This morning I woke up with the following thoughts.  Risks and reaping  go together in the ministry.

Risks Involved

Many risks were involved in bringing around five thousand children from 165 villages together under one thatched roof.  We used twelve vehicles which operated from 4AM until nighttime for commuting children from neighboring villages, although the children from far away would stay on the campus. You read about road accidents with some losing their lives almost every day in our state. What would happen if one of our vehicles got into an accident?

You pay a high price for life if a child goes missing or even is kidnapped. Anything can happen to children when you have such a large gathering in India.  Sometimes infighting among children can cause injuries.  Sudden sickness or stealing or kidnapping or fire can cause awful consequences.

What could happen if the financial needs were not met?  Despite all these threatening factors we took a risk for God and for His kingdom.  David risked his life when he faced Goliath.  Daniel took risk when he had to face the lions’ den.  Nehemiah risked when he decided to build the walls of Jerusalem.  Paul risked his life when he preached the gospel.

Reaping Insured

On May 3 at noon we had a commitment and consecration time.  Some of us went around praying for the souls individually.  We literally saw children weeping and bewailing for their wrongdoings and accepting the redemption and salvation that is in Christ.  It was a fantastic and unique experience for those who were involved personally.

Hundreds of children made deeper commitments.  If there were no such gathering, probably these would have been lost forever without knowing Jesus as their Savior.  Praise God that we also baptized some on the next day.  On the night of May 3 my heart rejoiced and danced over the fact that souls were won for the Lord.

The ultimate and the only goal of such great risks is to see souls saved and His kingdom extended on this earth.  Praise God for all the people who shouldered responsibilities for this great cause of leading these many children to know Jesus as their Savior.

Prayer

Thank You, Lord, for the bountiful harvest of children during VBS at Mount Zion.  Bless all those who prayed and gave and were personally involved for this cause.  Amen.

Praises & Prayer Needs

• Thank God for those of you who prayed and gave contributions for the mega VBS at Mount Zion.
• Praise God for all the celebrations that brought glory to His name.
• Praise God for meeting the needs wonderfully.
• Thank God the pastors retreat in Chennai went on with blessings.
• Thank God for the roles of Dr. LeeAnn and Dr. Susan during this busy time.
• Pray for the marriage held on May 11 in Thiruthani. The groom and bride are new believers in Christ.
• Pray for the VBS follow up which is being planned.
• Praise God for the great impact made among the villages.
• Praise God for the many, many small and big VBS’s conducted as a  result  of this mega VBS.  Hundreds of villages in India are blessed.   All of  our Bible college, nursing and sewing students took this torch  to their  respective towns and villages.
• Praise God that my coughing which I developed after VBS is getting better. The tests chest X-ray, echo cardiogram and ECG are quite normal.
• Praise the Lord that on May 11 we baptized 6 people in Kannigamapuram.
• Pray for the admissions process in the Bible College, Living Hope  School and Jaya Nursing College.  June is the month of new admissions for the new academic year.
• Persis and her John are with us in Chennai.  Jaya and I enjoy our time with our grand son who is 7 months old.  We are thankful for our many blessings.

Praise God for this new month of May 2012.  Let me share with you from the Word of God what I shared on the 1st morning at 5am at Living Hope.

HE Forgives Me for I Am a Sinner

“…who forgives you all your iniquity…” (Psalm 103:3)  Forgiveness of sins is a great relief and liberation in our soul.  I am no longer guilty of any wrongdoing of the past for He has forgiven me and blotted out all my sins by His blood.

HE Heals Me for I Am Sick

“…who heals all your diseases…” (Psalm 103:3)  One way or another all of us have some ailment or weakness in our earthly bodies.  But we have a great Physician who heals us by His touch.

HE Redeems Me for I Am a Slave

“…who redeems your life from the pit…” (Psalm 103:4)  Unfortunately, we all have some sort of addiction and have become a slave of some habit or to someone or to some idol in our lives.  Praise God for He redeems us from being fettered by His price on Calvary’s tree.

HE Crowns Me for I Am HIS Son

“…who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy…” (Psalm 103:4)  God pours in me unmerited favors.  All His mercies that He showers on me and my family are quite beyond my dreams and expectations. I do not deserve any of His blessings.  I am what I am by His love and grace.

HE Satisfies Me for I Am HIS Student (Follower)

“…who satisfies you with good” (Psalm 103:5)  God causes me to experience contentment for what I am and what I have.  Indeed a contended soul is the happiest soul.  He fills my life by all His goodness.

