Be Focussed

During the ITERO Bangkok, the message on "Knowing the Body" was a great light to me. My understanding of the Body has become much deeper; mostly related to the intrinsic dealing of one who sees and knows and lives in the Body. The more I see the Body, the more my "self" is dealt with, and the more I am limited and restricted. Just to realize and live the reality of this realization is a great salvation. 

As a member of the Body, I must recognize the function and gift of other members and honor them genuinely. All self exaltation, pride, envy, jealousy and hidden comparison and competitions even among believers are the issues of not seeing and knowing the Body enough. I had been one of such. But by the Lord's mercy, the light has shone and the veil has torned. What a great relief and what a salvation!

The more one grows in the Lord and sees, knows and lives the Body life, the more one is focused in his service. Which indirectly means, he is no longer ambitious to be a "hero", an "all-inclusive brother" who loves be honored and recognized among every field in the Lord's vineyard. When listening to the ministry of the word on this particular matter, I was so much helped. 

The Lord has sovereingly assigned a portion in His Body for my service, and He has graced and blessed me for this service, so I must be focused and single-eyed with all faithfulness, prudence and righteousness to carry out the Lord's commission; a service in the "dungeon" of literature publication. What a blessing! And what a glory!

Prior to this realization  I was also burdened for many things in addition to my official commission. I dare not mean it to annihilate all of them, but I must be focused on what and where I should be. This burden should not be preceded by any other burdens whatsoever. As time allows and grace bestows, I may participate in them too, but with much restriction, and always be faithfully focused! 

Lord, grace me to be fully focused and be faithful to Your sovereign arrangement!

God’s Sovereignty Even In Our Mistakes

Two months ago a brother who would be visiting us officially had accepted my proposals for his schedule during his visit in India. Though I was aware that his coming was specifically for official purpose, still I scheduled many unofficial appointments. Later, when he came, it was to his surprise that many unofficial appointments were carried out. Though not entirely useful as far as the purpose of visit was concerned, it nevertheless was a great blessing for those with whom appointments were made. He also made the mistake of not delving deep into the schedule yet approving it. I myself also did not really realized the seriousness of it in the beginning. But when he mentioned it, it convicted me of my lack of sight. The two of us committed a mutual mistake. However, the Lord was sovereign and all worked out to be good.

Every schedule went well, yes, especially for me. To me it was lessons of life. I could learn many things in fellowship with the brother. At least in nine major areas of my service, the Lord opened my eyes to see what need to be corrected and improved. The Lord graced me to note these and incorporate them into my living and service. O what a grace.

Accompanying a brother and be at his service as to the Lord was a blessing. Our bond became stronger, and I could open up more to him for any fellowship related to my service. Apart from this, I also experienced the anointing of the Lord in just being at his service; as member honoring another member. This is a real life experience of a Body life.

Lord, grant me more experience of You in Your Body.

Check and Confirm

The Lord is training me these days in my character. I have been taking so many things for granted and of late, the Lord is exposing me that I may learn and be perfected in my words and deeds.

A checklist was sent to me before traveling to Bangkok for LMA fellowship and ITERO. But I did not pay heed to it assuming I knew what needed to be taken. For instance, I should have taken Universal Converter, Umbrellas etc. But later, I found I did not take these items, though not very important. The Lord used this opportunity to expose me of not being serious. He even convicted me in my conscience that led me to repentance and prayer that I may always check and confirm before proceeding for anything further.

If I am not trained in my character, in small things, never will I be useful to God. Every minute detail of my living and service must be touched by the Lord and must pass through the dealing of the cross, then and only then, I can be useful to Him. Lord, make me such a one.

Even as a company would go through all the checklists of production procedures before marketing a product, and even rectifying any defect discovered later on, to keep the company afloat and successful, so much more, as a Christian I must be trained to check and confirm any matters or things to be a fruitful and useful vessel to the Lord. 

Here in Bangkok, the Lord’s shining and speaking enlightened me. I could see myself where I am; far away from where I should be. This brought me to turn to the Lord genuinely, looking for His grace that I may learn what I need to learn, lessons of life, lesson by lesson. Meetings like this where many brothers come together for conference and blending under the speaking of the Lord is of a great help to me. What a blessing that I am in the Lord’s recovery! What a mercy, what a grace! Thank you Lord!

