Reflections from a friend

Hearing the land cry out, my whole being connected with the land - this is what I am here for "every place that we put our feet..." Yes, this is true!

Seeing clearly through the smokescreen, adventure and laughter; challenge and exhaustion; learning to walk humbly with Daddy.

Such amazing beauty in the wild and remote places, seeing such redemptive potential and living the walk constantly in my spirit - I feel a curious mixture of accomplishment and bereavement now it is finished.

Feeling His pain, experiencing His joy, REAL fellowship with one another. A different level of connecting; revelation of his heart and glory in the dark places; glorious enormous skies; knowing the seasons, feeling the colours; wondering at the nature around.

The privilege of walking very ancient paths; hearing the history in your being; releasing the glory. Feeling his pleasure as we walk - like a warm smile or a squeeze of the hand. An all-enveloping blanket of love.

Being in a time of experiencing LIFE...loving my county!

It’s always exciting when prophetic people chat and in the middle of what seems to be an unimportant conversation, God pings a sentence as important. So when my young but incredibly astute friend Andy said “It’s about wheels within wheels, you know,” I listened (finally). I subsequently discovered that 'within’ means “between” and “in the midst of” – in the Hebrew it is a hard word to say - “tawek” (9348).

For weeks the Lord had been talking to me about Ezekiel’s wheels being relevant to the prayerwalk around Essex. He’d been pulling me towards exploring going ‘farther up and farther in’ but I became frustrated at my lack of perception and understanding about the wheels. I could not see what he was trying to show me. I felt the two concepts were linked but could not make the connection. So, he sent me Andy!

When God pinged it for me (pinging is a bit like sonar – I get a resonating sound in my spirit that tells me to seek deeper because there’s something there) I sought him out…and he downloaded the following so quickly I could hardly keep up writing it down.

Of course, the living creatures were seraphs (sarap (Heb.) = to burn) and the plural is sarapyim (seraphim) – beings around God’s throne. The seraphim move around the earth, creating portals into heaven (they did this for Jacob in his dream if you remember) and we can call on heaven to open up. If this is true and a wheel has been walked around the borders of Essex, which was my original vision, the wheel can become a portal for God’s people to access heaven. Has he given us an open heaven over the county? (I ask because I don't want to be presumptuous.)

We cranked the wheel’s handle by walking a path from Waltham Abbey through Leaden Roding, along Stane Street (the ancient trackway and Roman road) to Braintree (Branuch’s Tree in Anglo-Saxon) and we turned the wheel with this handle. The wheel was also struck a glancing blow by Kath Garda's team. If this cranking and striking caused the wheel to move and opened up a portal, it must be occupied, held and stewarded for the kingdom of God.

As we go farther up and farther in, we’ll gain more understanding of how to occupy, hold and steward. The earthly gateways (the gateway towns such as Clacton and Harlow) become even more important to hold because from the earth there is now access to heaven. We are beginning to understand our mandate to live from the heavenly places down to earth and release the heavenly and redemptive 'Essex' down to earth. Much more needs to be revealed about this…but are we not a people hungry for this understanding?

The portal moves so it doesn’t matter any longer where the geographical centre of Essex is. This moving portal will allow us to access heaven wherever prayer is going up, wherever worship is going up (such as on 24th October in Thurrock with Godfrey Birtill (see www.transformationthurrock.com ) – the true centre for Essex is Jesus and the throne room.

The wheels are the doorway to further up and further in – they come in response to hunger and by revelation. Later the seraph came to Ezekiel and picked him up and he flew – he was taken up to see things going on in Israel. The eyes could represent what we’ll see as we appropriate and hold the ‘between’ places in heaven and see from there – the eyes were in the wheels, so we need to see from heaven to earth.

We had already seen something going on in Essex both on the earth and by revelation – the five giant chairs at Cressing Temple (photo below) next to the lake. They spoke to us of demonic council (possibly even suggesting the nephilim (Gen 6.4)) – creating a counterfeit gateway for enemy activity. The location is that of one of the most significant Knights Templar sites in the UK. This gateway must be taken, occupied and held for the Kingdom of God.

Five giant chairs at Cressing Temple 2009

In Ezekiel 10, the wheels are again called whirling wheels (Heb. = galgal vs 13 meaning ‘chariot wheels’) and Ezekiel recognises them as those he saw earlier. They seem to be the wheels of God’s chariot, confirming that they are part of a moving portal to the throne room. (Interestingly, this word galgal also doubles up to mean whirlwind!)

A confirmation of the presence of God’s throne in the whirling portal came from Daniel 7.9 where there is mention of how the throne of the Ancient of Days was flaming with fire and had wheels (galgal) which were all ablaze.

So, what now? Well, a week later in the prayer room I was praying again about the wheels as I had the same question. I drew the whirlwind in my notebook under the influence of the Holy Spirit and put Ezekiel in the picture. As I did so, I realised afresh that it was Ezekiel’s presence by the Kebar River that caused God to grace the earth with his presence – Ezekiel was in prayer and the heavens opened (Ezek 1.1 & 2) and the word of the Lord came to him.

I saw that the Lord will move his portals around the earth dependent upon where the worship and prayer is going up – we, then, in the Spirit, are the ladders of heaven as Jesus was (John 1.51). Not only can unbelievers access heaven through Christ in us (the hope of glory) but we need to learn to live in the heavenly places (Eph 2.6). As we do this, heaven breaks through and the kingdom is advanced. We can carry his great love for us and his presence wherever we go, releasing it on the earth. (I am grateful to both Justin Abraham and Jamie Galloway for giving me greater understanding of this truth.)

It is what and where we were always meant to be. Hallelujah! As Godfrey has so recently sung, in a resonance of this, “We are the people we’ve been waiting for…”

And, just so you don’t think walking Essex was not a joy – here is a photo of one of the most beautiful parts.

At last I’m able to look back without longing at the walking days – there was a blockage in my spirit that did not permit of writing. A frustration caused by the emotions of completing the walking. It was so necessary to rest and reflect at every level before starting to write and today I feel as if I could write forever – the first time since before the summer.

The emotions were unexpected in their ferocity – grief, pride, a degree of pain, a feeling of separation from team and purpose, loneliness – all these rose up to overwhelm me as we finished. They were given extra weight by the death of Andre Young from Saffron Walden on which I posted a little while ago. I could not have written a recorded account of where and how we walked at that time, I felt so sore we had been so robbed of a young life. And I do not forget yet.

In the last days of walking the county, I had many texts of encouragement and love. I and the team were touched by how friends supported us with their prayers – I know at cost to themselves sometimes. So, what have we been contending for?

Farther Up and Farther In!

Suddenly Farsight the Eagle spread his wings, soared thirty or forty feet up into the air, circled around and then alighted on the ground.
‘Kings and Queens’ he cried ‘we have all been blind. We are only beginning to see where we are…Narnia is not dead. This is Narnia.’
‘The Eagle is right’ said the Lord Digory. ‘That was not the real Narnia. That had a beginning and an end. It was only a shadow or copy of the real Narnia which has always been here and always will be here; just as our own world, England and all, is only a shadow or copy of something in Aslan’s real world. You need not mourn. All of the old Narnia that mattered has been draw into the real Narnia through the Door…’
The new one was a deeper country; every rock and flower and blade of grass looked as if it meant more. The Unicorn summed it up. He cried:
‘I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it ‘till now. Come farther up, come farther in!’

