This Blog has moved to www.nigelmyfireplace.wordpress.com

Hi All,
I moved my blog to word press it has some features that I enjoy, in particular it is easier for you to post comments and for me to track hits. So keep following, I exported the old blogs so you can find them all there. Go to www.nigelmyfireplace.wordpress.com
Thanks,
Nigel

Strategy and tactics

Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is simply the noise before defeat. -Sun Tzu

I am currently reading "The Rhodesian War-A military history" a book which has become a classic study in many military colleges around the world. I grew up in Rhodesia and lived through the transition to Zimbabwe. In my younger years I swallowed hook line and sinker the propaganda of the Smith regime that the the brave "security forces" were defeating the "terrs" on every front so that when the war suddenly ended with a victory for the guerrilla armies my 11 year old mind could hardly believe this sudden reversal had happened. It appeared that the Rhodesian government had achieved the impossible, they had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. I grew older and as Zimbabwe emerged from the isolation that had been Rhodesia I read a little wider and began to hear the other side of the war story but having been thoroughly fooled once I was not too interested in swallowing the new government's propaganda. As they say there are always three sides to every story my side, your side and then there's the truth. Today, even though the war ended almost three decades ago the memories of the war, the wounds it left in the national psyche, and the debates surrounding it are as fresh as ever due to the spectacle of Zimbabwe's national suicide as the new government appears determined to destroy the very freedoms it once paid in blood to achieve. So I picked up this book to try, belatedly, to get some sense of what really happened. It took me back to a time when everyone seemed to be in uniform, when I believed whole heartedly that it was possible to stand alone against the whole world and win. Like many white Zimbabweans scattered around the globe as I read I cannot help but feel admiration for the bravery, fortitude and ability of the Rhodesian forces whilst simultaneously feel ashamed that we ever fought at all, the knowledge that even if the Mugabe regime has fulfilled the darkest prophesies of UDI, Rhodesia was fundamentally unjust and that we were fighting for the wrong side.

The study illustrates perfectly the quote above from Sun Tzu in the "Art of War". These quotes particularly caught my attention.

" The armed forces of Rhodesia won virtually every battle and skirmish they fought against the guerrilla armies, yet they lost the war."

"The story of the Rhodesian armed forces during the civil war is one of tactical brilliance and strategic ineptitude"

With hindsight some of Rhodesia's strategic blunders are clear; amongst the one's that strike me are.

They defended the indefensible

It could be argued that part of the difference between tactics and strategy is that the former deals with how we fight whilst the latter concerns why we are fighting. As the war dragged on the Rhodesian strategic position on the ground grew steadily worse and as the nations around changed from friends to enemies the Rhodesians found themselves defending ever larger borders with ever shrinking resources and manpower. No matter how well they fought or how bravely, as the years wore on the task became more and more difficult. They were winning all their battles but strategically they lost the war. The longer the war carried on the more enemies they made and the more friends they lost. However, more significant than the war on the ground was the war in the mind. Rhodesians were fighting for a cause that could not be morally defended. Although much was said about fighting to preserve christian civilization against godless communism and the errors and disasters of the rest of Africa's failed states when everything was said and done Rhodesians were fighting to preserve a privileged way of life for a minority at the expense of the majority and as a result the weight of world opinion was always going to be against them and the more they killed their enemies the more enemies they made, and the fewer friends they found until even aparteid South Africa the last state that had stood with them could no longer stand against the tide of world opinion. Their rationale for fighting became, like their borders, ever more porous and stretched.

They allowed themselves to become isolated.

As romantic and brave as it sounds standing alone is a poor strategic decision. It was the undoing of Rhodesia. As the dominos fell around them and they grew increasingly isolated from world opinion many average Rhodesians lost touch with reality and any sense of the flow of history. We honestly believed Smith when he declared "Never in a thousand years" and failed to notice that the tide was turning against them they defied the winds of change but such defiance can only last so long without some strategy to make long term survival possible. Despite the fact that on the ground they won battle after battle and were tactically superior to their opponents in almost every respect the guerrillas only had to keep stretching them and wearing them down knowing that in the end without outside assistance they could only keep up the battle for so long. The fact that they held out for so long was remarkable, but in the end when even South Africa support fell away they no longer had the will nor the wherewithal to fight on.

They underestimated their enemies.

The Rhodesians own racism blinded them to the strength of their enemies stategy and position. Their tactical victories on the ground further gave them the impression that they were winning a war in which they were steadily losing ground. Towards the end of the war the government had given up holding territory and rather had taken to counting kill ratio's to bolster moral and to fuel the idea that they were winning the war. What had started as a war to hold territory became a war of attrition as if the government didn't like the score and so it just changed the way they kept score instead of playing the game differently. When you are a small minority a war of attrition can hardly be called a brilliant strategy. The guerrillas on the other hand had studied the works of Marx and Mao and understood that a long war was in their favour, that numbers and opinion was on their side and so they just kept on fighting, running, hiding, and fighting again.

I can't help wondering if the present government of Zimbabwe ever look back to draw lessons from their own revolutionary history. They increasingly repeat the strategic blunders of the Smith regime. Whilst they spout words purporting to be defending the revolution current policy appears to be far more dedicated to entrenching the power and privilege of a few at the expense of the many. The oppression of the masses, the testimony of the diaspora, and the disintegration of Zimbabwe's once thriving economy give the lie to all Harare's defensive rhetoric. They are defending the indefensible and justice will one day have to be satisfied.Once again the government of this small central African country finds itself increasingly isolated from the world even if on the ground it seems to be stronger than ever as time goes by even they lose support from erstwhile comrades and a once sympathetic world. The same clock that was ticking in government house in Salisbury in the late 70's ticks in government house for Mugabe now.

What do I get out of this for my own life? If I am going to live and die for something, live for just and noble causes. Selfishness and narrow self interest is a poor strategic life decision. As we seek to extend God's kingdom and spread revival and bring reformation to the nations we will face many hardships, trials reverses and defeats along the way but if we can keep in our minds a clear picture of the the righteousness peace and joy of the Kingdom we will have the legs to carry our struggle to victory.

