Editor’s Note

Praise the Lord. Greetings to all my dear brothers and sisters in the most matchless name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 49:13 “Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people, and will have mercy on His afflicted.”

This is God’s love and mercy for us. Just because we are facing problems in our lives, we must not go away from God, rather we must walk even more closely with Him. We should praise and glorify His Holy name even louder.

In the Holy Scriptures, we have seen that in the life of Elisha, he received the blessed shawl twice from Elijah. What is the reason that Elijah’s shawl fell twice upon him? 1 Kings 19:19 “So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.” We see that Elisha was not satisfied on receiving Elijah’s shawl once in his life. He desired for Elijah’s shawl once again. God eventually blessed and anointed Elisha twice as much. We know how much trouble Elisha faced in his lifetime just to receive the shawl the second time. His faith and trust was completely in God. He loved God very much and worked for His kingdom. Elisha did not keep quiet when he received the shawl once, he wanted it the second time too. He worked diligently for God’s kingdom, strove hard behind God’s people and worked relentlessly for them. For many years he worked and strove for this shawl. Finally the shawl fell upon him from heaven the second time, and he received a double portion of anointing upon himself.

In our respective lives too, we are all different people from different walks of life but God has blessed each one of us differently and brought each one of us out of darkness. What should we do after coming into the light? Even as Moses and Joshua testified about the marvellous works of God that they both had experienced in their lives, we must testify of the works our God has done in our lives. Every day in different ways God keeps showing His love towards us, He showers us with His grace and mercy. What should we do after experiencing this love, grace and mercy? We should not just experience and take the benefit of this love and forget it. Rather, like Elisha, we should not be satisfied receiving the shawl only once, and we must strive for it again and again and keep testifying about the wonderful blessings God has given us in our lives.

Our God is alive and when we know the truth, the truth will set us free in life. He will separate us from every sin, He will remove every veil between us and Him. God alone knows what the hindrance is in our lives to receive the shawl twice; He will remove this hindrance and bless us with the latter rain and make us a channel of blessing for others, like Elisha. Jesus said in John 8:32 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” It is important for us to recognize the truth of God’s presence in our lives. God was with Moses, Joshua, the prophets Elijah and Elisha, and His twelve disciples; similarly today God is with us all the time.

Dear brothers and sisters, however difficult situations you are facing currently do not stop hearing the word of God. As Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Hence, increase your faith by hearing and meditating on the word of God and Jesus will take you through these difficult and trying times which are only temporary, even as Jesus has said in John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Hence be of good cheer and abide in JESUS and only HE will guide us through safely.

Till we meet again. Your sister in Christ,

Pastor Saroja M

Praise the Lord. My son had been friendly with a non-Christian girl. He was completely under her sway. As a result he was being alienated from the Lord and family. I called up the prayer helpline of Rose of Sharon Church and requested for prayers. The prayer warrior prayed for him and the Lord worked miraculously and my son has been delivered. All thanks and praise to our Lord Jesus Christ and I thank the Rose of Sharon Ministry for praying for him.

*Sis. Charlotte Robert George, Kalyan, Maharashtra (ROS TV Program Viewer)

Praise the Lord. I along with both of my children were having viral fever. I called up Pastor Saroja and requested for prayers and Pastor assured me of her prayers and also advised me certain things which we followed. By God’s grace the very next day the fever left us. I was able to go to work and my son Irwin could go to school and my daughter Sarah started playing as usual, otherwise due to the fever she was extremely irritated and uncomfortable. I give all glory to Lord Jesus for healing all three of us. I also thank Pastor Saroja for her fervent prayers for us.

*Sis. Esther Patel, Mira Road, Maharashtra.

Praise the Lord. I am Romil Macwan from Ahmedabad. My father was facing legal problems with our housing society, due to which he attempted suicide by consuming sleeping pills. He was hospitalised and admitted in ICU. Immediately I contacted the Rose of Sharon prayer helpline and requested for prayers. By God’s grace my father was healed and within 3 days he was discharged. After that we were worried about the police case, but by prayers alone, the police did not take any action against him and only gave him a warning and left. I give all the glory to my Lord Jesus Christ for saving my father. I also thank the Rose of Sharon Ministry for their prayers.

*Bro. Romil Macwan, Ahmedabad, Gujarat (ROS TV Program Viewer)

Praise the Lord. I am testifying on behalf of my granddaughter Saloni. She was suffering from vomiting before we could go to church. Pastor prayed over her and she was healed. I thank Lord Jesus for healing her and I thank Pastor Saroja for praying for my granddaughter.

