Marah and Elim

Exodus 15:

22 Then Moses moved Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.

23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore its name was called Marah.

Oftentimes in our Christian lives, due to spiritual malnutrition, we are under-fed and go starving almost to death. Such is the case of "finding no water," no life supply from the Lord in the word nor through the Spirit. In this spiritually starved situation, we become so weak in spirit. And the manifestation of this weakness is complaining, murmurings, backbiting, criticising, accusing etc. When one is such, he finds fault with everyone, except himself; only he is "Mr. Right?" But this should not stop here. We must seek for "water" to quench our "drought." 

1 Samuel 1:10 And she was bitter in soul and prayed to Jehovah and wept much.

As Hannah cried out to Jehovah in such a bitter and desperate situation, we must cry out to Jehovah; pouring our soul to Him even with weeping. The Lord will then come into and turn our situation upright. Not just to deliver us out of the bitter state but to bring forth Christ!

It is a part of the experience of Christ, in the principle of incarnation, that the Lord allows bitter situations at times. It may not be His initiation but He sovereignly allows it, for some reason. At such times, we must be like Hannah, praying to the Lord with much desperation. This will usher us to experience the cross of Christ. The cross subjectively is the experience of the crucified Christ. We do not suffer with Christ in His accomplishment of redemption, but we sure must experience Christ is His crucifixion of all the negative elements within our being; sins, the world, self, Satan, our old, natural and good soulish man. This bitter experience of Marah through the experience of the crucified Christ will usher us into the resurrection of Christ, the experience of Elim.

Exodus 15: 27 And they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they encamped there by the waters.

After every experience of the crucified Christ we will always be led into the wonderful enjoyment of the Lord's resurrection. Just as Hannah's prayer was answered with the birth of Samuel, an overcomer that brings forth Christ, there will also be the operation of the resurrected Christ in us making us an overcomer to bring forth Christ in our living and ministering. We will become the "mighty ones and strong ones." Hallelujah!

This enjoyment of the ministry of the word through the video-training on the book of Exodus enlightened me a lot; to see thing snot just for myself but also for other saints too who go through a bitter situation. As I was supplied by the Lord's speaking, the Lord remind me of a brother who is very bitter at the moment of the church-life and the ministry. The burden the Lord gave me was to fellowship this matter to him and that he also be brought into the experience of Elim, the resurrected Christ to bring forth Christ.

Lord, when in bitterness lead me to the Cross

That I may drink the sweetness of the Spirit!

Never let me stay in Marah,

Always lead me on to Elim!

Exodus

Exodus 3:7,8 And Jehovah said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.

The enlightenment the Lord gave me today was the matter of exodus from Egypt. We all were born in Egypt and grew up in Egypt. Our beginning is from the world, and we grow up in the world. Therefore, every one needs deliverance. Not merely being save from eternal perdition, but also being saved from many sinful and worldly things of the day to day affair, 'the working out of our daily salvation:

Philippians 2:12So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much rather in my absence, work out your own⁴ salvation with fear and trembling;

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12⁴ Not eternal salvation from God's condemnation and from the lake of fire but the daily salvation that is a living Person. This daily salvation results from taking the very Christ whom we live, experience, and enjoy as our inward as well as outward pattern. The main elements of this salvation are Christ as the crucified life (vv. 5-8) and Christ in His exaltation (vv. 9-11). When this pattern becomes the believers' inward life, the pattern becomes their salvation. Only this would make the apostle's joy full.
In ch. 1 salvation comes through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, but here salvation comes from the operating God within us. The operating God is actually the Spirit of Jesus Christ. In both these cases salvation is a practical, daily, moment-by-moment salvation. The constant salvation in 1:19 is one in which a particular believer is saved from a specific encounter in a particular situation; whereas the constant salvation in 2:12 is one in which any believer is saved from ordinary things in common situations in his daily living.

Even though after having believed into the Lord for many years, still something of the world is still in us. Until "that day" no one can claim complete deliverance from the world without any traces of it, as long as one is in the flesh and blood in this world. But there is a way out of this world!

In Exodus 3:7 and 8, the initiator of deliverance is Jehovah Himself. He has been watching His children and cares for their welfare. "I have surely seen the afflication of My people," was what He said, "and heard their cry." The Israelite have for sure been crying out to Jehovah for deliverance. And in time, Jehovah came to deliver them out, "I have come down to deliver them." And the goal of His deliverance is "to bring them into the good and spacious land."

This is our experiences today. All of us have been under some kind of bandage of the other. Perhaps, some big and serious, while others are small and silly. Still bondage is bondage. In spite of being ardent lover of the Lord, and serious seeker too, still somewhere there is a need for deliverance. Some thing of "a thorn in the flesh" is still there." 