Prayer

Father, let me thank You from the bottom of my heart for all the goodness and love I experience in my life and ministry.  Amen

Praises & Prayer Needs

• Praise God that we had great services of Sunday school anniversary, graduation of nursing students and graduation of Bible College students.
• The first day of VBS witnessed around 4,000 children and youth. The second day morning we started with 5,200 children. Praise God.
• On 1st May we baptized 11 persons. Praise God.
• Pray for the financial needs of VBS for we still require half of the budgeted expenses.   Praise God for we have promises for the contributors who sent in almost half of the needs.  We are in need of Rs. 4,50,000 or $9,375.  Kindly pray for help for this great ministry of God among children. This is the unique and the largest VBS in the whole of India.  Pray for a great move of the Holy Spirit.  Thank God for Lee Ann and Susan who have been a blessing to all of us and in the ministry.

May 11, 2012

Our VBS concluded on May 5 after five days in which we had the privilege of ministering to 5,200 children and young people on our campus.  Praise God that at this VBS we saw more commitments to Christ than ever before!

Now we are coordinating with pastors and Bible women to do a systematic follow up.  On May 30 we have a meeting with area pastors to devise follow up strategies in the villages.  There are hurdles in this work, including the religious and political extremists who oppose any prayer groups or other discipleship groups being formed.

Please pray that the committed ones will grow in grace and that God will help us find ways to help them.  Also pray for the pastors, Bible women and our Theological students who will be involved in the follow up work.

May 1, 2012

While it is the morning of May 1 here in America, the day is nearly over in India.  “So what,” you say?  Well, the news is that May 1 is the first day of our south India VBS!

About 4,200 came for the opening day, and we are expecting more tomorrow!  Please be in prayer for the children as many of them have never heard the Gospel before.

Our VBS will cost about $15,000.  If you would like to partner with us to share the Gospel and the love of Jesus with the children of south India, click here.

(Psalm 115:12)

This morning I preached on God’s remembrances.  As I contemplated this subject, the Lord blessed my soul.  Here I want to share with you the specific blessings we receive from God’s remembrance of us.

He Blesses Us With His Companionship

Psalm 40:17 says, “I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me; Thou art my help and my deliverer. …”  God says, even a woman may forget her sucking child, yet I will not forget you.  All may forget us, but the Lord remembers, and He is our true companion and help.

He Blesses Us With His Redemption

Numbers 10:9 says, “… you shall be remembered before Jehovah your God. And you shall be saved from your enemies”  Our enemies could be real persons or sickness or financial needs or relationship problems.  But God remembers you to deliver or save you from that situation.

He Blesses Us By Fulfilling Our Desires

Psalm 21:2 says, “You grant him his heart’s desire; You do not refuse his request.”  God’s plan for you is always to prosper you and not to harm you. (Jeremiah 29:11)  Whatever the innermost need or desire of your heart, He will fulfill those because He remembers you.

God said in Isaiah 44:21, “You shall not be forgotten…”   But the same Lord of yours says, “Be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, that place of slavery.”  If we do not forget God, He will always bless us with innumerable blessings with all His remembrances.  Amen.

Prayer

Lord, I praise You because You always think of me and You bless me.  Amen.

Praises & Prayer Needs

• Praise God for the coming two weeks are going to be filled with lots of celebrations and blessings.
• Praise God for health He granted to me and fellowmen.
• Praise God for the students at the orphanage who are writing their annual exams well.
• Praise God for those who were responsible for providing the generators for their uses now are phenomenal.
• PRAY FOR THE FINAINCES NEEDED FOR MEGA VBS PROGRAM WITH 5,000 CHILDREN – SO FAR I HEAR THAT ABOUT ONE FOURTH OF THE NEED HAS BEEN ENLISTED. OUR TOTAL NEED IS ABOUT $19,000  (USA) OR INDIAN RUPEES 8,50,000.  KINDLY PRAY FOR THIS.
• Please pray for the following programs

• April 25 – Retreat for the 35 graduating students
• April 26 – Sunday School Annual day celebrations
• April 27 – Pastors Retreat and Nursing college graduation
• April 28 – Bible College graduation
• April 29 – Ordination service
• April 30 -  VBS teachers preparation
• May 1-5 – VBS
• May 6 -  Village meetings in Chennai
• May 7 – Pastors Retreat

Resurrection Power Turned:

Sorrows into Smiles

Jesus asked Mary  “ Why are you weeping”  (John 20:13) When she opened her eyes and heard Jesus, her sorrows tuned into joy. (John 20:16)

Doubts into Daring Faith

Jesus asked Thomas, “Why do you disbelieve?” (John 20:27)  Once second grace was granted by Jesus to disciple Thomas, he not only believed but he was willing to be sacrificed for the sake of the Gospel.  His tomb and the place where he was killed remain in Chennai as his witnesses of his daring faith.

Fright into Fearlessness

Jesus asked the disciples, “Why are you troubled?” (Luke 24:38) Undoubtedly the disciples were filled with fear of the future, enemies and even the devil.  But Jesus told them to touch His body. (24:39)  If we keep in touch with Him through His Word, prayers and fellowship, we become fearless men and women of God.

