Editor’s Note

Praise the Lord. I greet you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

I believe you are all doing well by the grace of God. If not, then to break the hindrances in your daily life, you need the grace of God to abound in you more and more.

To lead a holy life till the end you need the abundant grace of God in you. 2 Cor 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

A young boy was eager to grow spiritually and be a light unto others. He found a lot of trials and tribulations in his life were hindering his spiritual growth. He was constantly praying to God to overcome this hurdle in his life.

One day the Lord showed him a vision. This boy was in a boat and wanted to go forward but his boat kept on dashing against a rock. So he started to pray continually to God to remove this obstacle. Suddenly the waters increased and his boat went over the rock. He immediately understood that the increase of waters is the grace of God.

Many times we pray to God to remove the rock i.e. the problem in our lives. But God is increasing His grace in our lives and says “My grace is sufficient for you”, and helps us to overcome the problems.

When God’s grace comes into your lives, you will not bother about your problems. You will receive the blessings kept for you beyond the problems. Hence, always abound in God’s grace. Remember, when you keep praising God, His grace will abound in your life. When you humble yourselves before God, you will receive His grace.

When you live in fellowship with the children of God, His grace will keep increasing in your life. Your inner man will overflow with His spiritual blessings, so that you may be a witness to others 2 Cor 1:12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.

The apostles testified about God. They preached the Word of God and said that Jesus is alive. They shook their dwelling places. They all had received the abundant grace of God.

Just think of the abundant grace of God. Abraham, Noah and Joseph received the grace of God. But in the Old Testament these holy persons did not receive the abundant grace of God. When we come to the New Testament the apostles received the abundant grace of God through the blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

We the children of God living in the New Testament can also receive the same abundant grace. We cannot buy this abundant grace by paying money. For us to receive this free grace of God, He has paid a high price. He sacrificed Himself for us. He has shed His last drop of blood for us.

So you can receive His grace or lose it also. Jonah 2:8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

Hence, humble yourselves and receive His abundant grace. Heb 12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

May our good Lord keep you and bless you with His abundant grace, till we meet again.

Pastor Saroja M.

In the month of Oct, I was suffering from loose motions, headache and stomach ache. This went on for a week. I had great weakness in my body and I took medicines but they did not work. During the following November Healing Service I informed Pastor Saroja of this problem. She prayed over me. After that day, I was healed completely.

I give all glory and honour to Lord Jesus Christ for healing me. Thanks to Pastor Saroja for praying diligently for me and my family always.

Praise the Lord!

Bro Devdas, Jogeshwari (East)

Praise the Lord!

In the month of November my wrist was paining a lot, it was unbearable and I could not lift up my hand too. I applied the prayed over oil over my wrist and the pain instantly vanished, and I could also lift my hand.

I give God alone all glory and honour for healing me. I also thank Pastor Saroja for praying over the oil and blessing it.

Bro Hardik Patel, Goregaon (East)

My one year old grand-daughter had a boil and there was a swelling on the right side of her ears. During the healing prayer, we showed her to Pastor Saroja and Pastor prayed for her. After that, the boil ruptured and as advised by Pastor we applied the prayer oil over that area of her ears. Now the boil is completely healed.

I want to praise and thank our Lord Jesus Christ for healing my grand-daughter and thank Pastor Saroja for praying for her.

Praise the Lord!

Sis Tara Khushwa, Jogeshwari (East)

I ask for forgiveness for giving this testimony late. Last month my son Irwin was suffering from high fever. The fever was not much during the day, but at night time it crossed 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I informed Pastor Saroja of this and she assured me of her prayers. The same day Irwin’s fever left him.

I give all glory to God and Lord Jesus for hearing and answering Pastor’s compassionate prayer and healing my son. Thank you Pastor Saroja for praying for Irwin.

 Thank you Jesus! Praise the Lord!

Sis Esther Patel, Goregoan (East)

Praise the Lord!

I am Rekha Ganesh from Ankleshwar, Bhilad. I would like to testify of God’s healing in my son’s life.

In Sept my eldest son Harsh was having high fever. I gave him the prayer oil to drink. He was immediately healed of his fever. I thank and praise Lord Jesus for His wondrous work in my son’s life and healing him through the prayer oil. I also thank Pastor Saroja for praying for the oil.