*Bro. Ramji Kushwa, Jogeshwari, Maharashtra.

Praise the Lord. My two year old daughter Ananya was diagnosed with kidney stones. I kept this prayer request with the Rose of Sharon prayer helpline. After the prayer, within a few days, Ananya’s condition improved. When we checked again, the doctors said that there were no kidney stones. I thank Lord Jesus for healing my daughter and the Rose of Sharon ministry for praying for her.

Secondly, I was expecting my second child and I requested the Rose of Sharon prayer tower to keep me in prayer. After going to the hospital within an hour I was blessed with a baby girl and that too with a normal delivery. I give all glory and honour and praise to my dear Lord Jesus for doing this great work in my life. I also thank the Rose of Sharon Ministry for their prayers. Thank You Jesus.

*Sis. Madhuri Ram, Chandrapur, Maharashtra (ROS TV Program Viewer)

One day a little girl asked her father, “Daddy! What are you going to get me on my 15^th birthday?” The father replied, “There’s a lot of time in your 15^th birthday day. We’ll decide later.”

When the girl turned 14, she had an attack and was taken to the nearby hospital’s emergency ward. Later, the girl was shifted to ICU. The doctors found out that her heart is not able to work anymore, due to a serious heart problem. The doctors told her father that the girl is probably going to die. If she doesn’t get a heart transplant. The father was shocked to know that. He went in to see his daughter. His heart drowned to see her little daughter lying on the bed fighting death. He went near to her as she spoke, “Daddy! Did you find out that my heart doesn’t work properly and I’m going to die?” The father replied, “No! You will live. I won’t let you die.” The tears rolled down his eyes. Take some rest. I’ll be back soon.” Well, her father never returned to see her again.

The girl turned almost 15 when she was recovering from her heart disease in hospital. She came home and finds a letter on the table which said, “My dearest daughter, if you are reading this, it means all went well as I told you. One day you asked me what I was going to give you on your 15^th birthday. I wasn’t sure then but now my present to you is my heart.” Her father donated his heart to save his daughter.

This story gives us a message that how the father thought there is lot time to give gift but suddenly, the situation changed and he had no time to do anything. Same way would be the coming of our Lord into this world to take us all. JESUS has crucified himself once, and now He is going to come back again to take us… Always be ready you never know when the time will come!

Pastor Saroja M

Watch out for the roaring lion !

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” The work of the devil is to keep roaming around the world so that he may get someone he can tear apart. God asks Satan from whence he was returning, to which Satan replied: Job 1:7 “And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” Satan had visited Job and searched him from all sides, but he not could touch him. Why could Satan not touch Job? It was because God’s fencing was upon Job. In spite of roaming around in this world several times, Satan could do nothing to Job, for God’s mighty protection was upon Job. God had blessed Job in every way; every work of his hand was blessed, and so Satan could not touch anything in Job’s life; whether family, work, wealth or property. But in one second, when God took away His protection from Job’s life, he lost everything in a day. Today also Satan keeps on roaming around in this world, watching whom he can capture and tear apart. Till the time God’s eye and protection is upon us, we are safe. The moment God closes His eyes for a minute, we will lose everything in life. When God’s protection is no longer in our life, Satan will tear us apart. Even as Job was completely destroyed, along with his wealth, property and family, similarly we will also be destroyed by the devil when we lose God’s fencing around us. We must thus be wise and vigilant from the devil who is like a roaring lion waiting to tear us apart. Evil resided amongst the wise men in Babylon and they would lay in wait for Daniel to falter and commit a mistake, such that eventually the evil one could play a trick on Daniel. Daniel 6:5 “Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.” The wise men of Babylon always hovered around Daniel to find fault in him. Daniel was God’s beloved one and God’s grace was upon Daniel always. These men finally realised that unless they planned to charge him concerning the law of his God, they would find no other fault in him. If the evil one did not leave these mighty men alone, will he leave you and me alone? As long as God’s grace is upon us, His protection is upon us and our family and we are safe. But, even for a second if God winks and take his eyes away from us, the evil one will pounce on us like a roaring lion and destroy us.

