Glory Story, Saint John Regional Jubilee Mission
On night three of the Saint John Regional Jubilee Mission, Bishop Christian Riesbeck, CC, gave a powerful talk on Signs of Hope and the role of the Holy Spirit empowering us as missionaries of hope. Following his talk, and in preparation for a new and fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Bishop Riesbeck led the faithful in some healing prayer ministry – first, teaching us how to pray with one another, then modelling this with a kind volunteer, and finally empowering people to step out in faith, raise their hands for prayer, and inviting those around them to lead prayers asking for the Lord’s healing. He provided a simple model for prayer (TBA):
1) Thank God for the gift of the person
2) Blessing – ask God to bless the person
3) Ask in the name of Jesus for the healing the person is seeking
With the knowledge that the charism of healing belongs not to the person doing the praying but rather to the one asking for healing, and confident that the Lord answers every prayer according to his will, many recounted powerful experiences of both physical and spiritual healings. Cindy May, of Saint Mark’s Parish, reached out to the Bishop the next morning to share the following glory story:
I've been suffering with a painful left shoulder. A pain that was radiating up my neck and around to the left side of my upper back. It's been there for a couple weeks and seemed to be getting worse each day even with pain medication and stretches. Driving was becoming difficult and sitting for three hours in the pew for three nights in a row was not helping. But! I didn't want to miss anything, and I was the driver for a couple other people. So, when you offered prayer ministry for healing, I jumped at the opportunity. The first thing I felt was love. From so many who came to pray over me unhesitatingly. That alone was beautiful. But afterwards, the pain was gone. I don't know why that should surprise me because Jesus is THE Healer! I am very thankful. The girl sitting in front of me said she felt a sharp pain go through her fingers and up and out of her body. God is so good! I drove home with no pain, praise Jesus! Thank you for all you are doing in our Diocese Bishop! Last night was really special ...actually, the whole mission was! Your dedication and enthusiasm is truly inspiring. We are so blessed to have such a loving and compassionate, unassuming and humble bishop! God bless you!
Thank you to all who attended the Saint John Regional Jubilee Mission, and all who held this mission in prayer. The next regional Jubilee missions will take place in Fredericton on June 2-4, and in Miramichi on September 29-October 1.
“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Romans 5:1-5)
