Struggle Not

Whenever there is an air of gospel preaching, there is an innate sense of realization for preparation. This has become the normal mundane experience. All these are signs of immaturity. In reality, gospel preaching is just an overflow of the daily experiences and enjoyment of Christ. If this crucial element is absent, every gospel work is just a "work"-- a physical and mental struggling to achieve something. This is far from what the Lord wants.

The Lord Jesus lived a life and His living is the gospel; His person and work were one. His living was His working and His working His living; the two was never separated. Such is the living needed for the spread of the gospel. God does not need us to do anything for Him, He just wants us to live Him and through this, He will carry out His work.

This time too, the Lord reminded me again and again NOT to STRUGGLE for the gospel nor for increase. Instead He reminded me again and again of my need to live because of Him by eating Him and drinking Him; experiencing and enjoying Him in every little thing, here a little and there a little. This is the new way of gospelization: a gospelization by living our the gospel, not allowing an iota of the natural man to participate, lest he dilute the purity of the gospel.

Every time I come to the word and spent time with the Lord in prayer, praying for growth and increase, the Lord's one and only constant reminder is, "STRUGGLE NOT", but "LIVE CHRIST." Though I knew this long time ago doctrinally, only recently I have been practically experiencing the reality of it. But I am also aware, this is much much higher as it entails one's life and living before God and man, daily, hourly and moment by moment. Sufficient growth in life and maturity is required to come to this level. O may the Lord grace me more to be as He so desired in the matter of the gospel preaching.

All natural scheming, though with utmost good intent and purity, is still the natural man. Sometimes out of mercy, the Lord do bless such natural labor as an incentive for all the zeal, labor and struggle; lest we fall. But that's not His heart's desire. All the saints of ancient days had all preached the gospel by their living testimony; foremost of all was apostle Paul, whose serving was in spirit and whose living was Christ. So should our living be such. 

Gospel preaching is a living and is a day to day matter as long as there is breath in our nostril. Anything that arouses the natural man must be dealt with thoroughly whether for good reason or not, the natural man is the natural man. Any spiritual activity of the natural man is at best "strange fire" offered to God that invokes God's judgement to death. 

Lord, have mercy on us and grace us to live out the Lord Jesus Christ as the gospel everyday of lives.

Unsearchable!

Ephesians 3:8

To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel.

Last week's portion of grace was on the unsearchable riches of Christ. The verse in Ephesians 3:8 is very subjective to me these days. "To me", yes to me indeed. This in not a doctrine or a theology. Its real, and its to me personally, I have been experiencing the grace of God. "Less than the least of all saints", yes, I have a deep feeling within me that this applies to me. But for the grace of God, sometimes I wonder where I would be today and what I would have become by now. This is no exaggeration, nor self-imposed humility. Through various experiences of life, I deeply feel as apostle Paul felt, "less than the least of all saints." "Was this grace given to me", yes, indeed, this grace, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ experienced and enjoyed day by day, has been so timely. This grace is given to me, yes even me! And, "the unsearchable riches of Christ" being experienced day by day, moment by moment; sometimes in disguise, at times in hardship and yet at another time in blessing, but most of the time normally even with mundane days and nights with the routine and daily chores. 

Unsearchable is indeed unsearchable. There is no limit to it, ranging from infinity to infinity. Sometimes physical, at times psychological and often spiritual. What a blessing that we mortal man can experience and enjoy the immortal!

All saints were enthralled by this riches of Christ unsearchable! The prophesying on the Lord's day itself was unsearchable and rich. The Lord's grace is wonderful. O may He grace me daily to enjoy His grace all the days of my life!

Service to God

Ephesians 6:

5 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as to Christ;

6 Not with eye-service as men-pleasers but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul;

7 With good will serving as slaves, as serving the Lord and not men;

8 Knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or a free man.

The Lord spoke to me this morning a very special word regarding service in the Lord and service to the Lord. In some way or the other, we are serving physically. In our respective service, a proper attitude is of utmost importance. Our inward being must be with all purity and sincerity. Though outwardly we seem to serve man, yet our attitude should be as serving the Lord. This is the key to unlock the Lord's blessings.

In my service in the literature service, I must not be a men-pleaser, and I must not serve merely an earthly master or an entity, but I must serve Christ in all my services. The phrases in the verses in Ephesians 6:5-7 that touched me the most are "as to Christ," "as slaves of Christ" and "as serving the Lord." Later in our official pursuit in the office, I fellowshipped these verses to all the servings ones and we even prayed over the verses that our service may be by the divine life with the exercise of the spirit in sweet coordination with one another, serving as slaves of Christ serving Christ. As we were fellowshipping, a brother added another verse, verse 8, an incentive for our service in the Lord, that we will receive back from the Lord.

