Willing and Working

Philippians 2:13

13 For it is God who operates in you both the ⁴willing and the working for His good pleasure.

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13⁴ The willing is within; the working is without. The willing takes place in our will, indicating that God's operation begins from our spirit (cf. 4:23) and spreads into our mind, emotion, and will. This corresponds with Rom. 8, where we see that God works from our spirit (Rom. 8:4), through our mind (Rom. 8:6), and eventually into our physical body (Rom. 8:11).   http://online.recoveryversion.org/FootNotes.asp?FNtsID=6012

The Lord's rhema speaking is so timely and intimate these days. He loves me so  much despite all my failures and short comings. One verse that shines out in my time with the Lord is Philipians 2:13. God operates in me! The Greek word for "operates" has the thought of God's moving, acting and working within us. Here the source of the operation is God, the means of the operation is also God and finally, the goal of the operation is also God! What a God indeed is our God!

This verse encourage me so much so that I even texted to some saints and new ones I am shepherding. Many times there are life's challenges and the task assigned to us on this temporary journey seems tough and mostly uncertain. Yet the word of  the Lord says, He is the one operating; yes operating in me the willing to carry out His will and the strength to carry out what He wills. So it is ultimately He who is the cause of willing and also ultimately He is the means to carry out His will. O what a blessing.

Often I struggled to seek God's will; but actually the "will-er" of the "willing" is God Himself. He operates in me the willing and I need to be exercised in my spirit to be one with what He is willing within me and through me. Even after His will is made known, foolish as I am, I tried to carry out the willing with my strength only to find myself in desperate hopelessness. As He willed, so He worked. He not only wills in me, but also supplies all the strength I need to carry out His willing within me. And all these for His purpose. So, the ultimate goal of everything God does in me and through me or in us and through us is for His purpose. Hallelujah! I need not struggle nor waver in vain. But abide in Him that He abide in me for His purpose. Praise Him!

Lord, thank you for your operation--the willing and the working for Your purpose!

Mending

The recent national conference in Chennai has such an impact on me and one particular speaking of the Lord is the matter of "mending." John was a fisher man who became the Lord's disciple, a witness and an apostle. He wrote one of the gospels and also his epistles carrying out the mending ministry among the believers the enemy tried his best to shift them to and fro with all kinds of fiery darts of false teachings attributing to the degradation of the churches. His mending ministry was the issue of the degradation among the believers.

This applies to me so subjectively as well. I am called to be a fisher of men, as many other believers are, just as much the same as John himself. Fishing is done with a fishing net; the effectiveness of the fish very much depends on the net itself with the fisherman. Both are vitally important. One without the other is useless and both must be in "good" condition, a good fisherman with a good fishing net!

In general, all genuine believers are fishermen, and in particular, I am a fisherman. My person, my living, my very being must be a fisherman. The work I do is fishing and I do the work with the fishing net. If my "fisherman" and "fishing net" are not matching or are not good enough, there will be a problem in my catching "fish," in fact, I may not net a fish at all. To be effective fisherman, my living and my work must be one in the divine profession of fishing. If either of these has any loopholes, it will directly affect my fishing. 

The Lord deeply touched me in this matter. The fact is, I have too many holes in my net. Apart from that, my net is not strong enough to even hold the fish I might have netted in this profession. The timely spekaing of the Lord, "the mending ministry of John" was really amazing. I bow my head to the Lord in absolute reverence that He, the Fisherman, may grant me a net without holes and a net with much strength. And that He grace me in His mending ministry to mend all my holes to be well pleasing to Him in my "fishing." 

My prayer ever since has been that the Lord may mend all the hole in my living, in my character, in my person and being that I truly may be His fisher man. "Lord, mend my net and mend all my holes."

Divine Realm

Since the Lord's mercy led me to the church-life, I have been hearing the phrase, "divine realm" time and again. But little did I realise its true worth. This phrase is so familiar to me that it almost lost its true depth to me. Nevertheless, thank the Lord, the fact was made known to me, at least I am not kept in the dark as far as the truth of the Bible and the divine revelation is concerned.

Of late, the Lord deeply touched me of this matter. The "Divine Realm" is a realm in which a Christian must live and have his being in it. But in my real-life experience I have a very little, in fact, too little experience of the being in the divine realm.

