Book of Acts Continued:

Growth in India’s Home Fellowships

Do you desire to increase your batting average in terms of spiritual fruit in your life and people won to the body of Christ? The believers in India’s home church fellowships have been putting up "hall of fame " numbers for years. When they step to the plate as God’s ambassadors, they are truly power hitters, power-of- God hitters. In the natural realm, great hitters trust their hands. In this spiritual contest in which we find ourselves, great hitters trust God. In Book of Acts Continued, there are principles that will cause your batting average and joy to soar.

Prior to leaving for India in February of 2006, I chanced upon a book by Watchman Nee--What Shall This Man Do? It recounted the methods that the Chinese Christian church under Watchman Nee’s guidance utilized to evangelize China from 1920 to 1952. In the history of evangelism, Watchman Nee was one of God’s heavy hitters. The book proved to be a primer for what I was to observe on a three-week visit to the Indian home fellowship network. The following excerpt captures the essence of what Watchman practiced during the formative years of the Chinese home churches.

This is the same approach you will read about in the following pages. This young Chinese man first had a heart meeting with God: he touched God, and something happened. That something was the power of God in the human heart. Watchman Nee years later introduced him to the Lord Jesus Christ…grandslam.

Could it be that we have overcomplicated the process? I know I have. For many years, I introduced people to the knowledge of God, not to God. I witnessed the book and not the author. The results were paltry, the effort exhausting.

Presentation of the gospel in the book of Acts was different than it is today. Paul, Silas and Timothy had no New Testament verses to quote. The written Bible was still centuries in the future. Yet what results they had: mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed! The power of God dominated the dark culture. Wherever the power of God is presented by the Indian believers, it prevails. They are not living the Book of Acts Revisited, but the Book of Acts Continued.

Michael FitzGerald

We should have been exhausted. It was 10 pm Delhi time, February 3, 2006 as the American Airlines flight 235 arrived at the Delhi airport terminal. The Boeing 777 with 292 souls onboard had been airborne for fourteen hours non-stop from Chicago. Kevin and I had been planning this trip for months, and rest was far from our minds. We were visiting Sangat Bains, his family and the Christian saints of India. Sangat had visited us in Williamsburg, Virginia four times since his initial visit in November 2003, twice with his wife, Beautrice, and four children. Now it was our turn.

Our visit was far more than a returned social engagement. The reason for our visit was not to teach, minister or instruct but to learn, to raise our batting average in the things of God. The signs, miracles and wonders we heard and read about in Letters from India and other communications were a source of amazement and embarrassment. These simple saints experienced an outpouring of power and growth unprecedented since the Book of Acts. There was very little in our personal experience that would improve upon what this remarkable group of believers was living in their daily lives.

Kevin and I should have seen it coming, but we were totally blindsided. The previous testimonies and accounts in no way hinted at what was in store. What we observed firsthand exceeded even our well-founded expectations.

The first event of our visit was a three-day leaders meeting. The day after our arrival, the Bains family opened their home to over 100 leaders of home fellowships throughout India. The first meeting took place on the flat roof of the Bains home in brilliant, cloudless Delhi sunshine. The temperature and humidity were perfect. The believers flowed onto the rooftop with men and women separating into groups, men on one side and women on the other. Most home fellowships conform to the same general pattern. The only deviation is starting time and length of fellowship. Both are not specific times but more like a moving window. Sangat’s comment that in India (unlike the US) we are "somewhat laid back here" proved to be prophetic. The believers casually filed in well over an hour after the announced starting time. No one seemed to mind or even notice.

At some undetermined point, quite spontaneously, music began as a drummer and harmonium (small pump organ) player casually began jamming. Very soon tambourines and communal, rhythmical clapping joined in. Eventually this became an organized praise and worship session as songbooks were broken out and the music began in earnest. Most of the songs were written by the believers and consisted primarily of the leader singing a verse and the group answering in unison. The singing was enthusiastic, joyful and infectious and lasted for well over an hour. The drum and tambourines were shared as both men and women took turns providing the rhythmic beat. Song leaders changed frequently as different saints would lead their favorite songs. One of the saints, a young man named Sutan, had experience as a professional singer of traditional Indian songs. He was particularly adept at leading songs, and he could really get things rollicking.

