Editor’s Note

Here’s wishing you all a very happy and Blessed New Year 2019!

In the coming year let us be in the presence of our Lord. When the Israelites were in the presence of God, their clothes were not dirty nor did their footwear ever deteriorate.

If you will enter the presence of God you will have good health always. Under the cloud no one was weak. If we are under God’s cloud we won’t be weak at all, that is the truth, for we will be under His protection.

Saul asked the Lord what he should do. The Lord told him to go into the city of Damascus (in which Ananias resided), where Saul would be told what to do. When Ananias met Saul, he did not say anything of his own, but rather what the Lord was speaking. When the servant of God speaks, it is not what the servant speaks but rather what the Lord speaks. Saul asked directly to the Lord what to do? But God wanted him to come through the proper channels. Acts 9:6 “And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.”

Those who are living according to the flesh will not understand spiritual things. Enjoy the Spirit of the Lord. Let your heart be one with the Spirit. From here only will the River of Life flow and it will make your spirit rejoice. This is the true Christian Life. John 7:37-38 “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”

Jesus asked the blind beggar Bartimaeus what He could do for him? Bartimaeus answered saying, “Rabbi I want to see, I heard a lot of you.” Mark 10:51 “And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.” Our desire also should be just like this; we should feel the need, ask, receive and see.

The Lord keeps fulfilling His word in our life. The Lord promised through Abraham; through Isaac He confirmed; and through Jacob He fulfilled His promise.

God spoke to Moses about Canaan and through Joshua He shared it. God said that He came down to show His people the way to Canaan. In Egypt they did not have proper food and water, and they ate onions and cucumbers. The Lord had seen their affliction. Exodus 3:7-10 “And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to d eliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.”

The God we worship is the God of Abraham. He has many forms. In Exodus He had the form of a cloud. The same cloud gave light to the Israelites and yet covered the Egyptians with darkness. The truth is one, it changes one and confuses the other.

So my beloved ones, be under the cloud of the Lord and be renewed in your spirits. May our good Lord bless you and your families in this New Year.

Yours in our Lord’s service,

Pastor Saroja M.

Praise the Lord. I had severe pain in my left ear. I informed this matter to our dear Pastor Saroja after the Sunday Church Service. Pastor laid her loving hand on my ear and prayed for me. Before I reached home all my ear pain disappeared. I thank Lord for His marvellous miracle and I thank Pastor Saroja for her prayers.

Thank you Jesus.

*Sis. Salomi Fernandes, Thane

Praise the Lord. I am Ashok Tigga, a policeman from Chhattisgarh. I was in a desperate state. On one side my father Vijay who needed blood every month was in hospital. Also my new-born child was in the ICU, she was kept on oxygen and was not able to digest milk. As a believer I used to watch the Shubhsandesh T.V. Programs. After watching the Rose of Sharon TV Program I called the Prayer Tower. The brother prayed for my father and daughter and assured me of continued prayers. Today I testify that both my father and daughter are in good health and are back at home. It was only after prayers that they started recovering. I give all glory to Jesus for the healings and thank Rose of Sharon prayer warriors for their prayers.

*Bro. Ashok Tigga, Chhattisgarh. (ROS TV Programme Viewer)

Praise the Lord. I was suffering from weakness. It was so bad that I could not even hold a spoon in my hand. I requested Pastor Saroja for prayers. She advised me and assured me of her prayers. I can truly say her prayers have been answered, for I am fine now. Thank you Jesus for healing me. Thank you Pastor for your prayers and advice.

*Sis. Joy Shalaka Salins, Mira Road

Praise the Lord. I had borrowed money from money lenders at a very high interest rate without even taking Lord’s counseling and Pastors’ advice. In my foolishness I thought I would be able to come out of it. However the interest was so high that I couldn’t repay the same from time to time; due to which, just to repay the interest I had to take additional loans from here and there. Finally I was unable to pay the interest also, and I told this matter to Pastor Saroja who assured me of her prayers. By God’s grace alone, I got a loan with a lesser interest rate from one of the banks, with which I was able to clear the heavy interest loans that I had taken from the private money lenders. I give all glory to Lord Jesus for helping me come out of such a difficult situation. I also thank Pastor Saroja for her fervent prayers and advice given to me.

*Bro. Hardik Patel, Mira Road

Praise the Lord. My dad (85 years old) hurt himself on his forehead against the toilet door while coming out one morning. A lump the size of a lemon came up immediately and since there was a small cut only, he did not get unduly worried. However after a day, his entire face started clotting and became black, so he went to the eye specialist and also consulted a general physician who said that everything was fine and he should just rest and keep taking a cold compress for the swelling. The clotting spread over his entire face and dad become progressively weak over the next 10 days. His bodily functions started shutting down and his body & face began to swell.

