The Vision. The Army.

I found this on a blog called The Eden Hijack and later found out that it originated here. This struck my core so powerfully. It's so profound and speaks directly into so much that Jesus has already set ablaze in my heart. Enjoy. 

"The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.

The vision is an army of young people.

You see bones? I see an army. And they are FREE from materialism.

They laugh at 9-5 little prisons. They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday. They wouldn't even notice. They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the west was won. They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport.. People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence. They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying. What is the vision ? The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure.

Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation. It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games. This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause. A million times a day its soldiers choose to lose that they might one day win the great 'Well done' of faithful sons and daughters.

Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night. They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: "COME ON!"

And this is the sound of the underground The whisper of history in the making Foundations shaking Revolutionaries dreaming once again Mystery is scheming in whispers Conspiracy is breathing… This is the sound of the underground

And the army is discipl(in)ed.

Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms. The tattoo on their back boasts "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain".

Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes. Winners. Martyrs. Who can stop them ? Can hormones hold them back? Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them or death kill them ?

And the generation prays like a dying man with groans beyond talking, with warrior cries, sulphuric tears and with great barrow loads of laughter! Waiting. Watching: 24 – 7 – 365.

Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries.

They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive inside.

On the outside? They hardly care. They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate but never to hide. Would they surrender their image or their popularity? They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row - guilty as hell. A throne for an electric chair.

With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days, they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them.

Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.) Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus. Their words make demons scream in shopping centres. Don't you hear them coming? Herald the weirdo's! Summon the losers and the freaks. Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes. They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension. Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.

And this vision will be. It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come soon. How do I know? Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning of the Spirit, the very dream of God. My tomorrow is his today. My distant hope is his 3D. And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great 'Amen!' from countless angels, from hero's of the faith, from Christ himself. And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.

Guaranteed."

Under the shadow of His wings

I inhale Him. I exhale peace. I've lost myself. I am found hidden in the chamber of his heart.


If anyone is searching for me these holidays, I'll be nestled under the shadow of His wings. Resting under the apple tree of divine refreshment, where his fruits are ever sweet to my taste. The Prince of Peace is teaching me to rest. Abide. Linger.


Silent night. Peace on Earth. He is leading me by the hand, taking me back to the pure essence of the holidays that has been buried under the chaos of tradition. Forget the presents, I'll be delighting in the presence.


Looking over my shoulder, I see three months of holy, blessed chaos. Learning much. Getting to know many. Exploring myself. Letting go. Embracing change. Shifting paradigms. Redefining meaning. Question marks fade. Promises fulfilled. Flames kindled. Hope awakened. This is has been my daily reality as a ministry school student, and a partaker in a season of more bliss, enjoyment, and fulfillment than was ever painted on the canvas of my imagination.
But, whilst being swept away by the winds of change, He reminds me to keep breathing. Keep resting. Always abiding.


As the Christmas Holidays have embraced me with open arms, I realize that their timing couldn't have been more opportune. Like Adam, who knew nothing apart from day seven's sacred rest, woven into my DNA is a longing for Eden, a desire for ease, silence, stillness and ceasing to do anything but know that He is God and He is good. Busyness and chaos wasn't as much His idea as it was society's. I am a vessel of peace, I was born to lie down in green pastures, while his voice like rushing waters flows over me, flows through me. As the curtain tore, my Shepherd led me back to Eden, which is now within me. Rest is internal. The wellspring of life is in me. He has made himself at home in the tabernacle of my heart, and I recline on the sofa in His. My God designed rest, and then created me with the longing and ability to enjoy it. Adam knew peace outside of himself, I have the Prince of Peace abiding within. Adam walked with God at twilight's dawn. I walk with him unceasingly in my garden, my heart.
Rest is internal. Rest is His essence. As I sit under the shade of the Almighty, I feast on the fruit of his works, and my heart beats to the rhythm of the song singing "it has been done."


He calls me. "Come away my love." We sit beside the River of life. "Jump in," He calls. I trust. There is no fear in His love. We float in the colorful waters that flow from the throne. His embrace reminds me of what he has done. Those nail pierced hands testify of a better way. The way of peace. The way of life. "What could you do that my blood has not already done?" He whispers. "Rest my child. Lay your head on my chest, so I can sing salvation's lullaby over you once again."

