Dear Friends and Workers together in Christ
Warmest greetings. I have just returned from my annual visit to my prayer mountain in Austria. This was not only refreshing but spiritually powerful. For more than 30 years I have prayed on these mountains and God has moved powerfully. In 1992 I was on the mountain top, shattered because my Karlsruhe East/West Conferences had become so successful and grown so large that my organisers had refused to support any more in Germany.
On the mountain top in that early morning, I cried out to God, what do I do next?! These conferences had been the turning point in my ministry, and the first time we had used the name ‘Eurovision’. Literally God had given me a ‘Vision for Europe’, but how to move forward now? In the early morning and alone on the mountain God put into my heart and my spirit a challenge – go to Kyiv! Impossible – how could I, with no organisation, no fundraising charity, and now without even the support of my friends in Germany, take on such a challenge?!
I was not a strong skier, only learning when I was 50 years old... I challenged the Lord, “Let’s do the impossible. I will take the most difficult slope; it ends on a dangerous road. If You want me to go to Kyiv, take me down safely. If not, let me fail on this slope! I launched myself down in desperate faith – I did it! Standing at the bottom I said, “OK, Lord, now let’s do it again!”
That move in newly independent Ukraine to take the Sport Palace in Kyiv and the Dynamo football stadium only some months later for an East/West Conference was to see incredible miracles and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit – revival swept the nation leading to the present United National Days of Prayer. But for me back then, it was a death sentence; the Minister for Religious Affairs determined to kill me – almost succeeding 5 years later – in fact, one person was killed. I was public enemy No 1. But I won the victory by confronting the Minister personally, until he confessed and gave me freedom to evangelise in the whole Ukraine!
These experiences demonstrate how clearly God speaks to me and leads me. He did it again this summer when I met Him on the mountain. Of several questions and requests, by the time I came down, He had answered two, of which the most critical is a clear programme for the coming years, containing a clear command and power to fulfil it. This has been the pattern of my whole life – He instructs me what to do – I explain that it is impossible – He ‘pushes me off the mountain’ – and the miracle always follows!
By the time you read this I shall be in Almaty, Kazakhstan, August 9-19. I meet first with the key leaders and evangelists, then the massive All-Central Asia SOZO Youth Conference. This follows the powerful youth conference last year when the Fire of God fell on two thousand young people. Young people across Central Asia are hungry for God’s Power and are coming from the whole region. The older generation of leaders is passing away, but these young ones desperately want the Fire to evangelise that I still have. Though the Gospel reached these regions in the early years of the Christian era, historically Central Asia became Moslem. Colonised by Imperial Russia from the 18th century, after the 1917 Russian Revolution Central Asia came under the yoke of communism.
The challenge to these young people now is to evangelise these culturally Moslem and atheistic regions. They urgently need the miracle working Power of the Holy Spirit for this region to break free from Islam and Russian control. I am praying and believing that, as Russia is being destroyed by the war in Ukraine, we will see, in these lands, the same Power of the Holy Spirit, who in the 1990s brought a short-lived revival to the whole of former Soviet Russia, transform the nations of Central Asia and the Caucasus in a last Revival before Jesus Comes! This is a big part of God’s current challenge to me.
We have a hectic programme this Autumn, with another mission to Central Asia, September 12,13,14, with their 25th Call to Prayer for the entire region, followed by evangelism in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In October we are again holding United Prayer for Ukraine in Lviv, believing that we shall see a miraculous answer to prayer and the end of the war. Ukraine can depend only on God, not on man or any world power. In November we will be in Uzbekistan to be part of their celebration of 100 years of Pentecostalism, mostly under communism, then under extreme autocratic rule. It is very significant, as the new government is supporting this celebration. I am believing for a new move of the Holy Spirit in this troubled land.
Pray with us. We now have no reserves and desperately need the finance to complete this year’s programme and make the necessary downpayments for next year. But by an incredible miracle, it’s like it was under communism when God said to me, “I have set before you an open door and no man can shut it!” Over the past 50 years God has always provided the finance through His faithful people and we are going ahead in faith that, when God opens a door, we must go in!
Time is short, Jesus is coming; money is short, but God’s Power is not limited! The older I get, the more I need His Power – to overcome human weakness. But I am determined. I will not stop until my work is done.
Thank you to you, our supporters – without your help we cannot do the work God has called us to.
David
Thank you for supporting this vision and ministry. We appreciate every prayer and financial contribution. To those who give anonymously, thank you. And to those who give regularly via Standing Order, we value you. Receive this blessing from Ephesians 1.15, ‘Ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.’
We continue to provide humanitarian and spiritual aid to the displaced living in Ukraine. Our staff regularly visit the front line, praying with those in distress, and providing much needed supplies. Thank you for continuing to support this vital work.