WEEK 8.
wow...this week was intense...but it was so good!! I'll start at the beginning...on Saturday morning I heard from God that i was to start fasting. I didn't know why i was fasting until Saturday night or Sunday morning--I don't really remember. I've never done a real fast before so i was sure that this was bound to be interesting. ;) The only reason i got for why i was fasting was for "group unity". I prayed with Christina, one of my friends here, and we felt like there were some problems with the unity of our DTS that God was trying to show our group through me. I didn't get very much other information about my fast--only to keep fasting.
On Monday morning God taught me something through the fast--during base worship (the whole YWAM base is together in worship on Mon a.m.'s) i got very thirsty and weak. Instead of getting a drink, i stuck it out and i felt God reveal to me that this thirst is the type of thirst i should have for Him and for His Word. It was pretty powerful. I also felt like because i was weak, Satan was really trying to pull me away from worship and distract me with my own weariness--I recognized it and fought through. It was a good lesson/experience to have for outreach because there will definitely be some times in which i will be worn out and exhausted...and that's when the devil is most likely to attack--when we're weak. That taught me, though, that i need to continually persevere and lean in toward God because my weakness can then be replaced with His strength.
I continued to fast through the week and on Thursday night...finally!! :)...i was released to end my 6-day fast. It was a great experience. The thing that shocked me the most was that I wasn't ever really hungry. Sure, there would be times that i would begin to feel hungry but i simply drank some water and that feeling was gone...completely. Those of you who know me very well know that i love to eat...so it was amazing to see and feel God completely provide for me!
It's crazy to think that I'm leaving Perth in less than a week...September 6! I don't feel like i've been here for long enough! ha. I'm excited for outreach, though...this week i was feeling a lot of spiritual blockage from Satan--trouble hearing God's voice, etc. and i know that God is going to do amazing things through me and my team during outreach. If anyone has forgotten, my team is going to Cape Town, South Africa for 5 weeks, Swaziland for 3 weeks, Malaysia for 3 weeks, and Bangkok, Thailand for the final 3 weeks. We'll be doing things like working with kids at risk, organizing sports for kids, street evangelism, performing skits and speaking in churches. It will definitely be a new experience but i can't wait to reach out to people.
Now onto this week's topic...i'll try to keep it short! ha! The topic was the Father Heart of God with Mike Oman. He was an incredible speaker!! His stories and experiences are so amazing!! He actually wrote a book The Father Heart of God--little promotion item! :D I'm getting ready to start reading it--he said a lot of the book is what we got in lectures this week-which was very good so i would definitely recommend the book! Anyway...he really emphasized how God is like an earthly father--he loves to comfort and protect us--with no questions or prerequisites of any kind! He'll take us with our baggage, our weaknesses, our sins...He doesn't want us to be perfect before we run to Him, He wants to help clean us up! That's one thing i really struggled with before this week--i felt like before i could run and jump into my Father's arms, i had to be clean and free of sin. Mike explained it very well with an analogy--his grandson got a new backpack and wouldn't take it off, but he wanted a hug and to sit on Mike's lap. Mike didn't care about the extra baggage--both the bag and his grandson still fit easily into his arms. That's exactly how God feels toward His children! Such a great revelation! :D
Another great point Mike made was that works don't impress God. Nothing we can do or make is worth anything to God--it's like a child making an airplane for his dad--the dad will appreciate it and love it because of who made it, but he won't have any use for it...he doesn't need it. What an earthly father--and our heavenly Father--really wants is to spend time with his kids-quality hang-out time. Key: God wants me...not my efforts. He can't live through my efforts...only through a life surrendered to Him.
There were countless other teachings, illustrations and explanations and i'm sure many are in his book. I can't wait to read it! :D This was such a powerful week of teaching for me...learning to trust God more--that He will provide for me no matter what because He loves me so much!
Please continue to keep me in your prayers this week as my team and i prepare for outreach. Pray that i will receive God's heart for the people of the nations we'll be ministering in, that the rest of my school's $12,000 AUD debt comes in, and that God will prepare me for the things i'll encounter and experience. Thank you all so much for your support...i love you all!!
