Twenty Years of God's Grace

Twenty years have elapsed since the Lord called me to serve Him full-time. It was December 31 night 2002 when in my Selaiyur Hostel I was burdened to pray just for one thing, "Lord, what is Your will for my life?" I had no appetite for food nor for anything else except prayer. At about 5 PM in the afternoon I left my hostel for the prayer hall at Tambaram East. There I attended the evening prayer meeting and after everyone left, I requested the caretaker of the premise to allow me to stay the whole night as I wanted to pray and pray. There, I was the only person in the meeting hall. The whole night I walked through the length and breadth of the campus over and over again, just praying for one thing, God’s will.

I was to graduate from my MCA degree in a few months' time. I need to make a decision for my life. I had three choices before me; job, PhD, or full-time service. As a student of MCA, campus recruitment started and in fact, I got a call letter for interview from two software companies even without my applying for it. But the Lord did not lead me at all for software engineering job. Neither did the Lord lead me for PhD studies though one of my teachers suggested and promised to help me out. Therefore, I was all the more troubled what I was supposed to do. This led me to pray and pray and pray. Thank God, I knew only one way, prayer. Perhaps, that's the best way!

After the whole night prayer on 31st December night 2002, on 1st Jan 2003 the Lord’s call came through my reading of the Bible after my prayer.

“And now, O Israel, what does Jehovah your God ask of you except that you fear Jehovah your God so that you would walk in all His ways and love Him and serve Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul;” (Deuteronomy 10:12, RecVer)

As His call was, so His leading has always been the best. Till today, He has been faithfully leading me in His full-time service. What a blessing! What a privilege!

When He called me, I was just 24, stepping out of University with a Master's degree in Computer Science. Now, I am a married man with three blessed children. Still He has been gracing me and blessing me in His service. What else can I say but, "Thank You, Lord Jesus!"

Twenty years of service in His vineyard, twenty years of enjoying His blessing, twenty years of learning and perfecting. Twenty years of God’s grace. Thank You Lord Jesus for all these twenty Years of experiencing and enjoying You!

Blending Trip

For the first time in our church life in Gurugram, we undertook a blending trip to the South taking advantage of the National Colleger Training held in Chennai. Though I myself had no service in this training, for the sake of blending I registered myself as a serving of the College students from my locality. Likewise, other saints too registered in one service or the other. This blending trip did not come without paying a price as I myself lost my Bible bag on the first day of the trip at New Delhi train station and my daughter fainted due to weakness and car sickness as we reached the train station. In the midst of the crowd and huge pieces of luggage, we paid all the price we could to attend this training and blending. Our sleeper class train journey from Delhi to Chennai took us about 32 hours and from Tirunelveli to Delhi, about 48 hours.  All these hours were also utilized for blending apart from the sleeping time. The train journey itself was the time for blending especially for the children as they all enjoyed so much spending time together playing. Some saints also spent time in fellowshipping, and we had ample time together sharing food and fellowshipping together.

During the training itself, I had the opportunity to blend with a brother with whom I started praying together and we have now become prayer partners. All the saints had their own share of the meeting as each one has their own meeting based on the service they registered for.

After the training, our blending trip started from Chennai itself. We visited  Marina Beach in Chennai, dined together at Sangeetha Restaurant near Egmore Station, and travel overnight to Tenkasi. In Tenkasi, we visited a famous waterfall, Courtralam, had lunch at a famous South Indian cuisine at the border of Tamilnadu and Kerala, and then went sightseeing and shopping. In the evening we had a time of blending with the church in Tenaksi where a specific burden on attending the annual feast was released. Finally, we left for Tirunelveli where we were given hospitality.

The next day, we had a love feast breakfast with some saints at a restaurant and went for an ocean boat ride in the Bay of Bengal, visited a fishing harbor, and had a love feast lunch with the church in Tuticorin. After a few sightseeing at the beach and a boat repairing factory, we had a meeting with the church in Tenkasi where a specific burden for the young people was released.

My Goodland: Fellowship at Tuticorin (palmeichung.blogspot.com)

Then we traveled back to Tirunelveli for the night stay. The following day, after breakfast we had a four-hour-long meeting with the saints in the church in Tirunelveli where a specific burden was again released for the saints in general, followed by a love feast, after which we visited an ice cream factory and got ready to leave.

My Goodland: Fellowship at Tirunelveli (palmeichung.blogspot.com)

The entire blending trip lasted for about eleven days and it did not come without paying a price. Most of the saints got sick either during the training and blending trip or the train journey. Nevertheless, we all gain something of Christ in this trip through the many fellowships on the word of God and meeting with the saints. Blending has a price tag too! Just pay a little price and enjoy all the benefits. Now looking forward to another blending trip to happen again in His time.

 Praise the Lord for the blending in the Body!

Fellowship at Tirunelveli

As the church in Gurugram, we took a church blending trip to Tirunelveli for two days. The saints gave us wonderful love-feast at different places and took us sightseeing too. Two remarkable places were a fishing boat ride in the ocean (Bay of Bengal). In fact, this was our first ocean boat ride. It was such a thrilling experience that all of us may never forget this experience. Then a visit to an ice cream factory where we were briefed on the process of making ice cream and were treated with two types and flavors of ice cream. But the most memorable time was our time of blending at the meeting hall of the church in Tirunelveli where our meeting lasted for over four hours from 10:00 AM till 2:00 PM.

