Holy Spirit Week part 1

So I don't even know how to start..but this week was crazy and some of the things I will mention may be hard to understand or comprehend but all I can say is the holy spirit moved and he moved in large ways. During the mornings our speaker and leader of Southern Africa Stefan Hugo talked about what the holy spirit is and how God uses it in us. On Monday night he showed how the holy spirit can work through us and how the holy spirit can manifest in us (I will talk more about this in a second). Wednesday night I rededicated my life and will talk more about that in a second. Also that night we had a time of giving and again I will mention more in a second. Finally Thursday afternoon we had a great time of receiving different gifts from the holy spirit which once again I will talk about in a second.

Firstly, Monday night was the most powerful time I have had with the Lord. Stefan is amazingly gifted with being able to allow the holy spirit to touch people through him. As he prays for you you start feeling the holy spirit....which for me made me very light headed and I started to sway back and forth in my chair and the first time he prayed for me to receive the holy spirit...BAM...I fell out of my chair and was on the ground. The presence was so strong I collapsed. Only about 15 min later I was being prayed for again this time I was standing up and the holy spirt again came on me and I started swaying and light headed and very light. If anyone hasn't felt the holy spirit it is well amazing. As I started to sway I eventually fell to the ground and unlike last time I couldn't get up. As I layed there the presense was so strong I could only lay there and soak it up more. I asked God for more and more and he gave it to me. I started to cry and then laugh so hard and so deep that it started to hurt. Soon the Lord showed me a picture of the gates of heaven and I saw Jesus there with a glowing white robe on. Soon I saw myself and he had given me a white robe as well and said that in Him I am righteous and he has cleansed me from any sin. I soon looked over to the left and there was my Dad, which as many know had passed away 11 years ago now. As I looked at my Dad he was smiling and had a white robe on as well. After I saw that I got an intense feeling of Gods love (which basically felt like an intense chill and peace) and as I tried to get up a few times over the next hour I would get weak and fall back to the ground. I layed flat on the ground for about an hour or more just in His presence. Once I was able to get up I was so light headed and dizzy from the Spirit I felt drunk. So I always laughed before when people talked about being drunk in the spirit but I was having a hard time walk and I stumbled around till I got to my bed.

Wednesday night.... After we had our class in the morning Stefan asked us if any of us would like to baptized or rebaptized and at that point I didn't raise my hand because I felt that I had done it before and didn't need to do it again. Over the rest of the day the Lord had put it on my heart and really wanted me to do it. Over the week he had shown to me that he wants me to forget the past and look to the present and start anew. I then felt that getting rebaptized would be good to start my new time in life with an act of transformation. So that night I rededicated my life to Jesus and have surrendered my life to where he wants to take me.

Also wednesday night Stefan had asked us to pray about what God wants us to give to someone else. Wednesday night was a time of giving and after time the Lord put it on my heart to give ever cent I had in my wallet and my extra savings in my backpack to an african girl that was struggling to pay for her DTS. As the night came and I gave her all I had seeing her break down in tears of joy and having the Lord giving me a sense of peace and joy I know I did what was right and would do it again. I had never been one that was good at giving...many have given a lot to me but I have not given back and that was the first time I had given something like that and what I received in her smile and Gods presence was worth way more than the money. God wasn't done with me either.... Later that night God then told me to give up my favorite sandals...the same sandals that I have had for 6 years and have gone to 4 continents with. As i took them off and gave them to my african co-student people where shocked...I did talk about how much I like them a little to much haha. Although I now dont have sandals again giving them was more worth it than keeping them. That wasn't the last thing I would give up....After we had all finished giving..and I had received a baseball cap... the guys started going to bed and one of the guys had given his nice phone to a student and then another student gave that guy his phone and so the last guy that gave his phone was without a phone. I had just bought a phone 2 days prior to communicate with someone and the Lord told me to give him control of that potential relationship...and to give up the phone..it took me a second but finally I gave that up as well. That night I couldn't sleep the Lord keep showing me more and more things. I saw a picture of me backpacking with a group of college and high school kids (basically the age of DTS students) and taking them to different hostels on our travels and getting to the know the fellow travelers. Through the relationships we would grow I was able to talk about Christ to these travelers in which many where running away from there problems by traveling. I also saw a picture of me having a night of worship once a week with my team and I was playing the guitar and many of the people where attracted to the music. Through the relationships and worship many where brought to Christ. That night after I got to sleep I also had a dream which was very similar to what God had shown me while I was awake. I see it as a one two punch...discipling the students while reaching out to the travelers in hostels and around.

