Shepherding : As Father and Mother

1 Thessalonians 2:7  But we were gentle in your midst, as a nursing mother would cherish her own children.11 Just as you know how we were to each one of you, as a father to his own children, exhorting you and consoling you and testifying,

In shepherding the saints the Lord taught me this very important lesson of being a "mother" and a "father" to the ones He bestowed as "guardian." For reason of time and space, I have tried to "hand over" the shepherding of the new ones under my care to the saints in their vicinity. In fact, once I introduced them I left the responsibility of shepherding to them, trusting that all would go well. But later, I discovered that all is not well all the time. The way an "uncle or aunty" would care for children is entirely different form how a "mother and father" would care. For life relationship itself is entirely different. Even with utmost care and concern, the heartbeat of a mother and father is different from that of somebody else. Life relationship cannot be transferred, so is genuine shepherding. This is what I have been learning and experiencing all this while.

A doctor couple, a bureaucrat and a lecturer, an IT engineer, a business manager, retired officials,..whom the Lord has graced me to shepherd them to Him and had been shepherding them for quite sometime, but due to my limited-ness I had "transferred" them to some other brothers and sisters for the follow up shepherding. Though some shepherding is going on for some interval, I ultimately discovered the lack and the urgent need for me to still continue to shepherd them. The genuine care of a nourishing mother and exhorting father can never be replaced by none other, however spiritual or mature someone may be. Father is father and mother is mother and it will always be. Nothing can alter this parental relationship. Not nullifying the function and shepherding of other brothers and sisters to take over, but stating the fact as subjectively as it is.

Since last month I have been burdened by the Lord all over again to still continue the shepherding of all these dear ones despite the factor of time and space. So I freshly decided to continue at least the phone call prayer-fellowship-shepherding at least once a week. Glad that the Lord reminded me and is training me to be a proper nourishing mother and exhorting father.

I know I have my limitation and shortcomings; and often, I tend to "transfer" the shepherding under the cloak of coordination, but the Lord reminded me again and again, never to give up on anyone, for whatever reason. Praise the Lord for this lesson of shepherding.

Lord, make me a proper shepherd; shepherding as father and mother.

Fellowship in the Body: Receiving Supply

Personally I often feel sometimes I am down and out, but the blessed truth is that I am in the Body and am being supported and strengthened by the Lord through the Body. If it is my own personal individual spirituality, when I am high I will be full of self-exaltation and and when I am down I will be full of self-condemnation. Praise the Lord, the Lord has been delivering me from myself into Himself in His Body. 

Few days ago, a time of fellowship with a more mature brother for few hours was so supplying. On the one hand I was exposed of where I lack behind; my failures, shortcomings, etc., yet on the other hand, I was so supplied through the fellowship. In fact, I was very much strengthened to love the Lord more and pursue Him much more. Though objectively inexplicable in utterance and subjectively mysterious in experience, I sensed the love and care of the Lord expressed in and through the Body, and for the Body. What a blessing! I have never seen Jesus Christ in the flesh nor many brothers who have now gone to be with the Lord, still in fellowship with brothers like him, I could experience the Christ speaking and ministering through the members of His Body. What a grace that I, even such as I, could participate in the Lord's blessing.

Another experience is the visitation of another elderly brother who is also as mature, ministering life to me, especially in my area of service as the Lord has apportioned it to me. Simple, sweet and slow, the divine life is being supplied. There is no sense of religious loyalty nor superstitious  supremacy, but mutual fellowship and supply to one another. Age no bar, race no bar and nationality no bar, but fellow member of the Body of Christ, brother in Christ! Where can such experience be enjoyed, except in the proper church-life in the Body of Christ? My understanding of the Body life is getting deeper, and my experience, sweeter. Every fellowship with the saints is an experience of Christ and the enjoyment thereof. What a blessing that Christ, the Head, graces me the fellowship in the Body!

