Gospel Preaching in DLF 3

Last weekend, as the church, we have been blessed with the trainees coming over to the meeting hall, staying there, and then coordinating with the saints to preach the gospel. This was a sudden arrangement and we did not really have enough time to consider it thoroughly. Yet, the Lord used this opportunity to revive us in the matter of gospel preaching again. This time, brothers in the church felt it best to preach the gospel in DLF 3 where many young working saints are residing as it is adjacent to the city's Cyber Hub. 

As usual and as always, I simply followed the leading of the Lord through the brothers in all practical detail. It is a blessing indeed to simply follow the Lord through the Body without any opinion. Though I had my opinion, I simply denied them and amen the brother's leading.

With a brand new brother and a sister as my teammates, I led them as I felt led by the Lord, where to preach and whom to preach to. Our first gospel candidate was a person who never heard of the name Jesus Christ. When we reached the gospel to him in Hindi, he readily agreed and received whatever we preached. He even prayed the sinner's prayer and called upon the Lord's name. As we were preaching to him, another man was watching us from a nearby building. After we were done preaching with this one, as we moved forward, this new person was smiling. I approached him and he commented that he saw us preaching the gospel and confessed that he himself is a Christian. He welcomed us to his office and then led us to his home, introducing us to his wife. As he was busy with his work, we had a time of home meeting with his wife; reading the Bible, and praying for the family. This family was so open that they wanted to join us on the Lord's day. Therefore, his wife and the child came to attend the meeting. This family was the fruit of following the Lord's leading this time.

Besides this, one man received the gospel tract, called the church's number, and came to the meeting hall. He had believed into the Lord but was not yet baptized. After he enjoyed the meeting with the saints, and especially with the young people, he decided to be baptized. Praise the Lord, he was baptized! Another blessing of following the Lord!

After the Lord's day meeting, we went out to preach the gospel again. As we were on the street, there was a heavy downpour. Initially, we were wondering how we could go on preaching the gospel as the streets were flooded. Due to the rains, we have to stop at a building where we met three groups of gospel candidates and preached the gospel to at least 10 of them. The rain opened the door for us to meet people group by group. Had it not been for the rain, we could not have met so many new people for the gospel. 

The Lord is sovereign in His move. O what a blessing to simply obey and follow His leading through the Body! The gospel preaching in DLF-3 is a new level of coordination. And I believe this is an answer to our prayer for the increase in the number of saints meeting in the church here. Praise the Lord!

Brotherly Fellowship

Listening is one of the most important character traits of a servant of the Lord. Anyone who serves the Lord and serves the people of God must learn to listen. Listen to God and also listen to people. Listen to God to know what is in God's mind concerning His service through me. Listen to people to know their situation and discern how to help them according to God. This lesson needs patience and the spirit of discernment.

Today and the past few days, I have had a wonderful experience of listening to my fellow believers who would confide with me about their situation, mostly their concerns, pains, worries, anxieties, etc. A sister had called me, pouring her heart out to me concerning her family situation and how she fellowshipped for help to pray for them and practical help in whatever way I could. Just listening to her pains and grief took me over half an hour. After which I prayed with her over the phone and promised her that I would pray, consider, and do what I could do best.

A brother called me for prayer and after we prayed, he confided with me about all the things he has been going through in his family, especially with his mother. Incident by incident, point by point, he expressed his view of things and I carefully listened to him. Another brother called me for a time of fellowship as he had not called me for a couple of months now. He expressed whatever he felt needful concerning his life, his family, job, children, etc. I could tell from the narration that the Lord has been working on him and his wife and they are now on the progressive stage in their relationship and spiritual life. A sister called me up to pour out her concern for the stiaution of the saints in her local church and how some saints have veered away from the truth, indirectly causing division. In the midst of it, some faitfhful saints have been sincerely pursuing the ministry and standing firm on the ground of oneness for the Lord's testimony. All the three fellowship lasted for more than an hour over the phone.

The Lord has been gracing me with hearing ears to hear and listen to what the saints have to say. I did not comment much unless the Lord led me strongly to do so. I hear the fact and consider carefully first if the facts narrated were indeed true. And if so, what would the Lord want me to do based on the facts, and how and when I should take action. Until these queries from my side were cleared, I choose not to say anything until the Lord in His own time mainfest things more clearly and directly me to take the needed action. 

I have been learning to serve the Lord in this way. I keep myself open to all the saints whom the Lord would burden to fellowship with me. I take such fellowships as lessons for me to learn. And most of the time it turns out, they are blessings in disguise.

What a brotherly fellowship I have been graced to experience! I learn by experience as the Lord has been gracing me. Lord, grace me on and on...

