St Martin’s HOTS in June reached a record so far this year. We had again a blessed time reaching out to passers-by with a wonderful team. The team was great in number and as usual in quality too.
I’d like to start with this testimony a gentleman sent to me on his email:
‘Last Saturday I was in church at St Martin’s as usual, and my priest asked me to come especially the next day on Sunday as his sermon would be on baptism. I knew the HOTS team was outside on Edgbaston St so I went there for prayer. Whilst outside chatting to two of the team members, one of them asked me ‘why don’t you just get baptised tomorrow.’ As I sat there I was holding a water bottle and I replied ‘ here’s some water why don’t you just use this…’ When she heard this she asked me to repeat what I had just said. I did, and she stepped back amazed as she said this situation was similar to something that happened in the Bible with Phillip and the Ethiopian. When I got home I looked it up and it comes from Acts 8:36…
As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized? “
What made it amazing was that I have NEVER heard this story before and this was the theme of the next day’s sermon, which I also knew nothing of. In fact this was the verse on the screen in church on Sunday…..weird!! I don’t know if I was to be baptised there and then but I have invited some University mates to my imminent baptism and it would not be fair on them if I had’
Here is another amazing story from June’s HOTS:
A Christian lady with a frozen shoulder was due to have steroid injection but he was not very keen on this. She wanted and prayed for God’s healing – that morning she said she had a sort of vision where she saw herself sitting on a chair and being prayed for. (That’s how we pray for folks – we invite them to sit on the chairs) The team prayed for her and she said she felt better. We await her return to tell us more of her condition and healing…!!
Here is an email I received from one of the team members who was there in June:
‘There was this man whose wife had gone missing. We prayed she would contact the family soon even on that very same day. This man naturally seemed quite upset and he said that when we offered to pray for him he was about to go to the Fortune Teller who has a caravan parked on Edgbaston St. When we finished praying for him he looked more relaxed and peaceful. He said would like to come to church. We gave him the service details and he thanked us. Hope he will come back with good news about his wife.
One man who felt he had nothing to live for as his parents had died and he has no family. He believes in God but does not read his bible very much so we gave him a new one (The Message) which might be easier for him to read.
Another man who loved his work but was stressed at times seemed happy to receive prayer.
A man who is a believer, not in pain at the time, who suffered various pains that all seemed to stem from his heart was prayed for – that his heart would recover strength and that the worries that seemed to make it worse might be reduced’
Here are some stories of other prayer requests
- A lady with progressive eye condition had been prayed for before she went for a scan. She came back to say the last scan showed some improvement.
- We prayed for a Muslim lady suffering with arthritis. She told that she had been before for prayers. She had pain in her wrist and neck and it felt better after we prayed for her but she said it was because of the warmth of our hands on her wrist.
- A lady from Hindu background and believes all religion leads to God said she felt stronger after prayer. The team prayed for a new life for her. They also prayed for a blessing upon her family.
- A lady suffering for depression for 12 years was prayed for. She agreed to join an Alpha course in London but drifted away from God after family break-up. She was invited to go to another Alpha in Moseley. The team prayed for the depressions to be lifted up and for her to feel the warmth of God’s love.
- A man whose parents died travelled around the world. His bother committed suicide. He did not particularly want prayer but one of the team members while talking to him had a picture in their mind of a rose on a hat blooming. They shared this with him and he was receptive to it.
Many more prayers were said on that day. We left with the assurance that God’s work on the lives of each one we prayed for will never cease.
Blessings,
Elsie Blair-Chappell.