“Worship saves us from being self-centred and makes us God-centred.” Nicky Gumble
Pictured above is Michelle Critch, who is a Library Technician at an elementary school in Winnipeg. She has been ministering with Kingdom H2O for 2 years and has attended ‘My Church’ (formerly Emmanuel Pentecostal) for 24 years. Below are Michelle’s thoughts on being a part of KH2O:
“Ever since I began coming to Kingdom H2O I have noticed a shift in my life, work and relationships. I sat in a church pew for 22 years of my life and never once saw a miracle. The first Saturday service I attended at H2O, 2 years ago, the leader spoke of going out on the streets and ministering. I had no idea what this would entail, but that night the only thing I knew, was that I would be going on the streets to learn how to minister to others. The rest came as a pleasant and yet at times challenging learning curve. I realized going on the street to minister took love and compassion, which I also came to understand I was in short supply of. The first time I went ministering on a Thursday night, I witnessed my first miracle. I have now seen many miracles. I am at a place where I am asking God to use me wherever I am and not only on Thursday nights. I have seen six healings where I work and one at a mall! Life has not been the same, Since I starting to listen and learn how to hear God’s voice. Being part of H2O has been rewarding as God has been growing me in my personal walk with Him and teaching me to use my giftings for others. I am thankful to call the people of H2O my family in Christ.”
This Week’s Highlights
*We Are Not The Only Ones Out There – see below
*Back Healed as Leg Grows – see Michelle
*Two Eyes and a Leg Healed – see Kevin
*”I Love Jesus” – see Dove
*Young Boy No Longer Needs Respirator – see Linda
*Fear of Kidnapping for Prostitution – see Gaylene
*Powerful Prayer Time at Abortion Clinic – see Pastor Lorraine
Thirty-one Prayer Partners (4 of them first-timers) came out to minister this week, and they went to Main Street, Health Sciences, Quest Inn, Central Park, City Place, and Portage Place.
At Portage Place Food Court, one of the vendors, who has come to know I sometimes buy food for other people, engaged me in conversation. He asked me where I lived and what church I went to, and then he gave me a bag of spring rolls, saying I must be hungry after a long night. I was encouraged by his gift, as we try to build relationships with all the vendors. I then gave the spring rolls to one of the regulars who often has gone without supper.
We are not the only ones experiencing the powerful move of God. Kevin’s team met some “I Am Second” team members at Portage Place and they said last week they prayed for a person from the Muslim faith who had a blind eye, and after prayer they could see light, and a second command prayer the person got perfect 20/20 vision in an eye that was blind from birth.
Michelle’s Report:
Diana, Ed, Audrey and I started our night on Main Street ministering with other team members. Ed provided sandwich’s to handout. We had opportunities to pray for people, and make real connections tonight. Our group then decided to go to the Quest Inn. We met Barbara who was suffering from arthritis pain. When asked if she had a relationship with Jesus, she wasn’t sure. We were able to pray for her and Jesus healed her, she spent a bit of time sharing her encounter with God. We were able to put her mind at rest as she really did have a relationship with Jesus. Audrey was able to minister to a woman named Gladys, who had arthritic pain and was healed. The four of us were invited upstairs to pray for a lady who had had shingles and was afraid to get it again. We also prayed for her roommate who had a leg an inch shorter than the other leg and lower back pain . Her leg grew out the inch and her back pain was healed. Both ladies asked Jesus into their life.
We also had the privilege to pray for Bernice who just had a colonoscopy done that day and had an upset stomach. God healed her stomach pain. There were so many healings at the Quest I cannot write them all.
God’s timing was amazing as we had the privilege to pray again for Gladys once more . It turns out we prayed for strength for her and George. They are the grand parents of Christine Wood who was murdered. The trial was commencing and they were believers needing God ‘s hand on every aspect of the trial. We also were able to pray for their hearts to be covered as they would be hearing testimonies and evidence that would surely cause pain and distress.
Diana Adds: (this was her first time out)
On Main Street I asked a cheerful, inebriated man if he wanted a sandwich. He took it with thanks and asked “Why would you be giving out sandwiches on a lovely, sunny afternoon like this?” I replied “To show you how much God loves you.” He squinted at me sideways for 5 awkward seconds and then asked with a smile, “Do you have any change?” I chuckled, apologized and told him I didn’t bring any with me. As I said this, I took a chapstick out of my pocket and began to apply it to my lips. He immediately reached out for it and I gave it to him. The fun part for me was that earlier at home when I had put that chapstick in my pocket, I had a feeling I’d be giving it away tonight. And his scabbed lips needed it more than mine.