(pp146-155 The Last Battle by C S Lewis)

As we contended for the completion of the vision of the wheel, it was about creating a firestorm to draw the edges of the wheel closed. And it was always about going farther up and farther in. (There is much detail not posted here that may unfold later.) Although we didn't see it until close to the end, it was always about carrying Christ in us, the hope of glory, as we searched out and tried to pull through the real county from Aslan’s real world...have we done that? We found doorways to that world as we walked but we still wait to see…we could go so much farther in.

Finally, a comment on the poem – should I, shouldn’t I? I think I will.

It was born of constant sightings of stunted windmills as we travelled the land – there were so many and although some still have sails, they no longer turn. If the purpose of prophetic poetry is to ask subversive questions of the status quo – then I do so humbly in the tradition of Jeremiah (12.1 & 4.19-22) and Gerard Manley Hopkins (Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord). I wrote mine to ask why the mill houses of Essex were no longer productive. You could not do better, if praying for the people of God in Essex, than to meditate on those verses and GMH's poem!

Windmills without wings - a sign?

Windmills without wings – a sign?

Once bustling, thriving and honoured
with bread daily in the house
They whirred; grinding the harvest,
wheeling and creaking.
Stone against stone, seed against seed,
keen for hunger to be satisfied.
Sails whistled and whipped, slapping in the gusts
turning breath into power.


Now, soaring denied and clipped,
their wings no longer fly.
Instead, timid stumps, denuded,
squat low on the land,
Hunkering down, unfit for purpose, crushed.
‘No bread, no bread!’ they cry.
The storehouses empty and famine abroad.
Oh, fix your sails anew, catch the wind and
turn, turn, turn…

I feel I cannot let this day pass unmarked.

Today, on the news, it was announced that a young man from Essex, Andre Young, had died in Crete while on holiday. Andre came from Saffron Walden, through which we walked and prayed this week.

Therefore, although I didn't know him, I feel a great hurt in my heart for his family, the people of Saffron Walden connected with him and for the land which nurtured him for the too few years of his life.

I find myself welling up as I write and face the truth that Andre is no longer here. Why?

I don't have answers for happenings like this but I still declare that God is a loving God who always does good things. This is the truth - it is not he who has done this.

I must remember to remember that - because sometimes it is hard.

Posting the vision

Over the last few weeks, as we approached our summer walking, I felt bolder towards posting the original vision the Lord gave me for walking our county. This is because we walk to finish well, completing the race set before us, and re-engaging with the Lord will motivate and propel us on. The last few days have been a real encouragement as we reached Stansted Mountfitchet and realised we are on the last leg. We need your prayers more than ever...


Re-reading Chapter 13 of Martin Scott's incredibly prophetic book, Impacting the City, made me realise the importance of finishing well in a Sardis place (Rev 3)...on p172 Martin says "There is also an inability to complete what has begun, for Jesus says their works have not been found perfect (or completed). Like the city itself...the church had not brought to completion what they had started. Perseverance has to be developed in these places." In 2004, Martin spoke prophetically over Essex and Havering, naming them as Sardis places and I recently posted these words elsewhere. In the book, he goes on to demonstrate how, because of "the sevenfold dimension of the presence of the Spirit of God", there "can be wells of prayer and the prophetic open...for whole areas or even nations." Emerge Wales (http://www.emergewales.com/) have urged this year, of all years, that we listen to the prophets. We seek to open the wells of fullness for our region and the nation.


I believe that if Essex, and my own area of Havering, are to find fullness as 'Sardis cities of mercy' where destiny can be found, where initiation is born, where influence is created...then we must keep confronting passivity and finish well. Our focus as we walk, therefore, given the vision God gave me, is to 'close the wheel'. Now to the vision.


As I started the walk, I felt inadequate and ill-equipped for the task I was been called to and it is still from this place of trembling that I write. This is not false modesty or superficial humility. The closer I come to Jesus the more un-able I feel and yet, I know this is both the place and the time to be walking the borders of the county calling for “the wild goose, you know”! One Friday morning, early in 2008, I was asking the Lord what the walking would be about. I already knew I was to ‘walk the Essex marshes’ – two people had spoken prophetically about that. It had also been prophesied that I would ‘receive revelation in the gateways’. This day I sensed something was occurring in the spirit realm. I felt the fatness of the Spirit – filled up with silent joy and unspeakable anticipation, yet overwhelmed with awe! Symbolically, under the waters, I was gently but forcefully pushed to my knees. Was I willing? I’m not sure I had choice.


I saw Essex, the county, laid out before me in England as if looking at Google Earth. It was impressed upon me to walk the Essex borders. ‘Connect’ the gateways and gateway people on the way. Once round the borders, I should then go to the centre with 'connectors' from the other gateways, carrying ‘what God says’ from their town, to the centre. This would form a wheel frame and spokes over and in the land.


This land-wheel is like ‘one of the wheels that carries the living creatures’ (Ezek 15). In Ezekiel 10.2 & 6, the wheel (Heb. galgal) is a whirlwind blowing up dust and chaff. I 'saw' how Essex will form a wheel for the ‘tower’ of England to assault the stronghold of Europe. How this will work, I don’t know. (More on wheels in a later post). Therefore,

I walk to fulfil the prophetic word (19.5.09) and the vision (1.2.08)
I walk to serve the body in Essex and call her into her destiny by walking the land.
I walk to learn to speak the ‘language’ of those in the gateways and those over the borders, and to take that language from the liminal places to the centre.
I walk calling for the prophetic to be in the foundations.
I walk for the KofG to ‘take and occupy’ (Matt 11.12) the gateways and the centre.
I walk to be an inspiration to the intercessors – those who are willing to stand in the gap for Essex.
I walk to emulate the peregrinati in our generation.
I walk in the footprints of him who has gone before us.

The list above has been spun out like woollen threads from the wheel as we've walked and if this stirs your heart and your spirit in these days – then pray for our land as we close the wheel. The whirling wheel of this warrior land is beginning to create dust.

This is one of the many signposts we have relied on during our journey. It signals the next stage of the Stour Valley Path.

At the start, we stood at the crossroads begging for the ancient paths – believe me, it is a good way and we have walked in it and are finding rest for our souls (Jer 6.16). We haven't walked to stir anything except through love, power and sound mind, carrying grace and mercy and by humbling ourselves. There is no name to this activity, no centre, no structure – it is under the radar, born of relationship between us and the land. We wear only what the Lord chooses to give us for the day – boots, rucksacks and Holy Spirit.

Where we are welcomed, we seek relationship; where we are not, we bless and move on. The walking itself is our intercession and we give not take. Our testimony is that Jesus has met us at every crossroads, river and path.