For this complete salvation, there  is need to cry out to Jehovah for deliverance. This is our cooperation with the Lord's work of salvation in us. In ourselves, we cannot overcome, but in the Lord, we for sure can. In looking to the Lord and calling upon His name, the Lord responses and works in the environment, to deliver us completely. It is "by strength of hand Jehovah brought us out from Egypt, from the slave house." Exodus 13:3, 14.

This is how we experience the Lord's complete salvation, not for us merely to escape the corruption of the world, but to enter into the "to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey," the church life for the building up of the house of God.  

Call and cry out to Jehovah, He will deliver in time.

God's Blessing : Children Education

Yesterday, we went out as a family to cherish and reward our children for their outstanding A+ performance in their academic year.Though as a father I did not expect much from my children, the blessing of God is abundant and over flowing; even in matter of secular education. On the Parent-Teacher-Meet the teacher of my son and daughter were so excited to tell us the good news of our children's performance in school as they handed over the report cards. To me, it was all God's blessing.

My wife and I  have done a lot of hard work in disciplining and training them, but the ultimate result of all our prayer and labour depends upon the Lord's mercy and the Lord's blessing. This is the lesson I have been learning these days.

It is all the grace  of God that has led us thus. And still a long way to go on. My desire is that we all may be useful to the Lord and His Body.

Lord, make our vessels proper,

To command Your blessings,

To contain Your blessings and 

To multiply Your blessings.

Ministry of the Word

The ministering of the word, especially all the riches of the Lord's recovery is for all the children of God. I am so blessed to be graced to partake of the ministry of the age. Not a boast but a fact, I am eating the grain that I am treading in my official service in the literature service. Besides, as I study the Bible, Recovery Version, with the notes and the Life-study of the Bible regularly, now and then, the Lord would burden me to minister my enjoyment of the ministry of the word with the saints and fellows believers. Often I would mail them or text them using all the latest technology. 

I was filled with the Lord's presence as I enjoyed the ministry of the word, and share with fellow believers. I feel this is a good way to be in fellowship with many other believers. The words speaks by itself, especially when the sender really enjoys it first. Whenever I post my fresh enjoyment of the word, not any randomly or considerately picked ministry portion, immediately I sense the Lord's speaking to all those who read the post too. This way of ministering is very enjoyable and effective and a good way for the propagation of the truth. Perhaps, this is how I should function more. Only the word can sanctify and reconstitute the children of God.

Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. John 17:17

Two recent posts I did were very well received:

God's Presence:The secret of Israel’s defeat at Ai was that they had lost God’s presence and were no longer one with God. After this defeat Joshua learned the lesson of staying with the Lord before the Ark (v. 6a). Eventually, the Lord came in to speak to him and to tell him what to do (vv. 10-15). The spiritual lesson to be learned from this account is that we, the people of God, should always be one with our God, who is not only among us but also in us, making us men with God—God-men. As God-men, we should practice being one with the Lord, walking with Him, living with Him, and having our entire being with Him (Rom. 8:4; 2 Cor. 2:10; Gal. 5:16, 25). This is the way to walk as a Christian, to fight as a child of God, and to build up the Body of Christ. If we have the Lord’s presence, we have wisdom, insight, foresight, and the inner knowledge concerning things. The Lord’s presence is everything to us. Joshua 7:4 Footnote 1, Recovery Version

        Christian: http://online.recoveryversion.org/FootNotes.asp?FNtsID=7899

         1 Peter 4:16But if as a ^1aChristian, let him not be ^bashamed, but let him ^2cglorify God in this name.

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16¹ Gk. Christianos, a word formed from Latin. The ending ianos, denoting an adherent of someone, was applied to slaves belonging to the great families in the Roman Empire. One who worshipped the emperor, the Caesar, or Kaisar, was called Kaisarianos, which meansan adherent of Kaisar, a person who belongs to Kaisar. When people believed in Christ and became His followers, some in the Empire came to consider Christ a rival of their Kaisar. Then, at Antioch (Acts 11:26) they began to call the followers of Christ Christianoi (Christians), adherents of Christ, as a nickname, a term of reproach. Hence, this verse says, "As a Christian, let him not be ashamed"; that is, if any believer suffers at the hands of the persecutors who contemptuously call him a Christian, he should not feel ashamed but should glorify God in this name.

Today the term Christian should bear a positive meaning, that is, a man of Christ, one who is one with Christ, not only belonging to Him but also having His life and nature in an organic union with Him, and who is living by Him, even living Him, in his daily life. If we suffer for being such a person, we should not feel ashamed but should be bold to magnify Christ in our confession by our holy and excellent manner of life to glorify (express) God in this name.

