Bless the Lord oh my soul; and all this is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all His benefits; Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercies. Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles... The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. Psalm 103:1-5 & 8
Hallelujah!!
I've been holding off to write another blog until I have something great to write about... gee, I've gotta get my eyes off of myself and onto Jesus! What can be better than the truth about how great our God is and how much He loves us?! Everything we can ever need is found in Jesus.
This past month has been a bit tougher than most since being up here. The hospital ministry is at a stand still at the moment which has left us feeling confused and a bit deflated. However, we know that God is in control and has a purpose in everything. We know that He gave us this ministry and we believe it is for long term so please stand with us and pray that God's will will be done in our lives and in the lives of the Indigenous people here, however that looks.
We have also been struggling with sickness and infections this past week. Please pray for our health and for the blood of Jesus to cover and protect us. In crying out to Jesus during a tough night this week, the Holy Spirit spoke to me through an old song "Peace I give to you. My peace I leave with you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In this world you have tribulation but take courage, I have overcome the world!" (from John 14)
In all of this, we are seeing God's hand at work. Charlie woke during the night last week with a raging fever. We prayed and gave him panadol. He slept in our bed and woke in the morning very flat, pale and feverish. Again we prayed surrendered Him to Jesus. I carried him out and laid him on the lounge with a pillow while I got the others breakfast. At 8 O'Clock, he sat up and asked for breakfast. His colour came back and he was full of energy for the rest of the day! Praise the Lord!
I just feel to encourage you, in the tough times to turn your eyes to Jesus and give Him praise. There is power in choosing to praise and worship Him when you don't feel like it. The devil is defeated and can't stand in this atmosphere of praise. So when you're having a bad day, start declaring scriptures like "This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!" Turn off the TV and turn on the worship. God is always good, no matter how we feel. He is always worthy of our praise :)
Thursday 18 October 2012
Sunday 2 September 2012
The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand
"And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:7-8)
It's true! The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! Do we believe it?
We are seeing a bit of a pattern up here with Indigenous Australians - when they truly give their lives to Jesus, they take the Kingdom of Heaven wherever they go, healing the sick, raising the dead and casting out demons. They have no questions as to whether healing is for today, because they see it every day. Same with raising the dead and casting out demons.
Tim and I have met many people now who have been raised from the dead or know someone who has. One of these people is a little 11 year girl from Grooote Eylandt in Arnhem Land. This is her story...
Ann (name changed) went for a swim after school with a group of friends from her community in March this year and got stung by a box jellyfish. Her little body couldn't survive the sting and she stopped breathing. She was put in the troopy along with her aunty and the other kids. Her aunty did CPR while the kids got around her and prayed for God to bring her back to life. God did restore her heart beat and she began to breathe once again. On returning to the community Ann was flown to the closest hospital for treatment with her aunty as an escort.
At the hospital a fatal mistake was made. It seems that the medication that was intended to help her was accidentally put in the wrong artery and went straight to her heart causing her to have a heart attack. The doctors and nurses were upset knowing that this beautiful little girl had lost her life. Her aunty, however, full of the Holy Spirit removed herself from the room to go to the toilet. There she prayed for little Ann to be raised from the dead a second time.
When Ann's aunty returned to the room, the scene had changed! Ann had come back to life!!! No human intervention, but the power of the Holy Spirit at work!
Ann is now receiving treatment at the Royal Darwin Hospital, which is where Tim met her and her family. Unfortunately, the medication which caused the heart attack also affected the circulation to her legs. The doctors had operated to remove one leg from below her knee before we met her. The other leg was in great danger of needing to be removed, but by the power of God is now saved. Ann is now learning to walk again with the aid of a prosthetic leg. We are believing for God to grow a new leg for her!
Praise God for Ann's Aunty who believed the Scriptures and obeyed them! Trust and obey, for there's no other way!!
It's true! The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! Do we believe it?
We are seeing a bit of a pattern up here with Indigenous Australians - when they truly give their lives to Jesus, they take the Kingdom of Heaven wherever they go, healing the sick, raising the dead and casting out demons. They have no questions as to whether healing is for today, because they see it every day. Same with raising the dead and casting out demons.
Tim and I have met many people now who have been raised from the dead or know someone who has. One of these people is a little 11 year girl from Grooote Eylandt in Arnhem Land. This is her story...
Ann (name changed) went for a swim after school with a group of friends from her community in March this year and got stung by a box jellyfish. Her little body couldn't survive the sting and she stopped breathing. She was put in the troopy along with her aunty and the other kids. Her aunty did CPR while the kids got around her and prayed for God to bring her back to life. God did restore her heart beat and she began to breathe once again. On returning to the community Ann was flown to the closest hospital for treatment with her aunty as an escort.At the hospital a fatal mistake was made. It seems that the medication that was intended to help her was accidentally put in the wrong artery and went straight to her heart causing her to have a heart attack. The doctors and nurses were upset knowing that this beautiful little girl had lost her life. Her aunty, however, full of the Holy Spirit removed herself from the room to go to the toilet. There she prayed for little Ann to be raised from the dead a second time.
