Paul's Prayer, Mine

Colossians 1:10 

To walk worthily of the Lord to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and growing by the full knowledge of God,

Paul's prayer for the Colossians was so deep. As I was reading this portion as my daily bread, I was overwhelmed at the depth and wisdom of Paul's concern for the believers. I took it personally the word as mine own. 

To walk worthily of the Lord : I mused upon this verse over and over again, looking to the Lord for mercy and grace that I may walk worthily of the Lord. Looking to myself I am far too short. My deep inner desire is that I may indeed live such a life "worthy of the Lord." Lord, make me such!

And to please Him in all things,: This is even far more difficult in my natural strength. For this I need the Lord's life; only the Lord within me can please the Lord without. Lord, infuse me with more of Yourself and grow from within my being, day by day, moment by moment.

Bearing fruit in every good work : What are the good works? Recovery Version note: bearing fruit refers to living Christ, growing Christ, expressing Christ, and propagating Christ in every respect. This is the real essence of every Christian good work. The living of Christ as Paul wrote to Philippians in 1:21, "For to me to live is Christ." Lord, may I live You daily. Many times I am not; I am too much to myself. I need You Lord. Such living will spontaneously result in expressing and testifying Christ. This is the gospel.  

And growing by the full knowledge of God,: And growing and growing, by the full knowledge of God. 

Though I could not fathom the depth of Paul's utterance, deep within me I enjoyed the word. I know not the proper interpretation and much less the subjective experience, but the enjoyment and the impression it has on me is great. As Paul prayed I pray for myself too that I may "walk worthily of the Lord to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and growing by the full knowledge of God." Amen Lord, amen this word in me. Amen.

Housewife?

Having been blessed by the Lord with the blessing of the womb, my wife and dear children have left for Taipei for the delivery of the the third blessing. Every arrangement is under His divine headship and all thing works together for good for those who love Him.

Since then, I have to do everything of the household chores myself. I started off with cleaning the store room and rearranging things in the bed room and kitchen. Now I have to wash my clothes and make my own breakfast. A temporary switch to a "bachelor's life?" Indeed, it has been a wonderful experience positively speaking, though the I missed my family.

This incident reminds me of my need for more exercise in my character and living. I have been under strict diet with the help of my wife, and now I am to take care of my eating myself, a real test when none can keep guard. This is also her deep concern that I might be out of diet control.

In her absence I have learned to appreciate many things she had been doing for me. So wonderful a wife, and now the Lord is working on me, training me to do the same things my wife used to do. Oh stepping into my wife's shoe as a "housewife?"

Though psychologically I am not emotional at such temporary displacement, nor physically I feel aloof to the goodness of technology that makes the world just a click away, yet spiritually it does matter as my wife always balanced me in every matter. This too is the Lord's arrangement.

Marriage life is a great blessing in disguise; a real-life moulding of an earthen vessel to become vessel of precious stone to contain God as the golden nature and essence to become golden man. And as a part of the process of this moulding, one has to sometimes function as a housewife in outward work in diligence. Praise the Lord for this experience of a housewife!

Jehovah-jireh

Genesis 22:14 

And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh, as it is said to this day, On the mount of Jehovah it will be provided.

The experience of Abraham in the past is a type of our experience of Christ today. God has been "Jehovah Jireh" to believers and unbelievers alike. There have been uncountable number of incidents in which the Lord has provided my needs, not my wants. Some great and some small, some miraculous and others normal. Recently, the Lord gave me a simple experience of His provision, though not very significant.

I have been using a normal and simple mobile, just good enough to make calls and receive calls, send messages and receive messages. For the sake of shepherding I have been extensively exploiting the technology at hand. But this simple phone did not really meet my need, especially for conference calling, and often time, it hangs and kind of slow. I had been considering to get a smart phone for a while. Just for that matter, I could have just withdrawn money from my bank and buy one, but I did not have the peace to do that. In fact, a brother offered me a good smartphone at a very cheap price of which I was also tempted to buy. But something deep within me did not gave me peace. And later, it did not work out. Again, he offered me another smartphone, a new model with a discounted price. Again I did not have the peace to go for it. Money was not the real issue, rather it was the issue of the inward peace. I declined the offer and yet still was considering to buy one, even the best one available on the market.

At this juncture, I received a surprise call from ICICI bank, where I had an account, informing me that I had won a Samsung Tab 2 during a special offer scheme. Not believing, I retorted back, "Is this a fraud call?" With disbelief, I didn't pay much attention. One time, by chance, I happened to type my full name "palmeichung" on a Google search and came across an ICICI site congratulating me of winning a Samsung Tab! I drilled down to the site and indeed, I really won one. Later, the Tab was sent to me. The Lord gave me what I needed.

