Bruise My Heel

He will bruise you on the head, But you will bruise him on the heel. Genesis 3:15b

The Lord's speaking to the church today is on the matter of 'bruise in me the serpent's head." The serpent knows too well that the Lord is executing the accomplished fact of his being a defeated foe. Therefore, he does not rest, so we must "Be sober; watch". For "Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8)

In the promise in Genesis 3:15b, there is a portion for the serpent too-- "you will bruise him on the heel." One might wonder, why God did not simply say to the serpent, "He will bruise you on the head." If that be the case, man would not have to worry about being bruised at the heel. God is righteous, "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;" (Psalm 89:14a) This manifested His righteousness. No wonder today, though the serpent's head has been bruised, still he has the ground to bruise our heels. But rest assured, his head is already bruised! No matter what bruising he might be able to do to us today, we should  not be discouraged, the bruised heel can be healed with the stripes and blood of Jesus, but the bruised serpent's head cannot. Hallelujah!

Today, I have a half-hour long phone call fellowship with two different saints from two different localities. Both of them on the matter of the serpent bruising their heels. For this they called me up to fellowship opening up the facts, not as a complain or backbiting. Satan subtly manages to attack the saints from and through all possible angles, from minor matter to something major. Nevertheless, this is a good opportunity to learn deeper lessons of life. To the fellowships, my simple brotherly fellowship to both is: 

"Today we are for the Lord's testimony as the church, Satan knows it too well. So he does his best to thwart God's plan to be fulfilled through us. Hence all these mess-- infighting, improper attitude, backbiting, slandering, accusing, etc. Instead of fighting against one another, we must first identify our common enemy, Satan, and wage a spiritual battle against him, in the spirit, in the Body; not against our brothers and sisters, nor even to mankind. Second, we must be watchful in prayer and in the word, feeding on the word as our rich divine spiritual nourishment day by day.  Third, we must practice a proper humanity as in Ephesians 4:2 "With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love." In spirit, as the Lord leads, learn to apologize and reconcile and make peace with one another. Once this step is initiated, the Lord will grace us, and Satan will have no ground to accuse us." 

Then the fellowship concluded for both with a healthy note on prayer. We prayed together over the phone, invoked the promises of God and gave ourselves for His deeper work of transformation that we may gain Christ all the more, come what may.

The serpent bruising our heels is according to the Lord's multifarious wisdom for us to experience and gain Christ all the more. Without the bruising in our heel, the bruising of the serpent's would not have benefited much as far as growing up to Him unto maturity is concerned. Otherwise, it will just be an accomplished fact without much reality, subjectivity and practicality. 

Praise the Lord for the bruising in our heels, that solidifies and made subjective the bruising of the serpent's head!

Bruise in Me the Serpent's Head

The everlasting Hymn on praising the Lord in His incarnation by Charles Wesley with George Whitefield has been my prayer these days, as I have been experiencing the subjectivity and reality of God's promise on the "seed of the woman."

Stanza 4 (https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/84)
Come, Desire of nations, come!  Fix in us Thy humble home:Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring seed,  Bruise in us the serpent’s head;Adam’s likeness now efface,
  Stamp Thine image in its place:
Final Adam from above,
  Reinstate us in Thy love.

And I will put enmity / Between you and the woman / And between your seed and her seed; / He will bruise you on the head, / But you will bruise him on the heel. Genesis 3:15 

Though man fell and God in Christ Jesus had accomplished the work of redemption at the cross, still there is a need to subjectively execute what the Lord had already accomplished. He, as the seed of the woman, crushed the head of the serpent at the cross of Calvary. Now, we, the many believers of the Lord Jesus Christ and the children of God as the corporate seed of the woman are also in reality and practicality executing the crushing of the serpent's head; first of all in us, and without us. 

These days I very much sense the serpentine nature very active in the flesh, so subtle and so active. Sometimes disheartening, but never discouraged. As long as I am in flesh and blood, I have to face this serpent. The Lord, the Overcomer, who had already crushed the serpent's head is now in my spirit as the Spirit. I just need to exercise my spirit and be one spirit with the Lord Spirit. In his subtle activity I might have slipped now and then, but I am not discouraged, for he is the defeated foe. For a temporary moment he may seem to win the world, but in reality he is the loser.

