DO NOT DESPISE THE PRAYERS OF OTHERS

Recently I was asked to preach for two days in a prayer center near to my work place. Each day I have to speak in two worship service. The meetings were scheduled on Saturday (19/1) and Sunday (20/1). A week before the meeting God spoke to me through Holy Spirit and gave me four different messages. But due to my work schedule I could write only three messages clearly. I could not write the second service message which I have to share on Saturday. 

I prayed and went to the meeting. The first service was from 11.00 A.M to 1.00 P.M. The time to share God’s word came and I stood up to preach God’s word. Nothing came out of my mouth properly. I felt so bad about it. I felt God’s word was not reaching the people who sat there except two very old ladies. 

Somehow I had cut short the message and finished it very soon. I was so heart broken. I don’t know what to do. Again at 4.00 P.M, I have to share God’s word in the anointing meeting at the same place. I myself felt that I had no anointing. As I have to write the message for the second service, I went back to the room with a saddened heart. Holy Spirit spoke to me at that moment asking me to sleep for some time. I was so surprised to hear Holy Spirit speaking to me like that. He had known about my physical tiredness. I slept peacefully nearly for an hour.

Then I woke up and there was a divine peace in my heart. I waited at God’s feet for sometime and then started to write the message. I could feel God’s mighty presence upon me. Then I went to preach. This time as I stood up to preach again I felt God’s peace resting upon me. I was so happy about the way God moved in the second service. With so much of happiness I started to pray for the people individually.

As I was praying a very old lady came to me and shared her problem. She told me that she was 66 years old and there was some problem in her family. She came alone from a place which is nearly 40kms away from the place where I preached. What she had told next moved my heart. She told me that she didn’t ate anything from the morning as she was fasting on that day asking God to speak through the person who will be sharing God’s word in the afternoon service. She also told me very happily that God spoke to her throughout the message in that service.

Then Holy Spirit spoke to me saying, “My dear son, her prayer is one of the reasons why God’s presence moved so mightily in the afternoon service through you.” On that evening, I really understood the reason why God moved mightily in that service.

Bible says in James 5:16, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed……”

Being the children of Loving God, we should learn to pray for one another fervently.

I heard about the humbleness of a great Apostle (Late) Bro. DGS Dhinakaran. He was used by God so mightily and He was a big servant of God in India. But every time before he go and share God’s word, he used to fast and pray at the feet of the Lord for 3 days. Not only that, he will also call so many Pastors before the day of preaching and will ask them to pray for him through phone. The pastor’s spiritual experience and anointing might be so less compared to him but he will never despise their prayers for he knows the prayers of other people is also needed for God to move mightily.

My dear friends, there were times we think that we can move on in our lives with our own prayers. But we have to understand that the prayers of other people are also so essential in your life. Humble yourselves and do not despise the prayers of others. God will do mighty things in your life. God bless you.

LORD IS OUR PROVIDER & HEALER - TESTIMONY OF MONYA THOMAS

Philippians 1:6 “God began doing a good work in you and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished…”

My great and faithful God really began a good work for me from the day I was born. Even though things were unsure during my birth, of whether I would be born or not, God was so faithful in bringing me into this world. Years passed by and God kept doing wonderful things in my life for which I wouldn't even be thankful many times. God graciously helped me clear my 10^th and 12^th with really good percentages and then was the time of my admission into some engineering college.

At that point, it felt like all doors were closed….but all I learnt is God leaves at least one door opened and lets us know only at the right time. It was miraculous to see that I had actually cleared one of the Christian Engineering University entrance examination.

The verse Job 42:2 beautifully says “I know that you can do all things and that no plan of yours can be ruined.” This verse comes as a truth to each one of us no matter what situation we are in. When we feel that nothing is working out correctly in our lives, God teaches us to trust in him because He has planned something really big and better for us than what we are actually planning for ourselves.

