Iris from Grunthal, Lorraine from Kleefeld, and myself from St. Pierre journeyed together to Winnipeg. We stopped at ‘5 Guys’ for a hamburger before arriving at Zion. Iris had never been there for a hamburger before, but is now a convert, and looking forward to going again. We had such a good time sharing stories, and praying.
There were 20 people at to shared 5 more joined us at Portage Place. Two First Nations men have joined our teams – one is Byron, and the other is his nephew James. Byron is very quiet and doesn’t engage, but prays for us during encounters. James is very outgoing, and before he met us he was doing street evangelism on his own, but was new to the ministry of healing. Kevin told us that he had been at Portage Place all afternoon, and had prayed for several people. When he left to join us at Zion he said several people who wanted prayer had agreed to meet him there at 7:30. When we arrived the Mall was busier than most Thursday nights. It was above zero outside, so there were also groups of people gathering outside.
Lucas, a homeless El Salvadorian, who walks Portage Avenue with ‘Jesus Loves You’ signs was at his usual place at the mall public piano playing hymns. He is a real loner, but I always make a point of greeting him as ‘brother’ with a handshake. I think he is warming-up to us. I then visited with my friend Rose, a First Nations grandmother, who usually connects with us for prayer on a Thursday night. She told me everything was good this week, and she didn’t have any prayer requests. She showed me her Daily Bread reading for the day which was on repentance, and she talked about what it meant to her (it was actually the reading for October 18th). She was busy at a food court table doing bead work that she sells to supplement her income. She showed me the contents of a plastic bag that was full of beer cans. She assured me she didn’t drink anymore, but she collected the cans and cashed them in for 10 cents each. She assured me every little bit helps. She then offered to sell me two bus tokens for $5, good for 1 fare each. I bought them and gave them to a team member who uses the bus.
I then spotted David, another weekly regular. When he saw me he was very excited and happy to see me because he wanted to apologize for being late last week. He said by the time he got to the mall we had left, and he had heard from others in the mall that I had been looking for him. I visited with him and introduced him to my team members, and he talked their ears off – he loves to visit. I excused myself and visited briefly with one of the maintenance workers who was on his coffee break. I offered to buy him a coffee, but he said he didn’t want one he just wanted to sit for a bit. He often eavesdrops when we are praying for people in the mall, by finding something to clean close to us. He is very friendly and seems to appreciate what we are doing. I then saw Debbie, another regular who sometimes points out people to us who need prayer. I greeted her and had a short conversation. At that point Phyllis stated, “You seem to know everyone in this mall.” We had a laugh about that. I pointed out that I had been coming here for almost 7 months now, and there were a lot of regulars that hang-out in the mall.
We could see at least 3 other teams that were engaged in the food court, so we decided to go to the back entrance, and see who was outside. Trevor engaged a lady in a wheelchair, who was resistant at first, but agreed to let him wheel her into the mall. Once in the mall the team engaged her in conversation and began to pray for her. I couldn’t hear their conversation, so I decided to take a bathroom break. When I returned a scuffle broke out, as security was trying to eject a very drunk First Nations man out of the mall. Two security guards bodily removed him while a third one held the doors. They took away his open bottle of liquor, and guarded the doors to make sure he didn’t come back in. James was watching this scenario carefully, and went outside to find the drunk man. Awhile later he came back inside and asked Mike and I if we would join him in praying for the ejected man. His name was Bruce, he said he knew Jesus, but needed help. He was sobbing heavily. Mike prayed for him, and then I asked him if he wanted to be sober. He said, “Yes.” After I prayed a blessing of sobriety over him, I then asked him if he was an alcoholic. He answered, “Yes.” He was continuing to sob, and he had his head down. I then asked him to look at me, as I talked to him about Jesus’ ability to heal him of alcoholism. I asked him if he wanted to be healed of alcoholism. Again he said, “Yes”. I then prayed and commanded the spirit of alcoholism to leave him. Right at that moment another First Nations man showed-up who knew Bruce and he hugged him and wiped the tears from his eyes. James immediately told the new guy that he wanted to pray for him. When he objected, Bruce who was sobering-up assured him he should get prayer, so he agreed and sat on the stone wall. Right at that moment I hear a voice behind me saying, “I need prayer”. I knew immediately this was a Divine appointment.
