Well after being on our new university for a little while I have had some
time to begin to feel and understand a little bit about the
atmosphere in this area. One thing that has become very apparent to
me is the fact that we are definitely called to be lights in our
complex and our university. It was either the first or the second night
that I walked down stairs and saw more people doing ancestor
worship in one place at one time than I think I ever have before,
at least that I can remember. There are certain times when they
will do things out of tradition but what I saw was simply from
personal practice from what I can tell. Since that night I have
seen it happening every night around our complex.

Not everyone knows this about me but I am highly sensitive to much
of the cultic and demonic things around me, not that I am super
spiritual I just simply cannot help feeling it sometimes even if I
don’t know what it is. Since we have been in this area I have
constantly been feeling the presence of the enemy and having a
sense of why the Lord has us here…to be a light in the darkness. I
would ask that you join in praying to God with us for our university and
our complex. Along with the nation of China. And I would ask that
you would especially pray for the children here in China, when I
was walking out of my complex, I think two nights ago, I saw a
grandma teaching, I think her granddaughter, ancestor worship and
it just broke my heart and made me angry that she was being ( to be
totally blunt) raised by her grandmother to walk into the doorways
hell.

Also, on our university there is demonic activity there though at this
point we do not know quite what all off it is. Now as I state all
of these things I do not want to have you here that we feel as
though we are being crushed. Much to the contrary we feel that God
is paving a way for us to reach into these places and pull from the
ashes, beautiful treasures that will shine bright in the darkness
even after we leave. Also there has been a strong sense that we
have been called to be a people that will help to break these
things that have held on to this place for so long.

A piece of the Book that God spoke to me was from Ezekiel 28:1-10.
You can read it all but for right now i want to pull out a specific
portion to highlight. Verses 9 and 10 say:

“Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of those who
kill you, though you are but a man, and no god, in the hands of
those who slay you?
You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of
foreigners; for i have spoken, declares the Lord God.”

This may sound violent to some but I really feel that this is God’s
heart towards those who seek to bring destruction towards His
kingdom. I also feel that He spoke this over the spiritual forces
at work in our area! God has called us here to be more than
conquerers, not to sit by the sidelines and just hope that things
get better some day, and that someone will come along that can
help. Someone has already come and His name is Jesus and He lives
inside each one of us! We can walk with a confidence in the One
that lives in us because He has overcome all that would try and
resist what God has called us to do.

One other quick thing is that some of the people from our team have
been attacked in there dreams at least two people, myself and one
other girl, have had some pretty nasty and demonic dreams. Please
join with us in praying against the attacks of the enemy and for
the protection of the Lord.

Blessed Daily,
“Malachi”

Prayer Requests:

1.) Pray against the spiritual strongholds in our area (and all
around for China).

2.) Pray that we would be protected from the attacks of the enemy,
especially in relation to our dreams, but also any other area you
feel prompted by the Holy Spirit to pray  for us in would be highly
appreciated also!

3.) divine appointments, that God would send us Chinese friends that
would be hungry for Him and that we would have eyes to see when
these opportunities are presented to us.

So here is the first update/blog of the adventures this year. Well
in short what has happened is that I have had some great food,
found an apartment, sweated a lot, and had some fun times with my
roommate. It has only been a few days since we have arrived here
but it feels like I have come back home. It is weird to feel more
at home in another country than in your home country where you have
lived the most of your life.

As I have been back here I feel like God has already been blessing
me so much that I am humbled by the way He (insert current favorite
word here) LAVISHES His love, blessings, and just plain goodness on
me. The flight here was awesome! I have been able to really bond
with a lot of the people that came with me and I have had almost no
jet lag. I was able to sleep well every night and get clicked into
the times zone within like 12 hours of getting here, God is really
good!

So the apartment we found is really nice! And an added bonus is that I
basically have a princess room. I guess the person who lived in my
room before me was a younger girl that really liked purple and
pink. Not to mention my extremely cool rainbow colored blinds in my
window. Honestly though it is an amazing apartment, I don’t
think I could have asked for a better place to live in here. I
truly believe this is going to be a great and powerful year full of
mind blowing surprises and breakthroughs!

So as we are getting set here I would ask that you continue to keep
everything here in your talks with God and remember that your talks
with God really do make a difference here. I can’t count the times
that I have talked to someone maybe a few weeks after I had been
going through a hard time and learned that they had been lifting me up during the same time that my burden lifted or the heaviness that was on me lifted.
I really can feel the impact of your talks with God about me and I
jealously long for each one that you lift up.

