I'm in the nations!!

Hello everyone!! I hope you’re all doing well, and happy new year! I am currently in Central Asia on my outreach, we are here for 2 1/2 months to share the gospel and love of Jesus to Muslims!!

It’s been so amazing to be in the nations and partner with Jesus and what he’s doing here. In the nation I’m in there’s only a 0.5% Christian (with 98% Islam) population and so every person we talk to or walk by on the street probably does not know Jesus rightly and his love. Every morning as we intercede and pray for the nation, it breaks my heart to know that 99.5% of the people I see do not know Jesus. That we are (probably) the only people worshipping and praying to the true living God in the city, or even the nation.

This nation belongs to the Lord!! This is his land, his people. Jesus humbled himself and went from sitting on the throne of heaven to being born amongst the animals and then dying a painful death, being separated from his father in heaven, so that he may take on our sin and shame, giving us a relationship with the father and eternal life in heaven. This includes the people of Central Asia! He died for them! Every single one of the souls I see, he died for them. Yet they don’t know and they still carry around the burdens of this world. And they don’t need to! Salivation is a free gift, and so is the love of God!

My heart has been stirred with such heartbreak for them but so much faith and expectancy in what the Lord will do. No one can be saved, healed or delivered by human efforts, but it’s by the work of the Lord. We receive power and authority from the Holy Spirit so that we may heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out demons (Matthew 10:8)!! This is not in our human strength but in the strength and authority of our Lord Jesus. We simply need to be obedient to the call of God on our lives and what he tells us to do.

I’ve felt such a strong word from the Lord that we will see healings, God loves so much and wants to heal his people. I have so much faith and so we are continually praying for every sick person we encounter, and in Jesus’ name, people will be healed!! Purely because Jesus loves them that much. And in no way have I or will I be discouraged or doubt the word of the Lord in the event that people haven’t been healed, our job is to simply be obedient and that’s it. God is still so good and faithful!!!

For the first week, we were based in a big city, where we celebrated Christmas and lived with another team from another school. Here we were able to meet the long-term missionaries, who firstly, are just so amazing and have given up their lives to serve in a Muslim nation, with a different language, culture, beliefs etc etc. They had so much wisdom and knowledge they were able to share with us to prepare us for ministry here.

We were also able to do street evangelism, which was so good to meet the people of the nation, talk with them and show them the love of Jesus. In this nation it’s illegal to preach the gospel or to convert people to Christianity so we have to be careful and quiet about it, so no large gatherings, or shouting in the streets. But people here are quite respectful and will always accept prayer so we’ve been able to talk about Jesus within conversation a little bit. It’s all very relational, however, so building relationships and further down the line preaching the gospel and connecting them with the long-term missionaries.

We then moved to a much smaller city up north which has been a very different experience and vibe. Where the first city ‘looked’ very nice and seemed like any other city, this one felt very heavy. I have definitely felt it being here and so has my team. It’s very obvious that the enemy has got a tight grip on this place and the demonic is working. Team members have had crazy dreams and any slight open door has been barged open. Old thought patterns, emotions, memories, and bad habits have resurfaced, we’ve also had a lot of sickness here. We’ve prioritised making ourselves aware and awakening our spirits to the demonic and through that closing doors, repenting, being vulnerable and essentially putting God in the very centre of everything and giving it to him. Jesus waged a war with the enemy and was victorious!! The enemy has no power in comparison to the name of Jesus!! Jesus reigns victorious in this land, yet the enemy has got it tightly in his grip, but the power of Jesus can completely destroy this!!

In this city, we’ve had the joy of partnering with a local church. It’s a miracle in itself that there is a church here, the government very much wants to discourage all religion, in its efforts to make this nation secular. It’s a dictatorship and so the government want to keep the citizen's voices quiet and so any public noise, disturbance or public religion is not allowed. So no religious acts or worship in public, no small religious gatherings in homes, and not even the mosques can play the prayer out loud in public. For a church to be planted they need to have a permit which can be quite hard to get.

But we’ve had the honour of meeting with the men and women of the church and getting involved with their youth and kids ministries. Hearing the testimonies and faith of these believers stirred so much faith for this city, God is really moving!

We were able to run a week-long mini discipleship training school with the youth, diving into freedom, wholehearted devotion, extravagant love and the father's heart. As well as having so much fun with them, building relationships and worshipping together! It was so amazing seeing the hunger of these youth, they were so eager to open up, worship and learn. At the end of the week, 13 people gave their lives to Jesus!! 1 adult and 12 youth!! 🙌🙌 The heavens are rejoicing, it was so incredible to lead these youth in the salvation prayer and watch as they let Jesus into their life!! There were so many amazing testimonies that came out of the week- freedom, revelation and salvation!! It was truly such a blessing to partner with this church, they had so much fire, hunger and love!!

Prayer, worship and intercession have been at the very heart of what we’re doing. Starting every morning off with interceding for the nation and the people we will meet stirs so much faith and actually works!! Prayer works! Jesus is on the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf 24/7, and to partner with him and his heart is so powerful. He listens to our cries and speaks to us and the people!

I would love it if you could pray for our team and join us in praying for the nation!!

Prayer points:

1 For protection over the minds and hearts of the people that gave their life to Jesus last week, that Jesus would keep revealing himself to them and the enemy would have no way in through doubt or fear.

2 We’ve had a lot of sickness in the team, so please pray for good health and protection over our minds and bodies!

3 For the churches we’ve partnered with, for more revelation of God’s love and who he truly is. For a continued fire, strength in hard times and protection over everything they do. It’s very hard for churches to be planted/ registered, so blessing over the logistical side, and strength with little staff, little fruit and constant pushback.

We're now travelling to a nearby nation, and will be partnering with another church!

If anyone has any questions please let me know! I love you all, and more importantly, Jesus loves you!! :)