The best T-Shirt?

During the summer i got given an amazing T-shirt by a really really great friend called David. He has worked in Ibiza in the West end for a couple of seasons now, and it's been a pleasure to develop such a great friendship.

Anyway, when he turned up at the prayer room at the start of this season, knocking on the door around 2am, he was wearing this t-shirt that he'd got from Topman of all places. He said he knew that I'd like it - and he wasn't wrong. It's got the words: 'If you don't get on with the Devil, Jesus will always take you back.' And it's got a picture of a woman (looking quite devilish) next to a Church and a sign saying 'All returns accepted, no questions asked'. He said that he wanted to give it to me, and a few weeks later, it was in my possession. It's now my favourite T-shirt ever!

How awesome is the message on this T-shirt? And the fact i got given it by someone i met in Ibiza is pretty cool. It's got The gospel all over it!!! The sign saying 'all returns accepted' reminds me of the story of the Prodigal Son in the Bible, one of the greatest stories Jesus ever told. The youngest son takes his share of his inheritance and turns his back on his father and goes to a far off country (a modern day version might have Ibiza as the country) to spend all his money on wild living. After running out of money and his friends have left him, he decides to try to get a job feeding pigs, and is desperately hungry. He makes the decision to go home and face his father, worried that he might not be accepted. But the fathers heart is amazing, waiting and ready to accept back his rebellious son, with full forgiveness and in total grace. Jesus told this story to tell us what God the father is like, and it's a pretty awesome message!

This story is relevant more than ever today. Jesus - the exact representation of God - is ready to welcome back anyone who has gone and danced with the Devil, no questions asked. Fact!

Rest

I am now at my Mums house in Lincoln. It's lovely to rest, to have a full English/Roast dinner and to recharge the batteries. I'm hoping to see a couple of mates here and there, but mainly to just chill before heading home on Friday. I wish it was longer, but I'm glad of the time.

At the moment i am gathering as many books on prayer as possible. I feel that over the summer I begun to hit a level of prayer that was effective, yet somehow i knew that there's so much further to go. To be fair, one of the main activities that we do over the summer is prayer. We pray for individual needs, for the broken and the hurting, and also for the holiday makers that we meet. Deep down I know that there is so much more i need to learn and grow when it comes to prayer. I mean i feel I only at the tip of the iceberg. There are times that i pray for someone or something and then end up hitting a dead end. I can pray for someone's addiction, yet i want to see them set free. I know prayer can do this....

The term 'spiritual warfare' is constantly batted about in Churches, yet to be truthful, i don't know much about the subject. I traditionally thought that this specialist area was assigned to Church members who tended to lead extremely serious, yet boring and dull lives. Now I'm thinking about this all myself and in desperate need to find fresh teaching and i have a heart to learn more.

24-7 Rocks Amsterdam

I had the opportunity to be in Amsterdam this weekend as part of the 24-7 Prayer gathering. The meeting wasn't that large, yet many different nations were represented there, with Germany, Scandinavia, The Balkans, and Essex among the main groups! It was an excellent weekend, and i loved hearing some of the things going on in Europe and listening to some excellent talks inspiring us to renew our love for God and the call to pray.

It's so clear that 24-7 isn't about a vision, or a mission statement, or about buildings, or results but about people. What i love most of all about the 24-7 movement is the friendship i have with such great people. Doing what i do in Ibiza means I've had the privilege to meet some fantastic people over the past 18 months, and it was great reconnecting with many of them and catching up with them. It brings such life and renews faith in what I'm called to do. People are so supportive of Ibiza, in particular the Irish lot and the Boiler room in Standford-le-hope. What lovely people they all are! I love you guys. Thanks for the amazing Ethiopian that we shared...yum!

The highlight of the weekend was the Auction on the last day. T-shirts were designed and donated and sold to raise money for 2 couples to bless them in their work. I think about €2500 was donated. The giving and generosity during the sale of a special knitted t-shirt (made by Peggy from Standford) was remarkable. Who says being generous isn't fun? Good times!

I Heart Amsterdam

The picture above is of the motto that the city of Amsterdam have adopted since 2005. These huge monuments are scattered throughout the city and represent the pride and confidence the locals have in their beautiful city.

During a seminar whilst attending the 24-7 Prayer conference I heard a guy mention that it's interesting that the words in red is the name God uses in Exodus to tell his name to Moses....'I am'. How cool is that? All over the great city of Amsterdam is Gods name. In a city with such a 'dark' reputation, we see Gods name right in the centre of it all.

I loved being in such a beautiful city. When i wasn't in meetings, i got to enjoy seeing the sights, the canals, the restaurants that serve every type of food, the people from every corner of the globe, and the buzz. One evening we did walk through the red light district as i wanted to see it firsthand. It was both shocking and sad, to see people literally 'on sale'. But apart from that, the city was such a fantastic place.

24-7 Euro Gathering in Amsterdam

This weekend I'll be in Amsterdam for the annual 24-7 Prayer Gathering. I'm well looking forward to being there and seeing lots of friends and hearing some great talks and hopefully being encouraged. Am feeling really knackered after a busy summer season and i hope to enter a time of rest; rest for my soul. I read in Matthew 11 about Jesus giving rest for the soul. The Message puts it in such a beautiful way: 'Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest...learn the unforced rhythms of grace.' Wow!

The theme for this year is taken from Phillipians 4: ‘Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead. I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus.' I love this bit of scripture so so much, and can't wait to hear more.

The Prayer Wall

Here are some photos of loads of prayers in our Prayer room at the Centre. As you can see, the prayer wall is full of prayers written by workers and holiday makers alike. We have the wall split into sections; prayers for health and protection; for family and friends; for work and finance; direction and future and for everything else.

Whenever we are out and about on the streets and we take a prayer request from someone, we immediately pray for it before putting it up on the wall. It's great to see the wall so full. Quite often workers pop their heads in and read all the prayers and sometime end up writing one themselves. I can't tell you how great it is to see people connect to God in this simple way. Awesome!

The Highest and The Greatest

I love this song by Tim Hughes, and I'm learning it - hoping that i won't kill it - which i usually do to decent songs! The lyrics are awesome and i think they are totally appropriate to the place that I work in. Young people from all nations gather here in Ibiza to worship, and it'd be amazing to see people lifting up the name of Jesus. It's an amazing cry to all the nations to bow down to God. I do hope that one day people here in Ibiza will cry to God 'You are the greatest'.

Verse 1
Wake ev'ry heart and ev'ry tongue
To sing the new eternal song
And crown Him King of Glory now
Confess Him Lord of all

Chorus
You are the highest
You are the greatest
You are the Lord of all
Angels will worship
Nations will bow down
To the Lord of all

Verse 2

A day will come when all will sing
And glorify our matchless King
Your Name unrivaled stands alone
You are the Lord of all

Oh let ev'ry heart
Let ev'ry tongue
Sing of Your Name
Sing of Your Name
Let ev'ry heart
Let ev'ry tongue
Sing sing sing

Lifting you high, higher and higher