Joining the Present Day Ministry of Christ on the Throne

If we think how important prayer is in our lives, there is no more significant truth than this: Prayer is the present day ministry of Our King, Lord Jesus Christ.

In this He still lives to serve the purposes of Our Father, Almighty God, as His Servant. Even though Jesus has been raised from death, transformed with a glorified body, has ascended into heaven from this physical realm on earth, and has been promoted to the throne of heaven, ruling over all things in heaven, the universe and on earth; He still carries out the ministry of intercession for the saints and for all those that turn to God, and in this He still lives out His role as "My Servant", as Isaiah calls Him prophetically, (that means the Servant of Jehovah.) Another way of seeing it is that Jesus is still the Servant King, the Servant of Our Father, to do His will, even though all the authority of the Kingdom of God has been given to Him.

So when we turn to pray, we are entering into partnership with Our Lord Jesus, to pray for others, to Our Father, and we are entering into the Ministry of the Servant King. Putting it another way, as the apostle writing to the Hebrews says, we are entering in to the throne room of grace to obtain mercy, and to find help in the time of need; we are coming alongside Jesus in His ministry of intercession. As we do this we are learning what it can be to reign with Christ Jesus by prayer!

It is common for people to be soft on themselves but to judge others harshly. It is also common for people to easily agree with accusations against others. As Christians we recognise the tricks of the devil, who is called the "Accuser of the brethren", to persuade us to condemn others and to turn our hearts against them. But we have a choice - to agree with the Accuser, or to agree with the Great Intercessor, Jesus, to pray for those who would offend us. No matter what people have done, we can come alongside Our Lord, King Jesus, and join Him in intercession for the mercy of God to be poured out on them, and for His grace to change them. This is one of the great privileges of a Christian's prayer.

We have yet to discover the amazing limits of this privilege of collaborating with Our Lord. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered the imagination of man, the things that God has prepared for those who love Him." wrote Paul the Apostle. And the very next verse in 1 Corinthians 2 says, " But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit." And later, " We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit Who is from God, that we may know the things that are given to us by God."

In this New Covenant era God has given to Christians the privilege of knowing things prophetically. Even when we do not know how to pray for things as we should, we find Holy Spirit comes alongside us to help us with intercession, sometimes with words, sometimes with scriptures or visions, and sometimes with groanings that we cannot escape. The best way to handle this is to pray in our heavenly language, the gift of praying in tongues, and if we do, we will often find an inspiration that helps us to pray. Often this inspiration takes us from one language to another as we pray in tongues. Paul writes that He prays for us according to the will of God, even when we don't know exactly how to pray! This partnership with Holy Spirit in our praying connects us directly with the mind of Christ in heaven, and with the will of the Father!

I have seen so many results of prayer like this that I have no doubt about it. And this exciting realm of prophetic prayer is open to any one of us Christ-lovers who want to learn more about prophetic prayer.

The Vision of God's Heart

The Prophetic Ministry has to do with the Vision that is in God's heart. It is communicated by the Now Word of God. It falls within what the Apostle Peter calls the "present truth" and the "more sure prophetic word" which he says he and the apostles had received.

It has to do with change by the Word of the Lord. It has to do with obedience to the Word, and the fulfilment of it, including the fulfilment of scripture.

New moves of God are always preceded by some prophetic move, either intercession, preaching, prophecies, visions or prophetic actions. I think it is because Prophetic people have a desire to live in the next realm God is opening up. Prophetic people have a desire to fulfil the scriptures God has sown as seeds in the eternal Church in the earth. All God has foretold about His Church in the earth will come true.

Prophetic people almost subconsciously order their lives by the Word of God; (man does not live by bread alone); they have fallen in love with the Word of the Lord; they have found that love of the truth that sets them apart for God.

Prophetic people will hear and obey Holy Spirit's call and, in this sense, God has always had His prophetic people in the different generations - even if it has been a small group of people, or one man (like Abraham, or Noah), who have been stretching forward into the new frontiers of faith.

This is the reason Prophetic people will always make an impact in the heavenlies; by prayer, by worship, by faith in God's word, by holy living, (e.g."Have you seen my servant Job?")

