Following the River

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A preview:

We will not experience the fullness of the river until we step over to the other side. However, the Scriptures make it clear that we can drink of God’s river now, here, in this life, even if it’s only in a measure // Bob Sorge // Following the River // p3

We can have a taste of the river now, not just at the end of time. It won’t be to the fulness, but it is to a measure! Just like we see now in part, yet then, we will see in full (1 Cor 13:12)!

I remember being in college back in Australia. I had great big gaps between classes and used to spend them all in the library… One day I happened to stumble upon the section on REVIVAL and RENEWAL. This was where I first found out about the Toronto outpouring, and also where I first read about Rolland and Heidi Baker (I smile, just thinking about it because who knew then that I would ever end up in Mozambique, let alone other nations with Iris).

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water // Jesus // John’s Book, 7:38 // God’s Word

It started then. Then is when I started to hunger after seeing the Kingdom manifest in my world. I hungered to see the Lord break in in supernatural power. My prayer became, “Lord, please make me a conduit. I want to be a conduit of Your presence, Your love, Your power… I want it to happen so that even if people walk past me they encounter You. So that even just one touch, causes them to encounter YOUR love Jesus, YOUR healing Jesus… so that they get hungry for You…”
Every time I move house. Every time I move states. Every time I move countries. This is the prayer that I always come back to. Lord. It’s all about You.


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Forest Lake, Minnesota! Partnering with and Strengthening Houses of Prayer...

Twin Cities Ministry Trip
In the first week of April, I'll be travelling with a team of IHOPU students to Forest Lake, Minnesota. There is a local church there who have invited us to come and partner with them in strengthening their ministry to the Lord. There will be a gathering of around 20 houses of prayer from all over the state who are coming to be trained, equipped and ministered to! Some of what we will be doing: training in tools for ministering in a House of Prayer; running a youth conference and adult conference at nights; ministry to children; training in outreach and tools for living a life ABIDING in the Love of GOD! We will also be running a 3 day burn - so 24/7 prayer for 3 days. We will be split into three teams for 3 different sleep schedules. I'll be part of the Night Watch so will be sleeping in the mornings. I am so excited about what the Lord will do through us. Not really sure exactly what to expect but I do know that it's conferences and events like these that have impacted my life as a teenager/young adult, so I know that the LORD will impact many hearts from all over Minnesota, as well as our own!

Thank you so much for continuing to stand with me in prayer, love and support :) Please continue to Pray, that I would only be taken deeper and deeper and be filled with such a deeper HUNGER and THIRST for JESUS - the ONE who is WORTHY of it all!!
Much Love and Joy!

Serena xo

You can see the website for the event, here

Life in KC...

Dearest Beloved Friends!

Hope you are all doing great!! Whether you are in a season of smooth sailing or a season of challenges (or both!), may you find JOY in Jesus!!

    "All the Nations they will come, holding broken chains above their head
    They'll be singing: 'We have overcome! By the blood of the LAMB!'
    Jesus YOU, YOU'RE worth it ALL!
    Every Nation, Every Soul!
    All the people will sing Your praises, Glory to the LAMB of God!" - Circuit Riders - "Every Nation, Every Soul" - Lindy Conant

At church last night we were led in worship with this song, and you could feel the power in the song as well as how it seemed that almost every person in the place was really connecting with it. Lord, thank you for continuing to stir up a passion for the nations in Your House of Prayer for all Nations!! This week we have over 40 houses of prayer and ministries from all over America and the world, coming to recruit graduated IHOPU students for their prayer houses and ministries. I am so so excited as we are here to be trained up and sent out to strengthen those who are already out there pioneering new works, as well as to pioneer news ones ourselves.

Visiting the Night Watch!
Not sure if you all know this but this time in Kansas City has been different: I've been doing days, for the first time not on the Night Watch!! It has a definite different feel to it! Also as a music student instead of an intern it's totally different, too.

For example:
FITN Intern: 36 hours a week in the Prayer room
Music Student/Full-time missionary: 24 prayer room or "Sacred Trust" hours to fulfil: 12 of which are completed in the "labs" where we have student worship teams and run our own prayer room sets. 6 more of my hours are done serving either on keyboard or as a group singer in the Hispanic/Spanish teams in the "All Nations Prayer Room", and I therefore only have 2 hours a week in the "Global Prayer Room"! (I know, there're a lot of names. That's why we have all the acronyms..).