Sensing this deep need within me, my cry and groaning and prayer to the Lord has been, "bruise in me the serpent's head!" I may be down and out, but I will rise again with a prayer,"bruise in me the serpent's head!" Come what may, my prayer in spiritual battle will be, "bruise in me the serpent's head!"

Lord, "bruise in me the serpent's head!"

The Lord's Promise

For which also we pray always concerning you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling and may fulfill in power your every good intention for goodness and your work of faith,So that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 1:11, 12

Last week the Lord's speaking to me concerning my academic pursuit was the same promise that was given to me on the day I sat for the entrance exam for my master degree fifteen years ago. Though I had all the academic preparation as I should, but the real blessing was in the blessing of God upon all my labor. Human knowledge and wisdom means nothing with God's. Of course,  God is righteous to righteously reward those who toil and labor, but besides, without His grace and blessing, even man's labor is vanity. I was so comforted with the same verses the Lord spoke to me again as I have been considering for upgrading my educational qualification, not for my own interest, but for God's divine purpose.

Few days later was my younger brother's birthday in the flesh. As I prayed for him, not because it was his birthday, but as usually is, the Lord gave me the same verses as a "special gift to him." Thus the speaking and promise of the Lord is not just for me, but for my family, the saints, and the church, "that our God may count us worthy of our calling and may fulfill in power our every good intention for goodness and our work of faith." This is not just to meet some selfish earthly goals, but "that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in us, and we in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."

The calling of God to me is to love Him and serve Him, and my good intention is to strengthen this love and service by cooperating with Him for developing "something" that will be of importance and useful for the carrying out of His economy on this earth; all by His grace and within the grace and capacity He has apportioned to me. In fact, I have started working on a software project with studies and researching on a field of Computer Science to assist in the literature service that the Lord has sovereignly placed me at the moment. 

The word of God is truly living and operative. As per the need, He speaks, and leads, and guides. Praise the Lord!

Lord, Thou art faithful and true to Thy words. Praise Thee!

Power of the Word

And Jesus answered and said to them, You err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. Matthew 22:29

And my speech and my proclamation were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. 1 Corinthians 2:4   

The Lord's speaking this week through a brother's fellowship was so enlightening. We may know the word and be able to speak the word, but how much of the power of the word is manifested in our words? The Lord spoke with authority, and His words changed people and are still changing people. How about our speaking? We may not speak something wrong, but on the contrary, may even speak the truth without any error. But how much of that truths spoken have any impact on the hearers? 

Jeremiah 23:29 says, "Is not My word thus — like fire, declares Jehovah, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" Such is the power of the word of God. But the question is, does our words according what the word of God really is? If not, the problem is not with the word of God, but with the ones from whom the words are spoken.

This is a litmus test to me. I love the word, I enjoy reading the word, I study the word and I speak the word too. It is not that what I speak does not bear any fruit, but rather that how effective the fruits are? The Lord reminded me again of my need to be fully one with Him in words and in deeds that I may minister words full of grace and life for building up.

The real manifestation of the power of God is in the building up of the Body of Christ. If all that I minister does not build up the Body of Christ, however appreciated it may be, it is far from the calling of God. I better go before the Lord and pray for the Lord's mercy that I may not be found as useless slave. And the Lord forbid that I be such. And grace me to be. 

Acts 20:32 And now I commit you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who have been sanctified.

The Lord's speaking in the Body has helped me to see where I am at the moment. It is the sure mercy of God that He is leading me onward; teaching, correcting, perfecting and building me up. 

Lord, continue to grace me that Your words be mine, and mine Yours, all for the building up of your Body.  

World Record!

It was the 20th of October 2015, a brother and his wife cordially invited me to be the anchor for a program of attempting to break eight world records in memorizing tough mathematical figures. It was my first time ever to host such an event, a secular yet academic in nature, in the presence of officers, media and judges for the world record.

When I was requested for the job I took it to the Lord for His leading. In fellowship with the Lord and a brother and in prayer, I had the peace go ahead, reckoning as the Lord's open-door for the furtherance of the gospel in North India.

