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For
Those Seeking The Truth & Dynamic Living Christ is Victor |
May/June
2003
Volume
16, Number 3
“True Power”
“Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Luke 10:19
We must examine ourselves like C.T. Studd used to do, to see how much of the Scriptures we are fulfilling. The Lord gives us a blank cheque. "I give unto you power … over all the power of the enemy." Then how can the devil have power over us? It is only when there is hidden sin in our hearts that the devil can have power over us.
Very often we are not really keen or determined about personal victory. What a failure that is! If we do not have victory in our own hearts, how can we help others? Victory consists in perfect love. Love works no ill to the neighbour. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Lust is selfish and is of the flesh. That which is of the flesh is flesh and that which is of the Spirit is Spirit.
If your heart and mind are engaged in this attitude –“how can I glorify God, and hallow His name?”- then the devil has very little chance to attack you in the flesh. You are fulfilling the Lord's prayer, “Hallowed be Thy name.” (Luke 11:2)
I feel our faith is very low. Some of you may think that we are doing a great deal. I feel we have not done much. Demon powers, idolatrous powers have still such a control over many other nations.
Jesus said, “I
will give you power over all the power of the enemy.” We are failing to
bind the power of the enemy. The night when the Israelites were coming out of
Why are we not seeing more of such power? We have no desire to be partakers in the sufferings of Christ. "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death." (Phil 3:10)
Today we see many young people running after the dollar, and it is very hard to find young men and women with burden and vision for God's kingdom. Every country and society has its acceptable norms. You must finish your degree with flying colours, and you must get a good job. Then you must own a nice house. You must marry a girl who also has a good job. When both of you are earning, you will be very blissful. These are the guidelines society imposes on us. But we must not conform to the world. When you walk with God, you will overcome the world easily.
One area we must see victory, is in our words. The Lord Jesus said, “Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light.” (Luke 12:4) Today if you are saying some foolish thing in your own house, it will become a habit. And after a few days, when others are present, you will talk like that also. Thus it comes out into the light.
Sometimes we tend to think, “Oh, these words must never leak out of this room!” But if you are afraid to utter these words outside the room, why do you speak those words at all which cannot bear the light? You must never say, “Don't tell others what I spoke here.” If they are just words, if they are pure words, if they are loving words, if they are edifying words, let everybody hear. There is no need to fear. That is a Christian!
So there is nothing suspicious in a Christian's life. He is open, walking in the light, talking in the light, and that which he has spoken in the secret chamber maybe uttered on the housetop. Can your words bear such exposure? You may be whispering to your wife a worldly desire. In the end, what is in your heart will come out in your life.
If we keep away from negative talk and have victory in our words, then we will be much mightier in prayer and be partakers of His sufferings. It is a great privilege to suffer for Jesus. May the Lord help us to have fellowship in His sufferings so that we may inherit the power that our dear Lord has promised us.
-Joshua Daniel
“Reality Check”
“And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5: 31,32
“Rich
in God”
Mary Bosanquet was the daughter of a wealthy English merchant. She belonged to the elite. She wore the finest and the most expensive clothes and jewelry. Her father knew all the "right" people. Whatever Mary lacked she only needed to buy. What more could she want? But something like a bombshell soon exploded in the Bosanquet home. Mary was invited to attend meetings held by the Methodist Society. Without telling her father, she went to a service, then more services.
Then it happened! Wealthy Mary Bosanquet was converted. She felt as though she were floating on clouds. Oh, the joy of it! She told her father. He was ashamed that she was dropping out to join the Society of Methodists! How cruel, how ungrateful!
What was more, Mary invited her brothers to the meetings and spoke to them about their souls! She began to dress plainly like people in the Society of Methodists. That added insult to injury, and one day her father came to her with a demand.
"Mary, there is a promise I require of you. That is, that you will never, now or hereafter, try to make your brothers what you call ‘Christian’."
Mary replied, "Father, I dare not consent to that."
"If you refuse to consent to that, you force me to put you out of my house!"
"According to your view of things, I will do."
Her father chided, "You don’t appreciate what I provide for you; you wear the plain clothes of those people!"
