Confessions of a first timer to the Navapur Convention

James Kumar

Initial Reflections

I had an interesting start to the Navapur Conference 2013.  I was travelling from the Mumbai to a remote village called Karanji, aka Navapur, which I had never been to.  I was not sure what to expect, but I was excited by what was going to come.  As  I walked in to the village, it was a total contrast to what I saw in Mumbai.  I saw people everywhere and lots and lots of stalls and then a big massive tent with lots of colours on it.  I rested for a few hours and then got ready for the conference.  As I walked in to the conference tent, my heart started rising with excitement and I was nervous. The moment I walked in, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Immediately my heart calmed down and I was filled with peace. I was reminded by the Holy Spirit that this was not just an event but an encounter with living God!

Coming to this conference was not just because someone invited me, but it was a divine appointment for my life.  I always had a heart for my own country India and wanted to see something like this here.  I met Mrs. Mary Mathews, the co founder of this ministry and she invited me to come and visit the ministry in India.  My holidays and conference days perfectly matched and I knew that this was another God incident in my life. I started preparing my heart to receive the word cleared my mind and I was glad there was no internet connection.  With no distractions from the social media, I was virtually fasting and I am happy about it.

First Night Rally

The first day evening at the conference started with prayer and worship.  The crowd was building up and so was the pace of the worship.  I loved the songs.  Most of them have been written by Filadelfia worship leaders for this conference. These songs were amazing and were filled with scriptures and a deeper revelation of Jesus.  Lifting the name of Jesus we continued to worship his name with dancing and singing. This worship experience brought me closer to Jesus like never before.

In the Inaugural address itself, Dr Paul Mathews set our expectations straight.  We were told to

1.       Be hungry for the word of God.

2.       Offer the biggest praise 'gift' to Jesus.

3.       Meet  new people and fellowship with them

4.       Pray like never before

5.       Get a fresh vision for 2014.

Soon afterwards, the guest speaker for the evening, Brother Tinu George came to minister.  He began to preach the word of God with authority. While he was preaching I could feel the power of the Holy Spirit.   After the Word was over, he offered to pray for the sick people and for deliverance.   Hundreds of people came forward.  My heart just broke looking at the huge need in this nation.  People were hungry for Jesus and his touch in their lives.

The Glory of God filled in the place and people started crying out to the Jesus and as Pastor started praying in the Name of Jesus, and declaring the Blood of Jesus, people started getting healed and delivered.  One partially blind could see, pains were gone from the hands and legs, stomach pain disappeared ulcers and infections healed.  And I was a witness to this! Thank you Jesus. Brother George encouraged the people to come and testify before the congregation and many people did so!

DAY TWO

Beautiful morning amazing weather. I am ready to worship Jesus today.  The crowd is building up and I can see people staying in the same tent and getting ready for the conference sessions with Pastor S R Manohar.

He started the session with ''Jesus is wonderful''! From there all the way till he finished, it was an amazing journey with the Holy Spirit.  He started talking about the 'inside world', the world that we hold inside us.  He explained that God looks at your heart and what is in your heart.  I learnt that first God works inside of us, then God works through us and then God works for us.   

As the sermon was being unpacked, I could see Jesus being revealed more gloriously and I could know that I was guilty of being filled with selfish desires.  I started confessing the things that God showed me and I could feel him touching my inner life.  In the next session, he took us deeper and talked about what true success looks like in ministry.

Within two days I could see lot of transformation inside of me because when we allow Jesus to work inside of us we will be changed and transformed forever.

I had a great sleep that night and woke up in the morning filled with new anticipation.

DAY THREE
The worship was lifted to a whole new level today.  Pastor Manohar started talking about Perfect Love.  It was a perfect start for the day.  I learnt that when I love Jesus wholeheartedly, I will not fear anything in this world, even ridicule or persecution!

The evening session was just amazing as we had a new guest speaker, Rev. K C John. He taught us through the scriptures, that Jesus was anointed in all the three realms of the Old Testament.  First as a faithful prophet, then as a High Priest and then as the King of Kings. It was really good.

It felt as if the days were going very fast.  But I knew deep down inside of me that I was making good use of every session, by taking notes, so that I could refer back to this notes even later.

DAY FOUR

In the morning session I witnessed the graduation ceremony of the Filadelfia Bible College. As I was watching this ceremony, I could see that all the students were happy and excited about their achievements. It was moving to see so many young men and women committing their lives to spread the Good News.    

In Pastoral leadership session, Pastor Manohar challenged us to pray in a new ways to God, and encouraged us to find new vocabulary and new sentences in our communication with God.  

Another powerful evening session followed.  With more songs coming in ever powerfully, it was a joy to witness people dancing and praising the Lord, with abandon.  The crowds were getting bigger and bigger and one could hardly walk around the field on the field or to the back of the tent.  There were lots of powerful prophecies for the future direction of the Church.  Personally, I received many promises and prophecies in this session and in the whole conference.

FINAL DAY

The final day was here and I could not believe it.  I was well dressed for Church and for Jesus and I was ready to receive what God wanted to talk to me though his servants.  Pastor K C John started with a bang.  He spoke of the blessed hope that the church had, the return of our Lord Jesus.  I was so excited about this that I serve and pray to a God who is alive and coming back and I will see him one day, my hope is in an everlasting God.

Then it was time to partake in the Holy Communion.  I had never known what it would be like.  But the way it was served and the way the people honoured the elements was really a blessing to see.  It felt as if the people knew more than just the obvious.

If I look at the whole conference, it was a life changing experience for me.  I have been filled with Jesus and hope and more faith for the future. I am secure in the arms of almighty God who is faithful and full of new mercy and grace every day.

I did not count but I saw lots and lots of people everywhere.  Maybe the number of people would have easily crossed  50,000 or more. It makes me happy that the Gospel is preached and people get saved because of the Name of Jesus.

If God wills,  I would like to come back and contribute my bit  in this conference the next year.  If you are reading this article, I will encourage you to come and experience the work of Jesus in this small village of Navapur and be blessed.

James is currently working as Software Applications Operations Support in Sydney, Australia.  He visited the Conference for the first time and it was life changing experience for him.