GFA World Newsletter

February 2013, Vol. 9, No. 2

“This is our weapon,” Sunil told the inspector. “By this we kill evil—not men.”

The police entering Sunil’s room interrupted his sleep. The small, quiet 19-year-old missionary had shown a film on the life of Jesus earlier that night, but he had not expected a raid.

The police gave no explanation as they took Sunil to the station. Another pastor, Tahir, had also been arrested, but neither man was told why. Both pastors spent the night in the jail before they were shown the case that had been brought against them.

As Sunil and Tahir heard their alleged crime, they were surprised. Someone had mailed in a complaint and claimed that the men had a revolver and three AK-47s in their possession. The police demanded Sunil reveal the location of the guns. Sunil didn’t hesitate to comply; he opened his bag and pulled out the only weapons he had: two Bibles.

“This is our weapon,” Sunil told the inspector. “By this we kill evil—not men.” Seeing the Bibles, a few officers began laughing, but the inspector, Rajan, was not amused.

Believers from the area rushed in to support Sunil and Tahir as soon as they learned of their arrest. They spoke on behalf of the pastors, but had to wait until further investigation was done.

As the case came together, both pastors were declared innocent. The accuser’s family expressed their apologies and dedicated a parcel of land to Pastor Tahir to construct a church building.

This wasn’t the only blessing God brought out of the ordeal. During the questioning, Sunil had an opportunity to present the Gospel to the police using a verse from Romans: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28, nkjv).

Hearing this, the inspector showed an interest in learning more about Jesus, so Pastor Tahir shared his own story with him. The testimony prompted the inspector to ask Tahir to come to his home and pray for his family. Pastor Tahir happily agreed and gathered a group of 25 believers from his church to go to Rajan’s home. After hearing the Gospel presented, Rajan is now very open to Christ.

Through your faithful support and prayers, these missionaries are able to stand strong for Christ in any situation, boldly declaring His name in spite of false accusations and imprisonment.

“Now they are talking to me and caring for me,” Shaunak says. “I thank the Lord Jesus for that.”

Shaunak’s life revolved around working and drinking.

Only 18 years old, the quiet young man had earned the resentment of his family because of his addiction. Shaunak had gravitated toward the destructive habit held by many other day labourers. Tired after long hours of work, he would spend his evenings drinking alcohol.

One day, as Gospel for Asia pastor Daiwik was handing out Christian literature and sharing about Jesus’love, he met Shaunak.

Shaunak wanted to know what Daiwik was doing, so Daiwik gladly told him—and then gave him a booklet and encouraged him to read it.

After their meeting, Daiwik went home with a burden to intercede for Shaunak. He and his wife began praying and fasting for the young man; they even asked the believers in their congregation to pray for him.

Questions Answered

The next time Shaunak and Daiwik crossed paths, it was obvious that God had been speaking to Shaunak. When he saw Daiwik talking to people one day, he approached the pastor and started asking the questions that had been burning in his heart since reading the booklet.

“Will Jesus forgive me?” he asked.“Will Jesus help me stop using alcohol?”

“If you put your faith in the Lord Jesus,” Daiwik told him, “He will surely forgive all your sins, and you will be a new creation in Him.”

The pastor invited Shaunak to visit the local fellowship and assured him God could transform his life.

“Your bad habits will change,” he said. “God loves you so much that He has given His life for you.”

Encouraged to hear this, Shaunak agreed to visit the church. As he learned more about Jesus, he decided to make Him the Lord of his life. God has indeed changed Shaunak’s life. Instead of drinking, Shaunak now reads God’s Word every day and faithfully participates in prayer meetings. Daiwik continues to visit Shaunak and pray for him. Meanwhile, the changes in Shaunak’s life have also brought joy to his family members.

“Now they are talking to me and caring for me,” Shaunak says. “I thank the Lord Jesus for that. ”Through one piece of Gospel literature, the Holy Spirit spoke to Shaunak’s heart, and now he is a new person.

