A tale of two halves

We started we 3 'friendly' nos on the estate so we decided to go over the other side of York Road to Halfords. We met a man at the bus stop who wasn't a believer but all his family were and he asked us to pray for his father-in-law who has pancreatic cancer.  He encouraged us that it was a really good thing we were doing despite not believing himself.   Then we bumped into a guy who thought we looked lost (!) he said everything was great in his life but despite being tired and grumpy he let us pray a blessing on him.  Then we stopped 2 guys who worked for range rover, despite their initial surprise they let us pray for them in the middle of the road!

We had 8 rejections! But it was kind of fun and they were all nice!  The people who did say yes came really easily.  The responses were really unusual "Can we pray for you? No, but I'll come to church on Sunday!"  Another guy asked us to pray for the addicts in his building and we prayed for a guy who'd lived here since the war who was lovely and will hopefully come to Living Life! 

We went up to the station and had a number of people who weren't interested or too busy. We prayed for a lady who was really open to prayer and then spoke to a Hungarian man who was really engaged and wanted to know all about prayer "where did you learn this"?! Prayed for his bad back and the lung cancer he 'might' get from smoking! But he also allowed us to pray that Jesus would reveal himself to him. We also prayed for a lady who was on crutches and open to prayer but not able to test it.

Encouraging Christians

We hit the streets again to pray for those we met. Here's how it went.

----

We went to the park and met a lady who knew someone from the church. She was very receptive and wanted prayer for a new job. We met a Syrian Christian who was on his way to work. We were able to pray for his family and country, and even though he was in a rush wanted more prayer and was clearly moved. Even the offer of prayer moved him.

We met another lady in a rush on the way to work but had a sick relative and so we were able to pray for her. Our next encounter was with a Christian lady who some of us had prayed for a few weeks ago - we prayed for healing in her shins. 

A man who had come to work on the estate was loitering and he wanted prayer as he had cancer. He said he was a Christian but the doctors said there's was nothing more than he could do. So we're hoping for his healing.

-----

We also met a Christian lady who wanted prayer. And then bumped into a student coming out of the student blocks. We were able to pray for one of the professional team for the new church building which was amazing to have that opportunity which isn't always possible in the formal meetings. 

A lady who looked really weighed down initially was up for prayer and really came alive after we had.

Then we bumped into an older gentleman who had a big injury on his arm and was really open to us praying for healing.

At the station we met a man who initially seemed closed but had grown up in a Catholic faith. We were able to share some encouragement with him and a bit of our story of experiencing new life and love from coming to know about Jesus.

----

We also met a Christian man and was delighted we were out praying and were able to bless him. We met a lady who was totally up for us praying for her mother who had cancer.

After a few no’s we bumped into a lady walking her dog, and she knew St Peter’s as she used to get sandwiches there when she was homeless. She was struggling in many ways and was very insightful as to her challenges – she was really up for prayer. It was a beautiful and honest encounter.  

----

Amazingly, we also met a lot of Christians who wanted prayer but also really encouraged Christians were out praying for others.

We had a few encounters with people who we prayed and had specific ‘words of knowledge’ about their passions or how God sees them and every one was able to say it connected with them.

Before we went out to pray we had a sense that we’d meet a mum with a child who was not doing well, perhaps ill or not sleeping and God wanted to touch them. We met a lady in the park who some of us had met in previous months. Her three year old wasn’t sleeping through the night and was really open for us praying for her.

There was a large group of people in York Gardens in a circle so we went to find out what they were doing – and they were engineers looking at the sewers. We offered them prayer but they had a lot to get on with so said no!

A picture of Jesus

StreetSeed went old school with a Thursday morning outing this week (back to Wednesday next week) - here's some of the encounters we had:

---

We prayed for a woman we have met before who has had arthritis since she was 18. It got a bit better after praying and she was really blessed by the encounter.

We bumped into a man who'd been fixing David's broadband this morning who he'd wanted to pray for but hadn't had the chance. He was totally open and up for prayer, including for his wedding in 6 weeks, which was great.

