This verse here gives us a clear insight into the relationship between God’s promises and our prayers. This is a totally misunderstood subject as many well meaning believers think that God’s promises will automatically come true. They wait impatiently for God to fulfill His promises and some times even find fault with God for His callousness about His promises.

This verse here tells us the secret about the many unfulfilled promises of God. We know that God promised Abraham seed like the sand of the sea and like the stars of heaven (Gen.22:17). Yet it took quarter of a century before Abraham had the joy of seeing his promised son. There was a time when Abraham was willing to make a compromise and he was willing to accept Ishmael as his heir (Gen.17:18). We can imagine Abraham being fed up with waiting for the son of his promise. And in his conversation (prayer) with the Lord, Abraham was now making a negative suggestion; that he was willing to accept the seed of his flesh as the promised seed! But God would NOT compromise on His promise to Abraham. God said “No” to that suggestion of Abraham and God wanted Abraham to wait patiently for His promise to be fulfilled. We can well imagine Abraham asking God when that glorious day was going to be! Abraham was obviously waiting and praying that God would fulfill His promise soon. And at last Isaac was born as promised by God, in answer to long and patient wait and believing prayers of Abraham.

This truth is confirmed in the incident that followed. Now that Isaac is married, there is yet another problem for the promise to be fulfilled. We are told that Rebeca was barren! It was indeed the least expected thing. But this situation teaches us the fact that the promises of God would not come true in our lives in a natural process. It is absolutely true that God promised seed like the sand of the sea and that not one of the promises will ever fail either. It is also true that God will fulfill all His promises right in time (Acts.7:17). God is faithful and He will surely fulfill His promise with out fail. But the amazing truth is that God fulfills His promises ONLY in answer to the prayers of His people!

All the promises are written down for us in His Word (Rom.1:2) and all promises are for all who believe (Gal.3:22). We are told that the promises of God are to be obtained by faith and patience (Heb.6:12,15). And we are asked to perfect holiness since we have these promises (2Cor.7:1). With all the above, if we do NOT continue in fervent prayers, the promises of God will never come true in our lives. This truth is expressed through out the scriptures and we need to take heed to it to see that we obtain the promises of God in our lives.

Let us look at the life of Jacob as a clear example of this truth exemplified for us. Jacob comes to Bethel and there he receives the promises of God (Gen.28:10-22). Then in the life of Jacob there was that long gap of twenty years where he seeks all short cuts to make His life a blessing. But alas! Twenty years later, though he became a big number physically, yet he was more a miserable person than ever before. But at Peniel he wrestles the whole night and there he became the heir of his promises. His name was changed and he became a new person altogether. We see that though he got promises at Bethel, only after his Peniel experience, the promises got fulfilled in his life.

From Dan. 9:2-3 we learn that Daniel knew this truth as well. When Daniel learnt that the captivity was going to be for seventy years, knowing that he was living at the time when the promise is to be fulfilled, he turns to God in prayer and in supplication. And God reveals to Daniel the mystery behind seventy year captivity. In that most solemn passage of Scripture we have the exact date of the crucifixion of our Lord predicted (Dan.9:26)! Daniel was able to get that truth because he was willing to spend time praying that God would indeed fulfill His promise made by His prophet.

We often wonder why God is slack in fulfilling His many wonderful promises of His Precious Word. Once we get the grip of this truth, we know the real reason for this situation. It is not God rather we, His people, who are responsible for God’s promises not being fulfilled.

Does that mean that God’s promises will never come true in its appointed time? Read what the Lord says about His promises. ”The LORD gave me this answer: “Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance. Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed” (Hab.2-3). And to Jeremiah the Lord said, “‘You are right’, the LORD said, ‘and I am watching to see that my words come true’” (Jer.1:12).

Surely God will fulfill all His promises in time with out fail. But because He does it ONLY in answer to prayers of His people, unless we pray, God will raise others who will pray and in answer to their prayers God will fulfill His promises in time! We can see this truth exemplified in history of the church again and again. Where ever there was a praying church, there was a mighty movement of the Spirit of God. If ever there was slackness in the Lord’s work, it is because the people of God failed to call on Him in prevailing prayers. Also we can see that before God begins to do a mighty work, He gets His people praying. Zechariah the prophet sees that in future there is going to be a mighty turning of the people of Israel to God. And before that happens the prophet says that God would pour on them the spirit of grace and supplication (Zech.12:10ff).

So, if there is an urge within us to pray, it is an indication that God’s grace is at work within us. When we feel an urge to pray let us put aside every thing else and be at His feet discerning His will and praying that He would accomplish His will for His glory. If we fail to do that, God will raise others who will pray and in answer to their prayers He will fulfill His promises. And we will be the ones who are the losers. We would have lost the privilege of being co-workers with the Almighty in bringing about His purposes on earth! May we be sensitive to the call of the Spirit of God and may we bring glory to His Holy Name by seeing that all His promises are fulfilled for His glory.

The Bible ends with last the promise of our Lord and John’s response to that promise in Rev.22:20. May we also make it our prayer as we wait for His coming in these very last days of the age of grace.

Let us always remember that the key to get a positive answer to our prayers is to take hold of the promise of God and make it our prayer. Once we know some thing is the will of God, we need to pray in perseverance till we receive our answer. May the Lord give us grace and may His name be glorified. Amen.

 God has a SOVEREIGN will by which He decides where we will be born and what our DNA code will be. He decides it without consulting any one.   This He does according to His good pleasure (Eph.1:11).   “From one human being he created all races of people and made them live throughout the whole earth. He himself fixed beforehand the exact times and the limits of the places where they would live”  (Act 17:26).   “The Most High assigned nations their lands; he determined where peoples should live. He assigned to each nation a heavenly being” (Deu 32:8). 

 Then He has a perfect will for each man alive on this earth.  This PERFECT will of God for us is revealed to us through His Word.  God makes His Perfect will clear to us as we study His Word regularly.     There will be that peace of God KNOWING that this is what God wants me to do when we know it.  Now it is OUR duty to pray till that takes place takes place in our lives.  It does NOT happen automatically.  That would be fatalism.  The Bible does NOT teach fatalism.  The Bible does NOT teach that all that happen to us so happen because that is decreed by God.   God only tells us what He expects of us.  He never forces any one to His will in their lives.  We must choose to do His will and we can do it only by His help by praying to Him for His grace.  We must also remember that Satan is always against us to enjoy God’s perfect will for us.   That makes prayer as the only means of reaching God’s perfect will for our lives. 

 We read about the perfect will in Rom.12:2 and once we know some thing is God’s will it is for us to PRAY THROUGH and see that it is accomplished in our lives
 

Let us look at Elijah on the top of Mount Carmel in 1 Kgs.18:40 ff   the Lord told him that it was going to rain after they destroyed all priests of Baal.  Our natural reaction would be,  “ well, any way the Lord promised and His promises can never fail”  and we go and sleep expecting God to fulfill His plan.  But look at what Elijah did.   He put his head between his knees and he was praying.   What is the significance of his head between his knees?   We know that women among the Hebrews those days gave birth to children sitting (cf.Ex.1:16 and note the reference to stool in that verse).  They had some thing before them to which the child would fall as it comes to the world.  That is the position in which they could exert maximum energy to push the child out of their bodies.   We call it agony of child birth.  Elijah, as he put his head between his head, he was agonizing in prayer that God’ will MUST be accomplished as God promised.  read v. 44   how long he had to pray like that.   He prayed   till answer came. 

Look again at Dan.9:2,3 where this truth is once again illustraved.

`Now read Rom.15:30-32   where Paul talks about striving with him in prayer that the will of God may be accomplished  The word translated “strive” here is translated in Lk.22:44 as “agony”.  So “strive with me in prayer” can well be put as “agonize with me in prayer”.  Look at what Jesus did in His life when He prayed (Heb.5:7).   Read Mt.6:10 where our Lord taught us to pray  “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven”.    In heaven God’s perfect will is accomplished automatically   but here on earth now, if Perfect will of God must be accomplished,  WE MUST PRAY TILL IT HAPPENS

So,  many believers today are NOT living IN THE PERFECT WILL OF GOD.

Time to accomplish God’s perfect will for us depends upon the fervency of our prayer

Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man avails much in its working.  (Jas 5:16)
 
 And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, and ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  (Rom 12:2)

 Then there is the permissive will of God where God permits to live all who do not reach His perfect will.  Tragically majority in the world and in the church are living in the permissive will of God.  If we do that, we suffer ourselves and we let God suffer as well.  God watches helplessly asking “why should you die?” (Eze.18:31).

Brief Testimony

A wise man is some one who enjoys the best that life offers.  The Bible contains extra-ordinary wisdom as it is God’s revelation to man.  It contains promises for life here and life here-after.  “for bodily exercise is profitable for a little; but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come” (1Tim.4:8). If one would follow all regulations of the Old Testament about food, sanitation and morality, one could be sure of a healthy and a happy life here on earth.  The New Testament, on the other hand, offers the way to enjoy eternal bliss.

The verse quoted above was written about 3000 years ago by King Solomon who is considered the wisest of men. What he said at that time is discovered by modern scientists now with exact accuracy about the way how the human brain functions. 

It is a common knowledge today that our brain is divided in to left and right and each has  essentially different functions to perform.  It is also known today that our brain produces electronic pulses as it vibrates regularly.  When our eyes are open and when we do any physical activity our left brain vibrates at 14-21 cycles per second (cps).  When our eyes are open, it is the left side of our brain which is activated usually and it is analytical in nature and activity oriented in function.  But when we close our eyes and begin to concentrate on some thing, the right side of our brain begins to be activated and the vibration is reduced to 7-14 cps.  This is the center of our brain and it takes us to the strongest part of our mind power which is on the right side.   When we sleep the cps reaches 4-7 and in a deep sleep it is 0-4 which is a kind of unconscious stage.  In our sleep right side of our brain controls all our internal organs.

The activity of our brain between sleep and wake up, that is,  the position with eyes closed in a relaxed mood when we concentrate on some thing,  is the creative and intuitive part of our mind and it is the center of our brain’s activities. It is called the Alpha mind.  If some one is able to cultivate the habit of remaining in this position of the mind for some time regularly, it is said to have enormous effect on one’s active life. Unfortunately, though the Bible talked about it long before the modern scientists discovered it, the Bible believers do not get the benefit out of this ancient Bible revelation.

How shall we get practical benefits from this Bible revelation about how our mind works? This is what we exactly do when we pray.  Christ who is the Eternal Word lives in our hearts by faith (Eph.3:17) in all believers.  When we close our eyes and concentrate on Him we get in to direct touch with Him.   All we need to do now is to discipline ourselves to strict timings and for regular practice for this contact with the divine in us.

1.  Twice a day set apart a minimum of fifteen minutes each as soon as waking up and just before going to bed.

2.  Sit up straight with your legs stretched and body straight and the body relaxed.  A kneeling position with hands and head slightly lifted up with eyes closed is found to have tremendous effect for prayer.

3.  Take a deep breath and release it slowly after closing your eyes.  It helps with the circulation of blood in our body.

4.  Concentrate your mind on God and on His goodness to you and thank Him for all good things you enjoy in life one by one.  Say it loudly to yourself so that you could hear what you say so that your concentration is not lost.  Do it for the first five minutes.  You may sing a song of praise at this time instead, with eyes closed and with full concentration.  We are told that He lives up on the praises of His people (Ps.22:3).

5. Then for the next five minutes repeat to yourself a verse of Scripture which assures you of God’s wonderful work in your life.  You might say it aloud to yourself, “I am a child of God through Christ”, or say “God has blessed me with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” or say, “The Lord is my shepherded, and I shall not want” or “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”.  And visualize yourself as safe and sound in the hands of the Lord.  Do this for a minimum of five minutes. And never entertain any negative thought any time in your life (Ph.l.4:8,9).  It is called positive affirmations.

6.  Then take another deep breath and continue with eyes closed to pray for others and pray for your own needs for the day.  And take your time for it. Our Lord said, “For truly I say to you that whoever shall say to this mountain, Be moved and be cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he said shall occur, he shall have whatever he said (Mk.11:23). It is called creative visualization.

7.  Do it at the same time daily with out fail with eyes closed and in full concentration.  Force yourself to do it by discipline for the first three weeks.  If you can do it for three weeks, it would become a habit with you and you could do it with out much difficulty later on.

What actually happens is that when we close our eyes and concentrate on some thing, our right brain gets activated and our subconscious mind gets the message instantly.  Because the vibration level there is lower, it affects our whole system positively.  Our tension would be relieved and problems related to tension would begin to reduce slowly.  If we practice it daily just as we have our food at the correct time or just as we take medicines prescribed by a doctor,  we would soon find that our bodies become healthier and our dependence on other medicines would be reduced to a minimum.  Many have benefited from this practice.  I invite you too to enjoy life at its best and be wise as God expects us to be.

May I add one more word.  The more time you are able to spend in this condition is better for you and for others around you.  And it would bring glory to God ultimately as we are actually in touch with Him all the time we are doing this. In other words, when we pray we are functioning like a fully charged mobile phone with the right connections.  We are sending the power of God as electronic pulses to the recipient (the one for whom we are praying) through our minds.   The only difference is that when we are sending the message (i.e. when we pray) we are also charging our batteries at the same time!!  So less time in prayer means a poorly charged battery.  And no time in prayer means batteries are fully discharged.   So I suggest a minimum of one hour daily as ideal for every one.  But with out fifteen minutes at a time twice a day it might not yield much desired results at all.  Try this out and share with us how it has worked for you.  Thanks.

(The author, from his experience in prayer for more than forty years, writes with confidence as to how to pray to get answers.    Copyright © 2007 mathewpaul.org .  All rights reserved for all materials in the blog.)

These pages are dedicated to my dear wife Joyce, who permitted me long hours during night and day to be spent alone with God, in spite of her busy and hard life as a mother of five children below ten years then.

To God Almighty be all glory who gave us a very exciting life answering our prayers.

PREFACE

Prayer is a big mystery. There are very few people who do not pray. Even the so-called atheists are said to have called upon God in times of trouble. But there are very few who can pray with confidence knowing that their prayers are heard and would be answered.

Following pages are the result of a life time of prayer and the author is trying to guide beginners in the art of praying to get answers.

This is not a research work nor is it a comprehensive study of the subject of prayer. Concepts are discussed without much detail. But any one who wants to pray effectively must know these basics about prayer. They should know why they should pray. Then they should know the ‘how’ of prayer. So the first few sessions are allotted to discuss what prayer actually is, and the last sessions are allotted to how to go about praying.

No one ever becomes perfect in the art of praying. So these words are written with the hope that the author and the readers will continue to live up to the challenge that is laid up in the Holy Scriptures, the Bible.

I am thoroughly convinced that if prayers are done in the way taught by the scriptures, answers are bound to come. I remember as a student praying for three rupees to buy tooth paste. Answer came that very day when a friend of mine got a money order.from his uncle and the coupon instructed him to give me three rupees.  This incident took place way back in 1967.

In 1986 the month of April was a special month in my life. For a whole month I was witnessing miraculous provision of the Lord as I was constructing a two storied concrete building of 700 sft., to be used as a hostel building for tribal children. We started the construction with little money in our hands, ended it within thirty days with no debts.   We had not informed any one in the whole world about the project even as a prayer request. The Lord provided all our needs as direct, tangible, undeniable, unbelievable answers to prayer day by day. That building stands in the Nilgiris in S.India with the inscription “This building stands witnessing the fact that God of Elijah lives” l Kg.17:4, on it. Even if Lucifer were to come in person, he can not deny that God answers prayer today.  Or how else would he explain the existence of that building there?

In 1996 as I was attending a prayer seminar and in between classes, a prayer slipped out of my heart asking the Lord to make provision for me to buy a good vehicle before I left that place. No one ever knew what I was praying about. But on the following day came the answer most wonderfully when a brother promised a lump of money for the same purpose and in a few months time I was able to get a good vehicle  for myself.

After all these and other many and varied answers to prayers in my life, I stand as a man thoroughly broken in spirit as the Lord challenged me to pray for India with its enormous needs. I am like David after killing the lion and the bear. Goliath stands tall and real. Unless he is defeated, the purpose of our lives is not achieved.

So I challenge the readers to read the following pages and join me in the fight against the enemy of  our souls who has blinded millions of our country men. May we wrestle against the principalities and powers of darkness and may we enter into the victory which Christ has won for us and for our country men. To His name be all glory. Amen and amen

To read further go to ‘Book on Prayer’  in categories or ‘Experience in Focus’ in categories or ‘Unforgettable experiences’ in categories.

First step is to recognize that you have wronged God all these years by ignoring Him.  Read Psalm 14:2.  “The Lord looks from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God.”  V.3 reads,  “They have all gone astray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good, no not one”. The Bible calls it ‘sin’.  Ignoring your creator is the greatest sin of your life!

Then realize that you are guilty before God and that you are liable for punishment by being eternally separated from God.   Read 2 Thes.1:8,9.  “…those who do not know God …shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might,”.  The Bible calls it ‘hell’.

Now Believe that the God of love has sent His Only Son Jesus Christ to save you from your punishment and to make you His child so that you can live with Him eternally.  Read Jn. 3:16.  “For God so loved that world that He gave us His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  Christ died and rose again for our sins.  I Cor. 15:3,4.  If you believe this, we call it mental assent to the gospel.  So far, so good.  But that is not enough.  Tragically many have reached this place and have not taken the next crucial step!

If you believe that Christ is God’s provision for your sin, you need to make it your personal possession by calling upon Him to save you.  Read Rom.10:13.  “Every one who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Read also Jn. 1:12. “But to all who received him (Jesus Christ), who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God;”   Jn.1:13 says that such are born of God.  This is a decision of your will!

If you are ready for this, kneel down and open your mouth and follow me in the prayer I am going to repeat for you.  “Dear God, I realize that I have sinned against you in not seeking after you.  I ask you to forgive me now.  I believe that Jesus Christ your Only Son died and rose again for my sin.  I receive him as my lord and savior.  Make me your child through Jesus Christ your Son. Amen.” Get up from your knees.
Congratulations!

If you made that prayer from your heart, The Bible says that you are saved from the wrath to come.  Read Rom. 10:9.  “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  The Bible says,  “Beloved, we are God’s children now”(I Jn.3:2)!

Would you not like to thank God for making you His child?  Do it. Do it now! Live in constant touch with Him.  The Bible is your guide for your daily living.  Read it regularly.  The Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth as you read the Bible regularly.  Get into touch with us if you need more help.  God Bless You. Cheerio!

(The Spirit of God will whisper in your heart that you are a child of God.  Now try and listen very carefully as you might over crowd His voice with your busy life.  From now on, tune your heart to listen to the voice of God regularly.  Do this quietly especially as you read the Scriptures every day.  Just as you cannot starve your physical body, you should not starve your inner man who is just born (Eph.2:1).  Feed it regularly with the word of God (I Pet. 2:1,2).   As you listen to and obey the voice of God, God will continue to speak to you and God will give you an involvement in His eternal plans.

By the way, don’t forget to tell your buddies about your encounter with God.  Bring them also into touch with God.  Remember not who believe in God, but only those who call up on Him in sincerity will ever be saved!  OK.)

Are you willing to take up the challenge to spend one hour daily in the presence of the Lord to nourish your inner man?

One hour daily for prayer!  It may surprise some.  But how much time do you spend every day to maintain your physical body for washing up, dressing up and for eating and drinking?  Can you imagine cutting down on your time there?  If you are not careful, soon you will find that your body will fail you.  Then how can you imagine that your inner man can carry on without proper nourishment every day?

If you do not want to do it, you are opting to be a babe in Christ.  The Bible calls such ‘Carnal Christians’ (I Cor.3:1-2). 

If you spend regular time every day in God’s presence with His Word for prayer, the Lord will not only strengthen you (Is.40:31) but you will also be able to hear His voice (Jer.23:18). Then you can order your life according to God’s will and you will also know the will of God about a given situation. When you know the will of God about a given subject, you can pray boldly about it (2 Sam. 7:27).  Then you can be absolutely sure that your prayers will be answered (I Jn.5:14).

Do you know the following statements to be true?

