Twenty-three people arrived at Zion, and another three joined us at Portage Place. An older gentlemen came for healing. Some team members prayed for him, and I was told he received the healing he had asked for, but I don’t know the details. Kevin had been in Toronto last week, and he gave us a report of some of the amazing miracles he had seen on the streets there. Teams were formed and we headed-out.
Barb (my wife) had given me 3 fancy scarfs she and my grand daughter had knitted to hand out to people. The first lady I approached didn’t even want to talk to me. She appeared very suspicious of me. I then approached a table of three ladies and offered them scarves. One of them immediately said, “no”, and another one said, “I’ll take one”. As I gave her the one she choose, my team leader, Trevor, took one of them for a lady he was talking to. I was about to engage the 3 girls, when a guy at the table next to us said, “My friend needs a scarf.” I turned my attention to him asking where his friend was. I was informed he was in the washroom and would be right back. I held on to the scarf, and said I’d like to meet your friend I’ll wait. While waiting he asked who we were and what we were doing in the mall. I told him we came every Thursday night to help people by praying for them. He then said, “So you’re Christians, I am also, and so is my friend, but he is in rehab, and needs your prayers.” His friend’s name was Rob, and he was very open and easy to talk to. Alex and I talked to him for a long time. He is 44 years old, has studied theology at University, has ministered with a team to prisoners, but has also been addicted to cocaine for 22 years. I told him that Jesus could and would break the power of his addiction, and I gave him some stories about that to build his faith. I explained to him the difference between being a recovered addict, and being a healed addict. I then made eye contact with him, and asked if he wanted to be free of his addiction. He hesitated. I again said, “Do you want to be free of your addiction.?” He nodded. I said, “I want you to tell me that you want to be free”. He then looked at me and said, “I want to be free of my addiction.” Alex and I then prayed to break the power of addiction in his life. He later told Alex that he experienced a warmth come over him, and he experienced something that was far greater than any ‘high’ he had ever had. I believe he is free. It turns out he lives near Zion, and we invited him to come to Zion this Saturday night for a worship/testimony/healing meeting, and to the Sunday morning service. I also invited him to join us in ministering healing to others on the streets. I will be at my own church Sunday morning, but I hope to see him Saturday night at Zion.
As I am writing this the Holy Spirit has overpowered me, as I more fully realize how amazing Jesus is and how great His love is that he would set this man free. If this was a paper report, it would be tear stained, as I have had to stop and worship. The tears flowed as I praised the mighty name of Jesus.
Next I felt the Lord drawing my attention to a sad looking lady sitting alone with a suitcase. I tried to engage her, but she would only give me one word answers like ‘yes’ or ‘no’. I told her that I prayed for people, and asked her if she had any pain, or if I could help her in some way. She said, “No”. The Lord then revealed to me that she had pain in her heart. I then told her, that I also pray for people who have pain in their heart, and asked if I could pray for the pain in her heart. She started to tear-up and turned away from me, but again said, “No”. I then said, “Before I leave, can I just pray a blessing over you”? But again the answer was, “No”. This lady needed a huge hug, but I didn’t feel comfortable doing that, and our lady team members were engaged with another person at the other end of the food court. Alex asked her if she was hungry and needed any food, but again her answer was, “No”. This is one of those times that I wish I was better at knowing how to come alongside a hurting person.
We had a few other encounter attempts, that didn’t develop into anything. One lady, Irene, asked me to talk to her because she was lonely. I had already noticed that she had visited with several other team members. I talked with her, but she was very drunk and had a slight speech impediment, making it hard to understand her. At one point she asked me to buy her a beer, I refused. She then told me that she believed in God, but that she had made a lot of mistakes in her life. I told her that Jesus would forgive all her mistakes. She then changed the subject and asked me to drive her home. I declined. I tried to turn the conversation back to Jesus, but she wasn’t willing to go there. I then decided that my visit wasn’t bearing any fruit, so I got up to leave, as she was now asking me to give her a loonie. Again I declined.
Ryan, a new member of my church, had heard me speaking about the street ministry at another church in Winnipeg, a month ago. He came out for the first time and was placed on Kevin’s team. One of the first people they encountered was blind in one eye. Kevin did his slight of hand trick, and had Ryan place his hand over the blind eye and pray. The eye was healed. Welcome to street ministry Ryan – what a great start. Shortly after, they encountered another person with a blind eye, and Kevin asked Sheyenne, a 15 year old, from Landmark to pray, and the person’s eye was healed. As I was leaving at 9:30, Kevin and his team were praying for a lady in a wheelchair. I saw her get out of her wheelchair and walk. I am not sure how that ended, but hope to find out more of that story.
Just as I was going out the door, Gaylene came to tell me that she had just talked to Hung (he was the professional poker player who was addicted to alcohol that we prayed for 3 weeks ago). She said he has been alcohol free for 2 weeks – so we celebrated the goodness of the Lord together.
Great night, I also heard of other miracles from other team members, as well as a demonic encounter a team had outside with a drug dealer. I wish there was a way to get more details and record all that takes place. Maybe we need to appoint someone whose role is to gather information each evening we are out.