2 weeks ago I was excited about heading to Tennessee for the Iris Ministries/Mercy 29 conference in Nashville. This was partly to launch the new Iris Base there. Heidi Baker would be there, as well as David Hogan. I would get to stay with my friend Rachael from school in Mozambique, and meet up with Karina (Brazil, from Moz school) too, as well as other friends and Iris family. However sitting in the prayer room one night God spoke to me clearly – He didn’t want me to go to Nashville. He wanted me to go to Mexico via TEXAS instead!
So after a few days of wrestling back and forth and going – “is this really you, God?” I found a friend in the internship at IHOP who was driving down to Texas straight after graduation. God worked it out that I got to stay with 2 amazing families.
Bastrop, TX // 24-26 September
Bastrop is a small town kind of like Beaudesert where I spent a few growing up years. To me the atmosphere felt wet – dry and parched yet it felt like the storm clouds were gathering and ready to break – Lord bring in the harvest in Bastrop! I could feel the hunger in the land both in the physical – they’ve been in drought for a long time and recently had devastating bushfires – and in the spiritual. There is a hunger for the rain of Heaven! I got to visit a church in Austin who are hungering for the Kingdom of heaven to break in on earth.
I stayed with fellow Harvest School graduate Cherie, who introduced me to her whole family: 3 brothers, 3 sisters, a brother in law, 2 nephews and a niece and her parents! My stay in Bastrop was again an absolute gift – just like Pemba. I felt embraced by this family and was totally blessed by the presence of Jesus in and around them. One day hopefully I’ll get to revisit!
Houston, TX and SPHOP // 27 September - 1 October
I was blessed to stay with fellow intern Abby and her parents (and cats!). While there I had the chance to visit Solomon's Portico House of Prayer. This House of Prayer was started by Abby and her friends last year. They first visited IHOP in Kansas City for a few months, just spending time in the prayer room and attending a few classes. They then moved back down to Houston and were given a building to use by the local Baptist church as a place to lift up the name of Jesus and intercede for the city. They have since been training up teams to serve there and have been running sets a few times a week.
The presence of God is powerful in this House and it is definitely something special to see a group of friends who have grown up together, get to do now do ministry together. Those of you who have dreams from God to step out in something new – I just want to encourage you to take steps to see it happen! And those of you who have had a dream to start Houses of Prayer in your towns or cities – again I encourage you to do it! Start even by having people over in your lounge room to worship and pray. This is where it starts. Fan the flame, stir up the gift, put your burning log next to some others and lets see our hometowns changed by the fire that results! Human trafficking (for an example, but seriously) cannot be stopped by action alone. Prayer is the power behind the action. It is what will enable the action to happen! It is what will enable the action to be effective. Prayer is the power behind revival. Prayer and INTIMACY with JESUS is what will keep us faithful to the end.
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