"Jesus did not come to Earth so that we can have a relationship with the Father, instead He came so that we can share in His relationship with the Father."
This past week at a glance...
*Every Wednesday we break up into groups and have a time of intercession for a country that our group has picked out! For some reason I haven't mentioned it thus far, and I feel the need to now! The group that I am in has chosen China to be our country of focus. Each week we have a different focus that we pray into. Some examples have been praying for the media, home, church, family, government, business, sports, and entertainment. I enjoy this time because it raises our awareness on things that are going on outside of our country and gets our eyes off of ourselves. China needs our prayers and I love being able to intercede in prayer for this country.
*On base there is a fellow student from the Phase 2 school who plays flute! I was humbled when Mats came to me and asked if I would be willing to give him lessons! I've been able to recommend some practicing material, and it feels so wonderful being able to teach again! I'm excited to see how God is going to use this love of mine in the future!
*Friday was Kingdom Night! Students from Musicians DTS, Phase II, and YP DTS all traveled to the Church in the City to start off Kingdom Night. We had a fantastic time of worship! We meet in the basement of this church where we blast worship music and just prepare our hearts while interceding for the city of Denver before we go out into the city.
While we were worshiping I heard the Lord urging me to dance with Him. I've had people come up to me throughout DTS and just say that Jesus longs to dance with me. Let's be serious... me? dance in a room with other people? I started making excuses in my mind and then I heard the Lord say to me that He's provided everything I need to dance with Him. The basement of this church has smooth wooden floors perfect for dancing, beautiful music was playing, and I was wearing clothes that I could dance in. Finally I gave in, because the truth is, I really did want to dance with Him. So I started dancing with Jesus... and I knew He was dancing with me. Nothing has felt so right than to forget the world around me and dance with my Father.
The energy in the room was explosive and actually everyone started dancing! We even created a dancing line because the joy was just flooding our souls! We followed this time up by agreeing in prayer with one another.
When we arrived at the 16th Street Mall a group of musicians felt called to worship at the beginning of 16th Street. That's where I stayed the whole night. We had four guitarists, a mandolin, a trumpet, D'jembe, 2 flautists, and vocalists. We played worship music in the street! People would come by and listen, then someone would spot them and just start praying for them. One man's arm was even healed! It was amazing to feel how the atmosphere of the place changed as soon as we got there and started playing! Such a wonderful and encouraging night!
*Friday was Kingdom Night! Students from Musicians DTS, Phase II, and YP DTS all traveled to the Church in the City to start off Kingdom Night. We had a fantastic time of worship! We meet in the basement of this church where we blast worship music and just prepare our hearts while interceding for the city of Denver before we go out into the city.
While we were worshiping I heard the Lord urging me to dance with Him. I've had people come up to me throughout DTS and just say that Jesus longs to dance with me. Let's be serious... me? dance in a room with other people? I started making excuses in my mind and then I heard the Lord say to me that He's provided everything I need to dance with Him. The basement of this church has smooth wooden floors perfect for dancing, beautiful music was playing, and I was wearing clothes that I could dance in. Finally I gave in, because the truth is, I really did want to dance with Him. So I started dancing with Jesus... and I knew He was dancing with me. Nothing has felt so right than to forget the world around me and dance with my Father.
The energy in the room was explosive and actually everyone started dancing! We even created a dancing line because the joy was just flooding our souls! We followed this time up by agreeing in prayer with one another.When we arrived at the 16th Street Mall a group of musicians felt called to worship at the beginning of 16th Street. That's where I stayed the whole night. We had four guitarists, a mandolin, a trumpet, D'jembe, 2 flautists, and vocalists. We played worship music in the street! People would come by and listen, then someone would spot them and just start praying for them. One man's arm was even healed! It was amazing to feel how the atmosphere of the place changed as soon as we got there and started playing! Such a wonderful and encouraging night!
Here is a picture of two of my classmates. Micah with the Djembe and Mats with the flute.
::Chris Failla : Jesus::
This week was one of my favorite weeks as far as teaching goes! Chris Failla was our teacher and a former YWAM student. He taught us on Jesus. I'll admit, at first I thought I had a pretty good handle on what all of this would be about. Well... I was wrong, and I'm glad I was! I have had a new passion ignited in me for the bible and studying scripture! It is so much more than what I've grown up hearing, reading, and knowing!
Here are some of the notes I took!
We started off by realizing that because of interpretations it can misconstrue things that have been taught from the bible being represented as truth. Chris used an example from his life that went like this. There was a time when his wife was talking to a mother from a different country. Chris's wife was being encouraging and trying to help the woman with different things, but the woman came to her later and said that she was deeply hurt. Chris's wife was shocked and bewildered wondering why. The mother said that she felt as though Chris's wife was saying that she was an unfit mother and needed help. Nothing about their conversation suggested that, but because of this mother's insecurities she misconstrued the conversation and took it personally. Man, how many times do we do that? I know I've been known to.
