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just10 North East - the story so far The just10 series in the North East of England got off to an amazing start just after the Easter school holidays. Two massive marquees were erected in Gateshead (for the north of the region) and Stockton on Tees (for the south of the region). In week one almost 12,000 people attended the opening meetings. J.John was in excellent form and the people responded warmly to his amazing communication style but, more importantly, to the invitation he gave at the end of the message. Churches have responded well to the outstanding opportunity this series provides. Coaches have been booked so groups can travel together and some of the local church leaders are teaching the Ten Commandments in their Sunday services following the encouragement given by J.John. Nothing on this scale has been attempted for many years in this region and it is encouraging to see the way in which individual Christians and churches are responding to the opportunity. Amazing stories are coming in every week. "Viv Howe let her light shine in her office at Certex in Team Valley and ended up crying tears of joy as her colleague gave her life to Christ the first week of the series. Michelle May from Chester-le-Street is bowled over by her new life. "I felt I was on a roller coaster during the meeting and when J.John made the appeal I thought…oh yeah…then I just had to go out! I started to cry as I prayed. The next morning I woke up with such a peace ... it’s been brilliant!" Michelle’s so full of her new life, she’s been sharing it with the colleagues Viv’s been speaking to for years and more have been coming along." "Stefan George and Radu Petre, two Eastern Europeans who are supplied by the big top company, looking after security at Stockton, committed their lives to Jesus during J.John’s appeal. They say they're overwhelmed by the kindness of people offering them hospitality. We’re intent on loving in word and deed. Both are convinced that numbers of people wanting to come to just10 will increase every week. Amen, as they say in downtown Romania!" "I just want to share with you what has happened to me. I attended the first night at Preston Park and my life has changed since. I'm in a total daze and my mind is in a whirl. I went along to the first night, looking forward to it, but with a feeling of unease (I don't know why). Towards the end of J.John's talk I felt that he was talking directly to ME, and then when we sang Amazing Grace (which is MY hymn) I practically pole-vaulted over people to get to the front! I can't believe I did it. I'm now looking forward to a new life. Thank you." Audrey Wightman
just10 Chorleywood - the story so far I wonder what those who originally had the vision to build the beautiful Victorian church of Christ Church, Chorleywood would have made of just10 Chorleywood? Our car park filled to overflowing each evening; seating stretched to the max, to welcome as many as we could into the main church. As around a dozen local churches, spanning a wealth of worshipping traditions, joined together - inviting friends, family, colleagues and neighbours; welcoming visitors from further afield, to hear the message of God's love. Spoken through J.John’s humour-filled, compelling words – conveying both the extraordinary depth of God’s love; and the challenge of gospel living. Challenging those of us already on the journey, and those contemplating first steps with Christ - like this man, invited through footballing friends, who described how ‘…whilst thoroughly enjoyable & fun, J.John can also be very challenging, convicting, almost aggressive in shaking us out of our complacency. It’s a wake up call, this is a serious matter.’ Or as another man explained: it ‘…makes you think through and discuss things you would never normally think too much about. Personally it has rekindled feelings, and reminded me of times in the past when I’ve been closer to God. Some of it I’m in total agreement with, some of it …[is] difficult to take on board.’. The message of God’s love was at work, too, in powerful and moving testimonies. In worship. In awestruck moments of stillness and silent response. In those coming forward for prayer. And memorably, in a queue the length of the church’s main aisle as people responded to J.John’s invitation in week 3, waiting patiently for anointing for healing. As a guest invited by a family member put it, ‘from each week I take one message without fail, which will stay with me forever.’. We have been aware throughout that in terms of numbers, just10 Chorleywood has been (inevitably, given the capacity of our Victorian walls!) ‘baby brother’ to the events at Tyneside and Teesside. Yet our prayer is that the fruits of God’s grace will grow and grow: in journeys with Christ begun and encouraged; in lives healed and transformed; in encouraging local churches as we work together; in the impact on communities in which we live and work. As we have delighted to welcome J.John to speak in his home town (hoping he hadn’t dwelt too long on Luke 4:24 before accepting the invitation!!), and to pray for him before, throughout, and beyond these ten weeks. Our thanks go to him, to the team at Philo Trust; and to all locally who have helped in any and every way throughout the series. To end where I began - those who built Christ Church, Chorleywood placed these words on the chancel arch, visible from every seat: ‘I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord almighty’. (2 Corinthians 6:18) Through the ten weeks J.John repeatedly invited us to experience the love of our Father God. And we rejoiced with God’s sons and daughters who came forward to pray and be prayed for, that they might live in fuller relationship with their Father. So I suspect those who over the years have prayed and built for Christ’s gospel in this local area would say of just10 – hallelujah! Please do join with us as we continue to pray, and to build on just10, and all that has gone before – that the Gospel of grace will continue its transforming work in many individuals’ lives, as well as the lives of our communities. Revd Rachel Jenkinson |
