FORGIVENESS

At last Sunday’s service, Pastor Robin preached on the topic of forgiveness. He related the story of Maria Goretti who was stabbed 14 times by her neighbor Alexandro because she resisted his attempts to rape her. As she was dying, she heroically forgave him his sin. Pastor Robin also narrated the more recent case in India, when Gladys Staines who, in the Name of Jesus, forgave the murderers of her missionary husband Pastor Graham and her two small sons who were burnt to death.
Jesus taught us to forgive those who hurt us, as we expect God our Father to forgive us our own sins. There are many illnesses that attack us and persist, in spite of medication. Unforgiveness in our hearts creates poisonous fluids in our bodies that cause it to malfunction. Even before praying for healing, it is necessary to prepare the body by removing the blocks of unforgiveness. There are many known cases of people whose illnesses, aches and pains got healed the moment they forgave someone who had deeply hurt them.
Unforgiveness is also a sin against God. If we should die in such a state, we can never enter the presence of God and will have to spend an eternity of suffering in Hell.
At the end of the preaching, Pastor Robin asked if people would like to come forward and publicly forgive someone who had hurt them. Almost everyone in the congregation came forward. Some people gave instant testimonies of experiencing heavy burdens being lifted and pains disappearing. Pastor Robin said that he expects many more such testimonies at the next service. Praise the Lord!

A Report by Dagmar Lopes

ONLY YOU LORD!

I was the biggest sinner on earth
And cursed the day of my birth!
Yet you came and set me free,
By destroying sin on Calvary!
I nail my flesh to the cross on which you died,
And live in the Spirit as in you I abide.
I have no more desire for this sinful world,
And greed for nothing except your Word!
As you wash me now with your holy blood,
Streams of love fill my heart like a flood!

By Pastor Robin Almeida

TESTIMONY

SUNITA JADHAV
My husband and I had been married for seven years, but our great desire to have a child had not been fulfilled. A friend invited me to Pastor Robin Almeida’s Prayer Service saying that there, many prayer requests are answered and many miracles have taken place. There I came to know about Jesus for the first time. I began to believe in Him and put my trust in Him. Hardly three weeks later, I became pregnant and gave this joyful testimony at the prayer service. I continued to attend the weekly services, from time to time being prayed over for a normal pregnancy and safe delivery. We now have a healthy, six month old baby! Thank you Jesus!

TESTIMONY

ALBERT SEQUEIRA
I was in a hospital in Mangalore, suffering from a kidney disorder. The urine content in my kidney had reached 350 ml and I had to have immediate dialysis. I phoned Pastor Robin that night and he prayed for me. The next morning, the ultra sound test showed that the urine content had reduced to 8 ml and hence no dialysis was required! I was discharged the next day. Praise the Lord! But due to diabetes, my legs were badly affected and I could not walk without support. I phoned Pastor Robin again and he prayed for me. That night, as I lay in bed, I felt someone touch my legs, but could see no one. The next morning I found that my legs were strong and I could walk without support! Everyone who saw me was amazed.
I came to Mumbai to give my testimony at Pastor Robin’s prayer service. While traveling from Mangalore to Mumbai, I had no pain at all and no problem whatsoever. I praise and thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

GOD'S WONDERFUL PLANS FOR YOU

The creation story of the Bible tells us that God created everything by His Word, i.e. by just commanding them into existence: the earth, sea, sky, animals, birds, plants. But when God created human beings, he formed them. He created human beings, male and female, in His own image. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Verse 7 says, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” How special you are to God! He created you in His own image so that He could love you and you could love Him in a personal relationship.
Before God formed man, He created the Garden of Eden and put him there. This means that God provided everything for mankind. God has provided everything for you too, everything for you to live a happy life. You don’t have to search for what you need because it is already there for you. When a farmer goes to the field, he stoops to put the seed into the ground. At the right time the seed bears fruit and the plant becomes visible. In coming down to the earth in the form of the man Jesus, God has stooped to plant seeds in your life. At present, you may see only dust and mud in your life. Don’t despair, because below is the seed that will, at the appointed time, spring up yielding blessings that no demon can steal away! In spite of your lack of faith, what God has planned for you will happen!

We have a wonderful example in Genesis, where God, through His messengers, told Abraham, who was nearing 100 years, that his wife Sarah, almost 90 years, would bear him a son! Sarah laughed at the idea. But in spite of her lack of faith, God did what He said. We read in Genesis 21:1&2 – “And the Lord God visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.” We also have the example in 1Samuel 16, where God made a most unexpected, unbelievable choice of a young shepherd boy to be king of Israel. That was King David! In the New Testament of the Bible, we see how Peter, an uneducated, impulsive, fisherman was chosen by Jesus to be the leader of the apostles.
So remember that nothing is impossible with God. Whatever your present situation may be, trust in Him and wait for the appointed time to see the fulfillment of the wonderful plans He has for you! All you need do, is to move forward and do what God tells you to do, in spite of your lack of faith and fear of the unknown. What God has planned for you will happen!

