We wanted to send a quick message to you all to let you know how we are getting on.

Firstly, for those who we haven’t  managed to speak to, we moved house at the end of February.  This has been such an answer to prayer as we now have space to hold training at home for MHOP and also space for Becci to home educate the kids.  We are now living in Gatley, which is in Stockport, just south of the M60, about 10 minutes from our old house.

We also wanted to keep you all up to date with the goings on at MHOP.  We have continued with our fortnightly Friday night meetings which we started in September 2010.  We are starting to see a regular crowd coming each meeting and we are really excited about a team meeting we have scheduled for the 8th July where we are hoping to begin to build our team with a view to increase our prayer schedule.   We have also been providing the worship for a series of events run by VinelifeUK across the north of England which have been a great experience, leading worship for such a wide variety of people from different denominations.

As we mentioned at the end of last year, we felt the Lord speaking to us about our finances, energies and work commitments.  At that time, Michael was working full time as part of the sales team at a gym in Didsbury, and then in any spare time we had was spent on MHOP.  We felt the Lord speak to us clearly about switching our energy to focus on MHOP full time and look for part time employment.  This has been a massive challenge for us as we continue on the journey of learning to trust the Lord in all situations.   In May this year, absolutely a God appointment, Michael was offer part time work back at the gym, fixed days, which we were told back in December was not an option.  This has been a real answer to prayer, and whilst possibly just a temporary solution it is still some income to sustain us.  We now are aiming to spend about 40 hours a week working for MHOP, dividing that time between prayer and admin.  On top of that Michael works 25 hours a week at the gym.

As our friends and family we wanted to ask you for your support, both in prayer and financially.  We have been blessed since we started this journey with a small group of people who have supported us financially, either through one-off gifts or on a monthly basis.  We are so grateful to you guys, thank you so much, your support and belief in us and what we are doing has and does make such a difference to us. We believe that the Lord hears our prayers and answers them so we wanted to give you a short list of things you can prayer for us for, but we wanted to ask you to prayerfully consider supporting us with your finances and partnering with us as we establish night and day prayer in the city of Manchester.  Whether you feel led to give a one-off gift or if you would like to sow into us monthly you can give via paypal or bank transfer.  We firmly believe that the Lord is going to move powerfully in Manchester and it is the prayers of the saints that will bring this about.

In terms of your prayers, please prayer for us:

• for finances
• for wisdom as we bring leadership to MHOP
• for protection for us as a family
• for increase, wisdom and greater revelation in our relationships with the Lord
• for Becci as she begins to home educate the kids
• for breakthrough and greater relationship with churches and ministries around the city
• for MHOP, that we would have clarity of vision, increase in the teams and increasing influence in the city.

Thanks so much for all the support we have received from you all, we love you all so much.  We appreciate you taking the time to read all this(!) and if you have any questions, want to chat with us, meet up, anything then get in touch, we’d love to talk!!

Peace and love to you all, in the name of our precious Jesus,

Michael, Becci, Clara-Lily, Micah and Anna Ball

Firstly we are just less than a week after the IHOPU Awakening in Manchester.  I don’t know about anyone else but for us the Lord really spoke to us clearly and confirmed a number of things for us.  One of the things that we have been praying about for some time is how to balance establishing the house of prayer and working full time.  Over the course  of the three days we got an answer from the Lord.  In 3 separate words the Lord brought some real clarity to the situation.  Without giving the whole of the words He told me it was time to switch my focus from full time in work and part time in the house of prayer to being full time in the house of prayer and part time in a job.  He also gave us a word that if we concentrate on prayer He will take care of the finances.  Finally we received the word that the Lord wanted to honour us for our commitment over the last little while and that He was going to provide an alternative to my current working situation.   The long and the short of it is that I finish my job at the Galleon on the 9th December with a view to developing the house of prayer further.

Along with that decision, we have decided to head out to the Onething conference at IHOP-KC which is between Christmas and New Year. and take some time before and after to really focus on what the Lord is saying for us and MHOP.  Also Becci is going to attend Cultivating Prophetic Worship, essentially the same course Jon and I went to last year.  We are really excited about taking this season of refreshing and re-focusing.

But the thing we are most excited about is an upcoming MHOP event.  We have our first ever MHOP Training Day, which is an opportunity for us to share the vision behind the house of prayer, the how and why behind what we do and a chance to do a practical prayer leading workshop.  This day will be for everyone, whether you are interested in serving in the house of prayer or just interested in finding out more about it.  We do want to know how many people will be coming so you can register your interest here.