Kevin’s Report:
On Main Street we met 3 girls celebrating one of the girls 18th birthday.
Girl 1 – this girl was blind in one eye from a rock thrown at her head when she was 11 years old. Now 19 years old I presented the napkin trick and told her that her blindness would go. After the napkin vanished her blind eye opened and had the same vision as her “good” eye. But her good eye was in need of glasses, so I got Anna to lay hands on them and when she took her hands off both eyes were 20/20.
Girl 2 – born with one bad eye – after the napkin disappeared her vision was restored in that one eye, and now she had 2 good eyes.
Girl 3 – birthday girl – the pain in her leg vanished when the napkin disappeared
Overview – after the 3 healings the girls were pretty freaked out. We were able to share it was Jesus who healed them. They retreated back into their housing that is right beside the pizza place, because it was an unexpected turn for them 🙂
Dove Adds:
I decided to go with Kevin to Main Street to give out pizza with two other groups. We gave out pizzas to lots of people and they were all very grateful. Kevin would do his magic trick and when the hankie disappeared so did their pain or the infirmity. They were amazed. Then Kevin would tell them about Gods love. Then it was time to go to next spot which was across the street from Portage Place where we started giving out the rest of the pizza to people sitting on park bench.
First Paul had back pain level 8. We prayed and it went down to zero so he thanked us and we went to next guy who had ankle pain level 5 that went down to zero.
Then we walked over to Donna and asked if she had pain but there was only pain in her heart and she was very sad and she wanted to go home to her Reservation. We kept talking to her and loving on her till she finally was filled with joy of the Lord and started to shout I love Jesus …over and over again. Then she said she loved us and hugged us again and again. What a change in her countenance.
Linda’s Report:
Trevor and I were headed to HSC when we saw William on the corner of Burrows & Salter sitting on the street & crawling about. Police driving by must have seen him and when we saw that they did not approach him at all, we decided to stop and see what we could do. We got him up off the street and back onto his feet, away from traffic. At first, he was a bit disoriented and not very steady but as we chatted, he became more like an overly affectionate person who had been drinking, although he did not smell of alcohol. He connected with Trevor as a brother and appreciated the attention from both of us. He seemed to become aware of things beyond the physical, even prophesying over Trevor about something that was on Trevor’s mind. It seemed that having spent that time loving on him, in the presence of the Lord, that something shifted with William, although he was not entirely sober yet.
As Trevor had promised his brother he would get to HSC, to pray for his nephew, we had to leave without doing more, but it was easier to do so as William was on his feet, steadier and stronger, not lost in his own pain as he had been, and there remained a police presence just across the street. We continued on to HSC to see Clark, Trevor’s 6-year-old nephew who was at Children’s Hospital. Clark had been admitted Tuesday with stomach pain, fever, and also had trouble breathing. The situation had escalated quickly and although Trevor and the family had since prayed over him, Trevor expected to find him on a breathing machine and weak. When we arrived, however, he was upbeat, energetic and not connected to anything, although he still had an IV access needle on the back of his hand. He coughed a little as he played about on his bed, but he was clearly much better. Trevor asked if he wanted prayer for anything and Clark said no to every suggestion, but admitted his hand hurt a little from the IV needle. Trevor prayed and he said it didn’t hurt anymore. I asked if he knew who did that, and he said God is my best friend and Holy Spirit is my best friend…… and Jesus is my best friend! It was very precious and a highlight of the evening to see a child receive heavenly things so easily and with much joy. His Dad, Jeremy, said that only this morning, Clark was crying because of having difficulty with breathing and only 2 hours ago, he was disconnected from everything including an oxygen mask and was now only on puffers and being quite playful with medical staff. He was looking forward to going home and enjoying his sister’s birthday party tomorrow.
As we made our way towards the William Street exit of HSC, Trevor had a word of knowledge for a woman with a walker, who was headed for dialysis. He prayed for pain in her leg and also over her kidneys. He asked if there was any change. She seemed to pause a while before answering and said no, although it seemed the presence of the Lord was all around her. Even so, she was very grateful for prayer.
Outside HSC, we came upon Shayla, who was hunting for a cigarette to smoke. Trevor had another word of knowledge which opened the conversation and she admitted she was at HSC because of a blood infection. She was soon to be discharged and concerned the infection would be completely gone. With prayer, she felt more peaceful and hopeful about her situation. When we saw her again a short while later in passing, it seemed like meeting an old friend as she smiled and waved.
