Testimonies of Blessings

The church in Gurgaon today had a "testimonies of blessings" meeting. Two weeks before we had been informing and reminding the saints to write down their testimonies or mail it to the church's email address. But nobody was burdened to do so. Nevertheless, we left the saints and the meeting to the Lord. And today the saints' testimonies were marvelous an wonderful!

The meeting today was one of the richest meetings I ever attended. Almost every saint testified of the major events and blessings in their lives in the last year 2014. I was literally amazed at the saints' rich testimonies and experiences of Christ and how Christ was so all-inclusive and so subjective to them. Some saints testified with tears of their deep experiences of Christ, and gave glory to God.

Often I have been discouraged about the little increase we have had in 2014. Though we were not completely barren, and are blessed with some fruits, I was expecting and hoping for much more. But the Lord just blessed was with what was sufficient; training and perfecting us all the while. Glory to Him for all His sovereignty!

I myself was so busy to count all that the Lord had blessed me in 2014. But the special grace I received was of blogging the experiences the Lord blessed me with on a weekly or monthly basis. On counting all of them, (they are all in this blog) there were 130 (one hundred and thirty) testimonies or experiences of Christ in all! Moreover, as I kept counting some major blessings, I realized the grace of God in gracing me to pray, read the word, shepherd the saints, preach the gospel, offer for the Lord's work in and through the church and the needy saints, I found there are many blessings, even uncountable, unsearchable and unfathomable! Hallelujah!

God is a God of blessings. He blessed us so much spiritually and physically too. Often, spiritual shortsightedness blinded me to see the Lord's blessings. Actually, the Lord has blessed the church in Gurgaon a lot, mostly spiritual and very deep. All the saints are truly experiencing Christ subjectively. Even a sister who came for the first time testified of the strong move of the Spirit in each saint and in the meeting today. This itself is a testimony of blessing. 

Lord, grant us more of the experiences of Christ in this year 2015.

Gospel Experience : Faridabad

Deuteronomy 9:
1 Hear, O Israel! You are about to cross over the Jordan this day in order to enter in and dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities that are big and fortified up to heaven,2 A people great and tall, the children of the Anakim, whom you know about and of whom you have heard it said, Who can stand before the children of Anak?
3 Know therefore today that Jehovah your God is the One crossing over before you as a consuming fire; it is He who will destroy them, and it is He who will subdue them before you, so that you may dispossess them and destroy them quickly, as Jehovah has said to you.

The promises of the word of God are literally true and are fulfilled in due time. This was the Lord's speaking to me yesterday morning. As we went to preach the gospel in a posh community in Faridabad, the word of the Lord was literally fulfilled. Before setting out for the gospel preaching, in our team we prayed and prayed over these verses and enjoyed the word of God. We claimed the promises of God, especially on those phrases like "enter in and dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities that are big and fortified up to heaven,  A people great and tall and Jehovah your God is the One crossing over before you as a consuming fire; it is He who will destroy them, and it is He who will subdue them before you."

Indeed, the people we met were greater and mightier than us, were great and tall, but the Lord went before us as the Consuming Fire to destroy and subdue them before us. An account of the fulfillment of the Lord's words:

First, we met a well known personality of the city, a social worker and a politician of a grand old national party. He was so seeking and receptive to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He even gathered his neighbour's family and we ministered the word of God to all of them, and they all called upon the Name of the Lord to believe into Jesus Christ. Later, we gifted them Hindi NT Bible as gifts and read together few verses. Besides, we were also welcomed to visit them again, and even to give more Christian literature for a community library. That was the Lord's doing and the Spirit's move in Faridabad.

later, as we went door-knocking, in my natural concept, I intentionally tried to avoid door knocking a house with a political party's flag who are spearheading religious propaganda with lame excuse of not inviting any trouble. However, one of the sisters in the team asked me if she should press the door bell. I denied my own feeling and asked her to go ahead. Later I joined in to ring the bell myself again. 