So, I hope that all makes sense. We are in the middle of an exciting time for our family and the house of prayer, I feel like it won’t be too long into the new year that we begin to increase the schedule of MHOP.   The Lord has been so faithful to provide for us and we believe that as we continue to listen for His voice and follow that He will continue to make a way for us. We do want to take this opportunity to ask you to support as we make these key decision.  Please, please, please could you pray for us.  Prayer is what moves the Father’s heart and we ask that you would pray for our family, as we move house, leave one job and look for a new one, and spend some time seeking the Lord and for the house of prayer, that God would raise up prophetic intercessors in our city, that the training day would be fruitful and run smoothly and that the Lord would continue to raise up key people as we seek to establish night and day prayer in the city of Manchester.  If you feel like the Lord is leading you to give financially then head over to the About Us section of the blog and follow the links to paypal at the bottom.  Alternatively email us michael[at]mhop[dot]org[dot]uk.

If you feel like the Lord shares any pictures or words for MHOP or for us personally we’d love to hear them so please do email us, we love to receive encouragement from the Lord through His people!

Thanks for reading all this, hopefully we’ll blog again soon!

Michael and Becci

Firstly for anyone that hasn’t yet heard Wes Hall and a team from IHOPU will be coming to the UK and particularly Manchester (or at least Salford).   For more info click here or here.  I can honestly tell you I am so excited about this.  What excites me the most is the possibility that this could be  a real catalyst for change in our city and the UK.  I know that that sort of sweeping statement is made all the time and that it is often used as a tool for creating hype but I actually believe that the Lord intends to use this time to bring significant breakthrough but I wonder if it will look different from what people expect.   The kind of change I believe is coming is in the heart’s and spirit’s of those who come.  Whist I expect for the meetings to be full of the glory of God I believe the lasting change will be the lifestyle choices of those who are touched by God, who can’t go back to living according to this world, who refuse to treat the bible like a self-help manual, who will no longer allow themselves to consider Jesus and His kingdom as the secret to an easier life.  I believe that Jesus wants to meet powerfully and intimately with people, setting heart’s free and putting a passion in people that burns so bright that they will seek to see His face and do His work for the rest of their days on this earth.

So in case you thought I was sitting on the fence I want to whole heatedly recommend that you come to the evening events (they are free!) and to even consider taking the Tuesday and Wednesday of work and coming to the conference during the day in Bolton (at the church I grew up in!).  If nothing else Wes Hall is an engaging speaker and Cory Asbury and Laura Hackett are two of the best worship leaders you’ll have the honour to worship with!

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Secondly I wanted to let you know, in case you hadn’t heard, that Becci and I have set up a little website as part of our journey into night and day prayer.  We have quite imaginatively named the venture Manchester House of Prayer, MHOP for short, and if you want to go check it out then head to mhop.org.uk.  We are looking to start holding fortnightly two hour prayer meetings at the Parrswood Hotel in Didsbury, the first one probably on the 24/9/10 (check the website for updated info soon!).  We’re also responsible for running a prayer room during two of the three dates the IHOPU team is here.

I’ve not spoken to a huge amount of people about the upcoming event or even what any of our plans are but a few people have been asking what is coming and so I wanted to be able to take a moment to explain why we are starting so low key, some might say small, and why we’ve waited so long to get something going!  When we first went to Kansas (or Kansas City, MO if Chris Foster asks) we honestly thought we would come back to the UK and immediately launch several prayer meetings and be running night and day if not 24/7 within months but the Lord had very different plans.   In April the Lord released some (not a lot but some) insight on what we were to do to establish this house of prayer in Manchester.  The first things was to not start something when we got home.  So we have taken this time to get reestablished in the UK, to get settled at home, for Becci to have the baby (Anna Sophia, born 3/9/10!) and then to take our time and create the foundations of the house.  We could have pushed hard and started a 24/7 prayer room in Manchester back in May but I can guarantee that 4 months down the line it would be dwindling or have finished a while back.  What the Lord wants to create in Manchester is a house of prayer built on the foundations of people who have lived lives of sacrifice and prayer to create an culture and environment of sustainable, enjoyable and effective prayer in their own homes first.  We believe that if we are faithful to begin small then He will be faithful to grow this.  And we know that our success does not come from number of people coming to meetings, it doesn’t come from whether we are bringing enough money in to survive, it comes from being loved by Jesus and being able to love Him back.

