Birth of a Burden

Despite a centenary celebration of Christianity in many parts of the North East India,  there still are multitude of hamlets unreached with the gospel of Jesus Christ, or perhaps, are reached but the inhabitants' heart's are hardened. These hosts of unbelievers are no stranger to me, on the contrary, they are my own clansmen, and many of them,  my own bloodline. In fact, we have initiated praying for the salvation of our kinsmen, especially that of my own village, Keikhu, in our family prayer. God have mercy on us, and hasten the day of salvation.

Though my close and intimate family have all been saved through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, still majority are wailing in the dark. Besides, I personally too have not been physically in town since my childhood; I used to visit my home only once a while, perhaps, once or twice a year, and that too just for few days mostly to be with my mom and dad. Interpersonal interaction on the gospel is altogether void, safe for their knowledge that we have been "converted," a term I loath the most as I deem my faith in Christ as a matter of life, organically regenerated in my spirit of God’s Spirit and subjectively experiencing the true and living God, and not at all a change of religion and far less "converted, " for that matter, in its literal meaning of the word.

Last week as I fellowshipped with a distant uncle who is also a Commissioner in a Government office, we touched the topic of gospelising our own heathen tribesmen. Unlike all the tribals of our home state Manipur, ours, the Rongmeis or Kabuis, whose domicile is on the geographical plain have not yet been evangelized. Unlike the rest of the tribals who have been blessed with the dawn of the gospel, ours have diametrically opposite reaction, in that the traditional beliefs have been formalized and propagated with much strength and vigor instead. Even one of our renowned professors have spearheaded it's development and pose a direct challenge to the snail pace growth of the now dwindling Christianity. In fact,  at the very outset, the two religions, Christianity and Tingkao Ragwang Cham are pseudo fancy, for both boast of the rich heritage outwardly and many intermingling in friendship, marriage, and celebration. Festive inter-celebration is most notable; Christmas versus Chakan Gain Ngai - both are pagan in nature, with the former inhibiting a religious tone and the latter exhibiting a traditional tone. Neither of them are biblical nor spiritual.

What can salvage the entanglement thereof? Only the life of Christ can. Not a doctrinal mundane superstition nor a ritualistic dead tradition, but the life-giving experience of the true and living God, Jesus Christ, the true Tingkao Ragwang (Heavenly God).

As we discussed on the state of our fellow clansmen and the need for gospelization, we were also aware of the hard truth that it is not going to be a cakewalk. This is a spiritual warfare and must be tackled spiritually. Henceforth, my burden to start praying for my brethren in the flesh rejuvenated. A new burden was born: to pray for the salvation of my clansmen.

Later,  I texted my brother(uncle) the following:

Praise the Lord brother for the wonderful time of fellowship!From today, the Lord burdened me to pray for Prof. G. K, and our fellow clansmen, the yet-to-be-believers of the valley Rongmeis,  particularly those of TRC.

My  interpretation of Tingkao Raguang is, our Heavenly God who became a man,  Jesus Christ, the perfect God-man; who lived, died and rose again to be the Life-giving Spirit; to redeem, justify, regenerate, renew, sanctify, transform, conform and glorify us to Himself for and unto eternity.

Let us stand together in prayer for this burden from now until God fully answers our prayers. Please do update me on this regard for prayer. Amen.

Dated: 18th August 2016

Grace be with us all.

Palmeichung

I brought the same burden to a brother who serves the Lord full-time in Manipur and also happens to belong to the same tribe, and we started praying for this burden. I further encouraged him to bring the same burden to few more brothers in the church life. We decided to pray, and we will pray, and the Lord will lead us through to witness the salvation of our fellow clansmen, hopefully, in our life time. Amen.

Dawn in Dimapur

Out of the Lord's leading and burden, with two brothers, we came to visit the brothers whom the Lord led us to, in the previous literature distribution trip in Dimapur, Nagaland. Firstly,  our fellowship was with the leading brother who has been burdened by the Lord since his youth to serve the Lord till date, and who has founded a "ministry" and a "church." Our burden was to fellowship with him on Christ and the church as we have learned that he has seen something of the Body of Christ. Every time we fellowshipped, he has no problem with the truths of the Bible,  but his concerns were mostly on outward practical things. We were very exercised to focus on the essential truths of the Bible and leave the non-essential items for the Lord to handled as the truths are being lived out.

