Brotherly Fellowship in Love

A month ago, as the serving ones in the literature service, we were informed of the situation of a serving one who was distracted from his main service due to pressure from his family and his financial burden. Having confirmed from certain brothers, we had a fellowship with the brother involved, and fellowshipped with him in love to not be distracted but stay focused on his main service which is his portion alloted to him by the Lord. Later, we felt good to keep the fellowship in record and wrote a mail.

Meanwhile, I took the matter before the Lord and let the Lord lead and do whatever He felt best. I would not give my opinion anymore, but simply accepted the Lord’s sovereignty. But deep within my being, as I prayed for the brother I was confirmed by the Lord that everything will be alright. I trusted the Lord’s word. A brother drafted the mail and I just added the Bible verses and then sent to the concerned brother, praying and trusting that the Lord would preserve him.

Dear Brother A,

In continuation to our fellowship yesterday over the phone, we write this email to put in writing the points we fellowshipped for your careful consideration.

As we told you, we came to know through some of the brothers who joined the leading brothers’ training in C______ last weekend that you have recently entered into a multi-level marketing business involving digital currency. When we checked with you about this yesterday, you responded that this is completely a legal business with prospects of earning very high profits within a short time and that the burden is to earn money to repay the home loan and to buy Bibles/New Testaments/books from Amana and distribute them to tens of thousands of seekers for free or at subsidized rates. This sounds very logical. We honor your burden and your heart but disagree with the way you think it should be carried out. As serving ones in Amana, our function is to labor in the translation and distribution of the ministry literature. We need to keep ourselves strictly in this lane of our function. There are other saints to whom the Lord has measured the function of having a job or doing a business in order to labor in the world, plunder it, and offer for the needs of His move. As you know well, Amana does not involve itself in any other business and Amana expects all its full-time serving ones to also follow suit. Brothers who called us to inform us about this told us that as a full-time serving one in Amana, your engaging in business and approaching saints for the same is causing confusion among the churches and affecting the saints. Saints see you as a representative of Amana. So, as we mentioned yesterday, do not let these business prospects entangle you. Please stop this with immediate effect and focus exclusively on your function of distributing the ministry literature. The Lord will provide for the needs of the literature service. Who knows, the Lord might burden saints in the coming days to offer for Bibles for I like Bibles for A. Regarding your personal needs, as we told you yesterday, you may fellowship with us and we will definitely consider if anything can be done from Amana's side.

On a more personal note, we, as your brothers, urge you, brother, not to be enticed by easy money. To us, it sounds like a trap. Read the footnotes on the Ephah vessel and the woman sitting within the Ephah vessel. Also, search the ministry for pure commerce and study what the Bible says about trade. In Messages for Building Up New Believers (2) from CWWN, vol. 49, Brother Nee says the following. Please take time to read this carefully.

No brother engaging in pure commerce can be a responsible brother, for such a person can never be fully delivered from money. Our way is becoming clearer and clearer. God’s children must be fully delivered from the power of mammon. This is the only way for them to serve God and for the church to have a way to go on....

The more we work and produce, the more God will bless. The worst thing that can happen to us is that our brothers and sisters simply make a great deal of money. Nothing could be worse than this.....

We hope that all the new believers will earn their living by their own labor. We hope that they will not make money by taking in with one hand and taking out with the other. Our principle is to increase the abundance of the land, not the money in the world. If we do this, the money we receive will be clean, and when we offer it to God, it will be acceptable to Him. Every dollar will end up in a good place. Suppose a brother makes a basket and sells it and then offers the money to the Lord. This is much better than another brother who buys ten baskets, sells them, and then offers up his profit to the Lord. The amount of money offered may be the same, but the nature of the money is different. We hope that many brothers and sisters will see this principle. We must either labor with our hands or we must produce something. Both are according to the proper principles. I cannot forbid anyone from going into the business of pure commerce, but I would advise everyone to try his best to avoid pure commerce. This occupation will always drag a Christian down. We hope that the new believers among us will please the Lord in their choice of occupations.

As brothers, as we fellowshipped with you yesterday, please consider these verses carefully:

But godliness with contentment is great gain;

For we have brought nothing into the world, because neither can we carry anything out.

