What did I miss?!

A lot.

Is the answer to that question.

Explanation: I was without my computer for two weeks, and once I got it back, SO much had happened and I didn’t even know where to begin on here. I have now decided I have put it off far too long, and I will tell you there is going to be a gap so wide between what happened in the time I did not post. I have been journaling everything though and will probably be able to go back and fill in that gap sometime in the future.

Not now though. That makes too much sense.

But! What’s going on in my life! Okay. I’m still at Bethel. That hasn’t changed. And I still love it so, so much. But, you know that. Things you don’t know:

1. I was at a retreat at a YWAM base in Chico with my revival groups and a couple of others. And that was a time of absolutely astounding breakthrough. The last night in Chico, Mark Brookes preached a message on joy, and that alone could have made the night one of the best here. But it did not stop there. After the message, we just began to receive God’s glory in the room and celebrate and be joyful in that, and I was out. On the floor, don’t remember getting on there, but in the time I was, God had taken me in a vision out of the auditorium looking over the building. In the vision the building was ablaze because of all of us inside being totally consumed with this fire of the Lord. Anything we touched would set ablaze with the same fire. Atop of the building were two angels dancing in celebration of our fire for the Lord. The vision ended, and I meditated over it on the floor in the auditorium and went about my night as normal. As I was walking back to the lobby of the main building at the base I turn on the stone stairs outside and look back at the auditorium, and see the angels from my vision dancing on the auditorium with my naked eye. I was in unbelief for a brief moment, but knew I wasn’t just seeing things. Immediately I was moved to tears and I sat down just watching in awe. Ever since that moment, I have been able to hear God’s voice more easily and frequently just in my daily life, and that has been the breakthrough I’ve been looking for! God’s so good!

That is just a brief version of one of the many, many things happening within and around me here.

2. And now! I am in the middle of one of the best weeks so far! (They have all been one of the best weeks so far). But this week in particular is all Kris Vallotton, and we are being trained in the prophetic! The gift I probably lean towards the most in developing. I have gotten so much out of this week and hope to get so much more, which I know I will. There is something powerful being imparted by standing under these so anointed individuals’ umbrellas. Just being in the environment makes me feel that much more confident in moving in the gifts of the Spirit.

This was just a quick post to let you know that…

Billsatbethel and still alive!

Week One of School!

Okay. So I’ll be totally honest here.

I get a little intimidated in a good way whenever I jump on here to post something new because there’s just so. much. In each and every day. That I could put on here!

Let’s get down to business. (Todefeatthehuns) And to tell you all about my first week of school. Oh my word as you’ve probably guessed it’s so beyond incredible here. Some of my favorite parts of classes are the collective “Whoa”s from like. Everybody in the room from the insane revelation we all had. And it’s already so much more than I could have expected here. But. Enough about that. Let’s talk about God, and how awesome He is.

Well actually. Let’s start with how awesome you are. You and I. We’re pretty amazing. It’s not to be prideful. It’s to praise God! This message is especially for those of you/us with self-esteem issues. It doesn’t have to be a pressing issue. Just, anytime you think down of yourself, remember. Who made you?

God.

That’s right. God painted us. We were empty, blank canvasses. Jesus was the model for the painting. Getting it? So thinking down on ourselves is insulting to God! And as followers of Christ, if Christ was the model from which we were painted, how could we say He didn’t do a good job with us. That’s just a little insensitive. And wrong. Because every. single. one. of His children is amazing! I mean, made in His image, weren’t we? Why wouldn’t we be amazing! So. Just. Remember that. You’re amazing. I’m amazing. Because He’s amazing. Don’t hurt His feelings by saying I’m too this or too that. You’re awesome.

PHEW! Okay. Now that you feel awesome! Let me share some insane revelation going on here. A lot of what I’m going to put is just going to be direct quotes from my notebook here.

-The reason God loves you. Is because He does.

It’s simple! Don’t try to read all into it. We’re His children! For any parents, when their child messes up, (And, being God’s children, we have really messed up.), they see it and say, “Oh, aw, they don’t mean it. I still love them. Sure I told them to mop the floor and now I’m flushing water out our back door and have to get every floor in the house treated, but I sure do LOVE them.” He just does. Get over whatever you’re thinking. And just know. He loves you. End of discussion, buckle up and drive safe.

-We are not sinners saved by grace. We are SAINTS!

