Spoken Word Inspired by my DTS and Thailand

I know my daddy he can make an emerald grow out of thin air
When sons and daughters used to say it's not worth investing there

You see there's a world starving for value and meaning
A culture with so many hearts bleeding
Asking in the silence of the night, am I worth it? Am I lovable? Am I good enough?

So what picture will your actions paint to a world in pain
Will it look more like a gavel slammed down on the wood grain or a blood stained cross that fell into the ground?
Will you be the place where the lost get found?

What story are you writing with your life?
You see your identity is the ink and your actions the Pen to answer the question, who will love me when?
I've lost my wife to addiction, no family no pension. I'm stuck in the cycle of no hope for tomorrow.

May your mouth be full of love drenched words and your heart wide open for the Son of glory to welcome home every poor, lost orphan.

This is the good news, this is the wide open door paid for in blood. And this door, this amazing man who paid that price, He lives inside of you. So what I am saying, what my spirit is imploring is Let Him out to every person you didn't know you were ignoring. So Let the King of Glory enter your family, your work place, and your city through you! For You precious prince, precious princess our the very living gates of Heaven!
(John 7:37-39)
Because the King of Glory has made his home in You! You are forever royalty!
So take this mandate and every week celebrate every prodigal that has come home, and every heart that's been made whole, every body that has been restored, and all the families made new. For this my precious child, this my dreaming boy and girl is the icing on the cake of your inheritance. Enjoy!

Week #2- In Mae Ai and Full Life Development

This week was by far one of my favorite weeks on this trip. Partnering with FLD (Full Life Development) we brought the Kingdom on Sunday by multiplying our team 3 ways. My team went to a small Shan church. My team mates were Kerry, William, and Boy our translator. We started with 2 worship songs in the language of Shan and then one in Thai that I could follow along with in English since I knew the song in my native language of English. After a beautiful time of worship, a little taste of Heaven on Earth, William shared his testimony. He shared on how God had pursued and how much this DTS has really influenced his life for the better. Then wonderful Kerry lead us into some more heavenly worship. I finished by sharing on how we as children of God are to live lifestyles of power compelled by love. Holy Spirit showed me that he wanted to heal some people, so I invited anyone who needed healing in their bodies to come forward. A young Shan man and his girlfriend stepped forward. His girlfriend shyly shared that she had HIV AIDS and wanted to be healed. Before she had said this I knew in my spirit that one of them had that immune disease. Kerry then prayed for the young girl with compassion sensing the Father's heart for her. I prayed for the young shan Man named Soy. He had pain in his back and leg that quickly left. Boy and I prayed for him for maybe 5 minutes and then the Holy Spirit really confirmed in His heart that he was now a child of God. He said that Jesus had changed his life and fell to his knees pouring out his heart with tears streaming down his face. We ended the day with an awesome Korean BBQ with the Full Life Development team. It was a mighty delicious evening in both fellowship and food.

That moment would have to be my biggest highlight at this point in our journey. The next day most of the team traveled up to a local Budhist temple and ripped red paper symbolizing that torn veil that Jesus himself tore as he died on the cross. We were agreeing with heaven that the veil over peoples' heart would be torn so they could perceive the glory of God. It talks about this in 2 Corinthians 4:4. We then proceeded to hop into a truck and drive to the Mae Kok river and took communion. After taking communion Dillon, who was the visionary for our prophetic acts, poured a whole bottle of grape juice into the river. It was a powerful evening of bringing heaven to the Mae Ai region by bringing our lives into agreement with Heaven and decreeing that the blood of Jesus will bring new life and transformation to the Shan people and all who live near the Mae Kok river. We ended the day with an awesome Korean BBQ with the Full Life Development team. It was a mighty delicious evening in both fellowship and food.

The next day we spent the afternoon playing games and soccer (football) at a local school. I personally had a blast and got so much into the fun of the game that I scraped my knee playing soccer. We split the school up by grades and the other groups played volleyball, what time is it mister wolf, and the chair game. The chair game consisted of children holding hands in a circle and then trying to push and pulling them to touch the chair in the middle. Once touched by the chair you were out.

