Mozambique 2017 – How do you Hold on to a Promise for Ten Years?

When I was a baby Christian of only one week, at the age of 23, YHVH gave me an abundance of promises.  I did not understand any of it, but my spirit responded and that is what inspired me to serve the King with everything inside of me.  The Scripture the Lord gave me was Ephesians 3: 14- 20.  Holy Spirit said to me clearly that this will be my inheritance and I will walk it out here on earth.  This is what He has called me to do – to walk in His love and to be filled with all the fullness of Him.  I knew a little about His Love and did not even know how to give love to others.  Yes, it has been a struggle to fully surrender unto the King.  Bit by bit I am dying to self; bit by bit the Potter’s hands are moulding me; bit by bit the Lord is taking me into the depths of His love.

So many times I fell to my knees, asking the Lord for this cup to pass me by.  Many times I asked the Lord if it will be possible for me to rather stop working in ministry.  The responsibility is far too great. I did not know if I would be able to bear it, but the grace of my King flooded me time after time and gave me the courage to push on.  A time came in my life where I knew that I have sacrificed too much to give up, so the only thing I knew how to do was to move forward and stand upon the Rock of I AM, leaning upon the promises that I did not fully comprehend.  The thing that drove me the most to serve my King was His love for me.

At the beginning of this year (2017), I heard that I would be able to go to Mozambique. This felt very unreal.  Ten years I carried the promise of YHVH that the soles of my feet will touch Africa.  I would be able to build into His Kingdom on a continent that meant so much to Him.  I knew when we were called to Cape Town, in March of this year, that this was the start for YHVH putting my ministering feet in Africa.   As the reality of the promise of the Lord was beginning to manifest in my own life, it became overwhelming to me. About 11 months ago, I asked from YHVH whether I have heard Him wrongly for all these years, and that He would have mercy upon me. I did not want to move if He was not with me, if His breath was not inside of me. I surrendered every promise, every prophecy and every Scripture He ever gave me. I told the Lord that if He only created me to share the gospel to 5 people and to love those 5 people, I would be content for the rest of my life. I did not need a continent to know that I am loved, or what my worth is in Christ.

It was at this time that the Lord asked me to go on a 4 month sabbatical, stopping everything that I was doing for Him in the Kingdom and only focusing on Him.  Little did I realise that these last 10 years would be my preparation for stepping into my destiny and in 4 month’s time YHVH would release me to start to do His will on a bigger scale. During these 4 months of sabbatical, Abba showed me the deeper things concerning the Body of Christ. In these 4 months I went into a lot of repentance, breaking myself open upon the altar of I AM and sacrificing all that I knew how to sacrifice.  It was in these 4 months that the Lord said:  “In February I want you to start at Table Mountain. This will be the beginning of a long-awaited promise, just like He did with Abraham. I will not give it all to you in one day, for if I do you will miss the mark.  Bit by bit, as you keep on dying to self, as you keep on obeying My voice and building into My Kingdom, you will start to walk out your inheritance upon a land that is not yours.  You will harvest a crop you did not sow and you will build upon a foundation you did not lay.  All I want from you is to obey Me in love.”

Just before we went to Cape Town, I heard the opportunity was opened for us to go to Mozambique.  My heart was overwhelmed. I fell to my knees and cried to the One who is Faithful in all that He does.  In that moment, the Lord said:  “My dear child, I will not just give you Africa, but I will send you into the Eastern Block.  I will send you into Russia and the countries around it”.  With tears in my eyes and a heart that was overwhelmed I responded:  “How can You keep on giving me if my feet have not even stepped upon the promise you gave me years ago?”  I saw how the Lord was embracing me and He smiled and said: “I will keep on enlarging My promises as you keep on obeying Me. Nothing is too big for Me, even though you limit yourself. You have to increase your dreams. I know what the future holds for you, that you will be prosperous.  You will lay the foundation for your son and he will take up his inheritance, for himself and generations to come.”