A Visit of Grace

What a blessing when brother visited us, and fellowshipped and blent with us! To me it was a visit of grace.

Recently a brother visited us, though officially, still it was a visit. The time spent in fellowship was noteworthy. Nothing much seemed to transpire outwardly, nevertheless, there is a deep inexplicable impression left behind. This reminds me of Jehovah visiting Abraham in the form of a man, talking as friend with friend. Such was the recent visit of a brother.

There was no definite agenda for the visit nor a specific topic to delved into. But as the fellowship went on day by day, from stage to stage, like a mountaineer ascending the steep snow clad mountain, leaving behind a trail of footprints, there was a deposit of truth, grace and perfecting all along the way. No authoritative command of a strict teacher, yet a heart transfusing word of a loving brother, with spiced sense of humor now and then, yet hitting the point and hinting now and then to possible solution of matters discussed. And all the while, convicting the slumbering soul. Free and frank at times, strict and sour at other times, yet life dispensing all along. To me that was a visitation of grace.

Often times when left to ourselves, it's hard to tell whether one is on the right track. Perhaps, may not be an utter deviation, but slight diversion along the way may lead to a disaster at the end. When there is a visit from elsewhere, it's like being awakened from the lull of a lullaby. Yes, and rejuvenated with rapt attention to what one is anointed for. This is what I experienced this time.

Life lessons learned are precious; it ranges from the minutest to the very significant of matters. Some gems follow suit. 

• The importance of hearing of faith in a Christian life, in the church life and even in the service life, without which all activities are mere activities without any life-supply. 
• Even in the Lord's service, there is a need to priorities one's main service. As being in the publication, I must give my first priority to this commission as from the Lord. Apart from this, if time and strength allows, may as well participate in any areas of the Lord's work, and not neglecting the church life in my locality. 
• There is a lot of room for improvement in any areas of service, even to the extend of doing our best and giving our best for the Lord. 
• Be wise and discern people, things and matters.

These are but few of the gems deposited along the trail of a visit of grace.

Good!

Psalm 85:12 Indeed Jehovah will give what is good, And our land will give its increase.

A sure promise from the Lord of the harvest! Today morning, the Lord spoke to me through this verse and encouraged me. It has long been our burden as the local church here and also my personal burden too. Without any discouragement we pursue the Lord day by day, shepherding the new ones week by week, though they does not seem to fully come into the church-life so soon, and we still continue the gospel preaching; sometimes good result and some times not so good. But the Lord is over all. As a farmer, waiting and laboring patiently until the fruits are fully ripen and the harvest is ready. We go on and on....

The Lord in His mercy at times speak an encouraging words like this. Yes, indeed, Jehovah is good and He will give what is good! He knows what His church needs, and what His children need best. He will give what is good! What is good to Him may not seem what is good to man, but He is the Lord and He knows best. Romans 8:28 echoes this verse.

Romans 8:28

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

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28³ According to the context, the good here is not related to physical persons, matters, or things. It refers to our gaining more of Christ, to our having Him wrought into our being, that we may be transformed metabolically and may eventually be conformed to His image, the image of the Son of God (v. 29), that is, that we may be brought into the full sonship.

Through all our circumstances He will gain us and we will gain Him, and this gaining of Christ is the "good", Christ Himself, Jehovah the Saviour. And "Our land will give increase!" Christ is our goodland, the church life is our goodland; and our enjoyment of Christ and the church will gain the increase of Christ within and without until the full manifestation on that day.

So I am so much encouraged. Through all our circumstances, and labor, Jehovah who is good gives Himself as the good to us that He may gain us thoroughly for His ultimate purpose. Praise the Lord!  Indeed Jehovah will give what is good, And our land will give its increase. Hallelujah!

