​Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you will have heard talk about God preparing to act in a great and mighty way. This expectation comes from many places and is clothed in all types of language. In Catholic circles we have 'In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph', and talk of the Warning and the Chastisement. There is the 1947 Wigglesworth prophecy that when the Spirit and the Word come together, there will be the biggest move of the Holy Spirit that the world has ever seen. Others talk of a promised billion soul harvest.

As Peter Herbeck reminded us back in 2016, 'Did you know that the Church has an infinite capacity for regeneration? Did you know that? Did you know that the Church has right now all the power, every resource it needs, to conquer every enemy strategy the enemy brings against Her.' And it is precisely when the Church is looking the deadest and most bedraggled that we can expect the resurrection power of Jesus to come upon Her.
There are heightened expectations at the moment for something like this to begin before the end of 2019, with Brexit when it actually happens, as some form of a catalyst.

Consider:
https://lanavawser.com/2019/10/30/i-heard-the-lord-say-the-last-few-months-of-2019-are-going-to-be-explosive/
and https://www.openheaven.com/2018/07/10/three-waves-of-a-coming-baby-boom-and-strategies-for-preparation-by-christy-johnston/

Now for the chicken and the egg paradox: Are we in the 'if and when it happens we will deal with it then' camp or are we in the 'is some of this dependent on us being like Noah and taking God at His word and doing some practical stuff in preparation' camp? Is our lack of preparation part of the delay problem?

Consider the following scenario: an act of God causes 1000 consciences to awaken and they all rush to your church community to get themselves right with God. What do you do?

And what if it is 10,000 people? That's a lot of people who will expect us to know what to do to help them all.

When the active presence of God manifests itself in a place, people have life-changing encounters with God, and no one, but no one, wants to leave a place that is experiencing divine visitation. So expecting people to go down the shops to get supplies just isn't going to work, you need to have the supplies stockpiled already. Call it 'The Noah Storeroom' or the 'When God Shows Up Cache' or similar, expect to get laughed at like Noah was, but do it anyway. Also think long term, God is wanting to add these people to your community permanently. There is also no guarantee that you won't be overwhelmed by God and unable to function as a leader, marshal or administrator, so talk to your teams and make them aware of what your strategy is for when the Flood of Grace comes. Ask God what that strategy should be.  

So here are some thoughts, just looking at things from a practical perspective and a decidedly Catholic one because we need to do more preparation than anyone else.

The number one thing people will want is the sacrament of penance, and lengthy confessions. There might be a humungous crowd, but they each need to hear the blessed words of absolution personally. While they wait for their turn they are going to need some refresher teaching on how the sacrament works, how to prepare, what to confess, why the given penance is important etc. Many of them will be in a blubbering mess, before, during and after they get into the confessional.

A practical thing to do is for dioceses and parishes to audit how many non-active priests are within their diocesan and parish boundaries, get in contact with them, and have them on some kind of group alert system. They may be retired, if so, keep in regular contact with them. They may have been laicised for various reasons, but in emergencies, and this would qualify for an emergency, they can exercise priestly faculties. You are going to need them hearing confessions. If you are a bishop, then you should start working out what needs to be done canonically now to get laicised priests as sacramentally active as possible, as quickly as possible, in such a scenario.

The best people to do the refresher teaching on the sacrament of penance will be those who are already on the parish sacramental preparation teams. Parish priests should talk with the parish sacramental preparation co-ordinator about how to handle such a scenario. They would already have some experience in ushering primary school children for their first confessions.

Do you have brochures for people returning to the sacrament of penance after a long absence? Start looking for good examples of them online, or get new ones written. Have them ready to print. Put all the links and files you need in a special folder on your computer, so that you can quickly find them all in one place. Have a back-up paper version in your filing cabinet.

Begin a stockpile of tissues, a stockpile of scripture booklets (like the ones they provide for World Youth Day pilgrims, with a Gospel, another book from the Bible and a Psalm or two) and a stockpile of toilet paper.

Talk to your parish team about setting up triage protocols, because you are going to need to quickly ascertain who has never been baptised, who can't remember if they were baptised, those baptised under other traditions, lapsed Catholics, fringe Catholics and committed Catholics. Baptism (and conditional Baptism), could reduce the strain on the confessionals, but you will need a diocesan approved video presentation on what living out the Nicene Creed means as a minimum preparation for the baptism of those who have reached the age of reason and beyond.

Purchase additional baptismal registers and baptismal certificates at both parish and diocesan levels.

Space is going to be at a premium, so as quickly as possible, get all the cars out of the parish car parks and make them pedestrian access only. You could have several groups learning from different group leaders across the car park - weather permitting. 

People are going to want Jesus. Setting up a monstrance with a consecrated host in the church will help with that. If you have a spare or secondary monstrance, set up an additional adoration space in the parish hall as well. You may need to set up wardens or guards from the ranks of acolytes and senior altar servers around those monstrances to keep order. People under the influence of religious zeal have been known to do some mighty crazy things, especially if that zeal is coupled with ignorance. 

