The last two weeks have been pretty life
changing! Someone prophesied that March would be a significant month and it
certainly has been so far!
Tony & I have just come back from 9
days in beautiful South Africa, a country we love so much. We went to join Julian
and Katia Adams and their Frequentsee team (http://frequentsee.org) who were
running a four-day School of Supernatural Ministry for the leaders of the
newfrontiers church in Clarens and the surrounding area. It was exciting to
part of their first school on a mission field!
We went out with a few friends and also
made some more, those who had come from other churches in the UK. Sharing a
house together was fun. After the evening meetings we enjoyed cheese and wine
and on the last night praying and prophesying and sharing communion together.
Clarens is a beautiful town surrounded by
mountains in the Free State province
of South Africa near the Lesotho border. It’s a town where there is
much poverty, with many people still living in shacks and waiting for better
housing and where there is a high incidence of HIV/Aids and sickness.
It was such a privilege to be part of this
church that serves the poor and broken of their community with such love and
joy.
The Dihlabeng church has seen an
outpouring of God and we went excited to see what the Father would do,
expecting to see miracles and to be a part of them. I had recently felt God
speak to me about this being a season of pressing through the natural into the
supernatural and God had shown me a picture of going through the wardrobe doors
into Narnia. This had been followed by a powerful encounter at the Prophetic
Forum in Bedford, which we attended just before flying to Clarens. Julian had
brought a word during one of the sessions that evangelists might be feeling
their feet burning. I wasn't aware of my feet burning but in the same moment
the Holy Spirit fell on me powerfully and I began to run very fast on the spot
and then in all directions, North, South, East and West. A friend behind me
called out "Go Claire" and immediately, without thinking about it, I
ran down the side of the room and fell through some double doors! As I fell
through the doors God reminded me in that moment of what he had said and I knew
it symbolised a breaking through. Someone then prophesied over me that greater
things were yet to come and that in 4 days time I would be part of a miracle
and that we should make a space in our suitcase because of what we would bring
back!
One of the highlights was the time we
spent worshipping and lingering in God’s presence. Personally I encountered
God’s love in a fresh way. In the times of worship I experienced a new place of
joy and freedom as I realised the unending, unceasing, unhindered flow of his
goodness towards us. Seeing where we sit next to the Father because we are in
Christ, I began to realise its like standing in the continual flow of his love,
which means nothing hinders it and nothing is impossible.
We had outstanding teaching from Julian
& Katia, Dave from Solihull, Ryan from Durban and Marco and Stef from
Bedford on sonship, identity, sounds of the Kingdom, our authority, spiritual
warfare, joy, the power of adoption and the Father's love and all followed by
times of ministry.
Tony and I were part of the ministry team
and so we got to give and to receive throughout the week.
There is something about 'going' that
releases you to give and I know I stepped out more in getting alongside people
and bringing prophetic words.
God spoke prophetically to us through the
week with further confirming words about going to the nations! Mother of
continents and mother of nations were spoken over me.
In the afternoons we divided into teams to
bless people in the local township. Often as time was drawing near for us to
leave there was heavy rain. On two occasions Julian led us to command the rain
to stop and that’s exactly what happened!
Tony and I joined a small visitation team
(3/4 of us plus someone local who could translate for us) to visit people in the township who were sick or
in need and who were known to the church. Sometimes we prayed for their healing
first and then shared the gospel and other times we shared the gospel and then
prayed for their healing. Over the three days our team alone saw 5 people come
to Christ and 5 people touched physically in their bodies.
Day 1 we visited a young man, Hansi who was in his twenties who had
suffered a stroke 8 weeks previously. He was lying in bed and couldn't speak.
We prayed for him several times but didn't see any physical improvement. We
asked him if he would like to know Jesus and he nodded. One of our team shared
the gospel and with nods and eye movements he responded to Jesus. I had noticed
an inhaler on the side as we entered their home and prayed for his mum, Julie,
who had asthma. After taking three deep breaths she said she felt better. We
also had the joy of leading her to know Jesus. Some of the local people worship
ancestral spirits and visit and pay the witch doctor for medical help. They
know of Jesus but don’t know him personally.
We then went to visit a married couple called
Abraham and Miriam. Miriam had a very nasty ulcer on her leg covered with a
bandage. She had been in constant pain and not sleeping at night. After praying
for all pain to go and she said the pain left and then she began to rub her leg
which she had not been able to do because it was too painful to touch. She
didn't want to take the bandage off but was due to have it dressed the
following day and so would let us know of any change. We asked her if she knew
Jesus and I had the joy of leading her to the Lord. Tony then led her husband
to the Lord and had a word for them that they were like Abraham and Sarah. We
then found out that they had not been able to have children and so we told them
the story and got to pray for God to open Miriam's womb, something we will have
to await news of. We prayed she would sleep well and when we visited them two
days later we found out Miriam had had the best nights sleep and was out
visiting someone. Previously she had spent most of the days in bed!
