every day when i walk around the village of mijas, i am constantly surprised by how many english accents i hear.  i hear them in the pubs cheering for their favorite premier league soccer teams, in the restaurants talking about politics, in the grocery stores buying provisions for the week and in local parks with their families.  the costa del sol is a beautiful region in southern spain and as such, is a major tourist attraction.  many from england have come for a weekend and stayed for a lifetime.  i have no doubt that many came before the euro became the currency in spain, during a time when the pound would go a long way in this area.  i am sure that many have handled the leveling of currencies quite well.  there is another place that i hear many english accents.  every tuesday, i go down to the closest beach city, fuengirola and help out with an english based church called "The Ark."  the Ark runs a weekly soup kitchen and serve a good meal to many homeless in the area every tuesday.  certainly there are many spaniards in the room.  there have been guys from eastern europe, denmark, finland, italy, germany, morocco but the second largest group every tuesday is the english.  most  have pretty similar stories: came here with a lot of money, wasted it living out the story of the prodical son and find themselves on the streets as a result.  i believe that when tackling the problems of the world, it is important to have an understanding of basic human needs.  start at the bottom and work your way up.  dont talk to someone about their identity or purpose when what they need first is a glass of water or a plate of food.  i think that maslow's hierarchy of needs could serve as a good tool for missionaries who are in a place with immense need; start at the bottom, establish and solidify each level of need before moving up the ladder.  anyways, you can google search that to see what these needs are.  all that to say, many of the homeless have established their own level of need and if that particular one is met, then they dont really care about their circumstances.  a common trend of those who are on the streets is addiction.  addiction is what has driven many to the streets and is what keeps them there, but with the meeting of this "need", they can manage life on the streets.  this to me demonstrates the power of addiction.  many have useful skills and have had successful lives in the past, but currently either cannot overcome addiction or have no desire to in spite of what it has done to their lives.  it is heartbreaking to me to see how much addiction controls many and how it has taken a once vibrant life and shrunk it down to something that is barely visibie.  perhaps i feel this way because it could have been me. 

 

i love hearing the stories of the men there and prodding them to get up off their mat and do something.  i feel like i have the right to challenge the men because i know their circumstances but also because as splendid creations of the Lord, they were made with great care and attention and as images of God, have the capacity to do so much more than they currently are.  one man i have interacted with a few times is a patient old man named bernie.  bernie is from London but worked in america for about 16 years, primarily in the construction business.  bernie is an alcoholic who is probably in his late 50's or early 60's.  he is a father who probably rarely sees his kids or has little involvement in their lives (the fatherless generation is a major issue in the world today, but that is another blog).  a few weeks ago, bernie told us that he was returning to england.  i dont know the exact circumstances for his heading home, but i hope and pray that he does not move from one homeless situation here to another one back in england.  i hope that the wrecking ball of addiction is no colliding with his life.  i hope that he sees his kids.  i hope that he gets back on his feet and sleeps in a bed every night.  last week was the first time i have not seen bernie in a few months, and i hope to never see him again.  i hope that the next thing to wreck his life is the love and grace of God.  he is the sleeper that the glory of the Lord needs to shine upon; the soup kitchen is full of people like that

"surely the land on which your foot has trodden, shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever"  Joshua 14:9

 

in my last blog, i talked about how the earth and all that is in it, is our inheritance that Christ secured for us on the cross.  Romans 8:37 reminds me that i am "more than a conqueror through Him who loves me."  we have the Lord of the universe behind us directing our steps and in front of us clearing the way; this fills me with great Godly confidence and assurance.  so i find myself wondering why at various times in my life, i have lived like i was defeated instead of walking in the truth that the war is already over and my hand has been raised.  Christ won the war fully and completely on the cross.  but sometimes we walk fearful; perhaps we are fearful of the devil, or the coming antichrist and this keeps us from living a life that will be marked with victories.  perhaps the giants we see in front of us frighten us or we are afraid to fail so we fail to risk, or maybe the mountain looks to tall so we sit at the base.  what are we really risking when the war has already been won.  we, the beloved bride of Christ, win this thing, in fact, we have already won this thing!!  i have learned that satan is a sniveling coward who has his white flag of surrender in his hand but seems to freak us out with what Jimmy McCarty has called "cheap parlor tricks."  he has no authority over us.  it fills satan full of fear to think of what would happen of the body of Christ understood the authority we have.  it would truly freak satan out if the body of Christ would walk boldly as Christ wants us to.  We have the authority and the power to literally beat back the devil back into hell.  i get all excited when andrew shearman shouts at the top of his lungs "TO HELL WITH THE DEVIL!!!!!"  there is a great story in the old testament that demonstrates the modern mindset about claiming our inheritance and the attittude we should have. 