God is almighty.  He can do anything He wants to do (Gen.l8:14; Jer.32:27: Lk.l:37). 

God is love (IJn. 4:8,16). He sent His son to die for us (Jn.3:16; ICor.15:3).

Jesus Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world (I Jn.2:2).

Though God is not willing that any should perish (I Tim.2:4; 2 Pt.3:9),

only they that call upon the Lord will be saved (Rom.10:13).

And prayers done in the will of God can never go unanswered (I Jn.5:14).

Then why should you let your friends and relatives in the clutches of sin and Satan?

They are still there because you don’t intercede for them.

But before you begin to pray for their salvation, make sure that you obey the Scriptures (Pro.28:9) and that you have a consistent bruit bearing life for the Lord (Jn. 15:l6).  Make sure that you pray in faith (Mt.21:21), and in fervency (Js.5:16). You should also persevere till answer comes (Lk.18:1,7). 

When you pray for the conversion of people, allow more time as God does not force any one to do any thing.  They should on their own will must turn to God for mercy and grace.  God will even force people on occasion depending on the fervency of the intercessor (Cf. Gen.19:l5,l6,29). 

Answer is bound to come.  Delay is due to your lack of fervency and Satanic obstruction (Mt.12:29; Dan.l0:2,3,12,13).   But if you continue to resist the devil, he will flee (Js.4:7).

Ps.34:5.“They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed”.

I remember at the age of ten I used to repeat this verse so many times to myself as God’s promise to me!  It stayed on with me ever since.

l Thes. 4:12

At the age of eighteen I was in the second year of my Bible college.  I was beginning to read and understand English then.  Living Letters (Epistles of the Living Bible) came out those days and I grabbed it like hot cake. The simple language and bold print attracted me to it.  I remember reading it again and again.   But one of the verses which gripped my soul was a part of l Thes. 4:12. “This should be your ambition to live a quiet life minding your own business”.  From then I never poked my nose into the life or business of some one else.  I truly thank the Lord for giving me this insight very early in my life.

Lk. 16:15  “for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”

After completing the phonemic analysis and writing basic grammar for Kurumba  language I met a professor form Tamil University and discussed the possibility of registering for a Ph.D. program.  It was easily possible with a little more effort and final write up.  Next time when I went to Chennai I met the professor and bought an application form for the same.  The following day for meditation was this verse of scripture.  I learnt that God has a different standard from that of men.  I decided I would never look for a high estimation among men.  I just dropped that application form and never used it!

The truth of scripture which transformed my life

I read several books on prayer.  Dick Eastman’s “No Easy Road”  and  “The Hour That Changes the World” are the two books which put me on  the proper track.  One of the greatest truths I learnt from this author is:  “What prayer means to God, criticism means to the Devil”.  I studied the concept further.  We know Our Lord intercedes for us while the devil accuses us before the Father.  They generate opposite forces and they work one against the other.   I learnt that when I intercede I help that Lord in His ministry; but when I accuse or criticize I help the devil and his ministry.  When I intercede I do the Lord’s work.  When I accuse some one I do the devil’s work.

I decided that I would never accuse a person for whom Christ intercedes.  I began to see my prayers being answered as never before!  Many of us pray.  But if we entertain a critical spirit our prayer can never reach God.  How can the Lord help someone who helps the devil?   If any one wants to have a powerful prayer life, such a person should never accuse anyone even in prayer! (Read more about this in my book on prayer, the chapter titled ‘Opposite Force of Prayer’)

That is the picture of a Christian believer who never sits in the presence of the Lord for meditation and for prayer.   Have regular times in the presence of the Lord, you will see yourself growing in grace (I Pt.2:1-3).

Can you imagine a garden which was not weeded?  Can you imagine a room which was not swept?

That is a picture of a Christian believer who never bothered to confess his sins regularly to get cleansing from the Lord and enjoy a healed relationship fellow believers (I Jn.1:9; Js.5:l6).

Can you imagine well uniformed nurses standing inactive in a busy casualty ward?

That is the picture of a Christian believer who does not engage in warfare prayer (Rom.15:30-32; Eph. 6:10-18).

NT clearly teaches us that all born again ones are members of the royal priesthood.1

We exercise our priesthood here on earth and kingship in the Eternal Kingdom.

As  priests our duties are:

1.  Worship. 

There were two major elements to the worship in the OT.

-Sacrifices and offerings performed by priests who were helped by Levites.

-Singing and praising God by choirs led by Levites.  Cf. 1Chr.23:27-32.

In the NT as priests we offer spiritual sacrifices.  I Pt.2:5.

-         Our bodies as living sacrifice Rom.12:l

-         Our monitory offerings as sacrifice  Phil.4:18;

-         Our good works and sharing  Heb. 13:16

-         Fruits of our lips-sacrifices of praise Heb. 13:15.

We also sing praises to God as individuals and as groups when ever and where ever possible (Eph. 5:18-20; I Cor.14:16).

2.  Witness.                                                                                                                                              

-OT Priests were custodians and teachers and preachers of the law as the following passages illustrate.  Neh. 8:9; 2 Chr.15:3;  Jer. 18:18; Eze.7:26;  Note the following verses. Hos.4:6 & Mal.2:7. Preaching, teaching etc. are part of witnessing.

In the NT witnessing is squarely placed on us as our responsibility.

 Acts 1:8;  Mk.3:14; I Pet.2:9, - Life style witnessing at home I Pet.3:1,2.

 Eph. 4-6 is all about the life style of a believer.

 -Warning every man  Col.1:28, - Being a debtor  Rom.1:14

 -As far as I can    Rom l:15, - Woe to me if I preach not  I Cor. 9:l6

 We are responsible for this generation.  Their blood shall be required of us  Eze.3:l8.

 God means what He asys!   They are strong words.

3.  Warfare.         We usually forget this very crucial role played by priests in the O.T.!

Num. 10:8f; 31:6;  Dt.20:2.

In the NT  spiritual warfare is required of all believers. 

-Srtive with me… Rom.15:30-32; 

-That you may able to stand against the viles of the devil Eph.6:10-18;

Js. 4:7; I Pet.5:9;     ( Jude v.23.    Let us pull some out of fire.   If it was not possible, the Lord would not have told us!)    

Struggle is involved.

Kingship we exercise there.  Privileges of kingship are given to us in proportion to the faithfulness with which we exercise our priesthood while on earth.  Everyone is to fight or struggle for it…  Failing to achieve it while on earth, we will regret all through eternity.  Crowns are conditional.  I Cor.9:24f;  I Thes.2:19;  2 Tim. 4:8;  Js. 1:12;  I Pet.5:4.  So is throne.  2 Tim.2:12; Mt.19:28f;  Rom.8:17; 2 Thes.1:5; 

Therefore let us strive for crowns and choose to suffer that we may obtain a throne!  Every thing Which God gives us is by grace.  But every thing is not free.  We need to pay the price for obtaining some (Rev. 3:18)  Let us be willing to pay the price and enjoy eternal dividends for His glory.  Amen.

To God Almighty be all glory who gave us a very exciting life answering our prayers.
                                             

                                                              FOREWORD

(By Dr. G. Isaiah, Professor of Homiletics,   Union Biblical Seminary, Pune 411 037,   India)

If prayer is Christian’s “vital breath” how many Christians are found to be “living” prayer?  Prayer is strangely absent both from the pulpit and in practice of both the preachers and the people alike.  Prayer is more easily “said” than done!  And when prayer gets the least priority from the pulpit the pews are empty and the churches are merely existing but not living.  It was time that some one wrote urgently and passionately about this topic.

And I believe that the author of these pages is that some one who has felt compelled to write on this subject.  I have no doubt in saying that he has done it with passion and persuasion!   Having known the author for more than thirty years (as a friend while pursuing theological education and as a colleague in the ministry of teaching and preaching) I can confidently say that this comes out from the deepest convictions of his heart.  Bro. Mathew Paul does not simply talk about prayer, but he lives what he has written. This adds authenticity to the subject!  As you read this, you cannot but be impressed with the fact that his personal encounters with the Lord form the basis and the content of prayer.  Read and be thrilled, but better still, read and practice.  The days of miracles are not over! Experience the miracle of encounter with the Lord of Prayer!

I strongly recommend these pages to all those who are hungry to know God in a more intimate way than before in their prayer life.  May there be more “pray-ers” than mere repetitions of pious words which we call prayers!  May there be a great host of God’s people who surround His throne till our land is evangelized and thus hasten the coming of God’s kingdom on this earth!
                                                              

AS YOU TURN PAGES

1. Three levels in prayer – Bible Teaching
   a) Asking and receiving
   b) Fellowship with God
   c) Striving in prayer 
2. Logic of prayer – Bible View
3. God is a prayer answering God – Bible Revelation
4. Prayerlessness… -Bible Insight
   a) Purpose of a believer’s life will not be fulfilled
   b) We sin against God
   c) God’s will cannot be achieved on this earth
5. How to pray to get answers? – Bible Instruction
   a)  Pray in Christ’s Name
   b)  Pray for God’s glory
   c)  Pray in the will of God
   d)  Pray in Faith
   e)   Pray after removing hindrances
   f)   Pray till answer is received
6. Opposite Force of Prayer – Bible Truth
7. Be a Prayer Warrior – Bible Practice

Appendices – Bible Gleanings
                   
a) Word of God and Prayer
b) Singing and praying
c) Praying for souls
d) Bold prayers in humility
e) Be Sure of Answers
f) Convictions about prayer
g) Commitments for prayer
h) A Suggestion

Now read on…

Prayer is the means of contact with God.

Man has a body, a soul and a spirit.  I Thes. 5:23. With the body man relates himself to the physical world.  With the soul, man relates himself with the living world of creatures.  But with the spirit, man can relate himself to God who is the Ultimate Spirit (Jn.4:24).

In order to maintain his body, man has to breathe, eat and drink regularly.  No one can live with out these.  Every one has to do it moment by moment and day by day.  That is how God made man.

Same thing with the soul.  Mind is the organ of the soul.  In order to develop his soul, man has to train his mind day by day.  One goes to school and trains oneself to become a doctor or an advocate.  It takes years of regular and hard work to achieve this mental capability.  People need to train their minds before they can enjoy  a poem or a game of cricket.  By regular training of mind man achieves such heights and man is able to enjoy life better in this way.

The one who trains up his mind enjoys life better than the one who failed to do so. Not only that, the one who trains the mind enjoys life at a higher level.   That is why some are able to forego a prepared chicken meal to watch a cricket match.  The one who only knows the taste of chicken cannot imagine what he or she is missing in cricket.  But the one who enjoys cricket enjoys life at two levels. 

Human life is not over with chicken and cricket.  Man craves for something deeper.  He feels an emptiness within himself even after he enjoys the very best at these two levels of human existence.  The reason for this is that man has a higher level of existence than these two levels.  Man has a spirit.  The spirit of man is the God-element in man.  The spirit of man longs for the Eternal Spirit who is God.  Only when man’s spirit is able to get in touch with God who is Spirit, is man able to find fulfillment in his life.  He is then able to enjoy life at its best.  With Christ in life, man enjoys life much better than he enjoys it with just chicken and cricket!

The Bible says that through Christ, who is God in human form, any one to day can enter into contact with the Eternal Spirit.  As we approach God through Christ, prayer is the means of that contact.  By praying through Christ who is the mediator between man and God (l Tim.2:5) any one can get into a living contact with God.  In fact, such a person can become a child of God through Christ (Jn. 1:12).  Thus man can enter into the fullness of his being.  Man can enjoy life at its very best. 

Anyone who does not have this divine contact is living like the rest of the animal kingdom.  Such people know only two levels of human existence.  They are missing the very best that life offers.  If the reader is one of those, you are invited to the third level of human existence through Christ.  Man without Christ is described in the Bible as one who is dead in spirit (Eph. 2:l).  It means that such a person is separated from God and thus living a sub-human existence.

The Bible teaches us a lot about prayer.  For our convenience, we may perceive prayer as having three levels.

a) Prayer as asking and receiving from God.

We found that prayer is the means of contact with God.  Now concentrate your mind and call upon God through Christ.  God has promised that He would answer such a call.  Try this.  This is very practical.  Say to God,  “O God, I come to you through Christ Your Son.   I ask that you forgive me and make me your child”.   If  those words came out of your heart and not merely from your lips,  surely heaven will respond to your call.   I guarantee that a hot line will be created between you and God.

The very first and the most important thing which God offers to man through Christ is forgiveness of sins.  Just for the asking in true repentance and in faith, any one can get God’s forgiveness to day.   God does this based on the work of Christ on the cross of  Calvary. There the sinless Son of God paid the penalty of the sins of the whole world.  Millions around the world have experienced this forgiveness which is offered through Christ to day (Rom.3:22-27).  Here is the opportunity.  Do not ever miss this chance to become a child of God.  Do not miss this opportunity to get in to contact with God.  Do not miss this chance to enter into life in its fullest potential.

The Bible is guide for effective praying.  Any one who wants to continue in this relation ship with God must read, understand and practice what the Bible teaches (Pro.28:8).   Some one who wants to have regular answers to prayer must be regular in the habits of reading, meditating and obeying the Word of God every day.

The Bible is like a letter sent to you by God in person.  If you want to send a reply to that letter, you need to read and understand it.  Many people do not know what to pray or how to pray, simply because they do not know what is written in the Bible. So in order to become effective in prayer, read, study, meditate, and practice the Bible daily.  As you eat your daily food to nourish your body, so to nourish your spirit take in God’s Word on a very regular basis.

One of the plain teachings of the Bible is that one needs to ask to get anything from God. “Ask and you shall receive”(Mt.7:7). “You have not…because you ask not”(Js.4:2).  The Bible has many promises pertaining to this life and about the life to come.  But one can enjoy these promises in one’s life as one asks God to fulfill those promises.

Christians are supposed to believe in Christ.  They believe that He is the Son of God.  They believe that He died for the whole world and is a risen savior etc. But if we ask many of them whether they have eternal life, they are not very sure.  The Bible says that he who believes in the Son has eternal life.  Now, what is the problem?  The Bible says that their faith is a dead faith (Js.2:19).  Only when they call upon God  in faith, their faith will be able to save them.  The Bible says, “They that call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom.10:13).  Thus faith and prayer are two sides of the same coin.  Just as prayer without faith is useless, faith without prayer is useless as well.  So  one’s prayer life is a reflection of the genuine faith one has. 

The Bible says that salvation is a free gift from God (Eph.2:8).  But only those who ask for it in faith  will ever  receive it.  Likewise all of God’s promises will remain promises, unless they are claimed by believing prayer.  Without believing prayer promises will never reach its fulfillment.

Prayer is asking and receiving from God.  Prayer is asking God to fulfill His promises.  Many in the world to day have experienced prayer at this level.  God of the Bible is a prayer answering God.  He delights to answer prayers promised in His revealed will which is the Bible.  Every praying believer knows it.  Praise be to His Holy Name.

b) Prayer as fellowship with God

Though at first level prayer is asking and receiving from God, the Bible teaches that prayer is much more than that.  Any one who knows prayer at this level only, knows only the ABC of prayer. 

Many who know prayer only at this level become discouraged very often because all their prayers are not always answered.  God has said clearly in His Word that prayers done in the will of God only can be expected to be answered.  God will never answer prayer against His word and against His nature.

The Bible clearly tells why God created man.  Man is presented in the Bible as the crown of God’s creation.  Man is created in God’s image and likeness (Gen.1:27).  He is created to take care of the created world and to rule over it.  Man is God’s representative on earth (Gen.1:28).  More than that, God wanted to have fellowship with man.  In the cool of the day man used to hear the noise of the feet of God walking in the Garden (Gen.3:8).  God enjoyed the company of man.  Man was created for fellowship with God which He enjoyed.

When man lost this privilege through sin, the Son of God took upon Himself the form of a man that this fellowship can be restored.  To day God offers forgiveness to man free of cost based on Christ’s work on Calvary.  To day God is calling man back to fellowship with God through Christ (I Cor.1:9).  Now our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son (l Jn.1:3). 

When is man able to enjoy this fellowship to which he is called?  Fellowship involves a lot of things.  But the foremost element in fellowship is being together.

Being together in the company of God is the way to enjoy the fellowship with God.  This is what the Lord Jesus did while He was here on earth.  In Lk.6:12 we read that He went alone into a mountain and spent a whole night in prayer to God.  What was He asking God during that night of prayer? It was not merely an asking and receiving kind of prayer that He prayed that night. 

The Lord Jesus, on the other hand, was enjoying the fellowship with God the Father during that night.  He was kind of lost himself in the presence of the Father.  Imagine two friends meeting after the gap of a few years, spending time talking to one another.  They do not know how time flies.  They talk the whole night.  But if you ask them as to what they were talking about, they have nothing to say.  They did not talk philosophy or politics.  In the joy of meeting an intimate friend after a long time, each one is taken up and hours become minutes in the process.

Prayer in the second level is exactly this kind of an experience.  It is being lost in the presence of God.  It is cultivating intimacy with God.  It is enjoying the fellowship with God.

Many believers do not even spend a single hour in God’s presence.  How can they think about a whole night in prayer? They do not know what they are missing.  Only a believer who has climbed up to reach this kind of prayer, is a grown up believer.  They who have this experience will sacrifice every thing else for this sublime experience.  If one is not able to forego a meal or a sleep for prayer, it means that one has not reached this level in prayer.

God wants, indeed He longs for the fellowship of His Children.  God has called us in Christ for this fellowship only.  If any believer does not have a habit of spending a whole day or night in the presence of God, a decision has to be made to this effect.  At least once in a month one must set apart a whole night in prayer.  If nights are far too impossible, spend a day alone in the presence of God.  You will see that your spiritual life is enriched and blessed.  You will grow spiritually.  The Lord will share His secrets with you.  You will begin to discern the will of God.  You will find fulfillment in your life and God’s name will be glorified in your life.  Through these words you are invited to this level of prayer.

c) Striving in prayer

Any one who knows God intimately spends long hours in His presence.  They cherish this experience.  They long for it.  A day in the presence of the Lord is better than a thousand else where.  They enjoy the fellowship with God.  They become spiritual heroes.  This is truly an enviable experience.

Only those who have had this kind of experience in prayer can ever hope to climb the ladder and reach the third level in prayer.  In the third level prayer becomes striving.  In Rom.15:31 Paul exhorts all believers to strive with him in prayer.

Every believer has battles in life.  But many forget that it is in prayer that these battles are fought and won. 

Many want to avoid battles somehow.  They are cowards.  They do not see victory in life.  Victory is seen if only battles are fought.

Many fight their battles in the ability of their flesh.  They continue their Christian life without ever tasting victory.

What is this striving in prayer?  Let us look at the life of Jacob.  As he ran away from home, he was all alone and slept on the way side.  He had a dream there.   Almighty God gave Jacob promises that he would bless him.  That was Bethel.  There at Bethel God promised Jacob that He would bless him and bring him back to his place (Gen.28:10-22).  Years later, on his way back home, he was once again all alone at the bank of the brook Jabok.  There he met with God face to face.  There he wrestled the whole night.  He had a grip on God and he would not let Him go unless He blessed him.  There his name was changed to Israel.  He now owned the promises which were given to him at Bethel.  That was his experience in Peniel (Gen.32:22-32).

The promises of Bethel were experienced in life only after Peniel.

Striving in prayer is claiming the promises which God has given to us in His Word.  “Lord, you have promised this, and unless you fulfill this promise, I will not let you go” is the prayer of a striving believer.  Thus striving in prayer is taking hold of God to fulfill His Word.  God loves a striving believer because He loves to fulfill His promises.

There are many promises in God’s Word.  These promises are for every believer.  But tragically only very few believers  enjoy these in their lives.  As we wait in the presence of God, He gives us His promises through His Word (Jer.23:l8).  But if those promises must be fulfilled in our lives, we too need to have the experience of Peniel in our lives.    Many believers have been up to Bethel.  They know the promises of God.  But they have never been to Peniel.  They never had the experience of striving in prayer.  If those promises must be fulfilled, they need to be strived for.  There is no alternate way.

Unless God’s people strive in prayer, God’s promises will never be fulfilled (Rom.15:30-32).

