Practical Training

Since the beginning of this year I had been travelling to many places in India mostly for propagation, shepherding and raising up of churches in new cities with the saints in coordination, all functioning within the measure God has apportioned in the Body. When I came back from the recent ones in Shillong, my wife told me, "You have been flying like an eagle in the heaven, now its time to labor faithfully like an ox, ploughing the field." Indeed, I must learn to plough like an ox too, a PRACTICAL TRAINING at home.

Since two months ago I had planned for a propagation training in Miraj; I had prepared everything for this training. However, when it was time to leave my ticket was not confirmed in spite of the repeated attempts even through Tatkal. Finally, as I was looking to the Lord in despair for not being able to attend this training, the Lord reminded me that I need to go through something very practical at home. This time my training is at home, a practical training for the preparation and propagation of the gospel of the kingdom.

Sovereignly, every day I need to take care of my physical family, cherishing in the humanity of Jesus, during the whole week when the training in Miraj was going on. Everyday, I needed to go to hospital either for my wife or for my daughter; and everyday, I needed to take care of some household needs as my wife is now on the third month of pregnancy for the third blessing. That was a real training indeed. The Lord knew my need and did exactly according to my need. Praise the Lord!

Though man have plans, the real execution is of the Lord. Sometimes the Lord interferes in our human plan for His divine plan. Our faithful response must be, "Amen Lord, let Your will be done." And we must not hold on to anything, rather be flexible and open to the Lord, following the Lamb wherever He may lead. This is a real lesson to me. Shepherding our own family is as important as shepherding the churches of God, for our own family is a part of the churches of God. Being human and taking care of human needs at home in the humanity of Jesus is as good as taking caring of the need of the Lord elsewhere, for all, including our own physical family is a part of God's big family. However, we must be balanced and not go to either extremes. The decision on which one to care for and when is by the instant leading of the Lord from time to time. We must abide in the Lord to discern the Lord's leading and be faithful and obedient to follow the Lord absolutely in every minute detail. Praise the Lord who lead me through a practical training for the preparation and propagation of the kingdom of God.

The Lion of the Tribe of Judah

Revelation 5:

5 And one of the elders said to me, Do not weep; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so that He may open the scroll and its seven seals.

6 And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders a Lamb standing as having just been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into gall the earth.

These days in my locality, I have been weeping inwardly, as there seems to be a lot of hindrances in carrying out the Lord's work. There are invisible restraints as far as the gospel of the kingdom is concerned; some hidden attacks directly or indirectly to the saints and a kind of struggling in moving forward. Everyday, my weeping prayer is for the Lord to gain us fully and break through into every saints to live an overcoming life for the normal, healthy and proper practice of the church life. The kind of attacks I sensed are to numb us and dislodge our functions in the Body. Though this sounds negative, this has really helped me to go before the Lord, turn to Him and trust in Him for all things. The harder the forward move seems to be, the dearer and even more, my time with the Lord is. At times, I, in despair of the situation, just look to the Lord and weep.

This morning the Lord encouraged me very much by what He is: the Lion of the Tribe of Judah! like, John, I was quite desperate, and was weeping, and as John saw, I saw this wonderful all-inclusive Christ: the Lion of the Tribe of Judah!He as the Lion is the Victor! He has seven horns and seven eyes!  And comforted me, "Do not weep".

Recovery Version, Revelation 5:6 Note 4 Horns signify strength in fighting (Deut. 33:17). Christ is the redeeming Lamb, yet He has horns for fighting. He is the fighting Redeemer. His fighting is complete (perfect and complete) in God's move, as signified by the number seven. 

Christ has seven horns for fighting and His fighting is perfect and complete signified by the seven horns. Hallelujah! He is the Victor, and in Him I am Victor and in Him, the church is victorious! I cease to see the weakness of the saints and my own, my eyes are now on the Lion of the tribe of Judah! 