Then we met a woman who is being baptised later this year and prayed for her - it felt like God was really pursuing her.

Finally we saw a guy who we thought was limping but when we asked about his health he shared that he had ongoing problems with his hands. We prayed for him and he said he felt warmth and then described it as though someone was physically trying to pull him away from his pain. It felt like a real picture of Jesus.

---

We went down to the river. On the way we met a woman who has a colleague with cancer, who was happy for us to pray with her.

Then we chatted to one of the waitresses from one of the riverfront restaurants who didn't want to be prayed for, but we had a word for her about fashion and art. It sounded like she was ready to do something different with her career, so hopefully she was encouraged by the word.

We also met a man who asked us to pray for his wife and her brother, as their relationship has broken down.

Living on a prayer

Another Wednesday, another week out on the streets. Ten of us headed out to bless and pray for folks we bumped into in our community. Here's how it went:

----

We saw a young man walking with difficulty and he said that some days he can't even get out of bed and today was a good day. He wanted prayer - he wasn't able to try it out but said he would know the next day so we asked him to let us know if there was any improvement. We met a Muslim woman and let her know that we loved her and honoured her, and she really glowed afterwards.

We spoke to a lady who knew some other people from St Peter’s who initially didn’t want prayer but then later she really opened up and we were able to pray for her.  It felt like her connection with other Christians had paved the way.

We saw a lady in York Gardens with a large dog and who wanted prayer for her finances.  It ended up being quite chaotic with her dog and my buggy collapsing (and she was actually on the phone to someone else but was happy to leave them on hold!) but that didn’t seem to deter things and we had a sense she was very frightened about something and she said she was and we prayed that Jesus would take command of her fear like she took command of her dog.

----

There was a man who wanted to pray but was in a bit of a rush, but we convinced him to stay for a moment!  We went through the square which was really quiet, and got to pray for one of the teachers from the local school and was really receptive for prayer for teaching and his family.  There was a man we kept bumping into and we told him God loves him. He had a lot of brokenness and hurt in his life, as well as lots of need. He didn’t want prayer but a seed was sown.

There was an Eastern European guy who was really happy to chat and had had a lot of bereavement in his life in the past year. He let us pray for him and we had a sense he felt burdened and he seemed quite touched.

--------

We offered prayer for lots of people, who nearly all said yes this week. One of the council caretakers we know was blessed and we then got to pray for two Muslim women who let us pray for their children. We then offered prayer to a lady who was a Christian who had high blood pressure so she let us pray for her to be healed, and straight after that we met someone with a 'crumpled back' who was in a lot of pain and she let us pray for her and her family. 

A bumper time

There was a bumper 13 of us (including 2 under 3s) heading out to pray this morning which felt really exciting. Here's some stories:

----

We approached a lady who looked tearful and really up for prayer. She was in a challenging job and was tired out. We were able to encourage her and pray for her.

The next lady was a Christian and really up for prayer around her knee where she had pain. She said she really sensed a powerful feeling that she couldn't describe. She said that her pain went down from an 8 after we prayed to a 4, and then went to a 1, so it was incredible!

-------

We met a lady who was a Christian who was really receptive to prayer after losing her mum two months ago. Unfortunately, our Spanish wasn't up to the next encounter so we wished her well and headed onto offer prayer for one of the local caretakers who didn't want prayer that moment but asked us to pray later. We were also able to pray for a lady's work which was a nice encounter.

---
We had chance to pray for a local business, and we also had an encounter that our Spanish wasn't up to! A man from the council said he didn't live locally so didn't need prayer (which we didn't have chance to let him know didn't disqualify him!).  We made a great connection with someone from another local church who was with a local foodbank customer which was really great. 

-----

One man didn't want prayer but said us just asking was enough for him. We met a chap in the park who initially didn't want prayer but once we'd been talking for a bit he said he did want prayer for a struggle he's in. On the way back we met someone who was struggling financially. He asked for a specific amount of money and that's exactly what we had so we were able to help him and prayed for him.

