A Ray of Hope

For everything there is a season, And a time for every purpose under heaven: (Ecclesiastes 3:1) Indeed there is lean season, as well as bounty season. However, in the work of God all seasons are His seasons, He does things perfectly at the right time, yes, in His time. 

Since long, I have been very much bothered by the situation of the local church I am in at the moment. Often in our brothers' fellowship I often expressed my burden and feeling. And it has been my intense prayer for the Lord to bring to further height of glory in gaining new ones absolutely for the Lord. Though we have contacted many, baptised many, but very few are solid, stedfast and stable. This bothered me quite much. In fact, this has become the church burden too, to focus on the shepherding in small groups in vitality for the growth and increase of the church. 

Though the burden for increase is heavy, the Lord surprisingly strip us off of serving ones in our locality. In spite of the expectation of more serving ones, the Lord reduced the number of serving ones, one by one, moving them to different cities. Amidst our meager number, families are migrating to different cities. Initially this bothered me even more. Nevertheless, the Lord is sovereign over all. He does things in His way and in His time.

Last night as I was praying and fellowshiping with the Lord and releasing burden after burden, the Lord reminded me that none of the new ones, under the shepherding and whom we have contacted for a considerable length of time, would be lost. They are preserved, waiting for the proper time to fully bring them into the church-life. Even as I was praying I began to call up the new ones one by one. Quite contrary to my expectation, they picked up my call and apologised for not being in contact for quite a while. In fact, all of them responded positively to the extend that we prayed over the phone with a promise to visit this week or the coming week. After all these calls, the Lord reminded me a verse, 1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Recovery Version Note 3: Not by our natural life and natural ability but by the Lord's resurrection life and power. Our labor for the Lord in His resurrection life with His resurrection power will never be in vain, but will result in the fulfilling of God's eternal purpose through the preaching of Christ to sinners, the ministering of life to the saints, and the building up of the church with the experiences of the processed Triune God as gold, silver, and precious stones (3:12). This labor will be rewarded by the returning Lord in the day of the resurrection of the righteous (3:14; Matt. 25:21, 23; Luke 14:14).

The Lord's definite promise is that all of the ones on whom we labored, preached the gospel, ministered life and prayed for, will all be remaining fruits. And most of these people are the authentic locals. With this rhema from the Lord, I was enlightened to see beyond the visible and was full of hope. A ray of hope has dawned! And I was very much encouraged and strengthened. Moreover, all these new ones are young, well educated and well established in their human living. No wonder the Lord brought them into contact with us.

Praise the Lord for this ray of hope! Lord, may this ray bring in the full and bright sunshine.

Love and Serve

Galatians 5

13 For you were called for freedom, brothers; only do not turn this freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.''

The all-inclusive redemption of Christ a believer enjoys is an all-inclusive freedom in Christ. However, this freedom without discipline will lead into indulgence of the flesh. Though he is saved eternally, but he may not be saved definitely in his day to day living. Yes, Christ has freed us from the bondage of the law and the bondage of religion, but this freedom without a proper vision of the goal for which freedom was obtained would mislead one into the error of free indulgence under the disguised banner that one is under no bond and is free to do whatever he wants. This is an error of imbalance.

Often in a Christian's life one tends to take for granted the glorious freedom Christ has given. But this freedom is that one be a part in the fulfillment of God's eternal plan. The goal of freedom is that one can be free to enjoy the Lord, free to experience Him richly and free to built up in love with the fellow members for the building up of the Body of Christ. If one's freedom does not usher into God's eternal purpose, that freedom has lost its goal. The Galatians believers were freed from the old covenant to the new covenant, yet they tend to be yoked with religious old covenant again. This did not meet God's goal, Therefore, Paul chastised them.And with this freedom, " through love serve one another."  And all the whole law is fulfilled in one word "LOVE." "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.''

Yesterday and today, I got stuck at these verses. I could not go any further as I read these verses. For I have not in reality experienced this yet. This matter of love for one another, not only the brothers and sisters in the church, but also my neighbor as myself, is still a farsighted dream. In my self I cannot make it, for I do not have enough love, even the little I have is just cocooned in my own world--my self, my family and my-domain. These days, my prayer also has been that the divine love of God may fill and saturate me to love other with the divine love. 

Practically, God gave me an opportunity to experience this. After two months of considering and reconsidering, the Lord led us, me and my wife, in peace and in one accord to open our home for brothers' house. With the inner sense of joy and peace, we got through with this. What a mercy from the Lord! Still many more lessons to learn as bachelor-brothers are going to be blended with married family with kids under one roof. May the Lord bless this new beginning and make our church-life real with genuine care and concern for one another. 

