As I sat in the airport in Johannesburg, South Africa last night, I wrote the posts for Day 3 and Day 4, and worked on Day 5.
Right now I’m sitting at Heathrow Airport chatting with Joanne and posting the blog posts I wrote. Unfortunately WordPress puts them out of order, with Day 4 appearing at the top.
So, before you read Day 4, or Day 3, jump down to Day 1 & 2 which was also just posted, and read that first, then work your way up.
Enjoy!
This morning I had the great pleasure of meeting Sandi’s wonderful husband Wayne. Wayne had been out of town working on a hydro electric dam in a different part of the country. He came back Thursday afternoon, and was present at the service last night when I was anointed by the Holy Spirit. It was nice catching up with him and Sandi and getting to see how the spirit is moving in both of them. They truly are a wonderful couple with a wonderful family.
This morning’s first session was by Pastor Taz and it was about power. Not about the power you get from an electric socket, but the power you get from the word of God. Yesterday Pastor Bonnie, in the morning, had gone over the covering of authority under God and the church, and Pastor Taz was tying into this directly.
As an individual we are covered by the spirit of God, but that is it. So any attacks that we come under we are only covered by the spirit of God. If our spirit is week, if we give into the flesh, then we were more open to falling. However as we go under the authority of more layers we have more protection. So, if we are part of a family, we are under the authority of that family. That family is then under the authority of a small group, or cell group in a church. The small group is under the authority of the church pastor, and then that church pastor is under the authority of the mission, or church. See, when we cover ourselves and submit to this authority, we are empowered to do great things.
The spirit you serve is the spirit that has power over you.
Along with being the year of multiplication, this is also the year that Pastor Tom celebrates 30 years in ministry in the nation of Zimbabwe. So, tonight was all about celebrating those 30 years. The one thing that truly impacted me about tonight, and really about the entire week as I reflect on this, is the honor that is given to Pastor Tom and Pastor Bonnie, and to all of the pastors.
At first I thought it was just being polite, but I see now that there is a structure at work here, a government that needs to be respected and honored. Whenever Pastor Bonnie or Pastor Tom would enter a room, everyone in the room would stand until they either said sit down or they sat down themselves. When either of them would come on stage, someone would bring their Bibles to the altar.
And so it was tonight, when the pastors were on stage to pay tribute to Pastor Tom, they all kneeled before him. Even when his children came out to pay tribute to him, they knelt in respect and honor. See, Pastor Tom is a true apostle of God, and as such he deserves the honor and respect of everyone.
This is something that has been lost in America. We do not know how to honor the pastors that teach us, we do not know how to respect each other, and we do not know how to pay respect to those that deserve it. Our children, for the most part, are not taught to respect their elders. They are not taught to open doors for ladies, to pull out chairs for ladies, to say yes sir, no sir, yes ma’am, and no ma’am. They are not taught to be respectful when talking to people in authority or their elders. America needs to find this teaching again and begin to correct where we have gone wrong.
Like I said yesterday, I knew that God had an appointment for me, that He was going to meet me here in Harare this week, and that He did. Well, as a result of that meeting with God, I now have a meeting with Dr. Chima, Drs. Erb, and Pastor Innocent from the church. You see, they want to re-do the church website, but there is more to it than just a website re-design. They want to look at IT and communications in general, and how we can improve them to reach more people with the Kingdom message.
Remember what I said about last night, how God hit me upside the head and told me I was holding back? Well, holding back on my time and talents was one of the things I was doing. Pastor Tom teaches that we are to have dominion wherever we are, that where we work and live is our domain and we are to have dominion over that. Well, one of my domains is Information Technology, so I guess I’ve got my calling.
It wasn’t a very restful night last night. Whether it was the jet lag, the excitement from the night before, or the Holy Spirit working on me, I was up several times tonight. The worst part of it, I was semi confused about the time. I checked my cell phone several times to see what time it was, only to worry that I was looking at the time in Dallas. I guess I was worried about not waking up on time or something. Needless to say, it caused some serious confusion and didn’t help me get a good night sleep.
I did finally wake up at 5:30 am, rolled out of bed and did my daily Bible reading. 5 chapters down and some prayer, what better way to start the day. A quick soak in the shower and it was time to go inquire about breakfast.