Threading our way through Tendring

If I were to try to create a narrative thread for the Tendring peninsular, the second section of our walk, it would be one of shepherding and a change in wind direction. Shepherding was a focus after meeting Peter (see my earlier post) and various messages we received. Then, the wind started to blow some changes after Kath Garda (aka Mary Poppins) and her Lincoln team struck a powerful glancing blow on the western edge of the county in early May.

The photo (left) shows some of the Lincoln team arriving at Braughing, Hertfordshire, on the final day of the walk through Essex and beyond. What a day that was!

But I’m jumping ahead! I need to go back in time to lay down the narrative trail. At the end of February this year, as we walked towards Tollesbury, we pondered the suggestion of a need for a new shepherd and some verses from a faithful friend:

Hear the word of the Lord, O nations
Proclaim it in distant coastlands
He who scattered Israel will gather them
And will watch over his flock like a shepherd
Jer 31.10

And David shepherded them with integrity of heart
With skilful hands he led them.
Ps 78.72

We proclaimed these words aloud on the coastland at Tollesbury, calling for righteous shepherds with the spirit of David. (It was just after this we heard that a righteous man called David had been appointed to a senior position in a Tollesbury school!)

Enticed to wander along in the beauty of Old Hall Marshes, we then met Peter the shepherd. Shepherding came sharply into focus...

The Shepherd’s role?

One of the most significant sites in the whole region is St Osyth Priory, positioned on high ground overlooking Clacton. Its presence has affected the surrounding land and people for generations, for good or ill. Some of it has been very ill, but it started well - opening a door to the supernatural for the glory of God.

Founded as a nunnery by Osyth, a Saxon Christian martyr with an incredible testimony of miracles, it is a story worth the telling. Born a Christian Saxon princess in East Anglia, Osyth married Sighere, the converted King of Essex, at her father’s behest. Resurrected from drowning as a child by three days of prayer, Osyth’s life remained miraculous. In the church of St Peter and St Paul, a local historian has written that King Sighere left his wedding supper to chase a white stag. By the time he got back, Osyth had left him. Repenting, Sighere gave her the village of Cicc (Chich) to set up a nunnery. Later, during a Danish invasion in 653AD, Osyth’s life was cut short. Meeting some Danes in the woods one day, she was beheaded for refusing to worship their gods. Like many early martyrs before her, (such as Denis, Fulcian and Victorice, Nectan and Nicasius), she picked up her head and walked back to the nunnery to warn the nuns. Arriving at the door, she knocked three times and then finally, gave up her spirit. Where she fell, a spring appeared.

Sadly, the nunnery she founded was destroyed in late Saxon times and in Domesday (1086), the estate is recorded as being owned by the Bishop of London. He founded a priory in 1118 for Augustinian Canons but it was dissolved in 1539, the land being given to Thomas Cromwell. After his execution in 1540, it probably reverted to the Crown to be dispensed as King Henry VIII thought fit. The man instrumental in Cromwell’s execution was Richard Rich, Baron Rich of Leez (Leighs), whose daughter Elizabeth later married the owner of the estate, John D’Arcy – both are buried in the local Osyth church of St Peter & St Paul.

Not long after this in 1582, Brian D'Arcy was Justice of the Peace in St. Osyth. He conducted searches for witches in the village and neighbouring areas. He used the same persuasive techniques as Matthew Hopkins (infamous as the ‘Witchfinder General’). By all accounts D’Arcy was a successful witch hunter. A book in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, states it is “a true and just recorde of the enformation, examination and confession of all witches taken at St. Osees.”

Today, the priory is closed to the public and is a source of some controversy within the area, being owned by property developers and dividing opinions within the village. When we were there, it was no longer even possible to access the common land in front of the priory gatehouse.

Is this a story of the release of supernatural power, sometimes rightly or wrongly used, corrupted by greed and so-called ‘witch-hunting’, bringing division upon the land and people?

The St Osyth website makes clear the Priory’s spiritual influence:

The first Prior William de Corbeuil, became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1123. The Priory was initially well endowed, succeeding grants eventually making it one of the richest monastic houses in the country, advancing to the status of Abbey. As the Abbey buildings extended so did its estate at Chich St Osyth, which rapidly became the largest parish in Essex. In addition the Abbey held land, manors and rectories in 36 towns and villages throughout Essex and Suffolk - for instance the Church at Blythburgh, Suffolk was built by monks from St Osyth. (http://www.stosyth.gov.uk/default.asp?calltype=ourhistory)

Is perhaps Chich St Osyth a spiritual centre in Tendring? Its influence certainly stretches across the peninsular.

Photos for Pleasure

One of the memorable privileges I have is of being able to record the Essex landscape as we walk...here are a few shots - the loneliness of the marshy mudflats, the beauty of the vales and the path before us...

This one (left) is of Flatford Mill pond in Dedham Vale.

Below centre here are some mudflats looking just like basking hippos...

Ewes and lambs from Old Hall Marshes,
north of Tollesbury - sadly weak and under-developed.

Left is the sea wall around the north east of Mersea Island, showing the oyster beds...still used.

The photo below right is the northern coast of the River Blackwater,

courtesy of Google Earth, a patchwork quilt of fields and edges.

A path across a wheatfield turns out to be the majestic Essex Way - a national treasure indeed - but not always easy to spot!

The photos below are all of the River Stour, as it wends its way through Dedham Vale, the painting ground of John Constable (and a few others!)

Being there to take these pictures was wonderful - I hope you enjoy them.

In his footprint?

What does it mean to walk in his footprint? I found a couple of images that helped me visualise footprints – then thought about a lion’s footprints – I remembered how I felt him padding through Narnia for the first time, over 40 years ago. “He’s on the move!” the beavers said, excited. I’m excited – he is on the move!

Recently, I walked the sea wall alone – a rare occurrence - but I was content to sense the presence of the Lion alongside me. When as a man, he walked dusty mud-packed roads in Palestine, he would have stirred the dust with his sandals – dust that he’d once used to form a human being.

I wowed my way through that – had he reached down into Essex dust, this very dirt, to get his handful? Or had he called individual specks from across the cosmos and the garden – space he’d created – gleaning from each valley and mountain, each volcano and lake, each glacier and forest, to shape and form Adam? Had some of that dust been drawn from the very earth I was walking?

In the garden, were there a few grains of what we now call Essex? Was it somewhere he walked in the cool of the day with his companions? Did the land rejoice, feel ‘fit for purpose’ with his feet upon it as the very mud of Israel must have rejoiced when he walked there?

If that’s true, then we do indeed walk in his footprint.

Beyond Tollesbury

Beyond Tollesbury is the North Sea...but for us, following the coastline we faced short green grass on the sea wall and reed fronds waving softly in the flood gully at our feet. And sheep. Today we faced a squared walk along the edge of the Blackwater and along the exit path from the village to Old Hall Marsh. Our two teams of two set off into the dull and misty morning and it was as we approached our second sea wall, that Linda and I saw him.

A tall man walking the sea wall with a crook in his hand, he looked about 65 years old. The sheep trotted quietly before him as he uttered his 'Gaa arn' of encouragement. We stood to one side as the sheep slipped down towards us, hesitating in the centre of the path at the sight of us. 'Gaa arn' came again and they passed us as far from us as they could, ewes and lambs leaping over each other to get out of our way. He walked quietly past us as we complimented him on his sheep and said what a pleasure it was to see them. I said "You must enjoy them very much?" "Yes," he replied, smiling,"very much!"