Initially, the local saints shared their practices of the children meeting, young people meeting and some of their new learning in the church life. Then the time was given to the church in guru Gurugram where a couple of us shared some specific burdens. Two sisters shared on taking care of the children meeting and young people meeting, and I was assigned to share the burden of the upcoming video training. As I listened to one of the sisters' sharing her experience of coming from Gurugram to Tirunelveli for her studies, I was inspired by the will of God that led her to do so. Therefore, I had the burden to share on seeking God's will first and released the burden of the training.

I share four points on seeking God's will as I learned from Brother Watchman Nee and also from the experiences I have in seeking God's will in my life for many matters.

1. God's inward leading through the living Holy Spirit by inward peace and life.
2. God's outward leading through the written Holy Bible by the truth revealed in the word of God
3. Fellowship in the Body of Christ to cross-check and confirm the inward and outward leading.
4. Circumstantial evidences to further confirm the leading of the Lord.

Then, I shared from Leviticus 23 on the seven annual feasts and released the burden on preparing oneself to dive into the up-to-date speaking of the Lord through the semiannual training on the book of 1&2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

After all the fellowship, we left the city by train and arrived back home in Gurugram after forty-eight hours of a train journey. Though many of us fell sick on the way, I personally felt it was worth all the prices we were able to pay. This was our first-ever trip as the church by train to the South.

While going I lost my Holy Bible Recovery Version bag along with my Bible inside. But this made me buy five new Holy Bible Recovery Version and gift one to my wife, my niece, myself, one to a brother who completed reading the New Testament Recovery Version with footnotes for which I promised to give a reward, and one extra Bible for whoever may need it.

Praise the Lord for this blending trip! 

Fellowship at Tuticorin

As the church in Gurugram, we took a church blending trip to Tuticorin for one day from Tirunelveli. The saints gave us a love-feast and took us to different places for sightseeing. After all the outings, an evening meeting was arranged for a time of blending and fellowship. There, a brother asked me to share for the young people especially, on behalf of the church. As I considered what to share, the Lord gave me three main points with three sub-points under each main burden. They  are:

Christian Life

1. Be revived daily to live an overcoming life everyday

2. Prayer, especially set time for personal prayer time with the Lord alone

3. Bible Reading and Study

Church Life

1. Participate in all the church meetings, if possible, especially, the young people meeting

2. Preach the gospel to save sinners

3. Perfect the newones through shepherding

Career

1.  Get the best and the highest education and be hard working

2. Consecrate your life to the Lord, even join the two-years full-time training after graduation

3. Warning: Do not be distracted by the world, friends, and affairs

“The younger men likewise exhort to be of a sober mind, Concerning all things presenting yourself as a pattern of good works: in your teaching showing incorruption, gravity,” (Titus 2:6-7, RecVer)

I gave Paul as an example of someone who was highly educated and was used by the Lord to write 14 epistles in contrast to Peter who was a fisherman. 

“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city and trained at the feet of Gamaliel, according to the strictness of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as you all are today.” (Acts 22:3, RecVer)

Then, I concluded by reading these verses followed by consecration prayer where a good number of saints prayed and consecrated their lives to the Lord afresh.

“But in a great house there are not only gold and silver vessels but also wooden and earthen; and some are unto honor, and some unto dishonor. If therefore anyone cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared unto every good work. But flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” (2 Timothy 2:20-22, RecVer)

I was glad that the Lord gave me burdens and that I could release those burdens with all faithfulness. It was up to the Lord to touch those who need to be touched. I do believe that those burdens were very specific and a good number of the saints especially the young people must have been very impressed as evidenced by the consecration prayer at the end. May the Lord gain all the young people there for His testimony.  

Fellowship: Affairs

Fellowship is the way to deal with issues and problems in life among believers.  When I discovered that things were not right with one of my family members, I considered before the Lord and checked what I should do about it. After much prayer, the Lord gave me a clear sky; to fellowship the matter to the concerned person. Though I would like to avoid getting into other's personal matters, when they affect the testimony of the Lord and affects my family too, I had no choice but to fellowship and sort things out.

One evening for over two hours I had to speak out what was in my heart to a sister who entangled herself in an affair. I dared not touch the brother yet as my responsibility first is to my household members and set my family in order. The affair per se is not the main cause of concern, but the way it was done and the person involved is not proper. The brother had actually been engaged to another sister and that is the main cause of concern.  That engagement became the main problem as this leads to unfaithfulness, unrighteousness, and even unholiness. In the Bible, engagement is the initiation of marriage. It is even reckoned as marriage which eventually will transpire in time.

When a person has an affair, he or she would not mind hiding and lying about it altogether. The affair has caused spiritual blindness and would adamantly not be willing to give up. But I had to reason and beg to give up such an affair as I care for the Lord's testimony above their own feelings whatsoever. Factual evidence cannot be nullified for emotional feelings. Feelings come and go, they keep changing, but facts do not change. Most of these feelings are just natural; out of the fallen flesh and untransformed emotion. As far as I know the truth of human nature and God's words, I strongly disapprove of such improper affair and even I rebuked severely the person I was fellowshipping with, to the point that she was brought to tears. It was hard to deal with such, but I had to do it. 