Dan.9:2 & 3 confirms this truth very well.  Daniel had learnt from the book of Jeremiah that the captivity was going to be for seventy years only.  Daniel knew that that was God’s plan for His people.  Now look at Daniel who was living towards the end of that period.  Instead of just hanging around for God to fulfill His promises saying any way God would carry out His purposes whatever man may or may not do, Daniel began to fast and pray and sought the face of the Lord that God would fulfill His promise for His people.  Daniel knew a great truth that  God would  fulfill His promises only in answer to the prayers of God’s people! 

Before God does some thing some where by way of fulfilling His Word, God gets His people to pray.  When God’s people strive in prayer asking Him to fulfill His promises, God carries out His purposes for the world.  There is no exception to this rule.  Again and again we see this truth illustrated in the Scripture and in the history of the church.

If only God’s people understood this great truth to day!

Satan is always against God carrying out His purposes in the world to day.  Satan claims that this world belongs to him (Lk.4:6).  God in His magnanimity stands a bit away.  But in response to the prayers of His people, God carries out His purposes in the world to day.   By striving in prayer we are in fact resisting the devil and fighting against principalities and powers of darkness (Js.4:7; 1Pt.5:7; Eph.6:12-18).

Some believers think that striving in prayer is trying to move an unwilling God!  It is never to be understood that way at all.  We must remember that it is God who asked us to pray.  It is He who promised us to answer our prayers. It is true that there are conditions if prayers are to be answered. But no believer has ever exhausted God’s ability in answering prayers! He is willing to answer our prayers above all we can ask or think. He always answers in His bounty. But only in response to prayer will He ever fulfill His Word to day in the world.

In the 10th chapter of the Book of Daniel we have a clear demonstration of this truth.  V.12 tells us that on the very first day that Daniel began to pray, answer was sent to him. But v.13 says that the Prince of Persia stood against the angelic messenger for 21 days.  Coming to v.2 we see Daniel was striving in prayer for three full weeks.  He was not enjoying tasty food, nor was he applying oil on his head for all those 21 days.  He was in warfare for all of  that time. 

This is the experience of a believer in striving prayer.  Only those who pray like Daniel regularly could ever sense this spiritual warfare.  Only such could participate in the spiritual warfare.  Only they could share in the victory for God.  For without battle, there is no victory.

This warfare in prayer is experienced when we begin to pray for spiritual things.
There are many believers who have prayed for physical things. They know that God is a prayer answering God.  But tragically they never participate in spiritual warfare.  Their prayers are limited to physical realm only!

In Rom.15:31 Paul exhorts fellow believers to strive together with him in prayer.  It is a command to every believer.  They that do not strive continually in prayer have disobeyed a plain command of the Scripture.  Such are guilty before God for the sin of disobedience.

The word that is used in Rom.15:31 for strive is the same word used in the original in Lk.22:44 where it is translated ‘in agony’ in several translations.  Thus we come to know that striving in prayer is indeed agonizing in prayer.  This is an experience which the Spirit of God would  give to those that are regular in their prayer habits.  Only those who live near to the heart of God could ever feel the pulse of God’s heart.

These days we need men and women who, like Daniel, would strive in prayer to see God fulfill His purpose in the world to day.  May the Lord give us the needed grace that we would become truly men and women who would strive in prayer and participate in bringing about the purposes of God in this world.  To His Name Be All Glory.  Amen and amen. 

The God of the Bible is a God of love.  He is gracious and compassionate.  There is no comparison to His Person any where in the universe.  He is goodness in personified form.  He is love personified.  He is an all-positive person.  There is no negative element in Him at all.  The Bible says even His anger is righteous anger.  Such is the God of the Bible.

Many people ask questions about God’s goodness.  They say, if God is indeed good, why all this poverty and war? Why the innocent suffer?  Indeed, these are relevant questions and the Bible gives answer to similar questions.

If God was only a God of love, answering such questions would be easy.  But, if God also is Almighty, as the Bible claims Him to be, answer becomes difficult.  If God was only a God of love, answer is easy.  We know several good and loving people who are helpless.  Surely, God is not like one of them!  On the other hand, if God was Almighty alone, answer again is easy.  We know of several mighty ones who are unconcerned about any thing.  They are able to do many things.  But they will not. They are cruel.  They will never lend a helping hand.  Is God like one of them? Surely not, is the answer.

The Bible reveals that God is love (I Jn.4:8).  If any one has seen any expression of love any where in the universe, it is simply a poor imitation of God’s love.  The loving God of the Bible is not a helpless old grand father.  He is Almighty.  Nothing is impossible to Him (Gen.l8:l4).  If He says some thing it will come to pass (Ps.33:9).

Then what is the problem?  Why not God in His Almighty Love save the world from the present human predicament? 

The problems did not begin with God.  There is some one else involved in the picture.  That some one wanted to be God himself and wanted to sit on the throne of God (Is.l4:13f). It was Lucifer who had this desire.  He was one of the first of God’s creations.  He was in charge of the whole created world (Eze.28:13ff).

When Lucifer rebelled God could have chained him as he will be in the future. If God had done that, other angels would have served God with greater fear.  They would have appreciated God’s action towards Lucifer.  But it is the loving heart of God which prevented Him from destroying Lucifer.  God in His magnanimity seems to be telling Lucifer, “if you deserve the throne, you may take it”.  And Lucifer is in his attempt to capture the throne of God even to day.  The created world is under his custody to day (I Jn.5:19).  And he continues his battle by accusing God and His people.

To day Lucifer is the prince of this world (Jn.l4:30).  He is also called the god of this world (2 Cor.4:4).  God in His magnanimity stays outside and acts from outside(Isa.45:15).  God sent His only Son as man to be killed by His enemies.  In that process God demonstrated His love for the created world and wants to redeem it from the enemy.

And now God says, “call upon me be ye saved” (Is.45:26).  Thus to day God works for man only in response to man’s call.  “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one opens the door, I will come in…” (Rev.3:20).  God will never force His way into the life of any man.  Unless man permits, God stays outside man’s life, waiting for his call eagerly.

There may be a good barber in the town.  That does not mean there are no hippies in the town.  Hippies have to come to the barber.  They have to permit him to clean them up.  No barber ever chases after hippies to dress them up

God is like this as well.  God has solutions to all problems of every man in the world to day.  But man has to go to God.  Man has to call upon God.  He is both willing and able to do any thing and every thing for us.  But He will do it only in response to our cries (Mt. 7:7; Js. 4:2: Eze. 36:37). 

Around the world we can meet people who claim to be born again children of God.  According to Jn l:l2 God has given us authority to call ourselves children of God if we believed in and accepted His Son into our lives.  But without prayer no one ever becomes a child of God. 

Indeed, without prayer God does not work for us to day.  God does not force any one into salvation.  If He forces some one into salvation as He did in the case of Lot (Gen l9:29) it was in answer to the prayers of Abraham. 

So to day if some one wants to be saved and enjoy fullness of God’ best for their lives, they need to pray.  If some one wants others to be saved, they need to intercede until they come to a saving knowledge of Christ.

Why is it like this?  The simple reason is that this is the order that God has set.  This is the operating method of God.

Suppose some one has a doubt as to why should the sun rise in the East.  The simple answer is, that is God’s order of things and it will never change( Jer.33:20,25; Psa.148:6).  Like wise God’s spiritual laws which He has reveled to His people (Psa. 147:19) will never change also (Mt.5:18).   One of them is:  ask and receive; ask not receive not (Mt.7:7; Js.4:2).  “If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more your Heavenly Father will give good gifts to those who ask him (Mt. 7:11).

God will not interfere in our lives unless we permit Him to do so. We are people with freedom of choice.  We must choose to call Him.  We must choose to obey Him.  This is man’s day according to the Scripture.  To day we are the decision makers.  The Day of the Lord is coming when He will be the Decision Maker.  But to day man decides many things within the limitations given to him!  But God ever remains sovereign.  Praise be to His Holy Name.  Amen.

God will not do any thing spiritual in the world today except in answer to our prayers.  This is because it is God’s order of things.  And He will never change His laws.

If no one has seen God at any time (Jn1 :18),  then how can we be sure of His existence?  The Bible says that Jesus Christ the Son of God came into the world to reveal God to man.  Jesus Christ of Nazereth was God inhuman form (1 Jn. 1:1-3).  He came to the world to call man back to fellowship with God which man lost in the Garden of Eden.  After his death and resurrection and ascension, the Holy Spirit who is the third person in the Trinity is at work in the world to day.  He too is invisible human eyes.

But as never before, God is at work in the world today.  He is working as a prayer answering God.  That is one of His names (Ps.65:2).

Because it is His very nature to answer prayers, He asked us to pray.  “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through out the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him” (2 Chr. 16:9).  God wants to show Himself as Almighty to the world.  This He does through them whose eyes are fixed on Him.

As we read the Bible there are many promises pertaining to prayer.

Jer.33:3  “Call upon me and I will answer you and I will tell you great and mighty things which you do not know.”

Ps.50:15  “Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will rescue you and you will honor me. It is God Himself who has given us these promises.  He is the initiator.  He did not decide to answer prayer after the trouble-filled man went to Him for help.  He invites people to come to Him with their problems.

Just imagine that God did not give us these promises.  Who can ever persuade Him to make a promise?  No man ever can do it.  But now all the promises of God are based on His unchanging, loving heart.    These promises are the expressions of His gracious heart.  And if He promised any thing, any where, we can be doubly sure that He will fulfill it at any cost.  Otherwise God would be the greatest deceiver.  No. Never, What He promised  He will surely perform.  Otherwise He would not have promised at all!

Ps.138:2(b)  “for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.”  If there is anything which God honors, it is His Word.  God honors His Word more than He honors His own person.  So you can be absolutely sure that the Bible is true to the core!

The Scripture says that there is nothing impossible to Him (Gen. 18:14; Jer.32:27).  But the very same Scripture says that there are certain things which He cannot do. 2 Tim. 2:13 “…for He cannot deny Himself”  Heb. 6:18  “…it is impossible for God to lie…”

This truth may be put in slightly different words.  We may say that God has a ‘weakness’. His ‘weakness’ is that He can not tell a lie.  Yes, indeed, His ‘weakness’ is His Strength!  He can not lie; He will not lie.  His promises are always sure.  He can always be trusted.

What a glory!  The One Who cannot lie, has promised that He would answer prayers. Beloved, let us go to Him in times of trouble.  And let us go to Him when every thing is well with us.  Let us learn from experience that God is a prayer answering God.

There are millions of people around the world  who have known this prayer answering God.  Many books are written proving that He answers prayers.  May we go to Him in  prayer and experience it daily in our lives.  To His Name be all glory. Amen.

a)  Purpose of a believer’s life is not fulfilled.

Let us now turn to the Scripture and see why the Lord chose His disciples.

Jn.15:16  “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you…that what ever you ask of the Father in my name, He may give to you.”

This is a very familiar verse from Scripture.  The grammatical meaning of this verse is simple and straight forward.  But very few believers have understood the meaning of this verse and fewer indeed have put this verse in to practice.

Our Lord was telling the disciples His purpose in choosing them.  Fruit bearing clearly is the purpose expressed in this verse.  Every disciple of Christ is expected to have consistency in fruit bearing.  As all of us know fruit bearing is an automatic thing when it comes to a tree.  Given sufficient water, manure and sun light,  a tree bears fruits automatically.   Likewise, a believer who feeds himself on the Word of God regularly and weeds his life of the works of the flesh (I Pt.2:1-2), fruit bearing for the Lord will become an automatic thing for the believer. 

But according to this verse, fruit bearing is not an end in itself.  It leads to some thing else.  Let us look at the verse once again.  The verse continues,  “…that whatever you ask the father in my name, he may give to you.”

A fruit bearing believer has to be an asker.  Fruit bearing person has to ask and receive fro the father.  The fruit bearing believer is promised  ‘what ever you ask in my name’.

The verse may be summarized in the following way:

Chosen and appointed (i) to bear fruit, (ii) to continue in fruit bearing, and (iii) to ask and to receive what ever asked for!

When this truth was brought home to me first, it really looked unbelievable.  Can it be that God has chosen and appointed us that whatever we ask in the name of the Son of God be given to us?  Yes, indeed, the Scripture says, we are chosen and appointed to ask and to receive.

It is true that conditions are to be met if prayers are to be answered.  Life has to be bruit bearing, there should be consistency in fruit bearing and of course, asking has to be in the name of the Son of God.  If these conditions are met, God does the answering part of it.

In other words we have to order our lives in such a way and ask in such a way that answers must come to us.  This indeed is God’s purpose for every believer.  So if we do not ask and receive answers, it is that God’s purpose for our lives is not achieved.
 
A car is bought for going around.  If it does not run, it will become a real head-ache to the one who bought it.  Like wise a believer, chosen and appointed to ask and receive, if asking and receiving are not done, such a believer becomes the greatest head-ache for heaven.  May that not be true of you and me.

Let us arise and order our lives to produce fruits for the master consistently and let us pray in such a way that heaven will answer us.  Then and only then will our life purpose will ever be achieved.  May the Lord give us grace for His glory.  Amen.

If we do not pray…

b) We sin against God

If we are chosen and appointed to ask and receive, prayerlessness means failing in our duty.  And the Bible describes prayerlessness as sin.

Many think sin means breaking one of the ten commandments.  Sure, breaking commandments is sin.  But we usually do not find such sins in the lives of believers.

There may be some believer some where living in blatant sins.  Every one knows that they are living away from God.  They lose their God-given joy. They become guilty.  We know punishment awaits them.  We must remember that there is no provision for forgiveness for willful sins.  For any willful sin the Bible only offers firey judgment
(Num. 15:30,31; Heb.l0:26,27).  New Testament teaches that when a believer is judged, he is not condemned with the world (I Cor.ll:32).  Whether a believer or non believer, if a person is found in willful sin he or she is liable for punishment.

I Cor.5:5 tells us that a believer who is found in the sins of the flesh is given over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.  Any sin is a barrier between God and man (Is.58:2). 

To day many a believer is found in another type of sin.  Sin of prayerlessness (ISam.12:23).  I Sam. 12 says that God will not forsake His people.  That is God’s plan for His people.  But God only carries out His plan in response to the prayer of God’s people.  What ever God wants to do in this world He reveals them to His servants the prophets (Am.3:7; Gen.18:17).  And the man of God who knows the will of God must pray that it will come true. 

Scripture is full of examples of this truth.  See how the plagues came in Egypt. God will tell Moses what He was planning to do.  Then Moses will declare it to the people God’s will.  Then Moses will ask God to bring it about.  Again and again we see it in the Scripture. 

Truth of the Scripture is very simple.  If God’s promises must come true, God’s people must pray.  God will not do any thing spiritual in the world except in answer to the prayers of God’s people.  So, if people of God do not pray in the will of God, we are hindering or blocking the work of God.  Is there a bigger sin than that?

Look into the scripture and see how many commands God has given to believers about prayer.  1 The. 5:17; Col.4:2; Lk.18:1 &c.  They are all imperatives.  They are not optional.  May we learn that prayerlessness is disobedience and therefore punishable sin. 

Let us now set apart time to spend time in the presence of the Lord.  Let us pray and release the mighty hands of God which is waiting to do wonderful things in response to our prayers.  May His Name be glorified.  Amen.

If we do not pray…

 c)  God’s perfect will cannot be accomplished on earth

We have seen several reasons from the Scripture as to why we should pray.  There is no room for prayerlessness in the lives of God’s people.  A believer who does not have regular prayer habits is not merely useless for God’s kingdom, but the greatest hindrance to God’s work on earth.

I am not strong enough to write these words.  My heart beats faster.  I cannot bear my  burden.  “Lord, Jesus I am helpless,  Help me I pray.  Amen.”

God of the universe has a good and a perfect plan for this universe and for every individual born here.  God wants every one to enjoy life in its fullness and be found in His perfect will.  But the devil is against this perfect will of God to be accomplished in human lives. 

Therefore Satan induces man to go against God and against His perfect plan.  Man being fooled by the lies of the Evil One sins against God for temporary gains and pleasures.

Any man who commits sin has to bear the punishment for the same.  This is God’s righteous law (Eze.18:14; Rom.6:23).  But God has no delight in the death of the sinner (Eze.18:23,32).   Death of a sinner is not the perfect will of God.  It is the permitted  will of God.  God permits it with tears.  God permits it because there is no other way around.  But that surely is not his perfect will.  He is not willing that any should perish (ITim.2:4).

If the perfect will of God is to be achieved, there is no other way than the prayers of God’s people.  God is not willing that our neighbors and our country men go to eternal hell fire.  But if they do not repent and call upon Him they will surely end up there without a doubt.  If this should not take place we should be willing to stand in the gap and become intercessors for our nations.   “Had not Moses His chosen one stood in the breach before Him, to turn away His wrath from destroying them” (Ps.106:23).

“And I searched for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none” (Eze.22:30).  If you and I who are God’s people do not stand in the gap millions in our land will end up in Eternal hell fire and no one is responsible for this than those of us who know the Lord. God continues in His sorrow that His perfect will is not achieved.  He punishes the unrepentant sinner in sorrow.

If God’s perfect will has to be accomplished on earth, God’s people have to pray.  There is no other way. Look at Rom.15:31 where Paul says, “…strive with me in prayer…” that the will of God may be accomplished in my life.

God’s righteousness demands the death of a sinner.  But God’s grace is flowing through the child of God to whom God has shown mercy through Christ.  The same love of God and grace of God which began to flow through Calvary continues its course through us into the world.  The grace of God in us is that which prompts us to pray for the world.  To day if we are prompted to pray, we should set aside every work and we should sit at His feet.  If we separate time and place and begin to pray regularly we will begin to see this grace flowing through us to others around us.  If many a believer responds to the inner call of God and begin the ministry of intercession we will begin to see God’s perfect will accomplished in the lives of many around us.  That is why our Lord taught His disciples to pray,  “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt.6:10).

May we respond to the inner call of God and may we bring glory to His Holy name.  Amen.

As we look through the history of the church we see this to be very true.  When ever there was a praying generation, work of God was found to be progressing.  When ever prayer was lacking, work of God suffered in equal proportion.  There is no exception to this rule.  Behind every major revival in the church, there was a praying church.  Even to day if any one wants to see a mighty revival sweeping through the nations of the world, it can be brought about by a praying church.  We must be willing to pray through.  This is true because we have a God who answers prayers.

Occasionally we come across believers who have given up praying.  They found prayer to be not very practical as several of their prayers went unanswered.

In this chapter we will consider how to pray to get answers.  It may be taken note that some times God says ‘No’ to some prayers and at other times answer is ‘Wait’.  But usually answer is above all we can ask or think.  The point is that God always answers prayer.  What answer is received is comparatively of low significance.

One other thing to take note of is that men of prayer invariably know when God answered their prayers.  As they pray they come to know when to stop praying and start thanking God for the answer.  For some time they see answer in faith and realize answers at a later time.   Many praying ones have this experience.

It is unbelievable but it is true that God Almighty would listen to our prayers and answers them.  “I called and he answered me.  I could not believe that he was listening to my voice” (Job 9:16).  Utterly unbelievable.  Yet absolutely true.  God answers prayers!

But if we want answers to prayers we need to know the conditions laid down in God’s Word and fulfill those conditions.  Now we will look at those conditions under which God answers our prayers.

a)  Pray in Christ’s name

Jesus our Lord asked His disciples to ‘ask in my name’ as they prayed. 

The Bible reveals a Triune God.  God is revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The second person of the Trinity is the Son who became man to be the mediator between God and man (I Tim2:6).  It is through Him that we are accepted as God’s children.  It is only through Him we have access to the Father (Eph.2:l8).  Through His death a new and a living way is open for us to the Holy Place (Heb.l0:l9).  So to day we can approach the throne of grace with confidence (Heb.4:l6). What a glorious privilege we have in Christ!

There are many who know God as only God.  But through Christ we can know Him as Father (Jn.14:6).  As we approach God through Christ this new status is given to us.  Now we are His children (I Jn.3:2).  Now we can approach God as a child approaches its dad!  The saints in the Old Testament could not even dream of such a thing.  But the New Testament saints have this glorious privilege.  May we learn to use it properly.

In His parting message in John chs.14, 15 & l6 the Lord Jesus told His disciples to ‘ask in my name’(14:13; 15:16 etc.).  He was giving them authority to use His name while praying. 

We have no right in ourselves to approach God.  Except through His name we cannot receive any thing from God.  But now He has given us the right to use His name as we approach God.  As we do this, God looks at us as He looks at His only Son.  What a glory!  Because we bear the name of the Son of God, the Father sees us as He sees His only begotten  Son. 

To day the New Testament believers every where use the phrase ‘in Christ’s name we pray’ or an equivalent phrase to end their prayers.  It must be so.  We need to take the name of Christ on our lips as we pray. But tragically many do not see the significance of this phrase.  ‘in my name’ has truly deeper significance.  Let us look at the NT to see how that phrase is used elsewhere.  For our purpose we only need to look at just two instances where the phrase is found to ascertain its meaning. 

In Jn.14:26 we read of the spirit of God whom the Father will send ‘in my name’.  Here in this verse, without any question or doubt ‘in my name’ means ‘instead of me’.  In other words the Lord was telling His disciples that when He went to the Father, the spirit of God will be sent instead of Him. 

In Col.3:17 we are told “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do every thing ‘in the name of the Lord Jesus’…”  In this verse again, the phrase ‘in the name of the Lord Jesus’ means instead of Him, or as He would do.   Today the Lord Jesus is not physically present in this world.  He has placed us here in His stead.  We are asked to do everything as He would have done, instead of Him.

This indeed is a plain teaching of the Scripture.  In I Jn.4:17 we read, “ …because as He is, so are we in this world”.  We are placed in this world in the place of the Son of God,  instead of Him.  So we are to do every thing as He would have done, in His place or in His Name.  In other words we represent Him here on earth.

 So we conclude that the phrase ‘in my name’ means in my stead or in my place.  So to ask ‘in my name’ means to ask as He did, ask in His stead. In other words we represent Him as we pray.

Today the Lord Jesus is at the right hand of God interceding for us (Rom.8:34).  He is not physically present here on earth.  And He has asked His disciples to continue the ministry which He had started while here on earth.  So today we are continuing His work here on earth.  Is it not common for some one trusted to do the work of some one else in his name?  So to ‘ask in my name’ means to ask instead of Him, as He did, yea, in His way, representing Him.

The Lord Jesus was a mighty man of prayer while here on earth.  Today He is asking us to continue the work which He started while He was here on earth.  We are to do it in His name.  As He did.  In His way.  What a privilege does a child of God have!  And what a responsibility! 

Now let us quickly look at His prayer life while on earth.

Mk.1:35  early in the morning while it was dark He was found praying
Mk.6:46,47  in the evening He was found praying
Lk. 6:12  all night He was praying
Lk.ll:l  when ever there was a spare moment He was found praying
Lk.9:29 at mt. transfiguration as He was praying His face shone

To the disciples the prayer life of their Master was really amazing.  So they asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray”(Lk.ll:l).

In His prayer in Jn. 17 the Lord Jesus was praying for His disciples and in v. 9 He says, “I pray for them, I do not pray for the world…”  Today praying for the world has been completely delegated to us (I Tim.2:1-7) as He prays for us in heaven.  We are asked to intercede for the world as He intercedes for us in heaven.

We know that the Lord Jesus is our example in every thing (I Pt.2:21).  Even in our prayer life He is our model.  If this is what is required of us, how tragic is our prayer life to-day?

I am positive.  All our prayers will always be answered if we knew and prayed as He prayed.  How can heaven not respond to a child of God who is representing the Son of God and praying in His name?  

Let us arise.  Let us understand what our Lord meant.  Let us order our lives in the light of the Scripture.  Let us have prayer as priority number one as Jesus our Lord had.  Let us pray in His name, as He prayed with tears (Heb.5:7) and with agony (Lk.22:44).  Surely heaven will hear and answer our prayers without doubt.  May He give us grace.  May His name be glorified through our lives.  Amen.

b)  Pray for the glory of God.

“What ever you ask in my name, I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son” {Jn.14:13}.  As we study the life of the Lord Jesus on earth,  we come to know that what ever He did, He did it for the glory of God(Jn.17:4).He came to reveal the Father to the world (Jn.1:18).  The invisible God of the Universe was made manifest by the coming of the Son of God in to the world.  He thus proved to the world that God is a living reality. Doing the will of the Father was food to Him (Jn.4:34).  He did not have a life separate from the Father.  He always lived and prayed for God’s glory.

God wants to reveal Himself to the world today.  He does it by answering the prayers of His saints (2 Ch.16:9).  Today as we pray we must make sure that the purpose of our prayer is His glory.  Our motive should be right.  Glory of the Lord alone must be our ultimate motive.  God knows and watches our inner most beings.  Nothing is hid before Him.  When we make sure that ultimate glory of God alone is out motive, we can be sure of an answer to our prayer.

c)  Pray in the will of God

1Jn.5:14 promises that prayers done in the will of God cannot go un answered.  Praying for the glory of God, praying in the will of God, praying in faith etc. are essential parts of the prayers of our Lord.  So if we want answers we must make sure that we too pray in God’ will.

Many believers have a problem here.  Very often they do not know how to discern the will of God.  If we are able to solve this problem, we can have the benefit of answered prayers.

The Bible is our guide when it comes to discerning the will of God.  The Bible tells us that God has a plan for this universe and also for individual lives. So the first thing to do is to familiarize ourselves with the Word of God.  We must make sure that we yield ourselves to the truths revealed to us. 

The Bible says that God has certain universal plan for all individuals on earth.  For example, He wants all men to be saved (I Tim.2:4).  This is God’s will for every one on earth.  So the first step toward discerning God’s will is to accept that we are all sinners and accept Christ as personal savior by repentance and faith.  Any one who is not born into the family of God by accepting Christ, is living out side the will of God.  So that is the first step.

Then it is perfect will that all born again children to live a holy life (1Thes. 4:3).  So, any one, though born again, living in unholy character is living out side the will of God.  Just as it is impossible for man to be born into God’s family by one’s own efforts, so no one can hope to live a holy life by the efforts of the flesh.  A person must utterly depend on the grace of God for imparting holiness into life by continual dependence and prayers to God(Rom.7:24,25).

Like wise, all those who live in holiness must always rejoice irrespective of circumstances.  They should always live a life of praise and pray without ceasing (I Thes.5:16,17,18).  This is God’ will for every believer.  If a believer is living a murmuring life, such a person is living out side the will of God.  I Pt.3:17 says that we have to do good and suffer if necessary for the same.  This too is God’s will for our lives.

Only those who live in the revealed will of God can discern God’s will for individual circumstances.  As one study the Scripture day by day with an attitude of dependence and prayer, the spirit of God will tell us what to do in our daily practical situations in life. The Bible has very clear instructions about various walks of a believer’s life.  God does nothing against His Word.  Only as one walks in the light received, is one guided further.

Some times our specific situation may not be addressed in the Scripture.  But there are very clear principles laid out in the Scripture and one must be able to apply scriptural principles as one tries to discern the will of God.

God has promised to guide us through His word.  “As you turn to the left or to the right, there is a voice behind saying, this is the way and walk ye therein” (Is.31:21). “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should take” (Ps.32:8).

As one submits one’s ways completely to God, God will guide and reveal His will to such a person.  Every one has to wait in the presence of the Lord to hear the voice of the Lord (Jer.23:l8).  It is essential to ask God for leading as one waits. Once we discern the will of God, we need to ask God to lead us day by day until it is achieved.  In 2 Sam.7:27  David prays a bold prayer as he was told what would happen to him.  So, as we pray for such things as revealed to us, our prayers must become bold.  Without prayers God’s perfect will cannot be achieved in our lives.

If, on occasion, a believer is in darkness as to what is to be done, prayers must be made continually for the revelation of the will of God.  All hindrances must be removed by  letting the Spirit of God search our heats.  If darkness persists still, the believer has to take a step trusting God and God will look after the rest (Is. 50:l0).

Praying in the will of God means praying about what pleases God.  If you want definite answers to prayers, learn to pray in the will of God.  Answers are sure to come.  May the Lord give us grace.  May His name be glorified.  Amen.

d)  Pray in faith

We found that prayers done in the will of God cannot go unanswered.  To know the will of God one has to be familiar with God through His Word.  Bold prayers are offered by people who know the will of God.

Faith is another important factor if prayers are to be answered.  “And what ever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” (Mt.21:22).

Faith and trust are essential elements in the very existence of human race.  We trust our milk man.  We trust our rail way time table.  We trust our aero plane pilots.  If we do not trust our family members, we may never be able to take our food thinking there is poison in it.  People trust that the management will pay them at the end of the month.  We trust our governments to protect us.  With out mutual faith and trust human race cannot survive. 

People of the world trust people or systems which are visible.  Who can say when a government will fail or an engine will fail.  It happens without any warning some times.  But people who trust in the God of the Bible trust in some thing which cannot fail.  Though invisible God is the most reliable person and His system is the most unfailing system.  Any one can trust Him based on the principles laid down in the Scripture.

According to the Bible faith is assurance.  It is evidence (Heb.11:1).  It is not a leap in to the dark as some think.  Though the God of the Bible is invisible to human eyes, He has made Himself tangible by His Word.  Faith is believing the unchanging words of the Scripture.  Faith is ordering or lives according to the Bible.  Faith is trusting God for what He has said in the written Word.

It is true that faith is the opposite of sight (2 Cor.5:7).  It is also the opposite of doubt (Mt.21:21).  Fear and faith are on opposite poles (Lk.8:50).  A Bible believer does not fear his fate, as he is above it.  All things are possible to them that believe (Mt.l7:21).

There are many false beliefs among us.  They are based on the un uttered words of non existing gods!  Genuine faith on the other hand believing what is written in the word of the living God.

One who does not believe in what God has given to us in writing is making God a liar (I Jn.1:10).  Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb.11:6).  It is impossible for any one to see the glory of God without trusting what God has said in His Word.

“All things are possible to him that believe” (Mt.17:21).  This does not mean that the believers will become like magicians.  It means that what ever is said in the Bible can come true in their lives as well.

The Bible teaches us that faith is a gift of God (Eph.2:8).  Without the grace of God no one can believe in God (Jn.6:44).  Even faith is given as answer to prayer (Mt.9:24).

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom.10:17).  So in order to obtain faith one has to take in the Word of God with a prayerful attitude.  For more faithmore intake of the Word  is necessary. 

George Mueller who was a man of great faith is said to have studied the Scripture more than 80 times on his knees!  Is there any need to be surprised at his faith?  On the other hand, the reason for our lack of faith is not found else where either.

Some people confuse their wishful thinking with faith.  For example a school boy who wrote his exam prays  ‘believing’ that he would pass.  But when the result came it was against his wishes.  Such people when their wishes did not come true, they have dismissed faith from their lives.  Learn to pray after God has said in His Word.  Prayers based on the written Word of God cannot go unanswered.

Abraham is our model for faith.  He hoped against hope.  There was no place for him to hope.  Humanly speaking there was no ground for him to put his foot on.  Every thing was against him.  There was no place  for wishful thinking.  But God had said and that was to be believed.  It is not our wishful thinking on which we put our faith.  It is on what God has said. 

What did the Lord tell me about this particular situation?  That is what should become the basis of our faith.  Humanly speaking there may not be any chance for it to happen. But God has told me and therefore I believe this to happen.  These are words of faith.

Let us bring all our problems to God in prayer.  Let us sit at His feet and listen to what God has to say about this situation.  On hearing what God has said, tell God,  “Lord, you have told me thus and I believe it.  There is no chance for it to happen humanly speaking.  But I know and trust it will happen because you have told me so.”  These are the words of faith.  Continue in the same attitude and pray until the thing takes place. 

Do we want answers to prayer?  Let us learn to pray in faith.  Answers are sure to come.
Let us be men and women of great faith.  Let us show to the world that we have a prayer answering God.  May He give us grace.  To His name be all glory.

e)  Pray after removing hindrances 

Many people pray but they do not get answers because they did not care to remove hindrances to prayer from their lives.  In the Scripture we are told what these hindrances are.  Any one who is serious about answers to prayer must take time to see that these hindrances are removed before praying.

Every now and then we need to let the Spirit of God search our hearts to see if any wicked way in us (Ps.l39:23,24)  confess and reject them.

i. Sin in life. Isa. 59:2  “…your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God…” 

 As a person comes to Christ first for pardon and for peace in true repentance and faith accepting that he or she is a sinner, he or she becomes a child of God.   God forgives repenting ones on the basis of the work of Christ in Calvary.  But after one becomes a child of God, it is essential the individual sins are identified, confessed and rejected, thus availing the cleansing in Christ (I Jn.1:9).
            
In the lives of every believer there are besetting sins (Heb.12:1) and presumptuous sins (Ps.19:13).    These need to be identified regularly and dealt with if one is serious about getting answers to prayers.  This must be done regularly as a gardener removes weeds from garden.  If one is a little careless these little sins get accumulated and will become a big hindrance to prayer. There are believers who live like the rest of men (I Cor.3:3).  Such cannot expect to be answered when they pray.  Sometimes even small attitudes can become hindrance to prayer.

ii. Sometimes it is selfishness which is hindering our prayer.  “…you ask and you receive not , because you ask amiss to spend it in your fleshly desires” (js.4:3).
iii. Idols in life (Eze.14:3) Idols are things which take the place of God in one’s life.  Any one who does not give the all important place to God in life need not expect an answer to prayer.
iv. Wrong attitude to the Scripture. “He who turns away his ear to listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination” (Pro.28:9).
v. Attitude to the poor.  “He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be answered” (Pro.21:13).  If we need grace from God, we need to be gracious.
vi. An unforgiving spirit.  “When ever you stand praying, forgive…so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your transgression” (Mk.ll:25).  If we need forgiveness, we need to forgive.
vii. Family problems.  “You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way…so that your prayers may not be hindered” (I Pet.3:7).
 
These and other things which the spirit of God brings to our notice must be made right before we can expect an answer from God.

Some are found wasting their time praying because they have not bothered to remove all known hindrances from their lives.  If we learn to pray after removing hindrances from our lives, answers are bound to come.  May the Lord help us and may His name be glorified.  Amen.       

f)  Pray till answer comes

Many who pray do not have this experience of praying till answer is received.  Some start praying for a particular thing.  They continue for some time but they give up in the middle and forget all about their prayer.  This is a grave mistake.  This in fact is the trick of the devil to let us give up our prayer request in the middle.

Once we know some thing is the will of God we must continue to pray till answer is received.  Some times it may take months or even years for answer to come.  Time span depends upon our fervency.  “Effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (Js. 5:16).

We have one example in the life of David when he prayed till answer came.  We read about in 2 Samuel 12.  David was praying for his sick child.  He went into the room lay there and fasted for seven days.  But in v.20 he got up had his wash and changed his clothes to go to the temple of the Lord.  Here he prayed till answer came.  That time he did not get the expected answer.  But he prayed till answer came.

In the 10th chapter of Daniel we see Daniel praying for 21 days with partial fasting.  Nothing else was important for him during those days.  Daniel was taking to God one and only thing again and again to be answered.  This is called praying through.

Look at Elijah on top of mt.Carmel.  With his head between his knees the man of God was found praying until answer came (I Kg. 18:42-44).

A child of God who is in the school of prayer with God will be brought to such experiences.  Usually such men are loners.  Any one who has achieved great things for God have many such experiences.  Moses, Samuel and Daniel are examples of such men who moved the hand of God for their generations.  They are the ones who became agents through whom God’s will was achieved.  In the history of the church we have many such men and women who moved the hands of God for their generation.  May the Lord raise such prayer warriors in our country during this generation.  May His name be glorified in our midst.  Amen.

The old saying, “Prayer moves the hands that move the universe” holds water even today.

No man living upon the face of the earth can wield a greater power than that of prayer.  No one can influence the world around him like a child of God can through his or her prayer.  This is an open truth.

God has given His children such a mighty weapon.  Imagine how guilty one would be if one does not put it to use.  Brethren, let us learn to pray.  God in heaven is anxious to show himself almighty to the world by answering our prayers (2 Chr.16:9).

But there is an opposite force at work in the world.  Imagine if many a believer is entertaining this opposite force in their lives!

What exactly is that opposite force?  Let us look in to the Scripture for the answer.  Today the Lord Jesus is at the right hand of the Father interceding for us there (Rom.8:34).  At the same time the devil is in the presence of God accusing God’s people (Zech.3:1,2).  Till he is thrown down in Rev.12:10 he continues his work there.

These are two opposing ministries are going on in the presence of God right now.  In Zech.3:2 the Lord rebukes Satan and the high priest had his garments changed.  Even today this is happening the same way.

As the devil is rebuked we may imagine him to tell God thus:  “Yes, as you say I am a liar.  You don’t have to believe my words.  But listen to your so and so servant telling about the other one.”  And the Lord turns around to listen to what His servant says.  Imagine the servant of God saying the same thing as the devil!  Imagine the servant of God was accusing other servants!!  The Lord does not rebuke the servant before the devil because he is a blood bought child of Him.  Instead He closes His ears that He may not hear what the accusing servant says!   If God has closed His ears to such an accusing person, how can God hear the prayers of that person?  Yes, indeed, God’s ears are closed to the accusing ones.  This is absolutely true.

Remember if I am accusing some one for whom Christ is interceding, I am working against the ministry of Christ!!  If only believers had understood this very basic truth!!!

 If any one is in the habit of accusing for whom Christ is interceding, their prayers are not heard in heaven.  They are not serving the interest of Christ.  They are serving the devil  Satan is counting on them as a witness to his case!  The Lord will not listen to the prayers of some one who is serving Satan.

Any one who wants to have all their prayers answered always must never serve the devil in this capacity.  If you want all your prayers to be heard and answered you need to be an intercessor and never be an accuser.

In Rom.8:30 Paul pauses a question.  “Who shall accuse the elect of God?”  Answer is obvious.  The devil will accuse the elect of God.  And of course any one who serves the devil also will accuse the elect of God.  They work against God and His kingdom.  They are the spies of the spiritual kingdom.  Woe to them!  You can be sure that their prayers are never entertained in heaven.

Remember when we intercede the Lord works and when we accuse the devil works.

It was Noah who committed sin.  But punishment went to the posterity of the one who accused (Gen.9:20-27).  Noah may have repented of his sin and may have been forgiven.  But the one accused never realized the seriousness of what he did and became liable to punishment.  One committed sin.  The other propagated it and got punished for it!!

Many prayers of many a believer go unanswered because they unwittingly entertain a critical attitude to anything and everything.  May the Lord save us from this pit fall.  Set right this one thing in life and see how heaven responds to your prayers!  Truly you will be amazed at the response of heaven.

A believer who fell in sin is Satan’s casualty.  If we gracefully serve and intercede for such a person with a humble spirit (Gal.6:l) he or she may be won back.  But if we also hit such a one on head, the fallen one may never be able to get up again.  We should never propagate the sin of others lest Satan gets advantage.  But when we intercede the fallen will be given grace but much more than that our voice would be entertained with enthusiasm in heaven.

May the Lord give us grace that we become great intercessors like Nehemiah and Daniel who would fall before God bearing the sins of their generation upon themselves thereby achieving great things for God.  To God’s name be all glory.  Amen and amen.

Some one who does not give heed to this plain command of the spirit of God can only live in continued disobedience to the call of God.  But as we decide to obey God and come to the spirit of God, He will guide us to become effective prayer warriors.

In this section some practical suggestions are given to help us in our decision for the Lord.

First and foremost is our decision.  The spirit of God can give us desire,  But decision to pray is purely ours.  The holy spirit can help us and guide us.  But decision is ours.

Decide on a time and place where you can be quiet before God.  Remember the first ever thing which the Lord Jesus taught about prayer is, “…when you pray, enter a closet…” (Mt.6:6).  So you need to have a closed room where you will not be disturbed.

We are all controlled by our habits.  Prayer must become our essential habit.  If you do not have a set time and place for prayer, you may never be able to find time to pray in your busy life. 

A minimum of one hour is essential for our purpose.  With less than that you may never get any where.  You need to have a Bible, a hymn book and a note book with pen as you go to the prayer room. 