People are going to need to learn how to pray. Having an area set aside with a Marian shrine/statue and a continuous Rosary being prayed with scripture meditations prior to each decade mystery will help. Stockpile inexpensive sets of rosary beads.

If the repentance is Holy Spirit genuine, then practical steps to change lives will be needed. Wherever you normally have the paschal fire for the Easter Vigil can be the place people can bring unholy objects to have them burned, bad magazines, bad books, crystals, occult items etc.

People in non-married relationships may come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit to get married. You will need teams of people to listen to them, to ascertain if they are free to enter into sacramental marriage, and then organise groups of couples for marriage ceremonies and renewal of vow ceremonies.

Purchase additional marriage registers and marriage certificates, at both parish and diocesan levels.

Under a move of God of such a magnitude, people are going to start manifesting the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit. Make sure you have literature and links on hand for them to be able to begin to understand what the Holy Spirit is doing in them, and how to co-operate with it. You are going to need protocols for how to discern and release prophetic words.

Some people may also manifest demonic influence. To deal with that, the diocesan bishop should have a plan in place. He is the chief exorcist of the diocese, and should have already appointed other exorcists. Training should begin now to enable more priestly exorcists to be appointed, and for all diocesan priests to be trained in what they are already authorised to do in such circumstances, and in what must be referred to those with specialist training.

Once the Holy Spirit activates hearts in repentance, then they will experience a hunger for catechesis. Start researching now to discover what good programmes are out there, and purchase or subscribe to them. Then when God's grace hits, get a quality video series set up for viewing in a large meeting room with automatic repeat.

Mobilise those who have been on team for RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) to be the 'go to' people for those that have specific theological questions or hurdles that they need to overcome in order to take the next step on their journey of faith.

You will need printed and laminated lists of good books for people to download on their mobile phones and similar devices on topics such as prayer, sacraments, catechism, charisms, scripture, conversion testimonies that are highly recommended. The last thing you want is for people hungry for catechesis to find online teaching resources that contain doctrinal errors.

It is our duty to help people get to the best sources of teaching quickly. Many people have mobile phones with internet capability, help them use that technology to help them get the recommended teaching that they need.

People on fire with the Holy Spirit are going to want to be active in evangelisation, immediately. Remind them that even St Paul went off to pray, fast and study first. Work out in advance a way to get them into teams to do the necessary preparation, preferably each with an experienced evangelist as a leader, and then send them out in teams. Each sent out team should return together for debriefing, further teaching based on their experiences, and prayer for those they reached out to.

Real repentance will want to express itself in acts of penance, viz prayer, fasting, almsgiving, service to the poor. It will be far better to give people direction on how to respond to this call to penance and reparation, than to leave them without guidance. Think now about how best such holy responses could be channelled to the greatest good, and pray for divine wisdom as you work on that. Consider where the greatest needs in your community are, and which local service organisations are the best ones with track records of integrity and effectiveness. Some people will want to go beyond what prudence suggests, and they will need to be helped so that they bank that fire a bit so as to become sustainable rather than flaming out quickly.

People are going to need to tell their stories about how God's grace rescued them. So you will need teams of listeners and recorders. The better stories should be publicly told, as ongoing encouragement to the church community and in praise to God. Discernment will be needed for who, when, and how such stories are to be released, and whether his/her conversion has deepened enough for it to withstand notoriety.

When such moves of God happen, it can get very chaotic and messy in a good way. The more we can help people ground the profound God experiences they have had in daily prayer, reading of scripture, and frequent recourse to the sacraments, and in the accountability of regular sharing of experiences in small to medium groups, the more fruitful and lasting that grace will be within them. But it takes all hands on deck to steward extraordinary moves of the Holy Spirit like this, far more than just the priest and a handful of helpers. Training up people now who could be effective leaders of small to medium groups would be very prudent.

Many ministry teams will need to go on 24/7 rostering initially, in shifts, especially the music ministry teams. Whatever normal was will have to be suspended for a while until a new normal settles.

The chances of big increases in people asking questions about the validity of past marriages are significant. Beginning to train extra people for the diocesan marriage tribunals would be a wise thing to do.

What needs to be prevented is a decision making bottle-neck focused on the person of the parish priest. Start thinking carefully about what decisions can be devolved to trusted people in senior parish leadership positions and which decisions absolutely must go to the parish priest, and what kind of communication structures would facilitate that. For common requests maybe a pre-prepared checklist of requirements for approval could be very useful. 

The more preparation gets done, the fewer people will dissipate the extraordinary grace and slip through the cracks unchanged and without being incorporated into the parish community of faith and into the mission of Jesus.

