Completely New Beginning!

Dear Friends,

As I (Cathy) was sitting in the Prayer Room, I kept thinking about this verse…

Then He [Jesus] spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. [Both old and new] And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ” (Luke 5:36-39)

We have just commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau with over 40 Heads of States here in our little village of Brzezinka with all the Royal Families of Europe represented and many Presidents too. Wow, the security was tight!

• Eight means “a new beginning”.
• Ten means “complete”.
• Eighty, therefore, means “a completely new beginning”!

I am conscious that this House of Life has been built on the foundation of those who have gone before. The Old Wine! We honour the old wine. The old is good and some say is better. There is a blessing when we honour our fathers and mothers – it goes well for us in the land. So we give thanks and praise God for those who have gone before us – the mothers and fathers of this place.

But now, having come to this marker of 80 years, we find ourselves at the start of a completely new beginning. The house has been built and finished. We have all the final building permissions, and the building can be officially used. We even have a house number (2 Boczna Street) and a 240-litre wheelie bin! We give thanks and praise for all Father God has done. Actually, when we look back, we stand in awe for all He has done (!)

A New Wine Skin

This place [House of Life] is a new wine skin. It is a place for those who desire the new wine. Those who have let go of what the Spirit was doing in the 80’s, 90’s, 00’s, & 10’s. It is NOT a place for those who relish the old wine, with its mature, full and developed flavours. It’s a place for those who are willing to take a “risk”, to be a child again, to experience something not experienced before, to receive all that Heaven has for them, even when they don’t understand it. As such, mistakes may be made. Therefore, it is a place for those who are able to forgive, let go – moving onwards!

This House is for those who want the new wine!

If we are to see the veil lifted off the Jewish people (as in Romans 11), then we need something from Heaven that we have never seen before.

If we are to see revival in Europe, and the dark blanket from the holocaust lifted off, then we need something from Heaven that is completely new – we need new wine.

See, I am doing a new thing!

See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
The wild animals honour me, the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise. (Isaiah 43:19-21)

After I was sharing with someone that Father God is going to do something new here, I felt Holy Spirit correct my thoughts with a sense of “But it is very ancient – it is from the foundations of the earth!”

As I am sitting here in the prayer room writing this, I am reminded of drinking Beaujolais Nouveau wine as a student! Beaujolais Nouveau is a French wine which is drunk within a year of it being made, any time after two months from the grapes being harvested. It is light, fruity and fresh! And this is what I am sensing in the prayer room, an atmosphere of lightness, freshness and a fruity abundance of good things from heaven!

People continually comment on the special atmosphere in the prayer room. Such a lightness, freedom and joy. A good friend, who is a musician, commented last week how his guitar sounds completely different here. He said it’s not just the acoustics, but it’s something else. Who can say what it is? – a heavenly presence?

Thank you!

So we give thanks for all that Father God has done, is doing, and will do. We also want to thank everyone who has partnered with Father God in bringing us this far, with financial giving for the building and supporting us with encouragement and prayer.

We still need to equip the building, which we are doing as things are needed. Last year, we purchased bedroom furniture, beds and more light fittings. The dining room table finally arrived in August having been ordered in the spring! This year we have seen the arrival of dining room chairs and some lounge furniture.

On the 27th January, we commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in conjunction with the Fountain of Tears. Friends, who had come from different places, joined in with the day, starting with a time of meditation in the Fountain of Tears, followed by worship in the Prayer Room, followed by lunch around our dining room table. We completed the day by watching the ceremony that was happening just a few hundred metres away, online in our lounge on a TV screen that we had specially purchased for the event!

We have so much to thank Father for. Meanwhile, as all the physical items come together, He is continually working in our hearts, encouraging us with His love and revealing Himself and His ways. The whole of Psalm 23 applies, but I will finish this letter with the last verse:

Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Psalms 23:6)