Don't become isolated. We all need true friends around us, and if there is no-one with us we may need to stop and re assess our position, and realise that an isolated man is a tempting target. Many Christians and most churches tend to battle along alone, fighting private wars, winning and losing on our own. Isolation makes us weak and vulnerable to being out maneuvered by our enemy. This current revival is a revival of the body of christ, it is about all christians, and all churches. When we come together in the cause of Christ we will change the course of world history.

Finally don't under estimate your enemy, he has been fighting this war for millennia. Don't get obsessed with him or impressed with him but don't underestimate him. However be impressed with God. He is the greatest strategist of all.

Well, this has rambled on long enough. Post a comment or leave your thoughts for me via my facebook page.

Clichés of Christmas Past!

Clichés are like Christmas decorations, we all have our favourites, and like Christmas decorations we keep them for years, tucked away in some dusty place and bring them out at particular times of the year. Like the angel which leans drunkenly at the top of the tree minus it's halo, with one wing broken and bent they often grow more and more tattered and worn but we keep them and bring them out every year because frankly Christmas wouldn't seem the same without them and perhaps they are a reminder of past Christmases when they were newer and brighter. There are the general clichés like "Christmas is so commercialized" did you have that conversation yet, no? Well quickly dash out and get it over and then we Christians have our own clichés like "Jesus-the reason for the season!" and "Wise men still seek him!" we emblazon our churches, cars and cards with those slogans in the hope that the unchurched everywhere will flock to the altars on hearing these pithy pieces of wisdom. :)

Well, here is my favourite Christmas cliché, "Christmas is about being with the Kids!". Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending almost the whole day with my kids. We got up early and went to the mall to do some window shopping because despite the fact that I enjoy window shopping marginally more than root canal treatment Jessica my 12 year old loves it and I love her. Then at around 10 we all went to watch "Astroboy!" a movie that is unlikely to be remembered long in the Desmond hall of fame because my son Dan loves stories and movies are the best sort of story. In the afternoon I had a "Princess Party" at the Zoo with Jemima my 4 year old who rules my heart with one flick of her golden curls and a flash of her delightful smile. It was a wonderful day and it is what I am enjoying the most about this Christmas-the slower pace allows me to be with these beautiful little people. As I prepared for church in the evening I read again the story of the kid, the child that was given to us from heaven and it struck me forcibly that Christmas has always been about "the kids." At the heart of Christmas is a child, Jesus. Every year at this time we see countless images of Jesus the child asleep in a manger, star overhead with wise men and shepherds gazing adoringly on and if we are not careful we can look but no longer see the incredible truth. He is "Immanuel-God with us" Christmas is about the ultimate gift - the presence of God with us. Imagine Mary's wonder as she looked down into the eyes of the child God gave her on that first Christmas, she held in her arms the manifested presence of God!

Despite the fact that his birth was promised in prophesy, announced by angels, awaited by the religious elites of the day when it happened it came in a shockingly mundane fashion. A child was born to a teen aged girl in a small rural backwater in a conquered nation. The pregnancy was controvesial and for some suspisious the birth was humble and hidden this was hardly an inspiring start for the life which would change all of human history. It was so ordinary in some ways that if you were not paying attention you could have missed the event altogether, today many of God's promises arrive in the same way. They seem small, insignificant and fragile some times they are also unexpectedly controversial but they are none the less full of promise. The revival which is even now beginning to burn in South Africa is like that, we are experiencing more and more of the manifest presence of God, it is wonderful and miraculous but like that first Christmas it is also controversial, messy and seems to be small, insignificant and fragile as if any moment the slightest gust could snuff it's life out. However, from the prophetic promises that have been given over the years it seems that the birth of this wave of God's presence is destined to change the destiny of nations. If we are faithful to care for and treasure the presence of God among us it will grow, mature and spread, to touch nations and to change the world. Don't miss what God is doing because it does not look the way you expected it to, or it comes with controversial elements, or the "experts in God" condemn it, if you stop and listen you will hear the report of heaven.

So what is Christmas all about? The Father wanted to spend time with his kids. Jesus made that possible. Ultimately Christmas reminds us not of our obligation to live a moral life or to live according the golden rule or any other principle but it is an invitation to spend time with God. On Christmas morning as you watch kids eagerly unwrap presents that you left beneath the tree enjoy the moment and remember that your Father has also set up a tree, the tree of life, and has left presence there with your name on it. Go on -open it! Delight in his kindness and generosity and as you do you may just hear the delighted laughter of Daddy enjoying being with his Kids. Have a great Christmas!

Nailing our Colours to the Mast.

Colours can define us, divide us or decide us. I grew up in a time and a nation that was defined by colours. Your colour determined your options, your status and your destiny. I also had a father who at times would wax on lyrical about Colours. Not skin colour or pigmentation but the Colours. To fully appreciate what he was speaking of you need to understand that my father was an old soldier and the last of the great Victorians, a man who was in love with an England that no longer existed, if it ever existed at all, the heroic England that from her small soggy island had once dominated the world map with Red. When he spoke of colours, it was THE colours that moved him, England's colours or the regimental colours.

He would regale me as a child with stories, and more often than not poetry, of gallant heroes who rallied to the colours and with deeds of desperate heroism and would save the day. It is little wonder then that I have to this day a love of naval stories and in many of these tales you get insight into idioms from a bygone era when navies determined the destinies of nations.

Two of these are "Nailing the colours to the Mast" and "Showing your true Colours". In naval warfare of the Napoleonic era during a battle if a captain wished to capitulate or surrender he would "strike his colours" or lower the flag of his navy or his vessel signaling his defeat. Sometimes however a determined captain would take hammer and nails and permanently fasten his colours to the mast in full view of his crew and the enemy as a sign that he would never surrender and would rather fight to the death. Dramatic stuff!

The other idiom referred to a practice of deceiving your enemy by flying false colours, perhaps of a friendly or neutral nation, in order to get close enough to engage him and then at the last moment of hauling up the vessels true colours for the battle.