He was unable to urinate properly and he remained constipated. He could not eat any food as he could not swallow it. His speech was slurred and he could not sleep properly and slowly became delusional. His BP went very high and eventually he had to be hospitalized. On the 11th day only, I called Pastor Saroja and told her the situation of the past 10 days. She assured me of her prayers. I reached the hospital while dad was undergoing multiple tests recommended by the doctor. By God’s grace, the CT scan was normal, his BP and sugar had been stabilized and most of his functions were normal. His Sodium level was dangerously low and his Potassium levels had reached alarmingly high levels. He was immediately hospitalized and kept there for 4 days during which he progressively improved. During this time I called Pastor to also inform her that he was unable to pass motions for the first 2-3 days in the hospital. She once again assured me of her prayers and the same day, dad was able to do so. I praise God for his mercies and for healing my dad and am extremely grateful to our Pastor Saroja for her compassionate prayers to our Lord God. It was a major turnaround, once I called her, and I cannot thank her enough for praying for my dad’s healing. Thank You Jesus.

*Bro. Ramiah Daniels, Bangalore

A lady went to the Pastor and said, “I won’t be attending church anymore.” He said, “May I ask why?” She said, “I see people on their cell phones during the service.” Some are gossiping, some just ain’t living right, they are all just hypocrites.

The Pastor got silent, and he said, “OK, but can I ask you to do something for me before you make your final decision?” She said, “What’s that?” He said, “Take a glass of water and walk around the church 2 times and don’t let any water fall out of the glass.” She said, “Yes I can do that!” She came back and said it’s done.

He asked her 3 questions…

✔  Did u see anybody on their phone?

✔ Did u see anybody gossiping?

✔ Was anybody living wrong?

She said, “I didn’t see anything because I was so focused on this glass, so the water wouldn’t fall.” He told her, “When you come to Church, you should be just that focused on God, so that you don’t fall.”

 Jesus didn’t say follow Christians.

JESUS said FOLLOW ME.

Pastor Saroja M

Be God’s Watchman

Ezekiel 33:7 “So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.” God’s watchman’s job is to stand between God and men. On the one hand a watchman needs to carefully listen to what God says and on the other hand he needs to convey God’s warning to His people. In the scriptures, we know that God had appointed the Prophet Elijah as a watchman for the Israelites. The Israelites were busy worshipping idols and went against the Lord. Prophet Elijah stood between God and the Israelites as a watchman, and he conveyed God’s warning to them so that they would turn away from idol worship. The Israelites forsook the love and fear of God and drifted away in the ways of this world as idol worshippers. As a watchman, what did Elijah do? He prayed to the Lord and called upon fire from heaven. When fire descended from heaven to consume his sacrifice, the Israelites once again feared God. In the end, the prophets of Baal were executed. The job of a good watchman is to convey God’s warning to His people. A watchman may get tired, and many a time gets weak and weary. Similarly, Elijah too was tired of being a watchman to the Israelites, due to their stiff-neckedness and disobedience. He called for fire from heaven and once again showed the Israelites God’s mighty work. When all the Baal prophets were killed and the Israelites won victory, the news reached Queen Jezebel. She then conveyed a message to Prophet Elijah through her messengers that she would bring about ten times more punishment upon the Israelites.

A watchman experiences sorrow, pain and tiredness. But who is the watchman’s comforter? God is the comforter. God sent His angel to feed manna to Elijah; after that Elijah was strengthened for another 40 days and nights to run for the Lord God. Those who are true watchmen for the Lord also get tired, but God strengthens them. 1 Kings 18:35-40 “And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.

Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God. And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.” For the Israelites to repent and turn to God, Elijah had to call for fire from heaven and prove the power of the Almighty God once again. In the end all the prophets of Baal were destroyed.

Sometimes as human beings, people do get tired in their physical body. Working hard for their family drains them off completely, and oft times there is no one to lift them up. Remember, when God’s people are tired and weary, it is God alone who takes care of them and lifts them up. 1 Kings 18:41-44 “And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.” Elijah bowed down to God seven times, crying out for rain. As a watchman, Prophet Elijah may have been tired of proving that God Almighty alone is the true God. Again and again, with his heart and soul we can imagine how Elijah may have cried out to the Lord. He was now tired and may have thought that enough is enough. 1 Kings 19:4-5  “But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.”

Daniel 4:13 “I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven;” Daniel was also a watchman who stood between man and God. For those who stand as a watchman, God sends a spiritual watchman in the form of an ‘Angel,’ just like the angel God sent to Elijah with manna for him; which after Elijah ate, he was strengthened and could continue to run for another 40 days and nights.

This manna was food from heaven; it strengthened people, they could run and not be weary, their sweat would not smell. This is the blessing God gives His watchman. Malachi 3:18 “Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.”

Men do get tired working hard to fend for their families; they too fear and sometimes are weary in life. But they have no one to help them. However, for God’s children it is God the Almighty who will always lift them up. God instructs His angels to feed His chosen watchmen. We must each one of us accomplish the role of a watchman for the congregation, church and our people. Ezekiel 38:7 “Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.” It is important for every believer to be ready; we must prepare those who are with us – our family and fellowmen, and finally we must become watchmen for the Lord. We know that God created man and woman, and it was with great compassion that He would come to meet them in the Garden of Eden. His first question to man was “Adam where are you?” Genesis 3:9 “And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?”