After burning a ton of energy out in the hot Thai sun we gathered together under an open air wooden building. Kerry Bates lead the children through the fun song Father Abraham and a Fruit song complete with hand motions. They loved it. We then performed a skit/dram written by yours truly along with our creative team. It is entitled A Heart Given and can be summed up with this verse Ezekiel 36:26 “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. “ After the drama Kerry explained the gospel and lead a huge number of the children in a prayer to start a relationship with Jesus. It was such a powerful moment to see all the little hands go up.

On Wednesday we went along and assisted Chan Chai, who is a member of the Full Life Development team, teach organic farming to the children. We made compost and mixed in this powerful all natural micro organism that improves the soils anywhere on earth. I enjoyed learning more on this subject and really believe taking care of the earth is really valuable and too often neglected. It was refreshing to see the opposite in this ministry.

On the last night around our last dinner with Nathan and Bethany Scott, the founders of FLD, we ended the time praying for Burma. We could literally see the mountain range that makes up the border into their country. After praying and making some declarations Nathan decided to share some of his heart. He said that for a long time he really struggled to forgive the Burmese military for the atrocities they had committed against the Shan What broke through to his heart was a deeper revelation of the Father's love. The reality is that the Father loves the Burmese army general just as much as he loves his own son Jesus Christ. What heart exploding truth. Jesus commanded us to love our enemies. This is such a challenge to, I think it is safe to say, all of our hearts. So I leave you on this note. You are loved with the same love that the Father loves the Son and given the same measure of the Holy Spirit as Jesus was given.

Week 6- Garlind & Kari Mullin - Arts and Worship

This day spent with Garlind and Kari Mullin was the beginning of something beautiful for our DTS. Garlind showed us exquisite pictures of the stars and distant galaxies. He asked us to each look at them and ponder them and then share what we each had seen. Each observation was different. That was something I had not taken into account when sharing a picture I had received from God. I had always thought it best to share whatever I was seeing in the Spirit and the interpretation right away. Now I will leave room for other people's interpretation before I share mine. I love it when two or three people see the exact same thing at almost the exact same time. It is very encouraging.
Garlind also shared how he used to play an according in a band. He really enjoyed being apart of this band and doing the gigs they got in pubs and such. At one point the band decided to do a song that he completely disagreed with. It invited and created a negative atmosphere. He knew that they were ignorant of what they were doing and he almost quit the band. He decided to do what many Christians neglect to do in such a situation. He stopped and asked God what to do and then listened for a response. God's response was surprising. He was told to stay in the band but when they would play that song, He was to play his according in worship to God. You may or may not agree with such an answer from God, but I believe it truly was Him. Too many times we react quickly and assume we know what God's will and preference is.

My favorite part of the day was when Kari taught us how to do prophetic art. We spent some time laying on the ground listening to some soothing worship music and being in God's presence. Then in the same atmosphere looked for vision from God or simply begin to paint or draw trusting the Holy Spirit to guide us. The art work was beautiful and some of us discovered for the first time that we were truly artists. I love doing this before outreaches, so you can give a person a tangible representation of God's heart towards them that they can hold onto.

George & Laurie Hull - RTF - Unforgettable Week revisited

This was a rather intense time of receiving deliverance and freedom. It really stirred up a lot of memories and brought some internal pain to the surface. I am so glad Jesus met me in those painful memories and showed me where he was and what he was doing when these events in my life were happening.

Some of the topics we covered were the forgiveness cross (vertical and horizontal), soul/spirit hurts, ungodly soul ties, deliverance, and replacing unGodly beliefs with Godly beliefs. What was amazing to me was that while listening to Laurie and George God was already speaking into my spirit Godly beliefs that I could receive in the place of the lies I had believed.

Forgiveness is such a powerfully freeing act both for the forgiver and the forgivee. It is the act of releasing others from the court room of your heart where you have past sentence upon them. It is letting go of the expectation of payment being owed to you. It is not denial of the hurt done to you or the injustice of what has happened, but the realization that you are not the judge of the universe and you have no right to hammer the gavel in your self-made court-room.

True heart forgiveness for me has been a process. When I think of certain people I am still surprised of the emotions that come up. Anger, lies, images played back in my mind some times pop up. Each time this happens I am learning to make it an opportunity for relationship with the Holy Spirit. Gradually I have noticed my heart becoming new. A lot of this has to do with perspective. If you focus on faults you will inevitability develop faulty thinking. If you make it a discipline to look for what is right, noble, gracious, and honorable in others you are giving a wide open invitation to the thoughts of God.

