Category Archives: Journal

In the week prior to coming here to Cali, Colombia, I had the joy of speaking in Wales for the first time, at Gilgal Baptist Church, not too many miles from where my amazing dad was born, so that made it even more special, 52 years on from his transfer to heaven….

Steve & Helen, long-time friends from Kent and Surrey days, are involved in some lovely ministries – Steve in the church, Helen (and Steve, too!) in a wonderful ministry in Gulu, Uganda. The first lady I prayed for – Barbara, I think! – had (can you guess?) – yep, osteoarthritis in her knees, really badly, a lot of pin walking, couldn’t kneel, crouch, squat…. within minutes she was doing everything she couldn’t do…. thank you, God!! I can genuinely thank God for people being healed of it: I love to know that people (now hundreds, heading towards four figures) are free from the pain I experience, and love turning my pain back on the devil by seeing multiplied people set free from it. It wasn’t all ‘roses’ at that meeting though, as Steve reports:

• We had 2 1/2 healing testimonies from our regular congregation on Sunday (I say half ‘coz that person came to your meeting with pain and a bad back and left with a bad back but no pain!!) responses have been mixed!! with some not believing some of your more bizarre healing stories (especially the lady with the growing leg!!) and others taking exception to your statement that God always heals, and still others lapping up all your stories with such enthusiasm that they would have listened all night if you’d gone on …. no wait a minute, you did!! Personally I love the fact that people have been talking about it all week – Martin even preached off the back of it on Sunday morning encouraging people to use their brains and search for answers to the questions they’re asking.

I understand that reaction from people who have never heard anything like those sorts of testimonies before, but find it rather sad that in seeing people healed in front of them, like Barbara, can’t believe that God can do greater things! I’ve had people tell me that the ‘leg growing’ WASN’T someting Jesus did: I have two answers for that reaction. First, Jesus healed lepers: what does leprosy do to a person’s body? Eats it away, among many other awful things (I’ve had the ‘privilege’ of seeing and praying for lepers: it’s not a pretty sight). When Jesus told lepers that they were healed, did they go away ONLY with a nice warm, gooey feeling inside, and fingers/arms/legs/jaws/noses etc., missing? What would have been the point of them going to ‘show yourself to the Priests’ if all they could tell of was a nice internal feeling? No point at all. They went – COMPLETE – healed, whole – even the ones who never went back to thank Jesus. Second, and I choose to believe the promises in Scripture (because they are ALL ‘YES’ in Christ Jesus: 2 Corinthians 1:20), that we ‘WILL do greater things than I have done’ (said Jesus, John 14:12). I personally don’t think the leg growing story is a greater thing: it’s in the leprosy healing ‘league’ (the lady had had muscular dystrophy at birth, and her leg had withered away).

It’s sad that we’re in such a cynical, sceptical culture in the western world: if we choose never to believe that with God, nothing is impossible, then where the heck does that leave the rest of our faith? And we’ll never see anything miraculous, even if we have in front of our eyes just  a few minutes later! This answers another question: ‘Why don’t we see the sorts of miracles you talk about (Paul) in the western world?’. And we know that it’s not possible for God NOT to answer prayer (Chinese pastors, living in revival and miracles, almost ‘battered’ that into me in Guanzhou in the late ’80s) – if it IS, then, goodness, what faith do we have? – it’s just that he doesn’t do it in our way, and in our time, and to our liking….and cynicism and scepticism (both massive tools of unbelief) will ensure that we never see it, as unbelief is the enemy of faith (Mark 6:5, Matt 13:58). If Jesus couldn’t do any miracles because of unbelief in people, how ever are we going to?

In Addlestone, a lady, Wendy, was healed while I was speaking (I love that!! – it’s happening more frequently these days) and she testified to it immediately! Others were healed, too, as Richard, the Pastor, reported:

• Last weekend we saw 4 people healed in our church meetings which is absolutely wonderful and we give God the praise and glory for it. At the same time Ella’s sickness did not abate at all despite being prayed for, which was a little bit of a downer!

Ella is Richard and Louise’s 11 year old daughter, who suffers from CVS. I’m still in faith that she will be healed, as are the folk I took with me, partly so that they could pray for her. The family have lived with it since Ella’s birth, and Lord, it’s about time now….