Children: God's Heritage

Behold, children are the heritage of Jehovah,  

The fruit of the womb a reward.  Psalms 127:3

The Lord has sovereignly blessed us with three children. To me, parenting is best practiced by prayers. I and my wife have been praying almost daily for our children. We truly reckon them as God's heritage and we are only the earthly guardian. We do not want to parent our children according to us, but according to God. Though, oftentimes, I inserted my own way into parenting ultimately it has always been God's way that matters most. We, as parents, did make a couple of mistakes yet the Lord also parents us as His children teaching us how to parent our children.

I, as a father, could not really spend as much time with my children as my wife has been doing. But I make sure to pray with them every day whether at home or abroad. I have been doing my best to care for them, show love to them, and try my best to be a proper and normal father. The Lord has been so faithful to me and to us as a family. He has bestowed us with the best family environment where everybody feels really at home with peace and joy, prayer, fellowship, and the word of God, and all provision supplied abundantly not luxuriously though.  Sometimes, I told my wife that our children are so peaceful and joyful. They know no worry nor anxiety, especially like the way I did when I was a kid, and often wonder if they would need some "hardship" positively as a lesson for them to learn. Nevertheless, I am definitely not looking for hardship for my children unless the Lord allows it.

As time passes by, the Lord's blessing has been manifested among all our children. They all are excelling in their studies and have come out with outstanding results in their academic performance in addition to the extra curriculum activities they participated in and won awards for; at school, state, country, and even international level. Positively, I am proud of them, the Lord covers me for saying this. 

On the academic front, the teachers have appreciated all of them and they all have carved a niche in their respective classes as someone the students and teachers can look up to. They all have been given an important role to play in school functions, selection by merit, even to the point that the Principal and Headmistress came to knwo about it.

Last Monday, my wife and I were invited to attend a school function that our son was hosting with one of his seniors. He was applauded openly by the Principal in the meeting. Last Lord's day too, he shared in the Lord's day meeting his enjoyment of the truth concerning the Lord's incarnation, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension in addition to sharing his own experience in the past week. I myself was so shepherded by my son's sharing. I could not control it but had to admit to him how much I appreciated what he shared and frankly told him, "Amana, I am proud of you! May God continue to bless you." 

Likewise, my two daughters have shown extraordinary enthusiasm in their academic fields. I literally have not yet been involved in their studies to help as they could manage their studies all by themselves, or with the help of my wife, or use Google to search their queries. As of now, we have not given any special coaching or tutor as they could manage all by themselves, except for Hindi subject for which they help from a Hindi speaking brother sometimes. Mostly they google all their queries online using even google translate to get the hard meanings of Hindi words.

All these are because of the Lord's grace, mercy, and blessings upon our family. I have nothing to boast about, I am simply stating the fact. 

May the Lord continue to preserve us under His grace and bless His children for His purpose. Indeed,  children are the heritage of Jehovah! And the fruit of the womb a reward!

Praise You, Lord Jesus!

New Testament Recovery Version in Indian Languages

The opening of Your words gives light, imparting understanding to the simple. Psalms 119:130

Thank the Lord for His word! Much more, thank the Lord for the revelation and interpretation of His word! For ages past, in His sovereignty, He has been revealing the hidden truths through many brothers and sisters. And it is indeed wise that we learn from them and inherit the riches of the word of God by being open to what God has already revealed. God has gifted many with the gift of interpreting and giving meaning to His mysterious and profound word. 

And they read in the book, in the law of God, interpreting and giving the sense, so that they understood the reading. Nehemiah 8:8

Such interpretation had been practiced during the Old Testament time itself. Even in the New testament time too, there is such a record of the need to make the word of God known to those in need as seen in the case of an Ethiopian eunuch.

And when Philip ran up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, Do you really know the things that you are reading? And he said, How could I unless someone guides me? And he entreated Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: “As a sheep He was led to slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so He does not open His mouth. In His humiliation His judgment was taken away. Who shall declare His generation? For His life is taken away from the earth.” And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I beseech you, Concerning whom does the prophet say this? Concerning himself or concerning someone else? And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he announced Jesus as the gospel to him. Acts 8:30-35

In a similar manner, today, we have been learning from the church history and also from all our spiritual forefathers what God has revealed to them. Thank the Lord for some faithful brothers who had paid the price to fulfill the burden of making the Word of God known to the children of God today. To my understanding, the New Testament Recovery Version is one such study Bible that has been helping me and many others in interpreting and giving the sense to the word of God. Thereby, opening the word and giving light.

For this study Bible translation from the original Greek to local Indian languages, the Lord has been gracing us for the translation preparation. He wisely and patiently led us through two years of biblical Greek learning, and then the qualified learners were selected for translation from Greek into their target languages which lasted for another five years. Finally, from Jan-Feb 2022 we did the final proofreading. In all these, I had been specially graced to participate in the entire project, from its inception to its completion. What a privilege, what a blessing, and yes, what grace! Now the printed study Bibles have come out in Malayalam, Mizo, Tamil, and Telugu! 

Praise the Lord!