When Ann's aunty returned to the room, the scene had changed! Ann had come back to life!!! No human intervention, but the power of the Holy Spirit at work!
Ann is now receiving treatment at the Royal Darwin Hospital, which is where Tim met her and her family. Unfortunately, the medication which caused the heart attack also affected the circulation to her legs. The doctors had operated to remove one leg from below her knee before we met her. The other leg was in great danger of needing to be removed, but by the power of God is now saved. Ann is now learning to walk again with the aid of a prosthetic leg. We are believing for God to grow a new leg for her!
Praise God for Ann's Aunty who believed the Scriptures and obeyed them! Trust and obey, for there's no other way!!
Monday 9 July 2012
Stop for the one...
Stop for the one... Heidi Baker's plea for God's people to act.
It can be so overwhelming when you look at the sheer volume of people in need up here in the Territory that it can be difficult to know where to start or what to do. I can understand why people give up before they start. The thing is, when you do stop for the one, the one turns into twenty, then a hundred before you know it! But God is good and He loves nothing more than to pour out His love and compassion on these beautiful people.
Outside the Darwin Hospital is still proving to be a place where there is a constant need for ministry 24 hours a day. On the few occasions that no one has been outside, a few minutes of praying on the wall has seen several sick people come walking out - literally because "God told us to come outside for prayer". These people are so in tune with the Spirit world.
There are so many stories we could tell you from visits to the hospital. One that I (Cath) personally saw was a healing of this little one year old girl. She had been in hospital for 4 weeks with a nasty flu. When we met her, she was coughing, vomiting, screaming and had thick snot oozing from her nose. Elle who was with me, and I prayed together for this little girl. Tim called me off to pray for another lady and when I came back, Elle was playing and laughing with the little girl!! No more snot, no more vomiting, no more coughing. To top it off she was indicating that she wanted a bottle! She had a nasal tube in because she hadn't wanted a bottle for the last month! Yay God!!
Aside from the many amazing healings, God is using the hospital ministry to connect us with people and communities right across the Top End. Last week, Tim met a young guy out the front of the hospital called Steve. Steve is here as a full time carer and escort for his uncle who is in hospital with knee problems. After chatting with Steve, Tim was invited to go and pray with his uncle. His uncle is now able to stand up and move his knees a lot more freely. We are still waiting for a complete breakthrough, but his surgery in Melbourne has been cancelled because of his dramatic improvement!
Steve is from a remote community called Numbulwar which is on the mainland just south of Groote Eyelandt in Arnhem Land. Just before coming here to Darwin, Steve made a decision to change his life and follow God. There are a number of Christians at Numbulwar who follow the two-way thinking - that is, they can worship God and carry out their spiritual ceremonies together. We have been privileged to spend a lot of time with Steve teaching him about the Truth of the Gospel and praying for him. We also took Steve to the Mindle Markets to see the fireworks display on Territory Day - an experience he'll never forget! Out of this we have an open invitation to visit Steve and his family at Numbulwar any time we like.
Another great ministry spot has been Knuckeys Lagoon Community. Again, a connection was made with a family at the hospital so we were able to go into the community with some dinner and feed a stack of people. We then found out that the people who were running a church in the community have moved on and no one is ministering with with these people anymore. They are very keen for us to come in every Saturday night and worship with them. It is a lot of fun but very overwhelming at the same time. Dinner time is pretty much Chaos, with prayer for the sick happening all the time. The children there are beautiful tho and our boys are loving getting to know them!
Ultimately, we would love to run a kids ministry in the afternoon, followed by some dinner, worship and teaching. Please pray that God will provide the right people to come alongside us and help us with this! It's pretty tricky with our own little ones to do this well by ourselves. Pray also for favour with the management so that we can have access to the kitchen and toilets that are attached to the hall - that would make everything so much easier!
We were reminded this week of the power of intercession. Too many times we find ourselves going out into the battlefield without our armour. God is so incredibly gracious though and covers us with His blood wherever we go. But how much greater power could we be operating in if we would always stop and pray and worship and take on the battle in the Spirit realm before heading out? In Ephesians 6 Paul teaches that "we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."
I am grateful for people like Heidi who remind us that it is possible to change the world. Everywhere we go people are lost and hurting. Imagine if we all stopped for the one? I am not there yet. I still pass by hurting people everyday. Why? I don't know. Fear. Too busy. Selfish. I forget how big God is. I forget who I am in Christ. I tell you what though, every time I do stop, I don't regret it. I see someone's mourning turn into dancing, their sorrow into joy! And if I'm having a grumpy day, it's a quick way to change that too!