Here, in the Body life, there is no room for Satan to point his finger and accuse me. I am not a lone Christian fighting a solo battle, but I am just a member of the Body of Christ with Christ as the Head who has already crushed the devil's head under our foot. My struggles are not mine alone, nor strong points, but everything is in the Body, with the Body and for the Body. Praise the Lord!

The fellowship of the Body, in the Body, for the Body is a blessing. Lord, preserve me in your Body all the days of my life!    

Answered Prayers

The Lord generally has three types of answer as He always answers prayer. His answer could be an affirmative "Yes", a negative 'No" or a passive "Wait." But He always answers all His children's prayers. Only one has to discern what is the Lord's answer.

Recently, the Lord encouraged me very much with affirmative "Yes," again and again, resounding. Of course, these have been answers to years of prayer. Whichever the answer may be, prayer is always a win-win exercise. The result of the prayer itself is worth praying for. The very act of praying and the answers to the prayer are always worthy. In fact, the act of prayer itself is the benefit of prayer, and much more, answers will be added in due time.  

In the past one month itself, the Lord has brought in three solid result to our prayers in the literature service, and two more are on the way. In our office, every morning we spend at least an hour of prayer and pursuing. It is not a mere obligation but an experience and enjoyment of the Lord. As we faithfully prayed for the need of the literature service in various languages and for various parts of India, the Lord bountifully blessed us. In time, He begins to answer our prayer one by one.

One particular language was suffering for lack of proper serving ones, but the Lord is now filling up the lack and a new beginning is dawning. The Lord is faithful and meets His own need. This particular experience is very encouraging to me.

When in one spirit with the Lord, every prayer uttered is the Lord's prayer and the Lord will always answer His prayer through us. Our simple responsibility is to exercise to be one spirit with the Lord by being in the mingled spirit. This brings us to the basic Christian living as in Romans 8:4 "That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.", 1 Timothy 4:7 "exercise yourself unto godliness", Galatian 5:16 "But I say, Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh," 25 "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit."

Lord, grace me such a basic living and walking in the Spirit.

Presumption

A great and grave danger of a mindset is "presumption." Often many, including myself, have the habit and temptation of "counting the chickens before it hatches." The paradox is, without any certainty of what the future might hold, one presumes things as though it has already been so. And to a sarcastic surprise, what comes out in reality is often the exact opposite of what was presumed to be.

Not merely once have I been a victim of such mindset, it has happened again and again. I hope I learn this lesson well this time.

Yesterday, I visited a sister who was admitted in a hospital for "dengue." My observation was that she was recovering as her blood platelet counts was above 60. I comforted her and presumed confidently that she will be alright and was not that burdened at all, even for prayer. What a grave oversight. And this morning I was informed that her platelet counts went down to below 30 and was very critical. Not only so, I received a mail and a message about the seriousness of her health condition. This was a big lesson for me, not to presume anything before its confirmation.

This reminds me of my need for more carefulness in saying anything before hand and not to take things for granted. But to commit everything to the Lord in prayer that the will of the Lord be done, and not my presumption. 

On the flip side, this is also indeed an attack of the enemy as this sister had passed through much struggling and had decided to join the full time training in truth and church services. Besides, she is also a core team member for the gospel preaching in a reputed university in New Delhi. On the one hand its a spiritual battle, yet on the other hand its a spiritual lesson for me.

I have had enough experiences of my presumptions being nullified, and I am still learning this simple lesson. Though I trust my brothers in many things, still the Lord would allow some "exceptional cases or unavoidable circumstances" to withhold my plan and make my presumption void, though ultimately things will be cleared up later. It was the hand of God for me to learn my lesson, of not being presumptuous but depend on the Lord step by step, trusting Him all the way through.

Praise the Lord for the lesson of "not to be presumptuous."

Lord, grace me to be so.

A Living Testimony : I Have Decided to Follow Jesus

A week ago I received a post about the author of a very well known song, "I have decided to follow Jesus!" The story, I believe, was genuine and authentic, and was so touching and living that issues in two things in me. 