Revelations on the Song of Songs {Part 1}

In studying the sermons of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux on ‘Solomon’s Song of Songs,’ it has been like the unveiling of great treasures as the dimensions behind this biblical poetry have unfolded. What lies beyond each sentence and each word, far surpasses anything my imagination could conceive, and has left me captivated and reveling in the mystery of the fierce force of love that the inspirer of this book has for the subject to which it was written.

Below are some of the revelations that have captured me whilst on this journey into the interpretive depths of this book:

On the title of the book:

There are many psalms, hymns and spiritual songs recorded throughout the length of the bible written by numerous authors on varying points in the timeline. However, there is one song that stands out from the rest, and who’s author has been so bold as to award it with the title of “The Song of Songs.” Even before moving into the luscious substance of the book, we already know that it’s subject matter is that of highest importance and to be valued above all other ’songs.’ This is a book of mystery, a book who’s words and phrases can induce a state of spiritual intoxication within the reader, and a love story that has been exhaled from the mouth of the source of love itself. As Saint Bernard so states, this is not merely a song of the lips, a harmony of voices or the resounding of a melody, but it is the music of the heart and a harmony of wills. “It is a tune you will not hear in the streets, these notes do not sound where crowds assemble; only the singer hears it and the one to whom he sings - the lover and the beloved. It is preeminently a marriage song telling of chaste souls in loving embrace, of their wills in sweet concord, of the mutual exchange of the heart's affections. “

On Chapter 1:1 - “Let Him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth”

This book tells the intimate tale of a flourishing romance between two virgin souls: a bridegroom and his bride. In reality, it was written about King Solomon and the Shulamite woman who captured his heart, but in essence, it reveals the heart of the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ towards us, his church and his beloved. A bride and bridegroom have been carefully selected to depict Jesus and his church for many symbolic reasons that give us further understanding of our relationship with him. “A man must leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife,” and so Jesus, in leaving the Father and Spirit in heaven and coming to earth in the likeness of humanity, is much the same as a bridegroom coming for his bride. She, the beloved, then leaves the place of her birth, her native land and becomes one flesh with her husband. No longer separate entities, the two are joined together in perfect and inseparable union. They dwell together in the same house and feast at the same table. All he has belongs to her, and all she has belongs to him. So it is with us in relation to Christ. We have become flesh of his flesh, and in this place of union with the bridegroom King, we partake in the abundance of his house and dwell forever in his courts of luxury. 

The bride is the first to open her mouth and sing out the desires of her heart. Her words are the first recorded, and the book begins with a request that she has of her beloved. She does not name him, for she presumes that what her heart could not for a moment forget or cease to desire, must be plain to those with whom she speaks. She presumes that they must surely know his name, for He is all she ever cares to speak about. 

She is a bride, and she is a lover. One who seeks a reward is a worker. One who hungers for victory is a warrior. One who desires an inheritance is a son, but one who seeks a kiss a lover. She, certain that her beloved’s affections for her are true, does not attempt to seduce him or convince him of her worthiness to be loved, but out of the unquenchable overflow of her heart, she abruptly bursts into speech and boldly asks for a kiss. 

The bride does not desire Moses or the prophets, for what proceeds from their mouth only leaves her feeling unfulfilled and in search of the one of whom they speak. She doesn’t lust after dreams or visions, revelations or doctrines, nor does she peruse angels or heavenly delights, for she knows that Jesus, her beloved, far surpasses the entire combination of these, and therefore she asks of him what she asks of no man or angel, that he would kiss her with the kisses of his mouth. 