The Lord earnestly proceeded with His work in me and showed me what strive and pride looks like in The Body of Christ.  This carried on for over a year now.  One night as I was complaining to the Lord, He stopped me in my tracks and said:  “Why are you striving for a position in the body that I have not created for you? I AM the One that creates. I AM the One that will put you where you need to be. You are like so many of my children who try to position themselves in the body in a place that I did not create them for.  I create a place for everyone.  Everyone has a function and if you allow Me to graft you into your place, you will be in service of the King and no man, demon or spirit will be able to take you out of that place.  I AM the One that promotes.  I AM the One that will sustain you where I place you.”  Those words really hit me hard.  I went into repentance and started to see the body of Christ in a new way.

A week before we went to Mozambique, I was still very unsure if this was the right thing to do. I have been fighting many giants to get to this place.  Even now, as I’m writing to you, the ancient enemy is rising up against me.  I have learnt that tears pave the way for you to bring a sacrifice of love unto the King.  I said to my Father:  “Father, I do not know if I have it in me to do what you ask me to do.”  He put His arms around me.  It was as if He was looking straight into my eyes. Looking into His eyes gave me great comfort.  “I do not ask you to go on your own understanding and strength.  My daughter, there is one thing you have to understand, you were not created for this, but I moulded you so that you will be able to step into your destiny.  I assure you that with Christ in you, you are more than capable for what I ask you to do.”

The morning we left for Mozambique I had this vision of a crop ready for harvest and the crop was singing a new song unto the King.  The Lord said that the harvest is ripe, but only a few will go and labour.  Those who have sown the seed and those who go out to harvest will have great inheritance.

Our team left very early on the morning of the 5th of July 2017 at around 01:30am.  The atmosphere was full of excitement and awe.  Almost everyone that went with us on this outreach has never been on this type of outreach before, just like me and my mother.  I had the privilege of sitting at the back of the car on my own, next to the luggage.  There I could surrender every fear, all the excitement and expectations into the hands of my King.  As I fell asleep, I heard Yeshua speaking to me: “I want you to take on a different role in this outreach.  I want you to stand back.  I do not want your voice to be louder than the person standing next to you.  I want you to serve Me from a place of love.  I want you to see where there is a need and to bring Me into it.  I want to show you how My body is supposed to work.  I want to show you what My bride must look like.  My bride is a serving bride.  She has no pride in her, and all she does is bring My heart into the world.  She releases joy where there is sorrow.  She brings compassion where others have shut their hearts.  She reveals my Father’s Love in difficult circumstances.  She bears good fruit in all seasons. This, My beloved, is what I have created you for.“  I saw myself kneeling before Him saying:  “Use me as an empty vessel.”

I fell asleep in the arms of my Father that night in that car.  His peace flooded my whole being.  As I think back now, I know that my Father was positioning me in the spirit to align with what He has called me to do, for the government of peace is upon the shoulders of Yeshua and His government is an everlasting government.

As we crossed the border into Zimbabwe early the next morning, my spirit strangely felt at home.  Entering the country, it looked like it was in a state of despair.  No green grass to be seen and it was as if there was lack of life present amongst the people.  I could feel a shift in the atmosphere from crossing South Africa into Zimbabwe.  Sadness flooded my whole being.  As we drove I started to cry in the back of the car.  Nobody could see me and it was as if it was just me and my Father.  I started to cry for the people, to cry for the land and the animals and the atmosphere that felt like it was in despair.

On our journey we encountered many roadblocks.  We could see the hand of the Lord over our team.  As Zimbabwean officials learned that we were going on an Outreach to Mozambique to spread the good news of the Gospel of Christ, the officials would ask us:  “When are you coming to our country to pray for us?”  Some of them even blessed us with:  “The Lord be with you.”   They were eager to ask if we had Bibles with us.  The Lord made provision before we left South Africa, for extra Bibles in every car, ready to be handed out as we pass through Zimbabwe.  It was a privilege for me to see these people receive the Living Word of God.  The Lord put hope in their hearts and He heard their cries.  The Living Word is a treasure to them; it is as valuable a sacrifice given to them now, as was the given Cross 2000 years ago.