Today, when I look back to the day when I had to leave my parents and start living in a new place, I realize that God had such a beautiful plan to get me educated in such a good college. As every student dreams, I entered the college with lots of dreams and aspirations. By God’s pure grace I got a seat in Electronics and Communication and hence my engineering life started. Everything was going normal at that stage. But as all of us know Satan tries to attack us every time we start having everything good in our life for he can’t bear that we are God’s children.

Unusually, I started suffering from severe migraine. The bible says “By His stripes we are healed”. All I know is even though I suffer so much and I come to a situation where I can’t really handle myself I know and I have learnt that God is always there. Even through the times of pain and weakness God gave me the strength and I can boldly say to each one of you who is suffering from any kind of illness or sickness  ...”Our God is a healer”. All we need to do is just submit each pain we have into his hands.

My problems didn't stop there. In the first year itself I got an arrear in one of my core subjects. After that it felt like I was so useless and that I could never continue scoring properly in my academics. But sometimes we need to know that certain situations in our life occur just so that we get closer to God. It taught me to cry out to God and keep trusting him till the end. I was actually surprised that in that particular year there was an option of supplementary and purely by God’s grace I cleared that paper. It was God’s blessings that I had really good parents, friends and staff who supported me through this.

From that day on, each day started becoming a testimony because as I went to the 2^nd, 3rd and 4^th year my subjects started getting tougher but God’s grace led me through. There were times when I thought there was no way I could study a subject but in the end I get to understand that “Not by might, nor by power but by His Spirit.” I conquered each subject. Simultaneously God has been blessing my family abundantly. He is the only one who hears to each of our tears.

Also when I entered my final year of engineering my placement was a big doubt. I was clueless and didn't know how to prepare. All I knew was since 2 years I had always desired to get into Accenture( a Multinational company).When the campus placements began I didn't get through the 1^st company that came to our campus and I was really depressed. But I again I cried and submitted it at the feet of the Lord and like said in the Bible “God shall meet all the desires of your heart.”

God helped me get placed in the second company which was Accenture (like I had wished). God has promised each one of us that “He has plans…to prosper us and not to harm us.” All we need to do is blindly put our trust in him and put in the little efforts we can. God will surely multiply our efforts and bring us success.

Proverbs 3:5 teaches us “Trust the Lord with all your heart, and don’t depend on your own understanding”.  It is really God’s grace that I am able to testify all the good things He has done for me.

I can surely tell you that if God could help me through each of my troubles and problems, then God is surely there to take you out of any problem you are going through also. Just keep submitting every issue regarding your life at God’s feet and cry out to Him because He is the only one who understands our heart’s cry and He is the solution to each of our life’s problems.

THE LORD HAS HEARD THE VOICE OF YOUR WEEPING

Psalm 6:8 “... The Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.”

Isaiah 38:5 “... I have seen your tears.”

You might be crying hard for the blessings of your life; you might be crying hard as you face so many problems in your life; you have no one around you to comfort you; sometimes you doubt whether God is listening to your cries; so far you have no comfort at all in your life.

Today God is promising you that He has heard the voice of your weeping and have seen your tears. As He has seen your tears, He will do a miracle for you and bless you.

When Jesus saw the tears of Mary, Martha and the Jews, He did a miracle for them raising Lazarus from the death. (John 11:33-44)

When Jesus saw a widow woman weeping for her son’s death, He raised her son from the death and turned her sorrow to joy. (Luke 7:13-15)

As Jesus have seen your tears and heard the voice of your weeping surely He will do a miracle in your life and turn your grief to joy. My dear friends, do not weep any more for Jesus had seen your tears.

There was a young man from India who went for work to Saudi Arabia. As soon as he got married he took his wife along with him. Their life was filled with joy and happiness. Soon she got pregnant and so he sent her back to her father’s place in India for child birth. Everything was well in his life until one day he found out that his health condition was not that good.