But having food and covering, with these we will be content.

But those who intend to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge men into destruction and ruin.

For the love of money is a root of all evils, because of which some, aspiring after money, have been led away from the faith and pierced themselves through with many pains.

But you, O man of God, flee these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, meekness.

Fight the good fight of the faith; lay hold on the eternal life, to which you were called and have confessed the good confession before many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:6-12

We need you and your service, brother. May the Lord bless you with the longevity of very faithful service to Him.

Your brothers,

SS and PR

Today, a month later, I received the confirmation from this brother that he would continue to serve the Lord as he has been doing so and requested prayers for His service and his function.

The Lord is sovereign. Prayers works and the Lord is always the Victor!

Intimate Fellowship

The Lord has been burdening me to spend more intimate time of fellowship with Him. He has been speaking to me personally and through the Body about the need for intimate fellowship with Him. This burden has been so strong within me that I decided before the Lord, trusting in His grace that I could enjoy at least an hour of intimate fellowship in prayer every day. I look to Him for more grace so that this can be enjoyed all the days of my life.

In my time spent with Him, the Lord began to speak to me in a very personal way concerning so many things in my life. One evening, as I enjoying my time with the Lord, my intention was not to go back home from the park where I had been walking to and fro in prayer, but I needed to go back. In fact, I started my prayer time at 7:00 PM, and at about 7:30 PM I had to go back home as I had nature's call to pee, which generally did not happen. But I felt the need to go back and pee. Then after that, I wanted to continue my prayer but I did not have the leading to go back to the same park where I just prayed for half an hour. I was rather led to go to another nearby park. Then I went. 

There in the park, the Lord showed me what I had never expected but had a suspicion about. I got the shock of my life and could not literally believe my eye. But since I did not have the perfect proof of what I saw and could not confirm it for sure, I took the matter to the Lord and prayed. Later, my suspicion was even clearer as I had the unconfirmed sight of some misbehavior. I kept the sight I saw to myself and could not properly sleep at night. But I used that sleeplessness to pray for a while and read a ministry book and complete the whole book by the next morning.

The next day, I had a strong feeling from the Lord that I should fellowship with a sister which I did and confirmed many points of suspicion. This gave me the proper ground to fellowship at length in depth in an intimate way. It was like a father fellowshipping with his daughter with loving intimate concern. I believed this fellowship was straight from the heart and the spirit and that I openly poured out my whole being with all sincerity and truthfulness, with all faithfulness and fear of God. 

A few days later, I had another time of an intimate fellowship with the sister concerned and poured out all my heart concerning how she needed to be preserved for the Lord's testimony. The fellowship went on and on for over two hours until midnight when I began to touch upon and open up many family-related matters. In fact, this was the best opportunity I had to fellowship with the sister and let her know that she is just like my first daughter and that whatever she does affects me. For good or for bad, I am directly responsible for whatever would become of her. This was the first time I ever fellowshipped on family matters so intimately.  For seven years she has been with our family and we never had such a time together. I believe the Lord arranged this time together to strengthen the family bond and the family relationship.

All things indeed work together for good. If this was not the case I would have never poured out my heart's feelings or fellowship so intimately on family matters. It's time that I open up and strengthen the family tie.

Now I realize the need for intimate fellowship with the Lord and also for intimate fellowship with family members. I believe the same holds true for the new ones that the Lord gave me for shepherding. Intimate fellowship is a way of shepherding too.

Preparation in Abundance

Behold, a son will be born to you. He will be a man of rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies around him, for Solomon will be his name, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel throughout his days. It is he who will build a house for My name; and he will be My son, and I will be his Father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever. Now, my son, may Jehovah be with you; and may you prosper and build the house of Jehovah your God, as He has spoken concerning you. Only, let Jehovah give you insight and understanding, and let Him give you charge over Israel that you may keep the law of Jehovah your God; Then you will prosper if you are certain to perform the statutes and ordinances with which Jehovah charged Moses concerning Israel. Be strong and take courage; do not be afraid or dismayed. Now then in my affliction I have prepared for the house of Jehovah one hundred thousand talents of gold and one million talents of silver and bronze and iron without weight, for it is in abundance; and timber and stone I have prepared; and you may add to these. And with you there are workmen in abundance, masons and workers in stone and wood and all manner of men who are skillful in every kind of work. To the gold and silver and bronze and iron there is no number. Arise and do it, and may Jehovah be with you. And David commanded all the leaders of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, Indeed Jehovah your God is with you. And He has given you rest all around. For He has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land has been subdued before Jehovah and before His people. Now set your heart and your soul to seek after Jehovah your God; and arise and build the sanctuary of Jehovah God, in order to bring the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah and the holy vessels of God to the house that is to be built for the name of Jehovah. 1 Ch 22:9-19

