Rev. Dr. Duke Jeyaraj
I love India. The inspiration to do so comes from the Bible.
Love that moves me to INTERCESSION!
Apostle Paul, loved the country he belonged to. He expressed that love by writing these words: ‘I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites’ (Rom. 9:1-4). He was ready to go hell – be accursed – if that could bring the people of his nation who largely had rejected Christ, to Christ! This extreme love for his countrymen which Apostle Paul showcased was not much different from the crazy love which Moses showed for the idol worship loving, idol worship returning people of Israel: Then Moses returned to the Lord, and said, “Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves. But now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!” (Ex. 32:31-32).
Do we love our Country enough to pray this: Lord, I did not choose the country of my birth! But you chose that I be born an Indian! Save Indians Lord! Let the Gospel be proclaimed to every Indian. Use me also in this task! Move me out of my comfort zone for the accomplishment of this task!
Through the ministry I run, the Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission, the G4 Mission, we run an event called Fountain of Tears of Against of Mountain of Fears Fasting Prayer over Zoom. We pray for India in this once-a-month event after gleaning prayer points from national news magazines such as The Week, India Today, Open, Outlook, etc. This is my way of showing love for my nation! Yes, through INTERCESSION!
Love that moves me to make a ‘DONATION’!
Also when the Lord started blessing my finances I started paying Income Tax! Some suggested that I pay only a nominal tax as my Income Tax – a miniscule amount. But I did not want to do that. I wanted to pay the right amount to the government! And I have been doing this! I was inspired by Jesus to do this! He paid taxes. He paid two kinds of taxes. He paid his religious tax to the temple authorise. In Matthew 17:24-27 Jesus arranged the payment of this tax. A coin was found inside a fish’s mouth. This coin was paid as Temple Tax. Though Jesus asserted that he did not have to pay this tax, he nevertheless paid it, because was be wanted to be above reproach!
That’s not all. In Matthew 22:15-22 Jesus used a coin as an illustration to assert that we must pay taxes to respective governments that rule our Land. In Jesus’ case, a Roman Government ruled the nation he was born into – Palestine! And Jesus was quite clear one had to pay taxes even to the political government ruling the land of your birth!
Do you love India that much that you also pay Income Tax to the Indian Government if you need to do that?
Apostle Paul also called believers to pay tax and thereby in-effect express their love for the land they belong to. He wrote: ‘For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, busy with this very thing. Pay to all what is due them—taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due’ (Rom. 13:6-7). Yes, we must express our love for India via the DONATION called TAX!
Love that was fuelled by a Visa REJECTION!
On August 12, 2010, I appeared before the US Consulate in Hyderabad for a US Visa interview. An organisation was ready not only to buy me a ticket to the USA and back but also sponsor the fees to apply for the US Visa. I was to go there and make a presentation in a Christian Conference. But the visa application got rejected. Though I was disappointed I felt God orchestrated these events to help me focus on a pan-India ministry down the years.
‘Till date, it has been my privilege to preach God’s Word with passion and unction in over 20 Indian states, with the organisers paying for my ticket. God wove together events to bring me a point of a genuine love for my nation, as difficult as it was, at one point in time! I can honestly say that I have no regrets at all that the best years of my youth have been spent in serving Jesus in India, the nation the Lord chose as the nation of my birth, a really needy nation! Through this US visa REJECTION God increased my love for my own country!
Are you listening to God’s voice to you inspiring you to love your nation? You must!
(This article originally appears in Aim Magazine of Evangelical Fellowship of India in its January 2023 edition; The writer, Duke Jeyaraj, is the founder of Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission. This is a reader-supported Indian ministry. Reach us via WhatsApp at +91-8886040605)