New life for lepers
After spending time in a leper colony in India, the following letter was sent to encourage them. We were told that upon hearing these words, many were crying as they realized how precious and valuable they were. We hope you are also encouraged and strenthened as you read this timely message. You are so loved by your Father in Heaven who is looking to draw you into His arms of love. May you encounter His goodness and receive His love as you read below, allowing Him to capture your heart.
Dear ones,
Since our visit to you last March we cannot stop thinking about you and praying for you. You have always been on our hearts and we will never forget you. You are so special to us and to our Father in Heaven. You have a perfect Father who loves you more than anything can be imagined. Father God wants all people to become His children and live in His heavenly family. 1 John 3:1 reminds us of this amazing love: “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we would be called children of God; and much we are.” Being a child of God gives people the right to live in a new and different Kingdom, even now when still on the earth…not just when death comes. That’s amazing love!
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He desires a close relationship with you, and through Jesus, you can have the very intimacy with the God and Creator of the universe that you were created for. His desire for you is to live life abundantly on this earth and also in eternity, so He intentionally sent Jesus (1 John 4:9) enabling you to be adopted into His family (Ephesians 1:6), so you could love Him wholeheartedly. Mark 12:30 reminds us of this: “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”  Without Jesus coming and taking away everything that separates us from this wonderful relationship with our Heavenly Father, we would be lost forever, unable to receive this amazing love and give it away to others. Thank you JESUS!!!!!
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God loves you with an overabundance of love that is amazing and cares about every need in your life. You are not forgotten. When Jesus walked this earth 2000 years ago, He already existed as God, came from Heaven to live as a human (for a short time). Through His sacrifice of love, He paid a big price to set you free from the very powers of darkness and sin that entangled mankind from the beginning. The Bible tells us that in our sinful states we belonged to a different father, the devil (John 8:44). Most people don’t realize that, but it is true. Jesus came to offer His own life as payment for all wickedness that was and is in man. He purchased (bought) our lives out of darkness and slavery to sin, freed us, and brought us into the Kingdom of light, the safe place of our Father in Heaven (Colossians 1:13).
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When He was crucified on the cross (as the sinless One, ever having done any wrong), He took our sins, sicknesses, and pains upon Himself and BECAME sin. The perfect One, totally pure and holy, became sin for us. He laid down His own life so this could happen. He took upon and into Himself every wicked thing that could never exist in the beautiful, holy presence of our dear Father in Heaven….. He absorbed the curse that held all of us captive (away from God) and dissolved it totally. This curse has held every human being, and keeps people away from knowing Father God personally and being able to feel His love in their hearts. So, Jesus became the curse when He died. All of the evil and darkness in existence through each of person in the world was crucified at the cross and buried with Him in the grave. Then, Jesus ROSE from the dead, showing the powers and principalities of wickedness that even the grave couldn’t hold Him. He is alive!!! He is not in the grave. He is alive in Heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father and praying for each of us! Through this resurrection of Jesus, we also are made spiritually alive. Before all this, we were spiritually dead. We were born spiritually dead. Only through Jesus can we become spiritually alive. The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that if we believe in all that Jesus did for us at the cross, that we can experience the miracle of new life for ourselves! “Therefore, if anyone is in (connected with and identified with) Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away, behold, new things have come.”  We become spiritually alive and join the Father’s family. Our Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit (one God) see us as those new creatures…..everything has fallen off of us. God sees us as new, holy, pure, and lovely. With our new life, we can connect with God in Heaven and know that He loves us, cares for us, listens to us, and desires for us to get very close to Him.Â
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That’s what you were created to for….closeness to God. You were created to worship Him, receive His love, and give that very love away to others. Before your new life in/with Jesus, this was not possible. Jesus is not one of many Gods….He is the ONLY God (connected with the Father and Holy Spirit). Hindus are not followers of God because they don’t believe that Jesus is the ONLY way to the Father. This is a big mistake, because this lie in their minds keeps them strongly connected to the one (the enemy) who desires to “steal, kill, and, destroy.” Here is what the Bible says that is SO lovely: “For He rescued us from the domain (dominion) of darkness, anad transfered us to the kingdom of His beloved Son (the domain of light), in whom we have redemption (purchased freedom – out of slavery), the forgiveness of sins. He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for the fullness (of God the Father) to dwell in Him (Jesus).” (Colossians 1: 13, 14, 19)
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“For in Him (Jesus) all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodiy form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.” (Colossians 2: 9-10). Jesus is God, you are complete and whole in Him (perfect in His sight), and He holds ALL authority in this world….He is over EVERY power of darkness. He canceled your debt (what you “owe” God that was hanging over your heads as a result of sin). All sin has to be punished (paid for)….and Jesus received all the punishment that all of us deserve. He did it for us…so we didn’t have to pay the price for our sinfulness. This price (for the sake of justice) was spiritual death. Jesus spiritually (and physically) died, so we wouldn’t have to stay spiritually dead. Through Him (and only Him) we are made spiritually alive and brand new. This is incredible. The Bible tells us that our debt was canceled, taken out of the way, and was nailed to the cross through Jesus. Also, through Jesus’ death, He disarmed the rulers and authorities of darkness, made a public spectacle (display) of them, and triumphed over them. (Colossians 2:14-15). The devil and his powers run away in the presence of Jesus. And, Jesus wants us to know this, believe this, and see ourselves crucified with Him at the cross. When this belief becomes a reality in a person’s life, power from Heaven is released through that person’s life. This pleases God.