On the one hand, I pray for the Lord to set things right, and on the other hand, I have to do what I need to do as a man. What I felt best I did with my best and what else I could not I left to the Lord to deal with it. I cannot blindly leave the matter to God and do nothing. I had to be God's mouthpiece to speak according to the truth revealed in the Bible concerning relationships; especially to condemn improper relationships. If the watchman did not sound the warning bell, the judgment will be upon the watchman; but if the watchman did sound the weaning bell and the people did not pay heed, the onus is squarely on the people themselves. That's what I did. And I did it at least ten times already. I would not let things slip by as long as it is in my hands to do so.

Having done all that I could do, I still beg the person I am talking to, to pay heed to the warnings. Meanwhile, I have been all prayers for the Lord to come in and change the heart of the persons involved. I pray that they would be delivered from their blindness and darkness and be brought into the light where all improper affairs are cut-off and relationships would not be beyond being brothers and sisters in the Lord. In this fellowship, I myself learn a lot of lessons. 

May the Lord honor all the fellowship and may the person concerned too honor all the fellowship for her own good. May the Lord gain the victory among us so that His testimony be maintained holy through us, His believers.

Fellowship: Marital Issue (2)

Last Wednesday night, a brother and his wife made an appointment with me for a follow-up fellowship on our previous fellowship. As we began, the couple confessed about their present situation and the fear that gripped them concerning the longevity of their marital relationship. The brother had openly confessed to me how he was not what I would have thought and that he had some past bad experiences that affected his present living. And the sister confessed how she has been fearful if anything bad happen in their marriage life.

Hearing them out first I was glad that there was a genuine progress from our previous fellowship and that the brother had confessed all that he did in the past to the sister which scared her of the future. My fellowship was very much anointed by the Lord as I sensed the sweet flow of life from within my spirit. And the Lord gave me the timely words to address their deep concern.

I began by quoting a verse, which we all read together.

“For God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power and of love and of sobermindedness.” (2 Timothy 1:7, RecVer)

According to this verse, the fear that gripped them, especially the sister, is from Satan. For God has not given us a spirit of cowardice or fear. Therefore, I encouraged them to reject such negative thoughts, which are darts thrown at the believers by the enemy. Then I confirmed again and again that 1 John 7,9 confirmed the effectiveness of the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses them from every confessed sins. Any condemnation after confession is of Satan and must be rejected.

“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their soul-life even unto death.” (Revelation of John 12:11, RecVer)

Once the blood of Jesus was applied, any further condemnation must be utterly denied by the verbal declaration of the victory in the blood of Jesus, and to not love our soul life even unto death.

Still the question arises, what if one of the partners committed fornication, will that immediately issue in divorce according to the word spoken by the Lord Jesus?

“And it was said, Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries her who has been divorced commits adultery.” (Matthew 5:31-32, RecVer)

But I also quoted the following verses to understand the context on which divorce  seems to be made "permissible" legally. 

“And some Pharisees came to Him, testing Him and saying, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause? And He answered and said, Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, And said, “For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall be one flesh”? So then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has yoked together, let man not separate. They said to Him, Why then did Moses command us to give her a certificate of divorce and divorce her? He said to them, Moses, because of your hardness of heart, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so. But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except for fornication, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her who has been divorced commits adultery.” (Matthew 19:3-9, RecVer)

It was never God's will that there be divorce after marriage because in marriage the two have become one. God’s original intention in marriage is oneness of the married couple, implied by "one flesh." Therefore, any thought of divorce even for "permissible" reason must be avoided as much as possible. 

For this, oneness has to be preserved between husband and wife. I testified of how the Lord has been gracing my marriage and how I have been praying with my wife this prayer:

Lord, cause us to love You and to love one another more and more. Lord, cause us to be one with You and to be one with one another more and more.

And I encouraged them to spend personal time with the Lord and also corporate time with one another every day with the daily reading of the Holy Bible. Only the time spent with the Lord will enable the Lord to dispense His divine love to them that will cause their enjoyment of the Lord issuing in loving one another with the divine love and divine oneness. Then, their marriage will be secured by the divine love, divine life, and divine oneness.

As to the question of getting marriage counsellors' help, I told them that the key issue is not outward control psychologically or medically, by the crucifixion of the flesh. And that, their marital and private matters be kept private as much as possible and not run into the risk of exposing to a third person who has no genuine care and spiritual concern for them. The enemy always search for loopholes to attack marriages.

“I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20, RecVer)

This crucifixion can be accomplished only by the Spirit.

“For if you live according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.”

Finally, as an addendum, I also fellowshipped on the matter of understanding God's creation of male and female biologically. And that they should enjoy their marital life, God's biological design, within the boundary of marriage.

“Now concerning the things of which you wrote: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because of fornication, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render to his wife that which is due, and likewise also the wife to the husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise the husband also does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive each other, except by agreement for a time that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and then be together again, that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. But this I say by way of concession, not by way of command.” (1 Corinthians 7:1-6, RecVer)

After about one and half hour of fellowship, I sensed that the burden was released. Therefore, we all prayed together and peacefully ended the fellowship for that time.

May the Lord cover my brother and sister and bless their marriage life for the Lord’s testimony.

(Romans 8:13, RecVer)

Fellowship: Marital Issue (1)

The past few days the Lord has been burdening me to pray specifically for some brothers whom the Lord was pleased to use me for their salvation. With one of them, I had a fellowship over the phone last Lord’s day night and prayed together.

