Monthly Archives: April 2020

Great preacher and writer Tim Keller has been speaking to Premier about the pandemic. Founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York – the worst hit place by the pandemic so far, Tim believes it will be hard to pastor when the virus is over, with a large of percentage of congregations out of work, or having experienced devastation, or even got used to ‘doing’ church by YouTube or Zoom.

“I think that almost all churches and non-profits are going to be in a position where there’ll be more to do but there’ll be less financial resources…that’s going to be a problem for ministry leaders everywhere in the country and in the world.”

He compared it to the attack on the Twin Towers and the aftershock then: “After 9/11, which had a huge impact on the city in a way you didn’t see in the rest of the country or the world, it took several weeks at least for us to figure out at our church ‘what does this mean for us in the future?’ We can’t go on with business as usual. We have to find out ‘what is God calling us to be?’ and it can’t be the same. I think that will emerge and I don’t think it’s easy to tell.”

And yet the opportunities to share Jesus will be incredible. I’m frustrated that ‘getting at’ people suffering is impossible, as Jesus heals. Yes, there’ll be opportunities to pray online, but there’s nothing as effective as face to face and arm around someone. Jesus never said ‘lay your hands on the sick and catch what they’ve got’ – but laying hands on a tv screen has only worked once to my knowledge with a friend, Dennis, who was healed of chronic ME.

I love to sit with people, even if only for a few minutes, get to know them, identify and empathise with them, and then see God do a miracle. People will seek God – and are seeking God – as a result of corona, but meeting together, however small the group, is much more effective and relational.There will be zoom, skype, and You Tube fruit, though…!

I’m looking forward to being back ‘on the road’ and back in planes going to people and seeing the miracles first hand. What I do feel is the enemy is going to regret coronavirus – while he might be thinking now he’s winning, his victory is going to be short lived and the Kingdom of Heaven will be extended exponentially, if Christians are willing to sustain the workers.

My own personal income continues to fall – not hugely now like at first as it was very close to Brexit when corona ‘broke’ – but having put my faith in God’s provision 41 years ago, I don’t have any other option now – and DON’T WANT any other option than God providing through his body. At 67, and with gammy legs, and currently with one arm(!!!) I’m probably not terribly employable.

Church, if we want to capitalise on Satan’s ‘mistake’, those of us in ministry need you more than ever. I’m praying that the pandemic will be over in time to go to Colombia in the summer, and then make up for lost time from then on!

I’d value prayer for the provision of a home – the enemy’s stuck his grubby little mitts in the provision of a house, and as a result, my life has been on ‘hold’ for the past year. I’m so grateful for the lovely hospitality I’ve had here in Wales since last July, but I do need my own place, and my home needs to be set free from it’s ‘garage’ prison where it’s been for a year too! If it has survived the Welsh winter rains! And I’m praying for an increase in regular support to replace what I’ve lost – with no church meetings (and so no offerings!) I’m ‘down’ about 50-60% since the start of the year. Bless you!!

It’s been a while since I wrote the last blog – ‘Under Attack!’ – between that one and this one we’ve seen the whole world come under attack from something named after a fizzy drink when I was young,, and what an attack it’s been, and is.

The news and the press are full of almost full of nothing but Covid19 – Coronavirus – so I’m not going to double up. I’m grateful that corona hasn’t killed any of the people I know and love (though a few have had it and recovered, thank God), and grateful, in these days of isolation, that through social media resources I’ve been able to pray for some people with it, and it doesn’t sound much in the light of the number of victims, but three have been healed, for which I also thank God.

When Paul wrote his famous chapter on the armour of God, Ephesians 6. he so emphasised the need to be ‘armoured-up’, in verse 13, that in the ‘evil day’ we’d be able to stand. STAND. Not move, run, hide – but stand. Stand on God and his word. There’s nothing about forward movement – until God says ‘go’.

As you know from the last blog, I’ve never experienced spiritual attack like the last – well – 24 months. I’m not counting in the 20 odd years of ‘knees’ – but these 2 years have been unlike anything I’ve known. I mentioned my right hand in the last blog – I’d never had need to think about how difficult – virtually impossible – it is to live without a hand you’re used to and have used for 67 years! Whenever I get anything wrong with my body, my first thought goes to people I’ve prayed for with that problem – and those I haven’t had opportunity to pray for yet. (With the experiences I’ve had in hospitals in South America, India, and Africa, a large part of me would love to get into the ‘corona wards’ and see them emptied, as has been my joy and the teams I’ve had with me in those places from every type of illness from TB to AIDS to cancer and so much more).

One of my heroes is John G Lake, who went into homes and hospitals at the height of the bubonic plague he was helping doctors, and carrying out the bodies wearing no protection . Lake was asked why he had not contracted the disease, since he used no protection. He said, “It is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” To demonstrate, he had them take live bubonic plague germs still foaming from the lungs of a newly dead person and put them in his hands, and then examine the germs under a microscope. The germs were dead! The energy and presence of God was invisible to the naked eye but magnified under the microscope’s lens—there proved to be a real formidable, existing power that killed the virus. This is how John G. Lake explained why he did not get sick—he carried the cure in his body and spirit to heal disease through the power of the Spirit through Jesus.  In another amazing testimony, John G. Lake asked doctors to bring him a man with inflammation in the bone. He asked them to take their instruments and attach it to his leg while he prayed for healing. Then he asked them what they saw taking place on their instruments. They replied that every cell was responding positively! John G. Lake replied, “That is God’s divine science!”

I’ve always said that I’m not with someone with faith to CATCH what they have, I’m there, with God’s Holy Spirit’s power, to see them healed!!

I purposely haven’t said much about my hand and knees (and boomps-a-daisy!) because they don’t compare to corona, AIDS, and TB, On a trip to Cali with a team from West Church, Bangor, I had the privilege of praying for a young lady with AIDS, with one of the ‘NornIrelanders’. Sandra was 25, dying with AIDS, no future and was being sent home to die, being disconnected from her oxygen tank. She was desolate and near-hysterical. We sat on her bed, and I hugged her for about 30 minutes, telling her in my broken Spanish about Jesus. At which point she got off the bed, and started to run round the ward shouting ‘I’m healed’ – the proof was that she disconnected herself from her oxygen tank!

I’ll do another blog as this one’s getting a bit long! God can heal corona – just like bubonic plague. AIDS, TB, and more… and he says ‘Don’t fear! Just stand….!