By V.Chacko Jacob

Praise the Lord. It has been a while since I wrote something to glorify God. I thought this would be a right time to do so as I have just shifted back to Chennai from Pondicherry.

The time at Pondicherry has been a blessed ride & I just wanted to tell you how... The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:16&17, “16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:17 That the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works” .

Yeah! That’s exactly what I wanted to tell you all. In Pondicherry I definitely grew in my career as I held a position only next to the top management of my company but above all, I grew in the word of God. I was in a church blessed by a young & blessed teacher of the word of God. He is 27years old, Pas.Steve Asir, the pastor of Halluejah AG Church English congregation. Through him, I was blessed to do many programs that would be the envy of many bigger churches. We did rock concerts, seminars, conferences, workshops, large scale dramas; name it, “we did it all”, for Jesus in the 3 years that I was at Pondicherry. I was also blessed to substitute for Pas.Steve in a few places as a preacher of God’s word. I just repeated in my style what he preached in the morning sermon in the afternoon/evening services. I was so blessed by the word at Pondicherry that I am writing a personal book titled “The 100 sermons by Pas.Steve Asir that touched me”

I was not only encouraged by the word, the word also yielded fruit in my life. I undertook my first overseas mission trip to Sri Lanka from Pondicherry. In my work place, where I was employed for the first 2 years in Pondicherry (until suddenly retrenched), I have left a permanent mark. Most people say till today that “Chacko came & made this factory a much safer place to work in”. Praise God, that is what we need right? As a Christian in a Corporate, our deeds have to speak loud enough to match our faith & thus glorify God.

I had to continue in Pondicherry for one more year due to my son’s educational needs. I had no job but God miraculously opened avenues for me as a freelance trainer. Every month, God gave me whatever business that I needed to lead my life as a good witness for him. In every CCF prayer bridge, my brothers prayed for my career & God answered them & me faithfully. The month, in which I was shifting to Chennai, I had my best month, 21 days of training, enough money to enable a smooth shifting back to Chennai.

Now, that I am here.... Am I back for the better?  All I know is, God knows. As I write this article, I am being considered for the post of Director - Growth & Development in a secular forum called JCI (Junior Chamber International), which is an honour (even though it’s for one of the local chapters created for trainers). I attended 2 meetings & they are considering me for this position. What did they see in me in 2 meetings? God knows. As I write this article, I am also finalizing my next job with a training company in Chennai, that’s part of one of the leading industrial houses in India. I am getting an opportunity to build a business with the backing of a strong corporate house. Had I got this opportunity 3 years ago, it would have been great. But, God knows the right time to open the right door. Maybe He felt, I had to become stronger in the Word. Maybe He wanted me to have the experience of doing different type of programs before I got this opportunity. I don’t know, God knows.

I know, it is a tough ask at times to trust God when things are not going fine, but trust me; if things are working out good for me then so will it work out for you. Just keep your faith & trust in God.

My dear friends, I just want to conclude by saying that there are times in our lives when everything seems out of our control. Don’t worry... God is in control. Even if you don’t know what you are doing, He knows what He is doing with his child ... and, everything He does is always for the better. The Bible says in Proverbs 16:9, “ A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” . The Lord our God always directs our steps for the better, so that you may be lifted up & through your witness, He will be lifted up among all men. God Bless You.

Mighty Work of God
it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him – John 9:3

For long I have read psalms 91 but never have I tasted it so much as I have now. The Lord has blessed us (me and my wife) with a baby boy on Oct 27^th.

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward. – Ps 127:3

If the labor had been normal, I will have no reason to testify the faithfulness of my Lord Jesus. However, I never wanted it to be normal, but supernatural so that I can testify and witness about His great faithfulness for He has said,

Before she was in labor, she gave birth;
Before her pain came,
She delivered a male child. – Isa 66:7

This is our 2^nd child and having seen my wife during labor pains in with the 1^st child, I held on to Isa 66:7.

Leading in prayer

The labor and the nature of the birth were supernatural indeed, but not how I had prayer for. The day before the labor as I started to pray for my wife, the Lord urged me to pray for Israel. So I did. As I had prayed for about an hour for Israel, the Lord reminded me about the covenant that He made with Abraham in Gen 12:3 – “I will bless those who bless you.”

Then, the next day as my wife was in labor room I was in prayer waiting eagerly outside. Then the Lord said, “Nothing is impossible with God” – Luke 1:37; and then He said, “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad” – Matt 5:12. I did not understand at that time why the Lord had said these but I did as He said.