I've started getting up at 3am this past week to go to the 4am sets (last set of the Night Watch), and it has been brilliant. The sweetness that I get from being able to spend more time sitting before the Lord and not concentrating so much on the music, or trying to translate the small amount of spanish in my head that I know, is more than worth it.

Yesterday our music classes were canceled because of an inner healing seminar that the school was running, so my day looked like this:

4am Intercession set - Ashley Prior's team was leading, which last week the Lord was so moving in that set that although they're meant to transition teams at 6am, they kept going all the way til around 7am! Contending for a culture of LIFE. This is one of the issues which is SO on the Father's heart! Please pray for the Nations' babies, as we have a voice to speak and they do not!! Speak up for the silent!

http://www.ihopkc.org/prayerroom/archives/  Watch the 4:00AM Fri March 08 session. Try watching from 1hr 34 mins. Praying for LIFE starts at 1hr40min.

6am - spent some time working on homework in the cafe next door, where my friend who works there so sweetly brought me a mango smoothie! Thank you Jesus!!

7.25am - got picked up to ride to the JPR (Justice Prayer Room, where the All Nations PR sets are held) where we had briefing and then did another intercession set, praying for Venezuela also for the Hispanic intensive starting on Monday! (Pastors and leaders coming from all over, including Juarez, Mexico! Please pray for them for the LORD to encounter their hearts! Open hearts for revelation!)

10.15am - Spent time with another Iris family member, who went to Harvest school and staffed the next one in 2009. It's the first time I've gotten to spend time with her apart from during spanish sets! Yay Jesus!! She and her husband have a heart to move to Spain and be involved in House of Prayer/other Missions work there!

12pm - This is normally my "lab" time in the student worship teams. Because of cancelled classes, we spent it in the Global Prayer Room instead. Two Worship with the Word sets in a row, with Justin Rizzo's team leading first (one of my FAVOURITE teams as a lot of the time they have orchestral instruments such as french horns, strings, flutes/whistles, percussion... think film music/celtic/hip-hop/rap :) and Misty Edward's team leading at 2pm. I had to walk up and down a lot so I wouldn't fall asleep, and got to partner with JESUS in praying with what was on HIS heart!

4pm - got a ride back to my place, where my landlord was working on pipes to get them to unblock... seems like America isn't so far from Africa after all ;) sat down to eat some dinner and write to all of YOU!

6pm - Encounter God Service at Church. The current theme the Lord is having most people dig into around here at the moment is John 14-17, about Abiding in Love...

The same love the Father has for Jesus, Jesus has for us!!  Let that sink in for a bit... The intensity to which the Father Loves Jesus, Jesus loves YOU (and your friend, or not-yet-friend...)

Training for the Nations!

I don't think we EVER get over the training stage! Life with Jesus is a constant, never ending training and learning to go Low, to receive HIS love (this one, yet again, I've realised I need help in!), to love Him, to Trust Him, to obey His voice...

I'm here in Kansas City, Missouri having just moved house 2 weeks ago and getting ready to move house again in another two weeks!! Apparently this nomadic lifestyle just never ends either :) We ARE sojourners and foreigners on this earth - just passing through - so I guess this makes sense!

After obeying HIS voice and heart, to rest for 2 weeks in England, I arrive in KC on the 20th december and spent the next 4 weeks sharing a twin (single) bed with one of my best friends. Thank you Hannah for your generous heart and thank you Daddy for always providing! Moved into my current place ready to start school...

Once in a while I still have this thought of: wait. What am I doing here again? How is this to do with my call?? Then I have my first class. Our teacher starts talking about seeing Houses of Prayer raised up in every single nation. My KeysETT (Keys, Ear Training and Theory) teacher starts talking about teaching us how to teach so that we can go and teach children in dark, far away places how to play and sing to the Lord. I get to my audition for another class and the guy auditioning me says: "Imagine you're trying to lead a prayer meeting in some nation like Papua New Guinea and you have no electricity and you're the only instrument." and in my mind I'm like... oh! I did that already! in Mozambique...