After music came the focal point of the fellowship: testimonies. Virtually every believer had a sign, miracle or wonder to relate and was excited to do so. It did not take long to realize that their methods of witnessing and outreach were as dramatically different from those in western Christianity as the results. They are experiencing sustained, explosive growth. Whole fellowships are being added daily. In the book of Acts, only the leaders healed and performed miracles. With this group of believers, it is common for new converts who were previously Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and Buddhists to be immediately healed and see great miracles come to pass.

The majority of the testimonies on the first day were from fellowships in the foothills of the Himalayas where the local leader was Gulab Singh. One of the mountain fellowship leaders was a woman named Shanti. It was a name I recognized from the original book of testimonies, Letters from India, three years earlier.

At that time, Shanti was a recent believer who gave an account about her conversion. Shanti could hardly lift her arms, feet and legs because of acute pain. Her husband was also a drunkard who beat her. When she heard from Dev Singh that God was able to deliver her, Shanti went to receive healing. As Dev Singh began to heal her, a devil spoke through her and said that it had been in her for 23 years and was the cause of the affliction destroying her. Dev Singh commanded the spirit to depart, and it went out. When Shanti was delivered from this spiritual and physical bondage, she was able to do her housework for the first time in twenty-three years. Today, three years later, her whole family became believers, and Shanti is the fellowship leader of a very large and growing home fellowship.

As we moved on to the next testimony, I asked one of the leaders about Shanti. He mentioned that she was originally from Nepal, worked a farm with her husband, forty-something, six children and illiterate…. SAY WHAT??? ILLITERATE!!! What a shock to my western thinking. How can that be? What a sobering bit of information. I would have gladly traded thirty years of Bible study and knowledge for Shanti’s confidence in the power of God.

In less than three years, Shanti’s home fellowship had exploded with growth, all new converts. Not only Shanti’s testimony but also subsequent testimonies revealed the simple but effective approach to outreach. The saints introduced new people to God and taught them HOW to trust Him.

A young woman named Lakshimi gave another sharing that day. Her particulars were similar to Shanti’s story. They were both from the same area and conducted large home fellowships. Lakshimi, only nineteen, was an incredibly beautiful and radiant believer. Only five years earlier, Lakshimi was living on the street with a physical affliction that caused her to shake uncontrollably. No one would have anything to do with her. She attended a fellowship and received complete deliverance. Once a victim of the adversary, she is now a victor. Still a teenager, she says, "All I want to do is to live my life for God."

Certainly Shanti, Lakshimi and the other saints present and teach the Word of God, but it is their presentation of the power of God that separates the outreach in India apart from all previous Christian outreach efforts. It is the message of the power of the kingdom of God that is sweeping the rugged Gural Hills where Shanti and Lakshimi live. Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Muslims are being introduced to the power of the One True God.

The kingdom of God is come to mankind in power. The accounts of both Shanti and Lakshimi and many others we were to see and hear lined up with what is recorded in the book of Acts.

How simple can it get? One miraculous healing and all that dwelt at Lydda and Sharon turned to the Lord. These wonderful Indian believers are on to something because they utilize the same power. They know very little Word of God but have much power of God. Their doctrine is very simple. It is, "Come meet a God who is real, powerful and willing to help all who come to him." Shanti, Lakshimi and hundreds of other Indian believers have a whosoever-whatsoever God.

The Indian believers totally stretch the limits of whatsoever of Mark 11:23. They confidently proclaim an all-powerful, all-loving God willing to meet any whosoevers and do whatsoever. This produces a Christian population convinced of the willingness and ability of God to help in any situation. It also produces occasionally humorous testimonies. A believer from the Gulab Singh’s area relates the following:

This testimony is a typical example of a believer’s confidence in God’s healing power. Eventually his whole family became Christians.

This deliverance was a function of the Word of God converted by faith into the power of God.

The Indian believers are not encumbered with tedious man-made doctrine. They utilize signs, miracle and wonders as God’s calling card. Their approach is simple. They introduce those with needs to God and get out of the way. "Come to the One True God," they say," Tell God what you need. He will help you."

Sangat’s 21-year-old niece, Rani, tells of a woman she met at work. This woman proceeded to tell Rani a litany of woes, the chief of which was that her husband was out of work. Rani politely listened and finally said, "I know how you can solve your problems. Just tell the One True God what you just told me." The next morning, the woman came in to work with a box of sweets. In India this indicates something good happened. The woman said that she did what Rani had recommended, and last night her husband got a job.

