For the LORD is good

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!

Serve the LORD with gladness!

Come into his presence singing!

Know that the LORD, he is God!

It is he who made us, and we are his,

we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!

Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations.

I have been trying to reflect on what I have learned over the past 10 weeks. We have had so many topics and speakers, each good in their own right. We have studied Character and Nature/Father Heart, Hearing God's Voice, The Living Word, Lordship, Kingdom, Prayer, Evangelism/Apologetics and Worldview, Identity, and Relationships. Each challenged me in a different way. Each had an impact on my heart. And so it's hard to say whether a topic or speaker hit me harder than another.

As part of our "homework" for lecture phase, we are required to complete a workbook. Part of the weekly workbook is to write out a devotion based on a characteristic of God. Over the past 10 or so weeks, I have studied God as Love, Sovereign, Servant, Holy, Jealous, Faithful, Patient, Good, and Trustworthy.

Through all of the lectures, interactions, and devotions, I have just been able to rest in His goodness towards me. That in itself may be me trying to define Christ, but I have seen it through everything that I have been hearing and learning.

The dictionary definition of good is:

Adjective

• To be desired or approved of
• Having the required qualities; of a high standard

Noun

• That which is morally right: righteous
• Benefit or advantage to someone or something

I have continually seen His desire for me. He has shown me that in knowing Him I can know love. That by knowing Him I can see His plan for my life; I can know how to live; I can live with Him despite my imperfections; I can be glorified with Him; that I am never forgotten; that I am given grace and mercy.

I always thought that after I do school, then I can lead and work. Or after I get this training or experience, then I can do x, y, z. I even thought that after I do YWAM, I will then hear Him speak; I will then feel equipped for ministry; I will then be a disciple. But it's not a now and then situation, it's an always. He has always spoken to me; He has always equipped me; I have always been working towards being a disciple. He has never forgotten me. He has never been circumstantial with His relationship with me. It has always been. He has always been good.

During Prayer Week, I remember pacing back and forth for hours, praying and crying out to God. Asking for a punch in the chest. A slap in the face. A deep revelation. Something. Anything to prove to me that He is truly real. That He is truly after me and wanting to use me.

I was seeking the miracle instead of the God who provides the miracle. I was after the creature instead of the creator. After the immediate instead of the eternal. I realized that regardless of those things taking place, that God is still good. He is still to be desired. He is still worthy of praise. He is still righteous. Those things are still worthy to pursue, but I will first and foremost seek Christ. To see Him face to face. To know Him in the quiet place. To have relationship with Him. To know that He is always good.

And then we come to Easter weekend to celebrate. To celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ. Christ lived a perfect life and died on the cross. He died thinking of you, of me, and all of mankind. In doing so, He overcame and defeated sin.

Do you see the power in that? We are not living life hoping and straining for victory. We can live because we have already won. Death has been defeated. Sin has lost its grip on me. We no longer need to struggle to live, but we can claim the victory and power of Christ. The victory that took place on the cross now lives inside of us.

God is so good!!! Will you claim it? Will you claim the victory that has taken place? Will you live differently because of what has taken place?

As Psalm 100 says, Will you make a joyful noise? Will you serve with gladness? Will you enter His presence? Will you know the LORD and know who you are? Will you come with thanksgiving and praise? Will you bless His Name? Will you know that the LORD is good because of His unending love and His faithfulness?

If we truly know the victory that has taken place, if we truly know that God is good and He shines His goodness on us, our lives should reflect that.

Know the victory that has taken place. Know that God is good.

Today we celebrate.

One Week

One week from today, we will be packing the vans and heading on our two month adventure. Details are coming together. Packing lists are being made. Dramas are being perfected. Unity is being built.

We are going with expectation and humbleness. Expectation to see God move in mighty ways, bringing glory to His name. Humbly knowing that it is Christ and only Christ that will change lives.

In recognizing that, we covet your prayers. Pray for:

• God to be glorified
• Unity of our team
• Health and attitudes
• Softening of the hearts of the Nepalese and Indian people
• Strength and Boldness
• Ministry opportunities to be provided
• Supernatural equipping for preaching, sharing, and loving
• Reliance on the Holy Spirit
• That we would go wanting to see and know more of Christ

God has been so gracious to our team. In how He has knit us together; all uniquely gifted and talented; all hungry to see more of Him; all desiring to see people know Him.

We are pumped! We are excited! Stoked to see what is in store!

I don't know how much contact I will have with all of you over the next two months. Nepal will be pretty remote, but India should provide some connection opportunities. We will also be updating a blog the best we can. Check out www.indianepal14.blogspot.com to get to know our team and to see updates.

Love and miss you all.

Cheers,

Zach

Updates on Updates

So I just spent an hour writing this super long post updating you on the last 3 weeks that I have missed. And I lost it. All of it.

I feel like a blogging noob.

Also, I apologize for being so behind. My computer was on the fritz for a week. I ended up having to get a new cd drive.

We also have been quite busy the last couple weekends, and I haven't been able to get to the blog.

So here I go again.

Prayer Week
Prayer Week was a huge blessing. Spent the week with Ben Gleason who happens to be from Devils Lake, ND and attended Minnesota State University-Moorhead. He staffs the SBS program on the Sunshine Coast and I was super blessed by his passion and wisdom.

We spent the entire week in prayer, rotating through 3 hour time slots for 24 hours for the full week. I was initially anxious about this, as I didn't know how I was going to pray for three hours, much less pray at 1am-4am. But it was amazing how God showed up in that place. God gave many visions, dreams, and words. Many were healed. Some ran around the room in hysteria. Others cried. And others were shown an extravagant love.