------

We headed up towards the station and were able to pray for a lady with cist on her ovaries. We asked a lot of people on the way and number of folks didn't want to stop but we were able pray for a local business under the arches. 

We approached another guy and one of us had a sense that he had shoulder pain so asked him if he did. He said he didn't but after we explained that we were praying for people he said he did have knee pain and let us pray for that. So even if we share something that doesn't connect with them God can still use it! There was no immediate improvement from what we could tell but he was very open and headed on his way.

"The pain has gone from a 10 to a 3"

A week of Autumn sun today as we headed out to pray for and bless the community. Here's some of our stories.

...

We had some cool encounters and met lots of people with pain in their legs this morning...

We prayed for a friendly young guy with a big knee cast on crutches. After saying a quick prayer he said: "Yeh that's about 30% better", but without any sense of astonishment or even a smile! He was so chilled. He let us pray again and he said "the pain has gone from a 10 to a 3" with equal amounts of nonchalance, and then said "thanks so much I've got to go now!" One of our most casual responses to God healing someone. 

We then prayed for a couple on their way to the NHS clinic. The man had a crutch and we approached him and said he had upper leg and hip pain. He was happy for us to pray and said it got a little better after a couple of prayers. They were really blessed to be prayed for.

We prayed for a lady with her child who had leg pain and a chap who's mum had foot pain and we also were able to bless him. We also bumped into a guy with a foot cast we'd prayed for in the past but hadn't been healed yet. He was clearly disappointed to still have the cast on and was happy for us to pray for him again.

......

We dropped in on someone we know and his friend came along and we got to pray for their family and new work. We invited them both to Alpha and then one of them was trying to encourage the other to come.

There was a new chap from the council caretakers team who was really blessed to be prayed for. We tried to pray for a lady who said she was too busy and then as we did another chap asked what we were looking for and we said we wanted someone to chat to and pray for! It turned out he was burying his wife that day so we got to pray for his day. 

"It's completely gone!"

Another week out in the community offering prayer to those we meet. Here's how it went:

----

We had a full morning and got to pray for lots of people out in the community. In particular, it was great to pray for joy and happiness for a group of men hanging in the park. 

We also saw two ladies who looked like they were off to work and then one of them introduced us to their sister who was just nearby. One lady had said no to the offer of prayer initially but then when we asked if anyone had any pain she said she had a headache and let us pray for her. She was really touched and seemed to think it was feeling better. Then a moment later as we'd walked away she turned round and shouted 'It's completely gone, it really has!' which was super encouraging. 

We got to pray for another gentleman who had a bad knee and said he felt it was healed. Then there was another lady who we'd seen earlier when she was walking the other way and had declined prayer. But we offered again when she came back and were able to pray for her leg. It didn't get better immediately but she was really touched and asked about how she could join us in the week. So God was doing something in her!

-----

We had a lot of friendly people saying they didn't want prayer. And then two different people were really up for prayer. One was a lady with not much English. She kept asking "where do you want to pray for me?" and we kept saying "Here", "here", "like right here now" as praying out in the park was unusual for her (as it is to many at first) and we were able to bless her day.  

The second lady also was blessed and both felt like quite low key encounters in some ways. As I was praying it can sometimes feel intense but this morning I didn't feel any pressure and it felt the right dynamic between me and God (possibly because I was more tired today), but it was good to remember that it's God who does the stuff.

Building relationships

Thankfully the rain held off until after we'd been out into the community to pray on Wednesday morning. Here are a few stories from our time out...

-----

We had a nice chat with a man and his son from Yorkshire who were playing Pokémon Go in York Gardens, though they said ‘no thank you’ to prayer. Then we bumped into a woman we know from events like GLB who had just been to the doctors with an ongoing stomach problem. She was up for us praying for her, which was great as it felt like something that has become normal for us was something that could now be normal for her too.

