Crowd of Cares

2 Corinthians 11:28 Apart from the things which have not been mentioned, there is this: the crowd of cares pressing upon me daily, the anxious concern for all the churches.

As Paul was compelled to boast of His status, labor and affliction in his vindication of his apostolic ministry, he used a particular phrase "the crowd of cares pressing upon me daily, the anxious concern for all the churches". His crowd of cares were his anxious concern for the churches whom he cared for as his own children. What a pattern indeed! Perhaps, such a genuine and intimate care for the churches of God would have been more pressing than any outward suffering of persecution, however sever they may be. No wonder he could bold write in the next chapter, "v.15 But I, I will most gladly spend and be utterly spent on behalf of your souls". 

As parent, my wife and I, were deeply concerned for our children. In fact, she cared for them much more than I do. We would sacrifice anything for our own children. Because they are out of us, our very being reproduced. In the same manner, the spiritual children God has blessed us must be cared for as such, if not more. This crowd of cares would bow ones knee daily to prayer, praying a persevering and petitioning prayer for the spiritual welfare of the saints. Such cares does not come by assignment of responsibility; it comes organically by life. 

These days I have been burdened by the Lord for some churches and saints and also for new cities where there are yet to be raised up. The release of such deep burden through prayer is indeed a joy. Such burden drives me to pray and even intercede. And such genuine burden that comes from the Lord will one day be answered. Even, the Lord burdened me for some new cities, not knowing what's in there. But every morning, I pray and release the burden. As it was, it will also be, that the Lord will raise up many church through such prayer for cities where there is no testimony yet, and will also strengthen those churches already raised up but needs growth. A deep and genuine concerns as burdened by the Lord will also issue in "crowd of cares" for the saints and the churches prompting even to spend and be spent for the churches and the saints. Without this, work assignment will never bear any genuine fruit. And to not have such crowd of cares is truly a spiritual disaster. Lord save us from "burdenlessness".

May the Lord burden every servant of His to serve with a burden, even with crowd of cares-anxious concern for the saints and the churches.

Proper and Adequate Leadership

Nehemiah was a proper pattern of leadership whom God used to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and to reconstitute the nation of God's elect. Seventy years of captivity in Babylon was a generation old defilement with the sins of Babylon with its culture, language and all of a human society. Though the identity of the children of God remains unique and unchanged, it for sure had been contaminated with foreign elements. Therefore after the return of the diaspora, to reconstitute the children of God as they originally were in all aspects, intrinsically and extrinsically, a proper and adequate leadership was needed. And Nehemiah was such a one.

Nehemiah 13:

9 Then I gave commands, and they purified the chambers; and I returned the vessels of the house of God, the meal offering, and the frankincense there.

13 And I appointed treasurers over the storehouses, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah; and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were counted faithful, and it was their charge to distribute to their brothers.

21 But I testified against them and said to them, Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath.

30 Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign. And I appointed duties for the priests and the Levites, each in his work,

Similarly, today as the Lord is recovering His chosen people into His heart's desire to build up the Body of Christ, there for sure, is a need for a proper leadership to carry out the work of rebuilding and reconstitution. Though the leadership in the New Testament may not definitely be a person or group of persons per se, those who indeed have the ministry of the age and the anointing of the Lord for the goal of God's building is the leadership. Only under such proper and adequate leadership can the Lord recovery His heart's desire. 

In the same manner, in every service pertaining to the building up of the Body of Christ, there is a divine leadership.Such leaders represents God to carry out His economy. And under such proper and adequate leadership there is a proper order in the Body and the building work can be accomplished.

Christ alone is the unique Leader, and His leadership in expressed through whom He anoints and appoints among His members in the Body in His humanity to carry out His work. To recognise and submit to such divine anointment is a blessing; not a rulership or heading over as a tyrant but for the sweet coordination and order in the Body. 

The Lord truly enlightened me as I studied this portion of the Word. Though we are not in an inorganic organisation, organically we need the order through proper and adequate leadership, not of human hand but of God. 

Lord, preserve me in and under Your sovereignly arranged leadership; yet not to be blind-led by man-made erroneous hierarchical leadership.

Brothers Blending

A resumption of the brothers blending and fellowship among the local churches in North India was indeed a glorious one. This part of the country needs more blending and building up among the saints, especially among the brothers. It was also very significant that many brothers who are comparatively young began to participate. The Lord is beginning to do new things with the turn of the age.

