The visit to Finland was another one of those ‘Nehemiah’ missions….a chance to spy out the spiritual situation in the nation….a chance to visit and to seek the Lord with some of the prophetic and key intercessory voices in the land, as to whether this was the time and season to bring the message of the Bride and One New Man to the Church in Finland.
For several months we had been discussing with Apostle Seppo and Prophetess Jasmin and others from city Church, Helsinki about this issue believing that Finland was a gateway nation to the Nordic Countries and Europe and although we were invited to hold a conference there we felt it best to simply meet with the leaders for a long weekend and to listen to them and to the Lord, to discern the ‘Time and Season’ in the Lord’s programme for such a message to be released to them.
The fight from Gatwick, London via Munich was brief compared to many of our flights and we were warmly met by Jasmin at the airport rather late at night and taken to our accommodation.
The message we carry is an End Time message about the Church as the Bride of Christ and although it is found everywhere in scripture many in the Church today live out their Christian life with little knowledge about this, their true identity. She, the Bride found within the Church, is going to a wedding, the Wedding of the Lamb, and so must be prepared and mature ready to meet Him, Her Bridegroom King, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father gives Her away to Jesus His Son, but no Father will do so if the bride is still a child. If she is still insecure and immature, then she will not respond favourably to the question “Will you go with this man?”. This was what happened in the Song of Songs when Solomon first asked the Shulamite girl to “Come Away with me my love”. SoS 1 v 10-13. But she was not ready though her heart was willing, and she declined till the time came later when he asked again, and she readily agreed. SoS 4 v 7-10. It was like Eliezer’s question in Gen 24 to Rebekah in his search for a wife for his master’s son Isaac…. “Will you go?” But her response was positive. “I will go!”.
It is the knowledge of the deep love of the Father for His children that gives security and develops maturity. The teaching of the Fatherheart of God towards His sons and daughters often needs to be taught first before anyone can embrace the message of their Bridal identity.
It was with great joy to us therefore to learn as we shared together over the next few days that the Fatherheart message had been taught around the Churches in Finland for some years and that it seemed to Apostle Seppo and others that indeed the Church of Finland was ready to receive the message of the Bride and Jesus as the Bridegroom. It was time for them to embrace like John the Baptist the truth that Jesus was not only the Saviour (“Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the World”) but was also the Bridegroom (No I’m not He who should come “but I’m only a friend of the Bridegroom’).
For most of the weekend Mike and I spent time with these leaders in prayer and discussion. As the message was shared more and their questions answered they began to understand theoretically the message itself and its scriptural foundations and its radical consequence for the Christian life both individually and corporately. The Bridal message was not just another theology to fit along side other understood theologies but was a paradigm in which all else fitted and drew greater significance from. It was itself the key to understand and interpret everything else about God’s eternal purpose. Once received these leaders desired an impartation by prayer and the laying on of hands in order for that message to become a part of them and we had the privilege of praying for each person and witnessing the impartation being given.
One brother from Sweden, having seen the organised Saturday and Sunday meetings advertised, flew into Finland for the weekend and joined us in seeking God and he too received an impartation. Consequently, we were invited to go to Sweden to share this message there also later this year. Similarly, soon after the televised Saturday and Sunday meetings where both Mike and I shared the message had gone out, invitations came in from Russia, Estonia and other Scandinavian nations to take this message there also. We are putting all this before the Lord to discern His perfect timing.
Dr Mike also shared the Prophetic Word for Finland that the Lord had given him, and this was also televised being streamed out to many European nations. It is posted here on our website.
On the Friday, the day after we arrived, we were privileged to attend the Leader’s Prayer Meeting of the Evangelical Alliance of Finland and we learned so much about what God was doing across the Church spectrum in this nation right now. We were able to meet up there with Bob Bain and his dear wife who were visiting from the UK and with whom we had been in correspondence with these past few months. They were ministering once again in Finland at the same time as our visit and also attended the same EA meeting in Helsinki. It was also good to have fellowship with Eva Sarsa of the Evangelical Alliance leadership team while we were there and we able to pray with her as she requested.
Mike and I are so grateful for the incredible hospitality given to us over this long weekend’s visit. We were wined and dined and although busy, were able to see enough of the city of Helsinki to know something of its beauty. It’s a very clean and highly well organised city. ….and the people of Finland are well educated, sophisticated and so gifted.
It was a pleasure to visit them and to begin working together for the Kingdom as He opens more doors to Europe.