If you are interest in finding out a bit more of our plans for MHOP or if you think you’d like to get involved in some way then please do head over to the site and fill out the contact form, MHOP will just be a funny name without people responding to the call of the Lord to make a radical decision to seek the one thing that Mary pursued, to pour their lives out on the alter of prayer and praise.

Well, I do go on sometimes, apologies for the length of this post, 882 words and counting!  As always, thanks for taking the time to read this if you got this far and I want to pray for you, that as you read this that Lord would grant to you wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, that passion for Jesus would be stirred in your hearts, that you would be filled with desire to find the man behind the words, to find Him out in scriptures, to meet Him in the quite of your soul.  I pray that God would plant in each heart fresh vision and reawaken dreams and desire to step out and follow the King of kings, the judge of all, the coming bridegroom, Amen.
Love you all!

Michael

We were briefly at the Awakening last night and Allen Hood shared such a great word, a word that I felt would be worth sharing with who ever would listen.  You can find it on their website here, click on Apr 29, Thu 9.00PM and scroll forward about 8 minutes and 40 seconds.  I can’t really explain what he said so I’m not going to but I do want to recommend you watch this video. Please, please, please.  It may not be for you but I can almost guarantee you that it is for someone you know!  If you do watch it, even if you don’t think it is for you, take a moment to pray and ask the Lord where your heart is and ask Him to reveal the truth of your thoughts about Jesus’ blood.

Whilst I’m sort of talking about the Awakening services, God has really been talking to us about His thoughts on “revival meetings”.  Let me couch the following statement with this.  I truly believe that God is moving powerfully at IHOP right now and that the testimonies are true and real.  What I want to say is that God does not desire for us to put on revival meetings.  He doesn’t want for us to try and force a move of Him, He doesn’t want for us to generate hype and He doesn’t want for us to put on events in the hope that revival will break out.  What He wants is for us to cultivate a lifestyle of seeking Him first, developing our relationship with Him and our character as people of Christ.  This will create an environment where sustainable revival can birth, a place where people are mature enough in Jesus and living lives that can withstand the rigors that revival can bring.  I am not saying that we don’t ask for revival, I believe we should be contending daily in our personal prayer for God to move and revival to breakout in our cities, what I am saying is that we need to be willing to do the prep work required in our own lives now.  If we have not got a lifestyle of daily prayer, regular fasting and eating the Word then when revival hits it will be quite easy to lose our relationships with Jesus and start just experiencing Him at revival meetings.  I heard Danny Silk from Bethel once say that if revival doesn’t start at home then he’s not interested and I agree.  We need to be living lifestyles of daily encountering the love of God in our own prayer closets.  So lets take seriously our want for revival and start living how God desires, by being intimate with Him through prayer and reading His word.

I feel like this happens every time I blog, this was only supposed to be short.  Hey ho.