Time for me to soak in the love and presence of my Father. More of Him, less of me.
Bless ya, Cath
It can be so overwhelming when you look at the sheer volume of people in need up here in the Territory that it can be difficult to know where to start or what to do. I can understand why people give up before they start. The thing is, when you do stop for the one, the one turns into twenty, then a hundred before you know it! But God is good and He loves nothing more than to pour out His love and compassion on these beautiful people.
Outside the Darwin Hospital is still proving to be a place where there is a constant need for ministry 24 hours a day. On the few occasions that no one has been outside, a few minutes of praying on the wall has seen several sick people come walking out - literally because "God told us to come outside for prayer". These people are so in tune with the Spirit world.
There are so many stories we could tell you from visits to the hospital. One that I (Cath) personally saw was a healing of this little one year old girl. She had been in hospital for 4 weeks with a nasty flu. When we met her, she was coughing, vomiting, screaming and had thick snot oozing from her nose. Elle who was with me, and I prayed together for this little girl. Tim called me off to pray for another lady and when I came back, Elle was playing and laughing with the little girl!! No more snot, no more vomiting, no more coughing. To top it off she was indicating that she wanted a bottle! She had a nasal tube in because she hadn't wanted a bottle for the last month! Yay God!!
Aside from the many amazing healings, God is using the hospital ministry to connect us with people and communities right across the Top End. Last week, Tim met a young guy out the front of the hospital called Steve. Steve is here as a full time carer and escort for his uncle who is in hospital with knee problems. After chatting with Steve, Tim was invited to go and pray with his uncle. His uncle is now able to stand up and move his knees a lot more freely. We are still waiting for a complete breakthrough, but his surgery in Melbourne has been cancelled because of his dramatic improvement!
Steve is from a remote community called Numbulwar which is on the mainland just south of Groote Eyelandt in Arnhem Land. Just before coming here to Darwin, Steve made a decision to change his life and follow God. There are a number of Christians at Numbulwar who follow the two-way thinking - that is, they can worship God and carry out their spiritual ceremonies together. We have been privileged to spend a lot of time with Steve teaching him about the Truth of the Gospel and praying for him. We also took Steve to the Mindle Markets to see the fireworks display on Territory Day - an experience he'll never forget! Out of this we have an open invitation to visit Steve and his family at Numbulwar any time we like.
Another great ministry spot has been Knuckeys Lagoon Community. Again, a connection was made with a family at the hospital so we were able to go into the community with some dinner and feed a stack of people. We then found out that the people who were running a church in the community have moved on and no one is ministering with with these people anymore. They are very keen for us to come in every Saturday night and worship with them. It is a lot of fun but very overwhelming at the same time. Dinner time is pretty much Chaos, with prayer for the sick happening all the time. The children there are beautiful tho and our boys are loving getting to know them!
Ultimately, we would love to run a kids ministry in the afternoon, followed by some dinner, worship and teaching. Please pray that God will provide the right people to come alongside us and help us with this! It's pretty tricky with our own little ones to do this well by ourselves. Pray also for favour with the management so that we can have access to the kitchen and toilets that are attached to the hall - that would make everything so much easier!
We were reminded this week of the power of intercession. Too many times we find ourselves going out into the battlefield without our armour. God is so incredibly gracious though and covers us with His blood wherever we go. But how much greater power could we be operating in if we would always stop and pray and worship and take on the battle in the Spirit realm before heading out? In Ephesians 6 Paul teaches that "we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."
I am grateful for people like Heidi who remind us that it is possible to change the world. Everywhere we go people are lost and hurting. Imagine if we all stopped for the one? I am not there yet. I still pass by hurting people everyday. Why? I don't know. Fear. Too busy. Selfish. I forget how big God is. I forget who I am in Christ. I tell you what though, every time I do stop, I don't regret it. I see someone's mourning turn into dancing, their sorrow into joy! And if I'm having a grumpy day, it's a quick way to change that too!
Time for me to soak in the love and presence of my Father. More of Him, less of me.
Bless ya, Cath
Friday 25 May 2012
Atomic Glory Tour!
I have done it - Yay! I have made myself get on here and write about some of the incredible things the Lord is doing both here in Darwin and Outback Australia.