And then there was me. I paced and prayed for hours. Crying out to God to reveal Himself to me. Crying out for a tangible encounter with God the Father. Hoping for healing. A vivid picture. Tears. A revelation of extravagant joy. Or the weight of His imminent presence. Something to prove that I met Him. Something concrete. Something I could touch.

But it was in that moment that I realized I had already met Him. Yes I should seek the fruits and gifts of the Spirit for they are good. But even if nothing "happens" to me, God is still good. He is still worthy to be praised. He is still Savior and Lord.

There is a chance that I will never have a "tangible" encounter. Will I be ok with that? No, because I know Jesus has so much more for us. So I will continue to pursue those things. But no matter what, I will still recognize Him as Good and Worthy to be Praised.

And yet, I think He did meet me in that place. Towards the end of the week, we got the opportunity to be individually prayed over by some of the leaders. God spoke through Ben and touched my heart. He spoke things that only God could know. Plans, visions, and dreams for my future. Things like leadership, business, influencing men, creating, focus on the Word and Truth, informal teaching. Things that I thought to be pursuing for fleshly gain.

God sees my heart. He knows my desires. Don't deny yourself in order to glorify God. Glorify God with what you desire. He doesn't distinguish between secular and sacred work, but desires to see His Kingdom come in all areas of life. I am super stoked to be a part of that and look forward to what is in store.

Evangelism in Byron Bay
The next week we traveled down to Byron Bay, a city 3 hours south of the Sunshine Coast. Byron is a city of 10,000, but an estimated 1.7 million people come through the city in a year. Most come searching to find themselves in a city that promotes the hippie, carefree, soul searching, New Age culture.

In the midst of that, we were given the opportunity to meet and love people right where they were at. During the week, we held events in the park where we gave out chai tea, pancakes, and hamburgers. It created a natural environment to meet and care for people.

Through this I was able to meet Mark, Peter, Timmo, and Terry. All men who are at various stages of life, dealing with their own problems, and searching for something more. It was a great opportunity to just love on them. To listen. To care. To ask questions. And to point them to Jesus.

I think we so often forget that people are people. That they have lives, hobbies, jobs, families, problems, joys, etc., etc. And in forgetting that we tend to approach them as a project. A project that can be fixed by an evangelism program As something that can be fixed by a process. As something that can be approached with certain steps and brought to a point of conversion.

These things can be ok in the right context. I believe scripture and theological insight to be beautiful things. But how are you using it? Are you loving them in it?

People need to have an encounter with the Living God. To meet Him face to face.

So that's what we need to point people to. And that is how we are to live. To love people. To care for people. To have compassion. To listen. To ask questions. To be people who live what they believe. In that, people have an opportunity to see Jesus.

We cannot meet Him and not be changed.

Identity Week
After a busy few weeks, it was great to rest and simply be. To run back to our roots and find who we truly are.

Many of our problems today lie in us not knowing who we are. We lack our own identity. If you don't know who you are, you will be susceptible to conform to whatever comes your way.

So we need something concrete. Something we can run back to. A foundation.

The question of identity is by no means an arrival point or graduation. But a process. A searching and finding. A breaking and renewal. A finding and revealing.

It's weird to think that after 24 years of life that I would be struggling to know who I am. But I have found that I have so often placed my identity in false things. Trying to be the good kid. The smart kid. The morally right kid. The church kid. And not that these things are bad things to pursue in their own right, but they aren't solid. They are fleeting. They have the potential to crumble. To change.

Christ has never changed and never will. That is where my foundation must lie. He frees us to be who He has called us to be. He frees us to be Sons and Daughters of the Most High King. To be Citizens of Heaven.

That is something solid. Something I can run to. Something I can build on. My foundation.

Woof
That was a nutshell version of the last three weeks. And it may or may not be different than my first draft. It was a whirlwind, but a good whirlwind. In the midst of all that it is almost hard to believe that we leave for India/Nepal in 15 days....WHAT!!!!!

Its crunch time. We have been in full on prep mode. Trying to put dramas together, get stuff together for packing, and a lot of other miscellaneous trip details.

We just found out more details for Nepal. Our contact leads the the School of Frontier Missions in Nepal. His primary focus is on reaching people who have never heard the Gospel. So during our time in Nepal, we will fly to a remote part of the Himalayas and hike to the various villages, preaching the Gospel. I AM SO STOKED!!!

In the midst of that excitement, it's easy to forget how real it is getting. There will be days of hiking for hours. Days of dealing with poor weather (Highs of 50F and lows of 30F....and always a chance of rain). Days of being tired, sore, and maybe even hungry. Days of dealing with spiritual warfare and persecution. Days of sleeping on dirt floors and no showers.

And we haven't even gotten to India yet.

So we earnestly seek your prayers. Pray for:

• Wisdom and discernment for preparations
• A supernatural equipping for sharing, preaching, teaching, loving, and ministry
• A softening of our hearts for the people we are to encounter
• For/against/protection in spiritual warfare and persecution
• Health and attitudes
• Travel plans/schedules and overall safety
• Softening and awakening of the people we will encounter
• God to be supremely glorified

We will have a blog up soon to update you as well. Our contact in Nepal will be limited as we are very remote, but we will be sure to keep you updated once we arrive in India.

I have been  blessed to share this journey with so many of you. Thank you for your continued prayer and support. I am hoping to have one or two more updates before we depart.

Stay tuned....

Cheers,

Zach

This is our India/Nepal team photo. I had the photo for one day and already wrinkled it.

Back L/R: Phil, Riley, Frederick, Zach, Kyle

Front L/R: Katheryn, Naomi, Moira, Line, Catie

Some of the guys visiting the lighthouse in Byron Bay

L/R: John, Tim, Zach, Philipp, Frederick, Caleb, Dusty