As we proceeded into Zimbabwe, the scene started to change right in front of our eyes.  It transformed from a place of dryness into a place of the most beautiful landscapes and mountains, covered by luscious trees, and one of the most beautiful, fire-filled sunsets I have ever seen.  We were still driving and I heard the Lord say to me:  “There are wells in Zimbabwe that need to be opened – wells that I have placed in this country that holds the destiny and future of the rest of Africa.  In the spirit and in the natural, these wells are full of treasure, and I will send My children to open the wells at the fullness of time.  They will hear the call in their hearts and they will respond.”  Tears was running down my face as I knew that the Father has great plans for Zimbabwe and that somehow, I would come back and start to opening these wells with others.  I knew that He will overthrow the ruling spirit and establish His Kingdom in a country that is near and dear to His heart.

Later that evening we arrived at our overnight accommodation in Mutare.  We were able to sleep comfortably for a few hours.

The next morning, the morning of the 6^th of July, the Lord had other plans for us.  We were up very early and very ready to carry on with our journey into Mozambique.  The Lord in His infamous wisdom arrested us in Zimbabwe.  One of our vehicles would not start.  We had to sow prayer seed in Zimbabwe and we had the challenge to sort out the obstacles that we as a team and as individuals, faced before we could move on.  We had to deal with pride.  Little did we know the Lord had a very specific and dangerous mission for us in Mozambique and if the enemy caught us with pride we would not be able to move forward.  Without us even knowing what the Lord was doing, we as a group started to pray and say what we felt in the spirit.  Every one of us felt that the Lord wanted us to deal with pride.  The Lord give me the Scripture in Exodus where Moses said to the Pharaoh:  “Let My people go”.  For a moment I thought the Lord was speaking about Zimbabwe, but it became clear that the Lord was speaking to us.  He was saying to pride:  “Let My people go!”  As we started to pray into what the Lord has showed us, it started to rain, inspiring us to, for the next 7 hours, play like children in the rain.  We prayed in the rain… we worship in the rain… and we allowed our Father to come and move in our hearts as we started to repent for pride in the group.  This was one of the most memorable times for me. We started to move as a body and allowed the next person to take our hand and move as one.  The Lord transformed us from being individual players to being a group that worked in unity.  It did not even cross our minds to move out of the rain.  It was cold and wet, but we were full of joy, peace and love.

Vera, the leader of the outreach team and also serving on the board of Abundant Life Outreach Ministry, told us that the enemy’s plan is to abort this mission.  She felt strongly that the Lord has called each and every one of us to put our feet on Mozambique soil, but we have a choice.  Her words we’re not even cold, when all of us responded that we did not even care if we were in Mozambique for one day, but to Mozambique we will venture as planned.  We had a mission, a call and the unction from YHVH and we were eager to obey. She informed us of their plan to leave the vehicle behind if it was not repaired by 3 o’clock that afternoon, for we had to reach the border on that same day.  All of the team had to agree with the going ahead of this possibility.  This also implied that we would have had to leave a trailer behind.  We would have to unpack and repack the trailers and the vehicles.  Sadly, the trailer that we had to leave behind would have been the one packed with all the donated clothes – more than 60 black bags full of clothing.  My heart broke at the thought that we might not be able to take with us this valuable and much needed blessing given for Mozambique, into Mozambique.  I knew YHVH will provide and that He will not let us down.  I knew that the enemy could not keep us from doing the work that the Lord called us to do.  Within minutes we started to unpack and repack the trailers, the heavens of Zimbabwe still pouring down with rain, knowing that we will leave a car and a trailer behind.  This was a sacrifice we were willing to make for our King and the opportunity to spread His message into the country that awaits us.  By the time we were done we were soaking wet, even up to our socks in our shoes.  Vera climbed into the trailer where all the donated clothes were, and like a mother hen started to go through the bags to get her children dry jackets.  The Lord sealed our unity in the form of a school uniform.  We proudly wore the uniforms even when we crossed the border.  André Muller, joint outreach leader with Vera and the driver of our vehicle, kept on saying that we will not leave this car behind.  He proclaimed that this car would start.  He kept on requesting for only another 30 minutes as one more chance to repair the car.  He had faith in the Lord and he spoke things that were not as if they were.  We have a good, good Father and He is faithful and, after all that has been said and done…  our car’s engine started!  All of us rejoiced as André turned the key and we could hear the roar of the engine.  We named the car:  “The Glory Lorry”, for the Glory of the Lord took us into Mozambique and brought us back home again.  Not once on this outreach, did anyone complain, even if circumstances were less than desirable.  We were able to carry the good fruit of peace, joy, meekness and patience with us on this expedition.

