#101 – Food Court Discussion Results in 3 More Wanting Baptism

“The current level of devotion and commitment to Jesus found in the Western Church is insufficient to handle the trouble that is coming.” – Brian Creary

This Week’s Highlights:

*Baptism discussion sparks a flurry of activity – see below

*Prayer strengthens and frees young man from temptation – see Sheyenne

*Cancer cells cursed – see Lorraine

*Tortured man feels a fire in his heart – see Gaylene

Eighteen people came out to minister on the streets last night.  The highlight for me was talking to Jamal about baptism and the flurry of activity that created.  Seated nearby was Cody, he was the one that was led to the Lord and delivered from some demons last fall.  Danika had been sitting with him at a nearby table answering some of his Bible questions.  After we had prayed blessings of protection, and the filling of the Holy Spirit for Jamal, I invited Cody to join us in the baptism discussion and asked him if he had considered being baptized.  That began a conversation between Gaylene and him, and he responded that he would like to be baptized.  About that time Justin showed-up.  He is a Christian who sometimes joins us on the streets.  He asks what’s going on, and when we tell him Jamal, Cody, and Edna (who are all Portage Place regulars) are getting baptized this Sunday, he says he has never been baptized, and he too along with his daughter would also like to be baptized.  You gotta love teamwork so many of us involved in each of these people’s lives in several different ways.

Sheyenne’s Report:

Tonight at the street ministry, some team members and I were trying to find a young guy named Jamal.  He is a regular at Portage Place.  He had just become a Christian 26 days ago, and he is getting baptized at Zion Church this Sunday, so we needed to discuss some last minute details with him. After we couldn’t find him, we asked some people, as well as Lucas, the homeless street evangelist, that he recently has been spending a lot of time with.  But no one had seen him in the last couple of days.  We then prayed twice that God would bring him to the mall and some team members also felt like the devil was trying to distract and prevent him from coming.  Shortly after we prayed the second time for him to come, he came walking into the food court. We then had the chance to talk to him and he told us that the devil has been trying to tempt him with drugs and alcohol and throw him off.   He was happy to report that he has been ‘clean’ for 26 days. He was so looking forward to his baptism.  God works in crazy ways and it was so cool to see how he worked in this situation and it was an answer to prayer!

Lorraine’s Report:

Last night Diana, Ed and I went to the St. Boniface Hospital to pray for a man who is very sick with cancer.  His wife was in the room at the time and welcomed our prayers even though the man could not respond to us as we prayed (at least not outwardly).  I told him who I was (he knows me) and told him we were there to pray for healing for him.  Jesus deeply loves this man, his wife, and family.  We cursed cancerous cells & tissues, commanded the pain and cancer to leave his body in the name of Jesus by His authority and we released life.  As we prayed one of our group had some words of knowledge and saw some things in her spirit which helped us to pray more specifically.  And then we prayed for the wife for about 15 minutes as well.  At the time we didn’t notice any significant change, but we’re believing for Jesus’ healing of this man.

By the time we were done it was about 8:40 p.m. Sadly, we ran out of time to pray for others at the hospital (it takes about 15 mins to drive there and find a parking spot).  But next week I’d like to go again to the hospital as there were many people in the building that night and we wanted to pray for more of them.

I then went to Portage Place to meet with Edna to discuss her baptism, and I was introduced to another young man named Cody.  He was a believer in Jesus and had also asked to be baptized this Sunday earlier in the evening (see above).  We gave Edna and Cody a ride home.  While traveling to Cody’s place we found out that his father was a Freemason!  So he asked me some questions about that and mentioned that if his Dad found out that he was going to be baptized and accepted Jesus into his life that he would be very angry with him.  I briefly mentioned my own situation as a new believer in Jesus when I decided to get baptized over 40 years ago now.  My Mom was very angry and mocked me as a result, but I stayed the course because I knew I had to follow Jesus and obey Him.  Sometimes we need to make hard choices to follow the Lord.  Cody seemed encouraged that he wasn’t alone in his decision.

Gaylene’s Report:

Lani and I spent a very long time chatting with and ministering to Matheos who’s Kurdish. I initially met him with Chelsea a few weeks back when he saw us praying for people and asked us about our faith. He was severely tortured while in Syria and is in a wheelchair. He lives at a refugee housing project on Ellen. Last night I recommended Nihad William’s, River of Life church to him because it’s in Arabic and English and much nearer to his home than the Coptic Church he attends in Fort Richmond.

Lani and I prayed for him to break off trauma and PTSD (he’s a very cheery guy but obviously tormented by memories when he talks about it). He said he felt fire in his heart after we prayed and we believe God was doing something very profound.

And then, the chain reaction of answered prayer for Jamal and desire for baptism was pretty awing.

Riley Wall, and Daniel Fewster are looking for prayer team members to join them on the streets of Niverville, on Saturday, June 9th.  Guaranteed lots of people to pray for and evangelize.
Contact: Riley 204-392-8766  wallriley2000@gmail.com
or Daniel 204-371-2612 fewst@hotmail.com

MoveIn is an international organization that sends prayer teams into the poor parts of cities.  Their vision is: “To see thousands of regular Christians prayerfully moving in among the unreached, urban poor globally – to make reproducing disciples.”
They will be praying in the inner city area of Winnipeg on June 23rd and are looking for people to join them.