 

Moses sent a group of scouts to check out the land of Canaan (the promised land) and upon the return of the scouts to the camp, the general consensus was that the land that GOD HAD PROMISED was full of giants whom filled the Hebrew majority with great fear.  this story can be found in Numbers 13 and we learn from there that the land was incredible (isn't God's promised land supposed to be incredible??) but it was "fortified and large.....we cannot attack those people, they are stronger than we are....we seemed like grasshoppers IN OUR OWN EYES and we looked the same to them."  as children of God, we cannot adopt a view of self that is less than what God as already said about us.  it is incredible that despite the promise of God that no matter what, they would conquer whoever inhabited the land even if they proved to be giants.  this is not the attitude to have.  the hebrews continually forgot that God ALWAYS delivers on his promises, despite the mountains that seem to make the journey impossible.  anyways, we should have the heart of Caleb who silenced the people and declared "we should go up and take possession of the land for we can certainly do it!!"  the story goes on to say that instead of walking into their destiny (the promised land) they become fearful and desire to return to egypt (their place of 400 years of slavery).  they were wiling to trade in greatness, destiny, purpose and the promises of a steadfast God for the life of slavery.  are you serious??  those freaking panzified cowards!!!  i love the attitude of caleb.  he saw the same giants in the land and said GIVE ME MY MOUNTAIN!!!  he did not see the obstacles, he saw destiny, he visioned the promises of God being fulfilled.  no wonder that generation of hebrews wandered in the desert for 40 years.  the last of that unbelieving generation died off in the desert, well short of what their inheritance should have been.  mighty  men like Joshua and Caleb would eventually cross the river and possess the promised land because they believed the word of God. 

 

God has also spoken to us of our inheritance, of our own promised land.  do we believe Him?  or do we cower in fear instead of walking in boldness?  i have made the statement "give me my mountain" a mantra of my life.  i choose to take God at His word because He has a proven track record.  dont be the unbelieving generation that died off in the desert because of unbelief.  be the generation that rises up and takes possession of the promised land

 

 

I love the truth that when i accept Christ as my savior, i literally become a child off God through the process of adoption.  in an earthly sense, parents who plan and save will set aside an inheritance for their children; however, this inheritance is typically gained when the parents pass on from this life to the next.  Romans 8:17 identifies that because we have been adopted as children by the Lord Himself, that we have become co-heirs with Christ; He has an inheritance for us.  If our parents bestow on us a blessed inheritance, how incredible could the inheritance from God be?  for years i read over these verses and said to myself, "i will claim God's inheritance when i die and go to heaven."  i think that many people think that the reason Christ came and died was so that we could get to heaven.  we spend much time focusing on the end of the story and longing for heaven that we miss the true nature of God's inheritance for us; Heaven is the benefit, not the primary destination.  this generation needs desperately to understand that our inheritance is NOT waiting for us in the distant future; God's inheritace is something He intends for us to claim now, today, this second even!!  living with God's inheritance in our hands means that we need to START LIVING NOW!!!

 

When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden, He gave them extra commands that the rest of creation did not receive.  God told them to multiply, fill and refill,  subdue and take dominion over the earth.  They were set there with the mandate to rule now.  they had the chance to walk an indulgent life in the literal presence of God.  they understood inheritance, their inheritance was the earth and all that was in it.  it took one episode for them to lose the inheritance as the serpent came and in a grand moment of human weakness, they hand their inheritance over to the serpant.  when the serpent came and tempted Jesus, this point is made clear.  In Matthew 4: 8-10, satan offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world (THIS WORLD, the one we live in now) if Jesus would simply bow and worship.  Jesus never disputes satans claim on this world.  Jesus knew that the fall of man in Genesis resulted in this transaction.  that cowardly serpent thinks he has the right to put his nasty hands on what God has clearly told us belongs to us!!  can that do anything but make you upset??  Jesus came and died not so we could just get the blessing of Heaven but so that the inheritance we lost in the garden would become obtainable.  CLAIM IT NOW!