I did feel stirred to post something today in class though.  Ian Rutherford, one of the instructors here, was speaking on Isaiah 56, 57 and 58…in one session.  I was so tired today that I honestly thought I might fall asleep but what Ian shared I found compelling and felt it would be worth just popping a little bit of it on here.  As most of you will know, I am currently in the middle of a 40 day fast and so fasting has been a topic which has jumped out at me recently.  If I’m honest the concept of fasting being a part of normal christian living is quite a new concept to me and my journey into fasting is really only just beginning which saddens me, as there is such power in fasting.  Not that we can change God by fasting, but by fasting we give God a chance to change us, to cultivate a right hunger for Him, above other things we desire.  I was thinking about times when I would consider myself to have chosen God over something or something over God and was challenged by the fact that it was even ever a choice.  Our default should be God.  Ian has often said that it’s not a question of if you’ll worship but of what you’ll worship.  We were made to worship and we we have the choice of what we worship.  What we spend our time thinking about, what we spend our resources, our time and money on, that is what we are worshiping, so is it God or is it something else?  Not that the other things in our lives are bad or wrong or unrighteous but if we are considering them above God, if they are becoming our priorities then we have to be honest with ourselves and admit that we are worshiping an idol.  So why don’t we choose God every time, why aren’t we consumed with being with Him and in His presence all the time, why are we satisfied with a couple of hours a week?  The answer, certainly for me is that we do things that we consider fun, we do the things that bring us joy and I have never really enjoyed prayer before so it has never been a priority to me.  The Lord is really working on my heart in this and I am beginning to appreciate that our God is a God of joy, he created it and wants for us to enjoy Him.  When we connect with His heart through prayer and worship we begin to experience that joy and the more we do that the more we associate God with enjoyment.  As with anything you need to cultivate your relationship with Him, not because we have to or He’ll punish us but because it’s fun to talk to Him and because He desires us and He enjoys us and we can enjoy Him.  Connected to that I’ve had to shift my understanding of what pray actually is.  I’ve always thought of it as speaking a list of request to a God who is silent, who may not answer depending on His mood with me.  Not only is that not pray, it is a really wrong view of God.  One of the first things that impacted me whilst we have been here is that God likes me.  He’s not mostly sad or mostly mad but He is mostly glad when He thinks about me.  So when I pray I am praying to a perfect God who loves me, likes me, desires to be with me, is passionate about me, has chosen me, will listen to me, will answer me, wants the best for me, has plans for me, wants to bless me, wants to prosper me, I could go on and on.  And when I pray it is not a boring recital of wants and needs.  It is praising what He’s done, worshiping and meditating on His character, it is singing in the spirit and in my understanding, it is dynamic, enjoyable and most of all, He talks back when you ask Him questions.  When you give Him a chance He will answer you because He loves you, likes you, desires to be with you, is passionate about you, has chosen you, will listen to you, will answer you, wants the best for you, has plans for you, wants to bless you, wants to prosper you and so on.  God, I ask that You would reveal Your heart for each of us, reveal Your love for us.  Unlock the truths about prayer and give us a passion to be in Your presence.

Wow, that was unexpected.  I really had no intention of sharing all of that.  What I wanted to to share with you was how Isaiah 56, 57 and 58 are all connected.  I’ve heard people use Isaiah 58:6 to advocate the position of not fasting but doing works instead.  But having read 56 and 57 to get the context for 58 it becomes clear that this is not what the Lord, through Isaiah, was saying.  Firstly, if you are a gentile believer, which most of us are, you should read 56:1-8 over and over.  It speaks of God’s “grafting in” of the gentiles into a position of intimacy greater than that of a father – son/daughter relationship.  the end of 56 and most of 57 speak of the evil idol worship that Israel was embroiled in.  So when you get to 58 you realise that the Israelites may have been fasting and making sacrifices to God but they were also sacrificing children and worship idols.  God was speaking about the heart posture of the Israelites, who were simply fasting as a religious act and out of a false sense of duty, rather than out of love and wanting to be close to God.  What God is referring to in 58:6 is not “doing” works but rather fasting for and contending for God’s justice and righteousness, the very things He talks of in 56:1.  And I’m not saying that we don’t do, but I am saying that our action should be an overflow of our heart.  As we fast an internalise God’s justice and righteousness, as we seek Him for justice in the land and righteousness in people, as we fast to change our hearts and be closer to Him, acts of justice and righteousness will come as a natural next step, rather than a forced action, devoid of emotion or conviction.  Anyway, I found it quite helpful to go through these verse, if you get a chance over the next couple of days to read through them (it shouldn’t take too long) I would encourage you to.  It might just change your view on things…maybe.

Well, I apologies for all that and I hope it all makes sense.  The Lord is speaking to us and we need to listen. The call to live lives rooted in the word of God, where weekly fasting and daily prayer and bible study time are a part of our routines is at the forefront of God’s mind right now, as He prepares us for all that this our short time on earth with entail.  I pray that the Lord would direct our hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ, to live lives worthy of Him who created all thing and to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.

Bless y’all!!

Firstly we’ve been at the Passion for Jesus conference here at IHOP these past couple of days.  We haven’t made to all the session for various reason but the ones we’ve been at have been amazing.  The teaching from Mike Bickle, Lou Engle and Misty Edwards (the ones we’ve made it for!!) have all been so good and so important to where Becci and I have been journeying this last little while.  You should check out as much as you can here.  If nothing else watch Tim Reimherr’s worship Friday morning…so good!

Anyway, the reason I tell you about the conference is because on the Thursday after we had found seats and were about take the kids to the CEC a guy came over and signed us up for prophetic ministry on the Saturday.  I’ll be honest with you and say that I kind of felt like God had something to tell us!!  So we went today and came out feeling so encouraged by the Lord.  The words we got today were confirmation of words we’ve received whilst we’ve been here and also of some of the things God has been speaking to us about.  God is setting us free of some wrong mindsets and it’s sooo good! Jesus love us so much!