Lord, send me. Here I am. Send me.


some Praise points:
Jesus is teaching me about TRUST. and LOVE - HIS Love :)
He is providing!!!
I'm getting connected with some of the Hispanic ministries community here - and it's stretching and growing and good!


some Prayer points:
the roommate HE wants me to have, in the place HE wants me to live :)
Oh that I would go deeper, and Love Him to my full capacity, and receive HIM to my full capacity
my studies :) :) TIME with Him in the secret place
Connections
continued health


_________

Random fact: one of my classes is "Life of a Worshipper". or LOW. . .  It's all about going LOWER still :) :)

December '12 Update

Dearest Friends,

As our hearts are filled with joy and our homes with family (whether biological or spiritual) this season, I pray that you have most of all felt Loved and encountered by the One who started it all – the One who holds every living thing together…

I pray that, if you have children and you have felt joy over their excitement at opening gifts and having all the people that they love all together in one place, that you understand: that feeling you are having is just a small taste of the JOY that our Daddy God feels over us as He sees us opening gifts HE has given, and stepping into plans HE has planned for us!! He is the Father of Lights, EVERY good gift comes from HIM and in HIM there is no shadow of turning! He desires only good things for His children – although His children may not always agree with what is good for them ;) Just sayin’!

The Condition of our HEARTS

I want to share this with you… for as I have been travelling and transitioning and loving and being loved and also putting walls up so I won’t HAVE to explain all over again what I’m doing here (wherever here is that I happen to be) or, so I won’t HAVE to explain again what I’ve been doing “there” – wherever “there” has happened to be… (by the way the walls are not a good thing)… I have found that most of all, Daddy God is interested in shepherding my HEART. HE is interested in the condition of my HEART.

30th Oct 2012

“I woke up this morning lots of dreams and things that made sense. One sentence I saw/heard was “Que quiero ti”. I looked it up and it wouldn’t translate Portuguese – on either google translate or my apple translator. So I tried Spanish. On google translate it was: “I want you”

  

“I was struck. And in awe… You [the God that upholds the UNIVERSE!] want me…

Then on my mac translator: “That I love you”.

“Jesus… Daddy… Lord… YOU want me! That YOU love me!

Oh… THIS is what it’s all about…

I will get the answer to my question in just knowing that You love me.”

Now I had been dreaming and fasting and praying about decisions I needed to make, because I just had not been having peace with a certain thing I was scheduled to be doing and it was coming up soon. That morning, I was struck by the realisation that I didn’t have to worry about whether I was hearing the Lord right, about whether I was doing the right thing… I realised that all my worry and stressing and anxiety actually cut me off from hearing rightly. It is as our hearts are AT REST in our daughterhood or

sonship in HIM, that we will be free to hear Him rightly. We will be free to hear what HE wants… Once I had the freedom to rest [didn’t mean I stopped fasting. I just stopped fearing] – I heard from Him real easy and was able to make a big decision and talk to all the people involved with peace and surety in my heart :) He is concerned, friends, with our HEARTS :)

So, going to get rest in England, really turned out to be… such a great time of REST in England!! Honestly. I am blessed with the most amazing friends who are Jesus to me… I got to sleep, rest, sleep, talk through and process some things, sleep, eat, have pet therapy (the pets my friend had), sleep and rest :) I got to spend so much time with one of my God‐given British sisters! Thank you Daddy!

Somehow, This All Fits in Together

The Dream. The Vision. The Calling…

I don’t know if all my travelling around and being involved in different things has ever confused you. Well sometimes it confuses me. Just sayin’. Yet as this 1 year and 8 months has passed by and things have started to become clearer and make more sense, I have come to know for certain that I am called to:

• The Dirt – the poor, the 3rd world.

• The Western local Church.

• Releasing the Prophetic Sound to the Nations

• Adopting large sibling groups/older children. Or any child from any country with any kind of “special need” the Lord specifically leads me to. This could mean I'm having at least 15 children! Or maybe a few hundred. Depending where it is and what it looks like!

• Gazing into the eyes of Jesus and adoring Him. Ministering to Him. Intercession…

• Letting Daddy love me.

