Entering the Fight

This past week I was privileged to spend time at the beautiful YWAM Tijuana base in Mexico. During this time I was able to go with a team into Zona Norte, or The Red Light District. Here, my eyes were opened to a glimpse of the spiritual battle that wars within the streets. The feelings and sensations that I encountered in this place were anything but ordinary: A stand against the Devil himself. One of the most chilling prayer walks I have ever been a part of, witnessing a battle that is constantly before us, but one that we rarely realize is being waged.

As I walked down the streets of Zona Norte, I passed hundreds of faces that showed little sign of life: deadened eyes, blind and deceived hearts, creations of God taken hostage by evil. I passed alleys selling dope to anyone that passed, dirty needles blanketing window sills and lying on the open streets amidst the trash, girls lining the streets, being sold left and right like animals. I saw evil at its best.

I heard babies screaming for help within one of the most evil places I have ever laid eyes on, a bar/hotel named, Purple Rain. I felt such a presence of evil here that my body felt compelled to throw up. Such darkness. such hate. such devastation. And I heard Satan laughing. I turned behind me to look to see who was making the sound, but as I shuddered, I realized it was not human. There was nothing humane about this place. There was no sign of Life.

While debriefing we learned that Purple Rain is known for the darkness of what goes on within its seclusion and barred doors. We learned of Black Market practices, such as, the selling of organ, babies and children, human trafficking, and more I will not even mention. It stands proudly in the streets of Tijuana--a black figure of the evil that runs so rampant and so blatantly. Satan was mocking us, he was challenging us as the Light represented, to fight back.

Yes, God cares. Yes, the spiritual battle has been underway, and yes, Jesus stands with every innocent child, man and woman that are being unjustly victimized; but he desires our help. We ask ourselves, why does God choose to let people brutalize one another? He asks us, why do we? It takes five police cars to respond to a crime scene because any less and all the police officers will be murdered. This is the extent of the grip that evil holds here. It is no wonder that Christians are afraid to enter into the madness. But it is our duty to enter. It is our duty to fight. Jesus lost his life for the sake of the Gospel...why should we expect any different for ourselves?

And TJ is not the only city where this level of demonic stronghold has taken root! This is not the only place where Christians are afraid to enter. Human trafficking affects 30 million people and every nation, even infecting our own backyards. Let us join in praying, interceding and even, if God-willing, entering into, for the city of TJ and the Red Light District.  In so doing, we are able to proclaim Christ's glory throughout the city streets, God's power over the darkness, and the freedom that redemption brings with the name of Jesus. Let us enter into the fight that is already being waged before our eyes.

A New Chapter

Yes, the above city is indeed Indianapolis...and yes, that means I am coming home! Within the last several months I have been talking with God about the possibility of leaving YWAM LA and embracing the next adventure that He has for me. Recently, God has made it very clear to me (as I understand) that he is, indeed, releasing me from YWAM Los Angeles. This is a much prayed about decision and will be extremely difficult considering that YWAM LA has become family to me over the past 2 years. This community has embraced me as their own and much of my spiritual foundation has been built here. And while it remains an incredible place to grow, I do not want to miss God’s best for me by choosing not to leave and follow Him.

Therefore, I will be moving back to Indianapolis to live with my sister and work. I am hoping to find a position within my field. I feel as though it is a vital time for me to be paying off school loans as well as saving. I do not know what the future holds, but I am up to letting God continue to write the book...one chapter at a time.

I also have some visionary ideas for my time in Indianapolis...shocker, i know! To everyone who has supported me in my LA adventures...please know how grateful I am to you for your love, encouragement and generosity. You made it possible for me to learn such incredible truth...for my eyes to be revealed to so much more of Christ...for God’s light to be shown to others...You have partnered with me in bringing God’s kingdom to earth, to the starving city of Los Angeles, and to the target nations that we have ministered to.

As I look back on the journey, I realize that I have blogged or talked about various visions that I did not end up embarking upon. I apologize for taking you along on the rollercoaster of ideas that flow through my mind on a constant basis! This is why it takes me a minute to make decisions because I want to make sure that I am following God’s lead and not my own! Believe it or not...there are actually many more of my personality types out here in California...lol...especially within YWAM! Thank you for your grace and patience as you travel with me.

I Need Your Help!!!

I am expecting the transition to be a bit difficult for me at first. Transitions involve a loss within the gain. I will have to say goodbye to family and community life as I’ve known it for the past 2 years. However, I am also re-entering a community in which I still have known support, and an incredible spiritual family as well! another difficulty within this transition will be finances. I am pretty low on finances and actually will owe YWAM LA approximately $500 due to falling behind in financial support within the last few months. So I could definitely use help getting on track, financially, during this transition. In addition, I need to be covered in prayer support. It is vital for me to receive support in this area because I know that with every decision I make to follow in obedience of Christ, I can guarantee spiritual opposition and battles. If you would like to send a check you can make it out to Kate Hunt and send to:

9107 Bryant Lane Apt. 3B

Indianapolis, IN 46250

Victor vs Victim

Living...past the trauma...living abundantly and truly whole, requires mental transformation. From a "secular counseling" approach, the therapeutic working model would be Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy; but it is humorously and significantly parallel to fundamental "Christian training" that involves allowing Christ to transform the whole of who you are...Spiritually, mentally and emotionally. It includes spending focus on those trauma areas...the resulting faulty thinking that, in turn, damages our emotions and ultimately influences our behaviors. The holistic transformation that encompasses every area of living. The same principals that guide us into deeper relationship with God also serve as the best evidence approach chosen by worldly therapists in order to see the most healing and progress in a given individual. Psychology, or the study of the human psyche, is not incongruous with the study of following and living as Christ.

