Disciplined Disciple

Discipline [dis-uh-plin]: activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training.

Disciple [dih-sahy-puhl]: Noun- a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another; follower.

Verb- to teach; train.

Both of these words carry no end...and by that, I mean you can never master one. You can never be 100% disciplined on one particular skill or activity. It is a learning process your whole life. To be disciplined is to learn discipline, and learning discipline is a gift and journey that God gives you. Now, you can be disciplined in a particular area of your life, but there will always be room for growth. A synonym to "discipline" is "development". Developing a disciplined life in all you do is a journey. I say this because it is a gift and journey to go on with the Lord. Don't get down on the fact that you may never be 100% disciplined in one area...think of it as a continual gift from the Lord.

Being a disciple of the Lord is also being a Follower of the Lord. Notice that even in the definition and synonym of Disciple, it never says, "Follower of the Lord until a certain point" or something along those lines. Being a Disciple of Jesus is being a forever follower of Jesus. Also recognize the fact that it doesn't just say, "Believer" of the Lord, it says "Follower" of the Lord. We can only go so far saying we believe in the Lord, but choose not to follow Him...personally, I am convinced that if you say you believe in Jesus, but you don't follow Him, you are letting the lies of the enemy hold you back from stepping into your destiny. We are to follow Jesus, even when the path looks rough...or even when it looks beautiful.

I think it is journey to become a disciplined disciple. Sure...the destination is what we should long for, but God wants us to enjoy the journey. As soon as we only focus on the destination, we miss the beauty of walking with the Lord in our journey. Enjoy the journey.

Lorn Enjoyment

Well...I am now in "transition week" here at the YWAM base in Kona, HI. "Transition Week" can also be known as "Desolate Week" because most everyone that was in a previous school have now gone on their outreaches, and everyone else is home, returning the 8th of July. Therefore, the base is so empty.

I had the amazing pleasure to have my family out here and join me for a week or so of this transition, which was seriously a tremendous blessing. It is crazy how refreshing my family is to me. So to be in Kona, Hawaii, with my family, hanging out with nothing holding me back was pretty amazing.

But now they have left and I am here, waiting, praying, and anticipating the next big step.

The thing that I just realized I was typing this blog was that although it is hard during transition week, I find that I am constantly able to truly be invited to be alone with Jesus. For in the times that I long to be doing something, what better thing to do than to waste all my time on my Savior, my Creator, my Maker, my Father, my Best Friend?

I am starting to look forward to this desolate week. I have anticipation to what the Lord is going to do, even in the times that are the most quiet and that I feel most alone. Jesus is that good to show up no matter how I feel. That is why I like to consider Him my Best Friend.

Again, as most of you know, Phase 2 (School of Revival and Reformation) that I am attending starts July 8th. I am in need of around $4,000 for lecture phase (the first deposit of $1,000 is due July 8th), and then $4,000-6,000 for outreach phase. Please pray and if you feel led to help support me, my email is the.daniel.york@gmail.com, or you can donate through PayPal, which is at the "Donate" link at the top of this blog. Thanks so much guys!

Much love,

-Daniel

--York

Seagulls

I lived in the sea,

An empire heaved from blameless armies.

Surrounded by deep,

Radiating waves of silent sleep.

Hushed groans fabricate holes into the dark,

Forgetful remarks.

This careless life wasn't proposed for waste.

Hope in thoughtful taste.

As I start to swim

Towards the heavens to find more within,

I admit the light,

With this darkness, was endearing the fight.

There is something more than this entrapment.

No more to lament.

I see the light that was here all along,

Beckoning my song.

Forgetting the gloom,

Redeeming the sight of all that was doomed.

The bars were unlocked,

Leaving my foes in their remorse and shock.

Radiating waves of silent sleep,

Surrounded by deep.

An empire heaved from blameless armies,

I lived in the sea.

(The Ocean's Empire by Daniel York)

Well friends and family, these past 6 months have stormed by;

and by 'stormed', I mean that pretty literally.

It has been a crazy season of ups and downs, ins and outs,

which initially ended up me desiring the Lord in my life all the more.

It is hard for me to process all that the Lord has done

in this past season of my life,

but it has been nothing but extraordinary.