An elderly uncle came out and talked to us for a while of all his philosophical and political opinion about religion. But I strongly confirmed to him that we do not believe in any religion but we believe in the true and living God, Jesus Christ, and we have a relationship with God our Father. Meanwhile, I also shared my testimony of believing into Jesus Christ and appreciated him for the good work of welfare development he is involved in. Later, he invited us in, we had further conversation. Though he spoke negatively about the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Bible and many Christian activities, my stand was not anything of religion, but of an experience of the true and living God. He gifted me a summary of the Gita, a book which I received as a remembrance of the meeting, and return, I gifted him a NT Bible in Hindi. Before we left, I requested that if I could pray for him, to which he very much obliged. I prayed for him that God may bless him with the spiritual blessing of salvation through Jesus Christ. We became good friends and promised to communicate again either by phone call or by email or  by visitation.

That's how the Lord's promises were literally fulfilled in our eyes. Praise the Lord!

New Year Promises

Deuteronomy 7:6 For you are a holy people to Jehovah your God; it is you whom Jehovah your God has chosen from among all the peoples which are upon the face of the earth to be a people for His personal treasure.13 And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your fresh oil, the offspring of your cattle and the young of your flock, on the land which He swore to your fathers to give you.14 You will be more blessed than all other peoples; there will not be any barren male or female among you or among your animals.15 And Jehovah will remove every sickness from you, and none of the evil illnesses of Egypt, which you know about, will He put upon you; but He will give them to all who hate you.

 The Rhema word of the Lord's promises are precious. In Him, His children are holy people. In spite of all our sinfulness, His blood has cleansed us and made us holy by faith in Him. What a promise and what a blessing! Especially to me, a filthy worm and a dung, His calling me "holy people" is a great blessing. In His eyes, we are all holy and I am too.

We are also being chosen; that's why we are saved sinners today! From before the foundation of the world, He chose me in Christ. And His choosing is made manifest again in a definite way again this new year. "Lord, thank you for choosing me; yes, even a sinner like me!" 

And He has made me His personal treasure. Though the enemy tempts me sore to the extend of despising myself to the core as useless scum, I am precious to the Lord. In fact, I am His personal treasure. Hallelujah!

Furthermore He promised to love me and bless me and multiply me. The Lord's promise is that as He loves me and with His love I love Him in return, He will bless me. Yes, His blessing is all that I need. Whatever I do, wherever I am, I need His blessings. In reality, He is the Blessing. Without Him there is no blessing at all. Being loved by Him, loving Him and being in love with Him, I am blessed! And over all these, He will multiply me! In my living, in my service and in my church life, there will be multiplication of His blessings in me. Whatever I do, wherever I am, there will be His blessings, and His blessings will multiply. It will not be just one "me" receiving the blessing, but many others through my living and service.

His blessing will even exceed the blessing of the rest. It is "more blessed than all" blessing that the Lord has promised! And this is an all-inclusive blessings that comprises every heavenly, divine, spiritual blessing and even material and earthly blessings, yes, even both of wealth and health. For He will remove every sickness from me; not merely the physical sickness, but much more, even the sickness of my soul and my spirit, that I may be healthy in my whole tripartite being. 

1 Thessalonians 5:

23 And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

24 Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it.

As He promised, so shall He do it, as the faithful one, who also will do it.

Lord, thank You for all  Your promises! 

Welcome 2015

As the church in Gurgaon, we gathered together for a time together in an all night prayer. The Spirit's move in the prayer meeting and in the special all night prayer meeting was very strong. For a stretch of about five hours the Lord led us through to release burden after burden followed by consecration for the new year.

The burdens were clear and straight forward, very basic, down to earth practices of a Christian life for a normal church life. We enjoyed the Lord's leading and picked up the burdens:

Prayer : The practice of prayer, coming before the presence of God and enjoying His presence, listening to Him in love and following His leading in faith is inevitable, Normally and healthily, at least one hour of prayer in a day should be the portion of grace for every one. The more the better. Besides, receiving burden from the Lord for prayer, and maintaining a prayer book of list of names or burden for prayer. This very much helps in the practice of praying. To pray faithfully, have a set-time for prayer is a great help and blessing. 