By Pastor Robin Almeida

A PARABLE

A man was driving his Ford car on a busy road when it suddenly broke down. Unable to get it going, he summoned a mechanic who worked on it for quite a while unsuccessfully. Other mechanics from the garage came to help, but no one could locate the problem. A man, who had been watching with keen interest, finally came forward and offered his services, which were gladly accepted by the tired mechanics. To their astonishment, he located the problem immediately and fixed it instantly! On enquiring about his credentials, they were shocked out of their wits to discover that he was Henry Ford himself, the designer/engineer and creator of Ford cars!
A LESSON TO LEARN
When our bodies break down, who, more than the Creator Himself, knows us inside out, can locate the problem instantly and fix it in the wink of an eye? But before we go to Him or to his mechanics, we first try fixing the problem ourselves, then try other mechanics until all possible alternatives fail. Some of us lose all hope and abandon our vehicle to the scrap yard! A few of us seek out our Creator’s authentic mechanics through whom he works, and have experienced a complete overhaul and a brand new life! Praise the Lord!

In John 10:10 Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”

By Pastor Robin Almeida

AN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF HEALING

Laxmibhai
Laxmibhai worked as a helper in an airline flight kitchen, until she suffered a stroke and lost her job. She recovered sufficiently to be able to walk with the help of a stick, but one of her arms hung down lifelessly. Her speech and hearing were also affected. She now survived by begging and became a familiar figure on 90 ft. road, Sakinaka.
One Sunday, Laxmibhai made her way to the door of The Master’s Touch Healing Center. Rajendra Kumar, who was outside, gave her some money, but she indicated to him that she wished to enter. Towards the end of the service, Pastor Robin announced that those who wished, could come forward to be prayed over individually and someone helped Laxmibhai to join the queue. When Pastor laid his hand on her and prayed, she fell to the floor. She was helped up and led to a seat in the corner of the room. After a while, we noticed Laxmibhai raise her paralyzed hand straight up, over her head! Pastor called her to the front and asked her to do it again, which she did immediately. Then we realized that even her deafness had been healed. She also attempted to say “Alleluia” as she heard others say.
The following week, Laxmibhai came again, but even while entering, she spoke fluently and in a loud voice, telling everyone how Jesus had healed her!

By Dagmar Lopes

THE STRUGGLE WITH SIN

In today’s sophisticated world, sin has become like morning breakfast, afternoon lunch and evening dinner. This new age has lost its sense of sin. The reason behind this is the internal conflict within every human being. Paul speaks about this very conflict in Romans 7:19 – “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing.” Some people express their desire to quit bad habits like smoking, drinking, immoral behavior, lying, stealing, etc., but also express their inability to quit from such sinful deeds. What could be this demonic, evil force holding us as slaves to this helpless and devastating situation?
The Apostle Paul talks about it in the very next verse, Romans 7:20 – “Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” The same Apostle Paul, who speaks about sin dwelling in him, also speaks about the human body being the Temple of the Holy Spirit and also a home for Jesus to abide in. As far as we know, darkness and light cannot exist together as we read in John 1:5 “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” Similarly, Jesus and sin cannot live together. It is all a matter of your personal choice, whom you invite and give access to in your life. How do we say that there is a choice? What is the other option?
Let’s go back to Genesis 4:7 where God Almighty says to Cain, “…sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” On the other hand, in Revelations 3:20 Jesus says: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”
Now we can also see the eventual consequences of inviting Jesus and the consequences of inviting Sin:
a. If you invite Jesus Christ, as He says in Revelations 3:20, He will come in and eat with you and you with Him.
b. If you invite the devil into your life, you will suffer the consequences mentioned in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; …”
It’s a matter of your own personal choice because God has given every human being his or her own free will. Deuteronomy 30:19 – “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”
John 11:25 – “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies.”
John 14:6 – “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

By Pastor Robin Almeida

MY LORD, MY GOD!

My heart is restless! It’s in search of you.
The distance seems great, the way so new.
But I’ll find the way to reach your heart,
Towards you, O Lord, my journey I start.

Show me the way to reach your palace,
I want to live without sin and malice.
A vision of you I long to see,
Hear my prayer and answer me!

My lips aren’t worthy to call upon your Name,
But I know that with you, I’ll never be the same.
You are so holy! And yet, not far,
I call upon you and there you are!

I’ll walk with you Lord, till the day I die,
Till the moment I bid this world good-bye.
Your presence means everything to me,
With you I’ll walk joyfully into eternity!

By Pastor Robin Almeida