Stotram everyone!!!
Hope this letter finds you all well. Sorry we are a bit behind with the update, things have been very hectic this side. I'm writing to you between doing my book reports, chapel talks, sermons on characters of God, lectures, journal and still trying to be quiet so that I can hear God’s voice...
The Lord is overwhelming me with His love for me, more each day. He is moving mountains this side, mountains of hurt, mountains of unbelief, mountains of pride, mountains of disunity, mountains of insecurities. I can see how He has taken this man-made, sin filled landscape (which was intended to be His dwelling place) and is stripping it down to an empty desert, so that He can make it beautiful again, by putting the mountains and the valleys exactly where He wants them to be. Praise The Lord for His grace. Less of me Lord, and more of You!
Two weeks ago we had a speaker from USA (originally Nigeria) Pastor Ade Ajala come and speak to us on spiritual warfare. During that week we learnt and witnessed so much of God, it was amazing! Through Ps Ade, The Lord really showed us how much power we, as children of God, inherit from our Father. The war is on, even though The Lord has won it for us, the enemy is still reigning on earth. We all know that Jesus is ‘The Light’ and without light there is darkness. This is the definition of darkness...where there is no light. It is so simple, we need to take The Light to where it is dark, and the darkness will flee.
Dr Ade Ajala and the wall hanging we made in SA to sow at the appropriate time in India
Since I have been in India I have really felt the spiritual warfare, I have seen “objects” in my room, when walking down a street or past a certain house you all of a sudden feel uneasy, your hairs stand up...this is the presence of the enemy. Before I understood how much power I have as a child of God, I use to fear the enemy. When there was something in the room my heart use to race, once I even put my head under the blanket. I think back now, and I think what a cheek the enemy had coming into the presence of The Lord. Did you know that we carry The Lord’s presence with us wherever we go? He is in us, He surrounds us, He is with us 24/7. Praise The Lord the enemy has realised he is fighting a lost battle when he tries to intimidate me.
The last day of that week’s lecture we had an amazing time with The Lord, we felt His presence and Holy Spirit like never before. Jared and I went for a walk that evening, whilst passing a certain house we could feel the bondage, the strongholds within that place, the enemy was at work big time there, without fearing we prayed over that household (Jared stood in the middle of the street with cars driving around him, hands stretched out towards that house...I kept thinking he is making a ‘scene’, but you know what, not one person even looked at him, it was literally like he was in another world, The Lord was truly at work!). Praise The Lord for His abundant provision!
Another idol worshipped in a temple courtyard
Last week our lecturer was Chandra Mohan (our DTS leader) he spoke to us on submission and authority. I thought that I knew this topic pretty well, and obeyed it very well.... well, I was wrong! God is the supreme authority, right? But what I did not realise is that The Lord made authority, He made all positions of authority, and He uses them to mould us, to mould our characters. So when we don’t submit to an authority figure we are actually not submitting to God. The Lord, The Word, and our conscience are 3 things we should never go against, so if an authority figure is asking you to do this, then you must seriously take it to The Lord on how to deal with it.
The one worship session this week my feet were starting to ache and swell (due to the pregnancy), so I decided to sit down with my feet stretched out in front of me, to try relieve the discomfort. But this was not working. So I took my bible (with thick leather zip book case) and place it under my ankles to try elevate my feet, to reduce swelling... well this was not a good idea... Immediately the leader came to me and asked me not to do that, so I asked Him why, and He explained that it was very offensive to the culture to do this. (You see in South Africa we don’t value the bible itself – the actual pages, because The Word of God is written on our hearts, but here in India The Bible is regarded as sacred in the same way Muslims regard the Koran as sacred. So letting your feet or legs touch your bible is dishonouring God – in their eyes – I did not know this!) Through this experience I recognised that I did not like to be told that I was wrong especially because I always try so hard to not be in the wrong. I was really upset. I went to The Lord about it and He showed me that it was still my pride getting in the way (one of the mountains), I thought that The Lord had dealt with my pride, I thought it was gone, I had handed it over to Him? But then The Lord revealed that it is an on going process. We constantly have to recognise when we are being proud in a situation and take it to The Lord, which will humble you and break that pride within. It’s so frustrating to think something is dealt with and then it rears its ugly head again. But I suppose the more we deal with it the better we get at recognising it, therefore it gets easier to expel and in time no longer rears its ugly head.
Asking the gods for protection for a new bike
So this week has been really interesting. One thing that I love about this culture is how they are so hospitable, so sharing, what’s mine is yours etc... however there can be draw backs to that as well J On Sunday evening one of the staff members (suffering from stomach bug) innocently had a sip of water from my bottle...Monday I woke up with a terrible stomach bug – well this bug kicked my butt for a while, I was really weak and nauseous, so to be safe Jared took me to the doctor. Baby was all good and healthy. Doctor gave me meds and electrolytes and said that by evening I should be better. I took some meds, started feeling a bit better and slept for the rest of the day. However, that evening I started to feel ill again...
Now let me give you an idea of my understanding at the time – The Lord heals right? He can heal with the power of one word. But sometimes He doesn’t heal because He has other intentions. So I rationalised that if The Lord wanted to heal me He would. The Lord wanted to teach me otherwise. Instead of me relinquishing my ideas/thoughts about the situation and just asking The Lord from the bottom of my heart to heal me, I tried to stay in control and rationalise that “if it’s His will, then so be it”. But The Lord doesn’t want this, He wants us to come to Him, Our Father, and ask for healing, ask for the desires of our heart, speak to Him, have a close intimate relationship with Him. This is why He created us, not to have some puppets to entertain himself with, but to love us and have us choose to love Him.
In any relationship the key factor in making it work is Communication, without communication there is no relationship. Communication = someone speaks whilst the other listens, then the other speaks whilst the first person listens. This is what Our Father wants from us, He wants us to speak to Him, no issue is too small, but at the same time, He wants us to give Him a chance to speak back to us. Not just “I need this, I need that, I pray for that person, In Jesus Name Amen” He is probably sitting up there saying “Wait, Wait, Wait, don’t you want to hear what I have to say?”. I can’t imagine neglecting Him like that and I did it everyday until a few days ago (2 days to be exact). It hurts my heart thinking that all our amazing Creator, Lord of all Lords and King of all Kings wants, is for us to want to spend quality time with Him and sit quietly at His feet to hear what He has to say. Since I have started waiting upon The Lord to hear what He has to say, He has poured out His love upon me, literally in 2 days He has sent 3 people to pray for me, speaking directly into my heart and one person wrapped me in a blue flag – which represents God’s love and His arms wrapped around me – I was so overwhelmed, I could feel His love and arms around me, I just wept whilst He held me.
I just want to encourage everyone to give something back to The Lord, to ask Him if He has anything to say, even if you just sit silently in His presence, He honours that, He appreciates that, and you will feel His love pour out on you more and more.
Jared writes: 'Sanchia thinking she is now ok with autos just before realising that our driver today is a distant cousin of Evil Kenivil'
Thanks you to everyone that is praying and that prayed for me whilst I was sick. Once I realised I was trying to stay in control and handed everything over to The Lord, and asked for healing from the bottom of my heart, I woke up the next morning absolutely healed. Praise The Lord!!!
I pray you all have a blessed week with The Lord!
Love Sanchia
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