Recovery Version, Revelation 5:6 Note 5 Eyes are for observing and searching. Christ as the redeeming Lamb has seven observing and searching eyes for executing God's judgment upon the universe to fulfill God's eternal purpose, which will consummate in the building up of the New Jerusalem. Therefore, in Zech. 3:9 He is prophesied as the stone, the topstone (Zech. 4:7, lit.) with seven eyes for God's building. These seven eyes are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth, and they run to and fro through the whole earth (Zech. 4:10).

By His seven Spirits, Christ carries out God's universal administration; His seven burning and searching eyes are for executing God's judgement upon the universe to fulfill God's eternal purpose. And they are also for transfusing all that Christ is into our being so that we may become the same as He is for God's building. He also removes all the hindrances, and is carrying out all administrative works  to fulfill God's purpose.

What a revelation! Having enjoyed this truth, I am no more discouraged! The Lion of the tribe of Judah is in the church and with the church! Satan may plunder, or at least attempt to plunder, the flock of God, however, the all-inclusive Christ is the head of the church, even of which I am a member, and has overcome the him, the devil! No more fear, no more discouragement; continue to enjoy this Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah!

Human Care

“consider one another so as to incite one another to love and good works” Heb. 10:24

“exhort one another each day” Heb. 3:13

Sometimes, in fact, many times, in our zeal for spiritual things we tend to forget that we are human beings with flesh and blood, mortal man living in the world. Too often we pay too much attention to the spiritual well being to the extent of neglecting the physical. This is as good as a coin with one side, bluntly invalid. This often is the case with our care for our brothers and sisters in the Lord. As much as a one sided coin is invalid, a spiritual care without the human care is invalid too. In our shepherding in considering one another and exhorting one another, we must take care of both the aspects equally and be balanced. One without the other is invalid.

Of late, I have been learning lessons the hard way. I tend to focus too much on the spiritual welfare of the ones the Lord grace me to shepherd. Even as a brother in the church, I often neglect or ignore the human care for the saints. And no wonder, when a baby is prayed for and preached to, without proper "baby care" the baby is messed up with soiled and smelly diapers all around. The baby even falls into sickness from malnutrition or imbalanced diet.

Just this week I am alerted of some saints' situation and I am also very much convicted by the Lord of my lack in shepherding. The symptoms of malnutrition are complaints, murmurings and misunderstandings. Since then I deeply considered the matter of shepherding before the Lord and realised that there is a lack in human care. All the complaints are due to carelessness or ignorance in taking care of human feelings even in small matters, as well as the great ones. Since then, my prayer is that I may have a proper humanity to take care of the saints. The more I prayed about how to shepherd the saints, the more the Lord reminded me my own need for having a proper humanity, the humanity of Jesus as the Spirit of reality.

Today, being well aware of the saints' situation I send SMSs for the combined prayer meeting to almost every saints. Surprisingly, many saints whom I never expected, indeed, turned up for the prayer meeting. After the prayer meeting a sister testified that as soon as she received the SMS she hurried up and rushed for the prayer meeting. Likewise, a brother who had long been  isolated turned up. O a simple SMS, as a concern and exhortation means a lot!

The Lord begins to open my eyes to see that many of the backslidings are because of deficiency in proper and normal human care. However, a question arises. How can I take care of so many saints? I too need to be shepherded. Its not just possible for me alone to carry out the human care. Therefore, the "body" comes into picture. Shepherding with a proper human care must be done in the Body in coordination with the brothers whom the Lord has graced to bear the same burden. The condition of the brothers who bear the responsibility of a church is a litmus test for the condition of the saints. If the saints in  a local church is weak, it indirectly implies the shepherding brothers are also weak.

With this as a background, the church prayer meeting tonight was fully focused on human care; to “consider one another so as to incite one another to love and good works” Heb. 10:24; and to “exhort one another each day” Heb. 3:13.

Lord forgive all my shortcomings. Shepherd me with Your humanity that I may shepherd others in Your humanity.

The Blood, the Spirit and the Word

In order to live in the divine history within the human history and become Christ's mighty ones for His building, we need to apply the cleansing blood of Christ, live in the divine Spirit of Christ, and abide in the beautifying and killing word of Christ to flow out Christ for the unique expression of Christ (Zech. 3:3-4; 1 John 1:9; Zech. 4:6; 12:1; Rev. 19:13-15; Eph. 5:26; 6:17; 1 Cor.10:16; Zech. 4:12-14; John 7:37-39a). 

The prophesying meeting in the church in Gurgaon today was very specific. I was supplied by the saints' prophesyings. Very specifically I was touched by the matter of the Blood, the Spirit and the Word.

1. The Blood : Being a man of flesh and blood living in a sinful world, no one is exempted from being contaminated. Many small little things can easily contaminate us, consciously or unconsciously. However, the Lord has given us the provision of the blood, to remove our filthy garments, by our confession (1 John 1:9). Oh what a blessing! Without this I have no ground to come before and stand in His presence. The blood deals with every negative things and bridge the gap between us and God and among ourselves.
2. The Spirit : God has given us a human spirit to contact Him, receive Him, worship Him, live Him and fulfill His purpose and be one with Him. All this is possible because He is also the Spirit to match our human spirit. Our need today is to exercise our spirit to experience and enjoy God in Christ as the Spirit who is in our spirit and live in the divine Spirit of Christ.
3. The Word : The word functions to beautify us ; sanctifying us, washing us, cleansing us by the washing of the water in the word (Eph. 5:26). The word also  kills the negative things within our being especially our opinions. As such a word, if we abide in the word, we will be able to flow out Christ for the unique expression of Christ.

With the experiences of the blood, the Spirit and the word, we can be Christ's mighty ones for His building and be a testimony of Jesus wherever God has placed us for the spreading of His recovery to prepare for His coming back.

Lord, make me Your mighty ones.

Prosperity, Pride and Presumption

Lesson from the life of Uzziah

2 Chronicles 26:

5 And he set himself to seek after God during the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the vision of God; and as long as he sought after Jehovah, God caused him to prosper.

15 And in Jerusalem he made machines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and at the corners for shooting with arrows and great stones. And his fame went out far abroad, for he was marvelously helped until he was strong.

16 But when he had become strong, his heart became uplifted, to his own destruction. And he trespassed against Jehovah his God and went into the temple of Jehovah to burn incense upon the incense altar.

19 Then Uzziah became angry, and in his hand was a censer for burning incense. And when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of Jehovah beside the incense altar.

20 ......for Jehovah had stricken him.

21 So Uzziah the king was a leper until the day of his death; and he dwelt in a separate house as a leper, for he was cut off from the house of Jehovah. And Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land.

Uzziah began with seeking after God when he was in despair, and as long as he sought after Jehovah, God caused him to prosper. This should have continued all the days of his life. However, when he was blessed and became famous, because he was marvelously helped until he was strong, by Jehovah, he began to be proud; his heart became lifted up, and that was to his own destruction. And later, he became presumptuous by taking things in his own hand, usurping the function of the priests by burning incense upon the incense alter. The result was God's judgement by leprosy unto death. 

The life of Uzziah is a warning to me and to all the children of God. May the Lord have mercy on us. And always preserve us to live a simple life of seeking after God all the days of our lives. Our seeking the Lord is not for prosperity, even though God may still prosper us. Our seeking God is our righteous deed acknowledging that we are nothing and indeed nothing and that without God we can do nothing and are nothing and the meaning of our human existence is for God and His purpose alone. 

Let us be aware of two big sins: pride and presumption. In fact, the duo are just one; one follow the other and vice versa. The first sin ever committed was pride too. A proud person is a blind person; he is proud because he is blind to the fact that all that he has is actually from God, and all that he is, is of God's mercy and blessing. Otherwise, he would never presume to be anything nor presume to do anything.

What a lesson! What a warning! Yet what an encouragement of God's loving kindness and mercy! "As long as he sought Jehovah God caused him to prosper and will be marvelously helped until he becomes strong." Lord, all the days of my life, may I be such!

Favor and Bonds

Zechariah 

11:7 So I shepherded the flock of slaughter, and thereby the afflicted of the flock. And I took to myself two staffs; one I called Favor, and the other I called Bonds; and I shepherded the flock. 

