A Macedonian Call

Though my plans were already fixed, I was always flexible as the Lord leads. One night I received a surprise call from a sister stating desperately her concern about her family condition whose husband is a brother, perhaps, more than an acquaintance of mine. In fact, a very dear brother in the Lord and a very close friend of mine. Gauging the urgency and need of the call, I prayed over and considered it before the Lord how to render some shepherding, as much as the Lord allows. But left it to the Lord for His confirmation. 

Surprisingly the next day morning the Lord confirmed the call as I was reading the "Macedonian call" in Acts 16, and the lady saved in the obedience of that call was "Lydia". So was also the sister who called me. When I received this solid confirmation from the Lord, I changed my plan and made a plan to visit them for fellowship, prayer and shepherding. Praying and trusting the Lord to speak His timely word for the full recovery of my brother's family for His testimony.

Acts 16:

9 And a vision appeared to Paul during the night: A certain man, a Macedonian, was standing and entreating him and saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us.

14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple-dyed goods from the city of Thyatira who worshipped God, was listening, whose heart the Lord opened to give heed to the things being spoken by Paul.

As planned, I did visit them, all the while, looking to the Lord for His feeling, speaking and leading. As and when I got the opportunity I would minister something of Christ from the word and experiences to them, mostly related to God-man living and the need to be filled with the word and the Spirit; more practically of spending time together as couple to pray and fellowship. Though my experiences were trivial, still I would testify to them and shepherded them. At times, specific and other times generic; here a little, there a little. For about two days and nights I mingled with them, blend with them and ministered to them. We also delved at large on a particular matter of matrimonial concern. Though being a naive myself, still with whatever I have learned and understood, I have faithfully ministered, using some Bible verses with readings from the ministry books. All the time ending in prayer, looking to the Lord for His grace.

The Lord knew how much time I needed to spend with them and He arranged it accordingly. He even had to cancel an appointment with my cousin brother, and even had to delay my return flight ticket at least by an hour, so that I can spent extra one hour in fellowship and prayer before I left. In fact, the last one hour turned out to be the climax of my two days stay there. I enjoyed a lot, I believe, they too.

In factual term, it was indeed a "Macedonian Call." The Lord indeed opened up the heart of a sister and her household! May the Lord fully restore and recover this precious family for His testimony in that city!

Mission Impossible

On March 15, 2012 a brother was baptised whom the Lord led me to meet and preached the gospel to, and who from being a mediocre student hardly succeeded in life before his salvation became a successful person who even went on to  win some 16 international and 6 national records till date and keeps counting; and who was also honored with an honorary doctorate degree by an university from UK in recognition for his rare achievement, and also who by the classification of Indian society belongs to the priestly upper caste. With this brother I have been praying, and also have been praying for him mostly that he may be stabilized to become a pillar for the Lord's testimony in Gurgaon. Whenever he needed help, either spiritually or academically, he would come and we would fellowship, pray and chalked things out together. He is not just a brother whom I am shepherding but also who shepherded me in prayer.

Of late, he had been struggling and fighting against a social evil that is predominant in this part of the world, a caste-system that forbids marriage of different castes. As he had a relationship with a girl of a different caste, out of his love and zeal for the Lord Jesus Christ, he eventually witnessed to her and she even believed into the Lord Jesus Christ. However, he maintained a strict moral relation until he would marry her. For that marriage, which they both hoped for, underwent a fierce spiritual, social and psychological battle. Now and then he would update me of the situation, but we would only leave everything to the Lord in prayer. For graciously we could do nothing but could only pray and pray and pray. Thank God, at least, we were very good at praying as we had no other choice.

Few months ago, on the advice of his friend he came to discuss a plan of marriage even against the wish of the girls' parent. But in spirit, we fellowshipped with him to cancel such a plan, as they were not of the Lord but just human maneuvering. Instead we prayed together and turned to the Lord that He would intervene somehow. He accepted the fellowship and went back satisfactorily. From that day we decided to pray every day over the phone, by all means, and that he also would pray and read the word everyday. Only when he is ready, will the Lord make everything ready. He took the fellowship seriously. 