 

many verses in the bible illustrate what this inheritance.  in Genesis we learn about it.  i have already stated it, but it is worth repeating.  in the garden of eden, man inherited the earth and everything in it.  Psalms 2:8 says that God "will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession."  this is a prophetic word about Christ but if we are co-heirs, then our inheritance is the same.  our inheritance is THE NATIONS!!  when Jesus breathed His last breath, he exclaimed "it is finished!!"  He was not talking about His life, because He was just getting warmed up.  instead He spoke of victory that He had claimed on our behalf; the fact that He had reclaimed the inheritance for you and me.  He died so we could once again re-inherit the nations.  Jesus himself says in Matthew 6 that we should pray like this: "YOUR KINGDOM COME, your will be done on EARTH as it is in HEAVEN."  We are not dying to get to heaven.  we are living to bring Heaven down to earth, to bring God's kingdom here, NOW.  the nations are our inheritance; bringing God's kingdom here is how we claim that inheritance.  it is how we live in that inheritance.  the essence of nations is people.  we are reclaiming them so that they too might become adopted by God in order that we can all share in this inheritance.  DO YOU LOVE ENOUGH....

 

to step into chaos to create the order that God's kingdom creates?  do you care about people in thailand who wear the yoke of prostitution, or who are being sold as sex slaves as the ever increasing problem of human trafficking runs rampant through the earth?  has the love of Christ so consumed your heart that the thought of an innocent but unloved baby dying of aids in swaziland eat at your insides and spur you into action?  does all the heartbreak around the world make you long for the "rapture rescue mission" or does it make you long to bring God's kingdom here??  this is the nature of our inheritance and i plan to live my life in such a way that makes generational differences here and now.  i dont long for heaven, i  long for heaven on earth!!!  this is my inheritance and my prayer is that by my life, and the lives of other like minded people, the glory of the Lord will fill the earth as it did before the fall.  my name is zach parish and i am a co-heir with the Lord Jesus Christ and i am a keeper of God's dream. 

 

"for i know the plans i have for you, says the Lord" Jeremiah 29:11

 

i arrived here in Spain last friday with no clear answer to the question of why i was here.  when is stepped off the plane, all i really knew is that God positioned me to sit at the feet of some of the most Godly men that i will ever encounter.  these are men who are passionate about God, His kingdom, and empowering others to be fully the will of God expressed here on earth.  Secondly, and slightly unspiritually, i get to live in Spain for 6 months.  I knew that God had opened doors for this and was calling me on this journey, so saying yes was not something i thought about for more than a few minutes.  this is not some random 6 months where i live outside the  box that is unrelated to the rest of my life.  these next 6 months could actually define the rest of my life.  i think that to understand why this next 6 months is so important, perhaps i should back up and take you broadly through the stages of life i have been through to this point.  i guess i will start with my late teenage years.

 

at 17, i started to make really poor decisions and until God opened doors for me to get physically away from the mess i had made of my life.  i moved to arkansas at the age of 23.  instead of truly coming to an understanding of what my identity was, i did everything  i could to black it out.  when i moved to arkansas, i really had no idea who i was and though i had allowed God to take control of my life again, the next few years were full of confusion as i slowly started to learn who i was.  i had to get back the 6 years that i had wasted living in complete selfishness and sin.  in some ways, it was like a rebirth and i was going through growing pains.  i had so many wounds left untreated.  at age 29, i went on a truly life changing journey called the world race in which who i really was and what i had spent the previous 6 years learning started to be confirmed; i was no longer living under a cloud of confusion when considering my identity.  i think that God intended that year to be fully healed from 30 years of woundings.  i emerged from the world race a new man who viewed the world, myself and God much differently than i had before.  during the latter half of the race, Spain started to appear on the radar and now, here i sit.

 

I know who i am, I know Jesus and i know that He has a massive dream for my life and that He created me for nothing less than greatness.  Not greatness how the world defines, but greatness that magnifies who He is, and greatness that impacts the world for His glory.  greatness that dies to self everyday in order to serve the nations and set the captives free.  God wants us to dream huge dreams, dreams that are far too big for our own hands to fulfill; dreams that only a huge God can bring to fruition.  this next 6 months is about honing in on that but practically answering the question of my purpose and role in the ever present kingdom of God.  this time will be very intentional as teachers from all over the globe will be investing in the kingdom by investing in me.  they will sacrifice to pour into me.  everyday i will be challenged with the question of what i am going to do after these 6 months are up.  this will not be 6 months of vacation.  as i learn more, i will share more.  i hope that you will join me on this leg of my journey through life.

