Jesus Christ is Coming to Town!

It's been over a month now since the close of the Christmas season and I still can't get something out of my mind. I was at work one day in December, in the middle of a sit with a child less than thrilled about having his picture taken (I work as a photographer in a studio), and instead of disciplining her child for his unruly behavior, his exasperated mother informed her child, "You need to obey me right now because Santa Clause is watching! If you're not good, he won't bring you any presents this year!" The little boy immediately straightened up for his picture and even gave me a half smile through the tears leftover from his tantrum. I was amazed and a little disgusted. I was struck with how much power the idea of Santa had over this kid. I was reminded of a conversation I had with someone a few weeks earlier when we heard the song "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" on the radio. My friend commented that the tune made Santa sound like divinity, and this little incident at work proved their observation frighteningly true. But think about how wonderfully different it would have been if that mother had said something like, "Jesus loves you more than you can imagine and He is coming back soon because He wants to be with you so badly. He has given you a mommy and daddy, a house, and food to eat because He loves you so much and the way we show Him that we love Him back is by obeying Him. But remember that we do not obey to make Jesus love us, we obey because He loves us." What a difference?! The former was all about instilling the fear of disobedience and the latter instills the hope of Jesus.

What if the second coming was our motivation? The fact of the matter is that Jesus said that He is coming SOON (Revelation 22) and if we live in any way that is contrary to believing that He is coming soon, we are not being obedient to scripture. Let us not get wrapped up in the anticipation of the world. We are waiting for something far better that Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny. People, Jesus Christ is coming to town! Let's get excited about it, for He does not want to come for a Bride that is indifferent about His coming.

Santa Clause's got nothing on my Jesus.

Revival Vacation

Today my lovely friend Maureen and I went on a little Swiss adventure. Maureen has been a wonderful host to me, making my time in Switzerland most enjoyable. Today was no different. Our destination was Stiftsbibliothek in the nearby town, St. Gallen. The bibliothek is the oldest monastic library in the world. There were books dating 1,000, and even 1,500 years back! For a book lover such as myself, it was amazing.

As I looked around the ornate room in awe, I had a flashback to my childhood years and felt that I was Belle, being ushered into Beast's library for the first time (come on Beauty and the Beast fans... you know what I'm talking about!). It was breathtaking. We were required to wear these little slippers over our shoes to protect the books from dust.

I browsed the hundreds of books containing beautiful theological truths under the cover of the ornately frescoed ceiling. Definitely a highlight of the trip for me.

After exiting the museum, we had a picnic lunch in the garden. As I prayed to thank God for the food, a whole other prayer began to pour out of me. I asked Abba that as tourists walked through that wonderful room, full of historic beauty, they would be struck with the reality of what those books hold. That is would no longer just be a tourist attraction, but a place where they would have a heavenly encounter with the Holy Spirit. That these books of yesteryear that hold the truths of our very present God would not be just one more image in the blur of a European vacation, but that those truths would supernaturally jump off the page and into their hearts forever. The Stiftsbibliothek was, after all, a place that was used to study the Word of God and the theology of the Christ's Church - why can't it be again? People shuffle past these books in their little slippers and ow and awe over their beauty, remaining completely ignorant to the true beauty of the Gospel. I know that Jesus is bigger than that and today my prayer is that He would show up and show off just how alive He is today in that library.

So much of European history revolves around Christianity. Granted, not all of it is pretty history, but what if it stopped being stories of dead people and started being encounters with the living God. I want to start hearing stories of people on vacation touring Europe having radical encounters with the Holy Spirit! That churches, cathedrals and monastic libraries would harbor such a thick presence of God, that people's lives would never be the same! Oh that the ancient wells of Europe would spring up today! Wouldn't it be great to have revival European vacations?!

Last year, while in Germany with GTS, we visited the church in Wittenberg where Martin Luther mailed his 95 theses. After a powerful worship time inside the church, we had a time of prayer outside. Holy Spirit came and touched our hearts. People were laid out on the sidewalk under the power of God. And where were we causing such a heavenly scene? Right in front of the door where Luther nailed his theses... yeah, that door. Other tourists were literally having to step over members of our team to get their picture taken by the famous door!

That's what I want to see again! I want people to know that God did not die in the 18th century! He is living and active! Spring up oh well in Europe!

ELAV Day 3

First of all, I must apologize for the tardiness of this update. After the conference ended, the staff went into a coma of sorts to rest and recuperate after pouring out so much during ELAV. 17 hour days full of hard work in the hot sun was exhausting, but so worth it! In these recent days following the conference, some have been describing it as an atomic bomb of Holy Spirit that has been dropped on the youth of Israel.

