Things have been going slow for the past two weeks. Got into fights and stupid ones really. I really don’t know what really was happening. I was giving attention to other things. Things that didn’t need my attention. That didnt require any at all. I started to do things that I would normally not even think of. And slowly I started to go back on my old ways and soon Old Oscar was back seeking approval of his peers. I really don’t like it when the old man is back( not my father, my old being).

And I realized that all of this was happening cuz I have not prayed as much as I need to. It was confusing at first really. But I understood why it was getting difficult for me to survive without praying and reading God’s word.

Matthew 4:4 (The Message)

4Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.”

Just like how man grows physically and needs to eat in larger quantity and quality, he needs to eat more of God. If one doesn’t eat his meals, he is going to get tired, exhausted and also sick. This way his body will not be able to perform. In the same way One cannot ignore the bread of life. For without this, he will die.

The Bread of Life

27“Don’t waste your energy striving for perishable food like that. Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. He and what he does are guaranteed by God the Father to last.”
- Levite King

A quote from Malcolm Muggeridge that captivated my mind.

“We look back upon history and what do we see? Empires rising and falling, revolutions and counter-revolutions, wealth accumulating and wealth dispersed, one nation dominant and then another. Shakespeare speaks of ‘the rise and fall of great ones that ebb and flow with the moon.’

“I look back on my own fellow countrymen ruling over a quarter of the world, the great majority of them convinced, in the words of what is still a favorite song, that, ‘God who’s made the mighty would make them mightier yet.’ I’ve heard a crazed, cracked Austrian announce to the world the establishment of a German Reich that would last a thousand years; an Italian clown announce that he would restart the calendar to begin his own ascension to power. I’ve heard a murderous Georgian brigand in the Kremlin acclaimed by the intellectual elite of the world as a wiser than Solomon,more humane than Marcus Aurelius, more enlightened than Ashoka. I’ve seen America wealthier and in terms of weaponry, more powerful than the rest of the world put together, so that had the American people desired, could have outdone an Alexander or a Julius Caesar in the range and scale of their conquests.

“All in one lifetime.All in one lifetime. All gone with the wind. England part of a tiny island off the coast of Europe, threatened with dismemberment and even bankruptcy. Hitler and Mussolini dead, remembered only in infamy. Stalin a forbidden name in the regime he helped found and dominate for some three decades. America haunted by fears of running out of those precious fluids that keep her motorways roaring, and the smog settling, with troubled memories of a disastrous campaign in Vietnam, and the victories of the Don Quixotes of the media as they charged the windmills of Watergate.

“All in one lifetime, all gone. Gone with the wind.”

“Behind the debris of these self-styled, sullen supermen and imperial diplomatists, there stands the gigantic figure of one person, because of whom, by whom, in whom, and through whom alone mankind might still have hope. The person of Jesus Christ.”

-Malcolm Muggeridge

Just discovered this group called the Flight of the Conchords. They call themselves New Zealand’s fourth most popular digi-folk paradists. Check it out below.

and another one called “frodo dont wear the ring”

…that a smile always helps before you hand out a tract.

People dont like the name of Jesus.

People dont like to Read about God.

Try Love.

Also people LOOOOUVE Graphics or anything that is nicely designed.

People observe you a lot.

Never approach a woman if she is sitting with a man. In fact never look at her. Give two tracts to the guy!

Sometimes people don’t care.

Never assume. Always pray.

Know who you are. Pray - Plan. Have Faith and go ahead.

Try again.

Never Give up.

Stand on the middle of the road, look up , give thanks and come back home knowing that the Kingdom of God has progressed!!!

When I left for Dhule I had no idea what was waiting for us there. Infact none of us did. Pastor, Shannon, Justin and I were as clueless as we could get. All we knew was that Pastor was ministering to a youth camp. What kind of crowd would come in. Are they believers? How much of the Bible do they know? were some questions that were playing on my mind. The trip was long and exhausting. We left at 3.00 P.M from Pastor’s place. We had a translator who was from NLF Kholapur with us. I sat in the back with Shannon’s guitar. Shannon popped a pill cuz he gets sick during road trips, esp if Rishiraj is driving us. So the translator (Abhijeet) had a problem of road sickness too. He didnt tell us at first. But later he asked for the pill too. And in a couple of hours he vomited! He didnt mess up the car though. We stopped and he did his work! By the time we reached Nashik it was 7.00 p.m and we had 120 Kms more to GO! And to make matters more exciting we didnt know the way as this was our first time to Dhule. So by the time we asked people and kept driving on admist breaks for pee sessions and finally got there it was way past 12.00. We were shocked to see the place we were to stay. It was a big British Colonial styled Bungalow! We thought the missionaries built it for themselves. Turned out to be true. The foundation stone said 1922. It was a huge house with 3 Bedrooms ( of what I could make of it) and one of them was supposed to be a study I think. Big, huge and comfortable. Se slept on cots.

So the morning of tuesday we spent praying in tongues and exploring the place. The entire area was oned by a particular Protestant Group of churches called Alliance Church. I’ve been to one in New Bombay but thats all I know about Alliance Church. Their Pastor had deserted them and had done a couple of nasty things. So the entire meeting was organized by a group of 3 charismatic men. One of them is in NLF and serves under Pastor Edward.

