I would like to share some of my life story and explain why the Heavenly Canopy website has been set up.

Firstly, here are some foundational scriptures that Jesus has brought to me in the past:

• John the Baptist Prepares the Way

John 3:1-12 (c.f. Mk 1:3-8; Lk 3:2-17)

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the desert:

      ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’

… when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

      ‘The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

•  God wants to bless everybody!

Genesis 12:3       And in you all the families (nations) of the earth shall be blessed.

Introduction

The following is a summary of some of the key things God has spoken to me since I first met Jesus in the summer of 1977 and they are the core of what I believe His calling is on my life.  I sense the time of moving into the fullness of these things has arrived.  A starting point is that God has called me to be like a forerunner , preparing the way for Jesus to bless the earth.

 A Forerunner Ministry

The above scriptures came to me shortly after I was born again as a teenager – they have always been in the back of my mind and are foundational to my walk with God.  The parts in bold print are the main areas that God has laid on my heart:

          ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him’

I sense this links with us living in the End Times (the period in human history leading up to the return of Jesus Christ to the earth), similar to how John lived at the end of old covenant days… he was a forerunner for Jesus, preparing the way for His coming.

• ‘The axe is already at the root of the trees…’

God is saying He is going to chop something down; the context is that John was speaking to people involved with man-made religion… God was not birthing another religious system; such systems have to be chopped down so that His KINGDOM can come in fullness.

• ‘He will baptize you with the Holy Spiritand with fire…’

The positive focus is on Jesus and what He wants to do… something which is totally different from what has happened in the past: soak us to the core with Holy Spirit and the fire of God in a way which has been only partially  seen on the earth in the past.

• ‘Bless all the nations…’

This comes from God’s interaction with Abraham in Genesis 12 and links with Jesus’ Great Commission to his disciples in Matthew 28.  All believers in Jesus are meant to be involved with blessing nations no matter what continent or century we live in. Each of us has a calling as God’s son to flesh this out on the earth.  Some of us may primarily bless the people of our home nation.  Others may be called to bless one or more foreign nations. 

For me I sense God wants me to be linked with blessing many nations – this may mean travelling to other nations or God will bring people from all over the world to something I am involved with in Britain.

 These three areas will be the hallmarks of men, women and children called to be involved as forerunners in this generation.  There are many called to this kind of activity as God leads them in this generation.

New Birth and the Holy Spirit

My family was typically middle class and based on the southern edge of London.  We rarely went to church (at the most on Christmas Eve and Easter Sunday) but an older brother recruited me into the parish church choir (I learnt some years later this was purely so he could earn an extra shilling in his chorister’s pay!)

I joined the church youth group and enjoyed life; I did get christened and confirmed into Church of England as a teenager but I didn’t feel any closer to God.

My youth group was invited to a Church Youth Fellowship Association (CYFA) holiday to Devon.  On that holiday I heard for the first time a clear presentation of the Christian ‘gospel’ (good news).  This was through the teaching from a travelling preacher from New Zealand; his message based on why Jesus died for us; his taking of our sin and failures onto himself and then being raised from death by his Father in heaven. He became the saviour of all in the world who would turn away from sin and ask Jesus to be the one in charge of their life.  I asked Jesus to forgive me; tears flowed and a spiritual light bulb came on inside me that has never gone out.

I was, in effect, saved by Jesus out of dead, formal religion.  However, I still have an abiding love for the Church of England – God used people of genuine faith within that denomination to help me meet Christ. But he took me to a church one of my brothers attended… a small charismatic group that had grown up out of a house fellowship.  There I was baptized by full immersion in water and filled with the Holy Spirit.  After attending university (where God took me through a dark season, dealing with pride) I met my wife Ruth and we married in 1986.

God’s Axe

 We moved form London to Worcester and were there when the Holy Spirit was poured out afresh on the church in 1994.  The main manifestation I experienced at that time was a chopping action with my right arm.  I didn’t understand fully what was happening but I also cried out to God that He would do whatever chopping down that He wanted to.  This was a deep calling out to Father God to do whatever chopping in me that was needed, so that I might be one to wield His word as an axe in the Spirit… as John the Baptist did.

