Another Healing Adventure and More Encounters With The Needy

At the weekend a team member was suffering problems with her left arm movement and numbness. I spoke to the problem and the Lord touched her. Afterwards she said: “it feels much freer”. I knew the Lord had done something as I had a witness in the Spirit. This is happening more and more these days. As I minister healing in my humanity, the Lord often seems to step in and pour out His healing power upon the person and I know without doubt in my spirit that God is at work. This lady also had a vision while she was receiving healing and told me about it. It seemed to tie in amazingly with a prophetic word I was given a couple of years ago by a clergyman from an Anglican church.

   Today a woman in a mobility scooter came for food. I went out to meet her, then chatted to her while the team dealt with her food parcel. She seemed in quite a state, at times putting her head in her hands, so I tried to help. She told me she had been an unwanted child and that her mother had once tied her to a cross in a field in Ireland when she was 8 years old! She said God was giving her a hard time at the moment. I tried to talk about it, making the point that we all have free will to do good or inflict evil on others, but she was having a hard time communicating, so sadly we didn’t really get any further.

Later a couple of black women came in and one of them said she didn’t go to church much anymore. At the church she used to go to regularly people used to make comments and talk about her, so she stopped going. I tried to encourage her not to give up on Jesus, even if she found church hard.

Evangelism: the more you do it the more you want to do it!

After a hectic weekend sharing Jesus with dozens of County Show visitors who came to our Christian Witness Tent (we offered free refreshments and a seat to rest), I was getting withdrawal symptoms a few days later.

I decided to get the bus into the next town (free, as I’m a Senior Citizen!). I went into the local park and noticed a woman writing on a park bench. Was it a suicide note – who knows? So I went and sat next to her and saw it was some kind of application form. She said hello and kept writing. After she left, I wandered back to the town centre, bought a snack and sat on a bench on the main street. On the bench were a holdall and a flask, but no-one with them. As I ate my snack the owner turned up. I chatted and discovered he was doing some painting nearby and was having a break while the paint dried.

I said to him “I’ve been looking after your belongings for you”. He replied: “God bless you!” I replied “He does!” He clearly wasn’t expecting that, so said “what did you say?” I explained I was a Christian and that God DID bless me all the time.

I asked if he was a man of faith. He replied, very honestly: “only when I’m desperate!” I gave him a Journey Into Life booklet and said: “the next time you’re desperate, have a read of this.” He thanked me and I left him to enjoy his break – tasty looking soup, to which he added  a load of pepper from a shaker he carried with him.  

Evangelism and Healing at The County Show

  

  The major encounters I had over two days:

M had back pain for some weeks and despite a hospital visit the other day, went home with no treatment. Laid hands on her back but no change. Prayed again and improvement noticed.

     A had her arm in a sling and was in pain from a bruised or cracked rib. We talked about faith and whether she had a mustard seed to add to my mustard seed of faith. I then put my hand on her arm and spoke to the pain and affected parts. I was suddenly aware in the Spirit of the Lord’s power coming upon this lady and as I spoke about what I knew Jesus was doing, she was acknowledging it herself. She said the pain was going and her breathing had become a lot easier. I invited her to keep thanking Jesus as she went round the show. She left quite excited at what had happened!

Chatted to a couple who showed some interest so gave them “Journey into Life” and a Mark’s gospel.

At the bookstall I chatted to a man on the theme of whether God exists. I talked to him about the complexity of creation and he seemed to agree that there must be something behind it all. I said that something was God.

A woman rushed in for a coffee and while here tried to do some business for her firm which was house surveys for solar panels. She said she worked 7 days a week. I declined her survey but offered our survey instead. When I explained it was about God she said she didn’t go to church but prayed every day. She said she didn’t have a bible and wasn’t interested in reading one either. I explained that was how God primarily revealed himself, so she was missing out, and possibly open to being deceived. She rather diffidently accepted the “Journey Into Life” I pressed into her hand as she hurried back to work.

I kept bumping into one particular guy several times during the day. During the rainstorm I again found myself next to him and he had time to chat. He’s a window cleaner and was pretty definitely born again. He doesn’t go to church at the moment and has mislaid his Bible. I said I would send him one. He seemed to have lapsed on his spiritual devotions too.  I reminded him of the importance of reading the Bible and praying daily. His relationship with Jesus was primary, church was secondary, but flowing from the strength of his primary relationship with Jesus.