First, I was so convicted of my lack of burden and prayer for my tribesmen in my village who are still unbelievers and modernly pagan, still in the same part of India where the story originated from. Though I had this burden before the reading of the story below, it enlivened my burden and I started praying and interceding for my own native people.

Second, having received good and heart-touching story, I forwarded to many Christian contacts and some others too. The response was amazing. Many replied to the post of how much they were touched by the Lord. Two significant reactions were:

One brother translated the whole story into Mizo and post it on Facebook and sent it via WhatsApp. I was just left to my guess, to how many he must have sent it out.

Another sister and her husband testified to me, almost in tears, how the Lord touched them through the story and their faith in the Lord was greatly strengthened.

The story goes...

"I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" is a Christian hymn originating from India. The lyrics are based on the last words of a man in Garo, Assam, north-east India.

About 150 years ago, there was a great revival in Wales, England. As a result of this, many missionaries came from England and Germany to North-East India to spread the Gospel. At the time, north-east India was not divided into many states as it is today. The region was known as Assam and comprised hundreds of tribes. 

The tribal communities were quite primitive and aggressive by nature. The tribals were also called head-hunters because of a social custom which required the male members of the community to collect as many heads as possible. A man’s strength and ability to protect his wife was assessed by the number of heads he had collected. Therefore, a youth of marriageable age would try and collect as many heads as possible and hang them on the walls of his house. The more heads a man had, the more eligible he was considered.

Into this hostile and aggressive community, came a group of Welsh missionaries spreading the message of love, peace and hope of Jesus Christ. Naturally, they were not welcomed. One Welsh missionary shared gospel and a man, his wife, and two children believed in Jesus. This man’s faith proved contagious and many villagers began to accept Christ.

Angry, the village chief summoned all the villagers. He then called the family who had first converted to renounce their faith in public or face execution. Moved by the Holy Spirit, the man instantly composed a song which became famous down the years.

He said:"I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back."

Enraged at the refusal of the man, the chief ordered his archers to arrow down the two children. As both boys lay twitching on the floor, the chief asked, “Will you deny your faith? You have lost both your children. You will lose your wife too.”

But the man said these words in reply:"Though no one joins me, still I will follow. No turning back, no turning back."

The chief was beside himself with fury and ordered his wife to be arrowed down. In a moment she joined her two children in death. Now he asked for the last time, “I will give you one more opportunity to deny your faith and live.”

In the face of death the man said the final memorable lines:"The cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back, no turning back."

He was shot dead like the rest of his family. But with their deaths, a miracle took place. The chief who had ordered the killings was moved by the faith of the man. He wondered, “Why should this man, his wife and two children die for a Man who lived in a far-away land on another continent some 2,000 years ago? There must be some remarkable power behind the family's faith, and I too want to taste that faith.”

In a spontaneous confession of faith, he declared, “I too belong to Jesus Christ!”

When the crowd heard this from the mouth of their chief, the whole village accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. The tune for the song was given by Sadhu Sundar Singh few years later when he stumbled upon some historical literature and read about this incident during one of his travels to the North East.

This is one of the most powerful songs composed by a man who gave his life for Christ, which became the reason for the salvation of the whole tribe. The tune given by a man who forsook everything in his life for the sake of Christ. The combination of both these great lives makes this song filled with vitality to generate more followers of Christ even today.

Need Versus Want

Needs are necessities that must be met and cannot do without them, whereas wants are desires or wishes that are optional and one can do without them. These two matters have been trying hard to balance these days in my cognitive weigh scale. It was a good time experiencing the Lord to know and follow His feelings.

Recently I sensed a need that would save my time and ease my life. But upon consideration and researching online whether to buy the thing or not, I finally concluded that that I can do without it, and would not invest so much for that automatic thing for which I can do manually. Similar case arose when my dad called me to send some thing for him. Immediately I decided to buy what he asked for, clubbing together with a gift for my wife. But as I was about to buy, something within me struck me to reconsider it before I buy, that prompted me to pray and discern the Lord's feeling. 

