Through the small door

Hello from Duisburg, Germany! We've been here for almost a week now and already feel at home, loved and welcomed. We're staying with the Spreer family – Martin, Heike and their five children. Our abode is a little 'hut' right next to the main house, made up of living area, kitchen, bathroom and loft bedroom. It's cosy and warm and we feel very blessed. It's so good to have a mixture of family time and meals with them as well as our own space. Yet again we are overwhelmed at Papa's kindness through the love and generosity of others. We have been embraced into family and have already fallen in love with them all!

Golden Ladder in the centre of Duisburg

Martin and Heike lead a great church here that we first came to in April 2011 for a conference. It's a wild, Holy Spirit infused place where the presence of Jesus is thick and there is tangible life and love. We had an incredibly warm welcome on Sunday, we even had our own interpreter during the service, and we came away with two invitations to lunch!

April-Konferenz 2011 Christus Gemeinde Duisburg

Before we came here, someone had a picture for us in which we walked up to a large mountain and, as we did so, we could see that our way through the mountain had been blocked by a rockfall. It was only as we got right up to the mountain that we saw a tiny door to the right of the rockfall that was open. The person giving the picture said that the tiny door was actually going to be a much better way through the mountain. So we believe Germany was the tiny door, yet now that we're here it feels much bigger!

There's such a sense of expectation here, like a heavy pregnancy about to birth something amazing. It feels exciting to be making relationships in Europe and it feels as if there is a strong bridge between here and the UK.  Revival is coming and the waves are going to get bigger and stronger - it is Europe's day!

I think there's going to be a lot of change in 2012 and we're going to see the Holy Spirit move in powerful ways - the invitation already goes out to ride the waves even if it feels uncomfortable. It means letting go of the old - having both hands raised in worship and surrender to His ways, and with a willingness to abandon our own ways and thoughts. If we are willing, we can become part of a huge outpouring of glory and revival the like of which has never been seen on  earth before. We can be the conduits for bringing heaven to earth as we trust Him and flow with the Holy Spirit. The new wine is already beginning to flow!

On the eve of departure

It's the eve of our departure to Canada, the day we thought would never come. Bags packed (travelling light amazingly!), tickets booked, old friends waiting, new friends to be made. It is another step along the unknown path. This journey of daily trust, daily surrender, leaning on Jesus. Only He knows what lies ahead and the treasures He has waiting for us to find. My heart is settled having come through a wobble when the house actually sold and I feel ready for the next step in this adventure. Papa has shown Himself faithful over and over and He will not divert from His promises. He will remain true to His word and faithful to His plans.

Already the journey is unexpected. We were in Germany last week – a last minute invitation to get involved with a conference in Duisburg near Dussledorf. We had the time of our lives. The conference was wild - a riot of Holy Spirit drunkenness and masses of fun! The cloud of His presence was strong and many were touched deeply. Salvations and healings broke out on the streets as the glory of heaven invaded and many were hijacked by love. We met incredible people – amazing that on Monday you don't know someone and by Friday you love them! Papa met with us too with deeper revelation of His love, with words of encouragement for what is to come, through prophecy. Truly loved up by the God who loves like no other.

I had a vision of Jesus the lion standing in front of me roaring and as He did my skin was blown off – shedding the old to reveal the new. The next day we found ourselves called to the front with a handful of other couples receiving a word about our old mantles being taken off and new ones being put on. We were not to look back but to live in the new. Great preparation at the start of this new adventure :) We fell in love with Germany – the place and the people and we hope to return.

Next step Canada for 3 months and then into America in August. Not what we had planned. Again I discover that my plans and expectations need a constant willingness to surrender to His and I love it. I have a fierce hunger growing in me to be resolute in my trust, resolute with my gaze, to have nothing but Jesus and to follow no-one but Him. I am more aware than ever that just a little leaven affects the whole loaf. I either trust wholly or I am not trusting. It may look ridiculous to the world and even to the church it could appear utterly foolish, but I don't care! For this is the path I choose and I want to walk further along it. I want to get completely lost on it, go so deep that I don't find my way back to normal or comfortable.

I know this is His path and we are all invited onto it whether we are travelling, working or raising children. This unknown path is beyond beautiful. It is fragranced with heaven itself , it is lined with angelic presence, it is made of the colours of the Kingdom and there are daily treasures to be found. Joy is common on this path – a joy that pervades any circumstance and can laugh in any adversity. And those that travel it are true companions – those that love deeply and wildly and cheer you along at every step!

So bring it on! Deeper I am pulled into the heart of love. Not a work of my own doing, but of grace. The grace to trust, the grace to lean, the grace that calls me His. We have no idea what is to come but we go willingly and excitedly because He is good and totally trustworthy.

Nicky xxx

Fools for God

The Bible tells me that "the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight" (1 Cor 3:19) and that "the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom" (1 Cor 1:25). I can't help but wonder if what we are doing is just our foolishness or the wisdom of God? Giving up life as it is 'normally' lived - with a job, a mortgage and two weeks of summer sun; waiting for God to intervene in our lives, to show us and tell us what He would have us do and say; choosing to follow Him whatever the cost, yet not knowing where that leads or what it looks like. Is that really wisdom or just foolishness?

In this vein, I was wondering this morning as I lay in bed what the disciples would have felt, waiting in the upper room for the promised Holy Spirit? They wouldn't have known what it was going to look like when He showed up, they wouldn't have know how long they were going to have to wait - it could have been years, after all Israel had waited over 400 years for the promised Messiah to come. Would they have been in constant prayer and worship? Would they have been telling stories about Jesus or speculating about the Holy Spirit and the difference He would make to their lives? Would they have been wondering about the power they would have after Jesus Himself told them they would do greater works than Him?

For us, this time and these circumstances we find ourselves in have felt much like our own upper room, but are Jesus' words relevant for us in today's times? Does He really want me to 'wait for the gift my Father has promised' as He instructed His disciples to do? He also tells them that with this gift they will 'receive power so that they might be witnesses...to the ends of the earth' (Acts 1). I know I'm not living in the power He promised and I can't believe that what I have experienced so far is the fullness of His promise to us - it's simply not enough when I know He is the God of 'much more'. There has to be more, much more, and as His beloved son, this fullness is promised to me, it's my inheritance.

So I will wait for Him, not knowing what it looks like or when it will come, expectantly and full of hope, for the fullness of the Holy Spirit to fill me, to change me from glory to glory, flowing from me to bring His kingdom to the ends of the earth. I must have all of Him, nothing else will satisfy, I am spoiled for anything else. Until then, we will wait, we will will pray, we will worship, we will talk about Jesus and speculate about the signs and wonders we might see, for God has made a promise and He does not disappoint. I'm a fool for God and there's nothing else I'd rather be!

Mike x