This is a summary of the message from the August 2020 fasting and prayer weekend led by Pastor Praveen and held at our church. We had four sessions, Friday morning and evening (posted here) and Saturday morning and evening. During our fasting and prayer sessions, it is usual for the Holy Spirit to speak to us through Pastor Praveen.

Introductory Remarks – God’s Faithfulness to His Children

Pastor Praveen told about a recent disaster that helps to remind us of God’s protection over His children. He told of a flight that landed in Kerala, India carrying Indian people back from the Gulf. Their relatives were excitedly awaiting them at the airport. However, the landing was tragic. The runway was slick from a recent rain and the plane skidded 30 feet and slammed into a wall at the end of the runway.  The pilots and everyone in first class and business class were killed and the plane broke into two pieces. In light of this disaster, Pastor Praveen was reminded about God’s faithfulness in keeping him safe through so many take offs and landings over the many years he has been travelling.

Praise and Worship

Following a time of worship, Pastor Praveen said that we have a heavenly citizenship, but we must ask God to cleanse us each day. We have a heavenly passport, but we must pass through “TSA.” Our heart must be right before God. We cannot keep anything in our hearts that does not belong there.

Pastor Praveen’s Message – Rejection in the Christian Life

Stephen – Full of Faith and the Holy Spirit

Pastor Praveen spoke from Acts 6 about Stephen. The bible says of Stephen, “They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 6:5). The bible mentions only two men as full of faith and the Holy Spirit. One is Stephen and the other is Barnabas. About Stephen it also says, “Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.” (Acts 6:8). This is the key – to have God’s grace in our lives. Otherwise we cannot do anything.

Opposition arose against Stephen among the people. Why? Because they did not want to see or hear about Jesus Christ. They didn’t want to see signs and wonders in His name. They rejected Stephen because the living Cornerstone was in him. The people also brought false testimony against him, saying that he spoke against God and Moses. This was more than enough to kill him.

They had done the same to Jesus, the Cornerstone. They said, “Who is He? He is the son of a carpenter.” (Matthew 13:55). They did not want to hear anything from Him. But He was the Great Carpenter who created the world by His word. When Jesus stood before the people of Nazareth, He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.” (Luke 4:18). The people of Nazareth understood Him to mean that the scriptures were about Him. So they rejected Jesus and they tried to throw Him off the edge of a cliff to kill Him.

This same thing is still happening all over the world. Even in the spiritual world, Christians are bringing false testimony against one another. God uses people in different ways, and this creates jealousy in the church, even among the teachers. 

When Stephen’s accusers looked at him, they saw that his face was like the face of an angel (Acts 6:15). If your heart is innocent, this world will accuse you, put you down, and bring false testimony against you – because the living stone is in you. People can see how God is in you, blessing you, and using you, and they cannot tolerate it. 

Pastor Praveen asked, “How many of you have that spirit of rejection in your life?” Rejection is very hard, especially when your own family and close friends reject you. Pastor Praveen went through this depth of pain and is still going through it. Why? Because the Cornerstone is in him. People don’t want to see the miracles God does through Pastor Praveen, so they reject him. It is easy to understand why the world rejects God’s children, but when the spiritual world also rejects, it is more difficult.

Personal Testimony from Pastor Praveen

Pastor Praveen shared about his early ministry, right after returning to India from Saudi Arabia. As a young man living in the Gulf states, Pastor Praveen received a job with a company where he became a manager with 1,400 people under him. Yet, when he was preparing to return to India, he asked his sister to find a low caste, financially poor pastor in his hometown whom he could work with. She arranged for him to meet such a pastor. He was a bus driver who had been a pastoring a church for the past 15 or 16 years. He had a small, unfinished church building and only 9 people in his congregation, including his wife and himself. 

In faith, Pastor Praveen began working with the pastor and also spent his own money in support of the ministry. One Sunday, he told the congregation that he would fast and pray for one week for the church and then bring food to share the following Sunday. He asked if anyone would like to join him in the fast, even for one day. However, no one wanted to participate, so he fasted alone. 

One the first day of the fast, the devil came to Pastor Praveen in a vision and tried to talk him out of fasting. Because of the power of Pastor Praveen’s anointing, the devil tried to act friendly and compromise with him. The devil asked Pastor Praveen, “Why are you fasting and praying for them? They belong to me. I am not doing anything against you.” Pastor Praveen rebuked the devil and watched as it disintegrated into hundreds of bird-like spirits that flew away together.

Pastor Praveen knew that only 9 people attended the church. But by faith, the next Sunday he showed up with 40 plates and enough food for 40 people. Pastor Praveen still doesn’t know where all the people came from. Instead of the usual 9 people in attendance, there were 44. He remembers the number, because they used his 40 plates and had to bring 4 more from the pastor’s house. After that, the church began to grow. Every week, there were healings, deliverance, and prophecies. For example, the Holy Spirit once warned of a tsunami that hit the coast one week later. 