As we kept praying almost on a daily basis for months, the strong opposition due to inter-caste marriage, which perhaps, was a social taboo for some villagers seemed to grow stronger by the day. Yet, we did not stop praying nor would we give up. We prayed not only for the marriage, but also for the complete salvation of the girl and her whole family, for the Lord's testimony in Gurgaon and Bhiwani. The faithful God knows the best and in time He answered our prayer.

What we embarked upon as mission impossible took a new turn as we kept praying, trusting in the Lord. Last week, I received a call, heralding me of a sudden turn of event and change of mind by some one who vehemently opposed the marriage due to caste system. The God of impossibility made all things possible, He yet again separated the Red Sea and the way was open. Praise the Lord!

Last Saturday, the 25th of July 2015, the marriage was solemnized. And today, the 27 July 2015, as the church here in Gurgaon, we had a testimony meeting and baptism of the sister who already believed and had been waiting for this day for her baptism, to live a normal Christian life for the church life in Gurgaon.

This is indeed is a mission impossible made possible in Christ through much prayer.

It was a glorious moment both for the couple, and the local church here as a whole. May the Lord fully stabilize this couple and their families for the Lord's testimony in North India! 

Impossibility in man is possibility in Christ for God's economy!

Serve as Slave (2)

In addition to the post on "Serve as Slave" on April of this year (http://palmeichung.blogspot.in/2015/04/serve-as-slave.html), the Lord re-spoke the same thing again. This time with deeper understanding on the truth part and on the experience part as well. 

The motive of serving the Lord as slave is because of love. I serve God because I love God. 

Exo. 21:5-6 - But if the servant plainly says, I  love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free; Then his master shall bring him to God and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

The only pure motive and pure way to serve God is because of love for God and His church and His saints. So because of love, one gives up himself by offering his body as a "living sacrifice" a reasonable service to God (Romans 12:1) with the Lord Jesus as a pattern in Philipians 2:5-9.

These matter touched me so much so that I studied the truth over and over again and wrote a hymn on it. Later, I shared these to the brothers who serve with me in the office and also in the coordination in the Lord's move here. This very hymn is a source of encouragement to me even as I sang the same hymn to myself as to the Lord. 

Prayer and Consecration : Serve as Slave

Dated : 19th July 2015

Touched and impressed by the Lord's speaking again and again on the truth concerning serving as slave, after an in-depth study of the truth, this hymn was composed.

Tune : #1043 “Be in Time!” 

Meter : 7.7.7.3 with chorus

Time: 4/4- D Major

(Exodus 21:5,6)

1         Master, we love Thee o'er all:

      We love Thy church, Thy household,

      We love Thy saints, Thou begot.

      We love Thee!

      In love we'll not go out free,

      But at Thy door we'll stand be,

      Only to listen to Thee.

      O Master!     

            O Master! O Master!

            We love Thee and choose to serve Thee, O Master!

            Bring us to Thy presence dear,

            To heed to Thee, bore our ear,

            That we serve Thee forever,

            O Master!

      (Philippians 2:5-9)

2    Jesus Christ, the Slave-Savior:

      God incarnate, emptied all,

      Humbled on this earthly ball.

      Slave-Savior!

      Found in fashion as a man,

      Unto death e'en obedient,

      Death of a cross for all man.

      Slave-Savior!

            Slave-Savior! Slave-Savior!

            Save us from ourself to serve Thee, Slave-Savior!

            Imitating Thy pattern

            In life, and in spirit burn,

            To serve Thee, our sole concern,

            Slave-Savior!

      (Matthew 24:45)

3    Make us faithful, prudent slave:

      Faithful in things great and small,

      Faithful towards Thee in all.

      Faithful Slave!

      Prudent towards all Thy saint;

      Wise in dealing all affair,

      Timely feeding, proper care.

      Prudent Slave!

            O Master! O Master!

            Make us faithful and prudent slave, Master!

            Faithful to Thee in all things,

            Prudent to saints in feeding

            Healthy food and perfecting,

            All Thy saints! 

      (Philippians 2:5,17; 1 Corinthians 4:1, 6-13; 9:19)

4    Savior, save us from ourself:

      In love to serve Thee as slave

      With spirit of sacrifice.