Rach
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Week 7...in two weeks i'll be leaving for South Africa...weird. :) I'm so excited though!! This week was crazy, stressful, and amazing all at once--finances were due on Wednesday (the 19th). My DTS has been gathering at 6:00a each morning for the past week or two to pray specifically for our finances and we'd seen some movement in money but on Wednesday only two people had the money for the trip. I still needed about $645. Wednesday night we met at 6:30p to have a prayer session but right before that i checked my mailbox for receipts from the accounts office (online donations) and i checked my email as well. It was all there!!! Between receipts and emails all of the money i needed was in. God is so amazing!!
I've never had to trust for so much money before and I've definitely learned a lot from it...for one, God is so incredibly faithful--if He guides, He will provide. I also learned that obedience is so important--throughout the week, God gave me names of people to contact for support and i had to do my part and obey Him--and He provided!! If i wouldn't have obeyed, though, i would probably still owe money. Trustworthiness...that's something that God has been working on in my life during this DTS and the fact that He provided this money is just another indication of how much better God can take care of me than i ever could...why would i not trust Him with my life?!
Even though I got all of my money on time, unfortunately about half of the people on my DTS still don't have their money. We're still trusting God for a little over $22,000 for the rest of our group. We're hoping it comes in the next couple of days so we can get plane tickets booked... Today my school started learning one of the dramas we're going to be performing on outreach...it's to the song Everything by Lifehouse. It's a pretty powerful drama. I'm definitely not a drama person but it was fun!! Some of you i'm sure will find it amusing that I'm doing dramas...you know who you are! ha! :D
This week's lecture topic was spiritual warfare and our speaker was actually videos--Dean Sherman is pretty popular on this topic and we watched his sessions on DVD. It sounds like a pretty intense topic--i thought it was going to be all about casting out demons, etc, but it really wasn't. Dean really emphasized that there are two systems against each other--the kingdom of heaven and the world which lies in the control of the enemy. He stressed that we're fighting principalities and the strategies of Satan...NOT flesh and blood. If we're in strife with other people, we're actually aiding the cause of the devil...that really hit home for me!
Dean defined spiritual warfare with the three R's: recognizing the strategies of the enemy, refusing to cooperate and resisting those strategies. We as humans leave gaps in our spiritual armor through 4 different areas: 1. the mind (fear, pride, judgement, discontent, etc) 2. the heart (attitude, negative emotions, not dealing with sin, etc.) 3. the mouth (coarse language, venting to people--that was huge for me!!) 4. relationships (strife/argument=open gate) If we can identify these gaps, we can stop cooperating with Satan, and we can close those gaps.
One of the biggest keys from the lectures for me was something that Dean really highlighted-- #1 because we are children of God we are secure and loved in Christ...but... #2 we as God's children have commandments to follow. If we get lazy, we open the door to the devil and his strategies begin to take ahold and prevail over us. The scary thing is that when we leave gates open for satan, it not only affects us, but other people involved, as well as the rest of the human race! Dean said numerous times throughout the week that the devil has exactly as much authority in the world as humans give him. That's scary to think about because i feel like our world and society is only becoming worse...but we can help change that! This week provided a lot of "food for thought". :)
Well, thanks again for reading...i'll let you know next week how the financial situation pans out... :) We'd appreciate your prayers for finances!! Thanks so much.
Love you all,
Rachel
I've never had to trust for so much money before and I've definitely learned a lot from it...for one, God is so incredibly faithful--if He guides, He will provide. I also learned that obedience is so important--throughout the week, God gave me names of people to contact for support and i had to do my part and obey Him--and He provided!! If i wouldn't have obeyed, though, i would probably still owe money. Trustworthiness...that's something that God has been working on in my life during this DTS and the fact that He provided this money is just another indication of how much better God can take care of me than i ever could...why would i not trust Him with my life?!