One specific request that I have is that you would be talking to
God about a new relationship with a very special young lady that
has just started in my life. Both of us are looking to follow God’s
leading and would appreciate all the praying that you could give.

thanks so much for all your support and love it truly means so much
to me and is such a great help while walking this path that God has
set up for me to be a part of.

In Him,
      “Malachi”

Many times we think that our words do not matter, and I know that usually when we hear this it means that someone is going to start into us about how we need to watch what we say and many times it leaves us feeling like we need to say less. While we do need to be careful with our words, I think that we miss the true meaning behind this warning to watch our words. I have a friend here named “Danny.” He is a really great guy and he has an amazing heart. I love to encourage this guy because when I say something that is not extremely great in my mind it still rocks his world most of the time. However I have noticed that it is not simply Danny that is encouraged by a kind word but it is most people, whether they are in Asia or the U.S.A. or any other place on earth that are affected by the words of others. I know that I have been able to change the course of someone’s bad day by just a few minutes of time and couple of simple words.

I want to destroy the idea that we do not have something to offer to those around us. Not only do we have something to offer, we have the ability to affect and change people’s outlook about their day, their future, and their life as a whole. Did you know that there are people that cry themselves to sleep just longing to have one person, just one come up to them and tell them that they are cool, or that they are beautiful, or that they are cared about and loved. We have the power to literally direct the lives of those around us. My question to you is, is where are you helping those around you to go? Are you the one who helps those around you with encouraging words and actions, or are you one of the crowd that will just keep making fun of that person in your group with everyone else and direct him into the belief that maybe he really is weird, maybe he really does need to change, just maybe even the belief that who God made him to be is not good enough. Who will you be?

When the world is tearing us down and telling us that as men we need to be stronger and better than we can be, that we need to be more like this movie star or that we need to have a higher education than we do. In a world that tells the girls that they have to be thinner than they are and that what really matters is perfection, and without that no one will love them or cherish them. In a world full of impossible demands on our bodies, or emotions, and our beliefs…can we be the difference? I know we can be. I know that we can help to bring people out of the hole this world digs for us. Will you be a help for people to rise above this world, or will you help them dig their pit even deeper?

There are many facades that we put up in our lives, many to protect ourselves from looking dumb, or being the object of ridicule. There are many facades that we put up to put a defense around our emotions, or our hearts, but that is not the kind of façade I am talking about today. I am talking about those facades that are put up in our lives many times without really understanding that we are doing it, without the thought of protecting ourselves, you could almost calls these “accidental facades” as it were. These can come from a heart that is meaning to do right, and from pure intentions, but still a façade can be built. Many times we think that these facades don't hurt people and sometimes we might even think that they help, but I want to talk about why even these small facades hurt and hinder people in there growth and in their understanding of truth.

Let me say that I know that everyone who is here loves what they are doing, and that there is probably no other place they would rather be right now. I am privileged to even know the people that I am working with. While being here I have seen sacrifice and love extended that I didn't know was possible from my generation, and those here would never offer themselves up to be the object of pity. I truly believe that through all things they would lift up the name of the Most High in all things, and because of this many times we talk about all the great things that God is doing here, and don't get me wrong we should, and it is beyond a blessing to be a part of what is going on, but many times when we talk about the good things the and dismiss the bad, we know that these things go on but others that are not here, miss a piece of what is going on. I dedicate this blog to my fellow warriors that have given up the things of this life for the greater things to come, and for the Greatest of the greatest, our Savior King, Jesus Christ.

No doubt you have read many of the amazing stories of the things and ways that God has provided for us here and reached into the lives of our friends. No doubt you have read about the salvations and the baptisms that have happened while we have been here. Some things you may not have heard is the tears that have been shed because we thought that many of our friends had turned the backs to God and gone after the things of this world. Maybe you have not heard about the times where we have had to counsel people through their pornography addictions and let them know that God and us still love and accept them. The times where people have looked us in the face and told us they don't want God. The times when we have had the choice of standing up for our convictions or giving in to what was going on around us for fear that maybe if we don't do the same things that we may lose a friendship of someone we are trying to reach out to.

You probably have not heard about the times when our families back home have been sick, when some of them have died since we have been here. You probably have not heard about or friends have tried to commit suicide and how our family members have run away and left spouses and children behind. These are the stories that do not make the front page of Christian news and updates, but these are the stories of hope and these are the stories we need to hear.