He went to doctors and they diagnosed him and found that he was having cancer. Doctors told him that he will die very soon. His happiness went off once he heard the news of cancer growth in his body. He didn’t know what to do. He could not tell his wife about his disease for she is far away from him and was about to give birth a child. With no one around him to comfort he faced the horrible darkness of death.

One night he felt so bad about his future. He could not think of his wife as a widow and his child as orphan. As he could not bear the pain, he wept to Lord so badly on that night.

Jesus Christ heard the voice of his weeping and He appeared to him in a bright light saying: “My son, you will live.” Soon Jesus disappeared and he felt a divine peace in his heart. The very next day, he ran to doctors and told them that he got healed. Doctors laughed at him but he insisted them to diagnose him again.

When the doctors diagnosed him again they were so surprised to see that there were no signs of cancer in his body. But they told him that he lost his ability to give birth to a child because of the effects that his body went through.

But He trusted on the promise gave by Jesus Christ. After few years of the birth of his first child, God gave him another child and even today he lives happily with his family.

My dear friends, people might say something against your life and about your future. Do not get discouraged for God’s promise alone will come to pass in your life. Jesus Christ has seen your tears and heard the voice of your weeping. Surely He will do something new in your life and will bless you. You will live happily. God be with you and bless you.

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PRAY FOR YOUNG GIRLS IN INDIA & AMERICA - NEED OF THIS HOUR

My dear friends, we as God’s children hold the responsibility to pray for our nation. As we are seeing with our own eyes many evil things are happening around us. Bible says in Jeremiah 29:7 that we have to pray for the city in which we are living. We will have peace if our city has peace.

Today I urge those who are residing in India and America to pray for the young children especially girls who were getting kidnapped for unknown reasons. Let me present to you some of the statistics regarding these two countries.

INDIA:

1.      In the past ten years 3.3 million young girls who were under the age of ten was found missing.

2.      In the capital city Delhi alone, every year nearly 5000 girls are getting kidnapped.

3.      In the southern part of India especially Tamil Nadu, 200,000 young girls were found missing in the past ten years.

No one knows where these girls are and for what reason they are getting kidnapped. Government was simply presenting the statistics but they are not taking any useful measures to protect the young children.

As the children of God, we have two choices in front of us: a) You can sit in your home or office and you can blame the Govt authorities for all that are happening in the country or b) You can pray to our God who actually protects a nation and its people.

What are you going to do? Pray for your nation so that you will live in peace.

AMERICA:

1.      Every year in the U.S, 100,000 children are involved in prostitution.

2.      In five major cities it was found that 300,000 domestic minors were involved in prostitution.

3.      The average entry age of American minors into the sex trade is 13.

4.      Seventy-two percent of girls in substance abuse and probation diversion programs have a history of commercial sex.

The Government authorities could not find even one percent of the victims. Human trafficking has become a threat to the authorities. Most of the young girls who were kidnapped were used as sex slaves.

When you hear the news of kidnapping or sexual assault on a young girl or child, does your heart cries unto the Lord with heavy burden? Do you have the pain in your heart as if your own child or your own daughter was affected? Or you were taking the news casually as regular ones?

My dear friends, it’s time to change your attitude towards what was happening in your country. How come God will bless our nation if such things happen around us? These sins will surely bring curse upon our nation and not any blessings.

Pray for the safety of young girls in your nation. God will bless you.

I WILL GIVE YOU REST SAYS JESUS CHRIST

Today you might be in a situation where you have no peace of mind at all in your life. You don’t like the path that you are going on in your life now. You don’t have happiness in your heart because nothing you expected is happening in your life. You are just living for the sake of living. You might have lost all the interest to live. Do not get discouraged. The God who has created you is promising you that He will give you rest.

“Come to Me, all you who labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28

My dear friends, Jesus Christ will give you His peace and rest. It’s enough that you have carried your burden and gone weary. Leave the burdens of your heart and mind at God’s feet for He will give you rest. So far life might not have brought much happiness you have longed for. Look unto Jesus Christ. He will turn all your grief into joy and He will give you happiness that you are longing for.