Sis. Rekha Ganesh, Ankleswar, Bhilad

I praise God for His wonderful works he has done in my family. My husband had no proper job for a long time. I had kept this request in the Kalina fasting prayer. I want to thank and praise my Lord for answering Pastor’s prayers. My husband has got a permanent job in the Railways in place of his father who worked there.

I give all praise and thanks to God for His loving kindness and grace upon us. I also thank Pastor Saroja for her tearful prayers for my request.

Praise the Lord! Thank you Jesus !

Sis Hema Ramesh, Vakola

Pastor Saroja M.

God’s Eyes are always upon His people

Psalms 34: 15 “The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry”.God’s eyes will always be upon His children. The Lord speaks to us through His Word and says to us that His eyes will be upon his righteous children and He will take care of us. It will be a blessed year for the Lord’s children, but the unrighteous will have a sad life; those who are living their life in sin, pride and ungratefulness will suffer during the end times. They who do not thank God for His blessings in their life will be destroyed like ash. Malachi 4:1-2 “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall”. In this verse we see two types of people: The unrighteous / wicked & The righteous / good. Those who are living in sin, pride and ego – their life will be destroyed from the root and also its branches, while those who fear the Lord will arise with wings and go forth. When the Lord Jesus comes once again, He will come as a Judge. Thus, when He comes once again, we must be entwined in His love, grace, mercy and fear. Then we will be renewed with new strength and joy in our lives. If we continue to

live in sin and unrighteousness, our life will be destroyed to ashes and made worthless. Every preacher preaches the same word i.e. about the end times. Thus we should not take it easy and ignore the warning given to us. God does not wish that any of us be destroyed. He is waiting for His Word to reach the ends of this world. God can come anytime, but He is waiting. Even before we stepped into this New Year, the Lord’s word for us has been to humble ourselves – our knees must bow down to Him and our tongue must confess that He is the Lord our God. We must also consider ourselves as dust and worthy for nothing. Remember, when we are righteous and fear God, He will renew us with new strength and take us to His Kingdom above. But, if we do not fear the Lord and continue to live ungratefully in this world, then we will be destroyed like ash. It is important for us to know Him and live fearfully before Him. Yes, His eyes will be upon all mankind – children, youth, men, women and old alike. When He comes as a Judge, He will judge righteously. God will work in different lives, differently. Those who fear Him and work for Him with thundering, will be blessed immensely. Remember, God’s eyes were upon the widow who put the two copper coins in the offering bag in God’s temple. He saw her heart and blessed her. The offering given to servants of God must also be diligently used; we must know that God is watching. Without God’s wish nothing happens and in Him there is no partiality. God will judge each and everyone alike. We know how Peter served God after Jesus’ death. People arrested him and imprisoned him. We read in Acts 5:25 “Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people”. God gave wisdom, knowledge and strength to a mere fisherman… Why? Because after they were chosen by God they served Him sincerely. Thus even in the jail, when Peter was bound, Jesus freed him and Peter continued to preach in the temple and teach God’s people. In our life, when we have a wound on the back, we fear to bend our back. However we should like Peter, also be willing to bend ourselves and serve God whenever required. When there will be no wound on our physical self or our soul, we can freely serve God. But Peter’s situation was different. He was victimized for serving God. The people did not want him to preach and thus he was imprisoned. But did God’s work stop? Rather when he was free, Peter once again went back to the people and preached the Word of God. God blessed him with the Spirit of boldness to continue to preach the Word. The Lord God will do the same for us too – He will make us bold to preach His Word. When we have evil in our hearts and unrighteousness within us, God will not bother to bail us out. Who puts us into imprisonment? It is the enemy, the evil one, Satan. The evil one too watches over us like God watches upon us. In the Holy Scriptures we know that people see that God’s people are delivering men from Satan’s evil clutches; they too stand before the evil and try to emulate them. But the evil one tells them: I know Jesus Christ and I know the apostle Paul, but who are you? Thus if God has to be within us, our heart should be pure and righteous. But when our heart is not pure and righteous, the evil one will win over us. The giver gives, but the one who uses it must know how to use the same to spread the Word of God. If many people gather here together to our temple there will be no place for all the people to worship here. God has therefore opened ministries in many other places where He has chosen His flock i.e. Nasik, Bhilad, Bangalore, etc. Remember one day we will all surely meet in one place. Where? That’s the time when our Lord God will come once again. So we have to be ready ourselves right from now, so that we will be taken away by Him. Every New Year that comes in our lives decreases the years of Jesus’ second coming. We must thus change our lives, live righteously and use ourselves for God’s service. The sins committed last year should not be repeated in the New Year – we must leave our sins behind. It is important that we must increase with God each year, with new hope, faith and trust in Him. As human beings, when we reach our teenage years, our behaviour changes and our thoughts and actions change. Likewise even our thoughts towards God must change for the better. We should not go on committing mistakes like children do; we must improve our lives for the better for God’s sake.

