Brown's daily word 8-29-11

Dear friends,
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. I just came back home, arriving on the evening of August 18. The flights totaled 19 hours of flying time. Flying from east to west I experienced an "endless morning". Thank you for remembering me in prayer while I was away. The Lord blessed me, and lavished me with His grace and mercy throughout this trip. In a deeper way, it was not just a trip, but an adventure in faith and in our Lord's faithfulness. He undergirded me both in my going out and in my coming in, and granted me His incomparable favor with people I met, those to whom I ministered, and whom I visited.
Sunita and Andy, Jessica and Tom, and Laureen spent a week together with me in Phulbani (an intense week). Sunita's friends Rob and Jenn, from Washington, DC, also joined us there. It was a great time of family gatherings, preaching, praying, and visiting. I was able to preach twice every Sunday at various churches which had been ravaged by persecution in 2008.
The Lord is doing something marvelous and wonderful, beyond imagination, in restoring His people and His church. I visited various sites where Christians had been martyred. Though the Church has gone through hell in the form of intense persecution, the Lord of the Church has revisited His people, and through His Holy and mighty Spirit has brought about great revival. He is doing something new and powerful to demonstrate that He has built His church upon the Rock, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. While In Orissa, I got to preach twice every Sunday in various churches, during both their morning and their afternoon services.
We arrived in Bhubaneswar on Sunday July 17,2011. We stayed in Bhubaneswar, with my mom, my brother, and his two children (Kenny and Lisa). They are renting a house in Bhubaneswar. While there, we met with Bishop Mohanty and his family for an evening dinner gathering. We were briefed regarding the state of the church in Orissa both during the persecution and in the days following the persecution of Christians by the Hindu Extremists. After the dinner meeting we met with a family that driven away from their home and are still living as refugees.
We also met with a group of pastors and other Christian leaders in Bhubaneswar on Monday the 18th of July. The meeting was held at the Bhubaneswar YMCA. Sunita, Andy, Rob, Jenn, Laureen, and I spoke during the session. It was a time of worship and praise. Our prayer and intense desire was to encourage the believers. There was call for prayer after the worship. Many came forward to be anointed and prayed for.
We drove to G. Udayagiri on Tuesday, July 19. We arrived in the afternoon, after traveling for 5 hours. Sunita, Andy, Jessica, Tom, Laureen, Rob, and Jenn stayed at the Bishop's Guest House in Gudripori. This is also known as the Mission Compound , where the former missionaries lived and and served the Lord. Sunita and the compny told me that it was great treat and thrill to have stayed in the Mission Compound, and it is where the missionaries from England lived as they brought the Good News of Jesus to theat area. I stayed in Kanabageri with my Uncle, who is 96 years old. I stayed in that very home as I was growing up with my cousins during my school years.
We visited the mother of the young man named Mathew, who was one of the first Christians to be burned to death in August, 2008. While we were praying the Lord gave a vision to Jenn. In that vision she saw Mathew, all clothed in white robes and standing before Jesus. We shared about the vision with his mother.
We visited the nurses' training School, located at Moorsehead Memorial Christian Hospital on Thursday. Over 300 young women there are being trained as the LPNs. We are supporting the salaries of some of the teaching staff of the School. Laureen and Jenn, the nurses in the group, spoke to the students and the staff, relating that nursing is the extension of the healing ministry of Jesus, our Lord, who used His hands to touch and heal people around Him. In fact, He even touched lepers, bringing healing and wellness to them.
We visited the two homes for children, one at Nanda and the other at Dugudi. Currently there are 144 children at Nanda and 45 at Dugudi.
We spoke during a gathering of pastors and Christian leaders on Friday the 22nd of July. Sunita, Andy, and I preached during the morning worship on Sunday, July 24, 2011. The worship service lasted over two hours. There was altar call after the worship, and many came forward. The prayer time which followed lasted over another hour. The Lord visited His people.
Laureen, Sunita, Andy, Jessica, Tom, Rob, and Jenn left Orissa to fly back to the States, and I stayed for three more weeks, visiting people and praying with them. One Friday we drove to the epicenter where the persecution had broken out so unexpectedly. Christians had been caught complete off-guard. In one village the pastor was asked to deny Christ, and when he refused he was hacked to death. As I stood there, praying, I felt that I was standing on holy Ground. In that village people are returning to their homes.
While visiting a neighburing vllage I heard people praying behind closed doors. On enquiry I found out that they have a fasting and prayer meeting every Friday, praying for the nation, the leaders, and for the people who had persecuted them. They were praying that the Lord would bless people, that the unbelievers would come to know Jesus and receive the new life that He offers.
In one visit to another village I was told that Christians who were driven away by the persecution lived in a camp for 18 months. The people testified that during those 18 months the Lord provided for their every need with much abundance and generosity. They also shared that the government did not provide for their needs. It was the Church of Jesus Christ from all over the world that came together and stood in the gap. I also witnessd every where I went a spirit of grace and triumph. The Lord has been restoring His people with manifold blessings. The houses that were utterly destroyed are now being rebuilt with much beauty and newness. The once thatched-roof houses are now transformed, with aluminum roofs and poured concrete roofs, which are almost fireproof.
Many of the of the young people who were displaced during the persecutions are now living in big cities like Bangalore, Madras, Hyderabad, and Delhi, where they are receiving excellent education and training, including Bible, Theology, and Information technology. People who have been displaced in various parts of India are preaching the Gospel there and starting new churches. Every where I went I saw the Hand of the Lord upon His people, and the way He is restoring them. The Lord is bringing about a great revival and zeal among His people. I witnessed a sense of newness all around among the believers. I witnessed how the Lord has brought about a great blessing to and through His people. During my preaching I used the passage from Joel 2:18-27
18 Then the LORD was jealous for his land
and took pity on his people.
19 The LORD replied to them:

