Give me more JESUS!

What an awesome God we have, I get to be a witness of Christ in Ukraine as I leave Abbotsford this Sunday on March 4th! Continually I am being reminded as I am on this journey of faith that our God is the orchestrator of all things. I have been thinking about the fact that we were created so uniquely, God meets with us each uniquely, the plan for our lives is unique and the ways that we worship and dwell in the presence of the LORD is unique. I get so excited when I start thinking about this because it is a reality that we each get to personally interact in intimacy with the only living God.
Now as we were all created, God did not just put us here on earth to mope around, make money, buy stuff and be lazy. We are sent out to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth "And he said to them, 'Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation." Mark 16:15. We need to continue to be good stewards and push for advancing the kingdom. But as we are pushing to increase the Christian faith there WILL be opposition, so what do we do? Well I see Luke 10:19 as a verse that we all need to have memorized and use against the evil one in times of battle and attack. "Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you." Luke 10:19. Jesus sends out 72 people to go and spread the Gospel, heal the sick and cast out demons. When they returned they were amazed at the fact that even the unclean spirits listened to them and Jesus states in verse 19, that we have been given authority over the power of the evil one Satan and nothing will hurt us; authority is not in our own names or our own bodies but it is the LORD JESUS CHRIST flowing through us, we carry His authority. He dwells in us, and we dwell in Him. This authority is not a spiritual gift but it is given to absolutely everyone!

During our All-Night Prayer with MB Mission

 What is one of the key things that we need to have as we encounter the evil one, or when we are witnessing to those who do not yet know the living God? It is a knowledge of the WORD, the Bible, if we do not know our Bibles (swords) we cannot expect to put up much of a fight against the enemies attacks. That is why I am so fired excited about Luke 10:19, that verse is a strong strike on the enemy in battle, for in what way does he have a greater name than that of Jesus Christ? Through all of this, I have been pursuing a knowledge of the Bible because I can grow closer to my Father above and protect not only my own faith but I can assist in defending the faith of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and show to the unbelievers the truth in the scriptures.


One way that I have been gaining a knowledge of the Bible is through memorizing. For me, there are so many verses that I wish I could remember what and where they are but I never actual get around and just memorize them. I decided a week into TREK training that I wanted to memorize the Book of James and this last week I have finally finished memorizing the whole book. It has been a blessing that I cannot describe, I feel like the verses that I have read numerous times now make so much more sense. They are ingrained in my mind and I am able to lean on them in times of trial, joy, prayer, sickness, defense and attack. Memorizing is something that I am going to be working into my daily life and schedule.


To sum up what God has been pushing in my heart over this time of training at the Mark Centre is this, I need and desire to be rooted in the Word of God, I thrive on intimacy with God because He wants to talk with me and provide for me so I should listen, and I feel empowered to Spread the glory of the Lord wherever I go with a humility and confidence.

Prayer Requests: Peace for this transition into Ukraine, team unity and bondage, knowledge and intimacy with God, a boldness in faith to step into this new culture and to carry the fragrance of Christ with me wherever I am.
Blessings- please email me at mitchell.claassen@gmail.com so I can put you on my email list

In the name of JESUS CHRIST

I was able to spend 4 days on beautiful Pender Island. It was a time that I was able to really to be silent before God in many ways, but especially through nature. God displayed His vast power and his great size through seeing the ocean and all of the towering mountains. We continued having sessions and learning through Sam Dick, Ray and Judy Harms-Wiebe and Steve Klassen.

Now when we got back to the Mark Centre we had a big week ahead of us. This week's them is Spiritual Authority, some pretty intense stuff to say the least. I was unsure when we started the week if I would agree with the speakers or not just from a spiritual point of view. I am not saying that I do not believe in being charismatic, but I just wanted to be persuaded all through scriptural evidence and support. This is because the church and servants following Jesus need to be centered and focused on him through all things. We had the privilege of having Randy Friesen start our week off with giving us the basic information and truth that is found in the Bible about our authority in the Son of the Most High. For instance if a man is standing in the street with a gun, he has power with the weapon. But if a police officer that is fresh out of training stands in the street in uniform with his hand raised, he has authority without needing to hold a weapon. Anyone can hold a gun and have power, but it takes a person of faith to wear the uniform which gives authority!

After this we have had the opportunity to talk with Keith and Joan Martens about ways that we can use commands in prayers to use the authority we have in Christ to drive out demons, heal the sick and free people of spiritual bondage. The authority in Christ is not a spiritual gift but it is something that we have all been given when we offer up our lives to follow our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a time in which we can say that Christ is working through us and we use His name as our authority. It has been such an awesome experience to finally here this exciting news from people that have a lot of experience in declaring their authority in Christ and give us practical ways to pray for people in various situations.

I feel such a security and confidence in knowing that Christ is speaking through me and I want to go out into the field and use this new found authority through the Lord of Lords and do His will. I know that God has so many things in store for my team in Ukraine. Keep praying!
Blessings,
Mitch