We too fly a set of colours as we fight the battles of our lives and there is nothing like a little gunfire and smoke to make a man's true colours surface. Those colours may define us, determine our destiny, and limit our options. I was thinking about this late last week as we returned from a frightening scan in Port Elizabeth where the obstetrician had given us bad news and some unpleasant statistics about the unborn child that is in Debbie's womb. As I waited, praying I sensed God saying to me "Hold the course Son, hold the course" That got me thinking in Naval terms, and on reflection I decided that it was time to nail my colours to the mast.

What are those colours? That God is Good! He is a good God, he is completely good, he is good all the time and he is good to me. I am nailing those colours to the mast, no matter what! It seems to me that Satan's primary aim is to get us to capitulate from this simple truth, that every temptation to step away from faith in God and his providence is not just a call to disbelieve in his existence but to doubt the nature of his existence. As it says in Hebrews 11:6
"without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."
In Eden Satan never challenged God's existence, indeed he implicitly affirmed it, he merely questioned his motives and his goodness by implying that God was denying man something good. He questioned the nature of that existence, he questioned God's goodness. The first step away from faith is stepping away from our belef in God's goodness. Eve struck her colours when she believed that God was less than good.

Many believers today are afloat under a false set of colours, they fly the colours affirming the goodness of God but once confronted with Satanic warfare of fear, intimidation and things we do not understand we are quick to strike our colours and to fly colours of a theology that questions God's goodness or his motives. As a result our prayers are often half hearted and double minded, and consequently powerless. The time has come for a generation who will nail their colours to the mast and say "God is Good!"

Does this mean that we will never have questions again? Of course not, but if we will allow his self revelation to be greater than our questions we will find the strength to face the broadsides of life and not surrender.

How has he revealed his Colours? 2000 years ago, he literally nailed them to the mast when the red banner of the love of God flowed from the outstretched arms of Jesus giving the lie to the enemy's contention that God would hold anything good back from our lives. As Paul wrote in his blog ;) to the Romans

"What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? "

In the cross we see the goodness and love of God. Jesus, so in love with you and I, that he took on himself the sorrows, sins and sicknesses of lost and alienated humanity so that we could once again have access to all that He is and the abundance of his heavenly kingdom. The ultimate act of kindness and goodness!

He nailed his colours to the mast for you, have we nailed our colours to the mast for Him?

Fighting Fire with Fire

Revival is here, it is unstoppable! Across the city of East London, and across South Africa we have begun to hear stories of God visiting his people in a new and fresh way. It is not just in one church or stream, there is no one church that can claim a monopoly, in fact the greatest stories appear to be coming from ordinary Christians, not the famous pulpit personalities of our day. It is "The day of the Saints" and the pace is accelerating.

Almost exactly two years ago Alice, my God-daughter, lay in hospital fighting for her life. The doctors feared the worst and began to prepare her parents. They believed that at best Alice would survive disabled for life no one had ever completely recovered from this disease however they realised they were losing the battle for her life. This beautiful, vivacious fourteen year old was lying in bed, she couldn't move below her chest, she could no longer swallow more than a little water and was unconscious most of the time. The grim faces of the doctors inspired little hope.Colin-one of our leaders, Victoria-Alice's mother, and I gathered around her bed and laid hands on her praying for a miracle. As soon as we did something changed, a tangible presence filled the atmosphere, it felt like someone else had entered the room. The Score changed! I heard myself say to her mother "Alice is healed, she just needs to recover!" Only later would I realise how accurate those words were. Doctors were able to trace the course of the disease in her body and found that in the nick of time, amazingly, the virus had died right across her body. It had been searing it's way up and through her spinal column and if it had gone a little higher it would have shut down her heart, if it had burned through a little more it would have severed her spinal cord leaving her paralyzed, as it was it just suddenly died! Later her father asked the docs when it had halted. Some time on Thursday afternoon came the reply. We had prayed at 2 o'clock. Over the next few weeks and months, displaying great courage, Alice fought her way back from the brink of death. months later her father sat with one of her doctors who remarked "We call Alice our miracle child" her father replied "I know she is a miracle, but why do you say so?" "Because no one that we know of has ever recovered completely from this disease, one third of patients die, one third are severely disabled and the rest have at least partial handicaps for life. Alice is a miracle! "

To mark the anniversary of her miracle the young woman who was not supposed to walk again just completed a gruelling 18 day trip hiking, canoeing and cycling down the fish river. Not bad for a girl who was never going to walk again!
Since that first break through we have seen hundreds of healings ranging from headaches and back pain healed to deaf ears opened,legs growing out, blood diseases disappearing. Not only that but the manifest presence of God has been increasing in our services and in our "soaking" services that we had grown used to seeing the strangest things. People staggering as if drunk, a room full of people laughing, shaking, crying, rolling and even dancing as they encounter God in a tangible way. Last week one of our pastors had to be driven home after church she was so overcome by God's presence, she was literally drunk on his love. People have seen visions of angels, had gold dust appear on them, people have been saved, restored, empowered and encouraged. Across South Africa testimonies are increasing of miracles signs and wonders.

Next week we are holding our supernatural family week, a conference designed to "Raise a generation of Superheroes" We aim to teach children how to live in encounter with God, to prophesy, to heal the sick and to do signs and wonders. It is going to be explosive. The angels are gathering in East London for the release of wildfire.
This is what I meditate on as personally my wife and I face one of the greatest trials of our lives. It seems from scans that the baby we are expecting shows signs that seem to indicate that there is a high risk of some sort of "chromosomal abnormality" -something like Downs syndrome. God is birthing something new in South Africa, and he is raising children to do it, the enemy wants to kill or twist what God is birthing. So I am listening for his voice...and I hear him in the silence saying "Hold the course , Son! Hold the course!"

So as we believe for your kids, please be praying for my little one, because this is what I believe;

Is 61v9
My offspring shall be known among the nations,
and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
that they are an offspring the LORD has blessed.

In Africa, summer has started.