By the way, holiness is not to impress people in the world, nor the church. It is to identify us as "The Lord's People." Angels also take note of that; - even of a wife that honours her husband; (and a husband that loves his wife.)

Prophetic people will make an impact in the heavenlies by obedience; by living out of the anointing that dwells within them; by their prophetic timing in what they do; by speaking out God's word; ("Who has stood in the counsel of the Lord?" asks the prophet Jeremiah;) and by holding on to fulfil His word by faith.


Prophetic people go and pray until they get God's word on the matter. Once they have it, they rest in faith and persevere in faith until the circumstances change. 


The essence of the prophetic has always been to proclaim God's word to prepare the way for the Lord.
Once Prophetic people are caught up in the flow of God's Word or Holy Spirit's moving presence, a divine chemistry is released.  In such a flow, encounters with God are inevitable, even for people who are on the fringes of it. But Prophetic people who are caught up in it are not there for themselves or for self-gratification; they have a purpose - to be catalysts for the Body and Bride of Christ to be brought into perfection through intimacy with Our Lord.

In such a flow, what contributes to the transfer or impartation of the anointing to others? It will be by the right word spoken at the right time. There are two extremes in this: Firstly, it can sound like "I have a Word -  Now!"  Or "I'm so timid, I've got to wait on the Lord - forever; and for confirmation after confirmation, before I'll share it!" There are times Our Lord wants us to wait on Him. No doubt about that. But there is a significant release in the spirit when a well-timed prophetic word comes with a prophetic anointing at a prophetic moment. It releases more anointing.

The Lord has stated two powerful principles that make Prophetic people so essential and necessary for the coming revival; firstly, "Surely the Lord will do nothing, unless He first reveals His secrets to His servants the Prophets." (Amos 3:7), and secondly, "The secret things belong to God, but those things which have been revealed belong to us and to our children, forever..." (Deut 29:29).


That makes it very important that we spend time seeking the counsel of the Lord,  "For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, that he should perceive and hear his word? Who has marked my word, and heard it?" (Jer 23:18) He will take us into the strategy rooms of heaven to hear from the throne what are Our Lord's decrees for this time.

The Vision of the Lord's heart is that the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. That glory was made known first through our Lord Jesus Christ; and now it is time for the Church to make it known. It is time for the Image of Christ to be restored on the earth. That which Adam's race lost for all humanity has been restored to humanity by the Living Word taking on the form of humanity. The Glory of the image of Christ will be restored through the redeemed saints as His Word and His Spirit are manifested again - in us.

It is time for the Prophetic people to be developed in their hearing and seeing, so that the seven spirits of God from around the throne, that were manifested in Our Lord Jesus on the earth, should be manifested in His Church to show His Kingdom government is increasing, on the earth, facilitated by His Prophetic people.

OUTPOURING OF HOLY SPIRIT RAIN AND NEW ANOINTINGS

During the worship on Sunday morning 5th February 2012, at the Bay Community Church in Muizenberg, I had two visions that merged as one.

I felt the impact of Our Lord's presence like rain before the band started singing about rain. Then I saw the rain was coming from a waterfall. I have seen this waterfall in the spirit many times, but this time it was so full that the water spray was coming from the top  lip of the fall AND it was a spray rising up from the impact in the pool at the bottom because it was such a volume of water pouring over the waterfall.

I remember that Judy had spoken about a rain rising up over the mountains to raise the water table in our area so the estuary would be full.

I felt the sight of the waterfall showed that we were coming close to the source of outpouring of the rain of the Holy Spirit - "He shall come down like rain" says the prophet in scripture. Then I remembered the words of Jesus, "He who comes to me, out of His innermost being shall flow rivers of living water." And as soon as I heard that I was lifted up higher and higher, to see over the top lip of the waterfall where the river was flowing to it and I recognised it as the river of life which flows from the throne of God.

As I was looking at the river pouring down over the waterfall, I saw the people around me had their heads lifted up and their mouths open to delight in the rain of the Spirit. And I knew that we simply had to learn to drink Him in to receive this flow of the river of life, coming down on us like rain. But the closer we came to the source in worship, we could stand under the outpouring waterfall to be drenched on the outside and filled on the inside, so that the rivers of life would flow from us into the estuary around us.