We crossed over into Mozambique as the sun was setting.  As we crossed the border our vehicle, the Glory Lorry, was pulled over.  The official asked us if we had any uncooked meat, chicken or eggs with us.  All of us in the car responded with:  “no”.  The official turned to me and asked André to lower the window.  Anger was all over his face.  I saw the spirit of violence rising up against us.  André only lowered the window halfway.  At that moment I heard the accuser raising a judgement against me the courts of heaven.  I had biltong with me that was not sealed.  I could hear how the accuser accused me of lying.  The official got angry and asks Andre to open the door and let me go with him.  He did not see anything in the car, but I knew which spirit was at work here.  It all happened so quickly.  André, who has a father’s heart, turned around to me and said:  “I will handle this; it is going to be ok”.  I did not tell them, at that moment, what I heard in the spirit.  André got out of the car and stood in front of my door and said to the officer that he is responsible for all of us in the car and if he wants to take someone that he must take him.  André followed the official and they walked away from the car.  Fear took hold of me at that moment, for I could hear in the Heavenly courts how the accuser was requesting that we would not be able to go through with this outreach and, because I have lied, he now has the right to ask this.  Immediately I went into repentance.  I repented for lying.  I was repenting of fear and for opening the door to fear.  For a whole hour, the occupants of all four vehicles kept on praying.  The three of us that stayed behind, in the car, prayed loud in the Spirit.  Strangely, I heard a fourth voice praying with us.  I kept on looking around me to see who it might be.  Karen, André’s wife, who sat in the passenger seat, tried to put on worship music, but our car’s CD player would not work.  It stopped working when we entered Zimbabwe the previous day.  After an hour André returned and said that we could go now.  As he turned the key in the ignition, the official came back and said that André must come with him again.  It was not even 5 minutes when Andre got back to us, and we could carry on, without any bribes being given to any officer that stopped us.  I then asked all in our vehicle, if they would pray for me, and I confessed to them what I have experienced.  Karen asked the rest of the team, over the two-way radio, if they would also pray for me.  I told them of the judgement that came into the court.  My mother started to pray.  The Lord showed her that we had a lot of smugglers in our bloodline, and that the accuser had legal right to accuse me.  As all of us, in the car, started to repent, the CD player started to play one song repeatedly.  That song was the only song that the CD player would play. When the CD reached track 4 it would start over again, and then, suddenly, the CD player would not work.  This was the case until we were back home again.

In a town, just past the border post, we picked up Pastor Francisco.  Pastor Francisco, like a faithful servant, waited the whole day for us to reach him.  He joined our team to direct us to where we should go.  What a blessing for me to meet a man so on fire for the Lord. We were eager to get to our destination to rest, but, once again one of our vehicles was pulled over by officials.  This was the vehicle that Pastor Francisco was travelling in.  Another 45 minutes passed, praying, before they would let us all go again.

We entered through a gate that is called the “Gate of Sorrow, so called by the locals.  This gate consists of two walls that were shot down during the war, and war murals were painted on them.  As we drove through, we had the opportunity to bless the land and ask the King to come into the gate of sorrow and into the hearts of these people.

The Lord provided us that very night with a dry and warm bed to sleep in.  We were still wet and cold, and by that time, we were extremely tired, but without complaints.  That afternoon, Vera told us that arrangements was made that we would sleep in our tents in the city, but that someone booked and blessed us with accommodation in a motel for that evening.  How thankful we were for a warm shower and a comfortable warm bed.  We arrived at the motel at about 11pm with our hearts filled with praise, for our God kept us in the palm of His hand.