Now the kiss in itself is altogether a mystery. What is intriguing is that the bride does not merely ask him to kiss her, but she specifically asks to be kissed with the kisses of his mouth. A kiss is something that has it’s being in the coming together of the giver and the receiver. It is not something that is possessed entirely by one or the other, but as both draw close to each other, a kiss is formed. A kiss is something that unites two things together, in this case, God and man. A kiss is a symbol of both union and peace. Jesus, in his nature is representative of the kiss. He is an expression of the union between divinity and humanity, and he stood as the mediator and bond of peace between God and man. The mouth denotes The Word, which is God “In the beginning was the word, and the word was God.” In the same way, that which proceeds from the mouth of God, the very breath of God, symbolizes the nature of Holy Spirit. In the scriptures, when God breathed upon man, he was breathing his very spirit upon them. So here, in the bride’s request, we see the triune nature of God expressed. 

The bride’s desire is union and intimacy in it’s deepest form. She also yearns to know her beloved. As she asks to be ‘kissed with the kisses,’ she knows that she will be filled with both the love and the intimate three-fold knowledge of her beloved. “No one knows the Father except the son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him,” because of this, the bride knows that if she is kissed with the kiss (which is Christ), she will receive the knowledge of the Father, for she knows that if he will reveal himself to anybody it will  surely be her. 

These are just a few of my revelations on the first verse of the Song of Solomon, and as I continue to delve deeper into this book, I will be posting more of the treasures I find.

Thought for the day

Interdependency and not independency is the business of the Kingdom

Thought for the day

Happy is the soul that is drunk with divine love

Sweetly Broken, Wholly Surrendered

I felt it pressed strongly on my heart to document as much of my Bethel journey as I possibly can, and while my blog posts have been very and few and far between, my heart is that this would be a place that records my journey, not only to a foreign land, but a journey through ever changing spiritual seasons, and a journey into the depths of the father's heart. I want this to be a place where I write from the overflow of what God is doing in my heart, to both bless and encourage those who read. 

I began my first week of school at BSSM (Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry) just 4 weeks ago, yet the change in my life feels monumental, and the school year is only young. 

I have almost been reluctant to write a blog post regarding my school experience, because it seems as though I couldn't possibly begin to articulate my experiences well enough do them the justice that they deserve.  

This blog post is going to include my highlights thus far and things that have left the biggest mark on my heart.

Bethel to me is a place that has captured the essence of the Kingdom, and this is expressed not merely in words, but in authentic demonstration. What has ruined me the most thus far, apart from the the love of the Father, has been the Bethel culture. Before moving here and being a part of this movement, I listened to many teachings and podcasts, read many books that had been birthed in this place, and I thought that to some degree, I understood this culture. Upon arriving and experiencing it, I realized that knew so little of what the 'culture of honor' as they call it, is really all about. Some things cannot be articulated or conveyed using words and language but have to be felt. 

How would you describe the wind or the feeling of rain on your skin? These things are better left to be personally experienced, and so it is with the Bethel culture. As I walked into the sanctuary on my first day of school, I felt loved, accepted and honored without anyone having to say it or demonstrate it. It's in the air, and it dictates the way everything in this house is done. 

As Kris Vallotton shared with our class of 900 students, the core values of this house, I was undone. Before coming here, I was uncertain of what to expect and wasn't totally sure of what this year would encompass, but as we sat and heard what this movement is all about, it's vision and it's values, I knew that I was in safe hands. I walked into school that day feeling slightly apprehensive, and walked out feeling completely surrendered and yielded to the leadership of this house and all that God is doing in the midst of this group of people. I knew from the first day, that this was a place that I wanted to partner with and who's vision I wanted to support by allowing my gifts, calling and god-given talents to be a blessing to this house and ultimately this city. My heart has been, ever since, that this place and these people would be blessed by my having been here as I am blessed by the absolute privilege of being here at such a time as this. 

Every single day that I attend school, I sit in my chair, I look around me and think "I must be His favorite because surely life can't be this good on a daily basis."

I feel as though my life is enriched daily by the apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and leaders that are pouring into me, as well as the people I get to stand alongside and "do life" with this year. At any given moment, I can look around, and I know that I am looking upon revivalists and world changers. We are all told daily that we are destined for greatness, and we are all brave enough to believe it. I know that out of this year is going to emerge a group of history-shaping, revivalists that both know God intimately and walk in power and authority that are fruits of this union. I feel honored to be a member of this body of believers.