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​I will add to this when I can, especially useful links and file downloads.
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​Examples of small booklets of scripture:

Act of Contrition
Three versions suitable for Sacrament of Penance
4 per A4 page

Prayer for a Good Confession
6 per A4 page

How to start (or re-start) praying the Rosary
With a crowd of people hungry for God, helping them learn to pray by learning to pray the Rosary and meditate on the various scenes in the life of Jesus is a good idea. This is also good as an inexpensive follow-up, for how to pray the Rosary at home.
Double sided, tri-fold A4 page

Miracle Prayer
This is a good prayer to lead people into a re-commitment to God with, or to recommend as a follow-up daily prayer for anyone who has just had a life changing encounter with God.
4 per A4 page  

Encouragement to return to the Sacrament of Penance
includes simple examination of conscience
​Double-sided, tri-fold A4 page

More encouragement to return to the Sacrament of Penance
includes excerpts from the diary of St Faustina
about how much God wants us to come and receive His mercy.
​Double-sided, tri-fold A4 page

Well known prayers in common use
Including most of the prayers required to pray the Rosary,
and other prayers that Catholics assume everyone knows 'off-by-heart'. i.e. this is a cheat sheet to help new converts and reverts get up to speed.
Single-sided A4 page

Stations of the Cross, Passionist version
True conversion is accompanied by a desire to reparate for sin, and praying the Stations of the Cross (any version) is useful as a start for satisfying that desire.
​Double-sided, tri-fold A4 page

Stations of the Cross, Everyman version
​In this version, Jesus talks to us as 'His other self' and encourages us to see how we can be united to His Passion in the regular events of every day life.
​Double-sided, tri-fold A4 page

Help for understanding charisms and manifestations of the Holy Spirit, and practical guidance in their use and ongoing development
If there has been a major movement of God, then the natural consequence is people receiving charisms of healing, prophecy, words of knowledge, discernment, speaking in tongues, deliverance etc. Chances are you will have significant numbers of people needing help to understand what God is doing in them and through them, and what is OK and what is not OK. This document which distills 50 years of wisdom from the Catholic Charismatic Renewal will help you get lots of people 'on the same page' quickly, and it will also reassure them that what they are experiencing is normal for the Holy Spirit.
If you haven't read it yet, read it now, so that you are familiar with the contents. That way you will be able to point specific people to the specific parts of the content that they need - when the time comes.
32 x A4 pages

Bible Study - Gospel of Mark
This is the shortest of the Gospels, and is particularly useful for helping people come to a decision about who Jesus is.
At the link below you will find a simple 16 week Bible Study of this Gospel with discussion starters.  
Resources - Study Group

This Christian Writing seminar with Larry Sparks from Destiny Image Publishing on 16 Nov 2019 contained a lot of good content, since it is rare to hear a publisher tell us not only what he is looking for - but also why those criteria are so important.
While he was talking about non-fiction Christian publishing in the Christian Living genre, the same principles are largely applicable to secular publishing as well.

If you are considering submitting a manuscript or a book proposal to Destiny Image Publishing, make sure that your work fits their mission statement, viz.

Destiny Image has been called to publish biblically sound, prophetic words to the Body of Christ. To that end, we seek to create a community founded on content that has an anointing to direct, encourage and strengthen the church as a whole.

These notes are only edited summaries of this seminar. The way the day went, Larry gave us introductory comments on why writers write and publishers publish, and then went on to talk about the 7 non-negotiable things he looks for when signing up a new author. As he spoke about those 7 green flags he is looking for, he often digressed. Those digressions I have put at the end under General Writing Tips.

Around Jan-Feb 2020 Larry is releasing a course that goes into far more detail than a seminar can accomplish. https://larrysparksministries.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/LarrySparksMinistries/ will soon have information about how to access that new course.
…………………………………………..

Introduction
When people are looking for a book they are seeking a tangible solution to a problem.
Your written testimony about how you partnered with God and saw His power to bring breakthrough into your circumstances is valuable because:
•it reveals that God is a good father
•it releases hope to people who previously had no hope
•it contributes to filling the earth with His glory.
Books rarely become key revenue generators, but they are an opening up of a funnel that has the capacity to launch careers and brands.
Readers will want to know what the next step is to take after reading a book. They want to be on the journey with the author.
You must have a clear idea what your book is for and who it is for. Some books deliver nations from evils, some books redeem family bloodlines. Be OK with that, if God's purpose in calling you to write a book, is primarily to help a descendant of yours learn how to partner with God at some point in the future.
Psalm 101 (102):18 'Put this on record for the next generation, so that a race still to be born can praise God.'
Do not be afraid of niches, because you need to know what audience your book is written for. Your niche can be far bigger thank you think it is.

There are 7 green flags that a publisher needs before committing to publishing a Christian book.

1st Flag: The message has God's burning fire upon it.
It has to be in a subject area that you have authority in, that you come alive in, which contains the core message God is speaking through your life. It has to be a message that you have finished the journey on, and can show someone else the path to the same results. You only have permission to share the process if you also share the solution.
How do you know you have a burning message?
•It may be in your gifts, talents and expertise.
•It may be where you are experiencing a holy irritation as a catalyst/motivator.
•It may be something God has been speaking to you for some time but you are unaware of. To find it, take some unscheduled time with the Holy Spirit, several hours, a weekend, no longer than that, (because if it is a burning message from God it will carry some urgency) and intentionally ask Him to walk through your history with Him, your journals, your writings, your experiences of Him. Ask Him, what are the 4 most common themes? Pay attention to the memories that have a fire/weightiness upon them. As you ponder them, let the Holy Spirit renew those past encounters with Him in you, and lead you into deeper encounters with Him.
Also ask Him, 'What is the problem I am seeking through writing to solve'? Write down the answers that come to mind and get feedback on them from truth tellers you trust.

