Corrie ten Boom said, “Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength – carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time.”
Above image: Kingdom H2O Team Members have been ministering at Portage Place for almost 3 years now. This banner at Portage Place prompted Team Members to declare to the spirit world that “Portage Place is Jesus’ Place”.
Grab a coffee – this is a long, but interesting report – lots of Kingdom building happening on the streets and malls, and this is just some of the highlights of what took place last night.
This Week’s Highlights
*Freedom From Addictions Requested – see Iris
*”Jesus, I Want You Back in My Life” – see Al’s Highlight in Iris’ Report
*Many Encounters – Some a Little Bizarre – see Gaylene
*Giving Blessings Results in Being Blessed – see Michelle
*Helping Others Changes Them, and Changes Us – see Trevor
*Encounter Results in Divine Appointment – see Pastor Lorraine
*Ten Year Old Prays for Team Member – see Linda
Twenty-nine Gospel Guardians came out to minister this week, and went to Main Street, Siloam Missions, Health Sciences, Quest Inn, City Place, and Portage Place.
My wife had prepared 10 Lady’s and 8 men’s toiletry kits from items donated by the St. Pierre Thrift Store, and they were divided-up among the team members. Typically what we do is approach and ask if someone would like a kit, and then say, “We also pray for people, what would you like prayer for?” People almost always have a prayer request.
You can read the highlight of my night in Iris’ report below.
Iris’ Report:
Arriving at the food court at Portage Place, I found Gaylene standing with a group of Eston students. I partnered up with Brenda and with toiletry kits given to us by Al, we walked around the food court handing them out.
Maxine waved us over, and I gave her and Helen a women’s toiletry kit, and asked if they would like prayer, to which they responded yes, for their addiction to alcohol. I waved Al over and he prayed for Maxime, Helen, and Wilkie, who were tender to the Lord’s touch.
Al’s Highlight: Iris called me over, as I have a high level of faith for healing prayer for people with addictions. At first I talked to Helen and Maxine about how Jesus had healed me of my addiction to alcohol (they were both slightly intoxicated). I do this to build their faith that Jesus’ healing power is available today, and to demonstrate that I can identify with them. I then confirmed that they truly wanted to be free. I prayed for Helen first, and then Maxine. The Holy Spirit guided my prayer and it was different for each of them. They were each very touched and held my hands very tightly during the prayer time. I followed that up by talking to them about how to walk in their healing. During this time, their friend Wilkie, who was very intoxicated, was paying close attention to what was happening. I asked him if he would like prayer, and he agreed. First I asked him if he was intoxicated, and he answered, “Very.” I asked if he wanted to be sober, and he said, “Yes.” I prayed a blessing of sobriety over him and he immediately started to be more coherent. I then commanded the spirit of addiction off of him, and blessed him with freedom. He then told me he used to be a Christian, but had fallen away. I asked him if he would like to renew his faith. He stalled for a bit, then he raised his arm, looked upward and said, “Jesus, I want you back in my life.” Praise God for this encounter!
Agnes Rose, Mary and her husband were sitting at a table and gladly received the kits and were open to prayer. The husband had been in and out of jail. I prayed for Agnes Rose’s knee but there was no change of pain level, and you could tell she was a lady that had a lot of compounded grief in her life. I encouraged her to find a grief recovery group.
My favorite encounter was with Feather and Wayne? After praying at the abortion clinic door, we walked past a couple sitting on a bench. I had noticed Feather downstairs, but two others of our team were engaging them, so I didn’t approach them at that time. But now I said to her, “I felt the Lord highlighting you when you were downstairs. I want you to know that He sees you, because He drew my eyes to you.” Wayne was trying on a new pair of white shoes that Erdman and Adina had given him and they fit perfectly. Just then four others of our crew came along and chatted with us. That was so special to Feather and Wayne to be loved on and prayed for, and they said they wanted to come back to church. They were blown away by God’s love shown through the shoes and us caring for them, and our hearts were blessed by them as well.
All in all, a great evening full of God’s love and care poured out on people at Portage Place.
Gaylene’s Report:
I was coordinating the entire 8 member GO Discipleship Team from Eston College in Saskatchewan. I sent Andy out with two (they loved it) and Iris with one of the leaders. Our 9 months pregnant Chelsea held down the fort at the public piano with a trio and I headed out with Jasmine towards City Place.
One of the first people we ran into was Kenneth, the skateboarder/break dancer with the torn ACL, who we’d prayed for last week. He said there’s been a definite improvement in his pain since then and thanked us once again.