      Serve as Slave!

      No rights claiming of our own,

      No pride, boasting, opinion,

      But humble and obedient.

      Serve as Slave!

            Serve as Slave! Serve as Slave!

            Make this our reality, Master!

            Grace us spirit of service,

            Grace us spirit of a slave,

            Grace us spirit (of) sacrifice,

            O Master!

      (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, Romans 14:7,8)

5    The love of Christ constraints us

      To live to Christ ever thus,

      To serve Thee, Christ, till breath lasts.

      To live Christ!

      All we are, and have, will be, 

      Our spirit, soul and body,

      For Thee, to live unto Thee,

      We offer!

           (Romans 12:1)

            O Master, we offer!

            Willingly, we offer up our body.

            As a living sacrifice,

            Paying our life as a price

            For Thy eternal plan-wise,

            We offer!

  

Nehustan

Nehustan, meaning “a piece of bronze.” 

In Number 21:4-9, the Israelite became impatient on the way around the land of Edom and complained against God through Moses for lack of food and water and loathed the light bread of God’s provision which triggered the anger of God ensuing in sending forth serpents who bit to death many of them who rebelled. Then on their pleading for prayer for deliverance from the serpents, God charged Moses to make a fiery serpent, to set it on a pole, and everyone who were bitten had to see it to live. That bronze serpent, a type of the redemption of Christ accomplished at the cross, was the means for salvation. However, in their superstition, the Israelite regarded the bronze serpent as an idol, which was called “Nehustan.”

Hezekiah, the king of Judah, in 2 Kings 2:1-8 broke down all the idols including that piece of bronze, which many deemed as worthy of worship. This deed of dealing with idolatry brought him prosperity, and Jehovah was with him.

What the Lord spoke to me in this regard was the need for dealing with superstition, even those that sounds scriptural or spiritual. God is God and there can be no substitute for Him. Even today’s Christian's crucifix or commonly known as “the cross” in form, picture, sign, ornaments etc. are all idols. The reality is Christ, and He cannot be replaced by any person, matter or thing. 

Our “Nehustan” must be dealt with, broken down and completely destroyed. There must be no religious symbol as such, as believing into Christ is not a matter of religion, but a life relation with God in Christ. And there must not be and cannot be any substitute for Christ.

Furthermore, all forms or idols or even images of religious deities, even for the Christians like “Jesus”, “Mary” and “the cross” must all be torn and broken down. God cannot be drawn by an artist, or printed on a piece of paper by a printing machine, or sculptured by a sculpture. God is Spirit, and can be worshipped, touched, experienced, enjoyed only in the spirit. A genuine Christian will have nothing to do with these substitutes. To do so would be following the custom of the nation in their religiosity or superstition or spiritual blindness. In fact, that would be idolatry. May the Lord fully deliver all His children from all falsehood, religiosity and superstition.

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness. John 4:24  

O Young Man!

It was indeed an urgent reminder for the need for prayer with burden for the young ones in the church life. Though my burden has been always on the new ones and saving people, still I cannot overlook the young ones in my own backyard. When fighting the battle outside against Satanic kingdom, the safeguarding of and within our own kingdom must be taken care as well. In subtlety, the enemy will for sure attack the vulnerable ones by all means.

The recent incident of a young brother’s disappearance for a couple of days, creating scene at his home with emotion running high and sending shock wave across acquaintances, was a tap on my shoulder to heed to the growing juvenile amidst the glowing glitters and glamour of the tempestuous world. My whole being was on intercessory prayer, prayer for the safety and protection of the young man and the Lord’s covering against the attack of the enemy on the Lord’s testimony in our locality. To me, it was a “spiritual warfare.” I do not condemn anyone for this, but rather was convicted of my lack of shepherding. As much as I shepherd “others” I must shepherd the ones within my vicinity and closer proximity. Children and relatives of the serving ones of the Lord needs much more shepherding and prayer.

On the contrary, this incident also was a litmus test for our care of one another. Through thick and thin, we learn to stand together as one family. Despite the enemy’s attempt to overturn us, we stood together more firmly; in fact, I can testify, our care for one another grew much more. Whatever humdrum the enemy managed to commemorate, our care, concern and prayer was made more firm. Praise the Lord!