Following suggestions are made as to how best you may spend your one hour.  These are purely suggestions and may be varied for your convenience.

The first ten minutes are set apart for praising God.  You may use a hymn, a psalm,  and your own words to praise God.  Daily as you come into the presence of God learn to praise Him for His person, His works, His holiness etc.  Find a new reason every day to praise Him.  Remember the Lord lives on the praises of His people.  Where there is praise there is God’s presence.

As you begin to enjoy His holy presence, take the next five minutes quietly search your heart in His presence to make sure that there are no hindrances in your life that your prayers are not heard in heaven.  Look at the previous 24 hours and see whether any of your thoughts, words or actions were unbecoming of God and His kingdom.  Confess and reject any unwanted thing.  Make amendments or restitution if there is need for the same.

This has to be done every day as we are made of the dust of the earth and there is possibility of weeds growing.  Weeding has to be done daily.  Ask the spirit of God to search your heart to see if any wicked way there (Ps.l39:23,24). 

Be watchful about the besetting sins (Heb.12:1) and the presumptuous sins (Ps.19:13).  What about the sins of omission (Js.4:17)? Settle issues before beginning to pray.  Duration of this session may be extended according to the situation.  Unless we make the best use of this time, there will not be power in our prayer.

The next twenty minutes are spent for reading and meditating the Scripture.  Ten minutes each will be given to reading and for meditation.  This too is a very crucial part of our prayer time because it is from here that we discern the mind of God.  You need to get hold of the promises of God from the Scripture.  You also discern how God operates in this world from the Scripture.  You need to ask the Lord to speak to you during this time with the Scripture.  If communication is not taking place, something is wrong somewhere.  Spot the problem and rectify it.

God does not speak to the proud and the arrogant (Js. 4:6).  When God speaks either heart is pricked (Acts 2:37) or your heart burn within (Lk.24:32).  Either way there will be a drop of tear in your eye as God speaks!  If that is not taking place, see what is the problem and approach God as boy Samuel of old (1 Sam.3:10). 

Your time with the Scripture is a reflection of your own spirituality.  A prodigal may only get husk if any!  On the other hand, if you live close to the Lord, you get something which is sweeter than honey.  Prodigals are always welcome back home.  Trouble is never with God.  God looks at our attitudes and deals with us accordingly.

Prayer and the Word are two sides of the same coin.  Through the Word God speaks to us and prayer is our response to what He has spoken.  These must be kept together.  One without the other is incomplete and useless. 

Once we discern the will of God, our prayers will become bold (2 Sam. 7:27).  Therefore the power of our prayer depends upon how we spend our time with the Word. 

Following twenty minutes may be spent to pray for your neighbors and friends.  This is intercessory time.  Individuals must be named as you pray for them.  We need to bear in our prayers leaders of our church, our fellow believers, our family members, our unconverted friends and relatives etc.  General prayers will bring only general answers.  If you need specific answers to prayer, you need to be specific in your prayers.  If we are serious about intercession, twenty minutes is far too short a time. 

The next five minutes may be spent to pray for our personal needs.  Our Lord taught us to pray for our daily needs.  So our personal needs must be brought under the coverage of prayer. 

One hour is too short a time to become a meaningful intercessor.  As you make progress in your prayer life you will learn that more time should be taken and as you see tangible answers you will want to pray more.    

  They that wait upon the Lord.  We are asked to pray for all men (I Tim.2:l), on all occasions (I Thes. 5:l7), about every thing (Phil.4:6).  As we extend our borders and begin to pray for our nation at large, we need to be mighty men of valor spiritually because the forces of Evil are greater and heavier at higher levels.  If we want to conquer our nation for Christ, the amount of spiritual power required for the same is so great that hours spent in the presence of the Lord will turn to be eight or ten hours per day instead of one or two.  Only such spiritual giants can influence their generation for God.  Reading through biographies of great men like John Hyde, Rees Howels and others will exemplify this truth.   Quality time spent in God’s presence in great quantity made all the difference in such lives.

We too can become such powerful men and women under God who can influence our great nations in this generation.  Remember that faith without prayer is a dead entity.  Remember also that God changes His decisions in response to our prayers (Ps.l06:23).  We must never forget that the destiny of our nation depends on our intercession (Eze.22:30).

A note book can be used to record our prayer requests and answers received.  If we keep them on record, it will surely encourage us to see the many answers to prayers.

Remember that God’s perfect will can only be achieved here on earth by believing prayer (Mt.6:l0).  Then God’s name will be glorified through us in  this generation.

Another practical suggestion may not be out of place here.  Any one who made a decision to pray at a fixed time at a fixed place, must go there at the same time for the next 21 days without fail.  You would find that it has become a habit with you by then.  Try this.  It may prove helpful.

Probably the best time of the day to be alone with God is the early hours of the day while it is still dark.  We need to organize our lives in such a way that getting up early in the morning is practical.  Your decision will depend upon your priority in your life. 

Remember your time alone with God is an indication of your commitment to the cause of Christ here on earth.  If you are not committed, you will think very light of this hour.  Your time alone with God will tell the whole world how committed you are to the cause of Christ.  Yet how few among us have even one hour to be given to God every day.

An average person spends at least an hour or two just to maintain the physical body for washing, for eating etc not to think of the sleeping!  If a believer does not want to give at least an hour per day to maintain his/her spiritual condition, what can we think about the faith of that person?

One thing is sure. Any one who decides to give one hour daily for prayer will want to give two or three hours as days go by.  They grow up to be mighty in spirit.  This is one decision that you would never need to regret about.  There is no other decision which can influence your present or eternal status as this one decision.  Will you not positively decide to give at least an hour daily for quiet time and for prayer?  May the Lord give you grace.  To His name be all glory.  Amen.

A believer who does not have regular habit of secret prayer may be compared to a student who studies just before exams.  Sometimes such a student gets through.  One can never be sure.  But if one wants a definite pass in the final exam, home work has to be done daily.  Same is true of prayer.  If you want answers to all your prayers regularly, do your home work daily i.e. cultivate the habit of secret prayer.  Pray regularly and your answers will also be regular.

A prayer warrior may decide to spend one whole day in God’s presence at least once a moth.  All-night all alone in prayer truly an exciting experience.  The difference that this will bring about in our lives, in the lives of the churches and in the world around us is beyond any one’s imagination.  We will be wonder struck at God’s amazing ways in our lives.

As we  enter this warfare, the Spirit of God will reveal to us the points of warfare.  We will become mighty in power as we yield ourselves to the promptings of the Spirit of God.  Here is a warfare without defeat!  We are only claiming the victory which our Lord has already won for us!!  May we enter into all the riches of His grace by our daily encounter with Him!!!  May He give us grace.  To His name be all glory.  Amen and amen.

The greatest gift that God has given to man is His only Son (Jn.3:16).  The Son was with the Father from all eternity.  The Scripture calls Him  ‘the Word’ (Jn.l:l,2).  It was through Him that God created the world and all that is in the universe.  We are told that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (Jn. l:14).  And that person is Jesus Christ.

He is the eternal and unwritten Word.

Along with Him God has given another gift and that is the written Word – the Bible.  Fixed in heaven (Ps.ll9:89) the Scripture does not change (Mt.5:l8).  God who does not lie (Tit.l:2) has revealed to man His eternal purposes in the Bible.  Any one who wants to know the mind of God and the purposes of God has to be familiar with the Word of God.

God’s Word is powerful.  God created the world with His Word (Heb.ll:3).  He holds every thing together by the Word of His power (Heb.ll:3).  By the Word of God man is born into God’s family (I Pt.l:23) and the believer grows by the same Word (I Pt.2:1,2). 

Faith comes (Rom. 10:17), hope grows (Rom.l5:4), life is cleansed (Eph.5:26) and we are comforted (Rom.l5:4) and made glad (Ps.l9:8) by the Word of God. 

If we want to know the mind of God we must know the Word of God.  That becomes the basis of our bold prayers.  That becomes the basis of believing prayers.  Thus the relation between the Word and prayer is great.  They are inseparable.  Our prayers are heard in heaven in proportion to our obedience to the Word of God (Pro.28:9).

A praying believer has to give an important place for the reading and meditation of the Word of God.  There is no hard and fast rules as to how much time each may be given to  the Word and prayer.  Bu, I think, there is a general guideline in Neh. 9:3.  During the days of Nehemiah they spent three hours for reading the Scripture and three hours for praying.  In other words, they spent as much time praying as they read Scripture. 

Any one who want to pray effectively can follow this method with profit.  Spend equal amount of time for the Word and for prayer.  Some are guilty of reading and meditating the word so much and spend very little time in prayer.  There are others who spend so much time praying but little time for the Word.  Both are grave mistakes. 

Remember concrete is formed with the right proportion of cement and water.  Same is true with the Word of God and Prayer.  The Word with out prayer is useless; and prayer with out the Word is powerless.  May the Lord save us from both the pit falls. Amen.

b)  Singing and praying

There is a very important place for songs in Christian life.  Eph, 5:19,20 tell us that singing, praising and thanks giving is the evidence of being filled with the Spirit.

In Acts 16:25  Paul and Silas praised God in singing at the Philippian jail at midnight.  The result was an open jail.  Thus in prayer singing has an important place.  Some times we can use the words of the song writer to pray to God or to praise Him.  Even songs can be prayers (Ps.42:8).

Any one who does not have the habit of spending long hours in prayer can begin by spending long hours in singing with concentration and gradually shift to hours of prayer.

c) Praying for souls

It is a biblical truth that prayers in the will of God will be answered (I Jn. 5:14).  The Bible also declares that God is not willing that any should perish (I Tim.2:4; 2 Pt.3:9). 

Yes, it is God’s will that all men be saved.

The Bible which talks about foreknowledge and predestination does not talk about negative predestination.  In other words God has not destined any man to go to hell.  Hell is prepare for Satan and for his angels (Mt.25:4).

If men go to hell to day it is because they have not repented from their sins and trusted Christ for their salvation.  They cannot do it unless their blindness of the mind is removed (2 Cor.4:4) and unless the Father draws them to Christ (Jn.6:44).

We know from the Scripture that if God’s perfect will has to be accomplished on earth, God’s people have to pray (Mt.6:10; Rom.15:31).  So today if men go to hell, it is because we have failed in our duties.  God’s people have to pray for the salvation of all men.  They have to be brought before God as individuals and they have to be prayed for until they accept Christ in their lives.

Praying for souls is not easy.  Tough warfare is sure to come.  The unsaved are in the clutches of the Evil One.  They are his commodity and unless the Strong One is bound, his property cannot be plundered (Mt.12:29).  The Lord Jesus paid the price of every one.  But Satan has been keeping them under his custody.  The Lord has promised us that He would give us nations if we ask for it (Ps.2:8).  Dt.ll:24 is another similar promise.

So as we pray for souls, the Lord will never say ‘No’ to our prayers. Let us order our lives according to the Word of God and intercede for the nation.  Answer is sure to come.  May the Lord give us grace.  To His name be all glory. Amen.

d)  Bold prayers in humility
 
Humility is an essential quality needed in the life of a prayer warrior.  “If my people who are called by name shall humble themselves and pray, I will…says the Lord” (2Chr.7:14).

No one can be in God’s presence without humility.

But when we begin to pray for things in the will of God, our prayers should be bold (2Sam,7:27). 

This boldness in humility is a wonderful quality in life which the Spirit of God will give to those who spend regular times in God’s presence.   

e) Be sure of answers

i. The person who prays must continue to abide in Christ and must have afruit bearing life consistently (Jn.15:7,10,6,16).
ii. Prayer request must be in the will of God (I Jn.5:14).  God will never do any thing against His Word or against His character.
iii. Sit in God’s presence to hear His word about this request and get promises from God through His Word (Jer.23:l8).
iv. If there are conditions attached to the promise, fulfill the conditions.  For example, some one praying for financial needs must take heed to Mt.6:33.
v. Make sure that there is no hindrance in life that prayer be hindered.
vi. If so much is right, pray in faith and fervency till answer comes.  When praying for others, give God time as God will not force any one against their will.

f) Convictions about prayer

i. I believe that God will not do any thing spiritual without prayer (Js.4:2; Eze.36:37).
ii. I believe the primary calling of a believer is prayer (jn. l5:l6).
iii. I believe if there is no one to intercede, nations stand under the judgment of God (Eze.22:30).
iv. I believe that a child of God, living and praying in the will of God in faith and perseverance for the glory of God, will surely be answered (I Jn.5:14; Js.5:15a, 16b).
v. I believe that if I pray for souls, God will never say ‘no’ to it.  Answer is as sure as strife (I Tim.2:4; I Jn.5:14; Mt.12:29).

g) Commitments for prayer

i. I decide to spend …hours daily in secret prayer (Mt.6:6; 26:41).
ii. I decide that I will obey what ever the Lord tells me daily (Js.1:23,24).
iii. I decide to seek God’s will daily and pray that His will alone be done in my life, in the church and in the world (Gen.32:24-28).
iv. I commit myself as the one whom God seeks to stand in the gap that my nation may not come under condemnation (Eze.22:30).
v. I decide that I would never accuse a person for whom Christ intercedes.  I will only intercede and serve the Lord.  I will never accuse and serve the devil in my life (Rom.8:34; Zec.3:1).

My Prayer:  Lord, give me grace that I may fulfill my commitments for prayer.  Make me the one you would respond to when I pray for your glory. Amen.

h) A suggestion

If you decide to pray in secret at least for an hour daily, make your decision known to another believer friend nearby.  Invite that person also to decide to pray in secret.  If in your locality there a handful of people who pray in secret daily, it is good for them to come together once in a while to encourage one another and renew the decision.  Praying together with people who pray in secret is a very enriching experience.

Church prayer meetings are so often very dull.  It is because those who come together to pray do not practice secret prayer.  Remember wet fire wood can only smoke when put in fire!  Get into the habit of praying in secret.  Be a part of the eternal plan of God for the world.  May the good Lord give us grace.  To His name be all glory.  Amen and Amen. 

There is a difference between blind beliefs and our faith.  Blind belief is based on what ‘every body’ says.  Who is that ‘every body’?  No body knows!  For instance, if we ask a particular person who goes to a particular holy place as to why he goes there, invariably answer is “every body goes there; therefore I go”.  

Bible faith is based on what God has said in His Unchanging Word.  He said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things (material needs) will be added to you” (Mt.6:33). 

No man can live upon the face of the earth with out faith and trust.  We trust our milk man.  We trust our rail way time table.  We trust our aero plane pilots!  People who go to factories trust their owners to pay them.  Government servants trust governments to give them salary at the end of the month.  How can any one live without trusting one another?   We trust our family members that they won’t poison our food.  If we had a little doubt, how miserable would our lives be? 

Ordinary man trusts in visible things and visible people around.  We who trust in God trust in the invisible one who never changes!  People can change any time. Governments can fail any time.  Machines can fail without warning.  God of the Bible never changes and He can always be trusted.  “Those who trust in the Lord shall be like mt. Zion which changes not!” (Ps.125:1).  To His name be all glory.

Neither our son, nor we had any money in our hands.  One of the youth paid the mechanic.   But the strange thing was that while the announcement was being made in the assembly, for some unknown reason, I opened the zip on the cover of my Bible and in it there was a fifty rupee note.

 After Ibecame ill, I never carried a purse on me as I always had some one with me.  Joyce handles all money at home.  Now, who put that fifty rupee note in the cover of my Bible?  Why did I open the Bible cover during the announcement?  Those who don’t believe in God’s providence must answer these and similar questions. If that money was not found t then, we don’t know how we would have hired an auto to come back home!

We always paid him on Sundays after his duty.  Once I did not have any money to be given to him.  Of all the people, how to say ‘No’ to him who worked for the whole week for the same?  They depended on that money for the weekly provision as well.

Saturday at 10 pm.  Some stranger knocked at our house.  I welcomed him and he came and sat in the front room.  He said, “Sir, I am from so and so village.  I heard you have cow dung for sale.”  I said:  “Yes, we have it for sale.”

The stranger went on to say, “Sir, it is too late in the night for me to go and see where it is and to fix a price.  I will come tomorrow in the evening.  Will you be here?”

I said:  “Yes, I will be here tomorrow evening.  But you don’t come late.”

He said. “OK sir.  Please take Rs.100/- as advance”.  And he gave me a hundred rupee note.  Of course. I praised God for His wonderful provision and used the money to be given to our cow boy.

The strange thing is that the stranger never came back the following day or days after that!!  How can we understand the mysterious ways of God?

We had a good time at SBC.  And we had some evening meetings in an assembly in Chennai.  Every thing went on well.

But we had to buy a tyre in Chennai as one of our tyres was no more usable.  This, of course, we were not prepared for.  So when we got petrol to come back all our money was over.  We did not know how to give the wages for the driver.

As soon as we came home, Rachel, our fourth daughter came to us with a surprising question.  She said,  “Why did you keep that money in that cover in the book?”

I said,  “Which cover? What  book?”

She then went to the shelf and took a book and brought the cover with a 500 rupee note in that.  On our enquiry she said for some unknown reason she went to the shelf and took this book and opened it to find the cover with the money there.

Who put the money there in that cover?  That was a post cover.  We never bought that sort of cover in our house ever.  Then why did she go to the shelf and take the book? Our children never go to my shelf and take books for reading.   How did she pick exactly that book when I had two shelves full of books?  These are questions which must be answered by people who do not believe in God’s wonderful providence.

I was so embarrassed and I did not know what to say or how to face them.  So I just walked into my room and began to lie on bed rather thought less.  I could not even pray!
Joyce is able to manage such situation and as the line man walked into our compound she greeted him and was kind of trying to manage the situation.  But the line man is helpless if we did not pay the bill.

Before Joyce could say any thing to the line man, came the post man into our compound.  He had with him an M.O. for Rs.l000/-  and it was just sufficient to pay the EB bill.  It was around 950 or so that month!

Some times we do get some money orders.  But the amount will be smaller.  We do not ever remember getting a thousand rupees as MO any time before or after. 

The story is that a old friend of Joyce from her days before marriage, met one of our friends in Dubai.     When Joyce’s friend knew that our friend from was from  Coimbatore  and we too were in Coimbatore, she gave our friend this amount to be given to Joyce when our friend got back to India.  So the amount was sent as MO by our friend after reaching her home town in India.  That amount reached us in time for the EB bill!!
If  the bill was not paid, we would have been without electricity until it would be paid.

Praise be to God who daily bears our burden.  Amen and amen.  

That Sunday I did not go to the assembly as it was raining.  I cannot stand rain at all.  So I was all alone at home when Joyce and children went for worship. 

After the worship when Joyce and children came home, they had three other people come along in another car to visit me.  A brother had come from Mumbai to the assembly.  When he came to Coimbatore, he wanted to meet me.  Since he could not meet me at the meeting, he had come home.  We had a small chat for about 20 minutes and he had to leave as his lunch was arranged elsewhere. 

He then prayed and left out house.  On parting he gave me a cover as from him and another from another brother from Mumbai.  Then the local brother who brought the visiting brother in his car also passed on a cover to me.  After they all left, we had our lunch and we opened the covers to find that there was 6800 rupees in all along with one or two gifts Joyce had received from local friends that day.

We did not know how to thank the Lord for His meticulous care in our lives!

We decided to go to Kodai Kanal which is a hill station near Madurai.  All of us were there for two days and we had a wonderful time singing, sharing, praying and listening to messages.  On our way back all the five vehicles were coming one after another on the ghat road.  It was just getting dark in the evening. 

Our van was the second in the row.  We were five of us in the van. Rachel our daughter and her husband were at the back seat.  Johnson from Rajasthan also was there at the aback.  Ashley was driving and I was in the front seat. 

As Ashley was trying to negotiate an ‘L’ bend, he lost control of the van though the speed was just average.  The van went out of the road and it ran on to a mud wall on the side and it turned towards the side and fell on to the road.  The wheels were on one side and the car was on the road with the window panels touching the road.

Ashley had his arm fractured.  Rachel and Boaz had minor injuries.  Johnson escaped without any trouble.  But the amazing thing was that I did not fall from my seat though I did not have a seat belt on me! 

Johnson jumped out of the van and lifted me to the safety of the road from the van.  I escaped without even a scratch on the body.

