Fear!

I was in Coventry a couple of weeks ago with the Discipleship Training School (DTS) that I am currently working on. We joined with a number of other DTS's from around the country for a week of teaching and evangelism alongside the local churches.

One of the days was a teaching on fear. During this time God started to speak to me about obedience and I realised in that moment that fear had robed me of so much of the life I should have! But more than this, it crushes us as people, and I realised that I was sick of living in fear. I actually walked outside during the session as it hit me that hard and started to pray. As I was talking to God I saw a man on crutches walking along the street and felt God tell me I should go and offer to pray for him, so I said to God that if he comes this way at the junction I will. Obviously he did not, and God reminded me about what he had been talking to me about with obedience, so I got up and ran down the street after this man. When I reached him I told him who I was and what we were doing and asked if I could pray for him and his leg. He simply said no turned round and carried on. As I walked back to the building we were using I asked God what that was all about, why had I run down the street to be told no after He had asked me to go. He said this to me "What I am asking of you is obedience, to do what I am asking, to offer the blessings of my kingdom to all you meet, that is your responsibility. Your responsibility is not what the people you meet do with that offer". God is incredible, so gentle and firm, and so full of love, wanting everyone to be offered the chance to know him and be restored.

A Gathering In Coventry

So here at YWAM we like to get together ever so often and we call it a gathering, for the DTS's it is a week of teaching on evangelism and actual reaching out. Over the last couple of years YWAM in England has been focusing these weeks on the cities here in the UK that are involved in hosting Olympics events. So 167 of us gathered in Coventry for a week, including a school from Norway and one from Italy, to hear teaching, reach out and come along side local churches.

I always love these, this being the fourth one I have been involved with. They always challenge me greatly in my faith, and I see God touches so many lives, it is such a blessing to be able to be a part of it.

One of my favorite stories from this week happened on the first day and it sets the bar for what the rest of the week was like. One of the outreaches that was being run alongside one of the churches was something called "Say One For Me". This is where people can come and give a request for prayer and a small team are on hand to be praying. One of the first people who came in had had a stroke about 4 years before which had left him limited in his movement, after the pair who had sat with him had prayed they asked him to try to do something he could not before, and he immediately lifted his right arm and started to move it around. They asked if God had done anything, if there was any improvement, to which he answered that he had been unable to move his arm since the stroke! Absolutely incredible. We got to pray with so many people during the week and see them healed and set free. People who had been using crutches walked away carrying them etc.

There was a number of other things to be involved with, one of my favorites was called "I Am..." which lead to some really interesting and deep conversations about belief and God and purpose and destiny. The churches and the christian union at the university really enjoyed having us around and joining in with things that they already do.

I had the pleasure of talking with a few different people other the time we were in Coventry, people I met on the streets who I was able to meet up with on more than one occasion. Two of them gave their lives to God. Not because I argued them into it, actually we did not talk loads about God. They said it was because I helped them to find value and hope again by giving them time. I feel so blessed being able to talk to people like this, who just want to share life, and to be able to do that with them. When you let God love you and love through you the world really does move.

Intercession

At the start of this month me and a good friend of mine were asked to take on the responsibility for intercession on the YWAM campus I am currently working on. It was a real privileged to be asked to do this as intercession is something I have a real passion for. being able to spend time listening to God about what is on his heart for this time and coming along side his purposes and pray life into them.

I had the pleasure of leading the first session and saw God move in an incredible way.  When praying about it before hand we felt God say that we were to have no agenda, but simply come before him expecting. We were not sure exactly what this meant, but that is what we did, we came to intercession without a list of things to be prayed about, or a country in mind.

It was one of the most powerful times of intercession I have ever been apart of. We spent most of the time as a community breaking apathy over the place before we turned outward to speak life and blessings over the nations. It is amazing what happens when we allow God space to do what he has on his heart to do, and not put a box around him!

I am really looking forward to what God has for this season, and spending time as a community hearing him on that.

