Father's House Blog

There are times when you enter extreme favour, when everywhere you turn you seem to run into the Father’s blessings, even when you’re working hard for the Lord.

      Last week was one such time. On Tuesday 26^th October, three of us from the Father’s House flew out to New York City in order to drive down to the beautiful setting of Mrytle Beach.

      Oli, Tiff and I arrived on the Tuesday evening in New York City and took the opportunity to visit Time Square at night. The next morning we went to Ground Zero before picking up our hired car and driving out of the city on to the i95 for a fun packed road trip to South Carolina. We arrived just in time for the meeting on Thursday evening. This was for the supporters of Shiloh Place, one of the premier ministries focusing on the Father heart of God in the world today. Set up by the late Jack Frost, Shiloh Place is now run by his wife, the amazing Trisha Frost, and a great team who totally get the message of the Father’s love. Rarely have I met such loving and generous people.

      On Thursday evening I paid tribute to Jack Frost, emphasizing that the dream for setting up the Father’s House began on the day of Jack’s funeral on March 7^th 2007, when the Holy Spirit began to impress upon me to get back on message – the message of my life, the Father’s love, spiritual adoption and the healing of orphan hearts. Jack’s homecoming was the catalyst for me founding the Father’s House, so it was a massive privilege for Oli, Tiff and me to go and serve the family of Shiloh for a three day conference. We ministered not only the Thursday evening, but also Friday morning, Friday evening and Saturday morning. There was terrific favour not only on the meetings (where the Father moved in deep and gentle ways) but also on our fellowship. There was a real sense of a future synergy between Shiloh Place and the Father’s House. We so look forward to the outworking of that in the future. We are anticipating real favour. As the old cliché goes, no one has got it altogether, but all together we’ve got it!

      On Sunday morning we went to a local church called – yes, you guessed it – ‘the Father’s House’. I had a message prepared but in the end felt called to deliver a prophetic word out of Psalm 68.5 (a father to the fatherless is God in his holy house) and to express Daddy’s heart for Daddy’s house. The Holy Spirit moved very powerfully in the ministry time. We went away with a real sense that Jesus had been glorified in the work that had been done there. There was in short favour!

      Throughout the time at Shiloh Place we were in fact showered with favour. The three of us on the team were put up in the most beautiful condo by the ocean. We could hear the sound of the sea from our windows. It was breath taking. On the Sunday afternoon we went for a walk together along the beach, enjoying bright sunshine (mid 20s) and the goodness of God’s creation. It was unforgettable – the Father’s unimaginable favour.

      Then on Monday we started driving back to NYC. As we left in the car, an email arrived on my BlackBerry from dear friends of mine just outside DC inviting us to stay in their big house near Langley. And so we drove to Washington DC and arrived at Sandy and Helen Link’s house on the Monday afternoon. We took off for a quick meal in one of the most fantastic restaurants I know on the banks of the Potomac River in Georgetown before driving ourselves to the monuments and exploring them by night. We spent a long time reading the great words about freeing slaves and the call to justice for orphans and widows that were inscribed on the walls.

      With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan -to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.

      Some words those!

      The next day we drove to the Big Apple and dropped our car off at the car rental centre. We went shopping and site seeing.... including a brief detour to the election plaza which was ramping up for the historic election result. And all of us experienced the Father’s favour. Tiff went into Tiffany and Co (the shop of her name sake) and was blessed by the unexpected gift of a special, much sought after Tiffany and Co keepsake shopping bag. This happened when she was singled out by one of the ushers on the ground floor. She had the biggest grin you’ve ever seen! It was the kind of little drop of joy that only our Father could arrange. It’s called FAVOUR!

      After riding in a yellow cab to JFK airport, we had a bite to eat in a wonderful airport restaurant as the election results began to come in. Then we had a very punctual and happy flight home, after a time of not just hard work but terrific fun. As we came into land, the pilot announced that Barak Obama was the new President. I could sense the smile on Abraham Lincoln’s face in the great DC monument widening just a little. And Martin Luther King was singing for joy in glory. Whatever your views of Democrat policies, it is surely an African American in the White House is surely a global icon of great importance.

      Sometimes you just run into the Father’s favour. As Saint John put it in the prologue to his gospel, “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. (John 1.16)”. That was our experience as we ran into the atmosphere of the Father’s love in Shiloh Place, and on the way there and the way back. We received one blessing after another – out of the Father’s amazing and extravagant GRACE. Thank you Trisha Frost. Thank you Mark and Jane Burlinson. Thank you Shiloh Place. Thank you Father!