Hello All,
I wanted to share some encouraging things in hopes that it would stir your heart more toward Christ. And to let those know who have been faithfully praying for us that much grace and peace has been multiplied to us. Thank you so much for your prayers.
The Lord has been so good to us here in India. Though we had some trials, we know that it all works for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose! God allows trials in the life of His saints to conform us to His Son. Glory to God!
God graciously continues to confirm that He has sent us to India so it gives us greater confidence in Him and strengthens our faith in "everything".
One thing I have noticed that has been a sign to me that He is with us and that we are in His will is that Sean's preaching has been filled with power, exalting Christ, flowing out so easily where I can tell its no works of his own. Please know I say this not to boast about my husband, but to praise God, seeing it is all Him. I see also that the Lord has given Sean much boldness to root out and pull down the things that grieves Him among profess Christians, that is contrary to His word, and to build up the right foundation that is in Christ. If God doesn't use us to win many souls to Him here I wouldn't care because I know that the Lord has been truly exalted here through preaching and good works. As long as God uses us to highly lift Him up, I will be satisfied!
The Lord has truly change my heart about missions and I so thank Him for that! I use to think that missions was just about winning souls, but its much more than that! Its about glorifying my Father in heaven through proclaiming His excellency which is in the gospel, filled with good works, letting my light shine in this dark world. I use to hunger for souls, but now I hunger to make Him known, making sure He is exalted wherever we are at, that Lord Jesus is highly lifted up. Men around us will not have any doubts that we are a family who worship Jesus and believes in all His ways and that there is only salvation through Jesus alone! In having such a revelation of this I feel so content now and trust Him in many odd circumstances.
Many people here have been open to the true gospel, but do know that you will always have those who are enemies of the cross. For the message of the cross is an offense to those who are perishing. Do continue to pray for us. That we would continue to stand boldly for His name no matter what and that we preach with much clarity and power, and that great signs and wonders would follow.
It is very important here to clearly preach that there is only ONE God and that salvation comes through Christ alone. If we are not clear with this, like many pastors here, the Hindus will just easily add Jesus to their many gods. They will say they’re Christians because they believe that Jesus is one of the gods. This great error has brought a jealousy deep into my heart to proclaim truth with all zeal and authority that there is only One God and that is Jesus and that we must separate ourselves from all falsehood! That we cannot eat at the Lord’s table and the demons at the same time! And we do know brethren and are prepared that with such clear preaching there could be persecution. We are not ignorant of this. For we do see that some already think we are trying to change their culture that is deeply rooted in Hinduism. One sister even confess to me that when she stop wearing the orange paint on her hands, the flowers, bangles, ect.. That people notice and that the Hindus treat her bad. Its o.k. to call yourself a Christian here, but once you start forsaking the Hindu culture that’s when persecution comes to the believers here. This is what happen to Graham Stains who got killed in Orrissa by Hindus. The Christians in Orissa set themselves apart from the Hindus by not taking their work days off on a Hindu holiday so the Hindus thought they were trying to change their culture. Graham and his sons then became a target. The Hindus killed those who they thought were destroying their culture. I could see this persecution happening here if the Christians would truly separate themselves, but many are living in fear and not proclaiming the whole truth. Please pray for the believers here. That they would stand firm on the truth, not being ashame of Jesus. Pray that they would not love their life, but have the mind of Christ and follow His steps to their cross. And pray for us. That God would continue to use us to encourage the saints here. For Paul the Apostle said it is through many tribulation that we enter the kingdom.
Do also pray for the children here. For God has open the doors for us to minister to many of them. We have been taking turns with each children in having them over for dinner, having bible studies and singing Christian songs with them. They really enjoy coming over. Sean has been spending time with the boys in taking them out and doing boy stuff. Many fathers do not have relationships with their kids so many children fear their fathers. The children look at Sean with amazement when they see him playing with his own kids and playing with them. They’ve been open to hearing the gospel and you can see the conviction on their faces when we do bible studies. Pray for their salvation. That God would use them (who are considered weak in the eyes of many ) to confound the wise.
I hope you have been encouraged by our report from India. I do pray that you too will separate yourselves from the world and stand firm in His truth no matter the cost. That you will not love your lives to the end, but follow the One who is worthy of all your life. Follow Him to your cross.
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