“I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil,
enough to satisfy you fully;
never again will I make you
an object of scorn to the nations.

20 “I will drive the northern horde far from you,
pushing it into a parched and barren land;
its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea
and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea.
And its stench will go up;
its smell will rise.”

Surely he has done great things!
21 Do not be afraid, land of Judah;
be glad and rejoice.
Surely the LORD has done great things!
22 Do not be afraid, you wild animals,
for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green.
The trees are bearing their fruit;
the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.
23 Be glad, people of Zion,
rejoice in the LORD your God,
for he has given you the autumn rains
because he is faithful.
He sends you abundant showers,
both autumn and spring rains, as before.
24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm[b]—
my great army that I sent among you.
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
27 Then you will know that I am in Israel,
that I am the LORD your God,
and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.

I also used the Scriptures from Revelation 12:9-11.

9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

It was on April 12, 1914, that 5 converts were baptized, the first Christians of that region. We heard with excitement that the number of Christians in this area has tripled over the past 3 years. The church is growing. Indeed, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church". Every church in which I preached had no room, and people were sitting on the floors. I preached in a House Church on Sunday, August 7, during the morning worship. We were all sitting on the floor. There 10 new members were added to the church that day, as ten young men who were Hindu Converts were baptized the day before.
One Sunday i preached in the village whose church was one of the first be burned and destroyed. The church met in an open field under a tin roof. People all sat on the ground for over two hours. It was indeed Holy Ground, for the Lord was present in a very wonderful way. I had the opportunity to talk with a woman whose husband, another pastor, was burned before her. He was burned alive along with the mom and dad of the other pastor who refused to deny Christ. I visited the site where these Christians were burned alive. I felt humbled and left the place determined to serve Jesus all the days of my life.
In my sojourn, I met with 3 bishops and other Christian leaders, who confirmed that the Christian population in Phulbani district, stands at 30% of the total population of the district., whereas at the national level the number of Christians is about 3%.
Thank you again for praying for me. The Lord kept me strong and vigorous. I didn't have so much as a common cold or upset stomach. Praise the Lord for every one who preached, who taught, who served the Lord back home here in Union Center during my absence. Praise the Lord for all, for their work of faith and labor of love.
Praise the Lord for the favor that He bestowed upon me on the entire journey. Flying to India we had many suitcases, mostly filled with gifts for family, friends, and those in the work of the Lord in India. Nothing was lost or broken, by the grace of God. On my return flight from Bhubaneswar to Delhi I was allowed extra baggage - 3 extra suitcases - and the airline worker smiled and said, "You're in". Then, from Delhi to London, when I asked the British Air agent for a window seat I was upgraded to business class, when no window seat was otherwise available. There I sat beside a tall Texan businessman from Arlington, TX who travels four times a year to Afghanistan, where he is developing a business and equipping Christians. His goal is to help to rebuild the nation of Afghanistan. He was educated at Dartmouth, and related that John Wesley was a great influence on his Christian walk. In Delhi he had met eight Afghan converts (previously Moslem), who had been mentored by members of YWAM (Youth with a Mission).
Throughout our trip I had no fear. The Lord granted me His boldness, grace, and courage.
"O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy creatures." (Psalm 104:24) "I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord." (Psalm 104:33-34)
Praise the Lord that He is upon the throne, the future belongs to Him, and He is in charge.

In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/twuLr5rQmp0