Sometimes forgiving can be extremely hard. As C.S. Lewis wrote: ‘Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive.’
This Week’s Highlights:
*Don receives new ‘walker’ – see write-up and picture below
*Ruckus breaks-out on Main St. while team is praying – see Lorraine
*Team member gives homeless lady his jacket – see Diana
*Prayer relieves pain – see Ron & Donna
*Hospital visits result in salvations – see Gaylene
Eighteen folks came out to minister this week. Peter, Erdman, and I went to Portage Place. There seemed to be a never-ending amount of needs. People who were hungry, people who had ‘pain in their heart’, and people who had physical pain. Some people were lonely and just wanted to talk. I moved from table to table visiting and praying with regulars, and some new folks.
The highlight was providing Don (a regular) with a new ‘walker’. His old one was broken and was held together with duct tape and ropes. My wife had found a new one in a garage sale for $75 (in store price $250). Don was thrilled to get one that wasn’t broken. Although I offered it to him free, he insisted on paying me. But he only had $60 and enough money to offer to buy us a coffee. He kept thanking us over and over and kept promising to pay the rest next week. So rewarding to see how excited Don was – see picture below.
Lorraine’s Report:
Diana, Audrey, Warren, Bob and I went down to Main Street outside the Northern Hotel and Pizzarama. We started to engage people right away and gave out some bottles of water. As we did so we asked if we could pray for them. We prayed for about 3-4 different people:
I prayed for a lady named Liz who had arthritis in her body. Didn’t notice an immediate change, but believing that she was touched by the Lord. Liz was a believer, nicely dressed, but with much personal pain. Diana, Audrey and I also engaged with a man named Douglas who had been drinking and liked to joke around a lot. Initially, he used his jokes to deflect us, but the Lord was relentless in His love for Doug who was also a hurting man, though we didn’t know all the details about his life. I started the conversation, and Diana & Audrey continued on as I stepped away, offering him water and praying for him.
After praying for a few people we noticed that the intensity in the atmosphere started to increase and 3 different groups of people started to get into arguments with one another all at the same time! Two men that we had given water to, and tried to minister to, began to threaten one another and in one case one man seemed to threaten Warren & Bob, yelling at Bob. Another group was also angrily threatening each other, and another man with a bicycle began to threaten Douglas and demand money from him. The whole picture was a bit surreal. Immediately, I quietly went to each of the team members and told them to quietly back away and leave because things were about to get ugly. And at one point they did as two of the men punched each other, with one drunk and injured man lying flat out on the sidewalk, and the other with a big bruise on one side of his hurt face. Our team believes this was demonic as not but 20 minutes before that we were boldly sharing Jesus with people on the sidewalk and praying for their needs, physical, emotional and otherwise. I suggested that we change locations and head to Central Park where we encountered numerous people outside, some playing soccer and others just hanging out and we began to engage with various people there. I met a young woman(Jacolyn) who was a believer and had been out doing this kind of ministry before. We prayed and prophesied over her and invited her to join us next week at Central Park. She was very excited to meet others who had done what she had been doing on her own in a different place. This is what God is doing in this season: Raising up young evangelists and healers to share the message of His love with the lost, broken, wounded, and those who don’t fit within the four walls of our churches. Rise up people of God! Now is the day of salvation!”
Diana’s Report:
After the ruckus on Main Street, we went to Central Park. I approached a table of people to hand out water and asked if anyone wanted prayer. One man put up his hand. James had just lost his wife to cancer a month ago and was feeling lost. I was able to speak life and pray comfort for him. He said he was a backslidden Christian but he was open to invited Jesus into his life again.
There was another woman, Yvonne, at the table that was loudly weeping. Her daughter had recently committed suicide and she was desperately sad. I saw a picture of a rainbow over her and asked if her daughter was a Christian. She said yes so I was able to comfort her that her daughter was with the Lord. This seemed to help but because she was also intoxicated, and her pain deep it was hard to tell.
Another lady asked Lorraine if those who commit suicide can still go to heaven. She also had other questions of faith, that I and then Gaylene were hopefully able to answer at least in part. She is a woman of faith and she says that she sends up prayers every hour and even prays for the people and the children in the park that she doesn’t even know. I told her that she is a prayer warrior and that her prayers are like incense to the Lord. She was beaming from the affirmation that she is being used by the Lord. She seemed to me to have a glow and radiance about her face. Audrey and I were able to “bless” another lady also named Lorraine ( she didn’t want prayer in front of so many people ) who was in town to a have some medical tests. She had slept on the streets so I gave her some money for food and Andy gave her his jacket to keep warm for the night.
This was a night where there was much sorrow in the people and the Lord wanted to bring comfort.
Ron & Donna’s Report:
Andy and I weren’t together all evening but when we were we talked with several Muslim men about their futures including one young man who wanted to study political science as a career to become a politician. But when we asked if we could pray for him he refused prayer. We did pray for Marty who was a student at Teen Challenge. We then met Donna and her partner. Donna complained about being sore all over and when we asked her to be more specific or if one area was hurting more she told us it was her neck. Holy Spirit gave us a word of knowledge as to which part of her neck had been injured and we commanded the pain to leave. After we had prayed she said that her pain level had gone down. Her partner complained of having restless leg syndrome and so Andy prayed that he would have restful legs instead. When we got back to the prayer table Andy met a homeless woman, prayed for her and then gave her his jacket. She appreciated the love shown to her.
Donna and Adina,
We were talking to a group of 5 people when one of the women asked for prayer. She asked for prayer for herself, her children and grandchildren. We approached others in the park and even though the water offered was quickly accepted no one else requested prayer or allowed us to pray.
Gaylene’s Hospital Report:
A few months back Andy, Chelsea, Lani and I started a Monday afternoon outreach at Health Sciences Centre. It began because several people we met on Thursday night requested we visit their ailing loved ones in the hospital, and while we were there we always prayed for other people.
We meet every Monday at 1:30pm at the 24/7 Starbucks and usually focus on people around the entrances to the General Hospital/ER and the psych ward. Several times we have been asked to pray for patients in the ICU and more recently we were invited to a weekly get together/jam in the psych ward with some patients we’ve befriended.
There have been several salvations, many godly encounters, and dozens have felt an improvement in their physical pain/discomfort and psychological distress.
If you’re interested in joining us, meet us at the Starbucks or contact me at gaylenedempsey@yahoo.ca. We would also welcome your prayers.
PROPHECY CORNER
For those who have fallen into the depths of sin or suffering, we must provide a safe place of refuge, a spiritual care unit. So many today say this is NOT the job of the Church, but I plead with you not to harden your hearts or fail to show true compassion and mercy to those who repent and seek restoration and to be refreshed. Let the Church be a city of refuge where recovery, healing, and restoration take place, nurturing back to health every wounded warrior regardless of how his wounds came about. Steve Porter – The Elijah List