K.P. Yohannan's Blog, page 4

Trusting God Like Little Children

When I was around 19 years old, I was in Bihar, India, along with my mission team. It was summertime, and there were several hundred of us young people gathered together. George Verwer shared with us from Hebrews 4:1-2: “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it...

A Journey of Brokenness

When I first started serving the Lord with the mission movement I was part of in India, I was so young and naïve. By my age and experience, I wasn’t even qualified for the team, and it was only because they needed one more person at the last minute that I was even there. At the beginning, I couldn’t do much. I hardly spoke a word of Hindi, the local language, and my main role on the team was helping to cut vegetables and make chapatis.

During that season as I continued to serve with this...

Learning to Follow Christ

During my seven years as a young person serving in India with a missions movement, I lived and worked with people from around the world. I learned to follow Jesus by first following others who were already following Him. I learned what it meant to walk with God and how to be godly by observing the godly examples around me. I was taught to forsake all and to be His. I learned service and obedience by living in close community with others. I learned to die daily to my own selfishness and lust f...

What Is in Your Hand?

During my early days of serving God, I remember being asked to share my testimony for the first time. This was one of the very first ministry assignments I ever had. I was hardly 17 years old. I walked up to the podium and just stood there. I don’t know what exactly I said, but it was only about three or four words, and then I ran back and sat down. I had prepared in advance what I wanted to say, but once I was actually up there, I was so scared. It was a long time before I could overcome thi...

Too Young to Be Useful

I got my first rebuff when I applied to serve with a missions movement just after I finished my schooling. They first refused to let me join the teams going north because I was underage. However, I was permitted to attend the annual training conference to be held in Bangalore, Karnataka. At the conference I first heard missionary statesman George Verwer, as he preached, he challenged me as never before to commit myself to a life of breathtaking, radical discipleship.

Struggle to Surrender

Alo...

Journey Through Time: A Mother’s Prayers

Gospel for Asia (GFA) is celebrating its 40th anniversary on July 3, 2019. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long since we began this journey! God has been so incredibly faithful. Over the coming months, I would like to share with you some stories from GFA’s history in a series called Journey through Time. I hope you will be encouraged by looking back with me and seeing all the ways the Lord has worked, even in times when we couldn’t see the full picture of what He was doing.The Cry of a Mo...

Developing a Consistent, Godly Life

The meeting was over. It was one of the strongest messages I’d ever spoken on dying to self. Maybe that’s why I was shocked when a lady came up afterward and asked me to pray for her problems with smoking and having a short temper. In talking to her, I learned she believed these were caused by demons! I told her, “What you need to understand is that you must deal with your flesh—not demons. You cannot cast out your flesh. You must crucify it.”

The Door to Godliness

Many today seek instant vic...

Alone

Quiet rippling waves talking to me with words only they knew but touching me with peace. – KP Yohannan

Standing alone
on the deck of the ship
looking into the sky
full of stars.

The ocean was calm
a gentle breeze came
touching my face
in the silence of the night.

Quiet rippling waves
talking to me
with words only they knew
but touching me with peace.

What majesty
the beauty of it all
causes me to say,
“O God, how great You are.”

K.P. Yohannan. “Alone.” Dance Not for Time . GFA Books, 2013, p. 248.

How Ha...

Walk in Jesus’ Shoes and Live in Prayer for the Countless Unreached

When I first came to the United States, I visited a large, well-known church where the pastor announced an evening prayer meeting. I came early that night, genuinely concerned that I might not find a place in the sanctuary.

Serving on the mission field, I had learned that, as a follower of Christ, prayer was the most important factor in life. I had no doubt that the churches in America were praying churches and eagerly looked forward to the meeting. That evening I waited and waited for the th...

Raining Again

 

Memories of my past make me wish I was little again. – Dr. KP Yohannan

 

 

It is monsoon again
I sit alone on my bed
looking through the window
watching the downpour.

It is late afternoon
the sky is angry and dark
the wind is blowing strong
a tree branch has fallen.

Lightning shoots through the sky
thunder roars
the earth shakes
I am scared.

My mind travels back in time
thinking of my childhood
when I was a young boy
going to school.

Nonstop rain
my umbrella was old
had some holes in it
mad...