Tools of control breaking open!

News is filtering out of Saudi that the goverment is in the advance stages of changing policy over the abusive practice of sponsorship and the confiscation of the passports of migrant workers. Anyone who has tracked with our journey will know that this has been the primary point of abuse that we have been seeking to prophesy into as we look to write a new story on the trade routes. This is absolutely massive! To read more of this story follow the link here. If this can shift then what more can also shift as we press further into the new story waiting to be downlaoded from the heavens. Patterns of bonded labour, child slavery, trafficking-all the foul practises that pollute these global portals of power can all come under the scrutiny of the Lord. Of course we cannot say categorically that this is happening because of our journey….How foolish that would be. Neither can we say the opposite however. That too would be complete foolishness! So we are celebrating, not withstanding that this has yet to be fully ratified. Let’s pray that it is.Will keep you posted. Not without a cost The level of contesting to get this far has been huge however. In fact delay after delay over these last two years has meant that the ink refills in around 140K of our pens is failing. We do however have more bullets to fire! So right now another batch of 200K pens is being shipped out from Chennai to Jeddah. These are 12 months younger than the first batch. So we have another chance to prophesy further into this trade route space! And behind them is a further 400K pens that have yet to start their shelf life, so we are ready to get as far through this door as there is grace for us to go. Cut open Bablyon and what do you find? John the seer had sight of the trade routes when, caught up in the Spirit  he foresaw the destruction of Bablyon. And when she was cut open what was found but ‘the blood of the prophets and the saints and all who had been slain on the earth’ (Rev 18v24). Now that would be some legacy to leave! For Babylon to be cut open and the likes of you and I found there, plus a few hundred thousand pens. Devoured? Or sold out for a story that is so dangerous it brings through the destruction of the foul usurper. The church in Jeddah has offered to replace manually each of the refills in the 140K pens that have failed, a wonderful sign of them beginning to really own this journey. This will cost us about 2K to fund. If anyone would like to contribute then a massive thanks. That would enable us to stay in place that much longer. We may never turn around any profit and Kathy and I and others may never be repaid any of what has been a costly investment. Yet what riches to be gained and what an incredible story to help shape. Over these next weeks we would be grateful if you would pray for speedy passage for our next batch of pens. The last  shipment took about five months to tranist and get through customs, such was the contesting. We are looking for this to be no more than one month this time, a normal time frame. If anyone wants to partner further with us in this crazy journey then get in touch! And thanks for passing this way.

Eating my words

Well if you have been wondering where I have been then I have been eating my words. Bitter in the tasting without a doubt.

Nearly two weeks ago I and a few friends spoke our the declaration below; without a doubt one of the biggest days of my life. Bold words indeed.Thought I had fully digested them but alas they got stuck somewhere on route. Still, we all need to nail our colours to one mast or another and I have nailed mine.

Regrets? Actually, in my darkest moments, yes. However I can’t actually afford such indulgence. So I set my face, even as I did seven years ago.

A declaration to Arabia, the trade routes and economic systems

We come today as children of the living God, knowing O Lord that our destiny is completely secure in you. You are our provider and you are our Kinsman Redeemer; the one who has the last word over our lives. We have considered the lilies and the ravens and are completely confident of your provision. We therefore refuse the lure of mammon and agree that in casting our bread upon the waters it will not return void.

We rest this day from our labours.

Today our testimony is one of no fear. No room for worry about what we shall eat or what we shall drink for our Father in heaven knows what we need. Ha! That is enough! We declare today we trust you for our old age and we trust you for our children. We refute the fallen systems of this world and refuse to be measured as economic units. Instead we stand in the blessing of Abraham; a blessing that is for us and our children and for those who are far off. Let it flow!

We come to you Arabia as indeed we come to the Square Mile of London, Wall Street of America and every other so called storehouse across the face of this world declaring you are not our keeper. We need you less than you think for our destiny and inheritance is secured………..but you have need of us and our Lord and the story of grace and redemption that we carry. You think you are rich but we humbly remind you today, you are blind wretched and poor.

Our invitation to you is to leave behind your self-serving agenda and to rise into your true identity. We therefore speak to you trade routes and declare we will not partner with you in service of the god of mammon for there is a different story to rise and a different flow to be found.

• A flow that is from heaven to earth; one that has the power to break famines over lands and deliver whole nations from cycles of poverty.
• A flow that brings freedom in the place of captivity and decrees an exposure and unravelling of child labour, bonded labour and every other form of economic slavery across the face of this world.
• A flow that releases the gold to go to the source of all that is truly glorious……………..for to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power forever and ever.

We therefore stand with Jesus at the door and knock. You Laodicean lands be unlocked to enter your rightful inheritance. We say let blind eyes be opened and purses be unstrung. We stand with pen in one hand and story book in the other declaring let a new story begin to rise up and down the length of these global trade routes; a story of laughter, justice and the glorious provision of our Lord and God. We say to you trade winds that there is a wind far more powerful than you. It is the wind of heaven and the wind from the storehouses of heaven. Let it be heard again across the face of the globe.

So this is our decree today. Hear O lands the word of the Lord. Amen

Trade route journey explained (2)-Vagabonds let loose!

During the last few years a bunch of prophetic vagabonds have dragged their stories across the nations of Europe and the Near East as we have walked our way east. Prophesying into some of the strongholds over the western world we are now looking to hitch a ride on the global trade routes, seeking out a better story.

A different vehicle to travel in

For several years our mode of transport was on foot,Now it’s time to travel business class courtesy of the pen! No doubt the romance of the ancient Arabian frankinsense trail is a draw. A trail that drew the wise men west in search of the child King to be. Also however it is the stench of abuse & exploitation that has pulled us right out of our comfort zones into a ‘dog eat dog’ world of global trade.These last months have tested us to the core as we have sought entry, Yet now we’re through those Jeddah gates and in business, looking to write something fresh on these trade routes. A big marker.

