Tag Archives: father

It is well with my soul

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it is well with my soulLast year when we were on our way to Germany to go to the funeral of my grandpa we had to go on a 6 hour drive to LA. On that drive we listened to worship music and the song it is well with my soul just kept coming back on. It really encouraged me and brought me hope during that time. When I looked into the story of the song I was amazed. It was written by a Chicago lawyer after he went through many tragedies. First he lost his son, then he lost most of his wealth in the big Chicago fire and then he sent his wife and daughters to Europe for a vacation on which trip the ship collided and all 4 of his daughters died. On his way over to meet with his grieving wife he wrote this song:

1. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say:

Chorus:
It is well, it is well, with my soul. It is well, with my soul!
It is well, with my soul! It is well, it is well, with my soul!

2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control, that Christ has regarded
my helpless estate, and hath shed His own blood for my soul.

3. My sin, o, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

4. For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live: if Jordan above me shall roll,
no pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

5. But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
the sky, not the grave, is our goal; O trump of the angel!
O voice of the Lord! Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

6. And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound,
and the Lord shall descend, even so, it is well with my soul.

His life was hit by one tragedy after the other, but in all of that he kept his focus on God. I’m sure he didn’t understand why things happened the way they happened, but he choose to keep believing that his Father in Heaven is good and does not want any bad for him. Ask yourself those questions:

  1. Do you truly believe that God is good even in times of challenge?
  2. If not, what do you think makes you believe it is not true?
  3. Spend time praying and ask God how you can see this truth again in your life!

Hey our friend

We hope you had a wonderful week. My brother and his wife left to go back to Germany. We had a wonderful time with them and look forward to see them again!! I was also meeting with a friend who uses the ministry concept to bring hope to his community. We also shared with one of my old students from Switzerland on how to impact his area with the ministry concept. God is starting to bring in more people who have a heart for their neighbors and community and want to use the concept there. Keep praying that all those starts will be fruitful.

Thank you for your Prayer and financial support. You are such a huge blessing to us. We are still in need of $1440 more monthly support to be fully funded. If you or someone you know would like to join our team in that way click on this link to see how!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

The Fathers heart

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Hey our friend

We hope you had a wonderful week. Last week I (Markus) was teaching a finance class in our 360 Discipleship Program at the YWAM Base. Pray that God will help them to use all the tools I gave them to get back on their feet. We also had a dinner with the board of YWAM San Francisco and shared with them some updates on the ministry. It was a wonderful time.

This week we will be teaching the DTS. We will also meet with someone about the concept and how they can practically implement it in to their area. Please keep us in your Prayers since it will be a different week for us. Thank you so much.

We also want to ask you to consider joining our monthly financial support team. Find out more by clicking on this link. Thank you for considering us.

The fathers heart

2013-02-18 09.01.23-2This week I’m teaching all week in our Discipleship Training School on the Father Heart of God. It is one of those topics that is so essential to our relationship with God. When we look at many children and how they grow up without a father, an abusive father or a father who cares more about his own goals then about his child, we see more and more problems rising up in the lives of the children. But that is not the way God is. He is a loving father who has always time for his children. But many out there don’t know that. Here are some tips on how to show people more of the father’s heart.

  1. Be a father to people:
    Each of us presents God on this earth by the way we live. When we reach out to people in love it starts to transform them. It starts to soften their heart and enables them to receive from God. When you feel loved from someone you are more likely to share with them and be real with them, right? If that is true for you it’s true as well for others.
  2. Share with them about God:
    After they are more open you need to share with them who God really is by using the different examples that the bible gives us about the father heart of God. Best example is the story of the prodigal son. Show them how Father God is different than any earthly father. He cares about his son even after he messed up big time. Another great one to share is the fathers love letter. It shows in many ways the heart of God for us.
  3. Pray for an Encounter with the Father:
    Knowing the father heart of God cannot be achieved only by head knowledge. No that person needs to have a personal encounter with God. And that is the part where each of us can play a significant role. You need to start praying for a real encounter for that person with Father God. Also pray against walls that are build up in them against Him because of their earthly fathers.  Its important that some of them are broken down for them to even be open to God.

Remember a real encounter with Father God brings transformation in a Person.

Start bringing Gods father heart to people around you.

Have a blessed week
Markus and Jen

Alfred Nobel’s (peace price) legacy

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Hey our friend

20141004_165423_Richtone(HDR)We hope you had a wonderful week. Here in San Francisco we are experiencing right now our summer months with temperatures up to 96F which is very unusual for here but we wont complain since we actually really enjoy it! About 6 months ago we started an encouragement group at Café Roma. It is amazing to see how each person that comes is encouraged when they leave. It is a very simple concept but it literally brings hope and courage to people. Start one in your area. Email us to learn more on how to do it.

Please keep praying with us in this season for North Beach San Francisco. Over the last few months we had many car break ins in our neighborhood as well as robberies and other violence. Most of that violence is located on Broadway which holds 8 strip clubs in a very small area, which draws many other problems. Pray for protection over the police while they are doing their job and pray for the people that go into the clubs as well as the women that work there. Pray for Gods peace and love to come to those places. Thank you for praying with us!