2nd Flag: You have identified your core message.
This is what you are most called to write about. Be very true to what God has called you to do, and stick with it. There is grace in your lane. If God decides to open up additional lanes, that is His job, not yours.
Consider what you talk about the most, what you blog about the most, and what most resonates with your readers as expressed through likes and comments.
It is possible to express the one message in many ways e.g. Renew your mind: in family, in business: in relationships.
Even if there are many books on your topic, there is only one you, and how you dealt with that topic is unique to you. However you must study the others in your market, and demonstrate that you present a unique angle and perspective on this topic.
Don't try to be someone else. God gives unique assignments and messages.

3rd Flag: Know your audience.
Learn to be content with the audience God gives you, and let Him grow it.
Visualise in as much detail as possible the type of people who will read your book. Is it primarily for Christians? Is it primarily for non-Christians.
Does it go on the Christian shelf in the bookstore or on the Self Help shelf?
If you try to write for 2 different audiences in the same book, you lose both of them.
If you are on social media or blogging, study what types of people are already in your audience. Ask others you trust to give you feedback on who they think is the best audience for your writing.
Do not despise the day of small beginnings nor the small niche. Often you will find that small niche is bigger than you expect.
Write for the benefit of your audience and be clear about what the features, advantages and benefits of your book are.
Eg Features: This book has 25 chapters on prayer and reflection questions at the end of each chapter. Advantages: What will this book help the end user to do, eg pray with specificity. Benefits: Where this book connects with the reader's life: what it promises to add to the reader's life.
Your blurb must clearly articulate the benefits to potential readers. If you read this book will it change your family? Will it give you a new vision for the possible? What new way of living the Christian life will it give you?
Believe it or not, the primary reason a person picks up a book is not to seek God.
In order of importance, these are the reasons a person picks up a book:
•Does it speak to their current predicament, the immediate problem in their lives (marriage, teens, dieting...)?
•Does it connect with something bigger, more transcendent, reveal the bigger picture?
•Is it concretely applicable? Does it give me the next step/show me how to change the world?
A book like 'The Purpose Driven Life' by Rick Warren covers all three reasons.
Remember: Some books solve the problem of 'I want to learn more about ……….', and that could be the life of Winston Churchill or how to be a better gardener.
Avoid 2 common ditches:
•The desire to make your book into an autobiography
•To give all teaching and no story or case studies.
Be a practitioner not just a theorist. Aim for a story per chapter, but the story must illustrate the transferable teaching of that chapter.

4th flag: Alignment (Character)
You can't be a lone ranger, and you do need to learn how to activate your endorsements in a healthy way. Identify 3-5 people who will stand with you, and help you get your message out to others, and vice versa.
At all costs protect your heart from opportunism, from relationships for the sake of gain.
I want to publish works from people who have vouch-able characters, subject mastery and theological protection.
There are 4 levels of alignment that I look for, in order of importance:
•Spiritual accountability to mothers and fathers in faith which includes ministry covering.
•The ministry networks with whom you are affiliated.
•Who your spiritual peers are, the people you do life and ministry with, and
•Endorsements from well-known names.
If you are in the right lane, blessing and favour from God will be upon it.

5th flag: Marketing and Building a Platform.
Find the 3 areas where people are currently engaging with you, and build there.
Use your social media accounts to funnel people to those online places you have control over (email list, website, podcast).
Make sure where you build is where your audience is.
Consistency in content builds a voice.
Find out how your audience likes to engage with you: do they prefer audio, video, visual, written? Start with online media where you feel most comfortable first.
Ask for feedback on your social media effectiveness from truth tellers.
Read the 3 star reviews of books in your field of expertise. They will give you very good ideas and help you avoid many pitfalls.
Some messages create demand where previously there was none e.g. James Goll and 'The Seer'. It called many people with the prophetic seer gifting 'out of the cave' and gave them and others language to talk about that gifting and realise that they weren't alone.
God may want you to write for the 3% who are early adopters. It won't sell as well as one written for the 70% adopters. Do it anyway. It may be God's plan for your work to open a breach for others to come through after you.

6th flag: Teachability
This has 2 dimensions:
•The ability to receive open and honest correction.
•The ability to be open to co-operation.
Being immovable on things like title and subtitle (eg 'God told me the title has to be …….') prevents you from getting the best solutions through the collaboration of a team of experts. Make it your goal to produce the best book possible, even if that means relinquishing control over the parts that currently matter most to you or having to re-write your favourite chapter from a different angle.

