Week 4: The Wonderful Cross

My friends. In the past week, Jesus has gripped me once again with the weightiness of the cross and the gravity of his grace and mercy. As revival historian Ray Hughes spoke last week the Spirit fell on our class and there was mass weeping and repenting as we all got revelation of how much we are so distracted by everything else in life and all too often forget the simplicity and severity of the sacrifice of our God hanging on a tree.

A a friend of mine would often say in his sermons, "The cross levels the playing field. It shows that we are all the wretched that God had to die in order that we be saved. But it also shows that we are all that loved, because God did die for us." It is said of Evan Roberts, known for his role in the Welsh revival of 1904, that one day while at a training school for ministry, he considered himself backsliden when he looked upon a cross that was hanging on the wall and didn't weep. We all might react in different ways but the point is that the reality of what God has done for us should stir our hearts.

The cross is the climax of all history. Everything in the Old Testament points to it, the gospels give its context and details, and everything from Acts on points back to it. My friends, there are untold depths of revelation that cross carries just waiting for kings to seek them out. (Prov. 25:2) Let us all take sometime to remember this great act of love, take it off the shelf, and put it back onto the center stage of our lives once again.
Let this be a daily meditation: "O the wonderful cross."

When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride

See from his head, his hands, his feet sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did ever such love and sorrow meet or thorns compose so rich a crown

O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross bids me come and die and find that I may truly live
O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross all who gather here by grace draw near and bless Your name

Were the whole realm of nature mine that were an offering far too small

Love so amazing, so divine demands my soul, my life, my all

The Kings Way - Jason Upton
Lead Me to the Cross - Hillsong

Week 3: Freedom in Christ

The first nine days here at YWAM Kona were spent getting free of a lot of things that have hindered us for most of our lives if not all. The root of a lot of our bondage comes  from unbelief. We simply don't believe that God's Word is true. Now I, like most of you, when asked would always tell people that God's Word is true, but the problem is our lives don't reflect it, and if we really believed it, our actions would testify of our belief.

"Even though we know all the promises of Scripture are true, it is easy to lose focus and become weighed down with cares, defeat, past hurts, hopelessness, and other areas of sin that keep us in bondage. These hindrances steal our intimacy with Christ and the joy of our salvation. Put simply, getting free, is about becoming more like Jesus and reflecting his love and power to everyone around us." *

"Freedom is not just about changing our behavior, it is about letting God change or very being! The goal is not to learn new information that we can store away, but the goal is transformation" *

Four basic areas:

• Repent - of believing the lie of Satan instead of the Truth of God
• Receive - Know/believe that you have been forgiven and move forward
• Rebuke - the enemy and his past hold over your life
• Replace - the spirit of ___ with the Truth of who God is and who He created you to be.  i.e. "I am___"

The first step is that you have to want to be set free. Some people have been in bondage so long that they are afraid to live life without it. Then you need to identify the sin and bondage that you want to be set free of, here are just a few: Shame, rejection, unforgiveness, anger, fear, passivity, body image, spirit of death (suicidal thoughts, self hatred, etc..) Then repent of believing the lies that the enemy has been speaking to you, and call sin sin. Then rebuke the enemy in Jesus name and finally ask God how he sees you via his Word and prayer (and if available, prophesy). Here is where unbelief is killing us and where I have been experiencing real freedom: Finally we believe what God says about us in that area and receive his identity for us and actually walk in the faith that this is who we are.This does not remove temptation from our lives or the enemy telling us lies, but what it does is in those moments, we are able to say to the enemy, NO! That is not who I am, I am______!

I hope this makes sense. If not or if you would like to learn more on getting free from the bonds that you were never meant to carry, then let me know!

If you want to hear the exact teachings we have heard on this in full check out the Circuit Riders podcast and listen to "Freedom to revival", "the unoffendable heart", and "Faith first, feelings second" by Brian Brennt

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/circuit-riders/id449476756



"[It is God] who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us, in whom we trust that he will still deliver us" 2 Cor. 1:10

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; but I came so that they may have life, and have it abundantly." John 10:10

"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ is a new creation. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"  2 Cor. 5:17

* Taken from:
"Knowing Christ intimately. Experiencing Life Abundantly." by Brian and Christy Brennt

Break Every Chain - United Pursuit

Week 2: School of the Circuit Riders - YWAM Kona

The more you know God, the more you will love him.
The more you love him, the more you will be able to love people.
Gods keeps no record of wrongs, if you are in Christ he has erased all record of your sins. They are gone. Live like it. Then go and do likewise and erase the record of wrongs done to you and view others through that clean slate, just as you are viewed through it by the Father.


