First to give a picture of what a “block party” looks like and the heart behind it. As a team (including the missionaries) we were reminded of the parable of the banquet table, where the king sends out an invite to all the people, but one by one the invitations were rejected with excuses, so the king very upset tells the servant to go out into the streets and alleys and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. (Luke 14:15-24)… and so we did this, went into the streets and rallied all the poor and broken and invited them to a big celebration and feast.
We started the morning with some prayer/worship and prep for the party then around 2:30pm met up with the missionaries we worked with yesterday to pray, gather all our supplies and walk to the center square or park. We got there and got to meet the Grandfather of the block! What a cheerful man! He was just directing people and such a gatherer it blessed us to be able to just focus on what we were good at and allow him to run/MC the whole party. Many stayed and blew up balloons, they laid out mats that were actual official mats from Thai palaces, and set up 4 stations: dream interpretation, drawings, healing, words of encouragement. The rest of us walked around the blocks to continue to pass out invitations.
I partnered up with Janie and her Thai friend that’s on staff at Night Light to pass out invites, and taking a different side of town, it was so run down and filthy my heart was breaking more and more as I saw the conditions so many of these people live in. It was helpful having the girls to speak in Thai and when I would feel the Lord highlight they would explain the invitation and what we were doing. At one point we were walking and this man in a red work shirt and nametag stops us and begins speaking Thai to the girls. I thought at first he was asking us to stop, but come to find out he had a lot of favor in the streets and wanted to help us, so he grabbed a few invites and walked around and every person he would tell them what was going on… come on!
Encountered a lot of people just through that half hour, and actually really prepared my heart for who was going to show at this block party.
Returned back to the square and the party kick started around 5pm. People were flocking in, so we started ministering a the mats first. I was stationed at the Vision Drawings, where we basically would just ask God for pictures and explain what it means. Got to draw some pictures, and meet a few people and share Jesus with them. One guy actually wanted to draw his own picture to share what was going on in his heart. He drew a double sided coin and tried to explain how he felt about being “two sided!”. Janie and I talked to him for a while, until we began to get revelation about him needing to be filled with the Holy Spirit and understand Jesus’ love for him. We drew some pictures of Fire and of Jesus and a BIG heart and kept pointing at him and then would open our arms and show him how big God’s love was for him. We definitely saw a connection, but he thanked us and moved on.
The “party” flowed so well, although there was a lot going on, as mentioned before it was refreshing to focus just on ministering and not having to coordinate details. The skit was powerful and we were able to video tape it so will share that later. Then they passed out TONS of food. We were really believing for endless amounts and they were able to feed so many people!
One guy Natasha and I met yesterday on the streets, was on the outskirts of the park, and Janie and I during the meal passing, tried to get him to come in, but he refused, so we brought him food and crouched down to talk to him. He had remembered me and said that’s why he came. He began to explain he was drunk the previous day and when we asked him questions about his life and family, we could sense just a sense of emptiness and began to ask about his heart and if it was strong. Another Thai girl from YWAM came alongside and translated some for me. I was able to just look the man in the eyes and tell him that nothing could separate him from God’s love, and that he was worthy of love, and that every person falls short, but God’s love is unchanging. When he asked why did I come here, I was able to tell him that Jesus gave me His love and I wanted to come to Thailand to give it away too to those who need it. We got to lay hands and pray over him, and really felt the Lord just simply minister through loving and seeing him. Another person I was uncertain if they fully grasped Jesus, but definitely an encounter and experience of love.
As the night started to wind down, really felt a tug on my heart for us to pray for all the deaf in knowing this is where Heidi Baker started ministering to Mozambicans and seen incredible breakthrough, and going to Thailand with her blessing and same heart, believing we carry the same DNA and authority!
As we were walking the streets and just even in the past few days I have seen and interacted with so many deaf people. I talked to one of the missionaries and asked if we could pray for deaf ears and if she could point out which ones she works with and knows. So we had a few people sit at the healing mat and began to pray. The first I prayed for was a woman probably in her 40s, and as many of us were piled up huddled around each other praying for different people, the Spirit was so strong, and began contending for her healing. Slowly began to see a change.
As I clapped in one ear her eyes lit up and she began to hear sound. One of the ladies translated and began to speak to her….she would signal. “Little bit”…so we kept praying. 5 minutes later. “Little bit more”. More prayer, and increasing faith! One ear completely healed. She motions that her other ear still is “little bit” so we continue to pray for full healing and that ear begins to open up and she began uttering sounds. We all begin to just cheer and thank Jesus… I looked at her and smiled, and looked at the boy about 20 next to her and had the translator ask her to now start praying with me for him. We begin to pray. Nothing. Keep praying. A little bit. Keep praying! One ear opens. Keep praying. Other ear starts getting better. He then begins to speak. Honestly, in the moment it was so surreal yet natural, and the Lord kept them coming. Another man I begin to pray for was in one ear, he begins to hear and speak out and just overflowing with joy. Naomi and Yonnie and the other girls are praying for a woman and her ears begins to open. Another man sits down next to me and motions for prayer. Deaf in both ears. Start praying over him and asking for healing fire. This is where the testimony of God blew me away. So both his ears gets healed. We have it on video tape. Yonnie asks him and one of the missionary men translates what happened. He explains he used to have just bad ears, until all his hearing just eventually got so bad, but as we were praying for him, fire started to rise from inside his stomach and began to move up his body through his neck to his ears and then there was a pop and the block was cleared and he could hear! We asked him if he knew who healed him and he told us “Jesus!” He knew Jesus, but we told him to share the testimony with his friends and family so they know Jesus healed him!
There were many other healings through the teams that we know of tonight from knees to backs to a woman who had cataracts and was healed to see (I’ll post Naomi’s sharing that at the end of this), and even a Bhuddish monk who Naomi got to pray for who had gnarly sinus problems for the past few years and had felt no peace, but when he got healed, she said he finally felt real peace and believed and accepted Jesus!
We sat with people till about 7:30, till they needed to shut down and begin to clean up. Fueled with so much joy and love, but yet physically exhausted, we retreated for some dinner around the corner for our final time with the missionaries and returned back to our hostel to catch some sleep. We have 2 more days here in Bangkok and another full day today, that I will write again more later…. Until then here are some testimonies!
Hallelujah! WOOOOOOOOW! :) YAY JESUS!
ReplyDeleteSo exciting to hear how the block party went. :) Praisallujah!