Busyness (A Root of Accusation & Betrayal) OR Intimacy (A Catalyst for Power & Glory)
Busyness, even around the ‘things’ of Jesus leads to performance which produces comparison…leading to betrayal of the brother or sister, church or ministry we are in comparison with; ultimately making us susceptible to accusation even against Jesus himself. (Scripture Ref: Luke 10:40 – But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”)
Waiting, watching & praying in contrast produce intimacy with Jesus; resulting in power & glory released earthward on our behalf…
No breakthrough, outpouring of God’s spirit of revival were ever birthed in striving / works / busyness, but rather through acts or disciplines of intimacy in relationship; i.e. prayer, praise, fasting, waiting, watching, listening, adoration, pouring out one’s self & obedience…obedience in-fact to often do unassuming things which have little to nothing to do with our performance or achievements, but everything to do with God’s love & power and His desire to release them in response to obedience. Examples of such obedience are the Israelites marching around the walls of Jericho, Gideon and his dwindling army which was reduced to 300 after a few rather strange instructions and methods from God, Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac, the disciples being told to go fetch a donkey, as well as many other strange or seemingly random things Jesus instructed the disciples to do…
Help us then Lord to choose all we need which is only the ‘One Thing’ in intimacy with you (and then whatever else you lead us to do only from that place of being poured out at your feet); and not the many impressive but lesser things which even with initial good intention are only but on the peripheral of intimacy…(Scripture ref: Luke 10:41-42 – “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”)
I need to declutter things down to the ‘One Thing’ which Mary chose…Do you?
By Jean-Michel
The Return Conference
On the weekend of the 17th to 19th of September, we as the WHOP family participated in the International House of Prayer’s global interactive conference called ‘The Return’…How, where to even begin in explaining how impactful, thought provoking and resetting this conference was?…
Well firstly there was just simply a wealth of biblical insight & revelation from the IHOP Leaders / Speakers pertaining to the times we are living in, entering into and what God is calling us to in these times. A quick side note; there is just no getting away from how evident the fruits of the Spirit are in these Leaders lives, and how undoubtedly this is routed in that fact that their lives & ministry are sustained by continual prayer (An Intimate Powerline to & from the one who sustains all things Himself).
So what is God calling us to in these times (deeper and deeper into the last days; however short or long these days may still be)?…Well as the name sake indicates, He is calling us to simply (put powerfully) a Return; a return to what?…Well mainly or in summary a Return to Him and His Heart; but here is some of what that comprises of as was illuminated though this conference:
- A return to the Narrative of the Gospel (not just a ‘moral’ narrative) amidst prevailing narratives & messaging in the world which do not turn hearts to the Lord, but the contrary;
- A return to our first love with Jesus;
- A return to Communion; the sacred celebration of Jesus’ Blood & Body at the upfront and centre of our gathering & fellowship (Not just the side-lined optional extra it has become which we schedule every now and then in our meetings);
- A return to the narrative of the Cross (a call to humility and true purpose which is void of accusation and one coming with their ‘rightness’ against another) amidst a prevailing narrative of sensationalism, betrayal & accusation which is fracturing families and the Church as a whole;
- A return to our ‘One thing’ (Loving God first) with Him as our central focus, amidst the raging war for our attention;
- Return to being the Ekklesia (Christ’s Spiritual Governance on the earth through us) and not just the Church, as we contend with authority in prayer in the great battles to come;
- A Return to fearless proclamation in the culture of betrayal by ourselves being delivered from the very same spirit of betrayal.
This is just some of what Holy Spirit is calling us back to in this critical eschatological hour; all summed up in our return to Him through the Cross (and not that just as a catch phrase, but what the Cross truly means), as we ready ourselves as the Bride for His (The Bridegroom’s) return…
Outreach to “Die Eiland”
From the 1 to the 10 of October part of the House of Prayer Team took a group of 20 young people on an Outreach to Die Eiland ATKV. The main of goal these outreaches is leadership training, teaching them to pray for extended periods and teaching them about having an intimate relationship with Jesus. During the outreach the team does various activities for the resort goers, some of which included Puppet Shows for the Kids, Sunday Services, Bible Studies, Creative Arts Items, all to minister Jesus.
During this time, we as a family stayed behind to man the prayer room along with a few other full-time staff members. It was very different doing intercession sessions with so few people as the energy in the room isn’t what it usually is, it was a fruitful time but we are glad to have a fuller prayer room again.
Just a reminder about a few things:
- Healing Rooms
If you or anyone you know is need of healing in their bodies, hearts or minds; they can book an appointment at The Witbank House of Prayer Healing Rooms, open every Tuesday from 12:00-14:00:
- Joshua Year 2022
This is a 10 months programme of growing in intimacy with Jesus and laying a rock solid foundation of loving God first. If you know of anybody who would be interested in this, here is the info:
- IHOPU-EP
If you know of any young people who are called to ministry, worship or media they can study this at the Witbank House of Prayer through the International House of Prayer. Here is more info:
Thank You Thank You Thank You
A big thank you to everyone who has or is financially partnering with us; what we are doing would not be sustainable without your support…thank you very much.
We are trusting God for the following, please pray with us:
- We’re trusting God for more financial partners; we have already been so blessed by people’s willingness to partner with us for what we are doing in our ministry calling.
- Students for the IHOPU and the Joshua Year for the coming year.
- We are very thankful, Nicole was blessed with an incredible laptop that she can use for her work; she just need to get it fixed and upgraded. Similarly pray for us for provision for a M1 Mac Mini for Breathe Worship Studios with the growing need for more processing speed and space for the recording projects which require a lot of speed and space. To realistically be able to record and produce the amount of Worship Projects we envision as this becomes a bigger focus of our ministry as we believe God is leading it to be; this addition to our Tech Equipment will be required. We are believing for about R15000 for this.
- We have experienced a miracle in terms of our previous request to pray about the Ford Tourneo Bus, we will share this in our next newsletter when its fully completed.
To read our previous newsletters go to:
https://witbankhop.co.za/missionarynews/jnnews/
Thank you so much for taking the time to read our monthly newsletter, we really appreciate your support.
If you are not a financial partner, but would like to financially partner with us, here are the details:
Account Name: House of Prayer; Bank Name: FNB (First National Bank); Account Number: 62718897848; Branch Code: 230146; Account Type: Cheque Account; Reference: HVG-JN
If you would like more information about financially partnering with us, please send us a WhatsApp so we can have a coffee to discuss further. Partnership of this nature is such a blessing to us and goes a long way in covering our monthly expenses as we run full time with the ministry mission God has called us into.
If there is anything in this newsletter that you have questions about or would like more information about, please contact either of us via WhatsApp.
Some of the sets that were streamed this month that we were involved in:
To view more check out the Witbank House of Prayer Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/witbankhouseofprayer
