Gideon Army - The Army of GOD

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Mission trip team testifies, Giving all glory to God

Team Member Testimonies

“Dec 15 till Jan 1 was really a time of personal healing and blessing. God was definitely using the ministries and the acquaintance of all the team members to heal my hurts. I vividly remember the meeting in Thirupur, where a mother brought her 7-year-old daughter to be prayed for by Gideon Stanley and the team. The girl was suffering from some type of cancer and I could see the agony in the mother's face. God then reminded me how grateful I should be for all of His blessings in my life instead of just murmuring and grumbling.

Moreover, all the team members shared their testimony of how God lead them during times of very personal hurt. It made me realize God was much bigger than my problems.”

Stephen Kumar

John Jayaprakash

Shija Kuruvilla

Supriya Parmar

Sara Stanley

Stephen Kumar

“I was really blessed through this mission trip. It transformed my life. My heart melted seeing people with broken hearts and desperate for healing in different areas of their lives. I saw so many people comforted, receive joy and strengthened and healed through our prayers. I rejoiced in my spirit, when I saw demons flee in the name of Jesus Christ.”

John Jayaprakash

“While being at India, God taught me how to hear Him, distinguish His voice; be able to trust that voice, and to ultimately trust Him and solely rely on Him. I didn’t know what God was going to do at the various places that we went, but I believe that as a team we learned to just give God all control, so I know that for me I was never worried about what was going to happen at these meetings but I expected great things. Each meeting taught me a new lesson or idea that is helping me now as I begin this new adventure with God alone.”

Shija Kuruvilla

“If I could sum up my experience on this mission trip in a few words, it would be this – I learned what it means to be fully dependent on God and to be carried by His Spirit in order to be used by Him. It was so awesome to be given the task to pray for so many people and to share my testimony at different meetings. As I prayed for some people, some people, I could see that their faith was very high. Then my faith would arise as well. To be in God’s presence and see His glory manifest was humbling because it was definitely not by our own strength. We can do nothing without God’s power. I learned through these three weeks that when you totally submit and surrender to Him, He WILL sustain you because He is a faithful God.”

Supriya Parmar

1 Timothy 4:12 “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.

> If I could sum up my experience on this mission trip in a few words, it would be this – I learned what it means to be fully dependent on God and to be carried by His Spirit in order to be used by Him. I never thought I would go on a mission trip. I didn’t think missionary work was for me. A couple of years ago, I had a very difficult time just talking to people. But somehow God changed that. He have me a heart and desire to go to India. And when this specific opportunity came for 2003, I knew that I had to really pray about it before making a decision. Actually, I had been praying about it for one year, and I told God I didn’t want to go without Him. If 2003 wasn’t His timing for me to go, then I was okay with that. I just decided to let God do what He wanted. If He wanted me to go, I knew He would speak to my parents and make sure I could get time off from work.

For my family, this was a huge step for me to go on the trip. My family kept reminding me that I would be setting an example for my brother and cousins. I know they see what I am doing, especially since I am the eldest of the children. My mother always wanted to do missionary work when she was young, especially in India. It meant so much to her that I go because I was fulfilling her dream.

Over the past two years, God has spoken to me many times that I would be a leader in my family; not just in my home, but a leader to my extended family also. There would be something different they would see in me, and that I would be used as an example for them to follow. And as I look back now I can see a definite change, even in my house. I am ashamed to say this, but when I was young it was difficult for me to go to church. I wanted to go, but everyone at home wanted to go to different churches. Everyone was on a different level. And if I chose to go to one church, I felt like I was showing favoritism. I didn’t want to be in that position, so many times I just decided not to go to church. But the one thing I desired was for my whole family to attend the same church and serve God together. Even at such a small age, I really wanted that for my family. So now we have finally found a church all of us are happy to attend and serve. And I can see how my participation in so many youth activities, Unshackled, and now this mission trip is bringing our family together. All glory goes to God because it was only our obedience and submission to Him that brought us together.

I knew that God called me to go on this trip. So I told Him to use me in whatever way He wanted. I think the key was obedience to God. At the meeting in Tuticorin when I was on stage I felt so exhausted. I wasn’t sure if I had the strength to go through one more meeting. But when I saw those small children worshipping God with their hands raised, I was so touched and encouraged. That gave me strength to go on. As I was praying over them while on stage, I had remembered that God had given me a dream of that same moment – standing on a stage praying and laying my hands on people. I began to cry because I knew that night that the dream was fulfilled. It was a confirmation that I was doing God’s will. It was so awesome to be given the task to pray for so many people and to share my testimony at different meetings. As I prayed for some people, I could see that their faith was very high. Then my faith would arise as well. To be in God’s presence and see His glory manifest was humbling because it was definitely not by our own strength. We can do nothing without God’s power. I learned through these three weeks that when you totally submit and surrender to Him, He WILL sustain you because He is a faithful God. There was one night I felt so dehydrated and tired. I cried out to God in my room because I needed Him so desperately. That night He restored my strength, both physical and spiritual

One thing is for sure – no one should go on a mission trip unless God specifically tells you to. There were sacrifices my family, our team, and I had to make. But I never complained because I knew I was obeying God. If someone goes on a trip like this without seeking God’s will first, he or she will not make it.

The next day after we came home, I woke up with this fresh energy and joy. I feel so much different. My level of faith has risen and my longing for God has deepened. I feel like I have fallen in love with God, as if I have found something new and exciting like a new Christian. I’m so glad I listened to God and went to India. If it is His will, I will go again. It was a life-changing experience, and I’m excited to see what God has in store for me and the rest of the team this year.

“Everywhere we went in India, I saw the heart of God move in compassion towards His people. Those of us familiar with the Gospels have heard Jesus’ words over and over saying. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” In place after place, we saw those hungry for God’s love, healing and mercy being filled to overflowing. Many times I could almost read the heart of the people in their expectant faces as we began to pray and worship, “Your face, LORD, I will seek” (Psalm 27:8). Yes we saw the heart of God, and we saw His face too – we saw His tears in the cries of a heartbroken mother, we saw His laughter in the smiling faces of so many children, we saw His blood streaked forehead in those cleansed and delivered.”

Sara Stanley

“On each mission trip that I have been blessed to participate, I can see retrospectively that there is an underlying theme. Sometimes it’s about showing the love of Christ, sometimes it’s about encouraging Christians in their walk with God, and sometimes it’s about bringing God’s light into a very dark, desolate place. There were elements of all three of these themes on our mission trip to India, but I think the major theme was breaking bondages amongst Christians as well as Hindus. Being able to whole-heartedly trust in God and just feeling the power of God rising up within you to do battle is awesome.”

Pictures of the trip>>