think that upset him? I’m sure it did but Noah still gave his 100% into that boat. Are we giving God or 100% in everything we do? I’m not.

So this thing called a Christian walk is more than just reading the Bible and praying for even the Pharisees did that. We need to strive and push harder to give God or very best in everything we do.

There was this wrestling match where I was losing by two points and there was 10 seconds left in the match. The other guy and were so tired that our grip with our hands were weaker than a 5 year olds and every time we would swallow the spit in our mouths or breath it would feel like we were trying to swallow sand paper. If we even tried to spit nothing would have come out. So at that point it was just up to the one person that wanted it the most oooo and I did. It was almost like everything was going in slow motion I looked at the clock and 10 seconds were left. So at my last fighting effort I reversed him on to his back and beat him.

Again I just want to say it comes done to who wants it the most?

Who’s willing to go that extra mile?

Called

So about a month ago God called me to get a Mohawk. Now why you ask? Well in Peru the culture is very different here. In fact it’s so different that if you do anything out of the ordinary or anything “funky” everyone judges you. “You’re a sinner if your get a Mohawk, You’re a druggy” is what I’ve heard. I’ve now been judged by a lot of people. In fact 3 weeks after I got my Mohawk on a normal Tuesday we were having our normal prayer and fasting. The Pastor of my church was there to and he normally was not. But all was going great then the Pastor of my church decided to stand up in front of everyone and said “I’m really scared for Alex; he’s got this Mohawk to get attention… ext.” Basically was condemning me to Hell and saying if I don’t change my hair I’m going to Hell. Now let back up a bit. I talked with him and explained to him why my hair was like this. Ok lets go back to Tuesday, I was mad, how could he not talk to me first? Why would he call me out in front of everyone? I wanted to argue with him right then and there. But I waited till after to show him how it is supposed to be done. So after I asked to talk with him away from everyone. So we did but to make a long story short I Caylin Stevens translating for me because he did not understand me the first time said That I did not like the way he went about this or the fact that he was judging me. At the end I told him “I do not want to argue” but with all due respect I got this hair cut for people like him also that I would not cut my hair until he at least understood what I was trying to convey. The fact that God only looks at the heart and to understand grace. (Acts chapter 15)

So when you’re called by our Lord Jesus Christ to do something no matter how people look at you or judge you just do it. It’s going to be uncomfortable but does God even want us to be comfortable?

“Did God ever intend for us to have a comfort zone? Or is it something we have just created for ourselves because we don’t trust Him enough?”

Just the other day again I don’t know what he was thinking but Caylin a girl on the Cusco team her pastor was trying to get her kicked out of the church into another. Now all Caylin did was disciple other people that did not want to go to that church and confront the Pastor with issues of organization and just little stuff like this. But his argument was that Caylin and Ester/ her partner were having a cell group/ disciplining people that did not want to attend his church but that wanted to attend another Nazarene church. What is that? We are the body of Christ right?

I can’t really explain it but the devil really hates what we are doing here. But that’s another subject for another time. So even if you get kicked out for it or get thrown in jail. So be it. God will take care of it, don’t worry. Just submit to the call God =s laid on your life. From going to college, another country, giving or just getting a Mohawk. Whatever it is God calls everyone to something, no call is bigger and or better than the other.

And if you don’t know your call pray and seek his face and will for your life. He will answer.

Study of Jeremiah

So I just finished the book of Jeremiah and it took about 4 and a half or 5 months. But not because I’m a slow reader (I am) but because I studied it like crazy. I’ve learned so much form it but one of the biggest things I’ve learned from it is how evil this world is and how much we run away from the Lord and really don’t want to turn back.

Jeremiah 6:16 (NLT)
This is what the LORD says: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’

Jeremiah 18:12 (NLT)
But the people replied, “Don’t waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires.”

But the Lord still loves us endlessly. This breaks my heart to the core because that was me once. And there are still billions of people out there that have never heard the gospel. They search for things that can satisfy them but NOTHING can satisfy you besides the Lord Himself. The Lord is calling them wants their hearts and love and they just turn and say “NO that is not the road we want”.

Jerusalem is being punished in the book of Jeremiah not because God is a mean evil God but because they have brought it upon themselves. This is Gods last act to try to bring them back Judgment. There was no other way. You can almost hear Gods hurting through Jeremiah like in,
Jeremiah 4:19 (NLT)
“My heart, my heart—I writhe in pain! My heart pounds within me! I cannot be still. For I have heard the blast of enemy trumpets and the roar of their battle cries.” I also cannot be still after reading this book and knowing how real Hell is I can’t be still. I have a never ending burning passion for lost people.

I know how much God wants to do something big in my life and I am ready and willing to be used.

Keeping Thing’s in

We are called not only to believe the Gospel but to saturate our minds and hearts in, so that we actually begin to live like we believe in it. Psalms 19:14 (NLT) “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer”. Amen

So when we do things that are not good or have things done to us and we just hold it in because we are not ready to let it go or are afraid of what people might think about us. Well let me tell you if your thinking that you can’t let it go or God can’t forgive you or it would just be better to keep it in let me tell you that is the devil telling you all this. Why you ask?

Because he is scared!!

This just hinders our growth and dampens the spirit. The bible says “Quench not the spirit” The devil wants nothing more than to stop you from reaching your full potential. Also this only robs God of His glory.

(Think about it, when somebody’s giving their testimony and it’s strong and people get saved/ crying and it just touched them on a whole different level. Why is that? Well I’m guessing that they have brought everything into the light and God shined though it and used it for his glory).

“Listen I know it’s hard even maybe one of the most difficult and terrifying things you have ever do but when we do, when we lay our souls out naked and bare for all to see, it forces us out of the shadows, and into the place where life begins”. Tenth Avenue North quote.

This also humbles you to the core. To not lie to yourself or others and really know you’re not perfect and through Christ Jesus anything and everything is possible.
Psalms 139:11-12 (NLT) “I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you”. God already knows everything.

So let’s break out of this self pity and begin to forgive ourselves and deal with our past so we can use it to God glory!! WOO!! How else do we expect to do the awesome work of God that we are so privileged to do if we are not giving our all?