Monthly Archives: August 2013

Nothing spiritual relating to that heading – yet! – today (though there’s a meeting in my long-time friends Alvaro & Vicky Dader’s church at 8pm this evening, so there might be then! – simply an earthquake(!) about an hour ago (5.7 on the Richter Scale), following a similar one on Wednesday! Praying that there won’t be a ‘1985’ Mexico City ‘special’ when thousands died. As I’ve said before, Mexico City is huge – in excess of 32 million people: it’s 7,500 feet above sea level (I remember from TV donkey’s years back, Clive James’ BBC programmes ‘A postcard from…’ and he said of Mexico City it’s the only city in the world where you get off the plane in mid air!), and it’s built on a lake (blame the Aztecs for that!)

It’s a weird sensation, I remember my first one here in ’96, when I thought I’d eaten something ‘dodgy’ and was unwell, feeling dizzy. My (then) host laughed, and told me to look at the chandelier, which was swinging merrily away. I’m not sure that it’s something, as a ‘temporary’ visitor at least, you’d ever get used to: it is a strange sensation.

Some years back, my mate Paul and I used to rent an apartment long-term, in Cali, Colombia, as he then went there even more than I do. It was in the days before Colombia’s economy improved to the point that we couldn’t afford it anymore. I was going to look at an alternative apartment, with a view to renting it, when an earthquake arrived… the whole side of the apartment block I was going to, to stay in, had collapsed! I think God might just have had a hand in that situation….

When I’m in places like Cali, Mexico, Malaysia, India etc., I LOVE the markets. It’s such a real insight into the reality of ‘normal’ life for the people who live in countries where markets are huge. I know we have some big ones in the UK too, and they’re a snapshot of ‘street-level’ life. This morning, Benny & I were going to Tepito, the biggest and perhaps most ‘notorious’ market in the city, but Benny’s just arrived to say that the police have raided the market today, so it might not be a good idea to go! A large proportion of the ‘marketeers’ would be Del Boy and Arfur Daley characters, which is why I love it so much. Maybe Monday, before I leave….

So, tonight, Lord Jesus, turn up in power and blessing as I meet up with dear friends I haven’t seen for 18 months…. Alvaro is one of the best guitarists I’ve ever heard, a great worshipper, and he and Vicky lovely pastors.

I’m glad that I’ve never been one of ‘those’ people involved in healing who disapprove or write off the medical profession. I know far too many great Spirit-filled doctors to dismiss them, like neurosurgeon Dunia in Cali. My friend Jois (se last blog!) has just completed a procedure on my knees that involves about 14-15 considerable syringes, a lot of expertise, not only in giving the jabs (which he was excellent at by the way) but in preparing the stuff – including stem cell medication – he put into them….

Until I was about 15, I’d faint at the sight of a needle. Travelling cured me of that because of the number of vaccinations you need for some countries, and these days I even watch. So, treatment complete, now I don’t need an excuse, at least for a few hours, to lie down with my feet up, but I have to say these ice packs are pretty cold!! So, medicine and miracles together, I’m up for that, so come on Lord, do what you can do with Jois has done….

When I wrote the blog last night, it was very late, after a very long meeting – well, very long ministry time! The atmosphere in the church was wonderful, a real sense of expectancy among people who had never seen me before, let alone heard of me (that’s the way I prefer it!). Always, as a preacher, at the end of a meeting, I analyse how it went: sometimes you know it was decidedly ‘average’, sometimes ‘not bad’, and sometimes ‘pretty good’. I reckoned that last night’s was pretty good, I was ‘on a roll’ and Benny did a marvellous job translating and keeping up with me. It’s not so many years ago that he wouldn’t do it, as translating ISN’T merely being to speak English, even if the person speaks it well. I’ve had some people translate for me over the last 30 years, whose English is excellent: but they can’t translate to save their lives! Thinking rapidly ‘on your feet’, contextualising what’s been said, trying to rapidly make jokes ‘work’ in a foreign language – is just a small part of translation.