Coincidentally, another incident occurred in which I was tested for giving accommodation to a brother in need  at the wee hour of the night without prior information.Though I said nothing nor expressed anything, I was exposed that my heart needed to be more enlarged. As I read this verse this morning, I just could not go forward with the succeeding verses. The Lord stopped me. The simple reason being, I have not learned my lesson well yet. Immediately I repented and asked forgiveness for not being broad-hearted. After this, when I met the brother, I greeted him well and the inner peace was restored. To take care of my brother's need, whatever the reason otherwise, is to love my neighbor as myself.

Again, God gave me another opportunity to give an impromptu love-feast to a couple who,  by the way, visited us. They had lunch with us, in my stead. And I was blessed to serve them even in little things of serving the food and washing the dishes. A goal of building up the Universal Body of Christ begins with a step of service.

Lord, give me more of Your love, that with your divine love, I may love my neighbor.

Pure in Heart

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Recovery Version Note: http://online.recoveryversion.org/FootNotes.asp?FNtsID=140

81 To be pure in heart is to be single in purpose, to have the single goal of accomplishing God's will for God's glory (1 Cor. 10:31). This is for the kingdom of the heavens. Our spirit is the organ by which we receive Christ (John 1:12; 3:6), whereas our heart is the ground where Christ as the seed of life grows (13:19). For the kingdom of the heavens we need to be poor in spirit, empty in our spirit, that we may receive Christ. Also, we need to be pure, single, in our heart that Christ may grow in us without frustration.

These days the matter of purity touched me a lot. My heart's desperate cry has been, "Lord, make me pure in heart."  For I know too well of what my heart is under the shining light of the Lord, that I am not as pure. My motive, intention and attitude have been weighed now and then through various circumstances. Every time it tries to wage its ugly tail, the Lord reminded me to pure and simple in heart. The love of God is truly unfathomable. Though I could in many cases, have gone astray, His love preserved me, reminded me of my need for Him, and much more to be dealt with by Him.

Till today I do not know how pure or impure I am, but I deeply sense the need to be purified more and more, day by day. My deep intense prayer has been that the Lord would make my heart pure, single and simple. Especially when one gets involved in the work of God, though seemingly, the secular or academic or worldly ambitions have been forsaken, but what about the spiritual ambition? The ministry of the age is the greatest help in matters of dealing with my inward being. 

Spiritual ambition and spiritual pride are two great danger among the Lord's children. Any saints who cannot break through in these will be through with their spiritual future. The consequences of such evil is far more than that of the world's. History has proved it time and again, with rebellions now and then, here and there. Even the best of spiritual giant can be the best at spiritual destruction. The ministry in the Lord's recovery is the only place I find where this have been properly dealt with. May the Lord preserve every saints from this spiritual evil. Only the mercy of the Lord can preserve us from this cancer, worse than any backsliding.

The shining of the Lord, the ministry of the word and the dealing of the heart are best for the purity of heart. The Lord shines, the ministry speaks which the Bible confirms and the grace and strength of the Lord, to dig away all impurities from our hearts. For all these, adequate time must be spent with the Lord to have a direct contact with Him, and the dealing of the heart in the renewing of the mind, the stabilising of emotion and subduing of the will is of utmost necessity. May the Lord preserve every saint in His recovery to be pure, single and simple in heart.

Kibroth-hattaavah

After the exodus from Egypt by the miraculous experience of crossing the Red Sea, the experience of bitter water turning to sweet at Marah and the enjoyment of the twelve springs at Elim, the children of Israel continued to be fleshly and murmured against Moses, and God, for the fleshly lust for meat. The answer to this was the supply of quail with a curse. Numbers 11: 

31 And a wind went forth from Jehovah and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall beside the camp, about a day's journey on this side and a day's journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the earth.

32 And the people rose up all that day and all the night and all the next day, and they gathered the quail. He who gathered least gathered ten homers. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.

33 While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the people, and Jehovah struck the people with a very severe plague.

34 And the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who lusted.

This indeed is many Christians' experiences today. They have been saved from Egypt under the tyranny of Pharoah, baptised in the sea (Red Sea), experienced the cross at Marah and also enjoyed the resurrection life of God flowing at Elim. However all these experiences were momentary and still something more solid is missing; the daily supply of manna for the daily salvation and nourishment. All the previous experiences comes and go, and does not make one stable and strong. Only the eating of manna is continual and solid. Unless this manna is eaten everyday, whatever experiences of the past, however glorious they may be, is still of the past and not too subjectively applicable at the moment. No wonder, many Christians with glorious past are not presently glorious. Instead there are backsliding and bitterness spiritually. The panacea to this spiritual pandemic is the daily eating of manna with the fresh dew in the morning, the daily enjoyment of Christ.