In five minutes there came a Jeep which belonged to the high way department by chance.  They said two weeks back there was a similar accident near where we had ours and that car fell into a ditch which was 300’ below the road killing all eight people in it who were  members  of the same family!

How true is the Scripture   when it says, “He will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways” (Ps.91:ll)

So during one of the meetings there I told how the Lord provided Rs.50,000/-  and how the brother from Trichur obeyed the voice of God.  That evening after I went to the room where I was staying, a brother came at about 9.30 pm. and knocked at my door.  He was a close friend of mine and he apologized for disturbing me during that time.  He said that he had brought a cheque for Rs.40,000/- to be given to me. 

I said:  “Why, you could have given it to me tomorrow; I am going to be here all day tomorrow.”

The brother said:  “Tomorrow… I do not know whether I would be able to give it to you because if I thought in the night, ‘even its tithe itself is a good amount; why should I not give him only the tithe?’ ; or  I may discuss the matter with my wife and if she expressed disagreement, then I would be found guilty of disobeying God.  So please accept it now.”

Then I took the cheque from him and I put my signature behind it.  I said, “It is mine now.  You will please do me a favor.  Tomorrow take it to the bank and bring me cash.” He agreed and took it back and brought money the following day.

I said, “Now, tell me, how did you decide to give me so much money?”

He said:  “Ten years ago I lent this money to one of our close friends.  Then finding that he would not return it in the time he promised, I asked him several times about it.  But he was not in a position to give it back to me.  Five years ago, I wrote it off from my mind as money which was lost.  But yesterday, before I came to the meeting, he brought the money back apologizing for the undue delay.  When I got the money, I thought to myself: ‘why should this money come to me now.  It is money written off’ and came to meeting. There as I listened to your testimony, the Lord said, ‘This money is for Mathew Paul’.  I decided then and there to give you this money.”

I brought the money and gave it to the brother for safe keeping.  I separated tithe from it and spend a little for maintenance of the old van and the amount in safe keeping was 75,000/-  Then in a similar manner from  an unsolicited source came Rs.25.000/- which was again given for safe keeping.  The senior brother who was keeping my money said,  “Why should you run the old vehicle any more keeping so much money in hand?  Let’s get you a vehicle.  I’ll pay the balance now.  You can give it me when you get it.”

At last the van came
There was another brother in the assembly who was selling his OMNI for Rs. 1,30,000/- and we got that vehicle on the 1st of March l997.  It was a 90 model vehicle, single handed and run 40.000 kms. with a memorable number on it.

We have the same van with us now.  We renovated the engine after it had done 2.30.000 kms.  And it still serves us though it is seventeen years old.  It is difficult to use it for long trips now.  We praise God of His kindness in our lives.  I know every servant of God is not running a four wheeler!  If we had done it for the last twenty two years, it is purely by His grace.  To His name be all glory.  Amen.

During 1996 I decided I would go to places where they ask me to take classes on prayer. In the month of October I was asked by Zion assembly in Nellikkunnu to join them for a day of Seminar on Saturday and for Sunday worship. I went there on my old matador which was becoming unworthy of the road. As I was traveling on it, I was much in prayer that there should not be a break down on the road. In our experience we had found that even when there was a break down, the Lord was with us in every situation bringing in the right people to help etc.

We went right in time for meetings on Saturday morning. We parked our van in a garage and used the car of the brother with whom we were staying for going up and down for meetings there. In a prayer seminar, I usually take three classes and there would be a session for question answer. All went on well that day.

But unknown to any one, a prayer slipped out of my heart in between sessions. No one could ever imagine that I was praying as I try to be jovial when in public, especially when taking classes. My prayer that day was, “Lord, if it is your will for me to go to different places to take classes like this, make me provision to buy a good vehicle before I left this place.” This simple prayer would have come out of my heart several times that day.

In a seminar I usually ask people to make definite commitments which many did that day and I was very happy.

After Sunday worship on the following day in the after noon brethren came together for parting prayer and stood in a circle. As I stood there, I asked the Lord, “Lord, I asked you for something yesterday. You did not give me an answer for it.” Then came a brother behind me and tapped on my shoulder. He asked me, Brother, Are you praying for a car?” I said, “Why do you ask me now?” The brother responded, “The Lord is asking me to give you Rs.50,000/- for you to buy a car. I do not have that much money now. I will give it you within a month.” I was shocked to hear that.

By then some brother had started praying. But I could not control myself. I started sobbing like a little child. Prayer was over. No one understood anything. I was still weeping. Without saying any thing to any one, I got into our van and left the place.

Before the end of the month, the brother who promised the money came to my house in Coimbatore. He said, “I could have sent this money by post. But the Lord asked me to go and give it me in person. So I came.”

We had some chat in our house and I asked him, “ What did you think when you found me weeping that day before I left?” He said, “No one understood anything. We all were wondering what happened?”

I said, “You know, I was asking the Lord to make provision to buy a car before I left that place. When you told me that the Lord was asking you to give me money to buy a car, I was like Job when he said, ‘If I called him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.”(9:16). Really, it was too much for me to take that answer to prayer.

50 became 500!

Then the brother continued, “I have had experience of evangelists come to me and ask me for financial help. But to those who request, I never give. The Lord asked me to give you this money.”

I said, “Tell me how the Lord asked you. Did you guess that I was praying for a car?”

His response surprised me.

He said, “Brother, I have been a business man all my life. From the beginning of my life I had the habit of sending some gift to some evangelist some where. So once I went to the post office and got an M.O. form as I wanted to send Rs.50/- to a brother. As I started filling it, in the place amount was to be written I wrote 500/- by mistake. So I tore that form and took a second one.

“As I was filling the second form, an inner voice told me to write 500/- on it. So this time I wrote 500/- knowingly. When I went to the counter, the inner voice again said, ‘send this as TMO’. So I sent Rs. 500/- that day as Telegraphic MO to that brother instead of sending 50 by ordinary M.O.

“Then when I went back home, I was thoroughly confused. I did not know why I had sent that much amount as TMO to that brother. I was wondering what that brother would think about me as thirty years ago that was a sizable amount.”

The brother continued, “Till I got his reply on the fourth day, I was in confusion. When his reply came, I knew it was the Lord who prompted me to send that TMO.

“In his reply that brother wrote, ‘Thank you for the TMO. Last week I admitted my wife to the hospital. Doctor told me my wife needed an emergency operation and asked me to pay Rs.400/- the next day in the morning. I came home. I shed tears before the Lord for His help. I did not know of any man who could help me. So I spent the night in prayer and on the following morning I got your TMO right in time for my hospital payment’”.

The brother who brought the money to my house continued, “I have two or three experiences like this. Now when the Lord tells me something, I will not hesitate or I will not consult flesh and blood. You know, the Lord asked me to give this money and I am giving it to you in obedience to the Lord. If I do not do it I will be disobeying the Lord. So please accept the money without hesitation.”

I accepted it and thanked him for his obedience. I praised the Lord for His wonderful provision. If that brother had not come home with the money we would not have known his previous experience!

 (Read rest of the story in “Another 40, 000/-” Unforgettable Experiences post.)  NB.  Learn to pray!  Experience the wonder of God’s ways!!  Let the Holy Spirit guide you through the Bible!!!

English doctors declared that there was no cure for my disease.  Aurveda did a lot of good to me as the leanness and chillness of legs disappeared.  Every time some treatment was done, it kept me going for some time.  When weakness reappeared, I would be admitted again.
                                  
Third hospitalization in l991 Nov. in Trivandrum was the only one announced in our magazines for prayer.  All others were done within ourselves.  During these hospitalizations, I know of four who confessed Christ as Lord first time in their lives and accepted the Lord before me in prayer.  To almost every one I met, I tried to share about the love of Christ.  Where ever possible, Bibles and New Testaments were distributed.

I remember at least three miracles in the context of my hospitalizations.  First one took place in the very first hospital in Coimbatore.  Though my legs became paralyzed on the
7th of July, I would not go to hospitals as I could not imagine that I was ill due to the fact that I knew something  new was going to take place in my life from that date.  So on the 11th only, being forced by a neighbor doctor, I decided to go to hospital. 

I was taken to KG first where the doctor said further investigation was needed.  Then I was taken to Ramakrishna where there was one  Dr. Ashokan who was a good Neurophysician.  I was admitted in a general ward for ten days.

Healing on the next bed:
On the third day in the hospital, the 13th of July in the evening after supper, I was preparing to go to bed.  Before that I started reading my Bible.  On the next bed there a patient admitted for the past 20 days for some ailment on his back.  He had terrible pain and he was rolling on his bed in pain that evening.  I was disturbed and I stopped my
reading and asked his twenty year old son who was his aid, whether I could pray for him.  The boy said,  “What ever you do I don’t mind.  His pain must go.”    I found out from the boy that doctors had postponed operation several times as it was a difficult one with little hope of success.  Doctors were trying various medicines on him. 

So with the help of the boy I climbed down from my bed to his bed side and as I could not kneel down, I put my chest on to his bed sitting on a pillow on the floor and made a short prayer.  I climbed on to my bed to see the patient going to sleep immediately as though an anesthetic injection was given.  They stayed in the hospital for another two days and went home healed, without an operation!

Financial Miracle:
Sri Chithira Hospital in Trivandrum was the third hospital where I was admitted in l99l.
I was there for 30 days.  There I was a rather famous patient for various reasons.  One was that I was a friend of Prof. Ommen Philip who was known to doctors there as he trained some of them in hospital administration.  I had many visitors there as well. 

There came a patient from Calicut after I was there for more than 20 days.  He was staying in the next room.  He had a big problem.  He was a regular patient there for several years now.  Every six months he had to come for check up and take further medicines. 

This time when he came, the hospital asked him to pay Rs.l500/- for his test instead of the regular Rs.500/- which he had brought.  He had no money and to go back without the test would be difficult as he came from such a long distance.  In the night he was staying in his room and murmuring and complaining about the hospital for not informing him about the hike in charges before coming.  Then one of the nurses asked him to come and meet me in the other room where I would pray for him.

He came to me and said, “Sir, I am an atheist.  Don’t tell me about god.  If you can help me in any other way, please help me.  This is my problem” When he narrated the problem I listened very patiently.  When he finished his story, I said, “Is that your problem?  OK.  Now listen to me for some time.”  Then I began to share with him some of my prayer experiences.  I began with my three rupee experience and went on to share one or two others.  He was listening very intently.  Then I said, “Will you permit me to pray for you?”  He said OK. 

When I began to pray, he began to recite the prayer after me.  I had not expected it.  So I slowed down.  After prayer was over, I said, “I will continue to pray for you.  You please go and sleep comfortably.  God will do a miracle for you.”  He said good night and went to his room.

I continued to pray for him asking God to show Himself almighty to the patient by being gracious to him.

On the following day in the after noon he came to me with great joy on his face.  I asked him what had happened.  He said that day in the morning his problem was reported to the director and the director asked him to give a letter saying that the rest of rupees thousand would be paid when he would come next time for the test.  Then testing was done on the basis of that letter. But the surprising thing was when the result came in the after noon, the hospital gave him one thousand rupees back along with the result.  He could not understand why.  So he asked the concerned clerk why that much money was returned to him.  The clerk said that there was an instruction on the sheet saying so much should be paid to the patient.   

The patient not only got his test done freely; but 500 rupees came to him extra from the hospital.  Was it a clerical mistake? We don’t know what happened exactly.   But that day it came to us as answer to our prayer.

Another Financial Miracle:
It happened in Dec. 2005 when I was admitted in KAPL in Chennai.  I was treated in
Trivandrum during the summer that year and the doctor had asked me to get admitted again within six months if there was improvement.  There was marked improvement and I wanted to be admitted.  But I did not want to go back to Trivandrum during the Christmas break which was only for a month. 

So I went and met the doctor at KAPL where they were doing the same kind of treatment.  I had to do the booking of the room in advance as there was always a queue there.  This time I was to admitted for eight days.  But they asked me to pay Rs.10,000/- as advance.
But I had only half of that amount with me at the time of admission.

The doctor told me that he would admit me with that advance if I would be able to pay the complete amount on discharge.  I had no other money and I was not expecting any cheque to be cleared.  Trusting in the Lord alone I got admitted to the hospital.  The treatment was excellent. 
                                                                 
I told the two doctors and all the staff there, I believed in Atharva Veda as Ayurvedic treatment is a part of it.  I know if I followed the instructions in it, my body would benefit from it.  I went on to say that I got admitted in to this hospital trusting in the God of the Bible that He would hear and answer my prayers for my hospital bill.  The message of the Bible is basically about eternal salvation for human soul, but it has promises about this life also. 

Only brethren at Kilpauk knew that I was in hospital.  I promised the Lord that I would not accept a gift from them for that hospitalization.  They were very generous to us when Joyce was in the hospital the previous year for her heart problem.  So I did not want to accept any money from any one for my treatment lest some would think of us as a burden.
                                                                  
I was admitted on Saturday and on Tuesday two of the youth of the assembly visited me in the hospital.  I told them my financial situation and my decision not to accept money from Kilpauk for the present treatment.    I knew I would need a good amount on Friday when I would be discharged.  I said I needed their sincere prayers only.

While I was talking to them in the hospital, Joyce had a call from an evangelist friend of ours.    He told Joyce that he had deposited some money into our account from his home town.  Immediately Joyce took an auto and went to the ATM nearby collected the money and came to hospital.  The amount was Rs.20,000/- and the total bill for that hospitalization with medicines etc. was Rs.14,000/- only.

This brother who gave us the money had come to Chennai the previous week.  Then he came visiting us.  Thus he knew of my hospitalization.  But we never imagined that it was through him that the Lord was going to answer our prayer!  I do not know what made him donate such a big amount except it was of the Lord.

I was able to give a copy of the New Testament to all staff in the hospital including doctors asking them to trust the God of the Bible for the salvation of their souls.
One of the doctors from Brahmin background was deeply impressed about the Christian message while a staff member almost became a believer.  But I did not have the joy of seeing him commit his life to Christ.

Even when I spent one hour in meditation and prayer I found God working mightily for me.  Now when situation in the field forced me to be on my knees, I did it gladly knowing that there was going to be great reward for it.

I began to read as many books on prayer as possible.  I was greatly helped by  Dick Eastman who gave many practical tips.  His book The Hour That Changes The
World has so many practical tips.  For instance he divides one hour into 12  five minute slots.  Thus time is best spent.  Within five minutes no one looses concentration.

Bible, hymn books and a note book are essential as you go into the prayer chamber.
I usually have two hour packs when I have eight hour program.    Each two hour is divided into four or five slots.  First half hour I praise God by singing, reading and then vocally.  The next forty five minutes would be time for Bible reading, meditation and interaction with God about His will on a given situation and looking for promises for the situation.  Next forty five minutes would be time for intercession and prayer based on the knowledge received from the previous slot.  Last half hour again would be singing and praising and thanks giving.

In order not to loose concentration, singing and scripture reading is introduced every now and then while praying.  Audible prayers also help in concentration.  Secret of success in prayer is to let our mind stay upon the Lord without wandering.

After two hours I get up and go out for a wash or a drink and come back as quickly as possible for the next session.  Then the whole thing is repeated as before.

When we have special projects to pray about we will have focused prayer.  When we are convinced that something is the will of God, we need to pray till that takes place.  Dan.10 is our model for such situations.   There will be Satanic hindrance as we pray for spiritual matters.   The Spirit of God who leads us in prayer will teach us what to do when we give ourselves at His disposal.  It is He who will teach us.  No man can do it.  No man ever becomes perfect in the art of prayer.  So every time our prayer should be “Lord, teach me to pray”.  When we make that a sincere prayer and give ourselves to His will, He will do the best most wonderfully.  So it is just a matter of our committing ourselves to the Spirit of God by our will surrendered to Him. He will give us the desire.  But decision to spend time in prayer must come from us.   He is looking for many such to day to carry out His mighty intercession for our great nations.  May we give ourselves to Him.

Pose in prayer is very important.  Sitting rather relaxed on a bed or a chair is against prayer as our mind wanders easily then.  We need to gird up the loins of our mind (l Pet,l:l3) as we begin to pray.  The best pose is to kneel on the floor on a mat.    You may kneel beside your bed or near a chair keeping the Bible and note book in front of you.  Standing on knees several hours is very difficult.  So you may change your pause every two hours.  Sitting on the floor, lying flat on the floor with face down, standing against a wall in the room, walking to and fro in the room  are advisable. 

My help in the school and in kitchen was very minimal thosedays.  Some times Joyce had one person to help her either for kitchen or at the school.  Most of the times she was left on her own.  After working in the school from 9 to 3.30 Joyce never insisted that I should stay home with her to help with children or do house work with her.    She was more than willing to let me go to the prayer chamber from 4 pm without a grudge.  I came out of it only at 10 pm.  Some times even later.  I would come out for five minutes in between either for washing face or for drinking a cup of water.  Other wise I was in the room always.  She cooked food for children and fed all of them and sent to bed all by herself.  Our children too were very co-operative.  They were all well trained.  None had any obstinate nature.   By God’s grace all children were healthy as well.  I thank the Lord for Joyce and children without whose full co-operation I would never have been able to be in the presence of the Lord every day for  so many hours.

Joyce has her reward form the Lord for this.

Needs were met most miraculously, almost day by day.  During the months when I planned this construction, I made sure that I mentioned this need to nobody in the world.  In the month of April when construction was going on, I decided I would send a reply even to those who sent gifts only after the construction was over.

On an average 10 people were working daily for construction.  Of course, they all knew how I was managing things daily.  One morning mason told me, “Sir, only half a bag of cement is available.  By 11 am we need 2 bags more.”  I said, “The Lord will provide our needs.  Otherwise I will give your wages whether cement is there or not, as I called you for work this day.”  Praise be to God.  On searching I found we just had Rs.142/- at home.  With the amount a laborer went to the cement shop to see that price of one bag cement in that shop that morning was Rs.7l/- exact.

By mid April, the ground floor was over and I needed steel rods for roof the following day.  I had no money in hand.  But I still went to Kotagiri to find out whether material was available in a shop known to me.  It was available.  The man in the shop asked me when I needed the material.  I said I needed it for the following day’s work.  The man replied, “Tomorrow we are on leave.  Please take your material to-day itself.”  I said, “I did not bring any money with me.”  I could not believe his reply.  “Sir, what is there in money?  Please don’t stop your work due to lack of materials.  I will give it you.  You bring me money later on.”  That man is never known to give any thing on credit to anyone any time.  But that day I can not imagine what made him say what he said, except by the Lord.  He gave me steel worth of Rs.1400/- on credit without my asking for it.  I paid it on a later occasion.  That was the only time I took any material on loan for the building!

If steel rods were not made available that day, construction would have stopped and I would not have been able to complete the work in time for me to place the granite inscription on the building.

Four or five times during that month I had to come to Mettupalayam to get either sand or blocks for work for the following day.  I would be with workers till 5 pm and start out on our van which was running on a miracle tyre those days.  It was amazing to see how the Lord did everything right in time for the building. 

In those days we spent around six thousand rupees a month for our maintenance.  We never ever had a bank balance any time.  But during that month without any human effort or contact or influence what so ever, we spent more than ten to fifteen times our average monthly expenses!!  How can one account for it except to believe that God answers prayers.   Today that building stands there in the Nigiris as a prayer monument with the inscription on it.   Even if Lucifer we to come in person, he cannot deny God answers prayers.  May all glory be to God and to God alone.  Amen and amen.

 During the construction we saw God’s miraculous provision every day without fail.  We had direct, tangible, undeniable, unbelievable  answers to prayer every single day.  How true is the scripture when it calls God “O you who hear prayers!” Ps.65:2.

While preparation was going on outside, inside the prayer chamber I was bargaining with the Lord.   I said I was going to trust Him to finish the building in 30 days.  I also promised the Lord that if indeed the Lord helped me finish the whole construction in one month, there would be a granite inscription placed on the building saying, “This building stands witnessing the fact that God of Elijah lives.”

The Lord gave me Isa.58:9 as his promise.  “Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say ‘Here I am’”

And in the next 30 days a two storied concrete building emerged out of nothing.  As the Lord created every thing out of nothing,  now He helped his servant to complete the building when I had nothing other than His promises in my hand. 