Even though I got all of my money on time, unfortunately about half of the people on my DTS still don't have their money. We're still trusting God for a little over $22,000 for the rest of our group. We're hoping it comes in the next couple of days so we can get plane tickets booked... Today my school started learning one of the dramas we're going to be performing on outreach...it's to the song Everything by Lifehouse. It's a pretty powerful drama. I'm definitely not a drama person but it was fun!! Some of you i'm sure will find it amusing that I'm doing dramas...you know who you are! ha! :D
This week's lecture topic was spiritual warfare and our speaker was actually videos--Dean Sherman is pretty popular on this topic and we watched his sessions on DVD. It sounds like a pretty intense topic--i thought it was going to be all about casting out demons, etc, but it really wasn't. Dean really emphasized that there are two systems against each other--the kingdom of heaven and the world which lies in the control of the enemy. He stressed that we're fighting principalities and the strategies of Satan...NOT flesh and blood. If we're in strife with other people, we're actually aiding the cause of the devil...that really hit home for me!
Dean defined spiritual warfare with the three R's: recognizing the strategies of the enemy, refusing to cooperate and resisting those strategies. We as humans leave gaps in our spiritual armor through 4 different areas: 1. the mind (fear, pride, judgement, discontent, etc) 2. the heart (attitude, negative emotions, not dealing with sin, etc.) 3. the mouth (coarse language, venting to people--that was huge for me!!) 4. relationships (strife/argument=open gate) If we can identify these gaps, we can stop cooperating with Satan, and we can close those gaps.
One of the biggest keys from the lectures for me was something that Dean really highlighted-- #1 because we are children of God we are secure and loved in Christ...but... #2 we as God's children have commandments to follow. If we get lazy, we open the door to the devil and his strategies begin to take ahold and prevail over us. The scary thing is that when we leave gates open for satan, it not only affects us, but other people involved, as well as the rest of the human race! Dean said numerous times throughout the week that the devil has exactly as much authority in the world as humans give him. That's scary to think about because i feel like our world and society is only becoming worse...but we can help change that! This week provided a lot of "food for thought". :)
Well, thanks again for reading...i'll let you know next week how the financial situation pans out... :) We'd appreciate your prayers for finances!! Thanks so much.
Love you all,
Rachel
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Week 6...I'm 1/4 of the way done with my DTS...how crazy!?! It's been such an awesome experience so far, and as usual, I'm learning and growing so much! I'm so unbelievably grateful for this experience--I've been deeply blessed! ...Especially by all of you who have supported me both financially and through prayer--may God bless you abundantly!!
This week has been pretty rainy and chilly...kind of a bummer compared to the amazingly warm weather we had last week. :( Hopefully it decides to start warming up again...and to stay that way!!
Last night one of the schools here on base hosted a 24 hour prayer session for outreach and finances and i participated from 12:45a til 3:15. It was pretty intense and i think we did some definite damage to the enemy and his strongholds on those areas. I feel like I got a prophetic word for my outreach--someone was praying for Swaziland and the people of the country who have HIV/AIDS. They prayed that the women of the Sports DTS (me and a teammate Desiree) would be able to speak purity to especially the women there, and how even after it's taken that it can be restored through Christ. It was very powerful...I also felt like we are going to be bringing hope and light to a nation where there is very little of either. It excites me even more for outreach and for what we're going to be doing. :D
Speaking of outreach...just a finance update--my total is coming down...slowly but surely. Finances are due in 3 days and i do still have a need but God is still coming through and showing His faithfulness and generosity while I continue to press in for that release...praise God! :)
This week's lecture topic was the Fear of God. It was such an incredible week for me because I've never really known what the FOG (Fear of God) was, but it's such an important and necessary thing in our Christian walks!!...so i'm glad i now have that knowledge! :) It also helped me understand myself and God's character so much better. Our speaker was Ari Sloots--a base leader here--he was incredible--very vibrant and interactive. I took the most notes i ever have--12 pages! ha! :) One of the most important things i learned was the actual definition of the FOG--#1 to hate sin like God hates sin, and #2 to praise, revere, honor and stand in complete awe of God--to have a deep passion for Him.