In the Holy Scriptures we see that the Philistines always fought with the Israelites from all sides. At that time King Saul instead of fighting with the Philistines was after David. Saul’s eyes should have been upon his true enemy – the Philistines, his eyes should have been upon the enemy who fought the Israelites, but his eyes was instead only upon David. Lying in wait to capture David at the best opportunity available when he could capture and kill David, this was Saul’s only aim. We should not be like Saul, for infighting amongst us gives victory to the evil one. Our eyes, our prayers, our trust should be on God alone and we should fight the evil one. Every time the Philistines came and fought the Israelites and went away, King Saul’s only aim was to capture and kill David. We should not be like Saul, where his pride was the main reason for his downfall. He lost his son Jonathan, he lost his battle to the enemy and brought about the downfall of his kingdom too. We must be very careful of our real enemy, the devil. The Lord says in 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” We must always be alert. When Peter and other disciples fell asleep, Jesus came and said to Peter in Mathew 26:40-41 “And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Jesus said to them ‘could you not watch with me an hour?’ We must always be alert and watchful lest the devil puts us into temptation, for the evil one keeps roaming around us to devour us and waits for when the grace of God and His shade is not upon us. The evil one is a liar from the beginning and is the father of lies. The devil came in the form of a cunning serpent. Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Even now, the devil is still very cunning. When Eve was alone in the garden, the serpent came slowly and took advantage of her being alone and enticed her into sinning and as a result man was separated from the grace and blessings of God and was put out of the Garden of Eden. They were cursed and sin entered into this world. Subsequently mankind has to toil hard to earn a living. The main reason for losing God’s blessings was their sin. The evil is still cunning and waiting to bring about the fall of God’s children. Revelation 12:9 “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” The devil will not only take a few people with him, but he is waiting to devour this whole world altogether. He lays a trap in different ways to capture the world and hence we need God’s grace every day. We can never take a single day for granted for His grace is new upon us each day.

Isaiah 45:22 “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” The Lord says to all mankind ‘Look to me and be saved.’ None but our Lord can save us from the hands of the enemy. Whether rich or poor, strong or weak, the devil is waiting to devour all of mankind. People must have hated Zacchaeus for he used to lend them money and then settle it along with interest. One day Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was passing through his city and he wished to see Jesus, but due to his short stature he climbed a tree and waited to catch a glimpse of Jesus. 1 Peter 5:8 says “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” We must be wise and vigilant. The Word asks all mankind to lift up their heads and look to God. But Zacchaeus climbed a tree and waited at the higher branches to be able to look down and see Jesus, for such was his desire. When Jesus passed the tree He looked up and said ‘Zacchaeus come down.’ When we desire to see God, God knows our every wish and He calls each one of us by name. Zacchaeus came down from the tree and Jesus told him ‘I am coming to your home today.’ When Jesus was going home with Zacchaeus, many spoke wrong things saying ‘Jesus goes to a money lender’s house to be his guest.’ But, nothing mattered to Jesus for He went home with Zacchaeus and that day salvation came to Zacchaeus’ entire household. Luke 19:4-9 “And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.”

We must remember that we can do nothing without God, we are as good as paralytics without Him. Having eyes we cannot see, having ears we cannot hear and having hands we can do nothing. We are useless without God, but when God’s shade is upon us, every part of our body will glorify God. Isaiah 45:4-9 “For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?” As we have read above in Isaiah, whosoever looks to God will be saved, but in Luke we see that Jesus looked at Zacchaeus and so he and his household was saved. Why did Jesus look at Zacchaeus? Because Zacchaeus desired in his heart to see Jesus and in faith he climbed the tree to see Him. In our lives and in our families when we are surrounded by the work of the devil, we must always seek God truthfully. God alone will deliver us from the hands of the evil one. In this world we create our own enemies. If we do not live according to people’s desires we become their enemy, when we help some people with money and then ask them to return it we become their enemy. There is no need for us to create enemies for the devil who is a roaring lion is all the time seeking to find fault within us.

2 Chronicles 15:2 “And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.” In times of our trouble when we seek to find God, we will surely find Him, but when we forsake Him, He will surely forsake us. Without God there is none else who can give us salvation.

