BYM ONLINE DESK Blessing February 2019 English Emagazine | Page 4

february 2019 | bymonline.org
my student days when I always carried a pocket Testament
with me. I had to get my daily bread and prepare food for
others those who would assemble for the evening prayer! I
was a student pastor for five years (1963-1968) in Karaikudi
for the fellow students. I did not start as a leader of a Mission
but a shepherd of a little flock. By the grace of God I was
faithful in my humble calling, feeding the lambs of God,
leading them to green pastures in God's Word. Moses and
David were shepherds before their call to leadership. After
me Brother Lionel took over, and there has been a
continuous succession of leadership till now. Our Mission
among all the other Missions in India is known for its solid
teaching of God's Word, and I am proud to say that our
missionaries and lay leaders are provided with more self-
study aids to the Bible than any other group of missionaries.
We give God the glory for this distinctive. The theme of
Revivo '78 was, “It is written!”
6. Grace of Christ
Zech 4:7, “Who are you, O great mountain? Before
Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring
forth the capstone with shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!' ”
This speaks of the New Testament blessings through
Christ “the Branch!” (3:8; 6:12,13; 9:9; 13:7). Here is
prophecy concerning Him as the Shepherd, High Priest and
Lord of the Church. One of the truths we very often
meditated in our evening gatherings was our position in
Christ. Dead with Him! Buried with Him! Resurrected with
Him! Ascended with Him! Seated with Him! Blessed with
Him! ALL spiritual blessings! Every day we would study a
new aspect of the difference between the Old Testament and
the New. The truth that the Deity cannot be localized is yet to
be learnt by certain even senior and popular preachers of
today. “Neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem” This
we learnt even in our infant years. God has made a New
Covenant with us but people still want to embrace the old
and the obsolete. Why do preachers invite prayer letters to
be sent to a “holy” mountain, so called? Why do evangelists
erect shrines on a “holy” spot, so called? There is a crack-
down on the understanding of the basic New Testament
teaching. Let's not try to stitch the top-to-bottom tear in the
veil! And in some quarters there is a return to “works,” and
folks are becoming foolish Galatians. Beware! Say, “I
cannot come down!” (Blesso '76). Keep shouting, Grace!
Grace! That's victory! (The theme of Revivo '76: “His
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Grace”).
7. Spiritual Warfare
The oft-repeated name of our Lord in the Book of
Zechariah is the Lord of Hosts. Next to the Book of Isaiah
we have the maximum occurrences of this name in this book
only. For example, look at verses 3,4,6,12,14,17 of chapter
one.
Again and again the Lord reminded us not to
underestimate the power of the enemy. The experience of
Satan is more than any man or woman who lived at any time
on this planet earth. He is the prince of the world and the
prince of the air. Nothing but the “whole” armour of God
will protect us from his onslaughts. The wisdom and the
power of the Holy Spirit alone can detect his evil and subtle
plans against God's people. When we used to deal with
some young people who had gone to depths of sin, we had a
tough time against the oppressing forces of Satan. After
hours of intercession for certain individuals to be delivered
from ungodly grips, some of us could not sleep well at
nights. All such experiences led us to carefully study the
strategies of Satan as revealed to us in God's Word so we
could be fully armed. Ephesians 6:10-20 was meditated
very often. Young believers were asked to memorize verses
like 1 John 4:4. A fresh shout of victory would be there while
praying or praising whenever someone in the gathering
addressed the Lord as the Lord of Hosts! Do you remember
this was the theme we studied in Blesso '86?
8. Youth Emphasis
Zech 2:4, “Run, speak to this young man, saying:
Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls,
because of the multitude of men and livestock in it.”
8:5, “The streets of the city shall be full of boys and
girls playing in its streets.”
9:17, “How great is their goodness and how great
their beauty! Grain shall make the young men thrive, and
new wine the young women.”
The greatest failure of the Church is in attracting and
challenging young people. Age is no criterion for God but
we cannot overlook the many examples of youth singularly
used by Him. Joseph, David, Daniel, Timothy! There is a
special place for young men and young women in the end