As the majority of the believers do, in longing to live an overcoming life, all this while there has been a struggle to attain to such a living as one would call "spiritual" or "overcoming." But little do I realise the core of the matter. It is not a matter of struggling nor or any human or supernatural effort that can make one overcoming. If the fact is the involvement of one's effort, truly it is not in the divine realm. For a divine realm does not demand anything natural. Once one is in the divine realm, the act to struggle cease, there will be no need to coerce to do anything good or bad. For the divine realm is fully divine in nature and essence, truly of God, in God, through God and unto God.

This simple exercise of the human spirit indwelt by the Spirit of God in the believers is the key to enter and live in the divine realm. Though I know this key too well doctrinally, immature as I am, I lack the experience of living and walking in the divine realm all the time. This is possible when one is living and walking in the Spirit.

I have been struggling too in my own affairs of life. Though doctrinally I know I should not, but I need the grace not to struggle but simply be in and live in the divine realm. O how much I need the grace of the Lord and the life supply from the Lord moment by moment to live such a life in the divine realm. This is my heart's longing. Not that I have never been, but that how consistently I am in the divine realm. And encouragingly enough, I discovered that the possibility of living in the divine realm is much much more in the Body life, in the church-life with the other members of the Body than being just in one self, individualistically. A decade ago, I was a spiritual giant in myself, but now the Lord blends me in the Body life to live in the divine realm.

One fine morning, the Lord spoke to me that all that I need is just to be in the divine realm. My Lord knows what life I have been going through and His sweet encouraging word is that I must live in the divine realm. When the Lord spoke to me this phrase, I woke up and this phrase has ever been reverberating into my being over and over again. O "the divine realm!"

God's Favor : An Atheist Believed!

Genesis 6:8 But Noah found favor in the sight of Jehovah.

In this wicked and perverted generation, the only way to be well pleasing to God is finding favor in the sight of Jehovah. Apart from God's favor, none can stand the wiles of the enemy. 

This matter of "favor" touched me so deeply these days. As I know myself, if not for the favor of God, the grace of God, I would have been worst than the worst of beasts. Learning this lesson, I dare not condemn any soul, however sinful he or she may seem to be, for it is His grace only that I am what I am today.

Last night, four new ones visited us and we had prepared a love-feast for them. One of them was an intelligent engineering student, an atheist or at best, an agnostic. We began our friendly talk on variety of topics with questions and answers on the astronomy, the universe, the Creator of this universe, the plan of this Creator God and the making of man-the trichotomy, the fall of man, the incarnation of the unique Creator God, the salvation accomplished at the cross and resurrection to be the life-giving Spirit, the need of man for God, the way and goal of receiving this God. Through this friendly conversation, the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached. And he specially found favor in the eyes of God; God graced him to believe into Him and was later baptised. Hallelujah!

Actually, no one is an absolute atheist. It's only that he believed in "no God" because he has not heard yet or perhaps, heard about God but have not experienced the true and living God yet. So there is a need for the harbinger of the glad tidings of GOD.

An aspiring astronaut, an atheist and an agnostic, believed and baptised into the Name of Jesus Christ! This is finding favor in the sight of Jehovah. Not of man's planing or doing in any way, but of God. It was neither of the one who preached nor the one who listened, though both are really crucial, but it is of God who shows favor and grace to man.

This is a deep lesson for me, as I reckon myself unworthy of witnessing such a salvation to a one who is entirely new to the Lord Jesus Christ and reckoning myself unworthy of being a channel for Him to verbally speak Him forth, for I know too well my frailty and vanity. No merit to none else, but God. It is God who favors. 

Lord, may I ever find favor in Your sight.

Gospel Preching : Enjoyment

In fellowship in the Body and with the Body, and flowing along with the Lord's present move, I was so blessed and graced to be able to coordinate with the saints and with the Lord in the gospel preaching in Guwahati. Though the city seemed dry and tough and the geographical area new to us, not mentioning of the local language, yet in the Lord's move, it was the Lord's move and what was required of us was just a willing cooperation in the spirit with the Spirit.

From day one, the Lord reminded me and the saints that our gospel preaching is by enjoyment of Christ, hourly and daily. We just rented a lodge and lived a normal life, enjoying the Lord. When we went out, street by street, house by house, the Lord just opened up the gates, the doors and the hearts of people. Especially in my team, there was not one day worth counting as waste. Every time we went out the Lord gave us some good "fishes"; we preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, lead people to call on the Lord's Name to believe into Him and received Him, and some even to baptism. O what a joy! What an enjoyment!

