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 Pastor Paul. His doctors thought it could be aftereffects of the damage he has suffered from being attacked so many times over the years, dragged over stones, 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 believe once He healed me, He certainly healed me for all time. 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?” 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 my spirit, His Spirit, is strong. Let Him use me according to His will.”

He knows the Lord wanted to teach the same 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?

Pastor Paul improves, plus an exciting report from ALG President Pastor Peter Haneef

Pastor Peter Haneef recently flew from ministry with his team in Bangladesh for several visits with Pastor Paul, who is still in the ICU of a Kerala hospital. Pastor Peter serves as President of the ALG (Assembly of Loving God, the umbrella organization for all Bibles for Mideast churches) and is second-in-command of Bibles for Mideast after Director Pastor Paul.

He had to get special authorization to go into the ICU the first day, and says that with the doctor’s permission, he was able to lay hands on and pray over Pastor Paul. At that point, Pastor Paul opened his eyes, saw who was visiting him and became quite emotional. As he attempted to get up, the doctor helped him rise partially at least, and when he tried to speak, only a few words came out. Still, the doctor felt it a good sign.  “Certainly our Lord will heal him soon and miraculously use him for His Kingdom,” Pastor Peter reports. “We hope it in our Lord Jesus.”

When Pastor Peter visited again the next day, they had a similar experience. Pastor Peter explained to him much of what he and others had been doing, about all our prayers, and is certain all he spoke was understood.

“I prayed again and left the room,” he says. “Surely he will come out of this situation shortly, because the whole church and many saintly children of God praying for him from around the world. Praise and thank the Lord. Glory to His name.”

For the last two months, Pastor Peter has been ministering alongside his five-member team in the jungles and villages of north and east India as well as in northern Bangladesh. His team had remained behind to continue the mission work in Bangladesh when he’d come to visit Pastor Paul.

“We were visiting houses, praying for the sick, doing personal evangelism, conducting prayer and fasting services and public meetings,” he explains.

Bangladeshi village people who met with the team and attended meeting

“Many sick people were miraculously healed, and thousands of people have accepted our Lord Jesus as their savior and Lord.”

During those two months, the team established an astounding 79 ALG churches! In some places, he says, “Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists came to attack us, but villagers as well as jungle people protected us and stood against the attackers.”

In one jungle village, a 50-year-old man had been bedridden since his boyhood, his backbone fully destroyed when a wild elephant attacked him. His sisters had been caring for him.

“During our prayer and fasting,” Pastor Peter explains, “he was filled with the Holy Spirit, jumped down among the praying people, dancing and praising the Lord! Several whole jungle villages then turned to the Lord!”

In another village, a blind woman could see after being prayed for, and many sick were healed in other places they visited.

At one point, one ALG missionary couple was accused of converting others to Christianity, arrested, and given a five-year prison sentence. Pastor Peter attempted to intervene by posting bail for them and while successful with the wife, Sheeja, he couldn’t manage to help her husband, Jose. He says they have lawyers there now still working on getting bail for him as the case drags on.

“Once again thank you for your prayers and support,” he says.

Please keep up the prayer shield as Pastor Peter makes his way back to the mission field, and as our dear Pastor Paul continues his recovery. His son Lesly reported from the hospital a few days ago that his doctors consider his progress a miracle! May they be touched through all this as well, Lord.

Indian pastors freed: a powerful answer to prayer

Two pastors in Gujarat, India, walked out of prison about two weeks ago, free again to share the Gospel.

Badri and Ramu* had been arrested earlier in the week, accused under India’s anti-conversion laws too often used to silence Christians who share the Gospel. By the end of the week, however, the pastors were freed—walking out of prison thanks to prayer, solidarity and the unshakable courage that defines the persecuted Church.

After being abducted from their ministry work by members of a Hindu nationalist group, the pastors were first handed over to police and reportedly beaten. They were then transferred to a long-term prison facility where they waited and prayed—isolated, hurting, but of course never alone.

When the Christian relief organization Global Christian Relief learned about Badri and Ramu, they did what many of us do: they refused to let the pastors’ pain go unanswered. They collected the needed bail money and a few days later, the pastors were freed!

These pastors—unjustly imprisoned—are now free and continuing their Gospel ministry, supported by faithful believers in their local community.

This is what it means to be one Church, one family. When one part of the Body suffers, we all can do our part to respond.

These pastors stood firm under pressure, trusting God even from a prison cell. Today, they remain committed to leading others to Christ, no matter the cost.

Their story is a real-time reminder of how urgent needs arise in the lives of persecuted believers—and how the global Christian community responds with compassion and action.

*Names changed for security reasons
You can read the original story here, at Global Christian Relief.

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.

Finding Jesus (and trouble) in Saudi Arabia

After one of our Bibles for Mideast missionary couples shared some sample Gospel literature with the daughter of a Saudi Arabian Mutawa (religious police officer), the girl began arguing with the couple. Her and her family’s belief that Allah is only one God, and Islam the only religion leading the way to heaven was all there was to it, she insisted.

The kindly couple explained how Jesus alone saves from sin and death, and gives eternal life to those believing in him. They shared their own powerful testimony of receiving Jesus Christ from Islam.

The young woman, ultimately convinced they must be telling the Truth, received Jesus as her personal Savior and Lord. The couple gave her a Bible and very secretly, she began attending worship services with them, and soon was baptized.

As any of us would do with wonderful, life-changing news, she shared what she had experienced with her mother, two sisters and brother. They all believed her and now trust in Jesus.

Unfortunately for them, however, Ramadan had just begun. So for the first time, this mother and her four children refused to ‘follow the rules’: they didn’t fast; they partook of none of the ritual prayers. Instead, they spent time reading and meditating on Bible verses and praying in the Spirit, Truth and Name of Jesus.

Word of their salvation and ‘misbehavior’ spread. When one of the official’s other wives heard the news, she let her husband and others in the household know (the man has four other wives and many other children, and is considered a leader among the numerous Mutawa in the country).

When community leaders found out, they insisted the woman and her children deny Jesus. But they refused, continuing to read their Bible and pray in Spirit and in Truth.

Enraged, the Mutawa along with others in the house brutally beat the wife and children, then locked them in a dark room without food or water.

As the days went on, they all tried desperately to get the Mutawa’s first wife, her three daughters and son back into the Islamic fold. Though the new Christians remained locked up in the dark room without food or water and often brutally beaten, they kept strong in their new faith.

Five days later, the Mutawa brought his ‘infidel’ wife and children before the Sharia Court (Religious Court of Islam). The judge demanded they deny Jesus and return to Islam.

“We experienced the salvation of Jesus,” the woman replied confidently.

“We are absolutely convinced he was crucified for our sins on the cross of Calvary, died for us and rose from the dead. He lives now in our hearts!

“When we were locked up in a dark room for five days, we felt the presence of Jesus Christ; we didn’t feel darkness at all! Though my husband, co-sisters and their children refused to give us food or water, we never even felt hunger or thirst. Through the Word of God, our Lord fed us heavenly food. So because of Him, we are still strong. Whatever happens, we will never return to Islam. Jesus is our everlasting Life now and forever.” 

Her children all responded similarly.

The court ultimately ordered that each be sent to a separate prison cell and be assigned an Islamic scholar to teach them properly about Islam, the Koran and the Hadith (teachings of the prophet Muhammad). In two months they are set to appear again before the court for a final judgement. 

PLEASE PRAY for this imprisoned mother and her four children. Our Lord is a mighty and wonderful protector. May He make them Godly weapons in His Kingdom.

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