“He has saved and changed me,”the young man testifies.

When Sneha asked Rajeshri about her past life, Rajeshri’s face darkened. Sneha, a Gospel for Asia woman missionary, had reached out to Rajeshri at her lowest point, near death, but Rajeshri had faced many other difficult times too.

She Reached Her Breaking Point

Rajeshri, a mother of nine, endured a nightmarish life with her cruel husband for more than 35 years. She patiently suffered—until he brought home his mistress. The woman wouldn’t allow Rajeshri to touch anything in the house without permission and prohibited the children from attending school. Rajeshri and her children felt like prisoners in their own house.

Humiliated, Rajeshri decided to leave. Three of her adult children had already moved out, so she and her remaining six children relocated from their village in the mountains to the bustling capital city.

Through the help of a childhood friend, Rajeshri started a manual labour job at a construction site and rented a small apartment. As she and her family gradually adjusted to their new life and community, Rajeshri was able to start sending her older children to school. It was hard work to pay the rent and provide food, clothes and her children’s school fees, and to make matters worse, Rajeshri had weak health. Despite the hardships, though, Rajeshri considered her life a thousand times better than what she’d left behind. She didn’t know things would soon fall apart.

Who Would Look After Her Children?

One day, Rajeshri woke up and was unable to get out of bed. Pain engulfed her whole body, and she shivered with cold. One daughter brought her some medicine for a fever, but Rajeshri couldn’t even raise her head to swallow it.

She was no longer able to work, and though she visited many doctors, the remedies they prescribed had no effect. Her friend brought a sorcerer and then a witch doctor, but neither succeeded in healing her. Three months slipped by.

“It seems to me that I am going to die,” Rajeshri told her friend one day. “If I die, who will look after my children?”

Sorrow Erased by New Life

Rajeshri’s friend finally went to the right place for help. She brought two Christian women, including GFA missionary Sneha, to pray for Rajeshri. They told Rajeshri that Jesus loves sick people and makes them well and that when He came to earth, He healed the sick, raised the dead and died on the cross to save all humanity.

Sneha and her co-worker prayed for Rajeshri and promised to visit often. Filled with hope by their words, Rajeshri started to attend church with her friend’s help.

After a few months, she was completely healed and able to begin working again!

Today, Rajeshri has found new life in Christ. Because she experienced Jesus’ love through the miracle of healing and the care demonstrated to her by Sneha and her fellow missionary, Rajeshri chose to follow Him. Now she participates faithfully in church activities, grateful for God’s work in her life.

Thank you for helping send missionaries like Sneha to bear the light of Christ to women oppressed by darkness. As these servants lift up the name of Jesus, women like Rajeshri are finding new lives full of hope and purpose.

Even when he was sober, it seemed he could never find a way for his family to be happy. One day, though, he heard something on the radio that changed everything.

The year away from home was supposed to be a year of growth and prosperity, but when Tamas returned from working abroad, he brought his family more trouble instead of wealth.

He drank heavily and picked fights with his wife, Vahini, and the family’s financial problems continued as if Tamas had never left. He worked hard for a solution, but even when he was sober, it seemed he could never find a way for his family to be happy. One day, though, he heard something on the radio that changed everything.

An Inviting Voice

Tamas listened absentmindedly as Vahini switched through the stations, searching for the morning news. Suddenly a voice came on that was different from the rest—sweet and engaging.

Tamas shouted at Vahini to stop turning the dial, and he listened as the voice told him about Jesus, the Creator of earth who heals all infirmities.

Although the message was short, it captivated him, and he began to think about the life he had been leading. The next day, he listened again, and he continued listening every day, learning about Jesus’ love and how to talk with Him.

A Life of Peace

Soon after, Tamas met a local pastor, Kaamil, who began visiting Tamas’s family and telling them more about Jesus. Each day, Tamas and Vahini’s understanding of Jesus’ love grew, and they soon decided they wanted it for themselves.