On a personal level, the Lord has been taking me on a journey of drawing me into himself, and in the secret place has been doing even more profound things than what he has been doing during our corporate gatherings. My prayer for this year has been that intimacy with him would be first and foremost, and that everything else would follow as a result of this deep, deep intimacy with the father. 

I desire to see miracles, I desire to change nations, I desire to see the dead raised, the sick healed and the broken made whole, but all of this counts for nothing if I do not know him intimately. I want my roots to go deeper into the ground than my branches go high above the ground. I want that which is secret, that which happens just between him and I, to be of far more value to me than that which the people around me get to see. I am a lover, it's in my DNA, and my prayer is that I would "know the love of God that surpasses knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19). One thing I ask and one thing I seek, now and for the rest of my life, that I would dwell in the house of the Lord and gaze upon his beauty all the days of my life.

Far be it from me that I should desire anything apart from him, for in him I find fullness of life. He is the fountainhead of all I could ever want and need, and in this season, I am swimming in the ocean of his presence. It's all around me. Everywhere. Every day. 

I am my beloved's and his desire is for me.

At the cross you beckon me

Draw me gently to my knees

I am lost for words

So lost in love

Sweetly broken

Wholly surrendered

- Sweetly Broken, Jeremy Riddle

Bethel, Bethel, Bethel

On Friday afternoon, I landed in Redding, California which marked that start of a year-long adventure into the plans that God has for my life.
It was a surreal moment to live out something I have been planning and dreaming of for months, and words cannot express how grateful I am to be here in the midst of a mighty move of God. I feel blessed beyond comprehension.

On Sunday I went to my first services at Bethel, the morning service at their Twinview campus, and the evening at the main Bethel building.
Twinview was incredible. Picture a room jam-packed full of young, passionate worshippers from all corners of the globe, wholeheartedly praising the King. Wow. I was in my element.
Most of the congregation at Twinview was made up of first year BSSM students (myself included) who have come here to Redding from all walks of life to take part in something we know will mark and change the rest of our lives. You could feel the excitement and the anticipation in the atmosphere.
We then watched Bill Johnson preach via iBethel TV, and to be sitting amongst fellow students under the ministry of an incredible father in the faith, was an amazing moment, and I'm sure the first of many.
We got to lay hands on each other throughout the service and pray for healing for specific mentioned bodily ailments, and I loved the sense of unity and family that has already developed and school does not start until next week. Yay God.

That evening I went to pre-service prayer at Bethel, and what an incredible meeting! The Glory of God was thick in the room as people were circling, praying, getting drunk, soaking etc etc. What a way to kick-start the evening.
Worship was led by Brian and Jenn Johnson, who are an incredibly anointed couple. I have been listening to their music for a while, but being there and being able to worship with them and thousands of other lovers of God, was beautiful.
Worship went on for ages, and getting lost in praise is something that I can't get enough of. I adored the worship session and being able to celebrate life and salvation. It was incredible.

Danny Silk then preached  a message on discernment, and I adore his gracious heart and sense of humor too. I feel so blessed to be here and to be able to experience and partake in this culture of honor that Bethel church has cultivated. It is such a free, loving and gracious environment that brings out the best in people. I am starting to feel very at home as a new member of the Bethel family.

So here's to adventures, change, fulfilled dreams and the best year of my life.
Thank you Jesus!

Unio Mystica

Some revelations I have had lately regarding "Christ in me, the hope of Glory" ...


The main part of what God has been revealing to me lately is centered around our union with Christ or 'Unio Mystica' that the blood of Christ bought for us. 
We were once separate from him, separate entities entirely, but have now been made one with our savior through the power of his death and resurrection. This not only means that the presence of Jesus is around us, but rather the fullness of God dwells within us. He is no longer someone we have the privilege of being "with" but rather we are now "in" him and he "in" us. 
An example to illustrate this coming together of two separate entities was the mixing of colours. When yellow and blue are mixed, the make an entirely new colour, green. When we look at the colour green, our eyes see no distinction in it's substance. We are not able to say where yellow ends and blue begins. So it is with us and Christ. In Galatians 2:20 it says "I have been co-crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." Not even the Father can tell where Christ begins and you end, for when he looks at you, he sees an entirely new creation full with all his fullness and holiness (2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!")