Today, I received a surprise call from the same brother requesting for a time of fellowship. My innate reply was on the affirmative and promptly told him that we could fellowship right away. So the fellowship began.

Confession

First, my brother frankly opened up about his situation and the failure he had recently. Then, he requested me to talk to his wife as they both needed an urgent and an impromptu fellowship, to which I readily agreed. I patiently listened to whatever the sister had to say as she even broke down desperately and cried out for help as she did not know what to do and was insecure of her future due to the painful discovery of what her husband had done just confessed. I simply turned to the Lord as I listened and prayed for the Lord’s speaking through my fellowship with both of them.

Marriage is of the Lord

Marriage is of the Lord and unto the Lord

I began with the truth concerning their marriage life that it is from the Lord. There is no question of any separation or divorce for whatever reason. Officially, legally, and biblically, they are married and they are indeed made and meant for each other and that they are one. The church had witnessed it and I myself witnessed their marriage as I attended their marriage meeting. I firmly confirmed and strengthened the fact that they are married and that they should stay married unto eternity. Any thought of "breaking" this God ordained union is of the devil and must be completely rejected. And I made a very strong statement to both of them that their marriage is of the Lord and it will remain so, no matter what. 

Live by the Spirit 

I expounded to them that since man is of three parts, it is possible to live in any one of the parts as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2; soulish, fleshly, or spiritual. 

“But a soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know them because they are discerned spiritually. But the spiritual man discerns all things, but he himself is discerned by no one.” (1 Corinthians 2:14-15, RecVer)

“And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshy, as to infants in Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:1, RecVer)

When one is in the spirit, the world, Satan, sin, and the flesh are overcomed. 1 John 3:9; 5: 4. 

“Everyone who has been begotten of God does not practice sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God.” (1 John 3:9, RecVer)

“For everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory which has overcome the world — our faith.” (1 John 5:4, RecVer)

Otherwise, the works of the flesh will be the result of not living by the spirit. So the only solution in not falling into the hands of Satan is to live and walk by the Spirit as in Galatians 5:16, 24. 

“But I say, Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16, RecVer)

“But they who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its lusts.” (Galatians 5:24, RecVer)

For this, human cooperation of putting the practices of the flesh to death is a necessary step one has to take as in Romans 8:13.

“For if you live according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13, RecVer)

The Blood of Jesus

In case one falls into sin, though we should not, the Lord has given us the best provision, not an excuse for repeated sinning, the blood of Jesus that can cleanse us from every sin as in 1 John 1:7 with a condition that if we confess our sins as 1 John 1: 9.

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.” (1 John 1:7, RecVer)

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, RecVer)

Prayer 

I requested that we all pray together one by one, starting from the brother, then the sister, and finally me. The brother confessed before the Lord, his sins with tears. The sisters also confessed her desperateness in prayer with tears and asked the Lord for grace and guidance. Then, I prayed for the Lord to cleanse us from all sins and unrighteousness, for His covering grace, and for the forgiveness of one another and that their marriage be preserved and be blessed by the Lord.

Oneness

“I beseech you therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord, to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love,” (Ephesians 4:1-2, RecVer)

I expounded Ephesians 4:1-3 on the prerequisite to keep the oneness and that they should, on their part, keep the oneness even as they trust the Lord to preserve them in oneness. I also gave my testimony of prayers with my wife for us to be one with the Lord and one with one another, love the Lord and love one another.

Exercise

Satan attacks the married believers couples in at least three major points: sex, money, and self. Therefore, to overcome these attacks I encouraged them to exercise to have morning revival together every morning, pray together, spend personal time with the Lord every day, and read the Bible every day. And to also fellowship and meet with the saints as much as possible with those who gathers together in oneness for the Lord’s testimony where there is mutuality and multi-directional fellowship for the building up of the Body of Christ. Besides, I also encouraged them to have a timely family planning which will strengthen their marital union and lead them into new and higher responsibility and commitment towards one another.

After all these fellowship, I prayed for the couple to be preserved by the Lord in oneness and that they would even be a part of His testimony, and become pillars of the church.

After the fellowship, my heart was fully filled with burden, praying for them and a couple of other couples who have similar marital issues.

May the hand of the  Lord follow up on all the points of fellowship, cover the couple from the attack of the enemy, and bless the couple for His testimony!

Fortieth Time Reading the Bible

Today, the 8th of Dec 2022, the Lord graces me to complete my fortieth time reading through the Bible! This is the third time this year and this time is reading with the footnote in the Holy Bible Recovery Version. I just have this one dream that my physical age can be equivalent to the number of times I am reading the Bible.  Since I am forty-four running, I still need to catch up in reading more of the word of God to achieve my personal Bible reading goal.

This kind of reading of the Bible helps me not to waste my time. Whenever I find time I read the Bible as I have the schedule to complete reading three times this year out of which one time with the footnotes, which is almost double the time of reading only the text.  The scheduling that has been done has helped me a lot in reading the word of God.

Thank God for my grandfather who had helped me to read the Bible daily since my childhood days. That habit has been inculcated in my life enabling me to keep reading the Bible. Well, it is one thing to read through the text of the Bible and yet it is another thing to pray-read and study the Bible in depth.  I have been doing both. Even in just reading through the text, the Lord is sovereign in speaking to me now and then. The text of the word itself touched me a lot of times, becoming Rhema word to me, supplying the divine life.