Alfred Nobel’s (peace price) legacy

20141004_165257A little while ago  I heard the story of Alfred Nobel, the founder of the nobel prize (see more of his story on Wikipedia). Nobel was the one that invented dynamite. Many years into his life his brother Ludvig died while being in Cannes. But the French newspapers thought Alfred died and wrote this as an obituary: “Le marchand de la mort est mort (“The merchant of death is dead”) Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.”

After Alfred read his own obituary he came to the realization that people would remember him of something he doesn’t want to be remembered for. So he created the Nobel Prize. In his will he left 94% of all his money towards those prices. The most famous one is the Nobel Peace price and that is also the thing Nobel is remembered for.

If a newspaper would write a obituary about you today what would they write about you? But more important what would you like them to write about you? But the most important what would God want them to write about you?

These are good questions to ask when we go on with our everyday life. Ask yourself and then write out a obituary for yourself with all the things you want to be remembered for as well the things God called you for. Read it every morning and live your day focused on that finish.

Remember!!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

http://youtu.be/JPOVwKPMG8o

P.s. Any fulltime ministry always comes with a cost. For Jen and me it is the cost of San Francisco. City ministry is expensive, but in the same way really needed since more and more people in the world live in cities. Consider joining our support team. We still have a way to go, but we are praying for that by January next year we are fully funded through committed monthly support. During this year we lost a few monthly supporters, so to reach that goal we need about $2852 more monthly. You can support us with any amount you like since no gift is too small or too big. Click here to find out more on how to do it! Thank you for considering us.

Invest your most precious gift, your time

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Hey our friend

20140902_101641_Richtone(HDR) 20140902_085513_Richtone(HDR) 20140901_095028_Richtone(HDR)We hope you had a wonderful week. Jen and I got really blessed with a trip to South Carolina. Last year a good friend from the neighborhood passed away and he told his son that he should do something special for us so his son flew us out to his home in South Carolina. It was an amazing time with also remembering this wonderful friend. Thank you friends for that wonderful time.

While we were gone everything else just kept moving forward. One of our Staff started to give Computer classes for seniors in a local neighborhood center. Through that we are able to connect with more people and also bring hope to some of the elderly by connecting them for some to their far away family by email.

Invest your most precious gift, your time

When Jesus talked about to love our neighbor in Mark 12.31 it was not just a good advice, not it was a command. So in a practical way that means: To love someone we have to invest in them. If you want to see an outcome in anything you are doing you need to invest into that area. If you think about your finances, if you put all your money in a box under your bed you will not have any gain. But if you invest it you hopefully will see a gain. The same is true for relationships. When you spend time with family or neighbors and invest in them as an example by encouragement, bringing them closer to Jesus, help them with garden work, just spending time with them, you show in a practical way that you care. You are showing them by your action that they are loved. Over the years I met many fathers, but I have to say the best ones where the ones that took time out of there busy life to spend it with their child. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter what you do in that time, just you showing up already makes the difference.

I want to challenge you this week to make your most precious gift available to further the Kingdom, your time. Pray this week and seek God on how and who you should invest in. I promise you none of that time will be wasted.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Love your Neighbor

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Hey our friend

We hope you had a great week. After a wonderful time in Pennsylvania with seeing family and celebrating at the wedding we started into a great week back in San Francisco. During this world cup season we often get the opportunity to connect with more people through our coffee shop work. Its awesome how little conversations will often leave a lasting impact. We also saw progress in many other areas of the ministry. Please keep praying for our training in July. We still have to finish up some more teachings and details.

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Our Winter 2014 DTS North Beach Team.

We also celebrated the graduation of our Winter DTS school. We were for them but also sad to let them go. Please keep praying for them while they transition

ywamAlso some good news from the YWAM Base: We got into a purchase agreement with the owners!! Yeah praise God. Now we have to work on raising 3.2 million dollars for the rest of the cost to keep going with all the ministries. That sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but more the 12.000 people helped out or worked with the ministries of YWAM San Francisco since its beginning. So if each of them gives $270 we are there. Help YWAM San Francisco in this journey by praying, giving and sharing of the need with others. You can find more info here on how to support:  http://www.ywamsanfrancisco.org/miracle/
or share directly the posts from the YWAM Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ywamsanfrancisco

Thank you for all your help with this.

Love your Neighbor

When we think about missions we often think overseas work or going on a short term mission trip. That makes it sometimes so easy to say that we can’t do that since we have a full time job or we cant afford to travel some other place. Many times the language issue is there as well. But guess what, there is a way. Jesus himself gave us a really good guideline which makes it possible for each of us to do missions: love your neighbor.

Some of us will say: It is hard to love our neighbor because they did something we didn’t like. Maybe some say we haven’t even met all of our neighbors. Others might say I don’t have time. But the truth is Jesus called each of us to be part of the great commission.

So how can we love our neighbor? Maybe through a simple word of encouragement, a helping hand when they need it or a dinner.

Think about it this week how you can love your neighbor. We have also written a 10 week series last year which can give you some more tips. Here is the link to the final part of the series which gives you links to all of the topics: https://markus-jen-news.com/lets-look-back-to-look-forward/

Be encouraged and challenged!

Markus and Jen

P.s. I saw this clip a little while ago and it shows how loving someone is making a difference