-"A filter of insecurity can misconstrue a conversation."
-"Shame causes us to interpret behavior statements as value and identity statements." -Paul Young "The Shack"
OK get this! What is the very first thing that we know about God in the bible? Well Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth." Is that all there is to that verse? Does it seem pretty straight forward? Well this totally blew my mind...
God (in Hebrew) is Elohim. In Hebrew the 'im' ending signifies PLURALITY! The word created, in Hebrew, is SINGULAR. So essentially what Genesis 1:1 says is, In the beginning they (the trinity) creates (unitary). Why is this important? God is all about relationships and He is a relationship. The enemy wants us to focus on God as singular, however, God is unity. He is 3 in 1. I would've never given this verse a second look. Crazy huh?
Did you know that Jesus was always God's plan? He wasn't a backup plan because Adam and Eve messed up. How do we know this?
Ephesians 1:4-5 " For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will-" We were always meant to be adopted through Jesus.
"The gospel is not an invitation to accept Jesus into our lives, but really the gospel is simply coming to terms with the reality that Jesus has already accepted us into His."
Oh my goodness I have so many examples of passages that I never truly understood in their entirety. I would encourage you to talk to me about some of this stuff when I come home so I can explain it better! With that being said... everything that I have written in my blogs I encourage you to scrutinize on your own. Check things with the bible and have a conversation with God about it. I'm no scholar, just a student that's trying to soak up as much as I can. I do the best that I can to try and represent what I'm learning through this blog. So please if you disagree with something, don't write me or YWAM off. Just seek the Lord and what He says. That's what is most important anyways. :)
Even though I have so many more wonderful notes I'll include this last one because if had such a profound effect on me. Chris had an example of 1 chair (which was higher, like a stool) and then separately he set up three chairs facing each other. He explained about how sometimes we view God as being up in heaven sitting on a throne and looking down at us. In reality though, He isn't sitting up "high", He is the other example of the three chairs all sitting with each other. God, Holy Spirit, and Jesus. The thing is... sometimes people have explained them as being 3 dudes sitting around and talking about the world and creating and such. Then Chris said, "Well that poses a problem for you ladies, doesn't it." As he started explaining this it resonated with my heart so much that I started to tear up. In Greek the word for spirit is "numa." This word is gender neutral. In Hebrew the word for spirit is "ryach." This is a feminine noun. Ummm what? See when God created man in the garden of Eden He said that both man and woman were made in His image. (Genesis 1:27) How could he create woman if we aren't part of His image? So you see... the Holy Spirit encompasses everything that is masculine and feminine. This may seem like elementary when you think about it. I mean it makes sense, but it hit me like a ton of bricks. Wow... :)
^^^ Those are just some little tid bits!
::THAIBODIA::
We are less than two weeks away from going to Bangkok, Thailand! Time is flying and I can't believe how fast lecture phase of DTS is rapidly coming to an end! I must say thank you again to everyone that helped to make this possible! Whether you helped through supporting me with encouragement, prayers, finances, the picnic, and/or the concert that I held... Thank you. :)
This week we got our work duties for while we are on outreach. Everyone has a different assigned job. I get to work with another girl in my outreach on preparing meals for everyone! Honestly it makes sense that I have the privilege to have this duty because while we have been living here at the base that has been my work duty here. Every other weekend I help to prepare/set up/ and tear down breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Saturday and Sundays. I could really use your prayers though because I'm not quite sure what to expect. I'm a super organized person and going to a new country having to brainstorm/prepare meals for 15 people 3 times a day gets me a little anxious sometimes. I know that God will provide and guide us, but prayers are always appreciated!
Check out these little guys! This past week I realized that I had this extra yarn that I had no idea what I was going to do with while on outreach. When you live out of a backpack for 2 months you really can't spare any room for balls of yarn. As I began thinking about possible solutions to this predicament God answered my question. I believe that God has called me to crochet these little hearts, and while over in Thailand and Cambodia give them to children. It may be seemingly small, however, I know if I was one of those children it might mean the world to me. It doesn't matter that there is a language barrier, everyone knows that a heart is the symbol of love... and God's love for those little sweethearts is simply unfathomable.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and stay involved in my life.
Love you all.
From My Heart,
Brielle Renee
P.S. Here is our video cast from this week!
P.S.S. In a recent blog I talked about Nefarious, the Christian documentary that investigates sex trafficking and prostitution. Below I have included the link to the trailer. It is just that profound.
Just as a disclaimer, be advised that it will shock you. I've seen the trailer multiple times and the movie, and every time... I still get tears in my eyes.
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