7th flag: Clear vision of a product funnel
Do you have a vision of the end result of someone reading your book?
What is the journey that you want to take them on?
These days a book functions a lot like a business card, as a way of introducing people to you, your message and your ministry.
Even if you don't yet have a vision for a product funnel, keep communication channels open about it.
A funnel can be broken down into price points:
The entry point is a freebie, something useful to your audience in exchange for their contact details.
The 2nd level is your book, with a price $9.99-$26.99.
The 3rd level is a course, an e-course, a coaching programme, anything to keep the conversation and engagement going, at a higher price, at least double the book price.
The 4th level is one-on-one consultations, at the highest price.

General Writing Tips
Become familiar with the traditional and the self-publishing processes.
If you self-publish go as excellent as you can on book cover and editing.
Avoid generic words in your title (e.g. faith, hope, love).
Your first book is often your experimental book, expect to improve in your subsequent books.
Covers need to be visible and clear at thumbnail level.
Traditional publishing normally takes 9-12 months. If you have a shorter than book length message that needs quick release, consider self-publishing, especially if you are a pastor or have a ministry. A 60-70 page message on a single topic that is currently relevant lends itself very well to self-publishing.
•Highly recommended reading:
Building a Story Brand by Don Miller
Platform by Michael Hyatt
and Tribes by Seth Godin
Complexity is the enemy of execution.
Seek to get your elevator pitch down to 90 seconds or less.
Study the top 50 books on Amazon and their subject matter, it will give you valuable insight in to what problems people are seeking solutions for: metrics like that don't lie.
On social media people want to feel like they connect with you.
Research until you find a publisher's mandate that matches your message: and send your manuscript/ book proposal there.
Embed links to your e-books for your website and freebies that feed your email list.
Keep your Introduction short.
Chapter 1 lays out the vision for your book.
Chapter 2 lays out the mission for your book.
Each chapter should have a problem-solution blue-print; even consider treating each chapter like a keynote speech.
Don't let your voice be edited out of the book, keep its unique parts intact.
Pique curiosity in your title.
Check with others that your title does not confuse about its content e.g. Happy Strife has connotations of marriage and wife about it, if that isn't your message, get a more effective title.
Be open to the possibility that you have only been given 1/4 of the book and that you might need to seek testimonies and case studies from others to compile into the book.
Ask God for whether His strategy for the book is just to produce that book, or whether He wants it to be stewarded into a brand.
Ask God to release the discernment you need.
Do not shy away from doing due diligence research, it is part of being faithful to your calling. Ask Him to release graces of fresh presentation and fresh language for ancient revelation. God is raising up people who will evangelise through writing; 'writing evangelists'.

'If you want to get published with Destiny Image' Tips
My publishing speciality is in Christian Living books, the kind you find at Cornerstone bookstores. Books I publish must have both testimony/stories of grace AND transferable teaching.
Harrison House is an imprint of Destiny Image that publishes rarer niche messages and shorter ones especially in the charismatic/pentecostal genre.
If your book doesn't fit our publishing mandate, and I believe it will do much better with a different publisher, I will refer your book to them.

Conclusion
Every assignment from God carries with it significance.
If you want to break writer's block, know that the times you write under obedience and cannot feel the flow of grace are just as sacred and blessed as when you do feel that anointed flow.
Be faithful; write the 1st chapter if that is all you have, the other chapters will come.
The outcome of a book is God's business; our task is to be faithful to the assignment He gives us.

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​A printer friendly version is available below (6 x A4 pages)

Remember, this is only an edited summary of what was given in the seminar.

Firstly a rough transcription of the prophetic words given that night; some prior to the talk, some afterwards:

•Find your shout and declaration again. Angels are putting trumpets to our lips. Declare what God is saying and not what anything else is saying. The truth of God is being rewritten over minds and hearts. God: 'But what do I say?' Pay attention to that and not to your circumstances. Echo what God is saying over us.
•(sung) There is a mighty echo. Come up higher. Can you hear the echo? See His angels all around. Let the trumpets sound. Let the people gather round. The Lord is coming on the clouds. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. Holy ones I am calling You to Myself. Re-sound the sound of the trumpet sound. Holy mantles. Holy mandates. High and holy ones, you are My hope.

(the talk took place, see below)

•This council of the Lord is not just for church services, it is a realm that God is inviting us into as parents, and business leaders throughout the week, an invitation that doesn't require a building or a worship CD as access points. I am training My people to be supernatural in a very natural way.
•There are so many angels here. We have so much authority because we are in Jesus and He is the supreme authority over everything. In the story of Daniel it says, 'As soon as you prayed a command was given'. The angels are waiting for us to pray and declare so that they can be given their assignments.
•We were in the throne room, all of us, with Jesus on the throne. The four beasts with wings were there and the lampstands. The angels were singing, and we were singing with them. The elders bowed down and worshipped Him, and all their crowns came off because they were so bent before Jesus. When we come before Him in worship we are to be like them and bow down so low before Him that our crowns come off. As we walk closer and closer to Him we are bowing further before Him. We need to be bare before Him in order to receive from Him and give to Him.
•In a similar way to how native American wind-talkers were used in WW2, God wants to give us messages that the enemy cannot decode.
•God is repositioning us into different levels and areas of our lives e.g. spiritual warfare, intimacy, intercession, spiritual realms. We need to do something in the natural to co-operate with, appropriate and come into agreement with this action of His. (It was suggested that as a sign of our Yes we swap places with the person beside us).
•Isaiah 51:16 'I put My words into your mouth. I hid you in the shadow of My hand, when I spread out the heavens and laid the earth's foundations and said to Zion, 'You are My people.'' It is time for rain. Contend with Him for the promised rain. The rain will be a sign in the natural of what He is doing in the supernatural. God wants us to be reminded of the prophetic words that have been planted. He is raising up blueprints and strategies and He was a holy 'DO' partnership, people who don't just listen but who act upon His word. This is a multigenerational thing. A time when newer generations pick up the neglected/forgotten/as-yet-undiscovered destinies embedded in their families and run with them; to take on the family legacies given by God and to see them happen.
(This was primarily for the Central Coast, but for people all over the world as well.)
 