Global hubs of trade

There are global hubs of trade the world over.These have been sending bases for imperialism and mission as nation state & religion have riden the trade routes hand in hand, These routes of commerce are the arteries of empire; the navy the historic insurance policy against rival competition. With the fight on for ever decreasing resources we look not to might but to the unnoticed instruement of the pen. Yes we are foolish enought to believe there is space for us to speak a better word on such huge matters…… Where are those men in white coats! So what does a new story look like? ** A story that liberates A few days ago I shared how we are looking for a business story that flies in the face of the dehumanisation & exploitation of people that is so rife across the world. As we ride the river of migrant labour that flows between India and Saudi no passports will be confiscared by JustPens for our story is to be one of empowering and releasing rather than entrapment and economic slavery.This is how we prophesy. That this is a real issue for us here in the UK was confirmed by my friend Adam who on Monday of this week had to pay £150 to help a migrant worker in Bradford get his passport back.So we say no!…….and step onto the global trade routes. A reverse flow Secondly we are looking to tell a story in trade that carries a reverse flow. This is the crazy part. Get your head round this if you can for I still struggle myself! All trade is governed by the laws of economics. Yet we are looking for a different flow. Yes a flow that is from heaven to earth and then out onto the trade routes. So we are not investing for what we can gain out of JustPens; rather for what we can sow! No we are not a charity. We are not looking to sow into these trade routes out of simply our own substance. Rather we are allowing our tiny prophetic actions to be conduits for the substance of heaven. So everyone wins! Now if we can only begin to access that flow then there is nothing to fear and everything to hope for. Who knows, could it be possible for whole nations to be lifted out of poverty!? Now that’s a story worth having.

Trade route journey explained-hopefully!

This is an attempt to explain the trade route journey that Kathy and I are now on for we would love to take some of you with us in this! For regular readers of this blog you will recognise much of the material. However some of it is new. It began in the city of Damascus four years ago.

Hope it makes sense.

The power of story and the coffee bars of Damascus.

Damascus is a massive city for me for whilst there in November 2007 I and my friends encountered the Arabic storyteller. We had been looking for him ever since leaving Whiitby! So often in life our stories get buried beneath the pressure of simply surviving economically. Our own journey walking across Europe and into the Middle East was,amongst many other things, a refusal to bow to that god. Now I am committed to discovering an economic that empowers story rather than one that sacrifices it at the altar of the laws of global finance. This is what this trade route journey is all about. To understand more of this journey hit the link here  The power of the pen-encounters in Arabia  In March 2010 our journey east took us to Saudi Arabia. Travelling with my new friend Solomon his intent was to start a business in pens, manufactured in India and imported into Saudi. We took notice therefore when on the heights of that locked up nation we came across this monument to a pen. Stories and pens go together and a new partnership was birthed; story book in one hand, a pen in the other. To read more follow the link here What does a new story look like? We have no idea! However to give just one illustration, we soon will be appointing a worker for us in the gateway port of Jeddah, just beneath Mecca. The normal practice for the employment of migrant workers in Saudi is for their paspport to be taken off them; at best a means of control, at worst a form of economic slavery. Our worker will be one of the first, if not the first,to keep hold of his own passport. One example of the new story we are looking to craft. ** So thanks for reading this far. We are looking to see a beachhead established in the gateway city of Jeddah. A base from which we and anyone else who cares to partner with us can begin to help scribe a different story on these global portals of power,A place where people are treated as commodities and units of economic growth, and a place where economic slavery is very much alive. ** Finally, for those who received an email from me last week, thank you so much for praying. We saw an immediate shift in Jeddah. Communication is flowing, our first batch of pens have hit the market place and we have a temporary worker in place. An amazing and immediate shift. ** More over the next few days

Go go go pens!

Yesterday I sent out an email to a few friends, sharing my frustration at the countless delays there have been as we have waited for our pens to arrive. Months of jumping through hoop after hoop seemed to be going nowhere as we sought to navigate a pathway into the most locked up nation in the world.

Looking to write a new story into this Arabian peninsula it is like these pens are a continuation of all that we have carried on our journey east. Step after step we have called for a new story to rise free from the imperialism of religion and state. Now it is the multinationals and hidden powers that control the corridors of trade that we are demanding an audience with.

Held up at every point it feels as if we have touched, in a tiny way, some of the indignity experienced by those that labour in sweatshops the world over. Occasional moments have even given us understanding of those whose freedom has been lost to bonded labour as they work their lives away, without hope of ever paying off the debts that keep them trapped and completely and utterly lost. If in doubt of this reality then take a look at this short article, advertising a programme soon to be shown on Al Jazeera.

And so these final weeks of our journey we have waited so patiently for the nod and the whim of the Saudi customs officials as they pick over what is, in reality, the substance of our lives. Often sent to the back of the queue we have discovered, the hard way, the pecking order that dominates the world of migrant labour.

It was with a smile therefore that I read this short reply to my email, from my friend and fellow journeyman Paul. “They’ll be dangerous things for the Saudi’s to mess around with those pens, stuck in the gates of Jeddah as they are, with all that faith invested in them and the eyes of the Lord watching over them. Especially if thy’re at the bottom of the pile with everything else sitting on top of them. There will be no regrets.”

Today, as protests ripple round the world demonstrating against corporate greed, so a little subversive act finds a foothold in Arabia as our pens passed through customs into the hands of friends in Jeddah. A tiny hidden act calling for a better story on these global trade routes that network the world.

Tonight therefore we rest, wondering quite what stories will unfold from these weapons of warfare-the mighty pen.

Go go go pens!