Favor and Bonds

Zechariah 

11:7 So I shepherded the flock of slaughter, and thereby the afflicted of the flock. And I took to myself two staffs; one I called Favor, and the other I called Bonds; and I shepherded the flock. 

10:8 I will whistle for them and gather them, for I have redeemed them; and they will multiply as they have multiplied.

Jehovah as Jesus brought two staffs—Favor and Bonds. Favor refers to grace, and Bonds refers to being bound into oneness. Jesus came as the Shepherd to feed God’s flock with grace so that they might have oneness. (Zech.11:7,footnotes 1 and 2)

This excerpt from the ministry of the word nourished me in my time with the Lord. The Lord, the good Shepherd, has been shepherding me with His grace; day by day, grace upon grace. If not for his shepherding grace, I would have been by now, man, most miserable. This experience of grace even tuned my prayer up to give thanks to God for his grace. Everyday, whenever  I pray, what comes out is thanksgiving for grace and prayer for more grace. Through this kind of gracious experience and enjoyment of Christ, we are being brought into oneness; a oneness not of man but of God Himself who is uniquely one, which is the "bonds!"

If there is no enjoyment of grace among the saints, there will never be oneness among them too; where there is grace, there is oneness; for where there is grace, there is Christ and where there is Christ, there is oneness. 

Experientially, the more I prayed with brothers, the more I am blended into oneness with them. Since last year as I have been praying with few brothers in Shillong, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Guwahati, Khunti and Dimapur, I enjoyed the oneness in spirit among us; and the oneness even in bearing the same burden too, for the Lord's interest.

By this way of spending time with the Lord in prayer individually and corporately, the Lord is whistling and gathering us together which ultimately issues in the multiplication of His children. Growth in life comes by enjoying the Lord daily as grace and being gathered into His presence daily. The issue of the growth in life within is the multiplication in numbers without. When the believers are builded together into oneness(bonds), by grace( favor), they will multiply as they have multiplied. Hallelujah!

More favor, more bond; more grace, more oneness, Lord, for Your growth in us and increase.