It’s a little delayed, but here’s a brief report on the couple of weeks that I spent in England, and also last Sunday’s meeting in the lovely Killylea Presbyterian Church, near Armagh, here in Northern Ireland. It’s awlays so lovely to be involved in the United Kingdom: it’s not something that’s not happened over-much  inthe past, and I’m blessed that there’s an increase this year. I’ve already been in Turners Hill, Herstmonceux, Killylea (Armagh): I’m in Carrickfergus this Sunday, then Addlestone, Dunmurry (Belfast), Worcester, Welshpool, Porthcawl, Penarth, and Plymouth in the coming weeks. I never ‘tout’ for preaching opportunities – I feel very blessed that my diary has always been well ‘stocked’, but I’d always love to do more in our wonderful nations, so, if I can do anything to serve you, get in touch, and see if we can get a date sorted out!

The time in England was fantastic: a great time with the lovely Turners Hill Free Church, in West Sussex, was a tremendous blessing: and as usual some knees were healed amongst other things! I have this ‘conviction’ – hope? – that the more knees that get healed, the more likelihood there is of God healing mine! A lovely miracle began with a delightful man – Steve, I think – who is wheelchair bound, paralysed from ust below his arms down. He got a tingling sensation in his right leg, and was able to move his left foot for the first time in a long time. It was delighful to be Geoff Chapman, and his family, too, for a long lunch, with my great, great friends, Nick and Sarah Harding, and afew others from the church.

Quite a few visits to friends, and friends who wonderfully support me, often to pray for them or people in their families, interspersed with some home meetings, and a great evening with a group of guys who meet for accountability, called ‘The Sons of Thunder’. I am so grateful to the people who bless with me support, monthly, annually, or one-off: it’s such a privilege to have people who believe in what I do, that they support me, or pray for me.

The trip culminated with a wonderful weekend in the lovely village of Herstmonceux, in East Sussex, just 3 miles from the office I used to work from, in Hailsham, when I worked for Youth for Christ….39 years ago…. Saturday was all day of seminars on healing/questions/practical prayer for healing, Sunday was a lovely ‘breakfast service’ – both meetings were very well supported, and it was lovely to see God do some lovely things for people, including the customary healing of osteoarthritis, along with a number of other things. A lot of pain left the room (no , I didn’t go!!) – there were many visible changes in people, transformation in walking – many of the ‘usual suspect’ diseases and infirmities went, or began the process of easing. It’s wonderful to see God healing in the UK….

Last Sunday, I was asked to speak at Killylea Presbyterian Church, near Armagh, very close to the border with the Republic Of Ireland. The pastors, Ivan & Joan Thompson, are a really lovely couple, with a passion to see the Holy Spirit move in their area. Thanney Pyper and Stephen Lennie went, too: Thanney to speak about his vision for the street kids in Cali in the year(s?) ahead, Stephen to operate the powerpoint, and, bless him, he drove us (about 1½ hours each way). Thanney also talked about how God’s taken him, in next to no time, from 3½ years in the ‘wilderness’ to having not only a vision for the future, a purpose in mission, but also the miracles he’s seen in Colombia, and how God’s using him to pray for people back home here in Northern Ireland.

Immediately I’d finished speaking, I was asked to pray for a newborn boy, Cillian, the grandson of a lovely Catholic lady, Anne. He was born last Tuesday, with massive problems with his lungs, which didn’t work, and had extensive bleeding. Only one place in the world is equipped to do the sort of surgery Cillian needed, in Sweden, so he was taken by air ambulance there as quickly as possible from Dublin. Realistically, according to Anne, his gran, he wasn’t expected to live. Anne has sent me some text messages this week, the first on Monday: ‘The surgeons couldn’t do anything for him, but through God, you did’…. on Wednesday (he was expected to be dead by then) – ‘Paul, pleae pray many thanksgiving prayers, God has granted us a miracle’…. and yesterday, I phoned her, as Cillian was being flown back to Dublin, a major miracle now very well underway….. God’s so, so amazing!! Prayer by proxy, and from a distance, works….

Other lovely healings – a dear man, Harry, with long-time breathing issues and respiratory issues, was healed: a lady named Kathleen, with a lot of pain in her hips (assumed arthrotis), had all the pain go: two sisters, in the 80s, Doreen and Aileen, both with osteoarthritis, had pain go – Doreen had chronic pain in her right knee, Aileen in both. God’s doing this in the UK!!! Wonderful, isn’t it….??? There were others, too, and believing that there’ll be more in the days ahead.

Tomorrow, 26th, I’m speaking at ‘Hope and Healing’ – a meeting at 7 p.m. in Carrickfergus. It was a lovely time when I was there about 2 years ago, and looking forward to seeing what God is going to do there…..Thanney will do his bit again, Stephen too: and Thanney’s takne to praying for people, with a lot of faith, like a duck to water!