So last week was the Glory Tour and what a tour it was! This tour came out of something the Lord put on our good missionary friend Roger Latham's heart two years ago whilst in Alice Springs on the first Glory Gathering. A trip from Darwin down the guts to Alice going into every town, community, church along the way spreading the love of Jesus Christ.I will start at the beginning. Last weekend saw the arrival about 30 young fired up men and women of God from right across Australia. We hung out and had an all round really good time swimming in the pool and having a great time in fellowship. The bus - a 48 seater donated to us from a bus operator in SA, was due to Leave Darwin first thing Monday morning.
 |
| Louise, Roger and some of the crew on the bus |
 |
| Ready to roll on the Glory Bus! |
If I wrote down all the events of the trip I'd be here forever so instead, I'll give you a few of the highlights:
We stopped to refuel the bus at Elliot on Wednesday. As we drove into the town I saw a man in a wheelchair. I felt the Lord's power moving me in compassion and decided to grab Adrian, Josh and Josh's son Jacob and walked back to where the man was. We chatted with him and he explained to us that he'd been weak and in the wheelchair for almost a year. We agreed in faith that the Lord had specifically put him there because it was his day to be healed. We prayed with him and after a bit Josh told him to get up and walk. He stood with some assistance and the Lord spoke to us and said that as he stood he would grow stronger. He stood for a while then started walking with some assistance. As he gained strength he began to walk on his own!! All Glory to God!!! The community gathered and watched what the Lord had done and we celebrated there in the street together!
Alice Springs brought back many great memories for me. Two years ago at the first Glory Gathering I was privileged to see an Indigenous lady named Marlene receive a brand new eye after being blind in that eye for 55 years! This time in Alice I met another lady named Marlene who also needed an eye miracle.
Whilst doing street ministry, a lady who had been healed and touched by the Lord invited us back to pray for others where she was staying at a hostel. This hostel is where a lot of sick Indigenous people live. It was here that we met the second Marlene who happened to know the Marlene that was healed 2 years ago! Marlene's right eye was permanently closed and had been like that for more than 3 years. She was also in wheel chair and only had one leg. I felt the Lord say he wanted to heal her sight. We laid hands on her and prayed in Jesus name. Within 20 seconds the eye suddenly popped open and the eyeball rolled around in the socket a few times and then came into alignment. As it did so, she had tears and it stung. Once it was aligned, the stinging stopped and she could see clearly!! Her new eye was blue (This is a pattern I have seen when God heals eyes with Aboriginal folk!). Pastor William from the trip has Marlene's testimony on film and we will put it up on the blog as soon as we get it.
Also in Alice, I had a dream about 2 people leaving wheelchairs. I met both of these people the next day and both got up and walked from their chairs! White fellas looking on were touched and saved as they saw the events in the main mall of Alice.
 |
| Praying for a guy in a wheelchair in Alice |
 |
| Up and Walking!!! |
 |
| He won't be needing this anymore! Praise God! |
There are so many more stories from the trip and each person will have their own accounts of what they saw and experienced along the way. Enough typing for today though - I'll share some more soon.
 |
| Our friend Isaac from Wadeye splitting one of "God's Marbles"!! |
May God have all the Glory for every single story shared and unshared - Tim
Monday 21 May 2012
Hey, welcome to our blog! I (Cath) decided to start this blog because I keep hearing people say to Tim "You should write this stuff down!". God is doing an exciting work amongst the Indigenous people up here in Darwin and right throughout the Territory.
We moved up here from South Australia in February this year after many prophetic words and visions confirming our hearts cry to come. The first month we were based at YWAM while we waited for the arrival of little Sarah and found a place to live. During that time we met Steve and Sarah who we now share our house with. God has blessed us with an incredible house near Casuarina which even has a pool and a resident goanna!
The best thing about this place though, is that it's right near Darwin hospital. This has become Tim's favourite local ministry spot. At any time of the day or night, there are many folk (white and Indig) hanging around out the front getting some fresh air. Many have been healed and relationships have been developed with some of the long term patients. Tim has had so many invites into remote communities through chatting with and praying for Indigenous folk who have come in to Darwin for treatment. This is such a huge blessing because you can't just go into communities without first being invited or having a specific reason to be there. Now we just need the time to go out to these communities! We're praying and believing for an aircraft to make these places more accessible.
Last week was the inaugural "Glory Tour" from Darwin to Alice but that is another story (or many) in itself. I'll try to get Tim on here to share some highlights from the tour in the next few days.
Stay Blessed! Cath :)
 |
| Elliot the goanna found a lady friend! |
The best thing about this place though, is that it's right near Darwin hospital. This has become Tim's favourite local ministry spot. At any time of the day or night, there are many folk (white and Indig) hanging around out the front getting some fresh air. Many have been healed and relationships have been developed with some of the long term patients. Tim has had so many invites into remote communities through chatting with and praying for Indigenous folk who have come in to Darwin for treatment. This is such a huge blessing because you can't just go into communities without first being invited or having a specific reason to be there. Now we just need the time to go out to these communities! We're praying and believing for an aircraft to make these places more accessible.
Last week was the inaugural "Glory Tour" from Darwin to Alice but that is another story (or many) in itself. I'll try to get Tim on here to share some highlights from the tour in the next few days.
Stay Blessed! Cath :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)