One of the strange things about growing up white in Africa is that in December many of us seem to suffer from "seasonal dislocation". It is a strange affliction that comes from having cultural and historical roots in the colder climes of the Northern hemisphere. So, as a child I grew accustomed in December to singing about "Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh..." and to festooning our house or classrooms with "holly" despite the fact that I had never seen neither snow nor holly. (Actually there was one Holly, but she didn't seem be one to inspire many songs of Joy) At times the temperatures outside were blistering the tar on the roads whilst we put cotton wool on our Christmas tree to create the right freezing climate indoors. In Zimbabwe at Christmas we maintained many of the customs that our parents and forebears brought with them from Europe, including Eggnog and a large stuffed Turkey dinner which led to a January of unpleasant left over Turkey sandwiches. That was a custom that never should have come to Africa, Turkey still feels like a necessary evil to me, to be endured so that we can get to the presents later. None of which felt appropriate for an African Summer.
However, as time has passed I have come to appreciate the fact that the seasons are different here in Africa, and at the moment despite the global sentiment of pessimism and despair due to the Global war on terror, the global economic downturn etc, I can't help feeling that Africa is somehow coming to summer not heading to winter. As with most things in Africa it is coming slowly, but at least it is coming. Across South Africa I see hopeful signs that a significant national revival is underway, almost daily I hear of churches and Christians having significant breakthroughs and encounters in and with the presence of God. Recently a friend of mine who is very connected in government circles shared about encouraging trends in our political arena. This year I journeyed to Mozambique and saw first hand the power of God sweeping a nation into the Kingdom of God and marvelled to see young people from the world's richest and most resourced nations coming to a nation which is crippled with all the problems that beset Africa, poverty, illiteracy, war, famine, etc coming not just to help but coming to learn from Mozambicans, coming to find hope, because, as cliched as it seems, they could tangibly sense and see God working amongst these third world Christians for whom miracles are a daily reality not a distant literary controversy. God is working in Africa and the spiritual hunger provoked by the offering of the watery gruel of either meaningless hedonistic materialism, or sugary New Age feel good philosophies or the cold left overs of a Christianity that was once alive, hot, intimate and life changing that has dominated the cultural menu for so long is driving a new generation to find a more satisfying diet and many are finding it in Africa!
So, this Christmas I am celebrating the fact that things are getting hotter in Africa, even if in the North and the west it may feel cool. There is one thing we can all be thankful for though this December. The King, and I mean Jesus, not Elvis, is alive and his Kingdom is coming.

Thanks for the ride

My last day in the states was awesome, in many ways it was the culmination of the whole time. Mark and I ministered at Potter's house, the Mission's School of the Arts and The Supernatural. Before we ministered the students all sought God for words for us and ministered to us, and they came LOADED! They were spot on and anointed, then Mark preached a great word on how our Kingdom Identity gives us not only Kingdom authority but Kingdom Access! I was meant to preach after him but when I got up to preach I wanted to start a few small fires to raise expectancy, but things got out of hand! WILDFIRE swept across the class and we just had fun with Dad for the next 75 minutes!

Well as you may have gathered if any of you are out there and are still following my blog, I am home and so the reason for this blog is at an end. All in all my experience in the USA was amazing. God poured out his grace and favour in such an awesome way. However I so enjoyed the experience and the challenge of writing that I have decided to create another blog. If any of you are interested, bored enough, or you are experiencing a downturn in your other forms of entertainment you can find it at http://www.nigel-myfireplace.blogspot.com/

Flying High

I am in seat 15b on United flight 96, listening to Jika the fantastic new Album released by Colin Dembovsky (You can pay me when I get home Col) on the "red-eye" to New York and I have nothing better to do than Blog! On one side Mark Simpson in out cold having taken a sleeping pill, on the other is a guy also fast asleep who is leaning over into my seat space, (he can hardly help it he has large shoulders and a narrow seat) The contradiction of modern technology is a real pain in the you know where. Here I am connected to the whole www but they just cannot seem to invent a airplane seat that does not turn into something the the KGB could have used to extract confessions of mass murder out of innocent nuns living in Siberia! Oh well I suppose you don't really want to hear me moan, but as they say misery likes company! I just finished watching "Julie & Julia "the in flight movie, it is about a woman who becomes a published author after she begins a blog, man sometimes it does seem that God lays it on a little thick even I couldn't miss that encouragement to write! So here I am flying high literally and spiritually!(The guy just put his head on my shoulder, shesh, and he didn't even buy me dinner first, so now I am sitting forward!)
Monday was another fantastic day Jacques, Jenny, Mark and myself were totally spoilt by Dano, Regina, Rob and Michelle. They took us to the Muir Woods, a stand of awesome Redwoods. There is nothing to compare them to in South Africa, they tower over you so high that you seem to lose sight of them. They are so thick that cars can literally pass through the centre of the larger specimens.
Then we went into San Francisco, stopping to do the tourist thing and take pictures at the Golden Gate Bridge, where I came to the realisation that I am majorly under utilizing my camera. It has wonderful functions that I am not using! Got to read that instruction manual, the whole work it out as I go along is not working out all that well! Then we had supper at Bubba Gumps shrimp restaurant, I had "Shrimpers Heaven" washed down with an American beer. Then at about 9 p.m. we dropped two very cool Obies off at the airport for their 10:20 flight, I was having kittens on their behalf!
This trip has been awesome all the way along, we have just experienced favour and blessing at every turn, we have been prayed for by some of the most anointed and incredible people on the planet, been vacked from Baltimore (More Bolts Lord, more!) to Vacaville (zee town of zee Vacking). I shared a little at The Mission on Sunday, and Mark has been sharing the pennies from heaven testimony all over. People here have heard that South Africa is the new Brazil, and they believe it! I am coming home with a truck load of resources that were given to me free in Redding as well as have a ton of books for Debs and the kids.
However this morning was the cherry on the top, we ministered at The Mission's school of Supernatural ministry. It was cool, the fire fell and they all got Hammered!
We are landing, got to go!

Getting Vacked in Vacaville.

The King and the Castle

It will come as no surprise to many of you that we are all getting thoroughly "vacked" in Vacaville! We arrived here on Friday afternoon and it has been fantastic to connect with our friends Dano McCollam (and to meet his family, ) and Rob (aka King Rob I) and Michelle Harris.

