Fellowship : The Lord's Speaking

Last Monday and Tuesday was very memorable as we had the opportunity to fellowship with a brother who supplied us with life. The matter of the fellowship was not on the high peak truth per se, but they were very basic yet very important for our personal Christian life and our corporate church life. I personally was so supplied and renewed in my spirit. 

As member of the Body, I received life supply from another member who is much more experienced and mature. To have such brother in our midst is such a blessing; a brother whom the Lord can use to speak freely and frankly, even rebuking us, adjusting us and perfecting us. What a blessing!

This particular brother, the Lord graced me to meet him every year since the time the Lord called me to serve full time. My impression of this brother remains constant since the time I met him first. Every time I met him, the Lord has some special particular portion for my learning and perfecting. He may not be aware of what he spoke, but what he spoke were all life-giving spiritual "medicine" to me. That was when I was still a single brother. Nine years have transpired since then, and every year something new the Lord has accomplished in me. And now even when I am a father of three children, the Lord still uses this brother to perfect me in my need of the time. In fact, we even had the grace to fellowship over lunch with him with my whole family. What a grace!

I have never met the Lord physically, nor some men of God whom God uses throughout the century, nor have I ever met brother Watchman Nee nor Witness Lee from whom I received much help in the matter of the Body of Christ and living out of Christ for the church life. But meeting this brother made me feel as though I have met those whom I never met and desired to meet. He was indeed a living testimony to me. The Lord really anointed him whenever he fellowshipped. The exact perfect and dealing words I needed proceeded out of his mouth in fellowship.  I inwardly thanked the Lord for such brothers who is truly a living testimony and witness of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. What a treasure, what a blessing to have such brothers in our midst! And that even I can have fellowship with him. What a grace! Than the Lord for His speaking through fellowship.

Lord, praise you for such brother, so living and so vital! May I also grow and be such to minister Christ as life to others.

The Satanic Lies : Procrastination

Satan, the father of lies, is also very mischievous in inducing laziness to the believers and uses his tool of procrastination to postpone the things of God at a latter time, yet causing undue urgency for the menial matters of life. Especially the things that relates to God will all be kept aside to be considered later on, yet all the while, keeping people busy with things that hardly has anything to do with God. No wonder, even among the millions of believers, only few really have time for the things of God. They have time for anything under the sun, except Bible reading, prayer, pursuing Christ in fellowship with fellow believers, preaching the gospel, shepherding one another etc. Its not that they really do not have time, nor are not capable of doing it, its all a matter of the devil's tactic of procrastination.

My beloved brethren, Beware! 

 

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33 

The Lord graces me to study Greek, and there are schedules to finish the assignment for each lesson. This is a very important lesson for the translation of the Bible from the Greek to some Indian languages. And the devil knows it too well. Every time I decided to finish studying the lesson well before dateline, many things, mostly official things, cropped up in between, and every lesson I ended up doing at the last minute most of the time, burning the unnecessary midnight oil. Though the works were done, but its not a healthy situation. Every time I received a reminder mail before the due date I kept questioning myself, "Why I didn't do it a week or a few weeks ago?" Not that I neglected intentionally, but that I was just busy, and this Greek learning was procrastinated again and again.

Last week as I did my Greek lesson and took the quiz, though before the dateline, the Lord deeply impressed me about doing things on time, especially the things of God. And that procrastination is not just a thief of time, but its a Satanic lie. I must not repeat the same old mistake again and again.

  

This simple experience reminded me of the need to pay utmost and urgent attention to the things of God. The other menial matters also will be taken care, but the things of God must have the top priority in my life. Come what may, first things first, and God's things are first. The kingdom and righteousness of God must be first above anything. And severely refute the Satanic lies of procrastinating.

Even today I released my burden to the saints in the church meeting for Bible reading. All must read the Bible everyday, pray, fellowship with the Lord and with the saints, preach the gospel and do the work of shepherding besides the other physical or official things. Set priority right and do not be deceived by the Satanic lie of procrastination.

Lord, grace me to give You my topmost priority all the days of my life. 