It throws you completely when you’ve said one sentence, and are thinking about your next one, when the translator turns to you and says ‘What did you say?’ – and by then, because you’re on to the next sentence, you’ve forgotten it!

That’s why, last night, it was so good, and has been all week with with Benny, and it helps, too, that he’s a preacher in his own right. If the ‘preachy’ bit flows, people respond much better, as they’ve not had long silence in the sermon whilst translator and speaker compare notes! I’m still amazed at the ‘volume’ of response last night, about 90%, and just want to honour that dear brother who was so thrilled with his ‘circulation’ miracle that he was NOT going to keep quiet. Not sure I’d have been so bold, at his age – or any age! – to want to testify to your church that particular miracle!

This afternoon,, Benny’s brother, Joel Luis (Jois), who is an excellent doctor, is attacking my knees with big syringes! Draining off excess fluid from knee joints is a VERY strange sensation but not quite as strange as having stuff pumped back into them! Jois is going to stick some stem cells into both knees later…. truthfully, the old knees haven’t been TOO bad here in Mexico City, perhaps it doesn’t help that walking for us foreigners presents a walking problem all of its own, in that it is about 8,000 feet above sea level (2600 metres), and, though I’ve been here many, many times over the years, you DO notice the aditional stress on your heart and legs a bit!

It’s looking good for Benny and Daniel, Sunday evening’s pastor, to go to Cali with me later in the year. That’ll be a blast….they’re such good friends, and great fun, as well as being tremendous men of God. And they won’t translators, nor will my English friend Nick

In a church tonight, Wednesday, ‘Lugar de Salvacion’ (Place of Salvation), quite a long way north in the city, pastored by the couple who were at Daniel & Paty’s church on Sunday, David & Carla. Carla testified to her church tonight of her healing on Sunday from a long-term gut/colon/intestinal problem, in a great deal of pain, which went instantly on Sunday night. A good way to start a preach in a new church! The place was absolutely packed, Benny reckoned about 150 there, which is a big turnout for a midweek meeting.

So many people responded to the appeal for prayer for healing – about 90% Benny reckoned. We prayed for quite a number, before realising that we were never going to get through them all before morning! So we got everyone to lay hands on each other. Some lovely things happened before that though, one lady in great pain in her legs was healed, a man with back and hip issues was healed, a lady with a severe headache healed….. then we did the communal bit, I prayed, and they all repeated the prayer out loud….

Then we got people to respond to say if they were healed. The first to respond was a guy, I guess in his thirties, who spoke very loud and clear…. he knew he was healed of a major blood circulation problem: then went on to say that he knew it was instant, as it related to…er… erectile dysfunction. Benny tried to politely draw him back to the ‘circulation’ stage, and leave it at that, but he was having none of it, carried on saying his piece, all the time looking down to where his – previous – circulation had been! Apparently, though Benny and I fortunately had our line of sight blocked by other people, it had been….instantly evident….a whole new meaning to standing up for Jesus, I suppose, but to him, it was a wonderful miracle!

Lots of others testified to pain going, but there was one particular lady who had such bent and gnarled fingers with arthritis, she had it pretty much from head to foot – yes, including knees! – and was totally freed from pain, and her fingers straightened: I know, as I was holding her hands!

Of course, not everything is instant: sometimes, the ones you want to be instant aren’t: one, tonight, was a 16 year old young lady in a wheelchair, I think her name was Camilla, but Benny thinks it was Liliana, but whoever she is, there was nothing evident that occurred. She’d been massively brain damaged at birth, apparently the left and right sides of her brain hadn’t connected, and instead of the ‘usual’ brain shape, hers was just a smooth dome. Her mum has great faith for her healing following a clear picture she’d had from God 3 years back. I had a ‘prophetic’ sense of regeneration beginning, but as Camilla was so small, about the size of an 8 year old – a miracle in itself, as, at 11 years old, she only weighed 16 kilos, less than 3 stone…. I SO longed to see God do what he’s done over the years with wheelchair folk, but it didn’t happen. It will, maybe it just needs me out of the way now to let God get on with the miracle….