On the Lord’s day, I was requested to minister in their congregation. The burden the Lord gave me was to minister on "Knowing God" from the experiential point of view with real life testimony. As I prepared myself in prayer for the ministry of the word, the Lord burdened me to share the same burden with many other saints in the North East, in the local church where I am from, and with the saints serving with me in the literature service. The prayer Burden sent out via WhatsApp was:

Prayer BurdenEph. 6:18 - By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints,Eph. 6:19 - And for me, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known in boldness the mystery of the gospel,Eph. 6:20 - For which I am an ambassador in chain, that in it I would speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Dear Saints,  Tomorrow,  28 Aug, Lord's day, we will be ministering the word of God to a congregation of seeking Christians in Dimapur, Nagaland. This will be followed by a time of fellowship with the leading brothers on the truth concerning the Body of Christ. (This is a follow up visit of the previous distribution tour few months ago).

Pray for the Lord's presence, speaking, anointing and blessing that His testimony in Dimapur may gradually be recovered.Col. 4:3 - Praying at the same time for us also, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ (because of which also I am bound),Col. 4:4 - That I may make it manifest as I ought to speak.

May the Lord recover the church in Dimapur.

As an answer to the saints' prayer, the Lord blessed the ministry of the word, and after the meeting the leading brothers testified of the blessings they received through the ministering. Our fellowship continued with some leading brothers on the truth concerning the Body of Christ with clarification on some ambiguous understanding of the words "shepherd and overseer," and the "five fold ministry" in Ephesians 4:11-12. Answering their questions with the Bible itself was the best way I found; none could refute.

In the evening, three main leading brothers fellowshipped with us on some crucial truths and practices of the church-life. All the truths and testimonies we presented were all accepted by them satisfactorily, though they confessed that they would need some time to digest and practice them. But over all, they were very happy for the visit and they testified that it was truly of the Lord.

After all the fellowship, deep within I have the assurance that they will be fully recovered for the Lord's testimony in Dimapur. For they themselves testified of the vision God gave them concerning the Body of Christ and how they hunger and thirst for the truth. Much more, they even testified of how much they received help from the ministry books of brother Watchman Nee and Witness Lee on the revelation of the Body of Christ which many Christians neglect or fail to see it succinctly. They themselves even requested for more ministry materials on "The Tabernacle."

Deep calls within deep indeed. Out of the many Christian groups and leaders I met in Nagaland, this group of brothers were far advanced in the knowledge and experience of Christ and God's heart's desire. In all our fellowship we just sensed that we have the same spirit and burden for the testimony of Jesus and the building up of the Body of Christ. They even proposed future meeting for seminar or training, and they opened themselves up to us.

Praise the Lord! It is a dawn now in Dimapur for the Lord's further move and for the recovery of His testimony. May the Lord lead all of them for His testimony. Amen.

Brotherly Fellowship

Besides carrying out the burden the Lord has blessed me concerning His testimony in Guwahati, Shillong and Dimapur this time, the Lord also graced me to have some intimate and personal fellowship with some brothers, more specifically two of them, who are also serving full time in the North East.

The first one was related with his personal matter of being complete as a man in marriage. He loves the Lord and has been serving full time but he is still single. Though many brothers and sisters tried to help him, still nothing solid has transpired. Even I have attempted in the past but somehow it did not work out. But this time as I was with him together in many home meetings and shepherding, even travelling together in the three cities, we fellowshipped on the Lord's work as well as his personal affair. The specific burden the Lord gave me was to assist him in fellowship which he finally agreed. Though I have none in mind I have the burden to initiate the fellowship with some known brothers to help in this matter. This is also a part of mutual care and shepherding.

With another brother, the Lord's speaking was very strong on being faithful in serving the Lord. Though he has been serving for years, he has been distracted by many things. Some brothers even personally fellowshipped with me about helping him in a way of fellowship, and this is the time the Lord gave me as we are coordinating in Dimapur.

The Lord led us the past two days  to consider thoroughly our way of living and service. The key points we fellowshipped were, treasuring the presence of God in everything we do or say,  and to never do anything without being assured of the Lord's presence. For, only in the Lord's presence can we be joyful and fruitful in serving the Lord. In love and in brotherly fellowship, I encouraged him not to do anything without the Lord's leading and testified to him of how the Lord is more than faithful to care for all our needs if we faithfully trust Him.