When this daily enjoyment of Christ in the word is missing or lacking, there will, for sure, be a  lust for other things. Most predominantly in today's world, is the lust for the fleshly desire of worldly pleasures, the "quails."  God would not forbid anyone from such longings, but the more one indulges in the flesh, the more he is deadened in his spirit and the more hungry and lusty he becomes. Many believers have been sucked by this whirlpool of  lust and are rendered maimed, function-less and useless as far as God or the things of God are concerned. In fact, they are judged and struck and buried at Kibroth-hattaavah.

The answer to an enigma of believers in sin lies in the matter of daily spiritual nourishment. A spiritual malnutrition is the root of a Christian backsliding. Environment or circumstances are only the outer shell. The root cause is malnutrition. Eating Christ as the daily manna is the only solution.

Lord, feed me everyday with the heavenly manna; be my satisfaction daily and moment by moment. Deliver me from the path to Kibroth-hattaavah.

Love Not the World

1 John 2:

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him;

Recovery Version Footnote:(http://online.recoveryversion.org/FootNotes.asp?FNtsID=8257)

The Greek word is used for different things, as follows: In Matt. 25:34; John 17:5; Acts 17:24; Eph. 1:4; and Rev. 13:8, it denotes the material universe as a system created by God. In John 1:29; 3:16; and Rom. 5:12, it denotes the fallen human race, corrupted and usurped by Satan to be the components of his evil world system. In 1 Pet. 3:3 it denotes adorning, ornaments. Here, as in John 15:19; 17:14; and James 4:4, it denotes an order, a set form, an orderly arrangement, hence, an ordered system (set up by Satan, the adversary of God), not the earth. God created man to live on the earth for the fulfillment of His purpose. But His enemy, Satan, in order to usurp the God-created man, formed an anti-God world system on this earth by systematizing men with religion, culture, education, industry, commerce, entertainment, etc., through men's fallen nature, in their lusts, pleasures, and pursuits, and even in their indulgence in necessities for their living, such as food, clothing, housing, and transportation (see note 312 in John 12). The whole of such a satanic system lies in the evil one (5:19). Not loving such a world is the ground for overcoming the evil one. Loving it just a little gives the evil one the ground to defeat and occupy us.

In this age, the world as in 1 John 2:15, an orderly system set up by Satan, is most used by Satan himself to draw many away from God, even if possible, including the saints. There has been a spiritual sense of spiritual warfare. I have been feeling this since the past few years. Today, in metro cities people are not bothered so much by religious and superstitious fanaticism. The real hindrance to their coming to the Lord is the world and its satanic systems. 

As  the church in Gurgaon and even personally, I have been praying for the salvation of many in this city. Though some really got saved and are growing in the divine life, but many are struggling their way to break through. Leave alone the unbelievers, even the  saved believers are, to some extend, affected by the sting of the world. The world in its various flavor-- in the form of money, lucrative jobs, overtime jobs, entertainment etc., are the poisonous sting that stung even the saved. A real spiritual battle indeed.

The experience of Romans 6 and 7 is  readily reckonable. Nevertheless, we are not without solution. Aptly timed as it is, the Holy Word for Morning Revival at this juncture is indeed a timely help; on the matter of growth in life by dealing with the heart. 

Do not love the world nor the things in the world is a matter of the heart. If, in our hearts, Christ  indeed has made His home as in Eph. 3:17, we would not be affected at all.  Though the love of Christ is there in our hearts, the love for many other things are also there, thereby contaminating the purity of our heart which is meant for Christ alone. Therefore, the need for the dealing of our heart. Once the heart is properly and thoroughly dealt with, and brought to an upright and normal condition, the love of the world and for the world would diminish. Our love for the Lord would then be deeper, sweeter, higher and glorious, then we'll be a light in the darkness of the world as the testimony of Jesus, shining as luminaries for others to see and know Jesus. 

This morning our longing prayer was that our hearts may be purified day by day, made  simple and single, knowing only to love the Lord Jesus Christ and not the world. This is my heart's desire and I deeply long to love the Lord more, even as I already loved the Lord. "Lord, I love you." This, the panacea for "Do not love the world nor the things in the world."

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.