Tracking

It's not very rare to be found in a season of stretching and growing. We as believers obviously long to hear the voice of God, especially when it comes to what we are called to do and why we are called to do it. But Jesus is constantly in the process of increasing our faith, as frustrating as it may be sometimes.  This process always seems to test our flesh as well. Will we trust and lean into the grace of Jesus, or are we going to let our flesh win and try to figure everything out ourselves just because we can seem to make certain sense of things in our worldly mind?

Since I have been out here in Kona, the past month has provided me with many challenges and breakthroughs. I thought I knew exactly what I would be doing, but things quickly took a turn and I found myself trying to find my ground. I felt isolated and suddenly unsure about why the Lord even called me out here anyways. 

I then had a choice:

Would I try and figure it out myself, or would I fall into the word of the Lord that I am supposed to be out here, even if I didn't understand?

I clung to Jesus, crying out that He would speak and present me with opportunities both short and long term. I go through times of testing, but in the end, Jesus is ALWAYS proven to be faithful, and it is something we forget too easily. 

With all that said, I have slowly transitioned my role from staffing the Fire and Fragrance DTS to jumping into the Leadership Track full time.

The leadership track is an open ended track designed to raise up disciples before the Lord who have learned to prioritize His presence, live for His glory, and be led by His Spirit through a lifestyle of corporate and individual worship and intercession centered around the Word of God. It inspires to create mature and effective leaders who walk in great integrity and godly character that could staff a DTS, lead outreaches and pioneer schools and communities in any setting and circumstance. It desires to release evangelists, preachers, teachers and worship leaders who could effectively teach and impart into any setting with great anointing and profound impact.

I have the amazing opportunity to take this and to grow as a leaders as well as serve the base! I am so excited that the Lord brought me to do this and I know it is what I am supposed to do by the grace He has already given me. 

In joining this track, I am in desperate need of the provision of Jesus. I want to ask you to first and foremost pray for me! I am in a season of hearing the Lord's voice and am asking you to join me in prayer for clarity, provision, and wisdom as I enter into this season! I also ask that you would pray about partnering with me, even financially! I am still looking for the Lord to provide faithful monthly supporters to help support us $1,000 a month. If you would, please pray about if you are to partner with me in this way! You can email me at the.daniel.york@gmail if you have any questions on the easiest way to donate or support monthly. Or if you want to do a one time donation, click the link below! 

I am so expectant and am excited for you to be apart of our journey! I will write again soon to keep you updated on near future plans and visions that the Lord has already been giving me!

Thanks again!

-Daniel

--York

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LovEmotion

I have been on quite the journey the past week of really trying to understand what it means to love. It has been one of the most spiritually frustrating, emotionally draining, and most humbling journey so far, and I am still on it. But it is oh so good, because I get to learn from the Master, whose name is Love.

Instead of writing a long blog about the journey, I decided to express my revelation through a poem. The poem type is called a Rondeau. I wrote the first stanza is from the viewpoint of Satan. The next stanza is from my viewpoint. Then the last stanza is from Jesus' point of view. Let me know what you think! Thanks.

LovEmotion

[Satan]

Come follow me, where you are king

Of everything you ever dreamed. 

Love is submitted to your rule

Where all other thoughts come from fools

And from your lips, everyone sings. 

Where all wisdom from you can ring;

Do not worry about one thing. 

Everyone's hearts are your own tool.

Come follow me...

You do not have one single need. 

Lost lovers and childrens hearts bleed.

But do not let them take your jewel. 

There is no emotion to bring.

Come follow me.

[Me]

I don't understand how I lose

Everytime that I light the fuse

In my own heart and my own mind. 

Love is patient and it is kind,

My thoughts of love I have abused. 

My own perception gets confused

And He who is Love I accuse,

When really I have just been blind.

I don't understand...

When I overthink, I excuse

All of the truth that I should choose.

No longer will the enemy bind

Truth, because I realize it's fine

I don't understand. 

[Jesus]

Come follow me, where I am king

Of everything you ever dreamed. 

Love is submitted to my rule

Where I welcome all, even fools

To lift their voices and to sing.

Where all wisdom from me can ring;

Do not worry about a thing. 

Use your burdens as your own stool.

Come follow me...

I care to every single need.

Lost lovers and childrens hearts bleed. 

And yet, they are my very jewel.

Emotions of love are not cruel. 

Come follow me. 

The End.

Disguises

It blows my mind how faithful the Lord is to His children, especially when His children are wrapped up in their own flesh and insecurities. The Lord never gives up. For me, this past week has been a battle of hearing the Lord, but believing the enemy and his lies over me. Yet, the thing that amazes me is that the Lord continues to war over me in His pursuit for me to believe truth and love over lies and deceit. I act out in my flesh and my own worldy thinking, yet the Lord never gives up, even when it seems like I create for myself a lost cause.

