Recovery of Saints

When a new one brought into the church life suddenly rebels and starts speaking negatively about the church, the ministry, or the saints, it is very painful within. If opposers outside of the church life oppose the ministry, it is tolerable as they are negative towards the ministry, and they intended to oppose it anyway in every way possible. But when the new ones who are our spiritual babes turn negative, the pain within is nothing comparable to the affliction caused by outsiders. I have come across a couple of such ones in my fifteen years of church life. But I still do not cut them off altogether, I still hope and pray for them that the Lord would have mercy on them and recover them back one day. Hoping indeed that all of them would be fully recovered.

Recently two such cases came to my notice and fellowship. One brother kept calling me regularly asking me all kinds of questions from the Bible and the practices of the church life. Every time I answered his call, I did my best to shepherd him. First by simply answering his questions using relevant Bible verses, and then praying with him over the phone. This has been going on for months altogether. But recently I was very happy to learn that the Lord is recovering him inwardly.

One morning, he called me to confess the mistakes he had committed by his negativity. He acknowledged his ignorance and after roaming around in different Christian groups, meeting all kinds of pastors and believers, questioning, researching, and suspiciously doubting the ministry, he finally came to a conclusion of his own research after two years or so, the ministry is the ministry indeed. The truths are the truths of the Bible properly interpreted, the practices are the normal and healthy practices every normal Christian should practice for growth in life and for the building up of the Body of Christ. The very thing he criticised badly is now the very thing he embraces gracefully. In his own word and finding, he testifies that the ministry is the ministry indeed. he is recovered in life, in truth, inwardly. In fact, some brothers in his locality started warning him of his deeds, but now he has come back to his home, the church life. Of course, I helped him also to reconcile with the brothers whom he spoke negatively against and also set things right with whom he spoke negatively in his ignorance against the ministry. 

Praise the Lord for the ministry of life, the ministry of the Spirit, the ministry of the new covenant!

A similar case is with a sister here in our locality. She, in fact, left the church life for a while with complaints of her own. We simply prayed for her regularly and tried our best to shepherd her whenever she was open for fellowship. Gradually, the Lord worked in her environment, and she finally came back with much hunger and thirst for the word of God and for the fellowship with the saints in the church. And when she came back, she also began to enjoy the fellowship in the church and participates in the church life. Now she even openly shared her burden for her household salvation and is very desperate for the Lord to gain her whole family. 

Praise the Lord for such inward recovery by life first, and then the outward recovery too!

Both subjective experiences and objective truths prove the ministry is the ministry indeed. Whoever touches the ministry will be gained by the ministry. This ministry is the ministry of life, the new testament ministry, and this ministry is for all! This ministry builds up the Body of Christ and will fulfill God's economy.