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our message
Testimony - Ravi
Hi , I am Ravi and I would like to share with you my experience in coming to know Jesus Christ as my GOD and Saviour.
I am a Malaysian Indian and come from a city called Kuala Lumpur which is the capital of Malaysia in South East Asia. Let me share with you my experiences from childhood to teenage years till I have come to experience GOD.
I grew up during the early seventies and around this period Malaysia had received it's independence from Great Britain and was going through a period of political change and rearrangement. There was a power struggle between the 2 main races in Malaysia that is the native Malays who had political power and the Chinese who had the economic might. It was a difficult and challenging time, because being of Indian origin I belonged to the smallest minority group and we didn't have the political or economic influence. The government introduced methods in education and business to give priority to certain race. Often I felt there was discrimination either in school or in workplace. Also in just about everything i did ,i felt was a struggle because of the colour or my skin. Life seemed to be disadvantaged for me even from the start and I was sad.
At the same time my family was going thru various challenges too. My dad had migrated from India to Malaysia during the colonial times and after independence was assured citizenship but never got it. Many times my dad was nearly deported out of Malaysia and my family lived in the fear of losing our father and my mum her husband. At the same time my father whom I believed to be a fair an honest man did his best in doing various jobs and business to earn a living. But it seemed in everything he did he seemed to loose more money than earn. It seemed like we were always in debt and living in fear of the debt collectors.
All these things made me early on to search of the meaning of life and turn to GOD for help. I went to the different religious places of worship like the Hindu and Buddhist temples,the Muslim mosque and Catholic church to seek GOD. I cried out to GOD but did not get any response. I wondered if there was a GOD , but when I see the wonder of creation and the things that happened to my family and life in general ,i could see there was purpose and plan and there was someone in control of our lives. And if there was no GOD there is really no purpose in life anyway.
So I decided to pursue Hinduism which is the religion of my forefathers. I practiced various forms of Hinduism, like the Hare Krishna's who chant and dance to thier god Krishna, and temple worship of statues in form of gods. And raja yoga which is meditation of a red dot and imagining that is the father god and trying to live a sinless life. But of course I could not live a sinless life as I was overcome by my own desires. I also did bakhti yoga which is a meditation on devotion to god. Here I would mediate on using all my senses, thinking,feeling,imaging love of god and loving all humans. Love was the highest form in the Hindu scriptures.
After I had meditated on love I would feel some sort of peace but I knew I still had bitterness and hatred in my heart towards other people. I tried so hard to get rid of this bitterness but I could not get rid of it from my heart. I also dealt into Tantra yoga which used spirits. Sometimes when I was praying I would feel the presence of something powerful and evil near me. In the night I would find something trying to choke me or I would wake up in fear being in the presence of something evil.
Where ever I went I felt a heavy dark burden hung over me. I prayed to the Hindu gods and tried doing good works to get rid of this but I could not shake this off.
It was during this time I met my wife and we decided to elope and go to New Zealand as my parents were against our relationship. We had a simple Chinese marriage ceremony in my wife's hometown as my wife was Chinese and with the money we collected we came to New Zealand. We didn't have a work permit or a residence permit or even a job.
It was an economic recession in New Zealand at that time and even Kiwis had a difficulty in getting jobs. But GOD was working on me at that time I believe. One Friday night as we were walking up Queen St in Auckland we saw a group of people singing Christian songs at Aotea Square. We stopped to listen and a man approached us and invitied my wife to a meeting on Sunday night. He spoke in a heavy English accent and said he will come and pick us up that night. As I was a bit suspicious of strangers I thought I will accompany my wife that night. That night they showed a movie on the gospel outreach of Loius Palau in Auckland. Louis Palau talked about life in general and about how GOD sent his son Jesus Christ 2000 years ago. And how he lived a perfect sinless life and was killed for my sins because of GOD's love for us and how he wanted us to be reconciled and have a relationship with GOD.
Later on the Pastor also talked about how there is an Heaven and Hell and if we accept Jesus as our Saviour I can have an inheritance in Heaven. These things seem to make sense to me and I surely didn't want to go to hell as I knew there was an evil spiritual world through my experience in Hinduism. So that night me and my wife put up our hands when the call was made to accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord. Life didn't change immediately because I still continued to believe Jesus and the Hindu gods. But as people prayed for me and as I read GOD's word in the Bible,things began to change. Suddenly as if my eyes were opened I could understand the meaning of GOD's Savation plan and felt the life changing experience.
I realised that Jesus Christ is the only true and living GOD and thee is no salvation except thru Jesus Christ. The heavy dark cloud of burden that hung over me wherever I went was lifted and removed completely. I felt so light and could touch the sky. There was a deep peace and overflowing joy that flowed from my heart. I felt in beliving and accepting Jesus Christ as my only Saviour I was washed clean and free because his blood paid the price of my bad karmas or sin. I experienced as if the birth of a fresh new life.It's as the scripture says in 2 Corinthians 5 v17 Therefore if any man be in Christ,he is a new creature:old things are passed away behold, all things are become new. Praise be to Jesus Christ for saving me and setting me free.
Eventually thru GOD's grace I managed to get a job and permanent residence in this new home New Zealand. I can still remember those days when we didn't have much posseisons and we rented a small cramped bedsitter in Mt.Eden and drove a rusting Toyota Starlet ,but there was such a joy in our hearts because of what Jesus had done for us. And where as before I tried my best to remove the bitterness in my heart of racism but when I went to Jesus and laid it with him he took my pain and hatred away,what an awesome GOD! I have been a Christian now for over many years and still continue to experience his joy and peace and hope. He continues to work on me and change me to a better person and there is much to be done in my life. But I have a purpose in my life and thru good times and difficult times I have a solid rock on whom I can depend on to guide me thru this life. I can turn to him everyday and find him to be true and I can bring my problems and difficulties to him and he shows me the paths I should take.
Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Friend. God's word says "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that GOD had raised him from the death thou shall be saved." And another verse says "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." May GOD bless you and may you come to know the true and living GOD Jesus Christ as your personal saviour.
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