 

if you are interested in knowing more about the program, you can check out www.g42leadershipacademy.org.  you can also donate to me at this account.  i am an intern here.  

 

blessed to be a blessing,

zach

here are some more stories that are coming in from those in the field in swaziland.  i met morgan in february during my time in swaziland and she is an amazing woman with a massive heart for the nations.  she leads groups from the united states to swaziland on what i believe to be a fairly regular basis.  anyways, this story is so raw and will break your heart and yet is a common occurrence in this suffering country.  these people need us.  read and be moved to action

 

 

 

here lately, the Lord has put the nation of swaziland on my heart and i have been praying for this nation fervently.  if ever a country can break ones heart and spur someone to do mission work, it is this nation.  it is a nation that still dreams and hopes for a bright future despite the calamities that have befallen it.  HIV/aids has ravaged swaziland but i know that the power of Christ is working there and that He is calling us to partner with HIm be His hands and his feet for His people.  below is a video that might be somewhat dated, but nonetheless will give you a good idea of what is going on in swaziland.  i also invite you to check out the blog page of our adventures in missions pastor there at http://pastorgift.myadventures.org/  for a great perspective on swaziland as well as our swaziland site at http://swaziland.myadventures.org/

 

the hope of the nations is the power of Christ that resides in all His followers.  Do we have the spirit of Isaiah when in chapter 6 he says "here i am Lord....SEND ME!!!!!"  I invite you to read stories of heartbreak and breakthrough and to be obedient to what the Lord is putting on your heart.

i am sitting here with pam, (who is cattle prodding me to blog) awaiting to head to ukraine from bucharest at 5 am.  we are facing a 40 hour train ride which normally would spark travel day anxieties because of the typical brutish nature of world race travel days.  this time however, i am excited for the travel day as we will be romping across eastern europe in a train.  not only will i get to see some great scenery, but the peaceful time will allow me to reflect on the last 9 months on the road and prepare myself mentally and spiritually for the end of this crazy race as next month i will be heading back to the states for the summer.  from january until the end of march, i was in africa; this did not allow me a lot of opportunity to blog but nonetheless, i feel it necessary to offer up an apology to my supporters and those back home who pray for me on a constant basis.  when i leave in the morning, i will be heading to the last country i will see before i fly back to america.  i am unsure what ministry will look like in ukraine, but i do know that our group will be situated outside Lugansk.  from within this city, you can actually see into russia.  anyways, this area seems to be full of people who lack hope and love and whose lives are marked by endless seasons of drowning away their lives with their constant companions: alcohol.  this is what we are up against next month.  i know that this description is general, but there will be more details when i have them.  i will also spend some time talking about what 3 months of africa was like but to be honest, i am still trying to straighten all of those memories and God given lessons that Africa brought with it.

 

i do want to encourage my supporters by letting you what your money has accomplished this year as we you have teamed with God and myself to literally bring his kingdom down from above.  we loved the homeless at a garbage dump in guatemala as well as served as the Hands of Jesus in a childrens hospital.  we fought against prostitution in vietnam, reached out to those ostracized by HIV, and fed mentally and physically handicapped children and young adults.  in myanmar, a small group of us provided much needed food/goods to families in the delta who lives had been ravaged by cyclone nargis.  we also ushered orphans into the presence of God through games, skits, bible messages and the love of Christ that flows through us.  in London, we reached out to the rapidly growing muslim population and began breaking strongholds that are so prevalent there.  in mozambique, we moved an orphanage complex to a place that will give them a great chance to become more modern and catch the attention of the government.  in malawi, we planted churches in 3 different villages and got to experience extended community within that culture.  i can say that when the body of Christ is unified across boundaries and borders, the world is being changed and Christ is being magnified. 

 

Walking daily how Jesus walked; reaching out to those that society has rejected or loving those who are deemed unlovable, those who are broken and hurting means that you are making the world a better place.  The cross and the empty tomb are central to the truth of God, but we cannot miss how Jesus walked out his daily life.  for those who have partnered with me this past year, know that God has used you to impact the world for the better

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Select: "The World Race"

Type: "For Brian Alonzo"