Dear friends!
As you know, we’ve had our yearly conference with John Fenn last April.
We’ve met many of you there, which was great, although time was too short to catch up with everyone. But nowadays we have Skype, Facebook, and other means to stay in touch and you are always welcome to connect with us.
Maybe you could not come this year, but we hope we will meet you next year. The date is already set: May 8-10 2015
The conferences are a wonderful opportunity to catch up with others, to fellowship, get to know other people within the network, a time of teaching, encouragement and being in the presence of the Lord! You do not want to miss that!
We are truly becoming a family and the bond gets closer and closer and that is mainly because we spend time together.
For those who came last April, we really like to know what your experiences are: What has the Lord done in your life, things like that. But also ideas for next year’s conference.
Before I forget: we would like to say thank you to everyone who has helped us: doing the dishes, setting up stuff, collecting people from the airport, bringing them over to our home, etc. etc. We couldn’t have done it without you! So thanks again!
What touched us personally, was the love and the unity among us. There were so many nationalities, and people who came for the very first time…and yet we were of one heart and one soul!
Then there was the vision the Lord gave, about the day of the wedding and it’s something I (Ank) am still thinking about:
For those that were not present: I saw in a vision the Lord, standing in a room. I knew a new day had begun and it was the day of the wedding! And the Lord was changing what he was wearing, to make Himself ready for the wedding. Then I saw the bride and the groom walking into a room and her hand was placed on top of His hand (Just like we saw when our King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima walked up together for the inauguration – I will never forget that picture…).
He, the bridegroom, stepped aside to show His bride, to show how special she was, how beautiful and how proud he was of her!
It was a new day, the day of the wedding…indicating that the focus has changed: on the day of the wedding the bride is not occupied with things like running errands, or cleaning the home. She has done that already. The focus is now on the wedding and on meeting her groom.
A Scripture comes in mind: Hebrews 12:2, which states:
“Looking unto Jesus…”
The previous verse says: “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
The ‘cleaning of your house’ must be done, if you want to be able to look to Jesus and the race that is set before you.
The word ‘look’ in Greek says: ‘looking away from all else, to fix one’s gaze upon.’
Then it says: “…the author and perfecter of our faith…”
‘Author’ in Greek means: ‘a person who is originator or founder of a movement and continues as the leader’.
(as you can tell, I am a teacher…lol)
‘Perfecter’: ‘the one bringing the life of faith to its complete conclusion.One who has in His own person raised faith to its perfection and so set before us the highest example of faith.’
Wow!
So Jesus is our example and we have to look to Him how to run our race.
In every scene of His earthly life, Jesus lived in faith: receiving and perfectly obeying the Father’s will. Did He not say: “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what he sees the Father do.” That is our example of faith: receiving His will and obeying – that is the walk of faith.
If we each individually want to finish our race, we need to hear from Him. It’s like the Israelites in the dessert: “The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.” (Exodus 13:21)
The pillar is a type of the Holy Spirit. When He says we need to pick up out stuff and go, we should do that. Even when it’s in the middle of the night…so to speak…even when it’s not convenient and when it seems to be the wrong timing…
Back to Hebrews 12:2b: “…who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame…”
Jesus’ cross was the Father’s will for Him, so our cross is His will for our lives. ‘Despising the shame’ in Greek has the meaning of: ‘thinking down on, thinking little of, esteem lightly, devalue.’
When you know what the Lord wants you to do, let’s say do housechurch, then doing that is your ‘cross’, the will of God for you. But do not think little of it, or esteem it lightly, especially when you are just with a couple of people. See it the way the Lord does, and change the way you are thinking!
So, I got that off my chest
Let’s go back to the vision of the bride and the groom:
It was so special to see the Lord preparing for the wedding, by changing what He was wearing. I had never thought about it, Him changing clothes…
And when the bride and the groom walked into the room, the Lord stepped back to present His bride! Even then He is humble and does not ask attention for Himself…think about that…
Later on the Lord spoke and said this: “It’s all about the bride!”
What a future and a perspective we have! And what a wonderful Lord we serve!
Family-news
Our daughter Elsbeth gave birth to a son, the 17th of May! His name is: Eli. He is doing well, is 7 lbs and 19 inches long! God is good!
Mat, her husband and Zoe, their 4-year old daughter, are extremely happy! All went very well. She is home and Mat took days of from work to be there with his family.
And we have more news!
Someone offered us 2 tickets to Laurel, USA, to see our newborn grandson! That was a great surprise and a huge blessing!
We will leave the end of June and come back the first week of July. We are very much looking forward to that!
After the summer holidays we will pick up travelling again to meet some of you.
As you all know, there are teachings of John available, in English of course. Lots of MP 3’s too, so maybe something to consider for the vacation-period?
We want to say thank you to everyone praying for us and helping us financially. Very much appreciated! You are helping us to run our race! Thanks!
Lots of blessings and enjoy the summertime and time off!