Then as I watched I saw a second vision of a tall angel, standing next to the waterfall, looking down at us as we were worshipping. He had a large ladle that he was dipping into a large bowl full of hot oil. He was looking from the bowl of oil to the crowd of people and he was reaching down with the ladle to pour fresh new anointing oil onto the heads of the people. He seemed to be choosing those who were drinking in deeply from the outpouring rain, more than others around them.

Then I heard the words "New Ambassadors. New anointings for New Ambassadors for the Kingdom!"

Then the vision ended.

I feel that I missed the timing in the meeting to tell the vision. But I pray that we will have the opportunity still to receive the message of the vision and the power of new anointings to be New Ambassadors for the Kingdom.

With Love and Faith for you, Tony

Cape town Prophetic Forum January 2012

What an Awesome time yesterday with the Cape Town Prophetic Forum!


There was a theme of repentance for our past behaviour and attitudes followed by a release into new things for the prophetic people in Cape Town. It was a special time for all who were there, I'm sure.


I received the following impressions from the forum session:

HEARTS FROM THE GREAT SHEPHERD

Vision of the Throne.

In the Cape Town Prophetic Forum meeting on 28^th January I saw the Throne of God clearly with steps all around. I heard the words, “I have given you Cape Town.” And I realised that Our Lord had opened the spiritual territory for us to occupy and take the city of Cape Town.

Then I saw the Lord offering us eye ointment – anointed by Holy Spirit – to open our eyes to see what He has done, to see what He has made us – to live and move in this realm of the spiritual territory of Cape Town. As we came to the Lord to take the ointment, the veil was removed from our faces and we could see the glory of Christ in one another.

Our eyes were opened by the ointment and we could see Our Lord for who He really is, and what He has achieved – the crucified Lamb Who is now reigning on the Throne of God! As our eyes were opened we could see ourselves for who we are in Him – redeemed ones who have been able to come into the throne-room of Almighty God!

He has made us Holy Priests to come and minister to the Father and the Son, by Holy Spirit’s help. And so we can come up the steps right onto the throne to be so close to Him that we feel His heart and know His mind.

Then as we turn to come down from the throne, we have the authority of a royal priesthood, to speak into the earth the words from the throne. As we speak them into the situations on earth where Holy Spirit is working with His presence, the Word and the Spirit ignite with creative power to change the atmosphere, to change the circumstance. We are sent to change the atmosphere and to change the circumstances.

The Lord has promised to confirm the words of His servants, He said He would create the fruit of our lips; we shall declare the decree and it shall come to pass; we shall call those things which are not as though they were. And this will happen as we receive the words of the Lord from the throne.

Vision of the New Shepherds.

The next morning on 29^th January, I awoke in the early hours with another vision of the throne with thousands of people coming from all directions, walking out of a dark mist. They wore clothes from every nation, ordinary but different for every group. They walked towards the light shining from the throne and as they approached they walked closer into the light. Then nearer to the throne their clothes began to change. The earthly clothes faded and they were replaced with shining white clothes that everyone was wearing. It seemed they had been wearing these underneath their earthly clothes but now the white clothes were shining so brightly that I realised these were their spiritual clothes. So the closer they came to the throne, their spiritual clothes shone through and became brighter and brighter.

As they came around the throne, thousands of them, row by row they ascended the steps around the throne. It seemed that the steps grew larger to make room for them all – and they still kept coming – and then they seemed to penetrate into the heart of Our Almighty Father, and they disappeared for a while into Him, and so they came close to Our Lord Jesus, Who was seated on the throne right next to Our Father.

Then I saw as others came onto the top of the steps around the throne, those who had been in the heart of Our father appeared to step out of His heart and began to walk away from the throne and go down the steps again. But now they were wearing golden crowns on their heads and, as they walked down the steps, each one of them was given a golden sceptre. It seemed to me they were given authority in their minds and authority in their hands.

And as they walked away from the throne, row upon row, the bright white clothes seemed to fade and their earthly clothes appeared, but now they had a light that seemed like an aura around their whole bodies.