We started our blending in a living way of singing "Oh what a life!" in Hindi a couple of times, with prayers being offered up and pray-reading verses and outlines of a message on "Divine Fellowship" , then brothers fellowshiped on some crucial matters on propagation and shepherding the saints. Through the fellowship light began to dawn on us. And indeed it was a glorious beginning. 

Decades have gone by, yet still a thorough gospelization has not yet been done. And much less, the recovery of the Lord's heart's desire among the believers are yet to take place. Besides, there seems to be a fierce spiritual battle taking place, and saints are being attacked in many angles. May the Lord turn all these situations the saints are facing into sanctifying fire to purify them and equip them for the building work of God. 

Even in my own locality, I personally experience the heat wave of the enemy's subtle attacks. Perhaps, his time is near destruction and he would not rest. Perhaps, we are also becoming more desperate and troubled him further. But the solid truth is, the Lord is the Lord and He will recovery a strong testimony in the northern part of India. Come what may, the Lord is with us and we are joined to the Lord, we are one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 67:17). 

The age of individualistic spirituality is gone, today we are in the Body, and the age is the age of building up of the Body of Christ. More building is needed for the Lord to do a thorough work in this dry and barren land. So is the Lord recovering the Body-life in reality among the churches. All building works must be done in the Body, with the Body for the Body, of which Christ is the Head. This brothers blending is a key point for the Lord to step further on.

Lord blend us more in Your Body for Your Body.  

Thorn in the Flesh

2 Corinthians 12:

7 And because of the transcendence of the revelations, in order that I might not be exceedingly lifted up, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, that he might buffet me, in order that I might not be exceedingly lifted up.

8 Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me.

9 And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ might tabernacle over me.

The Lord sovereignly graced me to experience a little of what brother Paul experienced. To cherish and noursih me, He gave me many heavenly and spiritual experiences with the joy and enjoyment. However, being a young learner, I also need to be balanced in every aspect. Lest I boast of God's grace to my doom. Recent months were full of out-stationed ministry filled with propagations, ministering the word with much life, zeal and full of Spirit, yet all these are just one side of a coin. On the other side of the coin is the exposure of the natural man, the breaking, the dealing and condemnation of the undealt self. Even the Lord's wise assignment of the a thorn in the flesh for every one; a perfect balance for a normal Christian in the normal church life.

Last week, I was confessing to the Lord of my weakness and asking the Lord to strengthen me and remove those weakness from my life completely. I was on my knees, praying for this earnestly. Yet the Lord spoke to me from the above verses, "My grace is sufficient for you.." Actually I asked the Lord to remove the thorn in my flesh, yet the reply was that I needed that thorn in my flesh, perhaps, to remind me of my need for Him moment by moment, realising how weak I am in the flesh and that I cannot live without Him.

This experience is very healthy and balanced. As long as I am in the flesh and blood, there is nothing like sinless perfection. Every day is a matter of looking to the Lord for the daily supply, the desperate need for the Lord in every matter great and small and for the working out of the daily salvation (Phil.2 :12). By this way is the growth from deep within and the transformation and maturity unto the redemption and glorification of the body too.

With this revelation, my begging prayer consummated in praise for the Lord's divine and wise design for every child of His. I was very much comforted and need no longer be a prey to condemnation. Instead, I praised and worshiped Him for the thorn in my flesh.

Serving Tables

The prayer and the ministry of the word in Acts 6:4 is really wonderful, many serving ones would spiritually ambitious be, for this. Yet the Bible reveals another parallel service in the church life, serving tables. Given an option many serving ones would go for the former as it is spiritually and obviously appears more honorable. However, the later, is equally important and must be diligently taken care. The negligence of the later will devoid the former, in fact, without the service of tables, there cannot be the ministry of the word.

Every problem in the Bible and at least, in my experience in the church life, has a root in the matter of serving tables. Acts 6: 1 And in these days, as the disciples were multiplying in number, a murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews occurred, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily dispensing. Nehemiah 5:1,2  And there was a great cry of the people and their wives against their brothers the Jews, For there were some who said, With our sons and our daughters we are many; therefore we must get grain that we may eat and live. When the matter of serving tables is not properly cared for all kinds of problems will arise. For man is a physical being, as long as he is in the flesh and blood, serving tables is a necessity. Ignoring serving tables under the guise of the ministry of the word and prayer is a mere slothfulness. Every servant of God must learn to serve tables well before he begins the ministry of the word. Otherwise, his ministry will be just an "empty vessel making much noise."

