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The Gospel is why God listens to prayer. Meaning, it is because of who Jesus Christ is and what He did. It has nothing to do with a person’s piety or way of praying. If you have been persuaded that God will not listen to your prayers because you are not good enough for Him, YOU ARE RIGHT. God does not listen to you because you’ve earned His favor. You can agree with the thoughts that you are unworthy, because you are unworthy … IF … you are expecting the Father God to accept your prayers because of your own goodness and merits. You have God’s favor solely because of Jesus Christ. It is necessary to understand and accept that the requirement to be accepted by God is perfection. Jesus Christ is the only one who has met that requirement. He offers that perfect righteousness to whoever will give us their self-righteousness and put their trust in Him, and His righteousness.

Thomas Brooks, an old English puritan, said it well, “That sorrow for sin that keeps the soul from looking towards the Mercy Seat, and that keeps Christ and the soul asunder, or that shall render the soul unfit for the communion of saints, is a sinful sorrow.” This is what illegitimate guilt, shame, and regret will do. But godly sorrow cuts the heart and press the soul unto repentance. This is the sorrow described by the apostle in 2 Corinthians 7:9–10

9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

We sing: “What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” Yet our minds are beaten down and held captive by guilt, shame, and regret deceiving us into believing that the blood of Jesus did not “wash away my sins” thoroughly enough to keep them forgiven. We hear the lies and begin to be persuaded that somehow our past sins can come back, overcome the power of the blood of Christ, and make us guilty again. I do not deny that these thoughts can be loud and powerful, but they are lies. For it is written, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).” Concerning that previous “you” who was alienated from God, it is written: “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).” And concerning the accusations of your past, those sins which were cast away from you and from God as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12), it is written: “Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us [Romans 8:33–34 (NLT)].

“When I was studying  as a TTI (The Timothy Initiative) student last year, we had been constructing a church building. Meanwhile 150-200 people  came there with weapons and they destroyed our church building and beaten us very badly.  But I thank God Almighty who delivered us miraculously from that dangerous situation. 

After 3 months of this incident many people were added to the church as a result of that particular persecution. After few months I had been giving baptism for new believers, the same opponents came and tried to disrupt the baptism, but I thank God for His faithfulness and protection and God enabled me to baptize 33 people on that day.

Please do pray for us that we may win many more souls in this village.”