But what was Cain’s response to God in Genesis 4:9? “And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?” We must never question God. When He says something, we have to be ready and we must also ready our family and fellowmen and thus become a watchman for the Lord. We must never question God as Cain did by retorting “Am I my brother’s keeper?’ We must never question the Lord, rather we must do as He commands.

Jude 1:11 “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.” When we back-answer God and rebel against him, God equates us to be like Cain. We must take pleasure in whatever God asks us to do, for we do not know when and how our Lord God will separate us from others and put us in Cain’s category. We have seen that when the angel brought manna to feed the Prophet Elijah, Elijah never questioned the angel, but ate the manna and was strengthened to run for the Lord God for 40 days and nights. He ran for the Lord according to the Lord’s will and plan. Today God expects the same from us. If we are tired and weary today, He will send His angel and deliver us from our tiredness. We must never in our thought, action and deed, question the Lord God like Cain did. We must be ready at all times and be prepared to be God’s watchman. The breath that God has given within us is priceless and precious.

The wise King Solomon said in Proverbs 4:23 “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” The evil one constantly sends us temptations, but we must learn to resist them. Jealousy, anger, pride and ego – we must guard against these areas in our lives, for the evil one will attack us in these areas alone. The devil always plants the seeds of wanting more and more materially for he will never want to see us satisfied. This is the area we must really take care of, so as not to fall prey to the evil one. We must keep our heart diligent, for from it flows the issues of life; and we must never ever let evil touch our heart and soul.

Many of us take care of our physical body but we ignore our soul. What did Jesus say when he looked at the rich man? Luke 12:20 “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” The rich man ignored His soul and instead took care of his wealth. What is wealth? It cannot give us life. We could be inflicted with such a disease that money cannot heal and no doctor or money can save us from. It is God alone who can save our life. We must thus be a watchman to our soul and not let anything destroy it. Ezekiel 38:7 “Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.” The Israelites survived in the wilderness only with manna; they were strengthened like wild boars in the wilderness. When we accept our Lord God’s Word, we will be strengthened by Him. Psalm 121:7 “The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.”

God will protect our souls; to protect our souls He gave His life on the Cross of Calvary. The Lord God is always mindful of our souls. Isaiah 52:12 “For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward.” Even today our God walks before us and saves our soul. Romans 1:21 “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” When will our hearts be in darkness? When we do not glorify God and are not thankful to Him, our foolish thoughts put us in bondage against God. Many of us are foolish in our thoughts and we are never satisfied with what God has given us. We are quick to forget God’s work in our lives and to remain thankful to Him. It is this very foolishness which takes us away from God. God is persecuted when we become greedy and are not satisfied even though He has given us of His plenty. Hence God says “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” We must first keep ourselves from temptation, then prepare ourselves and our families, and finally become a watchman for the Lord.

The Word says that ‘Lord’s children are never seen begging.’ Our God is an Almighty God who separated the Red Sea for the Israelites and fed them manna in the wilderness for forty years. He is the God who fed His Prophet Elijah through the Angel and thus strengthened him to run 40 days and nights. Our God knows the right time to lift us up and put us down. Let us continue to love and fear the Lord and also let us continue to be watchmen for the Lord. While we may stumble while toiling for the Lord God, it is He who will lift us up and strengthen us once again.

May the Lord God bless this word and bring happiness in our lives this New Year.

Pastor Saroja M.

Praise the Lord. Heartfelt wishes for a HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our readers from the residents of Rose of Sharon Old Aged Home!

In this month’s edition we would like to introduce our new Aunty Irene D’lima who is 57 years old and a born again Christian. Aunty Irene is very soft spoken by nature and capable of doing all her work by her own. Other than managing her things by herself she even likes to lend a helping hand to others. She likes to read Bible and pray. She enjoys the evening prayer held in our Home everyday. She is not fussy in eating and likes the food served to her. She is suffering from arthritis and going under medication for same.

May our good Lord heal her from this sickness and keep her in good health .

God bless all you readers and keep you and your family members under His shadow, guidance, love and peace today and always.

Praise the Lord! Wishing all our readers a blessed and prosperous New year.

What a start it was to a night filled with power packed performances and the seasons celebrations which continued to jingle while we have stepped into the New Year. “O What a special night when baby Jesus was born.” It surely was a special night when all of us at the Rose of Sharon Church celebrated the birthday of our Lord Jesus. On 24^th of December our kids at the Rose of Sharon Sunday School performed on 3 action songs.

• The first performance was put up by all the Sunday School kids who performed on ‘Choti Choti Chidiya’ song which spoke about the beauty of the creation of our Lord, of how beautifully he created the birds , the fish and the children.
• The second performance was by our little super hero’s who danced to the song “Jesus you are my Super Hero”.
• While the third performance was by the elder kids who danced to “Chaho Toh Aao” which spoke of the love of our Risen Lord.

The evening continued with performances from all age groups. Santa too visited us with loads of goodies from his land. The night was filled with fun, laughter and joy while the little ones continued to enjoy dancing and praising God throughout the evening.

We once again wish all our readers a blessed New Year. Do continue to uphold our little ones to abide and grow stronger in the love of Lord Jesus Christ.

Joy Salins