The Lord's Shepherding

Psalms 23:1

Jehovah is my Shepherd; I will lack nothing. 

The Lord has been my good Shepherd indeed. He has been shepherding me since time immemorial. Be it when I was single, when I got married, when I became a father, and now even as a father of three children, wherever I was, wherever I am, the Lord is still my good Shepherd. Even the past few weeks as my family had gone to visit our family in Taiwan, the Lord's shepherding still followed us through.

This time especially, the Lord's Shepherding was very practical and real. It can be easily gauged and quantified. Before we took off from New Delhi, the flight delay gave us a pass to enjoy a family buffet meal at a restaurant in the airport. I hardly took my family for a treat and I just got one for free for all.

When we visited Hong Kong on our transit, the brothers shepherded us so well. They took us to places and supplied us richly, much to the satisfaction and enjoyment of my children especially. I personally would not be able to do such to my family, but the Lord knows how to shepherd all of us. 

In Taiwan, wherever we went, whomever we met, the Lord's Shepherding hand followed us all through. Besides the spiritual supply, the Lord supplied us richly through many saints in the form of gifts and offerings. Ranging from food items to clothing, from toys to books, the Lord's love and care was so sweet and cherishing.

The gifts and offerings were so abundant that my wife had to work on it quite a while, packing them to bring them back to India. To me, the physical things were immaterial. What matters to me most was the Lord's presence, His blessings and shepherding. All these gifts and offerings were all from the Lord, they were His blessing us and shepherding us in practical way.

Every time, when the supply came, I told my children to pray and thank the Lord for His shepherding. And I also joined with them in thanksgiving. Praise the Lord for He is the wonderful Shepherd!

Psalms 23:6Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of Jehovah for the length of my days.  

Besides all the gifts, the love of the saints in sweet fellowship over lovefeast was beyond mention. I could not keep count how many. The physical food too were so rich, I found it hard to resist the taste of Taiwanese palate; we simply enjoyed the saints' love to the brim.

Above all, I was glad that my children could learn to experience the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who is real and living. On many occasions, my children would pray for "weather control" as we were scheduled for outings at various theme parks. The season being rainy, unstable, and unpredictable, weather control was definitely a must. Only God could do that, and we could only pray to Him. That's what we did. The outdoor parks need a fine weather without rain. In three occasions, the Lord controlled the rain as my children prayed, so that it did not hinder their enjoyment of the facilities, and rain came only when we were indoor for lunch, after which, it stoped for the enjoyment to continue. I took those experiences to let my children know that God does care and answers the simple and pure prayer as theirs. This, I did to inculcate and develop the faith in Christ in them. The Lord indeed shepherded us so well; inwardly and outwardly, spiritually and physically too. Praise the Lord, our good and wonderful Shepherd!

A Glorious Gospel Meeting

It was my last day in Taipei during our three weeks family visit. It came to my notice in one of the church meetings that there would be a big gospel meeting which used to be held twice a year and that testimonies would be shared by business men from China who loved the Lord dearly amidst their busy schedules. And it was for this gospel meeting that the saints had been preparing and praying for. I was graced to be able attend this meeting on my last day in Taipei. My mom, in-law but in the Lord, and I attended the meeting. In fact, we also enjoyed the lovefeast hosted by the church, Hall 6, prior to the meeting. 

Saints' Prayer and Coordination 

About one thousand people gathered at Xinyi building basement auditorium. Eighty percent of them were saints in the church life, and the other twenty percent were gospel friends. It was a good percentage. Thirty minutes before the scheduled time, saints started praying and singing gospel hymns. The ambience of the meeting was high in spirit and I could easily sense the move of the Spirit. Another very impressive point was the coordination among the saints. Each group of saints were taking care of their own new ones so effectively, I believe all the new ones were taken care.

Saints' Testimonies

In two groups of seven and five saints respectively, there were sharing of testimonies from mainland China. These ones were business men of various background; some from Buddhism, some from Christianity, and some were simply unbelievers. All of them had one thing in common; they were not satisfied in their lives despite earning enough worldly riches. Each one of them also testified that they were running after money, worldly success and entertainment, and ultimately ended up in emptiness. Some even went to the extend of extreme gambling, drinking, smuggling; two of them met with fatal car accident and miraculously survived to be saved by the Lord Jesus later; two of them were researching on Buddhism to find the meaning of life and sought for God, but to no avail; and all of them, after being saved, decided to join the middle age training in Taiwan. That's how they could testify during the gospel meeting. 