How could poor Mary explain that she really loved her father and appreciated his interest and provision? But she was resolute in her reply: "When I think of the word ‘holiness’, or of the adorable name of Jesus, my heart seems to be on fire for God more than ever before. I cannot go with you any more to places of amusement; neither can I wear the expensive clothes you buy me. I must be God’s and His alone." Imagine a young man or woman being uplifted by the thought of holiness or the name of Jesus!
Mary’s father was furious and told her to pack her things. He summoned the family coach and soon Mary, with her belongings in one trunk, literally left home to follow Christ. Her young maid and companion, who was also a Christian, was allowed to accompany her. At the parting, Mary told her father of a promise God had given from Revelation 3:4.
"God has promised me that I shall walk with Him in white."
From the homes of the rich, finely gabled and terraced with servants’ quarters and lush, beautiful gardens, the coach traveled to Laytonstone where the homes of the poor stood. Mary’s new residence had two rooms, with a dismal view of chimneystacks and the filthy yards of her neighbours. She had not brought candles, and she borrowed a table and two chairs. But she had "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding" (Philippians 4:7)
Mary was driven to her knees many times, and there she found Jesus, the "fairest of ten thousand". The Lord reminded her with the words of the psalmist: "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up." (Psalm 27:10) The Lord kept His promise; He never failed her. Mary often said, "Why, I am brought out of the world, and I have nothing to do but to be holy for God: holy in body and in spirit. What a happy soul I am! Truly my abode is a bit of heaven."
Prayer meetings were held in Mary’s new home and one woman after another asked to join. Their numbers grew to such proportions that Mary appealed to John Wesley to send them a preacher for Sunday services, which he did. Mary took a number of children into her home, and about thirty adults. They depended wholly on the Lord for sustenance. God, the Father of the fatherless, never failed to supply their needs.
Mary’s father put her out of
the family in 1760. Some 37 years later, Henry F. Lyte
was born in
Jesus, I my cross have taken.
All to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou from hence my all shalt be;
Perish every fond ambition,
All I’ve sought and hoped, and known;
Yet how rich is my condition,
God, and heav’n are still my own!
Let the world despise and leave,
They have left my Saviour too;
Human hearts and looks deceive me;
Thou art not like man, untrue;
And while Thou shalt smile upon me,
God of Wisdom, love, and might,
Foe may hate, and friends may shun me;
Show Thy face, and all is bright.
-Selected
“House
of Perfect Safety”
"Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth
my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom
he is like: He is like a man which
built an house, and digged deep, and laid the
foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon
that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock." (Luke 6:47,48)
When people build houses, they are not careless, but dig deep because it
is the house under the roof of which all the members of the house will
live. Jesus says, "When you
hear My Word and do it, you are laying the foundation and digging deep." As you dig deeper and deeper, you get at
reality. Only those who observe His
Word will get at the rock foundation, which is Christ. While you are living the Word, you
strongly become conscious of the lifting power. Every time you put the crowbar(obedience)
into the earth and put your weight down to it, an extraordinary power lifts you
up. You seem to go double the
distance deeper than you would ordinarily.
There are angels behind every man who is trying to live God's Word. Every man who is praying according to
the Word of God is soon led to the reality, and gets to a place where he meets
the living personality who is Christ Himself. Once you contact Him, you have no fear
at all and on Him you build your foundation. The Word of God which you have believed
is not merely words consisting of letters and phrases which are part of a
language but it is the Word with its solidarity in Christ. It is the Word which is Christ Himself. He is the bread of life.
Everyone who is trying to obey His Word is building a house of perfect
safety. Floods may come and beat
upon it, but it will stand for ever.
We see strong walls and strong pillars of the bridges being washed away
by floods. The foundation of these
bridges are weak. Are you building
your life on the Word of God? Are
you digging deep? Such men will
never be shaken and their homes will never be shaken and their future will be
secure.
When you dig deep and reach the rock bottom, you will get the honey, oil
and everything you need for life.
What is wanted in this world more than stable Christianity and deep
peace and loving service? The more
you serve others, the more joy you get.