The crowns of gold faded but now they had a light of God’s glory around their heads and on their faces. The sceptres of gold changed to become the crooks that shepherds used to guide the sheep. Then I knew these people had been made shepherds by entering into the heart of Our Father. And their new authority was a wisdom given to them to have a shepherd’s heart to guide and guard the sheep with a new heart and a new authority. It was a new authority of wisdom from the mind of Christ and of love from the heart of Father, which they received as they came to the throne.

They had received new hearts from the Great shepherd. They had been drawn by Holy Spirit’s power to come to the throne, and He had used this to make them shepherds to the people of God after His own heart and His own mind.

A New Weight of Glory.

Then I was reminded of a clear impression I had as we had been closing the meeting in prayer at the Prophetic Forum on 28^th January. My hands had been held open, palms upwards, and I felt the anointing on my hands and felt the weight of glory.

Then Holy Spirit reminded me of that night in the upper room which John writes about in John 13:3 “And Jesus, knowing that the Father had put all things into His hands, and that He had come from God, and that He was going to God, after supper He stood and took off His garment, took a towel and tied it around himself,” and He began to wash the disciples’ feet.

We can seriously take hold of this responsibility of the new anointing, follow Our Lord’s example and begin to serve one another and serve the body of Christ with Love and Wisdom, because we have been touched with Our Father’s heart for His people.

2012 A Year for New Authority

When Timothy was first sent to Ephesus the Church was about 40,000 in number and under his ministry it soon grew to 70,000. (Church history researched by Dr Rick Renner.) Paul had commissioned him to “do the work of an evangelist.” Timothy had been sent into ministry with the laying on of hands, with prophecy that imparted spiritual gifting. Later, Paul wrote to him to “stir up the gift that is in you.” And so Timothy fulfilled his calling with authority on a different level.


When Peter first stood up on the day of Pentecost to explain Holy Spirit’s outpouring with tongues and fire, he brought relevance to Joel’s prophecy by revelation of its meaning and application. He stood and spoke with the authority of his appointment by Our Lord Jesus. On the Galilee beach Jesus’ words commissioned him to lead the flock of new Christians with fatherly and apostolic authority, which first was shown on that day of Pentecost. Peter’s primary gift was to be an evangelist to reach new souls for Christ, but he stood in an apostolic pastor’s role, unlikely as he was for that role before his baptism in the Spirit.


When Barnabus and Saul worked as part of the leadership at Antioch as recorded in Acts 11, they were working in their roles as prophets and/or teachers. As the season in the church changed and the leadership team became mature, Holy Spirit sent these two out by prophecy and they became apostles. Saul’s name changes to Paul and he emerges as the new leader with a new authority. Paul’s writings reveal that he was both a prophet and teacher in his primary gift cluster, but he operated in apostolic authority because he was sent out by the Holy Spirit and by the leadership team who stood in governmental authority in the Church at Antioch.


There is a difference between the spiritual authority brought by one’s gifting and the governmental authority by one’s commission, sphere and mandate. There is a need to receive both the spiritual authority of the gift ministries and the governmental authority of Our Lord through his appointed leaders set in the churches, and through those gift ministries they recognize with governmental authority.


What is about to emerge is the authority of apostles and prophets which will bring a new manifestation of spiritual and governmental authority in the churches at large, if they are willing to receive it. But He will surely raise up churches and groups of people as examples of His Kingdom authority and government. And since it is Our Almighty Father’s plan to “gather all things together in Christ” we can expect a new authority that will be demonstrated in many churches and groups which will be drawn into this move of Our Lord’s hand of authority.


Remember that the Messianic prophecy of Psalm 110 says that Our Lord was told by the LORD (Jehovah) to sit on the throne in heaven at His right hand until His enemies are made His footstool and, during this season, the LORD promised to send out the scepter of Messiah’s strength (authority) from Zion. (And Hebrews 12:22, 23 says we have come to Mount Zion.) In these days, Our Lord and King will send out authority from His throne through the church.