Yesterday has got to be one of the most fun days of my life. It felt like God was pouring his love and favour all over us. After an awesome breakfast cooked by Dano, the four of us and Rob and Michelle set out for the famous Napa Valley to do a little sight seeing and wine tasting. Fire coloured vineyards stretch out on either side of the road as we wound our way towards our destination; a wine estate boasting a recently built castle called Castello Di Amorosa, or the Castle of Loving. The Castle itself was awesome and even though it is a modern reproduction it had a very authentic feel to it. We toured the castle and then descended into the cellars where we got to taste some of the famous Californian wines. The sense of the presence of God was amazingly strong as we just enjoyed being together and having fun as he poured his love and blessings onto us. Standing there, sipping a California chardonnay it seemed like the logical thing to do to pour out God's goodness on someone and so we decided to prophesy over the young woman who was serving us. God laid open the dreams of her heart to Mark and I and she was so touched that she almost began to cry and asked for our e-mail addresses so that she could stay in touch. The Chardonnay wasn't bad but the new wine was better! You didn't need to be a prophetic genius to recognise the significance of us standing in the Castle of Loving, surrounded by new wine!

New Wine in the Castle of Loving

As dusk fell we headed in to San Francisco. On our right the horizon looked like a flat black cut out against a peach kissed sky, then as your eyes climbed the arch of the sky the peach washed away to blue, then grey until it landed on the opposite horizon and the grey smudged and blended with blackening hills. We were moving slowly down a crowded eight lane highway. To our left the traffic looked like a river of white light as cars streamed by happy to be escaping the city for the weekend whilst in front of us the tail lights of the vehicles stared back at us with angry inflamed eyes until in the distance they merged to form a red tide sweeping us into the city of saint Francis.Rob and Michelle treated us to supper at Yoshi's, where we had the best Sushi I have ever had. It arrived looking so good I wasn't sure if I should just look at it or eat it. (So I decided to compromise and take a photo- who says you can't have your Sushi and eat it!) This was followed up by a Jazz concert, also at Yoshi's. Jean-Luc Ponty was performing and it was phenomenal. The drummer in particular wowed us!

Yoshi's great food and great Jazz!

This morning we attended the Mission, Dano's church. The worship was glorious in every sense of the word. Strong presence of the Lord and a real atmosphere of freedom and celebration. There had been some confusion over dates and so I did not get to preach, instead an awesome couple Bill and Carol Dew who do a lot of ministry in Brazil and travel with Randy Clark preached it was tremendous! They called up all the South Africans and prophesied over us that the flow would be 12x greater in S.A. than in Brazil! Yeah, I receive that for us ALL!

The Mission, Vacaville

Then we came back to Dano's house to have a braai to celebrate Regina's (Dano's wife) birthday and over the flames of the grill we got prophesied over again by Keith one of the prophetic/apostolic guys in the church here who heads up their second year of of the school of ministry. It was a huge and powerful word, we felt like the well done steaks from the grill by the time Keith was done.

It is not long now till I come home and my thoughts are more and more focused on South Africa. I can clearly see that something new and fresh is coming to and through Africa for the Kingdom and I have been declaring that "South Africa is the New Brazil" in terms of revival and many witness with that statement. In fact a lady came to me in the service and shared how whilst in prayer two months ago the Lord had shown her a vision of a fire breaking out at the base of Africa and burning all the way up the continent and into Europe! We are living in momentous times!

Connecting with Revivalists from all over the World.

I am in the promised land! Yes, we are currently spying out the land of the Buck Star and it is indeed flowing with Mocha and Hot Chocolate. We are returning from the Leadership Development Program Retreat which was a great time of connecting with Pastors and revivalists from all over the world. There were Kiwis, Zimbos, South Africans, Germans, Brits, Australians, Kenyans, Mexicans, Hondurans, Canadians, Texans (they still think they are a separate country) and of course Americans all pressing in to revival culture and crying out for more! It was glorious!

When we arrived at the retreat (it was strange to go straight from the Leadership Advance to the Leadership Development Program Retreat, I mean really which waydo they want us to go;) ) Everyone was sharing testimonies, we heard testimonies of God using adolescent and even younger children powerfully in Honduras to heal the sick and change the hearts of an island community under the leadership of a beautiful missionary couple from USA, to the remarkable story from an Aussie pastor of how God took a man out of a legalistic background, turned his heart to love for Jesus. One day this man invited the pastor to come for a ride in his truck with him whilst he did deliveries. They had a great outward journey, but whilst they were out in the outback far from doctors etc he suddenly dropped dead! The pastor phoned for help, to the intercessors, and the hit the man's corpse in the chest, crying "You will not die!" He broke three of his ribs, ...and raised him from the dead.

One of the most moving moments was when Martin Spreer a pastor from Germany and pastors whose fathers had fought in the second world war prayed together mutually asking for and extending forgiveness for the sins of our nations, and calling Germany back into her prophetic destiny as the "Father's Land". The power and presence of God just seemed to fill the room and many men wept as God poured his loving presence into our midst. Watch Germany, revival is coming!

We are now on our way to Vacaville. (Apparently the name means Cow Town). However I feel a better name would be, Town of Vacking!

Mark and Bill Johnson.

Drinking and getting others Drunk-in the Holy Spirit.

I started the day yesterday attending the "Prophetic Round Table", I knew I was in the right place as soon as I walked in as the chairs were in the shape of a rectangle and there was no table! When I said that to Dano McCollam he just smiled and said "You COULDN'T see the table????" I arrived late, and the only seat left was the one next to Kris Vallotten so once I got over the embarrassment of knowing that the prophet saw me walk in late, I sat next to him trying to SUCK anointing out of the atmosphere :) It was a great meeting!

Three anointed Prophetic ladies!

After that I went to receive prophetic ministry from a team. The team was made up of two adults and one child! Wow, it was incredible! The anointing and the accuracy was so phenomenal. It was so good that when I came to fill out the feed back form that I was concerned that no-one would believe that I was being sincere when I said that the ministry was 100% accurate. It was wonderful to see this 11 year old girl deliver a bold and accurate word and to know that this is what all our children are going to be like. It got me so excited for our December conference, God is going to raise up a company of supernatural children who are going to rock South Africa and the world!

At lunch time we dashed off to see Wendy! Wendy is awesome! In particular the Baconator!

In LOVE @ Wendy's-with the BACONATOR!