The third day of the conference started with a miraculous worship set led by my friend James. He had lost his voice earlier in the week and then had it miraculously healed in time for his set. Thank you so much for all you who prayed! Matt Gilman also led us in an amazing worship time before our morning session with Heidi Baker. Heidi spoke on the spirit of adoption and the link between identity and courage. Using powerful examples from her own life in Mozambique, she shared with us that when you know that you're adopted, you're not afraid anymore. And in Hebrew, the root word for adoption, is the same root word for courage. She charged the youth to know who they are in Abba and with sureness of that reality, to step out with boldness in their culture. This is such an import message for this generation at this time in Israel. Afterwards, there was a time of prayer and ministry for the youth. Many were getting touched, but there was still a level of breakthrough that we were not tapping into. Then Rick Ridings (founder of Succat Hallel), very wisely and in obedience to the Holy Spirit, led us in the direction of praying specifically for the IDF soldiers among us. Many of these kids are barely out of high school and have been trained to shut off their emotions and become very hard - making times like these, when the Spirit of God wants to come in, very difficult. As we began to minister to these soldiers, Holy Spirit just broke out and began touching them. We had Palestinian youth and even young men from Gaza praying for IDF soldiers! The only way this could happen is in Yeshua! It was an amazing thing to see these soldiers with machine guns strapped to their backs, break down in tears as Abba came and touched them with their love. It is said that almost no soldiers leave their time in the army with their virginity or their faith in Yeshua. Please keep these young people in your prayers, the need is great.

Saturday was an extra special day because it was Heidi Baker's 50th birthday! It was a joy to spend this special day with her and she enters her year of jubilee. We sang for her in English and Hebrew and had a sweet time of blessing her.

In the afternoon, Joaquin Evans from Bethel Church in Redding CA shared with the youth about the ministry of healing - allowing God to come and make it easier than we think. The youth really responded to Joaquin's laid back style and sincerity. Many have been inspired and encouraged to take the power of Yeshua to the streets of their cities. After Joaquin's session, he had a time of impartation to the youth and of course, a time to pray for the sick. We saw blown out knees completely restored, backs healed, hearing loss restored, TMJ healed and more! It was powerful to see the youth pray for each other - Arab and Jew contending for each other's miracle. This is the kingdom in action.

The conference closed out with Asher Intrater's session. Asher is a local Messianic leader and an international speaker/author. He did not come to the conference to give these kids a cotton candy message that would make them feel good. No, he brought something that is offensive to the flesh and life to the soul - truth. He spoke about how many of us know the kind, sweet Yeshua. He is a Galilean hippie with children on His lap and flowers in His hand. But there is another side of Yeshua that we must know - the Lion of the tribe of Judah that will soon be touching down on the Mount of Olives with a sword in His mouth and blood on His robe. We must know this Yeshua, or we will not recognize Him at His coming. Asher passionately exhorted the youth to serve their flesh a death blow, giving up the things of this world that make provision for the old man and choosing to live lives completely surrender to the King. Conviction swept over the crowd and lives will never be the same. We finally wrapped up at about midnight and called the Kennes Elav 2009 to a close.

Believe with us that this weekend was a turning point for the youth of this nation. That there will be outbreak of revival in Israel, bringing with it signs and wonders. God met us out in the Baptist Village in a powerful way, but this is not just about a conference - a mountaintop experience that soon loses it's potency. No, this is about the coming of Yeshua's Kingdom and it's firm establishment in this nation. Join us in intercession for this Israeli generation. We believe that God has great things in store for them and want to partner with Him in seeing it.

Thank you all so much for the faithful prayers that you have sowed into this conference and ministry. God is doing big things and He wants us to be a part of it. Take up the mantle. Join the battle. The journey is an adventure and the victory, a sure thing.

ELAV Day 2

Today was an amazing day. It was filled with worship, impartation and the Spirit of God. That's been something that has really struck me about this conference - the Holy Spirit's presence has been so strong and thick in a ll the worship times and sessions. It's amazing to be in His presence. Getting out out of Jerusalem and experiencing this sweet presence made me realize how in need of refreshing I was! My eyes do not stay dry for long in the worship times, for I am so overcome by His goodness to come and meet me again and again.

It seemed like unity was our theme today. We had worship sets in Hebrew, Arabic and English! Very exciting. We had a special time of prayer with the youth, where Jews prayed for gentiles and vice versa - just blessing each other. Tonight was a big night in the fact that we had Matt Gilman (IHOP KC) lead worship and our speaker was Heidi Baker. It was POWERFUL! Matt lead an amazing time that had hundreds of us dancing, completely undignified for our King, and then on our knees weeping in awe of God's holiness. It was so anointed and Holy Spirit was moving. Heidi Baker spoke about how sometimes it takes realizing just how blind we are to able to be used by God to heal the blind. The evening ended with an intense fire tunnel. For those of you who are not familiar with this form of prayer ministry, a fire tunnel is when people (the youth in this case) walk in between 2 rows of people (the leaders of the conference and spiritual leaders in Israel) to receive prayer and laying on hands. It was a great time for the youth to receive impartation from the generations ahead of us and opened the door for Holy Spirit to come in and taking control - changing lives forever.