I will continue my next part of holy spirit week in the next post...

Eric's Perseption of me

So one of the students from the visiting base, Eric, has an amazing gift of perception and is able to see what kind of people they are based off a very little amount of involvement. He spent about an hour going through each of our team and giving his perception on them. After I read the small synopsis of mine I wanted to hear more about it and this is what he said: He said that he saw that I was a very nice person that is also very much an encourager. He saw that I am called to be a leader, but not a leader in the limelight, one that works more in smaller groups or one on one. he continued to say that although I may be behind the scenes I still could go up and talk to many but my main area would be with smaller groups. He also mentioned that he sees me as one who will disciple and teach others. He then went on to say that people may not notice me as much because I can be quiet, but he says that when I speak people will listen and many will be transformed. He went on to say that through my disciplining on a smaller basis that I may not see the differences I am making right away but that it will be like a domino effect and I will be amazed. As he finished he mentioned he sees me possibly as a DTS leader with YWAM. Soon later I mentioned that I have been getting a feeling I may be called to do exactly that. I then brought up the time when I talked to him two weeks prior at the Nations to Nations conference about my backpacking ministry I may start. After I mentioned the ministry at the conference he said maybe I should go be staff at a backpacking DTS in Australia and I went on to say when he told me that I got chills, a sense of peace and the words,"go for it, go for it." I told him since that time Australia has been on my mind and he said that sometimes the Lord helps him lead others in a direction and this may be one of the cases. It will still take time before I know if Australia is truly where God wants me but things are starting to lean that way. It was great to hear from Eric and his amazing perceptions of me, for most of them I had been told about in the past. It is great when the Lord gives you confirmation on things and hopefully i will continue to get confirmation about my calling. God is good.

Father Heart of God & More

This week we have been talking about the father heart of God and more specifically the authority that God has given us to rule over the earth. It goes onto talk about how through believing in what Satan says and acting on it (basically sin) he becomes our new master and not God and takes our authority away. We can get the authority back by repenting and growing our relationship with the lord and giving it to Jesus. The more we grow our relationship with the Lord...the one who gives us the authority..the more we can access and grow our authority in this world. The speaker twice came to me first to pray and then to talk to me after one of the talks. The first time he told me he sensed that I am very smart and understand my walk with the Lord well but my spiritual side needs work. He said I need to allow the holy spirit to work in my life more and open up more spiritually and to allow God and the holy spirit to help me apply these principles in my life. When he talked to me after class he basically said a similar thing, saying I understood the material but need to spiritually apply it. This hit me a bit as I was not expecting to be told twice in one day about my need to open up and allow God to apply these ideas in my life. Although I understand them I know that its has been hard to trust God and allow the holy spirit to work more in my life. I know I try on the surface but I do feel I need to let go of more and surrender to the Lord my life. Since that time, which was yesterday, it still has affected me a bit, but I have seen that I personally need to apply this idea of authority and go out into the world with the confidence that the authority of the Lord can provide. I also need to be able to take charge with my decisions and be more proactive in my walk. I felt that before this week I had gotten really far in my walk but yesterday God showed me that I still have much more to learn and to experience...it is nice that next week is on the holy spirit and thats more of allowing the holy spirit to work!

Go to Facebook for pictures

So this blog doesn't like to let me add photos and it always messes up so if you want to see pictures please go to my facebook: Spencer Oswald and if you aren't my friend add me and then you can see a bunch of pictures I was able to add in the past few days!