The stage was all set and I was ready to host. Though I had no stage-fright nor nervousness within, I was deeply in prayer for the Lord's wisdom in the execution of the program for the world records attempt. The person at center of the function is none other than the brother whom the Lord graces me to lead him to the Lord; prayed, fellowshipped and shepherded him since we first met; and stood with him through thick and thin. And the Lord has miraculously been leading him thus far. For the Lord's sake and for the shepherding of a brother, I accepted the invitation.

The Lord sovereignly led us through successfully, and I also gave a motivational/inspirational speech in view of the academic nature and audience of a prestigious defense school. This event led me further to establish a friendship with some high profile people, all of them are now gospel friends to me. With the ice-breaking session done, the next step is to pray and develop the friendship until the day of their salvation, even as becoming fellow members in the Body unto eternity. This is a simple testimony of living for the gospel.

What the future holds, I have no idea. But I do know this, some of these ones, both students and staffs , officers and guests, would have been impressed by the short speech on "Education, Character and God," as many of them have commented after the meetings, their appreciation and even initiated a friendly relationship. To the academicians, I have to be an academician that I may gain some for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This "World Record" function to me is a plundering of the world for the Lord's kingdom.

Lord, save many of these ones in Your time. Make them break the world for the Your kingdom. 

Expression 2015

My son was selected to be one of the participants in the play of the school function, Expression 2015. As such, his parent, my wife and I were invited too. It was an academic secular function, and my attendance to such came after a decade or so. The impression I had about the Expression was that people in the world are all aiming and hoping and working toward a better life; financially, academically, psychologically and religiously even.

The plays of the students covered the three main religions of the world- Hinduism, Islam and Christianity, with emotional and heart touching moral and ethical theme. Clubbed with an academic report of the school and students' performance in the last academic year. All were excellent. Not an exaggeration, but a fair and honest judgment.

This is the sum of human yearnings and aspirations. Are we, the children of God, also on the same pace? Morally, ethically, academically or even religiously? Far be it, and God forbid. We are under a totally different dispensation; yes, under the heavenly and divine dispensation. Not negating the roles played by worldly academics, nor depending upon it. Not despising the comforts and conveniences of the modern age, nor collaborating with it. But amidst all these, living to God and His eternal purpose.

As children of God, created in the image of God, and regenerated by the life of God, we are the real "EXPRESSION" of God! Possessing God's divine life and nature, we are the expression of God on this earth. Our lives and living, all that we say and do, all that we are and have, all for the Lord's testimony, His expression. Not just for today, but even unto eternity.

What the world sought for,a better expression in all walks of life, we, the children of God are the real expression of all.

Lord, have mercy on us and grace us each day to expression You as Your living testimony.

Serve as Slave

This week the morning revival portion is on serving as slaves as the Lord Jesus did and the apostles, especially Paul did. I had written a hymn on this and as far as the truth is concerned, I am very clear about being a slave and how to be a slave. But the litmus test is in the living out of being such a slave in reality. The truths I have been learning must now be put to practice.

It so happened that for attending an important meeting for a brother I was invited, which I obliged to it. But all the physical arrangements had to be made by me, not only so, on learning that his parent too were planning to attend, I was wondering how could the arrangement for transportation be done. The venue for the meeting was about 80 kilmeters from Gurgaon. The meeting being an important one, I decided to make all things arranged well on time. But as I considered before the Lord, the Lord reminded me of being a slave; as such, I must learn to serve; with the love of a slave, service of a slave and sacrifice of a slave. 

Though as invited one, I could have expected for all the arrangements, instead I decided to take care of my own transportation and also that of the brother's family, all at my own cost. A good opportunity the Lord had arranged for my learning to serve as slave. Even as I drove them to and fro I was not doing it for them nor for my self nor for my brother, but all for the Lord's sake, especially to learn to live and serve as slave. With this proper attitude, I was so joyful and felt blessed that I can indeed learn to serve as slave.

Even in shepherding, the Lord's inward speaking has always been that I am a slave and I am serving the Lord as a slave. With this proper realization, I cannot have my own opinion, nor my own rights. As such, I cannot be hurt by anybody, for I am just a slave. 

But a blessing to be a slave, and much more to serve as slave. 

Lord, grace me ever this proper spirit of service; that of a slave and serve, in fact, serve as slave.