Double Blessing

This new year the church in Gurgaon has a burden for every saints to enter into the holy word of the Bible and read through the text in a year; which means to read at least 3 from the old and 1 from the new testament. My innate response was that I have been pursuing my own schedule and that I need not bear another load. But after the 31st night special burden fellowship and consecration I decided to pick up this "extra load". My, from day one, it was such a tremendous blessing to me!

I still am continuing my regular pursuing with a deeper and serious studying on the text and the notes; and apart from that as I entered into the church's burden too, I received a double blessing. an "extra load", an extra blessing! Every chapter I read had something new and rhema for me. I really thanked the Lord for this "extra load", which redeemed my time and make me more disciplined. In fact, this is no "extra load" at all, instead its a blessing upon blessings.

For instance, last night in my bearing of the "extra load" I read Matthew 5:22-24. Immediately the Lord spoke to me to text these verses to two elders brothers who were not in good terms with one another. Almost half a decade ago, the Lord graced me to shepherd these brothers even unto the recovery of the church life in that locality. Later, the enemy's attacks became very severe, but the Lord's testimony shine all the more brighter. The elder ones became somewhat dull but the Lord raised up the younger generation with much vigor and vitality with full functionality as member of the Body of Christ. These offended brother even call to complaint his disagreements in many mysterious issues, but my only response was to give ear to what he had to say and cherished him to fellowship and reconcile with the brother who offended him, unknowingly and unintentionally. Last night, when I read these verse, the Lord's leading was to text the same to the two. Which I did, leaving the outcome to the Lord.

Even in the matter of prayer, propagation, shepherding and home visits, though I have been carrying them out, with the Lord's fresh speaking through the church, I coordinated with brothers for visiting the saints and the new ones. From day one, at least a scholar was brought to salvation. Another family was revived through a simple family visit where we fellowshiped and prayed together, and another two senior citizen new believers were very much vitalised. Whenever the Lord speaks to the church or through the church, blessed are they who hear what the Lord said and obeyed. And I am graced to enjoy this blessing of being one with the church and the Lord. O what a blessing! A double blessing indeed.

Righteousness

These days the Lord's speaking to me is concerning "righteousness." Again and again, the Lord reminded me of righteousness, be it in my reading of the word from the old testament or from the new, be it in experience or what's happening in Delhi, the capital city; a party whose propaganda is righteous coming to power from nowhere. Truly, the Lord is working among the nation and mankind, and He is speaking to His children, even me, through the logos or rhema or even through the socio-political-economic atmosphere.

Isaiah 32

15 Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, And the fruitful field is considered to be a forest.

16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, And righteousness will remain in the fruitful field;

17 And the work of righteousness will be peace, And the result of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.

The only righteous one is God Himself. This Righteous One was incarnated as a Man, Jesus Christ, and passing through death and resurrection, now to us today, He is the Spirit, "the Spirit is poured upon us from on high." The Righteous One is in the believers as their righteousness. "And the work of righteousness will be peace, And the result of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever." The whole world is teeming with unrighteousness, and the issue of such is restlessness and uncertainty forever. 

God is a God of righteousness, His throne is founded on righteousness and He will not tolerate any unrighteousness. To believers or unbelievers, to all men alike, He rules on the principle of righteousness. Unbelievers can pursue righteousness  objectively without really experiencing the Righteous One, still, in His mercy, God blessed them. These days, my fellowship with an aspiring bureaucrat is on this very matter where the majority of the already appointed bureaucrats have failed. Greed and lust have blind their eyes of the importance of righteousness, and they are trapped in the web of unrighteousness, which is a well known open-secret of corruption. May the Lord raise up young generation, men of God, to stand for truth and justice and walk the talk of righteousness.

1 Peter 3

12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His bears incline to their petition; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

13 And who will harm you if you become zealous for what is good?

When one is filled with the zeal of God who is a Righteous one and stands and fights for righteousness, the Lord's grace and protection will sure be with him, this I say, in the context of humanity in social welfare. The same applies to all realms. For God is a God of righteousness.