• Nations – nations – nations. So far HE has led me to 5 different continents and I have found love swell up in my heart for places and people in all those continents. How that works is only because of the love that JESUS puts there…

“Someone in this generation is gonna make a

Noise that’s gonna shape a Nation”

I was on the plane from Doha, Qatar to London Heathrow on the 6th December, when I decided to listen to some of Jake Hamilton’s latest for the first time… His songs “War Drums” and “New Song” totally caught my heart and helped me spill forth vision onto the pages of my journal.

“This is what it’s about. I believe that part of my call is to release a prophetic sound to the nations. I believe in the power of a SOUND. Just like David’s anointed harp playing cause peace to come to King Saul, so the anointed, heaven released SOUND that the Lord releases through me can shape nations. Can build up. Can tear down.

I believe I am called to release this:

through BEING in nations – physically releasing the sound along with the CHILDREN of the nations – those

who were abandoned but are now found :) adopted into HIS KINGDOM FAMILY

And also spiritually – through what He releases through me in the Global or All Nations Prayer rooms here

in Kansas City.”

So, the reason I am here in Kansas City – only GOD knows the full reason, but I do know that part of it is:

• to be trained up more in my gifts

• to have more of a theologically solid foundation and to have more time to reaalllly go DEEP into the Word!

• to be able to do all this and still be in a place where the nations converge and where they are sent out again back to the nations

• to possibly become involved in a volunteer capacity in the Orphan Justice Center – Rescue, Adopt, Restore ‐ http://orphanjusticecenter.com/

I so appreciate all of your continued love and prayers, and financial support!

Please let me know of any prayer requests – I love to pray for you! And do let me know how you are going. He has made us for relationship. He has made us for family.

Serena xo

Adventurer and Lover of Jesus

Purple Royal Flip-Flops

Today was one of my best days ever. Well actually, it was just one of those days that had so many special moments...

It started out at 6am as I pressed the snooze alarm many times, finally getting out of bed about 20 mins before I had to leave... As I was pressing the snooze alarm I could hear Christina, our cleaning lady coming in the door and greeting my room mate in makua, the local tribal language 

(side note- my room mate is one of the most incredible women in the world. She truly and genuinely loves the makuan community who we are privileged to live and do life with, and not only does she love them but she is crazy amazing and gifted at picking up the language... Honestly she can have whole conversations in makua when most of us are still trying to improve our Portuguese. She's even starting to write new worship songs in makua (because translating some of the songs that already exist just don't even work with all the syllables that can be in even just one word!) my room mate is amazing. Side note ended).

So, we walked out the door at about quarter past seven along with a couple of other friends on my base. One, an American who did the harvest school in October 2011 and has come to teach preschool and art lessons. The other, a Mozambican friend from Maputo who is a teacher in the bible school and also a worship leader here in Pemba. The 20 min walk by the ocean was interrupted by rain and all the Moz bible students walking near us started running for the other base! We broke out in "let it rain" in Portuguese, then as it started to get heavier changed it to "espera! Espera deis minutos por favor! Espera Señor!" (wait! Wait 10 minutes please! Wait lord!" God slowed down the rain enough so that we didn't get soaked and the dirt didn't turn to full on mud, yet. 

I was aiming to get to the prayer house early for our 8am set with the Iris older girls. Someone else had already opened it up as some boys had one of the prayer room guitars and was playing it outside. A couple of older Iris girls were also in the prayer hut early reading their bibles and journaling, along with some mission school students visiting from around the world. It was so precious to see them really wanting to read His word and know His love... I decided that even though it was supposed to be a time for the older girls, I couldn't just close the door to the iris boys who were hanging around! So after hanging out with them for a few minutes, we all went inside the prayer house to worship and seek His face together. I was originally supposed to be teaching on some principles to worship, but we ended up just praying and worshipping, passing the lead to each other... Today was one of the most flowing, amazing prayer times I've been in with the kids yet... The kids would just break out in spontaneous prayer and songs as myself and an iris boy played the guitar. They were passionate, they were genuine, and it blessed my heart so incredibly... It is on my heart to start spending more time with them even outside the prayer house, training them a bit more in music and learning more Portuguese!

