THURSDAY
Thursday morning we all met up at the church offices before heading out to some of the local townships. These are settlements that were created under apartheid to segregate blacks and they remain very poor, ghettoised communities. The group split into smaller groups and visited individual homes. At each place they were able to pray with the people living there, get to know them and encourage them.
Jon & Amanda, on a visit to one home, prayed with a woman who had been paralysed with a stroke. She had been suffering considerable pain for a long time and needed to be transported everywhere she needed to go. After praying for her healing, she reached down and touched her toes, then got to her feet and started dancing! She had been a dancer and singer before the stroke and she showed Amanda her c.d. The lady couldn’t wait to get outside and tell people about her miracle. There was much excitement, kisses and hugs all round!
After this, Jon noticed a lad who had been at the back of the room in the shadow and he asked him if there was anything he would like prayer for. He was the woman’s son and although he was rather reticent at first, when Jon asked him if he wanted to know Jesus, he nodded and put his hands together. Jon prayed a line at a time, with the young lad repeating his words. After saying his prayer he was beaming with excitement at his mother’s healing and his own salvation!
The younger children were then invited in to join us from a back room. Jon and Amanda prayed for the kids and had an incredible time of hearing word after word from God for them so that by the time they had finished their visit, every member of the family had been prayed for.
In the evening, it was time for the first session of the conference. We met up with Julian Adams and spent some time in prayer together before heading into the meeting. Julian was speaking on living under an open heaven. He reminded us that Heaven is the hidden dimension of our ordinary lives, not just a future state. He talked about how we have access to Heaven now and we are already living in the favour of Heaven. At the end of his message we got to pray and minister with those who had come to the conference. We quickly lost count of the number of healings but we can remember at least seven!
John Balding and Amanda prayed for someone who had suffered with pain in her shoulder for ten years since having a bicycle accident. There was no result when they prayed initially but when they prayed again, she experienced total healing! At the end of the meeting, John spotted her packing up the p.a equipment and windng up the electrical cables.
Karen spent some time praying with a young woman in the worship group that she would experience more of God. She told her that God loves hearing her sing. At this, the girl broke down and wept. After a few minutes, Karen asked her what was going on and as she tried to explain she began to sob again and receive what was God’s opinion of her. A really significant encounter at the start of a conference opening up with a heart knowledge of our acceptance of God’s love for us.
On a lighter note, ZoeJoy and Karen got to sample a local delicacy;’ bunny chow! Essentially it’s half a loaf of bread scooped out and filled with curry!
FRIDAY
In the first session, we heard testimony from people who had received healing from the evening before.
A girl came forward to say that she had suffered with a growth in her nose for the last six years. She had gone through a number or operations to have it removed but that this year it grew back again and was preventing her from breathing properly. Last night she had prayer for it to be healed. She said she could suddenly feel the air rushing up her right nostril where before she hadn’t been able to. Usually she wakes several times each night and she needs to get up and open the window but last night when she kept waking she could still feel the air rushing into both nostrils.
There were several others who spoke about meeting with God in ways that they had begun to give up on and had received a filling of the Holy Spirit.
Wendy spoke on ‘Knowing your Identity in Christ’. She reminded us that our primary identity is that of a saint, not a sinner and the ministry time that followed centred around confessing old sins for the first time and having prayer for fear and anger.
Over lunch at the Bangkok Wok, directly opposite the church, we shared stories from the morning. Ingrid prayed for two women who both needed some deliverance and although she didn’t know who to pray for first, they both received at the same time as she laid hands on them. ZoeJoy, taking inspiration from Reuben Parkinson when he has to put his toys away, encouraged a woman she was praying with to say ‘bye bye fear’! She was laughing at the end of prayer and much of the fear had been lifted. Kirsty was drawn to a young woman during the same session and was given a specific word of knowledge that resonated with the woman. She was happy to receive prayer.
Several people felt their prayers were significant and recommended the people they were praying for, pursue their healing more beyond the conference.