Sangat’s fifteen-year-old daughter, Priya, tells a similar story about one of her classmates. Her friend who lives in her neighborhood was raised Sikh and did not get good grades in school. Priya challenged her to go to the One True God with a request for better grades. This One True God was willing to help her unlike the stone gods her friend worshiped. Priya said, "What good is your god? It is made of stone; if it breaks you must go to the store for a new one. If the One True God answers your prayer, then He is a God for everyone. If your prayer is not answered, then He is a God for Christians only." The friend prayed with all her heart to Priya’s God and received top grades. Priya led her into the new birth, and she is now winning their other Sikh and Hindu friends.

Speaking God’s Word, trusting God and winning new people to the Church of the Body of Christ in the Bains family is a family affair. Everyone is actively involved and has many testimonies of God’s delivering power. Sangat’s eleven-year-old daughter, Nozomi, related the following:

A job for a husband, better grades in school, healthy water buffalo: these are not the type of requests common in our American churches. Some churches even teach that miraculous healing went out with the apostles. To these Indian believers, God is not merely God but is in fact Abba, Daddy. He is Daddy to whom any request is fair game. In Kampur the local leader is Tiwari (of whom we will hear more about later). His brother, Kamlesh, tells the following incident.

Question: What does the most dangerous wild animal in India, a fatal mountain bus crash in 2005, and thirty-five angry men with clubs have in common?

Answer: Gulab Singh

Gulab Singh is the leader in the northern mountain region of India. A few years ago, he was a tormented cook in a Delhi restaurant. For over twelve years, he was tormented by a devil spirit, which would interrupt his sleep. His only recourse was to hold a conversation with the spirit. It would leave him alone briefly and wake him again. His only sleep for many years were the interludes between conversations.

While working in the restaurant, he met Bhupander, the leader of the Delhi fellowships. Gulab Singh memorized the teaching he heard at the first fellowship he attended with Bhupander. That night he applied the teaching and commanded the devil spirit to depart from him and not trouble him anymore. It never bothered him again. That miracle was the basis for a ministry that has delivered hundreds.

We recorded many hours of testimonies during our visit. It was while listening to these recordings upon return that a new dynamic took shape. During the testimonies, a leader’s name would be frequently involved in the account. It became obvious that the full-time ministers played a central role in sustaining the growth of the church. The Indian Church made full and proper Biblical use of those with gift ministries. Their lives were indeed gifts to the Church.

This perfecting (katartismos), or making fully ready, of the saints allows the saints to build up the church. All the saints build the church, not a select few. It is a most efficient Christ-headed church.

All outreach is based on the principle of "each one win one". Believers pray for "one hungry person" to share their story of deliverance. In the twenty-five years Sangat has been preaching in India, he has never deviated from "each one win one." The believers never pray for the harvest; they pray for laborers in the harvest for the harvest is plenteous.

For many years, Sangat prayed for one leader to open up India to the Word of God. The answer to that specific prayer was Bhupander. His story is most revealing. In 1983, Bhupander’s brothers, who were part of one of the few families who were already Christians, began attending fellowship at Sangat’s home. In time, his wife also became a believer, but not Bhupander. He was a businessman who had no time for this Bible stuff. Eventually, in 1996, thirteen years later, his two businesses were on the verge of bankruptcy. He had a desperate need for 5000 rupees to pay his children’s school tuition. Bhupander had a need, a big need. He went to Sangat and told him his problems. Sangat’s response was, "Don’t tell me your problems; tell God." Bhupander did just that, and a stranger gave him the 5000 rupees.

Bhupander became a full-time minister and in turn prayed for one leader. God’s response was to raise up Gulab Singh. Gulab Singh prayed for a leader, and God called out Vijay Singh. All of the current leadership came in response to a prayer for one leader.

After living in Delhi for awhile, Gulab Singh returned to his home region in the mountain state north of Delhi. His large extended family would give him a field white with harvest, or so he thought. After three months of witnessing to his family with no results, he realized that he had forgotten to ask God for the increase. He then prayed earnestly to God for just one person. It was then that hungry people started coming to his house. One man said he had been looking for him for three months.

