An update from Mark & Cathy

Dear friends,

It’s been quite a while since we wrote our last newsletter, and so we’re writing this to bring you up to date with what’s been happening here.

As you know, we finished the building last year.  It passed all the inspections, and we received full approval for the use of the building in November 2024.  In the meantime, we’ve been buying furniture.  The bedrooms upstairs are now equipped with beds and wardrobes.  We have beautiful sofas and chairs in the lounge, a fully equipped office, and new chairs in the Prayer Room.  The Presence of God in the Prayer Room is just amazing, so many angels, and a peace that really is beyond understanding.

October has been a really busy month, literally non-stop, with one group coming after the other, with no respite in-between.  But this is unusual.  Most of the time we don’t have visitors, and it’s been quiet for most of the year.  In the quietness, what we’ve been sensing is that the season that we’ve been in is coming to an end, and a new season is about to begin.

For several years, we’ve been hosting individuals and groups, sharing the vision, allowing the Lord to minister to people as well as ministering to Him through worship and prayer.  We’ve had so many testimonies of the Lord touching people.  Some have had extra-ordinary visions; many have had angelic encounters.  Some have been healed.  This has all been good!  And yet we feel there is a calling and a destiny for the House of Life that we have not yet come into.

I keep hearing, again and again, “There is more, much more that is coming…”.  When I hear that I get the feeling that we haven’t even started yet!  

The past 12 months have been a time of preparation for us, a preparation for the new that is coming.  Cathy wrote last time about new wine skins for new wine, and we feel like we’re being stretched and prepared for the new wine.  

This wine will be governmental.  Father wants His bride to rule and reign with Him.  We can do that as we have been doing, through prayer and intercession on the earth, but now Father is opening up something more, something new, something greater. He is opening up Heaven, inviting us to engage with Him there, to rule and reign with Him there.

In Ephesians it says, “He raised us up together (with Christ) and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”. (Eph. 2:6).  It’s a picture of ruling and reigning with Him, from heaven down.

There are so many scriptures, which, for the most part, we have either taken to be allegorical or have pushed into the future, because they don’t fit comfortably in our 3D thinking. 

One of these is found in the book of Hebrews, which says, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:16)

I’ve always taken this to be allegorical.  I never realised there is an actual throne of grace that we can go to, a heavenly court where we can get righteous verdicts, which will set us free from the enemy’s accusations.

We see this court in operation in Zechariah 3.  Here we see Satan accusing Joshua the High Priest as he is pointing to the filthy garments he is wearing. The court then rules in his favour.  His filthy garments are taken away, his iniquities are removed, and he is clothed with rich new clothes. It’s a beautiful picture of someone receiving mercy and grace.  

Perhaps, in the House of Life, we’ve become more aware of these realities, because of the destiny and calling of this place.  There is also an open heaven here. It’s a bit like we read about in Bethel, where angels were ascending and descending between earth and heaven.

“Then he (Jacob) dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it… Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”  (Gen. 28:12,16)

Something else that has happened recently, is that Cathy and I have moved into the House of Life to live here for a period of time.  So far, it’s been just over 2 months.  What it’s done is given us focus.  We are much more sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is doing here, and it also helps us appreciate what it will be like to live here in this environment.  

I know some people may be thinking, When will the new season start?  What is it going to look like?  The short answer is, we don’t know exactly!  The Lord has said, “get ready” and we are doing our best to prepare.  We have some idea of the flavour of things to come, and we’ve shared a bit of this with you today, but we haven’t been given the timing.  In all these things we learn to be patient.

Anyway, I hope this helps in bringing you up to date with what is happening here.

With love and blessings

Mark & Cathy

Over the Feast of Tabernacles, we had a group from the Jesus-Haus, Herrnhut to read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation around the clock for three and a half days. There were also others who joined them from different nations. A log was kept of scriptures the Holy Spirit was highlighting.