Early the next morning at 06:00, we headed for Nova Sofala, our ministry destination.  We did not even realise that we were close to Nova Sofala late the afternoon, when suddenly Pastor Johane Noé greeted our vehicle and ran out before us.  He was rejoicing and announcing our arrival to the village ahead of us. People came out of nowhere, holding palm leaves and singing:  “God is good all the time” in their native language, Portuguese.  They were ready for us the previous day, and like the wise virgins they had extra oil in there lamps.  While we drove past them I suddenly had a glimpse of how Heaven rejoices when one of Abba’s children return from their wicked ways.  Our team where overwhelmed.  We literally got out of the vehicles with tears in our eyes and smiles on our faces.  Our hearts rejoiced together with the hearts of these people.  This was the beginning of four days experiencing the love of the Father.  They honoured us for making a three-day journey to them.  Pastors from all over Mozambique, together with their families and part of their church members expectantly met us at Nova Sofala to hear the gospel.  Most of these people experienced a longer and tougher journey than ours, but still they acknowledged the sacrifice we made. We did not even give it such a thought yet.  We learnt so much from them.  They are burdened with a hunger inside of them that, I pray, we will also receive.

Every night before sunset, we would play worship music.  All of us took flags and started to worship.  We would walk the grounds praying and declaring that where we put our feet, that would be the land that will belong to the Kingdom of YHVH.  As the worship filled the air, children from all over would run to watch us worship.

The First Evening Abba said to me:  “I want you to do a prophetic action.  I want you to swing the flag over the children’s heads.  Prophetically this flag is symbolising Holy Spirit hovering over them, and if you swing the flag over them from the other side, it symbolises My banner of Love over them.”   From a distance I could see the children just staring at us.  Slowly I started to swing the flag and move closer.  Every little step I took closer to the children, Abba spoke to me:  “You see, My beloved child, this is how I move with you.  For a period, all My children will keep Me at a distance, but My love for you and them compels Me to move closer.  On the rhythm of My heart beat, I move towards the one that I love and offered My Sacrifice for.  Do you see how the children are looking at you?  They are contemplating in their hearts if they can trust you.  As their eyes are looking into your eyes, they will be able to see if there is love in your heart or if you are full of pride.  This is why you have to lay down your own life and take up the life of Christ daily.  This is why you have to lay down your own will and take up My will for your life.  The world will be able to look into your eyes and only see My love for them, and as the children are looking at you to see what you are doing, so are My children looking at Me to see what I AM doing.  They do not understand the rhythm of my heartbeat or what I AM doing until they are close to Me.  It is only then that I will be able to move over them.  Even then they do not understand what I AM doing if they do not look into My eyes and see My heart”.

By the third song I was close enough to the children.  They started to play with me as I waved the flag over them.  Some of them would run playfully away from the flag as they laughed.  Others would duck, and a couple of them would jump and try to touch the flag.  I had to move, not just from a distance, but I also had to keep the flag high enough so that I would not hurt the children or give them a fright.  I slowly lowered the flag as their confidence increased in me.  I gazed into their eyes, and the Father moved my heart with love for them.  I could hear how the Father declares over them that they are His prize possession.  Not even death will be able to separate them from His love. I could not stop smiling, for the joy of the Father seeing His children playing overwhelmed my soul.  I do not know for how long we were worshipping.  At a certain stage my arm became very tired.  I could feel Holy Spirit saying to me that I should dig deep.  “You can go even deeper still, for in depths of it all, you will find Me.  Do not give up, for victory lies in not giving up and also in not giving in to the will of man.”  On this whole journey, I really learnt that when you feel you cannot go further, Holy Spirit will call you deeper and to go further.  It is when you stop relying on your own strength and lean upon Rock of Ages, that you will find new strength.  You are not doing this for your own gain, but for the glory the King, for our reward is found in Him.  It took me a while, but in the end the children bundled together covered by the flag with their heads lifted to the sky allowing me to gently wave the flag over their heads, touching their faces with the flag.  I stood in amazement how the Spirit of YHVH moved and what He installed in me in this precious moment.  At the end of the worship session, we were all dancing together, different tribes, nations and ages.  The Spirit of Joy and Freedom entered into our hearts and we could live, for that precious moment, inside the Fathers heart where joy flows like a river and His love surrounded us like fire.  After sunset we performed our play to those who came.

We also had the opportunity to screen the Jesus movie in their native tongue and while accompanied by local pastors, we prayed for a nation and their people.