David a man after God's own heart knew that God wanted to build His temple through his son Solomon. Therefore, he prepared all the materials needed for the building of the temple in abundance. He prepared his God-given son Solomon to be the builder of the temple. This is a type of the building of the church in the New Testament.

Today, the Lord has been raising up many young brothers and sisters for the building up of the temple. All the physical materials prepared in the Old Testament were types of the spiritual experiences of Christ one needs to possess and be constituted with to be the building material for the spiritual house of God, the church, the Body of Christ.

I myself am pursuing the truth in the word of God, looking away unto Jesus, to gain Him more in experiences and enjoyment, that I may be filled with Christ to be a useful material for the building up of the church. All my spiritual pursuits, be it the study of the word of the truth, prayer life, or any spiritual matter, they are all a part of the preparation of the material for God's building.

In my family too, all my children, our daily family pursuit of the truth and prayer life, are also the preparation of the material for God's building. As David prepared Solomon, I must also prepare my children as a faithful father to give them all the necessary education, learning, and training that they can be gained for the Lord to become material for the building of God's house.

In my shepherding works too, all the new ones that I have been praying for and shepherding them are the preparation of the materials. Today, in my fellowship with the serving ones of the College Campus Gospel Service, the underlying burden in shepherding all the young students is to prepare them as material for God's building.

The ministry of the age has provided the saints with all the truth and revelation needed for the preparation of the material for God's building. The Life-study of the Bible, the High Peak Truth series, the collected works of brother Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, the Holy Bible Recovery Version, and all the spiritual publications in abundance, plus all the practical church life practices, the many training, conferences, blending, and perfecting meeting. All are for the preparation of the building material in abundance. What a blessing to be a part of the material and participate in the actual building of the temple of God.

Now then in my affliction, I have prepared for the house of Jehovah one hundred thousand talents of gold and one million talents of silver and bronze and iron without weight, for it is in abundance; and timber and stone I have prepared; and you may add to these. And with you there are workmen in abundance, masons and workers in stone and wood and all manner of men who are skillful in every kind of work. To the gold and silver and bronze and iron there is no number. Arise and do it, and may Jehovah be with you.

Now is the age of learning and preparation. I must learn and learn and be prepared to be a building material for God's building. 

Lord, prepare me and my fellow brothers and sisters for Your building work.

Lesson from Land

When the Lord called me to serve him full-time in 2003, I consecrated my whole life to the Lord once and for all. When I informed this decision I made in obedience to God's glorious and clarion call to my parent, especially my beloved father,  they strongly objected and opposed my decision to serve the Lord full-time. When he realized that he could not convince me otherwise, out of love and concern, he reprimanded me saying, "I have supported you all these years and now you want to do your own and take your own way?" This question from my beloved dad was very hard to digest then. Inwardly, I wept bitterly. I wish I could only obey my parent if not for the Lord's glorious call. But I cannot disobey the heavenly call from my Heavenly Father at the behest of my earthly father. I cannot be disobedient to the heavenly call. Therefore, I spoke by faith to my father, " Thank you for supporting me all this while. From now on, I will not receive anything from home, not even a rupee. But if God blesses me, I will share the blessings with you." The family meeting ended with a very deep and sad yet glorious note.

In 2006, after I got married to the sister the Lord blessed me with, He also blessed me with a good amount of financial offerings. In fellowship and oneness with my wife, we decided to invest a portion of the Lord's financial blessing on land which He showed and led me to purchase in the following year 2007. In fellowship with a brother whom I trust very much, I insisted on proper land documentation if I were to purchase the land, though it was not the practice then. Therefore, the land I purchased was first to be registered and land "pacca patta" was issued after all the formal processes of measuring and mapping. It was documented in two parts of 1.46 acres and 1.80 acres, a total of 3.26 acres. 