Then we dashed back to minister to our friend Deborah and her team at Sound Wisdom, as the sound ministry is called at Bethel. It was an incredible powerful time with people getting whacked all over the office. The people were so eager to drink and God was so eager to pour out his love! It was great to drink with them! Whilst we were praying I looked down at their water cooler and noticed even the water cooler looked happy, it promptly got renamed the wine cooler, and any-one who took a "drink" from it got hammered! It was glorious! I went back today to minister to the rest of the team today and God fell on them there was such an open heaven.

Even zee vater cooler got Vacked!

After lunch Beni Johnson shared on transition and a number of other topics it was tremendous.

It honestly feels like one is permanently trying to drink from a fire hydrant at times. Then after a short break we went to supper where we got to meet with Steve and Wendy Backlund who are the Bethel leaders in charge of the Leader Development Program which we signed up to do this year, we really had such a divine connection, and I went away from supper feeling I had made new friends,

Lots of other things are happening, but this almost brings me up to date, in my next post I will tell you about Mark Simpson preaching in this morning's session, don't miss it, I may even be able to post a video clip.

Overtaken By the blessings

I honestly woke up this morning not knowing which day it was! That is the downside of international travel and great conferences like the Bethel leaders advance. There is so much going on that the Blessings just seem to run into each other. So I am going to give a synopsis of the last 3 days to try valiantly to catch up.

Sunday

It is not every day that you get to lead a fighter pilot, doctor, future astronaut and governor to Christ, but that is what happened on Sunday! On the flight across from the Baltimore to San Francisco Mark Simpson and I found ourselves seated next to one of the most accomplished men I have ever met. With grey hair, blue eyes and an intelligent face he seemed like Hollywood type casting. The moment we sat down we introduced ourselves and we never stopped talking the whole flight. Our topics ranged through American politics, the wars they are involved in Mr. Obama, the Nobel peace prize, history, philosophy, the free masons, religion, marriage & fidelity, books, leadership, the future, his family and finally we talked about salvation. Tom* flew A-10s for the air force and had already done a few tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, and he had also served in 25 other countries.You can imagine Mark and I had to deal with more than our fair share of jealousy as he described one day when he got to fly from Kuwait over to the Med, over Greece, Italy take a left turn then over Egypt and North Africa viewing the whole sphere of ancient history including the sphinx and the pyramids from the solitude of his fighters canopy! As we spoke of what he has already done and his plans to enrol for Astronaut training school and his desire to enter politics when he leaves the military we all realised that God had put us together for a reason. That reason soon became clear as we talked about salvation and peace with God. 20 minutes before our plane landed God turned the conversation towards home and Tom* gave his life to Christ! It was such an exciting day!

Monday

We spent most of the day resting and just trying to catch up on some sleep. Extradition was at 3 p.m. so we went off to Bethel full of faith and expectation and almost immediately run into a solid wall of..favour! I was standing in the queue to register and to my delight I saw Deborah Steven's one of the staff members here at Bethel who is a walking miracle. She appears to be permanently vacked, and as a result is always smiling or laughing. She came over to me, pulled me out of the queue and proceeded to organise priority seating for me and our entire group, introduced me to Danny Silk who was finalizing a power point presentation for later and then took me to the front of the line got me registered and signed up for the prophetic ministry on Tuesday Morning! It was like getting hit by a loving whirlwind! Then Deborah said good bye, went off to organize something getting several people vacked who were blessed enough to find themselves in her joy-filled flight path! So I decided to go over to HeBrews, Bethel's coffee shop I was waiting to get my coffee when a guy next to me asked where I was from and when I told him I was from South Africa he got excited and said to me "South Africa! I am going to South Africa in September with Dano McCollam!" With a smile I asked him "Do you know where you are going? To my church!" We had cup of coffee together and had a great connection!" I even ended up prophesying over his wife. They are Patrick and Tricia Vandenburg Senior Pastors of Father's House Church. He has written a book called "A Knock on the Door" the story of his life how this ex-con became the evidently joyful man he is today! He gave me a copy!

The conference started with awesome praise and worship, followed by one of the best teachings I have ever heard on the 5-fold ministry and apostolic Government by Danny Silk. Well I am running out of time now, the gentle rumblings from out of the darkness have stopped informing me that my room mate is awake, It is time for another day in the blessing zone.

Attacked By Tiggerrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In our children's stories we often encounter metaphorical places which point to our in-build awareness that there is another place, a home to which we long to return. Alice had her "wonderland" that she fell into as she tumbled down the rabbit hole in her pursuit of that harried hare, Peter Pan was the most famous citizen of "Neverland" before Micheal Jackson upstaged him, and of course many of us grew up romping through the Hundred acre wood with Winnie the Pooh and his cohort of playful friends. Sadly though for most of us once we become adults we seem to lose the way home to these fantastic realms and are forced to "grow up" and keep our "feet on the ground". However there are people who seem to manage to retain this wonderful childlike ability to live in two realms at once, a gift I firmly believe God wants us to cultivate. Three days ago I was "attacked" by one of them, Roland Baker, aka "Tigger".

Although Roland did not speak for long at the conference his life was eloquently shouting throughout the whole conference. Just four months ago most people had abandoned hope for Roland he was suffering from an awful form of dementia which left him completely incapacitated, he did not know his name, could not dress himself, or take care of himself and had to have 24 hour care. There seemed to be no hope and his family were summoned home to say good-bye because the overwhelming medical opinion was that Roland was about to move in to the heavenly mansion that he and Heidi have built over a life time. That was four months ago, before God healed him! Today he is healed and bursting with love, joy and mischief! It was impossible not to notice his playful delight as he bounded about the conference getting anyone who came within range "vacked".It seemed like a small whirlwind swept through the crowd as Roland pounced on people and prayed for them. The power of God left people strewn in joyful bundles all round him and Roland would bounce Tigger fashion to find someone else to attack with the love and joy of the Holy Spirit. Watching was fun, experiencing this attack was awesome.

