Healing on the Streets (HOTS)

‘The Kingdom of God is among you’ – that was the answer Jesus gave to Pharisees when they wanted to know when the kingdom of God would come. (Luke 17:21) Now read the following testimony and see for yourself if what Jesus said is true even today. During our HOTS session on October 5th a young man asked us to pray for him as his course fees were due at the end of that week and he did not have any money coming into his bank account. We prayed for him and we gave him the ‘Why Jesus’ booklet. On October 26th after the 2pm Saturday service at St Martins, while I was talking to some of our regular members of that service, a young man approached me and said he would like to talk to me. I recognised him and thought we had prayed for him in church but he said we had prayed for him outside on Edgbaston St. He wanted to tell us that he had received an answer to prayer. These were his words (I have his permission to write): ‘I was in a bad situation as my course fees were due at 11 o’clock a

‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’. This is what we saw on Oct 5th during Healing on the Streets on Edgbaston St by St Martin in the Bull Ring. This is what happened. I’ll start with this one. A gentleman came sat on the chairs to be prayed for his hernia. He said he had been before. First time he was prayed for his ‘reflux’. He was unable to swallow properly and he was healed. The second time he came he had both knees in pain and MRI scan had shown they were really bad. He was prayed for and the pain went and then the doctors could not understand it as the knees were fine. A lady came back for the second time and said that the first time she came she was healed of a ‘thing in her past’. Now she wanted a prayer for a physical condition. As the team prayed she and the team could see an improvement. A lady asked for prayer for her knees which were in pain. She was due to have an operation. She was in tears when she left not because of pain but because of joy

During St Martin’s HOTS in August we had the chance to use our umbrellas. They were very useful as we used them to shelter us from the rain and from the sun! The weather was just a mixture but that it didn’t stop us to pray for passers-by. A few weeks ago I visited the Harnhill Centre of Christian healing. The model they use to help people to overcome hurts and brokenness in their lives is a model called the Circle of God’s love. They explain to all who go there that as we position ourselves within the circle of God’s love, we see God continually ministering to us with his forgiveness, healing, redemption and renewal. From the moment of creation to the very end of the book of Revelation we see God loving us. One verse in the Bible that is used a lot at Harnhill is Isaiah 43:4.  God says to his people, ‘Since you are precious and honoured in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life.’ We find a remarkable statement

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

St Martin’s Healing on the Streets team is well established on Edgbaston St.  Passers-by have now started approaching us to pray for them instead the other way around. We still give out leaflets inviting them to sit on chairs and receive prayers. This last session even before we finished setting up the banner, chairs and so on, some folks were there waiting for us to pray for them. The queue started forming from then on with just a few periods of quietness. At the end of the session it happened again. We had already packed up most of our stuff when someone came rushing to us and said, ‘Oh. You’ve finished already. I came here to ask you to pray for me.’ Of course we prayed for him – standing up and all. Another lady came by and said to one of the members when she was offered prayer, ‘You have already prayed for me and I am healed’. All of this is good encouragement but above it is all for the great glory of God. Here there are more accounts for God’s glory: A man who had previously had

It was like a spring day when we had our HOTS session at St Martin’s.  We even enjoyed the sun warming our faces at times. The Market place was busy and there were lots of people from all faith, culture, social and economic backgrounds. I guess it was just like this when Jesus sent his disciples to go out and make disciples of all nations. We do not need to go out very far at St Martin’s to do that. It seems that ‘all nations and faiths’ have come to our doorsteps, and this seemed especially true on that Saturday. Having all nations and faiths around us is good but it can create a sense of confusion. Before we went outside to pray, Digby, one of our team members, told us of this incident: “I happened to be walking through a field of sheep when they all gathered together and came to within a few yards of me. They must have thought I was the farmer. I then started talking to them, but as soon as they heard my voice they all ran away. It reminded me about the words of Jesus in John

Dear all, Yesterday it was Ash Wednesday when the Church marks the beginning of Lent. In the Ash Wednesday liturgy we say, ‘dust you are; to dust you will return.’ The writer of Genesis 3 where this text comes from could not have been more scientifically correct. To be human is to be dust. So on Ash Wednesday we are reminded that we are only human. For many Christians, ashes are a symbol of being sorry for the things they have done wrong and want to get rid of. It is also a reminder to them that we all come from ashes and to ashes we all return. The marking of the cross on the forehead with ash is a sign of their commitment to Jesus Christ and God. ‘The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart he will not despise’ (Psalm 51:17) We had a very good team at this HOTS session. We had 12 members. What a good number to have! Also we had quite a few who hadn’t been for a while. After the session, when we met together for de-briefing and prayer they said that they were

St Martin’s HOTS – January 5th 2013  Once more the weather was almost spring like in January. It was pleasant. There was some   cold wind but from time to time the sun appeared.  Passers-by were not rushing as much and they appeared to enjoy the unusual January weather. A good number of people from St Martin’s HOTS team turned up including some we had not seen for a while. It was a blessing to see you again.  A big thank you to you all. Also, thank you for your encouragement when we gathered together to pray before and after the session. Before we went out to pray we read a Bible passage from John 1: 43-50 about Jesus calling Philip and Nathanael. Three things were pointed out of this passage: Verse 46 ‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there? Nathaniel asked.’ We too may be tempted to ask this question when we see places where we don’t see much peace, order or goodness. Verse 48 ‘How do you know me? Nathanael asked Jesus.’ Jesus answered: I saw you under the fig tree before Philip

Only by listening, being patient and worshiping God, can he work with us. We had a time like that during our prayer meeting before we went out on the streets on Sat Oct 11th at St Martin’s. Thanks for all who came and joined in singing and praying beforehand and then going out to pray for passers-by. We had a team of 15 women and 1 man. At first the chairs were empty for some time but after we ourselves sat on them and received prayers from one another it seemed to have released something – anointing, God’s presence and power? After that the chairs were all occupied most of the time. Here are some prayers people requested. A asked for prayer for her grandchildren B is having difficulties in conceiving and wanted prayer for healing so she and her husband can have children C had prayer for general health and for her diabetes, to have peace of mind and not to thinks she is alone. D used to feel close to God and said she used to hear from the Lord but not anymore. She wants prayer fo