The same applies to all kinds of services, be it secular or spiritual. Though there are many techniques of management, all are human and natural. But in the service of the Lord, the best "management technique" is everyone serves in the spirit. This is the "zoe" theory of "management." Though I have studied much the secular theory of management I cease to believe in their effectiveness. The best and most effective, proven through years of experiences, is the Z "zoe" theory, where every serving ones lives before God and serves God with a pure conscience and pure attitude. This does not require any human monitoring though such may still be there.Besides, this invokes God favour and blessings which the secular ones are devoid of. And the success of any service is dependent on God's blessing. If God blesses, it is blessed; none can stop nor do anything otherwise.

Lord, make me such a serving one, a slave of Christ.

Light Has Dawned

Last month the Lord has shown me a ray of hope for the church where He placed me. And further on, this month the Lord causes the light to be dawned further. Hallelujah!

Many of the new ones that we have been praying for, and who have been going through trying circumstances, are slowly yet steadily being recovered. Their cases at times seems like hard nuts to crack, and sometimes even impossible, yet the Lord's word never fails. Though we have been through the dark night as far as increase is concerned, now the light has dawned!

A brother started calling me up the past few weeks to visit him for fellowship and prayer. Though I could not make it for some reasons, he was so desperate to keep calling again and again. In fact, I procrastinated a couple of times intentionally, to make sure that he is genuinely seeking the Lord and for fellowship in the Body. Having then confirmed of his seriousness, another brother and I visited him. O it was a wonderful recovery! The Lord has led this brother through valleys until he called out for fellowship desperately realising his need for fellowship in the Body. The fellowship that day was full of life and life. He himself confessed of his shortcomings and willing to reconcile and for restitution of all that went wrong, both before and with, God and man.

Another brother had gone through months of stripping by the Lord. Wary and weak of wandering in the wilderness of the world, he finally came for fellowship and began to restore his church-life. Though still muddling through the miry clay, still he is progressing. The heart is now willing with the body following after. By the way, the Lord also is dealing with me and exposing me of my lack in shepherding brothers in need. On the one hand he was being recovered, on the other hand, I am also being recovered in my responsibility as a serving brother. May the Lord recover us fully.

Yet another new one started calling for a visit to his new office as he has been blessed in his business from being a mere employee to a one who founded a new company. Though he is not yet baptised, he testifies that his upliftment is because of the saints' prayer. Well, God knows best. Anyway, he is being recovered.

A similar case happened with another new one who has started his own business and being physically blessed, and attributed all to the prayer of the saints. 

In a similar fashion, a brother who met with us a couple of years ago sudden called up last week to inform of his presence in town and expressed his desire to meet and fellowship. He actually came for the meeting and we had a wonderful fellowship in the word and expressed his desire to continue in the fellowship.

What do we say of all these? A coincidence? Or just like that? No. The Lord is still on the throne. He is in control and direct every one's steps, especially of His children and chosen ones and of those whom His saints have been interceeding for. All these are evidences of light having dawned.

Lord, we bow and worship You for Your ways and Your perfect timing for all things. Thank You for the new light dawning. Lead us further to the full bright day.

Coordination Fellowship

Recently in one of our church brothers' fellowship a brother pointed out the need of renovating our meeting hall for the sake of the new ones the Lord would be bringing in. My reflex action was on the contrary. As I have been brought up to live a simple life, and I indeed grow up to be simple not caring too much for physical recalibration. However, I honored the brother's fellowship and took it as from the Lord. Then on we decided to redo the look and feel of the meeting hall, in sweet coordination.

The step taken was to call for saints to come on a Saturday and work together in a blended way for the cleaning and repainting of the hall. It was all so done is a very sweet and good coordination. Sisters came to do the cleaning works mostly and brothers the repainting work. Finally, we have a new look meeting hall. The feeling was so much uplifted. With the change and upgradation of the physical hall, I personally felt like the church is going through a new phase of development. Had it not been for that fellowship, I would have never thought that a simple physical remodeling can make so much difference. This vaguely reminds me of an ancient dictum, "Godliness is next to cleanliness." Though the physical appearance seems unrelated to the spiritual, yet what is physical is the expression of what is spiritual. The spiritual condition of a church or a saint is reflected in his physical outlook. The two are intertwined; one expresses the other and vice versa.