Needy Saints

Whoa re the needy saints? The general understanding is that the needy saints are those who are poor physically or financially ,and this group of people are the "full time serving ones." This used to be my generic perception of the needy saints. 

The last one week I have been dwelling on this matter of the needy saints. Who really are this group of people? This consideration was triggered by an incident of offering. There was an offering transferred to my account and the usage or dispensing of this amount was entirely left to my discernment. But the underlying burden of the offerer was for "needy saints." Initially, I had  arranged this for some saints who according to my concept were needy saints. But upon reconsideration and praying over it again and again, the Lord renewed my thinking and my understanding drastically changed.

Few days ago a brother came to fellowship with us about his family situation including the financial crisis he had been going through. He and his wife are both working saints, and whom I never considered as a needy saint, just because they have jobs. But after the fellowship, the Lord impressed me that He had given be a hard evidence of who the needy saints are. I had no excuse to not consider this family as needy saints. For they are truly in need, and that too very urgent.

Later, as I was praying over the proper dispensing of the offering, the Lord gave me a new understanding. Those who serve the Lord are not needy saints. They serve the Lord who is the Possessor of the heavens and the earth, He is the richest One in the universe. Those who serve Him are all well taken care of by the One whom they serve. So the full time serving ones of the Lord are rich and are not needy saints. They should not be classified as needy saints, otherwise it will be an insult to God. Any genuine servant of the Lord will not lack anything, for the Lord whom they serve is faithful and righteous to take care of all their needs. 

The real needy saints are those who lack faith to trust the Lord and are somehow struggling to make a living. They may even have the best job with the best salary, but without the Lord's blessing that are poor and empty, at least within. Not the serving ones of the Lord.

With this renewed understand, I dispensed the offering. O this was a big lesson for me. 

Lord, increase my faith and trust in You; to trust in You for all my needs, and experience Your bountiful supply of grace. 

Serving in One Accord

Freshly, I have been learning what the Lord has been teaching me since He recovered me into the normal church life, the universal and eternal truth of "serving in one accord." This is a very important lesson, but not easily learned. The whole lot of Christianity has failed in this lesson, so are the myriad of divisions, in the form of denominations. Not that I have learnt it, but that I am still learning it.

Last week, officially, I had to make very important decision on operational matters. That would effectively decide how we would go on in our service in India. For this, I went before the Lord again and again in prayer, to get the Lord's feeling concerning the matter. One night as I was praying for this one matter only, the Lord gave me a clear sky and instructed me to write a mail with certain content. The next day, I fellowshiped with my coordinator and drafted the mail. The mail was sent to the main serving ones involved for their correction and confirmation. With a couple of adjustments, we all were in one accord to take the next step forward, and the mail was sent. Few days later, the reply of the mail was amazing. The Lord really blessed our serving in one accord. The joy is not because of the positive response, but the oneness that was behind the scene. The outcome was secondary, but what impressed me most was the working together in one accord, and yes, that produces the good result.

Similarly, in another matter of budgeting for an official work, the Lord led me to experience the same thing. The result of the work was less important than the way the work was done. This is the lesson the Lord has been teaching me all these days. Serving in one accord. No matter what the work is, our service must be in one accord. This kind of service not only balances all, but also commands the Lord's blessings.

Lord. preserve me in the one accord with my fellow serving ones, and also always in the oneness of the Body of Christ.

The Satanic Lies

John 8:44

44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks it out of his own possessions; for he is a liar and the father of it.

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 Or, father of lies. Since the devil is the father of liars, he is the source of sin. The divine element of God, working as life and light within man, sets man free from the slavery of sin. But the evil element of the devil, working as sin through death and darkness within man, enslaves man to sin. The devil's nature is a lie and brings in death and darkness. With darkness is falsehood, the opposite of the truth.

Verse and Footnote from Recovery Version http://online.recoveryversion.org/FootNotes.asp?FNtsID=2571

As the Lord is moving intensely in these last days, saving sinners through the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom of God, the enemy Satan is not silent either; he does his best to counter attack the works of God by directly or indirectly attacking the believers, either spiritually or physically or psychologically. This is my personal observation all these years of my Christian life. Every time the Lord moves, something or the other happens. If not in spirit we discern the situation, the end result will probably be, believers versus believers or the new believers closing up or fighting back for some "trivial" reason as "baits" planted by the enemy. One such very common attack is in the psychological realm.

