Word

Acts 16v26

"Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose"

Book of the prophet Isaiah 9v2

"Before those people lived in darkness, 
       but now they have seen a great light. 
    They lived in a dark land, 
       but a light has shined on them. "

^{From an Account of the Acts of the followers of Jesus (aka Book of Acts) 2v2-4} 

^"And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested^[a] on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance. "

Influencing Others

Last week at church we had a sermon entitled "Paint Jesus and Trust God". The theme of the morning was, I think, largely to do with children and we had a thanksgiving thanking thing for a few of the new babies that some people from church have given birth to. The sermon was kind of to do with how we can influence the children in our lives for their good, whether our own or friends kids or whatever. There was more to it than that, and because I can't imagine being married, let alone the idea of having kids myself, I'm ashamed to say that I switched off a little bit. (I say this not to be disrespectful, but I just want to be honest and real).

However, over the week and after our small group I've been thinking about it a bit more- both in terms of how we impact people with the gospel, and general influence and power.

Our Powerful Words
Our words are so powerful. Sadly the words we remember from others are often the ones that have impacted us negatively. I remember when I was a young teenager, there was a boy that I liked and he had actually shown a temporary interest in me, but told me I was 'too boring' to go out with. Those 2 words devastated me immensely and it took me about 7 years to get over him and to properly forgive him. I got there by the grace of God!

That's why it's so important, not just to not say crushing things to others, but to fill that air space with lots and lots and lots of encouraging good words to others. There is no such thing as too much encouragement! Even if you don't know somebody that well, if you have eyes to see, you could make a comment on how nice their hair looks, or a bloke equivalent (whatever that may be!) There are so many things we could say to others, things that are true, things that build up, things that help them realise their dreams, words that bring comfort, words that bring hope, words that bring freedom.

I remember another time, i have shared it before. I remember how I was praying with a friend of mine in her house about friendships, holiness, the wonder of God and sensitivity to the person of the Holy Spirit. After that we went to a worship evening at a church on the coast. At the end the couple who were leading the evening felt that God had given them some words- all 4 of the things my friend and I had prayed about were spoken/sung on. The friendship word was so encouraging to me, I've just felt things are a mess in that department and I don't quite know how to explain it or fix it. To hear that word from that lady saying that she felt that God really wanted to encourage people that He was going to coordinate divine friendships, that really encouraged me because 1.From that word, I knew that God had heard my prayer and 2. I know that He keeps His promises and so i can rely on Him to provide.

I think this subject of 'words' is something I'm quite passionate about because i've known the devastation of negative words and positive words in my life. I guess that's why I'm so hungry to step out in words of knowledge for specific things in peoples lives- because i myself have been so impacted by such things on numerous occasions.


Powerful Actions

Our actions are powerful too. It's not great to be someone who talks big love but doesn't follow it up with loving actions. I imagine it's relatively easy to say 'I commit to you til death do us part', but another thing to carry that out. If I say I love someone but don't act loving towards them, what does that communicate to that person? Writing this, I realise I need to show people more love.


Powerful Identity
I believe that as we focus on God and have a revelation of His love more, we are changed by this. Knowing that we are loved and are full of His love, there is something of an overspill that, in that gratefulness of His grace through Jesus, we are transformed and are more secure in who we are and who we were made to be. Because we rely on God first, knowing that His view on us is true and constant, we too will have a consistency flowing out that. It is good to think about the words we use and the actions that we do in influencing others, but I believe that when you encounter the Prescence of the Most High God you can never be the same and there is a natural change that comes. I mean, i've heard of times when people who have chosen to follow Jesus, that their language has changed, that they stopped swearing. Not necessarily because they feel they have to, but out of knowing God. And the same is true of actions.

Recording Buzz!

I'm really excited today as I've listened to the 1st recording of my song for the first time!
Check it out, click on the large writing :) :

LoziB - Look To Hope

[Happy me!]