We walked on to meet Gerry and Ann but when we returned, we found him standing at a pen near the farmer's field. It was as if he was waiting for us. I said "Hello again" and he turned and smiled. We commented on how appealing the lambs looked with their mothers in the pen but instead of agreeing, he expessed anxiety about how poorly they were developing and told us that for four day old lambs, they were sickly and weak. We were stunned. I asked him his name and he said it was Peter. He was clearly worried about the animals and, when we offered to pray for him and the problem, was grateful and relieved. We missed an opportunity to pray for him then and there but we prayed as we walked on, quite disturbed by his concern.

We felt he was a sign - I had received a couple of texts when we walked here in February about this land needing a new shepherd - it seemed his appearance could be linked to that. Even tho' that was true, we didn't want to lose the personal sense of connection we felt with Peter and so prayed for him over the next two days. We'd like to go back and find him but time has passed...

As we considered him as a sign, we wondered about the church and its shepherd in this place. His love and concern for the baby lambs which were sickly and underdeveloped seemed symbolic of believers in the church in our land - the more we pondered, the more we found ourselves praying for the church and its foundations here.

Lord, help us to grow into maturity with love, manifesting the fullness of the kingdom of God as we go about our daily business.

Towards the Wick at Tollesbury

The influence of Mill Beach stayed with us during January as we, as a team, pondered the significance of Gerry’s physical reaction to the land. It felt a confirmation of the Lord’s words about this second section “It’s going to be a battle” but in preparing our hearts to seek the Lord, I felt the Lord add “…but it’ll be worth it!” I held on to that as we resolved to spend time praying together before we walked again. Meeting for several hours on Friday 13th to pray, his powerful yet sanctifying presence filled the room as we sought to consecrate ourselves before him. In Ezekiel 39, the Lord talks about cleansing the land three times - always a sign of emphasis - we definitely didn't want to carry anything that was not of him onto this land if it was going to be a battle.

On Monday 16th February, the three of us set out again from the Mill Beach Hotel, positioned on the north side of the Blackwater, along the tarmac of the sea wall past the huge caravan park. Leaving Maldon and its surrounds behind, the rather large Osea Island loomed mistily as we rounded the zigzag of the river coastline. In the photo below, the tide is in but as we walked, we saw the booms of the car-wide causeway across to the island – inhabited and farmed – and later, several cars crossed it, as you’ll see when I get home to post the pictures. On our left, Goldhanger village peeked over the horizon as we tramped the now-grassy sea wall, passing several walkers and bikers on this half-term Monday.

This coastline looks as if it has been cut out of cardboard when viewed from a satellite image, neatly edged to fit into a jigsaw without the additional pieces. The Google Earth pictures are spectacular!

Completing our first objective, we leapfrogged in cars and set ourselves to complete the section beyond Goldhanger. As the three of us walked together we sang ‘How Great is our God’ and wondered at the winter barrenness. We were pleased to see sheep grazing, returned to the marshes as they originally were over a hundred years ago – their presence tied into a text and verse (from two separate people) that highlighted the importance of shepherding. We managed five and a half miles and came off the sea wall pleased to have achieved so much on a first day, with little warm-up after five weeks other than stretching!


Tuesday started with a text from Gerry at 7.19 am to say she would not make it to walk with us as she was dealing with some issues at home. Between that time and 10 am, I was on and off the phone to her and Linda as we prayed and got increasingly 'stressed' about the day’s walking. This left Linda and I feeling rather overwhelmed; it was compounded by other events - a sad phone call to her and sudden changes in transport arrangements for me. However, by the time we arrived at Tollesbury, we had calmed down and were aware of the Lord’s peace around us and so felt to push on as much as we could.

Our prayerwalking friend, Kathy, from Grays had texted me a couple of key verses which I passed on to the other friends praying for us – Jeremiah 31.10: Hear the word of the Lord, O nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands; ‘He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd’ and Ps 78.72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skilful hands he led them.’ Both of these were a great encouragement to me – both personally and because we later saw the sheep grazing on the land. Avril also texted that she wondered if ‘they need a new shepherd’ – this thought became clearer as we walked onto the land near Tollesbury.

Below is a Google photo of where we walked and the intimidation disappeared as soon as we were walking the land…it welcomed us! However, Linda did sense that there were false covenants on the land and we felt this may be why they needed a new shepherd - Jesus. This is something we will be praying into as we walk and over the next few weeks.

It was good to feel the land welcome us - despite a potentially nasty run-in with a local farmer – he was angry we had mistakenly walked on part of his private land – rightly so! We apologised and eventually, he forgave us as we had actually turned back, indicating, as he encouragingly informed us, "we could read!"

It turned out to be a God-directed encounter after all, because if we had continued along that path, we would have gone the wrong way. He actually showed us the correct direction.

As soon as we reached the sea wall, we felt at home, stopping for lunch on a cold concrete pillbox positioned directly opposite Bradwell Power Station, looming like a great funnelled ship on the other side of the Blackwater, before making our way towards the Fellowship Afloat Lightship moored in Tollesbury Harbour a little to the north. At the harbour, I re-acquainted myself with David Hillyer, the Director of Fellowship Afloat, whom I had met a few years earlier. I already knew David was acquainted with Steve Lowton (http://www.storiesfromthestreet.com/ ) and his wife, Kathy, with whom I had walked part of the way from Whitby to York in 2005 and in Wales in December 2007. After asking a few questions of his two rather strange mud-covered visitors, David kindly showed us around the Fellowship Afloat office and gave us a couple of leaflets!

Linda and I returned to the Lighthouse coffee shop in Tollesbury to fortify ourselves for the journey home with tea and biscuits. Our next walk may not be until the Easter holidays – only six or so weeks away!

Back on the road...December '08

I get such a buzz out of walking with the Lord – it really is special - but there are one or two things to mention before recounting how we started Essex 2 out of Maldon – the first being the oil painting by Linda, which she gave me just before Christmas. I was so blessed by it.

The image is of a revelation she received from the Lord while we were praying in Grays. The birds are wild geese – the Celtic sign of Holy Spirit – wild and free – which are found all across the marshes of Essex. They have been honking with us most of the way around. The fire is lit around the borders and the backdraft blows into London.

Secondly, while in Dudley, we took to heart and spirit a word released by Marc Dupont (http://www.marcdupontministries.org/) over England. Interrupting the main speaker, Paul Keith Davis of White Dove Ministries (http://www.whitedoveministries.org/) Marc spoke of the Lion of England and of the incredible righteous passion he felt in the Body here.

He said that historically, the individual person had had a value here due to the Christian Celtic heritage but that since the rise of Darwinism, much of this individual value had been lost. (Did he realise, I wonder, that 2009 is both the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of publication of Origin of Species? Was he speaking into this knowing there will be much ‘Darwinism’ around this year?)