The Lord delights in giving mercy. He loves to do His job. He created us as humans, knowing that we would be wrapped up in flesh and warred over spiritually all of our lives. But I personally believe that it just makes the Lord that much more impacted and excited when we truly do choose to look to Him...because it requires a choice for us to make, and when we choose the Lord, He is notbaly held in higher significance than any rival over our heart. And when the Lord is chosen over any other lie or attack disguised as momentary satisfaction, it becomes more natural for us to place Him on the throne of our hearts where He belongs.

We are called to be children of God; ones who walk out in radical authority, unhindered joy, undeniable love, and a capturing hope. If we go about our days and let the enemy get to us with his lies, we end up giving him too much credit, and then we naturally let our joy sink with our confidence. When we are depressed, something is wrong, because being a child of the Lord should cause us to be overwhelmed with a joy and love unspeakable...but it is our choice if we want to receive it or not.

I am not saying that our lives should be a joyous explosion of laughter and a constant goody-two-shoe type of feeling, but our lives should hold eternal perspective; that even in the midst of hardship and trial, we realize who we are in the Lord's eyes, and we begin to believe it enough to gain the confidence and strength for every moment. With the joy set before Him, He endured excrutiating suffering. With the joy set before us, we can live our lives as He intended us to.

Just to Feel Alive

When I First came to Kona to do my DTS, the Lord notably did a great deal of work on my heart as He was in the process of transforming me. I underwent incredible change as I began to realize not only who I am in the Lord's eyes, but began to realize who others were in the Lord's eyes as well.

I have never really been in a serious relationship with anyone. I know it was partially because the Lord had immense protection over my life. It was hard for me to trust and to be real vulnerable with any girl. After the third week of my DTS, I prayed and committed to a year of consecration (being set apart only for the Lord) before Jesus. No girls, just Jesus. I had such a fear of the Lord that after my year of consecration, the next girl I begin to pursue was going to be the one I would commit to. This wasn't what the Lord exactly said, but I just remembered that I wanted to take relationships seriously from here on out. I wasn't going to allow something shallow; I wanted the Lord's hand in it all.

January of 2011 came around, and I began to staff the Fire and Fragrance DTS. On February 14th of that year, I met a girl. This was so scary for me because I remembered that the next girl I fall for, I wanted to truly have the fear of the Lord over it and walk it out with complete integrity and honor to myself, the Lord, and the girl. I remember that night, on the 14th, I started to realize I had feelings for this girl. I went to the prayer room and prayed what I felt was a dangerous prayer, but it might have not been. Either way, I said to Jesus, "If this is the girl for me, I commit myself to Your timing and I commit myself to pursue her with all that I have, but You have to open the doors."

Long story short, on March 28th, I embarked on my adventure to Iceland and she went to Mozambique for the next two and a half months. We both agreed to not talk during this time so that we can truly give this whole thing up to the Lord and we believed if this was from Him, He would give it back to us.

Needless to say, on July 5th, 2011, I began to pursue and date my best friend. It was so surreal and amazing! And I continued to have the fear of the Lord over my first ever relationship because I knew that I needed the Lord to be in the center and I knew I needed to cherish this and honor it. We went on many adventures in Kona and Ireland, and the Lord continued to knit our hearts together.

Last sunday, Februay 19th, 2012, I took my best friend out to hang in Portland all day. We shopped, had lunch, and just enjoyed each other's company. After our filled day in Portland, I wanted to surprise her by going to a place neither of us have ever been to. It was the Hoyt Arbetorum (a giant wonderland forest). After walking for a long time and getting lost, I finally saw in the distance a red balloon. I then knew our destination. Below a giant fig tree, there was a blanket with candles, food, roses, a teddy bear (that my best friend and I made together) holding a poem. We walked over and my best friend started to cry. She grabbed the poem and read it. The last line of the poem said, "...just answer one question." I then went on my knee and asked my best friend to marry me. She said, "Yes!"

Our journey has contained a lot more than what is written, but I hope this gives an idea of how ridiculously faithful the Lord has been in this all and how exciting of a time this is!
I am so blessed that later this year, I will be marrying my best friend,
Anna
Katherine
Seistrup!

Thank you Jesus, I am the most blessed man in the world!

[Thanks to Anna's parents, they helped set up the picnic for us, it was awesome!]

Opportune

It is snowing today...the fire is on and I have a coffee sitting next to me. What a perfect day to kick start my blog once again. It has been a while. I guess you could say I have just been having writer's block. Either way, I am back and ready to write all about the new adventures this year holds for me.

As most of you know, I got back from Ireland a few months ago and have been planting myself at home. It has been a sweet time of reuniting with family and friends, but for some reason, this time at home has felt much different from the other times. Since everything with the timing of Ireland sort of fell through, I thought that maybe this were to be a season of being at home. But as of a few days ago, I realized that wasn't the case.

On saturday, I felt the Lord prompt me to watch the Jesus Culutre: Encounter LIve Stream all day...so I did. It is crazy how the Lord uses technology to reach out to people, because I can say that in watching the live stream, I was deeply impacted. The Lord reminded me of a Thursday Night Meeting back in February in Kona, Hawaii, when He softly spoke to me that my time at home was finished. It was a hard reality to be hit by, but my life of missions was truly unfolding.

