Pastor David Mohan stood under the hot South Indian night sky watching his church building go up in flames.
The thatched church shed was now completely engulfed with the fire.
A spark from the sawmill next door had floated onto the roof and started the blaze.
Just a few years earlier, David had gone to a local church because he felt God was calling him into the ministry.
The congregation took one look at him and rejected him because they felt he was too young to be their pastor.
But David didn’t let their rejection dissuade him from following God.
He began to pray for the Lord to give him direction.
He hopped on his old motor scooter and went from house to house telling people about Jesus.One by one, souls were saved and David’s ministry began to grow.
He founded New Life Assembly of God in a small market place in Madras, India.
A short time later, however, a cyclone came and destroyed their meeting place.
David was overwhelmed at the loss. So once again he began to pray.
For nine months, David and his small congregation prayed for three hours every day.
Soon they were able to buy an acre of land on the city’s main road. A new structure was built and the church grew to 500 members. But then the fire came and threatened to destroy everything.
The months of prayer, the weeks of toil and sweat and the hours spent trusting God were all in vain.
Or were they?
As Pastor Mohan watched his church burn to the ground, God spoke to him these words from 1 Corinthians 3:13, “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.”
The Lord told Pastor Mohan, “The work I am going to do here will not be burned up by fire.”
Once again, the people began to pray and seek God.
That was in 1982. Now sitting on the site of that fire is a 5,000-seat sanctuary!
New Life Assembly of God is now the largest church in India with over 40,000 members.
Over 40 pastors have been sent out from the church and New Life Assembly has started more than 130 churches in India over the years!
Perhaps you have been hurt by people who thought you would never accomplish anything in life.
Maybe you have suffered so many disappointments that you feel there’s no reason to keep trying.
Well, I have good news for you. God loves you and wants to help you get back on the right track.
Just simply pray and ask for His help.
Does God answer prayer?
Absolutely!
Just ask David Mohan.

Rev. Doug Johnson is the senior pastor at Raven Assembly of God in Raven, Virginia.