For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of POWER.

Paul Bennison

Monthly Archives: November 2017

Cathy Acott – session 2 pre-Sozo ministry training

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Tonight, Cathy and Dennis headed about an hour north of Cali – so about 90-120 minutes from where we live, for Cathy to do a session for Alex and Diana Betancurt’s church. After her night in the bathroom, and much of the day sleeping, to add to the stress, poor Wilmar’s car had a major problem – the radiator was damaged, so of course, that had to be repaired which meant leaving here about an hour and a half late.

Despite the stresses, Cathy was excellent – if anything better than last night – and there was a lovely response from a lovely church. D & C really liked and related to the Betacurts, which I’m delighted about, as I love it when people I bring here love the people I love. It’s been a while since I saw them – maybe March next year, Alex?

As soon as Cathy stood up to speak, her stomach settled, which sounds like a God thin to me (!) and she changed the format slightly to account for the late start, but they were not back here until gone 10 p.m. – a lot of tears as she talked about the Father Heart of God.

Tomorrow really kicks in a hectic programme of churches, foundation, drug rehabs, visits to other ministries like Ana Beiba (hopefully for Dennis & Cathy) ad dear Ana Bustos… visits to many people for friendship, prayer, ministry, healing, laughter….Ulster Fry breakfast Saturday morning, doctor, dentist, butcher, baker, candlestick maker, Uncle Tom Cobbley and all….

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God pouring out blessing at the Foundation and stretching work output and money…

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A good day for Thanney and Johnny at the Foundation today, as between them – bearing in mind that Thanney is one-handed, and Johnny’s never done this sort of work before – they completed all the steelwork for the suspended ceiling, only to be held up by the non-appearance of an electrician…. he’s needed to put wiring in above the ceiling tiles before the ceiling can be totally finished: the tiling of the floor should take a couple of days after the air conditioning is put in at the end of the week. The outside staircase will begin next Monday…. so, if everyone local does what they’re contracted to do, the centre will be ready for handover on Sunday week, the scheduled date, and our last full day here…

…which is a miracle as I’ve said before as it amounts to around 6-7 working weeks from Thanney, these two here so far with the massive limitations of his broken hand!

It seems that the video link didn’t work wherever I put it yesterday, so let’s have another go here:  https://www.facebook.com/jrm.301/videos/10155781383148149/

It works for me copying and pasting it, so give that a try! The building has advanced since Johnny shot this short film….

God’s done wonders, though Thanney clearly suffers with his hand at the end of each day, he is determined not to let it stop him. Just like Johnny with his back… they’re a great pair of guys, literally suffering for the Kingdom….

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The loo doors make an amazing difference in the ‘completed’ look!

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As does the incredibly complex ‘meccano-like’ structure for the suspended ceiling….

Thank you, Lord, for stretching the finance – the flooring guy reduced the amount he was going to charge by 1.8 million pesos (almost £500), and the air condtioning Thanney has managed to get down from 16 million pesos (£4,000) to 6 million (£1,500). We’re still running about £1500 short with unexpected extras that ‘crop up’ as work nears its end.

And thank you, Lord, for multiplying the work of Thanney and Johnny’s three hands to do the work of a dozen….

Tonight, after a ‘Delhi-belly’ night for Cathy – much disturbed, no further details!! – and after her blockbuster pre-Sozo session yesterday, she also won’t let THAT stop her, and she and Dennis are in the city of Yumbo, delivering another similar session to the church/churches of my good friends Alex and Diana Betancurt. Lord, sustain her tonight after a night of no sleep and a day of feeling weak….and do MORE than you did yesterday!

They’re out of the apartment at 7 am in the morning for a few hours with rehabilitating drug addicts in Dagua, high in the Andes, with my great pastor friend Francisco Riaños.

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The critical nature of restoration between brothers and sisters…..

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I’ve been incredibly and deeply blessed the last 2 or 3 days, when I received a message on What’sApp from a friend wanting to chat…
Whether it’s the nature of what of what I do or not I don’t know, but frequently the enemy launches a massive ‘broadside’ at me (and many in ministry, I know), occasionally those broadsides are life-changing (if I allow them to be), lose me friends because of misunderstanding, or because of a ‘set-up’ the enemy causes to be in place that some – often many – choose to believe without checking out the facts.
 
15 years ago, one of those happened: rumour and lies went around the very effective Christian grapevine, and I lost a number of what I’d have considered, then, as good friends. Clearly they weren’t, as none of them came to me to ask my side of the stories, and I refused to publicise my ‘defence’ as it implicated others as the source of those lies….some would have simply said it was ‘sour grapes’ on my part. Over the 15 years, some have come to me and told me they were wrong, asking for forgiveness, which in a situation like that, with me, is a given….
 
