The HotS team was mixed up today as Jon and Pastor took a break for the week. Eunice went with Godwill and visiting Beki while Florence and I (I being Emily) prayed together. Godwill was the first customer today with a high temperature and bad headache, after praying the temperature came down although he continued to pray through sniffles for the others that came.
We prayed for people with boils, poor hearing, weakness, and struggling businesses. Several people also stop just to ask what we are doing but don't want prayer. A lady with knee pain felt an instant change as she got up to leave, a lady with chest pain was healed about 15 minutes after we prayed and a lady with neck pain felt a small change but left full of faith for complete healing.
As we pray often you can see a sense of peace on people's faces, today a lady lingered so long just enjoying God's presence I thought she had fallen asleep!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Healing for anyone
I found myself questioning today whether someone deserved to be healed.
Two ladies were walking past and stopped, and started talking. One of the ladies sat down, and as the conversation progressed, and she started talking about herself, I started judging her. I'm not proud of it, just owning up to it.
What followed, once we began praying for her, was the most obvious experience of the Holy Spirit working on someone right there in front of us that we have seen. She began to sob, then cry out to Jesus. Her crying was almost violent - her whole body was shaking as the sobbing racked her body. Eunice said afterwards that she could feel the Holy Spirit powerfully moving, and that He was causing her to shake too.
It reminded me of the Samaritan woman at the well, and the impact that her meeting with Jesus had on her. We could see and hear this lady meeting Jesus, and we pray that the impact will last.
Apart from that lady, we had the usual range of illnesses and needs to pray for. We were summoned by one person to go to somebody's house who was unable to walk to see us. And we had more reports of healings from previous weeks, and one man who came back for more prayer after an improvement in his condition, but not complete healing.
So today was a reminder for me that God's love is for everyone, that none of us deserve it, and that it is there for us no matter how we live and what choices we make. And sometimes it's easy to judge someone according to my own standards, but unless I have lived their life, I don't really have any right to do that.
Plus it's not my job to judge anyway. It's my job to minister God's grace. And that's for anyone and everyone.
Two ladies were walking past and stopped, and started talking. One of the ladies sat down, and as the conversation progressed, and she started talking about herself, I started judging her. I'm not proud of it, just owning up to it.
What followed, once we began praying for her, was the most obvious experience of the Holy Spirit working on someone right there in front of us that we have seen. She began to sob, then cry out to Jesus. Her crying was almost violent - her whole body was shaking as the sobbing racked her body. Eunice said afterwards that she could feel the Holy Spirit powerfully moving, and that He was causing her to shake too.
It reminded me of the Samaritan woman at the well, and the impact that her meeting with Jesus had on her. We could see and hear this lady meeting Jesus, and we pray that the impact will last.
Apart from that lady, we had the usual range of illnesses and needs to pray for. We were summoned by one person to go to somebody's house who was unable to walk to see us. And we had more reports of healings from previous weeks, and one man who came back for more prayer after an improvement in his condition, but not complete healing.
So today was a reminder for me that God's love is for everyone, that none of us deserve it, and that it is there for us no matter how we live and what choices we make. And sometimes it's easy to judge someone according to my own standards, but unless I have lived their life, I don't really have any right to do that.
Plus it's not my job to judge anyway. It's my job to minister God's grace. And that's for anyone and everyone.
Monday, June 14, 2010
God's sense of humour
Today God seemed to want to focus on people with unusual names! We were visited by Fernice, Consolata, Ephely, Leonita and Devna amongst others. When I look back to the previous week's record of who we prayed for, and see it's made up of people like Jimmy, Thomas, Ruth & Margaret, I have to wonder about God's sense of humour.
Today was busy – we had people waiting again, the first time for a while. After the customary 30 minutes at the beginning when nobody stopped, we then had an almost constant stream of people needing God's touch on their lives - more than 20 prayed for in this week's 2-hour session. It continues to amaze me how some, especially women, will share openly about what in the West would be considered very personal, and usually embarrassing. Today's list included people with stomach pain, high blood pressure, asthma, painful joints, injuries to heads and necks, menstrual problems, hearing, and eyesight. We also prayed for people's employment and their businesses.
About half way through this morning's session, a troubled young man took up residence a little way down the dirty street, speaking out loudly. Not much of what he was saying made much sense, and it appears from what others said that he has been like this since the post-election violence, in which his parents were killed. We sent Godwill to invite him for prayer but he refused and gradually moved further and further away. As he moved out of sight and sound, we prayed for deliverance and peace for him.
I also discovered this morning that a local witch doctor, Ndanu, lives within a stone's throw of our base for HotS. She walked past us a couple of times, and we invited her for prayer, but she refused our offer. In faith we bound the power that she is using to influence people in the neighbourhood, and prayed that the Holy Spirit would reveal His power to her. I was hoping and praying for an opportunity to pray with her, but she didn't reappear – maybe next week.
Last week we prayed for Godwill, who suffered from asthma and nosebleeds. He hasn't had any asthmatic symptoms since we prayed, and no nosebleeds either.
Today was busy – we had people waiting again, the first time for a while. After the customary 30 minutes at the beginning when nobody stopped, we then had an almost constant stream of people needing God's touch on their lives - more than 20 prayed for in this week's 2-hour session. It continues to amaze me how some, especially women, will share openly about what in the West would be considered very personal, and usually embarrassing. Today's list included people with stomach pain, high blood pressure, asthma, painful joints, injuries to heads and necks, menstrual problems, hearing, and eyesight. We also prayed for people's employment and their businesses.
