Dear Prayer Partner
It’s been a while since you heard from us, and we apologize for being so quiet for the past three months. It is amazing that we are already at the end of April and we are happy to share one highlight from each of the past three months with you.
February 2022 Highlight
We started with a group of 5 Joshua Year students at the beginning of February and this year we have our first multi-cultural group. We have been praying for a long time for Father to send students from other cultural groups in our country and we are excited that this year we have a Tswana as well as a Zulu student who is part of our Joshua Year Internship group.
During the week of 14-20 February, we presented our Personality Restoration course (or Plumbline as we refer to it) to the group with a few people from outside and just experienced again how wonderful the love and healing power of our Heavenly Father is. He loves every human being so much that He wants to heal everyone from so much pain from the past and to enable them to continue living with Him in victory.
March 2022 Highlight
We had a halfnight of prayer on Friday evening, March 4, from 6:00 pm to midnight, where our IHOPU students took the lead and our whole team kept the fire burning on the altar for 6 uninterrupted hours with worship and prayer.
And while our hearts are filled with gratitude, excitement, and anticipation, we would like to share this moment with you as our prayer partner.
At the beginning of this year, we set a short-term goal within our long-term vision to grow into a day and night House of Prayer with 300+ Full-Time Prayer Missionaries.
This short-term vision of ours is to grow as soon as possible to at least 32 full-time Prayer Missionaries, because then it is possible to do 3 prayer watches of 6 hours each from Tuesdays to Fridays, which means we will extend hours to 18 hours per day and we can impact the atmosphere over our city and nation from 6am to midnight through prayer and worship.
We streamed the 6 hours of March 4 on our Facebook page and you are welcome to take a look at it and see what we have done and what our dream is to do, in the short term for 18 hours a day and then finally day and night.
You will see that the quality of our streaming is not very good. We encourage you to listen with headphones, but also ask that you please pray with us for the finances that we will be able to buy the right equipment that enables us to stream our sessions on Youtube at high sound and image quality. The cost without a camera is approximately R30 000 and with a camera approximately R50 000.
Pray with us that Father will add singers, musicians and intercessors and that He will also release and provide the finances for everyone who is called by Him to keep the fire of His presence burning on the Altar full time as a Prayer Missionary in the House of Prayer.
April 2022 Highlight
We visited Potchefstroom 11-12 April after Matt Candler from the International House of Prayer in Kansas City contacted us by e-mail to connect us with his brother-in-law and sister-in-law who is currently in Potchefstroom at Fire and Fragrance YWAM base – Murray and Deborah Hiebert .
We went to Potchefstroom to meet the Hieberts because we felt in our hearts that it was a connection that Father had made and He had a plan for us to meet – and what a divine appointment it was!
Murray and Deborah have a ministry called Global 111 and their vision is to inspire and equip groups around the world to start prayer rooms with the Harp & Bowl model. This was their third visit to Potchefstroom and the Fire and Fragrance Prayer Room of Potchefstroom and we were encouraged and inspired by what they said.
One of the very encouraging things they told us was that when they first visited Potchefstroom to talk about Houses of Prayer and Prayer Rooms, it was easy for them and they realized that the more than 10 years that we as Witbank House of Prayer “labored” in prayer in South Africa have done the preparatory work in the spirit for more Houses of Prayer to arise and that we must know that there is fruit in our work and that we must persevere in what we do.
We also met a man from the Amsterdam House of Prayer and were just as encouraged by his story and how the House of Prayer works in Amsterdam and makes a difference in the Kingdom there.
We have deep gratitude in our hearts for this connection that Father has made.
Deborah’s words to us were: We want to dream with you about your nation! They love South Africa and have high expectations for the Revival that will begin here.
Upcoming in May and June 2022
We have three highlights ahead of us in the next 2 months…
The weekend of May 27-28 we have the first First Love Conference that we present ourselves and we would like to invite you if you are in Witbank, or close to Witbank to join us those two days to, like David in Psalm 27 sit at the feet of our King and drink from His unconditional love for us and to be rekindled to love Him above all.
Paul Ameen will be visiting us again from 31 May to 10 June to provide further equipment in understanding Islam and how to reach Muslims with the gospel. We do not yet have details about the program, but are excited about what Father is planning with this visit of Paul to Witbank House of Prayer.
We are going on an outreach to the Eiland ATKV resort again from 25 June to 10 July and are excited about the opportunity we have again this year to be able to share the GOOD NEWS to broken people in different ways.
Prayer Chain
We are still busy with the prayer chain that began in March 2020, but the evening President Ramaphosa announced the end of the State of Emergency, Father also told us that the prayer chain could end. We are currently in a 40 day period in which we pray for the restoration and healing of our country and when those 40 days are over, it is also the end of the Lockdown Prayer Chain.
We feel in our hearts that it is not going to end completely, and that there is something new that Father has in mind, but has not yet heard exactly what it is. But when we finish this particular chain in two weeks, it will be about 780 days of prayer and also almost daily a letter that we wrote every evening with what we believe was on Father’s heart to pray the next day.
We are so thankful for how Father also maintained us and gave us the ability to persevere in this.
PRAYER REQUESTS FOR THE MINISTRY
We have some specific prayer needs that we want to share with you and we really appreciate that you give of your time to pray for our ministry:
- Pray for our students (Joshua Year and IHOPU) for provision in their personal needs and also that they will grow closer to Father’s heart through the year and that they will not miss what God has destined for them to receive from Him in this year.
- Please pray with us for provision for our “live streaming” equipment so that we can broadcast our Sunday Evening Fellowship as well as our worship with the Word and Intercession sessions during the week on Facebook and Youtube at a better quality and thus reach many more people.
- Pray for our ministry’s finances. Please pray for the addition of monthly partners who commit to support of our ministry on a monthly basis enabling us to stand in the gap for our country.
- Please pray for the First Love Conference. Pray that we will fill every seat (we have room for 60 people). Pray for us for our preparation for ministry times and pray for our team that will minister on Saturday afternoon with “prophetic rooms and healing rooms”. Pray that every person with whom Father has an appointment will come that weekend and also that everyone will be touched by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Please start praying for the June / July outreach. Pray for the composition of the team, the finances of each team member and the preparation for the ministry – each puppet show story, the play, the church services and also the informal conversations and prayer times.
WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR…
- Linda’s mother had a shoulder replacement on March 8 and the operation went very well and she did not have any significant pain from day 2 after the operation. Her shoulder recovers faster than expected and the surgeon is very satisfied! We are very grateful for Father’s healing power!
- We are currently in Kwazulu Natal with our 2 Moms. Marais’s mother 85 and Linda’s mother 83, and we are grateful for Father’s provision and also the privilege we have to be able to spend such time with them.
- We are grateful for a wonderful team of people with whom we can keep the fire on the altar burning in the Prayer Room!
Personal prayer requests
- Please pray for Linda’s mother’s complete recovery.
- Marais’ mother will have surgery on her right wrist on Monday 9 May, please pray that everything will go well.
- Please pray for our health – we have some challenges and trust the Lord for supernatural healing.
THANK YOU!
Thank you for praying for us!! And if you are one of our prayer partners who also supports us financially, we would like to thank you for the seed you sow in our lives and ministry! We pray that you will receive a hundredfold harvest on your seed and that Father will also provide in each of your needs in abundance.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU!!
It is always nice for us if you let us know about you and also tell us what we can pray for you. You can send us an email, a whatsapp or a call! We would love to pray for you.
Much love
Marais & Linda