Sandi had run the girls to school, so I waited on her. When she arrived back at the house, she had Taurai cook up some eggs for me, and Sandi and I sat down to breakfast.
Sandi and her husband Wayne have lived interesting lives. Sandi grew up in Uganda and moved to Zim when she was younger. Her and Wayne have lived in Zimbabwe thru the farm invasions, and witnessed some horrific things. They’ve put up with food shortages, fuel shortages, and still put up with a national infrastructure that still sees regular power outages and telephone outages. They’ve adjusted their lives to this and deal with it. The water system is virtually non-existent, so they have to store water in a large tank on the property and pump it to the house. This means that when the power goes out, they loose their cold water.
Americans have it easy. We complain if the power is out for more than 30 minutes, we worry about losing all of our food in the refrigerator if the power goes out. Yet here is a nation of people that have to deal with regular outages that can last up to, and probably exceeding, 15 hours at a time. Americans need to wake up and realize we are a pampered and spoiled society, a secular society that has abandoned God at the core and a society that needs to wake up.
The itinerary for my morning was changed. Normally my drivers would pick me up at 8:30 am and we’d be off to the centre. Today, however, since I missed my trip thru Mbare yesterday, they were picking me up at 8 am. Apparently someone at Celebration really wanted me to see the slums of Mbare.
To say the area was poor and in bad disrepair is an understatement. The area is what is called a high density area. It apparently started out as housing dormitories for the migrant male workers that would come in from the outer areas of the country to work in the industrial factories nearby. What happened is that the workers began to bring their girlfriends and wives into the dormitories, some living 7 or more people to a single room.
The buildings were designed with no bathroom in the room, instead there was a centrally located communal bathroom on each floor. The waste system was never designed for this many people, and so now the waste has overflowed the pipes, most of the pipes are rotted out, and the human waste is flowing freely down the outside walls. The outside walls where the bathrooms are, are dark black with mold and human waste. Truly appalling living conditions.
The streets are lined with puddles that are contaminated with human waste. The lots and yards around the buildings are littered with trash. But even more disturbing are the hundreds of children that are running around these lots, in the mud, barefoot. It is simply heart breaking to see this.
The bright spot about Mbare is that several famous people have pulled themselves out of these conditions. Authors, singers, business people, and so on. Just like those that have pulled themselves out of areas like Harlem and Chicago’s towers, these people have seen more in themselves, have believed in a dream and have gone and made it real. Kingdom living is building those dreams and following them. Without a vision, you’ll go nowhere.
If you want a tree to be stable, and to last many years, then you need to make sure the root system is very deep and stable. The same is true about people in the church, about the apostles and evangelists of the church. The 1st sign of an apostle, as explained by Dr. Chima, is one that grows his/her roots deep.
Growing in the word, getting strength from God’s word daily, helps the apostle, and the man of God, to grow deep roots and to remain fruitful. When we are fruitful we multiply. The word of the year for Celebration Church is Multiplication. This is the year to multiply the Kingdom.
As with any tree, we must be pruned by the word of God on occasion to keep us fruitful. Whenever we obey the word of God, we are pruned. Pruning helps us to grow wide and strong. However whenever we do not obey the word of God, when we are not in fellowship with God, when we are not in right thinking, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, we are cut out.
Praise and Worship tonight were off the hook! What a wonderful way to start the evening session, with some amazing worship. You could feel the Holy Spirit flowing thru the room like a rushing wind. The songs we sung, the energy level, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit made for a heavenly time.
Pastor Tom gave an amazingly inspired word from God tonight. He spoke on Ecclesiastes 9:11, specifically on time and chance. Pastor Tom shared with us how time and chance are moving towards us, not away from us. What an insight! Most of us view time as slipping away from us, as if we were floating down a river.
Since time is moving towards us, that means that opportunities are moving toward us as well. However, we need to be careful not to fixate on one opportunity, but keep our eyes and minds open to all opportunities that are floating our way. By praying in the spirit, and asking for God’s help, we can see all opportunities that are floating towards us. We have to learn to not let our circumstances rule us.
