Our car load arrived at Zion right at 6:30, which is when the worship starts, and in my busyness, I forgot to count heads. There were 2 new people, and in hindsight, we were about the same number as last week – so including the people that joined us at Portage Place there were about 25 of us. There were some reports from team members that they had re-encountered people from past Thursday nights, and they noticed a real positive change in them. There was also a report that a young man who worked in the Fido kiosk had given his life to the Lord through Tom’s team. Kevin and Jackie announced that they had bags of food from a food bank that we could give away.
Diana and I were co-leaders and we were joined by Lani, Mike, and Caleb. But before our team members had gathered at Portage Place, Gaylene had engaged a First Nations lady. Gaylene invited me to come and pray for her. Gaylene asked the lady if she would like to be sober, and she kinda of indicated she would. I asked her if I could ask her a couple of questions, and she answered, “I’m out of here”, and she started to leave. I said before you go let me pray a blessing over you, and I prayed a quick blessing of sobriety, and a release from alcoholism. As soon as I was finished she began to walk away saying, “Geez, guys, all I wanted was a smoke.” We didn’t see her again and I am not sure what the prayer results were.
I spotted a regular, Rose in the Food Court, and she was happy to see us and said she was looking for us. She is still having difficulty getting her old age pension from the government, and she is on the verge of getting evicted from her apartment, as now the December rent is also due. We prayed a blessing of the release of her funds. We then spotted David another regular who was also very happy to see us. He had no prayer requests but just wanted to visit. I also had a quick visit with Debbie another regular.
After that, we were standing at the edge of the Food Court deciding who we would talk to next, when Diana pointed out there was a man, with a red hat at a table that kept looking at us. I walked over to him and said, “Hi, I am praying for people, and I was wondering if I could pray for you?” He quickly answered, “Yes.” His name was Mathew, he had back pain from 2 damaged discs in his lower back, he almost died in November from a stroke, he lost all of his possessions because the last place he lived became infested with bed bugs, and his biggest concern was that he was hoping to meet his son on the weekend who he hasn’t seen in 17 years. (a little overwhelming, but nothing that Jesus can’t handle.) We began by each of us praying for his back. After each prayer, I would ask him what he was experiencing. After the first prayer, he noted something had changed the pain was less, after the 2nd he felt tingling, after the 3rd he felt a warmth, after the 4th he said it was as though he had a heating pad on his back and all the pain was gone. We then gave him info on how to connect with “Love and Care” ministries who could help him replace some of his possessions. We also prayed healing for his heart, and arteries, and healing of any damage the stroke had done. We followed this by praying for his reunion with his son. During this time each of us had words of knowledge and pictures for him. All were meaningful to him. We ended by asking him if he had Jesus in his heart, and discovered he was a Christian.
This encounter had taken a long time, and it was almost 9. The food court was very empty so we decided to go to the back entrance and see who we might find to pray for there. It was very quiet back there as well. I decided to go back to the Food Court to buy a Pepsi. On my way, I passed a friendly man with a cane sitting on a bench. I acknowledged him, and he began talking to me, so I sat down next to him. He said he had just visited his wife who was hospitalized because of a stroke, and he had to sit for a while because his one leg was in such pain. I offered to pray for him, but he refused by saying that he has had lots of prayers, and it has never helped. I told him some healing stories and again offered to pray. He refused again. I tried several more times, but he kept saying no, so I I told him that I was at Portage Place every Thursday night, so that when he saw me again he should ask me to pray for him. He agreed. On my way back from the food court he was still there, and he waved me over. “You might as well pray,” he said, “I’ve got nothing to lose.” I called the team over and we prayed for his leg. After prayer, I asked him how his leg was feeling. “Well it’s not hurting now, ” he said, “But as soon as I walk for a bit it will hurt.” I challenged him to get up and try it, but he wouldn’t. We were puzzled, he was in pain, now he’s not, but he won’t acknowledge the healing – afraid to hope I guess. Before we left I told him that if the pain comes back that he should say, “I rebuke you in Jesus’ name.” He assured me that he would.
On the way home Ryan told us about his team’s amazing experience. He was on Pastor Tom’s team with Phyllis and Ivan, and they decided to go to the Quest Hotel which is located right behind Portage Place across Ellice Avenue. He said they prayed for a couple of people outside of the hotel and led them to the Lord, and then other people started coming to them for prayer, and they also received Jesus. A lady sitting in a parked car who was listening and watching called them over for prayer, and she also received the Lord. Ryan said they were so busy he couldn’t remember how many people they prayed for or how many received Jesus as saviour. During his description, I had a picture of popcorn popping. Yes, Ryan said it was just like popcorn, pop, pop, pop all around us. [This is Ryan’s 2nd time out on the streets. The first time he prayed for a blind person, and they received their sight. I would say he is off to a very good start in street ministry.]
Here are some words from Lorraine last week – “Had an awesome time in Winnipeg at the mall tonight ministering to a number of people with our teams!! So honoured to be able to partner with Jesus to pour out His love on so many people. Some blind eyes healed, bodies healed, hearts deeply touched, salvations, practical needs met with food and provision…wow. I even got to have a ride around the mall with one of my aboriginal friends on the back of her walker. LOL Too funny! We had a blast! God, You are so amazing! And there was a feeling of joyous celebration tonight after all the teams met later on. What joy! What unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace! We’re all from so many different churches and backgrounds, yet Jesus has brought us together for such a time as this. This is what the Church was made for! More, Lord Jesus, more!! Radical God, radical love!”
On another note
There is a great new Bible tool available. It is an animated video of each book of the Bible. Each one is about 8 minutes long and they move very quickly (some Books have 2 videos). I have watched about 30 of them and found them to be informative and inspiring. There are at least 3 ways to access this resource:
Download the free app “read scripture”
Google “the Bible Project”
Search “Bible Project” on You Tube
Check it out – the Book of Jonah is extremely well done.