9 years ago, I was devastated when a couple I’d have called among my closest friends, cheated, lied, and even stole from me. They know it, but they haven’t ever been in touch to restore what had been a 13 year friendship where I was told, publically, that I was the ‘best friend I’ve ever had had’ by one of them.
 
Two days ago, I got the message I mentioned at the top: relating to something that happened 2 years or more ago, that was such a demonic ‘set-up’ it was almost funny, if it hadn’t been so destructive where, sadly, many relationships were affected. The phone call that came blew me away, and a ‘lost’ (in this case, temporary loss, thank God) friendship was beautifully – and more strongly – restored. At the time, only two people came to me to ask what had happened, and to say that they didn’t believe it. They blessed me more than you’ll ever know.  More have since, but I’m conscious of a number who haven’t and consequently hold me at arm’s length, even though – probably – they’re aware 2 years on, that it wasn’t true. Maybe some of those are ‘christians’ who don’t believe that the enemy attacks us… that makes it even worse from their perspective!
It is NOT easy to ask someone’s forgiveness when you’ve believed lies about lies about them, but it is absolutely CRITICAL in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, that we DO restore relationships. The friend who called was so lovely on the phone: and it has blessed my to the core of my spirit, as well as delighting me that we don’t move on from where we left off, we move on in friendship from a much stronger, better place. You know who you are: thank you. You’ve made my year.
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Cathy blows ’em away with an inner healing/SOZO-type session….

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A few weeks before we came here, I asked Dennis and Cathy if they’d do an introduction to Sozo ministry for anyone who wanted to attend: it’s not something I’ve been able to ‘offer’ on the part of a team before, and not something I’ve heard happening here in Cali. Bless them, William Castaño and Wilmar ran with it, organised one – for today – and then another church jumped in for tomorrow, in Yumbo, a city about an hour north of Cali. Sozo is about helping people hear from God for themselves for inner healing, freedom, release of pain from the past, and so much more.

Cathy was brilliant. We had no idea how many would be there for the first event of this type – but around 70 chairs were put out, and I’m told moe had to be put out. The reaction was tremendous, with a number of other pastors wanting Cathy to do the same thing in their area, so it looks like Dennis and Cathy will have to come back! The response from pastors and attendees was remarkable, bless you Cathy, what an impact!!

Cathy introducing Sozo…

Thanney and Johnny had a really good day today at the kids’ foundation – doors on door furniture on, arrival of air conditioning (getting it much cheaper than we thought we were going to have to find for it! – thank you, Lord!!), more work on the suspended ceilings in the loos, and countless other jobs all heading towards a ‘finish’ well on schedule for the handover on 12 November. Thanney is doing amazingly with his broken hand, though pays for it a bit at the end of the day: and Johnny is doing fantastically, despite his prolapsed disc, trapped sciatic nerve, and general lower body pain.

For me, I spent the morning waiting to have a big needle stuck in both knees – though it turned out the doctor would only do one today, as I was on my own (stretching my Spanish beyond miracle level!!) and  he said I needed someone with me, and a car home, if he was to do both… so another needle tomorrow! It really IS the most strange – and exceedingly painful – sensation having a needle stuck in your knee (I didn’t take any photographs!), but I’m planning, after tomorrow’s masochistic session, to try and take the day horizontal to give the medication a chance to work….

Wednesday, Cathy has her second session, in Yumbo, a church I’m very fond of – pastored by good friend Alex Betancurt – I’m sure her impact there will be every bit as great – if not more – than today (5-8 p.m.). In the morning, Dennis and Cathy are going to the foundation to see the kids currently there, and the miracle worked at the hands of Thanney and Johnny. I’m keeping Dennis and Cathy on the run for their last week, as, on Thursday, they head off high into the Andes, 2 hours drive from here, with great mate Francisco Riaños, a pastor in the north of the city, but who works at a secular drug rehabilitation centre – Centro Rehabilitacion, Dagua – where  D & C will be able to speak/preach to the residents, pray for them, and see them set free…. an early start, a longish drive, a few hours there, drive back, and go to (with me, this time!) to Reconocer, the Christian drug rehab centre at 3 p.m….followed by a church meeting at 7 p.m.

Trying to fit in a visit for D & C, too, to Ana Beiba’s home for abandoned old people… might have to be Friday morning….

The team obviously have to keep body and soul together, while I’m staying home praying and fasting…. 😉

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