This is the wonderful life and wonderful discovery Christ brought to
us. He that doeth His Word, diggeth deep and raises his family on this Rock, the
foundation of such a family is Christ.
When you all go deeper in prayer and in obedience to the Word of God,
you will also be lifted up into Heaven like
-Late Mr. N. Daniel
“Out of the Bondage of Brahminism”
I come from a Hindu Brahmin
family, hailing from
I was very stubborn and rebellious as a child. I resented authority of any kind and had my own way. I made life very unbearable and tiresome to my parents. I used to steal from their purses and this gave room for endless lying. As a young girl of eight years of age, I forged my mother’s signature on my test paper to indicate to my teachers that my mother had seen my marks.
When I was around eleven years of age, a cousin of mine introduced me to the apparently harmless game of planchette (something like the Ouija board). But this pushed my life on a downhill course. Formerly I hardly saw movies or read dirty books. But now I developed an unhealthy appetite to see more and more movies and read dirty books.
Due to these bad habits, my life-style changed for the worse. I could not speak one sentence without swearing or cursing. My thoughts, words and imaginations became very corrupt in the sight of God. I had no peace and life became quite unbearable. I even seemed to loose my memory and comprehension. And I found that I could not study as well as before. I did not know what was happening to me and used to wonder whether I was becoming insane.
This was the time I
got a seat in the
My parents called me home to participate in a special pooja to a deity who was considered to ward off evil. But as soon as this pooja was over, I found that instead of getting peace I became all the more miserable. There was nothing but turmoil and confusion in my house soon after this pooja. Due to this, I lost whatever little faith I had in the Hindu gods.
I began to wonder whether there is a God of peace and love in this world. I prayed like this, "If there is a real God who can help me, let Him reveal Himself to me and I will follow Him." One day I saw the Lord Jesus. His hands were stretched out towards me and I was drawn to Him. And a wonderful sense of peace began to descend on me. I realized that Jesus is the true God, and prayed that He must lead me to a church where I could be guided in my quest for reality and truth.
Soon after this I was invited to attend a Students' Camp conducted by the Laymen's Evangelical Fellowship in January 1982, where I heard Bro. Joshua Daniel preaching from the Bible. I heard that God speaks to us from His Word and that we can meet God personally in the person of Jesus Christ.
The spirit of God convicted me of my hypocrisy and uncleanness. I began to repent and restitute. I wrote a letter to my school teacher asking her forgiveness in the matter of forging my mother's signature. I wrote to one of my college lecturers asking her forgiveness for misbehaving in her class, as I had constantly disrupted her classes. I returned books which I had forgotten to return to my friends. God spoke to me clearly about idol worship through Deuteronomy 7:25, 'Ye shall burn them in fire and not desire the silver or gold of them, for it is a cursed thing.' So I threw them away. The Lord next dealt with me in the matter of my close friendship with ungodly people, through 2 Corinthians 6:17-18, "...come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." The Lord gave me courage and strength to leave these worldly friends.
Due to my new experience with the Lord Jesus Christ and the change which came over my life, the other students in my hostel avoided me. But the Lord Jesus was my 'Stay' all through my college days. He gave me the assurance of salvation through Luke 7:48 & 50, " ... thy sins are forgiven. . . . thy faith has saved thee; go in peace."
Real peace and joy flooded my life. The Lord gave me grace to study well. He gave me victory in my eyes, words and thought life. I feel totally unworthy of this eternal love of God which brought me out of great darkness -- of heart and mind -- into His marvellous light. I want to serve Him and be faithful to Him and be steadfast in the fellowship of God’s children, till the end of my life.
-Dr. Shanti Seshadri
This newsletter is produced six times per year by the
Laymen’s Evangelical Fellowship International. It is printed and
distributed in the
This Fellowship
is an inter-denominational missionary and prayer group working for revival in
churches and amongst students in several countries. We invite every layperson
to become God’s ally in changing his or her corner of the world. We train
people in evangelistic work and to be self-supporting missionaries.
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7164100 T.K. Ong
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