Hey our friend

Wow an eventful week here in San Francisco went by in the wink of an eye. First we had all our normal events going on in North Beach, but then we had a few out of the ordinary ones as well. On Thursday we had a team of 17 Students from Bethel Church’s Super Natural Ministry School in Redding partner with us in ministry. First we shared with them about our heart for the ministry here and then we went together with them on a Prayer walk and treasure hunt. We love the special anointing God has given that church for revival. It was also amazing to see how many people you can teach in a small space. And on Friday we had a college team from Idaho join us as well for a Prayer walk. On Friday night we had the YWAM community night (if you missed it you can watch the Video Recording at the end of the blog) with a speaker who shared about how to learn about the community you want to influence and to not burn out while you do it. It was great. And Saturday we went to a conference of the same speaker learning some more. If you are interested here is also a link to his newest book which speaks of most of the stuff he talked about.

Thank you for your continuous prayers and financial support for us and the ministry here. God is really moving in mighty ways through them. May he bless you richly for that!

How to make decisions Part 2 Decisions guided by circumstances

Last week we talked about how we have to pray and listen to Gods voice when we make decisions. This week I want to talk a bit about situations where decisions are made for you by circumstances.

Like last week lets look at a story in the bible, Joseph. When you look at his life you notice that most of the decisions in his early years weren’t made by him. He was sold into slavery by his brothers without a choice. He served then at the palace of Potiphar without having a say in that. But in all of that he served really well in his full capacity. He gave the best he could. Even after being accused of things he didn’t do he still served well. It lead him to a place of power in the palace and made him the second most powerful person in whole Egypt. So sometimes decisions are made by circumstances. But the important thing is that we keep having the right attitude in those and keep moving forward. Sometimes the decisions are not up to us, but we have to trust in the process that God can still use them to work for the greater good.

As an example. I have a good friend who has a brother who had a baby with someone. But the brother didn’t take care of the baby instead he is using drugs. So my friend took on the child and took care of it. It was not my friends choice to have a baby, but the circumstances brought him to the place that he just had to help the child. He served in the circumstance to his best capability.

Think about the decisions that were made for you in your life, and then think about how your attitude was in those circumstances. Did you serve to your best ability or did you just do the bare minimum? God can use every circumstance in your life to bring you forward, but you just have to trust Him and serve well.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Video streaming by Ustream

Hey our friend

 We hope you had a wonderful week in the Presence of our wonderful Father in Heaven. Its just so awesome doing that. We went to a Fundraiser this week for a ministry that helps women to choose a child instead of abbortion. They help them with diapers and other services after the child is born. They were sharing that San Francisco has about 34.000 pregnancies a year and 18.000 of those are ending up in abbortion. Please pray for those women to choose the life of those children. God loves each one of them dearly. Here is a link so you can find out more about them and how to support the work they are doing!

Our Students are leaving the 7^th of April for Outreach and have only 2 more weeks in the city. Keep them in your prayers that they will be open to what God has for them for the remainder of their time in the city as well as for outreach and after. One of our Staff is working on a prayer map for our neighborhood. It will enable us to take more church groups or Christians from the neighborhood activated in that area of ministry. Spend some time praying for your town today.

How to make Decisions Part 1 Decisions guided by God

All of us are faced with decisions on a daily base. Some of them might be simple decisions like which shirt to wear or what to eat. Others might be a bit harder like where to apply for a job or what to do with our lives.  Simple decisions are fairly easy to manage, but how do you manage big life decisions?

When we look at the different people in the bible we see a pattern which guides them. Moses as an example was always connected with God when he was making decisions. When he stood in front of the red sea he got the direct command from God to hit the water with his stick so they can pass through. I’m sure he was thinking about many other ways how he could get Israel away from the Egyptians, but he trusted God. Before David went into battle he always consolidated God to make the right decisions. The battle didn’t start when he went to fight a battle, no it started when he prayed and spend time with his father in heaven. After he did that he had the confidence and assurance to be on the right track. Another great example is Jesus.  He always prayed and spend time with His father before he did things. But after he prayed, he was moving forward.

A few years ago I went on a jail visit to see some of our street kids. But one thing we forgot was to print out directions to the jail. So while in the car I asked God for guidance, and he guided us in the decision making of which way to go. We ended up being faster at the prison than ever before. So it is important to listen to His voice.  SO the first part in making decisions is to pray and ask God for guidance in your situation. Start this week with little situations and ask for His guidance in making those.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Hey our friend

We hope you had a great week. Send us on update on how you are doing and how we can pray for you.

We had lots of great things going on here in San Francisco. We had a great meeting with our small group and a wonderful time with our encouragment group. We had a new person come which was awesome. Please pray with us for more people to come to connect with each other. We also had a neighborhood exploration tour with 20 Pastors from the city in which a Pastor shared with us about how he reaches the people in his community. It was an encouraging networking time. Thanks for all your prayers and financial support. You are a blessing in our life!!

You make, all things, work together for my good

During my week I try to have times of worship. Sometimes I just put worship songs on and just worship God. The other day God just started to speak to me through the lyrics of the Jesus Culture song your love never fails. I felt a bit overwhelmed with the amount of work that was ahead of me and all things that were going on with the ministry (mainly good things). So when the song started playing I let the lines sink in and started to feel encouraged.

It spoke about different stories in the bible to me like the prodigal son (Luke 15.11-32) in this part:

Nothing can separate, Even if I ran away,
Your love never fails.
I know I still make mistakes.
But You have new mercies for me every day.
Your love never fails.

