Resting with and testing: ‘His power made perfect in weakness’

Isn’t it one of God’s grandest, deepest mysteries: that His power can be made perfect in our weakness?

Our dear ministry Director Pastor Paul is testing and resting in that one right now, and wants to thank all who have been praying for him and helping with medical expenses. Thankfully he is home from hospital, feeling much better, but still weak and tired. So please keep up your prayers. Ministry ‘out in the field’ of course continues.

We are still not really sure what all was going on with him. His doctors thought it could be aftereffects of the damage he has suffered from being attacked so many times over the years, and then of course the resulting brain surgeries (we have covered all those stories in previous posts).

“But I said, and I fully believe, that those were completely healed by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by His nail-pierced hands,” Pastor Paul asserts.

“He will not do His work partially. And also He will not keep His promise partially. His work and promise are always fully done. So I don’t think it is an after-effect of anything. This is what I learned and experienced from my Lord Jesus. He is always good for me. Whatever He thinks, let it be done.”

“So what, then, do you think was going on in the hospital?” I asked.

“It was of course that He wanted to teach me more to stand stable in His faith, to serve Him more without any doubt and hesitation. Of course my body is weak, but His Spirit within me is strong. Let Him use me according to His will.”

He knows the Lord wanted to teach similar lessons to his family, who stood with him and found their faith strengthened through the whole ordeal.

“In this crisis, the faithful servants of God, who love me with the everlasting love of God, stood for me and still stand for me with prayers and kind support, and helped me and my family so much. In the name of Jesus, I’m thankful to them all.”

This precious, mysterious and mysteriously STRONG verse (from 2 Cor. 12:9) is one I stand and live on as well. How about you?

Help needed for ministry director Pastor Paul

Our dear Pastor Paul has been in hospital in India for about a week now, and desperately needs our prayers. Initially admitted with breathing issues, chest and head pains, he lapsed into a coma soon after, so was put on ventilation and admitted to the ICU.
 
His younger son Lesly and his wife Mercy have been with him almost constantly. At one point as they prayed, he came out of the coma and was able to communicate some with them.

He is still in ICU and doctors are saying his issues could be related to the two brain surgeries he endured several years ago. Another possibility is that he suffered a stroke, but that hasn’t yet been determined.

While he appears far better than he was, he remains in the ICU and in need of lots of divine intervention!
 
If you can help in any way—with prayers especially, but funds will be needed for the hospital stay as well—we will be beyond appreciative.

Bibles for Mideast pastor and family finally to be released from hospital

In our last post (Bibles for Mideast pastor and family hospitalized after brutal attack), we told you the horrific story of a Bibles for Mideast pastor and his family who had all ended up in hospital after a brutal attack by Islamic militants.  

Thanks to prayer and the grace of our Lord, all are now doing vastly better. The youngest, two-year-old Hannah, seems to have suffered the worst injuries—her little body grabbed viciously from her mother’s arms and thrown away during the attack. She had to be readmitted to the ICU, but a week later was shifted to her mother’s room.

While some internal injuries have yet to be completely healed, doctors plan to discharge the family of six this coming Saturday. This is in fact the second hospital they have been in, having to be moved since ‘infiltrators’ had interfered with their receiving proper care at the first.

The attackers had also destroyed the family’s home, which members of the pastor’s congregation have been busily rebuilding. Even some neighbouring Muslim families have joined in the reconstruction. They had visited the family in the hospital, and Pastor Surcaf and his wife had shared with them the gospel of Jesus and His everlasting love. So most now fully support the pastor, many having even ‘switched sides’, now placing their faith in the living Lord Jesus. While the Imam and other of the local mosque’s authorities are far from pleased, so far there has been no more trouble.

Pastor Surcaf shared the gospel of Jesus with more than his visitors, of course. Fellow patients, doctors and other staff in the hospital all heard the ‘best news possible’ from him … how he and his family turned from Islam to Jesus, and now experience a joyful relationship with God through Jesus—in spite of being persecuted. His message could not help but resonate loudly with all who heard!

Once again thank you for your prayers.

The power of prayer and fasting: deaf woman hears and speaks for the first time!

Last summer, one of our Bibles for Mideast leaders, Pastor Riyaz*, was brutally attacked while ministering among Muslims and Hindus in East Champaran, India—an area of India along the border with Nepal. Pastor Riyaz and his family are all former Muslims and so well-understand that faith system. He ministers mainly to Indians and Nepalese, with many Muslims and Hindus having received Christ through his, his family’s and his team’s efforts.

On this particular day, a mob of angry Muslim fundamentalists attacked him, then threw his seemingly lifeless body into a ditch, leaving him for dead [that story here: A beyond-astonishing story of God’s redemption!].

But God! Some Christian believers found him lying in the ditch and, noticing signs of life, rushed him to the local hospital. Barely alive and with one knee damaged beyond repair, once he was stabilized somewhat, doctors replaced the pastor’s knee.

More problems—and excitement—followed during his stay in hospital, which you can read about here: Going above and beyond with ‘Bloom where you're planted’:  hospital miracles continue.

MANY OF PASTOR RIyAZ’S* CONGREGATION GATHERED FOR PRAYER when he was hospitalized

AND NOW, THE EXCITING UPDATE!