Tense situation

Then all of the sudden my wife was transferred from the labor room to the operation theater (OT). While they took her in the stretcher she said to me “Gone, gone!” because she heard the attending doctor say to another doctor that she cannot feel the pulse of the baby. As she was in the OT, I waited eagerly. One of the two senior doctors who performed the C-section came out and informed me that my wife was fine but said that the other doctor will inform me about the baby. Tense situation! But I was quite peaceful, for the Lord said “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27).

Then after few minutes the other doctor brought the baby out. It was a very pleasant experience as I saw him exactly the way the Lord had showed him to me in a dream. Then the baby was taken immediately to NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) because of the nature of his birth. While all these were going on I had very little knowledge about the same.

Cord Prolapsed

All I knew at that time was that my wife had a “cord prolapse.”  This is a very rare occurrence in labor. Statistics on cord prolapse vary, but the range is between 0.14% and 0.62% of all births, in most studies which is approximately 1 in 300 births. Why does this happen? There are many predicted reason but none has been conclusive so far. However, when it happens, oxygen and blood supplies to the fetus are diminished or cut-off and the baby must be delivered quickly. If attempts to deliver the baby promptly, fail, the fetus’ oxygen and blood supply are occluded and brain damage or death will occur.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy

In the natural, it is easy to blame the doctors or the hospital infrastructure or anything. But these things are not natural. It is not the will of God that people have “cord prolapse” for the scripture says in Isa 66:9 – “’Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?’ says the LORD. ‘Shall I who cause delivery shut upthe womb?’ says your God.”

The night before the delivery, my dad had a dream from The Lord. He saw a thief trying to break in to our house but was pushed out of the door and the door shut before him. It is exactly as Jesus said in John 10:10 – “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

This is our 2^nd child out of 3 pregnancies. During the time of my wife’s 1^st pregnancy, The Lord was directing me into spending time in prayer. But often I disobeyed. In the 2^nd month of the pregnancy my wife had a miscarriage. We were terribly broken in our hearts. But the Lord clearly told me that because of my disobedience He could not protect me when the devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. One thing that I understood is that as much as the Lord loves me, the devil hates me and would like to kill me, if not for the Lord who is my refuge and my fortress and a shield and bulwark. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  (Eph 6:12)

The birth

But after everything was over, on the day my wife and baby were discharged from the hospital the doctor told us what had taken place. She said, “It was a stillbirth” and then she started to glorify God for He had raised the child from the dead.

The baby was born dead but came back to life after few minutes. The hospital kept him in NICU to see if he was normal or was there any brain damage. But after 4 days they returned the baby saying, “He is completely normal.”

How great is the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ for He has said,
“When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him” – Isa 59:19;
“No weapon that is formed against you will prosper” – Isa 54:17;
“Fear not, for you will not be put to shame” – Isa 54:4

Stillbirths’ Statistics

India has highest number of stillbirths, an average of 1,680 babies were born dead every day between 1995 and 2009 in India, says Lancet study.

Psalms 91:7 says, “A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not approach you.” I am very thankful to God for His promise and His faithfulness in keeping it to me but on the other hand I am also convinced that God does not want thousands and ten thousands to fall at the snares of the devil.

By Allyn Samuel

The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. Exodus 14:14 

கர்த்தர் உங்களுக்காக யுத்தம் பண்ணுவார்; 

நீங்கள் சும்மாயிருப்பீர்கள் யாத்திராகமம் 14:14

Right from my childhood I have loved the Tamil version of this verse, a ton……and it has become true in my life now.

The literal translation of this verse from Tamil would go this way ‘I will fight for you..You will do nothing’

We doing nothing and God fighting on our behalf… isn’t it nice to hear, but is it possible in this current world?

But our Heavenly Father is just and true to His Word! He is faithful enough to do that and his promises are true. AMEN.

I joined back office on Apr 17th , after 6 months of Maternity leave and God had a wonderful news for me to welcome me back into office.

What I thought wasn’t possible for two more years has become possible through Christ for me now itself.

Have you heard anyone returning from a long leave with a promotion???????????

Ridiculous talk isn’t it….but it isn’t ridiculous anymore…I have got promoted from  TA to TL after returning from my long leave.

For my first child I had taken leave for 6 months so my appraisal rating  for that cycle was an NA , so was not eligible for this role change in last June.

And again this year I had 6 months break for my second child , so my appraisal rating for this cycle also will get affected.

Cos of these two breaks in my rating, I  thought my role change would not be possible till next year.

But, while I was on my leave itself our God has made my promotion possible.

I was awestruck when I saw my Role Change effective from January this year!!!

How wonderful is our Daddy, providing us with what we require in the apt time when we don’t expect it to happen that time.

Its Jesus who had fought for me and I was at peace in my home happily doing nothing.