Tamas gave up his drinking habit, and the couple began attending church. Together, they chose to follow Jesus for the rest of their days, and they were filled with joy as their lives were transformed.

Now the once-struggling family lives happily in the peace Tamas had hoped for, and their neighbours are asking about Jesus too. After witnessing the change in Tamas, they are eager to see what God will do in their own lives.

Meanwhile, Tamas continues to listen to that voice he first heard on the radio, growing in his faith and ever thankful that what a year away from home couldn’t fix, Jesus restored through a 15-minute radio program.

Bahula’s stomach growled with the angry pain of being completely empty. It had been days since she had eaten, but that didn't matter to her aunt and uncle. They still expected the little girl to complete all the family chores, and they would still beat her if she didn't.

By now, Bahula had resigned herself to her whole life being a hardship. Her mother had died when she was just three years old, and her father, overcome by depression, died shortly after.

Without their parents, Bahula’s siblings parted ways: her brothers to pursue livelihoods and her sisters to marry. They left Bahula alone, so the girl’s aunt and uncle took her in—but they didn’t have any love to offer the orphan girl.

They enrolled her in school, but they valued her labour too much to let her attend regularly. Even when Bahula did go to school, she struggled to study at home. As years went by, Bahula began to know life only as sorrow and abuse.

Then, her brothers and sisters returned to take her home with them, but they had left so long ago that she didn’t even recognize them and refused to go.

When she was small, Bahula told them, no one had cared about her. Now their aunt and uncle were her parents, and she wouldn’t leave them.

Her siblings, puzzled and concerned that she wanted to stay with her abusive relatives, had no choice but to hope someone else could change Bahula’s mind.

A Steadfast Love

One day on her way to school, Bahula met a tutor who worked at the local Bridge of Hope centre. Sensing the tutor’s kindness, the girl shared her struggles, and the Bridge of Hope staff decided to meet her aunt and uncle.

While there, the staff shared the Gospel with the family and asked them to send Bahula to the Bridge of Hope centre so she could receive a proper education and become a better person. As they spoke with the staff, Bahula’s aunt and uncle began to feel badly about the way they had treated their niece.

As they learned more about Jesus, they began offering Bahula love and affection. Soon, they even let her go to the Bridge of Hope centre and attend Sunday school. Bahula began to thrive in her studies and also learned about hygiene, good manners and the Bible.

Having learned about forgiveness, she reconciled with her brothers and sisters, and now the little girl who had no one is embraced by a loving family—including a Heavenly Father who will never leave her.

When I was growing up, I was very shy and timid. I never participated in any sports, and I never confronted anyone about anything. During class, I sat there afraid that the teacher was going to ask me a question.

After completing high school, convinced that Jesus wanted me to serve Him, I left home for North India, more than 2,000 miles away, to serve the Lord with Operation Mobilization mission teams. Every day I prayed and read the Bible. I was doing all the right things, but I was still shy, withdrawn and nervous.

But one day, I read a verse of Scripture that completely changed my life. Ephesians 1:6 told me that I was “accepted in the Beloved.”

This turned the whole world upside-down for me. I realized that regardless of what people thought about me, the circumstances I found myself in, my temperament, inadequacies, inabilities, failures or shortcomings, I was accepted by the living God, and I was somebody special. And I learned that in everything He allows in my life—even the worst situations—He has a purpose: preparing me to become more like His Son (Romans 8:29).

As we apply this understanding on a daily basis, we can look upon fears and despair with a different view. We can be freed from anxieties, anger and bitterness. Knowing and believing the truth that our Heavenly Father loves us just as He loves Jesus (see John 17:23) gives us the strength to do all we need to do, and to continue our journey.

This is my prayer for you, that you will find your rest in the perfect love of God as you offer your life to be used by Him. And I am greatly encouraged that in our Lord’s provision and sovereignty, He is indeed using you to make an eternal difference in the lives of orphans like Bahula, alcoholics like Shaunak and devalued women like Rajeshri. You are such a blessing!