Short, Simple, and Strong Gospel Message

After the two groups gave testimonies, two brothers shared a heart touching gospel message based on their testimonies. The gospel message first was on "Anxiety" and then on "Consider Your Ways." A handout with two gospel hymns and two short messages with  outlines and Bible verses were handed to all attendees. Each gospel message ended with the call for coming to the Lord Jesus Christ to believe and receive Him as their Saviour, and an out-loud calling on the name of the Lord, "O Chu Yesu! O Chu Yesu!" 

Calling to Come to the Lord and Baptism

After the gospel messages, a brother ministered the truth concerning baptism, followed by another brother calling out for those who would be willing to receive the Lord and take baptism. A stage full of gospel friends whom the Lord touched came up with an astounding homecoming welcome from the saints. This finally was followed by baptisms of those who believed and decided to get baptised. The entire meeting lasted for barely an hour and a half. As I also witnessed the baptisms, I was very impressed by the well preparedness of the saints. There was a counter for a record of those who believed and got baptised; and there was also a baptism kit counter where full-sleeve shirts and long pants, head cover, sandal, towel, hairdryers and comb were placed neatly in order. No wonder, the Lord blessed the gospel meeting. In fact, God has to bless such prayer, preparedness, and coordination of the saints.

Later, I was informed that out of the many who accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, seventeen of them also took baptism. I was so impressed by the entire arrangement of the gospel meeting. To me, it was indeed a glorious gospel meeting. What I have seen and learned, I must now carry it out wherever the Lord has placed me in His service. That my service to Him may also witness a glorious gospel meeting; not once, not twice, nor thrice only, but again and again, throughout my entire lifetime. For 1 Timothy 2:4 says, God desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth. 

Indian Connection

Throughout the past decades, many brothers and sisters from Taiwan have had served in India for a couple of years and gone back. With many of them I have had the grace to coordinate and serve together. This time, when we visited Taiwan, we got to fellowship with whoever were available during our sojourn. Be it in Taipei, or in Tainan, or in Hsinchu, the saints who used to serve in India continue to serve with the same vitality. To my observation, they seem to be more functioning and useful in the Lord’s move. Praise the Lord for such serving ones from whom I can learn.

While with them at different localities, I had a time of fellowship with them about my experiences, the Lord's move and blessings in India, the Lord's work through the literature service, the testimonies of propagation, and also fellowship about the saints whom the brothers wanted to learn about. I have a very good feeling about these brothers. I believe their experiences in India were a good perfecting training the Lord had done on them, as much as it does to me too. I always consider my serving the Lord in India, especially in the literature service and in the church in Gurugram, as a perennial live training class. I believe the brothers who used to serve and who are serving in India will agree with me and testify of the same. India, indeed, is a good training ground for serving the Lord.

One evening, there was meeting at Hall 5 of the church in Taipei, where a lovefeast was specially held for the outgoing and incoming brothers, both happened to serve in India before. And there I was with my family, from India too, attending the same meeting. What a coincidence! Or, perhaps, the Lord’s sovereignty? Though translation was provided as the meeting was in Chinese, I could hardly grasp what were all shared, but what I do learned and confirmed was, the Lord has blessed the outgoing brother in his service in this hall as many saints have openly testified. I worshiped the Lord for such testimonies. Inwardly, I felt very happy that brother had been perfected while serving in India and truly had brought back the blessings to where he served. I do believe, the same will be with the incoming brother who would serve in the same locality.

Similarly, I also met with another brother who testified to me of his service in Taipei; he is as aggressive in Taipei as he was in India. I am deeply impressed by his heart and attitude in serving the Lord. The same goes with another brother who used to serve in the training center in India and now serving the training center in Taipei. As we enjoyed a lovefeast together and fellowshipped, his constitution of the truth and maturity in life impressed me a lot. One thing I learned was the need for me to be more reconciled to God in the second step reconciliation, from the holy place to the holy of holies. The same brother, with much exercise of his spirit, with a strong spirit, ministered the truth concerning baptism in a large gospel meeting and many believed into the Lord and got baptised.

I really felt blessed to be able to coordinate, or, at least, serve together at some point of time while they were in India. This "Indian connection," not in a natural way, but because of the Lord's sovereignty, is indeed a blessing in disguise, especially to me. Praise the Lord!

Though there are a few more who meant very much to me, I could not meet all of them due to lack of time and space. Nevertheless, I believe they all are continuing to serve with much blessings from the Lord. In time, one day I will get to meet them too and fellowship on all what the Lord has done and blessed. And continue to enjoy this "Indian connection." 