There was another lady crouched in a corner near the parkade, looking quite anxious and lost in thought. I approached her but she refused prayer. I really felt the Lord wanted to touch her and felt a bit discouraged but I did wonder that having asked was no small thing, perhaps breaking an illusion that no one cares or that she was invisible.
Gaylene’s Report:
There was quite a large group of people at Portage Place so Iris, Jackie, Lani and I decided to split off.
Before we headed out, Priscilla limped by us and looked to be in visible pain. She had a hip and knee injury and was dealing with a lot of loss in her life. We prayed for her pain and she felt some improvement but we spent quite a bit more time praying for her life of heartbreak and disappointment. Lani prophesied over Priscilla, who wiped away her tears as we explained to her that God was focused on her healing and that’s why He highlighted her.
She was with a young lady named Roxy, who said she was extremely fearful of being kidnapped and used for prostitution saying, “I know you won’t believe it.” Given that there was a recent raid that found 21 missing girls in Winnipeg, we absolutely believed it. Jackie broke off fear over Roxy and we prayed for God’s protection. Roxy said she believed in Jesus so we prayed for Him to become even more real in the coming days.
While we were praying, God highlighted a man to me and as we were praying for the above ladies I noticed him watching so I approached him. Rasheed is a Kurdish Iraqi with prostrate cancer who lost his wife to cancer three years ago and he had a visible sadness about him. Although he identified as Muslim, he also said several times “I love Jesus.” So we prayed for the Jesus he loves to heal him completely – body, mind and soul and to reveal Himself more. Nihad was nearby so I asked him to join us praying for Rasheed and they chatted in Arabic and then prayed some more.
We then ran into Anmol, an extremely pleasant young Sikh man from India. He came here as an international student and admitted he’s quite lost at the moment. He initially did some upgrading but has not been accepted into a university and doesn’t know what to do next. I’ve seen this situation many times with Nigerians, so I understand the pressure he’s facing from family back home who are paying for his education and have high expectations. So we prayed our big God who sees everyone’s individual issues to pour out His love on Anmol and open doors he couldn’t even imagine opening. He was so grateful for the prayers.
We next prayed for Josh, an Eritrean man I’d met several times in Central Park. He’s working construction at the moment, but is dissatisfied because he’s trained as a pharmacy tech and hasn’t been able to get a job in his field. So we prayed for that perfect job for Josh. I heard that he should apply at Costco and we encouraged him to drop by the park and let us know if God answered our prayers 🙂
I sensed we should head towards the YMCA and that’s where we met Lydia from Russia (Siberia in fact) who goes to Springs. She had a lengthy discussion with Iris and Jackie about her journey to Canada, and seemed provoked by outreach so they invited her to come out on Thursday night.
As they were chatting, I once again ran into Augustin, a Sudanese man who we prayed for last week for the after-effects of a stroke that weakened the left side of his body. He felt some improvement last week, but it didn’t last so we prayed for him again. He has been off work as a truck driver since the stroke but I sensed God wanted to use him in his former profession as a pastor. We prayed for total healing and restoration and Lydia joined us praying for him.
While we were praying for Augustin, Brian also joined in and he asked for prayer when we were done. A strong professing Christian, he is dealing with a lifelong struggle with bipolar disorder and deeply desired to be free of taking lithium. His life does not go well when he goes off his meds and he’s also dealing with some legal issues. While we were praying for his healing and restoration, Brian said he saw a vision woman handing him a letter that exonerated him! Amen.
Pastor Lorraine’s Report:
I went out tonight basically on my own so that I could check in with some of the teams and see how they were doing, encourage people and jump on board with any teams along the way. Initially, I spent some brief time with Nihad as he ministered to a man named Jonas whom one of our teams led to the Lord some months before. Jonas is a lovely Ethiopian man with a big heart for Jesus. One of my goals for the evening was to pray at the Abortion Clinic just outside of the Portage Place Mall on the second level walkway. Most people are not aware that there is an abortion clinic there as it is very unobtrusive and set back a bit from the main walkway concourse. There is a security system outside and no one can enter without an appointment and being buzzed into the waiting room area. Robin M, one of our team members, joined me and the two of us spent some time outside the clinic praying for a number of things. [The month of May is the March for Life across Canada and I believe that the Church needs to stand in the gap on behalf of the unborn and the women who are wounded as a result of having an abortion–this is on my heart to see a law put in place to protect our unborn children in Canada and to stop abortion altogether.] It was a good and powerful prayer time for both Robin and I.