Gulab Singh systematically spreads the Word of God by praying for just one hungry person in each area. Many people scratched their heads when, for many months, he would walk seven hours in the rugged 9000 ft. Himalaya foothills to teach one man the Bible. Gulab Singh said he did not see one man, but millions.

It was during one of these visits to mountain villages that he and a companion encountered a mountain Sloth bear. Here is what an encyclopedia has to say about a Sloth bear.

Sloth bears kill more people than any wild animal in India. It was this very bear that Gulab Singh and another believer met on a mountain path. His companion was fearful, but not Gulab Singh. He told the believer that if the bear behaves, then God has given it more years to live. If it does not behave, then they will kill it. The companion asked, "How will we kill it? We have nothing." Gulab Singh’s replied, "We will rend it with our hands just the way David rent the lion and the bear." He commanded the bear to behave, and the men walked peacefully past the most dangerous wild animal in India. Upon reaching the village, they recounted the incident. The villagers were shocked because they knew the bear well. They said,

In March of 2005, I read on the Internet of a fatal bus crash in the Uttar Prachel area of India. This was an area where there were many fellowships and the center of Gulab Singh’s area. I wondered if any believers were involved. The actual headline from Reuters News Service read:

During our visit, I asked about the crash. There were, in fact, three believers from Gulab Singh’s area on the bus. He related the details of the story:

Indian busses have bars on the windows. It would have been impossible to come out a window. The only other survivors were two small girls. Bughwan Singh telling the incident later to others admits to having a strong feeling prior to getting on the bus that he should not get on it.

Shortly before our arrival, Gulab Singh was at his home when he was visited by a delegation of 35 men who wanted him to cease teaching and conducting fellowships. They intended to enforce their point by beating him to death with the clubs they carried. The mob demanded he come outside, but God told Gulab Singh to have them come inside. They did so, and he informed them that the next month on a certain date, he was going to have a fellowship in this very house. He invited them to come to the fellowship, but he had no intention of ceasing his activities. The men then filed out of his house without taking any action. Gulab Singh informed God that the men were not insulting him but were insulting God. Therefore, it was God’s responsibility to take care of him because he had no intention of doing as the men demanded. The men returned, and this time they had hired an assassin with a gun to kill Gulab Singh.

The thirty-five men plus the hired assassin approached Gulab Singh in his house. When the assassin walked up to Gulab Singh, he took one look at him and ran out of the house. The rest of the mob thought, since this man has a gun and was afraid of Gulab Singh, then they should be, too. They all ran out of the house. On the appointed day, Gulab Singh conducted a three-hour fellowship rather than the normal two-hour fellowship.

All the leaders I met in India operated the same confidence and trust in God that was obvious in Gulab Singh. There is no overt leadership structure. The majority of the Indian believers do not even know Sangat. They are introduced to him when he visits the various fellowships, but it is the immediate area leader to whom the fellowship leaders look for advice and teaching. Sangat assists Bhupander with his ministry, Bhupander assists the area leaders with their ministries and the area leaders assist the home fellowship coordinators. Those who attend home fellowships build the church.

The home church network in India has no name other than the body of Christ; the leaders have no titles or seminary degrees. In China in the 1930s and 40s, Watchman Nee set up home churches in a similar "no-name" network. When others referred to them as the Little Flock Church (Little Flock was the name of the songbook they used), Watchman quickly took the name off the songbook. That early home church network became the basis for the work in China today. China in 2006 has between 50 and 100 million Christians mostly in home churches, making it (numbers-wise) the most Christian nation in the world. Watchman Nee held a similar view of the need for the knowledge of the power of God:

Watchman recognized very early in his ministry that having the power of God in one’s life was a direct result of hearing about the power of God by way of testimonies (testifying).

The ingredients of the astounding growth of Christianity in China has all the marks of outreach in India:

This explosive growth is not a phenomenon. It has been building since 1983 when Sangat first moved permanently to India. The growth really took off in 1996 when miracles and healing became commonplace in New Delhi fellowships. It was at this point when, quite accidentally, they discovered the role testimonies played in sustaining explosive growth. As the miraculous accounts mounted, people wanted to tell what God had done. Time was set-aside at fellowships for this naturally occurring praise. Praise begat praise as it became obvious that testimonies were the natural outgrowth of encounters with the power of God. Consequently, fellowships have become a vehicle of praise to a God who is manifestly also Daddy.

