The Word and the Oneness

Today morning as we fellowshipped on a practical reality that can preserve us from degradation reminded me of my need to pay heed to the two crucial concerns; the power of the word and the oneness of the Body. The church in Philadelphia can degrade to the situation in Laodicea if it misses these two crucial items; the word and the cross that keeps the oneness. This is a check point in my Christian life if I have the power of the word and the oneness of the Body. If not, degradation has already happened. 

The Word with the power of God

Matthew 22:29 RecVer

And Jesus answered and said to them, You err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.

Erring is not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. If the truth that was recovered do not manifest the power of God, it is merely a doctrine. In the past, many truths have been recovered, however when the word did not manifest its power, they all were mere doctrines; lifeless, debatable, and thereby caused only division.

The truth in its entirely and reality is the Spirit. It must have power to save sinners and transform believers. If the words spoken is not saving sinners nor ministering life to the listeners, the harbinger of the word has already fallen. Because the words is spirit and life.

John 6:63 RecVer

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

The Spirit is the reality. This reality is embodied in the word who became the flesh, the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ as the way, the reality, and the life.

1 John 5:6 RecVer

This is He who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ; not in the water only, but in the water and in the blood; and the Spirit is He who testifies, because the Spirit is the reality.

Having the Lord Jesus as the reality and the life, one must be practicing the truth. Not merely professing in the mouth with no power. But living out the reality with its manifested power that saves sinners and ministers life to people issues in the growth in life that perfects the saints and builds up the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12, 13) until the perfected saints arrives at the oneness of the faith.

1 John 1:6 RecVer

If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth;

John 14:6 RecVer

Jesus said to him, I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.

Ephesians 4:12-13 RecVer

12. For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ,

13. Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Ephesians 6:17 RecVer

And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God.

The word one believes into and practices must manifest the power of God too. This is the need of the time to maintain the testimony of Jesus, keeping the word, as in the church in Philadelphia. 

Revelation of John 3:8 RecVer

I know your works; behold, I have put before you an opened door which no one can shut, because you have a little power and have kept My word and have not denied My name.

The Oneness through the cross of Christ 

Ephesians 4:2-3 RecVer

2. With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love,

3. Being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.

Oneness is what the Lord had prayed for in John 17. Oneness is what is being recovered among the saints today. Oneness is what builds up the Body and bears the Lord’s testimony. Sans this oneness, division and denomination is the result of Christian works. Therefore, it is imperative to see and keep the oneness. 

However, to keep the oneness there is a prerequisite of the need to be lowly, meek, long-suffering, and bearing one anither in love, which comes only through the cross of Christ. The cross breaks every barrier to keep the oneness in the Body of Christ. No cross, no oneness in reality. 

Therefore, in all our Christian life and services, we must keep the oneness through the cross by the Spirit. Any divisive opinion that may hamper the oneness must be categorically denied.

These two crucial items must be preserved to maintain the testimony of Jesus in the midst of degradation; the word of God with it's power and reality in the Spirit and the oneness of the Body of Christ through the cross of Christ.

Lord, preserve us to experience Your word with its power and keep us in the oneness of Your Body for Your testimony. 

A Day of Dispensing

Yesterday afternoon I was praying for the authentication of my daughter's documents that have been with the agent for about a month now. After waiting and waiting, I felt the need to remind the agent and take action. The reason he gave for the delay was that, this time the process wasn't easy as authentications have to be gotten from HRD of Delhi and Haryana. However, he kept me waiting and waiting, each time I called he promised to call back but did not. As I was praying for the matter, towards the completion of my specific prayer, he called me and chalked out the way forward; to visit Delhi and sort things out. And he later sent me his charges and quoted an exorbitant amount for thr service. I did not reply though tempted too. I left the matter to God in prayer again. This matter reminded me to pray and pray.

Today morning, along with my wife and daughter, we went to Delhi. We did all the formalities of filling the form and getting post office DD of Rs.50. By the time we submitted, one more photocopy of the original marksheet was required. So I had to run to get the extra copy to submit within the given time of 1 PM. And when I did, it was discovered that I also need to make another DD for Haryana as the school was based in Haryana. For this, we spent over one and half hour in an SBI bank. This was all the Lord’s doing for us to calm down and rest. It was for us to turn to the Lord and receive the Lord’s life dispensing. Once the DD was issued, we went to submit the documents for authentication. It was then that the Section Officer, the key person, conversed with us in a cordial way. It was then that I knew why we had to spend the day and the hour for this. The officer, a Christian lady from Mizoram, brought up in Manipur, had a time of friendly talk and I promised to gift her the New Testament Mizo Recovery Version and some spiritual books. It was for this that the Lord purposefully brought us to the office and arranged the proper time when she would be free to spend time with us. All things indeed worked together for good.