Blessings,
Wil and Ank
As you know, we’ve had our yearly conference with John Fenn last April.
We’ve met many of you there, which was great, although time was too short to catch up with everyone. But nowadays we have Skype, Facebook, and other means to stay in touch and you are always welcome to connect with us.
Maybe you could not come this year, but we hope we will meet you next year. The date is already set: May 8-10 2015
The conferences are a wonderful opportunity to catch up with others, to fellowship, get to know other people within the network, a time of teaching, encouragement and being in the presence of the Lord! You do not want to miss that!
We are truly becoming a family and the bond gets closer and closer and that is mainly because we spend time together.
For those who came last April, we really like to know what your experiences are: What has the Lord done in your life, things like that. But also ideas for next year’s conference.
Before I forget: we would like to say thank you to everyone who has helped us: doing the dishes, setting up stuff, collecting people from the airport, bringing them over to our home, etc. etc. We couldn’t have done it without you! So thanks again!
What touched us personally, was the love and the unity among us. There were so many nationalities, and people who came for the very first time…and yet we were of one heart and one soul!
Then there was the vision the Lord gave, about the day of the wedding and it’s something I (Ank) am still thinking about:
For those that were not present: I saw in a vision the Lord, standing in a room. I knew a new day had begun and it was the day of the wedding! And the Lord was changing what he was wearing, to make Himself ready for the wedding. Then I saw the bride and the groom walking into a room and her hand was placed on top of His hand (Just like we saw when our King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima walked up together for the inauguration – I will never forget that picture…).
He, the bridegroom, stepped aside to show His bride, to show how special she was, how beautiful and how proud he was of her!
It was a new day, the day of the wedding…indicating that the focus has changed: on the day of the wedding the bride is not occupied with things like running errands, or cleaning the home. She has done that already. The focus is now on the wedding and on meeting her groom.
A Scripture comes in mind: Hebrews 12:2, which states:
“Looking unto Jesus…”
The previous verse says: “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
The ‘cleaning of your house’ must be done, if you want to be able to look to Jesus and the race that is set before you.
The word ‘look’ in Greek says: ‘looking away from all else, to fix one’s gaze upon.’
Then it says: “…the author and perfecter of our faith…”
‘Author’ in Greek means: ‘a person who is originator or founder of a movement and continues as the leader’.
(as you can tell, I am a teacher…lol)
‘Perfecter’: ‘the one bringing the life of faith to its complete conclusion.One who has in His own person raised faith to its perfection and so set before us the highest example of faith.’
Wow!
So Jesus is our example and we have to look to Him how to run our race.
In every scene of His earthly life, Jesus lived in faith: receiving and perfectly obeying the Father’s will. Did He not say: “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what he sees the Father do.” That is our example of faith: receiving His will and obeying – that is the walk of faith.
If we each individually want to finish our race, we need to hear from Him. It’s like the Israelites in the dessert: “The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.” (Exodus 13:21)
The pillar is a type of the Holy Spirit. When He says we need to pick up out stuff and go, we should do that. Even when it’s in the middle of the night…so to speak…even when it’s not convenient and when it seems to be the wrong timing…
Back to Hebrews 12:2b: “…who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame…”
Jesus’ cross was the Father’s will for Him, so our cross is His will for our lives. ‘Despising the shame’ in Greek has the meaning of: ‘thinking down on, thinking little of, esteem lightly, devalue.’
When you know what the Lord wants you to do, let’s say do housechurch, then doing that is your ‘cross’, the will of God for you. But do not think little of it, or esteem it lightly, especially when you are just with a couple of people. See it the way the Lord does, and change the way you are thinking!
So, I got that off my chest
Let’s go back to the vision of the bride and the groom:
It was so special to see the Lord preparing for the wedding, by changing what He was wearing. I had never thought about it, Him changing clothes…
And when the bride and the groom walked into the room, the Lord stepped back to present His bride! Even then He is humble and does not ask attention for Himself…think about that…
Later on the Lord spoke and said this: “It’s all about the bride!”
What a future and a perspective we have! And what a wonderful Lord we serve!
Family-news
Our daughter Elsbeth gave birth to a son, the 17th of May! His name is: Eli. He is doing well, is 7 lbs and 19 inches long! God is good!
Mat, her husband and Zoe, their 4-year old daughter, are extremely happy! All went very well. She is home and Mat took days of from work to be there with his family.
And we have more news!
Someone offered us 2 tickets to Laurel, USA, to see our newborn grandson! That was a great surprise and a huge blessing!
We will leave the end of June and come back the first week of July. We are very much looking forward to that!
After the summer holidays we will pick up travelling again to meet some of you.
As you all know, there are teachings of John available, in English of course. Lots of MP 3’s too, so maybe something to consider for the vacation-period?
We want to say thank you to everyone praying for us and helping us financially. Very much appreciated! You are helping us to run our race! Thanks!
Lots of blessings and enjoy the summertime and time off!
Blessings,
Wil and Ank