Picture this. You are driving through Munich Germany and all of a sudden you see this very tall 38 story all glass skyscraper. It is a very impressive building with very modern rounded edges, but what is it doing there? It is not in the town centre and there are no other high buildings around it.
As you are staring at it, you hear a voice say, “I want the top 5 floors of that building for My Worship house.” ” Wow God is that you?” “Yes Mark it is. Do you have the faith to believe for the top 5 floors of that building for my House of Worship?” “Well God to be honest ‘No’. That is huge, and this is a brand new business building.”
As I drove away I apologised to God for my unbelief and said that I did have the faith, because He had said it would happen. I still do today believe that He will open up the top floors of the Uptown building for His Munich Worship house (Tabernacle).
From that time on it seemed like every time we drove anywhere all I saw was that building. Each time I saw it, fear tried to grip me and then I would say, ‘Yes God I believe that you will give the top floors of that building for your Tabernacle.’
A few months later Helen and I were driving in a blizzard in Munich. The snow was very thick and everything was white. We were heading for an appointment but on the way received an SMS delaying it by 3 hours. We decided to stop and get a coffee. We headed for our favourite place, but after driving past it 4 times and not finding anywhere to park, or being able to see what was a park and what wasn’t because of all of the snow, I then found myself on an unfamiliar road, to this day I don’t know how I got onto it. But this road took us to the Olympic shopping centre. So we figured we would go there for our coffee.
As we entered the shopping centre there was a massive spiritual attack on us, Helen and I were verbally attacking each other and confusion reigned. We finally realised what was happening and stopped talking. Good first step when you are hurting someone you love. We prayed and having dealt with that we headed for the Coffee shop.
As we sat and had our coffee Helen suddenly stopped and looked at me. ‘You are not going to believe what is over your shoulder’ she said. As I turned around and looked through the glass roof of the shopping centre, I could see the top floors of the Uptown building.
Helen then said ‘I think we are supposed to prayer walk around it now.’ I have known Helen long enough to know she is very rarely wrong when she makes statements like that. But come on, there was a wild blizzard out there! So out we went, into the snow and wind to walk to and then around the Uptown building.
As we walked around the building we had a great Spirit led time and really felt God encouragement. I noticed a girl at the front reception desk, so I bowled on in and asked who I would see about renting floors in the building. There was no one I could talk to immediately so I was given a number to call. Things seemed to be going well. This was the 14th of Feb.
After two phone calls and my description of the type of use we had in mind (ie a Tabernacle) an appointment was made. A few days later an email arrived, saying that our concept (Tabernacle) would not fit in their tenant strategy, and the appointment was cancelled. Not even a call??!!
Ever noticed how God is never in a hurry? He is never rushed. Often we discover this when it clashes with our own ideas and hopes.
A few months later I was powerfully drawn again to this building. As we drove into Munich I felt to go there first and as we were again walking around this building praying and claiming it for God, I thought I heard Him say walk around, claim and pray for this building everyday for 12 days.
On the 12th and last day of praying and walking around this building with a friend who knows Munich very, very well. She knows its history and she knows its streets. She was born here! We had described Uptown to her, and had given her directions of how to get there.
On the way to Uptown she commented how weird it was that we are giving her directions as she is from Munich and we were not. When we arrived and had been praying and walking around the building once again, our friend stopped right out the front and shared the following with us;
‘Some time ago, God spoke to me saying that He would send two people from outside of Europe to set up an ‘upper room’, a tabernacle in München. He also said that these two people would take her to a place which would be ready.’ Here we were standing outside this ‘ready’, completed yet empty building.
A few days later we discovered that there were tours available of the building and also of the top floor. So eagerly we all went and ‘toured’, reading, praying, dreaming and listening to what God had to say. On the 38th floor, I walked a couple of times around this big empty space playing worship music out loud on my mp3. My heart was singing.
About a month later Helen and I were with another Intercessor from Munich, this time a Missionary from Alaska. She was taking us to the house of her friend who was a Missionary also from the USA. We arrived at the friends house and began to talk about how we had heard God ask us to come to Munich as He wanted to establish a ‘set apart Worship house’ Tabernacle.
Pam excitedly and hurriedly dove into her journals and read the parts that related to this same vision from God, of a ‘set apart place’ a place that was consecrated for worship of Him. Pam had been in the city for five years, hearing from God and praying for the preparation – making a way for ’something’. Pam then pointed out her window to a tall building that from her apartment you could just see the top 8 or so floors of. Yep it was the Uptown building!
She explained how she had been kinda drawn to this building, even on one occasion believing the Lord had drawn her out to pray as she rode her bike around the building. Pam had watched this building be constructed, piece by piece.
Later after leaving Pam’s place, I remembered a dream I had had while we were at a training course in Hawaii. I had just awoken early one morning, around 3am, and I heard the Lord say to me ‘Mark I am excited, they are putting the glass on now. I woke you as I just wanted to tell someone.’ With these words I also saw a picture of an all glass skyscraper. I had NO idea what this was about or meant at the time. This was around a year earlier and Pam later confirmed that this was about when the external glass went onto the Uptown building.
Wow! goose bumps were forming on my spine. God wants to set up a consecrated ’space’ just for Him and He wants to do it on the top floors of this Uptown building. I have no idea how He is going to do this or when but I know that He will. Bring it on God! May we be found faithful in whatever you ask of us.
The interconnectedness of all of this is quite amazing. When I was on the 38th floor the Lord took me over to a corner of the building and as I was looking out I felt Him say to me I have a home for you there. I felt I was looking at a quite large, nicely treed area to the west.
Now you need to read the story Rent free in Munich. 🙂