An insight to me through this incident: Teenagers cannot be caged in a family zoo, they need to hangout often, not in the company of gentiles, but with those of the same flock, the children of God. Herein is also a lesson for the need for the young one’s outing and blending under the overseeing of the matured serving ones.

O Young man, may this be a reminder. Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, I have no pleasure in them; Ecclesiastes 12:1.

Proper Person

The work of a person depends on the person of the work. What he does and how he does and why he does depends entirely on who he is. Methods, ways and means are secondary to the outcome of the person himself who does it. His work expresses and represents who he is. If he is proper, the work he does will be proper-that goes without saying. So here is the need for a “Proper Person.”

In serving the Lord, or in doing anything, the being of the person is of utmost importance. I have been so impressed by this matter of my need and the need of my fellow brothers in Christ to be proper person. To our blessing, we have the Lord Jesus Christ as the perfect pattern of the proper person. Even apostle Paul dare say, “Become imitator of me” in 1 Corinthians 4:16. Having patterns before us, I must be faithful to imitate Christ and the apostles, in life and in spirit, trusting the supply of life and grace to be like them.

This “imitation” entails many things, prominent ones among them would be “Character.” In one of the recent speaking of the Lord, I was reminded again of my need to be “discipled,” disciplined and exercised in my daily living with proper scheduling of time. In an organic way, doing the right thing at the right time for the right cause or purpose. May the Lord grace be to be a proper person.

In my recent fellowship with the serving ones I have emphasized this matter again and again; the need to exercise our character to be proper person trusting the Lord’s grace. Only then, with prepared vessels the Lord can pour out His blessings. Faithfulness in service and fruitfulness in productivity of both quantity and quality will be the result of a proper serving one.

Lord, make me proper person.

Rejoice and Exult!

In a fellowship over dinner just few day ago I came to realise subjectively what it means to be reproached and persecuted by religionists. Never did I realise that the Lord's recovery is spoken against by religionists in my hometown, even dubbing me of spearheading the "movement." In fact, I never remembered an occasion fighting with the religionists. Every time I went to my hometown, I would only minister the word of God wherever and whenever I was requested to. In fact, to all whom I have ministered, all of them have received with much joy. And I had not faced one person questioning me on the authenticity of the revelation of the truth. Besides, wherever the Lord led me to minister, the issuing result is the people turning to God in a much more serious and deeper way, some even experiencing life transformation. Even the opening of the divine truth has led some seekers of the Lord Jesus Christ to take a stand for the testimony of Jesus in their localities as the local churches. No wonder, when light shines, darkness has to flee; when truth is revealed, falsehood has to recede; when the genuine testimony of the Lord are raised up, degraded religionists for sure would oppose and fight back. The pure work of God will stand the test of Satan's attack from all angles, but the gates of hades will never prevail against the builded church. 

This realisation of the religionists' attack reminds me of what the Lord said in Matthew 5:11.

11 Blessed are you when they ¹reproach and persecute you, and while speaking lies, say every evil thing against you because of Me.

---

11¹ When we live a life for the kingdom of the heavens, in the spiritual nature of the kingdom and according to the heavenly principles of the kingdom, we are reproached, persecuted, and evilly spoken of, mostly by the religious people, who hold to their traditional religious concepts. The Jewish religionists did all these things to the apostles in the early days of the kingdom of the heavens (Acts 5:41; 13:45, 50; 2 Cor. 6:8; Rom. 3:8). Recovery Version

To such, my reaction is that I turned to the Lord and thanked Him for this opportunity to experience what He had said when He was on the earth. Indeed, it was a privilege to be able to experience such an undeserving honor. I rather felt humbled in that I was honored with such an experience of reproach. For the Lord will vindicate Himself in due time. Truth always triumphs! 

 

So "rejoice and exult!" is the word of the Lord. To be able to receive this ninth blessing is a real blessing indeed! To be ill spoken of, defamed, falsely accused, lied upon... all these are nothing new to me, as the Lord grace me to face these a decade ago when I came out of degraded Christianity to experience and enjoy Christ in a normal Christian life. And it wouldn't be any wonder if I continue to experience the same; it is the grace of God.