What a blessing it is to be able to read the Bible! My desire is to read as much as I can for as long as I can. I don't know how long the Lord will enable me to be able to read. One day, human eyes may become dim and all kinds of practical difficulties will occur. Until then, I am doing my best to read and eat the word of God as much as I can so that I will not have any regret when I may not be able to read as I can today. 

Likewise, I have been encouraging all my children and the saints in the church life to read the Bible daily. In fact, wherever the Lord opened the door for me to minister the word of God, I would encourage the believers to love the word of God and read the word of God daily.

Thank you, Lord, for the Bible! Thank you, Lord, for the good health to be able to read the Bible!

Impromptu Fellowship

Last Monday, two brothers came without any appointment to meet me. I was not prepared for such an impromptu meeting as I had many official works pending that I need to finish. In fact, one of them had tried calling me up twice but I did not have the peace to receive the call as I knew his intention which he revealed to me briefly when I visited Imphal last time. He requested a piece of land from the land the Lord gave us in Ngarian which has now become a prime property in the village.  But I told him frankly that I had no intention to sell at the moment. Now, that he came to meet me face to face to request the same I had to be frank and use the opportunity to minister something of Christ to them instead.

They came just before I went to eat lunch. Since they came I had no choice but to sit with them and listen to them first. I was very much exercised in my spirit so as not to be deceived and repeat the mistake done by Joshua with the Gibeonites. As they requested if I could sell a portion of the land to them I had to explain to them that without the Lord's leading I have no liberty to decide anything on the land. Then I gave them the history of how that land was purchased and how the Lord sovereignly provided the finance during my wedding in Taipei through the saints offering. Since it was from the Lord the usage of the land is also up to the Lord's leading. As of now, I have no leading concerning the land.

Since they came all the way, I also took the opportunity to minister the truth concerning Christ and the church. How as Christians we all should live by the spirit and seek the Lord's leading in everything. We should not care for what people say about us, but care for what the Lord says about us. We should live before the Lord and treasure His presence above everything. Satan will come and place many baits to distract us from Christ and the church, but we must live a praying life to discern what is from the Lord and what is not from the Lord. Much more, we must stay away from any bait and distraction placed by Satan in our lives in many ways and forms. I also encouraged them to be open-minded to receive a fellowship from the brothers in the church life as both of them are already in contact with a few brothes, one in Imphal and the other in New Delhi. I also cleared off the notions surrounding the practices of the church life which are false accusations. But encouraged them to be open-minded, study the Bible, learn the truth, and be in fellowship with the brothers so that they can also be recovered to enjoy the Christian life in the church life. 

Though I did not heed their request, I did tell them that they can pray and if the Lord leads so, what the Lord has allotted for them will be theirs. They need not pursue or initiate anything on their own self-desire. As they ran after me to pursue and persuade me to sell a piece of land to them, I encouraged them to pursue the Lord in such a way as to gain Christ by all means. I took the opportunity to also gift them some ministry books which they can read; I did so by first asking them if they wanted to read. Only on their positive response I selected the following books and gifted them:

1. The Normal Christian Church Life
2. The Orthodoxy of the Church
3. Enjoying Christ as the Spirit and through the Word
4. The Overcoming Life
5. Shepherding Materials

The meeting went on for about two and a half hours and I had to miss my lunch and a weekly official online meeting. I do believe this fellowship will have a lasting impression on their inward being and pray that they also be recovered to enjoy the Lord with the saints where they both are. 

May the Lord gain these two brothers for His testimony one day.

Ministry of the Word in Mathura

 Who, when he arrived and saw the grace of God, rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain with the Lord with purpose of heart;” (Acts 11:23, RecVer)

The Lord has been truly gracious and merciful to the saints in this city of Mathura. After a year of our first visit, we came to visit the saints again. And this time, we literally witnessed the grace of God among the saints in the church in Mathura!

Since our first meeting, the leading brothers have been very aggressive to practice the God-ordained way taught to them in fellowship with the brothers in the church in Gurugram and New Delhi. Though we have not touched the outward matters much, they themselves decided to practice what has commonly been practiced among all the local churches in the Lord’s recovery. I was so encouraged by the positive imitation that has been taken in their Christian life and church life.

On the Lord’s day, the saints gathered together with much exercise of the spirit in calling upon the Lord’s name, in singing hymns, in prayer, and in prophesying. It was a meeting as though in my own locality. Oh, what a joy to enjoy the Lord together!

When the brothers gave us time to minister the word, we ministered on what the church is to God. The church is holy, perfect, and beautiful!

“For from the top of the rocks I see him, / And from the hills I behold him. / Here is a people who live alone / And do not reckon themselves among the nations.” (Numbers 23:9, RecVer)

“He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, / Nor has He seen trouble in Israel; / Jehovah their God is with them, / And the shout of a king is among them.” (Numbers 23:21, RecVer)

“How fair are your tents, O Jacob, / Your tabernacles, O Israel! Like valleys they are spread forth, / Like gardens beside a river, / Like aloes which Jehovah has planted, / Like cedars beside water.” (Numbers 24:5-6, RecVer)

We encouraged the saints to love the Lord and tell Him, "Lord Jesus, I love You" in all situations and live a life of contacting the Lord by calling upon His name all the time. The church here has been blessed with the increase inwardly in the saints' enjoyment of the Lord and constitution of the truth, and also the increase outwardly in the multiplication of the numbers of the saints as they have now almost doubled within a short span of one year. The Lord has been blessing the church in Mathura! May He continue to do so...