While you were waiting for healing I’ve seen many people healed from many things. Just a couple of weeks ago a doctor was healed of arthritis in his knees after I prayed for healing in a church service. Last year a blind lady was leaving the church after a healing meeting and thought she saw someone’s face as she left. She didn’t believe it at first, but by Wednesday of that week her eyesight was restored. These are great stories … but what should we do when we’re praying for our own healing and it hasn’t yet appeared? Here are a few thoughts for those who are praying and waiting for healing to manifest in their own bodies. We need to view sickness like a snake climbing up our leg. If that happened we wouldn’t just mildly complain about it to others. No. We’d stand up, shake it off our leg and probably shout a bit! We may even curse it and then beat it till it was dead. When we’re trying to get healed of a long-standing illness, I think there are a few things we should know. If the sickness came as a long process of decline, let’s not be surprised if our healing is a gradual process of improvement as well. Think of the great oil tankers out at sea. You can’t just turn those things round. When the captain turns the wheel, nothing seems to happen for a while. But if he continues, keeping the wheel turned in the same direction, gradually the vessel will turn. When we’re waiting for healing, we too must be consistent in our faith - looking to God as the source of our healing and trusting and believing that He wants to heal us, that He will heal us and that He’s already done some healing. It’s a bit like our sin: - we were forgiven (on the cross) - we are forgiven (as we receive the gift) - we will be forgiven (on the Day of Judgement) Our healing really took place on the cross 2000 years ago. Now we’re enforcing that healing through declaring what God has said and agreeing with it. "… if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven." (Matthew 18:19) We begin by speaking out of faith, saying what we want, not what we have. So we begin to say ‘I’m healed’ instead of telling everyone we’re ill. We do this as an act of faith. There’s an example of this in the Bible when Joel says, "Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’" (Joel 3:10). Why would the Bible tell us to do that? Because Jesus said, "…he will have whatever he says" (Mark 11:23). So we speak the solution not the problem. To imagine this working in practice, think of me praying for my friend Tracy who is afflicted with cancer. When I pray I say, "Tracy is healed. The name of Jesus is above every name. It’s above the name of cancer. I command this cancer to leave now. I declare that it’s the cancer that will curl up and die – not Tracy. Tracy is healed by the wounds of Jesus. The cancer is going NOW! Healing is coming NOW!" And I pray like that every day – for as long as it takes. In other words, we should be expectant. We should tell Satan that his plan to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10), will not work in our body because our healing has been purchased with the blood of Jesus. We need to come to the place where we have as much confidence that we are healed as we have that we are forgiven. How do you know your sin is forgiven? Can you prove it? No. You trust that the blood of Jesus paid the price on the cross, that it’s a deal sealed in the Spirit and that you’ve passed from death to life. As a result an inner witness gradually grows in your spirit. It’s the same covenant that heals us as forgives us. How do we know we’re healed? It begins by trusting that the blood of Jesus paid the price for our healing. In Matthew 8:17 we read, "He took our infirmities". We believe it’s a deal completed – we don’t need to qualify it with little escape clauses in case God’s made a mistake… because we wouldn’t do that for forgiveness. And as we believe, we become a manifestation of our own inner healing. Through believing it – that is, receiving it in the spirit – we soon find that the healing manifests in reality in the flesh. In the same way as Jesus said to Jairus, when the servant said, "Your child is dead, trouble the master no more," and Jesus replied that he should ‘only believe’, we need to continue believing ourselves and never think of relinquishing that belief. I love Psalm 103 because I discovered the Hebrew word translated by our English word ‘all’ really does mean ALL! Whatever you face today, stand up deep inside yourself, just as David did when he was running to face Goliath in battle, and feel boldly confident that you are facing a defeated enemy. You are! You are healed in the name of Jesus. Don Egan The RSVP Trust |
