• Waking up to chirping birds and sunlight creeping in from the windows and aroma coming from the kitchen of the brewing tea, chanting together the prayers taught by our mother filled my childhood mornings. Born to a respected School Teacher and Choir Master with cousins and friends all around the neighbourhood, with a church close by, being the parish priest’s favourite child, excelling in school, appreciated for my grasping and studies, I saw a happy childhood.

  Transferring our residence to Bangalore would only be another adventure and only saw me excelling even better in a totally new Convent school, a year later, our family migrated once again, this time to Bombay.

  Marriage of 2 elder brothers, death of my older married sister with four children and six months later, my father following her, teenage, college, making new friends, confusion, struggle in the outside world – oh! was I lost. My exposure to working life, new friends parties, picnics, left my mother perplexed because for me, getting tied down in marriage was scary. So I was packed off to Dubai where another phase of life began which lasted for another five years!

  At the end of it all, I was back in Bombay left with emptiness and a deep nagging pain,not knowing where life was taking me. Day after day, a fear and a question of the purpose of life nagged me. Jobs, popularity, good friends, acquiring my own flat etc. were no problem and yet there was something missing! As I kept looking into the sky one day, I felt there was something up there of a much greater nature than earth, which was unfathomable right then. I lit a lamp, which burnt continuously in my place, which I had rented out from a friend. Faith, as small as a mustard seed, sprouted in my heart.

  In 1988, on the 10th of April my life changed forever!! It was just curiosity aroused by various charismatics that led me to a ‘Meet Jesus’ Seminar in Bandra, a suburb of Bombay. I was introduced to a new way of praising and worshipping God as compared to the quite masses and prayers that I knew of. There were testimonies from people of how they ‘Met’ Jesus and their lives were changed! I let myself be prayed over. Nothing spectacular happened on that day. But when I woke up the next morning, the world was different, LOVE was in the air, not the kind of love that I knew of, this was heavenly and it engulfed me. I do not remember where I got hold of the New Testament, which became a river of life for me, quenching my thirst, aroused, I realized, by the Holy Spirit. I could not live without the Bible; it became my constant companion and I was not ashamed to read it at bus stops, in the trains, hidden in the drawers of the office desks. I rushed for fellowship meetings and it was JESUS, JESUS, JESUS everywhere. I WAS IN LOVE!!!!! Not fallen in, but risen in!!!

• 27 years have passed since that day that turned my life upside down, swept my feet off the ground with a heavenly revelation of the purpose of life, which originated from my creator, who had a plan of prosperity for me. I treaded carefully not wanting to fail my Savior and Redeemer who lifted off my judgment, my guilt, and filled my vacuum with JOY, unspeakable and full of glory.

  I consulted the Holy Spirit for every step that I took and He led me so beautifully, comforted me, assured me, lifted me when I fell and put me back on track. And one of those tracks was the ‘Word Ministry’ I was chosen for, to be conducted at the St. Pius Seminary at Goregaon in 1990. Free from burdens and worry of the future because of my complete trust in the one who held my future.

  A friend that I made there, enquired of me about my interest in marriage. I just smiled and continued with my journey with the Word completely engrossed in it and enjoying every minute of it. Six months later the same friend came running to me and said ‘O my God, Lynn, ‘Manu’ had been waiting on the Lord and God is showing you to him for marriage’. After a few meetings, a lot of prayer, signs and confirmations, We were engaged in May and married on October 26th of 1991!! Then began another journey. My Heart was set on pilgrimage. JESUS was and is the Lord of my life and I thought He knew best. If He has brought me to this, He would also bring me through it! And He has! His faithfulness is greater than my questions; hence even though I do not understand the purpose of certain things, the things that I understand and the blessings that surround me keep me in awe of Him.

  In these 24 marital years
  1) Having three beautiful children from the age of 38 to 44 was a great miracle filling me with the joy of motherhood,
  2) Watching hundreds of people accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior and serving God has been worth every sacrifice that the Lord called me for.
  3) Brother Manuel Ministries has been moving from one level to another
  4) From leading intercessions/worship, standing by my husband, preaching in his absence, imparting knowledge and teaching the Bible to children, it is a pure journey of faith.
  5) Burden for lost souls and the world continues.

  By this medium I want to call all women (who have a great role to play in the Kingdom of God) to COME, Give your life to and make JESUS the Lord of your life and I promise you will never regret it. He is coming soon!

Psalm 87:4, the Lord says, “I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me— Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush—and will say, ‘This one was born in Zion.’”

What marvellous proof of our inclusion in the family of God and the Promised Land for a mere expression and an act of FAITH!

Hebrews 11 talks about the faith of the mighty men of old. Enoch triumphed over death, Noah over time, Abraham over infirmity and natural affection, Jacob over old age, Joseph over allurement of wealth, Moses over the treasures of Egypt, and “By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.” (Hebrews 11:31)

Those of you who are unfamiliar with Rahab, be encouraged to read about her in Joshua Chapter 2. I am constrained by lack of space to retell her story here.