Then, after the meeting we left the city and concluded the ministry literature journey that started two weeks ago and ended in Mathura, covering four North Indian states; Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. 

The church in Mathura is one of the results of the Lord’s move through the ministry of the word literature journey. 

May the Lord continue to supply, preserve, and perfect the saints for His testimony in Mathura. Praise the Lord!

Ministry of the Word in Agra

A decade ago, propagation of the gospel was once done in Agra. In fact, a group of saints even took the stand as the church in Agra. But in course of time, due to lack of fellowship and shepherding, the testimony became dimmer and dimmer and the saints were scattered until no solid contacts were left. This is one city we have been targeting for the distribution of the ministry of the word. Though we tried a couple of times in the past, nothing worked. But, this time the Lord has opened a new door!

The opened door the Lord provided us was through the Pastor's monthly gathering in the city of Agra. We requested a time for the introduction of the ministry literature and our request was granted by the Pastors. Therefore, we could attend and introduce the ministry literature. 

Our introduction of the ministry literature was warmly welcomed by all the Pastors. In fact, many of them were new to the Hindi ministry literature. After the meeting, all the books we brought for free and sales distribution were distributed and sold! This was also our final destination in this two-week-long distribution trip to North India.

Initially, we thought we would be free after lunch and if no meeting came up, we would go to visit Taj Mahal. But, once the Pastor's meeting was over we had a Pastor who came at the last minute and through him, a couple more Pastors were introduced to us. Then, he invited us to his home to also meet two other Pastors who are also his relatives. Therefore, we were fully occupied in fellowshipping with them till evening. We could not even find time for lunch. 

Then, finally, on the way back we met another brother who is running a school and an orphanage with his father at his school office. There, we spent a considerable amount of time fellowshipping and introducing the ministry literature. When we were about to introduce the Holy Bible Recovery Version, his immediate response was that he has many study Bibles and commentaries already. In fact, he recently purchased one based on NIV. But when we finished introducing the Recovery Version, he was so excited and immediately requested to purchase one copy for himself. And he commented that he never heard the word of God being expounded in such a deep and detailed way as was being done in the Recovery Version. 

When we finally came back to our place of hospitality and had a late dinner in Mathura, it was past midnight. It was indeed a well-spent day. Though we thought we would have time for some sightseeing, we were fully occupied in the ministry literature introduction and fellowship. No time for seeing the old creation but fully occupied to see the new creation by faith.

May the Lord recover His testimony in Agra soon!

Ministry of the Word in Rajasthan

Last year we visited Bharatpur in Rajasthan bordering Uttar Pradesh where we met a brother who took the lead and conducted gospel meetings among villagers and gained thousands of believers. Yet he did not have a proper understanding of the Scriptures nor any vision concerning Christ and the church. Therefore, we ministered on the truth concerning Christian life for the church life. This time he was busy so we could not meet him, but we met his "second in command" and the main preacher of his group at Sogar, Rajasthan. About ten new believers gathered together for the meeting last Friday, the 2nd of December. 

Initially, we were told that a good number of them were "Pastors" so our ministering the word was on the Christian life of living Christ for the church. But later we discovered that many of the so-called "Pastors" were not even baptized despite the fact that they have been believers for years. For sure, there was a shortage in their understanding of the truth. After a brother finished ministering the word, we took a break and I continued.

The burden the Lord gave me was on helping these believers with the basic truth concerning baptism. So I spent the first half of my time ministering the truth concerning baptism, the seven spiritual significances of baptism. Using relevant Bible verses, I showed them the examples of baptisms in the Bible and the need for a proper baptism on time once a person genuinely believes. I encouraged all those who already believe into the Lord Jesus Christ to also be baptized at the earliest. Then, expounded the truth concerning the church as the kingdom of God, the Body of Christ, and the local aspect of the church. 

The key brother, being a gospel preacher himself, was so much supplied with the ministry of the word as truth, life, and light. He was so thankful that we could visit him and also promised to meet with the nearby local church in Mathura.

The following Lord’s day, this key brother came and attended the Lord’s Table Meeting in the church in Mathura and brought along another leading brother. It was their first time attending the meeting in the way of the Lord’s recovery with every saint participating in prayer, hymn singing, and prophesying. They were so excited that they expressed their desire to meet again soon. In fact, they invited us to visit them again for the ministry of the word.

This is the Lord’s doing! May His hand follow His speaking that all His remnants may be fully recovered to take the stand as local churches in the oneness and fellowship of the Body of Christ. 

Lord, raise up Your testimony in Sogar and many parts of Rajasthan!

Intimate Concern

…You are in our hearts for our dying together and our living together. Great is my boldness toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf; I am filled with comfort, I overflow with joy in all our affliction. 2 Cor. 7:3-4

Today morning as I was spending time with the Lord in prayer and enjoying the morning revival time, the Lord spoke a very specific word to me, "Intimate Concern." I have an intimate concern for my own blood relative. That comes naturally. In fact, every normal human being will have an intimate concern for his own family members, irrespective of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  So what difference does it make if I have an intimate concern only for my close family members? 