Look at this. I’m not saying you didn’t sin. You did. You WERE a sinner. You’re new! You are a new creation! Calling yourself a sinner saved by grace is still saying you’re a sinner. Is that what you want to be known as? Nope. It’s like when Jacob was visited by an angel. They wrestled. Because, the first thought I have when I see an angel is, “Man. I want to wrestle that sucker.” Well, long story short is Jacob is granted a new name and identity in the Kingdom. His former name was Jacob, meaning “Liar.” And he wrestled, literally, for a new name. That’s what we’ve done. We’ve fought the enemy, fought sin, so to be at peace with still being a “sinner” is simply unacceptable. We’re saints! I’m not saying you don’t sin. You do. Bill Johnson put it simply, “God didn’t remove your ability to sin. He removed your ability to enjoy it.” And that’s the difference as we accept our citizenship as saints in His Kingdom versus still labeling ourselves as sinners. Long, scrambled, but somewhere in there, is such an awesome message. Just celebrate in being a new creation of God.

That’s just a couple. And I’ve been learning so much more, and I could fill countless posts of what I’m going to continue to be learning while I’m here. And while that will be the meat of the (hopefully) many posts to come, I guess I’ll tell you how I’m doing too! Not a lot has changed in how I feel about being here. I love it. So much. The atmosphere of this place is just beyond incredible. I love my housemates, and my school. And today I finally met with my revival group! And talk about awesome! SO excited to get to know them and just meet them and love on them some more. Honestly, it’s a little hard to explain how I’m doing without bringing up how awesome Bethel is every sentence. I did make sweet tea for the first time since being here today. Nice to have a little taste of home with me. Well, I sat down to work on a book report, and I ended up writing this. So, there you go!

Billsatbethel and loved week one!

Back to School!

Oh. My. Golly.

So I wish I had the opportunity to write a post directly after my last one. Because literally that night was so. incredible. I had the privilege of seeing Heidi Baker speak, and wow. Talk about the happiest person on the planet. Just seeing her inspires me so much to strive to live in that awesome supernatural, pure, biblical joy she lives in. Just her heart for God is so inspiring and moving. Her message was so powerful too.

“Stop for the One.”

That’s the basic concept, but so much weight is in that statement. It reflects the two ideas of stopping daily for the One who is our Lord, Jesus. Stopping for Him, praying with Him, talking to Him and receiving what He has for us that day, and stopping for the one who is starving spiritually. One of the 4.4 billion people of this planet who do not know Jesus and are getting closer every day to spiritual starvation to death. It is so simple. We just have to stop. Every day. For Jesus, and for the one person. Anybody. Any stranger, friend who God has placed on our hearts that day. Check this out. God’s plan wasn’t to just get around 2 billion people into His Kingdom. He wants. Every. Single. One of them.  The 4.4 billion who are lost today. God is crying out to them and it is our duty as ambassadors of His kingdom to bring Heaven into earth, letting it invade, consuming people’s hearts. And we do this. By just stopping for the one. Man, Heidi had some good word. She doesn’t even have to preach. I could just listen to her tell stories all night and be moved to action.

Towards the end of Heidi speaking. She shared this vision. Which still burns my heart in an awesome way whenever I think of it. And that’s a lot. Looking high above the planet, there were all these fiery chariots. Countless numbers of them. Flying all around the planet, stretching into the darkest places on the earth, just reaching out to all of the kingdom-bound people. Which, as we now know is… EVERYONE. The horses of the chariots had their veins just throbbing, ready for action, to move to anywhere at the call. In each chariot, there were two riders. Notice I said riders. Jesus was holding all of the reins of all of the chariots. It was all in His hands. The riders themselves were totally transparent. There was NO hidden sin, NO hidden agenda. It was just the pure heart of God they were chasing and that they held. Totally surrendered to God’s will.  And that vision just. Rocks me in a way I hope it does you as well.

 

Monday I registered. And that. Was a party and a half. I just felt so giddy going in. Getting my nametag, getting my picture taken. Meeting many more incredible people. After registration came a quick lunch and a coffee run, and then off to the park for the first year barbeque! Well, that was awesome. I’ll be meeting new people until the day I leave here. That’s for certain. Ultimate frisbee, great conversation and laughs occurred. After that though, lightning storm gazing with a handful of great friends. So much laughter. So much lightning. It was beautiful! And I just loved it. There is just nothing to complain about here. And then. After a wonderful night of fellowship with these amazing people I’m blessed to call my friends, came the night. The night before the first day of the school year! The all too familiar feeling of clothing indecision, just excitement for what the new day would bring.