For four days we woke up in the Glory of YHVH.  Every night we slept in the palm of the Father’s hand.  The mercy and grace of our King was upon us.  My beloved Yeshua allowed me to love the people of Mozambique and the people from our team, from deep inside His heart.  He would show me their pain and ask me to pray into that.  He called me to a secret place to pray time after time and then to just go out and pour His love over them.  We experienced an abundance of miracles, but the greatest miracle was the receiving and spreading of His love.  The Lord allowed us to pray for the country as well as for individuals.  The most beautiful thing I perceived was how the Lord touched their hearts with His unconditional love.  You could see this on their awe-filled faces.

On the third day on our mission outreach, Vera called the whole team together.  She informed us that it was requested that we go and pray in a village called Tonga.  This village was more than an hour’s drive from where we were.  We also learned that this village only recently heard about Jesus and that some parts of the Village were yet to be evangelized.  One of the local pastors would rise early in the morning and walk for hours to reach this town to preach the gospel.  We also learned that a group similar to ISIS was active in this village and that people were beheaded the previous Sunday, because of the gospel.  The choice to go were entirely our own and if we were willing, we would minister in Tonga that same evening.  If any one of us felt insecure or unsure of going, not one of the rest of the team would think badly or less of them that chooses to stay behind.  We all realized that this was a very dangerous mission with life threatening possibilities.  It was a humbling experience when everyone agreed to go through with this challenging part of the outreach.  In that moment I saw how the Body of Christ overcomes by the word of their testimony, the Blood of the Lamb and not loving their own lives more than loving Yeshua.  That evening was an experience like we never had before.  The drive to Tonga took us an hour.  On the back of the trailers we had Pastors, their wives and part of the village people. We fit in as many people as possible.  In the Glory Lorry we were 9 people filled with wander and eager to go to Tonga.  The whole way the people in the trailers sang with joy.  Once again they were preparing the way for the King to enter into a place He loves. Even on our way back, late that night, they kept on singing for the entire journey.  The children met us at the gate of the village when we returned and was singing:  “Prys die Here, O my siel” (Bless the Lord, O my soul) in Afrikaans.  A song we sang to them that morning.  The pastors sang well into that night giving thanks to the King of Glory for what He was doing in Tonga.

The Lord’s hand of protection was covering us in Tonga, and He most assuredly kept at bay the spirit of death.  Some of the local pastors that went with us kept on praying for us for five hours, so that we would be able to do as the Lord directed us.  We kept on praying into the atmosphere of Tonga and we kept on moving with our feet claiming the town of Tonga for the Kingdom of Christ.

Our last morning in Mozambique was the beginning of new promises.  It was as if the Lord kept the best for last.  After a lot of prayer, the pastors blessed us and prayed over us.  An abundance of blessings, promises and restoration was established in the spirit for all of us.  I was blessed to see my own scrolls and as some of the pastors prophesied over me, years and years of tears suddenly became my joy.  While being drenched in the Glory of the Lord, a Pastor asked me if I would do this ministry outreach three times a year for Him.  Yes, how can I not respond to the call of my King?  Here I am, send me Lord to do Your will.

Pastor Johane Noé honoured some of us with rice and coconuts.  Rice and coconuts came out of their private home and them as a family gave this as a blessing to some of us.  They gave me and my mother two bags of rice and I asked the Lord:  “How can I take this food out of their mouths?”   This rice provides enough food for them for about a month.  The Lord said to me:  “They are honouring Me through you.  Their sacrifice is onto Me.”

It is in the small things that YHVH teaches me the most.

Those four days were packed with supernatural experiences.  I am unable to convey the fullness of it.  Most of us received inner healing in time.  I know that we will never be the same again. I can even experience the Lord working in my heart right now.  I praise the Lord that we will never be the same again!  I am excited that we will be able to take everything that we have learnt and experienced in Zimbabwe and Mozambique, back home with us.  I have faith that we will be able to manifest what we have learnt and experience, in our lives and through our lives to give to others.  We will be able to walk it out every day.

So, how do you hold on to a promise for ten years?  You believe and stand in faith, and you do not give up on the One who is Faithful all the time.  Giving birth to the promises of the Lord sometimes happens by shedding many tears and by overcoming.  It is by fixing your focus on the eyes of the One who gave you the promise, and it is by believing and steadfastly feeding on His everlasting Word.

Blessings

Marikha and family