Forebearance: My Birthday Gift

Time and tide waits for none, so my aging too. Though I prefer to stay young I cannot go against time, and now I have come of age, and join the "forty club." Sometimes, I really hate to see myself aging, and I always feel young except for my age. I have no choice, but face the reality; I am a father of three children now with a double score years young on the longest day of the year, a solar solstice, the 21st of June. 

Since my twenty first birthday I never celebrated my physical birthday, nor do I want anybody to wish me as such, though I do treasure my spiritual birthday on which I was born anew at the age of nineteen. This time when I physically turned forty, I simply reconsecrated my life to the Lord again. On that day, the Lord gave me a special message: Forbearance. It also was the very virtue I needed at the moment as I am considering to deal with some serving ones and some saints whom the Lord has been gracing me to shepherd. The Lord's gift of His speaking is very timely. The message is here: 

FORBEARANCE

Philippians 4:5

Let your forbearance be known to all men. The Lord is near. 

What is Forbearance?

Forbearance is reasonableness, considerateness, and consideration in dealing with others, without being strict in claiming one’s legal rights; forbearance means that we are easily satisfied, even with less than our due. According to Christian experience, forbearance is all-inclusive, for it includes all Christian virtues.

What Comprises Forbearance?

Forbearance includes love, patience, kindness, humility, compassion, considerateness, and submissiveness, a willingness to yield; if we have such an all-inclusive virtue, we shall also have righteousness and holiness. Forbearance also includes self-control, moderation, gentleness, understanding, sympathy, wisdom, mercy, peacefulness, looking to the Lord, and even the virtue of admitting that the Lord is sovereign in all things.

The Virtues of a Forbearing Person

A forbearing person is one who always fits in, whose behavior is always suitable (cf. 2 Cor. 6:1a; 10:1; Phil. 1:19; Isa.11:2). If we are forbearing, we shall have the wisdom and the ability to supply others with what they need; we shall also have the full knowledge of what to say to them and when to say it (50:4-5; Col. 1:28). To be forbearing is to consider how others will be affected by what we do or say (2 Chron. 1:10).

Christ is Forbearance

As an all-inclusive virtue, forbearance is Christ Himself; since Christ is forbearance, for Paul to live was forbearance (Phil. 1:21a).

To Live Christ is to be Forbearing

To let our forbearance be known to all men is to let the Christ whom we live and magnify, whom we take as our pattern and pursue as our goal, be known to all men. Only the Lord Jesus lived a life full of forbearance, and only Christ can be our perfect forbearance today. To make known our forbearance is to live a life that expresses Christ as the totality of all human virtues. Immediately after speaking about forbearance, Paul says that the Lord is near.

The Lord is Near

With respect to space, the Lord is near us, ready to help; with regard to time, the Lord is at hand, coming soon (cf. Rom. 10:8-13). The Lord’s being near refers primarily to His presence with us (Matt.1:23).

Excerpt from The Crystallization-Study of Leviticus, Message 10, Outline II, 3.

A Brother's Special Fellowship

An elderly and matured brother who came to India four years ago had gone back to Taiwan last  week. The previous week he had fellowshipped with us some very precious points which are presented below according to my understanding. I was blessed to join the fellowship, because I took leave as I was not sure I could join the fellowship online as I was on the move. But the Lord sovereignly arranged a situation so that I could join and receive the precious fellowship. 

His fellowship(Br. Jk):

I was quite joyful to be in India, coordinating with all the brothers. I treasure the last four years in such a coordination, and all the experiences made quite an impact on me. I treasure more, all the saints in India, and that we can continue to move forward in one accord. I feel the key to the work in India is the one accord among the coworkers. If they can be so in one accord, it can bring the Lord's further blessing in India. Every week we need to treasure the Wednesday fellowship. Every week in this fellowship, we have three crucial items:

1. The Ministry Speaking

Through the speaking of the ministry, we can strengthen the burden from the ministry. The brothers may take the lead to enter into the ministry, and be constituted with the ministry. God's word is His move. His recent speaking is concerning the one new man - the goal of the Lord's recovery. The Lord's speaking is the Lord's up-to-date move. As coworkers, our main responsibility is to enter into His up-to-date speaking, so that we can bring the saints into the same one accord. 

