When he was 22, in 1994, Randeep, then
a nominal Christian with no real desire to follow Jesus, was walking
down the street of his home town in the state of Himachal Pradesh. He
saw a woman who was rolling on the ground screaming. He recognised
that she was demonized, and sensed God saying to him that he was to
pray for her. However, he had no desire to do so and walked on, until
again he fancied he heard God talking to him. This time God said "I
can easily get someone else to pray for her – but where would that
leave you and your salvation?" He then prayed for her, and she
was instantly completely healed and restored to her right mind.
Later on that evening, when he was at
home, he heard a commotion outside. There was a crowd of about 70. He
was very nervous. "It must be a crowd of Hindus upset because I
prayed for that girl," he thought. However, a voice sounded out,
"Does Jesus live here?" He opened the door to speak to the
crowd. "I am a Christian", he said. It turned out that the
crowd had heard about the girl who was healed, and had brought many
to be prayed for. Randeep was scared to pray for them, because he
thought that if he prayed and nothing happened, they would think him
a fake and beat him up, so he declined to pray. But his mother said,
"If they want you to pray for them you’d better pray". He
told her if she was prepared to accept the consequences, he would
pray. She agreed – and when he prayed for the people, every one of
them was miraculously healed!
He started to form house churches
amongst those who believed, and in the years since this miraculous
start, 3500 house churches have started as part of this network,
which now has 120 full-time church planters and 300 volunteer
workers. This is only one network in India, which is seeing many of
these movements spring up. He told us much more of his experiences,
which also include costly persecution and beatings. But the Lord has
been faithful to bring him through each trial. He and his co-workers
also shared key teachings and understandings which they believe have
been instrumental in God’s move in India.
A story from India that was shared at
the 2007 Asian House Church Conference.
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