Recently, I have been very much concerned about my niece and I have been praying for her on a daily basis. And I have an intimate concern for my siblings too, especially when they do not do well in life; I used to pray and intercede for them a lot. I do the same for my own children. These are all very natural and it is common to every normal human being. But the question is, "Do I have an intimate concern for the saints the Lord has blessed me with?" This is a million-dollar question the Lord asked me personally on the last day of my distribution trip this time while I was in Mathura.

The Lord has blessed me with a good number of brothers and sisters for my shepherding care. He even asked me to count the spiritual children He gave to me. I counted a few of them, and I was already deeply convicted for my lack of concern for them. Of late, due to some reason or other, I have even avoided and cut off some of them. The Lord strongly convicted me of how I do not have an intimate concern for my own spiritual children unlike the concern I have for my own physical children. Oh, what an exposing it was! I repented and asked the Lord for forgiveness. No wonder I am not fruitful spiritually. I was so convicted by the Lord today morning and my eyes were opened to see my need to have an intimate concern for my spiritual children. One by one, the Lord reminded me to recover my shepherding of them. 

He even reminded me of three brothers who need to be shepherded urgently. I--n, A----l, and S-----t, these names were spelled out. Though they are not in my locality in Gurugram still they are my own spiritual children. Each of them has something in common, being rejected by their own family members due to their mental and physical state. Oftentimes, violent and abusive, but to me, they still have some sense of "respect" as their brother in Christ. The Lord showed me further that I am the only one who can shepherd these ones. So should I leave them as orphans? Should not I have an intimate concern for them? No matter what their condition may be, they are the children of God and also my spiritual children. So it is my rightful duty and spiritual responsibility to shepherd them.

Therefore, I have consecrated to the Lord to grant me the grace and the wisdom to shepherd these ones and many others. I indeed started texting them and praying for them one by one, and also prepared myself to be able to shepherd them with an intimate concern. Meanwhile, the ministry portion further strengthened this burden of having an intimate concern:

If we have the ability to carry on a work but lack an intimate concern, our work will be fruitless…How fruitful we are, how much fruit we bear, does not depend on what we are able to do. It depends on whether or not we have an intimate concern. Paul was very human and emotional in his ministering of life. Paul was so emotional because his concern was so deep and intimate. Without this kind of concern, we could never be abundantly rejoicing in the way Paul was. Instead, we may be as cold as a freezer, altogether lacking in concern for the saints. Instead of warming up others, we make them even colder. Nothing can  grow when it is in such a frozen condition. We need the weather of spring to come to thaw us out and warm up our life. Once again there is a need for a ministering life. Do you know what a ministering life is? It is a life that warms up others. Learn to warm others. This is to have an intimate concern for them. If we do not have this kind of concern for others, we shall not be fruitful. If I would minister life to the saints, I must have a genuine concern for them, a concern that is emotional, deep, and intimate. I must be so concerned that, at times, I may appear to others to be foolish or beside myself. Only the ministering life enables us to bear fruit. Fruit-bearing is the issue of a ministering life. ( Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 379-384, 386)

Besides, the Lord also gave me a strong burden to help four brothers to shepherd and pray for them that they can recover their marriage life again. Sadly enough, the four brothers really need to be shepherded with an intimate concern to help them recover back their wives. All their wives have left them for reasons known to them best, but to me, as I was told by these brothers, the blame is on the wives. But I have not heard from their wives about these breakups. I strongly do not agree with separation or breakups after a legal and proper marriage. I do believe, in time, through prayer and shepherding, these four brothers will recover back their married life for the Lord's testimony. With an intimate concern, the Lord will grace me to shepherd them unto the recovery of their family lives for the church life.

Lord, shepherd me to shepherd the saints with an intimate concern.

Open Vessel

The last weekend was a Thanksgiving Conference. Since I was traveling, I thought I would missed it this time. But thank the Lord, I still got the opportunity to listen to all the messages from the video archives. I was able to listen to all the messages at different times while I was traveling on road by an SUV while on a ministry distribution journey from locality to locality. Each of these places I travelled to, were about an hour to two hours' time distance. These time intervals were apt for me to dive into the messages. Among all, the last message dispensed so much of life into me. As an open vessel,  I was able to receive the divine dispensing of the divine Trinity through the brothers ministry, and all these are for the divine economy.

Excerpt from Message Six 

Being a Vessel Open to the Lord and Living Ordinary Days in the Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity

An open vessel is doing nothing but keeping itself open to be filled by the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity—2 Cor. 13:14. 

A genuine Christian life is one that loves the Lord and keeps itself open to the Lord and stops its doing—Mark 12:30; 1 John 4:16-21. Then the Lord comes in and does everything; the vessel simply contains the Lord and enjoys the Lord’s filling and doing. We simply need to love the Lord and keep ourselves open to Him, giving Him every opportunity to do everything He wants to do—Eph. 3:17. This is the proper and genuine Christian life—Gal. 2:20. 

We need to receive the divine dispensing little by little, day by day, receiving this dispensing again and again in a slow, steady way—2 Cor. 13:14; Matt. 6:11; Psa. 68:19.

As I was enjoying the dispensing of the divine Trinity through the ministry of our dear brother, I was so supplied, strengthened, and encouraged. In fact, I could not even take a break and had to continue receiving the dispensing when I was in a meeting, even when a brother started speaking in a meeting where I had to follow after him. When it was my turn to minister the word, I asked the believers to take a break and sing a song until I could fully receive the entire dispensing of the word through the webcast I was listening to. What I freshly enjoyed, I also ministered to the saints when it was time for me to speak.