And now i've got the recording fever, i'm curious. Is it possible to record, with integrity and in true praise, a live worship album alongside a clicktrack?

Making Music Jam

Had an amazing time Monday night at a stunning studio, recording one of my songs. It was a dream come true for me, I was so hyper and excited the whole time we were there! I was there for about 4 1/2hours and so it wasn't surprising that I was tired after that adrenalin rush! Looking forward to hearing the finished version of the song. For a first attempt at recording, I think it went ok...

Final Full Day, what a week!

Today we woke up and it was VERY COLD, but admittedly not as cold as i'm expecting England will be. I had some cranapple granola cereal with coconut milk which, apparently, is healthier for you because it's a nut.

Kinga and I walked up to College View Bethel Campus (3 different cars stopped to ask if we wanted a lift!) and we hung out at The Prayer House. So peaceful. I sat down next to the big stone lion for a bit and then went inside after it got a bit cold for me. A verse I felt drawn to today was Mark 7v16 which turned out to say this:

"You people who can hear me, listen!"

That's a good word right there!

Then I was looking at James chapter 2, which speaks about faith & works, and how faith without works is dead, but works alone is pretty dumb too.

When we went into the building to line up, we were behind an Australian guy. Lots of Australians here! We went in and sat down at the top of the bleachers and some guys from Switzerland sat next to us (we saw them at the Mexican place 'Chipotle'). They were friendly and are staying here for 5 weeks! They showed us some of their cool pictures of San Francisco as they'd just been there for the past week. On the other side of Kinga was sat a Romanian guy called Liviu who we had met before. He is apparently the only Romanian Bethel student here and it has been a really great cost for him to be here.

The first session was run by 4 pastors (2 ladies and 2 guys) who shared prophetic words for various people in the hall. They picked them out individually and got them to stand up and spoke out what they felt God was showing them and brought words of encouragement and purpose to them. Not knowing the people standing up it was hard to tell exactly how accurate the words were but, by the reaction of those around them, their facial expressions and feeling the accuracy of the words in the Spirit, i believe most of what they were saying was right on.
They also got everyone to stand up who was a singer/songwriter who wanted breakthrough in terms of unfinished songs, so i just stood up because i wanna receive anything good they've got coz i'm a hungry bunny!

After that, a guy called Karl/Carl spoke about Matthew 5v14-16 and not being afraid of seeming contradictions, as we are called to be a light, but also to not parade around-

"“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

When we come across something like that, we have the privilege to go to the author of the Word and ask Him about it. What mysteries will He reveal? :)

Karl/Carl also spoke on the difference between discipline and punishment. Discipline looks forward, but punishment looks back. We also looked at identity-
The temptation is to prove who you are by what you do. When Jesus was tempted in the desert, the devil asked Him "IF you are the son of God...". When we are firm in our identity we don't respond to tricks like that, because we don't need to prove who we are by actions.
One of the most powerful things is knowing your identity, who you are in Christ. There is the knowing it in your head, knowing the verses for it, but when you start really believing it- boy, that is powerful. That's something here at Bethel that the students are trained in, realising their identity. And that is why they are so happy, because they are secure in what their Papa God says about them. (Maybe not all of them, as they're on a journey and different walks of life, but the general overview of them as I see it)

Chris Overstreet, the Evangelist dude, was taking the last sessions. It was basically testimony testimony testimony time! Amazing!

-Chris was in Holland recently and he bumped into a group of young people. He asked them if they would believe in Jesus if they experienced God. one brave girl stepped out and Chris asked her to hold out her hands. He led her to asked 'Holy Spirit, come' and she felt His prescence. He preached the gospel of Jesus and she gave her life to Jesus. The rest of her friends were saved too.

-He was out in Uganda at a school and he asked the teachers whether he could preach. They let him and as a result 15 kids got saved!