Land Area

1 acre =  43,560 Sq.ft

3.26 acres = 1,42,005.60 Sq.ft

1 Sangam = 27,225 Sq.ft

1 acre = 1.6 Sangam

3.26 acres = 5.216 Sangam (1.3 pari)

Different Units of Area Use in Manipur

Loukhai, Sangam, Louraak and Pari: These are the unit of areas use in Manipuri customary system.

Loukhai: It is equivalent to 13,612.5 sq. ft.

Sangam: It is twice the size of Loukhai and equivalent to 27,225 sq. ft.

Louraak: It is twice the size of Sangam and equivalent to 54,450 sq. ft.

Pari: It is twice the size of Louraak and equivalent to 1,08,900 sq. ft.

Online Manipur Area Converter | KanglaOnline

When it was purchased and properly registered to the government after the village clearance, two very important development transpired. Initially, they were almost "useless" pieces of land as there was no road connection or proper water supply for the land's usability. But after I purchased it and properly registered, two big projects were carried out by the government; a water supply and a government road connection that passed through the border of my land, solving two very important problems. Since then, the lands have been desirable properties. I have been asked a couple of times by different people if I could sell the lands as they are in great demand now. 

Last month when I went to Manipur I took a look at the lands and was told that I need to pay the land taxes due which I was not aware of. Therefore, I got the help of a brother and paid all the taxes due from 2009 till 2022. Now, these land prices have soared up to more than 26 times my purchasing price as of today, in 15 years' time.

The Lord is sovereign in leading me in this purchase of the land. Now, though it is in my name, the source is the Lord. Only in the Lord's leading will the usage of the land be decided. Now, in this land, banana cultivation has been going on with some portion of the land for vegetable cultivation. As long as the land has been utilized properly I am happy and it brings benefit to some saints who labor on it. May the Lord's will be done.

Lands are a type of Christ, the reality of the good land. Through this land, I must gain more Christ.

Lesson from Benson

For the past few days, I have been watching and listening to Br. Benson Phillips' personal testimony,  two videos on "A Meeting to Remember Brother Benson Philips", one in Irving and the other in Anaheim. I personally never met Brother Benson Phillips, but I have listened to a good number of the messages he ministered during the annual feasts, mostly the Summer and Winter Training. My first impression was that his English was comparatively hard to understand and I had no idea who this brother was until later after he went to be with the Lord.

His personal testimony was very impressive and I could relate to him the way he studied the ministry literature and how he made a decision to take the way of the Lord's recovery by closely following the ministry of the age. In this regard, his testimony was very similar to mine. One very important lesson I learned from his life is the matter of coordination. He very well coordinated with the Lord in His move to the extent of giving up his own opinion immediately and following the Lord's leading through the brother's fellowship. No wonder the Lord used and blessed him so much in his service.

As I listened to the myriad of testimony from his family, wife, children, and grandchildren, I simply worship the Lord for such a pattern he was. Though I never met him personally, now I see him in my spirit. I could visualize what kind of person he had been as a family man at the same time being fully absolute in the ministry. I am so much impressed by his lovability and friendliness with his family. He seems to love his family so much and spent a lot of time with them. This is an encouraging truth for me. At the same time, he was absolute for the Lord's ministry too. No wonder, the Lord used him very much wherever He sent him. Be it in the USA or Russia or elsewhere, he had built up the local churches where he served. What a pattern!

AND
One striking point about him as testified by a coworker in the West is his middle name. First, he asked, what is Benson Phillips' middle name? Nobody replied. Then he said, he had a secret and invisible middle name and wrote it on the blue board with white chalk, "AND." Then he explained that AND means coordination. Wherever the Lord sent him to serve he served in coordination. Benson AND brother so and so in this place, Benson AND brother so and so in that place. What a life! Then the coworker asked, "Who is your AND?" Only if you have an AND then can you serve fruitfully.

As I reflect on my service, I am thankful to the Lord that I can testify that He gave me an AND! Wherever I served and am serving, I have my AND too; Palmei and so and so in my literature service, Palmei AND so and so in my distribution journeys, Palmei AND so and so in different parts of India propagation.

