A journey of faith…

When we say yes to Jesus, we start out on a journey of faith, believing for that which we don’t yet see and expecting the seemingly impossible. This month Jean-Michel encouraged me to share with you what we are journeying with at the moment regarding my journey of faith.

Jean-Michel introduced me to Jesus when we met, when I was 20 years old and since then God has miraculously restored so many things that I never expected to be restored; and in doing so creating a new generation, a new way of living, God’s way of living. Family was one of the things that God has restored in my life; Jean-Michel and I are the longest married (first marriage) couple in my side of the family. My children having Jean-Michel as a father who is God-fearing, loving and a provider was another one of God’s restorations. The last major thing that I have felt needed restoration for me was having a permanent residence that I can call my own and make beautiful, as growing up I was always moving between my 2 parents, and they were also often moving house.

After God miraculously provided for us to buy the house we currently live in, I started dreaming about renovations as it is an old house, but I eventually laid the dream down as I felt that the disappointment of the renovation possibly not happening was hampering my walk with God. In turn I became so content and grateful for all the incredible blessings that God has given us that I stopped even actively pursuing the renovation plans (Possibly now the best place be to position myself to receive that which I ask for; out of a place of thanksgiving and God himself being my treasure & great reward).

Towards the end of this year, Jean-Michel asked me if I had started getting quotes from people to come fix that which needs to be fixed in the house in December (that which we can’t do ourselves). We hadn’t planned to go away in December as we were planning to stay home and do renovations and DIY work on the house. We would need to do this kind of work in December as this is the only time of the year that we don’t have students coming to our premises for lessons. I knew in my heart that I had to make the plans and step out of the boat in faith, but I had very confronted with my fear of being disappointed that it wouldn’t happen.

We went to Nelspruit earlier this month for Jean-Michel to run the Kaapsehoop Marathon and we stayed with my aunt and uncle, where my dad is now staying; going back there was a trip back into my childhood as the wall art and furniture was still the same from when I was a little girl. My dad then told me to take the kids to the house in Hunter Street where I stayed as a child to see the tree that I used to swing from as a child (I spent every afternoon growing up wrecking my parents nerves, swinging from this huge tree and my dad has now recently given me the swings that I used for my kids to use). As we arrived at the tree and the house where I grew up, I was reminded that this was the last permanent place that we stayed at which my parents had actually renovated and decorated beautifully; and where they were still married. When I was in Grade 2, they got divorced and there was very little stability after that. I felt God was saying to me that He is going to fill in this last piece… He is going to bring the last piece of restoration; I just need to take steps of obedience and trust Him as my provider.

I am very comfortable with Jesus and Holy Spirit, but it’s been a more difficult journey, fully relying on and fellowshipping with God the Father; this was all of a sudden staring me in the face, as I knew this journey of faith was to trust God as my Father who restores, protects and provides. I realised that I didn’t want to trust for the finances for the renovation because I was filled with fear of being disappointed; but after journeying with Father God about this and working on the root issue, we are now trusting God for the ‘seemingly impossible’…so we would like you to believe with us. These are some of the verses I have repeatedly received thus far, throughout this journey:

Psalm 20:4

May he give you the desire of your heart

and make all your plans succeed.

Deuteronomy 15:6

For the Lord your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations, but none will rule over you.

Genesis 6:8

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Genesis 6:22

Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Genesis 12:2

I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

So, we have stepped out of the boat and are trusting to start the renovation work from 1 December 2021.

I pray that this will encourage you to do the same with things which God may be asking you to step out do in faith.

By Nicole

Half Night Prayer

On Friday the 29th October we had a non-stop 6 hour prayer set from 17:30-23:30. This gave us a taste of what it will be like when we have 30 full-time prayer missionaries and are able to have a daily morning watch, afternoon watch and evening watch (1 watch consisting of 6 hours non-stop intercessory worship; 10 people will man each watch). It was an incredible time of experiencing God’s presence as we interceded against Halloween and for our Local Elections.

BHOP – Benoni House of Prayer

On the weekend of the 22nd of October, we were invited to train a church in Benoni that will be starting a House of Prayer in January 2022. The training we gave was the “Harp and Bowl” (Harp – representing worship and the bowl representing the prayer of the saints. Rev 5:8) Model that we use at the Witbank House of Prayer which we learnt from the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. We also did the worship and sermon at the Sunday Service.

We were inspired to see that God is growing the prayer movement across the nation, and to see people hungry to stand in the gap as worshippers and intercessors.

Hadassah and Nicole Birthdays

In October we celebrated Hadassah turning 2 on the 23rd of October and Nicole turning 33 on the 10th of October.

Staff Retreat

From the 8th to the 11 of November we had our Annual WHOP Staff Retreat; it was a wonderful time to just spend time together as a spiritual family outside of the prayer room and connecting with each other.

Healing Rooms

What an incredible privilege to be used as vessels to heal people. Every Tuesday we walk away from the healing rooms session being encouraged by what God is doing; how he is bringing people needing healing and how He heals them.

We had a meeting with the other Healing Room directors in South Africa and we were encouraged to hear that the Witbank House of Prayer Healing Rooms has been functioning really well despite the effects of COVID-19.

We will be inviting Carol Campbell (the head of Healing Rooms South Africa) to come and do a training session early in 2022 for anyone who wants to become part of the WHOP Healing Rooms prayer teams.

Family News

Trinity has just written her final exam for Grade 4; we are very proud of her results and how hard she has worked this year. Next year Jean-Claude will also be home-schooled for Grade 1 and Hadassah will attend Miesha Daycare 3 days a week.

In a previous newsletter we asked for you to pray for us concerning the bus. Well thank you for your prayers; God has provided for us in a miraculous way. We were given a Nissan X-trail and we just need to pay the remaining term and then it belongs to us; this is an incredible blessing because per month we are paying much less than what we were paying on the bus, and it is much lighter on fuel than what the bus was. We also got a good price for the bus and were able to settle it and make some extra to pay 1 or 2 other things.

On the 6th of November Jean-Michel was finally able to do a live running race again for the first time since lockdown hit. He ran the Kaapsehoop Marathon (42km) and qualified for comrades.

 

Prayer Points

  • Thank God for how incredibly He has taken care of us this year (Relationships, Health, Finances).
  • For our upcoming renovation/DIY project; that the finances will be provided in time and that everything will run smoothly. Even though we are renovating in December; that this will be a time of rest for the family.
  • For Masson Music to have an influx of new students in January 2022.
  • For all our financial partners to be blessed beyond what they expect during the festive season and new year; without each one, we wouldn’t be able to sustainably do what we are doing.

Joshua Year 2021

Applications to do the intern year called the Joshua Year are open. For more info go to: https://witbankhop.co.za/training/joshua-year/

IHOPU-EP

In partnership with the International House of Prayer, the Witbank House of Prayer offers a global classroom experience where students can enrol for one of these 3 schools: ministry, worship and media. Follow this link for more info: https://witbankhop.co.za/training/ihopuglobal/

Thank you very much to every financial partner, what we are doing would not be sustainable without your partnership.

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