Home from Nepal, living in God’s plan

Early this morning, after several long flights, I finally arrived home from Nepal. The flight to Nepal a week ago was excruciatingly difficult for me. It was my first trip since my wife Carina went home to be with the Lord, and I kept thinking about her, feeling the pain of not having someone at home waiting for me. But I reminded myself that if God’s power is perfected in my weakness, then he was going to do mighty things at the gospel crusades in Nepal.

The country of Nepal is so ravaged right now, and we held our first meeting in a city located at the epicenter of last year’s earthquake. Then each night after the meeting we broke camp to move on to a new city. At each new place we bussed in the sick, possessed and unsaved.

Being present at these meetings is a surreal experience. It is hard to take in all that happens, and there are two things that stick out. The first thing is that the spiritual presence that Paul describes in the last chapter of Ephesians is clearly vident at our crusades. It is no exaggeration when you read about what happened when Philip came to Samaria. The second thing is the unmistakable authority that the name of Jesus has in the spiritual dimension. In these meetings many women have been set free. At each meeting I bind the powers of abuse and rape. The manifestations begin immediately. I usually don’t go into the deliverance tents, but I did this time, and when the women, some of them very young, were set free I could feel the pain of what they had been forced to endure.

We have conducted many huge evangelistic campaigns, but what we are doing this time is different. The cities are smaller, full of tribal Hindus who have never heard of Jesus. There are 90 small, fragile and persecuted churches that have been working together with Tommy Lilja Ministries. They had been preparing for months, overcoming the earthquake, the monsoon rains, and persecutions from India. After these months of hard work, they finally got to see the harvest and Jesus was established in previously unreached villages.

I have been conducting crusades for 10 years, and there is nothing like coming to a city that has never had a Jesus meeting. In terms of numbers of participants these campaigns are not enormous, but they are huge in the Holy Spirit because we are obeying the great commission.

It is a real possibility that all of Nepal can be reached within the next few years, and I believe that we can do it. But not on our own. Everything that Jesus does, he does through his body, the church, which is you and me. Working this way demands so many resources. But we are just winning the unreached, together with Jesus we are creating a momentum of revival in these churches, and when they surrender themselves to the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit can do the rest.

Just outside of our hotel there was a huge tent city where there used to be apartment buildings before the earthquake. It was a strange feeling to sleep in a hotel when so many people had their homes destroyed and were living in impoverished camps. Yesterday we filmed for 30 minutes at the tent city before we had to rush to the airport. These tent cities in Nepal are tragic and it is the children who are the most vulnerable. The girl in front of me in the first photo is one of many whose futures are unsure. How will she make it through the winter? Will she be sold? All of the children who have become orphans after the earthquake are in the danger zone. Many will become work slaves, but others will be sold as sex slaves to India and southeast Asia. The 11 and 12 year-old girls and boys are sold as virgins for a high price.

We are doing everything we can to save as many as possible. The orphanage we support cannot take them all, so we are placing them with pastors we know, and we provide financial support so that they can live there with them.

Yesterday I spent some time looking at pictures of Carina again. She is in heaven now, and I know what she wants. She knows what has to be done. This is for real. This morning it was as if I could hear her say: “Do it Tommy, do what has to be done.”

The world is on fire. This is serious. The devil is at work and he is altogether evil. But you and I are called to save as many as possible and we are in this together. Those who have gone home before us are waiting for us to finish the job. I want to hear the final trumpet in my lifetime! What are you living for? Do you want the archangel to blow the trumpet or do you want him to wait? Some Christians in the western world wouldn’t mind if he waited, but if you get raped 20 times a day, or you are dreading the winter in a tent city in Nepal with no hope, then what do you think they want?

I get so many visions when I am out in the field, and this afternoon they have been growing on the inside. We can save more children in Ethiopia and Nepal from being sold as sex slaves. We can reach the final 3000 people groups with the gospel. We can help the Jews come home to Israel. The only limitations are those in our own minds, while the possibility of actually making it happen is in the Holy Spirit. You and I can do it. Everything else is meaningless. In one sense, life is an illusion. A life of 80 years can be fantastic, but it is short. Eternity is long, because it never ends. Live for eternity!

I love the way “The Message” translates the beginning of Ephesians: “I, Paul, am under God’s plan as an apostle, a special agent of Jesus Christ.” Paul is “under God’s plan”, so he is in, submitted to, and completely occupied with the plan. The most important thing for your entire life is that you are in “the plan.” That is what Paul is praying will be revealed. So that you can live the life that Jesus has prepared for you. That life is a life together with the rest of us, because everything that Jesus does, he does through his body. That is why Tommy Lilja Ministries is the fruit of many people working together.

I know that the Holy Spirit provides. He always has. But I believe that God is calling some of you to get involved in what God is doing now. We need a special solution that will finance what we are doing in Nepal, and in order to coordinate an army of evangelists, our brothers and sisters around the world have to join us. All of this is possible, and we are doing it together.

Visit our homepage to give by credit card or PayPal, or if you are in the U.S., send your check to:

Pastor Tommy Lilja Ministries
P.O. Box 6160
Charlottesville, VA 22906.

This isn’t even about the money. I really don’t like to use space asking for financial support, it takes away too much focus. The most important thing is to give your heart to the plan, God’s plan, the one that was revealed when Jesus rose from the dead, the one you can only understand if you have the Holy Spirit. That is the most important investment you can make – doing what you are supposed to do based on the plan God has for you! Then God will release the finances that are needed.