Praise the Lord for such a testimony! May the Lord grace me to be a useful vessel to Him and imitate the ones who have gone before me; Brother Benson, Brother Lee, Brother Nee, Brother Paul, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Suspicion Versus Sovereignty

Suspicion is an indicator of a person's inward state concerning what he cares for. This suspicion could be a warning for timely action. Or, it could also be an over-concerned mental attitude towards a person, matter, or thing. 

Last week, I had a suspicion of a brother's behavior toward a sister. Since it involved my own family member, I turned my suspicion into a point of perfecting fellowship without condemning or accusing anyone. This matter triggered in me my need to be on the alert about the people that I care for. I cannot blindly let things go by. Sometimes, the enemy may try to destroy the testimony of the saints and the church through improper relationships. I must stand up and act based on the suspicion that alerted me.  In many cases, the Spirit within me gave me a suspicious feeling, and later upon further investigation, it confirmed my suspicion. Of course, sometimes, though my suspicion may be wrong, still it gave me the ground to be aware and take necessary action before the enemy can do anything.

As I fellowshipped my concern to the sister, I felt that it was right for me to do it as a brother who cares for her well-being. In fact, as I took the matter to the Lord in prayer, the Lord also confirmed that the action I took was positive. Besides, He enlightened me with the matter of His sovereignty. 

When all things work together for good according to the Lord's arrangement and sovereignty, my suspicion has no validity. Whether positive or negative, my feeling does not mean anything. What matters most is the Lord's sovereignty. He is sovereign and He will carry out His heart's desire. So I need not worry about anything as the Lord's sovereignty will not allow anything that He does not allow. With the realization of the Lord's sovereignty, I am at peace to accept whatever the Lord arranged.

What a lesson! The suspicion was good for me to use for fellowship. And the knowledge about God's sovereignty kept me at peace to accept whatever the Lord arranges according to His sovereignty. This is a very precious lesson I have learned of late.

I do believe, now I know how to handle suspicion. Take necessary action and trust the Lord's sovereignty.

Repair, Repair, and Repair

Our family has a very unique feature when it comes to house management. Be it in Manipur, my hometown, or in Taipei, my wife's home, or in Gurugram, where we presently live, we are very good at making things work by repairing and reapring until they cannot be repaired any further. These repairing works are related to our household items, like Washing machines, fridges, or any gadgets. In this way, we save on the wastage of workable items and also save on avoidable expenditures.

For the past few weeks, I have been repairing household stuff. In fact, we can easily afford to buy new gadgets if we wanted to. But I considered the items and found that they could be repaired. I did not hesitate to fix them instead of buying new ones. I did my own homework, researched thoroughly what could possibly be the problem of the gadgets not working, and when I found out the solution, I fix them instead. 

One other reason for fixing things and not buying new ones is that the house we live in itself is pretty old in terms of construction. There have been many leakages and broken furniture that I have been repairing all these years and somehow make them work and make the house livable.  When it rained, there will be leakages, all the faucets are old ones and some of them have water leakage problems. The doors and windows are all broken too and need fixing. With such a physical condition of the house, I do not find it worth buying new gadgets for this house. Only if one day the Lord will lead me to a new house, then only I probably will think of buying new gadgets.

My wife and I have been one in almost every matter. I can hardly recall anything that we are not one with one another. Perhaps, in some minute matters, which we easily resolved immediately. The Lord has been taking care of all our needs and He has been richly providing all that we need. Though the Lord has blessed us enough to even upgrade our standard of living, we both felt to live a simple life instead. We treasure the presence of the Lord and the usefulness of our house much more than the physical comfort or better look we could upgrade the house to. Maybe the time will come soon. Until then, we are happy and content with what we have and what we have been doing.

To me, the key thing is the Lord's presence in our home and the usefulness of the church. Saints' kids will come and have a good time on the weekends when we have the church meeting in the meeting hall on the ground floor of the same building where we live on the first floor. Therefore, I would rather repair and repair and make things work at a minimal expense.  I am happy with this lifestyle and all my family members are quite happy too. What more do we need in a home sweet home where the Lord's presence and blessing are in abundance?