One thing I’ve realised about our time here is that God has had us on a real journey each month and it is only now that we are beginning to get a feeling for what He is calling us to on our return to Manchester.  Each month has been a different phase of the journey.  February was like our tourist/honeymoon month, everything was good, God was challenging us a lot but it was all to do with how much He loves us, how He views us and was just really joyful.  March was our month of struggle and testing, not that anything really happen but I think for various little reason we came under attack and found things a challenge which before has been coming quite easily.  This month has become our month of vision.  God is speaking to us so much about what He has called us to and how that should affect how we live.  So much if not all of IHOP’s messages are really about intimacy with Jesus and that is what we are hearing from the Lord.  I’m am more excited now about Jesus and what He has for us that I was before we came here.  My priorities are shifting, the eyes of my heart are being enlightened and I’m just more and more in love with Jesus and am experiencing more of His love for me.  If you’ve even heard “Jesus, let me see your eyes” by Cory Asbury then you’ll know what I’m talking about, His eyes, burning with passion for me.  My heart is stirring just typing this!!

The last thing I wanted to mention was a phrase Mike Bickle said today that really resonated with me.  I’ve heard him say it before but today it really caught me.  “If we don’t have a right view of heaven, then we won’t think about it at all.”  The gospel message is all about Jesus and the gift of eternal life, but if I’m honest I’ve only really ever been excited about Jesus and what He did for me.  And yes, this is enough for me to gain salvation, but if our gift is eternal life then surely it should be important to know about that. I have never really been taught what heaven will be like and have just assumed that we’ll be on clouds floating around kind of bored and lonely.  I’ve never considered what the scriptures actually say about what eternal life is.  I’ll post some more stuff up here some scriptures and some thought is anyone is interested but otherwise let me encourage you to get a new, fresh and accurate view of what eternal life will look like and I’ll almost guarantee it will give you a new energy and love for the word and for the man Jesus.

Sorry to go on for so long, that was lots more than I intended to write.  For now, I just pray that as you read this God would reveal Himself a fresh to you through the power of His Holy Spirit that you’ll encounter anew His love and that He would grant you the knowledge of how wide, deep and long His love is!!!

Be blessed, God loves you and He really likes you too!!

We mentioned a few weeks ago about reading through the New Testament over the course of the fast and a coupe of people have asked if we have some sort of plan so we figured here would be a good place to put it.  The plan is as follows:

Day 1: Matthew 1-7
Day 2: Matthew 8-12
Day 3: Matthew 13-18
Day 4: Matthew 19-24
Day 5: Matthew 25-28
Day 6: Mark 1-6
Day 7: Mark 7-11
Day 8: Mark 12-16
Day 9: Luke 1-4
Day 10: Luke 5-9
Day 11: Luke 10-13
Day 12: Luke 14-19
Day 13: Luke 20-24
Day 14: John 1-5
Day 15: John 6-9
Day 16: John 10-14
Day 17: John 15-19
Day 18: John 20-Acts 4
Day 19: Acts 5-9
Day 20: Acts 10-15
Day 21: Acts 16-20
Day 22: Acts 21-26
Day 23: Acts 27-Romans 4
Day 24: Romans 5-10
Day 25: Romans 11-1 Corinthians 1
Day 26: 1 Corinthians 2-9
Day 27: 1 Corinthians 10-15
Day 28: 1 Corinthians 16-2 Corinthians 9
Day 29: 2 Corinthians 10-Galatians 4
Day 30: Galatians 5-Philippians 1
Day 31: Philippians 2-1Thessalonians 2
Day 32: 1 Thessalonians 3-1 Timothy 5
Day 33: 1 Timothy 6-Hebrews 1
Day 34: Hebrews 2-10
Day 35: Hebrews 11-James 5
Day 36: 1 Peter 1-1 John1
Day 37: 1 John 2-Jude
Day 38: Revelation 1-7
Day 39: Revelation 8-15
Day 40: Revelation 16-22

Hope you find that helpful.

We’ve been pretty quiet these last few weeks and it’s not been for any good reason.  God has been touching and challenging us both in class and out of class and we are starting to put together some semblance of plans for when we return to Manchester.  The journey we have started seems long and difficult but we have faith that God has put us on this road and His heart is for us.