Had some more time with Danny, who’s off to Singapore tomorrow, and had some words from the Lord for him….he’s one who just needed to hear that God’s call on HIS life is to be a successful design engineer, just to know that God’s call isn’t ALWAYS to ministry – in fact, it’s more often to something ‘outside’ of ministry, but most people don’t se it as God’s favour and blessing.

So after church, for tacos! Got back home at 0040 am….!

…this evening, to spend it with Benny & Paty, and a fantastic young man, Daniel Piña, who is the bass guitarist at their church, Mundo de Fe. Well, Danny WAS their bass player but he’d be someone I’d use if I was still teaching ‘Goals, Dreams, & Visions’ – or if I ever teach it again. Why? Because he’s a young man, being sent out by his church, to go, on Thursday, to live in Singapore, not to be a missionary per se, but to take the next step into his future as a highly talented, and successful, young businessman. He’s 25 years old, a design engineer, who has been head hunted at a very early age to work on the design of a new $2 billion oil platform. It’s quite a cultural ‘shift’ from Latin America to south Asia, but he’s – naturally – excited.

I’ve often said that God call on our lives isn’t necesssarily to ‘do’ mission or ‘ministry’ – God calls people into business, the arts, sport, media – you name it – and his favour rests on those who see it as a God-thing rather than just a job. Danny is one of those people on whom God’s favour clearly rests, and he’ll prosper amazingly taking this gigantic leap of cultures.

To get to chat with him, and then with Benny & Paty, to pray for him, was a real privilege and a blessing.

Last night’s meeting wasn’t(!) – and it’s back to the meeting circuit tomorrow, and for the rest of the week, so more stories to tell, of that I am sure.

I’m about to write the sort of blog that I usually write from Colombia! It’s such a wonderful blessing and privilege to have been involved in two great churches today (though it’s tomorrow as I write!) here in this amazing metropolis. Both meetings ended up lasting some hours, because of the number of people responding for prayer for healing, I was picked up for the first at 9.30 am, and dropped off after the second at 11.30 pm, with a 90 minute ‘breather mid afternoon, when I’d hoped to write a blog, but fell asleep at the computer!

It’s been an amazing day, first, in Benny & Paty Osorio’s church, Mundo de Fe (World of Faith), in the Insurgentes/Barak district. Their church has grown since I was last here, and they have great new premises, too. I reckon 75% of the congregation (what do you call a church ‘audience’ these days, huh?) came for prayer, and I’d love to tell you I remember all the names, but I don’t…. At least three people with moderate to severe eye problems came – one, a man not known to Benny, unable to read even with glasses, and less than 20% vision – picked up the Bible from the seat next to him, and read it… the others testified to instant regeneration of sight, too…. countless people with pain – all parts of the body – testified to pain going: some saying that their hands, their feet, their head…was burning. A young lady with scoliosis felt real heat/burning in her back: I hope to get to see her later this week, as all her pain went, and it’d be great to know if SHE knows her spine is straight…

One lady with osteoarthritis – guess where? – knees(!) – the pain went immediately. Another, with problem metatarsals in her feet, causing bunions (yep, I know all about them, too! I used to laugh about bunions, but since my knee problems have changed the way I walk, I have the same problem, and it ain’t funny!! It’s exceedingly painful) – and causing her toes to start to move one on top of another: her right foot burned a lot, and all her pain went… More arthritics, pain went… yeah, and more knees… I’m sure more will come to me from this morning’s meeting!

This evening, Benny & I went to Daniel & Paty Ortiz’ church – ‘Luz a las Naciones’ – Light to the Nations, much further north in the city. The place was bunged, to use a lovely Irishism, packed to the doors. Halfway through the worship, the most incredible thunderstorm arrived in the north (we’d had it here, further south, when I was at home). I realised that I was getting wet – as did everyone else: and suddenly, it was pouring, indoors! Not a joke where cable microphones are involved, and the speed that the guys moved chairs into another room (which was even more bunged, as it was smaller!), and dismantled the P.A. system – and then put it back together, was amazing, and the service carried on with rainfall flooding the room we’d been in! Not quite as spectacular as one in Cali 5 years ago, when, during the fourth service of the day, or maybe it was the firth (hard to remember when the first one starts at such an ‘ungodly’ hour as 6 am!!), the whole ceiling over the stage came crashing to the floor under the weight of

hundreds of gallons of rainwater!