My inward prayer now is, "Lord, I open my vesselto You for Your divine dispensing. Keep me open all the time and keep dispensing all the days of my life." Through ordinary days in all my ordinary works, I must open to the Lord. There is no need to seek for miraculous and spectacular incidents to happen. If need be, the Lord may do so in time. But I don't have to look out for such, but simply open myself to Him for His divine dispensing through any circumstances that He may allow to come to me. 

By this way of being an open vessel to the Lord, enjoying His dispensing day by day, I can be constituted with Him and be rapture ready. 

For this, I need to love the Lord more and more each day. In His sovereignty, He will arrange people, matters, and things that will affect me positively with my positve response as an open vessel. Day by day, here a little there a little, again and again, all the days of my life, I will thus be dispensed with the Triune God to become the same as He is, in life and in nature but not in the Godhead, and be thus fully conformed to Him, to be rapture ready. 

Lord, grace me to be Your open vessel for Your divine dispensing all the days of my life.

Ministry of the Word in Kharsia, Chattisgarh

A brother who used to work in Manesar and whose wife was baptised in the church in Gurugram had invited us to visit him and the believers with him in Kharsia. As we planned for the visit to Madhya Pradesh we felt the Lord also has opened the door in Kharia. Therefore, we prolonged our trip and decided to visit Kharsia and the surrounding areas including two district capitals, Raigarh and Shakti.

As we arrived Kharsia, we were accommodated in a brother's home and the family took care of us very well. Another brother had come to stay in the the same house to cater to our needs; to serve us in food preparation and transportation. Since two meetings were arranged on the Lord’s day, we arrived here last Saturday night.

On the Lord’s day, we addressed two meetings. The first one being the one our guest has been shepherding with his father, a Pentecostal church. We ministered the truth and practice of calling upon the Lord’s name, loving the Lord, praying and pray-reading His word, and the need to have a thorough clearance of the past living so that we can be the shining testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. The second meeting was at Shakti, about an hour's drive from Kharsia. We were late for the meeting, but in the little time we had, we ministered again on the basic of the Christian life; calling upon the Lord’s name and pray-reading His word. We also helped them to pray-read a verse, John 6:63 which everyone enjoyed and memorised. The key brother being so impressed and the believers enjoyed the ministry of the word so much, he invited us again which we did after two days.

The following three days, we went to Dourkot, Raigarh, Chaal, Tamnar, and Shakti. In all these localities we introduced the ministry literature to the Christian leaders, distributed free Rhema books and sold Amana Literature title books. In all the places, the people we met were so impressed by the riches of the ministry we have been graced with. In fact, the brother who took us to all these places testified that when he made a phone call to these ones for our visit their responses were dull and doubted what kind of ministry we would be presenting to them. But as we met them face to face and introduced the riches of the ministry, all of them were so impressed by the ministry we ministered through the literature. Many of them requested for a time to address their congregation and wanted us to stay longer. The brother who made all these arrangements was so surprised at the responses of these Christian leaders; initially not showing any interest and suddenly becoming so interested. 

Four special meetings were arranged in three different localities especially for us to minister the word to the believers in these groups. To all, we followed the Lord’s leading and released the timely word as the Lord burdened. The believers responded very positively and we encouraged them to practice the truth we ministered to them. In two meetings where a good number of young people were present, we ministered on the need to preserve their vessels using Romans 9:21, 23 and 2 Timothy 2:20-22. In one meeting, 2 Timothy 2:22 was pray-read and memorised. I strongly felt the need to encourage young sisters and brothers to look to the Lord for grace to preserve their body undefiled for the Lord’s use. And that they should also have good education for the Lord’s sake, not merely for job or money. Some young sisters who dropped studying decided to start all over again, at least through distant education.

One significant meeting was the last meeting we had in this trip, a whole night prayer meeting. Here, we had ample time as it was a whole night prayer meeting. We began the ministry of the word at 9:30 and concluded at 12 midnight in two sessions. This meeting was supposed to be in the first day of every month, but it was postponed a day to accommodate us. The burden the Lord gave us was "Prayer." Prayer being to absorb God, we helped the believers the way to absorb God by prayer through calling upon the Lord’s name, breathing him. The burden was further strengthened with the need to spend specific time with the Lord daily, using the example of Daniel and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now when Daniel came to know that the writing had been signed, he went to his house (in his upper room he had windows open toward Jerusalem) and three times daily he knelt on his knees and prayed and gave thanks before his God, because he had always done so previously. (Daniel 6:10, RecVer)

The burden on tithing time daily was also emphasized. Since God gave each one 24 hours a day, tithing this time of about 2 hours 24 minutes would be ideal. However, at least an hour must be separated for a time of prayer was strongly emphasized. A young sister on her 12th standard has been practising this and gave her testimony of prayer and Bible reading on my request. Later, I gifted her a book, Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit in Hindi which she also selecetd to purchase. I also gave my testimony to help the believers. In addition, the need for reading and pray-reading the word of God was also ministered and pray-read Romans 8:6 in Hindi.

Now we commit all these believers into the Lord’s hand and may the Spirit continue to speak to them through the word ministered to them and through the ministry literature distributed to them.

Having released the burden this time for the believers in Kharsia and the surrounding areas, we proceeded to our next destination, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.