Learn To Be Poor

Poverty is widely known as a curse, a bane rather than a boon. But this is a great misconception. To whichever angle one may look at, statistically speaking, a man in riches does more wickedness than those in poverty. The poor had reasonable reasons than the rich in their criminal records. Mostly, the poor are the agents of the rich in carrying out the sinful deeds, often to meet their daily needs. By stating this, I no means endorse their evil deeds; I equally loathed both evil deeds of the poor and the rich alike. 

The point here is "poverty" per se in the context of a Christian faith. No doubt, God is a God of blessing. Yet the gospel of God is never a materialistic prosperity gospel. In the contrary, the Lord Jesus inclined His message towards poverty in a positive sense, of not  loving the world with its money and riches. Experiencially, many of the sinful activities are associated directly or indirectly with the believers having "wanted" things rather than "needed" things. For example, a TV or a computing devices of luxurious items, are not basic needs for survival, its mostly entertainment tools; by no means I am saying they cannot be used for good purpose. These gadgets are mostly thieves of times that eats up the soul of mankind leaving one empty and dreadful, and even killing the liveliness of the believers. Hours and hours can be expended on addictions to TV or Internet or Smartphones chats and games, messages and talks. Seemingly feeding the hungry soul but actually draining and starving it. To be stripped of these, when one has the capacity to possess them is a real challenge. In fact, a herculean task, for these are the devil's tools in an immature hands.

One time, a  brother fellowshiped about "learning to be poor." Initially it sounded very strange to my immature ear. I hardly could understand what he meant. My fallen concept was that, believers must prosper and prosper, physically even, as a sign of blessing. But the Lord later chided me of my ignorance. Yes, the Lord's blessings includes physical and material prosperity too, if He may please so, but  not necessarily. In the midst of the Lord 's physical blessings too, one must not be carried away by the riches. Let these not lord over, instead let them be slaves, use them when you need them for good purpose; learn to be stripped of all these. Do not depend on them too much and do not be overtaken by them. Learn to be poor even when you have the riches. Live a simple and humble life, do not be tenterhook by such.

As years went by, I began to understand the meaning of this striking phrase, "learn to be poor." I know how much deception these material riches can mean to me; choking my soul and weakening my spirit. And once hooked, the way out is not easily forthcoming. Even in such abundance or riches, the grace of the Lord must abound so that I may declare as brother Paul, in 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 lack."

Lord, teach me how to be poor, even in the midst of Your blessings bounty.

A Breakthrough

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 on Labor: 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).

These verses have been a great source of encouragement to me, time and again. Often times my zeal for the Lord has been sovereignly balanced by unexpected results. Prayers? Yes. There has been a lot of prayers for the church in my locality for the Lord to gain His increase. And also a lot of gospel preaching of all kinds. However, not many solid remaining fruits. Nevertheless, the Lord has gained some solid ones too. But he hope is for more, and more. Often times, I stumbled into Satan's negative poisoning of the mind. But the word of God especially this one is of great encouragement.

These days, in coordination with the trainees in the FTTND we have been visiting open homes in our area. The Lord is seeking out His chosen ones, one by one. Last week, the visit we made was of a very wealthy lady who have been into all kinds of depression. She herself testified of the vanity of the riches of this world. And as she shared her miserable real-life story she sops and wept intermittently. And a couple of times she said she had attempted failed suicide. Our only response was in telling her the gospel of Jesus Christ and leading her to the Lord Jesus Christ, to pray the sinners prayer and receive the Lord. We also helped her to call on the Name of the Lord over and over again. Our only gospel message was, "Only Jesus is the solution to all your problems." 

Later, when we were about to leave she requested us for a cup of tea, that prolonged our meeting with her further. Even during our stay there, her visage transformed gradually. She smiled and kept smiling. Then finally we prayed for her and her family that the Lord may save the whole household for His testimony. We all then agreed to meet weekly for further shepherding. 

Through this incident, the Lord opened my eyes to see and know vividly that the world is nothing, but vanity of vanities. Furthermore, the Lord confirmed to me that there are so many of this kind of cases, especially in developing country like India and fastest growing city like Gurgaon. Where wealth increases, worries increases too. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel of the kingdom of God is the urgent need of the time. And this also confirms that the Lord is bringing us to breakthrough in Gurgaon for His increase.

Gurgaon for Christ!