We have had messages about the need for apostolic and prophetic ministry brought to some churches and conferences over the last thirty years. Preaching about it may make us aware of the biblical truths about these ministries. What we need is revelation of truth that catches our hearts in the free-flow of ordinary life, and that lifts our expectation of the presence of Christ to manifest His authority in us so that we live on a different level – to be seated with Him in heavenly places. Remember, it is by the gift of righteousness and by abundance of grace that we can reign in life, (the Greek word is zoé, the life of the eternal God.) He wants to bring us into an experience of his authority which is dispensed from His throne.


On New Year’s Eve, 2011/2012, I received three phrases from Our Lord:


“It’s about Authority”, “It’s about Fire”, and “It’s about My Love.” I sense this is a New Authority.


After the news of the ANC's intention to invoke the spirits of the dead at their Centenary Celebrations, I now realize that 2012 is a year in which we shall see amazing changes in authority, Politically and Spiritually. 12 is the biblical number for government. 2012 is the year in which Our Lord wants His Sons and Daughters to rise up with a New Authority. 


There is a new authority which can only be released by intimacy with Our Lord. It is the authority of the Bride of Christ, who draws near and knows His heart; she hears His whispers and and so knows His mind; she feels His touch so close and feels His heartbeat for the nations. The New Authority will be powered by the Love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.


There will be a new experience of what it is to be raised up with Christ to be seated with Him in heavenly places; to know and experience the authority of the King, the blessings of the King, the honour and favour of the King, and the resources of the King, all flowing from our intimate relationship with Him.


There will be an outpouring of Holy Spirit's fire to fill us with the fervent love of Our father and of the Lamb; He must receive the reward for His sufferings. His love is stronger than death; His jealousy for our souls is stronger than the grave.


I'm glad that the issues have been raised so early in 2012.


I'm glad that our collective response is to dedicate South Africa to the Lord.


I have been praying from Fish Hoek that the South Peninsula should be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. I have also prayed the Psalmist's and Zechariah's prophecy that "His dominion shall be from coast to coast, and from the Silvermine River, to the ends of the earth." In later years I have prayed, "Lord, let His dominion be from False Bay Coast to Table Bay coast and from the Salt River to the end of the Peninsula."


I believe that now is the time to pray, "Lord, let your dominion be from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Limpopo River to the ends of the earth!" This is a true promise, and we can expect it to come to pass over South Africa as He has spoken it through the prophets of old.
Let His Holy Spirit fire and love be upon us as we pour out His fervent love for the lost; in prayer, in mercy for the deluded who have missed the significance of these issues, and in good works throughout the nation.


May the beauty of the Lord Our God be upon us, and may He establish the work of our hands. (Ps 90:17)


Let Our Lord's words be spoken of us again as He said through Ezekiel: 


"Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendour (comeliness, attractiveness)  which I had bestowed upon you," says the Lord God. (Ezek 16:14)


May we succeed in our endeavours for revival in our nation.


Check out: Wayde Taylor: End-time Baptism of holy Spirit Fire

Developing Our Prophetic Lifestyle - A Letter to Friends

I recently wrote to some dear friends with whom we have started to walk through transition into new experiences in prophetic dimensions. Here is a (slightly edited) copy of the letter:

Hi beloved Friends,

I could not sleep this morning but awoke early with Holy Spirit bringing you to my mind for prayer.

I have heard something of your hearts during these meetings. The times together have been more exploratory and informative than formative. We are gathering with a motivation to press in together and it is working – building an understanding of one another and what is each one’s heart. My view is that the way is being cleared for our relationships to become strong and open and encouraging, to build one another up, and to find new ways of expression of the Christ-life within us.

I have some ideas that may be helpful in taking us further in our quest.

Firstly, the Holy Spirit is the one who will unlock the gift within each of us to add to the common life-expression of Christ amongst us. We each have a personal impression of who Christ is to us and who we are in Him. As we interact there is a growing appreciation of the diversity and richness of His life amongst us. This is paramount to our growth and fruitfulness –His life in us is the source and the object of Holy Spirit’s work and of our personal destiny.