Then, about 3:30 PM after we were done with education office, we visited the Taiwan embassy to deal with three other documents for attestation. It was at this time only that we could go into the embassy office after their lunch break. Our time was scheduled by the Lord in a miraculous way. Then, we got to meet the key officers in the embassy and got into a contact for further help, another lady staff from Manipur, who offered to help in a cordial way. It became even more clear what the Lord intent to do in the process.

Firstly, to let my daughter know of the care we had for her in a very practical way. She experienced it herself that she had to be all prayers all the way in every matter, trusting the Lord. Nothing has to be taken for granted, but everything by prayer. 

Second, for us to pay the price in practically being responsible for our children. Doing our best, all that we could, and trusting the Lord all the while.

Third, a family time together, trusting the Lord together even as we bore the burden and labor together. 

The Lord allowed us to experience Him in a detailed way and fullfil His purpose; God's only goal in time is to dispense His life into us to be our life, life supply, and everything. All the way, we indeed experienced the Lord’s dispensing in every minute details. O what a day of divine dispensing!

Fellowship on Marriage

This month seems to be the time for a brother and a sister who have been faithfully waiting for one another in obedience to the brothers fellowship to wait for the prorpr time to take their relationship forward. Two years ago, a brother decided to consecrate his two years, to join the full time training. One regulation for such is to not have any relation with anyone so as to fully concentrate on his training. Likewise, the sister took the same fellowship from the brother to wait until the brother's training period of two years is over. 

Meanwhile, the sister was introduced to me and then to the church. Following a gospel preaching and shepherding, she believed into the Lord Jesus and got baptised. Since then, she has been regularly pursuing the Lord and has been regular in the church meetings. I also kept my words and did not mention anything about marriage to either of them or even to the brothers in the church. 

Last week, the brother has finally completed his two years training. Therefore, as the Lord arranged the time, I spent a personal time of fellowship with him concerning his marriage. Likewise, I also spent a time of personal fellowship with the sister in the presence of my wife. In this way, the two have been led to take the Lord’s way through fellowship and prayer. The next step is to bring them to the church brothers and their families.

This is how the Lord has been leading us to pray, wait, fellowship, and consider the situation of the saints so that they would be shepherded in their marriages and take the Lord’s way to go on, all for the Lord’s testimony. 

This is a lesson in fellowship on marriage matter. Still, we are in the learning process. May the Lord continue to lead us on and on in shepherding many young ones to seek the Lord’s perfect will for their life, especially for their marriage.

Channel of Offering

Offering from the Lord blessings is a healthy way to enjoy the Lord’s blessings. All that we have are all from the Lord. He is the Source of every good and positive things in the universe.

Though I had already offered from the blessing proceeds from our investment, I still felt I should offer more. However, since I also participated in spending for the matters related to the Lord’s work in buying things for the sake of meeting the need though I realy did not need them, and also spending from my own pocket for an outstation visit with the brothers, I kind of settled that my portion of offering was completed. However, I still felt I should offer more, and therefore, finally decided in prayer to offer more and did so to the local church bank account. Only then, I got inward peace and joy. 

Ultimately, everything we receieved were from the Lord. Even in offering, I must follow the Lord's inward leading by peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. In this way, I was helped to manage my finance properly. The best financial management is done through offering and following the Lord's leading in money matters.

Besides, I also received some other offerings which werre to be offered further. There was one particular amount that I needed to decide, but the burden was for the needy saint sin Maniour due to the recent situations. So, I waited, prayed, and fellowshipped with the brothers in Imphal and Lamka. When it was made clear through fellowship, that pending amount too was transferred to a needy family in the church life in Lamka.

In this way, my conscience became clear, following the Spirit's leading in distribution of gifts to the needy saints. In this way, I have been blessed to be a blessed channel for the Lord’s blessing to pass through. 

Lord, grace me to be a blessed channel for Your life to pass through, even material offerings. 

Shepherding a New Family

The Lord knows when to give and bring jn the increase in the church. We  have been praying and shepherding the families the Lord gave us. With much labor, we look to the Lord for increase. In fact, the Lord can also give the increase as He wishes. Though we will not neglect our part in praying and shepherding whomever the Lord gives, the ultimate result is with the Lord. If He bless, the church is blessed. And He will always bless His church.

Two weeks ago, a new family came to attend the Lord’s Day meeting, a family introduced by one of our sisters. They came basically for spiritual food supply especially for the younger ones. For whatever reason they came, it was the Lord who brought them into the church.