2. Service Fellowship 

Service fellowship in each area speaks forth that our service is in the one Body. Although we are serving in different localities, we are all in the one flow. Through fellowship, we can pray and encourage one another, especially in the matter of the God Ordained Way; it is God's way to carry out His New Testament economy. Without this, the vision we have seen cannot be practically carried out. Not only we consider BNPB(Begetting, Nourishing, Perfecting, Building), but also PSRP(Pray-reading, Studying, Reciting, Prophesying). We enter into the truths so that the truths can be spread through us. Not only must we reach the peak of the high peak truth, but also the peak of propagation. These two are not separate things. These are the ways to spread the truths of the Lord's recovery to many other places. So, never separate the practice of the God Ordained Way from the high peak truth, because the intrinsic significance of the God Ordained Way is the high peak truth. Without the enjoyment of the Lord's up-to-date speaking, only practices are not what brother Lee wants. The enjoyment of the Lord's up-to-date speaking and the practice of the God-ordained way is the only way to carry out God's New Testament economy.

3. The Direction of Our Fellowship 

The direction of our fellowship is that we must raise up our next generation. This is why we have to fellowship on such item every week. There is a burden to raise up the next generation to enter into the Lord's speaking, live a God-man living, and to practice the God-ordained way. These are the three aspects of the new revival which will bring in the Lord's return. In our perfecting the next generation, we need to have a goal; to enter into the Lord's speaking, live a God-man living, and to practice the God-ordained way.

As coworkers, we need to be patterns in these three aspects: To be a pattern in labouring on the Lord's speaking, to be a pattern in labouring on the practice of the God-ordained way, and to be a pattern in perfecting the next generation.

Our Functions in Different Areas of Services

As we are serving in different areas, what must be our main function? We should learn to propagate, and also to perfect. We are not here to replace the functions of others. Wherever we are, there should be the continual increase of saints, districts, and testimonies in new cities. At the same time, we also need to learn to perfect others, especially, the younger ones. Wherever we are, we should emphasise these two matters:

1. Propagation

2. Perfecting the younger ones

Our Learning

Concerning our learning, we need to be persons with proper learning attitude, not being content with our situation now. The Lord's recovery is called the Lord's recovery because it is advancing. We should seek advancement in three matters:

1. Constitution of the Truth: Learn to preach and speak the high peak truth.

2. Growth in Our Divine Life: Pursue the growth in the divine life, especially, in the matter of coordination among the coworkers. All the spiritual experiences are finally for the building of God. In our coordination, our self, flesh, etc., will be dealt with.

3. Capacity of Our Service: We should all seek a definite breakthrough in our practice of the God-ordained way, and in our specific services. We all should be experts wherever we serve, whatever we serve. Experts are those who continually seek advancement and practice.

Be Humble to Learn

We all should be humble to learn from others, and from our elders and the more experienced ones, from our companions, and even from those who are younger than us. This depends on our attitude; the more we are humble and empty, the more we can receive. Even brother Lee at the age of ninety said that he was still learning. We should always be poor, empty, and unloaded in spirit.

Having a Definite Goal 

Wherever we are serving, we should open a new horizon. We should have a goal. A service without a goal will never advance. Brother Lee, in his service, has three beliefs:

1. Planning

2. Prayer, and 

3. God's blessings

So we all should set up a goal, a plan, and seek how to advance. Besides these, we also need to pray to seek His further blessing. For annual increase, we should have a goal; the increase rate for this year, number of baptisms, etc. Then our church life will be advancing

In the service of our entire country I feel there are two important aspects:

1. Perfect More Pillars: 

We should perfect more pillars. We should treasure the semi-annual trainings in India - the two times Serving Ones Training. This is an opportunity for more saints to be perfected, to enter into the Lord's present speaking, His present move, and that the saints can all be blended into one. We should encourage the saints and the serving ones to seize the opportunity to attend all these trainings. So we should also set up the goal for the attendance of Serving Ones Training. Through this, many can be perfected. 

The same goes for the semi-annual trainings for the full time serving ones. We hope that many more full timers and coworkers can be added and perfected. After the training for the full time serving ones, the training is not finished. We need to bring the burden to the responsible brothers' meeting, and then to every locality, we need to continue to fellowship these burdens, until it penetrates the entire Body. If we have different aspects of the perfecting trainings and goals in different localities, then it will be difficult to have the one testimony and one flow and one work.

So we must pay attention to the semi-annual Serving Ones Training and Full Time Serving Ones Training. This can produce the same burden to raise up the same testimony to bring the Lord's blessing.

Concerning the Chennai Land: 

All the brothers must be in one accord. This will be an important breakthrough in the work in this country. This is an important step to bring all the churches and saints into the one accord and one flow. Also, all the churches will experience a spiritual breakthrough: To offer up themselves and pour out what they have, so that the Lord can do a greater work. This can bring an unprecedented blessing from the Lord. We believe, after the construction of the blending center, the Lord will have a further blessing. More saints will be perfected and blended. Even the testimony of the Lord will be stronger; now we may have a 1, 000, but then we will have 10,000s. We must pray for this burden. May the Lord's latter glory far surpass the former glory.