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The Bible tells us that each one of us needs to see ourselves as being crucified WITH Jesus Christ. We are to identify with Him. All of our sinfulness and the power that keeps us in a state of continual sinning was actually nailed to the tree (cross) with Jesus! That’s amazing GOOD NEWS!. The Bible tells us that we are made free from the power of our sinful selves (Colossians 2:11). It also tells us that through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection we were changed forever. You were created by God to believe that Jesus did these things for you so you could be free to know Him, free to know your Father in Heaven, free to have His life living inside of you (through the Holy Spirit), free to live the life you were created for, and free from bondages and negative spiritual holds on your lives. You are guaranteed that all of Heaven is behind you!!! Our Father in Heaven is looking for those who will believe how much He loves them, who will believe this message of love. What will you do with this truth? The Bible tells us in John 8: 31-32 that “you will know the truth (Jesus is the truth) and the truth (Jesus) will set you free.” Jesus is not a concept or an idea….He is a person, He is real, He is alive, HE IS GOD!
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We are to happy to send this note of encouraging love to you. Everything inside of us is smiling as we share this message, even when there are troubles we face. The same is for you. Your Father in Heaven loves you so much that He would send His beloved son, Jesus, who is ONE with Him and the Holy Spirit (remember…not 3 Gods, but ONE GOD in three persons), to take away all the evil, sin, wickedness, sickness, disease, and heartache that comes in this world because of separation from the Father. Jesus rescues us, sets us free, and is on our side !! Hallelujah! We serve a healing God who desires to set the captives free from all sin, sickness, disease, heartache and distress. Remember the healings you have seen during our visit to you? Don’t forget what you have seen demonstrated to you.
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Jesus has taken all of our sin upon Himself and through Him, He set you free. You are free if you know and have received Jesus. The Bible tells us that Jesus spoke these words: “The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come that you might have abundant life.” (John 10:10). If you want to have this amazing relationship with Him, receive His abundant life, invite Him into your life right now and give yourselves to Him. He is worth everything…..He is love. If you have spoken this to Him before, that’s great. You may renew your heart of appreciation to Him. Right where you are, connect with God, and invite Jesus to be your personal Lord, King, and Saviour. Tell Him that you believe in what He has done and that you desire to receive His life (through the Holy Spirit) right now, knowing that ONLY Jesus can set you free (from the power of sin and spiritual death) through the shedding of His blood on the cross, and raising from the dead. Renounce any connection with other gods and invite His forgiving love to cleanse you. We will agree with you as you invite Him into your life, “Oh, God, I know that I am lost without you. I believe that You love me and sent Jesus to this earth to die for my sin, because you love me so much. I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and is alive today as the one true and only God. I turn away from and renounce all false beliefs I have held and ask you to forgive me of all my sin. Jesus, I invite you to become my personal Lord and Savior. Father, I come into your family as one of your children, and thank you for giving me a new heart, new life, and a new beginning. I surrender to You completely and desire to follow You all the days of my life.” If you are in agreement with these words, you have experienced the greatest of all miracles, a new life. This is evidence of His amazing love! We become part of God’s family when we recognize that we are lost and connect with Heaven this way. See yourself as a child of God…and you will spiritually grow in incredible ways. Your life in this world will also reflect that change.