Be blessed!

The thing that challenged me was when Jesus was in the wilderness and being tempted by the devil (Matthew 4 and Luke 4).  Every time satan tempted Jesus, Jesus’ reply was always straight out of scripture.  If scripture was Jesus’ first line of defence against the tempting of the evil one then how is it ok for us to just have a vague idea of it. If we want to live effective lives, lives that are not infulenced by the world or it’s current ruler then we need to be in the word often and we need to know it to know what to do with it.

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

How cool is that!!  God has given us this living and powerful weapon against the enemy for both defence and attack but not only that it can help us understand ourselves better. I also really like John 5:39

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.

Knowing scripture is more than just good to know more about God and to know how to counteract the enemy but the more we know the word of God, the more we can know God.  All of scripture is about a man, the man Jesus.  If you look through out the whole book you will find Him there.

One prayer we hear a lot here at IHOP is from 2 Thessalonians 3:1

pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified

and I truly want for that to happen, I pray that for the city of Manchester daily but there are some serious consequences to asking God for this.  I believe that God hears our prayer and that He answers them so I believe that we will see the word of God being spoken and proclaimed in the market place, in local government, on street corners as well as in the church.  And I want to be a part of seeing that happen.  But if I don’t know the word of God then how can I expect to be used to see it spread through our city?

So along with the challenge to fast we;ve been challenged to take seriously the reading of His word.  We will be reading through the New Testament in the 40 day fast and with about 30 minutes of study a day we can get through the whole New Testament. If you have been considering joining with us in fasting for our nation then consider joining with us on our journey of knowing His word better so that we could be a part in allowing the word of the Lord to run swiftly throughout our lives, cities and nation.  If you want a copy of the reading plan we’ll be following then fire us an email and we’ll probably be putting it up on here at some point.

We’ve been really encouraged by the numbers of people who have expressed an interested and committed to the fast.  If you are considering the fast then please get in touch with us.

]]> http://michaelandbecci.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/how-important-is-the-word-of-god/feed/ 0 Michael and Becci http://michaelandbecci.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/one_thing/ http://michaelandbecci.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/one_thing/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:36:36 +0000 Michael and Becci http://michaelandbecci.wordpress.com/?p=72 ]]> We are fast approaching the end of month one and it has been the most amazing, challenging, God focused month of my life…ever!  Prayer is becoming really fun, I’m starting to feel like I can ask God to move and He will, not only because He promised but because He likes me enough to do it but one of the best things so far has been seeing all that God is doing in the kids.  As part of their class they are learning the apostolic prayers and so we find them singing and reciting scripture all day long!  And they understand it too, maybe not all of it but Clara-Lily definitely has a grasp on what she is saying.  And it seems they are enjoying praying more too, it’s not a case of us asking them to pray at bed time but they ask us!

I did want to scribble down a few thoughts from one of our classes this week that was taught by a lady called Jessica Willard (here’s a short video of her talking about something) she spoke out of testimony of what God has done in her life and she shared some really great stuff.

Jessica spent a good few years as part of the Onething team at IHOP and she shared about being intimate with God and living a devotional life.  We can live good lives, serve the poor, love our neighbours and our enemies but unless we KNOW Jesus, not about Him but know Him it is all pointless.  We are created to be lovers, first and foremost, to love God with all our hearts, minds and souls.  If everything we do, all the “good stuff” is flowing out of requirement, to fulfil the law or the commandments  even out of a sense of duty to serve God then we might as well not even bother because it is pointless.  Everything we do should come out of the overflow of loving Jesus and getting to know Him better.  As we spend more time with Him we become more like Him and we receive His compassion.  It is out of that place of loving God that we become effective in truly loving others.

The story of Mary and Martha is a good example.  Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and spent time with Him and Jesus said of her that she chose the “one thing that is needed”.  We alway play down what Mary did here, like she picked the easy option.  Culturally, she would have been expected to help her sister and prepare everything but Jesus says she chose what is best, the one thing that was needed, everything else was good but not needed.  It made me think about in my life, I very rarely chose the one thing and often chose to do stuff.  It is so hard to stay in that place of being in God’s presence when life is going on around us yet it is needed.  We need to learn to say no and learn how to commit to spending daily time with God, in His word and in His presence.

Anyway, I just wanted to get that all off my chest!!