Next we encountered Gage Gabriel, who was wearing round sunglasses and was clearly altered. Initially he said he wasn’t interested in prayer but as we chatted, it became clear he needed it so I pressed in. He said he’d been stabbed several times recently and when I asked where on his body (just to be careful so I wouldn’t touch his wounds) he lifted up his shirt and showed us exactly where. He had been stabbed in the heart and several places on his torso and his scars were substantial. He said he was fine but he was kushed-out (high on weed) to deal with the discomfort. His friend Preston walked by and he once again showed off his scars. We did eventually pray for him, particularly for God’s healing, protection and care, but he started manifesting demons and said his middle name was Gabriel, that he WAS God and things got a little strange so we continued on our way.
We stopped and prayed at the abortion clinic and while there, we ran into Richard, an indigenous man wearing cammo. He said he’d love prayer and kept walking and when I explained we would actually pray for him he was a bit stunned. He returned and as we prayed, I got a word about some obstacles he was facing, which he said was bang on. He said he was in a hurry but thanked us profusely for doing what we do.
I wanted to see what the new security measures at the library looked like (just like at the airport fyi) and we walked by Kylie and Taylor in the skyway sitting on the ground charging their phones. As we said hi, they blurted out “we’re not homeless.” Turns out one of them, Taylor, who’s a 13 year old foster kid, was a runaway and indeed homeless. Although she didn’t seem to have a solid grasp of Jesus, she was super open to prayer and was very grateful to receive it. Kylie, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with us. Then Jasmine remembered we had a bag of goodies including perfume which the girls were thrilled to receive. We ran into them later and they had clearly doused themselves with it.
Back at City Place we met Furaha a 20 year old young woman from DR Congo and her boyfriend Mohammed, a Burundian Muslim. Furaha was in her final term of high school and admitted she was stressing about graduating. Jasmine, who just graduated from high school and a college student, prayed for her about school stress and for strength and wisdom. I prayed a blessing over Mohammed and he was a bit surprised to receive that.
At this point Lani joined us and we headed back to Portage Place to meet the GO team for a debriefing. As we walked, Lani prayed for Jasmine who had a terrible chest cough and stomach issues.
A Filipino lady was walking behind us and after Lani was finished with Jasmine she introduced herself. Linda told us her niece was a born again preacher on the radio and she asked for prayer for her diabetes symptoms and some other things. Lani discerned she had knee pain which was totally accurate and we prayed for Linda for healing. She was lovely and very grateful to receive prayer.
The debriefing was full of stories of encounters by the team. The most impactful was from Jeff (GO’s leader and Eston College pastor) who met Cody, who’d lost all his fingers to frostbite during the cold snap and was still bandaged. Just before meeting Jeff, he was on a bus and shared his plight with a woman, who then absconded with his backpack containing all his belongings.
So much brokenness in our city. Jesus, come.
Michelle’s Report:
Ed, Claire , Beverley and I went to Siloam mission were we handed out hot chocolate. People were very open to prayer there. One fellow saw us handing out hot chocolate and mentioned that we hadn’t been out for a few weeks. We could tell that we are actually making a difference and people notice what we are doing.
Our team then decided to stop at the Quest Inn. We were warmly greeted as we walked into the lobby . We noticed Alma who was sitting by herself towards the back of the lobby. She allowed us to pray for her shoulders and neck. She also mentioned she had a concussion . We prayed several times and she was surprised when moving her head that she was feeling great. She thanked us and let us know she new Jesus had healed her. Angelina was by the entrance and we prayed for her vision as she had cataracts . She noticed her eyes had improved Bev also prayed for her kidneys as she was going in for dialysis the next day. We could see she was touched by our prayers and the love we had for her.
We then moved to the Portage Place Mall. We encountered Kelsey and her husband in the hallway on the 2nd floor of the mall. Kelsey mention she had miscarried her first child and was wanting prayer for the child she was now carrying. Claire also prayed for the Father to be and spoke words of knowledge over him. A little further down the hallway we meet up with Iris and two fairly new Christians. Wayne was the recipient of new running shoes and other items from another team member earlier in the evening. He and his wife, Feather, were so overwhelmed that the Lord would provide them with so many needed items. Our team along with Iris prayed for provision of a house for them. Wayne kept saying he was so overwhelmed by the many gifts and having meet so many fine people like ourselves. He had to shake our hand before we left them.
