'Hem of His Garment' Conference:

This was a conference that went from Tuesday through to Friday last week.

For Carole and me, it was without question a life transforming conference that not only gave us instructions on how to host His presence, but also was a hands-on opportunity to learn the principles of applying the healing ministry of our Lord. It would take reams of paper to explain to you some of the significant aspects of this conference so I won't bore you with it. Suffice to say that the impact in our lives will be ongoing and will transform the way we do ministry from this day forward.

Some of the speakers included:
– Bill Johnson
– Chris Gore
– Banning Leibscher
– Kevin Dedmond
– Dawna deSilver
– Seeth Dahl
– Joaquin Evans. ( pronounced Warrkin)

We met so many new people and made many new friends many of whom, I'm sure, we will have a lasting relationship beyond the conference.

I don't know how many times I received prayer for healing. I felt very much loved and cared for during the whole conference. Despite not receiving any healing, I came away feeling hugely encouraged, loved and knowing that God was in the process of transforming much of our thinking about who He is, His true nature and therefore how He acts.
You may ask 'was anyone healed?' The answer is an emphatic Yes!.

We witnessed around 30 people having been healed from ailments such as headaches, back pain etc. however one of the most significant for us was that at our table there was an older fellow who had been in the Vietnam war and he wore hearing aids in both ears. He said to us that he also had ringing in both ears due to the effects of bombing in the war. At one stage he received prayer and was touched so powerfully that he fell down in the spirit. When he pulled himself up he realised that his hearing aid was broken and when he removed the other half from his ear he realised that he had been healed and there was no ringing in that ear. The other eat was still not healed so he went up the front of the auditorium and received further prayer. The next day he came to our table not wearing any hearing aids and being completely healed of the deafness and ringing in his ears. You have no idea how much joy this brought to him. He had had this for 25 Years!!! Some of you reading this may disbelieve , but you can do so all you want, we were there as witnesses and also have the guy's phone number for verification by any skeptics.

One of the highlights of the conference for me was on the Thursday morning when we had an encounter with the intercessors. They took us into a room that was fully decorated and set up as a place of quiet worship and reflection with the room being separated into three zones; one being for worship with a large cross featured centrally (refer photo at the heading of this blog) the second was a treasure chest and a prophetic art area and the third was a place for taking communion. I have written a separate blog relating to this experience which was for me, quite enlightening.

We have been to a few conferences over the years however this one and the one we had at Dayspring in August 2010 with Randy Clark, have been the most significant times in our spiritual journey and both have brought about massive change in our thinking and relationship with Jesus.

However, we are not conference junkies and we're fully aware that during the time of the conference there can be much exuberance and joy because of the special environment. However there is another reality that occurs once you are outside of the conference and back into normal life.

Peace in isolation and in a Christian community is easy; peace in the midst of a war-zone is an entirely different thing. It's good to enjoy the experience for what it is and allow it to change and shape us but far too often, we get caught in traps set by our expectations and failure to live out that experience in the community to which we're called. We end up chasing a "feeling" which can lead to spiritual death instead of spiritual life. The decision for us is that we can rest in our identity; in the knowledge that we host His presence and in the truth that God is good and carry that life into every situation we find ourselves, inside the church or outside in the community.

Enough for now.

Bless you richly
Rob and Carole