The evil knows that if ‘If Pastor falls, this church will also fall’. Thus the evil one plans his ways accordingly. Jesus was always against the Priests, Sadducees and Pharisees. Because of this the people were against Jesus Christ. Thus, Jesus chose the poor and meek of this world, to do His mighty works. Even today, we need to stay away from such wicked people. There are fortune tellers / soothsayers who look at the lines on your palm, or your birth stars and predict the future. They are the ones who falsely benefit from evil predictions. However our Lord is not like that. When we open our mouth for the Lord we are like donkeys. Remember! When the Lord opens our mouth it’s important for us to speak and when He shuts it we must stop speaking. But we deceive ourselves and we speak saying that the Lord is speaking even when the Lord is not speaking, and here we are cheating others. This is done to benefit ourselves and not God. There is no difference between such deceivers of God and the fortune tellers/ soothsayers as their predictions are from the evil one. We have seen so many people with parrots who pick up cards for us and do predictions. God hates such people and He warns us to keep ourselves away from them. We must stay away from those who prophesy to please us. When God blesses us with money, strength and time, we must put it to good use, to take His Living Word far and wide. When we continue to do this good work, God’s Word says in Psalms 91:8-9 “Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation”. To get the grace of God, we must keep ourselves away from such evil people.

1 Timothy 6:5-8 “Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content”.Whatever we do for God must always be pleasing in His eyes and the work must be done to spread the Good News in this world. Or else there is no difference between us and the worldly fortune tellers. Remember, God is watching over us all the time, thus we have to be very careful how we conduct our life. In Matthew 6, the Holy Scriptures clearly explains about the tithe giver and the prayer warrior. Matthew 6:1-7 “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth. That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking”.Also remember that the Lord is watching over the one who receives it and how it is used for God’s glory. Our future is in God’s hand alone, if we are righteous and pure before Him, Lord will strengthen us and use us for His Glory and we will become His true testimony. But if we go against Him and do evil in our lives, we will be destroyed to ash. Our God is an impartial God; and remember again, His eyes are watching over us all the time”. Deuteronomy 11:12 “A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year”.God’s eyes will always be upon His children from the beginning of this New Year unto the end of the year.

What must we do then? We must leave the land of Moab and return to Bethlehem. If we don’t, we will sink in our sins and be destroyed. Just as Naomi and Ruth left the country of Moab and returned to Bethlehem, it was only after coming to Bethlehem that Naomi was blessed richly and Ruth was blessed with a husband in Boaz. Similarly in our life too, we must leave all our sins behind and leave back the country of Moab and it is extremely important to return to the ‘house of manna’ i.e. the ‘house of Boaz’. Ruth 1:22 “So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest”. During the end times, when God will come as a Judge, He will cut the good grain and store it in the granary, while the weeds will be put into the flaming fire. God has not revealed His second coming to anyone, but it is only by the different signs in the world that we can recognize the end times is close at heel. Our Lord God is coming soon. He will come as a thief in the midnight. When we think He is coming, He will not come. We must not become lazy in our life, but we must be ready for Him when He comes ‘anytime’. We must leave our sins behind and progress in life with a true and righteous heart. Because Naomi and Ruth left behind the country of Moab, they found happiness and peace in Bethlehem. We must also leave our sinful life behind us – only then can we move forward towards truth and a new righteous life.