I have no words to Praise him….but I can say just one thing ‘Thank you daddy’.

My son (2yrs and 2 months) was admitted in hospital with high fever of 102 degrees on last week of August.

The doctors confirmed it as pneumonia. Though he was put under antibiotics, there was no improvement in his health. The fever was 102-103, it never decreased. We would give fever medicine, it would decrease to 101 but not below, so we would give him a small bath with cold water now and then to reduce his body temperature. 

His hands were poked with needles to send the antibiotics. Since his hand is very small and nerve are too small, that nerve could be used for only 2 days, again they will have to search for another vein and put the needle. Like this his hands were poked more than 10 times. I am not explaining this to scare you folks or to make you sad. But want to share God’s glory here. Each time he is taken inside the room to change the vein passage, I would cry out to Lord not able to bear the pain my son is going through. I would ask God to strengthen him. I was amazed by God’s mercy when one of the Nurses said to me.

“Your son is very bold and strong. He is not afraid of the needle or of the pain. He is really very cooperative. I have never seen a kid like him before.” I knew it was Lord’s Mercy which was holding my son and My Lord Jesus was right next to him to strengthen him and to drive the fear out.

In so much of pain I was not able to pray at all. I would sit to pray but no words would come out, even if it comes it will not be from my heart.  I was just struggling to pray. I would sit down at night after my son sleeps and finish the 1000 praises book, I would recite all possible known prayers but will not be able to bring anything from my heart except tears. But Jesus was merciful. He knew my burden. He accepted even my weak prayer.

More than two weeks we stayed in hospital each day was like hell. No improvement in my son’s health. The doctors said he is having a severe pneumonia, his lungs are affected. He had to be operated and some procedures had to be done in his lungs to cure it.

But I believed in the Living God. I put it in Lord’s feet. I just said to God. “Lord you gifted me my son. You will not take him from me. I believe only in you. You are merciful beyond explanation. You love my Son million trillion times than I do. And in faith I confess you will cure him. He will be discharged from hospital by this Saturday that too without surgery”.

Though I was not praying whole heartily he accepted all that I asked. He was so merciful he heard my feeble cry. My son’s fever just crashed.  His temperature reached normal from 102 and never rose again.  My son was discharged that Saturday and doctors said he does not need any surgery.

Praise God with all my heart and all my life. He saved my son. He also gave a promise for my son.

“With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation”Psalm 91:16

I realized He listens our unspoken words. He knows our each movement. He feels our silent pain.

I know behind my each weak prayer, there was the strong prayer of the Holy Spirit.  He was praying for me. He was groaning for my son, He was interceding for him.

Our Lord is amazing. So next time any of you are in such situation, where your pain makes your prayer weak. Don’t be afraid. For he is always near us to strengthen us.  He has promised

“I will strengthen you and help you;

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

One more praise point. By Lords Mercy and Grace we have bought a House in irumbuliyur.  This too was purely a miracle that came down from heaven.

“Praise the Lord our God Jesus Christ!”

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This testimony is from a software professional in Chennai

2009 has been a terrible year across the world. The Corporate World has seen the worst of times and it has resulted in huge job losses, increments cut, tightening of belts and the like. My promotion was long due and I was hoping for it, when the announcement came in that all promotions, incentives are all being put on hold. God had promised me that He will promote me in 2009, I was wondering how it was going to happen.

By the abundant grace of God, early in the year, we won a new account and we started transition work for it in 2009. In the midst of recession, the account grew by leaps and bounds and things were hectic. Little did we realise that we were in the midst of a global crisis. This is the Lord’s doing. He can make streams in the desert, as He has promised in Isaiah 43:19.

As things improved, my company announced about promotions going to happen. Things were tough, with many more people in the fray. This world will give you any benefit only if they receive benefit from you personally. That can be changed only by our Lord.

I left everything to the Lord’s hands and miraculously I got promoted. Amen. It was purely by the grace of God. He is the one who makes it happen. It is always best to leave it to Him and not worry, as He is in control always. What more, my wife also got promoted as a Senior Lecturer in her college, beyond our expectations.

If you have been going through tough times and not seeing anything coming, just leave it to the Lord’s hands and proclaim His promises and pray and leave it to Him as in Psalm 37:5. Don’t utter any negative words, but always proclaim His promises and pray. As in Joel 2:26, He will never let us be ashamed, but note, His ways of lifting up is entirely different than what the world thinks of. We know that, we just cannot comprehend His plans, but rest assured, He has the best for us always. Amen.

(The Author is a Manager with one of the software MNCs in Chennai – he can be contacted through the Editor (CCF) – [email protected] )