Praise the Lord for all "ill speakings" because of Jesus Christ! Therefore, rejoice and exult!

Matthew 5:12

12 ^aRejoice and exult, for your ^1breward is great in the heavens; for so they ^cpersecuted the ²prophets who were before you.

---

12¹ This reward of the ninth blessing indicates that the results of the foregoing eight blessings also are rewards. This reward is great and is in the heavens; it is a heavenly reward, not an earthly one. Recovery Version

A Train Journey

A train journey from New Delhi to Chennai was not a strange trip to me any longer; for I had frequented the city for various reasons, ranging from academic to spiritual even to personal. However, the trip this time was special as the Lord's speaking during the journey was spectacular. As much as I was on a train journey literally, so much the more was I in a train journey spiritually. This reminds me of human life that begins from a source and ends at a destination. Between these two stations are the journey of life. The "bon voyage" of the journey depends on two crucial factors: the tract and the engine, of course, the passengers' coach is dependent on these two. 

In our life's journey, the tract that has to be followed is the word of God; the written word of God, the logos, and the Spirit's speaking through the written word, the rhema. These comprises the tracts. Upon the word of God with its logos and rhemas, there is the need for the "engine," the Holy Spirit, that drives the train. Basically, our life's journey too must be by the power of the Holy Spirit based on the word of God. 

Such was my experience in this trip. As I was reading and studying the word of God as my daily portion, the speaking of the Lord was so marvelous. 1 Kings 2:1-3 records the journey from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho to Jordan, and finally the receiving of the double portion of the spirit of Elijah upon Elisha; a step by step guide for a normal Christian life to be clothed with the Holy Spirit for the economy of God.

Gilgal was a place where God's people were circumcised to deal with their flesh (Josh. 5:2-9); Bethel is the place to give up the world and turn to God absolutely, taking God as everything (Gen. 12:8); Jericho, the first city that Joshua and the people of Israel had to defeat when they entered into the good land, signifies the head of God's enemy, Satan (Josh. 6:1-27); and the river Jordan, where the New Testament baptism began, signifies death (Matt. 3-5-6 and note 6,2). To cross the river Jordan, Elijah struck the water with his mantle, which typifies the outpoured Spirit, the Spirit of power (v.8). The Spirit of power dealt with the river of death so that the way was opened for Elijah and Elisha to cross over. All this signifies that in order for the age to be changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament in our experience, we must deal with our flesh (Gal;. 5:24), give up the world and turn to God (1 John 2:15-17), defeat Satan (Rev. 12:11), and pass through death (Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 2:20). Recovery Version footnote 1 of 2 Kings 2:1.

Life's journey as a normal Christian life to fulfill God's New Testament economy is much the same. Subjectively in experience and objectively in truth, there must be the dealing of the sinful flesh, the leaving of the world to absolutely be for God, the defeating of Satan by the Lord's leading and the overcoming of death by the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit. In fact, these are what a normal Christian experiences in his life's journey. The issue of this experience is the receiving of the outpoured Spirit typified by the mantle of Elijah, and then the "tearing of our clothes into two pieces" in verse 12, signifying that we no longer treasure what we are and what we can do. With all these experiences, we are fully transferred from the Old to the New Testament.

This will result in our living and services being blessed by God. If one take a proper "train journey" of life, he will be a man of God filled with the Spirit of God and there will be the manifestation of what He is in all that he does. This is the precious lesson I learned from my train journey; a journey that taught me lesson of life.

This enjoyment of the word has become my portion as I shared the same with the serving ones in the office here in Chennai today morning. What a blessing that I can be a part in this train journey!

Bon voyage to the train journey of life!

Gospel Living

It has been my burden to preach the gospel in season and out of season as far as practicality allows.  Generally as a church I go with the saints on Saturdays evening. However, yesterday, it was raining the whole time and was not conducive to go out to a park. While I was studying the word and praying, I received a call from a brother inviting me for a dinner cum gospel preaching.