On the 15th of July, we formally made the announcement of the availability of these study Bibles after laboring to bring out the brochures and a one-minute scriptures reading for each language. The announcement made was:

Amana Literature is pleased to announce the release of the New Testament Recovery Version in Malayalam, Mizo, Tamil, and Telugu.

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Complete Detail

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Malayalam Bible – The New Testament Recovery Version https://www.amanaliterature.in/mznrcvbible

Mizo Bible – The New Testament Recovery Version  https://www.amanaliterature.in/malntrcvbible

Tamil Bible – The New Testament Recovery  Version  https://www.amanaliterature.in/tentrcvbible

Telugu Bible – The New Testament Recovery Version  https://www.amanaliterature.in/tantrcvbible

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A One-minute Scripture Reading with Commentary

Tamil Scripture & Commentary - https://www.amanaliterature.in/taomsc

Telugu Scripture & Commentary - https://www.amanaliterature.in/teomsc

Mizo Scripture & Commentary - https://www.amanaliterature.in/mzomsc

Malayalam Scripture & Commentary - https://www.amanaliterature.in/mlomsc

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BROCHURES: New Testament Recovery Version

RecVer Malayalam - https://www.amanaliterature.in/malayalamrcvbrochure

RecVer Mizo - https://www.amanaliterature.in/mizorcvbrochure

RecVer Tamil - https://www.amanaliterature.in/tamilrcvbrochure

RecVer Telugu - https://www.amanaliterature.in/telugurcvbrochure

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Punjabi Translation

Generally, the Punjabi speakers also understand Hindi. A decade ago, we used to translate the ministry books into Punjabi, yet not one book was published. Later, we dropped the translation into Punjabi due to lack of proper translator, at the same time we did not sense the urgent need then, as compared to today. 

During recent the ministry journey to Jammu, Kashmir, and Punjab, we discovered the need for Punjabi ministry materials as many Punjabi speakers prefer to read in Punjabi though they still listen messages in Hindi. Now that lakhs of people have been saved in Punjab, the need for ministry material grows all the more. 

This time, in my personal fellowship with the local Punjabi speaking believers, I was convinced of the urgent need for the ministry to be in this language. Though there are many new believers, many of them are very shallow as they have been so much influenced by signs and wonders, miracles and healings, clubbed with the so-called worship songs. But the one thing that can best make the belieber grow in life is the word of God, yes, the properly interpreted word of God. 

In fact, in a Christian leaders gathering that I attended, a good number of leaders acknowledged the need for healthy Christian materials in Punjabi to help the Punjabi believers grow in the divine life by the pursuit of the truth and by having a proper revelation of the word of God, such  as revealed in the ministry literature.

At least three Christian leaders have fellowshipped with me the need for good Christian library or bookstore for the believers. The reason being, many shallow and even wrong doctrines have crept in among Christians, especially with those claiming to have thousands and thousands of believers, as they gain people through healing and demon casting out with the promise of prosperity rather than the proper feeding on the healthy word of God.

According to the need, the Lord also provided a brother who started translating the ministry books into Punjabi. This one also referred his wife as another potential translator in addition to the one we met in Anantnag, a Punjabi brother, with whom we fellowshipped for Punjabi translation. On top of all these, I fellowshipped with a brother who used to do the translation many years ago to consider his service in the literature again. He then confirmed that he had been thinking of the same even before I fellowshipped with him. As he went to visit many pastors in the villages, he discovered that many believers urgently need proper ministry materials for their growth in life. Therefore, the Lord work all things together at the some time to meet the need for the many believers in Punjab.

The Lord has thus began a new step to gain North India, especially, Punjab with the initiation of the Punjabi ministry literature translation!

Lord, prepare the healthy spiritual food for Your Punjabi speaking children! And bless the translation service.

A Brother's Engagement

Two months ago, a family came to visit me in Gurugram and requested me to pray for their son's possible engagement in Jalandhar, Punjab with a Punjabi sister. I sincerely prayed for the brother's engagement to happen according to the Lord's will as I know him. In fact, he is now in his forties, high time to get married. A few weeks later, the brother called to inform me of his engagement to happen and also invited me to attend. Perhaps, to be their spiritual brother to pray for them and stand with them. I considered the request before the Lord and in fellowship with my co-serving brother, I decided to attend the engagement. Yet in addition, I also planned for a distribution trip to the city, to make use of the visit.

A comfortable hospitality was arranged for me in Jalandhar city where I could spend enough time praying and studying the word before the engagement meeting. At the engagement, though no preplanning was done, it was fitting for me to take the lead and minister the word for the couple. The sister's side brought along two pastors but they abruptly left after they made a short announcement about the engagement. There seemed to be a void in the entire meeting. Therefore, I was invited by the brother's side to take over. 

For about forty-five minutes I ministered on God's eternal plan in creating man as a vessel so that man can contain Him, express Him, and represent Him. For this, God also charged man to multiply, which happens through marriage. Therefore, marriage is God ordained and must be honored. I also ministered along the line of loving the Lord and loving one another, being one with the Lord and also one with one another as couples, and the need for Christ filled family life in today's age of degradation and godlessness. 