Since being home, I have loved being with family and friends, but I haven't felt the heavenly peace or any rest since being here. I have felt withdrawn, isolated, and confused. I wanted so desperately for the Lord to speak something...but I got nothing. I cried out that the Lord would make this time clear every day. Then last saturday...He finally did. He is a faithful God that works all things according to our good. In the midst of all of this...the Lord continued to tug on my heart strings of Social Injustice. I have always had a heart for the broken, but this time, the Lord made it clear that most of my ministry will be involved in this sphere. Praise Him!

With that said, next tuesday, I am heading out. There are many open doors leading to opportunity in Oregon, where I will be living for the next few months, praying and planning for what the Lord has for me. If you could, please partner with me in prayer as I seek the Lord in everything He has. Please pray for favor with a job, a place to stay, and all that good stuff. I still feel Ireland is on the horizon, so please pray with me in timing with that as well!

Thank you all for your support and prayer...it means so much to me!

-Daniel
--York

Stuck in Certainty

Well, sorry for the unannounced hiatus from my blog, but I am back and ready to update on all the craziness that has ensued in the past couple months. I have to admit, I miss the blogging world after a while. I feel like my writing may even be a bit rusty, but here is to grace!

In the past couple months, I would say that hasn't been too much revelation on anything new as much as there has been revelation on things of familiarity. The Lord has been pounding the idea holy fear into my heart quite this chapter of my life. "The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom." -Proverbs 1:1. Man, I didn't know that to begin a journey of eternal wisdom would look like this or even take this long. The Lord is the ultimate mediator, and I believe whole heartedly that He is raising up a generation that forgets what it is like to have fear of man and completely walks in a greater understanding of the fear of the Lord. He is our Savior and perfect Father who works things together for our good.

I know I have mentioned this before, but if God desires a relationship with us, that means He desires a living and breathing intaraction of love and deep conversation where we truly listen to everything He says. Prophets are for the edification and confirmation of the word of the Lord. But we have to realize that the Lord speaks directly to us, only if we are willing to listen. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying prophecy and prophets aren't right, but I am saying that we need to always trace everything we hear back to the word of the Lord directly.

As you guys know, I finished up an amazing scouting trip to Ireland with a group of 12. It was absolutely incredible. And also as you may know, I was planning on going back out in February to launch a long-term two year plant out in Ireland with this group of people. Since being home, the Lord seemed to be speaking something different. It is scary to not know exactly what He is doing, but I guess that is why He calls it the fear of the Lord. The community is still going out in February to Ireland, and this excites me more than I can say, and I know I will be apart of this community in one way or another. I still feel called to go out, but as of now, I feel a fear of the Lord on the timing and feel He is telling me to not go out right away. It is His deal, not mine, so I trust Him and am so excited that this community is still going out and that I will be apart of it soon. This is what I have been praying for Ireland; that there would be a group of selfless lovers giving their lives to the land, and that is what Ireland is getting. Praise Jesus!

If you guys could just be praying for me and that the Lord brings immense clarity for me in this season, being as I am not fully sure where He is taking me or what He is doing yet. I know it is a season of intimacy, preparation, fear of the Lord, and humility. As far as more clarity, I am not sure. So thank you guys so much for your prayers and support! I will continue to keep you updated on everything that comes!

Much Love!

-Daniel
--York

Anything Means Anything

Why is it so hard sometimes to actually believe who we really are? The Lord will speak and reveal to us His thoughts over us and we will believe Him for a moment until the enemy simply distracts us with other insecurites. I have been on this journey with the Lord, intensely, for the past two years now. As soon as I feel like I get it, more is brought up in my heart that I have to deal with. But it is all for the sake of clearing my vision so I can truly see who I am in the Lord's eyes.

The Lord will never put us in any situation that we cannot handle with His help. Remember, He is the one that equips us and enables us. So, will we choose to walk in the grace set before us, or will we simply allow ourselves to be distracted by the enemy making a circus act out of our own insecurities? The Lord speaks who we are, and that is enough to break every chain. Being confident is one thing, but walking out in that confidence with a humility and grace is another. We need to know who we are, walk out in confidence as the Lord speaks, and we will always be readily equipped for what is next. The enemy just sits off on the side, trying to distract us, but the Lord is far more fascinating.

The Lord is the one who speaks our character; He is the one taking us on this journey because He wants to. Let's choose to listen to Him, because when we do, we will always walk ahead with the joy set before us in the midst of any circumstance or relationship.

I am currently in Oregon with my special lady. It has been a time of rest, processing, and battling these very insecurities in the midst of relationship; but it has also been a time of breakthrough and complete joy from the Lord. I am SO happy. As you guys know, I just got back from my two months in Ireland. I am still in debt with to my school because a lot of us didn't ever fully get the money we needed. I still need $600 to pay it all off. If you guys could pray with me and continue to ask the Lord to reveal His will and joy in the midst of this all, that would be amazing. And if you do feel led to help support me, that would be such a blessing. You can click the "Ireland" tab above to find out how to donate!

Thanks again!

-Daniel
--York