The Lord's Direction and Presence

As God's people, we need to seek God's direction in every move we make along with His presence all the time. Like Moses, our attitude should be:

And He said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest. And he said to Him, If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. Exodus 33:14-15

Without the presence of the Lord, all that we do is in the self at best and is in line with Satan at worst. This should be an encouragement to all to always seeking the Lord's will and His presence. Yet on the negative side, we must also be warned of the things that can rob us of God's presence. Two precious lessons need to be learned from the book of Joshua, the failure at Ai and with the Gibeonites.

Then Jehovah said to Joshua, Rise up! Why have you fallen upon your face? Israel has sinned. Indeed they have trespassed My covenant, which I commanded them; indeed they have taken of that which was devoted to destruction; indeed they have stolen; indeed they have been deceptive; indeed they have put it among their goods. Thus the children of Israel are not able to stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become something devoted to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy that which was devoted to destruction from among you. Rise up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, There is something devoted to destruction among you, O Israel; you will not be able to stand before your enemies until you remove that which was devoted to destruction from among you. Joshua 7:10-13

And the men took some of their provisions, but they did not ask for the counsel of Jehovah. Joshua 9:14

In these two cases, the cause of sin was disobedience to the word of God due to coveteousness clubbed with hypocrisy and not asking for the counsel of Jehovah in matters great or small. These are the two warnings we have to be on the alert for. Then, our seeking God's direction and His presence will be uninterrupted.

Regarding seeking the Lord's direction and His presence, I testified today in the church meeting that as the Lord led us, we went to Mathura last weekend on the third invitation from the brother. We enjoyed the Lord's presence richly and the Lord indeed answered the prayer of the Body.  The prayer request and the update are below:

Prayer Request

Colossians 4:3-4

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, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak.

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Dear Saints,

Pray for the follow-up shepherding visit to a group of seeking believers in Mathura who came to fellowship with us through their reading and enjoyment of the ministry of the word in Hindi.

This weekend, 11-13 September, we are visiting and fellowshiping with them.  

Pray that God would open to us a door for the word, to *speak the mystery of Christ*.

Pray that the Lord would shepherd them into the rich enjoyment of Christ as the unsearchable riches and be fully recovered for the Lord’s testimony in Mathura, UP.

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Facts about Mathura

Mathura is a sacred city in Uttar Pradesh, northern India. It is believed to be the birthplace of an important deity in the Hindu religious pantheon. It is an important pilgrim place of the Hindus and one of the seven sacred cities in India.

It is about 50 kms from Taj Mahal in Agra.

 

Follow-up Shepherding Visit to Mathura, UP

Dear Saints,

Thank you for your prayers!

The Lord has richly blessed the visit to Mathura in answer to the prayers of the Body. Since the time we arrived there, we enjoyed fellowshipping with the saints, sessions by sessions until midnight. Their hunger for the word of God had literally drawn out from our being the living waters. We simply followed the Spirit's flow and flowed along with it by ministering the word.

On the Lord's Day, about 70 saints gathered together for the meeting. As the Lord led, we ministered the word of God on God's plan, the redemption accomplished by Christ, the salvation we can enjoy by believing into His Name, the need for household salvation, and the need to grow in life through the word.

After the meeting, we fellowshipped with the leading brothers on some practical ways to enjoy the the Lord by calling upon the Lord’s name, pray-reading the word of God, and prophesying for the building up of the Body of Christ. We also introduced a practical way to be revived through the morning revival and also taught them some hymns in Hindi for their spiritual enjoyment.

Having thus released the burden for this time, we commit them to the word of God's grace that can build them up and left to be visited again soon.

Acts 20:32

And now I commit you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who have been sanctified. 

Prayer Burden

Please continue to pray for the brothers and sisters in Mathura for their daily enjoyment of the Lord and growth in life unto the full recovery of the Lord's testimony. Amen.

As a result of God's people seeking His direction and presence, there will be victory over the enemy, the building up of the Body of Christ, and the spread of His kingdom. 

Lord, preserve me in Your will and in Your presence all the time for Your divine purpose on this earth.