We chatted to one of the guys we see regularly in York Gardens and prayed for him, and then met a young guy whose family go to church and we prayed a blessing over his day. After that we met a woman who we’d met once before and although she hadn’t wanted prayer that time, this time she was open to us praying for her and her kids. Finally we talked to one of the women who works for L&G, who was super receptive to prayer, so that felt very easy.

-----

We went to Haven Lodge to drop off some flyers for Living Life and talked to the lady on reception there. We then went to Falcon Road and had quite a lot of no’s from different people, but then met a woman outside Providence who seemed very surprised but also touched to be asked if we could pray for her, so we prayed for her family.

Then we bumped into another older lady who said we’d prayed for her before. She didn’t want prayer this time, but said she’d think about coming to Living Life. Finally we met this girl who we were nervous to approach as she looked quite scary, but she was actually really open. She’d just moved here from Turkey yesterday to study, and was really up for being prayed for for her first year at Uni.
 

Just the two of us...

Today was just two of us out and about, it was a seriously quiet day out there, too damp to sit on a bench and wait for prayer for most people. 

"We did meet a man who had burnt his foot with a pan of water and were able to offer to pray for him.  Another lady walking her dog told us her brother used to be church warden at St Peter's and her sister the Sunday school teacher so we told her about the new building and invited her to visit soon. She was also concerned about all that's happening in the world and for the safety of her family so we prayed for her.   Another man was pleased for a blessing on his day and we had some other friendly chats with people on the way." 

On Thursday there were also only two of us so we went out again, we just can't get enough!

"We met a guy outside Louie's shop who we hadn't met before and got chatting about his assisted powered bike! Had a good chat about health, carpentry, change and the state of the World today.  He was happy for us to pray for him and said "that was nice" afterwards despite being resistant to start with. 

Another lady asked us to pray for her teenage daughter as she becomes independent. 

We were also able to pray for a vulnerable adult we're getting to know, give him some practical help and praying for healing. 

Nicely topped off by a quick visit to the regeneration office for a quick chat about some advent plans brewing." 

"I can feel it, I can feel it in my heart"

It was nicely dry this week as we went out to pray for our community. Here are some stories:

-----

We headed to the park and had some really good encounters. After praying for a lady we spoke to a man we knew who shared lots of sad stories and challenges he faced and he really appreciated prayer. We managed to encourage a lady who'd been off alcohol for a long time and she was seeking to quit smoking, so we prayed for that. After praying she said "I can feel it, I can feel it in my heart." So she was really impacted.

-----

We met a lady who asked us to pray for her getting a new job, and then met a local man who had some very challenging family situations. He was really encouraged and touched by the prayer. We spoke to a man who asked us to pray following a recent bereavement and also he also had arthritis in his left knee. After praying we asked him to test it by walking a little and he said it felt a bit better and so we prayed again and he said it had improved! We reminded him it was not us but Jesus who heals and that the doctors saying it will never get better doesn't have to be the final word on it.

'We're praying in the rain'

On Wednesday morning nine of us (including two under 5s) went out into the rain to find people to pray for. Here's some stories:

-------

A day earlier I'd had a sense of someone sitting on a bench in a particular area of the estate the we should pray for. Even though it was really raining we went there anyway and found someone sitting on that bench in the rain - the chances of that! The first thing he said to us was 'what are you doing here?' and we said 'what are you doing here? We're from the church and we're here to tell you God loves you and he's got good things for you'. He was someone with a number of struggles and lots of sadness and we were able to encourage him and pray for him. He seemed really moved.  

-------

We started to chatting to a customer in one of the local shops and he used to go to St Peter's many years ago, and started naming lots of people he used to know, who are still part of our church family. He was really grateful to be prayed for. 

-------

We had a gentle chat with a man out in the rain and we were able to talk with him about the journey of faith. We also prayed for a water engineer - we kept bumping into him as we were walking around and he was really up for prayer. Our awkward attempts to say hello didn't put him off!

--------

We were able to pray for some musicians waiting to go into a band practice room and a taxi lady who made short horror movies in her spare time! She even invited us to Dublin to see her film!