This was the plan of the father before the world began, that his people should be mystically untied to him, without the capability of ever being separate. When Jesus came to the earth, he came to fulfill this plan of the Father. Of course he too came to forgive the sins of mankind, but the forgiveness of sins was only one element of that plan, and the first step towards purchasing union. With human beings still possessing a sinful nature, union was impossible. He thus came to earth, bled, died and eradicated the sinful nature from those who would confess him as Lord, and then ushered these 'born again' (born from heaven, in the likeness of God, possessing no sinful nature whatsoever) believers into union with him. When Jesus prayed for us, the future believers in John 17, he didn't pray that we would be a moral people, but he prayed that we would be in union with him "that they may be one; even as you Father are in me and I in you, that they may also be in us." Jesus knew that morality would flow as a result of union and he knew that morality could not pull us into union, if it had power to do so, there would have been no need for his death.


So, as he climbed inside of us, he raised us up and seated us in the heavenly places (which are within him), and now as believers, we live from heaven towards earth, for that is where we are seated and our dwelling place is, within Christ. 
Before we came to Christ, we were under the Law, and our only hope of finding favor in the Father's eyes was through "doing" all kinds of good deeds prescribed in the Law, and climbing up each rung of the moral ladder in hope of escaping hell and making it into heaven.
The Father in his wisdom, knowing that the Law only aroused sin and did not empower a person to overcome it, sent his Son in the likeness of sinful man to condemn sin in the flesh and live the perfect human life on our behalf. Jesus did not come to show us how to live and he did not come so that we could try in our own might to imitate him. He came to give us a new nature, his nature, and to empower us to be just like Him through union. We "do" because we are. Good works are fruits of imtimacy and in themselves have no power to bring us into intimacy. The only way in which we could come to the Father was drenched in the blood of the Lamb. 
The bible speaks of the blood of bulls and goats being of no value. This is symbolic of human effort. No amount of human effort that we could muster up in our own strength could ever bring us into union. The blood of the Lamb is symbolic of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, and only when we humble ourselves and acknowledge that we are powerless to fulfill the Law but need a savior to bring us into union, and accept the sacrifice of Jesus, do we enter into this uninterrupted union with the creator of heaven and earth. Our union is by grace through faith 100% and does not depend one iota on anything we ourselves could do.


I have found in my own life, that it is the supreme art of the devil to make a "Law" out of good works that are intended to be fruits of union and not prerequisites to it. In my life in the past, as well as in the lives of so many charismatic Christians, the enemy has warped these good works and turned them on us like fiery darts aimed at making us self-focused and introverted. Introversion is not a fruit of the spirit.
He will often take things like prayer, reading the word, healing the sick, bringing people to Christ etc, and try to make these into works of the Law. He will then get you to convert these practices into some form of moral ruler with which you daily measure yourself with. In turn, your security is no longer based on what Christ has accomplished, but what YOU are daily "doing for Christ." This takes the focus off him and his finished work and onto ourselves. The very reason Jesus came to this earth was to be the lifter of our heads so that we would ever gaze on him and no longer on ourselves as we once did when under the Law. Measuring yourself with any kind of moral ruler and failing to attain the perfection of Christ through your own efforts, gives you the illusion that your union with God and the favor that you have with him can be turned on and off at the flick of a switch, should you go one day without reading your bible (for example.) This is the Galatian bewitchment that Paul spoke of in his letter to the Galatian church, and is the largest known form of witchcraft infiltrating charismatic circles today. 

I am 100% for the reading of the word, the healing of the sick, prayer, fasting, bringing people to Christ and every other kind of good work that Jesus expressed when he walked the earth. However, I am 100% against the notion that these things can increase the father's approval of you and the favor you have in his eyes. The blood of bulls and goats (good works apart from Christ) are of no value, only the precious blood of the lamb that was slain (The acceptance Jesus' sacfrice on the cross).