Secondly a rough transcription of the talk given by Larry Sparks, international speaker and publisher at Destiny Image  Publishers who studies how God has acted in past movements of the Holy Spirit and who seeks out the prophets God is raising up in our day in order to help relay the messages of God to the people of God. He is an American, married, and has a much loved daughter:
 
Australia is a testimony nation to the earth.
(speaking to the HopeUC worship team): Worship teams have the capacity to be key leaders in the council of the Lord, places that are reserved for His friends. He invites you there, and desires to share His secrets with you there. Songs birthed in the council of the Lord release the thunder of Heaven. We want those songs. They carry God's active power. The gift and inspiration of those songs belong to those who want to be a friend of God far, far more than they want to be professional, successful musicians.

This message is for Australia, but also for the nations.
Be obedient.
God is reforming or language a bit, explaining what standing in the council of the Lord means.
'Holy, Holy, Holy' is the song of Heaven that never gets stale, tired or old.
New encounters with God often occur when we tap into the ancient songs.
You can tell that someone has had a genuine encounter with God if they tremble with the awe and reverence of God upon their lips.
In this atmosphere tonight there is a sense of reverence.
At a recent prophetic roundtable I met a young woman named Hannah Brim, granddaughter of Dr Billye Brim, and she said, 'I see myself as a friend of Jesus, not as a prophet'.

Our identity in God has three levels.
First identity: friends of God, those who see and hear the Word of God in the council of the Lord.
Jer 23:16-18 'The Lord God of hosts says this: Do not listen to what those prophets say: they are deluding you, they retail visions of their own, and not what comes from the mouth of the Lord; to those who reject the Word of God they say, 'Peace will be yours', and to those who follow the dictates of a hardened heart, 'No misfortune will touch you'. But who has been present at the council of the Lord? Who has seen it and heard His Word? Who has paid attention to His Word in order to proclaim it?'
Second identity: intercessors with God, who know what to do with what they see and hear - including who to share it with, and when, and how. They ask Him, what you have revealed to me, is it for me alone? There are some secrets that God wants to share with us personally that are for us alone. Is it something I should share with four crazy faith-filled friends to help me process and steward this revelation? Is it for someone else, of for a group? Or is it for me primarily, and shareable with others later on?
Third identity: prophet of God, declaring what God authorises you to declare.
In our times we have great need of people secure in these three identities who can reliably and reputably receive God's messages for our region, our city, our church community, our nation, and who are in right relationships with church authorities and not itinerant lone rangers.

The realm of the council of the Lord is available to everyone, but highly exclusive, because it belongs only to those who prize their relationship with God above everything else.
Study Abraham and Moses, who are friends of God. Their bold prayers were actually high reverence because they knew the character of God so deeply. They were able to 'be confident then, in approaching the throne of grace, that we shall have mercy from Him and find grace when we are in need of help' Heb 4:16.
Friends of God are invited to know what is coming. If it happens to be negative, then they pray for that situation not to happen or for it to be mitigated, because they know God's delight is to show mercy. They appeal for mercy, even when judgment is deserved, eg Abraham concerning Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses concerning God's repudiation of Israel after the golden calf incident. If no one ever finds out that their prayers for this potentially negative situation were effective, then that doesn't bother them at all. They remind God what He has promised until that promise is fulfilled, no matter how long that 'until' takes. They contend for those promises with supernatural grit. They know that God has not forgotten the promises He made, even if it feels completely otherwise.

The Hebrew word for council means 'a circle of familiar friends'.

What distinguishes a true prophet of the calibre of Isaiah, Ezekiel etc from the rest of the prophets are their throne room encounters with God and their ability to stand in the council of the Lord where He reveals His plans. What qualifies prophets like this, are the encounters with God that leave a person completely undone.

For friendship with God obedience is necessary viz John 15: 14-15 'You are My friends if you do what I command you. I shall not call you servants any more, because a servant does not know his master's business; I call you friends because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from My Father.'
Amos 3:7 'No more does the Lord God do anything without revealing His plans to His servants the prophets.'
God wants us to know, 'You are welcome in My room'.
Heb 12:22-23 'What you have come to is mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival, with the whole Church in which everyone is a 'first-born son' and a citizen of heaven.'
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All of us are invited, but responding to that invitation requires much from us, including that we seek Him solely for the prize of the pleasure of His company.