You may ask yourself, “why does he think that these are the stories of hope?” I say this because through all these things there is something that keeps us here. There is something that we have caught a glimpse of, something that has made us push aside all these things that would seek to hinder us from running the race that has been set before us by our loving Father. That is we have caught a glimpse of the Lord and his mission and love for the world. There is something that happens when we truly grab hold, if even a little bit, of who our God is and what His heart is for His creation. For some reason everything, good or bad, begins to pale in comparison to Him. It is not always glamorous and pretty, it is not always full of happy and easy things that just put a great skip in our step, but there is always joy and love and peace and…beauty.

When we can pull back the façade that can happen we might think that we should brace ourselves for the “ugly truth” but I believe and know that true beauty is not always found in the pretty things. Sometimes it is found in a dark room with someone crying because they don't know how they can carry on through the night, yet once again saying to the Lord, ‘I don't know how I will carry on, but as long as I live I give my life to you. Weather it be full of pain or pleasure, weather it be by life or by death I will follow you.” This is the “ugly beauty” that we should all seek. That is why I believe that when the Façade is Exposed then the real Beauty is revealed.

In Revelation chapter 5, John has a vision:

Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. (2) And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” (3) And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, (4) and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. (5) And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

In this vision we see that John weeps because no one is found worthy to open the seals, but then we read that one of the elders says to John not to worry because the Lamb has conquered, so He is able to open the scroll and it's seven seals. It is the same way with the seals that we put on ourselves, no one is found worthy, or able, to open our seals except Jesus (the Lamb). It is only because Jesus has already conquered death, sin and Hades, that we are able to have the seals on our lives broken.

There are many different ways and kinds of seals that get put on our lives. Sometimes we have things done to us, and sometimes we do things that put seals on our hearts, our thoughts, our emotions, and the like. Before I go any further I want to define what I mean by a “seal.” A seal is something in our lives, that hinders us from being used to our fullest potential. Now there are different levels to these seals in our lives, and many different ways in which these work out in our lives. Some people may have a idea that they are not smart so they never try to hard to succeed, because, why try to do something that you are to dumb for. Some people may have had someone that they trusted hurt them, now they do not trust anyone, which kills the idea of pure unity, how can you truly be unified with people that you “know” you can't trust?

I know that with some of the people that I work with here have these seals on there minds, hearts, and spirit's. One of my friends here has a seal of fear on his life, and he is afraid to really step out in life, and it affects his ability to share his faith with others. This friend is also afraid to stop some of the traditions that are against the Bible because he would have to make a stand against some of his family and friends.

Even within my own life I have recently discovered that I had let a seal of rejection latch itself on to my heart, and it has been there for many years. I came to the realization that I have almost never felt like I belonged or ft in anywhere, that it was always everyone else and then me. But recently I have begun the process of letting Jesus Christ break this seal in my life. There are more seals that God is working on now in my life, but I think I would have to write a book if I wanted to explain everything! :-p

Something I knew about before coming, but have begun to understand more since my arrival in this country, is the fact that places can also have seals on them, some might refer to these seals as “strongholds.” Places that have been under the control of the enemy for a long time sometimes need to be “broken-up” before a full move of the Spirit can move freely. This is one reason praying for and at the places you want to do “work” at is so important.

Within our lives and at the places we “study” we have seen seals broken open, we are seeing seals being broken, and are believing in faith that we will see even more seal shattering action while we are still here.

I would ask that you would join us in pray for seals to continue to break in the lives of our friends and the places that we are “studying.” Also I would ask that you take time look inside yourself and ask God if there is anything in you that is keeping you sealed in from reaching your full potential and from walking in the fullness that God has for you.

You continue to steal from my friends and family the joy that is available to them. You kill the hearts and the hope in many of those I love and cherish. You destroy the lives and testimonies of many devoted followers of God. You prey on the weak and the helpless. Your joy comes with the despair of others; your success comes with the failure of man. You set traps for the little children, and pits for the unsuspecting.

From me you haven taken years and produced uncountable tears. I walked in years of lies and deceit, believing the things you spoke in my mind. Because of your plans I gave away things that I can never get back. I have taken things that I am unable to return, things to which I look back on with contempt and disgust. You have set before me a banquet of sin and given your promise of pleasure, love, truth, and life….all you gave was empty feelings, hollowness, lies, and death!

