This morning we went out with a full team and hit the streets and parks to chat to neighbours and offer prayer to people.
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We first came across a man who had earphones in (normally, for obvious reasons, an immediate challenge!) We went up and introduced ourselves, asked him if he has faith, he said he didn’t really believe. He looked like he was on the edge of walking off to work and I said I don’t believe it’s an accident we’ve met you, a character in the bible with your name was a great leader. So when we asked to pray briefly at the end, and he let us, we said that he was created for a purpose, and God wanted to know him in amongst other things. He seemed quite touched, during prayer we could see a bit of a change, his body language changed.
After chatting to a friend, we’ve met through StreetSeed before and talking about the new building, we then met a man who is quite vulnerable and who we’ve prayed for in the past. We asked him what he would say to Jesus if he met him. He said he would ask for healing. So we spoke very openly and intentionally and we prayed for healing.
Then we ran after someone and scared them quite a bit! Moving on… came across a Polish man who was Catholic, and he was very matter of fact about having faith and belief in Jesus. When we prayed for him, he warmed up and we think it may have been the first time he’d been prayed for. He said we’d made his day and at the end asked if he could hug us? YES, we’re huggers! It felt like a very significant moment. I love the initial stand offish attitude and then at the end often the warmth and ending in hugs.
We met a lady who I felt was Ugandan, and so I said, are you Ugandan? Yeah, how do you know!? And I said, I just felt, sensed you might be, they are often people of peace, you know the Lord you know? And it kinda touched her a bit… and freaked her out a bit as well! She was Catholic and didn’t belong to a church so we prayed for community and relationships and I asked if she was married, no, so asked if she would like a husband and she said no, I’m good! Anyway, it was a significant time of prayer and again a wanting to walk on at the beginning but at the end really touched and blessed. The Holy Spirit definitely moved.
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We tried to talk to a couple of work men but they either didn’t speak English or just ignored us! So we moved on and met a lady at the playground who really didn’t speak English. We told her about Little Chefs and invited her to that, we think she understood! Then we met another woman who was a nanny with a couple of kids. She was initially quite closed off but we told her about Little Chefs too and she said she may come along and she let us pray for her. Then after that we bumped into a lady who has been to Little Chefs. Actually only yesterday I was looking through the register and saw she hadn’t been in a while so was thinking of her and then met her today so that was cool. She was worried about her mum and her brother so we prayed for her and for them and she said she would come next week so that was great to see her. We wondered around, didn’t see that many people and then stopped outside the centre and spoke to quite a few people who were running late for work.
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It was great some of the team made it to the playground as one of us had got a word of knowledge about the playground but we never made it ourselves.
We met a man from doggy day care who was very friendly but didn’t want any prayer. Spoke to a couple of other people in passing but didn’t engage in conversation.
We then walked into the park and I spoke to a young guy who we’ve met before and had prayed for his relationship with his girlfriend. We had a very good long conversation all about life and today’s society and world, covering lots of topics including pain and death, work, faith, money etc. I said but for all of that, for all the bad and suffering, there’s got to be hope, and something more and for me that is a relationship with Jesus. He talked about the negative things that today in modern life we live by and I responded that yes that exists but knowing Jesus is life changing. We’d talked about faith before and he‘s very knowledgeable. It was great to be able to talk in depth and openly about our views, both having a bit of a laugh at times. So at the end I said, what can I pray for, for you and he asked for positivity, and for people around him, that they enjoy his company and leave with positivity. So it was an awesome time to be able to talk and connect again and have a deep conversation about life.
We went to the library and there were two ladies and a baby, we introduced ourselves. We had a really good conversation and they want to come to Little Chefs and possibly Life. We got to pray for them, one lady asked for prayer for her son. We had a couple of prophetic words for them and got to pray for work for both of them and shared some personal stories of encouragement with that and they received us very well. They knew someone who has come to the church before; I’d met her at Make Lunch so great to be able to connect in that way and we invited them to the community BBQ on the 23rd.
When we had first walked into the park there was a man in shorts we had wanted to speak to but he was too fast and far away. However, on our way back through he was sitting on the bench with a friend so we rushed over and they were very friendly and open to talk. So we chatted, told them what we do and asked them if there was something we could pray for. They both wanted prayer. One man was having struggles with work and alcohol addiction and had been told he was incapable of work. That struck me and I felt that word is too strong, so I said, you are not incapable of that you’re just not ready for that. His friends name had a wonderful meaning, so we talked about that and he is volunteering and has had no alcohol for four years. They are close friends and clearly a good support to each other. So we prayed for them each before heading back.