Several years ago, Bhupander decided to evangelize the Kampur area, a huge city 300 miles southeast of New Delhi. Sangat did not instruct Bhupander to do so; it was something Christ as head of his church put into Bhupander’s heart. He prayed for one leader for the Kampur area and regularly visited for four years without results. Finally, he told God that if this next visit did not bear fruit, it would be his last.

The purpose of this final visit was a meeting with several Indian Christian denominational church leaders. (Note: About 2% of India is Christian. Most of the large western denominations are represented.) They wanted to discuss a doctrinal issue with Bhupander. It did not turn out that way. The leaders proceeded to rant about their doctrine and never gave Bhupander an opportunity to speak. Present at the meeting was a former Hindu priest named Tiwari. He felt that Bhupander had been dealt with very unfairly and spoke with Bhupander privately after the meeting. That was the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship. Tiwari was the one leader for which Bhupander had been praying these four years. The following is a testimony typical of the wonderful believers Tiwari is bringing to God’s household.

The importance of prayer frequently surfaces in testimonies. The believers utilized, as appropriate, both prayer with their understanding and prayer with the spirit.

All fellowships we attended, while enthusiastic, were very orderly. Group singing, testimonies, Bible teaching and prayer with the understanding were very orderly. One believer at a time would speak or share with never any interruptions or sideshows. Public prayer in the spirit (speaking in tongues) was never utilized without interpretation. The same individual who spoke in tongues would interpret and, at most, there were two or three. When Paul corrected the Corinthian church for its lack of order in operating public speaking in tongues, he did not tell to stop speaking in tongues. He directed them to stop being disorderly by speaking in tongues as a group without interpretation.

Prayer in the spirit is a staple of the private prayer life of Indian believers.

What a commentary on the daily life of the Indian believers. Rita was typical of the Indian believers I met. Shanti once told me that her oldest son left the house after a fight with her husband and vowed never to return. She said that every day for six months, she would go into a room alone and weep tears to God in private and pray for the return of her son. After six months of this daily intercession, her son showed up unannounced. There is also the example of Kamlesh who prayed for two-and-one-half months for his hair to change color.

It is evident that a large part of the individual believer’s deep spiritual relationship with God is his or her private prayer life in the spirit. God showed Rita many miracles as a result of speaking in tongues two of three hours a day. The occurrence of miracles and the manifestation of prayer in the spirit are not unique to this explosion of Christian outreach today in India.

In the late 1820’s in England, a young Scottish preacher named Edward Irving aroused in segments of the Christian community an interest in work of the holy spirit and end-times theology, subjects untouched by the Protestant reformation.

This was the first record of speaking in tongues in the modern western Christian church. Smith Wigglesworth in the early 1900s was the first to teach that it was possible to lead someone into the manifestation of tongues. He was known to say that "he was not moved by the spirit, but he moved the spirit." Wigglesworth inferred that the operation of the spirit of God in a believer’s life was the individual’s responsibility. It was not required or necessary to wait for God to move. God already moved at Pentecost. Smith Wigglesworth not surprisingly had a healing ministry that lasted for over forty years.

The more recent experience of the Chinese church confirms the correlation between miracles and the manifestation of speaking in tongues. In 1988, an American missionary named Dennis Balcombe introduced the power of the holy spirit to the underground house church movement in Communist China. The event was a spiritual tsunami.

Nowhere in Acts is it recorded that all believers were performing great miracles. In India, I heard of six accounts from individuals who had raised others from the dead and met a seventh person who had been raised from the dead. All accounts were from non-leaders. The earlier account of Lakshimi’s healing of her sister’s four-month-old daughter was one of these accounts. While Lakshimi did not mention it in her account at the time, others told me later that the child was in fact dead at one point. Miracles are so commonplace that the vast majority go unreported except in the home fellowship.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the growth of this Indian church is the simplicity. No one knows how many believers there are or even how many fellowships; no one keeps count. There are no secretaries, choir directors, committees, boards or fundraisers. It is a church that grows like a tree, of its own accord.

There is not much question that doctrine, leadership and prayer are important components of the sustained, explosive growth experienced over the last ten years in the Indian home fellowships. What we observed during our time in India was a legitimate, Biblically based dynamic move of God. Christians in the west can have the same results. We do not need to wait for or ask permission from God. He has already moved at Pentecost and provided written marching orders.

