In my own inimitable style :-)
Let’s see – it’s Thursday and it’s 4.30 a.m. We must be off somewhere – oh yes – Ireland. Dublin again except we are off 90km southwest of Dublin to Portlaoise (pronounced Portleash). We were met by Pastors Mark and Christian – also otherwise known as Pastors Puyo and Citrom in their own Slovak language. We were there to visit the Word of Life Slovak Gypsy Church of Ireland. This was arranged after our first visit a few weeks back to Bratislava in Slovakia where we met many of these wonderful people of God. It’s a funny feeling being in Ireland, a country like our own, that drives on the left, and speaks English, yet needing translation into both the Slovak and Romany languages. On the way, we stopped in Dublin to pick up our favourite Barnies Coffee from their outlet in Clery’s on O’Connell Street – thats not a free advert but a big thank you to the guys for accommodating us. We started off with lunch and a meeting with 14 folk from the church leadership and worship teams. There was a lot of prayer too as this turned out to be almost a seminal moment for the church and, indeed, for many of the people. As often happens, the 7.00p.m. meeting started prompt at 9:00p.m. and went on til after midnight. As the whole conference we were there to minister to was about the prophetic, it seemed appropriate to prophesy to various people around the meeting room. We had a reserved slot for the leadership a little later on in the three day programme.
Friday morning we were treated to the tourist bit and went around the area cameras clicking happily. The meeting started at 4:00p.m. There was some great anointed worship, and some truly inspired prayer – I was waiting for the building to shake. My my, some of these guys are what you would term ‘real’ prayer warriors. When they pray it’s almost as if heaven stops to listen. Peter proved to be on good form when he spoke too – amusing and hard hitting all at the same time. He spoke from 2 Kings 6:8-23. It’s all about the righteous covering and protection we have from God. Such covering can only exist where we are within the law of our land. Where our traditions conflict with the law, then we have to change in order to make sure we are protected by the law rather than prosecuted by it. Some of our old traditions may well be illegal and therefore cannot be followed any longer – we have to change in order to receive God’s righteous covering.
After the meeting we returned to the apartment where we had of the leadership team join us. We discovered some amazing things about this small church – 50 people founded only six months ago. They are set up entirely along the lines of the church in Acts !! They are even about to start home groups around the Portlaoise area which will be open to ALL their neighbours of whatever nationality and group. There are only relatively few of their members actually working but they seem to be able to pool their resources to help any member in need. The two pastors are very much servants to the church and not overlords, and despite the gypsy traditions from which most of them come, they are developing the church to encompass the whole community. Their love one for another is so obvious and tangible that it is wonderful to see and to experience. They are a young group of people yet there is a desire for holiness and a wisdom way beyond their experience and years that the Lord has given them and we are so very privileged to be allowed to minister to them.
Saturday dawned another beautiful Spring day and we had lunch and some prophecy to the leaders. At 4.00p.m. we all started the conference meeting. Once again the worship and prayers were oh so anointed and it really was a thrill and a great privilege to even be there As it happens, I had to speak for a while and both Peter and I gave testimonies for about an hour. We had a break then during which a young lady called Asul sang for us. Somebody needs to pick her up soon – she has a great talent and sings with an anointing I have rarely heard before. What a blessing !! Peter eventually came back to give the word and he used 1 Samuel 16 where Samuel anointed David king over all Israel. The anointing was upon David with power from that moment onwards. How else could he have over come Goliath without Gods anointing for the task. Goliath saw David on the outside but God saw and used what was on the inside of David. David had the anointing of God. After Peter had spoken there was a spontaneous session of worship and dancing and many people were blessed and received words from the Lord.
After we finished – around 8:30p.m. - we were whisked off for a meal. It will always strike me as odd that, there we were, two Englishmen, in a Bulgarian run Pizzaria, with 4-6 Slovakian Gypsies, in the middle of Ireland. Life has some funny moments doesn’t it? After our meal about 18-20 people came round to our apartment for personal prayer and prophecy. It was another blessed time for all of us. We got to bed around 1:30a.m.
Sunday dawned bright. I dawned miserable having had a stomach upset all night. Our first stop was a lunch visit to the home of one of the leadership team where a wonderful lunch had been laid on. Sadly, it was felt wise for me to watch but not touch. In fact I was fairly bad all day so we decided that I should miss the final meeting at 4:00p.m. on Sunday afternoon. Once again the worship was incredibly anointed and there was an air of expectancy at the beginning of the meeting as
old friends from our last visit to Ireland were there. The worship was flowing in the Spirit which bought the people into a place of openness. Peter spoke about the preparation that God had made in order for the meetings to be held that weekend. There was surprise when the divine contacts and appointments were explained, which added fuel to the anointing that was already in the meeting. He went on to say how Ireland is ready for revival. It is a country that is very much under the influence of the Roman Catholic Church. Once revival comes to Ireland many will see their hearts desire though the outworking of the Holy Spirit, and that we have to have our hearts pure before God in order for Him to use us. We can no longer live a lie, having one foot in the world and the other in the church. The promises of God were spoken over the congregation about binding and loosing according to our claiming Jesus as our Christ . All the church came forward for prayer and to make deeper commitment to the Lord. There followed a great time of rejoicing . There were also a number of personal requests concerning prophetic words and advice just as we read about in the Old Testament. There was an extended prayer and ministry time and many people were greatly blessed by Peter’s ministry. I am just so sad I had to miss it.
Monday morning came, wet and miserable, yet at 5:20a.m. our doorbell went and four good people came to take us to the airport for our journey home. One of them was Alex from Slovakia who had joined us for the conference and came back to the UK with us. We parted company at Stansted airport where he had someone picking him up while Peter and I proceeded to pick up our car to complete the trip.
This had been a wonderful trip which the Lord blessed and moved in a mighty way. I honestly belief that He has laid the foundations of revival in Ireland in a small band of people who have proven themselves willing to seek Him with all their heart. Signs and wonders will surely follow and so then will the people.
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