Genuine Burden : Crowd of Cares

Apart from the things which have not been mentioned, there is this: the crowd of cares pressing upon me daily, the anxious concern for all the churches. 2 Corinthians 11:28 

Prayer and Fellowship, Blending and Building

Two years have elapsed since the first time we meet and fellowshiped with the saints in Shillong. Since then, occasional visit and frequent fellowship followed suit. Yet all this while, the Lord has been working on the saints, especially among all the leading brothers.

Personally, I was so burdened by the Lord to be in fellowship with one of the brothers; not my choice, but the Lord's implantation of His burden into me. Often, I would pray and intercede for the full recovery of the saints and the church into the sweet and one fellowship of the Body of Christ. At times, the situations was encouraging, and yet other times, I was driven to intercede before the Lord with much desperateness. Sometimes hope and other times dismay. These experiences were also blogged in Crowd of Cares, twice in 2013 :

http://palmeichung.blogspot.in/2013/10/crowd-of-cares.html

http://palmeichung.blogspot.in/2013/07/crowd-of-cares.html

This year 2015, I began to pray with the brother again with much burden and fellowshipped few important things now and then. I was so burdened to invite them for the National Blending Conference in Delhi, but however, it did not work out. I just left the matter to the Lord; for only the Lord is the Lord of the recovery. Only He can recover His own to Himself and His Body. In fact, my burden was to bring the brothers from Shillong into the fellowship of the Body, especially with the brothers who serve in the work in India. To this extent I have written a special mail of fellowship, but still, it just did not work out. Thank the Lord for such an experience. That was a real lesson on shepherding.

But one morning when I was down on my bed with body weakness I received a surprise call from the brother that he would like to attend a training in Aizawl. This call rejuvenated my spirit; literally I was up on my knees, and we prayed together over the phone for the recovery of the fellowship of the oneness and reality of the Body of Christ. That was the beginning of a recovery into the fellowship of the Body. Immediately I fellowshipped with the brothers there and the brother who were visiting, for more fellowship.

Few days later, I received another surprise and impromptu visit call from the brother that he would be visiting us.  Inwardly, I was concerned as I would not be able to meet the need of hospitality due. As this is our family's weak area with three kids. But I left the matter to the Lord.

Praise the Lord we had a wonderful time of blending. All the while they were with us here the Lord also blessed the church in Gurgaon very much. All the meetings were full of spirit. Some fellowship on this visit were:

Morning Revival : He experienced and enjoyed the corporate morning revival with us and was so impressed by the practice of being revived in the morning and also a solid spiritual food for growth, nourishment and enjoyment of the word. He felt so convinced by the Lord that all the saints in the church in Shillong and all over Meghalaya, for those who can manage English, to enter into the HWMR starting from the current one, Exodus Vol. 1.

He ordered 100 copies each. However, due to the shortage of print, as we have not included the churches in Meghalaya yet, we could offer only 45 copies this time. From the coming issues, 100 more copies will be added in the English print.

  

Group Meeting : He also attend one of the group meetings in the church in Gurgaon where everything was done in mutuality with the exercise of the spirit; in reading the Bible, pray-reading verses, studying the footnotes, sharing, testifying and prophesying, he was so much impressed.  He longs to have this kind of group meeting there too.

Prayer Meeting : He and his wife also attended the prayer meeting of the church in Gurgaon and was so touched by the way the prayer burdens were released. Each saints releasing the burden with a strong spirit in few sentences without any gap but following the flow of the Holy Spirit. He and his wife commented that that was the first time in their Christian life they ever experienced such a prayer meeting with such a strong spirit. They expressed their desire that the prayer meeting in their locality can also be such.

Translation : Officially we have briefed him about the literature service and the principles of translation. He is so burdened to start the Khasi translation right away. A room in his house would be used for literature office, and two sisters (who are also his daughters) will be serving on a regular basis with two more sisters, part time, and a brother with him will be starting on Tracts, Rhema Books and so on. Similarly, for the distribution, he will fellowship with some saints to spread the ministry books.

Trainings : He also visited the Training Center and we briefed him about the various kind of training. He will fellowship with the saints and consider to start sending saints for the full time (qualified ones) and some for part-time. 

Ministry Books : He has purchased 14 Kgs of Print on Demand books for his pursuing and also for the saints in Shillong. Among this, he will enter into 96 lessons  and share with the saints, and also got Hymnals and Hymns CDs for them to listen and be familiar with the tune. He also felt the need to start using the hymns of the Lord's recovery in their meeting.

