A message from Mozambique

Dear friends, I write this from Beira Mozambique where the major disaster stuck only a couple of months and as we walk around and see the effects of the damage but also the resiliency in people, we realise just how blessed we are in so many ways that we take for granted on a daily basis.

A word that the Lord has given while here is one from Genesis 21:14-20. It is the story of Hagar and her son Ishmael being sent away into the desert from Abraham and Sarah. It must have seemed for Hagar that everything that she had believed in, hoped for in the promise of her son, had just fallen apart as Abraham sends her away. In verse 15 the water she had was gone and she sat down away from her son so she wouldn't see him die. Because to her there was no hope left.

But in v17 God hears the boy crying and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, " What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Life the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation."

Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink."

So often in our grief and pain of loss we cannot see what is right in front of us. Like Mozambique going through such loss, it's easy to focus on what was lost without looking forward to what could be. Hagar was in grief she could not see the provision or the hope of what might be ahead. She had her eyes closed, unable to see what could be, but then an angel of the Lord comes, not because of her cry, but because of the boys cry. What at one moment would seem hopeless, despairing even of life, was in the next moment given the promise of becoming a great nation and provision.

For so many of us, it's easy to focus on what in the natural can seem like nothing good will come out of it, but in the next moment God comes and changes everything. So if you feel like this today be encouraged that God hears the cries of his people and he rends the heavens and comes down because he delights in you. (Ps 18)

Prior to coming to Africa I saw a picture of new plants in the garden, I saw asparagus shooting up out of the ground and I didn't even know it was in the ground but it had been planted there years before. I believe we are coming into a season of abundance even though it might seem that there is nothing left at times, there is a promise that is about to spring forth and we need to be a people who keep looking forward, not dwelling on the loss and the grief and what could have been, but looking to what could still be ahead. Keeping our eyes open to what the Lord would show us that is right in front of us. Bless you all in what the Lord has for you.

Sleeping while driving?

How many of you have ever driven a car and you become so sleepy that you either need to pull over and sleep or you will crash or you continue to drive only to find yourself swerving to avoid a car that comes upon you or even worse find yourself in a crash. The other day I had a vision where I was preaching and the whole back row in the gathering of men were asleep while I was preaching. And today I had another vision of driving a car while so sleepy that it was going to cause an accident. This is what is like for many in our spiritual walk in the Lord, we are going around in our lives spiritually asleep and if we continue to do so will have a serious crash at some point not only causing damage to yourself but to other people who you may not even know. Men particularly I challenge you to take a look at your lives to see whether you are hearing from the Lord, whether you are responding truthfully to the Holy Spirit and living as He would ask you to live or whether

6 legged sheep???

In the weekend I saw a vision of a sheep that had six legs. And what I believe the Lord is saying, there are many sheep, (followers of Christ), but they are trusting in their own strength and not in mine. When we trust in our own strength and abilities we forfeit the grace that can be ours, the enabling that comes from stepping out in faith in the impossible, the testimonies that give God the glory rather than the expectation of what should be because we have put our hand to something. God is the God of the impossible and in order for the miracles, the testimonies, we need to be a people that step out in what we can't do and allow God to come in and do the impossible. That may simply be asking the Lord to help you to forgive someone that has hurt you so much, to getting on a plane with no finances because the Lord has asked you to, to continue to stay in a job/church/marriage/relationship you don't want to because that is where God has placed you, to praying for a

Obedience and Commitment are big things in Gods Kingdom

Reading in Acts 7 this morning the story through Stephen of Abraham being told by God to " Leave your country and your people and go the the land I will show you" So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child." As I reflected on this and the journey of Abraham stepping out in faith into a land that he received no inheritance in but a promise of what was to come for his descendants of which we live in the fruit of that, I thought of todays generations in which often is only doing things that we want to do or that will benefit us personally as we live for 'today' not worrying about tomorrow. A sense of if it feels good then do it, if it doesn't then we will move on - perhap

"A man's enemies will be the members of his own household" Matt 10:36

Recently we have been pondering how to deal with situations in our family that don't line up with the word. What action do we need to take? Are we being too harsh? Do we accept the behaviour or be considered by those around us as "too radical" or "too black and white"? "Where is grace in all of this? How do we love the sinner but hate the sin? What about forgiveness? What is the role of discipline? What makes that sin any worse than lying? What is true love? And there are a lot more questions going through the mind in how to work through this and know God's will and desire for the situation and the person. And firstly to say we have not come to any conclusions and are growing and learning day by day in this but I want to throw it out there. In Matt 10:34-39 says "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn "a man against his father, a daughter

Prophetic pictures: Burnt Flesh, Big Fish, Expansion, Signs and Wonders

A couple of weeks ago I have had several visions which I believe is a prophetic picture of what God is currently doing and what He is about to do. Fi rstly, I saw ahead on the highway a huge explosion with black smoke billowing up and as I came to it I saw people had been burnt and I could smell the smell of burnt flesh. Our God is consuming fire (Heb 12:29). His love is in the fire. Something the Lord has been talking to us about is the fall of the acts of the flesh, the strength of man. This vision I saw was a representation that of the fire of Gods love is coming and going to burn away the things of the flesh, the things that were not of the Lo rd, the things that may have been good in their time but today is a new day. Perhaps the familiar things we are so used to that we don't even know it's there. The way we might speak, the way we might act, the way we might respond that are familiar with us but aren't necessarily of the Kingdom nature we have in Christ.

Bus crash in Botswana - Rejoice in the Lord always.

Well we had an interesting introduction to Botswana - yes a bus crash. It was amazing and most probably the worst accident I have been in to this day (but not bad I am sure to some of you out there) but thankfully the Lord looked after us and protected us. The front tyre of the bus blew out travelling about 120ks per hour and the bus tipped from side to side as it careered off the road into the bus. How it never hit cars and no one was killed we will never know apart from the protection of the Lord. We were flown all over the place but thankfully only came out with a few cuts and bruises. It was literally a miracle that we didn't roll. One girl was thrown out of the bus in a serious condition, others hurt in various ways but it could have been a whole lot worse. The Lord gave us peace and we went about praying for people and was blessed especially by one lady who felt the fire of God healing her so much so that she was laughing and crying all at the same time. Two days ear

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