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*** Wir haben ein NEUES EURO BANKKONTO - siehe am Ende dieses Schreibens
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75th Anniversary and beyond....
Dear Friends,
For the past week, we’ve been watching contractors put up an enormous tent OVER the gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau in preparation for the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on 27 January 2020. For a moment the world will be focussed on this event, which is estimated to be broadcasted live to over 500 million people by 250 TV stations from different countries around the world. The event will host around 200 Auschwitz survivors as well as Head of State delegations from nearly 40 nations, who will meet inside the tent in front of the gates of death.
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The 27th January is the day when Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by the Red Army in 1945. It has also been designated by the United Nations as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. So, it’s a day when we remember the 6 million who died, and the terrible atrocities of the past.
As I’ve been thinking about this and talking with the Father, I’m feeling a cry rise up in my heart, because we can’t just leave it there! It’s not enough just to remember. That, in itself, does not have the power to change the human heart. It doesn’t have the power to change society. Only God can do that. There has to be something more.
We often receive groups after they have gone through the camp. They come to us for tea and coffee, for a time of sharing, and afterwards, if there’s time, we pray and worship together. If you’re lucky you might even get some cake and biscuits! But so many people come in from the camp feeling heavy and depressed. If all you see is the camp and the terrible things that took place there, then the fruit of that will be hopelessness and despair.
So, what we do is we share our journey of how God led us here to build a House of Prayer. And intertwined with our testimony we share something of the heart of the Father – the plans and purposes that He has for this place of death and what He is bringing to birth here.
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We need to understand the season that we’re in. There’s been a shift. We’re now in a season when God has turned the page and is starting to write a new chapter.
The Father has a deep, deep love for Auschwitz-Birkenau. Even as I’m writing this, I’m feeling a deep stirring in my spirit. He has not forgotten what took place here. And He is going to do something wonderful, beyond all that we can think or imagine. When we begin to see what the Father is doing, we get a different perspective. We come to a place of HOPE. And our God is always a God of hope. He’s not a God of dismal endings!
God’s response to death is always the same – it’s life, His life, resurrection life, life in Him!
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died…”. Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again… I am the resurrection and the life…”.
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We see something of this when the nation of Israel was born after 2000 years in exile. In May 1948, exactly 3 years after the end of WWII, and with it the end of the Holocaust, Israel was born as a nation against incredible odds. Truly, Israel was resurrected out of the ashes of the Holocaust after 3 years in the grave. And when we realise the bible counts a year as a day, we see how Israel, God’s firstborn son, is patterned after Jesus the Son who was 3 days in the grave.
Israel being reborn as a nation was the resurrection that was prophesied in Ezekiel 37.
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord…’. So, I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, BUT THERE WAS NO BREATH IN THEM. (Ez. 37: 4,7-8)
The dry bones represent the whole house of Israel, but there was no breath in them. Breath represents life. No breath, no life. The Hebrew word for breath, Ruach, is the same word as Spirit. So, here it means, there was no “life of the Spirit” in them. They had no spiritual life.
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Ezekiel was told to prophesy a second time. This time he was told to prophesy to the BREATH.
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the BREATH; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” (Ez. 37: 9)
God is not talking about physical life here. He’s talking about Spiritual life. The promises of God to the House of Israel are that they would live – that they would have life in Him, life in their Messiah.
For those who can see it, we are now in the second part of Ezekiel’s prophesy. We have entered the season of His BREATH, when God is starting to pour out His LIFE on the dry bones.
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If we look into history, there’s a connection between the Jewish people returning to their land and the life of the Spirit in the church. We can’t go into it right now, but these are 2 parallel streams that are coming together. When the Jewish people recognise their Messiah, not only will it be life for them, but it will also be life for the body of Christ worldwide. We will see the arising of the One New Man and the revealing of the sons of God! The apostle Paul puts it this way,
For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? (Romans 11:15)
This is the new chapter that the Father is writing. This is what the world is waiting for.
Why Auschwitz-Birkenau? Because the place of death becomes the place of resurrection. Due to the vastness of evil that took place here, the Father’s heart of restoration is moved to do something equally wonderful, good, full of love and life to replace that evil. That is His justice.
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We are sometimes asked, “What’s the Prayer House going to look like when it’s up and running?”. The honest answer is – we don’t know! Our focus is on “building the building”, taking one step at a time. And yet we’re already seeing God’s hand move in wonderful ways. There is already a very strong Presence of God in the Prayer Room and it’s not even finished!
Here’s a short testimony of many, from just this week. A young lady from a town 40 minutes away had a dream. The next morning, she felt the Father tell her to go to Oświęcim (the town of Auschwitz) to pray. So, she came with two friends and met with a friend called Gosia, who lives in Oświęcim. When they met, the young lady shared her dream and how Father had told her to come and pray. “Oh, you need to go to the Prayer House and see Mark & Cathy”. So, Gosia brought them to see us and as soon as the young lady walked into the Prayer Room, she was totally amazed as she had already been here in her dream!
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+++ SELAH +++
BUILDING UPDATE
This is already a long letter, so I won’t say much here about the building, except there is a lot of “work in progress”. The top floor ceilings are being worked on, the plumber is working in the basement and the tiler is putting floor tiles down in the lounge.
Just before Christmas we had four wonderful volunteers who did a fantastic job of boxing-in of pipes - drainage pipes, ventilation pipes, etc. and plastering the Prayer Room ceiling. In the meantime, we’re planning and scheduling work with different contractors for the next 6 months. We have to do this because all the good guys get booked up way in advance.
Here are some photos. This is some of the work that has been taking place in the Prayer Room.
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And these are some of our volunteers who were working in the basement.
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That’s all for now. We wish you and your loved ones every blessing for 2020!
With love and shalom,
Mark & Cathy
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For those who would like to partner with the Lord in building the Prayer House:
United Kingdom (£)
UK bank account for non-gift-aided donations:
Account holder: Fundacja Living Stones
Account no: 14740466
UK Sort-code: 23-14-70
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Please give through Stewardship (no account needed)
https://www.give.net/livingstones/oneoff
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[Our previous Euro bank account will remain open until 1-7-2020]
For more options (incl. Paypal and Polish Zloty Account)
See the donate page on our website for the all the various possible options of ways to give: https://livingstones.com.pl/donate.html
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Fundacja Living Stones
ul Boczna 4
32-600 Brzezinka Oświęcim
Poland
+48 519 433 612
f.livingstones@gmail.com
www.livingstones.com.pl
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