Day 2 We visited a home where there were three women and a little boy.
At the time it was raining heavily and there was also a major power cut in the
area. It was hard to see in their house and embarrassingly I nearly sat on a
lady who I hadn't seen sitting in the corner...not the friendliest way to make
an entrance! I got to pray for one lady who said she had pain in her head, her
ears and her eyes. I prayed a short prayer commanding all pain to leave and she
said it had gone, not sure who was more surprised! A team member prayed for the
second lady who had had pain in her knees. She too reported all pain had gone
after being prayed for. The third lady was very shy and even with loving
encouragement didn't want to receive any prayer. As the rain was still very
heavy we began singing and praising God and when we had finished the rain had
stopped and we went on our way.
Day 3 We went to the home of a blind lady and her son. She was
nearly 100 and her son was in his sixties. We prayed twice for her sight to be
restored and were very excited when she started saying she could see the colour
of the translator's t-shirt and make out our faces, wanting to touch them.
She even saw light shining on Tony's forehead. She said how happy she was. She
knew Jesus. Tony led her son to the Lord and we have heard since that he and
his sister are going to attend a discipleship group at the church. There is
some further news, which we have found disappointing and that is that when a
team visited the lady yesterday her blindness seemed to have returned. We don't
understand and are very sad to hear this but know God is good and he clearly touched
her that day.
Each evening there was a tent meeting in
the centre of Clarens to which the whole town was invited. We met for a time of
worship and prayer before hand and the next three hours was filled with very
exuberant praise and worship, followed by preaching and praying for the sick.
These four nights were extraordinary. The tent was packed with men, women and
children and many who were standing outside the tent too. Over the week 127
responded to Christ, and 100 healings were recorded.
Deaf ears were opened, knees and feet were
healed, backs, stomach conditions, ovaries, skin conditions and in just about
every part of the body we heard of healings. Words of knowledge were brought
and testimonies were shared at the end of each night.
There was dancing, there were congas, the
music was loud and there was constant praise and worship going on, particularly
from the Mamas. Sometimes Julian had to ask for quiet to hear testimony.
Praying on the ministry team was sometimes challenging both being able to hear
plus finding someone who could translate for us... but it was exciting and faith
stretching. Sometimes the less you know and the less you speak, the better.
People were being healed without anyone touching them. A mama brought a little
girl to me who had pain in her ears and partial hearing. Two of us prayed for
her and after praying twice all pain left and she could hear normally. On the
first night I prayed for a lady who had pain in both her knees. She fell under
the power of God and when she got up she said all pain had gone. It was
wonderful to hear her share at church the following Sunday, with tears running
down her face, how God had healed her.
The first night a lady was brought in who
had had a stroke and was paralysed down her left side. Julian asked another
lady and I to sit with her and pray in tongues and just love her. She had come
in with some pain, which after we prayed, disappeared. This encouraged us and
we began to command paralysis to go. I held her paralysed hand and sometime
later she said as we held her hand she began to get a small amount of feeling
in it and was able to feel three of her fingers. There was a doctor there who
said this was remarkable. She testified at the end of the evening and Julian
got everyone to reach out and pray for her. That night I felt such love and
compassion for someone who at the start of the night had been a complete
stranger. I found myself crying for her in a way I hadn't experienced before.
She came back every night to be prayed for and we wait to hear of what God will
do.
The last tent meeting on the Saturday
night was incredible with many receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit and
falling down under the power of God. At one point I got caught in a mass
falling of some very large women! There were more healings and salvations and
praise, worship and dancing as only Africans seem to know how!
On the Sunday morning Julian’s team
travelled to various local churches to minister. Tony and I decided to visit
the Dihlabeng church. It felt like a continuation of the night before.
Several shared stories of how God had healed them. As different people brought
contributions during worship a mic was passed around. Joyful giving of both
money and material gifts were made and following a preach from 1 Samuel about
Hannah, half the church then responded. We got to pray and prophesy over a few
people and then sadly it was time to say goodbye. People who in just one week,
who had been strangers before, had now become friends! It’s hard to describe
the joy, love and laughter we encountered amongst a group of people, many of
whom have so little… yet have so much.
