HOTS - Glory to God in the High Street

The HOTS team

Yesterday was my first morning actually participating with our H.O.T.S. team - Healing On The Streets. Such a friendly and gregarious bunch of people.

Our church, Lagan Valley Vineyard, have a fully trained H.O.T.S. team who meet in Lisburn on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of every month between 10am til 12 midday.

We gently engage passersby in conversation, inviting them to sit on one of our half dozen or so folding wooden chairs for personal prayer.

We meet in the pedestrian precinct outside the Bank of Ireland in Lisburn. A massive banner with the word HEALING is erected clearly indicating what we are about.

Before we start, our team drop to their knees in a circle of prayer, inviting the Lord Jesus to demonstrate His healing power when we pray for people.

People's Response

People were on the whole receptive, with several keen to receive prayer for themselves, or in proxy for other family members.

Many didn't have the time while others outrightly rejected any sense of faith and hope in the power of our living and risen Saviour.

The Team

The fact that the team believe that "Jesus is the same yesterday and forever" is the driving force in this outward focused ministry.

The power of attorney is our raison d'etre. So much of the prayer ministry is in our understanding that we act as God's representative as His children and therefore in His delegated authority. We invoke the name of the Lord Jesus Christ over physical ailments and those suffering from spiritual darkness believing that encountering this power of God's presence brings wholeness.

As disciples of Jesus, the team have all personally encountered the light and life of the Holy Spirit. Our Christian faith believes that we are now commissioned, as Kingdom carriers, to "see His Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven." We don't just proclaim this, but demonstrate this belief by "laying hands on the sick" to see them recover.

The HOTS pioneer

This healing model is one pioneered  by Mark Marx from Coleraine. Mark and his team have withnessed phenomenal results, with a myriad of testimonies of doctor verified healings and salvations.

If you get a chance read his book "Stepping into the Impossible" or listen to a conversation with Mark on YouTube
https://youtu.be/3GiXZ_zyljs

Ordinary People

The church, myself included, has too long kept prayer to the confines of a church building. As Mark's book states "that it's not the ministers who are leading this, it's ordinary, incredible, exceptional people whose only goal is to make Jesus famous."

Our bookmark-handout has a welcoming statement which says "if you suffer from anxiety, migraines, broken bones, arthritis, back pain, depression, joint pain, cancer, insomnia, phobias or other ailments we would be honoured to pray with you."

At Christmas we sing Glory to God in the Highest...but then faith is not for just Christmas. This is our time, through HOTS, to bring "Glory to God in the High St!"