Besides, we prayed together for the Lord's move in the entire North East region, for the saints and the serving ones, and especially for the non-believers of our fellow clansmen. Even until we depart from Dimapur we fellowshipped on the train station again on the matter of shepherding the saints, and read about the pattern of Paul in Acts 20:18-38 and prayed together.

I firmly believe that the Lord is preserving him from veering away from the calling of God. This time our fellowship was very intimate, transparent and straight forward. The Lord wants to gain us and His testimony in the North East, and the attack of the enemy is also very subtle. But praise the Lord, Christ is always the Victor!

These fellowships were very timely and the Lord arranged it in His sovereignity.

Leading a Doctor to Christ

God never makes a mistake. Today morning here in Dimapur, Nagaland, as we were considering the day's schedule, we had a feeling to visit one of our brother's sister's family. With few phone calls the matter was decided and we visited the family: both are doctors by profession.

One important underlying burden for this family was the household salvation; wife from a gentile background and husband from a ritualistic family but have turned to become atheistic in faith. This foreknowledge about the family was a good base for steering forward the conversation. Nevertheless, our sole dependence was on the Spirit's anointing, leading and speaking. Our target the whole time was on the husband, as the wife had to come and go busying herself for the impromptu brunch preparation.

He began the talk by narrating us his opinion about God, if He does exist,  and his severe search for the true God by reading many world renowned thinkers and philosophers' writings. His main concern as I could perceive was, if God indeed is real, how do you prove it? He was looking for hard evidences; a no theory talk was his longing, and a solid proof that would convince him to the core. We'll, only God is the proof of His existence, both objectively and subjectively too. The need of the hour was a real life testimony.

I began with the creation of God; how God had a purpose and to fulfill His purpose, He created the heavens for the earth and all the things therein, and all these are for man that man, in turn, is ultimately for God Himself. I explained further with all clarity, as much as I could, how God also created man with body, soul and spirit, and how God became man in Christ, died, resurrected and became a life-giving Spirit to enter into those who believed into Him. To make it even clearer, I also explained how God desires man to receive Him but would not force Himself into man, but by way of man longing for God. For which also God created man's soul with: a mind to know God, a faculty to understand and reason; an emotion to love God, a faculty for feeling, having known God with his mind he would love God; a will to choose God,  a faculty for decision making, after he knows God and loves God. By this way man could actually receive God by believing into Jesus Christ.

Now for the proof and hard evidences, I gave my own personal testimony of how I was born again on the night of December 31,1997, and the experiences and transformation that transpired since then till date. It entailed my searched for God, my questioning of who the true God was amongst the major religions,  my quest to know and experience God and a serious threat to be an atheist if God could not be known nor experienced. And that, at such crucial juncture, how I met God personally through the testimony and ministry of a retired professor on Matthew 13 on the second kind of soil, which the Spirit used to convict me to the core of my sinful being hidden deep within, and how that led me to my repentance, confession, forgiveness and ultimately my assurance of salvation with joy. After the truth ministering with real life testimony, he professed in wonder, that he was so touched and the speaking was so powerful that his shaky and mediocre attitude towards God was shifted drastically to the right path. A paradigm shift from being in dilemma concerning God, to turning and fine tuning his stance to the true and living God transpired. Praise the Lord!

Still unfinished work remained. Mental conviction sans spiritual regeneration is of no value either. To complete the task that has begun a while, I led him to pray a prayer to receive and believe into the Lord Jesus Christ. Immediately after the prayer, he himself testified innately, that he experienced a new beginning! That's how salvation in spirit began. 

We shook hands and I affirmed him that he indeed and henceforth, has become my brother in Christ! And supplemented the new beginning with the need for normal breathing of the Lord by calling upon Jesus' name, drinking of the Spirit by daily regular prayer, and eating of the Word of God, the Holy Bible, particularly for him, the gospel of John, to start with.

This is no man's boast, but a testimony of the fact that was experienced this morning. May the Lord gain His glory in his saving of this agnostic and intelligent doctor, and further shepherd him to grow in life unto maturity.

Leading Man to Christ

A brother who got saved and has been enjoying the church life in Guwahati is very burdened for His family salvation. Often in fellowship I did strengthen the burden for His family salvation according to the word of God. His particular concern is for His younger brother who is, in character and nature, opposite to him, to the extend that he is hardly to be found at home. Though he wanted me to meet his brother badly and attempted a couple of times in the past week, not once his brother was at home at a time convenient to meet. Over driven by the burden,  he often felt disappointed. But my only consolation to him was that he should pray for his brother regularly and the Lord will arrange an opportune time.

