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APPENDICES – Bible Gleanings

October 27, 2007 by empy

a)  The Word of God and prayer

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. 

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Chance or providence

October 26, 2007 by empy

Similar stories of God’s wonderful ways multiply in our lives.  If some one would call it ‘chance’, we can say our lives truly depend on ‘chance’.  In fact we trust this ‘chance’.  Can any one trust ‘chance’ and carry on for 32 years with five children?  We don’t trust in chance.  We trust in the God of the Bible who has given us His unchanging promises.

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.

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A 50 rupee note in Bible Cover

October 26, 2007 by empy

Once in Chennai we went to the assembly for worship in our van.  We had no problem until we reached the place.  After the meeting as we wanted to come back home, our van would not get started.  So we left it with our son and he got it started with the help of some youth in the assembly who found out a mechanic nearby came home later.

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!

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100 rupees at 10 pm

October 26, 2007 by empy

In the days when we had dairy animals at Aravenu, some times we hire boys to graze the animals during the day.  So once we had a boy for several months.  He was very faithful in his duties.  He would come in the morning and clean up the cattle shed and take the animals for the day and come back in the evening.  We paid him a hundred rupees per week.  That money was essential for his survival.

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?

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A 500 Rupee Note

October 26, 2007 by empy

Once we went to Chennai to teach at SBC for a week.  We went by our OMNI.  We hired a driver for a week and promised to give him 500 rupees as his wages.

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.

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An Electricity Bill

October 26, 2007 by empy

In all our life we paid electricity bill and phone bill in time so that the services were not cut.  But month the situation was different.  We did not pay bill in time and line man came the following day to remove the fuse from the carrier. 

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.  

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Rs.6500/-

October 26, 2007 by empy

It was in the month of October 2000.  On a Saturday I found that I needed Rs.6500/- urgently on Monday morning to meet our emergency needs.  I knew there was no money in the bank nor was I expecting any cheque to be realized.   I knew the Lord had to perform a miracle to meet our needs on that Monday morning.  All my life, the Lord had never permitted me to put my head in shame not being able to pay a bill in time.  So I knew there would be a way out.

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!

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Van toppled

October 26, 2007 by empy

2005, the 3rd of June is a memorable day in our lives.  During that week all eight children of MEC gathered in Madurai with their spouses, children and grandchildren.  After MEC’s death in l993 it was the first time for all to come together in this fashion.

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)

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Another 40,000/-

October 26, 2007 by empy

I gave that money to one of our brothers for safe keeping as that amount was not sufficient to buy a good vehicle.  During December that year, I had an invitation from an assembly in Trivandrum for meetings there.  Young people there asked me if I had a new prayer experience.  I told them that a story has reached only half way and I would tell them when it was complete.  They then said the if I told them that much, they would also pray for the completion of the same. 

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.

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