We are very content with what the Lord has blessed us with.

Lord, preserve our hearts and lives in simplicity and sincerity to enjoy Your sweet presence and be useful to You and be a blessing to Your church.

Base in My Own Sight

And I will yet be more lightly esteemed than this, and I will be base in my own sight; but by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them will I be honored. 2 Samuel 6:22

What do I think about myself? Not what people think about me. Not even what God thinks about me. But what do I think about myself? This is the million-dollar question I have to answer to myself and to God.

In my own sight, I should be base, considering myself as nobody and nothing. All self-pride and self-boasting must be crucified. This is a lesson I must learn daily. My ugly self should never raise his head. This is a matter of my heart. Only if I knew God and myself, then I will be able to deny myself and take the cross to deal with myself. This should not merely be a truth that I know or preach, but the truth that I practice and live by daily. O what grace I need from the Lord to live out this reality of being base in my own sight. 

David having been dealt with by the Lord through much affliction reckoned himself as nothing when it came to the things of God. He honored God with his very best and himself, nothing. What a pattern!

With this view, I must never care for my own reputation and should never seek to be recognized. This is a matter of my inward being, especially my heart. A humble heart with no expectation and against exaltation. How much I can be useful to the Lord depends upon how much I have been dealt with by the Lord in myself. No self-esteem, no self-respect even. Therefore, I must think soberly, never thinking highly of myself.

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith. Romans 12:3

I must be warned not to justify myself in the sight of men nor be exalted. May God preserve the purity of my heart. In fact, may He purify my heart. To be exalted among men is an abomination.

And He said to them, You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Luke 16:15

Sincerely, I confess I am not a person who is base in my own sight. But the Lord Jesus is and the Lord Jesus can make me be such a one; a brother base in his own sight. Therefore, I take Him as my life, and living that the testimony of David be my experience day by day, "I will be base in my own sight."  

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:5

Lord, grace me daily to be minded of You that Your mind may become my mind and may I be truly abased in my own sight.

Time with the Lord

Taste and see that Jehovah is good; Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. Ps 34:8

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine. Draw me; we will run after you — The king has brought me into his chambers — We will be glad and rejoice in you; We will extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you. SS 1:2, 4

The church is built up only by Christ Himself as the Builder and the building material. Therefore today, if we have to build up the church it must be "Not I but Christ." The way to build up the church is by experiencing and enjoying Christ in all His riches. 

As types in the Old Testament, God used David to prepare the materials, the land, and the person to build up the temple in Jerusalem; then, Solomon, as the builder prepared by David his father built the temple with the material his father had prepared in advance and in abundance. David and Solomon, on the positive aspects, typify Christ in His incarnation, human living, affliction, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The two combined together brought forth the temple of God in Jerusalem. In the fulfillment and application today, the church can be built up only by the experiences and enjoyment of the unsearchable riches of Christ. Therefore, the key to building up the church is by gaining Christ and enjoying Him to the uttermost through all situations.

Daily, we all must taste and see that Jehovah is good. It is only through our enjoyment of the goodness of the Lord that we can build up the church. The Lord can be tasted by having a personal, affectionate, intimate, and spiritual relationship with Him day by day. For this, there is a need to "kiss the Lord and have a personal and spiritual relationship with Him by spiritually letting Him kiss you with the kisses of His mouth." All the truths in the Bible are for the believers' experience and enjoyment of Him.

These days, I have been so impressed by this truth and the practical way to build up the church. In fact, the Lord even burdened me to spend more time with Him in prayer. In this personal time with the Lord, I simply am absorbing Him, fellowshipping with Him, praying to Him, and also praying together with Him whatever He burdened me with. My appreciation for the Lord and spending time with Him has very much been strengthened. Now I would not miss tasting the Lord in my personal time with Him. 

As the Lord has been gracing me I have been spending at least an hour daily just to spend time with my precious and dear Lord Jesus Christ. I would not trade this prayer time for anything in the world. I trust the Lord will grace me to not miss my time with Him daily. This is in addition to my time spent daily reading and studying the word, and my time spent pursuing the truth with other saints. In this way of personal, affectionate, intimate, and spiritual time with the Lord, I am being filled with the Lord and I am gaining Him day by day, bit by bit, through which experiences of Christ, I can build up the church.