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Remember, these are but rough notes that give the gist of the content of that night.

The following notes were compiled from various official Ehlers Danlos Syndrome websites, medical journal extracts, and blogs by people living with this genetic condition.

They were compiled to assist a friend, because many of the available websites are either too difficult to navigate or too full of precise medical terminology.

But the notes remain useful for anyone with this condition who needs to bring a new medical service provider up to speed quickly, and as a way of spreading awareness of the condition.

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Ehlers Danlos Syndrome
This syndrome belongs to a group of genetic connective tissue disorders.

Connective tissue is any type of biological tissue with an extensive extracellular matrix that supports, binds together, and protects organs.

In biology, the extracellular matrix is a three-dimensional network of extracellular macromolecules, such as collagen, enzymes, and glycoproteins, that provide structural and biochemical support of surrounding cells.

These tissues form a framework, or matrix, for the body, and are composed of two major structural protein molecules: collagen and elastin. There are many different types of collagen protein in each of the body's tissues.

Connective tissue diseases can have strong or weak inheritance risks, and can also be caused by environmental factors.

Collagen is the main structural protein in the extracellular space in the various connective tissues in the body. It is mostly found in fibrous tissues such as tendons, ligaments and skin.

Depending upon the degree of mineralization, collagen tissues may be rigid (bone), compliant (tendon), or have a gradient from rigid to compliant (cartilage). It is also abundant in corneas, blood vessels, the gut, intervertebral discs and the dentin in teeth.

A group of genetic disorders cause Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which results in a defect in collagen production.

In most cases EDS is an inherited condition. The minority of cases are not inherited. This means that they occur via spontaneous gene mutations. Defects in the genes weaken the process and formation of collagen.

All of the genes listed below provide instructions on how to assemble collagen, except for ADAMTS2. That gene provides instructions for making the proteins that work with collagen. The genes that can cause EDS, while not a complete list, include:

• ADAMTS2
• COL1A1
• COL1A2
• COL3A1
• COL5A1
• COL6A2
• PLOD1
• TNXB

 
People with EDS may initially be misdiagnosed with hypochondriasis, depression, PoTS (postural tachycardia syndrome) or chronic fatigue syndrome.
  
What are the symptoms of EDS?

•Fragile tissue:
 Skin tearing,
 small blood vessels bursting,
 easy bruising,
 osteopenia (weaker than normal bones)

•Pain:
 Joints and muscles affected,
 loss of elasticity,
 disrupted signalling
    (e.g. proprioceptive dysfunction (difficulties in sensing where body parts actually are, clumsiness),
    dysautonomia (malfunction of the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for maintaining a constant internal temperature, regulating breathing patterns, keeping blood pressure steady, and moderating the heart rate. It is also involved in pupil dilation, sexual arousal, and excretion),
    and dystonia (a movement disorder where muscles contract uncontrollably. The contraction causes the affected body part to twist involuntarily, resulting in repetitive movements or abnormal postures.))

•Other major symptoms:
 Fatigue,
 haemorrhaging (bleeding),
 constipation,
 gastro-oesophagal reflux,
 dyspnea (shortness of breath/ 'air hunger') ,
 respiratory and sleeping disturbances,
 random bradypnea (abnormally slow breathing rate),
 tachycardia (heart rate exceeding normal rate)
 bradycardia (heart rate slower than normal rate),
 unstable blood pressure,
 cognitive difficulties (eg brain fog)

Collagen holds the body together, so it's no wonder EDS patients' symptoms can be so diverse. With numerous medical specialities, it's easy to miss a collagen defect presenting in various ways within potentially every bodily system.
 
Not all EDS patients suffer from frequent dislocations.
A subluxation is an incomplete or partial dislocation of a joint or organ.

People with EDS may be constantly subluxing joints, and not be aware of it because to them it is normal. Subluxations in EDS involve the joints easily sliding in and out of position.

Treatment and management of EDS
There is no known cure.
Treatment is supportive in nature.

Physical therapy and bracing may help strengthen muscles and support joints.

While some forms of EDS result in a normal life expectancy, those that affect blood vessels generally decrease life expectancy.

The genetically non-typical collagen causes no degeneration in the body.

It is the damage that accumulates from the body compensating for the non-typical collagen which results in degeneration.

Collagen is stretchy-gluey stuff so a rubber band analogy may aid understanding.

Most of the time when you stretch a rubber band, it goes back to its original shape and position. However, as the rubber band ages the time taken for it to return to that original shape and position lengthens. Then eventually either the rubber band stretches and stays stretched or it breaks.

Collagen is affected by hormones, so its natural strength waxes and wanes. This means someone with EDS will have good days, bad days, and truly horrible days. Collagen is definitely impacted in a woman by her menstrual cycle, strongest at ovulation, weakest at pre-menstruation.