One of the key things that Ari highlighted all week and that i was really convicted of was that i need to have an undying passion for God--to be in passionate pursuit of an ever-deeper intimacy with Him. The thing that finally connected for me was that this passion, this desire for intimacy is a choice--MY choice...YOUR choice. It's not just going to fall into my lap and i can't just pray it into my life. I have to actively make a daily choice to pursue God and to engage with Him. After all, who wants to be in a one-sided relationship?? God doesn't want to be the only one consistently pursuing us (b/c He does and is always)--but He wants us to be pro-active, to lean into him. Ari used sports as an analogy to the FOG and it was perfect! For example, what would happen if an athlete tried to go into the big game or match with no preparation, no excitement, no fire? He/she would be dominated!!--especially by someone who is passionate about it. The exact same thing happens when we go into worship, prayer, quiet time or our day in general without passion or excitement--Satan completely dominates us! He has that desire to hold us back and to hinder us from being in an intimate relationship with God--and the sad thing is, I've let him win! Now that i've finally realized that and made that connection, it's so much more clear to me--i need to daily throw of heaviness, tiredness, homesickness, etc. in order to deeply connect with God and be as in-tune with Him as possible.
Another thing that Ari talked about that really struck me was the topic of fearing man (Proverbs 29:25). I realized that i've struggled with this area quite a bit in the past. For example, I worry about what others will think about me in situations, I want to be everyone's friend--I avoid conflict at all costs, or I fail to correct someone or something I see because I'm afraid of what they will think. If I fear man more than I fear God, it will only be a stumbling block for me and I will end up forgetting about or ignoring God's desires for my life in order to please people around me. It's definitely an area where i need a greater FOG.
So...Key of the Week: Ecclesiastes 12:13b--"Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man"...Fear of God=a passionate pursuit after God. Make a choice!!
Hope you all have a great week...God bless you in everything you do!
Love, Rachel
ps. if any of you still want to donate just send me a fb message or an email r.steckly@hotmail.com Thanks!!!
This week has been pretty rainy and chilly...kind of a bummer compared to the amazingly warm weather we had last week. :( Hopefully it decides to start warming up again...and to stay that way!!
Last night one of the schools here on base hosted a 24 hour prayer session for outreach and finances and i participated from 12:45a til 3:15. It was pretty intense and i think we did some definite damage to the enemy and his strongholds on those areas. I feel like I got a prophetic word for my outreach--someone was praying for Swaziland and the people of the country who have HIV/AIDS. They prayed that the women of the Sports DTS (me and a teammate Desiree) would be able to speak purity to especially the women there, and how even after it's taken that it can be restored through Christ. It was very powerful...I also felt like we are going to be bringing hope and light to a nation where there is very little of either. It excites me even more for outreach and for what we're going to be doing. :D
Speaking of outreach...just a finance update--my total is coming down...slowly but surely. Finances are due in 3 days and i do still have a need but God is still coming through and showing His faithfulness and generosity while I continue to press in for that release...praise God! :)
This week's lecture topic was the Fear of God. It was such an incredible week for me because I've never really known what the FOG (Fear of God) was, but it's such an important and necessary thing in our Christian walks!!...so i'm glad i now have that knowledge! :) It also helped me understand myself and God's character so much better. Our speaker was Ari Sloots--a base leader here--he was incredible--very vibrant and interactive. I took the most notes i ever have--12 pages! ha! :) One of the most important things i learned was the actual definition of the FOG--#1 to hate sin like God hates sin, and #2 to praise, revere, honor and stand in complete awe of God--to have a deep passion for Him.
One of the key things that Ari highlighted all week and that i was really convicted of was that i need to have an undying passion for God--to be in passionate pursuit of an ever-deeper intimacy with Him. The thing that finally connected for me was that this passion, this desire for intimacy is a choice--MY choice...YOUR choice. It's not just going to fall into my lap and i can't just pray it into my life. I have to actively make a daily choice to pursue God and to engage with Him. After all, who wants to be in a one-sided relationship?? God doesn't want to be the only one consistently pursuing us (b/c He does and is always)--but He wants us to be pro-active, to lean into him. Ari used sports as an analogy to the FOG and it was perfect! For example, what would happen if an athlete tried to go into the big game or match with no preparation, no excitement, no fire? He/she would be dominated!!--especially by someone who is passionate about it. The exact same thing happens when we go into worship, prayer, quiet time or our day in general without passion or excitement--Satan completely dominates us! He has that desire to hold us back and to hinder us from being in an intimate relationship with God--and the sad thing is, I've let him win! Now that i've finally realized that and made that connection, it's so much more clear to me--i need to daily throw of heaviness, tiredness, homesickness, etc. in order to deeply connect with God and be as in-tune with Him as possible.