When pastors fall into sin, when leaders crack under pressure, when followers of The Most High turn away, when families are torn apart, when husband and wife divorce, when people are lost in the pits that you set, when children are abused and made to do things that should never be done to a child, when people are entangled in secret sins that they feel will never leave them, when people follow false gods, and when the Church of Christ is discredited in the eyes of the world, when all of these things happen you rejoice and laugh. You take joy that so many follow your path to destruction, and that so few travel the narrow road that leads to life. Our destruction is your goal and our end is your treasure.

That is why I love the fact that even though you do all these things you can never win, you can never gain the final victory. All of your plans and all of the things you take joy in and see as victories are false achievements and a grasping at the wind. You are storing up wrath for yourself from the King of kings, who just happens to be my Dad.

The time serving my Father here has been full of His providence, for me, and others around me! You have put obstacles in front of me and tried to tear me down, you failed. I have grown stronger! Many have turned from you way and have come into the light! We are growing stronger!

There is an army that my Father is raising up and training, we are joining together to serve our God and to help bring an end to your reign of tyranny! Every time you do anything to anyone I love—and by the way I love everyone—God and I are coming after everything that you take hope in. When you hurt one of my friends I won't rest until I know that you have paid a dear and precious price.

I want you to understand that when you mess with one person from God’s family you mess with all of us, and trust me you don't want to do that, not to mention that you are messing with our God and that's not something that we take kindly to! Know that you have an army that is growing, and learning, and all of us have our eyes set on you and your pathetic excuse for a kingdom. I would tell you to get ready because were coming for you but it wouldn't help anyway! Your time is up, and your kingdom is coming down!

Sincerely,

Your Trouble.

P.S. – I dedicate this writing to my Heavenly Father, my earthly father, and to all those who take up the calling to Storm The Gates Of Hell! No mercy for the enemy, and all glory to the Father!

{{{We are in a war and we need to equip ourselves (Ephesians 6:10-18), and we need to understand that we do not decide if we want to fight or not. Our enemy is looking to attack us any chance he can get, to do anything that he can to hinder our walk in the truth. Take your place in the Army of the Lord, and pursue with your fullest the calling that God has for your life. Let's make the devil pay for the trouble that he causes! Follow the path of truth! Pray for the building up and establishment of God, His kingdom and His saints; and for the destruction and failure of the ways and kingdom of satan.}}}

“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the WHOLE duty of man.” (ESV; Emphasis added)

Through the short time that I have been serving God I have seen a good variety of things, not as much as some, but more than many people. Through these experiences that God has allowed me to take part in I have been forced to question some of my beliefs and opinions. Now don't misunderstand, I am not talk about my relationship with the Trinity, I am talking more about my understandings of what it really means to follow after Christ.

As you can see above the passage from Ecclesiastes talks about the WHOLE duty of man, and says that it is to, “…Fear God and keep His commandments…” If this is truly our whole duty then we should spend the time finding out what is true from the scriptures and what has been man made, so that we might find The Way and walk in it.

Many times when I hear people talk about these kinds of things, about real Biblical truth vs. man made religiosity, they often talk about other people but I want to talk to you about this topic hitting on points from my life. I figure that if someone is finding truth it doesn't matter if you look bad or someone else, right? ☺

Through adjusting from one culture to another, I have had the honor of being able to get outside of the American cultural mindset and into a mindset that is totally different. And before you say anything about me not liking America, I am not saying that I am talking about the great opportunity that some have to be able to have a multi-cultural/multi-national experience, and through this experience I have been able to see some things that might not be God given musts but maybe cultural norms. It has been quite an eye opening time, and before anyone gets too worried I am not saying that we should just do whatever because there is only culture, not any real truth. I have actually grown deeper and stronger in some convictions and understood that some of the things I had believed, and probably still some things that I believe now, were mans perversion of what God's word was really trying to say.

The one thing I really want people to understand is that, in the essentials we must be united! In the non-essentials we must give liberty! But in all things we must have love!

While being Here in this country I have encountered people and things that have “ruffled my feathers” and I had the choice, first, to just react to the things that were going on around me, or two, take the grace and love from God and do my faith, not just talk about it (James 2:14-26). I most definitely have not made all the right choices but I have learned that we need to read and understand the Word of God for ourselves that we might not be driven astray by strange doctrines (Ephesians 4:14-16), and that we might find that right Way, and walk in it, knowing that we have been given truth from the Trinity, Himself.

There is a band from Africa that has a song a really like and a part of one of their songs says “One love, one heart, let's get together and feel alright!” (Soweto African Gospel Choir).