As I noticed that some of the relatives of the sister were still unbelievers, I shared a short gospel for them and showed them how to believe into the Lord Jesus Christ. With this simple message, impromptu though, but the Lord anointed and gave the utterances. The meeting was very much enriched. The family of the brothers were so supplied by this "unplanned" engagement message. 

Later, they expressed their gratitude, and our relationship as Christian brothers and sisters got much strengthened. The father of the brother was so touched by my being with the family and shepherding them, when I was about to move on for my next work, he thanked me with tears rolling down from his eyes, and hugged me. I am glad that the Lord's shepherding care indeed was upon them through my presence. To me, it was all the Lord's shepherding care for the raising up of His testimony in their native place one day. They are bign prepared by he Lord.

Through this one day engagement meeting, the Lord made the entire family open to me for fellowship. I do belive the Lord will use this newly established relationship to shepherd them all in the coming days and also gain them all wherever they are, to be fully for the Lord.

Lord, gain the couple and all their relatives for Your testimony!

Ministry of the Word to Jalandhar

And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must lead them also, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one Shepherd. John 10:16

In the entire North India, Punjab has the fastest growing Christian population. In the past decade alone, lakhs of local people have believed into the Lord Jesus Christ. The growth of new believers has been so fast that it even drew the attention of the media and a religious group who dominated the entire state. 

I have heard about the growing Christian population in this state and had been waiting for the proper time to visit this state and distribute the ministry literature, though I had gone to Chandigarh for propagation and distribution many years ago.

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to attend an engagement function of a brother known to me. When he invited me, I considered and prayed about it, and also fellowship with my coordinator my burden to make use of this visit. Therefore, I planned a distribution trip after the engagement function. It turned out that, this was the best time to visit the city Jalandhar, as there was a Christin leaders meeting, while I visited the city of which I also attended.

A seeking family, a Rhema contact, gave us hospitality during our distribution in the city. The ministry books were introduced to them; they were so seeking and open that we even enjoyed a time of morning revival and Bible study together right away. He purchased the Holy Bible Recovery Version for his family Bible study.  This brother introduced us to his brother who is also a pastor of an independent group and had served with Christian literature service for a good number of years. The moment we met, he narrated his story of how he labored in the literature service in the past for many years. We introduced the ministry literature to these two seeking brothers who loves the Lord and joyfully received whatever we ministered. We spent five hours of fellowship in our first meeting itself. The following day, we were invited for a time of fellowship over a dinner love feast. They being so impressed by the riches of the ministry, proposed to open a bookstore in their new meeting hall.

We were also led to fellowship with a group of young ones who left the denomination and are now simply meeting as a “church”. They were so supplied by the truth we ministered concerning the need for growth in life using the ministry literature. They all received the ministry books for their further pursuit.

When we fellowship with two young Punjabi pastors concerning the Christian life and the need for growth in life through the word, they joyfully received the ministry literature. They were so impressed by the ministry of the word. One of them has the burden to translate the ministry books into Punjabi. This brother has been serving the Lord full-time on his own, independently, but was enlightened on the truth concerning Christ, the local churches, and the universal Body of Christ through our fellowship. Out of burden and need, he has now started translating the ministry books into Punjabi with the goal of translating the entire Rhema set. Praise the Lord, now we are restarting the Punjabi translation service!

We also attended a "Christian leaders and pastors" gathering where we were warmly welcomed and even honored with a memento by the Christian leaders. It was a surprise honor indeed, yet I took that as an opportunity to introduce the riches of the ministry of the word to all that pastors and leaders present there. The key leaders expressed their gratitude for our visit and voiced the need for Christian literature in Punjab. Despite Punjab witnessing the fastest growing Christian population in North India, the word of God is still rare as many are attracted by “signs, wonders, healings, and miracles”.

A pastor invited us to his Prayer Tower in the city where we introduce the minsitry literature to him. He purchased the entire set of ministry books in Hindi and selected books in English to set up a Library-cum-Christian Bookstore, to be the first of its kind in the city.

May the Lord recover many of His lovers and seekers in the city for His strong testimony on the ground of oneness as an anti-testimony to the world and the religious world of division. 

Ministry of the Word to Leh

Leh is famous for tourism and is located at an altitude of 3524 meters, 11562 feet above sea level. 

This is my second visit to this town. We were received by the pastor of a Moravian church who also happened to be from the same Rongmei tribe in the flesh as mine. He also made arrangements for our hospitality for our three days stay. 

On the Lord's day, we were given the opportunity to introduce the ministry books to the entire congregation of the Moravian church who were on their final day of Youth Meet. It was indeed a timely visit so that the ministry books can be introduced and distributed to all  who came from some other parts of India as well.  After the Lord's day meeting, we introduced the ministry literature to the Moravian Church Committee members and they placed orders for the entire selected set of title books by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee for the church library. This was a great opening for the Lord's move to Ladakh. This church being the one and only church since its very inception some two hundred years ago, anything Christian has to be in reference to this church. To this church, the Lord has opened the door for the ministry literature to be made available. 