I went to the altar on the second day of the conference to see if I could get Georgian Banov and his wife Winnie (Hurricane Winnie) to pray for me when Tigger appeared and started wrecking the altar call. I positioned myself directly in his flight path and soon found myself in his sights and I was not disappointed. Roland bounded over to me, (this is not writer's hyperbole, when Roland begins to pray for people he bounces) and laid hand on me saying "God give him more than he can contain" Glory swept over me like an electric current jolting me from head to foot until I was barking out uncontainable laughter. He prayed for me several times, as I kept going back for more, after all he said give him more than he can contain! It was great but more was to come.

The next day, Saturday, I bumped into Roland outside my hotel and I went up to thank him for who he is and for praying for me and to explain I could still contain more ;). Then we went to the afternoon meeting at which Georgian Banov was speaking. God just poured out his blessings on me that afternoon! On the bus over I was given a free T-shirt, Georgian gave me a CD because I was from Africa, then he asked all the pastors to stand to receive prayer. I stood expectant, my eyes on Georgian but I was being stalked by that spiritually ferocious creature the Pemba Tigger! Roland pounced on me from behind releasing the full power of Jehovah sneaky on me! This time I was unable to go back for seconds, I was glued to the floor, laughing uncontrolably, blind drunk for the rest of the meeting. When ever I started to recover the Tigger would come over and love maul me again! I have vowed never to say "Stop Lord," as I have determined to live with the motto of "more Lord" but I will admit I was close to the edge this time as my stomach muscles were in pain and I was laughing so hard I could hardly breathe as the joy of the Lord swept over me! It was so much fun! What a way to end the "Voice of the Apostles" conference! I missed the evening meeting to get ready for our flight early the next morning, I was looking forward to having a long snooze on the plane, it worked out differently though God was lining me up for another amazing encounter, more of that in the next post.

The days are starting to blurrrrr and I am starting to slurrrrr. The last two days I have been "vacked" a great deal of the time, I find that being here and the fuller I get the hungrier I become! The more God pours out his love, the more I see, hear and experience him, his love, gooodness or power the more I want and the deeper the realisation grows in me that a life lived without the manifest presence of God is a life of the most appalling poverty. We may not see it that way but when we see what the kingdom is meant to look like, and who we are and thus what we have access to in father's house to live without it is appalling!

Heidi Baker spoke yesterday both in the morning and in the evening. In the morning she spoke about being sealed by the Holy Spirit with the seal of adoption, at the end of her message she gave an invitation for those who felt fire on their hands or their chest to come for prayer to be "sealed". Now I must be honest and confess that I didn't feel particularly warm in either place, however I didn't feel cold either, so I went forward. The place in front of the stage was crowded with people so I didn't get that near to Heidi, but the anointing was tangibly present from meters away from the front. As I drew near to the front and put my hands up I could already feel the power of God going through me like shock waves of power making me jerk, as if I were having some sort of seizure. (My Inner Critic is saying I LOOKED like a jerk! Aww shaddap IC and have a DRINK!) A guy standing near me, I think he was part of the prayer team laid hand on my chest and prayed, THEN I felt the fire! I literally felt heat come on my chest, it felt like I had a hot water bottle being pressed to my chest, and I began to laugh and laugh and laugh. Now I know that I have never been accused of having a soft laugh, no-one has ever said for example that my laughter is like gentle music. Yes, I know, I get it, I laugh loud!!!!However This whole week I feel like have been ROARING with laughter, it has been bursting out of me, and bearing in mind that I am still recovering from a suspected cracked rib as a result of falling off a J-board two weeks ago, it has at times been not only uncomfortable but downright painful! I laughed like that, and even when I opened my eyes to find the poor guy in front of me using his finger to block his ear, which was about a foot away from my mouth, I couldn't stop so great was the joy that seemed to burst out of me!I just kept thinking of what it felt like growing up in my broken home, with my Dad gone and my Mum drunk (aside: no Icey, not on the Holy Spirit, on whiskey whiskey! You really need to get vacked you know that?) and feeling alone, stupid and worthless and contrasting the feeling of God's complete love acceptance and pleasure in me the more I though about it, the more I roared!

The evening was awesome too! I saw my friend Timothy Berry get ordained. Let me try and explain Tim...Tim is a fireball! At 22 he carries incredible fire, passion, anointing and a tremendous leadership gift. He lead our Global Awakening team in Pemba, Mozambique which I would have thought a huge challenge to leaders twice his age as not only were we from all over the world, many of us he had never met and he was surely one of the youngest members of the team. Yet he was fearless and lead with confidence and skill. He is a giant....in the spirit! (Sorry, Tim if you are reading this I couldn't resist! ;) ) Tim was prayed for by most of the Apostolic men and women, including Heidi who just seemed to be pouring love and anointing into him for at least 20 minutes of soaking prayer. Well, Tim was stuck to the floor for the rest of the night, a few hours at least. Great to see him on the recieving end for a change! By the way if you wanted to have him speak at your church, he is power-filled!

The night ended with what must me the most apostolic fire tunnel I have ever seen. As every person left they passed through a fire tunnel with Bill Johnson, Georgian and Winnie Banov, Che Ahn, Randy Clark, Roland Baker, Leif Hetland and many others making up the Tunnel. Needless to say I only just made it out alive!

I am in love-with a man!

I kissed Bill Bennot on the mouth today, but he is not the guy. The people who were in the queue to get into the church this morning could be forgiven if they thought that our group were a group of loud drunks with confused sexual identities. It happened like this. Bill is sharing a room with Gillian and early this morning they had a time of "GW" or "garage worship" Bill's famous early morning worship. As they were in the midst of that time the glory came into their hotel room and the two of them got "vacked". (drunk with god's love) When they joined Mark and I for breakfast they were still full of joy and so we entered in with them and on the bus over from our hotel we decided to see if we could get vacked too by the time we arrived at the church. Well, it worked! The presence of God filled us and that bus and we got to the church loudly and joyfully full of God's presence. Even though we had got there early the queue stretched around the building and we had a 45 minute wait to get in. Despite the cold we were all in good spirits and just like a group of pub crawlers- and to the consternation of some of the people around us, we were sharing jokes and everything seemed to be funny. We were having so much fun that Mark decided to take a photo of us standing in the queue so Bill and I posed for the photo and Bill put a comradely arm over my shoulder. Then I thought it would be funny if I pretended to give him a peck on the cheek, I turned to do so and to our mutual shock and horror I found he had thought of the same joke at the same time! That is how I came to kiss Bill on the lips! Just to be clear-Debbie kisses better, and, Debs, I don't enjoy beards either.