Marc went on to say that England has a key part to play and we should re-dig the wells to find Rehoboth, which means a ‘spacious or roomy place’ (Gen 26.22). This word was of great interest to me because Martin Scott (http://www.3generations.eu/) had prophesied as we crossed centuries that Romford (in Havering) was a Rehoboth place, a ‘roomy place’ (Rom-ford means ‘roomy place’). In October 2005, Martin further prophesied that ‘the well has been dug” and it was now a ‘well of fullness’ (Beer-sheba: well of sevens) with reference to the Havering area. Bring on the fullness, Lord!

Marc further said this year will be different from other years. God is opening up something in England of a new boldness, courage and pioneering spirit born from the ancient well of the Celtic peregrinati. He said the righteous heart of the lion and the artesian wells would release and manifest deposits of glory.

If there is a well of sevens in Havering, which sits in the Essex/London gateway, there is yet work to be done in calling for the water table to rise – perhaps even for the nation? Again, I cannot forget Sharon Stone’s (http://www.cieurope.org/) 2005 word about an apostolic mantle over Essex. We need to keep praying – and keep walking!

As you know, if you’ve read my earlier blogs, we have felt all along that the Lord is calling something of that Celtic spirit out as we walk the land. Lastly, my own Christian heritage is rooted with a prophetic group of people with a forerunner pioneering spirit. Yes, I was on the floor in Dudley, weeping, as Marc spoke. (I have attached what he said at the bottom, transcribed by me – please feel free to copy and paste but in its entirety and suitable acknowledgement to both Marc and Revival Fires in Dudley).

A couple of us walkers had been invited by Lion Lady Kathy Garda to walk in Wales in the ‘between’ of Christmas and New Year 2008/9 and much as we would have loved to be there, we felt a real call to walk again the flatlands of our marshes – Oh, how to describe the joy of walking the sea wall? The frozen grass struck our legs and broke like tiny stalagmites as the sun hazed onto sweet dark earth inland – it was like something out of a winter van Gogh! The brightness blurred the inland horizon, warming us, but the breeze from the sea shed cold air on our damp feet and legs and, as I squelched along in damp trainers, ducks skated on the frozen inlets. No adders at this time of year! They were all hidden below, snug in their holes waiting for spring.

Why trainers? My right hand boot had finally bruised my toe so much I couldn’t wear it, so I opted for trainers – and wet socks but as long as I kept walking…new boots now essential!

On the first day, Linda’s husband Nick had joined us as we left the small village of Steeple, on the south coast of the River Blackwater. I drove as we leapfrogged Nick and Gerry who were walking the mile or so from Stansgate Abbey Farm. Unfortunately, after Linda and I had started walking, I was so excited to be out again I completely missed the turnoff to St Peter’s Way and Linda and I walked for more than half an hour in the wrong direction before realising, sadly retracing our steps, before being collected and whisked thence to Maylandsea to the aptly-named Horny Toad cocktail bar where Gerry and Nick had been patiently supping on frothy coffee. We ate in the car and after lunch Linda, Nick and I set off around Mundon Creek towards Lawling and Brick House Farm, such a circular walk we almost met ourselves coming back! Nick was still raring to go but Linda and I were feeling a little tired and bruised, so at Brick House Farm, I called it a day (which it was, being 3 pm) - darkness fast approaching.

Finishing early that day meant we were ready for a longish walk the next and setting out from Brick House Farm, Linda and I knew this would be a long exposed walk around another set of marshy inlets. Gerry, bless her, had agreed to take the car to Maldon and walk to meet us. We had been around Maldon already so we could skip through the town, (despite the attraction of the Maldon Tapestry) and re-start at Heybridge Basin. Little did we know, Gerry had her own plans!

Again, the frozen grass was white under our feet and at one point the beauty of the marshes made tears well in both our eyes – or was it the freezing breeze off the frozen water? Yomping our way along, we rounded several stunning headlands (photos will appear below shortly) meeting just one lonely runner wending his way with his dog – both soaked but happy. We knew how they felt!

Burnt orange reeds topped our heads, echoing and empty in this season, but marking the path for a new year ahead. Pushing our way through their temporary jungle, the church tower of Maldon came into sight – only two headlands to go!

Gerry’s secret plan was that she’d found a path the other side of Maldon towards Heybridge Basin and felt inspired to prayerwalk that part - for which we were very glad. She would do that if we would meet her back at the Maldon front for lunch, which we did. She ferried us through Maldon in the car and we started together pushing out the other side to more wild country. I was delighted Gerry was able to carry that section for us as I want so much for her to be able to walk.

That last section resonates in my memory as special – the close of a winter’s day; cold silent boats shackled in freezing water to a frosty earth; a giant red sun setting in the west as we trudged round the end of the sluice towards Mill Beach trying to go as far as we could in the fading light but knowing we had to allow half an hour to get back.

This special feeling persists, despite a sickness that came over Gerry, leading us to wonder what was on the land – further prayer into this would be necessary for us all before we continued. Passing bijou waterfront flats and houses, beautifully situated even in winter, we rounded the empty reed-filled basin until finally we reached a flotilla of little yachts and met the eponymous elderly man with a golden Labrador. As the dog snuffled wetly around our feet and wagged his tail, we discovered there was a slip road where we could be dropped for the start of the next section towards Tollesbury Marshes.

Despite the near dark, we were all tired but happy – filled to the brim with beauty and fired up with the prospect of discovering more of God’s purpose for us walking this frontier country.
_________________________________________________

Paul Keith Davis & Marc Dupont
The Secret Place Conference Jan 2009
Dudley, Birmingham

A prophetic word for England

On the second day, in Session 5 of the conference, Paul Keith Davis was sharing and he stopped suddenly. He said the Lord was doing something:

“I don’t know what the Lord’s doing, something happened. When I stepped over here, something happened, something shifted. The room shifted. I don’t know if it’s on what I’m about to say or what I just got through saying but the Lord’s doing something. I really believe he is about to give some of you a Spirit of courage, a Spirit of boldness. This morning when I woke up - I know I promised I would finish what I started but I gotta be obedient to the rhema. This morning, as I was waiting on the Lord, he began to talk to me again about courage – about boldness. I can’t tell you how many times the Lord has told me – be a man and you ladies, that’s the same for you – you’re a son of the Kingdom, we’re not careless, presumptuous and flippant…I’m just talking about having courage! Courage is quiet, a quiet confidence…Jesus was meek but he sure wasn’t weak. He quietly walked in and demonstrated the kingdom.”

A few minutes later, Marc Dupont indicated he would like to share something and Paul Keith invited him to release it.

Marc said:

I’ve had a love and incredible passion for the nation of England – been coming a lot to England for about 20 years but ever since I was a little kid I’ve been fascinated with England and I’ve read a lot about England and am very familiar with a lot of the great English writers and also with a lot of the historical things about England; and England - despite all the jokes I make about the English empire being lost due to Nescafe and things like that – that there is an incredible – in a righteous sense (no nation is completely righteous – I’m very aware of that, being American) but there’s an incredible righteous passion that’s part of the heritage that God has given English people. One of the books I read about 20 years ago that made a huge impact on me traced about where England is today – it traced several things – it traced the rising of Darwinism and that up until about 125 years ago – even though there was lot of class distinction in the age of Victorianism and what not – the average person whether they were rich or poor in the UK were viewed to have a great value because there was such a strong Judaic heritage and that went all the way back to the Celtic missionaries and pioneers – the Celtic fire that God birthed at that time – the Celtic pioneers who spent years seeking the face of God and communing with God and then they would be released and go to various places throughout the UK - England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales.