And boy did it bring a lot. Worship was incredible, as I imagine it will not cease to be here any day of the week. But Kris and Bill speaking. Man. Awesome word from both of them. Especially Bill speaking over Mark 8. Talk about some hard-hitting revelation. I am so excited after that one. God is never performing miracles for show here. He has no desire to be a showman. We’re brought as witnesses to miracles so we can remember them later. When Jesus is teaching his disciples on a boat about how to not let their thought be influenced by the Pharisees and those of Herod, the disciples were worrying about them not having enough bread. They only had one loaf for all of them. Jesus responded to this by asking them, Don’t you have eyes with which you see, and ears with which you hear? And can you not remember? Because before that, Jesus had just multiplied a handful of loaves to feed thousands upon thousands of people. That miracle was performed to feed the people, yes, but also to show the disciples that in a Kingdom where there is always an abundance. Always more than enough, it is now possible to reach into the spiritual realm, into the Kingdom and bring abundance into our earth where we are lacking. And the fact that the disciples didn’t catch on to that as the miracle happened initially. To say, they did not see with their eyes or hear with their ears to what the Lord was doing in front of them. But at this time, Jesus reminded them that they can still remember that time. And in remembering, they know that they will never have less than enough, because they remembered that miracle and that is how it is in the Kingdom. Just such a powerful word. So much awesome just filled that day.

Billsatbethel and starting classes!

Week One!

Okay! So, here we go. I’m finally getting around to writing a post here to let all y’all beautiful people at home and wherever else know what’s going on in my life here. This’ll be a long one, for sure. Gonna pretty much include every detail from my arrival until now. And I remember a lot. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Ready, set, go.

I arrived in Redding Wednesday the… 7th? Yes, it was the seventh. And while it was a long journey in my chair in the sky (CHAIR? IN THE SKY? PLANES ARE AWESOME) flying across the US, I enjoyed every second of it. Most of it I was just dying of anticipation. To finally get to this place I’m going to call home for the next nine months. Really the flight wasn’t too bad at all. Entertaining more than anything. From Charlotte to San Francisco, I had a window seat. There was a woman who sat to my left and would keep looking out my window with this confused look, sometimes seeming amazed or just bewildered by what she saw out the small window to my right. It was hard not to look at her expressions, and she caught me doing so, and took that as an invitation to ask, “That white… is it snow?”

She obviously had some sort of accent, and didn’t speak English very well, and I laughed, thinking she was joking. But of course I proceeded to try to explain that they were clouds. And I would explain that several times throughout the flight when she asked if the clouds were snow.

 

Beyond that nothing too noteworthy occurred other than the fact that I was constantly marveling at the creativity of our Lord. Flying over some of his most beautiful creations was just pushing me that much further to dancing in the aisle of the plane with excitement.

After an extremely short flight from San Francisco to Redding in the smallest plane I had ever been in, I was here! Walked across the runway with a handful of other Bethel students I met on the flight to enter baggage claim, which consisted of three Australians, one Kiwi, and one girl from Boston. Waiting with another man in front of the baggage claim which seemed to have claimed our baggage for itself, we looked at each other, at the empty conveyor belt, and then to a woman’s head poking out of a door next to the baggage claim.

A few blank stares shared between the airport employee and myself and the other man who was bag-less was interrupted by her rather harsh voice declaring briefly, “That’s it.” Well that was a pretty discouraging thing to hear. I mean, I had clothes in my backpack that I carried on the plane, but that still wasn’t the most encouraging thing to hear at the time. After talking with a woman at the desk I learned my bag just never left San Francisco. I was thankful it got that far, and even more thankful for the possibility of having the bag later that evening. I didn’t expect to be able to have it recovered so soon. So I wasn’t too downtrodden about it. Especially because I was soon thereafter picked up by my roommate Spencer, and his friend Christopher! And that quick drive from the small airport to Bethel to check out the outside, and then to my house was thrilling. So nice to just see this and be able to think that I’m going to be here until May!
Whew. That was a mouthful. And that was just getting here. Getting home, there wasn’t much to unpack as I didn’t have my suitcase yet, so it was straight to meeting my AWESOME housemates and checking out my place of residence. Rest of the day. Made spaghetti to eat for supper with Spencer, and went to none other than Spoon Me that evening! Which is this preeeeetty sweet froyo place. Before that we met a lady from the airport who had my bag. She called me and told me, “I don’t normally do this, but I have your bag and can drop it off at your house or meet you somewhere.” We ended up meeting her in a Walgreen’s parking lot. As shady as it may seem, I got my suitcase, thanked the lady, and we were on our merry way to Spoon Me.

So far the theme of going anywhere is that I’m going to meet awesome people. Spoon Me was no exception. Awesome people were met there! So that was my first day! Spaghetti and Spoon Me! And incredible people all around!

I’m going to go ahead and put in here why everyone here is beyond awesome. My roommate probably put it best. It’s just that pretty much any and everywhere you go, people will put on this front, some kind of fake side of them to try to impress or fit in. But here, it’s just everyone’s genuine personality coming through. And that’s the best part of every person! So basically, everyone here is just the best!

 

Moving on to Thursday! (What. All of that was just one day? I’ve got to get better at this.)