It was my last night of stay in Guwahati in my last trip when I was informed that at about 8 PM,Thursday, that I could visit his home and meet his brother. We did go to his house as an answer to all of our prayers.

Sitting in front of this new brother, our brother's brother, I was in face to face with him. Our conversation began with a friendly note on education, career and entrepreneurship, as I learned that he was quite smart, intelligent and he aimed to start his own business in the future. After all the corporate talks on professional career, I turned the subject to the most important issue of life, a human life with it's meaning, purpose and goal.

Using some crucial Bible verses and personal experiences of countering and encountering God when I was 19 years young, slowly I preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to him. A definite and detail, step by step, process of how God took to create man, how man fell into sin and how God in Christ as the Spirit could save man and give him new life, was explained. All this while, I was very exercised in my spirit to minister life. As the leading went on, finally, his visage told me that he needed to receive the Lord. Of course, I asked for His consent and on his approval, I led him to pray the sinner's prayer of confession and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.

God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for sinners and save man. God sends His sons, the believers, to lead man to Christ. 

It was the Lord's sure mercy that made him available that night in answer to the brothers' prayer. It was also the Lord’s sure mercy that made us available to be filled by His Spirit that we could preach the gospel and lead him to Jesus Christ. It surely was the Lord's mercy that a sinner was brought to salvation. And that was the purpose of the visit, leading man to Christ in Guwahati.

Praise the Lord! I enjoyed the Lord's leading us to lead man to Him in coordination in the Body of Christ. May the Lord preserve this new believer to grow in life unto full maturity. The more weightier burden now is, to shepherd him to grow in life day by day unto full maturity.

Crowd of Cares: Do or Die

Having been burdened by the Lord for the recovery of the Lord's testimony in Shillong on the one hand, and the negative speaking concerning the brothers by another brother, clubbed with the situation the saints were facing was sufficient enough to bring me to my knees in intercessory prayer. As I was deeply concerned for the Lord's testimony, and planned to visit the saints, my feeling deep within was "do or die." Either the fellowship of the church be properly recovered as the Lord leads or leave the matter for another time. Yet I could not imagine of yet another delay, as time and again, it has been proved that the time for the recovery of the fellowship, blending and oneness in the Body of Christ has come. With the saints in the nearby churches, we planned a visit one more time, and did visit the church. The hospitality arrangement itself was a breakthrough among the saints for it harmonizes us a little bit more.

In fellowship and prayer, we pursued the truth concerning "The Body of Christ, the Organism of the Triune God"  and "The Practical Expression of the Church-the Body of Christ Expressed Practically as Many Local Churches." The Lord's speaking and anointing was rich as we delved into the truths, point by point, pausing and fellowshipping over certain points as and when required. The saints were solidly fed with the proper understanding of the Body of Christ. As we fellowshipped through the two messages, some saints wanted a clarification on the uniformity of practices among all the local churches. We did our best to clarify, and left the matter to the Lord. Overall, the meeting was solidly concluded with the ministry of the word on the truths. Still my burden was not fully released as we could not fellowship with the leading brothers on some practical detail.

The next day morning, the Lord granted us a wonderful time of fellowship with the leading brothers, where a blending with the saints of the nearby visiting saints also took place. In sweet fellowship, we all agreed for more fellowship and blending among the nearby local churches and considered a future visit for training and blending. With this, a practical responsibility for communication and fellowship were also organically arranged. The whole session began and concluded with prayer for the Lord's testimony in Shillong in particular, and the nearby local churches in general. With this, my burden was released. It indeed was "do," and "die" in the self for life to be released for the sake of the Lord's interest. What will transpire in the future is all up to the Lord to decide.

Even after this, a small unfinished matter had to be settled. A brother who was not very happy with the latest development due to him not being consulted spoke out his mind. In love, we have fellowshipped with him to accept the Lord's sovereign arrangement. And we had brotherly fellowship concerning some fine points to be taken care. In addition to seeing the Body, there was a need to see the order in the Body, each member's functions in the Body, and the need to be faithful and restricted to function within the limit. Besides, we also encouraged him to trust the Lord and look for the Lord's grace to be blended in harmony in the Body of Christ. Then, finally, my burden for Shillong this time was fully released. 