Having been spoken too, through the word by the Lord, I helplessly recline at the Lord's bosom for more grace, that I may walk the talk and live the word spoken to. 

Lord, You are my righteousness. So be You, forever.

New in Christ 2014

The Lord has wonderfully led me through to the new year. Successes and failures and many things both positive and negative have been experienced, and through all these the Lord caused me to learn more from Him and gain more of Him. Looking back, I received much much more blessings than things not so encouraging. Even my weaknesses and failures were a great help to me, making me know who I am in the flesh that I more earnestly may pursue Christ.

In the local church here in Gurgaon, we came together for prayer and fellowship on specific burdens  and had consecration prayer for each burden released. The Lord's timely speaking to us and among us as a church were so basic and practical. It comprises of Shepherding, Propagation, Morning Revival, Bible Reading, Prayer, Truth Pursuing, Home Meetings and Offering. Though these were common and day to day matter, the Lord's speaking was so fresh and new. As we fellowshiped and prayed through to the new year, I personally felt so revived. The Lord loves us so much and He has been leading us forward step by step.

After such fellowship, I enjoyed my personal time with the Lord in the word again. The Lord's further speaking was full of hope and encouragement. Isaiah 35

Assurance of fruit bearing: 

1 The wilderness and the desert will be glad; And the desert will exult and blossom Like the rose.

2 It will blossom and blossom, And even exult with exultation and a ringing shout. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, The splendor of Carmel and Sharon; They will see the glory of Jehovah, The splendor of our God.

Word of shepherding:

3 Strengthen the weak hands, And confirm the shaking knees.

4 Say to those who are of anxious heart, Be strong; fear not; Indeed your God Will come with vengeance, With the recompense of God; He will come and save you.

Hope of salvation:

5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped;

6 Then the lame will leap like a hart, And the tongue of the dumb will give a ringing shout; 

Promise of blessing:

For water will break forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert.

7 And the desert mirage will become a pool, And the thirsty ground, springs of water; In the habitation of jackals, their resting place, There will be grass with reeds and rushes.

8 And a highway will be there, and a way, And it will be called, The Way of Holiness. The unclean will not pass on it, But it will be for him who walks on the way; No fools will err in it.

9 There will be no lion there, Nor will any ravenous animal go up on it; They will not be found there; But the redeemed will walk on it.

Promise of recovery:

10 And the ransomed of Jehovah will return And will come to Zion with a ringing shout, And eternal joy will be upon their heads. They will lay hold on gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.

The Lord had burdened me to pray for different category of people. For those not yet saved; for those who are saved and are backslidden, for those who are saved yet not in the normal church life, and for those who are newly saved and need shepherding care. For all these categories of people whom He burdened me to pray for, He gave me the timely words of blessing. Hallelujah!

In oneness with the church's burden, my time spent in the word and in prayer intensified- in fact doubled. The Lord's indeed graced me to be in pace with His present move. Where the will of God leads the grace of the Lord supplies. A blessed new year indeed in Christ.

Body Life

A decade ago, I had been taught and trained to be a "spiritual giant" as the case is in many inner life Christian groups. No wonder, I used to struggle and strive to become such a one. But the Lord, in His mercy, saved me from this extremist pursuit. Thank the Lord! 

However, having stated this, the basic practices of a Christian living are very much needed as they are the foundation for the stability of a normal Christian life. Nevertheless, all these practices are actually for the Body of Christ; spirituality is for the Body of Christ, otherwise, it is a great threat to the building up of the Body of Christ. A spirituality without Body-consciousness is individualistic and divisive. Church history has proved it. Such partial, incomplete and improper understanding of spirituality does more harm than good; instead of building up the Body of Christ, it tears down what has already been built.

Since the Lord recovered me to the Body life, He has shown special grace to me. All these years, praise the Lord, a decade now(!), many of my self have been stripped layer by layer, including my understanding of spirituality. In no way can I say, I have been fully stripped off of all that need to be stripped off, but for sure, significant stripping have been done. Looking back, I can only praise the Lord for what He has been doing which otherwise would have made me by now a half-baked cake. Having stated thus, I still look to the Lord for more grace to go on in Him, with Him, with His Body.