Rahab was not a mere hostess, but a real harlot. Her faith in some sense is great. It is faith that fights with hideous lust, struggles with fiery passion and bestial debauchery, Yes, it is faith that encounters and delivers from bondages of vice, snares of enchantment, and fearful penalty of transgression. Yes, it was faith that saved, rescued and gave Rahab purity of heart and renewed in her the beauty of holiness. And her name has been recorded for eternity— a woman full of sin, yet saved by faith!

During the days of my ‘Word Ministry’ training, it was suggested to us that it was alright to skip a few chapters in the Bible, like the long ordeals of the rituals in ‘Leviticus’ or ‘Numbers’, or the long lists of genealogies in various books of the Bible. But to my amazement, I have found that every chapter, every verse of the Bible is so rich and spiritually enriching. For instance, the first sixteen verses of the first chapter of the Book of Matthew may seem less important and boring. But I would like to share with you a magnificent revelation of salvation by grace in this chapter.

Genealogy was important to the Jews. Joseph knew Bethlehem was his ancestral hometown by studying their genealogy.

The Messiah was expected from the line of David (II Samuel 7). Only by studying genealogy could the people determine if He was the Messiah. My striking or rather shocking observation was that there were 4 women in this genealogy. A further study revealed that when the Jews made a genealogy they normally never included women on the list. They just traced the family tree from father to son. Secondly, all four women are very unusual and unlikely people.

Tamar (the mother of Perez and Zerah – refer Genesis 38), the daughter-in-law of Judah, portrays greed, deception, illegitimacy, prostitution, sexual lust, and even a hint of incest. What a powerful message about the pure grace of God that though neither Judah nor Tamar deserved it, they are both in the line of the Messiah!

Rahab (the mother of Boaz), a Canaanite harlot known for lying and deception. She is the woman of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11.31 who let down the scarlet thread for the Israeli spies in Jericho. For this act of favour towards God’s people, she became the great-great grandmother of King David and a part of Jesus’ family tree!

Ruth (the mother of Obed) was a woman from Moab—a nation born out of incest. Not a Jew, but a Moabite, the product of an incestuous relationship between Lot and his two daughters, evil as well as bitter enemies of Israel. The Jews hated the Moabites and Ammonites. But because of her faithfulness to the God of Israel, she ends up marrying Boaz and becoming David’s great-grandmother. And that’s how a person from the hated nation of Moab entered the line of the Messiah!

Bathsheba (Solomon’s mother and Uriah’s wife). Adultery was only the beginning. What followed was lying, a royal cover-up, and ultimately murder. And yet the son born to Bathsheba and David, in spite of the dirt covering the whole episode, makes it to the Saviour’s genealogy!! None of the four women were blemishless and yet all four make it to the genealogy of Christ. What a strong message to the self-righteous who thought they deserved eternal life. What a shock it would be to read this genealogy because it is filled with liars, murderers, thieves, adulterers and harlots. Testimonies are never for glorifying the sin or the sinner, but for the glory and grace of God, Who alone is the hero of the Bible!! How He chooses flawed men and women only makes His grace shine through the blackest of human sin.

The focus needs to be on JESUS. With a human background almost like yours and mine, He called himself “the friend of sinners,” and said He didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He said, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.” (Luke 19:10)

As strange as it may seem, the worse you are, the better candidate you are for the grace of God. The same grace that the four women experienced is now available for you. No matter how far gone you are, by faith you can be a member of God’s family. His blood is waiting to wash you and His Holy Spirit is waiting to transform you. Jesus is waiting to welcome you to God’s family. So what are you waiting for? Prosperity in Partnership with God !

OBEDIENCE BEGETS PROSPERITY If you want the knee of Poverty, Sickness, Depression to bow, you have to use the right name—that is “JESUS! “He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:11-12

If you will only obey the Lord your God by diligently observing all His commandments, then the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 28:3-6.says:

1. Blessed shall you be when you come in Blessed shall you be in the city
2. Blessed shall you be in the field
3. Blessed shall be the first fruit of your womb
4. Blessed shall be the first fruit of your ground
5. Blessed shall be the fruit of your livestock, the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock
6. Blesses shall be your basket and your kneading bowl
7. Blessed shall you be when you come in
8. Blessed shall you be when you go out

Nothing is too hard with God. He can do all things and do them well. He wants to give us more than what we need.

There are a lot of things we would be better off without, losing ourselves in obedience to God. That’s why scripture says: “The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land He is giving you.” Deuteronomy 28:7-8.

The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways; the Lord will command the blessings upon you, in your barns and in all that you undertake, he will bless you in the Land that the Lord your God has given you.

There is no doubt about it, you get results when you pray, when your prayer is backed up by the right attitude, when you are willing to change your way of life, when you approach Christ with firmness and determination—you will be heard, you will be received. God Bless You!