This entire experience was spiritually breath-taking. This led me to pray a lot and fellowship with all the concerned brothers at different times. Sometimes, wandering if fellowship in oneness in the Body could be restored, and other times, pondering what if things turn out negatively. Anxiously caring for the saints and the Lord's testimony was indeed a real experience. Personally, I learn a lot of deep spiritual lessons. Thank the Lord for the blessing of burdens for sake of the Lord's interest. I could understand better now why Paul said what he said in 2 Corinthians 11:28  

Apart from the things which have not been mentioned, there is this: the crowd of cares pressing upon me daily, the anxious concern for all the churches.

May the Lord bless the church in Shillong!

Testimony to Uncle

As I was invited for a dinner fellowship by my distant maternal uncle's family last week. The Lord led us in sweet fellowship concerning the wonderful and miraculous things the Lord has been doing in my life. Though it was supposed to be a casual visit as the nomenclature of the society is, it turned out to be a solid time of fellowship on the goodness of God. As he wanted to learn more of what and how the Lord has been leading me, I testified to him of the works of the hand of God in major events of my life.

Beginning from the time Lord led me to study Master's degree in Computer Science in Chennai, then to my student life in a hostel, and how the Lord called me to serve full-time entangled with the struggle with my parents and grand parent in obeying the Lord's call rather than the natural family relationship, and the living by faith in serving the Lord, and how my marriage was ordained by the Lord and the minute practical details, the Lord's provision for all our needs,  etc and etc... I shared it all to him.

Even as I testified of the Lord's goodness and mercy following me all the days of my life, some miraculous events and some wonderful incidents, he sobbed in between a couple of times as he was so touched by the Lord’s hand behind the scenes. Even in such testifying I myself was moved to tears of the great mercies of God. In such recollection, I could see the faithfulness of God and was very much strengthened in my faith too. After the sharing, he requested me to lay hands on him and pray, of which I politely declined, as I personally do not feel fit for such and neither do I practice such. Rather I requested that we pray together instead. Thus the testimony sharing fellowship ended in a prayer for one another for the Lord's further blessing. That was a wonderful night with my uncle.

The Lord is truly good in every aspect. Often, reminiscence of the past good deeds of God is a good reminder of the faithfulness and goodness of our great and wonderful God. He is so ever living and real, we can experience Him and enjoy Him day by day. 

Divine Connections

As I was in fellowship with some brothers in my dream, a midnight phone call woke me up one night last week, a call from America from an Indian brother with whom I have been in fellowship with for some time now. He called now and then when he needed a special fellowship or prayer. The late-night call was for a prayer as he strongly needed the support of a brother's prayer. We prayed together over the phone for the Lord's covering from the temptation of the flesh, to be preserved purely for the Lord's holy testimony.

Since he felt the divine connection with me, he preferred to call me for prayer or fellowship whenever the need arises. A couple of times in our prayers in the past, he wept over the phone. As he is still stuck up with a certain group of denominations with the bait of dollar support; nevertheless, he desired to be delivered fully from those clutches and be fully recovered for the Lord's testimony. The way of the Lord's recovery is pure; it is a recovery of life, in life, and by life. Whenever he called, my only burden was to minister life to him. It was such a ministry of life that kept our relationship strong and sweet thus far, since I met him in the beginning of this year. Though I am aware of the mixture he was and still is in, I consider him as a brother who needs life supply. And the ministry of the word is just for that! The ministry of the word for all! This is my banner and theme in my service to the Lord.

With another brother too, the Lord also granted a divine connection. He also called me up now and then, especially, in times of great and intense need, related to his marital affair and the likes. Every time, I was online with him, my only goal was to minister Christ as life to him. Only if the Lord burdened and anointed me a word or two, then I ministered just that. Else, we simply prayed together over the phone, no matter what time of the day it was. With such, our divine connection grew strong and stronger. And the Lord honored it too by instantly answering what we prayed for, most of the time.

Not to many, but only to few select saints, the Lord blessed me with such a divine connection. My responsibility is to be faithful to the Lord by faithfully ministering Christ as life through the ministry of the word through such divine connections. These divine connections are the Lord's special gifts and blessings bestowed unto me, and behooves my faithfulness in honoring such, as my service to God.

Lord, make me Your faithful slave in these divine connections.

