August 2018

 Namaskar,                                                                                                

            I have just returned from another trip to India with e3 Partners. Over 900 people heard the gospel through this coalition. Over 500 have professed faith in Christ. Over 400 were trained to share their faith. Over 300 had follow up visits for discipleship. 52 groups had 3/3rds bible studies…33 of those groups met at least 2 or 3 times. We pray that these groups will become house churches and that the good news of Christ continues to spread throughout this region! God had prepared these villages to receive Him. The nationals had been prayer-walking months before we came and we had been praying that God would go before us. He did!

            Thank you for praying with us! Please continue to pray for the nationals who will continue discipling these new believers, pray for the new believers to grow in their relationship with God and to be bold in sharing Christ with others. Also, please pray that God will raise up more laborers who are willing to “go!”

I have so much I’d like to share, but that’s not possible in one letter. I will share a few stories though:

            “Thank you for bringing God to us.” These are the words of one of the men we were able to share with. He and his very large family have now joined our spiritual family. Romans 10:17 says, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”  How surreal it is to join in God’s work of reaching the lost in India. This treasure that is ours in Christ is foreign to them until they hear.

Try to imagine a world/a reality where you are constantly making sacrifices to idols and gods without number. With no assurance of hope, you’re clinging to each man-made object or bringing sacrifices to their altars desperate for hope. This is all you’ve ever known.

            Then one day, someone tells you a story…nothing like you’ve heard before. It’s the story of the Most High God. You learn that there is only one God, rather than millions of lifeless gods. You learn that He created everything, including you, who He made in His own image. You were made for a relationship with this Most High God.  You are told about sin and how it entered the world and how each and every one has sinned ever since. You know that this sin separates you from the Most High God and that there’s nothing anyone can do to earn their way back to God…no amount of sacrifices can do it. I’m sure you can understand this part of the story. You can feel it after years of pouring your hopes and prayers on hopeless altars. What then can be done?

            Your ears perk up when you’re told that this Most High God sent His only Son, Jesus. There’s something about that name, Jesus. You don’t know why, but it feels as if the world stands still at the mention of that name. You learn of the miracles He did while on earth and that He did them because He loves us and wants us to come back to God. You are told how the religious leaders arrested Him, put Him on trial, and how He was crucified. You learn that it was the will of the Most High God that Jesus would take our place. Jesus alone never sinned…only His sacrifice could pay the penalty of all sin for all time. How strange it probably seems that the King of all Kings would sacrifice His glorious life in place of yours…especially in a culture where different castes don’t even associate with each other. And how wonderful it is to hear that He rose from the dead and lives again with God in Heaven. You have just been handed life by the nail pierced hands of Christ and you now know that it is through His sacrifice alone that you can come back to God in that perfect relationship that God created us for. When you stand before the Most High God, He sees His perfect Son and is well pleased. And now you know that every need that you have ever taken to one of those thousands upon thousands of gods is met in Him alone.

            What treasure we have to share. This man who thanked us for bringing God to them, along with his brother, decided to join the coalition in reaching this particular area for Christ! Isn’t that the way it should be? When we receive such a gift to immediately want to share it. When our eyes are opened to see the living God to want to make Him known in all the earth. He alone is God and He alone is worthy of all worship: “No other king could break the dominion of darkness, the tyranny of evil with a reign of grace and a kingdom of peace. No other king could give His life for the redemption of rebels, His wealth to welcome the outcast. Jesus is that King: the King of glory, Son of the Living God. Not just another king, not just another prophet, not just another teacher. He was the One the world had been waiting for, the One to deliver us from captivity…He is the Father’s Son, Savior of the world, and substitute for our sins; more loving, more Holy, and more wonderfully terrifying than we ever thought possible. He is our Jesus and there is no other king like Him. He is our God, our glory, our victorious Savior. There is no other king like Him. There is no other king” (No Other King, Dan Stevers).

            This is one of the most beautiful photos to me. This home is where I spent most of my time in the villages. These women and their children are studying God’s Word. Most of the men are working when we go into the villages. However, we have the opportunity to share Christ with the women and their children and to pour into them as we teach them to share their new faith, to study God’s Word, and how to pray. The second day we showed up, we asked whom they had shared with. Many of the women had shared with their husbands and by the end of the week we were able to meet their husbands and to pray over their families.

            This photo is where I spent a lot of my time in the villages as well. It was such a blessing to watch these young boys participate in the 3/3rds bible studies and to practice sharing the Creation to Christ story. My hope and prayer is that they continue to grow in their faith and to raise their future families to serve and worship Christ alone. That God will use these young boys in mighty ways for His glory.

            This last photo was the group that faithfully met each day we came. I felt the Spirit in this home, among these women. On the last day, we took time to pray over many of them. The lady who had gathered everyone together that first day knelt down and asked to be filled more with the Holy Spirit. I felt the Spirit so strong that I almost couldn’t speak to pray. As I started to pray, she fell to the ground and started sobbing. How can God refuse such a prayer? I believe that He filled her more that day and will continue to as she faithfully serves Him.

            Deciding whether or not to join this last trip to India was very difficult for me. I didn’t have the clear “call” that I had before and the thought of leaving the kids again without the clear call terrified me. However, there was a clear need for more laborers. So, I laid it before God and asked for the peace I would need to go if it’s what He wanted. After much angst, God gave me enough peace to go forward. I don’t think I’m alone in wanting a clear sign from God…especially when it’s hard. But, I do know that it is His will for all nations and all peoples to know Him and to worship Him only. He is clear in scripture that we are to “go!” Obviously, not on every trip, but nevertheless, we are called to go.  I pray that God will help me to always be willing to follow Him. It’s not easy to die to yourself, but there’s nothing that can compare to seeing God’s strength in the midst of your life in ways that you could have never imagined. There’s nothing like being a warrior in His army, fitted with the armor of all His promises to us in Christ. Knowing that it is “not by might or power,” but by the Spirit of the Lord Almighty (Zechariah 4:6). May we all be willing to lay everything at His feet…for His glory in all the earth.

Love,

Tabitha

“I stood still, wondered, and admired! I knew that I never had seen before anything comparable to it for excellency and beauty…my soul rejoiced with joy unspeakable, to see such a God, such a glorious Divine Being; and I was inwardly pleased and satisfied that He should be God over all for ever and ever…I wondered that all the word did not see and comply with this way of salvation, entirely by the righteousness of Christ.” –Life and Diary of David Brainerd

What a treasure we have to share.