I turned to see a young Caucasian man, who was looking very forlorn. I walked over to him and asked, “How can I help you?” He said again, “I need prayer.” “How can I pray for you?” I asked. He said, “My mother died, my father died, and I am so alone, I don’t know what to do – are you one of those praying people – can you pray for me?” I assured him I was and I could. “Where should we start”, I asked. “I don’t know”, he said, “I just feel that my heart has such a big hole in it.” I looked and Mike and James were still engaged with Bruce and his friend, so I said come with me, I want to introduce you to some of my friends and together we are going to fill the hole in your heart. We went into the mall and I introduced him to Trevor, Byron, Phyllis, and Lani. (He wondered if Trevor, who is 6’4″ was my son, I assured him I didn’t make any children that big) I explained to the team that David had lost his parents, he felt like an orphan, and wanted prayer to fill in the hole in his heart. I began by asking him if he had Jesus in his heart, but I fumbled my words, and he thought I asked if he had any disease in his heart. After straightening that out, he said that he believed in God and all that. Lani then began to ask him questions. He said in response to her, I am a musician, that is who I am that is what I do, and he walked over to the piano near us, asked Lucas for the stool and he began to play. He played Beatles and Elton John tunes, and we all sang along – he was very good. When he finished playing Lani engaged him again, and it was obvious that they had a connection. He then started to say things about why didn’t God do this or that, or why did God do such and such. Lani just responded that these are all good questions that anyone might have, but let’s talk about how we can help you. After she talked to him for awhile Trevor said to him, “Take my hand I want to lead you in a prayer to receive Jesus.” He took Trevor’s hand and he repeated the Sinner’s Prayer, and somewhere in there I added Jesus will fill the hole in your heart. To our surprise he then turned to the piano and began to play Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’.
It was after 9, and other teams were beginning to gather to debrief, and so a fairly large group of us were celebrating David’s salvation as we all sang ‘Hallelujah’, with arms raised in praise to the Lord (quite the spectacle in Portage Place Mall) A couple of things happened at that time. I became overcome with emotion, and I moved a few feet away as I was overcome with joy and I was crying – God was so good I just wanted to worship him in private. But I couldn’t help notice the music had attracted other mall visitors, and team members were engaging some of them in prayer. After the ‘Hallelujah’ song Lani had a word of knowledge for David. She said, “Do you have a pain in your stomach?” He was flabbergasted, “How could you possibly know that?” he asked. Lani seemed stuck for an answer so she turned to me and said could you explain to him how I know that? So I explained that Lani had a special gift, and that the Lord often showed her things. He exclaimed, “So is she some kind of Priestess or something?” I said, “No, she is just a Christian like the rest of us, with a special gift.” (Actually many people on the healing teams have that gift.) They then prayed for him and he was healed of his stomach pain. David then began to play Christmas Carols, with the crowd singing along. After several songs he told us, “I always wanted to be a rock star, but maybe I can use my music to help other people. He then received different prophecies that affirmed him as now being a member of the family of God. I prophesied to him that he would soon be a worship leader. I gave him a New Testament and a Zion Church card. Lani then said give your new sister a hug, and Phyllis followed. I said how about a hug for your new grand father, and that was followed by several people hugging him. I am still tearfully singing ‘Hallelujah’ as I write this. It is so amazing that God sends people to us who are ready to receive Him.
Keep in mind that this salvation event took place over about 30 minutes. There are lots of gaps in the information I have presented. This was a team effort. Many people were involved and had a part to play, including the quiet ones who prayed while others of us engaged. So great to see how different people’s gifts contribute to a Kingdom building opportunity. Love my team mates.
[Just a note: All the words of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah song are not God honouring, but there are several Christian versions available on You Tube.]