One of the craziest things I have ever done…

It is May 24^th and today I had a day off from the set ministries that my team and I are currently involved with here in Newcastle. Since the sun was out I thought I would enjoy it. So I asked God where He would recommend for my day off as I had a number of different ideas and He suggested I head to Whitley Bay. So I went and got myself a ticket for the metro and went to the platform to wait. A man followed me onto the platform and asked the guy I was standing next to a question. He then looked straight at me and turned and quickly moved to the other end of the platform.  I felt very strongly that I needed to ask the man if he had met Jesus. So I got on the train and went and sat next to him, again he looked right at me and before I could say anything he got up and moved to the other end of the carriage. So I sat there and prayed for him wandering what to do. I had heard him say to someone else that he was going to Whitley Bay, so I decided to be patient and wait till we got off to talk to him.

He decided that he would get off 5 stops later, only halfway to Whitley, So I quickly asked God and felt I should follow him. So I jumped up and got off the train just as the warning tones started to tell people the doors were closing. He was already off the station at this point, so I ran after him and when I caught up with him asked him straight up if he had met Jesus. He looked shocked and then told me no he had not. Then he told me all about everything he was suffering from and about his painful past. He had a number of mental instabilities such as bi-polar, paranoid schizophrenia, learning difficulties etc (I will not put it all down, it was quite a lot). When he finished I told him that Jesus could heal him and take that pain away, so he started to list it all again, and ramble. I simply said in the name of Jesus and he fell silent, at which point I was able to ask him his name and if I could pray with him, to which he said yes.

After I had prayed with him he managed to role up a cigarette and get his third match to light it. As he managed to get it lit he suddenly stopped and dropped it on the floor and simply said I need to go. In that moment something in his face changed and he walked off. I headed back to the station and continued onto the beach and had an amazing relaxing day in the sun.

I realised today that being open and obedient, even if it seems crazy, releases so much of the blessings of the kingdom. When I stepped out in faith I had no idea what was going to happen, I was expecting him to tell me to get lost, but God showed up and blessed both him and me. God is pretty amazing, I did not see radical things change on the spot, but I am ok with that. As long as I am trying to live my life in obedience to what God is asking that is enough. At the end of the day my responsibility is to do what God is asking of me, what happens after that is his.

Healings in Walker

As a Christian I know that God is able to heal, I know this to be true, as God has healed me. However, I still struggle to actual believe that God will heal when I take a step of faith and pray for someone. So I often argue with myself when I am out to actually talk to people and offer to pray for healing.

On Saturday (19^th May) the team I am leading at the moment were helping some of the local churches in Walker, which is in Newcastle, to run a marquee and football cage in the Walker Festival. The festival is not actually a Christian run event, but the churches in Walker come together to do things in the festival to connect more with the local community.

 Our time was going to finish with worship in the marquee, and so we spent the hour before hand walking round the festival praying. God has been challenging me recently to be offering the blessings of the kingdom to all I meet. So after a bit of time walking round and praying, and noticing lots of people on crutches. I went to find one of the other people we are working with to come and speak to people and offer prayer. I had done my normal arguing, but got to the point where I did not want to argue with myself any more. I do not want to be afraid of blessing others.

 The first lady we spoke to had injured her foot the night before, and was in quite a lot of pain. She said we could pray for her after a bit of hesitation, but she told us nothing had changed when we finished. We were not to be discouraged, and headed for another small group of people, one of whom was using a crutch. This group were very eager for us to pray. Not only the older woman who was using the crutch but others also, they were a family. The older woman suffered from arthritis of the hips, which she needed an operation for, but had been told that due to her epilepsy an operation would be too dangerous. So we prayed for her and the change was immediate. She told us that the severe pain that had been in her hips had gone. She then walked away toward a bench but quickly came back to tell us that she was no longer limping! Her daughter then told us she had bad knee pain, and swollen ankles. So we prayed for her and she told us that she felt really light as we prayed, and that the pain, which she had described as heavy before, was lifted. She wandered off to join her mother and a couple of other members of the family. The woman’s son stayed with us longer and told us about losing his father and how hard he had found it since. He also wanted prayer so we prayed a blessing over him, and the change in him was incredible, when he wandered away he almost floated. He was at a complete lose for words after we prayed, which he had not had any problem with before.

After this we headed back to join the others for the worship that the churches wanted to finish with. It was really encouraging for me to see God do amazing things when I take that tiny step of faith and reach out with the blessings of his kingdom.

Igniting Hope in Cardiff

I have the privilege of leading an outreach as part of the Discipleship Training School (DTS) I am working on with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). The team I am leading is going to three different locations over an 8-week period in the UK.

Our first stop has been Cardiff to join in with an event called Ignite Hope 2012. This is a youth conference where young people come to hear teaching and challenge about who God is, what it means to have faith and then to go out and put it into practice all over Cardiff.

We had the pleasure of joining with another team of like size from Colorado in the states and the ignite team to run this event. We spent two days putting the site together, constructing marquees, putting up bouncy castles and the like, setting up staging and cafes etc. The event was then over four days, before we took it all down again.

The actual event was amazing, with over 150 young people wanting to invite Jesus to be their saviour and Lord for the first time. We had the privilege of being a part of the prayer team and getting to sit and talk with a number of these guys about what it means to become and Christian. We have also been able to pray with people for healing and seeing them become well. The outward focus activities was also an amazing chance to be able to talk with people all over Cardiff and not only share what we believe, but also help to clean up areas practically (from litter picking to cleaning graffiti and re-painting)

The presence of God has been very strong during this weekend, especially in the worship. I really enjoy seeing young people come alive and want to reach out to others and bless them, and to be apart of this weekend has really blessed me and challenged me in who I am and what I believe.