Although I will return to Taiwan, I have the burden to come back to see you again. I will also bring more saints from Taiwan to blend with you all, and vice-versa. I hope to be such a spiritual bridge.

May we all advance in the one flow.

His message ended. Then we prayed for our brother JK, and the following week after this fellowship, in the Wednesday's fellowship, we prayed for him and for his service in the Body again as he returned back to Taiwan from India. 

Praise the Lord for such a brother as our pattern and from whom we can learn! May the Lord continue to bless his service in the Body, wherever he serves, whatever he serves.

Sweet Hours of Prayer

At least once in a week I have decided to spend time in fasting and prayer to enjoy a specific time with the Lord. The Lord has been gracing me to spend such specific time of interceding. While here in Taipei too, the Lord graced me to enjoy such sweet hours of prayer.

Each time when I went to pray, the first one hour was a time of interceding for all the dear and near ones, more of my family related prayer burdens. This time my heart was fully crying out to the Lord for my brother in law, that he would be recovered back to the church life, that he and his wife would love the Lord and the saints, and become useful vessels for the building up of the Body of Christ. This burden was also in line with our visit to his family in Tainan. 

When I finished releasing my family related burdens, the Lord led me to specifically pray for a sister who was attacked by the enemy with the facts of the past. She has been struggling to forgive another sister whom she was not in good terms with. The second hours was fully an intercessory prayer for her recovery from the wounds of the past, by taking Christ as her grace and her forgiveness and love. Besides texting her of Bible verses, I called her on Skype for fellowship. She opened up all her heart, pouring out all the bitterness she had within. I simply encouraged her to turn to the Lord for restitution with the said sister once and for all, and take Christ's love and forgiveness as her won. We then prayed together over the phone, though there were interruptions in between due to phone network problems. An hour was spent shepherding a saint in specific need at a crucial time when she, out of bitterness, decided to be frank and keep away from the church meeting to avoid pretending. A timely medicine was needed to apply in such serious situation, so I did. 

The other hour was on the usual burden the Lord has been burdening me to pray for, ranging from praying for the world leaders, Indian political leaders, famous personalities that impacts the societies including celebrity in the silver screen industry, sports personnel, and entrepreneurs. Theses burdens are also clubbed with the local burdens of families and new ones in my locality and in the North East. 

One new burden the Lord gave me to pray is for the salvation of a Muslim cleric who is an excellent preacher and a theologian in multi religious faith, mostly of Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity. He is Dr. ZN. I am blessed to pray for his salvation. May the Lord Jesus Christ, the true and living God, be his Saviour subjectively one day. 

In all my prayer, the Lord taught me, I am not fighting a spiritual battle, for the battle was already won at the cross by the Lord Jesus Christ. My responsibility is simply to declare that Christ indeed is the Victor and Jesus is the Lord! 

Similar time of prayer I was able to enjoy the following week. Burdens after burdens were released in a span of three hours. This time, the Lord gave me new burden to pray for Bhutan and Tibet for the spread of the gospel truth and the high peak truths of the ministry of the age for the Lord's testimony all over these two religious lands of Buddhism. In the Lord’s timing, He will send me to preach the gospel and teach the truth.

Another matter the Lord confirmed with me in my prayer was to genuinely receive my elder sister's daughter as my own daughter, and my step mother and brother as my own mother and brother. He also confirmed to me of being a shepherd for those that I have been burdened to pray for and shepherd. The list includes the church in Gurugram, the church in Shillong, the Rongmeis who are yet to be evangelised, my family members for which I even created a WhatsApp "Our Family" group, and my official responsibility of the gospel book room in India. I am graced and blessed to receive such prayer burdens from the Lord. The grace of the Lord increases as the burdens increases. To pray all these prayer burden, three hours is a good time.

Praise the Lord for such sweet hours of prayer! And the grace of the Lord be upon me to continue to enjoy such sweet hours of prayer all the days of my life. 

Silence, the Best Answer

Sometimes, silence is the best answer. When there is no clarity nor enlightenment from the Lord concerning a matter that needs my intervention but I have no clear cut leading from the Lord, the best reply is, no reply at all. Simply be silent. Silence is the best answer. 

Recently, in my official service involving four serving ones at three different times and for different matters, tricky matters were brought to me. After they had done what all they could, they referred the matter to me to take the final call. These situations put me in a spot. I had nothing to reply back. I simply considered the matters before the Lord. And since I did not have any specific leading from the Lord, my best reply was not to reply at all, and just be silent. In fact till date, I have no answer and did not reply yet. Silence, is my answer.