The source of Holy Spirit’s work in each of us opens up progressively more with a growing revelation of Jesus Christ – He is the prototype of our life in the Spirit. Abba Father reveals His Son to us more and more as we seek Him and we are changed from one level of glory to another as we have a growing understanding of the Christ-life that is in Jesus –the Son of Man. Peter calls it the “divine nature”. Paul calls it the “Hope of Glory”. John calls it the “Light of Life”. Abba Father calls it “My Spirit” through Joel and Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah. I think that is why Paul writes that he will lay everything aside for the knowledge of Christ – “that I may know HIM, and the power of His resurrection life, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to His death.” 

So for me, the first object of discipleship is that we should help disciples  to have a growing impression of Christ being revealed personally TO them, then IN them, and then THROUGH them. Eventually, we want them to be personally discipled TO Jesus as their personal Shepherd, Lord and King. Our role is then ended as their discipler, and our relationship becomes one of friend-for-life  and co-worker in Christ.

Secondly, I feel that there is a need to emphasise the release of the Holy Spirit through each person – not uniformly nor as a stereotype, but as diverse expressions of the variegated colourful emphasis of the unique gifting and style that each personality brings when Holy Spirit is working.

I do not wish to change the pattern of our meetings with open discussion and heart-sharing that we are beginning to see. But I think it is important to spend time finding what Holy Spirit is wanting to do with us. He is to be Lord in the times we spend together. That will bring the release into new things and into the different stages of development. For this I believe that, if we could move into a season of praying (i) for one another while we are apart, and (ii) for the mind of the Spirit to be expressed when we meet, we may experience times that are orchestrated by Holy Spirit and He will surprise us by unlocking and releasing secrets that will be life-changing in our growth path into more of the fullness of Christ.

I do not suggest that we simply fall back into a habit of prophesying over one another every week. But that we learn to let Holy Spirit lead dominantly in some of our sessions, and that we learn to co-work with Him. It would be helpful after we have heard an encouraging talk from anyone, if we could take time to ask Holy Spirit in prayer what He wants to emphasise for us to do with the word.

Please do not think I devalue what we have been doing. We are in a progressive relationship that is taking us higher and deeper and further in the Spirit.

Thirdly, if we are to find the object of being a “Prophetic people” I believe that there are more things to be discovered that will both nurture and adjust our pre-conceived ideas of what it is to be prophetic. One aspect I am concerned about nowadays is how to develop an effective prayer life – individually and corporately – for there are realms of undiscovered blessing waiting simply for our people to learn that the currency of the Kingdom of God is – “ask, and you shall receive.”

There are experiences in intercession that can only be had in a corporate group – praying in the Spirit –travailing and entering the wrestling in the spirit until things are broken and released; and the travail of the spirit, until things are birthed and God’s promises are fulfilled; and prevailing in prayer until mountains are moved.

My view is Prophetic people are to be equipped to be pathfinders in the spirit for others, to be providers by releasing the Words of Promise, to be protectors as intercessors standing in the gap for others, to be prophesy-ers of destiny and vision and hope, to be watchmen on the walls in the spirit, to be releasers of praise that lifts the heaviness, to be forth-tellers of God’s present-truth Word and foretellers of His Promises and purposes for His Church, for communities, cities and nations. We need to find ways (protocols in the spirit) to enter God’s throne room in praise and worship, in prayer and intercession, until we receive the decrees from the throne and return with the commands of the King. This will change things on earth. And you all have potential to experience and release these things for others.

I hope you will see these words as an encouragement for possibilities in God that lie ahead for us, and I pray that we should be able to discover much more than I have seen and tried to write in part here.