Another thing that Ari talked about that really struck me was the topic of fearing man (Proverbs 29:25). I realized that i've struggled with this area quite a bit in the past. For example, I worry about what others will think about me in situations, I want to be everyone's friend--I avoid conflict at all costs, or I fail to correct someone or something I see because I'm afraid of what they will think. If I fear man more than I fear God, it will only be a stumbling block for me and I will end up forgetting about or ignoring God's desires for my life in order to please people around me. It's definitely an area where i need a greater FOG.
So...Key of the Week: Ecclesiastes 12:13b--"Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man"...Fear of God=a passionate pursuit after God. Make a choice!!
Hope you all have a great week...God bless you in everything you do!
Love, Rachel
ps. if any of you still want to donate just send me a fb message or an email r.steckly@hotmail.com Thanks!!!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Hello all...another weekend...it's crazy how fast these days go by! On saturday my DTS went on an all-day canoeing trip down moore river which is a good hour north of Perth. It was fun!...more than i thought it was going to be at the beginning of the day when i woke up to clouds and rain...!! :S but it turned out to be a beautiful day and fairly entertaining...a couple of my friends flipped their canoe-that was amusing... :D we paddled about 12 km downriver to where the river meets the ocean and on the way there are some huge sand dunes so we stopped and had some fun there for a while...rolling down and sliding down on cardboard. luckily no one got hurt but there were a couple of head-over-heels flips including one from me! ha! i'm sure i'll be feeling it tomorrow... :S :).
So lectures this week were by Shirley Brownhill, our base director, about relationships. I really liked this week's lectures--although she didn't have many specific teaching points, there was so much good information i got from the week. She talked a lot about the relationship between us and God, but also really emphasized our relationship with other humans in relation to God and how He sees relationships. A few points that really stood out to me this week are as follows...
1. The quote, "Out of the mouth, the heart speaks." --This is so key because we can't use the excuse "i don't know where that came from" or "that comment just slipped out". Whatever is coming out of our mouths is somewhere in our hearts and if it's not from Philippians 4:8, we have some things to work on. Any sin in our hearts is a relationship breaker which is exactly what satan is trying to do--ruin relationships. Very convicting...
2. If we are in situations with difficult people, God is trying to teach us something. This is almost encouraging because it proves that difficult people aren't put in our lives just to push our buttons and test our patience!! :D but it shows that God actually wants us to grow and learn something valuable from the person or the situation...so ask Him what it is! If we become best friends with the person, then we've succeeded!! ha! :)
3. "Spiritual maturiy is not how long you've been a Christian, it's what you do with the truth and how well you actually know Him." I could be a Christian my whole life but not actually ever be mature in my faith. Kind of a scary thought... but what a challenge, huh?!? Which leads me to the last thing...
4. God has personally convicted me this week of not being in the Word enough. That's our lifeline--our key to knowing God, and i have neglected it. The Bible is one of the major ways that we mature in our faith and without it, there's so much more room for satan to maneuver. So my goal for the rest of this year is to read the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. Very doable...now i just need to do it! ...it's all up to me... : )
So that's all for this week...i'm still working on outreach funding--lots of prayer! :D
Love and blessings,
Rachel
So lectures this week were by Shirley Brownhill, our base director, about relationships. I really liked this week's lectures--although she didn't have many specific teaching points, there was so much good information i got from the week. She talked a lot about the relationship between us and God, but also really emphasized our relationship with other humans in relation to God and how He sees relationships. A few points that really stood out to me this week are as follows...