The Camp:Tuesday evening was the scheduled time for the camp to begin. The sound system had to be replaces as it was horribly under a lot of pressure. But no issues there as they got bigger speakers. The whole point of the camp would be wasted if the kids cant hear anything right? So Pastor came up and started to speak. The second he stepped up everyone got stiff and began to wiegh him. So it was a difficult situation , and we were facing a difficult crowd. I wanted to see how Pastor would crack this place. It was a real challenge, but Praise God for his Wisdom. Pastor finally managed to break through. The evening session he just spoke on Salvation and Jesus Christ. Out of the 50 who stood there around 40 of them got saved. The rest were given permission to leave if they didn’t want to receive Christ. You see the entire situation was like this-
The youth that had assembled there weren’t churched. They knew about Christ through hearsay and some of their families were saved. But they weren’t churched because they study away from home. Some even in Mumbai. I met a couple of the kids who study in C.S.T.
So they accepted Christ and Pastor dismissed them. He met them in the morning and unexpectedly he started teaching on ‘How to Overcome Sin’ ( the same message we had at youth Camp) & he closed it with an example of how to receive the Holy Spirit. Now when i say example, I mean a live one. He actually picked up a person from the Crowd and asked him if he was thirsty for the Holy Spirit. He said yes and Pastor asked him to receive. He also called up Justin R to receive as he also said that he wanted to receive. And for sure, they did. They were soon drinking of the Spirit. Justin faster as he knew how to, but the other guy soon caught up. And before I knew it everyone wanted to drink. And as soon as they were on their feet, lifting up their hands, opening their mouths in that little faith BAM! The spirit exploded in that place. Everyone who stayed back(for every time Pastor wanted them to receive something he only asked the ones who were really thirsty to remain. The others , say 10% left) were filled by the Spirit and two of them even spoke in tongues.

The next session was on Speaking in Tongues. Sadly a few wanted tongues. A lot of the crowd that received the Holy Spirit left on their own accord. Pastor allowed them to, as with Unbelief the Spirit can’t come into you and start HIS work. But everyone who stayed did receive Speaking in tongues. It was the most fulfilling to stand there and see lives being changed. At at that moment I knew what I wanted to do. I cried looking at kids as small as 6 to 10 years old being filled by the Spirit and speaking in tongues. Usually these kids don’t want to hear messages or a sermon, let alone a session with The Holy Spirit!!

The last and final session was Pastor anointing everyone( who stayed back) with Oil. I made a coupe of mistakes here and he got really agitated, but I guess its all a learning exp. And with that we were at the end of our trip. We left as soon as the session got over as Pastor had to rush back to Mumbai to meet Pastor Paul Thangiah from Bangalore.

So that was the entire Dhule trip. What did I learn? I learned how to behave,act and even pray during such trips. I learned how to project yourself and what is expected of you during a trip. I learned a lot from Pastor. He didnt teach us. I just observed and noted down things in my mind. I believe that in 6 months my life is going to CHANGE!!!

I’m going to Dhule today with Pastor Vijay and Shannon. We’re gonna be driving down there in his car. I’m really excited to serve !!! I hope I can fulfill my purpose there.

Oh and in the meantime here is an encouraging post…. go read it , abhi isi wakt!!  - We’re UNSTOPPABLE!

A classic example of how the Kingdom of God progresses at one soul at a time.

- Levite King.

It started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word
And then that word grew louder and louder
’till it was a battle cry

I’ll come back..
When you call me
No need to say good bye

Just because everything’s changing
Doesn’t mean it’s never been this way before

All you can do is try to know who your friends are
As you head off to the war
Pick a star on the dark horizon
And follow the light

You’ll come back when its over
No need to say good bye
You’ll come back when it’s over
No need to say good bye.

Now we’re back to the beginning
It’s just a feeling and no one knows yet
But just because they can’t feel it too
Doesn’t mean that you have to forget

Let your memories grow stonger and stonger
’til they’re before your eyes

You’ll come back
When they call you
No need to say good bye
You’ll come back
When they call you
No need to say good bye

The last song played at Chronicles of Narnia : Prince Caspian Movie. Really beautiful isnt it?

I believe each and everyone of us has some idea of what we want to do, if not a definite answer to the question ” Where am I heading at?”. I’ve met a lot of people hanging in the balance of infinitum and not knowing for themselves what they want to do or what they can do for that matter. But let me remind you, we are a people of destiny. Not fate. Fate says that things happen as they have to and no one controls it , it chooses itself. We don’t believe in fate. We believe in Destiny.

Jeremiah 1:5 

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

So its obvious that we have a purpose for our life! God did not create us because for ‘timepass’
No. He ordained  and set us apart, a chosen generation.

So what then? I, for one feel really special. And one should. For knowing that you are chosen and unique will fill you with a sense of heavenly pride. The good sort, where you feel confident about yourself and all.

And as I was meditating on the scriptures God gave me a revelation from Matthew about our purpose.I was reading the birth of Jesus and God showed me how Joseph fulfilled what God purposed for his life.

The Bible testifies Joseph to be a good man. It actually says in  Matthew 1:19

“Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.”( Mat 1:19)

Now this is what Joseph had decided. And the Bible even credits unto him righteousness. So if you think about it, the Bible says that whatever he did or thought he was righteous. So here was a man who being righteous wanted to do a good act (i.e save his fiance from judgement) and back out quietly. Now lets look at what the next verse says.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

God told me three things after I read this.

1. Joseph had decided his course of action. And lets remember that we are talking about a Righteous man here and in our times we would probably liken him to our Pastor or a Man of God.
2. But God had other plans.
3. Joseph was willing to change his plans for God’s perfect plan and in turn became a History Maker. And thus, Jesus was born and was called the Son of Joseph, a descendant of David, as the scripture records in Matthew 1:verse 22-  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”

So are you willing to lay aside your plan and seek God for his perfect plan for your life?

I got this in the mail yesterday. It makes a good read.

Check what I’ve written.

HERE