Each of these servings ones have to do with their character in the way they carry out their official duties. Basically, it was a case of coordination. Since the coordination could not happen as each one expected, issues were raised. When the balls were passed to my court I realised that I need to tread it carefully. Any reaction from me must be something that shepherds and perfects them in their service. Only the Lord knows how to shepherd these ones. Since the Lord did not lead me specifically, I dared not react even though I have the official position and authority to do so. Such official authority I would exercise only when needed and in the Lord's peaceful leading. I am afraid to assume any authority even if I have the right to. I would rather turn all authority back to the Lord. 

Another matter passed to me in the church in my locality was to negotiate with our meeting hall owner of possible sharing of expenses as we plan to upgrade the hall by renovating it. In that case too, I did not have the peace to go ahead, so the case is still in silent mode. I was told that a brother presented the same case to the owner and his reaction was not positive nor peaceful. Even in this case, I still remain silent.

Sometimes, silence is the best answer.

USA North Korea Summit

I vividly remember the time when there was an intense verbal war of words between the president of the USA and the chairman of North Korea. The whole world was on its toes, watching worriedly the barbs trading between these two leaders. Some fearing and wondering what the world might turned up to be, a global mushrooming nuclear blasts and total shattering of the world peace? Some even dared to declare that World War Three has begun? I was no mute spectator. Nor was I silent reader of the world news. The Lord brought me to my knees to pray for the peace between these two countries, especially to pray for North Korea, that the country would be opened up for the gospel of the kingdom of God.

Since then, I have been praying for world leaders, of the likes of Trump, Kim, Abe, Putin, Xi, Modi, Moon, May, Merkel, etc. Especially, for Trump and Kim with North Korea as my main burden. I simply prayed, not knowing what would transpire. But as I followed the world news, things sounded worse and worse until the duo declared a threat of nuclear shower. But I ceased not praying.

One day, I read a good news about the meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea. Later, the possible meeting between Trump and Kim. And suddenly the cancellation of the same, and revival of the probable, perhaps, possible meeting again. And finally the confirmation that the duo would meet up for Peace Summit in Singapore on June 12. Since that confirmation, my prayer was all for this meeting. 

Then came 12 June 2018. That day as I woke up in Taipei, and when on my knees for my morning prayer, I could pray nothing else but for the successful meeting. My prayer was very intense, and fully focused on the summit between the two verbal warring leaders. Even after the morning prayer, throughout the day, I prayed for the meeting as I knew the meeting would have been going on according to the time schedule. Later, when I saw on news that the meeting went well, the peace summit signed, with the applause from all men alike world wide, I felt a deep relieve and gratitude to the Lord for this answered prayer. I believe this is very much in the Lord's heart for His move on the earth.

Diplomatically and formally, peace summit had been signed. Now what? I still continue to pray for the Lord's hand to move to execute whatever were agreed upon. Well, politically, I am not as interested in what would eventually transpire. But my main burden is for the country of North Korea. Many of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are under persecution and threat of livelihood may now be released to enjoy their Christian life and church life. Much more, the country be gospelized, truthized, and churchized.

When a decade ago I visited South Korea, the brothers there informed a prayer burden for North Korea to be opened up; and that they had prepared 300 Gideon's army for the gospelization of their brothers in the North; and for the printing of a million Bible(RecVer) for distribution to the North, the seed of prayer burden was sown since then. Only this year, the burden blossomed into full fledge prayer burden. Now the Lord is answering the prayer of His many children for this nation. May God bless North Korea. 

Fellowship with a Brother

Twelve years ago, a brother from Taiwan noticed me being in a Serving Ones Training held at Pune in India when I was still single and began to serve the Lord full time. Few weeks later, that brother enquired about me from another brother serving the Lord in India. The message conveyed to me was that, he, on learning who I was and where I am from, considered a Taiwanese sister who was serving the Lord full time in India as a possible match for me. Meanwhile, I had been intensely praying for my marriage and even told the Lord that I would settle for nothing short of the Lord’s perfect will. When the time was ripe and when the proposal came to me, my simple and one word innate reply was, "Amen!" That's how I got married to my wife, and we have been experiencing and enjoying the Lord's abundant blessing in the Body since then. Sincerely, I owe a deep gratitude to this Taiwan brother through whom my marriage proposal came. He became an instrument in initiating the fulfillment of the Lord's perfect will for my marriage life. And I am glad that we, as a family, could meet him this time for fellowship.