This fresh burden I prophesied in the church meeting last Lord's day. The same burden, I have ministered to a group of believers meeting online. O, what a sweet and wonderful way to build the church as the Body of Christ! So affectionate, so intimate, and so enjoyable!

Lord, kiss me with the kisses of Your mouth! 

Taste and see that Jehovah is good!

Life and Gifts

I visited a brother and his family last week at their home. Initially, I had no intention of ministering anything, I just went there to visit after many weeks gap. Though I decided not to speak anything, as we were in their living room, the sister asked if I had any word of God for them from the Bible. In fact, she was ready with her Bible, waiting for me to minister the word.

Then I exercised to minister what the Lord had ministered to me recently on the matter of growth in life versus the gifts God has given to His children. From the life of Solomon, we read his good beginning when he asked for wisdom and God gave him wisdom and understanding and riches as well. But the gifts he received were not accompanied by the dealing of the natural man and he failed terribly. We compared Solomon's life with that of Joseph who could control himself and ran away from the temptation of the flesh, which ultimately led him to reign in life.

This truth of the need for growth in life was so timely for me and the brother and sister with whom I ministered to. I was supplied by the Lord's speaking through me, and the brothers and sisters were also so supplied. They were even so convicted that they testified to not pray blindly for anything but to seek wisdom and discernment from the Lord in doing anything. They also have been preaching the gospel, taking tuition for poor children, and trying their best to do something for the Lord according to their good human concept. But I warned them that the gift they may have from the Lord can even be misused if it is not accompanied by growth in life. Many Christians are doing the Lord's work today with genuine gifts, but how many of these ones are truly growing in life unto maturity?

One day we all have to stand before the Lord and be judged by Him. On that day, we should not be claiming that we did this and that in the Lord's name. But the Lord might say that He did not know us at all. There is a great danger of serving the Lord according to self-will and not being recognized by the Lord. 

Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does the will of My Father who is in the heavens. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, was it not in Your name that we prophesied, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name did many works of power? And then I will declare to them: I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness. Mt 7:21-23

I have been praying for this family since I met them first. I trust the Lord in His will and work that He would shepherd my brother and sister into the church life and that they would see and take a stand for the testimony of Jesus in this city. I cease to do anything to achieve my burden, but I learn to fully leave the matter of gaining people to the Lord that in His time and in His way He will do what He needs to do. I simply cooperate with Him in shepherding and ministering what He wants me to minister.

The same experience is with the meeting with a group of brothers and sisters from Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday evening. Last week the same message ministered online as well as to the brother and sister in Gurugram. Though I had a set of messages from a book that I intend to minister, the Lord did not lead me to minister those but gave me the instant word instead. The message was,  "Life versus Gifts."

Lord, make me a man of life with gifts from You for You. Amen.

Money Matters

Money is so tangible and so usable that it attracts the greed and lust of a man like a massive magnet. In its attraction, many times man has to go against his logic and conscience as he is blinded by its lure. Money makes man cares for it and attracted whoever would fall prey to its lure. This is no exception even among believers in God today.

Recently, I had a bitter taste of what money can do to people. Having said this, I look to the Lord for grace so that I should not fall prey to the lure of money. I must use them righteously with what the Lord has given to me and should not greed for more beyond what the Lord has allotted to me. Handling money is a big matter and one who can handle it well has grown a little more mature.

I have done my best, by the Lord's mercy, not to be a debtor to anyone. I made sure that whatever I owe to others I must pay it back on time. I had been a recipient of a friend's cow milk for almost a year. I made sure that at the beginning of every month I pay my the due for the previous month and cleared all dues. If allowed I would prefer an advanced payment too which I did but had to revert back as the recipient also would not receive in advance. Now that the milk supply has stopped, I was happy to clear the bill for the previous supply of milk and close the account, once and for all.

The love of money has been in the blood of the fallen human race. In my dealing with some of the local people here in Gurugram, I discovered this tendency of people loving money too much and even to the point that their conscience and inner senses were all shut up. Recently I had an experience with four Hindi-speaking people with whom I had to deal with money matters. 