Daniel had many people go to him after receiving prayer, to tell him of their healing: he was overjoyed – ‘many, many people’ he said, testifying to God healing them. One dear lady, with arthritis in her head and shoulders, and in great pain, was healed almost before I could pray for her…. more knees, of course, were healed (mine are suffering a bit tonight, but hopefully, after being horizontal for a few hours, they’ll be better in the morning!). Again, names, even illnesses/diseases, slip away so fast as the volume of people to pray for increases…. the first lady up for prayer this evening, was a pastor’s wife from another church: she had gastric problems, if I recall correctly, and the pain went…. I then discovered that her husband has ‘booked’ me for Wednesday evening in his church, the only evening off while I’m here! Paty, Daniel’s wife, was healed of neck pain: and on and on it went… I’m gob-smacked at just WHAT God has done today, and, as always, in awe of the fact that he uses someone like me….

Thank you for your prayers – God answered them, and sustained this old Englishman for pretty much 14 hours of preaching and praying!

As I wasn’t expecting to really ‘get going’ until tomorrow, Sunday, though it’s actually 1am Sunday as I’m typing, tonight (Saturday) was a really lovely unexpected start to seeing what God is going to do this trip…

A lady in Benny & Paty’s church, Francis (Francisca), had been suffering with severe sciatica since March, and, as with that intensely painful condition, there’s not a lot that can be done about it except manage it, and physio. Francis, and her Christian-in-waiting husband, Enrique, have two extremely lively sons. but somehow Francis had managed the pain – until Thursday, when she bent over in the shower to pick something up, and couldn’t move. Anyone who has had – or got – sciatica, will know the excruciating pain of it, the trapped nerve(s) causing terrible pain in the back and legs, and the feeling that your thigh has been constantly hit with a thick plank of wood, that awful dull ache.

She and Enrique have just moved, too, to a new apartment, 2 weeks ago, so I guess that exacerbated the pain anyway. Fortunately, she was out of the shower(!!!) when we went to their home to pray for her – we being Benny, Paty, and the two pastors, Daniel & Paty, whom I mentioned yesterday. They’re becoming really great friends.

Well, God healed Francis’ back in moments: she had been in terrible pain when we arrived, it showed in her face, too, and walking was traumatic. And there it was – gone, apart from a small area in the small of her back, which went pretty fast, too, and then later, the enemy clearly wanted to discourage her, and she had some pain in her rear end… you’ll be glad to know I didn’t lay hands on the bit, but prayed…. and that went, too…. and then we got inundated with food – delightful tacos from (apparently) a very famous tacqueria  here in Mexico, and some of the hottest salsa it’s been my privilege to consume! Doubtless Benny will post the photo on my wall of me with yet more food…

And so, a busy, busy day tomorrow: expectation was and is already high, and tonight just added a bit more to that….

AND…. some lovely news from Benny & Paty, too: Paty’s pregnant again, totally unplanned and unexpected, and today they discovered it’s a girl, and Paty’s 4 months pregnant, and the new baby will be Paula Natalia, to be the youngest of Ceci, and Pablo… so, two with my (Spanish!!) name… what an honour…. Paty & Benny were wondring why, for the last few weeks, she’d lacked energy, slept a lot more, and felt unwell in the mornings… pregnancy was the last thing on their minds! Congratulations, my dear, dear friends!!

Hoping that Benny & Daniel Otriz will come to Cali with me in October/November… 🙂

Spent time yesterday with two sets of pastors – I’d be fibbing if I said it was meetings, but it’s always good to touch base with people you’re going to be involved with ahead of time. a couple of years or so ago, Benny & Paty, introduced me to Daniel & Paty, and the connection was instant. Had a great time at their church last time I was here, and they’ve been specially advertising the upcoming one as a healing meeting. So to get a chance to relax with them last night, in the VIP cinema, with waiter service(!) watching ‘The Illusionists’ was great!