-There was a girl who we shall call 'L'. 'L' was doing kids work on a Thursday and they just had some unsstructured play with the kids. There was a tall, black guy who came in called Terence. 'L' felt drawn towards him to pray for him and so she grabbed Alex. The guy ends up giving his life to Jesus, amazing! 4 days later, there was great breakthrough in 'L's life and she was talking to her intern about the episode, who showed her a picture of the guy, and tells her that he was hit by a bus and killed. Woah. They went to the funeral with 'S' and it was like a party, there was an altar call and pretty much the whole church went forward to dedicate/rededicate their lives to Christ, about 10 people were left sitting down. There were many tears and the presence of the Holy Spirit was very strong. About 30 people were saved that day!

-'C' was out with Drew on a Treasure Hunt and there were many radical healings eg. someones back got totally healed. 'C' saw a lady down the street and went up to her. She was an alcoholic and her liver and insides were stuffed. 'C' prayed for healing and she felt a tickly feeling. 'C' asked if she wanted to give her life to Jesus. She said 'no, i want to sort my life out first'. he said 'no, that's all lies!'. 'C' told her how he used to be a drug addict and Jesus transformed his life. She said she'd go home and think about it. 'C' had a boldness come over him and said that he wasn't leaving until she got saved, and she ended up experiencing the prescence of the LORD and gave her life to Jesus. I believe her life has been transformed!

-Taylor was in Stockton at Buffalo Wild Wings. The waitress there wanted them to minister some more and told them to come back tomorrow and they'll pay for their meal! Jason saw some guys on a car and for about 15mins was getting all these words of knowledge for them, that were 100% accurate! There was a really hard looking guy who had a gun on him and the guys were calling out his purpose and how he's called to lead youth, anyhoo, he ended up being saved and filled with the Holy Spirit!



-'K' and her intercessor friends were praying for this guy who had anger issues, his 18yr old son was found in possession of a whole bunch of cocaine, and because of the amount was arrested as an adult. They prayed lots and when they tested the cocaine it turned out to just be white powder. He was freed and has been coming to bible studies.

-Liviu (Romanian guy sat next to Kinga) shared a testimony of a girl who had leukaemia who lost a leg, her flesh was eaten, she was sent to hospital and eventually ended up being declared brain dead. The guy there said 'no! In Jesus' name, wake up!' and she woke up!

-'P', 2 weeks ago, was at a kids group with around 20 kids. They were doing a skit where they were asking questions about God and the kids ended up asking genuine questions about God and Jesus and stuff. 'P' asked 'who wants to receive Jesus?' and 12 or 13 kids ended up receiving Jesus!


Testimonies are so important! They are so powerful. Remember the works of God, they help you remember who He is. Again, this is kind of linked to the identity thing earlier. Please remember the testimonies of God, share them, talk about them. It's good to remember them by yourself, but it's also good to share good news. I long for a culture of testimony sharing. Testimonies build faith. They help us remember the abundance of God.

After the last session, we said goodbye to Barry and Sarah. I love them so much. They are family to me. They are superstars and I just feel so blessed and honoured to have them as my friends. I am so happy they are here and getting transformed and blessed. :)

Kinga and I hung out at Hebrews for a while, then sat outside and finished our lunch (around 4pm!) and prayed for a bit and chatted. (Also, earlier in the bookshop, one of the girls who was in the Revival Group the other day spotted me and said 'hey, it's Favour Girl!'. She had prophesied over me and seen how God has favour over my life and i know it, and yeah, it was cool to be called 'Favour Girl'. Sounds like a superhero name!)
Then we took lots of arty photos and started to walk back to the house. About halfway there, Angie stopped by and we got a lift. Cars here are GINORMOUS! I had to literally climb inside the car! When we got back I had a vegan salad with chicken, kale, apple and pecan nuts. This week i've had so many new, healthy things, i didn't expect that in America! I think we've mainly been eating organic stuff since we've been here. Good job. Oh, but i have been eating potato chips, so that balances out :P