With this single step of upgradation, many more changes followed suit; rearrangement of the furnitures, flooring, curtains etc.. And last night, when we had the church's prayer meeting in this new look hall, the spirit was so strong. Dormant saints became so exercised. And the spiritual atmosphere was uplifted. To me, it was revelation. I believe, its mostly the issue of the brothers' oneness in our coordination and our co-working together that commanded the Lord's blessing. Indeed, the physical rearrangement did have an effect, but the key was the oneness through the coordination fellowship.

This is but a simple testimony of the importance of co-ordination in doing anything in the Body. No matter what matters, as long as there is the oneness in co-ordination, the Lord blessings will always follow;both the physical and spiritual blessing.

Lord, keep us in Your oneness with one another, at all times for all matters.

Christ Now!

Hebrews 1:3

Who, being the effulgence of His glory and the impress of His substance and upholding and bearing all things by the word of His power, having made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Recovery Version Note on "sat down on the right hand": 

....In this book (Hebrews) is the present Christ, who is now in the heavens as our Minister (8:2) and our High Priest (4:14-15; 7:26), ministering to us the heavenly life, grace, authority, and power and sustaining us to live a heavenly life on earth. He is the Christ now, the Christ today, and the Christ on the throne in the heavens, who is our daily salvation and moment-by-moment supply.

In my morning revival time, I was so enlightened by the Christ who is today sitting down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ministering heavenly life, grace, etc., to us in His heavenly ministry. Though He no longer is physically present among us, He very much is present in spirit in our spirit as the present Christ, the Christ now, for our daily salvation from sin, self, the world and Satan. Eternally, we have been saved by grace through faith (Romans 2:8.) But how about the day to day salvation? One can easily boast of past experiences and future glory to be, but what about now? What about the present experience of  Christ? Lord, I need to experience You now as my daily salvation. 

Philippians 2:12 

So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much rather in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;

Recovery Version Note:

I.e., carry out, bring to the ultimate conclusion. We have received God's salvation, which has as its climax our being exalted by God in glory as the Lord Jesus was (v. 9). We need to carry out this salvation, to bring it to its ultimate conclusion, by our constant and absolute obedience with fear and trembling. We have received this salvation by faith; now we must carry it out by obedience, which includes our being genuinely one in our soul (v. 2). To receive this salvation by faith is once for all; to carry it out is lifelong.

The Lord touched me deeply about my need for constant and absolute obedience with fear and trembling to experience Christ, working out my daily salvation, to be saved moment by moment. I don't want to boast of the past experiences any longer, unless it is needed as a testimony, nor do I want to boast of future glory to be, but live out Christ day by day, moment by moment, as my Christ now!

O the present  Christ, the Christ now, to live Christ!

Learn Christ

Ephesians 4:20 But you did not so learn Christ,

Recovery Version Note:

Christ is not only life to us but also an example (John 13:15; 1 Pet. 2:21). In His life on earth He set up a pattern, as revealed in the Gospels. Then He was crucified and resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit that He might enter into us to be our life. We learn from Him (Matt. 11:29) according to His example, not by our natural life but by Him as our life in resurrection. To learn Christ is simply to be molded into the pattern of Christ, that is, to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29).

In my study of the word, the Lord convicted me deeply with this matter of  learning Christ. Since I believed and received the Lord, I have been learning Christ in bits and pieces, here a little, there a little. Sometimes, my learning is slow and stagnant. Though I know all believers must be steadfast and burning in spirit, serving the Lord, (Romans 12:11), meanwhile growing up to Him day by day. Somehow I lack behind in keeping up with my spiritual age. These days the Lord freshen up this crucial matter once again. Even convicting me saying, "But you did not so learn Christ."

To learn Christ is simply to be molded into the pattern of Christ, that is, to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). This happens only by growth, and growth happens only by daily eating Christ, and one can eat Christ daily only when one has the grace of the Lord to hunger and thirst for Him.This requires the Lord's mercy. Disciplined and habitual daily eating is a good way; but enjoying what we eat is a better way. For this the mercy of the Lord is needed. Otherwise, one's eating of the Lord will just be religious duty, piously and ritually carried our day by day. This will not help learn Christ.

Lord, make me poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3) that I may have the hunger to come to eat You daily, and pray, "Lord give us this day our daily bread." (Matthew 6:11) 

With this prerequisite, I can learn Christ in a genuine, proper and normal way. Moreover, He will arrange every circumstance deemed perfect for learning Him. Perhaps, in hardships and tirals, or in riches and in poverty; or in sickness and in health; or in weakness and in strength; or in life or in death. But what He deemed best is indeed the best. And to His sovereign arrangement, I humble amen and give myself to Him, that indeed, I may learn Christ.