I know that overall, at this point in my life,

I am not even close to where I want to be,

which is actually a blessing.

It just means that this next season coming up in my life

is going to be more radical in finding out who I am;

in finding out who the Lord is even more;

in finding out the destiny that has been set before me.

This next school that I am attending starts July 8th.

I am still in need of around $9,000-10,000.

But by July 8th, I need around $500

just to make sure I can attend school.

If I do not obtain the $500 by then, I cannot go.

But I know the Lord will provide.

"If it is God's will, it is God's bill".

If you feel led to help support me financially,

that would be absolutely amazing.

You can contact me at

the.daniel.york@gmail.com or on my facebook.

I just want to thank you all

who have supported me these past 6 months.

It has been the most radical 6 months I have experienced

and I couldn't have done it without your prayers and support.

so...Thank you, Thank you very much.

And let's do it again.

-Daniel

--York

Baguettes, Medieval, and Jesus

Bonjour from France.

Sorry for the long awaited update.

I am now in the last week of outreach and it seems so surreal to me that this 2 and a half month long outreach is coming to an end. Switzerland was awesome and France is just as amazing. Our ministry has been so awesome out here and we are having such a fun time together as a team.

France really doesn't seem like another country. I just feel like I am in another state, aside from the language barrier and the 2000 year old village that my team is living in. The weather has been super nice, and the baguettes and crepes are really awesome. The house that we are staying in is 200 years old. We arrived and everyone who had allergies went insane due to all the dust and dirt covering the floors of our building. Tons of spiders and mosquitos, and even more cobwebs. Pretty disgusting. So we took a day to clean. It still is pretty filthy, but a lot more bearable. Our town that we live in is an old medieval town, which I will have pictures up soon.

Aside from that, France has been a crazy experience. I believe that since is our last stop for outreach that the enemy is most definitely trying to attack our team. We know that the Lord is going to do some amazing things out here in our team and in France, but in saying that, we become more of a threat to the enemy.

As this final week is coming up, we have already experienced so much breakthrough and are pressing in, knowing that we are saved by grace and we can do anything through Christ. We are expecting even more breakthrough and more of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

I am not sure if you guys checked out my last update video that I made over a week ago, but it explains all my upcoming plans after this outreach. You can check it out in the previous post right below this one. I am still in need of financial support. My school will probably be around $10,000 overall, but I need at least the first $1,000 in by July 8th. I know the Lord will provide, but if you feel led at all to help support me financially, that would be such a blessing. Thanks for all your prayers and support! I will see you guys soon!

Much love,

-Daniel

--York

Let's Take a Look

An Update from Burtigny, Switzerland explaining what God has done on outreach and explaining what my next steps are after outreach.

[Phase 2 is another 6 month long course of discipleship training taking place in July-December. I need around roughly $10,000 or so for the whole school, this includes outreach.]

Thanks for your prayers and support.

the.daniel.york@gmail.com

Prague Star

"God is my witness that the things charged against me I never preached. In the same truth of the Gospel which I have written, taught, and preached, drawing upon the sayings and positions of the holy doctors, I am ready to die today." -John Huss, right before he was executed.

As of right now, I am located in Prague, Czech Republic. My outreach team and I have been able to be here for a short week, but within this week, so much fruit has been produced. When we first got to Prague, everything I had imagined it would be was shot down. It wasn't that beautiful of a city. It was gray, cloudy, rainy, dirty, etc. Some buildings had color to it, but in general, there was no real outstanding beauty to this city where we were staying. But for some reason, I still loved it. It might have been because I have just been expectance about what our team was going to do here and what the Lord was going to do through us.

I must say though, the general impression that my team got from this place was 'awkwardness'. So many funny things have happened to us on this trip. One of the bunk beds was taken out of the girls' room unexpectedly, we got lost trying to go to a laundromat that was right next to us the whole time, guys in our hotel have walked around in their undies randomly, and so on and so forth. But we have had such a blast. Our hosts here, Roger and Robin, are some of the most genuine people we have met and we have had such an awesome time being encouraged by them and them being encouraged by us.

