Sligo22: Receive
Nicola Neal is an activist, pioneer, speaker and author. She is founder and CEO of Every Life International, a charity working with the urban poor in deprived communities around the world. Here’s a summary of what she had to say (NB: notes taken during Week A).
I want to tell you about a friend of mine her name is Hadurah, who lives in a slum near Kampala, Uganda. When she was first learning about who Jesus is, Hadurah needed to go and get some fire wood to boil water to cook rice and feed her children. She left her baby on the floor while she went to get wood. The baby rolled over and started to crawl towards the pit latrine. This is a toilet ditch. If you fall down it, you would die from the fumes before you hit the bottom – which would be a blessing because otherwise you would drown in sewage.
And just as the baby was about to fall, a man appeared. He was the lowest of the low – a mad man who was homeless. He rescued the baby, brought him back to Hadurah’s house and sat there and played with the baby until his mum returned.
She came back and she is deeply grateful. She thanked him. And then told me, she heard a voice speak to her, “Hadurah, go to the rubbish dump, find the man who saved your baby.”
Jesus in the Slum
When she found him she said, “He sat there and told me everything about my life, right from the beginning, things that nobody else could know about me. I looked at him and I said, ‘Who are you? Are you Jesus? Are you the Christ?’” He said, “Yes I am. Blessed are the eyes that see. Many people don’t recognise me but you do. Many churches won’t let me walk though their front door because they don’t recognise me.”
Through lockdown, if you don’t work, you don’t eat. And our slums faced starvation. Hadurah told me, “I used to think about having nothing to eat and I said, ‘Jesus I have nothing to eat.’ And then this man Jesus would appear with food. I would think, ‘I need wood.’ And he would appear to give me wood.”
She told me, “When he laughs, it is like all of creation comes into life.” There is so much more to her story. She is incredible but I think the thing that I love about it most of all is that Jesus chooses to manifest Himself to the poor. He chooses to identify himself with the poor. That undoes my heart. That is a profound challenge to the church. What about us? Where do we become one with the poor?
Hadurah is a woman on fire. I think a face to face encounter with Jesus will do that. She has just graduated from our apprenticeship /leadership development programme. She is becoming a shining light in her community. It is so exciting. This is what happens when Jesus is present. When the presence of God is around, everything changes. I am full of expectancy for an everything-changes-moment for you. You will encounter the fire and the presence of Jesus Christ and this nation will be changed.
Upper Room
Acts 1 – as a ministry we’ve been digging deep into the book of Acts. There is a baptism of fire that takes place in Acts 1 and 2 that literally transformed the world. We are about to experience another one. The question is, “Are we ready for it?”
I flew to Uganda in March. The challenge I had for my team is how can we position ourselves in a permanent, “upper room” space. I said, “We are going to create an upper room space and we are not leaving this room until the power of God comes.” I could feel the expectancy in the room. We began to worship. We don’t have any instruments. Just a drum. We worship and it is beautiful and powerful but I was standing and thinking, there must be more than this.
I asked, “Holy Spirit, are you gonna come?” And I heard the Lord say to me, “Turn around and watch me fall in the room.” Forty people suddenly had an encounter with the Holy Spirit at exactly the same moment. And to be honest, it was a bit scary. I said, “Holy Spirit, I don’t know what to do?” He said, “Nicola, you don’t need to do anything because I’m doing it. Just watch.”
The same thing happened again. The fire of God came each day. It was wild and beautiful. We have seen a significant increase in healing, signs and wonders and in salvation since that time. I stayed for a month and then I had to come back to the UK. Every morning, I pick up my phone and I ask the leader there, “Moses, is the Holy Spirit there. Has he come today?” And he says, “Yes.” They receive in the morning and then they go out in the afternoon and give it away.
Receive and then Give
The disciples are given a very clear commission. You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. It comes with an added caution, first wait for the gift the Father has promised you. Do not move until the power encounter has come for you. Then go.
Matthew 3: 13 – 17 – Jesus goes to John to be baptised. The anointing of heaven came and His ministry began.
The disciples waited for the power of the spirit before they started to fulfil the commission. It was a risky strategy. Here is Jesus about to leave them in charge of the mission. He chose to call the broken. The ones who we wouldn’t pay attention to. In 1 Corinthians !:27 he chooses those who culture overlooks to expose the hollow pretentions of the somebodies. He chooses people like my friend Hadurah.
The disciples were a nightmare. They were very human. Peter says, “Jesus I’ll die for you.” But then he denies his Lord. Prior to the baptism of fire, they were weak and faltering. After the fire, they were changed forever. Jesus’ confidence was not in who they were but in the encounter the were about to experience.
And so the fire comes. Acts 2: 1 – 4
The Holy Spirit shows up and the rest of the book documents the consequences. It was a move of the spirit that touched the entire world. After the power encounter, they spill out into the streets. Immerse yourself in this book until you long to see the same thing happen in your lifetime. They saw the sick healed. They saw countless signs and wonders. They preached the gospel boldly even in the face of adversity.
We receive and then we give. These are hall marks of a move of God. What we are experiencing is a tiny taste of what is to come. It is not to come for us but for all of us. We are invited to be a part of it. Do you want in? These are hallmarks of a move of God. They sold their possessions and they gave to the poor and making sure that no one went without. We love the healing signs and wonders. But this too… it is an equally important hallmark of a move of God. He cares about the poor and we need to too. If you are not sure how the Lord feels about the poor, ready your Bible. Hadurah’s story shows His care for the poor.
I long to see this kind of fruit in our ministry, in the church, in the nations. I have this conviction and I know it is coming. This story is our spiritual roots and our spiritual inheritance. I’m just not prepared any longer to settle for anything less. I’m done with playing church. I’m bored of practising religion. I need the fire of Jesus. I want to see church start transforming the community. This is what it’s about. We receive in order to give. We encounter in order to give. The world needs a church like that.
We have a relationship with the God of the universe the one who when He speaks, light is created, who rides on the clouds like a chariot. When we have relationship with Him, there must be more available to us than this. I’ve missed meeting together. This is amazing. It has been incredible to be together but I wonder what now? But what happens now? There is more available to us. The question is do you want it? Are you prepared for it when it comes? Are you prepared for it to mess up your life?
The upper room began a chain of events that changed the world. It was a power explosion of the kingdom. Are you ready for another one?