Twenty-eight people showed-up last night – six of them youth (Love it when young people come out). Two of the 7 teams went to North Main St and then joined us at 9 at Portage Place. I had two adults and two youth on my team, Hannah (10?) and Zachary (14). They had taken the ‘treasure hunt’ approach by praying and asking the Lord for a picture of who He wanted them to pray for. Hannah had a picture of a person in a wheelchair, and Zach had a picture of a lady in a yellow sweater. There are a lot of wheelchairs in Portage Place so Hannah was relying on the Holy Spirit to guide her to the right person. We did eventually find both people.
We had a very active night with several encounters, including a few visits with people I have prayed with before. I’ll report on five of our encounters, and a new first for me, everyone of these 5 was not drunk or high. At the end of the evening team members were reporting on several healing’s, and I heard of one salvation. Other great news is a gentleman from Grant Memorial Baptist is offering newly evangelized street people a discipleship program in their homes, in the Park, or on the street, and he is willing to take referrals from any of us.
One of the first ladies we encountered was Margaret. She was a very easy to talk to, great personality, First Nation Christian lady, who had a fibreglass boot on each foot, and she walked with crutches. I walked-up to her and said, “We are looking for people we can pray for, and I’m guessing you would like some prayer.” She immediately agreed. She said she had neuropathy in her feet. (Neuropathy is basically nerve damage). She said she had no feeling in either one of her feet, yet at the same time she had great pain in her lower legs. She also told us it was caused by diabetes which she has not been able to control through diet or medicine. We firstly commanded the leg pain to be gone, and after a couple of prayers it was. We then addressed the neuropathy, but don’t know the results yet. We were about to address the diabetes when she seemed a bit apprehensive. I assured her we were in no hurry, and that we would pray with her as long as it took. She laughed and said that was good, but that maybe she was in a hurry. Iris asked her what the hurry was. She said her nephew had just committed suicide, and she had a house full of family waiting for her. We quickly prayed a blessing of peace over her, a blessing of wisdom to know what to say to family, and then Brad spoke a prophetic encouragement over her, as we sent her on her way.
One of the next people we encountered was Max Crow who was using a wheelchair as a walking aid. He said he had a stroke and could only walk with some kind of support. I asked in what other ways the stroke had affected him. He said he had pain in his legs and he couldn’t lift his left arm. I asked him to show me how high he could lift his right arm, and he lifted it above his head. I then asked him to lift his left arm and he lifted it about 2 inches above the wheelchair handle. With his permission we prayed for a total restoration of his arm and for him to be released from pain. I then said now lift your left arm, and he lifted it over his head just like the right one, and he said the pain was gone. I said now let’s pray for the complete restoration of your legs, so you don’t need any kind of a walking aid. But, he said he had to go, and he hurriedly pushed through us. I think he was so overwhelmed by his healing that he needed to get away and process what just happened. I noticed as he left he was testing his legs and ankles, by twisting them in different ways – it kind of looked like he was dancing a jig. I was sorry he didn’t give us a chance to continue praying for him, but as it turns-out he had something else on his mind, and we would encounter him again.
Hannah then spotted the wheelchair person she had been led to pray for, but he was located in a little alcove and it was impossible for us to all get around him to pray. While Iris, Brad, and Hannah prayed, Zach spotted a Filipino lady in a yellow sweater, so the two of us approached her. Eunice said she would welcome prayer, that she had been struggling with depression, and felt that she might be free of it from previous prayer, but was worried it might come back. We prayed a blessing of complete freedom from depression for her. She then said she had another prayer request – her church, Filipino Presbyterian, was going through a difficult time and so we prayed a blessing of unity, wisdom, and that personal agendas wouldn’t rule over loving one another. She was very thankful that we prayed for her and her church.
I then spotted a very short Asian lady with a cane, whom I offered to pray for, but she appeared very suspicious, and she didn’t understand English very well. “What religion are you?” she asked. I answered, “Christian.” “Oh, no, no prayer,” she said, “I am Catholic.” I countered, “Catholic is good, I know Catholic, I was born and raised Catholic, the same Jesus I will pray to for you. “Let’s pray for your leg, Jesus will heal you, and you won’t need this cane anymore.” She answered, “I am too old for healing.” I protested, “No you are not too old.” But she waved me off and left.
To my surprise, I then noticed Max Crow coming back towards us. I approached him and asked if everything was all right. He smiled and lifted his left hand over his head to show me his healed arm again. I asked if he had come back for prayer for his legs. “He said, “Not for my legs, but for my wife, she has been missing for 2 weeks.” (Not a good thing for a First Nations lady to be missing for any length of time in the Winnipeg area.) Several of us prayed for her and for him with heavy hearts.
It was just after 9 and several teams were gathering, and debriefing about their evening. I noticed a man with a pronounced limp walking in my direction in the mall. I approached him and said, “I’m looking for people to pray for, and I’m betting you could use prayer to be free of that limp.” He protested, “But I am Pentecostal.” I laughed and said, “So am I”, as I waved my arms in the air. He thought that was funny and Kevin said, “Go ahead and pray, my limp is a result of a stroke.” My team members had all disappeared so I summoned Trevor to join me. We took turns praying, and asking him to check by walking. Each time his limp lessened, after about 3 times he said, “It’s healed, the limp is gone.” He was very cheerful as he continued on his way, as we watched him leave we thought we could still detect a very very slight limp, but it wasn’t noticeable enough for us to be sure.
Got home in good time, but had a hard time settling down after all the excitement, couldn’t get to sleep until after 1. Looking forward to next week.