These days, as to God and as to man, I can humbly acknowledge that I am indeed nothing and can do nothing in myself without the Lord and His Body. Since the Head, Christ cannot be separated from His Body, the Church, I can also not be separated from my fellow brethren. A decade ago, I can spiritually do many things individually and divisively in the name of the Lord, but now, a decade after, I can only depend on the Lord and dwell with the Body and need the fellowship, balancing of the Body in the Body for the Body. Be it personal or corporate matter, I cannot be myself, do it myself any longer. The hand of the Lord is heavy upon me if I dare to be individualistic, because He loves me. I need the Body as much as I need the Head of the Body; for the body is the Body of the Head, and the Head is the head of the Body. The two co-exist as one. What the Head feels, or says or does, the Body feels, or says or does too. Recently, a brother had indirectly indicated that he is fully for the Head, Christ but had some uneasiness with the Body and further indicated that he is only for the Head. To this I retorted back, that I am for both the Head and the Body. For one cannot be sweetly joined to the Head without fitly joined to the Body; to claim royalty to the Head without being in peace with the Body is a paradox. How many of today's Christians who loves the Lord dearly need to know and live in the Body life? Lord, have mercy on us...

Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12-14 are great unveilings of the Body life. To me these are enhanced gospel, not merely being saved from negative things, but even more to be saved into the Body life. These days, I can only praise and thank the Lord for His great mercy shown especially towards me. He saved me from my self pursuit of spirituality and shepherded me into the Body life, living as a member of His Body with many other members, coordinating, blending and building together for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose " 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.

Flow of Life

The church is a miniature of the New Jerusalem and needs to take the holy city as its highest standard. In the holy city as revealed in Revelation 22:1,2 are the throne of God and the Lamb, the river of water of life and the tree of life. These three significant items also comprises the church life today. And these has been my experience in the church life very strongly these days.

Be it a mere group meeting or a church prayer meeting or the Lord's table meeting or a prophesying meeting or training or conference or blending or whatever meeting, as long as it is the meeting of the proper church life under the throne of God and the Lamb, there is always a rich supply. No matter how many joins the meeting or who speaks the word, there is the Lord's anointing. I have been enjoying this anointing very much. Regardless of what truth is spoken, how well or unwell spoken, how long or how short, there is always a rich supply of life.

For this blessings divine, my being sings in praise to the Lord. These days I am so much blessed with the Lord's speaking through the ministry of the word of the speaking brothers. Even the readings of the ministry writings is full of life supply; any books, any chapter, any page, there is the rich supply of life. The fellowship of the brothers on whatever matter is also filled with life. Lord, thank you for the flow of life.

Whatever others say, whether critiquing or criticizing, accusing or excusing, my life experience clearly testifies beyond doubt, the Lord's recovery is truly the Lord's recovery of life, in life and by life. Time and again, the Lord confirmed to me through the objective revelations of the truth and the subjective experiences of the revealed truth, that He is indeed the Head of the church and the proper practice of the church life in the Lord's recovery is truly of the Lord; though there are differences in practices and many outward matters in comparison with other believers, essentially, the Lord's heart is please and His blessings are unsearchable, both abstract and concrete, spiritual, psychological and physical too. 

Even when we few brothers gather together for fellowship on many matters, there is the divine life operating and flowing among us; not a matter of right or wrong, good, better or best, there for sure is the Lord's blessing. O how I treasure this flow of life.

Based on the word, all this is just the fulfillment of the proper church life, a miniature of the New Jerusalem, with the throne of God as the center, and the river of life flowing to supply all the saints in the church and the tree of life for the saints to feed upon.

If I were to jot down all the blessings there will be no end; if I were to write descriptively on the experiences of the Lord's bountiful supply of life, time and energy will not suffice. These are the riches Christ, the Head of the Body, bestowed His Body, the church, with. 

O to be in the church life in the Lord's recovery is a blessing of all blessings! Lord, thank you for Your life flow; preserve me in the church life under Your throne with Your river of life and tree of life.