I feel so content in this place, like I want for nothing. Maybe that's part of the not driving a car for a week, not being distracted by cell phone texts and facebook all day and being on holiday, but, there is something about this place. It's so good to be around believing believers, around people who have faith and expectation that God will do things. I may not agree with everything at Bethel church, but I love how they honour the prescence of the Holy Spirit, how what they teach is revelatory, hopeful, faith-full, challenging, biblical but also from experience. I love how they start all their meetings (leaders meeting, meetings about media problems, any kinds of technical meetings etc) with testimony time, so that they start off being encouraged and being aware of how amazing God is, before they come to any agenda or problems or whatever. I love how beautiful the mountains are. I am so pleased I came here, and I plan to come again for a bit longer next time, maybe when it's a bit warmed too :P

Thin Place

Today we walked to Bethel Church and went to Alabaster House (the Prayer House). The atmosphere felt so chilled, so peaceful. I lay outside next to the fountain for 10minutes listening to the rushing water. It was a bit chilly, so I went inside the building and lay on the ground, soaking. (not literally soaking wet btw) After a long time i wanted to get up but there is such peace in this place i could barely raise myself up! I was reading my bible for a bit. 2 Corinthians 3v15-17 as I recall-

"Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."

Afterwards, I went up to the church building and sat outside eating my lunch, but then it got too cold/windy so i went inside to join the visitors queue. In front of me was a pastor from Ohio who moved out to Redding to live there since 5 months, and behind me were the 2 ladies from Bath. We chatted for a bit and then Kinga came back and we soon entered the room for todays school sessions.

The first session was led by a lady called Bernie and she spoke on salvation and asked lots of students questions, so there was alot of participation from people today. The 2nd session was led by a man called Dan and he led a discussion on a book by Hugh Ross and it was to do with science and faith and creationism and evolution. It was very well done I think. Lots of cool questions and one guy asked about dinosaurs. Fun times. The 3rd session was a talk from Kris Valloton and he spoke about fear & Gods perfect love casting it out.
(Click on the large writing/link to watch Kris's talk)
Kris Vallotton - 15th Feb

After this, we went to the cafe and hung out for a little bit. We talked to a couple of girls who had come from Sheffield. We went off to the Prayer House again. I felt so peaceful, such a lovely place to just come and rest and be. I felt drawn to Psalm 91-

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.

Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

If you make the Most High your dwelling— even the LORD, who is my refuge—
then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all yourways;
they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

Because he loves me, says the LORD, I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honour him.
With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation"


Afterwards, we had a lift from Barry and we went to pick up Sarah from her small group. Saw some some rainforest stuff in someone's house and oil dripping from their ceiling.

We went out to Chipotle, pretty much just like The Mission mexican place at the Riverside in Reading. I had a Burrito of something beginning with 'B' that i can't remember- and it was like the size of my face man! We had a good time calling out each others destiny.

We were dropped back to the house and had a chat with our hosts about American things and English things and Valentine things and travel things. Things.


This place feels like a thin place. The atmosphere is easy, peaceful and there is so much good stuff going on here. It feels like alot of transformation and amazingness goes on here. It feels similar to Ffald-y-Brenin, in terms of the Prayer House at least. The Alabaster Prayer House in California and the chapel at Ffald Y Brenin in West Wales are roughly the same size- very small and simple. But I experienced the same peace in both. If you're looking for peace, maybe go check out whichever one's closest to you!

[chapel at Ffald-Y-Brenin]

[prayer house at Bethel]

The same peaceful yet powerfulness. The expectation of meeting with the LORD God Almighty. Jesus is honoured in this place. He really is. They teach about the cross and His sacrifice and all kinds. It's not about just singing love songs here. The seminar on salvation today was rich and biblical and wonderful :) I am so glad i am in this place at this time.

The Treasure of Tuesday

Today Kinga and I met up with Rita at In The Hearth cafe near Bethel Church. She is so amazing, she's a superstar. It is an honour to meet and spend time with her!

