A total of 39 people came out to minister at Portage Place, 8 of them new. Jeanette, a friend of mine from Thompson, MB was in Winnipeg for work-related meetings, and she took the opportunity to join us. She has been reading my weekly reports for the past 9 months and she wanted to experience the street ministry for herself. I know that she witnessed a blind eye being healed, and some other healings, but I don’t have the details. She said she was going to write up a report of her experience and send me a copy. I will pass on the info she sends once I receive it.
Our team’s first encounter was with a First Nations man named Perry. He was a Christian from Northern Ontario. He told the team he had been experiencing a lot of pain in his heart in the last year, and he was struggling. The team was able to encourage him, pray for him, and buy him a coffee. I missed most of the encounter as I decided to return my coat to my car, as It was too hot in the mall.
Lorraine, who had lost her voice, then engaged a First Nations lady named Corinne. It was a bit comical as Mel and I don’t hear well, and Lorraine could barely talk, so Alex was interpreting what Lorraine was trying to say to Corinne and to us, and then repeating to Mel and I what Corinne was saying. (I know it appears a little weird that we pray for people and they are healed, and yet some of us need healing ourselves. We had prayed for Lorraine’s voice, but it only improved slightly, and Mel and I have had our hearing prayed for at different times in the past, but neither one of us has experienced any improvement. The ways of God are often mysterious.) Anyway, Corinne had level 8 pain in her lower back. With her permission, we laid hands on her back and prayed. After the prayer, she said her pain was reduced and was now about a 5. We prayed, again and again, she said she thought it had improved. I did a prayer countdown: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 and I said pain be gone. She exclaimed, “it’s gone”. She tested her back by moving about and confirmed the pain was gone. I asked her if she knew who had healed her, and she said, “It was God”. I then talked to her about Jesus’ love.
Her 9-year-old son Tavien then blurted-out, “I want prayer too”. He pulled up his pant leg and showed us a 3″ diameter, very dark coloured bruise just below his knee. He told us it was really hurting. We prayed for his knee, and the colour of the bruise immediately changed from almost black to a reddish colour. He said, looking very pleased, that it was now better, meaning it didn’t hurt anymore. They were very thankful.
Lorraine then engaged a table of 4 First Nations people. The man’s name was Joseph, and he was in Winnipeg for dialysis. One of the ladies was Anna, his sister-in-law. She was a very polite soft-spoken lady. She told us that in November Kevin had prayed for her eyes, and her eyesight was totally restored (she had been partially blind). When we offered to pray for Joseph she encouraged him to receive prayer. The other two people moved from the table to make room for us. As we began to pray I asked him what he was experiencing. He said that he always experiences a lot of discomfort in the area of his kidneys. We continued praying and then he told us all the discomfort was gone. (Alex told me on the way home that as he prayed for Joseph he experienced a tingling sensation in his hands, and he knew that was a confirmation that Joseph was being healed.) After praying we encouraged Joseph by telling him that Jesus loved him. I chatted with Anna for a few moments and found out that they hadn’t eaten, as they had no money, so I bought them each a hamburger and a drink.
It was now 9 p.m. and groups were gathering to debrief. There was a lot of excitement as different team members were sharing the encounters they experienced. It appeared to be a very active night.
Earlier in the evening, I asked a security guard if he knew the name of the lady that had frozen to death in the front of Portage Place in November. He told me her name was Cynthia Harper. I didn’t recognize the name, but I have also spoken to and prayed with dozens of people in the past 9 months. On one hand, I was relieved it wasn’t Sandra, a homeless alcoholic that I have ministered to on several occasions, and yet saddened that anyone should have to die on the streets.
Here is a link to a short video of Kevin healing a blind eye this Wednesday.
Teaching this Saturday night (the 28th) at Zion by Erin.
Team members with access to Kingdom H2O Facebook page will find equipping talks posted there.