Saw a man with a nice camera, so as I enjoy photography I made a beeline for him. We spoke about faith and he said his niece went to the Salvation Army. I raised the subject of eternity and how we need to ensure our eternal destiny before it’s too late.  Jesus was the key to this and I gave him a “Journey Into Life” as he left.

I chatted to 2 ladies who were amazed when I told them I came from Gxxxxxx in Scotland. They had spent some time living there in years gone by and we had a long chat about places we knew up there. We got on to faith and since we were getting along so well I gave them my testimony, also told of the time Jesus appeared to me in my bedroom. I gave both a “Journey Into Life” as they left.

E and her friend were up from Hxxxxxx to enter her bunny in the Rabbit Show.  Her friend was a Christian, but E said she didn’t believe, although really enjoyed talking about religion. She couldn’t understand why, if Jesus rose   from the dead, there was no physical body left behind. She had to get to the Rabbit Show for 10.00am so I invited her back to chat some more.  I pointed out M as the resident “professional  evangelist” if I wasn’t around. I gave her  the booklet “Good Question” as she left.

Mrs M, aged 83, readily talked about the Lord before I got a word out. She was a widow living a mile away, and had been suffering bouts of illness from Guillaume Barre syndrome. Today was a good day so she was glad to be out. I had brought with me a “Dear Child..Letter from God” with comforting words and accompanying  Scriptures. I felt it would be helpful for her, so gave it to her. When she realised what it was, she happily took it away.

A godly Scottish couple living locally were a joy to chat to. He had overcome some demonic activity early in his Christian walk, but had matured into a solid believer.  Some years back when working abroad he regularly made Friday ferry trips back home from Europe to the UK.  He normally caught the 3pm ferry from Zeebrugge.  One week he finished work early, so caught the noon ferry instead. This was the day that the 3pm “Herald of Free Enterprise” capsized, drowning many folk!

J has just spent £300 at the Show on some special footwear to help with a problem with his hips. His doctor had told him he had stiff hips, which caused him problems when getting up from a sitting position. I offered to pray for him and laid hands in his lower back area. After doing this 3 times he maintained nothing had changed. I said: “I know this may sound like a cop-out, but sometimes healing manifests itself over a period of time”.  I gave him my card and invited him to get in touch if anything changes.

A guy came in dressed like Robin Hood. He was part of a re-enactment group from South Wales. He was a born again Christian with interesting stories to tell. I had brought with me the testimony of an ex-Spiritualist I knew. He said he had a friend who called himself a “Christian Spiritualist” and so happily took it away to give to him.  

Challenge To “Test The Spirits” Given To A Guy In A Wheelchair

guy in wheelchair

A guy in a wheelchair came for food, but had problems getting over our door threshold. So we went out to him, as we already had a pre-prepared food parcel ready for a single person. While chatting to him outside about how God provides our food (I usually say “it falls from the sky”, which provokes a smile!), he told me that he’d seen  spirits appearing to him at intervals throught his life, from the age of 7. He also said he’d been told by others about things that would happen in his life. While attending a Spiritualist church someone had indicated to him that he’d make a good medium, so should put himself forward.

I suggested caution about all of this, whereupon he freely admitted that in chatting to mediums he’d learned that not all spirits acted kindly. I explained what the Bible says about good angels and fallen angels, but he wasn’t very convinced by this. I then told him that the Bible tells us how we can know if spirits are from God, and that he could do that in future. I quoted from 1 John Chapter 4 where the Apostle John says: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God”.

I said: “would you like me to write that down?”. He confirmed he would, so I wrote out the question, what the response indicated and gave it to him. He then announced that he would attend the Spiritualist church this week and put the question there. He then planned to come back next Friday and tell us the outcome. “Sounds good to me” I said. He also agreed I could send him a testimony of a Christian I know who is an ex-Spiritualist.

We offered to pray for him and after some hesitation he agreed. I also prayed for healing in his body, as his legs were in a bad way from a recent accident. After prayer I asked: “did you feel anything when we prayed?” He replied: “not a thing”.

After he left, a Muslim guy we know came in for food. He recently described his fellow Muslims to us as “a bunch of hypocrites”. As he waited I thought it appropriate to offer him the booklet “Journey Into Life” by Norman Warren and he took it.