God always has his arms open to run back into. Even if we fail at times Gods love doesn’t change or fail. He still loves us the same. He is still the same loving father.

Then it goes to the Chorus:

You stay the same through the ages. Your love never changes.
There may be pain in the night but joy comes in the morning.
And when the oceans rage, I don’t have to be afraid.
Because I know that You love me

It is amazing how it reminds us of the consistency of God and how it will never change. That is a great reminder for every person that struggles with transition. God will be the same. And then the next part about how pain can happen or how we can be in hard seasons, but we still have to remember that there is an end to that as well and that we can have joy again. Gods love never changes. It reminded me of the story where Jesus slept in the boat in the middle of a huge storm (Matthew 8.23-27). But it was OK for Him since He knew the whole time that His father had everything in His hands.

This was just the first part of the song but can you see how rich it is and how it can encourage you in such a deep way. When you look at the Psalms in the bible you see the same thing. Songs written to worship God, connect with Him and to challenge or encourage the reader or singer of them. So if you go through a hard time or when life is great get some encouragement by worshiping God through worship songs or Hyms or by reading out the Psalms. Next time you are in church focus on the lyrics and see how God wants to encourage you.

We wish you a blessed week with the final line of the Song.

You make, all things, work together for my good.

Markus and Jen

Hey our friend

We had a good week here in San Francisco. We started a new work at the coffee shop, an encouragement group. The first time we were able to encourage a total stranger and help her to see more hope in her life. Please pray with us for more people to come that need encouragement.

We also got invited to the fundraiser for the boys and girls club with all of our students. It was an amazing time.

Soon we will send out our Newsletter which will share a bit more about our last few months. If you haven’t gotten our newsletter in the past, but you would like to get it, sign up here under this link. Be encouraged while reading!

Staying true to your faith even in danger

We all heard the story of Daniel in the lion dent in the book of Daniel chapter 6. It was told many times in Sunday school. The focus was always on the fact how God saved Daniel from the lions. But there was something else that stuck out to me when I read it recently, the part of how the people set him a trap and made the King sign a law which made it illegal to pray to anyone else then the King. What did Daniel do after he heard about that law?

But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. Daniel 6:10 NLT

Daniel knew the God he was serving and had a deep relationship with him.

In times of trouble and danger he knew where he could find help. But not only that Daniel never walked away from his faith even it would mean death. He stood strong. But through that god was able to even strengthen his faith more with showing up to protect him from the lions. I think sometimes it is so easy to take the easy way out of situations and compromise our faith. But through that we are actually robbing ourselves from experiencing gods love in a new way and especially growing deeper in our relationship with him. I believe we should all ask ourselves daily the question: Do I live my faith in a way that it can really cost me something?  Where is my relationship with Jesus at and do I know and believe that true love he has for me? The only way we would do something like Daniel is if we truly know and believe that whatever happens we are in the loving arms of our father. Spend time with your daddy in heaven this week and fall more in love with him.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Hey friend

We hope you had an amazing week. Ours was wonderful. We could take a part in a book release in our neighborhood and through that connect with more people in the neighborhood. We also did our Prayer time in the Park. Every Tuesday we pray over the park in our neighborhood and invite Gods presence which encourages and brings transformation into the lives of people. Do the same and pray over local parks and Playgrounds in your area and invite God to bring transformation.

Loving Him and receiving His love brings truth

When you look at different race drivers you notice that the main goal in their life is to win. They are almost addicted to winning. Some drivers literally need to prove every race, that they are the best, otherwise they don’t feel being good enough. This feeling of having to proof something and not being good enough translates into many other areas as well, not just racing. It can be business or friendship or pretty much every area of our life. But where does that come from? I think there are different roots to this issue like people not being affirmed by their parents in who they are.

But many times that issue is connected to a deep believe of being not good enough. Many times people try to proof that they are good enough by showing it with their success. But the truth is we will never be able to satisfy this feeling in us. If you look at the most highly successful people, they are still not satisfied; they are still striving for more to bring that proof.

The only way to deal with this issue is to start believing that we are truly loved not because of what we do just because of who we are. God is the only one that can bring a total satisfaction in that area. But how do we get to a place in our life that we can have that?

We have to be desperate for God and make Him the number 1 priority in our life. How does that look like?
First we need to set your priorities right. As an example if you have only a few minutes of time set aside per day, to spend time with God, you need to change that. Your relationship with Him is the most important thing in your life.
Second we need to wait for Him. When you look at the Psalm writers and how often they talked about on waiting for God you see the importance in it. Are you willing to wait for Him till you fall deeply in love with Him? It is important to wait. I believe in waiting we are showing God that we truly care about Him. If you are going on a date with your significant other, you would be willing to wait for them even If it takes time and the reason is because you love them. This is not about God playing with you; this is God seeing how desperately you really want Him.
Third spend time in His presence. When you are waiting for Him and you start feeling His love, spend time. His love will transform you. You will get a deeper understanding and knowledge of the fact that you are loved but you also will fall deeper in love with Him. As more you fall in love with Him, as more your value system will change.

As more you love Him as higher you start putting Him on your priority list.

I know that all of this can be a challenge since time is one of our most valuable things in today’s time. But I promise you that it will be worthied. Use this time of lent to focus on the love God has brought to you by sacrificing His son and make Him your number 1 priority.

Your friends

Markus and Jen