When we think of being a Christian many things might come into our head. Maybe you think that you should go to church every week, or you have to read your Bible every day, or you should be able to love every church service you go to, maybe you think you should know more about the Bible. While these things would be good to have in our lives they are not what Jesus says is important about Christianity, which was simply known, shortly following the death AND resurrection of Christ, as “The Way.” John 14:6 says that Jesus is, “…the way, and the truth, and the life…” Jesus is the way, and not the things that we do or the rules that we set up for ourselves.

Recently I was listening to a Christian comedian by the name of Brad Stine, I really like this guy because he speaks the truth and doesn't apologize for it. At one point on his c.d. he talks about how we learn things about Jesus, about how He turns the other cheek, about how He is sweet, mild, gracious, and loving. He talks about how we learn that Jesus is full of forgiveness, and grace, and all these things are true, but there was a different Jesus, one that we don't get taught about. That Jesus turned tables over, and took a whip to people. Brad Stine asks “…you know what we call that in America? Assault and battery!” He said, we might laugh at that, but if someone takes a whip to you, you can put him in jail. Doesn't that seem like a sin, to swing a whip at somebody? Stine gives two possibilities: first, Jesus wasn't God, or second, sin isn't always what we think it is.

We try to make Jesus into something he wasn't. Jesus made a living out of ticking off the religious people. Now hear me out, I am not saying that we go around and beat people with whips, but I am saying that if Jesus is “The Way” then we should understand just what that “Way” actually is. I have worked at breaking away from religion and grabbing on to the true Jesus for quite some time, because I saw that the people that Jesus was hardest on were the religious people who took the truth of God's word and perverted it with the ways of man.

So today I want to ask you a question, are you real or religious? The religious people separated themselves from those that were not followers of God; Jesus dined, talked and spent time with those that did not know Him. The religious people spent much of their time practicing religious ceremonies; Jesus went out and loved on people as His practice. The religious people added rules and regulations that were not part of God's plan; Jesus did only what He saw the Father doing. As I have been here walking out things that I never thought I would be a part of I have begun to see some truth's about the life and ministry of Jesus; I would like to simply ask you to ask yourself the question, “is the way I am living now real or religious?” May you be caught in the freedom of “The Way!”

One of my friends came to me and said that he was really depressed and things were very hard in his life right now, more than they ever had been before. He said that he had tried to fill the void in his life with everything he could think of and nothing worked, but when he came and hung out with us it was the first time in a while that he had felt peace. I realized that what Paul says in 1 Corinthians: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.” Is something that is such an eye opener to the truth of situations that you will face. When things didn't turn out the way I was expecting I could look at this verse and see that in the same way that we are reaping where we have not planted, because of what we are doing others will be able to reap where they have not planted.

More than a hundred people have heard the Christmas story for the first time, and now, for the first time, have an interest and curiosity about the things of God. With an outlook such as this we can be excited whenever we share about God because no matter what the outcome we can have confidence in the fact that we are helping to expand the Kingdom of God. So remember that it is great to be a part of the harvesting process, but without those that plant and water there will be nothing to harvest.

My roommate and I have a friend who, when we met him, was weighed down with many burdens of life and pressures for success put on him by his family. His story reminds me very much about a book I am reading right now called “The Pilgrims Progress”. In this book the Pilgrim, whose name is “Christian”, realizes that he is destined for destruction if he continues in his current way. The truly terrible thing is that now that he has realized his state he knows not what he should do, his thoughts that go in every direction lead him to nowhere. Not only that but he has a heavy burden that is sorrowful to him that he cannot rid himself of even for a moment.

Just when all seems lost a man called “Evangelist” comes and helps Christian to find the way that he must travel to find the freedom and forgiveness that he so longs for. Christian walks through a journey that, at times, is extremely testing and frightening, but in the end he gains something that is so great that the trials that came before are as a distant memory.

In the same way our friend was walking with a heavy burden on his back. He was holding the weight of his family on his back and even held himself responsible for a sickness his sister had contracted before he was born. The Lord has showed Himself faithful though and has renewed much of this man’s life and is beginning the process of regeneration and empowering.

A short time ago the Lord spoke to me when a group of us were in a meeting that He had a new name for our friend. God said to me, talking about our friend, “he will be strong and courageous for my kingdom.” Call him Joshua. So I now call our friend “Joshua” as a name of prophetic vision. I want to tell this story one to tell of the great things that God is doing here but also to say that, in a Spiritual sense, God wants to raise up Joshuas (This goes for guys and girls) to help walk out in courage and strength for the purpose and pleasure of the Lord.