However the man I am refering to in the title of this blog is Jesus. In his presence I find that I come alive, my heart races with escitement, he makes me laugh, he brings out the best in me, has given everything for me, I can't stop thinking about him, I just want to be with him and spend time with him. Yeah, I am in looooooove! It is so cool!

JOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a short post. We just got back from the evening meeting. It was wonderful! When I arrived I felt that I just wanted to soak during the P&W so I went to look for some level floor to lie on. I couldn't find a spot where I wouldn't be in someone's way or where I wouldn't get trodden on until I discovered that there was a little room hidden behind a curtain at the back of the auditorium. So I crawled behind the curtain and the moment I did the glory fell all over me! I laughed so hard for 45 minutes that I now need healing for my throat! At the end of P&W I made my way to our seats which were unfortunately right at the very back of the auditorium high on the bleechers. We were all buzzing, and it started to get quite "hot" up there. We were just managing to hold it all together until from behind us we heard "whirrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Jacques' characteristic sound when he gets vacked! The thing is it wasn't Jacques it was a tiny baby making the noise! We all lost it and the fire spread all over the back section. It took us a long time to recover.

John Arnott shared a brilliant message on Honouring the anointing, in others and on yourself it was HUGE!!!!!! It is definately getting deeper, and deeper!

John Arnott just walked past me in the lobby of the hotel and when I thanked him for the message he said "The Spirit of the Lord has anointed you!" and now I am cackling away in the lobby, raising a few eyebrows.

Glory, The Fall, and the Glory is Falling!

The country is covered with the glory-of the Fall. It seems as if the trees are having a last party before the cold and snow arrive and are decked out in gold, yellows, orange and bright red protesting the grey wardrobe they will wear in winter. Everywhere we see the glory, gold is falling, it covers the ground, pumpkins leer drunkenly from many shop windows, and the air is refreshing as you breath it in.
It is the same at the Voice of the apostles conference. There is glory all around, it seems to fall like the golden leaves that cover the ground outside, and yes the South Africans are getting filled with the intoxicating presence of Jesus and giving jack-o-lantern a good run for his money!
The sessions were once again so rich and wonderful, Che Ahn shared powerfully in the morning using his inspiring testimony to spur us on into more of God. Then in the afternoon John Arnott shared a powerful message on forgiveness and grace, which was filled with fresh revelation and old truths, it was a rich and refreshing message. The next session saw some of the leaders in this movement do Q & A, they shared such practical wisdom. Perhaps the most moving moment was when Roland Baker took the mike to answer a question, and before he could speak the whole place errupted into spontaneous cheering clapping and came to their feet to honour this man who has fought such an amazing fight, given so much, who earlier this year was expected to die but today is fit and well and continuing to press in. It was an awesome moment.
At the conclusion of the session we all made our way to the front to see if we could get prayer for impartation. We were not disappointed! Roland came off the platform and I ended up right in front of me he prayed for me several times, saying "give him more than he can handle". I got hit hard with waves of power and joy. Then I got prayed for by Winnie and Georgian Banov, the joy hit hard! I had to be carried from the auditorium, the party continued outside and on the bus to the hotel. Our bus captain asked for a volunteer so I put my hand up and the whole bus was told to pray for me and give me words. It was awesome the presence of God came on me in beautiful waves of love, I could hardly stand as people called out "firestarter!" "Scissorman" "Comedian" then the bus captain a young woman at the school of ministry prayed and prophesied over me saying "Just keep walking, Nigel" It was great! Joy broke out aon the bus and many of us staggered off the bus, happy grins plastered over our faces.
There is an evident hunger amongst the south africans which gives me such a sense that God is pouring grace out on our nation. John Arnott is sharing tonight fire is going to FALL

Favour in the USA

Well, I thought that I would steal a leaf from the Dembo's book and start a blog to keep any of you who are interested in the loop of my travels here in the USA.

Our trip started with great favour, being with Mark has been such a blessing, he really has a tremendous gift of favour on him. Not only did he sweet talk me into the voyager lounge at Jhb international, but he had reserved the emergency row seats on the plane months ago so we had leg room to spare!

I tried valiantly to sleep onboard but failed and so after a while I used the time to catch up on much needed "cultural research" ;) I watched 3 movies! Including Harry Potter 5! I know, I know some of you will be thinking that I lost my salvation, but honestly this time it WAS cultural research! I was forcibly struck by the fact that this generation are longing for;

1) The reality of supernatural experiences.

2) A cause bigger than themselves to live for, and worth dying for.

3) They understand that life cannot be lived theroretically, but that we only live when we are willing to take risks to step out into the unfamiliar to live what we believe!

And yes, I do understand that there was alot of evil stuff in Harry Potter, I just didn't eat that!

Got to Washington at 6a.m. local time, and ran into a friend of mine from the Global Aawakening trip on the shuttle. He was the first person we met in Washington, what are the chances? We had great chats catching up, just gave me a sense that God is lining up blessing and divine connections for us all. Got to our Hotel at 11:30. Had a bite to eat, slept for a for a few hours and then went to the church on the shuttle. (one of those typical yellow school buses that you see in movies, kids you would love them!)

The meeting was great, despite the fact that I am struggling with a painful back, Worship was really great tonight.
A lady gave me a word she saw me on a motor cycle with the Lord. Going places with the Lord. Open doors into every place I want to go. She also prayed Holiness over me, a new level of holiness and the mind of the Lord over me. Amen, dig deeper Lord!

Steve Vir-gin, (I'm not kidding that is his name), prayed for me and Jacques and Jenny and we all got totally wrecked in worship. Then Bill preached an awesome message on Honour and recognising someone according to the spirit.

At the end the prayed for people for healing and I felt a lot of improvement in my back, would still ask for continued prayer tho.

I miss you all so much and wish you were all with me. Sorry about the DARK Photo! It was taken with the Netbook cam late at night, it just shows the lobby of my hotel, I will try do better as we go on :)