Your sins might have brought guilt in your life; you might be facing problems in your studies; you might not have got the job that you have longed for; you might be waiting so many years for a particular blessing to happen; you might have problems in your family life and relationships; you might have lost peace in your heart because of the people around you. Do not lose hope. Jesus Christ is there for you. Look to Him and surely He will turn the situations of your life for good and He will give you rest and peace.

I came to know the life of a particular person who works in my work place. When she was doing her Bachelor Science (Bsc) degree her father told her that only if she gets good marks in her degree course he will make her to study Master of Science (Msc) degree. She kept on praying to God for good marks and by God’s grace she scored more than 80% in her Bsc degree. She was so happy and she got admitted to Msc degree in a good college.

She was living her life happily. But a tragedy soon struck her family. Her sister who is of very young age whom she loved very much died in an unexpected way. Her whole family was shattered. She doesn’t know what to do. Soon she returned to her college to continue her course but she could not concentrate on her studies for she lost her peace and there was no rest in her mind. Her mind was filled with so many questions for which she could not find an answer at all.

Soon her mental state became worse and she could not continue her studies. So she discontinued her studies in the mid way and she returned home. Her family members could not do anything to help her to come back to the normal state. The money that her father paid for her master’s degree course also was lost.

She lost her peace and hope about her future. She decided to look to Jesus Christ for help. She believed that God alone can change the situation of her life. So she poured all the burdens of her heart in God’s feet and decided to apply for Msc course again in another college.

She applied to a famous college in her city. A recommendation was preferred to get admission in that college. She had none but Jesus Christ. She kept on praying and one fine morning, God spoke to her saying, “You got selected”. On the same day she got her admission letter and she was so surprised to know that she got selected without any recommendation at all.

Soon she joined that college. After few days she came to know that another girl who is studying in the class also has the same name she has. The name was name and initials also were same. That girl had a recommendation from a higher official who works in that college. That particular higher official called his office staff and told her name and asked him to send the admission letter to that girl. The office staff went to search the address from the list of applicants but he was confused as he saw two similar names.

At the same moment, God directed his heart to choose her name instead of that girl’s name and he had sent the admission letter to her. By this way, God did a miracle in her life providing her a peaceful and rest filled mind. At one moment, God worked a miracle for her and she got blessed. The same girl who struggled to finish her Msc degree course and discontinued in half way was blessed by God in such a way that she hold a doctorate (Ph.D) degree today.

Jesus Christ can do the same miracle to you today. He will not let your family life to break. He will not let you fail in your course. He will not let someone to stop your promotion. He will not let your foot to slip.

Jesus Christ will give you His peace and you will be rested in His bosom. Pour out all your burdens to Him.

“I will give you my peace and rest. I will wipe away all your tears. In my time, I will bless you and raise you. My dear child, do not lose your heart for I am your Father and I will not leave you comfortless. Surely I will bless you and fill your life with joy and happiness. You will live a life of blessing” says Jesus Christ to you.

So my dear friends do not worry about your life. God will surely do a miracle and He will give you His rest. God bless you.

TO REFLECT

LOVE EACH OTHER - TO HUSBANDS AND WIVES

Recently I was reading about the life of a nurse who died of cancer. She had several unhappy marriages. Some students went to her home to do a case study on the effect of cancer upon her. As she shared some important advises to them related to medical studies, she also shared with them one personal advice regarding marriage. She said to them, “To have a better marriage life, don’t yell at each other unless the house is on fire”.

Personally I have seen several marriages ending in divorce. In this modern era, divorce was increasing at a very rapid rate. As the sons and daughters of God we have to understand the importance of marriage life. If we read the Bible we can understand that God is pleased about the marriage relationship.

The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." - Genesis 2:18

Nearly four months back, I and my wife attended a Christian meeting which was conducted especially for the young couples. One of the renowned servant of God shared God’s word. I just want to share with you what the servant of God shared with us.