Quite amazing, as I brought the matter before the Lord in prayer, my mind was very clear that I do not need to venture to invest that much amount for such things which are just wants and not needs. It was a great salvation indeed. My mind was changed by simple prayer. In fact, I was saved in this matter of wants. But to the matters of needs I do not need a second thought too much, for needs must be met somehow.

In fact, as I reconsidered the matter, I reckon that I would not be at peace at all if I ever went ahead with what was only wants and not really needs. This taught me a wonderful lesson in life, especially as children of God to live a life worthy of His calling; simple living, not indulging in luxury, yet having all that are needed.

Even the children of the world are wise enough to distinguish the difference between the two and live accordingly, why not the children of God? A very deep lesson in managing one's finance and a litmus test of our heart whether we are influenced by the glamour and glitters of the world. 

This matter is also of great economic concern for the economist: One important idea in economics is that of needs and wants. Needs would be defined as goods or services that are required. This would include the needs for food, clothing, shelter and health care. Wants are goods or services that are not necessary but that we desire or wish for. For example, one needs clothes, but one may not need designer clothes. One does not need toys, entertainment, gems, etc.. One needs food, but does not have to have steak or dessert. One does not need glamorous trips, mall shopping, etc..

It is a salvation indeed to discern and cater to needs in life and not indulge in wants which often is a temptation linked to lust and covetousness.

Lord, preserve me from lures of wants, and provide all my needs.

Saved by Grace

On 31 May 2015, I blogged concerning the salvation of a new one;  http://palmeichung.blogspot.in/2015/05/saved-by-grace.html. That was an incident of some people being brought to salvation. That was indeed a salvation by grace. But that is not all; salvation by grace is being enjoyed and experienced day by day, and will be, in the whole course of our Christian life. 

Salvation by grace is not just a one time matter; in fact, it is also a daily matter. This truth has been a theological debate for centuries for some unwarranted "orthodoxical" zealots. The first experience of being saved by grace was undoubtedly the salvation from eternal perdition which is reserved for Satan and his followers including all the unbelievers; for the greatest sin is a sin of unbelief, not believing into Jesus Christ as the Savior. However, every truth of the Bible has two sides, not contrary to one another nor contradicting in any way, but a complement to each other, if not a supplement. Paul gracious talked about "daily salvation" in Philippians 2.  

Philippians 2:1212 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much rather in my absence, ³work out your own⁴salvation with fear and trembling;

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Note 3: I.e., carry out, bring to the ultimate conclusion. We have received God's salvation, which has as its climax our being exalted by God in glory as the Lord Jesus was (v. 9). We need to carry out this salvation, to bring it to its ultimate conclusion, by our constant and absolute obedience with fear and trembling. We have received this salvation by faith; now we must carry it out by obedience, which includes our being genuinely one in our soul (v. 2). To receive this salvation by faith is once for all; to carry it out is lifelong.  

Note 4: 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.

Since few days ago I have been experiencing the matter of "saved by grace" again and again. Though I was already saved, I am still experiencing the daily salvation. Though I am unworthy and fails in may areas, still the Lord is gracious enough to save be by His grace day by day.  

The testimonies of my neighbor and a brother was very humbling to me in a positive sense. Even in my short comings which I was very conscious of, the Lord is even using that as a testimony to my unbelieving neighbor. Hearing such a word was so encouraging  on the one hand yet very humbling, for I know my weaknesses too well.  Even a brother on whose house I am staying on rent gave a wonderful testimony which I inwardly felt "I don't deserve it at all." Perhaps, they both have seen something I have not seen. Or perhaps, my vision need to be broadened to see in a wider way. Whatever it may be, it is the Lord's grace, and I am being saved by grace. This indeed is a daily matter.

Not just a one time matter, nor just a sinner getting saved only, but our being saved day by day from many things other than Christ is also a "saved by grace" experience.

Lord, grace me the daily salvation; from all things other than You and to live You only and daily.