By the power of God, fear filled the area and the Hindus were afraid to interfere. There were Hindu youth in the area who routinely harassed Christian churches. But their parents were now attending the church and were receiving salvation and healing. They were fearful for their children and warned them, “Don’t do anything against him.” The Hindu people in the area began to honor Pastor Praveen.

Each Sunday, the church pastor and Pastor Praveen would each preach for half an hour. God uses everybody. We need to respect, encourage, and love one another. No one is higher or lower in importance. But there are different levels of anointing. When Pastor Praveen would preach, whoever was sitting in the front rows, would experience something like an electric shock and they were filled with the Spirit and started speaking in tongues. The pastor’s wife, seeing all this, made up a story. She said she had a dream that her husband would lose his ministry because of Pastor Praveen. After that, the pastor began to speak against Pastor Praveen, even making indirect innuendos against him from the pulpit. 

Pastor Praveen asked God what he should do. God opened another door – Pastor Praveen left that church and started a successful church planting ministry. God turned the situation for good – to great blessing for Pastor Praveen’s ministry. If he hadn’t been rejected, he would not have left to start the new ministry. Now that church is back to having 9 people. They lost all of the new members.

When you experience rejection in your spiritual life, among your family and friends, don’t harbor hard feelings against those who reject you. Love them and pray for them. Praise God. He has purpose in your life and wants to use you mightily. Remember, when God took John to Patmos, it was because He wanted to give him the book of Revelation for this world. 

Stephen – Full of Faith and the Holy Spirit – Continued

Pastor Praveen continued his message about Stephen. He reminded us that the people rose against Stephen because he performed great signs and wonders. When God blesses you and honors you in your life, don’t expect everyone to respect you. There will be someone to reject you. But the one who called you, anointed you, and gave you the opportunity is mighty to protect everything. He will honor you among them and lift up your head because He is a faithful God. 

When they stoned Stephen, he said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” (Acts 7:59-60). We need that kind of character. This world will not honor but will hate you because the Lord, the Savior, is in you. But when you kneel down and pray to God, He will open the heavens for you, your family, community, city, and church. The one who called you is faithful. Wherever you are facing rejection – Praise God. Without rejection, you cannot grow spiritually. You are not alone in the fire. God is helping you to grow. Forget the rejection and go forward. 

If you are facing rejection, God is going to promote you – spiritually, physically, mentally, financially – because the Cornerstone is in you. The wind and the waves will never hit you. The wind will say to the wave, “Go, hit him, I will push you.” The foolish wave will say, “OK, I will go.” The wave will try to cover the stone, but will see that no matter what, the stone is still there. Then the wave will say to the wind, “Don’t try to ask me to go again. I will not touch him because he is on the rock.” God is our rock, refuge, and fortress. He is our Good Shepherd.

This past year has held a lot of suffering for Pastor Praveen – beyond imagining. Only by God’s grace did he get through it. His heart was broken. But each day he was rejoicing in the presence of God. 

Stephen was full of faith and the Holy Spirit. He was an innocent man – but they stoned him. The heavens opened over His cry. We need to cry out to the Lord. He will open the heavens for us. He has no favoritism. He loves everybody. The heavens are ready to open to us all the time.

Crying to the Lord

Pastor Praveen explained about the importance of crying to the Lord. He told us that four years ago, a woman he knew in Virginia asked him, “How can we cry to the Lord? You are always crying to God.” This woman was a professor from Bombay who was now living with her family in Virginia. Pastor Praveen had baptized her and her husband. Pastor Praveen told her just to remember whatever God has done in her life and cry to God with a grateful heart. She told him she had thought of these things but didn’t remember anything to make her cry. This is because she had come from a background of luxury. 

After this, she developed a serious condition. Both of her kidneys stopped working and she needed a transplant. She was only 53 years old. Her husband decided to donate one of his kidneys to her. This couple was very dear to Pastor Praveen in Christ, but when the time came for the surgery, God told Pastor Praveen not to go to the hospital. The couple asked him to come and expected that he would, but in obedience to God he stayed home with his wife. 

On the fourth day after the surgery, the woman’s husband called Pastor Praveen. The transplanted kidney was not functioning. Pastor Praveen’s heart was broken and he did not understand why God told him still to stay at home. However, he prayed for her over the phone and the Holy Spirit clearly spoke that the kidney would start working on the seventh day after the surgery. On the morning of the seventh day, Pastor Praveen went with his wife to the hospital. Now the woman and her husband were crying. They tearfully told Pastor Praveen that just as he had prophesied, the kidney had begun to work that morning. 

The doctor who performed the transplant also came to her room that day for the first time. Earlier, only his assistants had come. Now, he showed up in person because he heard the kidney had begun working and he was amazed. The woman introduced Pastor Praveen to the doctor – and cried again. The point is, we must cry to the Lord. We must understand the way God is leading us, keeping us under His wings, defending us. Many people have no food, shelter, or clothes. Because of His grace He is providing us with everything. Remember these things, praise Him, and cry to the Lord.