Saturday 21 August 2010
Thursday 19 August 2010
Spoiler
Apologies for the delay in getting the blog up and running, we've had a number of connection issues.
I will get to post Thursday's news as soon as I can but it includes eight healings and a salvation!!
I will get to post Thursday's news as soon as I can but it includes eight healings and a salvation!!
R & R
On Wednesday mornign we headed out to the beach front for team orientation. It was great to sit outdoors and listen to Drew telling us about the history of Hope Church and how things are progressing. We heard how the racial melting pot of the Rainbow Nation is represented in the church and listened to Drew's vision of a rainbow church that lives in the power othat comes from brothers and sisters working together to reach their city. Drew enthusiastically introduced us to a number of people who work for Hope Church, including two people who are working on their Hope2educate programme and one of his elders. Between them they represented Zulu, Indian, Coloured and American members of the church. It was good to be reminded and inspired again by Drew's words; 'The spirit of man seeks to hold on but the Spirit of God seeks to release.' How exciting!
We had the rest of the afternoon free to relax and explore. About half of the team stayed on the beach, enjoying the sun, sand, waves and gentle breezes of the Indian Ocean and the other half headed towards uShaka Marine World to enjoy the water slides and stunnimg aquarium. This is a place that had been recommended before we came and was well worth the visit. Nothing beats plummeting down to almost certain death then wandering round looking at giant turtles, sharks and octopus.
Wendy and ZoeJoy twice passed the same lady in a wheelchair on their walk. She started to ask them for money for food but they followed local advise not to give out any money. They were reminded of the passage when Peter and John said; 'Silver and gold have I none...' so they walked back, noticed she had 'God is King' written on her wheelchair and offered to pray for her. The lady immediately said yes and asked for strength for her muscles and emotional strength as she has an unbelieving 22 year old daughter. ZoeJoy expressed to us how different it felt to praying for people in the U.K. She said she felt her heart for the poor really kick in and that compassion for the woman overtook any desire on her part to see healing for its own sake.
In the evening, the team went en masse to the church prayer meeting. Karen, Ingrid, Jon Dawe and ZJ went to meet with the church musicians so they could practise together, only to discover that they are now leading worship on Saturday morning rather than supporting@ It was a really special time for them as they started playing new songs together and ended up meeting with God, singing out and enjoying the Lord's presence together. Anticipation is rising for a great conference!
The rest of the team joined in with the weekly prayer meeting and were prayed over by the local church in ten different languages. Drew felt that this was a significant thing to do as he felt that Hope could impart something to us of multicultural church.
During the meeting we had the chance to pray and prophesy one to one with the church. Amanda shared some words with a lady whose life has become very tangled and she told Amanda that she was believing for healing at the conference.
Kirsty had a word for a lady who said that it wasn't the time she had received that word.
Wendy prophesied over a girl for pioneering, adventure, leadership and pressing through into new dimensions of the supernatural. She was drunk in the Spirit, laughing and falling over within seconds of Wendy starting to pray for her. Afterwards, she said that it had been spot on and that it was a good start to the conference for her.
After arriving back at St Phil's, we surprised John Balding with a chocolate cake to celebrate his birthday! We decided to bless him with encouraging words and prophecy which was a great end to the first day as Team South Africa.
We had the rest of the afternoon free to relax and explore. About half of the team stayed on the beach, enjoying the sun, sand, waves and gentle breezes of the Indian Ocean and the other half headed towards uShaka Marine World to enjoy the water slides and stunnimg aquarium. This is a place that had been recommended before we came and was well worth the visit. Nothing beats plummeting down to almost certain death then wandering round looking at giant turtles, sharks and octopus.