If you have seen a puppet or marionette on a set of strings, it is a useful image for describing EDS. Because the usual connective tissue is weak (tendons, ligaments etc), the muscles have to do extra duty to keep the body in alignment. With weak connective tissue the default is for the body to slump, so it takes extra effort from the muscles (and consequently extra energy) to stop the body from slumping.

Someone with EDS has to tread a fine line between not doing too little and not doing too much. Keeping still isn't an option because that reduces muscle tone. At the same time doing anything that over-stretches the muscles risks a subluxation, dislocation or muscle damage. This is why getting into and out of a vehicle can be very troublesome and why carrying anything remotely heavy is risky.

For the same reason keeping away from crowds, where the risk of being bumped out of alignment is high, is a good thing.

Anything that can be done to prevent a person with EDS from being pushed or pulled beyond what they know his/her body can take is important. They know what pace is within their limits, so any request for them to hurry is ultimately counter-productive.

Soft flexible braces to help the muscles keep the body in alignment and prevent major subluxations and dislocations are good, but can often be beyond the person's ability to put the braces on by themselves.

Mobility aids can be helpful on bad days, or when traversing distances beyond what energy levels can tolerate. However, if by using the walking stick or activating the wheels on the wheelchair too much pressure goes on the various parts of the upper limbs, any benefit can be negated. It is all a very fine balancing act to get the optimum mix of aids and effort.

The pain levels a person with EDS experiences are similar to or worse than rheumatoid arthritis.

Non-typical collagen has a big impact on the digestive system because collagen is a major component of the valves that open and shut in the various parts of the digestive tract, and in connecting the muscles that push what is inside the digestive system along. So if the valve between oesophagus and stomach isn't working well, gastric reflux happens (heartburn); if the stomach doesn't empty properly then bloating happens; if the contents move too slowly then pooling happens, the contents get harder and constipation results. With this kind of scenario for constipation you can also get the situation where there are spurts of watery leakage around hardened stools.

The jaw is also subject to subluxation and dislocation which can impact upon chewing and speech.

Surgery for someone with EDS is very risky due to how fragile and prone to tearing his/her connective tissue is. Recovery times are also longer than average post-surgery. In particular, orthopaedic surgeons need to be reminded that their EDS patients have non-typical muscle function.

Extreme caution should be exercised in helping get someone who has EDS up from a fallen position. Anyone likely to face such a task (eg family) should study and get training in how to help someone with EDS up from a fall correctly and/or be familiar with how to call for an ambulance and inform them how prone to subluxation and dislocation the patient is.

Getting in to and out of chairs and beds and vehicles is always something a person with EDS is cautious in doing. Should they begin to experience sudden changes in blood pressure when doing these activities, then they will need someone to watch over them carefully when they attempt these activities for the purpose of preventing falls.

If at all possible, exposure to infectious people should be reduced. The last thing a person with EDS wants is the extra worry of getting neck and jaw out of alignment due to sneezing or coughing.

Advancing stages of degeneration may see trouble with swallowing, voicing and speaking. To suddenly not be able to call for help is a frightening thing, so plans should be put in place to minimise this eg. Small bell to ring; ICE button on mobile phone set up, someone else within line of sight, one of the various Vital Call or Medical Alert systems in place.

When swallowing becomes troublesome, dental care becomes crucial due to food parts remaining in the mouth that didn't get swallowed. Mouth washes and similar may be needed. Dentists need to be informed why a patient cannot open mouth as wide as others and why their dentin is more fragile.

Physiotherapy with someone who understands the need for gentle exercise to maintain muscle tone, and can give guidance as to how to exercise gently at home, will be beneficial and help maintain quality of life.

Anything that can be done to help a person with EDS to keep their body in good posture is beneficial.

Even a regular person tires of holding a phone to the ear for too long. Some kind of blue-tooth ear piece for phone calls would make receiving anything longer than a short phone call more comfortable for a person with EDS.

Sometimes a person with EDS will experience bouts of 'brain fog' and disorientation. It is something they have no control over.
Rearranging a bathroom so that it is possible to shower while sitting down, can reduce levels of muscle fatigue in people with EDS.

Headaches and migraines are rather common, and sensitivity to light (photophobia) caused by dry eyes is also frequently reported by people with EDS.
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Advancing stages of degeneration will see people with EDS deciding to no longer drive vehicles. This is because the fast and sudden requirements to put on the brakes or to swivel the head to check for danger become more difficult, and the increasing risk of having a dislocation that takes time to fix (which produces the fear 'Will I be able to get home?')
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Please offer up a prayer for all of those living with this condition and their families:

Dear God,
Please grant to all of those living with this medical condition the gift of swift and accurate medical diagnosis.
Their sufferings are normally silent and unseen, but very debilitating, and we know that You see what others do not,
that they are called by You to be imitators of the hidden life of Your Son Jesus who offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears on behalf of us all.
Please grant them special strength to deal with the uncertainties they face every day, and the pains and discomforts that attend those uncertainties.
Please send them assurance that they are loved by You, and that they have a special part in Your loving plan, and that You will always provide for what they need, down to the smallest details, and as lavishly as only You can. Amen.