The Torch and the Sword

 Much of the above came back to me in 2008 when reading the end of Rick Joyner’s book, ‘The Torch and the Sword’. In it many large spiritual ‘trees’ have to be cut down in London.  I was born in London and I sensed he was describing a process I would be involved in at some point in the future.  After a prolonged season of fasting over the summer of 2010 Jesus gave me a prayer to develop and circulate around His body.  After He gave me this prayer I sensed Him saying, ‘This is the axe.’

 I believe He has put something in my spiritual hands to chop with.  The goal is to provide a tool which can be used to free all Christians of any background from foundational curses which have acted to decrease God’s Kingdom flowing in and through us, particularly from church denominational roots.  This is not to say that it has not flowed at all but rather that it can flow much more powerfully once we have let Jesus deal with the issues it addresses.  The context of this prayer was received in the parable of the Ten Virgins (an End Times context), and serves as guidance as to what it can mean for the church today to ‘trim our lamps’.  We need to wake up spiritually; be aware of the significance of the days in which we live and then do the necessary activity we have to do – trim our lamps.  This prayer will feature in a later blog. I believe this prayer has been refined, (sharpened, like an efficient axe), and it is now ready for widespread use.  It can be sharpened further to be used in your local situation.

A confirmation from God came when I read a copy of a prophecy given at Top Barn Farm, near Worcester, in November 2010.  This  dealt with many of the same issues – especially how God wants to not just smooth over our Church structures (like with sand paper) or even only bring His heavenly wood plane onto us (to remove more wood) but that He says that major dead wood problems in His church have to be sawn (i.e. chopped) down. Then new flexible smaller but multiplied growth can come (as in a coppiced tree).

From 2015 onwards my wife and I started to learn about and experience more of God’s kingdom in His heavenly realms. This is based on a growing intimacy with the Father (Yahweh) and His Son Jesus (Yashua) in Heaven.  We are learning to link this with bringing His kingdom on to the earth more, so that His will is done here more and more, as it is in Heaven.  We have to guard against neo-Gnosticism (to be covered in another post) but be open to what God is doing now.

The Heavenly Canopy

One aspect of becoming a mature son, getting to know Father in heaven, includes getting to know the ‘house’ Jesus has prepared for each of his children in heaven.  A central feature in my house that I have begun to explore is a canopy, which is present in a garden-like area where I can sit and enjoy fellowship with the Father and Jesus. This heavenly canopy is a place of central importance for me now.  The canopy is a version of what is over the Father in his secret place; it speaks of his light and pure essence.  There is no sun in heaven; there is a heavenly glow which originates from God’s own presence – his canopy is a particularly localized expression of this.  There are places on earth where God seems to be present in particularly strong power, love and light (the ‘thin’ places so described by the Celtic believers). 

I believe I have been called by my Father in heaven to help build an earthly expression of his heavenly canopy; it will have links with the first believers in Jesus who arrived in Britain nearly 2,000 years ago.  Particular ways this project will bring God’s kingdom on to the earth are being:a living house of prayer, not a dead religious building

• based on what God founded in Britain, not what men built
• an education centre about events, legends and stories of the first believers
• a modern day representation of the first Celtic community in Britain, with a central building (the ‘House That Jesus Built’, HTJB) and twelve circular buildings around it
• a community of believers seeking to express Celtic truths in the contemporary world
• where there is a godly mix of an emphasis on the scriptures (Bible based truth) andthe Holy Spirit (especially new aspects of prayer Jesus is telling many people about today)
• a centre for biblical studies, the arts, dance, physical exercise and retail opportunities
• a centre that is based on eco-friendly principles
• hearing from God how we should pray and act as Britain returns to a situation we have not been in since AD 42, post-Brexit
• blessing politicians with the prayer support they need to lead this country well
• blessing entrepreneurs and industrialists so they can flourish and help Britain be a successful nation in the world economy
• based near Glastonbury in Somerset, England

If you’d like to be kept up to date with the progress of this project then please feel free to contact me via my Contact Page

God bless you…  Maranatha!

Mark Maddock