Still I did not have the ministry materials loaded and I would not copy it from anybody, fully aware of its copyright restriction. Then I recalled a gift presented to me a year ago by a brother who left India and had given me his old phone with material loaded, which I did not use it for some reason. I relocated the SD card and now I have all that I need; to meet my technological need and also spiritual materials need. 

Though this is nothing compared to many other miraculous experiences, I treasure this as well, as it strengthened my faith in the Lord and encouraged me to love the Lord more, appreciate Him more in His being so subjective, especially in small things. He is the God of small things and big things too. Hallelujah! Jesus truly is the Lord! He is the Jehovah Jireh, who provides, even without asking Him, for He knows all my needs.

Exact

I have been convicted by the Lord in many of my deeds; I am a person of approximation and probability. However, recently the Lord deeply convicted of my need for a change from such improper character. It is not an obvious sin to be on approximation with a lame excuses of "its OK." I had to pay a higher price for this loose character.

I went out to buy a replacement for a sewage cover without measuring the exact dimension. The only thing I knew was it was square in size and approximately 10 sq ft. On this assumption I purchased a 10 sq ft cover. On fixing it to the required gadget, I found it was too small. Then I went to replace with another one by measuring the extra portion with my figures without actual or exact measurement. Lo and behold, to my own foolish wisdom, it was too big again. This incident struck me deeply of what kind of character I possess. Had I measured the exact size I could have got the right one at the first go or at least take another similar cover for reference.

Similarly, I was in a market to purchase a formal trouser. Assuming my size to be 32 inches, of which size  I used to wear, but I have grown a bit since then. I blindly purchased two trousers of the best from a show-table. And I did not bother to try it there and then. When I reached home, again, lo and behold, as I tried my legs into it, I couldn't even squeeze my legs fully in; it was too tight. It should have be at least a 34 inches. 

These two incidents are good enough for a life long lesson on being "exact." Had it not been for these cases, I would never have paid attention to the matter of being exact. Thank God, I at least have the opportunity to learn. Lord, deliver me from my stubbornness and make me learn this lesson well and thoroughly. 

And this reminds me of my need to be exact even in my words. "Yes" for yes and not "may be" or "let's see." And "No" for no and not "let me consider or think about it." No wonder the Lord cannot use me in many of His services for these loopholes in my character. Still, it's not too late. From now on I must learn to be exact in my words and deeds. No approximation, no assumption and no presumption. Just be exact!

Lord, grant me the grace to be exact in every matter great and small; and to be honest, frank and straight forward.

No Compromise

1 Thessalonians 5:

21 But prove all things. Hold fast to what is good;

22 Abstain from every kind of evil.

Yesterday I was on a business meeting with the owner of a CD/DVD replication company in Delhi. Along with providing me quotation for a high quality job, as usual, he offered me a range of inferior quality products at a lower and economical price, which from business point of view were very very good options. Nonetheless, deep within me, I was confirmed that I should not go for anything but the best. There can be no compromise in quality. Let the price go up, but let quality be maintained. A real trial on personality.

This incident reminds me of my Christian life wherein there are ample room for compromise in every aspect of life. The devil always comes with a better suggestion to divert us from Christ, from the tree of life, and lead us to the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Often times, a step diversion is as worse as a U-turn on the path of life. The devil knows how to entice Christian with a single step of diversion. If he succeed in this one simple step, its likely he will succeed in the next step too, and next and on and on till one is fully on a U-turn. This often is my experience whenever I heeded to that simple step of diversion from Christ. The simple way to overcome this simple trick is to simply turn to the Lord and let the Lord to come in and live in us. "O Lord Jesus!"

"Nipping at the bud" needs a stand in Christ without giving any room to the devil. Never allowing the devil to do anything in our lives, but always exercising our spirit and living and walking in the mingled spirit. For this the grace of the Lord is needed.

This also reminds me of verses in 1 Thessalonians 5: 21 But prove all things. Hold fast to what is good; 22 Abstain from every kind of evil. Though these verses may seem to be out of context, but the essence of proving things is present, and holding fast to what is good in the eyes of both God and man are honorable. To not compromise is a kind of abstaining from every kind of evil, subjectively speaking.

When I came back home, the Lord kept reminding me "NO COMPROMISE, NO COMPROMISE!" Not only for business affairs, but much more in my Christian living and walk. My innate response was, "Lord, grant me the grace to Not Compromise." For without the Lord as my decision Maker and Counselor, I am prone to compromise. In every matter, great or small, the grace of the Lord is needed, to stand firm in Him, with Him and for Him without any compromise. This is of utmost importance. 

Grace me, Thou gracious Savior; Save me from compromise!

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!