After renouncing and breaking agreement with lies, evil spirits, and my own personal sins, generational pre-dispositions to certain areas of sin, I was able to than break some ungodly soul ties and break free from demonic influence.

Forgiveness does not work in only one direction it is three directional. First receive forgiveness from God after confessing to him, then forgive yourself, and forgive the other person.

This was a great time of sharpening some of the tools I already had in my spiritual toolbox. I am so glad this couple came and invested over an hour with each one of us in personal ministry sessions. I will never forget the things Jesus showed to me and spoke to me in my session. Because of this time I am a much more whole and healthy human being.

If you have any questions I have provided a place for comments below.

Week 5 - Jeremy & Connie Sinnot - Worship As A Lifestyle

The first question you have to answer is what is worship to you? I can give you a definition but I believe it would be more valuable to you if you started to define one on your own. This brings me to my first point. Worship is a personal way of life. Have you ever been in a corporate setting where songs and music were being played and one person is laying on the floor weeping and another is shouting for joy. Where one person can barely stand up under the weighty Kabod of God's glory and another is striving to feel something desperately. My view on worship is very much in the context my own culture. It is very individualistic.

John 4:23 "Yet the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Indeed, the Father is looking for people like that to worship him." Jeremy came with this message that worship is the highest calling of the bride of Jesus Christ. He pointed out that the great commandment came before the great commission. The Holy Spirit has recently been speaking to me about this. He asked how can you introduce people to me if you do not know me? It has got to look more like falling in love and less like learning about a person in a book. How can you live a lifestyle of love with out being in love?

I believe worship is a choice that becomes an addiction to God's presence. We each seem to fall out of thanksgiving and into complaining. This reminds me of the intentional way Connie, Jeremy's wife, changed her lifestyle. She decided to thank God for who He is every 10 minutes. She has found that by doing this, living in God's presence is easy.

If you want a life that thrives instead of stagnates, then become a lover. Lovers will always outperform employees. God is looking for lovers. He is looking for investors who will invest their lives into people. This too is worship. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor at yourself. This is a good place to start. This journey called worship does not end here though, it grows deeper like strong roots of love in your heart. It enables you to love your enemies with a sincere heart. It compels you to know God for who He really is, so you can begin to see people for who they really are.

By simply being you are worship. I can feel the resistance to the simplicity of this already. We are taught from an early age that love is earned not inherent in our being. Jesus intentional used the analogy of being born again because a baby does not do anything to be loved. It is simply loved because he or she is in the family. Try reading Psalms 139 and ask God, how have you made me? why do you like me? what about me, causes you to smile?

Week 4- Steve Long - Healing

Steve started out his presentation on healing with this bold statement "God's will is to heal everyone, everywhere, all the time." If Jesus, who is our embodiment of God's will, never turned anyone away who was seeking healing why would we ever conclude that God does not want us healed. I liked this style of teaching because he was basically daring us to believe in God's goodness. He also said that when it comes to healing and the supernatural we have two sources to base our faith on, either on God's word or our experience.

The reality is that many of us have life experiences that cause us to scream the why question to God. Maybe you personally have never done this but I know I have. Different teachers have come up with different reasons for people not getting healed. Two of the most common reasons given are lack of faith and unforgiveness. Consider the possibility that God's own faithfulness can over-ride the lack of faith both of the person praying and the one receiving prayer. I love this possibility and many of us who practice praying for the sick, I am sure, can relate to it.

The first hurdle we need to get past are the lies that we have believed. Here is a list of common lies that people believe about God's will to heal

1. God is working on my character

2. God is teaching me a lesson through this sickness illness (while God can use all things do you really believe that this is the reason you are sick)

3. Everyone's got to die of something

4. It's not my time to be healed

5. I do not have enough faith

God desires to heal you. Step into this story. Matt 8:1-3 "Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared and went to his knees before Jesus, praying, "Master, if you want to, you can heal my body." Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, "I want to. Be clean." Then and there, all signs of the leprosy were gone.

Take notice that Jesus said he I want and then spoke to the leaper saying "Be Clean." Astonishing story eh?

I challenge you to see if any of these lies have influenced your life and relationship with God. If so ask God for the truths that will replaced these lies so you can get on living the abundant life Jesus promised you. (John 10:10)

Canadian Wilderness

And now for a taste of the beauty I have been surrounded by for the past 2 1/2 months!

Wilderness Photos