10:8 I will whistle for them and gather them, for I have redeemed them; and they will multiply as they have multiplied.

Jehovah as Jesus brought two staffs—Favor and Bonds. Favor refers to grace, and Bonds refers to being bound into oneness. Jesus came as the Shepherd to feed God’s flock with grace so that they might have oneness. (Zech.11:7,footnotes 1 and 2)

This excerpt from the ministry of the word nourished me in my time with the Lord. The Lord, the good Shepherd, has been shepherding me with His grace; day by day, grace upon grace. If not for his shepherding grace, I would have been by now, man, most miserable. This experience of grace even tuned my prayer up to give thanks to God for his grace. Everyday, whenever  I pray, what comes out is thanksgiving for grace and prayer for more grace. Through this kind of gracious experience and enjoyment of Christ, we are being brought into oneness; a oneness not of man but of God Himself who is uniquely one, which is the "bonds!"

If there is no enjoyment of grace among the saints, there will never be oneness among them too; where there is grace, there is oneness; for where there is grace, there is Christ and where there is Christ, there is oneness. 

Experientially, the more I prayed with brothers, the more I am blended into oneness with them. Since last year as I have been praying with few brothers in Shillong, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Guwahati, Khunti and Dimapur, I enjoyed the oneness in spirit among us; and the oneness even in bearing the same burden too, for the Lord's interest.

By this way of spending time with the Lord in prayer individually and corporately, the Lord is whistling and gathering us together which ultimately issues in the multiplication of His children. Growth in life comes by enjoying the Lord daily as grace and being gathered into His presence daily. The issue of the growth in life within is the multiplication in numbers without. When the believers are builded together into oneness(bonds), by grace( favor), they will multiply as they have multiplied. Hallelujah!

More favor, more bond; more grace, more oneness, Lord, for Your growth in us and increase.

Golden Oil

Zechariah 4:

3b: And there are two olive trees beside it,

12: What are the two olive branches that are the by the side of the two golden spouts, which empty the gold from themselves?

The churches are the golden lampstands, and the function of the golden lampstand is to shine forth as the testimony of Jesus to the world. In the old testament the golden lampstand in the holy of holies was to give light and the lamps should be burning all the time with the oil. And the function of the high priest was to trim the charred wick and fill the lamps with oil for the lampstand to burn brightly and illuminate the holy of holies. 

Today, we, the churches as the golden lampstands must ever shine in our localities as the many expressions of the one unique universal Body of Christ. However, the lampstand to ever shine, there must be two things happening regularly:

1. Trim the wick: To deal with our hearts, basically our conscience before God every day; to be deal with anything that does not conform with God's divine life and holy nature; by confession, application of the precious blood of Christ (1 John 1:7,9).
2. Fill the lamps: To contact the Lord everyday, spend time with Him to be infused with Him and be filled with the golden oil as the source for the lamps to burn.

The functions of the two olive trees, the two olive branches, are the means for the supply of the golden lampstand with the golden oil. Here the "gold" and the "oil" are used synonymously. For, the gold is God Himself and the oil is the Spirit who is the consummation of the processed God. Where there is gold, there is oil and vice versa. And this golden oil must be emptied to fill the golden lampstand; and be filled again. Signifying the need for us to be filled with the Spirit of God everyday and be poured out to supply the saints in the church for the shining testimony of Jesus. This is the meaning of our Christian life in the church life; to be filled with the Spirit and to supply the church with the Spirit.

There must be the lampstand and there must also be the oil. The oil without the lampstand is incomplete, likewise, the lampstand without the oil is incomplete too. Our Christian life without the church life is baseless; content without the container, and is incomplete and the church without Christians being filled in the Spirit is also empty; container without the content and also is incomplete. The two are equally important; Christ and the church; a Christian life in the church life. This is God's purpose and the meaning of our human life.

This is what the Lord spoke to us in the church today, and also the burden deep within each one of us. Lord, make me sons of olive oil to supply the lampstand; fill me with Your Spirit every day of the church life.