Before Aliss Cresswell opened her first miracle café, she prayed for miracles for 12 years while nothing seemed to happen. Things changed however, when she and her husband Rob opened their first miracle café: the number of miracles suddenly exploded and many people gave their lives to Jesus. Their ministry increased to the point where they founded MorningStar Europe and people came from all over the world to receive prayer. Right at that point, the Lord told Aliss and Rob to lay it all down. “It was so painful – but we did it”, Aliss recalls. She shares about her personal journey of faith and trust, and how it is worth it all to surrender to Jesus and obey Him in everything.
“When years ago I read in the Bible that Jesus did miracles, healed people and commanded His followers to do the same, I took it at face value and started praying for people in the streets”, Aliss shares. “But instead of seeing people getting healed, nothing seemed to happen. Some people got worse, some even died, it was heartbreaking.
People around me would say: ‘Stop praying for people, you’re just going to disappoint them, because nothing is happening’. But I kept going. It would have been so easy to give up, but I thought to myself: do I believe what God says is true? Or do I just look at the circumstances and give up? I chose to believe God’s Word and was determined to keep going.
In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul says about the spiritual gifts: ‘Earnestly, eagerly desire the gifts’. So God doesn’t just give it, He wants us to press in to Him and say: ‘I really want it’. So when I look back, I think that when I prayed for all those 12 years, it was me kind of demonstrating to God that I really wanted this.”
Calling to Blacon
At that time Aliss and Rob were living in a village near a place called Blacon. To get to their home they had to drive through Blacon and God started putting the people who lived there on Aliss’ heart. “Every time I saw them, I would start crying”, she recalls. “I prayed to God that He would reach them, and as I did, a compassion for them grew in my heart.
I was in business at that time, but one day the Lord told me to give up my business. We were living in our dream home, and I knew we had to sell it. We really felt it was God. We moved to Blacon and started up a ministries there, in a deprived neighbourhood. I felt starting a café and combining that with ministry would be a fantastic thing to do.
…because of what He’s done, the Kingdom of heaven is within us, we just have to release it. He has already given us the keys of the Kingdom.”
I had been praying for revival for years, but the day we opened our café in Blacon, the Lord said: ‘Stop praying for revival; be revival. I’ve already rent the heavens and come down 2000 years ago, I’m waiting for you now’. I realized it was true; because of what He’s done, the Kingdom of heaven is within us, we just have to release it. He has already given us the keys of the Kingdom.
That same day miracles started to break out. And it wasn’t just me seeing the miracles; other people who had never prayed for others before and prayed, would see miracles instantly.”
Surrender and sacrifice
So how could it be that after 12 years of not seeing anything happen, all of a sudden miracles broke out? “Before the breakthrough happened, we had given up our careers and our dream home, we had moved to a deprived neighbourhood and I had interceded for the people for several years”, Aliss explains.
“Also the Lord had told us to not take any salary, without income we had to trust Him to provide. So it was about surrender, sacrifice, being obedient to the Lord and growing in compassion for the people, that I believe was part of causing this eventual breakthrough.”
Remarkable miracle
Since that moment Aliss experienced miracles on a frequent basis, but one of the most remarkable miracles she recalls, was when a lady with MS was brought into the café. She had been in a wheelchair for about 24 years and was numb from the waist down. She couldn’t move her legs and had something wrong with her fingers.
Aliss: “She wasn’t really following Jesus and didn’t know about healing, so I read out Psalm 103:3-4 and Isaiah 53. It was at the end of the day and we were closing up, so I prayed a quick prayer. I felt like it would be two days before she would get healed and I told her it would start with her fingers.
She testified: ‘Now I know that Jesus is real, that it is His will to heal and that He does love me.’”
The next morning she realized that during the night she had turned over – something she hadn’t been able to do before. Her fingers were moving properly as well. The day after that, her legs felt really light and she had moved over at night again. She called her friend, who then came over and helped her to stand up out of the wheelchair on her own for the first time in all these years. When her husband saw it, he freaked out. Next, they called me to tell me about it.
A week later she came back to the café – in her wheelchair – and I thought: oh no! The café was packed out. But she said: ‘I want to show you what I can do’. With my help and the help of her friend, she stood up out of the wheelchair. She let go of us, walked to the wall and back, and sat on a normal chair for the first time. She testified: ‘Now I know that Jesus is real, that it is His will to heal and that He does love me.’ Everyone in the café was cheering. She received full healing and restoration.”
Lay it all down
A year after opening the café, Aliss and Rob opened other places and also started MorningStar Europe. “We were seeing crazy miracles and hundreds, maybe thousands of people gave their lives to Jesus. People were coming from all around the world. I was writing books and they were read all around the world. Also Sid Roth had me on his show ‘It’s Supernatural’ four times.
All these amazing things were going on and then one day the Lord told us to lay everything down. He said: ‘Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone’. It was so painful to lay it all down – but we did it.”
Aliss thought she would never open a miracle café again. From that moment on, she and Rob started focusing on training people, in person and online. “As we were doing this, in January 2020 an angel visited me and said: ‘I want you and Rob to give up your home in Blacon and leave. Pack the car, go drive, and the Holy Spirit will show you where to go’.
So the 1st of March we left and drove to the South Coast of England. We started weekly Spirit Lifestyle classes in neighbourhoods with locals and continued our classes online that were attended by many people from different countries.
Then Covid19 broke out and lockdown happened. We had rented out our home in Blacon to others who were going to live there in two days, so we were about to be homeless. But the Lord directed us to rent a house in North Wales. During our time there, many people gave their lives to Jesus.”
Miracle café in Bangor
“Then mid last year, we really felt the Lord telling to us to open café’s again. My first thought was: I can’t go there again. It was so painful. It had been my dream to open them all around the world, but we’d had one, or three at the most and I thought that would be it – but again, we did it.
The Lord led us to Bangor in Wales. We had no money to start with, no bank account and because it was so far from where we were living, I slept in the building on a mattress on the floor throughout the winter, while there was no heat, light or hot water. I said: ‘God, I’m only doing this, because I know You’re going to move in power. I wouldn’t do this for anybody else’.
It was hard work and we had many things going against us. But when we opened the café, I got to prophesy over the first customer and he gave his life to Jesus. The second customer, a witch, got healed after I prayed for her and from that moment on she sent many people to the café of whom many gave their lives to the Lord.”
Pursue Jesus
According to Aliss, the key to a supernatural life in God is to pursue a deep relationship with Jesus. “What I found is, instead of pursuing goals that I had in life, I pursued Jesus, and then those goals were fulfilled in my life as well. I didn’t pursue them, I pursued Him. But He gives you the desires of your heart as you delight yourself in Him. And if you seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all of these other things will be added to you. I can testify to that.”
Just recently the Lord called Aliss and Rob to move to Bournemouth to open another café, while the café in Bangor will continue under the leadership of people trained by the couple. They will go around the world to open more café’s and are looking for people who want to open a miracle café in their region and need help to start it up. To get in touch with Rob and Aliss about this, you can visit their online portal: www.spiritlifestyle.group .