The following Friday night, my family visited the new family upon their invitation for lovefeast dinner. We went and enjoyed a time of fellowship and dinner when they opened up about their family situation. We got to know them better so that we may know how to shepherd them as well. As a custom, may be, they gift an envelope before I left. Though I told them that this should not be done and that being the first time I would not disappoint them this time. But deep within, I felt not to use it personally, whatever the amount. Instead, I purchased some good ministry books and gifted it to them back. So I selected some good booklets and good ministry books suitable for the family and gifted them on the Lord’s Day along with the HWMRs for them to start diving into the minsitry.

Since they are new to the church life, we would continue to pray for them and shepherd them in every possible way. The Lord has brought them and I trust, He will also keep them faithful for the Lord’s testimony in Gurugram. 

It is altogether upto the Lord to bring people into the church. We have exhausted all possible ways we could possibly think of, to gain new ones. Only the Lord can being people into His flock. Our responsibility is to cooperate with Him in gaining people for the Lord.

So far, we have been shepherding them according to what we sense their needs were. I do believe the Lord will continue to shepherd them through the ministry of the word. 

Lord, preserve this new family for Your testimony in Gurugram!

A Day of Training

Right after I was healed from my bodily weakness, I was with the short-term trainees for a day of training classes. In fact, I was healed the very morning I was to take the classes when the whole week I was mostly taking rest. 

The first two classes in the morning in coordination with a brother were on what is life and what is the experience of life. A brother first did the truth presentation and I followed to release the burden. 

In the first class, I released the burden on the need to experience life in addition to merely knowing the truth concerning life. I even asked each one to recollect the day they first believed into the Lord Jesus or got baptised. The burden was to help them know the eternal and divine life of God is reality and that the best way to know life is by experiencing life.

On knowing the experience of life, I gave an example of Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9:1-22. Through the personal experience of life, Saul, a persecutor of Christ became a propagator of Christ. What changed him was the experience of life! When the Lord met him in the form of a great light, he believed into the Lord when God touched him and he touched God. There was a spiritual transaction between God and him that resulted in being a totally different person. In both the classes, the Spirit's move was so strong. The trainees echoed their reception of the ministry of the word with strong prayers.

The result of experiencing life in which God passed through man and man passed through God is man becomes a tranformed person. God's life was dispensed into him to make him God-man. All that a man needs is the dispensing of God. This transforms a person and also fulfills God’s eternal purpose.

In the afternoon, I had a class on Bible reading and prayer when I presented the truth points from Life Lesson on the same subject and gave practical ways with testimonies of Bible reading and prayer life. The burden the Lord gave me was to hlep all the young ones to inculcate in them a habit of daily Bible reading and prayer. This is a foundation for their Christian life, for their growth and function in the Body. 

Meanwhile, my wife and other sisters coordinated in cooking for all the trainees, both lunch and dinner. In this way, the church in Gurugram enjoyed the grace from the Lord to participate in the training by supplying spiritual and physical food to all the trainees.

The day was a well spent day. After the class, I also got to visit a distant family who came to Delhi for medical treatment. And then, as a family, we also visited another family for dinner in the night. The whole day was a day of ministering the word and fellowship. Praise the Lord for His grace to participate in His move!

A Week of Weakness

A few days after I came back from the ministry literature journey, my body became weak. However, due to the responsibilities I bear as a father in the family, as a brother in the church, and as a director in the office, I did not take much rest. I still went on and on to do what I felt I should do. My body could not take too much load and I felt sick. Even in sickness, I still did my best to read my Bible and pray. Though for a few days I was not able to go out for prayer as usual. Still, I prayed as I took rest in my bed. My body weakness went on for about a week and I did not resort to medicine. I prefer to let my body rest and fight the disease back. So, I let my body heal itself with proper rest and adequate diet. 

This week of bodily weakness was a time of rest for me. Otherwise, I would not have given my body so much rest. During this time too, I learned that the Lord wanted to teach me a lesson on health, especially in my eating habit. Rice and spicy chilly that I liked so much and ate in every meal were reduced. Besides, I also cut down on my food consumption drastically, perhaps by about 30 to 50 percent. This was a timely medical advice in real life. Without such time of body weakness, I would not have learnt this precious lesson. Thank the Lord for His timely visitation of grace!

This week of weakness had changed my schedule altogether. I was supposed to spend time on my Hebrews class and complete what was left out, but my plan could not be carried out due to this unavoidable circumstances. I accepted the Lord’s sovereignty. He knows what is best.

Gradually, after a week of rest, my body recovered back. And in fact, the Lord healed me just in time to be able to function in the short term training classes that were scheduled for me. All things indeed worked together for good.