With Love and Faith for you in Christ,

Tony

Marriage is really good when blessed by God

Dawn and I have been married for forty two years, Yes, 42 years! She says I need a medal, I say I just need more of her! We have been blessed in our love for each other because it has grown stronger through the years.
The joy of good times has unlocked the treasure within each of us. I love Dawn's smile and the light in her eyes as she talks to people, and jokes at times. I love her enthusiasm with people, and her little laugh when she explains what happened with our Grandkids or with friends. I often say when you meet Dawn you'll hear her before you see her, and when you see her you'll never forget her. She is so young at heart she has kept us both young. I think that's why most of our close friends are much younger than we are.
The stress of traumatic events brought us closer. I remember the time I carried her out of the door in the middle of the night, feint from loss of blood from a blighted pregnancy. I remember going to the blood bank before it opened, waiting to get five pints of blood to save her life. I remember our joy at the birth of each one of our precious sons. It far surpassed the eight years of struggle with five miscarriages, praying for Our Lord to give us children, and holding on until He did.
I remember when we lost everything after moving to Cape Town, how we walked the dog through Lourensford Park, collecting pine cones to use as fire-starters. How one night we found a building site where they had cut up the branches of trees and laid them aside for us to take for firewood when we had no money to buy any. I remember how I couldn't get a cell-phone contract because of our financial record then, and I couldn't get finance for a car when an accident wrote off our only car. So I walked and borrowed vehicles for six weeks, trying to keep the business going, until we bought another car for R26000 cash, and borrowed R12000 from a personal friend to make that payment! I remember how Dawn used to walk from our house down to Checkers at the other end of Fish Hoek Main Road for groceries, and carried the bags all the way back, in the winter time. I remember how, a few years later, Dawn suffered such severe depression that one day she couldn't make up her mind whether to have coffee or decaff!
And through all of this, we were able to say, "Well, we still have each other. And we have the Lord in our lives!"

I remember how Our Lord supernaturally helped us to start TCA Engineers in our home, and how He helped us build it up to have 15 people working in it. And when we were able to sell the business into PDNA, we sang that Psalm "When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dreamed! Then our heart was filled with laughter, and our mouth with singing!"

And now that Our Lord is restoring our fulfilment in serving His Church in an expanding way again, we are so happy that we have a lasting love that has kept us together in Christ, and that we can be a testimony to His grace. Our love has been rewarded with wonderful relationships with our sons and their amazing wives, everyone, Brett & Jane, Vaughan & Marian, Craig & Edwina, for whom we have deep gratitude to our Lord. We have awesome Grandkids, and we delight in each one of them; Daniel, Caleb, Cayla, Jude, Jonathan, Zoe, Senna and Erin.
Thank You Lord, that we are part of Your vision to fill the earth with Godly Families.

And it all started with a special love that He put in our hearts in marriage, so we give Him thanks, as Tony & Dawn, still in love with Him and with each other, after forty two years.

Times of Intimacy with Our Lord

Intimacy in worship lifts our souls to be in line with the flow of the Spirit from within us, reaching upwards to the Throne to bless Our Father and Our Saviour.
Our Spirit is one with the Lord since we were born again, but often the affairs of life will draw our emotions and our will away from the heart of Our Father, and our mind away from the Mind of Christ. Worship helps us as we focus our attention on Jesus to express our gratitude and love to Him. It aligns our mind to be thinking of Him with deep affection. In worship we have chosen, by using our will, to say within ourselves "I want to worship You Lord, with all of my heart, and with all of my mind!" And soon our emotions get aligned to that focus of our will and of our mind. That is what Paul meant when he said " We all.... beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord..." It happens when we worship Him anywhere, especially when our heart and mind are aligned, or get tuned in, to worship Him.
Intimacy in worship links our spirit to the heart of Our Father and to the mind of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and there is a transformation that takes place, every time we worship like that (in spirit and in truth), we are "changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord." Worship makes us a little more like the One we love, time after time.

Intimacy in intercession lifts us up to the throne to sit together with Our King Jesus, to share in His ministry of intercession for the saints. We go into the throne room humbly, on our knees, in petition. But when we sit with Him we gain faith and know His mind so we can decree things that He has shown us. Then we come out standing strong in authority.

There is a new authority for those who draw near like this. They hear his voice and so know his mind. They feel His heart beat, and are filled with His compassion for others. They have entered the Presence, and will leave changed, and made able to repeat the royal decrees of the King in a world out of order.

Intimacy can also be enjoyed through meditation of the scriptures. In times like this His Word is opened up to us and our spirit, which is joined to the Lord, rejoices in the truth. Then His Word becomes flesh in us as He feeds us with its wisdom and truth. Through it we receive revelations of Who Jesus really is, and what He has done for us, and what He is doing in us - now. Our experience of Him is expanded as our revelation of more of Him overwhelms our previous limitations. We didn't know He could be so near to us! We did not know His Word could change us so much! We know things abut Him that we did not know before. And because of that we could not believe Him to be what we now KNOW Him to be. And that encounter with Him, through His Word changes us into people of faith in the Living Christ, Who has become all we need, and all we want, through intimacy.