We conceive whatever it is we perceive. If we perceive prosperity, we will conceive it. Our opportunities for prosperity come from God, not from man, and so we need to continually be in the spirit with God. This revelation, this word, was simply amazing. Pastor Tom hit the nail on the head and helped put some things into perspective for me with this message.
I serve an amazing God. I came to Zimbabwe knowing that I had a divine appointment with God, but not knowing fully when that appointment would happen, or what would come out of it. Well, I think that I had one of my appointments tonight. God has a way of getting my attention by hitting me with a spiritual 2 x 4.
It came after Pastor Tom’s message while we were having more worship. The spirit had truly entered the sanctuary, and it could be felt by everyone. We were all singing, dancing, jumping up and down, swinging our jackets around, waving flags, just having a great time worshipping God. You could see that God was working on lots of people, and that’s when he began to break my heart and tear me down.
The scriptures tell us that God molds us like clay, and that when He isn’t happy with us he will break us down and start over. Well, He didn’t necessarily start completely over, but he sure did break off a piece and start over with that. God illuminated in my heart how I had not be giving Him my all, I have been holding back something from him. This was so impactful for me that it brought me to tears, to weeping for God. I needed to repent of this, to ask for His forgiveness, and to agree to give Him everything. I have to learn to hold nothing back, to give Him not only my money, but my time and my talents. Wow, that was difficult.
But what was amazing about that, what was just a true Hand of God moment was when He answered one of my prayers from before the trip. See, I wanted to learn how to pray in the spirit. I wanted to be anointed with that gift. Well, as soon as I had confessed my sin of holding back, I was anointed with the gift of tongues. It was an amazing experience!
When I looked back up to the stage, Pastor Bonnie was down on her knees pointing directly at me and telling me to come to the stage. I had to crawl over 5 or 10 people that were on their knees on the floor praying and worshiping to get there, but I finally did. And when I did, Pastor Bonnie was telling me to do it, to pray in the spirit. She knew what my prayer was. She knew what God had revealed to me just moments before, and she knew that God had anointed me with that gift. Out of the mouth of a prophet!
So I kneeled there, in front of the stage, and prayed in the spirit for what felt like hours. It wasn’t, but it was an amazing experience. One that I will not soon forget. I can feel the Holy Spirit anointing on my life.
Before I get to Day 1 I need to finish a little background. About 4 weeks ago we started attending church on Sundays at our chiropractor’s house, Drs. David & Kimberly Erb. This was a few weeks after my life altering conversation with Pastor Tom. We still go to our home church on Saturday nights, but now we also attend church at the Erb’s. And for those in the DFW area, we are beginning to meet at the Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Lewisville starting Sunday June 7.
Two weeks ago I had a conversation with Dr. Erb, asking him when he would be visiting Zimbabwe again. He proceeded to tell me that he and the entire family would be traveling in two weeks to Zimbabwe for the Action 2009 conference that is held at the church. He also told me how if I left on Monday I could return the following Monday. Of course that got my mind rolling, and so, here we are two weeks later and I am in the waiting area for Flight #80 on American Airlines to London’s Heathrow airport. Can you believe this?
It’s been 15 years since my last airplane trip that took more than 5 hours. That was a trip back stateside from Korea when I left the Army. I don’t remember the trip being so grueling back then, but then again I think I had more room in the seat than I did on the first flight of the trip. And, of course, I was also about 60 lbs lighter than I am today, so that might have something to do with it too.
The first flight was on American Airlines, flight #80 from DFW to London Heathrow. The plane was a 767 and the rows in coach were jammed together, like they are on all of American’s flights now-a-days. To top it off, the flight was full, so any thought of getting more room was out. This was a 9 hour flight, and I think I slept all of about 15 minutes on the flight.
We landed in London around 12:15 pm on Tuesday the 26th and headed straight thru customs. Once thru customs, Pastor Joy from the London church met us and helped us get our bags stowed so we could go on an outing in the city. We hopped the express train to Paddington Station and started our journey. A taxi cab ride over to Whole Foods in the Wellington area for lunch, and then a double decker bus ride to Buckingham Palace. After a quick stroll and lots of photos, we hopped another set of taxis back to Paddington Station to catch the express back to Heathrow.
I must say, the taxi cab rides were interesting, as was the trip on the double decker bus. I’m glad I was able to experience a little bit of London, and I’m sure that someday my wife and I will come back thru and stay for a little longer.