After that we went up to Bethel Church itself and we met Cody's grandparents. Old people are amazing blessings! What wealth of wisdom and insight they can bring! I realised that the atmosphere, at the very least on the hill at Bethel, is very clear. It feels like an easy place to see things prophetically. It does feel like an open space and there is such a prescence of peace here. It is a place of PEACE, EXPECTATION and FAITH.

There were some people i recognised from the Revival Group, so i went over to say hi. They were busy Treasure Hunting so i went and sat down. But before that, i remarked to one lady that i really wanted to be on someones Treasure map coz i hadn't been found by a team of Treasure Hunters before! I said this to God too, asking Him if someone could find me, and 1 minute later as i was sat at a cafe table, 2 girls came up to me and said they had 'red coat' on their Treasure map. I was wearing a red coat. I was stoked that God answered my prayer so quick! Haha!

They had words for me about songwriting in different genres (bear in mind- i didn't tell them this and nor did i have anything that would give them a clue about music stuff) and one of them said i had an 'Adele anointing', as it were. :) It's ok if you don't understand what i'm going on about. It was awesome for me! God totally gave them all kinds of words of knowledge and encouraging insight into my life. This is the normal christian life, God reveals mysteries and knows each of us to our very core. He knows who we are and He knows our darkest secrets, He loves us loves us loves us. Yay God!

After this, i tried to remember it all and wrote some stuff down. Then i went to queue up for today Bethel School session. I was behind a guy from Seattle and in front of 2 ladies from Bath who go to Andrew Leakey's church. The worship team today were a bunch of people from London...i think. At least, it was led by this lady called Karen Gibson. Somebody told her story before we kicked off the worship/praise time and it was just such an amazing testimony of Gods favour. Here's a video of her choir singing-



Worship was. amazing. so so so so so good. Just solely focussed on Jesus. Beautiful. Ah :D

After that, Bobby Conners spoke for a couple of hours. (This is the link-copy and paste-to his talk. You have to buy it after 5mins http://www.ibethel.tv/preview/1299/bssm-bobby-conner/2012/02/14 ) Loads of stories and testimonies and releasing of good stuff. Afterwards it was AMT (i think that stands for activation ministry teams?) Kinga and Sarah went to the Sozo class and I went with Barry to the Physical Healing class which was led by a guy called Chuck. It wasn't Chuck Norris, but this particular Chuck could hold his own in a battle. Everyone in this class seemed so happy and high, when people grasp the love and goodness of the love God through Jesus Christ...it just does make you happy. :) it's just how it goes. I really am enjoying and basking in this culture where people are SO encouraging and honouring to each other. Last night Barry & Sarahs Revival Group had some kind of dinner thing, and the guys all went to this place and prepared everything for the ladies to make them feel like princesses and stuff. That's the gist I got, but it's just SO ridiculously amazing here. It's so good to see the men really honouring the ladies like this. I LOVE this culture of honour- i so want to have a culture like that in England. I want the spirit of apathy in my country to die.

A bunch of people got healed of some stuff and pain and things. I had back pain and got prayed for at the end, but after the first time getting prayer, the pain got worse and moved up my back. Very weird. Then they prayed again and the pain changed again. Strange. Then i thought perhaps i have a leg shorter than the other, because i've heard of that being the case for people with back pain before. So I sat down on a chair and made sure i was sat straight on the chair, and put my legs out with my shoes off. After checking them a couple of times, it appeared that my right leg was slightly shorter and so this girl commanded the leg to grow out. I felt a sort of pulling on my leg, but she wasn't pulling my leg. The legs then matched. After that happened, i stood up and was checking out my back, and realised most of the pain had gone, and my back did feel different. Whatever was going with my legs or back or whatever, i can for sure tell with confidence that i had loads of back pain before they told my leg to grow, and afterwards most of the pain was gone.

Kinga and I walked back to the house, took only 20minutes, but i found it confusing crossing the roads and there weren't really any clear markings for where to cross. I really hope I wasn't jaywalking, coz that's illegal in this state!

We had butternut squash soup for dinner and i have been sneezing lots for some reason!