TO WIVES:

1.      Submit yourselves to your own husband.

“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord” – Ephesians 5:22

(As it was stated in Ephesians 5:24, you have to be submissive to your husband in everything)

2.      You have to forget your father’s house.

“Listen, O daughter, Consider and incline your ear; Forget your own people also, and your father's house" - Psalms 45:10,11

(It doesn’t mean that you have to forget everyone of your household but you should not put down your husband by comparing him with what you had in your father’s house)

3.      Love your husband.

4.      Let your conduct speak rather than your words.

“Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives" - I Peter 3:1

TO HUSBANDS:

1.      Love your wife.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her" - Ephesians 5:25

2.      Do not be harsh with them.

“Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them” – Colossians 3:19

3.      Cherish and Nourish them.

“For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church" - Ephesians 5:29

4.      Respect your wife.

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GOD WILL GUIDE YOU - A DEVOTIONAL BY LATE BRO. DGS DHINAKARAN

"For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." - Philippians 2:13

God wants you to be successful in your life with His favor, time and chance. He will help you to achieve your goal as your times are in His hands.

“…The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all” (Ecclesiastes 9:11).

The Bible says that knowledge and wisdom alone are insufficient for doing any business or work and thereby prosper out of it. The favor of God, time and chance are also essential for the success of any man.

When should one start a business or any work for that matter? "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven" (Ecclesiastes 3:1). "Since times are not hidden from the Almighty, Why do those who know Him see not His days?" (Job 24:1).

To those who trust in the Lord, He makes known when they should start a particular business or work. “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

A couple of years ago, I saw a television clipping about what happened in the city of Paris. The people of that city brought innumerable baskets of tomatoes and threw them on the street. What was the reason for this strange act? A bumper harvest of tomatoes that year had caused a very steep fall in the price of tomatoes and none came forward to buy this perishable commodity. Therefore, they threw the tomatoes on the streets and crushed it.

It so happened that the previous year harvest of tomatoes did not met the demand and hence the price of tomatoes was unusually very high that year. Hoping the same condition would prevail the following year, most of the people planted tomatoes and this led to the drop in price, which resulted in such a strange scene. None of them realized that particular year was not suitable for the cultivation of tomatoes. As a consequence of this, the people were faced with a great loss. The times are in the hands of the God.

Once there lived a certain woman whose husband was a drunkard. Tears moistened her pillows at night. “Is there nobody with whom I can share my burden? Will no one deliver me from this mess?” Thus questioned her frame of mind. One evening, as usual her husband came home staggering in a drunken stupor only to find his wife sending petitions to the Lord. He heard what she said. “Lord! Please save my husband. It’s true that he beats me ruthlessly but despite all his actions, I love him.” On hearing these words, he was moved to tears. He knelt down beside his wife and wept.

After prayers, he looked at his wife. “Although I have stopped drinking, the quench for drinking more does not leave me in peace. At that time, I feel like drinking something. Even now, give me something to drink.” His wife immediately opened the fridge and mixed all the left over fruit juices together with soda and gave it to him. She continued to give this to him whenever he felt the urge to drink and it tasted good. Then they branded this product and sold it so much so that it fetched fortune for them. The wisdom of God made them rich. The drunkard made this statement. “Through this product, I stopped drinking and I wish the people of my land should also benefit by this product.” Thus this product came into the market with a very good intention and the couple became millionaires. They are children who love the Lord and God showed them this path. This Wonderful Lord will perform mighty miracles in your life also.

The times are in the hands of God. He will put the desire and thought about a particular work or business in you. Never be carried away to start any business just because you happen to see someone doing a particular business and are thereby enjoying a fairly high level of financial freedom and economic liberty. Cling firmly to the feet of our loving Lord Jesus Christ. At the apt time, He will put the desire and thought about the business which you should start or the course you have to study or the activity you have to do and will also help you work at it.