Reading the Word : A healthy reading and feeding on the word of God is a must for every normal Christian. Without a proper knowledge and understanding of the word of God, there cannot be a proper discernment of the leading and speaking of the Lord. A thorough understanding and even familiarity with the text of the Bible is a basic requirement for every believer. For this, we have prepared a schedule for reading through the word in a year's time, by reading a couple of chapters daily. 

Gospel Preaching : In being filled with the word and the Spirit, there must also be an outflow for the word. The outflow of the filled Spirit and constituted word is the gospel preaching. By this way, our enjoyment of God in prayer and in His word is balanced; the in-filling is balanced by the out-flowing. This is also a good way for gaining increase; bringing sinners to salvation, making them sons of God!

Offering : A healthy and normal Christian will always honor the source of all blessings, both physical and spiritual. The best way to honor the Lord of blessing is by offering in return from His blessings. This of course is determined by our love to the Lord and faith in the Lord and in the joyful offering with thanksgiving. For God loves a cheerful giver. By this way, God, in the principle of incarnation, fulfill His need for the carrying out of His heavenly ministry on earth today through the believers.

With these burdens we entered into the message by brother Witness Lee, "The Spiritual Significance of Celebrating the New Year," a need to having a new spiritual beginning in Christ every new year, every new month, every new week and every new day. Thus, we entered into the new year and welcomed 2015.

Our prayer and consecration is that the Lord would grace us to carry out every burden He has bestowed upon us, faithfully and fruitfully. 

Thank You Lord for 2014, and grace us through to 2015 again with Yourself as the Blessing! 

The Lord's Move

The Lord's present move in India is amazing! Incredible India indeed, with the Lord’s incredible and inevitable move! In spite of all the slogans and diktats created by some religious groups and politicians concerning “conversion” or “anti-conversion”, none can stop the Lord’s move. For the Lord's move is not a matter of "conversion" nor "anti-conversion" nor "re-conversion," but a regeneration, being "born again" in spirit of the Spirit of God; this has nothing to do with religion, for it is a life-relationship between God and man. The tighter the pipeline for the gospel of Jesus Christ, the stronger the velocity of the flow of the Lord’s move.

Contrary to all the “fear” among the minorities, all the political, social, religious and economical situations have been used by God for the furtherance of His move in India. even much more for the purification outwardly of all contamination among the children of God and the sanctification of the saints.  Hallelujah!

Prior to the propagation going on in five different cities at the moment, the spiritual atmosphere was very dry, dark and destitute. However, the Body rose up in one accord to release strong and specific prayers. Now, as the gospel preaching began and has been going on, the “dry bones” are turning to be “the great Army of God!” As we fellowship concerning the propagation in these cities, my spirit exult in joy and thanksgiving to the Lord of Sabaoth. Every city has testimonies of the Lord’s sovereign hand over all. Many new gentile families are getting saved, hearing the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ! “Miraculous” things are happening, indeed, this is the greatest “miracle” in the whole universe; sinners becoming sons of God!

When I was much younger in spiritual matters, I used to dream jealously of the Lord’s “mighty” move with a replication of the “revival” of a mass kind. However, the real revival is a revival within the lives of many. Life always takes time; yes, genuine growth in life is a time-taking process. Life has to have its way by daily nurturing and growth in the divine life. Now, through some experiences of life, and some considerable growth by the Lord’s mercy, I can now see and understand the Lord’s move better in a more matured way. What I have been witnessing today is the real revival; slow yet steady, and small but smooth.

Besides, the Lord’s move is also recovering the lost ones or backsliding ones or even rebelling ones back to the church life! Of this, I am witnessing today. It is also the recovery for the Lord’s children lost in the denominations of degraded Christianity into the normal church life for the building up of the Body of Christ. And also the recovery of the young ones for the formation of the Lord’s Army.

