Daily and Weekly Christian Inspiration
All dressed up and ready to go to church today! This will be the first time I’ve ever ministered wearing a saree.
I pray that I might reach the minds of the Indian people by wearing their traditional wardrobe that my words would reach their hearts.
1Corinthians 9:22-23 I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
On Friday our day started visiting Mount Zion Pentecostal Church and spending some inspiring time with Bishop Francis Jackson. On our way to the center of the city we stopped to buy some fresh coconuts on the side of the road. It was amazing to watch the skill which the vendor used to cut them open so we could feed on the coconut and be refreshed drinking pure coconut milk. Coconut will never taste the same again!
I had to smile because the market place was like an Indian Canal Street with merchants bargaining their wares.There was even a little garment district like in New York.
Just as fascinating was to watch Hindus and Muslims shopping together. Since it was Friday, the Moslem Holy day, the street was packed with Moslems going to and fro with several of their stores even closed for 2 hours for prayer. In the middle of all this the sound of chanting as a flowered covered Hindu float was being pulled down the street. What a dedicated spiritual people! My eyes wandered everywhere trying to take a memory video of all this while I was silently praying that God would open their spiritual eyes of understanding to see the only one true God,The Lord Jesus!
Our day ending visiting a dear Christian family for dinner while they tried to show me how to wear my saree
Today we were supposed to take a 4hour cab ride to Mysore Palace for the day but not getting back until 11pm. We decided to cancel to just catch our breath and relax before a busy weekend. I have been invited to speak tomorrow in a 30 minute slot at an all city rally whose topic is “Be Prepared To Meet Your God” Praying for inspiration to use this opportunity wisely. After the rally we have a service in the evening.Then on Sunday we have two services at different locations. Needless to say we had to come apart and rest awhile today. Besides I’m wearing a saree at the rally and it will probably take me all day to practice fitting it. LOL We may even treat ourselves to High Tea at the beautiful Taj Hotel. Only I would find a place for High Tea even in Bangalore India. LOL
Mark 6:31 Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while:for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat
Today I had the honor of teaching a two hour seminar on the typology of Moses’ Tabernacle and its application to our lives and walk at a gathering of local pastors.
An official welcome of guests is accompanied by a shawling ceremony. This is a typical Indian political welcome, adopted by the Christian church in the last 10 years. In a shawling ceremony a shawl is placed around the shoulders of the guest as a sign of welcome but more significantly as a mark of respect or honor.
We had the privilege to visit, pray and try to comfort this precious couple in their home last night.
They have an amazing testimony of how they came to Christ. Last year they lost their twenty-five year old daughter in a car accident. She had become a dedicated believer and journaled everyday her time with God. When she died they found her journal, which her mother is holding so preciously, and read where she prayed for her parents to come to know Christ. As they read of God’s love for their daughter which filled the pages of the journal, God opened their hearts to His love for them and they surrendered their lives to Jesus. Please pray for them even as you read this because not only are they grieving the loss of their daughter but also the loss of their family, even their son, because they have become Christians.
May this story remind you to journal your time with God for you never know where or when God will use it. If their daughter had not left the legacy of this journal they may never have seen God’s great love.
John 12:24 Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit.