Gospel Preaching

The Lord in His mercy has revived in me the spirit of gospel preaching. For the past couple of weeks, I was not able to preach the gospel as I ought to. Either there were some church meetings or fellowship or training, or I was traveling, but somehow the gospel preaching on Saturdays was not carried out. Deep within me, I knew I was lacking in life as I also had many weaknesses spiritually. But I decided that at least once a week I must preach the gospel, no matter what.

Last Saturday afternoon, the Lord graced me to go out with a brother to preach the gospel. Due to the security personnel standing in every corner of the shopping plaza we went to preach the gospel to, we were not able to meet people openly to preach the gospel. After two rounds of walking, we changed the areas and went toward a metro station. As we went, we met people along the way and were able to preach the gospel. It was so encouraging that when we went out, the Lord also prepared people to meet us at a specific location and at a specific time.

Last Lord's Day afternoon, as the church we all went to preach the gospel at DLF-3 U Block where many young working people have their residences. On the street, we went to meet people and preached the gospel to whoever would listen to us. In this way, a brother and I were able to preach the gospel to seven people solidly. Our approach this time was a little different from all the previous ways. This time, we did not distribute tracts freely as we used to do so before. The political and social environment has changed. Therefore, we were advised not to openly distribute tracts. But we can meet people, and only those who are open to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we can continue to meet them and set up a home meeting with them.

In the last weekend's gospel preaching, the Lord led me to preach the gospel to a mechanical engineer, software engineer, airforce officer, restaurant manager, housekeeper, and laborer.  At least these ones have heard the gospel! May the word of the Lord Jesus Christ sown as the gospel seed of divine life sprout and grow!

In fact, in the past too, I have preached the gospel to so many people. But I need to overcome the matter of following them up regularly. I am weak in following the ones I preached the gospel to. Though they received, believed, and called upon the Lord's name, I was not able to continue shepherding them. Many of them have been lost in this way. Nevertheless, I will continue to preach the gospel in obedience to the great commission.

Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19

Shepherd According to God

Shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion but willingly, according to God… 1 Pet.5:2

Shepherding according to God is one of the high peaks of the divine revelation. Recently, I enjoyed this truth in the semiannual video training. I am familiar with the term shepherding. In fact, I have also been doing my best to shepherd the saints and the new ones. Though I may not be up to the standard as revealed in the Bible, still I did my best, according to me so far. But this time the truth is, shepherding according to God, not according to me. I have been shepherding according to myself, in the way I felt best. That kind of shepherding has been very short and limited. Because it was all according to me if I like it I shepherd, and if I don't like it I don't shepherd. I have been revolutionized in my understanding of shepherding. I must be one with God and shepherd according to God.

Those who shepherd the flock of God should shepherd according to God. To shepherd according to God is to shepherd according to God’s nature, desire, way, and glory, not according to our preference, interest, purpose, and disposition. According to God in 1 Peter 5:2 means that we live God. In order to shepherd according to God, we need to become God in life, nature, expression, and function but not in the Godhead. We need to become God in His attributes of love, light, righteousness, and holiness. We need to become God in His function of shepherding the flock of God according to what He is. If we would shepherd according to God, we need to become one with God—John 14:20; 1 Cor. 6:17. When we are one with God, we become God in life and nature and are God in our shepherding of others.

After enjoying the message on shepherding, the Lord also led me to shepherd some saints in line with being "according to God." This Monday night, with my wife and another sister, we went to visit a new one's family. Though the traffic was bad and we needed to spend time and energy, the visit was worth it. Initially, I wanted to bring along another Hindi-speaking brother as I was not fluent in speaking Hindi. But when we were at the new ones' home, the Lord gave me the utterance. Perhaps, first time in my life, I was able to speak Hindi, shepherding a Hindi-speaking family without any need for translation. As I fellowship with the new ones, the Lord gave me the utterances. The words just came and I was able to speak the truth in Hindi!

The new ones truly enjoyed the meeting that the key member of the family, the father of the household, went on to enjoy two messages from the Shepherding Materials, besides quoting a couple of other Bible verses he has been enjoying. They all understood the truth messages we pursued together in addition to all the fellowship we had and the hymn we sang. The new ones were so shepherded that they even opened up about their concerns and clarified some of their doubts. In fellowship, we were able to clear all their doubts and concerns. After such a cherishing and nourishing shepherding, they decided to come to the Lord's table meeting regularly and also requested a regular home meeting every Monday night.

Another family who I have been graced to shepherd was visited last Saturday. I myself with two other couples in the church visit this family. Our shepherding visit cherished them so much so that they finally took the decision to start coming to the Lord's table meeting regularly which they wanted to do so even in the past. Another step of shepherding in the Body was needed to make this practical. I have also been enjoying the morning revival together with this brother.

Another young brother has been in touch with me. Whenever he calls and visits me, we fellowship at length concerning spiritual matters and his personal matters too. I am learning to shepherd him according to God by turning to the Lord concerning how to shepherd him. Each person I have been graced to shepherd has been different. Only by being one with the Lord, can such shepherding be carried out.

Similar shepherding is going on with my niece. Now we have mutually agreed to spend time once a month, to have an all-inclusive fellowship on whatever is the need. In this way, the Lord has been leading me to shepherd according to God. These ones and a few other saints are under shepherding. All shepherding will gradually be according to God.

Lord, shepherd me according to You and gain me to be one with You that I can shepherd according to You.

Rhema Washing

“O you who dwell in the gardens, My companions listen for your voice; Let me hear it. Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young hart upon the mountains of spices.” (Song of Solomon 8:13-14, RecVer)

The Lord has revealed the high-peak truth to us in His recovery. Our attitude must be to open to Him and hear His voice. Our prayer should be, "Lord, let me hear Your voice." And we must have a desire for the Lord’s coming again. We must pay heed to the present truth, pursue, study, be constituted with, and present the present truth to the saints and even the new ones. This is the kind of person I should be today, living in this age; pursuing the truth, being constituted with the present truth, and presenting the present truth to the saints.

“Therefore I will be ready always to remind you concerning these things, even though you know them and have been established in the present truth.” (2 Peter 1:12, RecVer)

The apostles were rejoicing in the fact that the brothers were walking in the truth. So must I be. But for this, the brothers must know the present truth that they can walk in.

“For I rejoiced greatly at the brothers’ coming and testifying to your steadfastness in the truth, even as you walk in truth.” (3 John 3, RecVer)

Walking in the truth definitely requires one to experience the truth. The knowing of the word in its logos must be followed by the experience of the word in its rhema. I was freshly enlightened to see how the Lord carries out the washing in our inward being in addition to making us know His truth. 

That He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word. Ephesians 5:26

Water: Water here refers to the flowing life of God typified by flowing water (Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4; John 7:37-39; Rev. 7:17; 21:6; 22:1, 17).

Washing: The Greek word for washing in Ephesians 5:26 is literally laver; in the Old Testament the priests used the laver to wash away their earthly defilement (Exo. 30:18-21); day by day, morning and evening. Therefore, we need to come to the Bible and be cleansed by the laver of the water in the word.

Word: The Greek word is rhema with its washing process (Eph. 5:26).

The washing here can be compared with the washing by the priest in the Old Testament at the brazen laver which is different from the altar where there was the shedding of the blood of the sacrifices. The altar signifies the cross of Christ where blood was shed for redemption. We apply this today for the cleansing of the sins we have committed. The laver signifies the water that flowed out of the Lord's pierced side for the supplying of the divine life that washes our defilement as a result of our contact with the world, of our flesh, self, old man, and the natural life.

Today, Christ as the life-giving Spirit sanctifies us by cleansing us according to the washing of the water in the word. We are now in such a washing process in order that we, the church, may be holy and without blemish. For this to be real in our experiences, we must come to the Lord through His word and long for His instant speaking. It is only His instant and living speaking that actually works in our being and makes us grow in life.

The important thing for each one of us is this—is God speaking His word to me today?—Rev. 2:7; 1 Sam. 3:1, 21; Amos 3:7. One thing that we always treasure is that the Lord still speaks to us personally and directly today; true growth in life depends upon our receiving the word directly from God; only His speaking in us has true spiritual value—Heb. 3:7-11, 15; 4:7; Psa. 95:7-8. The central point of our prayers should be our longing for the Lord’s speaking, which enables us to fulfill the goal of His eternal economy according to His heart’s desire to have His divine sonship—Luke 1:38; 10:38-42; Eph. 1:5. In a very practical sense, the Lord’s presence is one with His speaking; whenever He speaks, we realize His presence within us; Christ’s speaking is the very presence of the life-giving Spirit— cf. Exo. 33:12-17; Heb. 11:8. Excerpt from HWMR An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth of the Lord’s Recovery before His  Appearing, msg 1.

As I shared this burden of experiencing the washing of the water in the word in line with listening to His words day by day, all the saints and I myself were so nourished with His living words. May the Lord grace us to be poor in spirit, to open our mouth wide that He can fill us and that we can receive His present speaking through His rhema word that we are washed and cleansed to grow in life unto full maturity to become the same as He in life and nature but not in Godhead. This is the rhema washing that we need daily. And it is this rhema washing that can fulfill God's eternal economy.

Lord, sanctify us by the washing of the water in the word daily!

Dressing: Trim and Fill

The vision of Christ as the Son of Man walking amidst the seven golden lampstands to dress the lamps has been quite a revelation the past week. I was enlightened to see the need for the Lord to dress the lamps daily. In Exodus, the high priest dresses the lamps daily to make sure the lamps burn brightly. In dressing the lamps two things are involved. Negatively, to cut the blackened and charred wick that had burnt out. Positively, to fill the cup of the lamps with fresh oil. Cutting and filing are the two necessary steps in dressing the lamps. This simple vision was enlightening to me. Dressing the lamps has become my daily prayer these days. I have been praying to the Lord to dress me daily. For I am too conscious of the burnt and charred wick in me, my flesh, my natural man, my self, and the things of the world surrounding me, needs to be cut by my experiences of the cross of Christ. Then, I need the filling of the oil, the Holy Spirit day by day to supply the wick with fresh oil to continue the burning of the lamps to give forth shining light. What a revelation!

And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me; and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, And in the midst of the lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment reaching to the feet, and girded about at the breasts with a golden girdle. Rev. 1-12-13

And Aaron shall burn on it fragrant incense; every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall burn it. Exo. 30:7

Then I answered and said to him, What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on its left? And I answered a second time and said to him, What are the two olive branches that are by the side of the two golden spouts, which empty the gold from themselves? And he spoke to me, saying, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, sir. And he said, These are the two sons of oil, who stand by the Lord of the whole earth. Zech. 4:11-14

Christ takes care of the churches as the lampstands in His humanity as the Son of Man to cherish them. Christ as our High Priest takes care of the churches that He has established first in His humanity to cherish the churches, to make the churches happy, pleasant, and comfortable., He does this by dressing the lamps of the lampstand. The high priest in the Old Testament dressed the lamps of the lampstands every morning, Exo. 30:7. To dress the lamps is, to make them proper., Christ cares for the lampstands by trimming the wicks of, the lamps of the lampstand, just as the priest did according, to the type in the Old Testament, Exo. 25:38. When the wick, was burned out, it became charred and black, so the priest, had to come to cut off the black part of the wick. This is what, it means to snuff the wick so that the lamp may shine better., The charred part of the wick, the snuff, signifies things that, are not according to God’s purpose which need to be cut off, such as our flesh, our natural man, our self, and our old creation…, A church with charred wicks will not feel comfortable. As the walking Christ, He gets to know the condition of each church, and as the speaking Spirit, He trims and fills the lampstands with fresh oil, the supply of the Spirit—2:1, 7; cf. Zech. 4:12-14. Excerpt from HWMR Knowing, Experiecning, and Living the All-inclusive Christ for the Genuine Church Life, msg 8.

Along with the revelation, the Lord also gave me experiences of being dressed by the Lord. He as the Shephered helped me to deal with myself. I did not try to deal my flesh with my flesh, I simply opened to the Lord to work Himself in me and did whatever I could to cooperate with Him in His move. This dealing will, perhaps, be an ongoing process. I look to the Lord for His grace that I can indeed be thoroughly dealt with, step by step, layer by layer until I am fully dealt with. Besides, I also pray for more of His Holy Spirit filling day by day, to always have the sufficient "fuel" to burn and shine forth the Lord Jesus Christ. This same truth and experiences I have been enjoying, I also shared with all the saints in the church in Gurugram on the Lord's Day during the prophesying meeting. What a supply from the Lord even while sharing this experience!

Lord, dress me daily; trim me of myself and fill me with Yourself.

Peace and Harmony

Prayer for peace in Manipur is our daily family prayer. Since the 3rd of May, Satan has been instigating different communities to hatred, violence, theft, killing, and murder. The intensity of the hatred is so much that nothing on earth can dose the burning flame of hatred. Try however much the government may, still they are in no way near to bringing peace to the state. Day by day, week by week, and now month by month, the fiery enmity is burning with higher intensity. Every little thing seems to act as an agent to pour more oil into the burning fire. Helpless the people are, and helpless the state machinery is. All efforts to call for peace were turned on deaf ears. Deep within, everyone wants peace, but no one has a solution, as to how to get that peace.

Only God is the God of peace! Only the true and living God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the God of peace. I find no solution to this conflict other than the gospel of peace, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the entire human history of mankind, only Jesus Christ, the very God incarnate, came and paid the price for peace at the cross. 

But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have become near in the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, He who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition, the enmity, abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace, and might reconcile both in one Body to God through the cross, having slain the enmity by it. And coming, He announced peace as the gospel to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near. Ephesians 2:13-17

I am very clear about the prayer I and my family have been praying daily. I cannot take sides with any of the warring communities. They both are God's creations and in both communities, there are children of God, brothers and sisters in the Lord. Though one community is majority Christian and the other majority Hindu, this is not a religious battle. Though one is tribal and the other plain people, this is not a community battle. Remember, they both are created by the same God. I had written on this line already.

My Goodland: Prayer: Manipur Mayhem (palmeichung.blogspot.com)

My Goodland: Manipur: Forgive Us As We Also Forgive (palmeichung.blogspot.com)

One important point to note is, in every warfare, the first thing to identify who the enemy is and what strategy to employ in the battle. Here, the enemy is neither of the community. The common enemy is Satan who is the mastermind of this ethnic clash. Therefore, the way to fight this battle is on our knees by praying to the God of peace.

“Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil, For our wrestling is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies.” (Ephesians 6:11-12, RecVer)

“For though we walk in flesh, we do not war according to flesh; For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly but powerful before God for the overthrowing of strongholds, as we overthrow reasonings and every high thing rising up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought unto the obedience of Christ.”

(2 Corinthians 10:3-5, RecVer)

We daily pray for:

The Christians to repent of their ways, not resort to human wisdom, but turn to the living God. When God chastised His people for their sins, the Israelites repented and returned to Jehovah, who in turn forgave them, restored them, and blessed them.

The Christians to be brought into oneness as the children of the same Father God, to leave all the divisive and doctrinal differences, tribalism, and be united in Christ for the reality of the one new man, the church, the Body of Christ, where Christ is all and in all.

The Christians to be revived in their Christian life and not live like the Gentiles.

The Non-Christians to see, know, and believe into the true and living God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Only in Jesus Christ is there salvation. What they need the most is eternal life, to believe into the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

The leaders of the communities, civil societies, and state and central government, to have wisdom in making the right decision in a righteous manner conducive to the atmosphere of peace and harmony.

The God of peace, who is also love, light, and life to come in to dispense Himself into all the people of Manipur. Thereby, turning war into peace, hatred into love, darkness into light, and deadness into life. This God of peace, love, light, and life is the Lord Jesus Christ!

These have been our daily family prayers for peace and harmony in Manipur. I have full faith in God to answer these prayers and there will be a new beginning, for the people of all the communities, and for the Lord's move and His testimony. I have expressed my burden to the people I know, from both communities.

The Lord in His mercy has answered these prayers and we are to witness His wonderful and marvelous deeds unto His glory!

Proposal Paradox

One thing we have been struggling to break through among the single saints here in the church in Gurugram is helping them in their marriage matters. As one of the church brothers, I have been so burdened to help the unmarried brothers and sisters find a match and get them married. But the hardest part is to help them settle with someone that satisfies them. Time and tide waits for none. As they keep waiting to find the "perfect" match they have been aging. Year by year, they are aging and are not even ready to settle down with anyone. 

To me, marriage is easy to settle as long as I am clear of the Lord's perfect leading. That's exactly how the Lord led me. Once I was clear with the person the Lord had chosen for me, I just said amen. Even I had to deny my soul life in this matter. What the Lord arranged for me is the best. And as I went ahead with the Lord's arrangement, I have been enjoying all the blessings the Lord bestowed on my family. In a similar manner, I have been trying to help the unmarried saints, but they seem to have altogether different opinions.

As a brother in the church, I along with other brothers have approached a couple of brothers and sisters to fellowship with them regarding their marriage proposal. In fact, we have even started with two brothers. Sadly enough, these brothers have squarely or subtly denied the proposals. On the one hand, they profess their urgent need to get married and seem to be open to fellowship, yet on the other hand, they have their own preferences which they did not reveal either. When we brought sisters for a proposal, they denied them. 

With one brother we have even gone to introduce the sister face to face, online though, but for some minute reasons he backed off. I am stuck at the horn of dilemma, to propose or not to propose any longer. God, help us!

This was so disheartening. The sisters we proposed were quite good, at least according to my understanding. For I see them as a sister in the Lord. I don't know what these brothers were looking for or what were they expecting their future wife to be. Sometimes they seem to indicate they need help, and when we put our hands to help, they reject it. They profess that they need to get married and will be willing to get married to sisters in church life, but when we propose sisters in the church life, they reject stating their own reasons. What a paradox! I call this a proposal paradox.

Sometimes I thought to myself, if I were not yet married and were in their shoes, I would have married multiple times already, assuming I put on their shoes; whoever was proposed I would just say amen. I failed to understand what stopped them from getting married. What are they looking and waiting for? At their age, I have already become a father. Yet they still do not seem to bother about their marriage at all. Sometimes, I wonder, have we been cursed? Of course not. But I do hope that the Lord will come in and renew all of their minds and bring them to be a plain paper where He can write whatever name He wishes to, and they all say amen to the Lord's sovereign arrangement.

May the Lord have mercy on all these single saints and grace them with perfect matching partners; to be established in their human life and become pillars for the Lord's testimony.

Lesson on Offerings

The Lord has been blessing me with His rich supply through different means and channels. No matter the channels and means, the Lord is the source of them all. He supplies according to His riches to meet all my genuine needs. And He has been faithfully doing so. What a blessed life to be supplied by the Lord!

Since I got saved and especially since I came to serve the Lord full-time, I have been experiencing the Lord's timely supply to meet all my needs and also the needs of others, including my family sometimes. For years altogether, I have been receiving the Lord's supply and also have been distributing His supply to the needy saints, as He leads and reveals to me. This month, the offering came only during half the month. I have been considering some portions of the offering and how to distribute them. Even for the previous month, I withheld some as I was not clear to whom to offer. 

Then, a sister, a distinct relative contacted me for the first time from nowhere and mentioned her dire situation and desperate need for immediate medical attention. Initially, I wanted to ignore her as I generally do not entertain people who directly ask for monetary help. But later, as I considered before the Lord over and over again, the Lord impressed me deep within that, she was the one I needed to help. Therefore, after being clearly led by the Lord, I requested her bank account number and transferred offerings twice. This thereby met her immediate need. Besides, I also took the opportunity to lead her to read the Bible and spend time with the Lord in prayer and also sent a link for her to read shepherding material online.  May the Lord bless her physically and spiritually too.

This month too, as I was considering how to dispense the offering to the needy saints the Lord dawned on me the needs of a brother whose parents have been devasted due to the recent riots in Manipur. Now, he is here in Gurugram studying in a college and not being able to pay even his college fees. In fellowship, I enquired all the practical details of his college fees, his education, and family matters. Then I realized that he was the right person to receive the offering. Therefore, last Lord's Day, a considerable amount of offerings was offered to him through the church offering box. This is also to shepherd him and his family who are in desperate need. Besides this, another student-brother was also offered to meet some of his needs. In this way, the Lord led me to discern to whom to offer the offering channel through me. The source is the Lord, and I must exercise to be one spirit with the Lord to discern the recipients of the offerings.

It is one thing to exercise faith to depend on the Lord and the Lord supplies all my needs through offering. Yet it is altogether another thing to discern in one spirit with the Lord to whom to offer.  Not just for my own needs, but also to learn to discern the needs of others and channel the Lord's supply to them, even as He pleases to do it through me. This is an important lesson on offerings.

God-man Living

One of the high peaks of the divine revelations is the God-man living. This is the living of God and man; man in God and God in man, a living of a union, mingling and incorporation of God and man. This is the living again of God on the earth in and through man. This is the life the Lord desires us to live today. In fact, this is the Christian life in a very pure and practical sense. 

This God-man life is not an impossible life. For this life is not lived out by man alone, but by God in man. Having seen this revelation of the God-man living from the actual living of the Lord Jesus as recorded in the four gospels, it may sound like it is impossible. Yes, it is impossible in our natural life. But it is possible by the divine life already imparted into us when we first believed into the Lor Jesus Christ.

Apart from the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ and his visit to the temple in Jerusalem at the age of twelve, the Bible did not record anything about his life for eighteen years from the time he was twelve till He began His ministry at the age of thirty. What had he been doing for the silent period of eighteen years? Perhaps, He simply lived a normal human life carrying out the daily chores of life at His physical home, but nothing spectacular He did, He silently lived out God. This is a wonderful virtue of a God-man life. A life lived out in silence. No pomp and show, no boasting and pride. A life of patience, simply living a normal human life.

Even when He began His ministry at the age of thirty, the first thing He did was, He dealt with His flesh by getting baptized. He openly acknowledged the fact that in His flesh He was good for nothing but death and burial. Only then, did He begin His earthly ministry. His life began with the manager and ended at the cross. The manger is a symbol of lowliness, poverty, and even rejection. His whole life was just this, from the manger to the cross.

As such a pattern, His living was His work, and His work was His ministry. There was no difference between His living and His work and His move. Above all, He as a man of prayer, a man who always lived with the Father, and in oneness with the Father. Such was the pattern of the God-man life. 

The Lord’s life was His work, His move, and His ministry; His work was His living, and His move was His being; with Him there was no difference between His life, His work, His move, and His ministry; the Lord Jesus lived His ministry—cf. Luke 22:26-27; John 10:10b; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 1 John 5:16a; 2 Cor. 3:6; Phil. 1:25. The Lord Jesus was a man of prayer, being one with God, living in the presence of God without ceasing, trusting in God and not in Himself under any kind of suffering and persecution, and being One in whom Satan, the ruler of the world, had nothing (no ground, no hope, no chance, no possibility in anything)— John 10:30; 8:29; 14:30b; 16:32-33; 1 Pet. 2:23. Excerpt from An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth of the Lord's Recovery before His Appearing, msg 5.

This is the life we need to live today by taking Him as our life and living Him out day by day. I was so impressed by seeing the vision of the God-ma life. I was not and am not and will not be discouraged even if I fall short of this. Because, this life is His life, not mine. I exercise to be one with Him to live His life out. May the Lord grace me to live such a God-man life.

This message also was the one in which the church in Gurugram was tested during the recent video training. My portion was to speak on the introductory word on the God-man living with all the points mentioned above. Among all the twelve messages during the training, this message touched me the most.

Lord, grace me to live You daily, the God-man life.

Lesson from Video Training

This year, video training switched from the traditional way of DVD messages to webcast training. Early this year we started to fellowship with the brothers about the change in the mode of training. Since it was something new, we needed to prepare the leading brothers to take this training. The first fellowship we had was in Hyderabad before the serving one training. We briefed the saints about this new change. But neither I nor anyone really knew what practical preparation it was going to involve. But a new thing, I had to adapt to learn to serve the saints.

First, we made arrangements for all the translators to be able to translate the audio messages on time. We eventually were able to do and meet the target. At the very first go, the Lord graced us to translate the audio messages into seven Indian languages and upload them via FTP for incorporation into the video of the speakers.

Second, to equip the saints for this new mode of translation, we had a Zoom fellowship with all the leading brothers in India. I personally had to draft, design, and redesign all the important information, attendance, online questionnaires, online registration form, etc. Once these were done, we had another round of fellowship with all the brothers in India to brief them again on the regulations. Then these regulations and forms were translated into all seven Indian languages and made available to the brothers in the churches in India.

Third, we had to get ourselves familiar with the online mode of training. Where there would be internet connectivity issues, we had to try our screen mirroring or casting from Android phone to a TV monitor; for a smart TV or an Android TV or even for a simple monitor with a screen mirroring dongle. A brother and I had to spend one day experimenting with this technical issue at an electronic gadget shop. Then we had another online fellowship, demonstrating how to play online or do casting from phone to TV. A whole new thing, a technical fellowship with all the brothers was carried out.

Fourth, we even had to design a step-by-step guide to playing the video message online or via webcast on screen-mirroring and translate these guidelines into various Indian languages.

Fifth, as the training began, many technical issues related to login, date issues, rescheduling of training date, email non-receipt issues, and video blocked issues. For this, I need to coordinate with the serving ones at LSMa and address all technical issues as and when they come.

Finally, the churches in India were able to cope with this new method of training! Many churches have upgraded their technical know-how and purchased the necessary TV or dongle to be able to take the video training. 

Now that many of the churches have taken the training, I wonder how the Lord led us through. The grace of the Lord has been richly upon us. We simply fellowshipped with the brothers and carried whatever were fellowshipped. Thank the Lord for all the coordination. The Lord became our wisdom and grace in handling all practical issues. For the sake of the saints in all the churches in India, the Lord graced us to serve Him by serving the saints in all practical details.

Praise the Lord! Learn and adapt for the Lord's move. These are lessons learned from conducting video training in India.

Lesson in Service

This month August turned out to be one of the busiest months. I thought I would be more free and more relaxed as I had no traveling schedule. But when I thought I would be free, I became the busiest. Some very crucial official works were executed, one by one. And finally, by the second week of August, all pending official works were completed.

One of them is pertaining to the shareholding pattern of the literature service company of which I am one of the coordinating brothers. After much fellowship and consideration, the decision was taken to adjust the shareholding pattern. The Lord was sovereign and He knew what was best for the literature service in India. My responsibility was to execute what was decided by the brothers. Though I could voice my opinion, it was much more blessed to simply amen the brothers' decision and faithfully carry out the execution of the decision made. Similarly, with the filing of the resignation of one of our coordinating directors due to his ill health and age. 

In all these official duties, I learned to serve faithfully as a slave. Whether in coordinating with our CA or with any other persons involved in the matter, my attitude is to coordinate and execute the tasks at hand in the best possible way. Sometimes, there were short-cut ways, but I have learned the lesson never to take a short-cut.  I have learned the lesson that, "the shortest way is the longest way, and the longest way is the shortest way." So, when I have to execute a task, I first explore the best way and then execute it in that way, often this way is detailed and time-consuming. But once it is done, it is done with complete satisfaction.  

The Lord has been training me to serve in the way of coordination; especially in faithfully executing whatever has been decided by the brothers or the board of directors. I have been learning to not voice my opinion unless I am sure it was the Lord's opinion too. Though officially I may be in a position to voice my opinion, I decide not to, unless I have a clear leading from the Lord. I never considered my official position as something to exercise official authority, I simply regard it as a training ground for me to learn to serve the Lord in coordination in the Body, with whoever He placed me with.

But by the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace unto me did not turn out to be in vain, but, on the contrary, I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I but the grace of God which is with me. 1 Corinthians 15:10

I have also been proving over and over again that it is purely by the Lord's mercy that I am what I am. Whenever He placed me in whatever function, I must be faithful to the Lord's assignment. I must only learn to humble myself and submit to the Lord's arrangement in every matter.  This is the lesson in service.

Laboring on Christ

God has given us the all-inclusive Christ as our allotted portion of the good land. The land is rich, besides, He has provided rain and sunshine. Yet man must labor on the land to get the produce out of the land. God's rich provision does not mean man need not do anything, he still must labor lest he will be like a mouse dying of starvation in a grain house. The land is for cultivation. Laboring on the land is a must for man to enjoy its riches of it. 

The Israelites were fed with the manna for forty years until they entered the good land. The day they crossed the river Jordan and stepped into the good land, the manna stopped. Since then they had to labor on the land and produce the riches of the land for themselves and even bring the surplus to the temple for the corporate enjoyment and feasting together with others. This was a type in the Old Testament. Today, the same principle runs with our Christian life today. The land has been given, and we must labor on the good land.

Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light; Colossians 1:12 

The practical question today is how to labor on the good land. The best way to labor is to exercise our spirit. In exercising our spirit, the first thing is not to pay attention to our soul; the thoughts in our mind, the feelings in our emotion, and the preferences in our will. These are the most distracting things in exercising our spirit. When Peter expressed his own about the Lord's crucifixion, the Lord called him Satan. Meaning, when we are not in the spirit, we express ourselves or even Satan who subtly has been working through the fallen flesh. Besides, we must also not pay attention to the environment. Many distracting things will happen as Satan does not want us to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. So having avoided these two things, our soul and our environment, then can we pay attention to the deep sense in our inner being. Discerning the Lord's speaking and leading in our spirit and following it faithfully is the key to labor on the good land. Only by such an exercise of the spirit, we can experience and enjoy Christ. The result of which will be, Christ will be produced.

On the one hand, we labor but actually, it was the Lord who produces Himself. Because the laboring is not out of ourselves, so is the produce.

For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:13

These days, I have been laboring on Christ my good land through the very many situations in my Christian life, family life, work life, and the church life. In dealing with matters, persons, and things, I have been laboring on Christ. At times, I failed and at times I was able to gain something of Christ. 

Last week, we had a video training for the churches in North India where about 350 saints gathered together in a basement. The auditorium did not have proper ventilation and there was no AC installed. When many people were gathered together, the hall was very humid and caused sleepiness during the meeting. In this regard, I expressed my opinion to the brothers for AC. But I realized I should not have done it. Though I expressed my opinion, I turned to the Lord and asked for forgiveness for paying too much attention to my own feeling, though good it may sound.  They were also helpless as it was not our own facility, it was a hired facility with no AC. In this regard, I experienced the Lord's perfecting training in learning to accept whatever He has arranged. Besides, I have been financially tight. In fact, very tight this month. I looked to the Lord on how to meet the family transportation expenses to attend the video training in Delhi. The Lord opened a way for us and the financial need for transportation was met without my spending anything.  

These are a few cases of my laboring on the good land. The result of such labor that produces Christ is for the building up of the Body of Christ. Therefore, whenever we meet together, I must share my portion of the gaining of Christ to others for their benefit as well. In this way, we build up the Body together.

What then, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. 1 Corinthians 14:26

This is the way to labor on the good land to produce Christ to offer it as a corporate worship to God for the genuine church. This same burden, I released on the Lord's Day as the concluding word of the meeting in the church in Gurugram.  The summary of these experiences is Christ, our allotted position, upon which as Christians we have to labor and bring the produce to the church for the building up of the church and for the corporate worship to God. 

Daily Dependence

 Give us today our daily bread. Matthew 6:11

Daily dependence on the Lord is what I have been learning these days. When I first got saved, the Lord taught me how to live by faith, depending upon Him, especially on my financial matter when I had no source of income of my own except the ones I received from my father. Step by step, the Lord led me to trust Him in all things. In fact, I have been graced by the Lord to follow Him all this while as He also provided all my needs. It was so thrilling yet encouraging to learn the faithfulness of the Lord. He has been so faithful all the time. I especially felt his faithfulness during trying times. 

Now, though the Lord has arranged a way for me to be taken care of financially, I still have to depend on Him. For, His arrangement is just the means, He is still the source. The means exist because of the source. The means without the source has no meaning, it nullifies its existence. Though the means have been arranged to meet my family's needs, still, my dependence is on Him, the source, and not on the means.

This experience is also so much in line with the Life-studies pursuit these days on the book of Genesis on the line of life signified by the tree of life versus the line of death signified by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Day by day, I learn to exercise to partake of the tree of life and learn to live by the spirit. Even on physical and material things, I look to Him and depend on Him. I cease to depend on what He has already provided me with. I still depend on Him, the Source, for all things even if I already have them. This is what I understood of the prayer, "Lord, give us today our daily bread." A life of depending upon God all the time.

I treasure this lesson so much. Even after twenty-five years of living and walking with the Lord, my dependence on Him becomes more eminent and desperate. For I have learned the lesson that I am nothing without Him. My life, my work, and my everything depends on Him. There is nothing I can claim of my own, literally nothing. All that I have are from Him. My life, my family, my children, and all that I have, spiritual or physical, all are from Him. I have because He gives. 

Though I have enough deposits in the bank, all from the Lord's blessing financially, I do not depend on them too. I would learn to live by His monthly provision of finance and learn to manage within it. The expenses for my family have grown much. So I am learning to save wherever I can. So I would rather try to repair all my broken gadgets than throw them and buy new ones. As much as possible, I try my best to repair at a low cost and avoid shelling out a huge amount for purchasing new gadgets. Recently I have had to face this decision with a fridge, cooler, and hairdryer. They have been good enough to throw them as junk yet I still somehow tried to repair them and make them work. Though there was a price to pay for running around for the repair and a couple of days and weeks to wait for the repair to be done, I would rather pay the price of my labor and wait than pay the price of money, an easy way to get things done just by buying new ones.

In all these little things, I got the grace to experience the Lord in depending on Him. This is what I have been learning these days. Depend on the Lord, yes even a  daily dependence. Given a choice, I would always choose to depend on the Lord even if I could do without it. And I am glad I could not do without the Lord.  So I depend on Him daily.

Lord, give me today my daily bread!