Wendy and ZoeJoy twice passed the same lady in a wheelchair on their walk. She started to ask them for money for food but they followed local advise not to give out any money. They were reminded of the passage when Peter and John said; 'Silver and gold have I none...' so they walked back, noticed she had 'God is King' written on her wheelchair and offered to pray for her. The lady immediately said yes and asked for strength for her muscles and emotional strength as she has an unbelieving 22 year old daughter. ZoeJoy expressed to us how different it felt to praying for people in the U.K. She said she felt her heart for the poor really kick in and that compassion for the woman overtook any desire on her part to see healing for its own sake.
In the evening, the team went en masse to the church prayer meeting. Karen, Ingrid, Jon Dawe and ZJ went to meet with the church musicians so they could practise together, only to discover that they are now leading worship on Saturday morning rather than supporting@ It was a really special time for them as they started playing new songs together and ended up meeting with God, singing out and enjoying the Lord's presence together. Anticipation is rising for a great conference!
The rest of the team joined in with the weekly prayer meeting and were prayed over by the local church in ten different languages. Drew felt that this was a significant thing to do as he felt that Hope could impart something to us of multicultural church.
During the meeting we had the chance to pray and prophesy one to one with the church. Amanda shared some words with a lady whose life has become very tangled and she told Amanda that she was believing for healing at the conference.
Kirsty had a word for a lady who said that it wasn't the time she had received that word.
Wendy prophesied over a girl for pioneering, adventure, leadership and pressing through into new dimensions of the supernatural. She was drunk in the Spirit, laughing and falling over within seconds of Wendy starting to pray for her. Afterwards, she said that it had been spot on and that it was a good start to the conference for her.
After arriving back at St Phil's, we surprised John Balding with a chocolate cake to celebrate his birthday! We decided to bless him with encouraging words and prophecy which was a great end to the first day as Team South Africa.
Bedford, Dubai, Durban, the world..!
After a gruelling 'red-eye' flight, we have arrived!
Before leaving England, we received a prophecy as a group that we would have the chance for encounters on the aeroplane even before arriving in South Africa. ZoeJoy struck up conversation with a lady who had been working in S.A for 50 years as a doctor. She was a lady of faith who was in the middle of making some big decisions about her future. She didn't seem to want prayer at first but did agree that it would be good for us to pray that she makes wise choices.
Prayers were answered for the babies in our group who were impeccably behaved through a total of 17 hours of airtime!
It was fantastic to be greeted by the familiar, similing face of Rory as we stepped off the plane at Durban on Tuesday. As Drew arrived at the airport to collect some of us, his petrol gauge hit empty and he knew there was no petrol filling station between the airport and home. It was a prayerful journey back and the car made it on fumes and intercession! For the others, we picked up our hire cars and had a half hour drive to St Philomena's Guest House where we are staying. It's a lovely, comfortable place with plenty of rooms and a communal area that we quickly put to good use by sitting round and ordering pizza shared with Drew, Megan and the kids. We were all feeling pretty wired after a dizzying 24 hours of travel so got to bed early.
Before leaving England, we received a prophecy as a group that we would have the chance for encounters on the aeroplane even before arriving in South Africa. ZoeJoy struck up conversation with a lady who had been working in S.A for 50 years as a doctor. She was a lady of faith who was in the middle of making some big decisions about her future. She didn't seem to want prayer at first but did agree that it would be good for us to pray that she makes wise choices.
Prayers were answered for the babies in our group who were impeccably behaved through a total of 17 hours of airtime!
It was fantastic to be greeted by the familiar, similing face of Rory as we stepped off the plane at Durban on Tuesday. As Drew arrived at the airport to collect some of us, his petrol gauge hit empty and he knew there was no petrol filling station between the airport and home. It was a prayerful journey back and the car made it on fumes and intercession! For the others, we picked up our hire cars and had a half hour drive to St Philomena's Guest House where we are staying. It's a lovely, comfortable place with plenty of rooms and a communal area that we quickly put to good use by sitting round and ordering pizza shared with Drew, Megan and the kids. We were all feeling pretty wired after a dizzying 24 hours of travel so got to bed early.
Monday 16 August 2010
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