If you could keep praying for us, Becci slipped on some ice on Sunday and has been in a lot of pain since.  She has a condition called SPD which she gets when she is pregnant which loosens the tenderns in her pelvis and the fall has made that a lot worse and she has struggled to walk much this week because of the pain.  This means that she is not getting along to class much and is not getting much time at the prayer room.  Please do pray for her.  And generally please keep us in your prayers, that God would keep speaking to us and imparting new wisdom from His word.  Seriously, I keep finding scriptures and saying “has that been there the whole time!”  it’s really eye opening.

Love you all.

“There are moments in history when a door for massive change opens and great revolutions for good or evil spring up in the vacuum created by these openings. In these historic moments, key men and women and even entire generations risk everything to become the hinge of history, the pivotal point that determines which way the door will swing.”

On 14th Feb 2010, Lou Engle shared at Forerunner Christian Fellowship about Knowing the Times and Seasons.  As he shared I felt the Lord talking to me about the UK and about a coming shift.  There are many times throughout the Bible that God tells us to know the times and seasons. One of the things that is a sign that God is about to do something is the removing and the raising up of spiritual leaders and of political leaders. Daniel 2:21 tells us,

“And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings;“

And in Isaiah 6 it says,

“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.“

It even took the death of Moses before the Israelites could move on into their promises.

“After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, it came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.“

Joshua 1:1-3

We stand on the brink of a General Election in the UK and it is widely considered that we will have a new government as a result.  God has presented us with an opportunity to ask Him to let us know the signs of the time so we don’t miss when He is moving.  I believe that we have an opening in which we can arise and ask God to move powerfully in signs, wonders and miracles in our nation, to fulfill the promise of the Holy Spirit, to bring lost souls into the Kingdom and hasten the return of Jesus.  The Lord has asked me to begin a 40 day Daniel fast in the lead up the probable date of the next general election on May 6th.  I also believe that He is calling those that know Him in our nation to fast and pray for 40 days for a move of the Spirit in the UK the likes of which this world has never seen.  Friends, the Lord has presented us with a huge opportunity to unite as His Church, the bride of Christ, and ask Him to come and change our corrupt and dying country.  If we do not make a stand then the enemy will use this shift of power for his advantage.  We need to be people who ask God to let us know the signs of the time so we don’t miss when He is moving and are willing to risk everything to ensure that we don’t miss out on when He does move.

So on the 28th March 2010 we shall begin a 40 day Daniel fast, eating only fruit and vegetables and drinking only water and praying that God would move in our nation.  We are not praying primarily for the election itself, this is not a politically motivated action, we are seeing the election as a sign from heaven that there is going to be a shift and we are fasting and praying that the coming shift would be used to bring God’s Kingdom to Great Britain, that He would raise up a people that would stand up and preach with power, that would move as they did through out the book of Acts with signs, wonders and miracles and that would see a vast harvest of souls into the kingdom.  We are coming before the creator God, and boldly asking for revival in our land because we are desperate for Him to breakthrough in our lives, in our cities, our nation and our world.

If you feel the burning in your heart to participate or even if you are just interested in the fast then there are a few ways for you to get involved.  If you are altreadysubscribed to our newsletter mailing list then you should hsave received an email about the fast already.  You can follow the link within the email to update your details on this mailing list by clicking the “ I will be participating in the 40 day fast” checkbox.  Please do forward the email to anyone who you think might be interested in joining in the fast.  If you are not subscribed to our newsletters and you would like to respond to the call to fast then click here.  I would encourage you that if you are going to do the fast to get a group of people around you to fast with you.  If you are in a church then you could encourage your church leadership to consider fasting with you or maybe see if your small group would like to fast together.  This fast is more than just an exercise of faith, we are standing at a cross road in the history of our nation and we have been given, by the death of Jesus, His victory over evil and imputed righteousness, the authority to affect which path we go down if we will only ask Him.

We believe that an outpouring of the Holy Spirit is coming to the UK on a scale unmatched by previous moves, we need to get a hold of this and make a decision to pursue it.  Lord, we ask that You would grant to us Your servants that with all boldness we would speak Your word, that you would stretch out Your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of  Jesus.

Until He returns

Michael and Becci Ball

Fasting should never bring harm to the body, and if you have concerns, be sure to consult your health professional before going on the Daniel Fast or making any major dietary change.  For more info on fasting guidelines click here.