It was a pretty chill and unpack day. And some awesome conversations with my best friend Jesus were going on. It was a day where basically I could not go any amount of time without thanking Him for this awesome blessing it is to just be here. He gave me this sense of peace, and that I’m exactly where I need to be. This is my home?! What?! Yes. Awesome. Praise the Lord, man. That and great conversation with the housemates giving me just such an area of peace and restfulness. That I can be here knowing I am doing the right thing, and that so much is going to come at me in this next nine months, and I welcome it. So ready for what the Holy Spirit is waiting to throw at me and reveal to me all throughout the year here.

Friday was a full day. Starting out at the lake. The beautiful East Beach at Whiskeytown Lake. I had heard of it, but never seen it or been there until this time. Oh my word. It is incredible out there! That lake is absolutely gorgeous and the fellowship going on there with friends and other students was incredible. Again. Meeting awesome people. The lake was followed by a short time at home and then to Bethel for an absolutely incredible service.
Pause. On the way to Bethel my roommate and I came across a few girls moving into an apartment. We quickly realized they were girls we had met at the lake earlier today, and they seemed a little undermanned, so we offered to help. Moved them all in, put together a bunk bed, got paid in form of cupcake, and again, met some really awesome people! And found out that some of these awesome people live like, right there!

Unpause. Back at Bethel! The service was absolutely incredible. Yes, we did show up a little late due to helping the friends move in, but we came in as the last song in worship was playing, and as soon as we opened the door I just felt it. That awesome encounter I’ve had with the Holy Spirit. The tangibleness of God’s Love just covering the room. Pouring out the door, smacking me in the face as I walked in. It was an immediate change in environment that was absolutely eye-opening. The Holy Spirit was well alive in this place. The room was overflowing with Him. It was literally electrifying, and pretty indescribable. Just the feeling of having God’s presence in the room is something you have to experience and I declare the same encounter to all of you. Just invite it and welcome Him in. Even though we were there for not even one whole song, I was just so overwhelmed by His Love in the room. And right there, I realized, this is going to be what I’m going to be drowning in for the next coming months here! So blessed! And before the message, the healings that went on in the room. The atmosphere of the Holy Spirit just coming down and touching us. It’s breathtaking. The message itself was also incredible! As it will continue to be for pretty much. ever. here. It never is disappointing. But the speaker brought some incredible word, and the service ended.

Oh! And Heidi Baker was there! I didn’t get to talk to her much at all. Just a quick smile was exchanged. But she is pretty hard to miss in a room. She walks in such authority of the Spirit. Her presence is pretty well recognized. Just the intimacy she was with the Lord. It’s something I’m striving for here. And every day my relationship is just growing in exponential amounts here.

After the service, a large group of us went to Applebee’s for their appetizer happy hour. And of course, that was a blast, because I continued to meet awesome people! And after such an incredible service, it’s hard not to have an incredible time with whatever you’re doing.

 

Saturday! C’mon guys, almost to today! Yesterday was actually pretty equivalent to Thursday, in that it was a rather chill day. Just a good day at the house with the housemates ending in a night out at karaoke night at this little diner place called Leatherby’s. And oh my gosh. I never really watched karaoke before. But oh my gosh. Talk about some good times with some, you guessed it, awesome people. Very entertaining night in downtown Redding, for sure.

 

And today! Here we are to today! I realize this is like. getting up to 2000 words here. So if you’ve made it this far. That’s sweet, you really care. Or somebody is paying you to read it. Either way. Thank you! But today. Oh my word talk about getting rocked by the Lord. The service this morning was so uplifting. The atmosphere is right where I want to be. Nobody has any hangups about welcoming and inviting the Holy Spirit into the room. And that’s exactly what He did. Worship was incredible and Bill brought some powerful word in the message. I’ll end this in thanking all of our men and women of the military, and those of protective services, the fire department, emergency medical services, the police department, just thank you so much. And family members of those serving and of those who were lost in action serving and protecting us and this nation, I honor you and your family’s commitment. I pray that we all can come together and pray for our nation. We all have come together in a time of tragedy and hope, but it’s rare that we come together as an entire nation to praise our Father. God’s doing some awesome things in several cities across the nation, but God has asked His followers to pray for our nation to come together, uniting under God, and to just give our whole nation to Him. We are a nation of many, many lost people, and I ask that we can include in our daily prayer for our nation to come to know our Lord as the King of Glory, and that the light of the Lord and the frequency of Heaven can be heard by all the lost and believers alike.

 

Well! We made it. to the end. Nearly 2000 words. It’s a mouthful, but I’ll be doing this more frequently so you don’t have to read (or choose not to read), a drawn out essay of my daily life here.

Billsatbethel and loving it!