After we had a wholesome meal with the gospel friends who were young engineers, the burden to preach the gospel was realised. These two friends became our gospel candidates. One of them I have already met and he received the Lord already, but needs a lot of shepherding for spiritual growth, while the other was a brand new one. To the new one, we preached the gospel in a friendly way. As we ministered the word, the Spirit moved in him, and he was so convicted and convinced that he called upon the Lord's name and received the Lord. Right after the sinner's prayer with him, he clarified certain doubts about a Christian life. We presented the word as it is and gifted him the New Testament. In fact, we read some verses together. It was a wonderful evening of love-feast and gospel feast. 

The Lord was so faithful in giving us some to whom we can preach the gospel to. Even when circumstances were odd and going out to contact became impractical, still He arranged someone, somewhere, somehow to preach the gospel to, and then lead them to salvation.

The gospel is of Jesus Christ; He died for the sins of mankind. In fact, He is the Savior. Only that we, believers, have to pass on the good news of salvation to mankind that it may be applied to them in reality. The burden that I had for the gospel preaching was honored by the Lord, so He arranged people, place and time to release that burden.

Where there is a burden, there is a way. As long as one has a burden from the Lord, the Lord will always honor the burden and make way for the burden to be released. This He will do it, especially, in the matter of gospel preaching. Praise the Lord!

May we be those who are burdened by the Lord for the gospel and may we be those who live the gospel living; always burdened for the gospel and leading men to God.

Lord, burden me with Your burden to preach the gospel and bring people to You all the time. Make me a one who lives the gospel.      

Two Speakings

Time will reveal who is who in the eyes of the Lord. As for myself, I am optimistic type and always trusted in people, not because they are trustworthy, but because I trust them in the Lord. And I do continue to trust the Lord that if the ones I trust are not really trustworthy still the Lord would somehow work in them to make them truly trustworthy.

Of late, I have been "dealing" with two brothers whom I trust them despite some manifestation of "untrustworthy-ness". Though their words at times are "white-lies", still I trust them with the burden of perfecting them ultimately in this matter. The issue at which this matter of trust is in the matter of money. Money, indeed, is a true litmus test, of blue or red. No wonder, the Lord Himself said that there are two masters, God or mammon- material riches, which is measurable in monetary matter.

I have been through the thick and thin with these brothers involving money matters. And many times, there were reason not to trust them at all, if not ever. Somehow, the Lord restrained me from any form of condemnation or judgement within. Rather, as  I brought the matter before the Lord, I still have peace to trust them, for reason still not clear to me. I believe the Lord wants me to shepherd them even in money matter, perhaps, even through me?

To add more oil to the burning fuel, every time I heard of these brothers it is almost negative. This often cause me to shrink back a while and ponder over again of their integrity. Even my own feeling often condemns them as unfaithful. Yet again, as I turned to the Lord, all these cloud  of confusion faded away. And am not sure how long these two speakings, either of good or ill, will be oscillating like a pendulum. Perhaps, when time "stops?" 

Still, in the Lord, I trust them. And I hope I will continue to trust them until the end, only by virtue of being my brothers in the Lord. And I believe, ultimately, they will be perfected to be trust worthy one day. This is my hope, and this is my prayer for them too. 

Despite all that I have heard about them, yes, even despite my own feeling about them, the Lord still grace me to trust them. Whatever speakings I hear of them, either good or bad, still I will still trust them. The two speakings will gradually become one speaking, the speaking of Christ, concerning His children. 

To my discernment, often this kind of two speakings is an attempt of the enemy to create discord among brothers and create enmity, hatred, and finally divide and destroy God's children. With this discernment, I would in no way give in to the enemy's lies. And still continue to trust my brothers in the Lord, and pray for them and perfect them to be pillars for the Lord's testimony ultimately.

Lord, fill me with Your speaking only, concerning any person, matter or thing. Let any two speakings be merged into one speaking of the Lord, concerning anything. And that I may heed to Your speaking only.   

Shepherding : Our Family

These days the Lord in His mercy has been recovering the fellowship within my own family. All these while it has been that my shepherding is mostly for others who are not physically related to me. The Lord has been gracing me to visit families on a regular basis, shepherding them. Not that I neglected mine own, but paying heed to the need of time. Somehow, the Lord also has been gracing me to pray with my family and my wife has been so cooperative and good in handling the family affair which I entirely left to her, and I have been fully concentrating on the need of the saints and the new ones. 