By the way, the Moravian Church in Leh located in the border area of Pakistan, China, and Tibet is a Protestant Church that was established in 1885 by Moravian missionaries who came from Herrnhut in Saxony (eastern Germany). 

After the Lord's day, we were given hospitality in a guest house owned by one of the local Ladakhi believers who we had no idea about. But one morning as we went out for breakfast, we chanced to meet him. Then our relationship was established right then. We made an appointment for meeting with his family in the afternoon. When we had a time of fellowship where we shared the meaning of human life and God's purpose in creating man, we realized that some of the family members were not yet baptized. Therefore, according to their need and the Lord's leading, we expounded the truth concerning baptism. After an hour-long fellowship, the Spirit moved in a strong way as to lead the local brother to repent and prayed a prayer of confession, repentance, and revival. They testified that the Lord sent us to them as they were in urgent need of fellowship and revival as they have been backslidden and distracted by many world things. They sincerely invited us to visit them again in the near future so that many other Christian families could be visited and shepherded. This fellowship was so precious to all of us; the Lord directly implied to us the need for shepherding in this area. The Lord does want to gain his family and many more for His testimony in Leh among the local Ladakhis.

Lord, raise up Your testimony in Leh!

 

An Indian army Commanding Officer whom we met on the Lord's day also invited us for a time of fellowship over dinner love-feast at his army base camp where we introduced the ministry literature. He purchased the ministry books and the Holy Bible Recovery Version as well. We learned from him that he dearly loves the Lord though more of a Peter-kind and was very burdened for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that through the reading of the ministry books he would see the vision of Christ and the church clearly and one day take a stand for t the Lord's testimony wherever the Lord places him as an officer.

On a lighter note, as we were fellowshipping with him inside his living room, some stray dogs came and devoured our leather shoes kept outside of his house. We lost our shoes yet this brother gifted us matching shoes.

Overall, we worship the Lord for His sovereignty in all our visits in this ministry journey to Jammu, Kashmir, and finally to Ladakh. May the Lord accomplish His heart's desire in these places! 

Ministry of the Word to Kargil

Kargil is famous for the Kargil War fought between India and Pakistan, which was also known as the Kargil conflict or Operation Vijay, an armed conflict fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir then, and elsewhere along the Line of Control(LoC).  Now, this region is a part of the Ladakh Union Territory.

Initially, we never had a plan to visit Kargil. But in one of our meetings with a brother, we mentioned our travel itinerary from Srinagar to Leh, then he suggested that we could stop by Kargil in between. Then, the burden was received, contact was made, and finally, we actually visited this important town in India.

In Kargil, a doctor-brother and his wife received us into their home and treated us with a brotherly lovefeast. We had a good time of fellowship with the couple and also with another family who came to the town with a burden to serve the Lord with their professions. Both families have sacrificed their comfortable lives and paid the price to go to this city out of a burden from the Lord. We learned from them that there were hardly any local believers in the entire region. And many Christians have a burden for the gospel in this area and many prayers have been offered to God. 

One beautiful thing in this area is that all the believers, though from various denominations, backgrounds, and doctrines, they have no way but to unite as one. All minor differences have to be put away to serve the Lord and take the stand for the Lord together. This was amazing! 

As we introduced the ministry literature to our host, he showed interest in all the books we brought there. He therefore placed order for the entire set of English ministry books with the Holy Bible Recovery Version. This was a good opening for the seed of the ministry to be sown in virgin soil. The Lord led us to such a place so that He can gain His chosen ones and raise up His testimony even in this important town.

Generally, there would be no vehicle plying in the afternoon to Leh, our next destination, as the last vehicle to leave Kargil for Leh was before 3 PM. But the Lord knew that we had to be in Leh the next day morning, which means we have to travel by all means the same day as it took over five hours on road. We did not rush nor panic but committed our time and ourselves to the Lord. We comfortably had enough time to spend with the two families, in fellowship and prayer. When we satisfactorily completed our visit to Kargil, the Lord arranged a vehicle just in time for us to move to Leh. We worship the Lord for His ways!

Lord, save the people of Kargil and raise up Your testimony in Kargil!

Ministry of the Word to Srinagar

After a time with the brothers in Anantnag, we journeyed to Srinagar. The beautiful scenery along the highway was so mesmerizing. I could not withhold my phone from taking phoes and videos all along. God's beautiful creation is so wonderful! The creation itself is a testimony of the Creator, God. These beautufil landscapes surely did not come into being and could barely be explained by the so-called "Bing Bang Theory" of man's mere imagination. With such wonder beyond human imagination, only the fools will indeed deny that God indeed is the Creator of all and that He does exist.