We also heard two exciting healing testimonies today from Israeli youth. An Ethiopian Jewish guy who prayed for a deaf and mute Arab guy who was healed and a Jewish young woman who prayed for a blind man who was healed! More Lord! It IS happening! Continuing praying that God will use His people to bring healing and blessing to the nations and that He would raise up this generation!

A quick praise report - James, one of our worship leaders who had lost his voice at the beginning of the week is feeling much better and will be able to lead his set tomorrow morning! Thank you to all of you who prayed! This was a great healing from Abba.

Another quick prayer point - A prophetic word came out today through Esther Ridings (daughter of Rick and Patti Ridings, founders of Succat Hallel) about the spirits over this nation. A spirit of rejection, a spirit of hopelessness and a spirit of death. I can testify to how true these are and how much they need to be removed through intercession and spiritual warfare. Please join us!

Well, it's another full day tomorrow! Please be praying that our last day goes great, that the youth will seize every opportunity to get what God has for them this weekend and that everything will run smoothly. Good night and Shabbat Shalom!

P.S. Here's a video of Matt Gilman singing one of the songs that he palyed tonight - "Holy" It was such a powerful time of worship and I wanted you all to experience part of it. Enjoy!

ELAV Day 1

Well, it's almost 2am here in Israel and I'm home from the first day of the Elav youth conference. Thank you so much to everyone who is praying! We need it! The conference is off to a great start though. All the youth arrived today who are staying at the venue, and so far, there have been no major glitches. A few scares, but God had been so faithful and it was a great day! After just the first session, many of the youth are already being touched by Abba. We had two brothers (who for security reasons must remain nameless) from Gaza share testimonies of what God is doing there and the growing number of believers. It was so powerful to see their Jewish brothers and sisters surround them to pray and lay hands on them. Itzhak Mor-Haim shared a powerful word about our need to be available and willing to live the life of a servant for God to use us. Many of the youth were compelled and we saw Holy Spirit moving in them. Please keep praying for us. All the staff and volunteers are staying very busy during the days, so pray that we feel supernaturally rested by the time we need to be back on the bus in the morning - just six short hours from now. Pray especially for the spiritual warfare we are experiencing. The conference this year falls during Ramadan, the Muslim holiday. Satan would like nothing more than to defeat us in someway during this time. Pray for continued grace and peace over the conference as a whole and all involved. We're off to a great start and can't wait for the next two days! But I must be off to bed or I won't make it through them! Thank you for all your prayer love and support. If you have any questions about the conference or how you can be praying, feel free to comment or email me at chelsea_nunnenkamp@hotmail.com

Also, check out this promo video for the conference - it will give you a small taste of what's going on ever here!

Face to Face with Destiny

Have you ever had one of those moments where you feel like you've come face to face with your destiny? Like you are suddenly struck with the reality that the opportunity that lies in front of you is what you were created to do at this point in history? It's a pretty awesome feeling and I had one this week.

Since moving to Israel, I have had a lot of trouble sleeping. I think that it's probably a combination of the heat, the mosquitoes, my mattress and the spiritual atmosphere of this city. On the nights that I can't sleep I normally lie awake in silence until I can't take it any longer, and then I decide that if I'm going to be up in the middle of the night, I might as well do something productive. I return emails, read, or listen to a teaching. I had one such this past week. I was able to pick up one bar of wifi signal in my room from our neighbors - this in and of itself is quite the feat. I opened up my browser and soon found myself on a website reading about an internship opportunity here in Israel. It's with a legal organization that fights for the civil rights of Messianic Jews, living in Israel, that are being persecuted for their faith in Yeshua. Just sitting in my room, in the dark, in the middle of the night, reading about this opportunity on my computer, I began to cry. That's not normal. When's the last time you cried while reading about a legal internship online? Yeah, it doesn't happen everyday. But it happened that night, because I was coming face to face with my destiny. Yes, I really want to be a part of this organization and internship. I have a love for law, justice and government, but it's not so much about this particular internship as it is about the whole picture.