Christian Fellowship on Maturity

In fellowship, the brothers took me to visit an Architect who used to be a vehement propagator of a certain religious sect of the country, who now has become an ardent lover of the Lord Jesus Christ and a gospel preacher as "tent maker." Since I was told that he simply would listen to the word without himself opening up, I purposely requested if he could tell how he got saved and which he willingly did. It was amazing to listen to testimonies of saved sinners. I too testified of how the Lord saved me, a sinner, too.

From being a saved believer to growth in life to fulfill God’s heart's desire was our further fellowship, which would issue in the church life. At length, we fellowshipped about how this could transpire based on Paul’s teaching on Ephesians. With that fellowship, we broke the ice and established a brotherly relationship.

Few days later, he visited us in our place when we ministered on loving the Lord with prayers and praises on loving the Lord Jesus Christ supremely above all. We further fellowshipped about the need for recovering back the beliefs and practices of the Bible from present day degradation and distortion to that of the truths of the Bible. The Lord strongly led me to minister boldly on the truth as it is, emphasising mainly on the importance and urgency of the believers' growth in life for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Our dear brother wanted more ministering on the significance of maturity in life. With that, we delved deep into the word of God in Ephesians 4.

Eph. 4:11 - And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers,
Eph. 4:12 - For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ,
Eph. 4:13 - 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.

The Lord led me to minster on these verses:

Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith

The work of perfecting the believers is the ministry, which is the building up of the Body of Christ. This must go on UNTIL we all arrive at the oneness of the faith. This oneness is much attacked by the enemy among the believers today. And this is our prayer too for the Lord to recover the oneness of, and in, the Body of Christ. The Lord's recovery is the recovery of the oneness of the Body of Christ. That's why we do not approve of the divisions and denominations of Christianity. Though we love the believers, we do not agree with the enemy's strategy of divide and rule. We minister life for the recovery of the oneness and fellowship of the Body of Christ.

Until we all arrive at the oneness of the full knowledge of the Son of God

There is an urgent need too, for the believers to arrive at the full knowledge of the Son of God. This entails an objective as well as the subjective knowledge of the Son of God. For this there is a need to pursue the knowledge of Jesus Christ in the ministry of the word till we all arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Until we all arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ

Whence this is accomplished, we will be like Him!

1 John 3:1 - Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called  children of God; and we are. Because of this the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
1 John 3:2 - Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been manifested what we will be. We know that if He is manifested, we will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is.

As genuine believers, children of God, we possess the life and nature of God. As we grow in the divine life, we will one day be matured as a full grown man, the full stature of Christ, to be like Him, Jesus Christ, as the fulfillment and reality of God creating us in His image and likeness in Genesis 1:26, and finally conforming us to the image of the Firstborn Son of God.

Rom. 8:29 - Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.

"This is full maturity,  not according to me,  but according to the Bible," I explained to the brother. In conclusion, God became man,  to make man God, in life and in nature but not in the Godhead.

With this ministering of the ministry of the word, he testified of the power and authority in the Word of God filled with the Spirit. To me, this is the ministry God has entrusted us that we might minister faithfully to all.

Lord, grace us all to grow daily unto full maturity!

Christian Fellowship in Guwahati

It was my first visit to a brother who has been a Christian for years but could not go on,  despite holding important post in a system of Christianity, a Vice President of the denominational church he goes to, at the moment. At the first meeting the Lord led me to minister on life aspect. He  strengthened my burden by himself asking how to grow in life. In response to his quest, I ministered on the four basic items of a Christian practice for growth in life, viz., breathing the Lord by calling upon the Name of the Lord Jesus in spirit all the time, drinking of the Spirit in prayer daily with specific time, reading and eating the word of God through pray-reading, and fellowship in homes or in group meetings. 

Immediately after I released my burden, he asked me to repeat the whole thing again and he recorded them on his mobile, even taking notes on the major points and Bible verses. It was so encouraging to witness and feed the hungry and seeking ones. Besides, the Lord’s anointing was so rich in the fellowship.

After the meeting he invited us again as he wanted us to minister to his whole family and a group of seeking friends. When we went the next day, his wife, a seeking couple and a brother were there for receiving the ministry supply. I simply asked them, what was their actual need and what would they want me to minister? One of them requested for a fellowship on how to daily grow in life. Since it was their request and urgent need I ministered the same burdens what was ministered the day before, this time with much emphasis on practicality.

