Johannesburg

The Fire of the Holy Spirit and it’s gifts experienced.

Often times, we are not present because subconsciously, we believe that the next moment will be more important than the present one and before you know it, you missed what is happening now. Johannesburg was a perfect representation of this. Excited to fly to Israel, our team thought of Johannesburg as a stop to get our visas before we get on a plane, but the Lord taught us to be present in what He is doing in Johannesburg and not let our next ministry point distract us. 

The body of Christ in Johannesburg is admirable. Although there are many members in this community and all the members have different gifts, they all form one body and make the body function like it’s supposed to. Our team split up to stay with multiple families where we could function in the body differently, but with unity and create lifelong bonds with each family.

This is what Mari (our leader) experienced in Johannesburg:

“We’ve been soaked up in the local community of Johannesburg, in their lives, in their families and in their ministry. The body of Christ, the bride that is carefully pieced together by different churches, remains one body, no matter what. From a small tin roof church in the middle of Mozambique, to a mega-church in the middle of Sandton. Yes, no church is perfect, but it is still the bride of Christ and He is coming for His bride. My inspiration was seeing like-minded and like-hearted brothers and sisters, in Christ, encourage each other and love each other like Christ loves His church”.

Something that stood out for Ashley was how God loves and cares for us:

“No matter who or where you come from, God loves and cares for you! Johannesburg reminded me of Mathew 10:29 where it speaks of: if God cares for the sparrows and the robins, how much more valuable are you to Him?”

We abide in a God, who is a miracle worker, and we are witnesses to a series of thousands of miracles. No miracle is bigger than the next, as the Lord preforms wonders that cannot be fathomed. We need to be willing to be a messenger of the Lord and speak the name of Jesus where ever we go. Ashley, Emile and Ronen witnessed a miracle unfold in front of their eyes.

Here is what Emile had to say about this specific event:

“Ronen and I were driving with Ashley from the airport after dropping our siblings off after a family visit in Johannesburg. On our way back from our host’s house we drove down a road and saw a man struggling to pick up his crutches and not being able to walk. We stopped and Ronen and I jumped out of the car to help him pick up his crutches when we felt the Lord telling us to pray for this man. We carried him to the side of the road as cars was rushing by and asked what was wrong with his leg. He showed us his swollen, broken leg. Ronen and I started praying in faith for healing and told the man that he has to believe in what we were praying. He gave us one of his crutches and he started limping down the road. I then told Him again, brother you have to have full faith that you will be healed tonight, and then asked him if I can take his other crutch too. After a last prayer, he miraculously started speed walking while weeping aloud and thanking the Lord for what had just happened. Wow, what a miracle. It’s amazing how the Lord still does miracles through ordinary people to this day. ALL GLORY TO HIM.”

The lord is the ultimate archer and we are arrows in his hand. He has equipped us to hit the target, as well as with rivers of living water, which is not only to fill us, but to overflow to others. Knowing this is very important, as we then know that the Lord has given each of us spiritual gifts to be used as weapons in the kingdom. During our time in Johannesburg, we had a three-day teaching with Uncle Joe who taught us about the different kinds of spiritual gifts and how they all come from the Holy Spirt. God works in different ways and through different people with different gifts, but it is still the same God. He has given all of us spiritual gifts, not to keep for ourselves, but to practice them with as much faith God has given.

We were busy with different school ministries during our time in Johannesburg. We visited an Afrikaans Highschool, where we were expectant for revival to break out amongst the students. We were ready as a team to put the spiritual gifts the Lord has given us to practice and see the Holy Spirt move.

Anri had a beautiful experience and shared this with the team:

“Johannesburg was an amazing ministry point for me. One of my greatest highlights was when we went to Hoerskool Noordheuwel. It was the last day of Jesus Week in the school and we had the privilege to serve on that Friday. Ronen shared a powerful message that really touched hearts and together with the seeds that were sown throughout the week, the Holy Spirit came and completely took me by surprise. The message shared was short, yet powerful. After that, we had it on our hearts to pray for the learners. Wherever I looked, I saw God’s children open for God’s love and so many young hearts tired of the worldly rhythms they have been in. There were learners coming to me with tears in their eyes asking for prayer. Saying that they want to live a life with purpose, living for God alone. That day in that school hall, so many tears were flowing as the Holy Spirit was moving in hearts.”

Cayla expressed her experience at Noordheuwel:

“Learning what it really means to be bold and step out in faith, is a lot easier said than done. There were multiple times where I was too shy to talk to someone, or to walk up to someone to pray with them, but the Lord said to me every time ‘ You might be shy but I’m not.’ The Lord gave me boldness; all I wanted to do was pray for people, because I knew that it wasn’t me praying, it was the Holy Spirit. In Hoerskool Noordheuwel, we were waiting for the students to come into the hall and while we waited, we worshiped and prayed for the students coming. I prayed and asked the Lord to give me a word for someone and the Lord gave me ‘row 3 and 15 in’. I waited for the students to sit in the hall and counted the exact numbers I heard and I spotted a girl, and I knew I needed to pray with her. Time went on and I was praying for other ladies and forgot about the girl in row 3, and just as the school bell rang a girl taps me on the shoulder and asked me if I could pray with her, I stopped and completely lost my mind as this was the exact girl in row three! God is so intentional and will speak to you if you are willing to do want he says.” 

The Holy Spirit filled the atmosphere in the hall. Almost triple the amount of people came to this break session and left on fire for the Lord. The other schools we visited were just as amazing, the Lord really does have big plans for the up coming generation. During our busy schedule, we received some unexpected news.

Pierre, a member of our travel team describes it as being a ‘rollercoaster’, with many ups but also a few downs:

“ We came into Joburg, full of excitement. It was our last ministry point before we would be heading to the airport and to the rest of the world. We had everything in place so that we could apply for our Schengen visas, little did we know what would be waiting for us after two weeks. We got the news that our visas were denied a few days before we had to leave and we had no idea what would happen next. Do we stay in Johannesburg and apply again, or do we step out in faith and trust that God will open the red sea? It was now time to pray and trust the Lord that He would show us what to do next.”

Faith is taking the first step even when you are uncertain of the second, as a team we decided to take that first step of faith and go to our next ministry point, instead of stay in Johannesburg for another two weeks. With this decisions being made, we did not know what the next step would be, weather we would still be going to the European countries or reroute. We do not know, but what an adventure it is to follow the Lord.

Next step Isreal!