Over the course of this past year, God has really been speaking to me about the role He's calling me to play in the political world. I've always had a love for government. I made my mom take a picture of me on the first day I voted (an off year election), I watch Fox News for fun and I read Ronald Regan's auto-biography at age 16. I love it, but I never thought I could really pursue it. It always seemed just a little out of my league. I didn't feel adequate to be involved. But this year, Abba has been revealing to me that He's given me that passion for a reason - a reason that will ultimately further His Kingdom and bring glory to His name. I feel a new release and prompting to pursue what God has for me in the realm of politics. The past several months have brought prophetic words and pictures about God's call on me for government. He's been impressing it on me more and more, giving me the dreams of His heart for this sphere of influence and it all crescendoed that night in my room, crying with my laptop. It was like the Holy Spirit was saying, "Be encouraged dear one, there's a perfect fit for you. These are the desires I've placed in you. There are others who's heart burn for the same things your does." I just had this peace in my spirit and I knew that He was revealing the next step. He was making it a little clearer and shedding some light on how I should proceed. It was an amazing moment. In the days following this night, it seems as though things have been falling into place right and left. I feel like I have clear direction on how to fulfill the purposes that God has for me in my generation. He's done it in a beautiful way that gives Him glory, meets the desires of my heart and makes the more economic and practical sense than anything I could have come up with in my own. I have a five year plan. Crazy.

Now it's important to note that this is what I'm feeling God say right now, and the plans could change - God does that. But when I first felt God telling me that my pie in the sky dream to somehow be involved in politics wasn't so unrealistic, I didn't understand how it could ever work. I just kept thinking about how much school I was going to need and the timing and logistics. But I waited on the Lord, I laid it on the altar what felt like daily and committed my way to Him. And in the end, He gave it all back to me in the most perfect way. He is so faithful and capable.

I'm really excited about this next season and the plans that God is revealing. And He's showing my that the desires and passions that I have are placed in me, by Him, for His glory! What an awesome God we have! So what are your passions? What does your heart burn for? Chances are, it's not a coincidence. I believe that God wants us to enjoy the work that He's called us to. Ministry isn't more holy if you're miserable doing it... it's just miserable. Ask God how He wants you to use the gifts, passions and talents He's given you. Ask Him to bring you face to face with your destiny. It's pretty great.

Downtown Healing

One evening a few weeks ago, I was walking in the city with some friends and I passed a woman sitting at the bus stop with two walking canes. I immediately heard the internal voice of the Holy Spirit tell me to go and pray for her healing. So I stopped dead in my tracks, handed my things off to my friend and approached this older woman. I introduced myself, (thankfully she spoke English, because my Hebrew isn't at that level yet) mentioned that I had noticed her canes, and asked her the reason for them. She explained that she has suffered from rheumatoid arthritis in her back and both knees for many years. I shared with her the work that Yeshua has done for her and that He wants her to live without this pain. She smiled, patted me on the hand, and matter of factly stated, "Oh, honey, a life without pain would be impossible for me." Impossible...huh? I smiled right back at her and stated a fact of my own, "All things are possible with God." At this point I was getting excited to see how God was going to show up. She consented to me praying for her and even allowed me to lay my hands on the areas of pain. (When you have a true revelation that you carry the Spirit of the Living God Who created the Heavens and the Earth living inside of you, you want to lay your hands on sick people!) I prayed a simple prayer, but full of faith. After asking her to test her back and knees for the pain, she said "I feel comfort in my body and I can't feel the pain!" Hallelujah! I explained that the Comforter is the Holy Spirit of God and we talked about Yeshua for a bit. I encouraged her to continue checking her body over the next few days and to know that when the pain wasn't there, God's Son Yeshua the Messiah, has healed her. After that, she got on her bus and I rejoined my friends who had been faithfully praying a little ways off on the sidewalk.

You see, this is the life of the normal Christian. When we, who have Jesus in us, come into contact with people who are sick, it creates an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to show up and show off His love for humanity. Sick people + Jesus is always a good combination. I'm not a super Christian - I didn't spend an hour in prayer before I approached this woman, I wasn't fasting for her healing (in fact, we were on our way to dinner!) and I had even sinned that day. I'm just a girl who loves Jesus and is willing to step out in faith that others may also know His great love. With my Abba, everyday is "take your daughter to work day."

So be encouraged! We serve a God that heals the sick, raise the dead and delivers the oppressed. Step out today. Sick people are simply opportunities for God to show His love. But you may be asking... what if they don't get healed after I step out and pray for someone, especially in public? Won't I feel silly, or worse yet, won't that make God look bad? But I ask, if God does heal someone we pray for, can we take credit for that? Of course not! That also means that we don't have to take responsibility if He doesn't. It's really, really not about us. And if they don't get healed, what's the worse that happens? They meet someone passionately in love with Jesus, and full of radical faith, telling them that God loves them. Not bad.