Everywhere they went there was not just radical evangelism with signs and wonders but all society would be transformed. They eradicated illiteracy; they taught about healthy marriages healthy families and life was transformed and that has been translated in many ways and received through the last thousand years or so – just a boldness upon the English people for exploration.

Now obviously there are some fine lines between nationalism and the Kingdom of God that can get muddled so I’m not saying everything’s from God but as the age of reason which was centred around the philosophy of man, particularly Darwinism, meant that man no longer had value because they were the creation of God - meant that as Darwinism – the “survival of the fittest” – began to rise up, the average person in England began to be seen has having little value. You were only of importance if you had title or wealth or political stature -something like that - and a devaluing began to creep in to English society.

At one time up until about 125/130 years, the English worker - for example, the English bridge-builders were considered to be the best n the world – if a bridge was being built in Italy or Germany, they would bring over an English builder because there was just such a competency and such vision and endeavour.

But when Darwinism began to come in and people began to take their eyes off the person of God in a national sort of sense, a pessimism began to come in as a result of that and when World War One hit – the aftermath of that is that so many – I don’t want to say this in an absolute sense - but so many of the cream of the crop of the young men of England that were going to impact the future generation just lost themselves and just died there in the battlefields of the poisonous gas and the onslaught – just getting out of the trenches and charging the enemy and although it wasn’t quite that bad, something similar happened in World War Two.

But I have felt for years that England has a very very key part to play. It’s just like the ancient wells – even though the wells of Abraham managed to be covered over by the Philistines, it came God’s time to re-dig the ancient wells. And the first time it was re-dug, the enemy managed to steal it; and the second time; but the third time they hit an artesian well and it became a broad watering place. The word is Rehoboth and it just came up - it wasn’t striving, it wasn’t lowering the buckets to work it – it was an artesian well - because they hit a deep underground water that began to spring up as they uncovered that deep underground well of Abraham.

And I believe with all my heart (I’ve had a number of prophecies about this) I believe that right now in this year 2009 – and this church is one of the key churches that’s part of this - there are a number of them, a number of fire centres, a number of kingdom resource centres throughout the UK - this year is going to be different from any almost other year in ministry.

It’s not just a year for having good conferences not just a year for coming to have some apostolic words and prophetic experiences or even healings and not just a year for sending out on missions trips internationally.

There is something that God is opening up in England that’s part of your heritage – not out of nationalism - but out of the spiritual heritage that God has given the English people to go to the ends of the earth - but right here in England itself with the fire of God and there is a boldness and courageousness in the Holy Spirit - and this is a such wonderful place for that because this church has invested itself as well as everything else into healing and evangelism and knowing the voice of the Lord.

It has given itself over to the Father heart of God – as it says in 1 John 4.18 – perfect love casts out far and Deut 28.1 – “…with the unrighteous fear will come upon them but the righteous shall be as bold as a lion…” and I don’t have time, I don’t want to take too much time away from what God is giving Paul Keith but the Lion Heart of Judah is being restored to the saints in England and there are some tremendous wells God is going to open up this year!

And Paul Keith, you were just mentioning about this transition from Moses to Joshua and I know that’s a huge part of what you stand for – the Lord said to Joshua as he began to take that mantle and it came time to cross over “Be strong and courageous for you shall give this people possession of the land I swore to give them; only be strong and courageous to do everything according to the law” and we would say the leading of the Holy Spirit.

And Paul Keith there is something at this time for the Body of Christ in England. It’s not just another year with a few more good conferences and evangelism and healing but something is being released unto great fruitfulness and I believe God is zealous for the deposits of glory and for the character of Christ he is calling for the people of England to exhibit. Part of that is so typified by Winston Churchill who was a prophetic voice in the 1930s – he was saying ‘we have to get geared up, we have to get geared up, we hve to get prepared’ and everybody said ‘No, no, it’s a time of peace, of lasting peace’ - actually he was prophetic. When war broke out, he believed so much that was his message – it wasn’t just his strategies – he believed in England, he believed in their heritage and the English people.

When I travel most of my ministry is outside the United States and I never come to represent the US - it’s the Kingdom of God but as a representatives of the Kingdom of God, I want to say to you there are deposits of glory that also called to exhibit the character of Christ with gentleness but also with the authority of boldness but to see the Lion of Judah manifested. This is England’s time. This is England’s time and the Lord would say to you

“Focus on your nation and what God has called historically over the generations because its going to begin to emerge now in the Spirit.”

Paul Keith
We release that now in the spirit - there was really something on that.

Marc
There are 2 different prophets - Isaiah and Amos – who when God speaks said “Who cannot but hear?”

In Isaiah 42.9: “Before a new thing springs forth, God will proclaim it to you” - he wants sons and daughters who are led by the Spirit. In Amos 3.7 “Surely the Lord God does nothing unless he reveals his secret counsel to his servants the prophets. A lion has roared who will not fear it? The Lord has spoken - who cannot but prophesy? The righteous shall be as bold as a lion…” it has nothing to do with religious legalism but has to do with being right with God and being led by the Spirit.

Stand.

Prayer: If you would, put a hand over your mouth but not so tight you can’t speak - but would you repeat after me?

Father God, you are God Almighty. You love my nation because of your grace and mercy. Here are we! Raise up a Joshua company that will go forth in the boldness, the compassion and the Lion Heart of Judah throughout this nation. Here am I - send me. Jesus, I want to carry a shield and a sword in the spirit to champion you to my nation. We just speak an impartation of the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

I had an idea yesterday that I’m not sure is from God but I think it’s from the Lord. I think the Lord is going to gather some of us – I just want to throw this out to you, Trevor (Trevor Baker of Revival Fires). I think some of us - maybe you and I are supposed to be part of this – go to the four different extreme corners of this island – from the very south, to the very west, to the very north, to the very east, to the very ends – and I believe we are supposed to make prophetic and apostolic declaration now I believe this is the time for this nation.

Trevor, there is a favour upon you from the Lord for building relationship and there is going to be a non-religious gathering of relationship – I’m not talking about just conferences.

Four years ago the Lord gave me a word - I sent it out to a lot of leaders in England but the Lord is breaking up the old regime and hierarchies – even of the movements from the ‘60s and ‘70s. There is a changing of the guard happening and what God is establishing now is not bound by even being in the same network or even working together a lot, but it is a heart to heart Jonathan and David life-giving relationships in the apostolic and prophetic and I believe the Lord is calling you, Trevor, to be a catalyst in that and bringing together, not in a formal way, but in a heart way, a Holy Spirit way an apostolic proclamation over this nation and great light – even as the first example in the Bible of the Father speaking and light coming forth – there is going to be an apostolic and prophetic proclamation this year and maybe this thing of south, north east and west is a part of it I don’t know.