All of this was before 9am... I could go on about all the amazing stuff that happened, but will condense it for you. 

Myself and the other missionary who was there then cleaned out the prayers house completely, taking everything out and sweeping, mopping... (this of course drew a small crowd of children- some iris kids and some village kids, who promptly proceeded to grab the guitars and strum chords that aren't in existence, and when they started to get a bit rowdy and we started to ask them to be a bit more careful, one of my village friends (Fogas) proceeded to promptly grab a broom and sweep everything in sight to help us, and the other one grabbed a baby wipe we had used to wipe the whiteboard, and used it to wipe everything in sight! The keyboard, my guitar case, everything! Once all was done and dried and locked away, Fogas asked to try on my flip flops and I would try on his. Then he said that I can borrow his til tomorrow! He insisted that we do this as he leapt in the air and laughed with my (slightly too small) brown $2 Walmart over-a-year-old worn-almost-every-day-in-15-different-countries-moulded-to-fit-even-my-toes-and-worn-almost-all-the-way-through flip flops on his feet... I looked down at his definitely-too-large-purple-flip-flops-with-pretty-flowers-on-them that felt like thick mattresses after wearing mine... And worried about him walking on the road and feeling every bump and getting thorns stuck in his feet... And worried that mine might break while he was borrowing them and then he might feel bad! I asked if he was sure? "Yes!!! Amanya!Amanya! (tomorrow, tomorrow)" well... Okay then!

So for the rest of the day, while working on organising practical missions for the harvest school; tutoring my friends fun, energetic 5year old and attending a baby shower for the base director with most of the female part of our base staff family... I would randomly look down and notice my friends purple flowery too large flip flops adorning my feet... And I would laugh. At the personality of my friend Fogas that he would convince me to swop for a day. At the fact that a teenage boy has purple flowery flip flops (TIA- this is Africa!). And my heart would get slightly melted at the thought that he would wear my almost broken, brown so worn flip flops and God would decide to have me wear purple (color of royalty! and my fav colour) flowery (makes me feel special!) flip flops that belong to a village boy who is from a very poor village family... Our God is so upside down... I love Him so much!

Now it is 1am and I am typing this from the safety of my mosquito net, with the familiar sounds of barraca (streetside shops) music coming through my glass less windows... (which I am so thankful for as it keeps the houses so much cooler!) I can feel each of the slats through my mattress, and frequently sink down in places where the slats have shifted all to one side or the slats themselves are just not flat! But I have a bed and I have a pillow. I have freshly washed sheets and a net and an amazing roommate. I have a family here in Pemba who loves to do life together, not just work. And I have my village friend's purple flowery flip flops to remind me who I am. Loved. Royalty. Trusted (enough to borrow his flip flops!). Most of all they remind me of my God who is the one who loves to give me these precious moments!

Love to you all, and thank you for sharing in some moments from one of the days from my life here in Mozambique!

A New Season...

Last time I wrote I talked just a little about outreach. We went to a place in South East Asia where a local family in partnership with an Iris graduate from Tennessee has been rescuing children from slavery in the granite mines. We stayed with our friend who is about 26 years old. He lives in and runs one children’s home – the kids there are not from the mines but are from other circumstances. There were meant to be 60 children in the home, but by the time we got there, there were over a hundred and by the time we left it had increased to almost 200! This was in part because while we were there, they had to close down one of their other homes so they had to move those children into the house. Also while we were there a few local Mums came and dropped their children off to the home, as they had AIDS and had only a couple of days left to live… Our friend who runs the home is from a family who has been pastors for a few generations now. His Dad runs another home, his Mum another home for older teenage girls and his sister yet another home!

We were the first team that they had ever had visit, they had only ever had maybe 3 or 4 different westerners come at different times before. So it was very much a spearheading team and we went mainly to love, to go low and to go slow! It was such a privilege to be a part of the very first team they had ever had :) We all immediately fell in love with the kids. Although there are sooo many children living in the home and what seems like only a few adults, they all are full of joy and and laughter! They all mainly sleep on the roof, on blankets on the concrete, two or three children to a blanket so they are literally shoulder to shoulder.

You can find out more at www.mercy29.org and on the mercy29 user channel on youtube.