--------

We bumped into a lady who had been to the St Peter's cookery club once and she wanted prayer for peace for family life. She was so hungry for prayer. And then we approached a man who was a photographer who asked us to pray for the rain to stop! So we prayed that nature would compliment his creative expression....

Praying at God Loves Battersea

On Saturday we had our annual summer community festival which we call 'God Loves Battersea'. It was a great opportunity to bless and connect with many folks in our community and we were also offering prayer to our guests. Here are some stories:

-----

We prayed for several people this afternoon, all who were really open. For me today it was about listening prayerfully to people and hearing what's going on in their lives. As we listened to them we were also listening to God to see if he was popping anything into our thoughts to bless them. It felt that we were really able to speak life and encouragement into the lives of our guests.  Everyone we asked wanted prayer. It was interesting that a lot of people we spoke to had had negative experiences of the church and it was good for them to be able to see a different side of church through the event. 

-----

It was really good to chat and pray with lots of our guests at GLB. I got to pray a blessing for a couple of were expecting a child and they seemed really touched. 

There was a woman who was in a lot of arthritic pain. She let me pray a quick prayer of healing for her and she said she felt the pain reduce. She let me pray one more time and the pain dramatically reduced again! Incredible to see the power of Jesus at work out and about in Battersea!  

Boldness in prayer training

On Tuesday evening we had a prayer training evening, seeking to grow in becoming bolder to pray for others in non church environments. We looked at Jesus being our model for living a supernatural lifestyle and then went out on the streets offering prayer to folks we met. The buzz in the room when everyone came back with amazing stories was amazing!  We’re excited about the journey God is taking us on and hopefully some of these stories will inspire you:

-------

Approaching people with the idea of loving them really shifted things for me. I went out with someone who’d not done it before and she was really encouraged to go out and to realise it wasn’t difficult to approach people. 

We were walking along and got scared by a dead pigeon as did another lady (!) who started walking along and we got chatting to her and she let us pray for her and she’s already planning to come to GLB (our community event this Saturday), which is good. We also talked to some guy who was coming out of AJ’s shop about faith – he wasn’t up for prayer but we had a really good chat.

------

We  went up to a guy – I felt a pain in my back, which sometimes is an indication that the person in front of me has a back problem – we went up and spoke to him for a while and it turned out that he did have a back problem. He didn’t really want us to pray for him but he opened up and spoke about some quite heartbreaking experiences he’d had. We came across another young man who was really open to prayer – the lady I was with was more confident in talking to him and approaching him – just a real natural.

We approached an Asda delivery man who was a Muslim. After an exchange she said “We just want to stand with you and if it’s ok we want to pray with you. We believe that Jesus is the son of God and we want to pray to him, to Jesus for you” to which the guy said yes! So we prayed for him, we prayed a blessing over his life, and for a new job that he was looking for.

We then went a our local barber shop. We prayed for healing for the barber who had pain in his left foot for a number of months and I spoke to a guy who after a chat accepted prayer. Afterwards he said ‘does your church do baptisms? And after saying we did he replied ‘yeah, I’m going to come check your church out’. And then I turned round to see Louis hopping on his left foot essentially, saying ‘my foot is completely better - I can’t believe it, the pain is completely gone!’ So yeah, it was quite an amazing time.

-----

We went out (with someone who was out for the first time our prayer backup standing at a distance) and offered to pray for a couple chatting animatedly in York Gardens. The man was very open to prayer and let us pray for his left blind eye and for fresh hope. He wasn’t healed immediately but was really blessed and thankful. The lady was not as open as him and wanted to share a lot of her painful life story. We listened for a while and then we had a prophetic sense of the name ‘Jonathan’ and whether that meant anything to her. She was quite shocked, and freaked out a bit, and said that her husband’s name was John and her son was Johnny.  We explained that God often reveals things like this to let people know that He loves them and knows them intimately. She was much more open to prayer after this and let us pray for the pain she was having and breakthrough in tough situations.