But there is going to be a gathering and you’re going to find a favour upon you to gather an apostolic prophetic event and some of them may be guys in their 60s and 70s and older and some may be quite a bit younger - but there’s going to be a favour upon you for gathering this. When the Lion roars, who cannot fear and when the Lord speaks who cannot but prophesy? This is the year.

The Lord says “The spiritual heritage he invested over 1500 years ago of fire and boldness out of intimacy of the Lord and out of humility before man and walking in the leading and the power of the holy spirit that is going to be manifested and restored to the church in England.”

(Transcribed directly from Track 3, Session 5 CD, with some minor alterations for written sense. Jane Almond 7.2.09)

Bradwell Waterside and on!

Thanks, Linda for your wonderful description of our day praying in Maldon.

The Lord so confirmed to us on our very first day back walking that he was with us. The encouragement warmed us in the cold wind and set us on track to continue from where we had left off in the summer, Bradwell Waterside. A port, or something of a port, with long-stemmed yachts huddling together for the winter on an exposed coast - this was our leaving point for Bradwell, an apostolic location for the county. Always in my mind, I try to visualise this part of Essex as it must have been for Cedd, the Celtic evangelist who brought the gospel to the county. Very different, I imagine!

But the best was yet to come. Because of and despite the cold wind, we walked quickly along to the sea wall, finding ourselves sharing that high path with a resident for a short time. She said she walked that section every day for exercise, even in bad weather. What a treat! But as we progressed, we found part of it broken down and the way barred.

It was a diversion around a salt water marsh, deliberately created to allow the sea to flow in at high tide. Our first salt water marsh...an exciting moment for me.

We had read and heard so much about this anti-flood technique, but I had never actually seen one before. It's a controversial issue as many marshes are made of land that was either a nature reserve, a bird sanctuary or a beauty spot but the argument against the dangers of flooding is strong and it is a legitimate method of releasing the pressure of the sea. It is also cheaper than maintaining a high sea wall, which if one were cynical, one might believe was the real reason!

Here are some shots of this location - worth a walk, even in winter. I loved it. Perhaps you can see why.

We continued until we could go no further, and as indicated on the map, turned inland, following a road where we met Gerry with the car. She then walked back the one mile to the main road with Linda while I drove the car to the joining point. We left Essex to the flock of wild geese we saw at the saltmarsh, happy to have reached our destination for the day.

A different voice and a rainbow!

We have gone back to walking a couple of days this week as Jane is off from school - we are now at the coast by Maldon (right). We are still walking the Essex marshes and going through some pretty bleak and isolated territory at times. All the way on this walk, we've had so many special times with God, encounters, revelations about Essex and so have so strongly felt God's smile on us.

Yesterday was another example. We decided to ease ourselves in slowly by spending the day in Maldon and praying round there rather than struggling along the sometimes difficult coastal wall which in places is broken and difficult to traverse.

Maldon is the site of a famous battle that took place in 991AD. It's where Viking invaders defeated the Saxon army and so took over this part of England under the Danegeld rule by which the Saxons had to pay incredible amounts of money to the Danes who ruled that part of England for many years.

The army in fact was led at that time by a Norwegian named Olaf Tryggvason, who later became King of Norway. Brythnoth, eorldorman of Essex under King Ethelred, who was the Saxon leader, was defeated but is still celebrated as a great hero in the battle which wiped out many East Saxon noblemen and kings of that time. This whole area of coast saw so many invasions, so much bloodshed, so much injustice and we have felt that heavily on the land.

In Maldon there is a quay and a causeway where there is a huge statue of Brythnorth looking out to sea with his sword raised. As we walked up to the statue, the heavy anointing of God came on us and we started to cry out to God about the bloodshed and the pride which had caused Brythnoth to allow the Vikings passage into the land, along a defendable causeway, for battle (he thought he could wipe them out). At that moment the son of one of our party rang on his mobile to say that there had been a power cut - yes, we think there was! As we left the statue, he rang again to say the power was back on. As we walked to Northey Island where the Vikings had grouped, we saw a sign warning us that under the causeway was a power cable.

The Vikings had gathered on Northey Island prior to the battle so we prayed on the causeway between the island and the mainland where the battle actually took place. As we stood on the uncovered causeway (left), we could feel the Viking presence - they had stood, banging their shields and shouting defiance and it felt to us like it had happened yesterday - we could almost see it.

We prayed and prayed about what the Vikings had brought into the land and I (Linda) asked forgiveness (I have Norwegian ancestry). We especially prayed about Viking idolatry and the way the Vikings made the Saxons pay for protection (we felt it could well be a root of the 'wheeler-dealer' attitude to money so prevalent in Essex). Then, a very strong anointing came when we started to pray about what they had brought in to the UK in their attitude to and excessive use of alcohol and how that had infested our land and we cried out for the young generation.

Later we found the site of the battle, inside the sea wall on the mainland side, marked by a tiny plaque. When we were finished we stood and watched as the Lord built a magnificent rainbow- a full arch with one side rooted in the mainland to the left and the other end in the land of the island with the causeway where the army would have traversed to the mainland central to the arch of the bow. The three pictures below show the rainbow clearly...in the midst of a bright blue sky!

What a site and what an encouragement!! He never ceases to amaze us!!

Towards the start of the ancient path: End Days - 21-25

Days 21-25: End Days

In these days approaching the start of the ancient path and therefore the end of the beginning, I am struck by two things - how love leads us on and the question of boundaries.

It is love that leads me through this land and helps me to know it. Understanding how loving helps us to know has been a continuing quest of mine for some time. When we love someone or something, we want to know them more deeply and as I write these words, I find myself humbled by how God has shown us what it is to know this land. I want to know it better.

Paul said ‘love builds up’ (1 Cor 1) and knowing people and land, through and by love, is a fruit of the Spirit brought to bloom through perseverance. Loving generously and without limit brings us to full bloom. It builds up both us and the loved one. This is how God loves us and how he will know us - if we let him. If this love is not to be awakened until it so desires (S of S 2.7), then we must desire it to be awakened. Others, and the land, can know us because we love them; through loving, we can be known and to quote Norman McLean, ‘we can still love completely.’

Shifting into a new season, I was also reflecting on how boundaries are marked which led me to wonder if the ones we recognise are set by God. Are his boundaries, on and off the land, the same as ours and if not, how do we align ourselves with those that are his? To quote a prophetic voice, are the boundaries there because they are important or is the area important and thus it became a boundary? Did God create them to be liminal places where the boundary between the material and spiritual is thin?

In prehistoric times, the land around Bradwell was not bordered by sea but by low lying marshland, crossable in a wooden canoe. For generations, this land was tundra or polar desert but in later times, it softened as the ice receded, becoming marshy. Streams that began at Bradwell ended in Holland or fed into the Rhine which met the Thames where the North Sea is now. Awesome! Then the ice receded fully, melting, and the North Sea as we know it today was created with the water lapping at a high point – on our side, the edges of the Dengie Peninsular.