The whole building is done in hollow blocks which has same combination of cement, sand and granite chips as ordinary concrete.  Columns and beams are done in ordinary Reinforced Cement Concrete.  Ground floor has three doors while first floor two.  Ground floor has three windows while first floor has 10 windows.  The building has a RCC beam ll0’ long, and four 8’ RCC columns, two 6’RCC columns and 4 RCC footings on which  beams rest.

Each hollow block is 15” x 8” x 8”.  Roof has pre-cast RCC beams 4” x 3” and 12’ long at every 2’.  Roofing blocks is 20” x 6” x 5”.  

Idea to build with hollow blocks came in one of those days when I was thinking about the building.  One day I was sitting on my bed looking through the window down to the place where the building would come.  As I sat there thinking about the building, unawares I
was tuning the transistor and it picked Coimbatore station.  I never ever listened to radio during day time.  But that day I did.   They had a feature on hollow blocks when I
turned it on.  They started with the history to details about how it is made and its advantage over against bricks etc.  The thing which attracted me towards it is its cost.  It works 25-30 percent cheaper than brick work, yet equally strong. 

So I went to Coimbatore which is about 70 kms. from my pace, and saw for myself a three storied building constructed with hollow blocks.  Roof too was done with same material and it had an overhead water tank on it.  I was deeply impressed about the whole thing.  Very rarely people do roofing with this.  But I decided to go for the same roofing and roofing materials will never be readily available.  So I had to place order for my needs.  Blocks for the walls were purchased from Mettupalayam which was just 30 kms. from home.

By the time we started construction on the 1st of April, half of the materials needed were already ordered and made available.  The other half was ordered during the first week of April.  On the 28th of April last load of roofing material also arrived at the construction cite by which time walls were on the finishing stage. Since we left the building without plastering, all cement work for the two stories were completed within thirty days.  Curing was done later, of course.  Doors and windows were fixed after curing only. 

The land was about 40 degree slop.  People thought I would need to spend a lot of money to level it for a building.  On the other hand, I planned it in such a way that ground floor was in two levels.  For the thirty feet long building, beam on the one end was planned to be on the ground and at the other end an 8’ room on the ground  with RCC columns would take the beam there.  In other words, part of the first floor was on the ground.

The land was in triangular shape.   The base of the triangle was about 60’ long and the tip of the triangle was about 30’.   So I planned a ‘T’ shaped building 30 x 10 one way and 10 x 10 attached on one side .   Ground floor was in ‘L’ shape due to the landscape.  Thus two floors together would make 700 sft. of building; 300sft. ground floor and 400 sft. first floor.

During the first week of February we had now Rs.20,500/- for the land.  Thinking it was sufficient any way to pay advance, I decided to take steps towards purchasing the land.  Since the land belonged to my enemy, I decided I would request one of the assembly brethren, Bro. John who was with the Electricity Board, to buy the land in his name to which he agreed.

Then I approached Mr. Y. Samuel who was a tailor and a Pentecostal believer, in whose house we stayed for two years on rent before we built our house.  He was a good friend of ours and a well wisher.  I told him all that happened and how that the Lord was going to give that land to us.  He was very excited to hear how the Lord gave this much amount just by prayer.   I requested him to act as middle man between the land owner and the purchaser.  I also asked him to ask the land for half its offered price!

So Mr. Samuel met Mr. Bokan and asked him whether his land was sold or not.  Bokan said it was not yet sold.  Tailor then told him of a party from Kotagiri who was interested in the land.  But the tailor said the party would give only Rs.3,500/- per cent.  Of the nine cents which we were planning to buy, only 4 cents belonged to Bokan.  The other 5 belonged to his brother.  The matter was discussed between the brothers and the tailor.  But the brother to whom belonged the five cents would never give it for that price as the mechanic had promised Rs.6000/- a year ago.  But some how Bokan agreed to sell his 4 cents for our price.

Now the tailor asked Bro. John to come and meet Bokan in person. When Bro. John came,  Bokan said our price was too low and we must add a little more to it.  Bro. John said he would give Rs.100/- more per cent to which Bokan agreed.  Advance was paid then and there and agreement signed.  In the next twenty days cash was ready in the bank.  We purchased 4 cents for just 14,400 rupees instead of 9 cents for 63,000.  After all, we were praying for the land where the crow sat with tumbler.  It was that bit which belonged to Bokan!  How true is the scripture.   “He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving the heritage of the nation.” Ps.111:6.

We were like those who dream when we got this land.  A few years back the same man had chased me from his land as I went in to pluck a few waste plants for rabbits. He had given me ‘last warning’ then.  Later he stoned our house when gospel meetings were going on.  On another occasion he came to our house fully drunk to create trouble. But his land was in our possession for almost half price that he demanded! 

During the first week of Jan. 1986, the Lord reminded me of my prayer last February, praying for the land where the crow sat with tumbler.  If I did not get that land within the next two months, I would not be able to tell confidently that it was the Lord who gave me the sign by crow.  So the Lord asked me to begin praying seriously for that land.

It was 9 cents of land and the owner was demanding Rs.7,000/- per cent.  I knew that my mechanic friend had offered Rs.6,000/- per cent but the land was not given to him.  So I knew I needed a minimum of Rs. 63,000/- plus registration charges to purchase the same.  I wanted to purchase the land without letting any one know about it thus to prove that we have a prayer answering God.  I knew nothing was impossible to those who believed.

During the second week of January I began to pray seriously about the land to be bought.  I said, “Lord,  give me Rs.1000/- this week so that I would know you are answering my prayers for the land.”  Once I begin to pray for a particular subject, it is my habit to take it to the Lord every now and then till I know my prayer is answered. So I continued that way even when I was out of my prayer chamber. 

During that week I received Rs. 1000/- and it confirmed my decision to continue to pray for the land. 

During the following week again I prayed for a second one thousand rupees for the land project.  I got the same from some source and I started a new bank account and deposited the money in it.  I told Joyce about what I was praying about and how the Lord was answering prayers.

The following week, as I began to pray, I did a small calculation.  If I would get one thousand rupees every week, it would take about seventy weeks for the whole amount while I needed the same in the next four weeks to prove my point.   So I doubled my target and during the 4th week of January, i.e. the third week of praying for the land, I prayed for Rs.2000/- that week.  And amazingly I got the same from three different sources over and above our daily expenses. One source was a convention where I went as speaker that week.  Of the gift they gave I separated the amount needed to fill my target.

We were all excited and we knew for sure the Lord was answering our prayers on a regular basis.

During the fourth week of praying for the land came the 1st of February and I spend the whole day, from morning till night in prayer chamber.  Usual prayer time in those days was 4 pm – 10 pm.  As I waited in the presence of the Lord  that day with singing and reading and meditating and praying, my prayer was that the Lord would give me Rs.4,000/- during that week.  As I spend the day in the presence of the Lord, staying in the prayer room for hours, the Lord gave me confidence that He was going to supply all the funds needed for the land within the following week.  I was overjoyed and I began to praise Him for His grace in our lives.

As you know by then we had Rs.4,000/- in the land account and I began praying for another Rs.4,000/- during that week, for which the Lord said He was going to provide the whole amount within the following week.  Though I could hardly believe that, I came out of the prayer chamber praising God as I knew whatever He tells me always comes true.

On the 2nd of Feb. Joyce and I had made an appointment with St.Jude’s School in Kotagiri that we would go there to distribute copies of the gospel of Luke to students there. We had received a number of pocket size gospel in English from some source.  We knew students would love it. Hence the attempt.  The school authorities gave me an opportunity to speak to the student body at their morning march past time.  It was noon by the time we came out and on the way back we had our lunch packets from hotel which we brought to our van and ate.

On going back home, I found there was no fuel in the van.  I asked Joyce for any money on her as I had nil.  She gave me some fifteen coins from her purse and we got diesel for the same.  The bunk boy asked us why all these coins to which I replied whether currency or coin, money has value. 

The devil was whispering in my ears saying such a great man who would pray for buying the land for thousands of rupees.   Does not have even a note to buy diesel!  But we were rejoicing in the Lord as we had lunch from hotel that day and had at least coins to buy diesel.  In other words, none of our needs were unmet.  Praise be to His Holy Name.

When we reached home that day we had the greatest surprise.  There was a cover which was sent from Kotagiri.  There was an open cheque for Rs.6,500/- in it.  We knew the one who sent the cheque.  But some one else gave the money to be given to us.  We do not know who that some one is to this day.  Following day I deposited the cheque to the land account. That made a total of Rs.10,500/- within four weeks, from zero.  I continued instant in prayer.  Every day my prayer time begins at 4 pm and goes up to 10 pm.   For months together I did not have supper.   If I felt special burden for prayer, I continued till 12 or even 2 in the morning which were rare.  But on occasion I did that also.

On the fifth week, by Tuesday itself the Lord provided sufficient funds for the land.  There came a letter from a friend of mine with whom I had no contact.  But now he had sent me dollars worth Rs.10,000/- to be used for what ever our need was.  That made the whole amount!(Read rest of the story in “63,000/- to 14,000/-”,” miracle building”, “miracle every day” in Unforgettable Experiences post.)

As I prayed about what to do next one or two ideas emerged.  The first idea was to plan some program for their school going children in the summer.  We therefore thought about the possibility of joining Steward Bible College as staff to come back in summer to the Nilgiris.  But the Lord clearly led us away from taking that step. 

The other possibility was to bring the Kurumba children who went to the near by government schools to give them a hostel facility where we could actually teach them in the morning and evening.

Several hours were spent in the prayer room trying to discern the mind of the Lord.
I was hesitant to start a hostel because I knew how difficult it would be by way of financial strain and labor.  But the Lord asked me whether I ever starved with my five children.  On the contrary we were sumptuously fed!  The Lord impressed upon my mind the truth that five and fifty were the same to Him.

He said,  “If I did not fail you with your five children, why can’t you trust Me for fifty?”
I was convinced in my prayer that it was easy for the Lord to do great things if I trusted Him fully.

I was reading Is.7 for meditation one of those days.  As I came to v.14, the lord spoke to me saying that He was going to give me a sign that He was about to do some great things  for me.  The phrase “the Lord Himself will give you a sign” came back again and again in my mind.

Then I said, “Lord, give me a sign by a crow and I will name my ministry ‘Cherith Children’s Home’”.  Now that I prayed that prayer, I was waiting for a sign from a crow.  I had answer to all my prayers specially those days when I spent on an average eight to ten hours in prayer.

On the third day about 7 in the morning, I was standing in front of my house brushing my teeth.  It was the 28th of Feb.l985.  Pear trees in the Nigiris fall their leaves in February.  There was a pear tree just opposite to my house below the road with no leaves on it.  As I watched there came a crow.  There was a steel tumbler on its beak.  The crow placed the tumbler on a branch there and fluttering its wings made a peculiar noise for a minute or so and then leaving the tumbler on the branch the crow flew away. 

As I was watching this behavior of the crow, the Lord said, “That is the answer to your prayer.”  To which I replied,  “Lord, I cannot accept it because the tree belongs to my enemy.”  The tree actually belonged to one Mr. Bokan who stoned our house a couple of years back when we had our public gospel meetings there. 

On the following day while we were having our family prayer, we heard a noise. Something fell on the roof of our house.  As soon as prayer was over, I climbed the roof to find a coconut shell there.  The Lord made a crow to drop it on the roof of my house itself this time! 

I took the shell from the roof first and told the Lord that I was going to take that tumbler from the pear tree as well which I did.  But to prove that it was He who made these two incidents take place, I asked the Lord to give me my enemy’s land in one year! 

Who would believe that on Feb.28, l986 we registered 4 cents of land which belonged to my enemy.  Unknown to any man any where the Lord provided funds for the same and Mr. Bokan gave the land to a brother in the assembly never knowing I was behind it all and the land was going to be used for a hostel for Kurumba children.

Planning a literacy for Kurumbas is a near impossible task as their hamlets are so small and so scattered in the Nilgiri jungles.  One has to walk two three hours into the jungles to see two or three houses there.  Again another half hour or one hour through the most difficult terrain to find the next two houses.  I had names of forty Kurumba hamlets in my list.  But they are found scattered in the border jungles of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.   How to plan literacy program for such a group was my problem.  Out of the 40 names that I had in my list, I had only visited some 10 with atmost difficulty.  There were two government settlements where they had twenty or thirty families, one near Aravenu and the other near Manjacombai. Children were either not interested in studies or others were in some government schools till they were twelve or fourteen years old.

As soon as Joyce heard about it, she went to a driver friend of ours and with his help went to that hospital and brought the patient to a good Christian hospital where doctors were friends.  The hospital had very good facilities also.  The patient was almost dying when he reached the second hospital.  Doctors admitted him because he was now our patient though they thought the patient would die soon.  But the amazing thing was that the patient recovered fully within a week.  By the time he was discharged, he had a new layer of skin as one layer had fallen off his body.  The patient was all swollen up when admitted.  I was back by his discharge time.  The doctor friend told me that he gave no other medicine than Vitamin B tablets to the patient!

On another occasion Joyce had a Kurumba lady brought to our house and made a nursing home in one of our rooms with the aid of a local medical practitioner.  The lady was given drips for two days.  But finding that she was still sinking, her relatives took her back to the village, on which way she passed away. 

The patient sat up on bed as I went near and I made a short prayer.  As soon as I finished my prayer and said ‘Amen’ I opened my eyes to see the patient sweating profusely.  Her fever had left her instantly.  I myself did not expect such an instant healing.  But it pleased the Lord to heal her immediately.  She got discharged and went home the very  same day.

Unknowingly I missed the by pass road to Madurai and got right into the city of Dindigul.  As we reached the central part of the city we had to go slowly as people were still in the streets.  Once I had to stop the vehicle.  On trying to move the vehicle, it would not move.  Engine was OK.  But the van was not moving.

When we were standing there not knowing what to do, a Muslim friend came to me and asked me what the problem was.  He had seen me in the previous place stopped for tea.  Now again when he saw us standing on the road he doubted some problem.  My van had gospel verses written all over.  That attracted the Muslim to us.  He asked us whether it was a church vehicle to which I gave a positive reply.  When he knew that the van had some problem, he looked at his watch and found it was12 midnight.  He became very concerned as he saw Joyce and five children in the van.  He said that it would be very difficult to get any help at that part of the night anywhere there.  Then suddenly he remembered a matador owner who had his own workshop.  He hired a bicycle from nearby and asked me to sit behind him and took me to that workshop.

As we reached there, the man  just closed his shop and he had one foot on his bicycle just about to leave the place.  Then I explained my situation to him and he said his van would come at 2.30 am and then he would come to toe mine to the work shop.  Believing his words we came back to our van and the Muslim friend consoled me and left the place.  So we were waiting till 2.30 in the van with much prayer for the arrival of the mechanic with his van which he did very promptly.  He toed our van to the workshop and dropped Joyce and children in the Gospel Hall and came to work on my van. 

The owner of the workshop was there at that time and he knew uncle C.V. Samuel. who was evangelist at Dindigul.  When he knew who I was and where I was going, he told his foreman not to wait till morning but to fix the vehicle and let us leave by early in the morning.  My van’s clutch had failed.  In the night he got a used clutch and by six in the
morning the work was over.  He asked me money for break fluid and I gave him the last fifty rupee note in my hand.  By 7 in the morning the van was ready to go.

As I did not have any money in my hand I gave him my wrist watch and told him that I would come back in a week and get my watch back by paying the workshop bill.  Interestingly the watch on my hand was a brand new Citizen automatic which would cost about a thousand rupees.  It came to me just the previous day.  Before that I had an electronic watch with me which was worth just one hundred rupees!

Just imagine if the Muslim had not help me, if the mechanic had already gone, if the owner was not kind hearted, if they had asked me money for spare parts before work began, and if I did not have a costly watch on me!  Even in that difficult situation the Lord was very kind to us.  We praise Him for His wonderful ways in our lives. After this incident we have used the same road several times.  Every time we had sufficient money for any emergency.

In August we went to Madurai in the van for the wedding of Joyce’s youngest brother.  We took Rajan’s family and Selvaraj’s mother with us.  From Madurai we accompanied their new car to go to Kerala for the wedding. We went via Kumali to Thiruvalla.  Road was not very smooth as they had damaged road every now and then.  I was running behind the car.  The car driver was very fast.  He would apply sudden break every now and then. I had to do the same.   By the time we reached Tiruvalla my van had a crack in the break fluid kit and I did not notice it though I took the van for a check up before starting.  After the wedding, in the afternoon we started our journey back.  We were back on the same road to Kumali to go to Madurai. 

It was around 4 pm.  The car was going in front at 70-80 kms/ph and I was just behind them.  We crossed Ponkunnam and there was a small slope.  On the left there was a car standing on the road.  Opposite came a lorry fully laden.  As the car was standing on the road there was no place for me to go through.  And I applied break.  But pedal went right down and the vehicle would not stop.  In the spur of the moment to save a collision with the car, I just turned the vehicle to my left and it went out of the road and in less than 10 feet there was a small mud hill and our van had a smooth landing on to the mud hill. The back wheel of the van was still on the tar road!  Since there was no gutter between the road and the mud hill, no one fell or was there a jerk in the van.  It stopped so smoothly as though someone had applied the break!   Rajan’s little child who was sleeping in the van did not even wake up.  No one fell from the seat.  At that speed surely the van should have toppled if God had not protected us.  If there was a pit instead, we would have fallen into it.  It was truly miracle of the first order that saved us from that break failure.

How true is the scripture when it says, “The eternal God is our dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms”(Deut. 33:27).

When our people in the car did not see us for half an hour, they came back and saw what happened and one or two got in the car and left.  Others went to Madurai by bus.  I stayed on to repair the van and took it to Madurai the following day. 

The accident took place just in front of the house of one my old seminary friends.  In fact he was watching the whole scene.  He entertained us in his house.  I had my meals from their house two or three times till the van was ready to go.

The next break failure took place several years later.  Once we went to a Kurumba village about 30 kms away.  By then we were 3000 feet below our place!  The hill road was very steep and narrow and winding.  We went there to bring children to our hostel.  The trip was smooth and successful.  On the following day I was taking the van from our shed. I slowly reversed the vehicle.  The van came out into the road. I applied break.  There was no break and the van’s rear wheels fell into the small ditch which was there in the opposite of our house.  I had to gather half a dozen people to lift the vehicle from the ditch.

If it had taken place the previous day, the ditch we would fall into would have been a 1000 feet deep in some places!

The third break failure took place a few moths later.  We were going to Coonoor from Kotagiri.  At an ‘L’ turn at 40 kms/ph, I applied break and found the speed was not getting controlled.  I knew there was no break.  So within the next one km,  I brought  the gear down from 4-3-2-0.  And when the van was at 10 kms/ph finding that there was no vehicle on the road at that time, I jumped down from the drivers seat and put a stone in front of the front wheel and stopped the vehicle.  Then I brought a mechanic and got it repaired and took the vehicle.  We knew that it was time to dispose that vehicle which we did soon after.  

We had no sources by which we could look for a four wheeler.  There were one or two possibilities for getting a cheap vehicle.  One was to go for an old model petrol car like Standard 10 or an old Morris Minor which were still found on our roads during those days.  You needed a minimum of Rs.10,000/- to buy one.  But petrol cost is very high as it might give up to eight KMs per liter of petrol in the hills. Even for running the scooter we are looking to the Lord daily.  How to think of a petrol car? 

Then to go for a diesel vehicle was another possibility.   A cheap way of doing it was to buy a petrol Jeep which in those days were available for Rs.7,000/- and to convert it into diesel.  It would cost another 7 or 8 thousand.  So we would need some fifteen thousand if we went for that.  It would require a lot of strain in locating the Jeep and then mounting the engine and RTO problem etc.  So we dropped that idea also.

A third possibility was to go for a Standard 20 diesel van which in those days were available for about Rs.20,000/-; though it as a problem vehicle, with no resources at our disposal we could think of nothing else.  We had no idea as to where to get this amount from.  But we decided if we went for a four wheeler, we would go for a Standard 20 van which could be used for school as well as for assembly out reach work.  We did not want a family car for ourselves. 