Nights, like this one, makes all who got out to minister, glad that we made the effort. You go home feeling very blessed.
Trevor’s Report:
Antoine and I went to Main Street where we handed out pizza and toiletries kits. We bought 2 large pizzas from Pizzarama and we offered people, pizza and prayer and demonstrated Gods love. I asked a guy named Mikey if he had back pain and he Was said that he did. I then asked for his hand and commanded his back to be healed, the moment I touched him before I even started praying he said his back was immediately healed. A young teen said to me; “You’re such a nice guy and you offer me free food and no one else does these things for me.” She noticed the love that we were giving and it was changing her from the inside out, as she was really thankful and impacted by the love she was given.
We went to Portage Place and a woman came up to me and asked me for a smoke and I offered to buy her a smoke. I also asked if she had pain in her body and she said; “Yes, I feel like the muscles in my whole body are in pain.” So I spoke healing over her and she gave me a hug and started crying. Then she said; “I Believe, I Believe!” The woman felt the Holy Spirit come all over her and she was completely healed.
What I can say is every time we go out on the streets we are showing that we care, and God heals and changes people. This is what keeps inspiring me to go out on the streets, and it’s also changing me from the inside out.
Pastor Lorraine’s Report:
I took a team of five people to Health Sciences Centre this week. I had a good friend who had had a serious, life threatening stroke on Monday that I wanted to pray for. When we arrived we found out that she had already been discharged! I called her daughter who told me she was home and doing well. I then spoke to my friend and she said she had no side effects or seemingly no damage from the stroke at all!! Yet 2 days ago she could only speak with a slur. We were praising the Lord over the phone for this miraculous healing and grace from God!
Later, we went downstairs and met a young woman named Mika. Mika had pain in her lower back area and had just been released from the hospital. We prayed for her pain and almost immediately it left! She seemed very touched. We invited Mika to receive the Lord Jesus into her life and she did. Praise God!
Afterwards we met 4 women who worked as clerks at the hospital having coffee together on their break. Initially, when we asked them if we could pray for them they were resistant. We engaged with them for a bit and encouraged them before we moved on. A few minutes later, while we were praying for one other individual, one of the women we had just spoken with came up to us and asked when we would be back at the hospital again. We said we come out on Thursdays in the evenings and she asked if we could come at their break time again at about 7:30 p.m. next week and pray for them! So we have another divine appointment with these lovely women next Thursday night!
As we walked further along the corridor towards the hallway we met Neil and his wife, a lovely couple who seemed to be in some distress. It turned out that Neil was just in the hospital and had some serious internal bleeding in his body. He said on a scale of 1 – 10 he was in a level 11 pain! So we asked if we could pray for him and each time we prayed, his pain went down. We prayed for his affliction and rebuked the pain 3 times. By the third time all of Neil’s pain was gone and he felt much better. Thank you Jesus! We also ministered to his wife who began to cry and we held her and released words of encouragement and life as we brought comfort to her.
Thank you Jesus for Your love and care, and the privilege of ministering/loving others with You.
Linda’s Report:
Tonight, Pastor Brian, a lay pastor from Place of Hope Presbyterian Church originally from Red Sucker Lake, and I went to see his niece, Tamara, at HSC. Warren and I had prayed for her last week when she was in ICU as she had been badly beaten up and was slated for jaw surgery at that time. This week, it was a praise report in that she had been moved to a regular ward on the 3rd floor. She was resting and seemed very tired, although she had been awake earlier. We thanked the Lord for what He is doing and prayed for continued healing and sensed the Lord’s peace around her and know His hand is on her. We spent a bit of time with her family in the waiting room, including her husband Preston, 2 of her 3 children and younger brother, who seemed relieved and happy for the visit.
We then went to pray for others that Brian knew, one of whom was Linda Louise Harper. She had just had her right leg amputated and her left foot was discolored and wrapped. She was in much pain, so much so it seemed that conversation seemed futile. I prayed and it did not seem that much happened so I continued praying and noticed that something shifted with the pain. Although the pain did not completely leave, she seemed more alert and aware of her surroundings and was grateful for prayer. Before leaving, we also prayed for her husband, Peter, and other family present, after which one of the younger boys present saw me praying and he wanted to pray for me! So he prayed in both his native language and English. He is only ten and prayed with earnestness, sweetness, and fervency!
We then went to pray for Mary Wood, who was not present when we came, but Brian felt to just pray over her bed, not unlike a prayer cloth, so that when she returns she will receive a touch from the Lord in that way.