Healthy Teaching

Titus 2:

1 But you, speak the things which are fitting to the healthy teaching.

7 Concerning all things presenting yourself as a pattern of good works, in your teaching showing incorruption, gravity,

8 Healthy speech that cannot be condemned, that he who opposes may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about.

Footnotes from the Bible, Recovery Version:

The healthy teaching is always according to the truth (1:14) of the faith (1:13). It is the content of the apostles' teaching, the content of God's New Testament economy. It not only ministers the life supply to the believers and heals the spiritual diseases, but in so doing it also brings the church into a sound condition with a good order. Hence, it is very much stressed in these three books, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, books dealing with the disorder and decline of the church.

In my study of the word, the Lord impressed me so much the matter of healthy teaching. Healthy teaching is the teaching of God's New Testament economy, that covers the whole Bible. This teaching is according to truth and ministers life to the believers and heals all spiritual diseases. This healthy teaching keeps the oneness of the Body of Christ and builds up the Body of Christ to bring the Lord back. 

"We are what we eat" is a dietitian's dictum. You eat healthy food, you will be healthy. Just eating is not sufficient, for not all food are healthy. To be healthy, one must eat a healthy food. Likewise, to be spiritually healthy one must also eat healthy spiritual food that supplies life and builds up the Body. The Word of God is the most healthy spiritual food; even the proper interpretation and proper understanding of the Word according to God's New Testament economy is healthy.

Once the eating is healthy, one's living will also be healthy. Eating Christ everyday in the Word will make us live Christ everyday, presenting ourself as a pattern of good works. The only one good is God Himself. When we eat healthy and are filled with the Word of God, our living will manifest Christ as the one who is good, presenting ourself in Christ as a pattern of good works. This will also issue in healthy speech, for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Once Christ makes His home in our hearts ( Ephesians 3:17) by our opening to Him, giving Him the full ground, He will constitute us with Himself as the Word which becomes our healthy speech that ministers Christ as life for the building up of the Body of Christ fulfilling God's eternal economy.

This matter touched my being so much that it became my prophesy today in the meeting of the local church in Shillong.

The Doctor's Prescription

Recently the salvation of a Doctor couple taught me a lot of deep spiritual lessons. Right after they believed and got baptised, they asked me what they should do. The reply to this question was easy and instant.

Just as a new born baby need fresh air to breathe in all the time and drink milk and eat solid food as they keep growing, so much the more a spiritual babe needs the same. For a healthy baby, a prescription of a healthy food is a must. Our real Doctor is the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of John He revealed Himself as the true bread for believers to feed upon. The prescriptions are :

• Eating Him (John 6:57); He is the Bread of Life (John 6:32-35; 48, 51).
• Drinking Him (John 7:37,38; 4: 14) as the Rivers of living water.
• Breathing Him in by calling upon His name (Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13) and praying unceasingly (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
• Fellowshiping with the believers (Hebrews 10:24-25; 3:13).

In addition, they asked that since they were from a gentile religous background they will be required to participate in idol worship or things that believers would not normally participate in. To this, the answer was that there is no do's and dont's but as one enjoys and pursues the Lord, the Lord will give the grace to overcome whatever is needed to overcome; there is no need to worry about anything, just keep enjoying and loving the Lord, He will take care, in time.

After the fellowship was over, the couple being doctors, reviewed what all they need to be aware of in their Christian lives, the "Doctor's" prescriptions: Reading the Bible everyday; eating Him in the Word, spending time with the Lord everyday by exercising the spirit to breathe and drink the Lord. A good way is to spend 15 minutes in the morning, in the noon time, in the afternoon, in the evening and in the night time. That makes upto one hour and fifteen minutes! And praying together as a couple at least once a day. Fellowshipping in their home at least once a week, to sing, pray, testify and minister Christ to one another.These they reviewed and took it seriously as a "patient" would do to their "doctor." And when we met the next time, they reviewed how they actually did it and received the Lord's blessing.

Though these were the instant words of encouragement spoken to the new believers, it indeed is very much for us the believers too. I myself was refreshed, so were all the other saints. This is indeed the "Doctor's" prescription for a normal and healthy Christian life.

Lord, make me such a lover and pursuer of You everyday.

Commit to Faithful Men

2 Timothy 2:2

And the things which you have heard from me through many witnesses, these commit to faithful men, who will be competent to teach others also.

The urgent need of the Lord's move in this age is to perfect all the saints. This matter has not boiled down with me so well when I first heard about it. But during this time of propagation in new city, Guwahati, the Lord freshly touched me of the need and urgency for perfecting more faithful saints to do the work I have been doing. If I cannot perfect others, however functioning I may be, I am limited by just me, and there is no other person like me. This limits the Lord's move.

"Commit to faithful men," is a strong phrase. All the saints have at least a talent. All of them need to be perfected to use the most of their talent for the Lord's interest. But they need perfecting. As much as I can preach and teach and perfect others, so much the more, more saints should be perfected to do the same, if not better, as I can. Otherwise there will be a vacuum in my service, a lack and a loophole. Whether I am available or not should not matter anything at all. The age of spiritual giant is gone; today is the age of the Body and the members of the Body must all functions and their functions must be perfected.

As far as time frame is concerned, I have two and half weeks time; half of this is almost gone. Though I am so much burdened and functioning as I could, I cannot stay here longer as I had to go to other places. In one of my morning prayer time, I was so worried about how would the work continue if I go to other places? Then the Lord reminded me to perfect the younger saints that they can do the same thing that I am doing, even that they be able to do better than me. Thereby, starting today, I gave more opportunity for the other saints to exercise and function. And are giving all the opportunities to other saints that they all be perfected and function to build up the Body in gospel preaching, shepherding the new believers and taking care of many practical matters. Oh what a release to learn this lesson; a lesson of committing to faithful men!

Lord, perfect me to commit what You have blessed me with to faithful men that they too may be blessed and be blessings to many more.

Doctor Couple

As the gospel move is going on, we just cooperated with the Lord's move by always abiding in the Lord. The recent training on The Vine in John 15 has a deep impact on me. First, my eyes were opened to see that I am a branch, just "a branch in the Vine", as such my sole responsibility is to just abide in the Vine. As a result of this abiding, the riches from the Vine will supply me and overflow through me to bear remaining fruits.

As the preaching of the gospel of the Kingdom of God began, I personally took care of this matter of abiding in the Lord. In this abiding is rest, joy and peace; there is no struggling nor straining. Based on this experience and enjoyment of abiding in the Lord, I fellowshiped with my fellows branches that "preaching the gospel is by enjoyment of Christ; not by human effort of planning, scheming and struggling." And as branches we enjoyed abiding in the Vine by our corporate living and went out by teams, door-knocking, and the result is wonderful.

In particular, a brother and I planned to go to a place. But since we were new, we could not locate the right locality we intended to door-knock. So we kept driving until we found a parking spot. Then we went door-knocking, house by house, street by street. Many local gentiles listen to our gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and some even called on the Name of the Lord and believed and received the Lord! As we went on and on this way, our final knocking was a surprise warm door.

Initially a lady responded to our door-knocking and spoke to us as stranger. However, as we  preached the gospel she welcomed us in. Then the Spirit move was very intensified within us and we preached the Word more boldly. To our pleasant surprise, we discovered that this lady has been seeking for God and even for a miracle to happen as confirmation of the so called "god" she believed into. Indeed, later, a mysterious miracle happened and the miracle was, we met her, preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to her and she received the Lord! Further, we inquired about her family and we decided to meet her husband as well. Later, in the evening, we came again to meet her husband, and another miracle happened. He was also so seeking to know and experience this "god." We preached the gospel to both of them again and helped them to believe and receive the Lord by simple prayer of faith. As per the word of God in Mark 16:16, we explained the importance of baptism as well. The response was so good that we planned for baptism the next day, as the Lord has already prepared His chosen ones.

Following this was all a spiritual battle, I knew this would happen. So we all prayed and bound the strong man as the Body in one accord. As expected, there indeed was a tendency of postponing their baptism for very reasonable reasons. However, having learned from previous experiences, I would not budge an inch to retreat. We just went ahead as planned and started praying a victory prayer. And finally, we experienced the victory of the Lord! They both got baptised! A couple, both doctors by profession, Hallelujah!  Then we had a fellowship on the importance of breathing, eating and drinking the Lord by calling upon the Lord's Name, reading and eating the Word of God and prayer, apart from gifting the The New Testament, Recovery Version.

Praise the Lord! May the Lord gain them fully for the testimony in Guwahati.

Crowd of Cares

2 Corinthians 11:28

….the crowd of cares pressing upon me daily, the anxious concern for all the churches.

Paul’s experiences were hardly to be understood and felt by many believers today, not excluding myself. Never did I realize the significance of what Paul wrote in this verse, “crowd of cares….anxious concern” until recently when I heard about not so good report of a new local church the Lord graced me to fellowship with. One night I was deeply troubled by the “bad news” of that church. However, as I brought the matter to the Lord, the Lord encouraged me that if that local church is truly of Him, a genuine local church, nothing can mar the Lord’s testimony. There may be turmoil or even ups and downs among the saints, but the Lord’s testimony will ever be His testimony, come what may.

For a couple of days, I could not call the brothers for fellowship. But one night I received an email concerning the proposal to visit that church. Immediately I called up the brother and we had a good fellowship; peace was restored within. There are still  misunderstandings on certain matter of doing things, that’s why there is a need for more fellowship among the churches. No room should be given for doubt and suspicion. Trust the Lord and trust one another. Differences in opinion may be there as long as we are human being as we are still all on the process of being transformed.

Pondering over these, the words of Paul, I can understand a little bit. The crowd of cares and anxious concern are genuinely from a heart that cares for the saints and the churches. Otherwise, a step-motherly care will bother not a bit. Genuine care is all that one needs to care for the church.

I now leave all to the Lord, even my care to the care of the Lord. May the Lord do what is in His heart and recover the fellowship, oneness, blending and building of His churches.

The same experiences happen with all the saints the Lord graced me to care for, some new ones, some families and some relatives. The presence of such “crowd of cares and anxious concern” is a manifested sign of genuine shepherding. Minus these, would be an organizational care according to the tree of knowledge of good and evil issuing in death and darkness, a degraded religious way.

Lord, grant me the genuine burden and gracious care to shepherd those You want me to fellowship with.

Watering the Dry Land

Genesis 2:10

And a river went forth from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four branches.

Exodus 17:6

I will standing before you here upon the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink…

Guwahati, is one of the target cities for the Lord’s strong testimony to be raised up. A decade has passed by since the Lord’s work in His recovery began. There is yet to be a solid, stable and strong testimony of Jesus to be manifested. Seeds have been shown, prayers have been offered, ploughing has been done and still the harvest is yet to take place. All preparation over the phone seems futile and the spiritual atmosphere seems so dry and barren. However, we don’t go by our own feeling and humanly limited judgment, rather we depend on the Lord and His blessings to be bestowed in time. Sometimes, it seems discouraging, but the Lord is ever my hope, my trust and my strength.

As I was on the train towards Guwahati, the Lord strengthened me over and over again by His speaking through the ministry of the word. Genesis 2:10 “And a river went forth from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four branches.” The saints going to Guwahati for the preaching of the kingdom of God is a “a river went forth from Eden to water the garden.” Indeed, the saints going in one accord is the flowing of the river to water the dry garden. Wherever the ministry goes, there the speaking of the Lord is and there is the supply of life. And where there is life supply there will be the testimony of Jesus. The saints’ coordination in flowing along with the Lord’s move is the flowing of the river. However dry the land may be, water always can quench the dry and thirsty land and make it fertile for the church tree to grow and flourish and bear abundant fruits.

Exodus 17:6

I will standing before you here upon the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink… The Lord further spoke that we who cooperate with Him have the authority to stand in oneness with Him and strike the rock that water may gushes forth. So we are here to do the same, to strike the rock with the rod of authority having passed through death and resurrection. And see the Lord’s bountiful supply of grace and life for the Lord’s testimony in Guwahati. Hallelujah!

Battle Fought in the Will

God has given free will to man after He created him, and never will He interfere in man’s will any longer. However, He desires that man chooses Him, eats Him, receives Him, contains Him, expresses Him and even becomes Him. The best He did was to place Himself before man as a tree of life. Nevertheless, He also placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil along with other trees signifying His greatness.

Now, in the universe there are the divine will, the satanic will and the human will. Amidst the two ever battling divine will and satanic will, is the human will. What man chooses to unite with, that will triumph over the other. Today the spiritual battle is fought in the will!

Last Lord’s day, the speaking of the Lord was so vivid; it confirmed what I have been going through. Man’s will decides with whom he wants to collude with. Today, the Lord has revealed His will to us, the believers, so our responsibility is to cooperate with God. Once we exercise our free will to choose God, God will grant us the grace to overcome His enemy, He will strengthen us, fight with us in victory.

The prophesy the Lord blessed me last Lord's day was encouraging the saints to use our free will and choose to eat of the tree of life, live and walk in the line of life, living in the principle of depending on God for everything, treasuring His presence and being one with Him; and actively and aggressively choosing God in the on going spiritual battle.

This week the gospel move in India has commenced in an intensified way. It all now depends on our cooperation with the Lord for His purpose. Whoever chooses to cooperate with the Lord, he will receive God’s bountiful supply and abundant grace to ultimately confirm the victory of the Lord. On the one hand, the battle belongs to the Lord, and at the same time, the realization of the victory is to all who choose to cooperate with God in His move.

Lord, I choose Your will and pledge to cooperate with You in Your move. Grant me the grace and the strength I need.