We even had some practical calling on the name of the Lord together, praying for one another's specific needs and some testimonies of the Lord's works in our lives. The couple who enjoyed the ministry invited us to visit them the next day. Since I was scheduled to visit Shillong I excused myself and asked the other brothers to go.

This experience was an eye opener to two major things. Positively, there is an immense thirst and hunger for the ministry of the word,  and negatively,  the system of Christianity has terribly failed in addressing the real need of the believers. Here comes the urgent need for the Lord's recovery of Christ as life for the believers' enjoyment of the Christian life, and the need for proper shepherding with the healthy spiritual food, the word of God.

Only if all Christians have proper vision of a Christian life and live a normal Christian life, the state of today's Christians would be much better and proper. This is also a direct evidence of the need for the Lord's recovery today in this city Guwahati. 

Lord, gain Your strong testimony in Guwahati!

Shillong: A Specific Burden

Three years ago the Lord introduced me to a group of believers in Shillong. The relationship began with a phone call, then sweetened with an SMS, then strengthened further over phone call prayer that lasted for a couple of months which resulted in brotherly fellowship face to face.

This fellowship further expanded to a more corporate fellowship with beloved brothers and sisters who have been meeting for a couple of years as a local church. The Spirit's moving and anointing has ever been so strong every time we met since then. Though, in between, some negative elements tried to creep in; every time the enemy attempted his vain attempts, it resulted in a sweeter and deeper fellowship with higher truths revealed. Every device of the enemy to thwart our relationship in Christ and in the Body of Christ, were all opportunities for the Lord to gain a deeper and sweeter fellowship among us. Thank God for some "understandings" at times, for God never makes mistakes, He wisely turned all "accidents" into "incidents" to build up His Body.

This time too, the Lord burdened me to visit a brother for personal fellowship concerning his decision on his profession. He felt led by the Lord though with some misunderstandings initially,  but now the believers came to terms with it. I also was initially surprised by the decision this brother had taken when I came to learn of it from Google on searching his name, as I was strongly led by the Lord to do so when I was in California last month. With that news and burden I eventually came to fellowship with him, and finally realised that this indeed is the hand of God. Even as brother fellowshipped, I too agreed that the time has now come for a moving forward of the church in terms of fellowship and blending with other localities. All the happenings were sovereignly ordained by God for His recovery of the fellowship of the Body of Christ, and the oneness thereof.

The Lord's presence and anointing was so rich in all the fellowships, and the speaking of the Lord too was very timely. What I thought to minister was sidelined and the Lord gave me words to speak from Ezekiel 44:15-28, concerning the priestly service in the house of Jehovah, a charge given to the sons of Zadok on twelve wonderful points. Without any pre-plan, the hall we were in, in a brother's house, was filled and the flow of life went on and on for hours, followed by some closer fellowship on practical items of the church life.

Besides, I could also meet my distant maternal uncle and family, followed by another fellowship with another paternal uncle and family. All these fellowships were truly anointed of the Spirit and we all enjoyed the Lord's presence. Praise the Lord!

Hence, with all the fellowship personally with the said brother, and with a group of brothers and sisters, the specific burden the Lord gave me was released. As a follow up on this fellowship, we plan to meet up again to have a broader fellowship with more brothers from the neighboring local churches. As the Lord would grace and lead, the specific burden for Shillong will be released.

In everything we do, we must be one with the Lord, and must not do what the Lord has not led us to do. His timing is the best, and we just follow Him step by step.

Ten Years, the Lord's Mercy

It's been ten years since the Lord called me to His full time ministry. It's been ten years since I have been learning lessons on coordination in serving Him with the saints. It's been ten years since the Lord blend me with my wife. It's been ten years since the Lord started training me to be a family man. It's been ten years since I started serving in the ministry of the word literature service.And it's been ten years since the Lord began to break through my inner man. Now, I am beginning to witness the transforming work of the Lord. And may it so continue...

These days I have been experiencing a ten years leap in major areas of my Christian life. The Lord's continual working on me has intrinsically transpired a bit of transformation in my being; the way I think, the way I feel and the way I make decisions have taken a giant leap. Indeed, I have awaken to a realisation that changes for the better have transpired indeed. The proofs, my relationship and fellowship with my brothers,  and with my wife too,  have been very much sweetened, strengthened, and I could personally sense the genuineness in such fellowship and relationship. In many areas of my life, the unconscious, hidden and secret suppression to get along with people have changed. I am feeling free and light in my inward being; I don't bear burdens that I used to, heavily with struggling, but the burdens have borne me now with enjoyment and lightness within. What a blessing I feel!

