Departing New Zealand
My time in New Zealand is almost up. I find myself back in the House of Prayer at Changepoint Church where my journey 1st began. I feel like so much has taken place with my soul & my journey with God over my last 4 weeks here in New Zealand. Not long ago I sat here, amidst amazing prayer & worship yet did not want to be here praying and worshiping God for 4hrs. That was my fleshly desires not wanting to be in the presence of God for that long, funny to think about now looking back at how much has changed.
Now I write to you as a man with a changed heart. One who has found more who he is in Christ. I have tasted of what it’s like to pray and worship at the feet of God for hours a day and it is sweet. Helping do construction on the church and working the conferences taught me a great deal as well. My whole experience here has brought life back into my words, it’s given me new hope & new desires. In many ways I feel as if God had me come to New Zealand first so He could impart to me that warrior spirit of the Maori people. I know I will need it over the remaining 10 months on this trip and in my life in general. I’m excited to see the next step He has in my journey that awaits me in Cairns, Australia working with the Aboriginal people in the month of February.
As I have been challenged this month, I also want to challenge you my supporters & readers. I want to challenge you to desire to want more of God and who He is in your life. To set aside more time to pray, read His word, worship in His presence. God doesn’t want religious duty from us. He doesn’t want a distracted half hearted, “fine I’ll read a chapter now are you happy” attitude. He wants His word to be a delight to us. So much so that we meditate on it day & night. Don’t limit God by what you know about Him, seek to worship Him. When we press into God, He responds. Hearts get changed, healing occurs, lives are transformed, hope arises, and new desires surface. Then things here on earth begin to look a little more like heaven. This was Jesus intention all along that we would love one another well and love Him to bring a glimpse of what Heaven is like. Yes there will come a day when physically His kingdom will be brought to earth. We should long for that day as believers, as Jesus disciples.
Yet until that day, we are to act, talk, and love more like Jesus. Easier said than done I know, but it’s our call none the less. He loves you, He paid the price for us by sending His son to die for you and me. So what are you waiting for? May the God of the universe, the God who made you reveal more of Himself & His love for you as you make more time to know Him, worship Him, to delight in His words & meditate on them day and night.
I’ll leave you with this picture below. This is my squad mate Jeanne. We got to exchange greetings with the Maori people when we started our ministry. Not just any greeting but a traditional Maori Greeting. This is how they great one another and it has great meaning behind it. You shake hands and place your forehead and nose together and at the same time breath in through your nose. Sounds funny right? What this is symbolic of is sharing the same breath, the same spirit for a brief moment. We went down the line of people waiting to greet us like this, eventually it just became normal to us. I love the culture here. The people are very friendly, and do not like to ask surface level questions. Every time I got to speak with a Maori, they would greet you and the immediately ask “What’s the word Gods been putting in your heart lately” , or “What has God been revealing to you today?”. It’s tough because in the states we are used to the usual “How are you?” “What’s new?” and we usually respond with “Good”. Hard to get away with that here, which is just one of the reasons why New Zealand has taught me so much. It’s taught me how to be real and go deeper with the people in my life.
