UPDATE FROM DUBAI

BURNING HEARTS COMMISSIONED TO DUBAI

09.07.09 l Dubai, UAE

Greetings from the “Golden City” of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates!!

We have spent the last week in one of the most fascinating and otherworldly places I’ve ever been on the earth. Even though I’ve spent considerable time in Afghanistan, Turkey, and Israel, and wouldn’t call myself a stranger to the culture, cities and people of the Middle East, no prior experience prepared me for what I beheld the past six days. I would catch myself simply gawking at times as we drove and walked around this 35 years-young booming metropolis noted for the tallest buildings in the world, hundreds of man-made islands in the middle of the ocean, the only 7-star hotel on the planet, an indoor ski slope (in the Middle East!!!) attached to the largest mall in the world and a style of luxury, lavishness and riches unparalleled by any other city in existence. Aptly and justly named, “the city of gold,” Dubai was at times almost foolish to me with its ridiculous extravagance. Sources told me that over 17% of all the worlds cranes and machinery are here as the buildings are going up so high and so fast that the workforce and manpower is doing their best to keep up with the demand. Now please keep in mind that this place was built literally in the middle of the desert – and it is HOT!!! Every time you open the doors of the car or leave the average 80-story soaring building, the searing heat blasts your face like an oven and takes your breath away.
Behind its many mile-long palaces, grandiose designer hotels, restaurants and shops and highways flooded with Bentley’s, Ferraris and high-end boutique cars, this city clothed in the finest worldly riches is actually a starving, hungry and orphaned child searching for a Father and a purpose. As we walked through the prolific mega malls and watched as women dressed in full on burkas carried designer bags with thousands of dollars worth of clothes that would never be seen by anyone (worn under their burkas), there eyes revealed a heart seeking for the One. Dubai carries a massive international presence as more than 65% of its inhabitants are temporary residents holding passports from different nations. Workers flock here from all over Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East to work for jobs where they can make up to 10 times more than what they would get for the same job back home. The nations are literally gathering in this city in hopes to score a quick fortune and return home (although many do not want to and stay for 20-30 years!). Not only is this the perfect place for truth of the gospel to go forth and literally change entire nations from one city, but we had another surprise in store as God revealed His perfect timing in this trip. This journey and gathering of worshippers could not have been planned at a more perfect time as the UAE was in the middle a nationwide fast for the month of Ramadan. This is the most holy of times during the year for billions of Muslims around the world and its completely illegal to drink or eat ANYTHING during the day. Foreigners are permitted to do this only behind closed doors but cannot be seen in public. Most all restaurants and many shops are closed during the day but reopen when the fast beaks every night at sundown. As locals are literally forced to observe these laws (Muslims and non-Muslims alike), the Lord began to speak to me about how they are in a perfect posture to receive a divine encounter. Not only are they largely unaware that they are positioned to receive this, but most Muslims are actually ASKING “Allah” to reveal Himself to them because they believe he is closer to earth during this month than any other!!

WHAT A PERFECT SETUP!!! I LOVE HOW GOD STRATEGIZES AND ORCHESTRATES THIS STUFF!! THIS IS WHAT I REFER TO OFTEN ABOUT BEING CAUGHT IN A “SWIRL” WHERE YOU ARE JUST FOLLOWING HIS PLAN!
To match the extravagance of the culture, God had to raise up an extravagant church and let me tell you – THE BURNING HEARTS OF DUBAI ARE EXTRAVAGANT!! I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so well, slept so soundly or been with a more generous and kindhearted people on any trip in my life. We were completely blown away, floored and absolutely humbled by the way we were treated as simple, young grassroots servants coming to the nation. They welcomed us with open arms, blessed our socks off and left us with an impartation of love and faith! I am getting on the plane now just totally blasted by the goodness of God! It’s the kind of treatment that moves you to want to completely change how you treat others!!
We gathered for a weekend called “the burning” where many churches from around the city convened for three days of wild worship, intense intercession and fiery impartation and commissioning to see the least reached nations of the world (all conveniently surrounding the UAE) transformed through sustaining “resting places” established for God’s Presence! So many nations, cultures and languages were represented this weekend that it felt like Heaven when we worshipped together! Doors were being opened through burning hearts that traveled from all over the region (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Egypt, etc) to join us to dream for the Burn DNA to swiftly spread through he middle east. I was absolutely blasted by the fervency, passion and zeal at which these guys were running after God! There was no coercing or “revving up” that needed to be done – from the first chord of the night they were there! We even had one meeting that lasted over 7 hours nonstop!! Because these communities were already dependent on the Presence of God for faith, hope and revelation in such a dark region, we were able to dive deep and fast into places of teaching, impartation and worship that I rarely am able to experience outside of furnaces I visit regularly in the US. The Presence of God fell so thick during the sessions that wild manifestations of gold dust, white feathers, healings and plenty of other signs took place. Now these signs and wonders are not foreign to these locals (they’ve been experiencing them for awhile) as the nearness of God over here is something I don’t have proper time to expound upon. But these “signs that make you wonder” are truly proof to believer and unbeliever alike that God is in our midst.
The Spirit of revelation absolutely blasted my wife and I with the picture of how He is using this city and these people to make His name famous in the Middle East. Believers 20,30 and 40 years ago would have done ANYTHING to have this kind of access to the least reached nations! There is a divine commissioning taking place and He’s called thousands of burning hearts from across the world to infiltrate this “city of Gold” and build a sustaining fire of His presence in the darkness that will gather the nations to “warm themselves” by the fire of His love!
I wish I had more time to expound, explain and describe all that took place in our lives and hearts over the past few days – but I have to jump on a plane to meet our team in the desert of Northern Ir@q! We are literally leaving from the booming metropolis to the desert where we are crying out for FRESH RAIN to fall among the Kurdish peoples!! Testimonies are already pouring from our team over there on the ground as a supernatural shift has taken place!! There will be more updates to come…but please keep praying, contending and releasing intercession on our behalf!! We are feeling it over here!!

Love you all!!!

sean