Tomorrow sees the schedule really underway, two meetings, one at Benny & Paty’s church, Mundo de Fe, Barak (Barak is the ‘colonia/barrio) in the morning, and the late afternoon one is quite a drive away… I’m not even sure if I can say the name of the place, let alone spell it – but here goes… Ixtapoluca (probably totally wrong, but as there is a place called Ixtapalapa, it might not be so far out!

Getting your head around the size of this city is impossible – some years ago, the population ‘estimate’ was 32 million, it’s many more than that now, and, when you fly in, especially at night with the lights, it’s just utterly breathtaking, and enormous. So going from one meeting to another could easily be 2 hours of more each way…

Meetings every evening, one a home visit to pray for the lady with cancer, then churches every evening, including (I hope!) a meeting at the church of Alvarro and Vicky Dader Reyes, wonderful friends whom I’ve known for 16+ years. Another Saturday, then two more meetings Sunday, and I’m really believing that God is going to do here what he’s been doing so regularly in Colombia for the last couple of decades, too….

Wonderfully, I’ve slept – not just here in a place I consider ‘home’, but on the plane, and those of you who know me well will know that sleep and I haven’t been great friends since I was 12! I’m so grateful to God for this on-going (at the moment! – and into the future, please??!) blessing. And, the knees ain’t doing too badly after the long day hammering them getting here!

Just showing off in the title! A long, long day, travelling yesterday, but worth it to see Benny’s happy smiling face in the airport just after mid-night Mexico time. I haven’t worked out yet if I’m 6 or 7 hours behind Britain – I think it’s six – could probe interesting in time-keeping!!

It was a good journey – for the first time, in an economy seat on an aeroplane, I slept for longer than I was awake, between London and Toronto! Benny’s got a good number of meetings lined up for me to be involved in, and some ‘home’ visits it seems, especially one to a lady with pretty imminent terminal cancer. It’s always lovely coming back here, and staying in the same bedroom where there is a huge wedding photograph of Benny & Paty on the wall. from December 2001, and it was one of my greatest ‘honours’ to have been ask to be part of that ceremony.

So, after leaving home England time at 2 am * am England) yesterday. and it being 1 am (7 am UK time) when I got to the house, it’s a quietish day today….

Just a bit I could have added to the last post (sound of trumpets!) – many years ago, I’d get asked by Youth with a Mission/Bible school students, and countless others, the same question: ‘How do I know what God is saying?’.

I’d always try and answer that in my ‘Goals, Dreams, and Visions’ seminars: but probably the best I heard – also many years back – was Jackie Pullinger-To, speaking at a conference, having come from young people’s Bible school of some sort. You couldn’t find a more visionary, dedicated radical than her: and she said ‘I get so mad when people, especially young people, tell me that they’re “waiting for God to give them a country” to go to. Go anywhere, do anything! And what you do there will equip you either to stay there, or move you to the next place’.

My take on Psalm 37:4 was often my own answer: ‘Do you love God?’; ‘Yes’: ‘Do you want to do his will for your life?’; ‘Yes’: ‘Do you delight in Him?’; ‘Yes’. I’d then tell them to push all of that to one side, for a moment, remove God from the equation (for now!), and then ask: ‘Outside of the ‘plan’ of God, what do you WANT to do?’ Then they’d go on a roll, telling me where they wanted to go, what they wanted to do… and so on.

Then I’d suggest to put that, and God, together…. delight in the Lord, and he gives YOU the desires of YOUR heart. I spent many early years of my life assuming – and being taught – that that meant God put his desire in you. Wrong. Delight in him – he give you YOUR desires… and, the likelihood is, that because you delight in him, what you want is what he wants too…. That’s how I made the ‘habanero chili’ decision…. and 17 years on, Latin America is STILL my vision, as are many other places….

Good job I’m not a theologian, huh??