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Jesus is our healing God. Invite Him to take your sickness, disease away. We will agree with you and Heaven right now, “Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we command all sickness and disease to leave these precious people. Thank you, Lord.” Jesus paid a big price for healing you. Continue to believe and thank Him for His power of healing in you is released now. We know that many of you did this (prayed this way) last March when we visited you. That’s wonderful. Now, let’s keep growing in relationship with the Lover of your souls. Please tell Pastor Deva and Pastor Prabaka (and those who share the love of Jesus with you from their church) how God has deeply touched you through this letter from us. God put it on our hearts to write you, so He gets the glory.
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 He is with you. See yourself crucified with Jesus at the cross 2000 years ago (long before you were born). Identify yourselves with Jesus at the cross, at his burial, and in His resurrection. This is how the Lord sees you. He sees your old self removed (dead and buried with Jesus), and the “new you” cleansed and new (raised to new life in Jesus Christ) !I He sees you as beautiful and whole and lovely. You are His precious treasure….so special to Him. The Bible tells us that you are complete in Jesus, lacking nothing. Oh, what a loving Father we have!
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Is there any part of you that you don’t “see” crucified at the cross? Remember, He already did this for you…..so choose to go there and see what He has already accomplished for you. The devil tries to blind your spiritual eyes from seeing this. The Bible tells us in Colossians 2:11 that the body of flesh was removed when Jesus was crucified. The body of flesh is our sinful nature with its wrong passions and lusts. All people were born with this nature. Only through Jesus can this nature be removed. Sin is wanting to do whatever we want to do and think whatever we want to think, living apart from God’s influence in our lives. Humans are enslaved to sin, but God wants us to experience true freedom. When a person belongs to Jesus he/she becomes a slave of love. This is a good type of slavery — it comes from a heartfelt love connection that empowers a person to desire to wholeheartedly to follow Jesus because of love. You carry His very life on the inside of you as a follower of Jesus — what a privlege. May you choose to see your new life in Jesus as the greatest blessing you will ever have and continue to desire more of the presence of God in your life. Here are two good questions to ask yourself. Am I looking at Christ crucified in every area of my life? Have I identified myself completely with Christ crucified? Do I understand my true identity in Jesus Christ? Who is the “real me”? The “real you” is your new nature….your spirit that is now alive to Christ.
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Think about these things and ask the Pastors your questions. The answers are in the Bible and they can help you with this as well. Here’s the heart cry that pleases the Lord…”Oh, Lord, I love you. I just want more of You in my life. More Lord!!! I want to know you more. I want to see You more. I want to experience Your love, Your heart. Show me, Lord. Here I am…..I want Your presence more than anything. Come Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit. Make Yourself known to me. Fill me up with Your power and presence. Overwhelm me with Your love. I want more of You in every part of my life. Saturate me with Your peace and joy. I am safe in Your arms of love. There is no fear in love….Your perfect love casts out all fear. Here I am, Lord…….I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. More, Lord…keep coming, Holy Spirit. Thank you for increasing my passion for You…..I am going deeper in Your heart of love. You are my amazing God and lover of my soul. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Jesus. Holy Spirit I want to know you intimately deep inside. God you are everything to me. I want to live for you more and more.”
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We love you…..and care about you. May you be encouraged today and filled with all the goodness of God. We are looking forward to our return to India to see you.
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Because of Jesus,
Pastor Bill and Pastor Mary Pat Gokee
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Frontline Worship Center, Pastors
Frontline Ministries International, Directors
Ohio, USA
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Here’s the response we got back after the letter was read to the lepers:
Dear Pastor Bill and Pastor Mary Pat,
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Greetings in the wonderful name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
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Today we shared the message that you gave us to share with lepers.It touched their hearts in deep and many of them shed tears when we were preaching them them how God loved them and what he did for them as you wrote in your email.They realised the true love of God and are now filled with that love.They are so happy now with the love of God.
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Blessings,
Pastor Deva and Suneetha