Better Things

In my study of the word recently the Lord impressed me so deeply and the blessing inexplicable of being a believer today in the new testament. We have all that the old testament believers had and much more, we have the fulfillment and the reality of all the types of the old. Some thing better, yes, better things.

Hebrews 11:40

40 Because God has provided something ²better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

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40² The Greek word means superior, nobler, greater; hence, better. It is used thirteen times in this book: the better Christ (1:4), better things (6:9), a better hope (7:19), a better covenant (twice — 7:22; 8:6), better promises (8:6), better sacrifices (9:23), a better possession (10:34), a better country (11:16), a better resurrection (11:35), something better (11:40), and better speaking (12:24). (The other instance is in 7:7, where it is translated greater.) All these better things are the fulfillment and reality of the things that the Old Testament saints had in types, figures, and shadows. What God provided at that time was a picture of the things concerning us, the things that were to come in the new covenant and that are the true and real things, better, stronger, more powerful, nobler, and greater than their types, figures, and shadows. The Old Testament saints, who had only the shadows, need us for their perfection that they may share with us in the real things of the new covenant. Why, then, should we leave the real things of the new covenant and turn to the shadows of the old covenant?

http://online.recoveryversion.org/FootNotes.asp?FNtsID=7451

Some thing better, yes, better things, these are the blessings of being a believer today! As a brother and I visited an elderly couple whose daughter and son-in-law were instrumental in bringing me to the Lord, they asked me to minister the word. So impromptu was the request, that I ran out of words. But the Spirit inspired me instantly to minister what I had enjoyed the previous day. That was this "better things." 

Praise the Lord today, that I am not only of the new testament time, but also living in the new testament age. Many today are new testament believers with old testament beliefs and practices. When we have better Christ (1:4), better things (6:9), a better hope (7:19), a better covenant (twice — 7:22; 8:6), better promises (8:6), better sacrifices (9:23), a better possession (10:34), a better country (11:16), a better resurrection (11:35), something better (11:40), and better speaking (12:24) what more do we need? Christ is the reality of all these! Especially in the Lord's recovery in the church life today, all these are spoken, ministered, dispensed and being lived out. Not a boast, but declaring the fact, I am really blessed in the church-life today! May the Lord preserve me by His mercy that I enjoy the reality of all these better things of God, Christ and the Church for the fulfillment of God's eternal economy. 

Mahanaim

Song of Songs 6:13

Return, return, O Shulamite; Return, return, that we may gaze at you.

Why should you gaze at the Shulamite, As upon the dance of two camps?

"Two camps" in Hebrew means "mahanaim." Jacob, after he met the angels of God, divided his wives, children and the rest of his possessions into two camps, or "two armies" (Gen. 32:1-10). On the one hand, Jacob was so afraid of his brother Esau that he made two camps, as a cleverly defensive tactic in case he was attached. It shows his helplessness, weakness and dependence on God who can only protect him. Yet on the other hand, having two camps signifies being a testimony; dancing between the two camps being more than conquerors in the Body life.

As I studied this verse, with the help of the notes in the Recovery Version, the Lord enlightened me of two things. 

Firstly, I am weak in myself. I can do nothing and even if I were to do something, it will be all out of fear and helplessness. So my only refuge is the Lord Himself who is my Protector and Strength. In fact, all the days of my life, I must take this position, recognizing my weakness and always depending on God for everything. Only by this utter dependence on God, can I become one with God to be His army to fight against His enemy unto victory. 

Secondly, though I am weak, I am a member of the Body, I am not alone, I am among the two camps of women and children, the feeble ones trusting the Lord. And also a part of the two camps, I am a part of the testimony of God. I not only conquer, but am more than conqueror in the Body life with the other saints.

As days go by, the deeper I realize the practicality of this verse. Often I groan in my weaknesses depending on the Lord, and often I rejoices in the strength of the Lord. Though weak, I am strong. At times, I too make my camps as a defensive tool, yet amidts the camps I dance in victory rejoicing! On the one hand, I am weak and need the Lord, and yet I am one with Lord and am victorious in Christ the Victor! Like the Shulamite, As upon the dance of two camps, gaze at me Lord!