YOU WILL RECEIVE POWER!

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are well and that you have peace in your heart. It has been an incredible last couple of weeks in Sydney, one of the first talks I was asked to do was to a group of leaders of different youth groups, just before I was due to speak there was a time of praise and I was thanking God for being here and the prospect of speaking to hundreds of thousands of young people at the World youth day events. As I was praying I received an image in my mind of myself as a little child kneeling before Jesus and him just looking at me with complete love and acceptance and all the other things that seem so important in the world were stripped away and all that was there was my relationship with him, and my heart was filled with joy because I knew that was the what I live for. During the talk afterwards I really felt God had incredible plans for all these young people coming to Sydney and he would make them his witnesses in the world.

The thing that has struck me is that God wants to work in every situation that we find ourselves in, one evening I was walking down by the harbour in Sydney and I bumped into a group of pilgrims from Guam and I gave one of the girls a book and I don't think she knew what to make of it at first. A week later she turned up at one of the talks I had done and told me how God had really touched her heart. There are no coincidences with God.

One morning during Mass the Priest got up to give his homily and he said a man came to him yesterday and said it had been fifty years since his last confession, "I was walking down George street in Sydney and I saw the joy in the young people from all over the world and I thought THEY ARE RIGHT! and so I have come to confession to start again with God." God was working through those young peoples witness and they hadn't even known it.

At Barangaroo on friday night I was speaking to over 100,000 young people at the Receive the power live event, and I really felt the power of God and his message for them Not to be afraid of the Darkness in our world because it can never put out the light of Christ which burns within us.

Lastly I had the honour to speak at the vigil in Randwick to over 250,000 people. I was originally meant to speak for 10 minutes but someone didn't turn up and I was given 30 minutes. It was a beautiful sight to see so many young people gathered together and I thank God for such a blessing and knowing that every single one of them is precious to him and that he has a plan for all of them to bring his love to the world. As the theme of the world youth day said " You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses". I pray that will come true in all of our lives.

God bless you and know that you are in my prayers.

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Randwick photo from sydney morning herald

DOWN UNDER

Originally posted 05/07/2008 05:55:22

Hello everyone

I pray that you have peace in your heart at this time. It has been a very interesting last couple of weeks with a lot of traveling. I set off for Australia via singapore and this was to be for me the longest flight I had ever taken (almost thirteen hours) and because I'm quite big and I've got a bad leg I asked God for a seat with a bit more space, after trying to book an exit seat online but it not being possible. Sure enough at the airport the airline moved me to the most spacious seat I've seen.

God really does care about the little things if we entrust them to him. Whilst flying I was reflecting back on how nine or ten years ago I was terrified of flying and even though I used to do it, it was always an ordeal. The issue had been control, I didn't like the idea of the pilot having my life life in his hands. But as the years passed and Gods grace worked on me in this area he slowly showed me the reasons for my controlling and brought healing to those roots of fear, and of course the reality is that God is in control of every situation if we will hand them over to him. For me it's a miracle that I can actually enjoy a flight and that is the freedom that Jesus wants to bring to every area of our lives.

Singapore is a very busy city with many people working twelve or more hours per day. Me and my friend Niall were walking back to our hotel after dinner one night and in front of us was a man in his late fifties with a girl who was at most seventeen years of age. He made it clear to us that the girl was a prostitute and to him just someone to be used, he said to us "You can take her if you want"

The girl was beautiful and I had incredible sadness in my heart that she should be treated this way. All I could do was pray that she might know that love above all loves. I remember a few years ago whilst I was living in The Bronx in New York, I was passing through a red light district when one of the young women who worked the streets came up to me and asked for a cigarette. I started to tell her the story of a girl who was searching for love, the first boy she had fallen for, she had sex with him because she thought that was the price she had to pay to earn his love, but after this he dumped her and it felt like her heart had been ripped apart. with the next guy it was the same story and this happened again and again until eventually she thought she was worthless and ended up selling her body on the streets to survive from day to day.

But one day she met a man who seemed to look right into her soul and loved her for who she was and didn't want anything from her. So she fell to her knees and washed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. That girl was St Mary Magdelene and the man was Jesus. When I said this the the woman began to cry and said "please pray for me" I handed her a Miraculous medal and promised her that I would. It just reminded me how important and how powerful it is to pray for those caught in this trap (men as well as Women) that God would show them how precious they are to him and lead them to a better way.

After arriving in Australia the first week has been filled with many media interviews including Sky news and various others and it's obvious the World Youth Day down under is going to be incredibly powerful.

For those of you who can come I'd really encourage you to, but if not your prayers would be a great blessing. Here are just a few of the events I will be speaking at. Mon 16th July Sydney university 6.00pm, Wed 16th July State theatre 3.00pm, Thurs 17th July Sydney convention and exhibition centre 8.00pm, Fri 18th July Receive the Power live Barangaroo Darling Harbour 7.00pm, Sat 19th July World Youth Day vigil Randwick race course 3.45pm. Please God over the next few days we are going to see miracles and I'm just very thankful to be here.

Be assured of my prayers for you and those you love.
John

>> Connect with me at Xt3.com by visiting my personal page.

THE FATHERS LOVE

Originally posted 21/06/2008 14:32:21

Hello everyone!