"Rest Time"

God gave me an awesome gift in getting to visit the family in Nepal that I got to know last year with Jesse and Tanya! Myself and the other team leader arrived there and realised that we only had about 10 days before we arrived back in Pemba and were full on into the middle of a hectic schedule again! So we made sure that we stayed home a lot, just mainly hanging out with the family, going to Jordan (15 yr olds)’s basketball games and watching Step up with their youngest daughters :) We were so blessed by our time in Nepal..!

Passports and Visas

My passport is now completely full!! No blank pages left!! I got to apply for a new one while in Joberg, and now have to juggle how I’m going to get it sent up here, and also get my current one cancelled and back up to me in Pemba. When the courier system isn’t reliable and the postal system even less so, it requires God to do a few miracles to get things like that done! Also the Moz embassy only gives out 30 day renewable visas, so I have to juggle getting that renewed every 30 days (probably by getting someone to take it out of the country to Tanzania a couple of times) as well as sending it down to Joberg or Maputo… My last passport page is taken up by my visa to Zimbabwe which was used for one day while driving through from South Africa to Mozambique... SUCH a fun experience and it felt like a birthday present from God :) We had a flat tyre on the first day and had to get it fixed the next, which took up a lot of time but GOD still happened and we got to Moz in record time! We stayed the first night in Zimbabwe at some lodge, and the second night in the front yard of a couple missionaries who used to live in this house on the main road, and it's still guarded but they have moved to be involved on another base in Moz. So the house was all locked but we got to park and set up camp in their front yard, and use their latrines :) :) They actually had had a couple armed robberies while living there but we were totally fine the whole night and next morning! 

A New Season

Today I moved house - from the Village of Joy - where the student compound is, to the Glory Base!! I have transitioned from being a Harvest School staff member into being Base staff, up until December.

I will still be co-ordinating Practical Missions and am still taking care of the general emails for the school, however my main focus will now be my involvement with the House of Prayer here on the base. I am also going to be involved in training up some of the Iris kids into the House of Prayer. My heart is to see the kids trained up not just in music, but in worship. Today I had my first HOP session with a couple of other missionaries here and two of the older Iris girls who live in the children's home. It was meant to be a set from 8-9am. However we actually started around 20 minutes late and then when I left at about 10:15 they were still going! God really showed up and you could feel his presence so strong...

I am also going to be very involved with helping with some of the missionary kids. Their Mum is due REALLY really soon to have their 4th child. So I'll be helping out with the first 3 children (mostly tutoring, and some hanging out, maybe teaching music) and also tutoring/babysitting another 5yr old daughter of another missionary (who I worked with on my visit in 2011!).

In December I am also still going to be leading the Harvest School outreach team to Uganda and Sudan. So far my team is a group of 9 from the UK, Canada, the USA and New Zealand plus myself (Australia!). It will be Christmas in Sudan with the least of these!! 

PRAYER points:

- Intimacy with Jesus. Knowing who I am as Daddy's girl!! 

- Health and strength for my body - today especially was so hot and hopefully not an indication of the next few months! Sudan I know will be even hotter! Yay! So, my body has to adjust in Jesus' Name!

- Provision - for the rest of my time here, and also for Uganda/Sudan and beyond...

- That I would recognise which Iris kids the Holy Spirit would be highlighting for me to train up a bit more in music/worship/intercession

- Relationships with other missionaries on the base!

- That myself and the kids would bond well and have well established boundaries and relationship.

- Keep my eyes, time and strength focused on HOLY SPIRIT's plan for the HOP times and every bit of my time here!

- Good sleep!

- That the Uganda/Sudan outreach team will be fully prepared and ready in their hearts for this outreach! Unity and honour being key!

- More intercessors for myself to be raised up. We as missionaries are on the frontlines here of a war zone here and I know that you hear us say that, but it is so true and there is a lot - not just physical, that we have to deal with.

- Provision of more instruments for the kids to learn/worship on! Even for after I am gone.

Lots and lots of love to you!!!

Serena xoxoxoxox

Paypal: Go to www.paypal.com and click on "Personal", "Send money internationally". Fill out all your details. My email address registered with paypal is serenaxh @ gmail.com (without the spaces)