Often the devil would whisper in the unguarded innocent ears of the saints, his famous Satanic lies, "people are not open to the gospel of Jesus Christ, they are busy with their works, they have no time for all these nuts, they are not interested, or perhaps they will fight back, and blah, blah and blah...." And he will try his best to silence the sweet voice of the gospel of Jesus Christ or forcibly stop the beautiful foot of the harbinger of the good news. At times, by inducing inward fear, outward threats or even by mental tortures. This is what he is exactly good at, in propagating his infamous Satanic lies.

Should we believe the Satanic lies? Should we dread his threats? Or should we even pay the slightest heed to it? God forbid. Lest,we be be-fooled by the Satanic lies and become his coworker of preaching the same lies. "Lord Jesus, cover us with your precious blood and save us from the Satanic lies. Instead, grace us to be effective propagator of the gospel of the kingdom of God!"

The past few weeks I have been experiencing the effectiveness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and how people are waiting for years to hear the good news of Jesus Christ and His accomplished redemption at the cross. Satan somehow managed to captivate them with his lies in the cocoon of darkness, binding them to death destined for eternal perdition of the lake of fire. When I get rid of any notion of Satanic fumes and preached the gospel, people were so open to the extent that they received the Lord by calling upon the Name of Jesus Christ, believing into Him and also by being baptised into His Name. 

Two days ago I was in Delhi at the home of a very high ranking Government officer who se son was a brother in the church life and daughter too was a sister in the Lord. For over a couple of years, I have requested for a visit to their home but the answers always has been that of the Satanic lies; that their parent were not ready and that because of all the religious piety at home they would not accept the gospel, also coupled with many other excuses. Well then, to such, my reply was to pray for them, especially for their salvation and the gospel preaching at the right time. Finally that day came two days ago.

We were invited for lunch, and after lunch we were in the living room when their mother called me and my younger sister, who accompanied me to their home visit, to show us around the house. But instead, she took us to her room and opened up many matters for hour. All the pains she and what her family had been through, and how the devil, in the form of some evil spirits, attacks them, and how in spite of all the gods and goddesses she had been superstitiously and religiously devoted to, for decades, yet nothing good happen after all, in fact, the family life get worsen by the day. And how even the "pandits" could not help them all, and ran away in fear instead, on inviting them.

Finally she asked me one intriguing question, "Bhaiya, after worshipping all these gods why all these evils happens to our family?" My simple question to her question was, "Which gods?" I then preached the gospel of Jesus Christ: how the one and only true and living God became a Man in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and resurrected on the third day and became the life-giving Spirit, and how He would enter into any one who would believe into Jesus Christ  by faith. Later, she believed and received the Lord Jesus Christ, called upon the Lord Jesus' Name and read some selected Bible verse from the Hindi "Pavitra Bible" we gifted her. Quite an amazing changed indeed! 

When she narrated her story, she was almost with tears, but after receiving the Lord Jesus, she was full of joy and her face was shining with the joy of God's salvation. Later when we came out of the room to meet her daughters and a sister guest from the States, the joyful news flooded the living room. It was indeed the move of the Spirit and the answer to all the prayer of her children, especially her son, and the saints in the church life.

Praise the Lord! The Satanic lies have been exposed. All men are sinners and are eagerly waiting for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christian brothers and sisters must rise up to preach the gospel wherever God has placed them. As students in schools, colleges or universities; as working ones in offices, factories; as business men in places of business, all must preach the gospel. There is no need of so called "evangelist, pastors or priests," we all are priests of the gospel of God! 1 Peter 2:5,9. 

Defy the Satanic lies and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ! Millions are waiting for the gospel! No more deception, no more delay, do it right now, right there, wherever you are, whatever you be. Preach the word in season and out of season!

2 Timothy 4:2

2 Proclaim the word; be ready in season and out of season; convict, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching.

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 Opportunely or inopportunely, whether the opportunity is convenient or inconvenient, whether you are welcome or unwelcome.    