Psalm 34:10 “The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.” Remember, those who seek to find God will never lack for anything in this world. When we seek to find God, not only are we blessed with material things, but we are also blessed with Peace. John 1:17,16 “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.” We receive grace upon grace and salvation and peace comes from God alone. The more we seek God, the more we will receive from Him. Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” It is only by His Grace we are blessed with salvation for it is a free gift from God. Jesus our Lord gave His life that we may be blessed with salvation. Even when we did not know Him, Jesus prayed for us to His Father; He prayed for our sins, for our sorrow and pain and His Father heard and answered Him. Jesus is a lawyer for us, even today He is fighting in His spirit for us, to give us victory in everything we do. But the day will come when Jesus will be our Judge and His judgement will come upon us; hence now in the grace period we should not forget Him in our lives. Jesus has given us His Spirit and His Spirit is a Spirit of Grace for us now. Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” God showered His Spirit of Grace upon David’s family, the Israelites. The other name for the Holy Spirit is Spirit of Grace. This Spirit of Grace was also upon Peter when one day he passed through the gate to enter the temple. A forty year old man, lame from his mother’s womb begged Peter for alms. The Spirit of Grace within Peter arose and touched the lame man and healed him. The lame man jumped onto his feet and started running in joy towards the temple. Deuteronomy 4:7 says “For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?” God is so near to us even today, if we call out in faith His Spirit of Grace will bless us even as He blessed the lame boy and as He blessed David’s people, the Israelites.

As long as God’s grace is upon us and His shadow and shade and blessings are upon us, the devil can only hover around but he cannot touch us. Yet, the moment God even for a flicker of a moment closes His eyes on us, the devil will devour us. Hence we must always be entwined with God and his Spirit of Grace and we will never be alone.

May this Word bless you all! Praise the Lord!

Pastor Saroja M.

Praise the Lord. I thank my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for His love, grace and mercy which He has showered on our Old aged during a most difficult phase which the whole world was facing in the past month.

All the residents of our old aged home are above 80 years. But even at this most crucial time all of them were in good health. The reason only being that our old aged home is covered with the blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Though the country was in a complete lockdown, our God supplied all the needs for all the residents of our Home. Everything was running in a normal way in our Home, inspite of all the chaos all around. This has proven to me once again that only God is in control of our Rose of Sharon Old aged home and His angels are protecting all the residents everyday and in every situation.

Dear brothers and sisters do continue to pray for the Rose of Sharon Old aged home so that the Lord may bless all the residents with good health today and always.

Thank you dear readers for your encouragement and support always. May God bless you.

Yours sister in Christ,

Pastor Saroja M

Praise the Lord! In these trying times where the whole world is turned upside down, we thank the Lord Almighty for covering each of our kids and loved ones under His care. Everything is uncertain today from a day’s curfew to a lockdown of weeks and we are still uncertain of what steps our country will take next due to the COVID 19 pandemic. But in all this chaos, one thing, we are certain and sure of is that our Lord Jesus yesterday, today and forever is the same unchanging Jesus. He gave His only begotten Son on the cross for us so that we can be forgiven of our sins and be covered in the shadow of His love.

The children were taught earlier that in the days of old, various plagues broke out in the times of Moses and David. But amidst it all, when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, He answered and covered them. The kids learnt about how Pharaoh had told the Israelites to leave Egypt after the 10th plague. However for the Israelites to crossover, ahead was the challenge of the Red Sea. The children were then explained that how the Lord had parted the Red sea and let his children move to the other side and drowned the Egyptians.

Similarly today we believe that even in the midst of this turmoil the Lord will help, our kids and loved ones to pass through these trying times and drown away this pandemic off our lives while we continue to pray earnestly and only look unto Him.

Do continue to uplift our little ones in your prayers.

Praise the Lord! Thank you Jesus !!

Praise the Lord. I am testifying on behalf of my daughter Aradhana who is two years old. She had a severe breathing problem and we had to rush her to a Delhi hospital. Doctors told us she had liquid in her lungs. Since we regularly watch the TV programs of Rose of Sharon Church on Shubhsandesh Channel, we immediately called up the Rose of Sharon prayer helpline for prayers and the prayer warrior prayed for her. Her condition improved after prayer but still kept fluctuating. We kept on calling the prayer tower through the night and the prayer warrior earnestly prayed for her and assured us of fervent and continuous prayers being made for her. Within two days Aradhana was out of ICU. And within two days after coming out of the ICU she was back home.

Both me and my husband, Rajendra praise and thank Lord Jesus Christ for His great mercy on my daughter. We also specially thank the prayer team of Rose of Sharon Ministry for their fervent prayers for my daughter.

Thank You Jesus.

Sis. Jayanti and Bro Rajendra

Delhi (ROS TV program Viewer)