Company of the Prophets - a Word received by Nick Groves

Nick is an amazing worship leader and has a heart after God. 

I found this prophetic word to be significant in its timing, so here it is:

“Company of the Prophets”:

I felt the Lord drop into my mind very sharply this phrase- “The company of the prophets” (strangely enough, it was while Beks and I were hanging around in a mall!).

It led me to the story of Saul:1 Samuel 10 ¹ Then Samuel took a bottle of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying.....”When you leave me today, you will ...(skip to v5).. meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, timbrels, pipes and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. ⁶ The Spirit of the LORD will come on you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.”

¹⁰ When he and his servant arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came on him in power, and he joined in their prophesying.

 ¹¹ When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, “What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

This leads to a few main points:

·         There is always a connection and flow from an outpouring of The Spirit to the prophetic. 

Isn't it interesting in church life that the watermark of The Spirit is often attributed with prophetic activity?                                                  There’s a real sense in this story that the prophets were carrying the atmosphere of Heaven with them, because of the anointing that filled them as a company(which seems to be initiated with music!).

·         Saul then came into this atmosphere and began to prophesy as if he is one of them! 

The Holy Spirit  (described in Ephesians1:17 as “The Spirit of wisdom and revelation”) released the same revelation and wisdom to Saul, and simply because he happened to be in the same space as the group of prophets!

·         He was changed into a different person. I really feel that the prophetic group will cause people to get aligned with heavenly perspective – the mind of the flesh is at war with the mind of The Spirit, and I believe that the presence of the company of Prophets will initiate by The Spirit a new mind in the life of the church as a whole- a mind set on heavens reality, causing change in people’s lives.

So to sum up, I feel that the presence of a company of prophets will preserve the word of God in the church because:

1.       Their presence will cause others to prophesy like them – people in the church will learn how to prophesy in a spiritually mature way

2.       They will carry an anointing that will affect the atmosphere, and will assist times of worship to become times of encounters

3.       The result will be transformation in the church- a greater awareness of heaven's perspective.

Blessings

Nick

The Cross, the Throne and the Door

The cross is the one meeting place that Our God has made on earth for the salvation of mankind. There were many crosses in those days when thousands were executed by the Romans. But there was only one cross, only one sacrifice for the sins of man; only one cross, only one man who could save us, only one Christ crucified for us. He was the perfect man, the only one with the nature of God in Him, the One with the Spirit of the Father in Him, the One with the Spirit of God upon Him. He was the perfect sacrifice - a ransom given for mankind, to pay the price for all man's sins; to pay the price for all men to be saved and healed. He died so that they all could live with eternal life! 


The throne is the one meeting place in heaven where the King of Kings reigns. There is one throne; there is one King; there is  only one who was raised from the dead to be exalted to the highest place of authority; only One - the Lord Jesus Christ. Only He has passed from earth to heaven to make a way for us to be seated together with Him.


There has been preaching and revelation which has opened the window for us to see through into the kingdom realm. But now there is a door that is opened to let us enter the kingdom and to live in the realm of the kingdom. Jesus is standing beside the window and He says "I am the door. if any man enters by me, he shall be saved!" Jesus is the way, the truth and the life; He is the forerunner, He is the first born from the dead, and we are recreated in His likeness, born again by the holy Spirit implanting the Spirit of Christ in us! His life is given to us! The life of God the Father; the life of the God the Son has been given for us, and to us!


We have been born again to live in the realm of the kingdom, to live in the heavenly realms. The famine of the Word is over. The drought of the rain from heaven is over. The revival has begun. The Word of the Lord will be released from the throne in these days to give life to people, to open the way to live in this life, to live in Christ with Christ in us. 


The time has come for us go through the door into a new and fresh sense of His Spirit. There is a new power of the kingdom for those who will go through the door and make their way to the throne. There is a new dimension to live in; to live in Christ with Christ in us! To have an integrated life - naturally spiritual and spiritually natural.