The Feeble into the Focused

Jesus asked the disciples, “Do you have any fish?”  Peter and the other disciples went back to their original occupation of fishing. They toiled all through the night, but all their efforts ended in vain.  They wandered away and backslid from the call of Jesus.  At that juncture Jesus had to direct them to prove that His guidance alone can result in fruits. These frail disciples committed themselves wholly to go into all  the world;  make disciples of all nations; baptize them and to teach them to observe all that Jesus has commanded . We are to be focused to “FEED MY LAMBS.”  (John 21:15)

Meditation on the seven sayings of Jesus Christ on the cross from my personal perspectives :-

1. Many times I know not what I do (Luke:23:34) thus may God the Father forgive me.
2. I deserve punishment and judgment thus I need the grace of God to reach paradise (Luke 23:43)
3. I need to honor the elderly and accept the responsibility of caring my parents (John 19:26,27)
4. I too could have been forsaken by kith and kin, but the best place for us to run to take refuge is God and God alone (Mat 27:46)
5. I thirst for many things in life; the Lord can alone can quench the thirst of mine and as well others. (John 19:28)
6. I do not require to do anything for my salvation for it was a completed task by Christ on the cross (John 19:30)
7. Finally I must be ever ready to commit my spirit into the hands of God at any time. (Luke 23:46)

Praises & Prayer Needs

• I suffered from Vertigo (BPPV) for about a month. Now I am doing much better. Thanks for prayers.
• Our grandson John Caleb (5 months old) was hospitalized for a week for vomiting and diarrhea.  Last Friday he was discharged and now is doing well in Trichy. Jaya is with them.
• Pray for 16 Home children writing their 10th grade public exams.
• Swine Flu is spreading around so please pray for our children not to be afflicted.
• We will have VBS from May 1-5 at Mount Zion. We target bringing in over 5,000 children.  We need about 700,000 Indian rupees ($15,500) to take care of transportation, books, food, programs and accommodation.  We need this money urgently. Kindly pray and become involved.
• We had 16 baptisms, and it was fantastic to listen to the testimonies of nursing college students and our home children who have been baptized.
• Pray for the following programs :  April 26, 27 Spiritual Retreat;  April 27 evening Nursing College Graduation;  April 28 Bible College Graduation; April 29 Ordination & May 1-5 VBS.

On the 4th of this month at about 11.30 pm when I retired to bed, I had the most unusual experience of the whole world spinning around.  I was also falling down with lots of fluid vomiting. And it continued the next day too.  Of course for the past fifteen days I went through real dizziness.  I thank God that most of you prayed for me, and I want to thank those who personally wrote me inquiring of my health.  I must honestly confess it was a time of temporary sorrow and grief.

In the midst of this experience I realized that our loving God and Lord has borne our grief and sorrows. This realization was encouraging.  Let me share with you what griefs can do if they are not brought under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.:

Sorrows May Tear You Down

In Luke 12:22 we read, “Do not worry about your life…” The original meaning of the word used for worry means that which makes you torn apart.  Grief can cause our minds to be split and scattered.  But Praise God that JESUS CHRIST HAS BORNE ALL OUR SORROWS.

Sorrows May Tease You Down

In Luke 12:25 we read, “And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”   Worries can deceive us by saying that by worrying you can be better off. But in fact worry will not bring anything good but rather it can  worsen the situation.

Sorrows May Throttle You Down

Luke 12:29 says, “….do not keep worrying.”  Being anxious saps our energy and also causes our normal work to get stuck.  But praise God that our Lord Jesus Christ has borne all our sorrows.

The truth is that sorrows do strike us.  The Bible says in Luke 12:30 that the pagan or worldly people keep sorrowing and dwelling in worries. But we who are saved by His grace know that our FATHER IN HEAVEN KNOWS ALL OUR NEEDS (12:30); WE MUST SEEK THE KINGDOM PURPOSES(12:31) AND WE MUST KEEP BUILDING OUR TREASURES IN HEAVEN BY HELPING THE POOREST IN THE WORLD.  Once again thank you for your prayers and inquires.  I am doing much better.  I was able to give television messages last evening, and I start traveling today. PRAISE GOD.

Your Brother in Christ,
Ghuna Kumar

Praises & Prayer Needs

• Thank God for the amount of health restored in me.  Kindly continue to pray for my complete recovery.
• Praise God for our three girls did their 12th grade exams well.
• Pray for the pastors retreats today in Chennai and the 26th-27th at Mount Zion.
• Pray for the annual day of celebrations for our Primary School to be held on the 23rd.
• Pray for the Spiritual Life Conference to be held on the 25th and 26th of April.
• Pray for the nursing school graduation to be held on 27th April.
• Pray for the Bible College graduation the 28th and ordination service on  the 29th of April.
• Please pray for the our VBS with 5,000 children to be held from 1st to 4th of May.  We need about 600,000 Indian rupees.  Kindly consider helping this ministry to Indian kids by becoming prayer and contributing partners.