Nations to Nations Conference

So sorry I haven't updated in a bit, I have been in South Africa going to a conference celebrating the different nations and the love of Jesus. Every night we spent in worshiping the Lord at either a school, church and one day in front of the town hall. It was the first time I truly let go and praised the Lord without fear of looking silly. I danced like a kid and one night we ran around the church with different flags praising the Lord. During the day we either helped out around the YWAM base there or we learned about worship. We also had a morning of having everyone show us what their talents are that God had given them. Many of the people did poems or sang and I was going to show my photography but didn't have a computer so I just talked about how photography is very spiritual for me. Outside of our group from Lesotho there where 3 other YWAM bases there and a total of about 35-40 people. It was great to get to know other people going through a DTS and I really got the feeling that after talking to them Lesotho is where I am suppose to be. Although God was showing me a lot during this time I also had to call on him a lot as well for my good friend from work I found out had taken his life a week prior to me being there. I spent a lot of time in prayer and although it is still hard God has given me comfort. On a more positive note, during worship one day I got a vision of me in an industrial room and inside of that room there was a large water pipe. As I looked at this pipe I saw a lot of pictures and videos and certain sections of the pipe where dark while others where gray. As I looked farther down the pipe I saw that the pipe was glowing white...so white that I could barely see. As I looked farther to the left I saw Jesus jumping up and down having an amazing amount of excitement. After asking what this meant God showed me that the dark and gray areas are different parts of my life where times where hard or I was away from God. He then said that the white part is my future and that Jesus is so excited for what is about to happen. Through the week I asked for different things from God including joy, direction, freedom, discipleship and excitement and in that week after looking back I received all of those.

The week was great but the most amazing thing that happened was something that could add to my direction and calling. After telling a fellow DTS student from Drakensburg (South Africa) about my potential backpacking ministry that I may start in Seattle he told me that YWAM has a backpacking DTS and ministries in Australia. I believe he was just trying to help but it affected me more than I thought it would. As he said those words I got this huge sense of peace as well as shivers down my back. Within seconds I also got this sense of excitement and a feeling of "go for it, go for it." Since then I still haven't haven't been able to get the idea of going to Australia off my mind. If I would go I would probably need to commit for 2 years and would cost a lot of money. Although there are challenges ahead I know God will provide where ever he calls me. It will be hard to decide between me going to grad school and me potentially going to Australia. After talking with Josh a fellow Lesotho DTS student he gave me comfort in that God sometimes gives us choices and one may be his plan but even if we choose the other he will still bless us.

Today another amazing thing happen, we went to a local high school and God for a week had asked me next time we go to a school to tell my testimony. After doing a drama it was my turn to tell my testimony and the holy spirit was given me not only a sense of peace but a sense of excitement to get a chance to tell of the amazing power of Jesus and what he can do in peoples' lives. As I talked i talked about my dad and then screamed out loud "Why God, Why would you do this," explaining to them that I was angry with the Lord about why he did these things to me. Then I continued and talked about how God is our father and whether you don't have a father on earth you do in heaven and he will never leave your side. As I did the alter call about 40 kids came up to receive christ. I was so pumped about the power of the Lord and what he has in store for the future.

Hopefully next I can upload pictures!

Pictures

Hey so I am still working on getting more pictures on here. I have taken a bunch but the internet is really slow and takes forever to upload some pictures...but hopefully I can make it work soon!

Malealea - Camping and Horseback Riding

Well this weekend we decided to head off to go camping just to get away. On the way there we decided to use a friend of a leader here and well it was an experience. He took us in two smaller cars through a bumpy dirt road and well we made it but we had to stop only a short bit before we got there because a few of the screws off of the caliper came off and the breaks where not working that well. After they fixed the problem with a coat hanger...its africa.... we made it safely there. After a wonderful meal of sausages and such cooked over the fire we went to bed. That night one of our teammates got very sick with what seemed to be a fever and body aches and she was unable to go horseback riding with us on that saturday. As we left for horseback riding we went though these gorgous hills and valleys...I will have pictures later... and we eventually made it to this waterfall that landing into this amazing rock pool. Once we trekked down to the waterfall we jumped in pool getting a shower from the waterfall above. Once we made it back on horseback I saw that my legs where very burnt but only around the thigh leaving an ugly looking sun burn. That night we met some south africans and after eating our wonderful lamb steak (it was cheaper than beef) we joined them around the fire and I got an insight into what it meant to be south african and about there local politics. The next day is where things turned a bit sour. We where suppose to be back around 1pm but our ride was 7 hours late...yeah 7 hours.. So as we sat around we at least had some added bonding time. Once they finally arrived they made up a story which we couldn't put the pieces together to validate and they also wanted twice the money agreed upon. After getting home around 9:30pm we where welcomed by some worried staff that didn't go on the trip. Although we had a few road bumps it was great to get away for a weekend before we head back into learning about the Lord.