Now, we were flying Virgin Atlantic from Heathrow to Johannesburg, South Africa and we had to check in. We hoofed it over to the ticketing counters, and I have to say the customer service at Virgin is out of this world. When we walked thru the doors we were immediately greeted by at least 4 different ladies all dressed in their signature Virgin red dreses/skirts (I’m no fashion expert). They were more than happy to point us to the correct counter and get us on our way.
Now, we had about an hour and a half before our flight, so we strolled thru security and grabbed a seat near a message board to see what gate our flight was at. With about 45 minutes to our flight, we had a gate number but decided we would sit for another 15 minutes before leaving the area. Well, I started to go to the gate to make sure our baggage was transferred. Little did we know that the gate we were going to was about a mile away from where we were. Okay, maybe not a mile, but it sure felt like it. So I hurried back to where the Erbs were and we gathered our things and practically ran to the gate. By the time we got there, with 30 minutes until flight time, they were getting ready to close the plane. Wow, talk about on time.
Fortunately, when we got on the plane it was practically empty. As it turned out we all had our own row of 4 seats for this 12 hour flight. Not to mention the accommodations were incredible! They had plenty of flight attendants, cabin crew in Virgin parlance, the seats all had personal entertainment systems with over 50 different movies to choose from, and the bathroom was larger than any airplane bathroom I have ever been in. I could actually go to the bathroom and not feel crowded. Alas, even with an entire row to myself, I still only managed about 2 hours of sleep.
After this flight on Virgin Atlantic, I’m going to have a difficult time flying any other airline. The next time I travel, even from DFW to Los Angeles, I’m going to be looking for a Virgin flight instead of American or any other airline. My luck, since I haven’t checked yet, Virgin probably doesn’t fly from DFW at all.
My first impression of Johannesburg after stepping of the plane was one of Saudi Arabia. The airport terminal was spotless, and empty. The floors were polished marble, and very ornate. The entire airport had an air of opulence about it. I say it reminded me of Saudi Arabia, because the buildings I was able to go into in Saudi were similar in design and decoration.
We made it thru customs into the international departure area, only to find a mini shopping mall inside. Think the shoppes at Caesar’s Palace, for those that have been to Vegas. We did some browsing and grabbed a very quick burger at a restaurant before running to the gate. A quick shuttle bus trip to the plane, up the stairs, into our seats, and we were on our way.
The flight was packed. It was a 737 just like Southwest flies. It never ceases to amaze me that people are the same everywhere when it comes to loading an airplane and their baggage. They see the bins shut, see that there is no room, yet they keep on coming back with their luggage. Amazing. Anyway, it was a short 1 hour and 15 minute flight, I think, before we were in Harare.
When we made it to the customs desk in Harare, we were met by Snicks, one of the members at Celebration Centre. She walked us over to the baggage claim and helped us get our luggage. Five luggage carts later and we were out the door.
As we were walking towards the outer door, we were met by several young men in suits from the church. I didn’t realize it, but these were our drivers and others there to help. Yep, you heard me right, we were assigned drivers for our entire stay here in Harare. Amazing! I had two drivers assigned to me, not sure why, but it was a pleasure. They walked me out to the car, took my luggage from me, opened my car door and had me sit in the back. Waiting for me in the seat was a care package of food, and some CDs and a book, along with an itinerary for the week and other material. I was absolutely blown away.
As we left the airport, my drivers and I introduced ourselves and got to know each other. Zivi was the primary driver, while Upenyu was the secondary and the actual driver of the car. They took me from the airport to Celebration Centre, opening my door for me when we got there. They would not let me carry my bags, made me walk in front of them, opened the doors for me, the whole royal treatment. It was a little strange for me, and I tried several times to do things myself, but I realized that they were simply being servants and I had to allow that to happen. They were called to be servants to me, and that me trying to do things myself would be an insult to them, and it would steal their blessing. They were simply sowing into the Kingdom by serving me. Little did they know how much of a blessing they were being to me.
After a quick bite to eat, I was given an even quicker tour of the centre, and then whisked off to my host home to take a quick shower and change into more presentable clothing.