“Sometimes I am really overwhelmed with emotion when I think about how I get to help two young people by sponsorship.

Our Lord fulfills all His promises He made for us.  I want to share with you wht He fulfills.

He Fulfills All He Planned for Me

“For He performs [that which He has] planned for me, and of many such matters He is mindful.” (Job 23:14).  God Has chosen us even before the creation of this world. (Ephesians 1:4). God planned all His strategy to be fulfilled in and through our lives.  Praise God for what He has been fulfilling in our lives.

He Fulfills the Desires of Our Hearts

“May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your purposes.” (Psalm 20:4) God knows the innermost thoughts and resolutions of our lives.  All the longings that go with the will and pleasures of God in building His kingdom on this earth will be fulfilled for His glory.

He Fulfills Our Petitions

” Then Eli said, Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.” (1 Samuel 1:17)  He knows our needs and pleas.  He looks into all our supplications and prayers.  He fulfils them in His own time and way.  Praise God

I have a map of India on the wall in my office, and I’d love to have 50 rupees for every time someone walks in and says, “I didn’t know India was next to Pakistan or so close to Afghanistan or China…” or whatever.

So I thought a short geography lesson might help us and inspire us as we pray for India today.  As you can see from the map on the right, India is bordered on the west by Pakistan which was partitioned from India in 1947, just prior to India’s independence from Great Britain.

In the extreme northwest in the disputed area of Kashmir, there is also a short border with Afghanistan.  In the North in the Himalayan Mountains, India shares a border with China, Bhutan and Nepal.  The borders of the latter two nations mark a narrow corridor where India is connected to its seven northeastern states.  There you also see India’s wrap-around border with Bangladesh and its far eastern border with Burma (Myanmar).

These borders represent more political history and present-day struggles than we can address here, but needless to say, this part of the world can be volatile.  Let’s pray for peace in and around India and for our brothers and sisters in Christ there.

Our dear heavenly Father, we lift up the nation of India to You today and ask that You would bless and protect India and her people.  We pray that peace would prevail in and around India so that Your Word may go out into all the nations in that part of the world.

We pray for those who are proclaiming the Gospel throughout India that they would be welcomed in the unreached villages and urban areas.  We ask that as they scatter the Seed of Your Word that You would prepare good, fertile soil in the hearts of those who are seeking after Truth.  We pray that nothing would hinder those who are trying to find their way out of darkness into the Light of Your love and grace.

May the Prince of Peace rule in the hearts of the people of India, and may India become a Light to the nations around her.

In the precious Name of Jesus our Lord we pray.  Amen.

“May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth.  May the peoples praise You, God; may all the peoples praise You!”
(Psalm 67:4,5)

We wish you a blessed and glorious New Year!

The following are the promises of God we want to share with you for the year 2012.

God Is Our Salvation

He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him (Jesus).” Hebrews 7:25  God will save us from sin, satan and sickness in 2012.  Let us keep ourselves close to His presence through prayer, reading of His Word, Godly fellowship and witnessing to His name.

God Is Our Strength

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) Let us claim His strength in every thing we will attempt in 2012.  His strength will perfect  and fulfill all His purposes in our lives and ministry.

God Is Our Safeguard

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)  Let us not worry or weep over anything for He guards us and He will take care of us for, “He who touches you touches the apple of His eye.” (Zechariah 2:8)

God Is Our Supplier

“But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)  God knows our needs whether it be personal or in family or in ministry. Our great and good Shepherd will see to it that we lack nothing in 2012.

Prayer

Father we thank you for being my SALVATION, STRENGTH, SAFEGUARD AND SUPPLIER.  Amen.

Praises & Prayer Needs

• Praise God for the wonderful celebrations we had during Christmas and on the 1st day of the New Year.
• Praise God that the planned persecution in Orissa got thwarted.
• Our Gospel team preached the Gospel in 86 locations covering 42 villages in the Andhra/Tamilnadu border area from December 22-30.  Hundreds of children and adults were saved.  Praise God.  Pray for the follow up with these new believers.
• Praise God for Jaya and I spoke God’s words at Mount Zion at the 31st Watch Night worship.
• Pray for those who have been affected badly in Cuddalore District of Tamilnadu by the cyclone namely THANE. The losses are phenomenal.
• Our family nest has been emptied once more when we had to leave Persis and their son John in their home at Trichy with Setphen.  Pray for Persis and the baby for they need to improve in health.  Prayer is needed for Jaya as she goes through these changes.