Bibles for Mideast Director Pastor Paul recently joined Pastor Riyaz (now almost completely recovered) and his congregation at the pastor’s home in East Champaran.

Amazingly, even some of those who had attacked Pastor Riyaz and his church attended. Tears flowed as they confessed before him and the congregation. The once-disabled pastor then shared the saving gospel with them, and they accepted Jesus as their personal saviour and Lord! 

The group had originally planned for three days of prayer and fasting, to include sharing testimonies and hearing the gospel each day from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and then again from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

As more and more people came, the group grew so large Pastor Riyaz’s home could no longer accommodate them. Services were then moved outdoors, with worshippers gathering under the sprawling branches of a huge tree as even more joined in from the neighborhood. The projected three days stretched to seven full days because of the growing numbers of attendees—including the many people from the hospital who had felt the touch of the Lord as Pastor Riyaz recovered (and ministered!) there.

Last Saturday, as the seven days came to a close, Pastors Paul and Riyaz joined with two other pastors to hold a remarkable baptismal ceremony in the nearby Gandak River.

Among the 327 people baptized that day were hundreds from the hospital where Pastor Riyaz had received treatment—including four Hindu doctors, two Muslim doctors, and a number of Hindu and Muslim nurses—plus many others from the nearby Indian and Nepalese communities.

After the baptismal service, the group began making preparations to celebrate the Lord’s Supper—750 people partaking on this final day of their week of prayer and fasting.

As they prepared, Pastor Riyaz’s deaf and mute sister Saira* (who lives with the pastor’s family due to her disability) suddenly stood, vigorously moving her hands and lips. She kept this up for a couple of minutes. While all could see she seemed desperate to express something, they grew increasingly anxious at her inability to do so.

“The Holy Spirit then insisted I go and pray over her,” Pastor Paul recalls. “Holy Spirit is moving on her to say something!” he explained to those gathered. He then asked that everyone pray for her while he went to lay on his hands and pray.

“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!” It only took a few minutes for Saira to voice the name of the one who had healed her! She went on to speak for about 15 minutes, every word either praise or thanks to the Lord.  

Further, she could HEAR herself speaking; she could hear the murmurs of the crowd around her. As she continued in praise, the Holy Spirit moved on and filled every person in attendance, with absolutely glorious worship ensuing.

Pastor Paul then gave the people a message on his heart from the Lord, and went on to conduct the Lord’s supper.

Please keep all of these believers, new and seasoned, in your prayers. And when you pray, please pray for Pastor Riyaz’s church: that they would find their sorely-needed dedicated place of worship.
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*Names changed for security reasons

+++++ If you are able to help us financially, please click here: BLESSING Bibles for Mideast. +++++

Going above and beyond with 'bloom where you're planted': hospital miracles continue

We have an exciting, crazy-encouraging update on Pastor Riyaz*! If you aren’t aware of his story thus far, please read our earlier post, A beyond-astonishing story of God’s redemption!

As only God can orchestrate it, the injured and hospitalized pastor’s story has gotten even more astonishing.

First of all, he has been improving quickly (from both the original attack and the attack in the hospital), and if all continues well, hopes to be released next week. The most astonishing part is that his mission work has continued in the hospital!

A few Sundays ago, Pastor Riyaz asked permission to have a worship service in the hospital hall. Since many staff had already become Christian through his ministry, hospital authorities were happy to provide the hall space for worship.

So at about 10 a.m. those gathered—some 300 staff and patients—began to pray. The Holy Spirit hovered and moved powerfully. Pastor Riyaz shared a gospel message from his wheelchair, while his wife conducted the overall service.

One of the hospital’s security staff shared his testimony about the previous Sunday service.  He had prayed as best as he knew how to God for his wife, who has been paralyzed and bedridden for three years. He and his children were trying to care for her, but his income from the hospital work wasn’t enough to manage both looking after the house and his wife’s treatment. In an attempt to support the family, two of his young daughters worked as sales girls in a local cloth shop, but it was still barely enough.

When he returned home after his hospital shift, his children excitedly reported that their mother had been shaking her legs and fingers around midday! The security man knew it had to be around the time he had prayed for her during the worship service. The Lord Jesus had touched her! So he shared all of this with his family, as well as about the salvation possible only with Jesus.

He and his children then joined hands and prayed aloud for his wife. It was really the first time he prayed consciously and knowingly to the Lord Jesus. Since the family belonged to a Hindu priestly family, none really knew how to pray. But the Holy Spirit ‘taught him’, giving him the words, as he prayed.

And then suddenly, his wife stood up from the bed and praised the Lord! As the security guard shared his amazing testimony in the hospital that Sunday, he wept over all the Lord had done for him.

Many others then shared exciting and powerful stories of what they had experienced as well.

So until he is released from hospital, our dear pastor will continue leading people to the Lord as well as powerful Sunday worship services!

Please keep all of these dear people in your prayers. Pastor Riyaz still needs total healing, and all the brand-new Christians need discipleship as they move forward in the Kingdom.
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*Name changed for security reasons

+++++ If you are able to help us financially, please click here: BLESSING Bibles for Mideast. +++++