Listening to the brothers’ fellowship of the Lord’s move, I feel so much blessed to be a part of the Lord’s move. Though I may not physically participate with them on the “battle-field” but I am fully one with them in His move. My little participation in ‘prayer, giving and going’ is a grace from the Lord and His blessings. Praise the Lord for the Lord's move!

Life is worth the living for the Lord’s Move.

Lord, preserve me in Your move, for Your move!

Reading Through the Word

Since my childhood my grandpa inculcated in me the habit of reading the Bible. That habit has been strengthened since Jesus came into my life personally at the age of nineteen. Prior to this, I had been reading the Bible regularly. However, since my regeneration I have been reading through once a year. The Lord's words are amazing, every time I read again and again, it has always been a new and fresh revelation. The word of God has been my guidelines of life and service in my Christian life in the church life.

Last year, on this day, the church in Gurgaon gave out a sheet for reading through the word in one year, a daily schedule. The Lord has been so gracious and merciful to me and enabled me to read through the text for this year. This is in addition  to my daily reading which is more of an in-depth study with the footnotes of the Recovery Version and pray-reading. What a blessing to be able to listen and hear what the Spirit has to say to me!

Though it is just a reading through, the word is the word, and it is living. Often times it sounded like a "ritual" but the word has a way to enliven even when it seems like a "ritualistic habit". Still, to me, much much better than not reading at all. Reading the word, in whatever way, is better than not reading at all. So keep reading it, whether you enjoy it or not, whether you understand it or not. Some how, the Lord will speak using the word. This is my simple comment from the many years of reading through the word of God.

Wherever I go, whomever I met, this has been my encouraging word to the saints. I am so blessed to read through the word of God again. I pray for more grace this coming new year to be able to read through the Holy Bible yet one more time.

Lord, thank You for your Word. Grant me more grace to read through Your Word, understand them, eat them and live because of them again.

Year End Blessing

At the fag end of this year it is very encouraging to receive fellowship and phone calls from the saints who have received so much spiritual blessing in this year 2014 which the Lord grace me to be a shepherd to them in some way or the other. All glory to God for His marvelous works, and much more for gracing me to be able to co-work with Him, even with a "worm" like me.

Two sisters just called up for prayer over the phone as they wanted to give thanks to the Lord and pray for a renewed and revived new beginning in the coming year 2015. I was so shepherded by their spirit with which they prayed to the Lord; with all their hearts and with thanksgiving, making their prayers and petitions known to God. What a blessing to be a blessing to other through the blessing of God! These two sister are from a Gentile background, very educated and well placed in the professional career, and thus far, they have been loving the Lord Jesus Christ so dearly and pursuing His word diligently. They are also very burdened for their spouses and family members. May the Lord grant all of them a household salvation!

Another two sisters whom the Lord blessed so much also called up to fellowship concerning all the spiritual blessings they have received in this year. Especially with their being recovered in their Christian life and church life. And the enjoyment of the ministry of the word, and how spiritually revived and enlightened they are with the help of the ministry of the word through their online readings.

Zephaniah 3:9 

For then I will change the language of the peoplesInto a pure language That they may all call upon the name of Jehovah, To serve Him with one accord.

This promise from the Lord is literally being fulfilled. The languages of the peoples have been changed into a pure, divine, heavenly and spiritual language. Yes, even my own language has changed!

Besides, there are over a century experiences and enjoyment of the Lord this year 2014 as they have been blogged in this humble and simple blog, "My Goodland : Experiencing and Enjoying Christ."

To God be the glory, great thing He hath done!

Great things He has taught us, great things He hath done!

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Give Him the glory; great things He hath done!

Fanny Jane Crosby's hymn is apt for "thankspiration!"

1	To God be the glory, great things He hath done, So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, Who yielded His life our redemption to win, And opened the life-gate that all may go in.
	Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,   Let the earth hear His voice; Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,   Let the people rejoice; Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,   And give Him the glory; great things He hath done.
2	Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, To every believer the promise of God; The vilest offender who truly believes, That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
3	Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done, And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son; But purer, and higher, and greater will be Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see. https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/39