We know the story in the Holy Scriptures about Hagar who kept a name for the Lord as “The Lord who sees”. After Sarah delivers Isaac, Hagar was forced to leave the country and go away. The water and food that Abraham had given her was exhausted and the child was crying bitterly. At that time the angel of the Lord calls out to her in the wilderness of Beersheba and Hagar was truly happy and thus named Him as “The Lord who sees”. Yes, it is the same God who is watching over us even today. How are the heavenly eyes that are watching us even today?Zechariah 4:10 “For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth”.God’s eyes search for us, God’s eyes watches over us, God’s eyes are everywhere upon this earth. Thus, when we are in the dark alone, or in our bedroom behind closed doors, or in the daylight; remember that God is always watching over us all the time, 24 hours of the day. In everything that we do and say, God is watching over us. God is diligently seeking those who love Him. God knows the desires of those who eagerly want to work for the Lord and will use them accordingly.

Numbers 23:23 “Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought”.Here in this verse we see how to destroy Jacob, Laban plans wickedly and prepares people to destroy him. Jacob knows nothing of this plan. He continues to diligently serve the Lord, not knowing any of Laban’s evil plans. But God was watching over Jacob. If we too continue to do good for the Lord, every evil plan against us will be destroyed by Him. Our God watches over all the evil plans of the enemy against us and protects us with His mighty protection. No cunningness of the evil can sustain over us. Psalms11:4 “The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men”. Yes, though Lord’s throne is in the heavens, His eye beholds this earth and watches over us anywhere, everywhere, anytime.

We must change our lives. Our God watches our good and bad, so we must in everything do well for the Lord and glorify His Holy name by living a righteous life for God alone. When God’s fire falls on us, we fear the Lord and that fire purifies us. Every day when we read the bible diligently, if ever we get a warning message, we get fearful and disturbed in our heart. We once again pray and ask God for forgiveness and read the Word again so that we get a soothing Word and only then does peace return within our heart. Why does this happen? It is because we fear the Lord. But the proud in heart does not feel the same. They feel that they don’t need to fear the Lord and they don’t care. But we who fear the Lord become restless even if we have displeased God over small things. Big or small sins, we must have a ‘heart of repentance’ and only then we will fearfully seek the Lord again and again till we find Him. Blessed are the people who experience this feeling. It is our good Lord who has said that He will replace the hardened heart with a heart of flesh. Those who hurt God feel very restless that day and they are happy about nothing till the pain from their heart is replaced with joy from the Lord. Isaiah 4:3 “And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem”.God can cleanse our sins with the flaming fire from His eyes. Fire cleanses us and separates us from sins and purifies us. When God spoke to

Moses for the first time in the burning bush, though God spoke to Moses in the form of fire, that fire did not destroy the bush and that bush is alive even till this day. Remember, when God’s flaming fire falls on us, we are not destroyed; rather we are blessed to become a better individual.

When few of us we were praying on New Year’s Eve night, the Lord’s mighty presence was in this Holy temple. Everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit. Truly, our God is alive even today – but are we worthy to receive Him, that is important! God desires to fill His Holy Spirit upon all mankind, but are we worthy today? We must be deserving to receive His Holy Spirit. We cannot please this world and God at the same time. If we keep God before us, He will bless us immensely in everything that we do. Men can love us and keep us happy only for some time, but God’s love is eternal and from everlasting to everlasting. He will be with us in the form of a Father, Brother, Son, Mother, Sister, Teacher, Preacher, Doctor, etc. In whatever situation we are and whenever we need His help, if we only call out to Him, He will be with us in the form that we need Him. Above all we must be worthy to receive Him in our lives and our homes and give Him the first place always. Our God only wants our heart; He wants to live in our hearts today. We sing the famous praise song “Know you not, Know you not, You are the temple of the Holy Ghost. Yes I know, Yes I know, I am the temple of the Holy Ghost”. Can each one of us say the same from the bottom of our heart? If we do, then our God’s grace and love will be immense upon us. He is a great God and a promise keeping God; He will give us a fulfilling life. He is the same God who spoke to Abraham and said “Walk before me righteously and I will bless you”. Today if we too walk before God truthfully, He will make our life beautiful and complete.

Let us keep God’s Word in our Heart and let all our works be pleasing in His sight. Remember, His eyes will be upon us from the beginning till the end of the year. We must forsake our pride and ego as in this world nothing sustains forever. We all have to stand naked before our Lord God one day, only the works done for the expansion of the Glory of God will be recorded before Him. Not our money, wisdom, knowledge, beauty, qualification, pride and ego. Let us therefore humble ourselves before God today, let our knee bow down and our tongue confess that He alone is the Lord God in our life and let us derive happiness through the year ahead.

Pastor Saroja M.