Brown's Daily Word 8/19/11

Good morning,
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. I just came back home yesterday, arriving yesterday evening. The flights totaled 19 hours of flying time. Flying 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. We heard with excitement that the number of Christians in this area has tripled over the past 3 years. Indeed, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church". I met with 3 bishops and other Christian leaders, who confirmed that the Christian population in Orissa stands at 30% of the total population of the state, whereas at the national level the number of Christians is about 3%.
Even as the Church of Jesus Christ is moving and expanding, reaching out to the people, the Indian economy is growing at the rate of 9% GDP. I will be writing in more detail in my next e-mail concerning some of the work of the Gospel there.
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.
"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