Since May 2013 when we first met with the saints in Shillong, the faithful Lord has been working on them and the prayers of the Body have been answered one by one. Many things have changed for the better. Though we never touch anything outward, but ministered life with the ministry of the word whenever we visited, the Lord's shining transformed even many outward matters. Outward matters like, chair arrangement, offering collection, prophesying and recently regular and weekly Lord's Table meetings were all recovered.

To this I can only say, "Praise the Lord!" The Lord knows best, and His timing and ways are perfect. We only need to wait upon Him in prayer and uphold the burden the Lord has imparted, faithfully.

Lord, be my faithfulness in bearing the burden You have blessed me with. Any genuine burden from the Lord will be fulfilled in the Lord's perfect time.

DLF

Divine Life Flowing....

Tonight as we fasted and prayed for the Lord's move in Gurgaon, especially for the community the Lord has blessed us with, DLF-1, we enjoyed the flow of the divine life so much. As we sang and pray-read and prayed, the Lord filled us inwardly and gave us a clear sky.

Isaiah 44:3For I will pour water upon the thirsty land, And streams upon the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit upon your seed, And My blessing upon your offspring. 

The city of Gurgaon is a very thirsty land; many crowd flogged into this city for jobs, yet the city is dry spiritually. Everywhere you sense the spiritual thirst and drought.  But the promise of the Lord is, "He will pour water!" Not just pour but there will be streams springing forth with living water upon this dry ground. Besides, He will pour out His Spirit and His blessing upon this city!

As we pray-read and prayed, the Lord gave us a clear sky about this area. He will flow Himself out as the divine life. Then, it became very clear to us the promise of the Lord for DLF. It is the "Divine Life Flowing...!" By the divine life flowing, every family will receive the Lord's blessing; and no force on earth can stop nor hinder the Lord's divine life flowing.

This divine(D) life(L) flowing(F) will quench and swallow up all the deadness(D), lukewarmness(L) and failures(F) choking the testimony of the Lord in Gurgaon for so long. This is the promise of the Lord! When He promises His Spirit and His blessing it will water this thirsty land and stream will be upon this dry ground. Hallelujah!   

Even as we continued to enjoy the Lord's flowing and filling we became very clear what the Lord wants to gain in DLF, to gain twenty five(25) families for His strong and shining testimony as the church in Gurgaon. Now our goal for the propagation in this city this year is very clear. Praise the Lord!

We were reminded time and again; we are not doing any outward work, but enjoying the divine life flowing into us that the same divine life my flow out through us by the preaching of the gospel. By the time we finish our "fasting prayer" we felt we were all "feasting on the Lord". In fact, there was no felling of fasting at all, it was all feasting on the Lord!

All these are bringing in the Lord's shower of blessings (Hymn 260) and with joy we will draw water or of the well of salvation (Hymn 1340)! These are the very hymns we enjoyed as well!

Not by Might, But by My Spirit

This is the word of Jehovah to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says Jehovah of hosts. Zechariah 4:6

These days the gospel preaching in Gurgaon has been a real battle we are fighting in the Lord. The local people are very precious in the eyes of the Lord. With all their wealth, positions and possessions, they are like the Anakim, "nations greater and mightier than you, cities that are big and fortified up to heaven and a people great and tall". But we do not lose heart. For the Lord has defeated His enemy at the cross of Calvary. We are just proclaiming the accomplished fact of the Lord.

There has been quite a struggle inwardly and outwardly here in this city as far as the preaching of the gospel is concerned. There is a cloud of thick spiritual darkness covering this city. No matter, what one has attempted spiritually in this city, the land is just barren and dry. Only the Lord can water and turn this dry land into pasture beside stream of living water. 

Even in my own personal spiritual experience, I sensed such a strong spiritual resistance in this city. In terms of time spent on prayers, it is almost daily praying for this city for the past decade. Yet so far not a fruitful result. But I am not discouraged nor will I ever give up. In fact, I have told the Lord again and again, that I am willing to die in this land for His testimony. Only the mercy of the Lord can grant me this. Gurgaon for Jesus! This city should have the strongest testimony of the Lord as a pattern to many other localities. As much as the city is fast developing, the spiritual development should even be much faster. 

I know in His time the Lord will answer all the prayers offered to Him. And I feel that the time is coming.... All the baptisms, all the home meetings, and group meeting hardly survives long here. This experience of "bareness and defeat" will no longer be so... For the Lord is moving behind all the scenes. His Spirit is carrying out His divine works. Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says Jehovah of hosts. Zechariah 4:6

And the time has come. 

Lord, bless the people of Gurgaon with Yourself and the divine, heavenly and spiritual blessing!