Verse and Footnote from Recovery Version http://online.recoveryversion.org/FootNotes.asp?FNtsID=2571

Fellowship : By All Means

Where there is a will, there is a way. Very much true even in spiritual pursuit. In this age where technology is at its peak, they must be utilized for all good cause. Recently, I have found WhatsApp a very good tool for fellowship with fellow believers spread across the country. Now and then, as the Lord leads, I would post some Bible verses and some light from the word of God. And I believe many have been blessed as they acknowledged it by reply chat.   

One such group is a one that connects many brothers and sisters of a particular state the Lord burdened me for, since a couple of years ago. Whenever I visited that city, I enjoyed the presence of God so much, especially the fellowship with the believers there who took the stand as a local church in that city. Now we are connected via this chat group. Now and then reading and posting gives me the same enjoyment as in fellowship face to face, in person, few years ago. What encouraged me most was the saints, especially the sisters' function in actively posting their fresh enjoyment of the Lord, mostly with strong Biblical verses to support their experiences. The love for the Lord and His word is growing in spite of the growing evil, technology has also brought in. This is like Moses catching the rod turned snake by its tail to make it a snake turned rod for carry out God's commission. The world is literally in a fingertip; use it or misuse it, it all depends on the person who uses it.

Besides technology, fellowshipping face to face in person gave me immense pleasure too. Today the Lord graced me with two important fellowships with two brothers at different times. Both have similar case going on, relating to their personal lives, their work and most importantly their marriage as they are aging a double score. To both the principle remains the same; to have a proper heart towards the Lord and love Him above all, to spend time in the word and in prayer and be in fellowship of the Body. And that everything depends on God's blessings and God's blessings depends on what kind of person we are. Once our heart is proper and our person is set right, God's blessings in every realm will be bestowed. Then we prayed together for a fresh and new beginning in our Christian life in the church life. Fellowship opens many ways....

So fellowship, and be in fellowship by all means. Via phone, via mail or via chat group. Be in fellowship with the Lord vertically and also be in fellowship with the saints horizontally. Yes, fellowship by all means.

Proper Person

Acts 13:22

And when He had deposed him, He raised up David for them as king, to whom also He testified and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man according to My heart, who will do all My will.

But now your kingdom will not continue. Jehovah has sought a man according to His heart for Himself, and Jehovah has appointed him ruler over His people; for you have not kept that which Jehovah commanded you. 1 Samuel 13: 14

God has a will to carry out on this earth in this age. But how He will do it, and when and through whom He will do it, all depends upon God Himself finding a proper person. What a person does is not as important as who is the person who does it. The being of a person is more important than the work the person does. Therefore, gaining a proper person is of utmost important for God to carry out His will.

As I was praying and reconsidering the service that the Lord has assigned me to and has been gracing me to carry it out, one thing that impressed me most was "the persons of the serving ones." Improper person can never do a proper work, no matter how qualified he may be. In fact, improper person not only slows down the  work of God but also destroys them. Especially in the Lord's service, things cannot be done as a "job." No man can serve God for money as in secular fields. Of course, God will sovereignly and sufficiently take care of the serving ones' need, but the serving one must be proper in his being as to serve God and not the service for survival.

Down the years, I have been learning this lesson the long and hard way round. Some people have come in and gone, as we gave opportunities to all. And one common thing of all those who came and gone are of 'improper persons" with improper heart towards God and His service. Whereas, the proper ones are graced by the Lord to remain faithful and fruitful till date, and are always open to  the Lord for any adjustment and perfecting. Their focus for sure is not money, nor do they serve as a "job" but as a service to the Lord. And the confirmation is the fruit of their labor being manifested time after time.

Thus, to further carry on in the Lord's service, my prayer is that I myself be dealt with, trained and perfected for the Lord's service. And that more and more proper serving ones be brought into the Lord's service; to double and multiply the Lord's work. As David's epitaph was "a man after God's own heart," so may all serving ones of the Lord be "men after God's own heart." Yes, dealt with and stripped off of all "improperness" to be proper person, bringing in much "profit" to the Lord's service!

Lord, make me a proper person, even a man after Your heart, for Your service.