Trust Me

For quite some time, everywhere I looked I would see the number 11:11. I saw "ones" everywhere. They would appear on clocks, timetables, radios, photographs, receipts, and hotel room doors. I would glance at the clock on my phone only once or twice a day, and if the time wasn’t 11:11, it would be 1:11 or 11:01. It could have been a coincidence, but somehow I knew that it wasn’t.

Whenever I asked God what it meant, I would only get a smile in return. I happened to be in one of the most difficult seasons of my life, and every time I saw 11:11, it reminded me that He was here with me, and that was all I needed. Sometimes seeing the number would make me laugh out loud; sometimes it would make me cry. It never failed, however, to move my heart and bring my focus back to the reality that God is good and His promises are true for my life.

One day during this time, I walked into the bathroom at my parent’s home in Southern England. Some poor, unsuspecting male in the family had left the toilet seat up. I was livid. So furious, in fact, that even in my state of blind rage I could see that my anger was vastly out of proportion to the situation at hand.

I immediately looked heavenward and asked Papa what was going on. Why was I so angry? The answer came back: “Because you ARE angry.”

As I heard His words, I had the startling realization that I had been feeling constantly angry for a long time. I asked Him why and His answer stunned me. “You are angry with me, because your life hasn’t worked out the way you thought it would.” I was incredulous. After all, wasn’t He my closest friend and constant support through this dark season? Yet, at the same time, I knew it was true. I was undone. The toilet seat was not the object of my pain; my loss of trust in God was.

Sarah in Genesis has long been my hero, so when I finally found my 11:11 in the book of Hebrews, I was captured by the simplicity and power found in this statement about faith:
"For [Sarah] considered Him faithful who had promised."

Faithfulness is the source of faith. A promise has only as much value as the person making it. In evaluating his words to us, we are actually judging whether or not we believe that God is trustworthy. Faith is not spelt R-I-S-K. It is spelt T-R-U-S-T. Unless, of course, you consider God to be a risky bet.

Every promise and dream for your life is anchored in the level of trust you have in God. "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." It is our knowledge of His faithfulness that gives us assurance of the promises He has made. This is faith: judging Him faithful who has promised.

If we do not have faith in Him, our belief in His promises are based on what we can currently see happening around us. This, as I experienced, often results in our feeling as though the carpet has been pulled out from under our feet. Faith is essential because in the day when you cannot see the promises for your life, your trust in Him has to be your guarantee. We must have ‘the conviction of things unseen.’

When trust is real in your heart, hope is never deferred. Your hope for the promises He has spoken to you is secured in who He is, not your circumstances. This is faith. We can have confidence in a promise before we see it become a reality, because the one who has made the promise is the ultimate assurance.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a promise realised is the tree of life.
It is not the absence of fulfilled promises that ‘makes the heart sick,’ but when hope itself is deferred. It is easy to be hope-full continually when you trust the one that promises good things. We realise His promises are assured and it is our tree of life.

life

Sweet Alabama

I had the awesome privilege to travel to Alabama with some giants in the Kingdom this week. It was amazing.

Hundreds got healed and I got to participate in a bunch :) Thank you for praying - it was a great trip and I grew a lot - thank you!!

Releasing the rhema word
Two nights in a row i gave a word of knowledge from the front, but when the people responded they found they were already healed as the word was released - they didn't even give me a chance to pray for them!! ha ha! I love it!!

The first was a young man from Atlanta with 3 broken lumber vertebrae who had a metel rod in his back holding it rigid. He was not only completely healed on the spot, but also had full mobility - it will be interesting to hear what happened to that rod!

The 2nd were a group of people with a specific fracture in the base of their toe(s). Several of these were healed when the word was released. Bill Johnson (who was leading the trip) sensed this and paused to ask them before we continued. They tested it out and several were healed already!

At school we are taught to take notice of coincidences because they are oftentimes the language of the spirit. I had never seen people healed just by me releasing a word of knowledge and then I had two in a row. I'm taking note and learning that what we say and release has creative power!