About half way through this morning's session, a troubled young man took up residence a little way down the dirty street, speaking out loudly. Not much of what he was saying made much sense, and it appears from what others said that he has been like this since the post-election violence, in which his parents were killed. We sent Godwill to invite him for prayer but he refused and gradually moved further and further away. As he moved out of sight and sound, we prayed for deliverance and peace for him.
I also discovered this morning that a local witch doctor, Ndanu, lives within a stone's throw of our base for HotS. She walked past us a couple of times, and we invited her for prayer, but she refused our offer. In faith we bound the power that she is using to influence people in the neighbourhood, and prayed that the Holy Spirit would reveal His power to her. I was hoping and praying for an opportunity to pray with her, but she didn't reappear – maybe next week.
Last week we prayed for Godwill, who suffered from asthma and nosebleeds. He hasn't had any asthmatic symptoms since we prayed, and no nosebleeds either.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Compelled to grab
After today I've only got another 3 Mondays in Kibera before we go to the UK for our annual fundraising jaunt, and then we have a sabbatical until Christmas. How I am going to miss these Monday mornings!
Every week is different, and this week was no exception. One guy who we encouraged to come and sit down told us there was nothing wrong. Whilst we were chatting I was asking the Holy Spirit what we could pray for, and I felt prompted to ask the guy about his feet. Sure enough, he has a cut on one foot that he got about 1 month ago, and that is refusing to heal up. Then he told us about the pain in his back, the need for prayer for his family, and his need for a job. It was as if the Holy Spirit just needed him to get started, and prompted me with the right question for him.
Another lady was walking past, and although busy with one person I noticed her and quietly said to Em to go and get her. She did, and she was happy to receive prayer - she has a badly scarred face from a burn, and has lost the sight in one eye because of it. Pastor Shadrack and Em were able to lay hands on her face, and the lady could feel heat coming while they were praying. Although there was no instant change, we are hoping she comes back to see us next week and to report improvements, and that healing is on the way.
But that's the first time I've felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to actually grab someone for prayer, rather than just waiting for them to stop.
There were other sight issues today that we were able to pray for, and one young girl who came with pain and soreness behind her eyes, and left pain-free after the prayer. It was another great week of seeing God's heart for the poor at work through us. This week we had Godwill on the team again, and next week we hope that Florence will join us once more, which will mean a team of 6.
Roll on next week.
Every week is different, and this week was no exception. One guy who we encouraged to come and sit down told us there was nothing wrong. Whilst we were chatting I was asking the Holy Spirit what we could pray for, and I felt prompted to ask the guy about his feet. Sure enough, he has a cut on one foot that he got about 1 month ago, and that is refusing to heal up. Then he told us about the pain in his back, the need for prayer for his family, and his need for a job. It was as if the Holy Spirit just needed him to get started, and prompted me with the right question for him.
Another lady was walking past, and although busy with one person I noticed her and quietly said to Em to go and get her. She did, and she was happy to receive prayer - she has a badly scarred face from a burn, and has lost the sight in one eye because of it. Pastor Shadrack and Em were able to lay hands on her face, and the lady could feel heat coming while they were praying. Although there was no instant change, we are hoping she comes back to see us next week and to report improvements, and that healing is on the way.
But that's the first time I've felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to actually grab someone for prayer, rather than just waiting for them to stop.
There were other sight issues today that we were able to pray for, and one young girl who came with pain and soreness behind her eyes, and left pain-free after the prayer. It was another great week of seeing God's heart for the poor at work through us. This week we had Godwill on the team again, and next week we hope that Florence will join us once more, which will mean a team of 6.
Roll on next week.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
God loves sausages
I wasn't there this week - I was unavoidably detained at the coast! So this week's update comes from Emily.
We waited a full hour before anyone stopped for prayer today but once one had sat down, several followed. We prayed for people with chest pain, coughs, very swollen glands and skin diseases as well as for some businesses, there were more guys this week than usual including one man who had cut a finger off! It did not grow back but we prayed for the pain to go.
One guy came back to say hi, last week we had prayed for his sausage selling business and his wife and family. He reported that his wife is fine now and he sold all of his sausages, not only that day but everyday since! Before last week he would only sell a few here and there, he said his faith is strong now so we prayed together again that God would keep showing Himself.
Godwill, the Turning Point football coach, stepped up to take Jon's place on the team this week, he said it was a very moving and humbling experience.
We waited a full hour before anyone stopped for prayer today but once one had sat down, several followed. We prayed for people with chest pain, coughs, very swollen glands and skin diseases as well as for some businesses, there were more guys this week than usual including one man who had cut a finger off! It did not grow back but we prayed for the pain to go.
One guy came back to say hi, last week we had prayed for his sausage selling business and his wife and family. He reported that his wife is fine now and he sold all of his sausages, not only that day but everyday since! Before last week he would only sell a few here and there, he said his faith is strong now so we prayed together again that God would keep showing Himself.
Godwill, the Turning Point football coach, stepped up to take Jon's place on the team this week, he said it was a very moving and humbling experience.
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