To a cobbler, out of pity, I gave money in advance for buying shoe polish, a brush, and other items for shoe care. Though I gave extra, he tried not to return the balance owed to me. In fact, I had already given an extra amount for what I actually ordered, but my advance payment became an issue with him and he was not willing to return the excess amount. The love of money just gripped him.

In the past weeks, we had an incessant downpour of rain in the city which led to the leakage of the house we live in. My neighbor's house has water dripping from the ceiling which source is the leakage in the rooftop from the cracks of the building. Since my house owner asked for help, I consulted some known people and fixed the problem. Meanwhile, I also discovered some other problems and fixed all of those too. What I had paid for first should rightfully be paid back by the house owner. But I would not insist that he pay it. I would rather prefer that he ask and pay for it and not wait for me to tell him to pay. Since the work was done on his request for another tenant, I only help in finding a solution to the issue, the owner should responsibly ask and clear the bill. But I would not even tell this to the owner for him to pay. Even when I have the right I would rather be silent and deal with money matters myself and through this others may learn to deal with money matters in a righteous way.

Lord, save me from the love of money and give me the wisdom to use it wisely.

Baptism of a Sister

When the Christian community, in general, was celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, as the church in Gurugram we chose to preach the gospel of Jesus Chrisdt so the He can actually be born into the hearts of many, so that the real meaning of the birth of Christ be accomplished. 

A brother and I went to preach the gospel in the shopping plaza nearby the meeting hall. As I gave out gospel tracts to people and preached to whoever would pay heed to the gospel, I saw a tough-looking man talking on the phone standing near his car parked outside a shopping plaza. Initially I tought he must be avoided as his visage did not appeal to be someone who would listen to the gospel. But deep within, I had the leading to preach to him. So I decided to wait until he would finish his phone conversation. Meanwhile, I turned to other passersby and preached the gospel. When I was done and I turned to see if he was done with his phone call yet. To my surprise, he had just finished his call when I was done with the other people. 

Then I approaced him by first giving him the tract and told him it is about God and the meaning of human life. His innate response was very surprising to me. He said, "My wife would be interested in this. Please wait for her to come." Therefore, I decided to wait and meanwhile preached the gospel to him as we waited for his wife.

A few minutes later, his wife and a couple of girls also came after purchasing a cake, and I preached to him and his wife again. In brief, I went through the crucial points of God's purpose in creating man, the fall of man, the redemption accomplished by Christ, and how to receive the Lord Jesus Chrsit as a personal Saviour. We exchanged phone numbers with the hope that we would meet up sometime. That day was 25 December of 2021.

Seven months later, I received a surpirse call from the sister inquiring if I was a Pastor and that she would like to come and meet me. I was busy then and informed her when I would be available. A week past and no information. Then I received a call again on one Wednesday afternoon requesting if they could meet me but I had an online meeting at 7:00 pm so I was not available again. A week passed by again. Then, I messaged her if they were coming. Then a week after they finally came.

The man I met first, his wife, and their son came on a Saturday evening and brought along a good number of eggs from their poultry farm seeking prayer of blessing for their business initially. As we talked, I realsied that the Lord brought them as he loves them. So I felt good to preach the gospel in a thorough way again. Meanwhile a sister in the church and a few others also joined us. In turn, we read through The Mystery of Human Life in English, and key by key, I explained the significance of all that we we read. And finally led them to pray the sinners' prayer to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their God and Savior.

I also invited them to join the church meeting on the Lord's day, which they obliged and the following day, the sister and her son joined the meeting. Since then, the Lord has been working in this family especially on the sister first. On the same day, after the Lord's day meeting, as they invited, a good number of saints went to visit their farmhouse. The next week, I had the burden to visit them at their home and paid them a visit with another sister on a Friday afternoon as no brother was available to come along with me. Since then, a regular home meeting had started at their home weekly.  Then a few weeks later, the sister decided to be baptsied on the 1st of October. She along with her husband and son came to the meeting for her water baptism which the church had conducted. A brother and I baptized her.   

Praise the Lord for the baptsim of a sister! May she continue to grow in grace and in the Lord unto full maturity. May this also lead to her hosueshold savlation.