Now, the land around Bradwell is geographically bounded by sea and drained marsh, used for farming. St Peter’s chapel, out on the edge of the peninsular, is created from stones cut by Romans for their fort. Did Cedd sense that God had moved the boundary line and plant his monastery in that liminal place? Confluences and sacred landscape like this can create sacred portals.

Cedd’s Holy Spirit DNA was drawn from a Celtic understanding of God – although a bishop, he was also an abbot and one of the peregrinati – ones characterised by their compulsion to wander and share King Jesus wherever and whenever they went, to see the power of God manifested through miracles and compassion and justice released among the poor. They crossed wild boundaries to fulfil this vision. We thought to tread in their footsteps and to call for their anointing.

Their symbol for the Holy Spirit was that of the wild goose, so valid for the wild forest and marshes of the East Saxons. One of our walkers, Avril, wrote this poem for us:

Follow the honk of the wild goose
Follow the wild goose song
Carried by the wind of the Spirit
To places as yet unsung.
Listen to the beat of his wings
Distant and hushed though they be,
Follow his call to the marshes
That meet with the land and the sea.
Feed on him there in your spirit
Strong in the grace he supplies -
He will sustain and refresh you
At the pulsing of every tide.
Rested, refreshed, he’ll call you
Burning, to walk at his side,
He’ll make you a witness of glory
In his season and the turn of his tide.
Then, rise with a whisper and fly with his Spirit
Over the ancient way,
To the edge of the world with Jesus
Where he’s called you to watch and to pray.
Fly to the edge with his Spirit
Follow the beckoning call
There you will find your Saviour and Master
Your fullness – your all in all.

Walking the slender sea wall path towards St Peter’s the other day, we were aware of an increasing ‘thickening’ of the spiritual atmosphere, almost implying an opposing force. C S Lewis has described it thus:

It was such hard work that I felt as if I were walking against a headwind…a sort of invisible wall of resistance that met me in the face, (we were) fighting for each step...(Perelandra pp7-9)

At several points, this increase in density was tangible especially as Linda and I surfed three foot high grass screening baby adders for more than a mile. With the boundary approaching, humility was our watchword – and our mouths spoke ‘Glory!’ and ‘Hallelujah!’ with each step – believe me, it was the only way through!

Arriving around 4pm at Dots and Melons farm, we were exhausted with both the spiritual and material battle - and were surprised, delighted and relieved when Gerry told us the farm belonged to the family of a close friend from Romford. We'd prayed that morning that God would orchestrate any connections he wanted us to make - and should not have been surprised at his grace and strategy. Thanks for the great cups of tea, Malc!

Next morning we prayed for Malc and the land before we left, anointing him with oil - he has sown in prayer for years, calling for the Lord to come in power on the whole area. Gerry and I were walking and Linda was resting, after the battle the day before. Walking the sea wall together was such fun and finding our way along the tiny path a challenge - again, we met several baby adders and a really large one! He responded to probing with my stick by slithering harmlessly away into the long grass... After hours of enforced isolation with just grass, sea and sky, we reached St Peter’s church and Linda came with a hug and a smile to welcome us. We hallooed and praised and blew her shofar...

We imagined the many people who had visited in the past, drawing on its peace and beauty. In his day, Cedd recognised it as a thin place and today, it still draws those who have little other spiritual resource. Believing our mandate is to sow rather than reap, we came with hearts prepared to give in prayer - all we really have. As Linda’s magnificent shofar rang out over the marshland, the wind whipped our small Jesus flag into rejoicing at our arrival.

There is a phrase used today by Christian walkers that talks of ‘rolling up the ancient roads’ - we had rolled up the ancient paths of South Essex like a robe, presenting them back to the Lord as a gift for him to renew and shape afresh. In so doing, we frequently asked him to re-open Essex’s spiritual wells.

Part of our gift to the Lord involved repentance for some of the sins we knew had been committed in Essex – idolatry, especially of Seaxnot (whose symbol is the unredeemed Essex seax); bloodshed among the tribes of Celts, Saxons, Vikings and later Romans; broken covenants between tribes in the region and the immorality of power through kings and their servants like Richard Rich.

Talking with local people had made us aware how blocked up spiritual wells can become. For this reason, our team prayed first over these four core sins between the porch and altar of this ancient place of worship and then broke bread, using Celtic liturgy, with friends, Tim and Vera.

One spiritual well, the Peculiar People, were part of the people of Essex – there are some in our own community who, when young, frequently saw healing miracles. These believers were dotted around Essex in large numbers – from Barking in the west to Tillingham in the east - a deposit of the Lord into this part of our nation. One of their chapels remains in Tillingham village. Where Cedd had sowed, they harvested healings and deliverance and we need to see that inheritance re-embraced.

Cedd unrolled ancient paths to carry the news of King Jesus and his resurrection, our guarantee of future liberation from death of all creation. With miracles and power, Cedd declared that a new kingdom had come and that new kingdom exists still - but has been annulled in so many ways. We puzzled over the significance of our walk’s part in re-energising that kingdom’s existence, strengthening it towards becoming a reality that releases justice and peace. Remembering the dream of a ship and the impact of a single tugboat encourages us to continue – we made a start past St Peter’s towards Bradwell power station and finally, into the tiny port of Bradwell Waterside, from where we start again in October.

Day 20 a - Visiting the River Roach

Sunset over Burnham

Day 20a doesn't really exist here at all.

By this I mean that Day 20a was a Saturday and we weren't walking.

But exist it obviously did - and it was the day that the skipper of the Lady Essex III took us to see the wildlife on Potton Island. Needless to say, Potton Island is close to Foulness Island and we were going because the Lord nudged us to go. Gerry and I set off from Romford around 4 pm to catch the little boat at 6 pm, hoping to have a snack in the middle at the Essex Marina.

Arriving in good time, we boarded the already full Lady Essex and set off in a cool wind, Gary at the helm and an informed lady wildlife helper sorting out the ropes. There was a mixture of children, photographers, keen wildlifers and us - a motley crew.

Leaving the Crouch at the junction with the Roach, we stole up the Roach quietly midstream (the tide was very low tonight). We were instructed not to talk if we saw seals because although they didn't mind the engine noise, they were frightened by humans. Two other boats were already moored in the Roach and we made them rise and fall as our wash passed them by.

We saw adult and baby common seals - quite rare creatures - this is their nesting ground. In about a month's time, the adults will leave for different climes and the babies will have to fend for themselves. The adults will return next year for mating.

They were a distinctive coppery iron colour, gained from the mud around the River Roach. There were more seals further up the inlet but we couldn't reach them because the tide was so low.

On the way in, Gerry and I spotted an oystercatcher and a wading bird (white with a long bill) but mostly our binoculars were trained on observing Foulness Island - a lonely place.

At the beginning of the voyage, I had taken a moment to chat to Gary, the skipper, and told him of our answered prayer on the Friday afternoon. He seemed touched and it turned out we had a connection already - his wife is sister to a local head teacher in North Romford and actually teaches in the school part time. Go figure...(as the Americans say)

Below are some pictures I took while on the wildlife trip - the dark blotches are seals, which I'm afraid you can't see very well, but - low tide, much mud, open space, heavenly sky...you get the idea!