Hey our friend

By now we arrived in Germany and also went to the wedding of my brother. Wednesday night we will have an information night at our Church. Please pray for us that God brings people and really encourages and challenges them through our speaking. Pray also for the right words to say. Thanks for all your Prayers.

What is Unconditional?

Unconditional is a word which is hard to understand. When we look around we see that everything in this world has conditions. As an example if you buy a car you get a big list of terms and conditions, like you can only drive so many miles a year or you have to clean it a certain amount of time. Another good example is, when you do this for me i will do this for you. Or even in marriage people put conditions on each other; if you don’t do the dishes I will not take out the trash. Most of the times we don’t speak those conditions out loud but they are in our head and many times they are deeply rooted. It’s hard to find a true example in this world for unconditional. When we look at god and his love for us, we can see that it is unconditional.  The best example is in romans 5.8.: But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  I believe that speaks pretty clearly of the commitment god has to us. He didn’t put any conditions when he send his son to die on the cross.  No he just send him because he loves us so much and wants to see us free.
I want to challenge you to think different this week. God doesn’t put conditions on his love and neither should we. First ask god to give you more of his unconditional love to love others. When you deal with a person at work that is hard to deal with, love them besides all the challenges.  Bring flowers home to your wife just because you love her. Find a person that doesn’t know Jesus and love on them unconditional and don’t look and judge them by their differences.
When we start living this way it will change the perspective of people and they start seeing through us that god loves them no matter where they are at in their life. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to bring change into their life, no god always wants to bring people forward and help them grow.
So take the challenge.
Have a blessed week
Markus and Jen

Hey our friend

Wow this day came quickly. We are on our way to Germany. Tonight we will fly out. We are both really excited. Please pray for the ministry while we are gone. Pray for the new students that are coming and also all the Helpers that keep things going while we are gone. Please also pray for our time in Germany, that God will use us in the most fruitful ways and that many people are touched by His love.

Start your day right with a daily date with God Part 2

Last week we talked about that it is important to have a dedicated time for our date. We also talked about the part of thanking God for daily things and worship Him and how that gives us His perspective for things. This week I want to talk about 4 more important things.

1. Studying the bible.
   Studying the bible daily is a great way to get a deeper understanding of Gods heart for us and also about his character. A good way to read the bible is either in a chronological order (the way the books were written) or in a mixed version (a one year plan that has each day a part of old and new testament as well as psalms and Proverbs). You can also use a study guide to study the bible on a specific topic that God put on your heart. It is amazing how study times start speaking into your life situation and give you even more perspective. We use an app called you version which you can get for all the smartphones and it has many translations as well as many great reading plans.
2. Spend time to listen to God and what He has to say to you. That is a very crucial time in your quiet time. When you spend time with God and listen you can be more confident in making decisions and trusting that He will guide you. Don’t look at your clock and already think about the next five things you need to do, just be there. It takes time to be able to just sit in His presence and just have Him refresh you. In our western culture we are really driven and think we always have to achieve something, even in our times with God. But I encourage you that is not the case when spending time with Him. Just be still and let Him refresh you. Trust me He has lots more energy then we do.
3. Spend time praying for people God placed in your life. It is really important for us to pray for others that don’t know Him or that are going through a hard time. Also praying for family and friends is a significant thing. Prayer changes everything. We literally see that everyday in the ministry here. When you pray you are inviting God to move. And trust me He will move. We saw people being set free from financial debts, sickness and many other things. God works in todays times.
4. Put on the Armor. When the Knights in the middle ages went out of the castle for battle you could be sure that they would wear there armor to protect them from any attack. The same way they put an armor on God gave us an armor that we have to put on. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6.10-18 about it. So every morning before you leave the house pray for every piece of that armor so God can put it on you and you are ready.

These are some suggestions for a quiet time. We hope it helps you, if for sure helps me and Jen. Try to apply them to your daily date with God and see how it works for you. Also adjust it to whatever God wants to do in your life in this season. The main thing is have a daily quiet time with Him!!

Have a blessed week
Markus and Jen

Hey our friend

We hope you had a great week. After the retreat we came back to San Francisco refreshed and ready to go back out and share the good news of our loving father. We are also getting ready for our time in Germany. Please pray for this time that God will really encourage and challenge people to totally step into the calling He has for them. Thank you for your Prayers.

Start your day right, go on a daily date with God Part 1

Many times I heard the question how do you spend a time with God. We want to share with you about that over the next few weeks.