I think that too often, as Christians, however, we spend so much energy focusing on the religiosity spirit of growth that we miss a whole other dynamic and level of healing that involves the mind and heart. We can regurgitate truths, but do those same truths truly abide deeply within us? Not merely within our actions but within our thinking and feeling as well? Are we really taking captive all of the incongruities that plague or thoughts and emotions? This requires a lot more work! Much more time feeding our minds with truths...weeding through the lies that affect and show themselves through our emotions and behaviors...it requires God---at all times. It deepens intimacy with him in our 'working out of our salvation' alongside him instead of merely for him.

The number one struggle that I've seen play out in the Christian circle of trauma survivors, specifically, is the "Victor vs Victim" mental battle. Christ proclaims us as victorious in and through him. I think the problem is that we stop at the "In Christ" and do not integrate the "Through Christ". In other words...we study God...we learn everything about him and his character and how he works...how we can interact with him even, but we don't learn about ourselves in regards to our identity in him. We don't take Christ to those areas of our hurt thinking and emotions and let him walk us through...through to a new mentality, a new way of thinking and feeling. We say, either consciously or subconsciously that we are not worth knowing because we are victims, not victorious children of God. We cheapen God's redemptive power and by limiting ourselves through selfishness and not choosing to see who we are through the eyes of Jesus, we limit the all of God. If we don't even know ourselves then how do we expect God to do a thorough work in those given areas? If we remain blind to specific problem areas, then we are not opening that door to the work of the Holy Spirit. We remain in a victim mindset of endless helplessness, faulty thinking, and poor coping strategies...we remain living without the more. What a disappointment life must become within the Christian heart...trying to work towards freedom and known inheritance, but continually failing because we are being led through ourselves instead of Christ. I think it is why some people end up falling away from Christ, for the reason of not being able to achieve the victory that Christ proclaims is available.

The victim mentality. It is naturally self-defeating as well as others defeating. We expect ourselves to fail and we surely expect others to fail us. Do you see a theme in that sentence? Ourselves and Us. Us---alone---not Us with God. We get trapped in an egotistical mindset of US...everything is about me and everything about me is bad...a very exaggerated selfishness that sets us up for eventual failure. God is not the one failing us...WE are failing OURSELVES!! We are refusing to allow Christ into our failing mindsets, paradigms, emotions, and subsequent behaviors. We walk with the name Christian but are missing Christ in the equation as well as his best intentions for our lives.

Jesus longs to restore...think how it must grieve him when we choose to remain broken. I have heard such negative church or Christian opinion in regards to the secular "self-help" material available in stores. I dare to challenge the foundation of their thesis...that if we would just focus on God instead of ourselves all of our problems would just go away. I don't agree. My theory is this: Our focus on God includes receiving revelation about ourselves. For this is the concept of relationship, right? Does God not desire to know us? But he already really does...so really he is wanting us to show ourselves to him! Does that make sense? He wants such a deep intimacy with us that he desires that we bring ALL of who we are to him....this, in turn, allows the ability for us to address US IN AND THROUGH CHRIST so that we can live out our purposed identities. Our identity becomes Christ rooted instead of Us rooted. In other words...we embrace victory. We are transformed through Christ from victims to victors.

A grace that breaks all the rules

Grace. Once you think you got it all figured out, you just may find that you are blown away again by the power of this grace that's called a gift. I've had more than my share of moments when I've needed that grace, so i should be used to how it feels--I should be aware of all the complexities of this thing. Truth is...It still blows me away. And while I've definitely seen the cores of grace played out in the hearts of those around me, I was still reluctant to expect the same from God. lol. The source of it all. I was leery that this same grace could be found from the very God that enabled the hearts of those in which i saw it play out. I'm too stubborn for my own good.

I realized that it isn't possible to understand the fullness of God's love for us if we don't realize the brevity of his grace. This is what the world tells us: we screw up...we get punished. We get punished based on the extent of our screw up. And love...or a withholding thereof is congruent with the basis of our ups and downs. So...if I'm to screw up, I am conditioned to ask how bad the punishment is going to be. And while there are always inevitable consequences that come with any action...sometimes there is no punishment...only this thing called grace.

It messes my head up. It's almost like I wish that I could just be punished instead...because it is easier for me to accept. A full out pardon? No punishment? That's grace. Grace is love. It is hard to accept because it says: you are loved...not for what you do but for who you are. Don't get me wrong...appropriate punishment can also say that you're loved and often the situation will call for the latter...but it is grace that I can't always get my head around. I have to force myself to accept it...to refuse to give in to the conditioned response to punish my own self. It is extremely humbling. I'm not even sure why it is so humbling but it is. It's like I'm choosing to say: God, you know better than I do, so I'm gunna play by your rules and not my own. It is accepting that I am capable of being loved, even if i feel or know that I am not deserving of that love. Its replacing me with more of God.

when we recognize the depravity of our sin, or our inability to be perfect, then we are able to shed light on our desperate need for the grace and love of Jesus Christ. In response, we learn humility...we learn more about ourselves...and more of who the God is that we serve. We gain more insight into our inheritance. An inheritance that goes against all the rules of this world. Salvation. Being saved from ourselves. An unearned extension of priceless love, from the Father of Love to his beloved.