Hip Restored

I also prayed for a pastor who was scheduled for a right hip replacement within two weeks. She  had no cartilage and her hip was bone on bone (very painful!!). We prayed and then asked her to test it out by doing things she couldn't do before. First she put on her sock, then she walked, then she ran and then she ran up and down stairs!! We eventually told her she could stop, but she cried saying "No!! I get to do this now!!" This was a really encouraging miracle for me as it's something I'm contending for with a family member. Since there is creative power in telling the testimony - maybe this will be the day!!

Ovarian Cysts Dissolved

I had the privilege of praying for a young woman who had ovarian cysts on her left side. One cyst was so big that she could feel it with her hand and it was extremely painful. As we prayed she felt it dissolve and could no longer feel it with her fingers or feel any pain!! God is so cool!! She is going to get the medical results this week :)


New Website and Itinerary

Bill has a new website - it's awesomely interactive!! It was created to resource people hungry for the Kingdom. Please go and check it out at http://www.bjm.org Our trip is blogged on there :) Bill is also coming to your area of the world: if you want to access more of the Kingdom, I really recommend you go. My life has never been the same since I heard him teach:

Feb 2 - 4
New Wine Cymru - On Earth as it is in Heaven
City Temple
Cardiff, Wales
www.flamesoffire.co.uk/news_and_events/bill_johnson.php
April 22 - 25
United Kingdom Healing School with Randy Clark
Southampton, United Kingdom
www.globalawakening.com

April 28 - 30
New Wine Stockholm
Stockholm, Sweden
new-wine.org/countries/Sweden.htm

Blessings!
Sarah XX

The days preceding a new year are a time to dream.

Every year, well all year actually, I set up new rules for myself and new demands for my time and character. Setting goals is good. Setting rules is not. Somehow rules kill you whereas goals bring life.

For a rule-setter, goal-getter type like myself, New Years Resolutions used to provide an excellent opportunity to set even more self-imposed laws, which I endeavoured to keep, but more often missed.

Years ago I regularly watched the kids for the pastors of a rural church in England. They had a rule for their kids: ‘No New Years Resolutions’. A rule that banned rules; Interesting.

Perturbed at the prospect of a missed rule-setting-opportunity, I enquired about why such a decision. The answer surprised me. ‘Laws set people up to fail’ the pastor’s wife explained. They don’t come with the grace to carry them out, just pressure and disappointment. So the kids were banned from setting new years rules. What was also true of this family was that they were highly disciplined, highly creative and highly relational. Lack of laws didn’t equate lack of achievement; rather it gave space for it. Relationship and encouragement accomplished what rules couldn’t.

Grace like this is a funny substance. It is freedom. Freedom to not be controlled by rules. It is rest. The rest to never strive. It is passion. Passion that drives you further. It is power. The power to achieve all things. It is both a letting go and a reaching higher.

I have been learning the joys of living in graceland. It’s a somewhat magical place, where love not law is the law of the land. Easy you may think? But when you have found the ability to reach for the stars you have a new-found responsibility to pluck them out of the sky. The sky is no limit in graceland. To who much is given, much is required. But these requirements are not like the demands of law set before, these requirements are to dream bigger and go further. Because, as the laws fade, so do the natural laws. Nothing is impossible in graceland. Therefore, dream bigger, love deeper, forgive greater and go further than you ever thought possible.

Vision gives pain a purpose. If your New Years Resolution is to loose weight because you had one to many minced pies this Christmas, your focus is on your failure to keep in shape. When the pain of working out happens, all you can see is your out-of-shape (and now sweaty, out-of-breath) body staring back at you in the mirror. If instead you dream of being fit, in-shape and healthy enough to run into old age. Then you have a vision that is unperturbed by pain. The pain is just a sign of a step in the right direction, rather than proof that you really are out-of-shape. Lack of vision is subtle, but a proven deal breaker in the New Years Resolution stakes. Instead you can dream into being the person you want to be.

So tired of laws that lead to failure? Start to dream and dream bigger. If you can achieve your dream, then it is too small. The glory of the young is that they are too inexperienced to know that their dreams are impossible, so they do them anyway. Realise that nothing is impossible. Write down your dreams and don’t put them off until tomorrow. I have dreams and visions for my life that I’ve written down in a list. It is pinned to my bathroom wall and everyday I remind my day about my dreams. Speak to your day and speak to your self. It’s not a sign of madness, but of greatness to declare your destiny.