This starting greeting, "Grace be to you," is in all the seven Church epistles addressed to the Church of God to which we belong. We belong to one Church, not many churches; one ministry--God's ministry--not many ministries; one head; one Father, and one God.

This epistle begins with this wonderful word "GRACE". This grace is God's favor. He is saying to us, "My favor to you right now". "My favor to you, my kids." It does not say, "work to you". In this day and time, we do not need to work. Some will say, "What do you mean by that?" I mean, let God work for you. To the degree that we allow God to work for us, the smoother our life will be. The more prosperous and powerful life we are going to enjoy depends on how much we let God work for us. This is why we look only to God, expect only from Him. That is why in the Church epistles, God starts off with this benefit, His greatest benefit--"My favor to you".

It is not that we work every day very hard, alone. Instead, we get God into the picture. We get God introduced into our daily lives. We invite Him and let Him do the works for us. That is why it starts with "My favor". We only need to just let Him do it and confidently allow Him to work for us.

So "Grace" is the first word. "Grace be to you", and that is why the next phrase is, "And peace". God is saying:

"You don't need to solve your own problems."

We don't need to get working to accomplish something. We let God work for us. We will learn more and more about this wonderful grace of God, how He has done it all for us, accomplished through Jesus Christ. We had nothing to do with it. We stand in this grace by faith and by His favor so we can have peace. In this day and time, God does not want us to have "unpeace" or no peace, but: peace.

Whatever is going on, whether the economy is going up or down, or prices are going up or down, God says, "My grace to you. Look to me, and let Me do. Let Me work for you, My children". This grace and peace comes from God, the creator of the heavens and earth. He is the most high God, the almighty God. He has extended this grace, this wonderful favor, which is our benefit now. It is such a big benefit. It comes from God, the mighty God, who is our Father, our Daddy.

Israel had Jehovah as their God, which was good since He is the true God. Other people had Baal as their god. That was not good. We have an even better benefit than Israel for this Jehovah is not only God but also our Father, Daddy.

This information, the revelation of the mystery, gives us confidence that we can go to Him at anytime. There is great benefit in going to our Father, our God and Daddy. He wants to take care of us. Earthly fathers and mothers take care of their children. Children go to their parents expecting to receive. They do not leave them alone until they get the things they want. The fulfillment of a child's expectation is limited by the parent's ability to provide. Many times, the parents even try to do beyond their ability for their sons and daughters. Our God's ability is unlimited. Nothing is impossible with Him. Our God is good, He is almighty, and nothing is impossible for Him.

So this is our great benefit right now. God is saying, "My favor to you", and He doesn't want us to work by ourselves. He doesn't want us to solve our problems and challenges by ourselves. He wants us to come to Him. He is saying, "Come to Me, and I will solve it. Give me all of your problems, and I will solve them". That is our God, our Father. We need to recognize this and tap into His wonderful benefit. God has unlimited finances. God is able, and as God's Word says, our sufficiency is not of ourselves. Our sufficiency is of God, so that is where we should look--look only to God.

Why do we look only to Him? Why do we have only one God and one Father? It is so that we can receive His benefits. That is what He wants for us. He wants us to have a fun and enjoyable life, to have meaning and purpose in this life. We can have a great life when we let Him do. Then we will see wonderful things happen when we look only to Him, and let Him do.

Then what do we do when God does for us? We automatically say, "Thank you". Praise and thanksgiving come naturally, and God is happy to hear that. His desire is that He can do everything for us. He has done everything for us, and He is doing everything for us now, and He will do everything for us in the future. His children can say, "God, You are wonderful." We should not routinely say, "Thank you, thank you" and not allow Him to do. We let Him do so that we can see what He has done for us and say, "Thank you, God". God is very happy to hear that. That is why we go to Him and let Him do.

This psalm was a song. God’s favor at that time was towards Israel, and they sang this song. They sang these wonderful, powerful songs, and they magnify God.

These are benefits for the sons and daughters of God. People should become sons and daughters of God so they can receive His many benefits. We only do things when there is a benefit, right? We don't do anything unless it is beneficial. Going to God is the same way. We go to God because He gives us all of His benefits, plenty and plenty of benefits. That is why we go to Him. That is why we expect Him to do, and we have faith in Him.