There are about 300 people in our school, burning with revival fires in their heart, who are sold out on making Jesus famous in all the world. They are people who devote themselves to prayer and the Word of God. They are ones who love outrageously, who are full of faith and empty of cynicism and critical spirits, who are are passionate about the Word of God, and who walk in the power of the Spirit as they preach the gospel and love the least of these. Ones who speak truth, but so long as its coupled with love and ones who show love by speaking truth. We are about to see one of the biggest moves of God in history in the next 10 years. God is raising up a generation who are after one thing. Jesus. Knowing Jesus. at all costs. and then going out in simple obedience with a faith that obeys every word he says, without question, in both the big and little things of life. The wave of revival is coming and Jesus wants you to be a part of it. Are you willing to devote your whole life to this man Jesus? Are you willing to make your first priority to know him? and your second to making him known? This is what you were born for. To know him. God is going to use every vessel that is willing to go after him with wreckless abandon, to change the world in our generation and to complete the work of the great commission. I am serious. Wycliffe Bible translators predict that every tribe tongue and nation will have the Bible in their language by 2025. Matt. 24:14 says, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will  come." I don't know when Jesus is coming back but I know that time is short.

Simple obedience is the door. Intimacy with God is the key.

You guys...wow. For me personally, I really am having trouble articulating in words what is happening in me here. The best way that I can describe it is Jesus is doing a total cleansing. In the last few days I found that I was so full of unbelief, so full of a criticism, judgementalism, pride, and fear. But Jesus has done a major house cleaning in my heart and I have NEVER been so free in all my life! Basically, in the culture that all of us grow up in is so full of unbelief, criticism, etc and we are mostly blind to it... but because we are saturated in it, when we, or anyone, step out in faith we think, "Wow, that person has a lot of faith and are fearless" When the reality is that person is has just had a moment of or an act of faith when that is how every second of everyday is supposed to be lived. Does this make sense? I hope so, I am trying to articulate something that i really don't have words for, but let me put it in really simple terms: THERE IS SO MUCH MORE FREEDOM, MORE FAITH, MORE LOVE, FOR EVERYONE WHO IS IN CHRIST! WE HAVE YET TO SEE A SINGLE PERSON LIVE AN AVERAGE CHRISTIAN LIFE!

This is the best I got but if you want to hear the teachings that are rocking everything in our lives here at YWAM Kona then check out "The Circuit Riders" Podcast on iTunes for free! It is so worth the time listening. I can't recommend it enough.

Week 1: San Diego

Go West, Young Man!

Today I head out west to San Diego to stop over for a few days to see some friends on my way to Kona, Hawaii where I shall be doing a YWAM seminar called Circuit Riders. God is so faithful! 2 weeks ago I had no money, as of a few days ago I have it all! Thousands poured in from all over and made it possible, just in time, right on time. I am really excited about this trip. It is the first step in my future move to London on Sept. 15. I really feel that God is going to take me deeper into his heart and reveal more of his heart, love, and power. Pray for me as I come to mind. I want to know him! While on this trip I shall try to post at least on video blog a week to update you guys! May the Lord bless you today and give you your daily bread!

Soverignty and Freedom

Lately God has been growing my faith in his goodness and kindness toward me. If you had asked me a few weeks ago if God had the best plan for my life and that he works all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose, I would have said absolutely. I believed it, in my head,and I knew that's what God was like, but when hard things happen it really exposes your faith in his Word. Do you really trust that God has the best for you? Do you really believe that he works everything for your good if you love him? As God has been growing my faith in his Word and his kindness I have found his sovereignty so freeing! Even when things that I don't want to have happen happen, I can still delight in the fact that this will work out for my good! I can just sit back and rest in his arms and say I will go wherever, but if you don't want me there, then I don't want to be there. To know that he is in control and that he is crazy about me has given me such joy and peace. Rest in his kindness my friends. Trust in his plan. He is sovereign and he is good.

Finally, I Surrender - Misty Edwards