Recently, the Lord spoke to me and convicted me on this matter. I must learn to serve in the humanity of Jesus as to minister life in the divinity of Christ. A proper and adequate training and learning in serving tables is utmost important before one can maturely minister the word. Even a thorough learning is needed in menial and humble services including cleaning toilets, sweeping and mopping the floor, arranging chairs for the meeting etc. Void of these basic skills would mean void of subjective experiences of being a serving one.

Lord, let me not be overtly minister of the word without a thorough perfecting in many practical services. Lord, balance me in both these services; serving tables and also ministering the word. Grand me the necessary learning of serving tables and the ministry of the word.

Equality

2 Corinthians 8:

14 But it is out of equality; at the present time your abundance for their alack that their abundance also may be for your lack, so that there may be equality;

15 As it is written, "He who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no lack.''

Recovery Version Note 1: This quotation from Exo. 16 refers to God's heavenly way of balancing the supply of manna among His people, and is applied here to the ministering of material things to the needy saints. Manna was gathered for the daily supply of God's people; they had a sufficient supply no matter how much or how little they gathered. Gathering manna was their duty, and they were to do their duty without being greedy. In like manner, as children of God we should not be greedy or try to preserve our money for ourselves, for whether or not we give, the outcome will be the same, for God in His sovereignty is active to practice a heavenly balancing of the wealth among His people. The result is that He takes care of our daily needs, so that he who preserves much for himself has no excess and he who preserves little for himself has no lack.

The Lord enlightened me this morning to see and know that He is the God of righteousness and justice. Even in the distribution of wealth among His children, He takes care of the poor and the rich alike as in the days of old. He rained manna sufficient enough for all. Those who gathered much had no surplus, those who gathered little had no lack, altogether nullifying any room for greed among His children. Even if there were some who, in greed, have gathered much, it would all rot and bred worms. That's how God balanced His people by the principle of manna.

This has been my experience since I came to serve the Lord. The Lord always took care of my needs, whether great or small. When we have abundance, it is balanced out to those in lack, and when when we are in lack, He supplies from those who are in abundance. When I received so little, I could healthily manage with that much, even when I am blessed abundantly, I still go on as before. Riches or poverty means nothing to me. The joy that comes with it matters most. Often, more joy in lack than in abundance, for joy is not measured by physical things, rather physical things are mostly the cause for loss of joy. When I received that much I also spent that much, and when I receive that less, I spent that less as well. But all the time self-sufficient, all the time joyful with what the Lord has blessed. 

What matters most is, in blessing bounty we must experience and enjoy Christ and remember  the needy saints; and in poverty too, we must experience and gain Christ. Blessing must not be wasted nor poverty. In either case, we must gain Christ. And learn from brother Paul. Philippians 4:12 "I know also how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to hunger, both to abound and to black."

Amidst Idols

"...we know that idol is nothing in the world and that there is no God but one."  1 Corinthians 8:4

A rare occasion: In a hospitality by an unbeliever in his room; that was the first time in my life to be accommodated in a room full of idols. Superstition and religious mindset would have prompted me to reject such arrangement but I just took it as from the Lord. Another opportunity to experience the true and living God. I stayed there in the room, spending time in prayer and fellowshipping with brothers and reading the Word of God! In fact, I had a very good sleep and a very good stay. 

Idols are nothing. It's just man made and they are no gods at all. It has no life, lesser than the least germ, at least germs have life. What one needs is life, the divine life of God to live in us and operate in us and through us. If at all there is any evil spirit behind those idols, when a believer is in its midst, all the evil spirits must flee, even though the lifeless idols cannot.  But this is not a justification for idolatry in our lives. Idolatry must be dealt with seriously, by destroying them all, even burning them if they are under our physical control, for they are all falsehood and vanity and counterfeit of the true and living God.

There is only one God, the true living God, who became a man, Jesus Christ, crucified to redeem man from sins, yet resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit, to enter into man, to make man the same as He is, in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. This one God cannot be idolised, imagined to be a good looking man printed in a printing press.  Even the so called "Jesus picture/photo" is an idol, an artist impression or imagination of how he might look like. To possess such, even is also an idolatry. Religion have invented many ritualistic-superstitious idols which became a hiding place for many evil spirits to deceive the novice and ignorant lot. Many have been drugged by religious superstitions and for fear of evil to befall, have wasted much time, money and energy to please the religiously drugged superstitious mind with many rituals and ceremonial oblations supposedly offered to God.

O what a salvation to be delivered for such idolatry, religion and superstition! May the true and living God in Christ as the Spirit deliver us from any form of idolatry. May God save us from the deception of the evil in the form of idols. For we know that idol is nothing in the world and that there is no God but one.  1 Corinthians 8:4