Jesus the pioneer of faith

In our previous newsletter, we shared a personal journey of faith which we are on. So I saw it fitting to continue with the subject of Faith in this month’s newsletter by sharing with you the following Revelation which God unpacked to me in His Word just a few days ago…

It is all summed up in this empowering and perspective changing verse:

“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:2

Many of us often quote the famous verse from the beginning of the previous chapter (11) of Hebrews which defines faith as the ‘confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see’; and in this chapter we read about faith in action in and through the lives of so many men & woman of faith who have gone before us. Chapter 11 is so powerful in highlighting faith as a key ingredient in navigating through this life, the God given missions in our lives and integral to our very relationship with God…However if we stop here and read no further, we may find ourselves feeling inadequate, falling short of the likes of Enoch, Abraham, Sarah, Joseph, Mosses, Rahab, David etc; wondering, ‘ok what now?…how do I obtain and exercise this kind of faith?’ Well that’s why there is a chapter 12 which interestingly from verses 1 to 3 does not start a new topic, but rather completes chapter 11 almost as if these 3 verses were meant to be in chapter 11, as they now turn our gaze off of ourselves and onto the very source & perfecter of our faith; JESUS…   

Jesus actually pioneered Faith (the evidence of things not ‘yet seen’) when he endured the cross, believing in and anticipating the joy of our salvation & His inheritance in us which was at the time not yet seen but ‘hoped for’! He pioneered what this faith is which He calls us to…He himself exercised faith; He didn’t just call us to it…

So how do we obtain and exercise this kind of faith?…By setting our eyes on Jesus who enacts the very faith we should have, and did so through the greatest demonstration of faith ever, The Cross…

‘Now what is the Cross but loved poured out for us where faith itself was pioneered and perfected; so from where does faith derive but from love its self; how do we then ourselves have faith other than to love, but how do we love other than to first wilfully receive His love for us?’ – Jean-Michel Masson

Full time WHOP Missionaries – What a journey thus far

As we now approach the end of 2021, we reflect on almost a year as full time prayer missionaries at The Witbank House of Prayer. We can’t believe it has been a year already, as we can remember last year this time as if it was just last month; but at the same time, WOW, so much has happened this year…The best way we can sum it all up is that so far on this new season of intercessory worship, our hearts have expanded. If there’s one way to expand one’s heart to contain some of the things which are on God’s heart, it is to read in The Word what is on His heart and then pray it and / or sing it back to Him for hours on end!!! Though this is at times physically taxing as our inner man whilst growing, still lives in the constraints of temporary human tents made of flesh and bone; it is oh so rewarding to know our hearts are on the way to beating together with His, and we are so grateful…We now eagerly anticipate even more enlarged capacity for the things of God in 2022…

PS…We know the above may sound really abstract and philosophical, but it is really real to us and it’s our hope that it is to you as well…

Masson Music Night & Student Workshops / Progress Recordings

It has been a jam packed year end for Masson Music, and we want to share this with you as our Masson Music hours form part of our ministry service hours…

First after about 5 weeks of intensive preparations with our students, a whopping 37 of them had the privelage and great experience of performing at our first live (in person) Music Night in 32 months. It was incredible to see and hear our students play together on stage in bands again; they did so in front of about 250 people and did such a great job at it! This is really at the core of what we are about as Masson Music; building confidence in our students through music as a performing art…Exactly that happened; confidence was built…Being part of making this possible, we see as an expression of Worship, as God is glorified through His creation shining His light brightly with the gift He has imparted in them!

The week directly after this we then moved on to our annual December Workshops which we have with our students, giving them extra intensive musical training in groups, outside of the norm of their weekly lessons. This year we combined these Workshops with our also annual Progress Recordings; so our students workshopped their own new collaborative compositions on the spot and then recorded them as a collective in studio. This is another incredible opportunity our students get which contributes to their practical training and the development of their confidence…

This was all so fulfilling and purposed-filled, but we are glad we have closed for the year as from the 16^th of December for a bit of a breather.

Family News – Renovation (Our journey of faith continues)

On this journey of faith for the seemingly impossible as shared in our previous newsletter, we are now officially a few weeks into renovating our Home. God has provided in incredible ways for us to get started, and the full testimony from beginning to end will be shared with you in the new year…Thus far close on half of the amount needed for the full renovation has manifested in the physical (we say this as we believe the rest has already been provided but we are simply in the process of still receiving it). So this means Oom Johan Verwey (who is such a blessing to us) and his workforce (many of them students or previous students at WHOP), as well as us doing what we can are well on the way with the work; we as a family have subsequently moved into the Studio / Office side of the house now that Masson Music has closed for the year…So, wow, what an experience; it’s crazy, but we love it and are so grateful to Jehovah Jireh our Provider! In this part of the newsletter we would like to vulnerably, but unashamedly make this Journey of Faith available to you as an opportunity for you or anyone you may know of to sow financially as a Kingdom Investor…We see this as an opportunity for Kingdom Investing (biblical offering) as over and above being our family residence, our home is used a lot for ministry purposes as we have always committed to The Lord to keep our home open for those in need, whether it be as a place to stay for a short while for someone God brought across our path (as it currently is), or for discipleship & counselling, or of course for Masson Music & Breathe Worship. Please prayerfully consider if you or someone you know is part of the provision; but if not please keep the project in your prayers…Whatever your support is, it is so special to us and so effective in helping us with the work which we believe God has called us to.

Prayer Points

• Thank God for His faithfulness this year at The Witbank House of Prayer, Masson Music and in our family life.
• For our renovation project as mentioned above, and for us to be in a place of rest in the midst of it all in this December period.
• For Masson Music to have an influx of new students in January 2022 (We overcome by the word of our testimony and come with thanksgiving, as this has already started).
• For those whom God has called to enrol for 2022’s Joshua Year at WHOP to do so, and for no weapon formed against them to hinder them in making this life changing decision to enrol.
• For all our prayer & 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.