1. The quote, "Out of the mouth, the heart speaks." --This is so key because we can't use the excuse "i don't know where that came from" or "that comment just slipped out". Whatever is coming out of our mouths is somewhere in our hearts and if it's not from Philippians 4:8, we have some things to work on. Any sin in our hearts is a relationship breaker which is exactly what satan is trying to do--ruin relationships. Very convicting...
2. If we are in situations with difficult people, God is trying to teach us something. This is almost encouraging because it proves that difficult people aren't put in our lives just to push our buttons and test our patience!! :D but it shows that God actually wants us to grow and learn something valuable from the person or the situation...so ask Him what it is! If we become best friends with the person, then we've succeeded!! ha! :)
3. "Spiritual maturiy is not how long you've been a Christian, it's what you do with the truth and how well you actually know Him." I could be a Christian my whole life but not actually ever be mature in my faith. Kind of a scary thought... but what a challenge, huh?!? Which leads me to the last thing...
4. God has personally convicted me this week of not being in the Word enough. That's our lifeline--our key to knowing God, and i have neglected it. The Bible is one of the major ways that we mature in our faith and without it, there's so much more room for satan to maneuver. So my goal for the rest of this year is to read the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. Very doable...now i just need to do it! ...it's all up to me... : )
So that's all for this week...i'm still working on outreach funding--lots of prayer! :D
Love and blessings,
Rachel
Sunday, August 2, 2009
End of week 4...this week was very nice...it definitely warmed up. i just hope it will stay like this...!! :D Some friends and i went to the beach this afternoon...it was amazing. Another good thing about this weekend--i found out for sure that i'm going to Swaziland and Thailand for outreach..I'm pretty excited about that!
This week's lecture topic was intercession and worship. It was interesting...i learned a lot of new things. Before coming to YWAM i'd never really heard of or understood the topic of intercession. I find it amazing that we can actually release God to work in the life of a non-believer, or to push satan away from a person through intercession. My DTS is currently praying for the places we are going and the people we will be in contact with on our outreach locations. We ask God what He wants us to pray for, He tells us and then we pray for those things. I love that i can know exactly what a person or place needs prayer for instead of just praying a general prayer.
The other topic of the week was worship. There was a lot of good information presented in the three days of worship lecture but something that really stood out to me the most was the fact that worship should be a lifestyle and not just something we do before the sermon at church. We should be praising God and worshipping His holiness in everything we do--even cleaning toilets...just praise God for the fact that we have toilets!! haha. But really, God convicted me of not leading a life of complete worship...He is totally worthy of our praise at all times and in every situation--good or bad.
So that's my little speech of the week--i decided to keep it shorter this time. : ) Continued prayer would be much apprectiated!! Some things to be praying for are that finances for my outreach would come in, that i would be able to put into practice all that i'm learning, that my DTS would continue to mesh well with one another and that God would continue to work in us to prepare us for outreach. Thanks so much for reading!! I love you all...
Rachel
This week's lecture topic was intercession and worship. It was interesting...i learned a lot of new things. Before coming to YWAM i'd never really heard of or understood the topic of intercession. I find it amazing that we can actually release God to work in the life of a non-believer, or to push satan away from a person through intercession. My DTS is currently praying for the places we are going and the people we will be in contact with on our outreach locations. We ask God what He wants us to pray for, He tells us and then we pray for those things. I love that i can know exactly what a person or place needs prayer for instead of just praying a general prayer.
The other topic of the week was worship. There was a lot of good information presented in the three days of worship lecture but something that really stood out to me the most was the fact that worship should be a lifestyle and not just something we do before the sermon at church. We should be praising God and worshipping His holiness in everything we do--even cleaning toilets...just praise God for the fact that we have toilets!! haha. But really, God convicted me of not leading a life of complete worship...He is totally worthy of our praise at all times and in every situation--good or bad.
So that's my little speech of the week--i decided to keep it shorter this time. : ) Continued prayer would be much apprectiated!! Some things to be praying for are that finances for my outreach would come in, that i would be able to put into practice all that i'm learning, that my DTS would continue to mesh well with one another and that God would continue to work in us to prepare us for outreach. Thanks so much for reading!! I love you all...
Rachel
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