The host home I will be staying at this week, is that of Pastors Wayne and Sandi Roberts. Absolutely wonderful people. I met Sandi for a brief few moments at the church before I was whisked off to get changed. I met their oldest daughter, who had the most perfect manners. I had assumed I would have a room in their house, and that I’d have to share a bathroom. Oh no, I had an entire guest suite to myself. Sitting room, kitchen, bathroom, and a queen size bed. Boy, was I going to be spoiled by them.
I think it took me all of 45 minutes to shave, shower, and change into slacks and a jacket. I’m not much of a jacket person, so having to wear a sport coat all week might be a bit much.
When I arrived back at Celebration Centre, I met up with the Erbs in the Dueschele Suite, which is a VIP lounge of sorts, and will be my home for the next few days. While waiting to go into the next session, we were waited on by such wonderful ladies from the church. They would not let us serve ourselves water or anything else. They waited on us like kings. Again, they were sowing into the Kingdom, helping them, and us, to stay in the Kingdom, which is right thinking, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).
While waiting to go into the next session, Pastor Taz came thru the suite and Dr. Kimberly asked him to sit with us and talk. He had some amazing words to speak, but the most impactful words had to do with waiting on the Lord.
He said to me, “God works best with a moving vehicle, not with one that is stationary.” Wow! Basically what he was telling me was to not sit on the sidelines waiting for God to call me into the game, but to get involved somehow, serving in some fashion, and God will then help to direct that effort. Hmmm….You see, it is easier to steer a vehicle that is moving than one that is not moving. Very insightful and impactful.
Americans try to praise and worship our God, but we don’t manage to get it done. In the evening, before the evening service, there was a time of worship and of prayer. Several pastors from the church were up on stage praying in the spirit. This is done before every service to ward off any evil spirit that may be around. It is a very impressive sight to see these men of God walking the stage, praying in tongues to sanctify the podium.
At the same time, the choir and praise leaders are leading worship. Let me tell you, no church that I have ever been to in America knows how to praise God like the church at Celebration Ministries. Wow! The songs were great, but more than anything, the spirit was moving every time we sang. People were dancing, waving their hands, shouting, and giving their all for God. God is blessed when we praise Him.
The book of Psalms tells us that God is glorified when we praise him:
Psalm 50:23 – Whoever offers praise glorifies Me (NKJV)
We should praise Him with joy:
Psalm 63:5 – And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips. (NKJV)
The American church needs to learn how to praise God!
The service that Pastor Tom preached tonight was awesome. He spoke on Daniel chapters 3 and 7, and used references in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Pastor Tom did a wonderful job explaining how the statue of chapter 3 and the 4 beasts of chapter 7 can really be seen as the same things – indicative of the empires that followed the Babylonian empire, including the Old and New Roman Empire. The part of this service that really got me was his explanation that the New Roman Empire may not necessarily be a geographical empire, but a political or cultural empire. Powerful stuff!
See, the traditional viewpoint has been that the feet and toes of the statue in chapter 3 refer to the 10 nations that will make up the New Roman Empire. Many have speculated this to be the European Union, or that at least the nations are there. However, if we take the viewpoint that Pastor Tom has laid out, the New Roman Empire could be anywhere, and may not be restricted to the European continent. Another very impactful piece of information! See, the Roman Empire is really not dead. It lives in the form of Roman Law. Roman Law is at the heart of many nations, especially the United States. E Pluribus Unum.
One of the things that stuck out the most tonight was his description of society as a hyphenated people. This is really true in America, where people no longer identify themselves as American. They identify themselves as African-American, or Indian-American, or Italian-American, or…the list goes on. When did we stop identifying ourselves as Americans? When did it become bad to be known simply as an American?
After dinner at the centre, my drivers took me back to the Roberts’ home to get some sleep. Not only did I have a separate room, I had a separate entrance to the guest suite as well. Wow! Of course, a major shock was the fact that the power was out. Something I will go into detail about in tomorrow’s post.
I sat down this evening, before getting some shut eye, and jotted some quick notes. Not this entire post, of course, but enough notes to help me get something fleshed out and posted.
I am overflowing with peace and joy right now. The Spirit has surely filled me today. If I am this full tonight, I can only imagine what the days to come will bring.
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