As my sister and some other sisters came to stay with us these days, the need for setting up our own home meeting arose; as some of them are very new in the Lord and in the church life. I took this as an opportunity for shepherding. So we set up our family meeting every evening after dinner for prayer and fellowship, and every morning for morning revival and prayer. 

Giving hospitality to the needy is a real blessing to us. Because of them, as a family we could spend more solid time to pray and pursue the Lord together. In shepherding others we are being shepherded. Not only so, even our neighbour's children joined us for the morning revival every morning. They are also blessed. Every one is blessed by this simple act of hospitality at our home.

The Lord truly blessed all the meetings together, as I myself could testify in my own life. All my personal morning revival or sometimes just with my wife is now very much strengthened with the whole family and neighbour joining us. We are so shepherded.

Besides, every time we meet, the Lord has something to speak to us, some specific burdens were released for the young saints regarding their living, education, character, church life etc. And our prayer life is strengthened very much. Our burden increased, our prayer life increase, our enjoyment of the Lord also increase. What a blessing!

For such family shepherding, the Lord sent some to our family and they all are a blessing in disguise. 

The Lord has His own marvelous way of taking care of all our needs, both physical and spiritual too. The best way I find is a time spent together in the word, in prayer and in fellowship, as a family. It's a real blessing to have our own family meetings everyday. A lot of perfecting work happens here within the family; besides the blending, bonding and building. How I wish all Christian families to have their own family home meetings! Herein is the way for love to flow through among us, and herein is the way to know each others' situation and perfect one another, and herein is the way to live out a God-man family life. 

Lord, our family is for You. Bless our family meetings and perfect us all to be Your testimony as a family. 

Let's Go Papa!

Saturday is usually the day we go out to preach the gospel in the evening as a church here in Gurgaon. Last Saturday, somehow I was waiting in prayer for the gospel preaching and also for some to join me in going out, as I would prefer to go out with some saints. For some reason, no body turned up, except my five year old son. He knew that it was gospel preaching time as he used to go out with us on Saturdays.

Since I was alone with my son, I considered to stay back and pray instead. But my son kept asking me if we should be going for gospel preaching. My only faint consolation us, "Let's us wait for sometime." But deep within my decision was not to go out and stay back to pray instead. As we sat and waited, we prayed together for the Lord's move in Gurgaon, and called upon the Lord's name together. But after the prayer, my son emphatically said, "Let's go Papa!" I kind-of tried to divert his attention in stating that we would stay back to pray. But he kept on insisting, "Let's go Papa! Let's go...." until my heart melted to give in to my son's pleading.

I took that as an encouragement and the Lord's speaking to go out and preach the gospel, no matter who joined me or not. Then, I finally decided to go and told my son, "OK, Let's go..." Before going he reminded me to take more Hindi and English tracts that we would give out freely to many people in the park. He was so excited and excited me too.

We drove and he himself directed me which way we should take to go, to the gospel preaching spot, as he was familiar with the day, the time, the way and the place. 

There on the park, we had a wonderful time of meeting people, preaching the gospel and leading people to pray- leading them to the Lord. My son was my coordinator when nobody turned up to be so. He encouraged me to preach the gospel when I decided to stay back and pray instead. He became my coworker in the Lord's vineyard. What a blessing!

After preaching the gospel for about two hours I was so full of joy. How many people really received the Lord, only the Lord knows. I have no idea how much joy there would have been in the heavens when sinners received the gospel and prayed in Jesus' Name. But this I know for sure, I was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit as a result of preaching the gospel. And that too with my son in his initiation. And he was very happy too. On our way back, after a humid and hot weather, I decide to give a small reward to my son and bought him an ice cream. Oh my, he was so happy, and I too. 

Yes, "Let's go Papa" has been ringing in my year since then, to remind me to preach the gospel in season and out of season. "OK Let's go...to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ!"  