A Week Of Blessing

Youth With A Mission (YWAM) has a number of different locations across the UK of varying sizes. As a school we felt that it was important to invest in other YWAM work here in the UK (as we are the 'Impact UK Discipleship Training School'). So we divided up into small teams and went to most of the other YWAM locations across the UK.

I took a team of 3 guys with me up to Leeds where a team have been established for about 2 years, and have a particular focus on Justice and the Arts. It was really refreshing to be part of a small team that is just starting out, as I also have a desire to be helping to establish new work.

We helped the team do a number of things, including a survey of the local area to ask people what they see the needs are. Prayer walking and art ministry with kids who have been excluded from school due to behavior. My teams favorite activity was something called "club angels". This is a new project which YWAM Leeds are getting involved with. It is basically being the hands and feet of Jesus in the local nightclubs. I always enjoy doing this sort of thing, just reaching out and being real with people, picking them up when they need to be. Also blessing the staff who work in the clubs, helping to pick up glasses, chat to the security when not much is happening etc. Its all about being a blessing and walking with God in places that maybe you normally would not venture, as he is already there, just waiting for his people to come and join him.

We all had a really good time, and I know that one or two of the guys are keen to be able to go back and do more with the team in Leeds.

School Breakthrough

The last few weeks of the Discipleship Training School (DTS) that I am currently involved with here at YWAM Harpenden have been incredible. The speakers that we have had come in have really built on each other with the theme of identity and freedom in Christ. The results have been that the trainees who are doing the school have been able to break off the fear and passivity that they have struggled with since they arrived.

We had a time of original design and stronghold prayer last week, which is where small teams of people pray with each trainee and listen to what God is saying about them. How he created them and what gifts they have, and then ask God what is coming against that. It has really touched my heart how much of a difference this has made to each and every one of them, to take hold of that identity and to gain the confidence in who God says they are. To stand against the lies that they were believing and declare the truth of who they are. God is so good.

I am really excited to see what God will do through them in the coming months as we are now looking toward various different short term outreaches round the U.K.

Hope

We have just finished a week of 24/7 prayer here at YWAM Harpenden. The focus of the week was hope and the restoration of hope in the U.K. It was given this focus "Hope, expect with confidence" as God has been speaking to a lot of different people here about hope over the last few months.

I was really excited to be able to do this, as I have a real heart for seeing God move in this nation, and restore the inheritance and identity that this nation carries. So to be able to have a focused time with everyone else here to really seek God and cry out for this was amazing. There is now a real excitement here on the campus about what God is doing here in the U.K. and what this year and beyond could mean.

It is also really exciting to see the evolution of the prayer room which we established here on the campus about a year ago, and to see the art work develop and the space get used more and more. You get a real strong sense of Gods presence as you enter the space, and I always come out feeling revived, such an incredible space.

Winter Batchwood

We did our first Batchwood trip of the year last week. This is the ministry to the local club where we take water and lollies’ and spend time talking with the clubbers, taxi drivers and bouncers. It was certainly one of the coldest nights I have done, which changed who we got to interact with. Because of the cold, people did not want to stand around talking at the end of the night, instead they wanted to get in the taxis and find somewhere warm quickly. Most of our time was spent with the taxi drivers or bouncers, which would normally be spent with the clubbers. It was a great opportunity to strengthen our connection with the people who work here. The bouncers really enjoy our presence, but they also do not normally get a chance to talk and ask questions, as they are also busy. So to have a chance to talk to them and go deeper than just a hello, the same with the taxi drivers, was really amazing. We even got asked by a couple of the taxi drivers when we would next be back as they wanted to talk more about hope, and what it means to have hope.

I am always really encouraged when I go and get to talk with people about life and to share about who God is. I also really enjoy taking people down who may never have done anything like this before, and to see them be nervous when we go and excited and wanting to go again when we are returning. To be able to be a part of that is so special, to share with others about God is such a gift.