Gospel preaching is by enjoying Christ in our corporate living. Such a living is a real life training in living abiding in the Vine to branch out to bear fruits. 

Though the Lord blessed us in door knocking and bearing some fruits in baptisms and gaining some solid homes to recover the church in Guwahati, the greatest blessing was of the Lord getting through and breaking through in us and among us. 

On the last day, the Spirit's move was so strong that after our normal pursuing, we went into a strategic and intercessory prayers for the the church in Guwahati, for all our contacts, for all the churches in NE and also for the recovery and revival among the saints to practice the God-ordained way of every saints functioning to bear remaining fruits. All of us could testify that the Lord was using that propagation time to perfect us in our living and service, and was taking us ahead "Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ," Ephesians 4:13.

On To Maturity

Hebrews 6:1

Therefore leaving the word of the beginning of Christ, let us be brought on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith in God.

Recovery Version Note 3:

The Lord wants to bring us on, but we must let Him do it. This is our willing cooperation with His gracious work. In order to be brought on to perfection, to maturity, we need to share with Christ in His attainments (1:9; 3:14), to be diligent to enter into the remaining Sabbath rest (4:9, 11), to come forward to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace (4:16), and to feed on the solid food to enjoy Christ as our High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec (5:9-10, 14).

To be born of God is the greatest miracle on this earth, much more, to grow in the divine life of God unto maturity. These days, the Lord is working in me deeply that I may grow. All the experiences and things happening around me proves the Lord's ultimate desire that I grow and grow. Lest perhaps, I fall short of His desire and be left behind. Meanwhile, as growth is a matter of deep concern, there is also another anti-element operating in me fighting directly against the growth process. I easily reckon this as the opposing works of Satan. And oftentimes I find myself entangled in the war between God and His enemy. Like it or not, I am a part of this spiritual warfare. And the victory of the battle through me depends on which side I choose to cooperate. 

When I cooperate with God and give myself fully to Him, I experienced and enjoyed His operation in me and through me, all by His mercy and amazing grace. Yet at the same time, I feel the blinding forces of darkness trying to destroy me at all cost. But the grace of God sovereignly preserves and keeps me. Sometimes I am caught in the two extremes of God's bountiful grace and Satan's torturing darts thrown at me. To this, my urgent need is to cooperate with the Lord in His move to perfect me day by day, until I am fully mature. 

This is not my need only, it is the need of all the saints too, especially in the locality where the Lord has placed me. In fact, our church prayer meeting tonight is focused on this matter of growth so much. Almost all the saints cried out to God that we all may grow, for only God can cause the growth. Though there is a need on our side to cooperate with Him too, His mercy is need to be able to do so. 

Even the Lord's speaking to me personally in my personal time with Him in the word is this very matter of growth. Lord, grow in me!

A Dream

Hardly do I have a significant dream, but when I do, I feel its worth pondering over. Dreams could be out of many reasons. Psychologically or physically, what had happened or thought about deeply are often reflected in the subconscious mind of a person as dreams. But sometimes, beyond these two reasons, dreams do occur; possibly from either of the Lord or His enemy. Whatever, any dream that is from the Lord will always be fulfilled and time is the true test of its genuineness.

Last night I dreamt of brother Witness Lee sleeping in a bed in a room and I came into the room to minister to him and with him. Then I woke up. 

Only the Lord knows what this could mean. But the undeniable fact is that I have been so much blessed by the Lord through His humble servant. My enjoyment of the Lord, and love and pursuit for Christ and all the blessings of God I received in my life itself has so much do with the help I received from brother Witness Lee through the ministry of the word, in the principle of incarnation. 

Not a man follower or a man adorer; but the fact is the fact. Brother Lee has made the word of God so enjoyable, make me love the Lord much more than any other Christian minister I could think of could do. Life experiences have proved it time and again. Any minister of the word that can make a person love the Lord to the uttermost and give himself up for Christ and the church can undeniably be a proper minister.  And such minister will always bear the brunt of the enemy's attack yet will always come out triumphant and glorious, even turning the attacks into hot-spots of Christ's victory. This is what I have been experiencing since I came into contact with the ministry God has ordained to His servant. And such ministry which is of the Lord, which is of the Spirit, always ministers the divine life to people and issues in the building up of the Body of Christ. What a blessing to under such a ministry!

Whatever the dream meant, praise the Lord for the ministry through His minister!