Greek : My "Father Tongue"

A year and a half has elapsed since I began my study of Greek, my "Father tongue." The Lord has been gracing me thus far to labor on this "divine language"; at times hard and at times so-so. Nevertheless, the fact that I am learning my "Father tongue" has always been a source of encouragement to me, to go on in my Greek studies. Especially when the actual translation of the Greek text to English was carried out as an exercise, I was full of joy that I can actually work on the text of the apostles. What a blessings! 

Besides, the good teachers and the state-of-the-art facility to learn this language online is definitely an added blessing. I have been a student for 20 years for my academic profession, but never once had I any joy of achieving something spectacular even in my academics successes. They were just deemed, by default, as demanded of a student. But Greek is different. Its not just for knowledge nor for education nor for personal achievement, but for God's economy. This divine goal has made studying Greek even more interesting. As a child of God isn't righteous that I know my "Father tongue" well? Of course, Hebrew is there too, but now, with Greek first.

The recent exam was a real experience indeed. I did my best to study thoroughly over and over again, both the online and text book material. Studying, memorizing, reviewing and self testing again and again. If I could study so well for my academic scholarship decade ago, why not for my "Father tongue"? I like studying it so much so that I ended up memorizing almost every table that were available for studies; of course, devising my own technique of memorization. The more I studied, the more it became easier, and I kept studying till I was 100% confident to take the exam aiming for a 100% score. 

Though I tried to fully concentrate on Greek, still my conscience would not allow me to neglect my official duty, nor family responsibilities nor the church responsibilities that the Lord graces me to bear. Amidst the closing deadline for exam, still the Lord enabled me not to neglect any of my responsibilities. To meet the need of the time, I deferred taking my Greek exam a couple of times until a day before the dateline.

When all my responsibilities at hand were accomplished, the Lord gave me time to finally review whatever I have studied, in fact, I studied all that need to be studied. And then took the exam, trusting the Lord's grace. In answering of every question I was 100% sure of the answers; questions by questions I answered them all without an iota of doubt. And finally when it was all done, praise the Lord, the ensuing result was 100%!

Though this may be trivial to some, to me it is serious and divine. I would do my best for the Lord and the Lord would grace me His best. A righteous Father will always reward His children who mean business with Him. 

Life at hand is of the Lord and for the Lord, and must be lived as such. As such pleases the Father and desires His children to be such. So is my heart in carrying whatever the Lord leads me to. 

Father, grace me to be found faithful and prudent for Your divine economy even in my learning of Greek, my "Father tongue".    

Seven Thousand Remnants

Yesterday a brother and I were fellowshipping about the situation we have been facing in North India, especially NCR, in the matter of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; how the people are blinded by religion, superstition, philosophy, tradition, culture and many other things. The god of this age has blinded and darkened the hearts of man, and that the need for a strategic and strong prayer for the Lord to have a breakthrough this dry, dark and hard land. Personally too, I have been experiencing in a subtle way how the enemy binds people with bondage of all sorts. In fact, we have been praying and still burdened to pray more for a definite breakthrough that the Lord may gain the local ones to bear His testimony.

This morning in my time with the Lord, the Lord spoke through my reading of the Bible concerning what He has reserved for Himself. Yes, the situation we are facing is quite alarming, for though we have been preaching the gospel and have led many people to salvation, but the stability of many of these new ones beckons our bended knees on their behalf to God. Solid pillars for the bearing of the Lord's testimony by the genuine local ones are yet to be ascertained. Even in my desperateness I often consider myself like the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 19:10, 14  

"And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and slain Your prophets with the sword; and I alone am left, and they seek to take my life."

But praise the Lord for His wonderful reply in 19:18  

"Yet I have left Myself seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed unto Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him."

No matter what the situation at the moment is, trusting in the Lord, we labor on and on, not expecting to be reward so soon, but with much faith, love and hope we continue to preach the gospel, carry on the shepherding, and in due time, at the Lord's time, He will recover all these seven thousand remnants He has reserved. Yes, there are seven thousand reserved! For the Lord testimony in North India, He has his remnants elsewhere. Time will reveal the glorious move of God in His divine dispensing through our cooperation with Him in our prayer, preaching and shepherding. 

Praise the Lord for the "Seven Thousand"! 

Lord, hasten the day when we would witness Your word in North India....