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They Delight in the Lord

They Delight in the Lord

Last updated on: October 15, 2018 at 5:45 am by GFA Staff Writer

They Delight in the Lord 2018-10-15T05:45:50+00:00 GFA Staff Writer

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GFA-supported workers in Asia are living examples of the truth of Psalm 37:4 everywhere they go: “Delight in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” It is a well-known verse for many believers, but it is not necessarily commonly experienced to the extent that we see it in GFA-supported national workers.

Delight in the Lord: Take Pastor Navashen

When he arrived in the village where the Lord had called him to minister, no one knew anything about him. But he became well known rather quickly because of his habit of going around the village singing songs about Jesus. Until Pastor Navashen started singing about Jesus in the streets, no one had known anything about Christ either.

Soon after Pastor Navashen arrived, he established a tuition center for the local children. They had heard his happy voice in the streets, and they wanted to learn the songs.

Pastor Navashen had come to the village with the desire to share the love of Jesus with people who had never heard about Him and who did not know about the joy in knowing Him.

As Pastor Navashen delighted in the Lord, he watched the promise of Psalm 37:4 unfold in the village. In fact, it was his delight in the Lord that drew the people to inquire about Jesus.

First, the children learned the songs. Then they shared them with their parents at home. Unbeknownst to the children, their parents needed that same joy in their hearts. That desire led to the formation of a Bible study where they inquired about this Jesus and the incredible love he offers.

That study led to a Sunday ministry and invitations into the homes of the local families where the “Singing Pastor” would pray for the Lord to give them the desires of their hearts.

His desire was to share the love of Jesus with the villagers. His delight in the Lord was the very thing that attracted them to Jesus. In his inexplicable and glorious way, the desire of their hearts was to learn more about Jesus.

Delight in the Lord: Then there is Pastor Sal

Pastor Sal loved the Lord and the people of his village so much that he would wake early and pray every morning “that the Lord would open a way for him to share Christ’s love with the people in his village.” That was the desire of his heart.

Making his desire seemingly impossible to achieve was the fact that the local leaders had ordained a strict rule that anyone who embraced the message of Jesus and His love would be banned from the village.

So Pastor Sal prayed and offered his life in service to his neighbors. They appreciated his kindness, but they were bewildered by the fact that he did not participate in the vices common among the local men. His only apparent vice was that he keep reading this same book over and over again. In fact, he delighted in reading it.

People can stay curious about someone like that for only so long. Eventually, the village leader could not resist asking what made Pastor Sal so different.

“Once I was like you,” Pastor Sal replied. “But when I received my God, I gave up every unwanted thing and started living a new life in Him. When I read the Word of God, it helps me to grow closer to Him. The more I read, the more I understand the sweetness of His Word.”

Before long the leader came to know the goodness of Christ. Others followed. Once again the Lord proved himself by keeping his promise to give Pastor Sal the desires of his heart as more and more villagers came to learn about Jesus and His life-changing love.

Do you DELIGHT in the Lord? What is the DESIRE of your heart?

When we delight in the Lord, our desires become like His. When we forsake our own desires for His, He will gladly keep His promise to grant our desires and, to our amazement, He will increase our delight.

Learn how the Lord can use you to encourage and support a local worker in Asia as they serve the Lord with delight and share the love of Jesus.

To learn more about the National Missionaries, visit this page on the GFA website.

To read more posts on Patheos on National Missionaries, go here.

Click here, to read more blogs on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Go here to know more about Gospel for Asia: Youtube | Twitter | GFA Reports | GFA.net

Sources:

Gospel for Asia, The Singing Pastor
Gospel for Asia, One Missionary’s Powerful Example

Image Source: Gospel for Asia, Photo of the Day

National Missions

Dr KP Yohannan

GFA

GFA-Supported Workers

Gospel for Asia

KP Yohannan

National Missionaries

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