As summer arrives I pray that you are truly at peace. After arriving back from my break in Canada I was looking forward to a tour of Schools in England which I had been praying for for a long time. One of the first schools I spoke in was a boys School in North London, during the talk I started to tell them that God is a good Father who will never turn his back on us and will always look for new ways to help us understand his deep and lasting love for us, no matter what we may think of ourselves. As I was speaking I noticed that several of the boys began to cry and I realised that they had probably never known the love of a Father in their lives and I thanked God that he was showing that to them in their hearts. We all need to know that we are accepted by at least one person, God, and his opinion of us never changes.

I received an email from one girl who said that after listening to my talk she was deeply touched by Gods love and she decided that she wants to be confirmed and to start to take her faith seriously. I was confirmed when I was 27 and I can honestly say it was a major turning point in my life because it is during confirmation that we receive all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. For my Comfirmation Saint I chose St Thomas Moore who has been an inspiration and a help to me every day of my life since then.

As we travel around the schools it is always amazing to hear how God is working in the lives of those who invite me to speak. One woman who had asked me to a school in Oxford told me that a few years ago her life was in a real mess and she wasn't practicing her faith, but one day she wandered into the Padre Pio bookshop in London and someone who worked in the shop gave her a copy of my book (From Gangland to promised land) She ended up coming back to God and to a deep faith in him, and it is obvious to see that she is doing incredible work reaching out to others who are struggling.

It is often said that wherever our own wounds are, that is the very place our mission can be for God. He turns everything on its head and brings good even out of evil. That is the joy that we can experience if we give our lives to him.

The Chaplin of the final school I went into on the tour told me that while he was reading my book he came to the part part where I didn't understand that Jesus was really present in the blessed sacrament. So The next time I went to Holy communion I said to Jesus "If this is really you, Show me because I don't understand" and all I can say is that every good feeling I had ever felt was magnified a million times and I knew that it was Truly Jesus and I also knew that I would be a Catholic to the day I die. After reading this he realised that he didn't really understand either so he said the same prayer and he said for the next 2 hours he wept because of the love that Jesus showed him and that he really was present in Eucharist. I just reminded me of how simple our relationship with God can be, he is our best friend and he has the answers to all our questions.

Lastly, Please pray for all the Young people at World youth day in Sydney where I'll be speaking during July.

May God continue to bless you and show you his plans for your life

John Pridmore

>> Connect with me at Xt3.com by visiting my personal page.

COME HOLY SPIRIT

Originally posted 09/05/2008 12:59:06

I pray that you and your loved ones are well and at peace in this time leading up to Pentecost. Over the past 3 weeks I’ve led two Parish missions, one in Dungloe, Co Donegal and the other in Oldham, Lancashire. Both were very blessed and in particular, being able to speak to the students in the local secondary schools was a high point for me. It was a very encouraging to see a lot of these young people come along to the evening sessions of the mission. I received many moving emails from them telling of how God had touched their lives.

After the week in Dungloe I had some time of prayer before the next mission and I decided to visit Our Lady’s shrine in Knock, Co Mayo. There were some things on my heart that I really felt I needed to bring to confession and to put right with God. During this confession I asked the priest for tough penance to make up for what I’d done. He replied “Our God doesn’t punish, he just loves” and it reminded me once again just how patient and gentle God is with us.

Later that week I flew to London to do some work preparing for the World Youth Day in Sydney this July where I will be speaking at various events. On my trip I spent some time with my Godson Stuart. I met him for the first time nine years ago when after doing a talk in his school, he came along to a weekend retreat that I was running. We needed special permission from social services for him to come because he was living in foster care and he was already in trouble with the police despite the fact he was only twelve years old. During the retreat Stuart went to a Priest to confess even though he wasn’t a Catholic and the Priest prayed for him that he may know Gods forgiveness and love.

Later that evening at a healing service, where Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament comes to each person individually, I was kneeling next to Stuart as Jesus came to him and tears started to roll down his face and he threw himself into my arms saying “for the first time in my life I know that I’m loved”. Six months afterwards he was baptised a Catholic and I have the honour to be his Godfather. Stuart just celebrated his twenty first birthday and he has a great heart which he shares with everyone he meets.

Last Sunday evening I went to give a talk at the SPEC centre in London, which is a place where they run retreats for young people from all over Westminster Diocese. One of the team who now runs these retreats is a young man called Will. I first came across Will four years ago when I was speaking in a Church in his home town of Glastonbury.

At that time he was taking drugs, spending most of his time on the streets and getting in trouble with the police. The day I was due to speak he saw a poster advertising the talk outside the Church that said “Come and meet the man behind the machete” he liked the sound of this and wanted to see for himself. I spoke to him after the talk and gave him one of my books and told him I would be praying for him. A few months later I received a phone call from his mum asking if I could help as he was about to be kicked out of school. I told her that for it to make a difference he would have to come and spend some time with me in Ireland.

During the two weeks he spent with me he started to open up about some of the problems in his life and I spoke to him about forgiving those who had hurt him. We said a prayer with him and he said he experienced Gods love deep in his heart. Over the next year Will continued to struggle with peer pressure especially at school and gradually fell back into trouble. Eventually Will came and spent six months on the team giving his testimony in Parishes and schools where he had a great effect on many people who heard him speak.

Last Easter Will became a Catholic and went to confession for the first time which had a profound and lasting impact on him. It’s incredible to think that this same young man who had so many struggles and difficulties is now leading others to Christ in such a powerful way. Will is looking forward to travelling to Australia for his first World Youth Day this summer.

Thinking back over all that God has done, my heart is full of gratitude and I look forward to the many miracles he is going to work in the future.

I thank you for all your prayers and I remember you in mine every day.

May God bless all of you in his deep love.
John