BYM ONLINE DESK Blessing February 2019 English Emagazine | Page 2

february 2019 | bymonline.org
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“Count the Towers!”
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(Keynote address by R. Stanley in the Silver Jubilee
Celebrations of the Karaikudi Campus Fellowship(1988), which he started in 1963)
Let's turn to Psalm 48 the first two verses of which we
repeatedly sing as a chorus whenever we gather to worship
the greatness of God. I believe that the last three verses of
this Psalm give us God's message for this significant
gathering “Walk about Zion, and go all around her. Count
her towers; Mark well her bulwarks; Consider her palaces;
that you may tell it to the generation following. For this is
God, our God forever and ever; He will be our Guide even to
death” (vv12-14). Let's use the Book of Zechariah as our
guide to conduct the tour around Zion and count its towers
one by one. There are ten in all. These towers are the pillars
or the distinctives of our ministry. The Blessing Youth
Mission has its roots in the small fellowship started in the
Engineering College Campus in Karaikudi. This experience
of counting the towers is to serve as a reminder, renewal and
rededication. Please keep the Book of Zechariah open.
1. Revival and Restoration
Zech 1:17, “Thus says the Lord of Hosts: My cities
shall again spread out through prosperity; the Lord will
again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem.”
2:12, “The Lord will take possession of Judah as His
inheritance in the Holy Land, and will again choose
Jerusalem.”
9:12, “Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of
hope. Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.”
This was our starting point.A growing
dissatisfaction over the condition of the Church and
Christendom threw us onto our knees to cry to God to
show His power again by lifting up His arm as in the days
of old. We used to read the revivals under Charles Finney,
John Wesley and Jonathan Goforth, and would fall prostrate
before God on the rough, thorny fields around the college
campus. We cried, “Lord, do it again! Bring back the
Church from where it is to where it should be. The days are
so difficult and crucial that just the spirit of Elijah won't
suffice. We need the double portion of it as it came upon
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Elisha!” When we drafted the first write-up to introduce the
ministry of Blessing Youth Mission (formerly FGYMA),
this was the primary objective presented: “Revival among
young men and Evangelism through young men.”
Nothing can be accomp-lished without Revival power. It is
when God revives us and grants us a free spirit we can teach
sinners His ways (Psa 51:12,13).
Without revival, Mission will become a machine
and missionaries will become machinery! (Theme of
Revivo '83: “I will Restore!”)
2. Holiness unto the Lord
Zech 3:3-5, “Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments…See I have removed your iniquity from you, and I
will clothe you with rich robes… Let them put a clean turban
on his head.”
8:3, “The Mountain of the Lord of Hosts, the Holy
Mountain.”
14:20, “In that day HOLINESS-TO-THE-LORD
shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. The pots in the
Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar.”
Holiness is our watchword. It begins with the
individuals. Joshua is sanctified. “Rich robes and clean
turban!” Pure heart and clean mind! When individuals are
sanctified, the entire group or the assembly is holy.
“Holy Mountain!”Then follows the ministry.The bowls
of the altar and the bells of the horses! Worship and warfare!
Holiness in personal, corporate and ministerial life! Any of
our camps or programmes begins with a message on
holiness leading to a time of self-examination and
cleansing. Blesso '78 was exclusively dedicated to study the
theme, “Holiness unto the Lord.” No holiness means only
hollowness. I remember the scores of self-examination
questionnaires we used to copy from the earlier editions of
Herald of His Coming and use them on a regular basis,
weekly or fortnightly, to search our hearts with fasting and