One of His benefits is "Who forgives all thy iniquities." All, but not the one that you or I did this morning, nor the one that we did this past month? He forgives everything until one month ago, right? NO, He forgives ALL our iniquities.

It also says, "Who heals all thy diseases." All the diseases; not one is missed. Even when a doctor says, "There is no cure; this disease is deadly", it doesn't matter. God's Word says that all your diseases, guaranteed, absolutely guaranteed, are healed.

As we look at God's Word, we see plenty of benefits--His favor to us, His children. We are sons and daughters of God, and God wants us to be very happy all the time.

He daily loads us with benefits; they are our benefits, and we need to take advantage of these benefits.

So we need to focus our attention, and the first focus is God. That's the way we can enjoy life. Our focal point cannot be the world. The world doesn't load us with benefits; it loads us with headaches, worry, and doubt. We need to be disciplined so that we go to the best source. God is good, and He is for us, not against us. "How shall He not with him also freely give us ALL things?"(Romans 8:32b) So the logical decision is to look only to God. God is first, the first priority. We will then begin to really tap into all His benefits. We will begin to expect and receive. God wants us to manifest all His benefits, not just some of His benefits.

We don't want to do this. Why would we trust in man and have our hearts depart from the Lord? God only wants to bless us. He only wants to load us with His benefits. The world is tricky; we need to be watchful so we don't trust in anything else but God. This is why we look only to God.

This is not a good picture. We don't want to be like this heath. What God is saying is very obvious: "This is not the best for you. This is how to be unhappy". Look at the contrast in the next verses.

Blessed is the man or woman who trusts in the Lord; who puts his or her confidence in the Lord and whose hope, or expectation, the Lord is. This person will be like a tree planted by the waters, spreading her roots, not seeing the heat come, but whose leaf is green, not careful in drought, neither ceasing from yielding fruit. This is absolutely guaranteed with no failure.

This is a wonderful benefit, and we want to tap into it. We want everyone to--young children, adults, the elderly. God says if we do this, then we are going to enjoy life in a great and wonderful way. God wants us to be really blessed. Our Father, our Daddy, wants us to be happy. He tells us that we are to go to Him, and we will be blessed, happy.

God is the fountain of unlimited resources, absolutely unlimited. Figuratively, "living waters" is the abundance of everything that we need or want, and even beyond. That is our God. He is the fountain. This is another benefit, that we can go to the source, God, the fountain of living waters. Don't go to any other source. At any other source, we are not going to be blessed and happy. If we go to sources other than the living waters, we will be doing just what the children of Israel did. They "hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." They made another source for themselves, but God said that source, that container, had holes through which the water ran out.

Our God is unlimited, and He wants us to go to Him on a regular basis, habitually. We need to practice this to receive His benefits. He wants us to enjoy life in a great way, the greatest way. This is ours when we go to Him.

So this is what God wants for us in our lives. Prosperity and health are benefits which are available now. A smooth life is absolutely available, and it is not difficult. It is not difficult to manifest prosperity, health, and strength, a life that is smooth. How do we do it? Habitually go to God. Take everything to God. Trust in Him.

It says, "Now", and now is always now. Now, now, now thanks be unto God. That mean that God is always doing something for us; therefore, we can always be saying, "Thank you". When someone does something for us, especially something good and free, we say "Thank you."

Thanks be unto God who always (not once in awhile), always causes us to triumph in Christ. God is saying to us that He always causes us to triumph, not just win. A football game could be won by a final score of 30 to 28, the winning team scoring by a touchdown pass in the last seconds of the game. That is a victory, but the outcome was in question until the last few seconds of the 4th quarter. There is much sweating and concern when our favorite team is behind until the last few seconds. But God's Word here says, "triumph." Triumph is not a 30-28 last-second win. triumph is 30 to 0, a wipe-out. triumph is God's style. He says that this is a benefit for us, that we can triumph in life.

This is no "storybook" information. Don't think, "Oh, this is nice. I wish this would happen." No, God says, " This is reality, and this is what I want for you. This will happen when you let My grace work for you." When we look only to Him, trust nothing else but look only to God, expect only from Him, then we triumph.

Actually, this is a very simple lifestyle; to live this way is not difficult but very easy. We just decide to make the decision that "From today onward, I am going to take everything to God, and I expect Him to do. I expect Him to work for me". His joy is to work for you.

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