Dream big. This is not the season to devise new laws or resolutions. It’s the season to dream new dreams. What does 2009 look like in your dreams? What is your life dream and how will 2009 be a part of that? If you want to stop human trafficking how will your dreams for yourself in 2009 support your life dream? What were the dreams that you traded in as a child for laws and impossibility? Bring them out of the closet again. Fulfilled all your dreams? Then you need to dream again and dream bigger, further and always with a level of impossibility.

There always has to be some impossible situation in your hand. Otherwise how will there ever be miracles?

Stories of Jesus

Friends and Countrymen!

As we go after the King and His Kingdom together I wanted to send each of you my love for this Christmas and New Year! I am excited by the day we live in and the joy that is ours. God is so good!! Have a ton of fun over the holidays and an awesome 2009! The mince pies are made, the brandy butter is chillin and I'm excited!

Something else to get happy about...

Miracles

This week I got the opportunity to pray for a young woman who had arthritis in her wrist and hand. Now arthritis often feels to me like it comes with fear attached and I get angry. There was something there that my spirit reacted against. I felt that there was a spirit attached with this one, not that the woman had done anything wrong, but her body was under attack.

I prayed for a short time just simply binding the arthritis and releasing strength and healing. I asked her to test it out and she did! Big time! All the pain had gone! We praised Jesus big time too! She was so stoked and shocked, as it was something she had been contending for for a long time.

Yey Jesus is the King!!

I am going on a trip to Alabama with Bill and his team on the 2nd January. Please pray for our travels and that God would have His way there. Expect some stories! Remember that we all share in the inheritance of each-others encounters with God, because the 'testimony (stories) of Jesus, IS the Spirit of prophecy'. In other-words, testimonies release the prophetic power to do it again! Sounds good :)

Merry Christmas!

Much love!

Sarah

heal, elbow, cancer

Yesterday I went to my seat in-between Sunday morning services. The lady in the row behind me looked quizzically at me and asked me where I was from, not my name. I told her and she got very excited. She said ‘I thought it was you! I’ve been looking for you since September!’. I guess the Englishness is my defining feature!

Heal Healed
She went on to tell me how I had prayed for her heal one Sunday morning in late September. I remembered her and remembered how the presence of God had been so strong and sweet while we prayed. She told me that though she could feel things happening inside her foot, the pain had not left when I prayed that day, when she woke up the next day it was completely gone and hadn’t returned since then. She had had excruciating shooting pain in her heal for one and a half years up until then. We were both very happy!!! She was so moved by Jesus healing her – it was so special. It reminded me that when we pray we should never be discouraged if we don’t see it happen before our eyes, because we’ve prayed – something has to happen!!! Even if it’s that night while they sleep.

Elbow Healed
So then she told me that her left elbow was in a lot of pain too. She couldn’t lift a cup of coffee with it because it hurt too much. She wanted me to pray for it right then and there and I was more than happy to. I prayed and the pain lessened so much that when she tested by pushing strongly against my hand it didn’t hurt at all! She moved it around and there was still a slight twinge so we prayed again. Struck by the power and passion of God she received her healing right then with tears rolling down her cheeks. I was overcome by the sweetness of God.

Miracles never get old for me. Each time I am struck by the love and power of our God who cares so much about our lives. It’s such a privilege to pray ‘Your Kingdom come!’ and watch what happens. I love Him!


Cancer Healed
It’s so important to pray. I realise over and over how much we carry the key to heaven in our hands. The other day a classmate of mine found his colleague upset at work. He had previously released the presence of God on this guy, a non-Christian. It had been an amazing experience for the guy who had felt electricity running into him during the encounter at the store where they both work. So when my classmate asked him what was wrong he was really open and said that his grandmother had been diagnosed with serious cancer. He was devastated by the prognosis that she had only weeks to live. My classmate was deeply moved with compassion and so asked if he could pray. His colleague jumped at the chance, so right there outside the door of the shop they prayed – releasing life into the lady’s body. Within a week the doctors report came back that the grandmother was completely clear of cancer after no treatment. The doctors were astonished. We were very happy. It was a sweet moment when he told us the news in class during testimony time. We all leapt to our feet, shouting and cheering – this is what we live for!