First of all dedicate a time for it. Don’t just use it as a time filler, because your day will fill up quickly and many times your time with Jesus will be the first thing that will go. So make a time in your day and make it a priority. You would not cancel a date with your wife/ husband/ girlfriend or boyfriend easily so make those dates priority as well. For us it’s the best in the morning before we start our day.

Start by thanking God for things He did in your life. Start with little things, like a bed to sleep in, food etc and then look at other things He did. That will change your perspective from an attitude of lack to an attitude of thankfulness. Another thing that will change your perspective is to worship Him. When you do that you take your focus of yourself and put it on God. Spending time in His presence will encourage and build you up. It will help you to start seeing things out of his perspective and with Him literally nothing is impossible. When you go on a date with a significant other you would want them to feel special, right. That is the same with God, make Him feel special. I put a little list together with some wonderful worship songs on the bottom of this blog.

Make sure when you do that to put your focus on Him and not your day that is ahead.

Next week we want to talk about a few more things that your date with Him can involve.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Hey our friend

We hope you had a week that was as good as the week that we had. We had our yearly YWAM Staff retreat with the theme of Isaiah 37.31 take root downward and bring fruit upward. It was all about how to deepen our relationship with God and get more rooted in him. And then work out of that perspective in our ministries and see fruit come out of that. Here is a link to the photo album from the retreat.

We also have a few prayer requests that you can join us in praying. Please keep praying for salvation for the people we work with here in North Beach. Please also pray for a friend who lost his dad, pray for comfort over him and his family. Also pray for the family of another friend who lost their sister in law. They have 2 daughters who are in desperate need of prayer since they just start high school and are in the middle of grieving for there mother.

What big trees can teach us

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another John 13:35

A few weeks ago we were at a wedding and the Pastor was giving this illustration of Redwood trees. Redwood trees are really tall but there root system is not going down very deep, but instead there roots are going really wide. But how do they hold up against storms? There roots are connected with other Redwood trees around them and through that they have an immense strength to withstand against any weather attack.  When we look at the example of Redwood trees we see something that is significant for us as Christians and for us as churches. We are not called to stand alone; we are called to stand together. When we do that we are way stronger.  Just think about this, all churches and Christians start standing with each other instead of against each other, what impact would that make in this world? If one church or Christian is hurting and everyone is taking care of them, what would that do? I believe it would change the perspective of the world about Christians. Jesus shares about that in the verse I put at the beginning of this blog. Jesus gave us the tools to change the world. Instead of fighting each other over disagreements, let’s work together in the things we agree on. Let’s live the things Jesus taught us and through that see a strengthening in His church which will lead to a weakening of Satans influence. Lets work together as His Church!!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcUS09pi2PE

Hey our friend

We hope you had a really blessed week. Today I have a special prayer request for you. One of the first friends we made in the neighborhood has cancer and it seems that he has only a few more months to live. Please join us in Prayer that he will accept Jesus in the time he has left. We saw great things happen in his life over the last few years so keep praying that God will help Him in making this life changing decision. In 3 weeks we will leave for Germany to meet up with family, friends and supporters. Pray for a fruitful time over there while sharing and reconnecting and also that we get all the needed preparation done before we leave. Also pray for good connections for Jen since it will be the first time for her being in Germany.

This week we will have a staff training week with all the YWAM San Francisco Staff. Pray for good learning and fun together.

 Love changes Perspective and helps to overcome

Over the last 10 years being in ministry I saw this statement being true many times. Many times I worked with people and have had a hard time understanding why they would not change. Many times they kept making the same bad decisions over and over again. That was a pattern that kept happening over and over again. In those times I asked God for more of his love for the situation as well as the people. After I did that I got a deeper understanding and through that a love for them. Most of the time the situations didn’t change right away, but I was encouraged to stay on track and not give up on them. I just loved on them despite their circumstance. Because of doing that I experienced many changes in people’s lives and after a while saw them overcome whatever was holding them back from changing.  Again it is not easy and it is a love that you have to ask God for on a daily basis, but it is worth it. The second thing it does, it builds community. If you truly love on people they are close to your heart and you care about them. That’s a reason why you want to spend time with them. Through spending time with them and having them being a part of your life you are inviting them into your community. Through that, you will see more of a long-term change. Many people fall back into whatever their stronghold was if they don’t have a loving and supporting community around them. We are not made to be alone, we are all made for relationship. And out of a loving relationship we are growing because we have others look into our life and help us to see the blind spots and help us to break free from them. If you have a hard time reaching out to people and find people to love, read again over our 10 week series how to make true friends and change the world. Make it one of your goals for this month to find someone to love on and help them to grow through that.

Have a blessed week and know that you are loved and show it to someone else.

Markus and Jen