I just wanted to recommend this book by brother Zac
Poonen. It is a new one i think and as the name says it is the sequel to the first book by the same name. But you can read this one in one or two sittings depending on how long you can sit :-p

but they are short but deeply powerful testimony how the Lord worked in brother Zacs life and in their midst in India. About Gods faithfulness and his workings in their hearts and life.


I enjoy much brother Zacs ministry, he has a way of getting right to the point and explain things in a childlike way so even us of not so bright minds can understand, but also more important, in a spiritual way.

anyhow, i will post one excerpt from this book and i recomend you read the whole thing.


[url=http://www.cfcindia.com/web/mainpages/book_window.php?book=the_day_of_small_beginnings_volume2]Online book[/url]

CHAPTER 41

God’s Time Is The Best Time



“There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven” (Eccl.3:1)

Even though man’s need existed from the time of Adam’s sin, yet the Son of God waited in heaven for 4000 years before He came to save man. But He came “at the right time” (Gal.4:4 - TEV). And after coming to earth, He still waited 30 years in Nazareth for “His hour to come”, before He began His preaching ministry (Jn.2:4).

There is a right time for us too – for every ministry.

By 1995, I had preached God’s Word in most of the states in India, but I had never visited Mizoram. An evangelical church in Aizawl (capital of Mizoram) arranged a series of special meetings in October 1995 to celebrate 100 years of Christianity in Mizoram. They made enquiries for a speaker and someone (whom they respected) told them that if they wanted to hear the whole truth, they should invite me!! And so they invited me and I went.

When I reached Aizawl, it was raining heavily. I immediately thought of Elijah who asked the Lord to stop the rain 3000 years ago. And I prayed that the Lord would stop the rain here for the next seven days, so that people could come to the meetings more easily. I remembered that Elijah also prayed saying, “Lord, let these people (who respect Baal’s prophets and consider me to be a false prophet) know that I am Your servant” (1 Kings 18:36). And I prayed Elijah’s second prayer as well – I didn’t know why!

The Lord answered my first prayer and the rain stopped completely before the first evening meeting started; and we had clear weather for all the seven days of the meetings!

It was only after the meetings were all over, that I heard this amazing story: The elders of this church had wanted to invite me many years prior to this. But they had been told that I was teaching heresy, and so they had not invited me earlier. It had rained heavily in Aizawl for seven consecutive days before the meetings. When the church-elders saw the heavy rain, they began to wonder whether God was telling them thereby that they had invited the wrong preacher for their meetings!! The senior elder told me (after all the meetings were over) that on the day before the meetings were to begin, he had prayed publicly at their morning prayer-meeting saying, “Lord, if Zac Poonen is really Your servant Whom You have chosen to speak at our meetings, then give us a sign by stopping the rain and giving us clear weather at the first evening meeting.”

God gave those believers more than the sign that they had asked for: The weather was clear for all seven days of the meetings. And to confirm that it was God Who had done that, it began to rain heavily once again, the very next day after the meetings were all over!! There was also a two-day strike in Aizawl after the meetings were over, that paralyzed life in the city. But God had restrained both the forces of nature and the forces of rebellion during the seven days of the meetings!! Then I understood why I had prayed Elijah’s second prayer too. God answered that as well!

I preached 15 messages on “Perfect Freedom in Christ” and “True Discipleship”. And while there was no physical rain during the meetings, there was plenty of spiritual rain at all the meetings!! About 600 people were present at the first meeting. This number increased to about 1200 on the last day, with many people standing outside the building on the main road. The Holy Spirit moved mightily. On the last two evenings, I asked all those who wanted to repent and surrender everything to the Lord, and who wanted to take up the cross daily and follow Jesus, and who wanted the baptism in the Spirit, to stand up. Hundreds stood up and I prayed for them.

The church-leaders were excited to see the work the Lord had done. One of them told me that they had heard sugar-coated words from other preachers in the past, but now they had heard the pure unadulterated truth of God, for the first time.

I understood then why the Lord had allowed people to warn these church-leaders against me earlier. If they had not been warned against me, they would have invited me to Aizawl ten years earlier, when the ground in the hearts there was not ready. And then my labour would have been wasted. God saw that – and so He allowed the church-leaders to be prejudiced against me for ten years. Once the ground in those people’s hearts was ready, God removed their prejudice and took me there – at the right time – to proclaim the full counsel of God.

I have seen God working in a similar way in other places too.

Everyone needs to hear the full gospel – but people’s hearts have to be prepared to hear it. The ground has to be ploughed up in their hearts before the seed can be sown. And God alone knows when any group of people is ready to hear His full truth. If we live in the will of God, He will lead us to such people at the right time. God’s ways are perfect. It is best therefore to accept His timing in all our movements and to give thanks for opposition too – for even that can only fulfil God’s purposes. God uses what Satan does, to further His purposes. Thus He makes a fool of Satan again and again.

Praise the Lord!

_________________
CHRISTIAN