This time too, we had no clue as to whom we should meet, where we should stay, or what we should do in Srinagar. We just came with the burden of the distribution of the ministry literature. But the Lord gave us the right person to contact just as we planned to visit the city. A serving brother welcomed us to his Srinagar home and treated us with a delicious South Indian meal as he himself have migrated to the city some fifteen years ago from the South. This brother led us to different people and also made arrangements for our stay. We had a time introducing the ministry to this brother and gifted him with some books including the New Testament Recovery Version. 

He also met another brother whom we met in our past visit, who has been appreciating the depth of the minsitry so much. To him, based on his fellowship, we shared the truth concerning the inner man and the need to strengthen the inner man by contacting the Lord and by growing in the divine life. 

Besides, we also met a brother who has been displaying books and selling Christian books to key Christian churches. He came to meet us before we left the city and showed much interest in the ministry books. He even texted me testifying that a book he read made him realize some of his "sins" for which he also repented. To this brother, we handed over a good number of the ministry books for him to distribtue and sell.

This beautiful city has the same fate as that of the previous city we visited.  Despite the difficulty in laboring for the gospel in this city, there have been many brothers and sisters praying for the salvation of the people of this city in particular and the state in general. Though we could not see like in other cities of India, believers teeming the city, nonetheless many prayers have been offered. The prayers of the saints will bear forth fruits one day. We were blessed to share a part in the Lord's move to Srinagar.

May the Lord raise up the church in Srinagar soon with His chosen people.

Ministry of the Word to Anantnag

 Anantnag, a city of living streams is teeming with greens and a fresh supply of living streams from the mountains. As far as we were told, there are hardly any local believers in this city. And even if there were so, they must have been secret believers due to social stigma and the fear of religious fanatics. Nevertheless, the Lord is the Lord of all and He has His secret way of saving His chosen ones. He knows best.

We were welcomed by a serving brother warmly with much brotherly love. Though his house was a simple ancient house with barely two rooms, his heart for hospitality was exemplary. He could have given excuses for not having enough facilities for hospitality but he acted on the contrary. I personally learned a very important lesson from him and his attitude; giving hospitality is of the heart not necessarily of the facilities one has.  He served us with whatever he had in his possession; a simple meal served with love. What better meal can you expect?  

During the night, we had a time of fellowship with this brother and another medical doctor, a serving brother too. As the truth concerning the Holy Spirit baptism was brought up, after listening to the testimony of a brother who himself testified of his experiences of being filled with the Holy Spirit outwardly and how his life changed since then, I also shared the two aspects of the Holy Spirit filling in John 20 and Acts 2. After sharing such truth with all Bible references, the brother who seems to echo his point on the Holy Spirit indirectly pointing us to being silent in this important truth of the Holy Spirit was comforted as he would disagree with believers who do not believe in the Holy Spirit's baptism. He then realized that the ministry has expounded all the major truths in the Bible profoundly. Then, we introduced the ministry books to them and they bought some selected books of their choice for their study. 

Our host has also been a translator of Punjabi. Therefore, we requested him to try to translate the ministry books. Perhaps, the Lord brought us to the city to prepare the ground for his move to Punjab as well. Besides, these two families have been meeting non-denominationally as "the church in Anantnag" based on the truth we shared when we first visited them a few years ago. This time, we further strengthened the truth concerning the church ground and the oneness of the Body of Christ. I do believe the seed that we have sown will bear forth fruits one day.

We also visited a brother who was serving as an administrator of a hospital. He also was interested in the ministry books which we brought. As he inquired about our next destination, he also encouraged us to visit Kargil on our way to Leh from Srinagar. Therefore, the Lord used him to guide us to a new city that we did not plan before.

These brothers have been doing their best to serve in a difficult land. The Lord has been blessing them in their professional careers and the Lord will give them visible fruits one day.

Lord, bless your testimony in Anantnag!

Ministry of the Word to Basholi

Basholi, about five hours journey from Jammu towards the border of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, was a city we intended to skip for its long distance, but because it was already arranged we honored the Lord's sovereignty and simply followed the leading though we were physically tired. The Lord continued to grace us on to this city as well.

As soon as we arrived, we were taken to a special meeting arranged by a pastor at his house where some fifty believers had gathered. We faithfully ministered the word on the similar line of God's eternal purpose in creating man and how a Christian can grow in the Christian life with practical help on breathing, drinking, and eating the Lord daily. 

After the meeting, we were also taken by the pastor himself for a time of sightseeing to the beautiful lake and a hanging bridge over the lake. This pastor had become so friendly to us and shared some of his experiences in serving the Lord. He preached the gospel mostly among the unbelievers at his available time as he is also a government servant in a hospital. He professed to have gifts of healing and prophecy where he showed me some of his recorded prophesy in terms of prediction and fulfillment with a testimony of healing of some people. 