When he first met me, I was at the back seat in a training, a single brother. Now this time, he met us as a family with three wonderful children face to face in his office, in a span of twelve years. Life grows and life multiplies. Praise the Lord!

Meeting this brother gave me a sense of an aura of the presence of God. He spoke no word of advise nor message to me. But just by being with him, the grace and the presence of the Lord was so rich and easily felt. No wonder, he has been very useful to the Lord for the Lord's testimony and move in Taiwan, in Asia, and in the Lord's move worldwide. What a grace to grace his presence! It made me feel as though I met the Lord as a member of His Body. I believe brother Witness Lee himself must have had this kind of maturity though I personally never met him physically. The ministry of the word through the ministry of the age is indeed the unique ministry. To be in this ministry in His recovery is itself the Lord's mercy and blessing. May the Lord preserve me to be faithful to His recovery all the days of my life. 

I thank and worship the Lord for such a mature brother as he is. I pray that I can also pursue the growth in life and follow the pattern set before me; to be a channel of blessing, even a dispensational instrument in the present age for God's move on the earth. The Lord in His recovery has reserved many remnants, pure and mature, for His move and for His testimony. What a blessing to be in His recovery indeed! Especially, meeting with a brother like this brother confirms the ministry of the age I am in. Praise the Lord! 

Family Reunion at Taipei

Four years have elapsed since we last visited our family at Taipei city. This time the Lord gave us the provision to be able to visit again. Our mom and dad, though they are aged, are still very active and healthy, serving us as their own children. We really enjoyed their love and care. Though our visit was supposed to be a vacation, we found ourselves even more busy, as usual. Especially for me, it was a good time together with my children. Besides the daily spiritual chore of morning revival, Bible study and prayer, and the different outdoor activities, I could spend time with my children in an intimate way; praying with them, and eating with them, going out with them, and giving them bath. My elder daughter and son told me to give them bath every night as this was the time I could give them bath. I was more than glad to do that though they are mature enough to take bath by themselves. 

Family life is so wonderful. Now that the Lord has been training us to take care of our family, and even as we are learning, deep within I feel my children are very blessed compared to my childhood. They enjoyed all the love and care, including outings and children recreation. Many things I wished as a child but still remained as a wish are now all a reality to my children. Blessed are they indeed. And in their blessing, we, the parent are blessed too. 

One thing we pray for every day is for a normal and proper God-man family life. That our children may grow in grace, in the reverential fear of God, and grow up loving the Lord and would even serve the Lord all the days of their lives. To me, this is the best way my children can live their lives on this earth.

Nevertheless, how they all will grow up to be, all depends on the Lord’s mercy. As parent, we have done our best and are trying to do our best, to nurture them and shepherd them, to be proper and useful vessel unto to the Lord. All depends on the Lord's blessing and His mercy.

Lord, have mercy on our family, and bless our family to be a family according to Your heart's desire. 

This family reunion is very enjoyable and we learned a lot experientially. May the Lord continue to grace us and bless us. And I declare as Joshua did in the Bible in Joshua 24:15b, "But as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah."

A Visit to Hong Kong

In our plan to go home to Taiwan during the children's summer vacation, we planned to go churching and sightseeing to Malaysia and Singapore, but nothing worked out from our side though the churches there are ready to receive us. We really did not have peace to schedule our flight for some reasons. Finally, when we realized that it was not the proper time for now, we changed our plan and informed our brothers. But we were led to visit Hong Kong instead, and got a flight ticket that gave us enough hours of transit to visit some saints and enjoy a city tour.

As soon as we arrived the city, we were taken to the training center and met the trainees who came to our locality for the two weeks propagation recently. This trip was more of a family trip in nature and our interest was more inclined to our children. The brothers who took care of us knew exactly what our children would enjoy. So be it food, or places of visit, all were in line with our children's interest. As parent, we, my wife and I, just joined ourselves to what our children enjoyed and loved. It was fun and real family time. This had been due from my side as a father. Back home, I hardly get time to spend with my children. Now, the Lord has granted me amply time to spend with them, blend with them and enjoy being with them. It was indeed a great family time, driving around the city of Hong Kong. We also visited the Peak, the highest altitude of the city where the president used to reside. It was a beautiful peak overlooking the sky scrapper, surrounded by scenic beauty with lush greens all around, a beautiful deep blue water beneath, and a backwater from the south pacific ocean teeming with ships. An enjoyable family trip indeed. 

