Xhosa lessons give fresh voice to intercessor’s dream of unity

Cape Town intercessor Jane Flack says that while attending free Xhosa lessons in the Hout Bay Public Library recently she sensed that God was at work. She just wan’t sure what He was doing at first.

Flack, who is founder of Action Against Crime, a police prayer movement that was established in 2000, says that she has since discerned that God was using the lessons given by Len Keating, a Scotsman by birth who has lived in Hout Bay for many years, to break down barriers and open doors “for the Spirit of love and unity to bring healing in our community”.

Inspired by the revelation she asked Keating to translate the text on a bookmark entitled “Will you dare to dream?” which she says God gave to her towards the end of 2010 as she was praying and asking God about the year to come.

“I realised He was confirming the need to pray prophetically, praise prophetically and worship prophetically. I wrote out this word and have had it printed in the form of a bookmark,” she says.

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Since then she has had the original English bookmark translated into Afrikaans, French — and now Xhosa. (See English text and Xhosa text).

“I have handed them out where ever I go. I use them as a means to speak about Jesus. To encourage Christians of all denominations to pray for SA. I have given them to police when ever I meet or see one. Even standing in queues I have given them out and to tellers in shops.”

But Flack says her passion about praying for unity goes back further.

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Discernment
“For years I have prayed for discernment, cried out for wisdom, longing to understand and discern as the tribe of Issachar* had done for Israel. Understanding and discerning the times and the needs of South Africa

“The words God has given me have been about unity. Unity of the body of Christ, unity amongst men and women, leading to peace and harmony where the Spirit of God may dwell richly in the lives of all who live here.

“It all started in 1988 when I heard the call to unity very clearly and less than two years later was given the opportunity to promote that unity amongst the local churches through ministry to the police. A senior policeman inspired by the Transformations video asked me to help him draw the churches around their local police station and offer the police spiritual and practical help.

“A ministry was started inviting churches of all denominations to come together to pray for those in authority, a vision that God had inspired. Today 13 years later, the ministry continues in many shapes and forms.”

Speaking about her experience in late 2010 when God gave here the words that are written on her multilingual bookmarks, Jane says: “God asked me, ‘Would I dare to dream and see things through His eyes? To call things that are not as if they were.’

“I knew this was from Him but a few nights later He confirmed it.

“I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to open a book I had not read — ‘The 12 Gemstones of Revelation’ by Mary Trask. Chapter 13 of this book is entitled: His Dream becomes a Reality and it speaks about the amethyst which is my birthstone. Not only is it my birthstone but it is the stone that represented the tribe of Issachar on Aaron’s breast piece. The Hebrew root for amethyst means dream stone.

God’s dream stone
“Mary Trask wrote: ‘The amethyst is God’s dream stone and God has a dream for all of us. It is His vision to see His children filled up and overflowing with love and compassion for those around us. Compassion combined with the power of God, grants us the ability to not only make a difference in our own lives, but in the lives of others. It is our destiny to make His dreams come true. By dying to ourselves we allow the King of Kings to have his way in our lives. Motivated only by love, the body of Christ will move as one in unity with the King to shower the world with all His many gifts. Gifts of healing, of mercy, of languages, of all kinds of signs and wonders to draw a dying world to Himself. This is the dream of the Father.’

“I have prayed much since then: ‘Lord open my eyes to see and to discern what you are doing. To hold fast to this dream of unity and to see things as you see them.’

When Flack began attending Len Keating’s series of three free lessons in Hout Bay, she sensed God’s hand at work.

“When God begins to do something you can not always put your finger on it, but you know ‘this is God’. And I know that if I trust my discernment and do what I need to do, I will experience something wonderful and exciting.”

Respect
She continues: “Len’s emphasis was to honour, make the effort to speak another person’s language in order to show respect. By showing respect you gain respect.

“The lessons were such fun and so helpful. There was a very real sense of “coming together” to learn to do things differently. Understanding the importance of  ‘trying’ and being able to greet another in their own language. To set the tone we started each session by singing the National anthem in English, Afrikaans, Xhosa and Zulu. Unbeknown to us the first session was filmed and shown on TV and the Xhosa community in Hout Bay saw it all. Expectations were now out there. Who was going to be brave enough to practice their Xhosa with all its wonderful clicks? People were waiting.

“As I tried out my few words in the following days and greeted those I have known for years, the response I received was out of all proportion to what I said. I knew in my heart that this was God breaking down barriers and opening doors for the spirit of love and unity to bring healing in our community. God taking our “little bit of effort” and multiplying it.

“We know that God does not wave a magic wand; He works in man to bring about his purpose.

“In my heart I pictured the church, the body of Christ take hold of this very simple concept. “If you speak to a man in a language he understands, it goes to his head. If you speak to him in his own language, it goes to his heart.” Nelson Mandela
Show respect, gain respect and a man will hear your gospel.

Click to join movement

The Xhosa lessons continue and many are making that effort. Len has translated the book mark into Xhosa and given us another way of speaking life and encouragement to men and women in a language that will touch their hearts.

May God’s words give us hope, may His challenge cause us to rise up and see His Dream come true. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit is waiting to multiply our ‘little’.”

 * 1 Chronicles 12:32 —  “And of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs; and all their kinsmen were under their command”.