I personally believe he has a genuine burden for the gospel and all the gifts and prophecies in terms of prediction he adheres to are due to influence from other Christian workers. My burden for him is that he can dive deeper into the word of God and be constituted with the riches of the ministry. Therefore, I introduced the Hindi literature which he placed an order for and took all the books I introduced to him. 

Out of the burden for the ministry, he also has trained his family well. Especially, his eldest daughter, to serve with him in leading in singing and translating for us when we ministered the word. All his children, three of them, two sisters and a brother, seem to be properly eductaed. But his burden was that all his children would serve the Lord along with him. He was least bothered by the earthly profession of his children though they were excellent in their studies. He preferred that all education he help his children gain was all for the ministry in God's service. Moreover, he does not want to meddle with those who are already believers. So, he focussed on non-believers as his burden was for the gospel of salvation mostly. He also inquire if we could be invited by him in the coming days, to which we replied in the affirmative and asked him to pray about it. 

After a day and a night in the city, we left for our next destination.

May the Lord raise up His testimony in Basholi!

Ministry of the Word to Jammu

When I first landed in this city for the distribution trip, a brother picked me up from the Airport. This brother has been pastoring a small congregation. When we were fellowshipping over breakfast, he brought out certain points concerning his view on salvation, that salvation can be lost. I differed with the erroneous teaching and presented to him using the pure word of God that salvation by God is eternal and helped to understand the difference between eternal life and a reward for Christians. Though he quoted some Bible verses to prove his points I pointed out to him that the verses he quoted were taken out of context. Then he was so glad to receive my fellowship and thanked me for the truth on the assurance and security of salvation. Though I personally wanted to meet him again, our schedules did not match, so we could not meet up again. Perhaps, his function was to receive us and lead us to our next destination.

On the 27th of June, we were welcomed by the biggest Christian group in the city of Jammu. A special meeting was arranged for us by the group. After being welcomed by the committee members and formerly welcomed with garlanding in the meeting, we ministered the word. Like other places, the Spirit's leading was to minister on the basics of the Christian life. When my turn came, my burden was to help the believers to daily exercise by breathing, drinking, and eating the Lord. I did so by quoting relevant Bible verses. The entire congregation was so much in hunger for the word of God; they drew out of my being rivers of living water. They enjoyed the flow of life within as I continued to minister faithfully and boldly as the Lord led so. 

After the meeting, we had a time of the ministry books distribution and exhibition where a young pastor ordered the entire set of ministry books in English. Later the entire committee members took us for a dinner love feast and we were dropped off to our hotel.

It was rather amazing that so many groups of Christian have sprung up in the city of Jammu, mostly among the local Dogras. Positively, the number of believers multiplied but negatively the number of Christian denominations also multiplied. Nonetheless, the gospel is spreading. Praise the Lord!

We were also invited to a city near Jammu where we were requested to minister the word in a newly established church meeting. There too, we did our best to minister the word and had a time of dinner love feast at a believer's home.

After all these meetings, we were wondering how the Lord led us to all these people. We simply trusted the Lord and His word that one day, the seed we have sown will bear forth fruits, a thirty-fold, a sixty-fold, and even a hundred-fold.

Lord, gain Your heart's desire in Jammu and raise up Your testimony in Jammu city soon! 

Ministry of the Word to Katra

In the city of a famous goddess shrine on a mountain top, we witnessed the multiplication of the believers in general among all the Christian groups. Despite the strict religious atmosphere engulfing the city, the Spirit's move too was intensified amidst the cloudy situation. We truly witnessed in this city Katra that God is a living and moving God. No forces one earth can ever stop Him! The stronger the opposition, the stronger the Lord's move.

We were brought by a brother to this city to visit a Christian group. Though our main purpose was for the distribution of the ministry literature, the situation turned out that we came here for the ministr of the word. When we were welcomed warmly and given the time to minster the word, my brother went first to expound the eternal plan of God. When my turn came, I intended to follow up on the same burden, but the Lord led me to minister somthing I myself found it to be a little strange. The burden the Lord gave me was to minister on 'Baptism".

Therfore, I denied my own feelng and followed the Lord's inward leading to minister the truth concerning baptism. Using all the relevant Bible verses, I ministered on the need for believing and baptism by giving seven crucial of Bible verses to prove the seven significants points of baptism. After I released the burden the Lord imparted to me, I discovered that the believers themselves were in great need of this truth concerning baptism. When the pastor of the group asked how many understood the message and how many wanted to take water baptsim, a good number of hands were raised up. I was surprised to see that the Lord knew their urgent need and led me to minister on baptism.

There were a coupl of pastors who joined the meeting too. They themselves testified that they never heard of baptism being expounded in such a  rich way. They themselves were cleared of the truth concerning baptism. The Lord knew the best and He met the timely need of the believers. Hallelujah!

This ciyt was just a day visit and we left for the next city, Jammu, after we had lunch with our host in Katra. I do believe that one day the Lord will raise up His testimony in Katra.