I have heard about Hong Kong and have seen in videos this commercial city booming in business. This was the first time I could visit in person. Besides the city being a business city, I was especially thankful to the Lord that He has the church in Hong Kong as the testimony to the mammon loving world. Though I did not yet attend any church meeting, from what I heard, the church had gone through tough times against opposers and turmoils, and came out gloriously. And a number of brothers who have been very much useful to the Lord today grew up in the church in this city. What a grace to be able to visit such a church! Perhaps, one day I will be able to join the meeting and fellowship with the saints.

As we depart for our destination city from Hong Kong airport, I was simply in awe to what the Lord just arranged for us. I had no word enough to thank the Lord and the brothers who took care of us. Once we landed in Taipei, I texted the brothers of my gratitude. Praise the Lord! 

Blending by Painting

These days the Lord has been blending us together in all possible ways, either by gospel preaching or shepherding or fellowship or even by doing some physical work. It was one Saturday after our prayer meeting that the matter of paining our meeting hall came up. Some saints felt that we need to present ourselves in the most dignified way spiritually with a proper God-man living and also with a proper ambience of the meeting hall. Since our last painting was a few years ago, the painting of the meeting hall was definitely due and needed. In past, we simply used to hire painters to do the painting and paid them off. But this time, not merely to save money but also to exercise ourselves in physical activities and be blended all the while grasping every opportunity for blending. Thus, the decision was made in one accord.

I personally was very glad to see the saints working together in one accord. Whoever was available came together. Though I myself could not participate as I had to finish my official works before I leave for Taiwan for over three weeks. 

The painting began the day we were scheduled to depart. It was indeed a beautiful sight to see what the Lord has been doing in the church in Gurugram. We are a score and a half who are regular in the meeting and a hundred or so who are all in contact. The church life we have been enjoying is very sweet and shepherding. The fellowship and blending among us is very intimate and dearer by the week. Praise the Lord for the church life! Praise the Lord for the blending even by painting.

By the way, this painting reminds me of the illustration of an anointing by the Holy Spirit. I pray that the Spirit may anoint each member day by day, and layer after layer, until we are fully immersed in the paint, the Spirit, and be fully one with the Spirit. This is also the only way to be one in the Lord and one in His Body. For oneness is only of the divine life and divine nature transmitted through the anointing Spirit.

More blending, more painting, more anointing, and more oneness! 

Community Gospel: God's Appointment

As we would be out of station for a couple of weeks, I had the burden to visit some families, therefore, we did visit two families, as a family. As we visited the families, we confirmed the visitations were of God's appointments.

In the first family we visited, a sister's younger sister was present in our midst. I realised it was of the Lord that she came co-incidentally. In fact, it was the Lord's sovereignty. On hearing her heart out of all the hardship she had been through, the Lord burdened me to preach the gospel to her. She was so seeking and was like a lamb; she received the Lord. Perhaps, all the many difficulties she had been through in her life had prepared her heart to be softened. At the right time, she heard the gospel, believed into the Lord, and prayed to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as her Saviour. We also fellowshipped on the Samaritan Woman in John 4 concerning the real need of man; the Lord Jesus is the one and only one who can satisfy the thirst of man. Our visit turned out to be a day of salvation to her. Our sister testified that the Lord had arranged all these for her sister's salvation.

Later, we met another brother's family. This brother is a believer already but his wife has harbored her parental rituals and beliefs dearly and strongly that she would not commend the new found faith of her husband. Nevertheless, she was very kind to us. 

My personal burden was just to pay a casual visit and introduce my wife to my brother's wife. But as we sat down to talk, she was so interested that the meeting went on and on. In between our conversation switched to God by her own queries. That gave me the ground to preach the gospel and shared living testimonies of my own salvation with that of my family. We were glad that she opened up.

In between, she also asked about my relationship with my wife as today's generation is going through marital turmoil even in a conservation society of India. I replied in the affirmation and elaborated how the Lord Jesus has blessed our marriage life. Then I turned our conversation to a gospel for her. To enjoy a blissful marriage life, Christ must be the head, center, and reality of the marriage life. For this, first, she must believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as her Saviour that she and her husband can also have a mutual love, joy, and peace in Christ Jesus.

The meeting that was supposed to be a mere introduction of my wife to my brother's wife became an ice-breaking meeting between our families, especially our wives. In fact, my burden was for the gospel altogether through the way of friendship first. The Lord honored our prayer and our burden and is establishing our relationship for her salvation.

Today, the brother called to thank for the time last night. It was a surprise that we enjoyed our meeting for over two hours. Meanwhile, our children too enjoyed their time with new families.  

Now we pray for the full salvation of the two sisters we met and preached the gospel to; our sister's sister and our brother's wife. Besides, we also pray that the Lord would grant His full salvation to the two families for the testimony in Gurugram.