Just the day after we made this decision, we had a letter from my old friend Sam Mammen.  We were class mates in college for one year and since we both brought lunch packets we sat and ate lunch together.  Once a week we had Evangelical Union prayer meeting in the college and we both attended the same.  Only later we came to know that we both were from the assembly background.  Then we became all the more close to one another.  Until he finished his M.Sc. and was working in Bhopal we maintained our friendship.  We visited each others homes and were good friends.  From Bhopal he went to the States and I went to the mission field after my studies and we lost track of each other.  In ’84 Sam visited his home in Kerala.  That year I was one of the speakers at the annual convention of the assembly there.  When Sam heard that I had come to his home assembly, he was truly excited and he got my address from the assembly before he went back to the States. 

In his letter Sam told me how he got my address and he said he wanted to write to me for more than three months but it was not possible to do it earlier.  He enquired how we were doing and asked details of my family etc.  He was truly excited that he could contact me after all these years and that I was engaged in field work.  There was a cheque in the cover and Sam asked me to use it for whatever was my need at that time.  It was US dollars worth Rs.10,000/- 

We did not know how to thank the Lord for this wonderful provision.  We never ever had this much amount as gift in the mission field!  The largest sum received hitherto was Rs.5000/- when we were praying for the land.  Now the Lord had heard our prayers  for  a van.

When the money reached the bank, I set out tolook for a Standard 20.  I took a mechanic and went to Coonoor because I heard that a vehicle of our choice was there for sale.  But when we went there we found that it was a useless one.  Then the Lord so wonderfully led us to another place the very same day where we saw a Matador van in very good shape for Rs.40,000/- through a middle man who literally dragged me to the owner because I knew I could not buy a vehicle for that price.   But the owner agreed to give the van for Rs.25,000/- over and above my scooter. (I usually say that I got a Matador in exchange for a scooter because that’s all I had when I began to pray for a van)!   I came back home and both Selvaraj and Rajan were excited to hear that we were buying a van. We had never discussed this matter with them before.  They both decided to lent us all their savings i.e. Rs.5,000/- each without my asking for it!   The owner gave us a month time to pay the rest of the amount.   In just two days time we went and brought the van to Kotagiri where all I had to do was to buy two new tyres for the van.   It had a very good engine in it.  Actually we paid only the cost of the engine!

We witnessed three specific miracles in this particular event.   The first was how the money came from zero!  Then the next was how we were led to the owner of the Matador!!  It is a long story.  And the last but not the least was how the man agreed to give it for that price!!!  Another long story how the Lord performs miracles for those who put their trust in Him. The scripture I read the following day was Eccl.2.   And the last verse is “For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to one who pleases God.  This also is vanity and striving after wind.” 

Truly we had manna every day.  I know more than one assembly commented servant of God, who have their own magazines or who run institutions, who sent out appeals for buying a vehicle but could not do so.   But the Lord provided us with a good vehicle in l985 as a direct answer to prayer.   Is it only my privilege?  My Bible says that God is no respecter of persons.  

It was Bro. Ruben Karuppusamy who helped me drive the vehicle to Kotagiri for the first time.  He knew us for the past five years and he knew well our financial situation.  While bringing the van home he said it would be great if we could run the vehicle for three months!  He knew for sure that with our limited sources we would never be able to keep the vehicle for longer than that.  But may all praises be to God.  We used the very same vehicle for the next seven years.  From l985 on we have always had a running vehicle except for a few months in between when we needed to buy a different one or when the vehicle was in work shop.

Once some one came to our house requesting for prayer from Rob Roy Estate.  His wife had an attack of evil spirits and when she would get possessed she would fall down cramped and be in that position for hours.  They had two little kids.  Literally they were suffering.  She had this attack for several years and they spent a lot of money going to various people for cure.  But nothing worked.  At last in desperation he came to us, though they were Hindus,  thinking that they would get  some help from us .

During those days I was not very fluent in Tamil which was the local language there.   Any how I went there to pray.    Spirits became very angry with the family and their trouble increased all the more because they came to me.  Whenever I was with them they would not have any problem.  But as soon I came out, spirits would create havoc in their life.  This continued for about a week.  Then I went to a brother who had  some experiences with casting out evil spirits.  He told me a great secret.  When the person shows symptoms of possession, if we would catch the person by our hand, spirits cannot leave until we release our hands!  Till then I had not touched that lady.  But now with this secret known to me, I was waiting for an opportunity to take hold of the person while in actual possession.  On the following day, we spent the whole day in that house fasting and praying. There was no sign of possession at all for the whole of that day.

Evening again I went back to the house to agitate the spirits.  I had several brethren with me.  We went to the house and started singing.  In the evening as we were singing the lady began to show signs of possession.  She began to shiver and shake and her facial expressions changed.  Bro. Elango of Lalgudi was present with me and I asked him to handle the lady.  He took hold of the lady by her hand and got into conversation with the spirits.  Following conversation emerged at this first encounter.

Lady under possession:  “I am not happy here.  Let me go to the other meeting below.  I do not like the music here.  There it is good.  Let me go there. Please let me go there.” (The same evening a group from Salvation Army music band was conducting a public meeting half a km away.  The spirits might have been referring to that)

Elango: “ No.  Never.  We will never let you go there.”

Lady :  “You do not have grace to chase me.  You cannot do anything to me.”
Elango: “We have received grace upon grace through Jesus Christ.  We will chase you.”

In similar terms the conversation went on for some time.  Later the spirits agreed to leave the lady and go.  So Bro. Elango after some time rebuked the devil in the name of Christ and the spirits promised that they would leave the lady never to come back again.  The lady became normal.  We conducted the evening cottage meeting there in the house.  Prayed and committed the family and the house into the hand of the Lord before we left.  It was 11 pm by the time we finished that evening.  We all went home thinking that the problem was over.

But at  2 in the morning came the husband to our house and woke us up saying that his wife  was under very heavy possession and she was dancing on her feet with her hair let loose and threatening people with death.  By the time I went to their house nearly fifty neighbors had gathered around that house at that part of the night!  All were just frightened to see the lady doing very unusual things.

I did not have any of my friends with me this time as I did not want to disturb them at that part of the night.  As I entered the room the lady was still dancing.  I caught hold of her hair which was flying in the air.  As soon I touched her, the devils became quiet but began to shiver like leaves in heavy wind.  I saw with my own eyes how devils  literally tremble at the name of Christ (Js.2:19).   The Lord gave me great courage to handle the situation.  I made her sit on the floor and for the next two hours  I conversed with the devils. 

I said:  “Who are you?”
Lady under possession:  “We are five of us.  Our names are so and so.”

I said:  “Why do you trouble this lady?”
Lady replied: “We did not come on our own.  We were sent by some one else.”
 
I said:  “Did you not know who I was,  but still why didn’t you leave this lady till now?”
Lady replied:  “Sir, we know who you are.  We know we cannot escape from your hands.  But we have no freedom.  We are tied down here.”

Some one standing around:  “Who tied you here?”
Lady replied:  “Some one standing here has done it.  But we will not tell you who it is.  I know you will fight between each other if you know who it is.” (I thought devils sometimes have more common sense than the so called believers!)

I said:  “Don’t tell us who it is.  But leave immediately”.
Lady replied:  “Sir, please release the knot.  Only then we can go.”

By now the devils began to shiver all the more.  I had held on to her hair so tightly that the devils felt there was fire on their head.

Lady began to shout:  “Ayoo,  Fire on my head.  Fire on my head!   Please let us go.”
I said: “Nothing doing.  Unless you leave this lady permanently, I won’t let you go”

Then the lady under possession asked us to bring a shovel and dig in such and such a place in the room and then we would find the knot there.

Some one standing around: “Are you trying to cheat the poor preacher?”
Lady under possession:  “Don’t call him a poor preacher.  He is a servant of the Most High God.  I can never cheat him” ( What a tragedy.  Some times people close to us, even  some who break bread with us do not recognize this.  But devils do!  All the more our Father in Heaven who considers us as co-workers with His beloved Son!!  Servant of God, take heart and live a life acceptable to Him.)

I said:  “Nothing doing.  You must somehow go.  We can’t follow your instructions.”
Lady under possession:  “Sir, we cannot suffer your hand upon us.  Please let us go.”

After about one hour under my hand the spirits became so desperate and the lady was continuing to say,  “We can’t suffer this fire any more.   Please let us go.”

I said: “OK, You know where the knot is.  Under my hand you can go and release the knot and go from this lady permanently.  Until you do that I won’t release my hand.”

So the possessed lady went into the corner of the room and went under a cot.  All the while her hair was in my left hand tightly held.  With her bear hand she dug a shovel full of mortar from the floor and then screamed.  “It’s gone.  It’s gone.” (The suddenly we heard the noise of the door slash open!)

The house was in the estate line and the flooring was not done with cement but with lime mortar.  But it is not possible for any of us to dig down into it with our bear hands. The possessed lady did it with her bear hand with ease. 

By now the lady was profusely sweating.  It was cold sweat.
 
Crowd was watching all this all the while.  Now the lady came out from under the cot and there was a lot of relief on her face as the devils knew the knot was released.  As soon as she came out, I made her to sit down once again.

I said:  “Are you all ready to go out of this lady permanently “
Lady:  “Yes, sir. Yes, sir.”

I said:  “Will you ever come back again?”
Lady:  “No, sir. No, never.”

I said: “OK. Now, one by one come and promise me that you will never come back to this lady again.  You must do two things.  First, you must take hold of the Bible in your  hand and then you must give me promise in the name of the Father,  the Son . and the Holy Spirit that you are leaving and will never come back  again.”

Lady:  “Sir, that is fire in your hands.  We cannot take it.”
I said; “Unless you take the Bible in your hands and promise me, I won’t let you go whatever you say.”

I said: “Now, come on.  Who is coming first?”
Lady: “Sir, I am ready.”

I said:  “Who are you?”
Lady:  “My name is so and so. ” (and the lady gave me a male name.  Four spirits gave male names and one a female name).

I said: “Take hold of the Bible and say after me what I say as your promise.”
Lady: (with hesitation) took hold of the Bible.

I said: “Now say after me. OK. In the name of the Father,  the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I, so and so promise to leave this lady permanently never to come back again.”
Lady repeated after me.
I said;  “Get out, you devil in the name of the Father, the Son, and  the Holy Spirit.  Never come back again.” And the first devil left the lady. 

I repeated the process for all the five devils individually and made absolutely sure that all five devils left the lady. I did this because in the evening the devils had promised to leave the lady; yet they came back in the night with greater force.   When the last one was gone, there was a blush and a smile on the face of the lady.  Every one knew that she had become normal. She got up and washed her face immediately to live a normal life.   Under possession the whole personality changes including the face cut.   She was now healed completely and the family later became believers and the devils left her permanently.

Then at 4.30 in the morning I shared a brief word of the Gospel to the people who were standing around and some one by then had prepared a cup of tea for us.  I prayed and left the house to go home.

This particular case took so much time and struggle because some witchcraft was involved in it.  Later the man in the house told me that they had hidden some magic spelled items in various part of the house as a magician tried to remedy the situation.  So after the lady became normal, they dug three places in the house where magicians had hidden magic spelled boiled eggs.  To my surprise, boiled eggs without shell remained exactly the same after being buried there for months!

This incident made me a famous exorcist and several people came from different places with their problems and were healed almost instantaneously by a simple prayer.  But I found that there was very poor response to the gospel even from those who were healed.  There was one occasion when I failed in my attempt and I had to call on another brother to help me in prayer before the devil left.  Later I knew that the one whom I had taken along with me first was keeping some grudges against me and our prayer was not effective then.

Once when a possessed person came to our house for prayer, I gave her the Bible which she refused to accept.  But when a news paper was given the possessed held it close to the chest saying, “This I can keep.  Please, don’t give me the other”(meaning the Bible). Yes,  the devils are afraid of the name of Christ and they  shudder even to touch the Bible!!

Then struck a misfortune in the family.  She became sick of paralysis and was bed ridden for several years.  By the time we went there it was more than five years and Rajan had tried all known sources to relieve her of her sickness. All medicines failed.  So they turned to secret acts.  Nothing worked for her.  It was very pathetic to see the family in that situation.  They were in their late twenties.  She could not cover herself with a woolen blanket as the weight of the blanket would give her pain.  In Nilgiris one cannot live without blanket! Just imagine the plight.

We went there every Saturday evening for half an hour.  We will sing a song, read a portion from the Bible, say a few words and then pray as she would be just lying on her bed.  Rajan would give us a cup of tea.  We would come away.  No one imagined that a miracle was in the offing!  We continued quietly for months and slowly her pain subsided and she began to get up from her bed all by herself which she had not done for years! This happened now without any medicine as a direct answer to our humble prayers.  Before the end of the year she reached her normalcy.  No one acclaimed us as it was quiet and very slow.  In a couple of years she became pregnant and eventually became the mother of two.   Every one in the locality knew about this incident.

Rajan and his wife continued as friends and they continued to come to meetings with us. They are witnesses of other mighty works of the Lord in other lives. But tragically they never committed their lives to Christ though they knew for sure that it was the Lord who healed her.  Rajan remained a nominal Christian after twenty five years when I met him at the reception arranged for our second son, Rajan said his wife was showing symptoms of her old disease now.  What a tragedy!  Though they experienced the power of God in their lives first hand, they never let that power to transform their lives and become God’s children.  There are many like them in my experience.

One of the first contacts we had at Aravenu was Bro.Selvaraj who was from Rob Roy estate.  He approached me to learn spoken English.  Though he never learnt spoken English from me, we became good friends.  He was a baptized member from Open Bible Church.  He had so many questions about spiritual matters and I spent several hours discussing and clearing his doubts.  He became my associate as I went for evening out reach. 

Jayakrishnan was the post man at Aravenu.  Though he was from a Hindu background, he had accepted Christ and was continuing without any church affiliation.  He was very happy to see me in Aravenu as there was no other Christian worker in that Area.  He opened his house for Bible study and in six months he was ready for baptism.

Jayaprakash was another staff at Aravenu post office.  He was a young chap of about 26 years and no one would doubt any thing about him as he quietly worked in the office.  But through Jayakrishnan I came to know that he was a drunkard of the first order.  Once he was admitted in the hospital for vomiting blood.  But after getting discharged from the hospital he could not get over his habit though doctors warned him not to have any thing with alcohol any more.  By the grace of God, Jayaprakash   began to attend Bible studies in Jayakrishnan’s house and the Lord gave him grace to get over the habit slowly.  He too accepted the Lord and they both were ready for baptism at the same time. 

Selvaraj was helping me during those days and we fixed a date for baptism.   Selvaraj located a place along the brook which ran near his estate suitable for baptism.  But for some reason he changed his mind and asked permission from estate to use one of their tanks for baptism.  This meant less work as the first place located must be made ready clearing the place and making sure that water was deep enough.  We had our baptism in the estate tank and every thing went on well.  After the service was over, we came to know that there was a dead body in the brook near the estate.  Later we discovered it was exactly in the same place where we had planned our baptism.  If we had stuck on to our decision to have baptism there, who knows, we would have been the first ones who would see the body  and our baptism should have been postponed!

So we decided we would have our own school which would help also people from lower middle class who could not send their children to Kotagiri.   While we were staying in the rented house in Aravenu we hired another place to run the school.

Joyce was trained in Child Evangelism after her B.A. and when we were in Madras she attended Balar Kalvi Nilayam, one of the best schools for children below five, as an observer for over two months.  These were sufficient for her to start a school in the village.  We had twenty five to thirty children in all and Joyce would give each child personal attention while the whole class will be engaged in corporate activities like singing, drawing, reciting etc.  Occasionally Joyce had some one to help her.  Other wise she managed it all by herself. 

My role in the school was minimal; it began after l985 when we bought a school van and I was the driver.   I helped in the morning and evening with the school trips.   All our four children except the youngest did their primary school with us.  When they reached class six they were able to go to Kotagiri by themselves.

From ’82-‘86 three children were born to us in the Nigiris.  By l984 we had five children below ten years and it was a tough time looking after them along with language learning, school, and evening out reach etc. in routine.  Added to all this we had a small dairy, a poultry, rabbits and bees to look after.  All these made our life very busy.  Those were truly very exciting days indeed.

We planned a 400 sft. brick house and tiled roof with insulation as the Nilgiris would be very chill in winter.  Unknown to any man any where the house was completed by March ’82.  Our parents came visiting us then as our fourth baby was born then.  She was born 20 days before due date on the l0th of March when the unusual alignment of planets took place!   Parents were greatly surprised not only at the child, but also at the completed house waiting for plastering.  They gave us money for plastering after they went back home.

Behind the house in one corner of the land we marked an area for a Safety Tank and stared digging 12’x6’ area.  When we reached about 4 or 5 feet, I said to myself,  “Why can’t this be a well instead of a Safety Tank?”  We had faced heavy water shortage in the rented house that we were staying.    In the Nilgiris there is water shortage and people depend on government supplies or nearby brooks for their water needs.  In our place there was no government supply as our house plot was away from village and the brook nearby was not very hygienic.  So depending on the Lord and asking Him for grace, we changed our plan and began to dig down 6’x6’ below that level.  I hired a coolie and between two of us within a month we dug about 20’ deep.  Any one looking into the well can see our unprofessional work as the well is kind of zigzag in shape!  Fortunately from top to bottom it was soft brownish yellow rock under the earth and we picked bit by bit with a pickaxe as we dug down.  Though moisture was found after about l5’ we did not find any trace of any spring in the well.  So we left the work undone for a whole year.

When we opened our house in May that year, we asked the brethren from Young Men’s Evangelical Fellowship to come and stay there for two days for Bible Study and prayer.  Several joined us at the time and Bro. Yesudas of Karamadai assembly was there in the group – himself a water diviner.  He examined the unfinished well and said we could strike water in one two feet below.  He also said there were two strong streams running through the place where we dug.  We could have missed both if we had dug five feet away either way!

But we had to wait a whole year before we could muster some money to dig deeper.  By May we started living in our new house.   We used water from the nearby brook till the following March when the brook was showing sings of becoming dry.

During 1983 February there was a very heavy drought all over India.  It was so heavy that as never before government was supplying water by railway wagons to several villages. On the 1st of March we called three laborers and they went down into our well and cleared some rubbles and dug only one more foot and we struck water in our well!  By evening on the same day we were able to draw water with a bucket from our well.  I said we would not dig deeper because during this severest drought if we have so much water, this source would be more than enough for us.  Thus with just one day we stopped the work.  We stayed in that house till l99l and there was more than enough water for several families in that well. 

For our work we needed a spool tape-recorder which would help us hear the recorded matter again and again without touching button again and again.  While in England we were trained how to make tape loops for the same.  It was a part of our training program. So when we went to Nilgiris we were on the look out for one.  But we could not buy one in the market as they were no more sold in market. Cassette tape recorders had come in to voge .  But such were lying around in many houses in those days unused.  So I thought it a good idea to make my need known to brethren by the same YMEF weekly.  They obliged and they announced my need saying Bro. Mathew Paul was in need of a spool tape recorder for his language learning and as it was not available in the market any more, brother would be grateful if some one would came forward to donate one.  No one reading the weekly would miss that ad.  It was very conspicuous. I waited for a few weeks and there was no response.  Then came a letter from a brother asking me to visit him in his house.  He did not tell why he asked me to go but I fixed an appointment and went to see him in his house.  We had some friendly chat and he gave me a cup of tea and I asked him why he wanted me to come.  Then he showed me a spool tape recorder on his front table and he asked me whether that was the type needed for my work.  Yes, indeed it was the type needed.  I said, “yes”.  I was very enthused thinking that he was going to give it to me.  After a minute of silence he said,  “I just wanted to find out whether that was the type you needed.  This is not to be given to you.”  I was shocked to the core.  I said, “Thank you for showing it to me.” I returned home rather dejected.  I don’t remember now whether he gave me any gift that day or not.  I don’t think he did it either.

Any way the Lord asked me to learn a lesson from that experience.   I decided that I would never again make any of my needs known to man.  Scripture is very clear.  “Let your requests be made known to God” (Php.4:6).  I must thank the Lord for teaching me that lesson very early in my life though through a rather painful experience. ..