September 2014 Newsletter

Jesus said, "I will make you fishers of men."

- Matthew 4:19

Myanmar/Burma Greta Gabaglio

September 2014

God is at Work in Astounding Ways!

- Dick Eastman, EHC International President

In my years of ministry with EHC, I’ve had the opportunity to travel and see first-hand how God is moving in the nations—in fact I’ve travelled around the globe more than 100 times. It strikes me again and again that wherever I go, whether visiting a developed country or impoverished third-world village, people are intrinsically the same. Rich or poor, educated or illiterate, we all have the same basic need, and that is to be loved. Is it any wonder? The Bible tells us that we are made in our Creator’s own image and that He is love. (Genesis 1:26 and I John 4:8) Without knowledge of and a relationship with the essence of love, God our Father and Creator, the human heart is left empty and void.

At EHC, we’re experiencing an unusual move of God all across the globe. There seems to be a growing hunger and thirst for truth in a world filled with deception and lies. A culture that embraces the road that leads to many gods, even creating your own “god”, is reaching dead ends. Young and old alike are desperate to find meaning for their existence. Loneliness is pervasive; depression rampant.

The good news is, tens of thousands of lost and lonely souls are coming to Christ every single day, largely because someone took time to care.They received a knock on their door and were given the news their hungry hearts are longing to hear, that there’s a living God who loves them and wants to have a relationship with them. A recent letter we received from a new believer in Armenia said it well.

Referring to the knock he received on his door from EHC workers, he says, “No one has ever visited my home and taken the time as you did to try to help me with so many of my questions about my life.” He goes on to tell how he found new hope and energy to live and finally found the true purpose for his life through Jesus Christ. God is at work in the nations, proving once again that the gates of hell will not prevail.

OPIS Zagreb

EHC Myanmar’s National Director U Zin Hla to Reach His Nation for Christ

U Zin Hla was born into a Christian family in Myanmar and grew up hearing about Christ and salvation from his parents and his church. In fact, Zin comes from a rich Christian heritage. His great, great, great, great, great grandfather was the second convert of the very first Protestant missionary to Myanmar (then known as Burma), Adoniram Judson.

Judson laboured in Burma nearly seven years before seeing his first convert. The second convert was Zin’s distant grandfather, and only 16 more converts followed. In all, Judson ministered for 12 years to win 18 people to Christ. Praise God that Zin’s ancestor was among the fruit of this man’s faithful work. Zin’s father, Aung Hla, also served as the National Director of EHC Myanmar for many years.

As a college student, enticed by worldly desires, Zin began to wander from the Lord. But he quickly realised this would not satisfy him. “I wanted something more,” he says. “I wanted to have new life like it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come". So I prayed to the Lord to make me a new creation.”

Soon after Zin prayed, he met a Christian man who shared with him about a personal relationship with Christ. For three months, the man discipled Zin by meeting with him for regular Bible study.“ I repented,and miraculously my life was changed,” he remembers.“I had the joy of salvation in my life.”

Although Zin was busy with his studies, he began evangelizing in his spare time. “I joined every organization I could find as a volunteer, and I started witnessing whenever I had the chance. I was not ready to surrender my life to the Lord for full-time ministry, but I grew very

passionate about reaching those without Christ.” Zin began to wrestle with the Lord over the calling to full-time ministry. Although he was devoted to Christ, he wanted to continue his studies and only volunteer for ministry.

But one fateful day, Zin suffered a severe fall that left him totally confined to bed with unbearable back pain.“For two and a half years, this was my life! I was a college student, and I couldn’t walk more than three steps at a time.

The doctor told me I was incurable; I would endure this pain for life.”

Zin grew very depressed, and one night he attempted to take his own life. “But God was there that night, and He saved me from death,” he rejoices. Zin cried out to the Lord in desperation and promised to give his life to full-time ministry, and that very moment he was instantly and completely healed! He spent the next ten days not just walking, but literally hiking 152 miles through the mountains of Myanmar, proclaiming the Gospel to anyone who would listen! For three years, he went and preached the Gospel full-time at his own expense, one step at a time.

Later, Zin joined EHC full-time as a field coordinator, a position he held for 12 years. He travelled all over Myanmar with EHC pioneer missionaries, evangelising and discipling.

When his father, the former National Director for Myanmar, passed away, Zin was appointed to serve in the position.

“By the grace of God, I have this wonderful opportunity to reach every home in my country with the printed message of salvation,” Zin says.

“We finished our first complete coverage in 2008,and now we are in the midst of reaching every home again. It is so exciting to watch the Lord transform our country, one home at a time.”

I grew up singing the old hymn "Draw Me Nearer," and particularly recall the stanza that begins " O the pure delight of a single hour that before Thy throne I spend." Yet it was not until my early thirties that I discovered how this delight could touch every day that I lived, in a practical way. That discovery changed my prayer life.

Moved by Christ's appeal to Peter in Matthew 26:40, "Could you not watch Me one hour?", I embarked on a journey of blessing that has touched every day since.

Twenty-five years ago this simple challenge to set aside an hour a day to be with the Lord, in His Word, was born. It resulted from those early days of seeking to develop a consistent, daily, devotional hour.

Because of a special burden for world evangelisation, my hour included a plan to pray for the nations each day, thus becoming a daily hour that let me partner with God in changing our world.

It is with my deep gratitude to the Lord for His blessing that this special twentyfifth anniversary edition of " The Hour That Changes the World" is being published. I have been encouraged that some fifty printings of this book have been released in numerous languages over these twenty-five years.

I believe God is raising up an entirely new generation of faithful, fervent warriors of worship and intercession who will truly change our world through their prayers.

If they are like me when I started out, they will appreciate a few guidelines to help them begin - and to stay faithful. I pray these pages will help.

- Dick Eastman International President Every Home for Christ

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