“We steward the only message on planet earth that can give people what their hearts need most, which is hope. Hope that sins can be forgiven. Hope that prayers can be answered. Hope that doors of opportunity, that seemed locked, can be opened. Hope those broken relationships can be reconciled. Hope that diseased bodies can be healed. Hope that damaged trust can be restored. Hope that dead churches can be resurrected… Of all people, we must claim that hope and live in it and radiate it to others. And we must proclaim that message of hope to everyone God gives us the opportunity to influence.” – Nicky Gumble
Andy and I spent a chunk of time with Jamal. We partly rebuked lies like he was too far gone to return to Jesus and partly help interpret his fear of the Lord. Jamal was well aware that God set up the meeting with us…he was supposed to leave hours before but “something” got him to stay. I told him how God would chase him to the ends of the earth.
As we ministered to Jamal, people were actively trying to buy drugs from him. We eventually did get to pray for him and it was obvious that he was powerfully encountered.
It turns out he was fond of my friend Gilles, who’s a Christian guard at MYC so we called him and left a message.
When Jamal left, he was completely overwhelmed and a bit befuddled…he couldn’t find his glasses which he was wearing when we first met him. 🙂
My team consisted of two groups the first went to Main Street (Ed, Michelle, and Audrey), and then, later on, we joined up at Siloam Mission with Al, Mel, Ryan and myself. [I love the way we are so ‘fluid’ with our groups like this–we can cover many more opportunities to minister, and working together is always a joy! Way to go team!] 🙂
Here are a few encounters: Connected with many men/women again at Siloam Mission. Loved interacting with them as we get to know people better and they can get to know who we are as many of the same people are there each Thursday evening. We handed out mitts/gloves, candies, sandwiches, toiletry kits (an awesome and often needed practical gift!!), hats, scarves and lots of love! Had a chance to say hello to Al again, a middle-aged man on crutches who had injured himself years before in a water skiing accident and he could no longer walk properly without pain. He was surprised that I remembered his name right off and that I knew a bit of his story. He is still a bit resistant to prayer, but I sensed a greater openness in him. It seems that he finds it difficult to trust people, that they would even be sincerely concerned about his life. We had a bit of a chat together (it was horribly
cold out this night), but it was a warm conversation! Hope to see Al again next week and spend a bit more time with him. I also spent some time with a wonderful black woman that I have met a few times as well as a man who as it turns out, tells me he is Jewish! A few weeks earlier I asked if I could
pray for him and he said he wasn’t a believer in Jesus, but he’d receive my prayer if I could pray in Hebrew! LOL So, I did! (One of my prayer languages is Hebraic-Aramaic to which he replied in shock that it was the best sounding Hebrew he’d ever heard! Too funny!! God can do amazing things.) I shared with him that I believed in Yeshua ha Mashiach, Yeshuah’s Son; that I was a Gentile, not a Jew, but I loved Israel and God’s chosen people. He was very intrigued and every time I go to Siloam he always greets me! Pray for this encounter. It would be an honor to lead him to Yeshua ha Mashiach, Jesus the Messiah!
Other highlights: Our team connected with Victor who had a near-death experience where he said he died of a drug overdose and they brought him back to life again. He was the father of a 4 yr old son name Nicholas and asked for prayer for his son. Our team prayed for him as well as his son. We met a woman named Colette and her daughter Janelle who had Stage 4 cancer. Michelle & Ed prayed for them and cursed cancer in Janelle’s body, commanding all cancer to go and healing to come to her in the name of Jesus. Waiting to see what God has done for her. The team also prayed for a man named Lewis who had some big financial needs. He even asked our team to pray that he wins the lottery! LOL, So they asked the Lord for financial provision for him, that God would be his Provider, not the lottery. One of the men on our team had spoken with a woman named Bonnie and gave her a Tims
card for a lunch. Now Bonnie will be meeting with a friend over lunch at Tim Hortons! So good! A way for Bonnie to bless not only herself but another person as well. 🙂
A highlight for the evening was meeting up with Rob (who has lived on the streets in the past and now stays in an apartment but still takes various jobs for income and hands out newspapers to many people out on the streets, especially those at Siloam Mission who wait for a bed in the cold each
night! So kind!). Rob was walking to the mission when we asked him if he was heading over to Portage Place. We often see Rob there each week. This time we offered to take him with us as we were heading that way and it was a very cold night. So Rob came along and shared his story of how he got some amazing winter boots that the Lord had provided, and they were the exact size that he needed to replace some older ones that had a hole in them. While at the mall, Rob connected with the rest of the teams and began chatting with an aboriginal man named Donnie-lee. Apparently, Donnie had walked up to Rob and asked him how he could receive Jesus into his life! [Rob is a born again believer and usually doesn’t join our teams out on the streets, but he is well known by many of us.] Anyway, Rob brought Donnie to me and said that “this woman can help you…”, but I encouraged Rob to stay as we together led this young man to Jesus right there in the mall that night!! Too amazing!! Most people don’t usually walk right up to us and ask us how to know Jesus, so this was an incredible God appointment/encounter and the highlight of my night. This young man received the Lord and also needed some help to deal with his addiction and be disciplined. I gave him some contact information for H2O/Zion in the hopes that he would call in the next short while so we could continue to follow up and connect further with him. Please pray for this young man! He has a long road ahead of him, but all things are possible with God and we want to see him grow into an amazing young man for the kingdom. (see picture below)