Lord. raise up your testimony in Katra soon!

Ministry of the Word to Udhampur

As we arrived at the house of the brother who hosted us for the meetings in the church he is shepherding, he initially wanted to have an ice-breaking fellowship where he wanted to clarify certain points concerning the ministry we represent. Looking to the Lord inwardly, with an exercised spirit, we answered all his queries to his satisfaction where he felt peaceful and joyful. Besides, at his request, I personally shared my testimony of how the Lord saved and called me to serve Him full-time. All these initial fellowships were indeed a good starter. Our relationship henceforth was established. And on the following Lord's day, he requested us to minister to his congregation for two sessions.

In two sessions, a brother and I coordinated to minister the word concerning God's eternal plan, expounding some basic Bible verses to help the believers understand what their lives are meant for: to receive God, contain God, express God, and represent God! We also ministered the need for growth in life by the inward life supply and spreading of the Lord's divine life from the spirit into the soul, and finally into the body as well. We also ministered on some basic God-man life exercises of calling upon the Lord's name, reading and pray-reading His word, and the need to spend time with the Lord. We also ministered on the assurance, security, and joy of salvation to help the belivers clear about their salvation itself.  Of course, after the ministering of the word, we also had a time of distributing the ministry literature and displaying them to the believers for their further pursuit of the truth.

The Lord richly anointed us and blessed the ministry of His word. The bishop, the pastor, and the believers were all overjoyed by the rich ministry of the word. The bishop and pastor themselves commented on how much they themselves were supplied with the Lord's speaking and further reported that the believers too enjoyed the Lord's speaking.  The bishop has also enquired if there could be a time in the future again for a revisit and more shepherding. We left the matter to the Lord to lead us in His time.

Just before we left the city, we also introduced the literature to the bishop and he took the entire set of Hindi ministry books along with an order for the Holy Bible Recovery Version and 10 copies of the HWMR God's Economy in Faith. In fact, I gift him my English HWMR copy as he was interested to study the truth.

The Lord has blessed our two nights and one day stay in the city. We have, by His mercy and grace, faithfully ministered the word as we were led to do so. We do believe that the seed of the ministry of the word sown into the hearts of the believers in this city will one day bear forth fruits unto the recovery of His testimony. Awaiting to witness that day, soon to be... 

Lord, recover Your testimony in Udhampur!

Ministry of the Word to Dhanoo

The burden for the spreading of the ministry of the word to Jammu and Kashmir has been brewing within my being. A brother who once enjoyed his church life in Gruugram has been inviting me to visit him. His invitation was the trigger point for me to follow up and consider visiting the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir. Based on his invitation, I fellowshipped with the brothers concerned and made plans for the ministry of the word literature journey to Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, this brother had called up a 'bishop' he knew and mentioned our visitation. Thereafter, this brother who is a bishop called me and all the planning was done. All the places that the Lord wanted us to visit in this journey were all prearranged by the bishop and his coworkers.

On this distribution trip, I felt it best to first visit the brother who had been with us in the church in Gruugram before he shifted back to his village, Dhanoo. Therefore, we began our ministry journey to Dhanoo.

In Dhanoo we spent one day and one night and had a wonderful time of fellowship with our brother's family. Our first visit to this village was a few years ago when his father was still alive. Now that his father was gone, he has taken up the responsibility of his father's burden for the Lord's testimony upon his shoulder. A couple of families used to come together weekly basis on the Lord's day for a meeting. Our brother has been shepherding them. Obviously, it was made known to us through our fellowship that our brother himself needs much shepherding. His wife herself has not yet been baptized. Though there were a couple of young ones, his cousins, who were also meeting with him, they need a lot of shepherding. 

One afternoon in our fellowship, we touched on the matter of God's eternal plan and the need for men to be saved first to receive the divine life in the spirit, and also the need for water baptism to prepare all the unsaved family members. So far, they have no entanglement in the organized Christianity. Therefore, we have the burden to shepherd our brother so that he can be gained to be a pillar for the church in Dhanoo one day. In his entire village, only his family has accepted Christ as their Saviour. Though he has many relatives in the village who are open to him and also to the gospel, a time of shepherding visit will be a good beginning to lay the foundation for the Lord's testimony in this village. 

One morning, this brother took us for sightseeing on a bike ride to a mountain where tourists have frequented for Cloud Camping and other hiking activities. The villages in these areas are scantily populated. As we rode through these villages, we called upon the Lord's name out loud and prayed for the salvation of these villages with the raising up of the Lord's testimony in these villages. We strongly believe that the local brothers can be strengthened and we can accompany them in the gospel preaching to evangelize the people there. 

May the Lord give us the wisdom to discern when to visit these villages again and how to shepherd our brothers' families so that through them, the Lord's testimony can be established and many other lampstands can be raised up as well. 

Lord, raise up the church in Dhanoo! And also save the people in Tikri area.