One day, our team was able to go through the inner city and check out the beautiful parts of Prague. It was amazing. Everyone on our team changed their mind about Prague when they saw the city center because of how beautiful it was. Everything we saw was so colorful and detailed, such as the Prague Castle and John Huss' church. We were able to go inside John Huss' church, a former revivalist here in the Czech Republic, and all of us were truly inspired. We really felt that the wells of revival were going to be opened up here once again in an even bigger way than when John Huss was here. Revival is a reality. We don't have to live off of stories such as John Huss'. His story is most definitely one to look at and be encouraged by. But we as believers and followers of Jesus Christ can see revival in the nations today. It is a reality more than we think it is.

On tuesday night, we partook in a 24 hour Burn. It was so significant though because all of the outreach teams across the world from our school also partook in it at the same time. We went through the night and all the way until wednesday night, finding such breakthrough and believing that the power of prayer is going to change this city of Prague. It has been a short week for sure, but I feel so alive here, knowing that the wells of revival can be sprung up here and around the nations in this generation.

I wrote and update on facebook, so maybe some of you know this, but I have decided to take a secondary school in Kona in July. The school I am apart of now is called Fire and Fragrance. In July, there is a phase 2 to Fire and Fragrance. I felt here in Prague that I want to dive in so much deeper in what the Lord has done in me and what He is doing now...and in by doing phase 2, I would be able to do another 6 months of in depth training to what I have learned and am learning. I have been in prayer a lot about this and feel that this is the best next step for me. I have wanted to go home to see a lot of you guys again, but I think being able to devote a whole year to training and consecrating myself before the Lord is going to be so worth it. This means though that I am going to be needing around $10,000 for the whole amount of the school that I am going to be doing in July. I need a starting $1,000 by July 8th, and then the rest throughout the next few months. If it is God's will, it is God's bill...

If you guys could pray with me and if you feel led to help support me at all, that would be most awesome and it would mean so much to me. You can contact me on facebook or even comment on this blog if you are interested and feel led to help support me financially. Or you can email me at The.Daniel.York@gmail.com.

I love you guys and I am so thankful for all your support thus far. Next stop, Herrnhut, Germany!

-Daniel

--York

Looking at the Invisible Man

At last, I have arrived in Berlin, Germany. Sorry for the late update, but here you go:

Berlin is a mystery to me. I find myself noticing the various ranges of art and creativity present here, whether visible or not. Graffiti seems to line almost every single building, even the old, glamorous ones - which I, in fact, think is pretty radical. It is a demonstration of the old and the new; what has happened in this city, and what is happening now in this city. In noticing this, I begin to feel the sense of not only creativity, but a spirit of apathy over this city. The people here are much friendlier than the ones in Amsterdam, but they tend not to show it much. I sense that almost with the destructive history, the Germans seem to ignore what has happened. This can be good or bad. But reality is also something that everyone has to deal with. I say this more in the fact that the people here need to learn how to become themselves and to live out who they are.

Personally for me, that is precisely what has been going through my mind since being here. Most of you know that I am here with 14 other people, so comparison, striving, pride, and rejection can sometimes force their way in to try and destroy that which has been set on a solid rock. I have been constantly reminded by the Lord who I am in Him. Not that I will ever fully understand it, but there is a necessity of knowing the way the Lord looks at you in the midst of everything going on, for that is what will be most powerful in your encounters with other believers or none believers.

It is out of the intimate times with Him that He personally begins to speak to us His heart. For me, that is what fills me up, refreshes me, then boosts me in to new realms of His glory.

This probably isn't making too much sense, but I guess for this time in my life, I am really understanding the power of the way that God made me. Intimacy with the Lord is really what allows me to understand this too. Anyone can give me affirmation or an encouraging word, and it is awesome, but there is something so special about the Lord speaking to me directly about His heart for me and His people.

"Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." ~James 1:16-18

Those are just a couple of my thoughts since being here. Just though I would share them with you! As far as ministry in Berlin goes, we started off our time here with a Burn (24 hours of prayer and worship). We didn't do the whole 24 hours, but we did get to lead a 2 hour set, and that was awesome. We have done some ministry here and there. My favorite time was when we just sat in a Subway that goes in a big circle around Berlin and we just simply played worship for all to hear. It was such a joyous time.

I have big expectations here. I know the Lord is going to do a lot and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

-Daniel

--York