Spiritually, I feel, I am beginning to experience the torn veil. Not merely serving at the holy place but gradually entering into the second veil. Nevertheless, still looking to the Lord for His grace that He may fully usher me into the Holy of holies.

In my experience too, I dare not do things loosely or carelessly; I would consider and pray before the Lord until the Lord confirms what needs to be done. I fear and tremble before God as not to misrepresent Him in anyway; in words and in deeds, to be one with Him is my heart's desire. May the Lord have mercy on me to be such as He so desires.

My relationship with my beloved wife and children have become sweeter by the day. Though married for a decade, I am just beginning to learn and enjoy the joy of a family life; as a husband in sweeter romance with my wife,  and as a father in sweeter cherishing of my children. Not that I had never enjoyed a family life before, but now the degree of such enjoyments have taken a giant leap, to a higher and greater extend. Hallelujah!

My prayer life,  my eating of the word of God, my fellowship with fellow believers, my shepherding life, my caring for others, my discernment and perception of things and in many ways, I sense a great improvement, at least to my own assessment. I hope others sense the same too, if not more.

To all these new experiences, I say amen and praise the Lord for His blessings, an all-inclusive blessing of ten years leaping forward. This is truly the sure mercies of the Lord. May this leaping forward continue for the upcoming decades, even unto eternity. Amen.

Chennai: A Revist

According to the burden the Lord imparted me with, after the co-workers training in Chennai I visited the three families I used to visit, and this time one more added. These families have been in my heart for years and they have generated a specific burden within me, to minister life to them, and pray with with them even as I have been praying for them.

The first one was my ex-teacher who was very instrumental in introducing me to the Lord's recovery when I was a student then, and whom I regard so much as a teacher, and much more, as a brother in Christ. It was he from whom I began to learn Christ as life subjectively, and used to fellowship with him often during my student days. And till date, I visit him whenever I visited the city where his residence is. This time too, my fellowship with him was truly on life as was the previous one in the beginning of this year. For over two hours and a half, I fellowshipped with him about how the Lord's presence and blessings were so rich in the recent trips I took to the USA, the North East India and related to him some practical details of the Lord's leading in meeting different people and in the ministering of the word of God. The main burden of the fellowship was on "the Lord's Presence" in everything we do or say. By such testimonies, we enjoyed the fellowship of life when the objective word of God was incarnated and experienced subjectively in real life.

The other family was my local guardian when I was a student. As usual, in spite of their grey hairs, they always treated me with the best love-feast they could prepare. All effort to restrain them from such "trouble" were in vain. Perhaps,  that's how they showed their love to their "spiritual son," as I was much helped spiritually by their daughter and her husband, though the daughter had long been gone to be with the Lord. To them, as they requested, the ministry was on the builders of the Tabernacle in Exodus 31:1-6; on God’s covering grace, the light of Jehovah, being clean and pure, and serving in coordination according to what was commanded, all for the building up of the Tabernacle.

The third family I visited was relatively "poor" physically but the Lord has blessed them richly too. All their children were educationally and spiritually blessed by the Lord, and they have been faithfully following the Lord through all thick and thin,  and passed through trying turmoil time. To them, I testified of how the Lord led me to serve Him and some precious lessons of faith in trusting and serving Him. I also encouraged them to love the Lord and treasure His presence most by spending time with Him in the Word and in prayer. The five children were very precious, three of the elder ones have proved excellency in academics, and I termed it as the Lord's blessings.

The last family I met was on my way to the airport, a family whom I reckon in the Lord as my "spiritual children" according to the truth of the Bible. It was a brief time together, just prayer, as the son and daughter were at office and college respectively. Later,  from the airport I had a sweet time of fellowship and prayer over the phone with the son.

One lesson the Lord taught me with this last one and the last visit was in the matter of speech. One time I spoke a sentence not worthy of a brother to the son. I regretted doing that and the result was, I could not call gain until this time. Through this incident I learned the lesson of speaking: only to minister Christ as life.

All these visits were sweet and, I believe,  profitable too. This revisit to Chennai was indeed a visit that ministered life.