Speech Seasoned with Salt

Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.  Colossians 4:6

One of the reminders the Lord has been reminding me of, is in the matter of speaking. As James recorded rightly in 4:11, "Do not speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge" and in 3:10, "Out of the same mouth come forth blessing and cursing. These things, my brothers, ought not to be so".

Yes, the Lord grace me to realise the seriousness of my speaking and it has been my prayer that my speaking will indeed be seasoned with salt and full of grace. And at the same time, I also am reminding my beloved brothers to do the same. 

Recently, after fellowshipping with one of the opposers, clarifying his misunderstandings, as a concluding word I reminded him too not to speak and spread false rumor as he is a prominent Christian writer. Instead, in brotherly fellowship, I fellowshipped with him to speak words that ministers Christ, and reminded him of the importance of our words to be seasoned with salt, that our words be dealt with killing the germs of negativism.

Unbridled tongues, words unseasoned with salt are some of the tools Satan uses to divide the Body of Christ and create disharmony among Christians. If we Christians are not careful in our speakings we might as well, in ignorance, turn out to be the devil's evangelists. As some "evangelists" instead of preaching and spreading the good news of Jesus Christ are propagating the bad news about fellow Christians and damaging the work of God in their blindness. Such "evangelists" are many today, professing as Christian evangelists but doing the work of Satan by slandering their fellow believers with white-lies, twisted truths, hear-say mongers of rumors and unknowing and effectively becoming Satanic evangelist.

Lord, preserve me from being such "speakers." 

May my words be full of grace, ministering Christ as life, words seasoned with salt, speaking words that builds up the body of Christ.

Brotherly Fellowship

The redemption the Lord Jesus accomplished at the cross judicially by the shedding of His blood, and the salvation He freely and graciously bestowed unto us organically by the flowing of the water from His wounded side as the resurrected life-giving Spirit supplying us the divine life is to all those believed into Him. Though Christians in ignorance are religiously, if not superstitiously, blinded by the system of Christianity, the fact that we are all redeemed by the blood of Jesus and made sons of God, indisputable truth and our eternal bliss. 

Satan have subtly used religious divides even among the children of God, the Christians. But in the eyes of God, we all are one in Christ, equally members to one another of His one unique Body, manifested wherever the believers are as the church in that locality. If only all the children of God sees and knows and lives this fact, Satan would have been ashamed openly today, though he was already openly defeated at the cross of Christ. It does take revelation of the the divine Word in the light of the Holy Spirit to see things as God sees and be in brotherly fellowship beyond petty non-essential divisive items.

By the Lord's mercy, with this vision and burden, I visited certain Christian brothers especially those who blindly opposes the living and practices of a normal Christian life in a normal church-life. Not with view of defense nor offense, but with the proper spirit of brotherly fellowship in Christ. To all whom I have visited and fellowshipped with, the outcome was brotherly love being developed and negative veils of misunderstanding, misconception and misaiming dealt with. In every visit, my prayer to the Lord was for the Lord's presence in conduct and in word with a proper attitude and never to get into any debates, theological or whatsoever. In fact, I have reminded myself and the brothers with me that we were not for debating but for brotherly fellowship. After every fellowship, we had wonderful time prayer together for more brotherly fellowships, to build up one another. Having thus fellowshipped with some already, spanning two states and fours cities, the bonds of brotherhood was established even with once opposers, now beloved brothers. 

Satan and his tactic of spreading false propaganda and lies about fellow believers need to be exposed and condemned. His subtle divisive tools of dividing the Body of Christ must be annihilated through the positive preaching of the truths of the Bible. And Christians must identify Satan as the common enemy, and corporately as the church, fight against him, the defeated foe; not fight our fellow brothers in Christ. Today, we are at the end times, and Satan is getting busier to carry out his destructive work of the church, but he will not prevail. For Matthew 16:18 says, "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it".   

The gates of Hades will not prevail against it! Why is there the need to insert this phrase? For the Lord certainly know that Satan will fight against the church which Christ builds, but he, Satan, will not prevail against it. No wonder, there are lot of the works of Satan manifested among Christians today. But Christ will build up His church and Satan will not prevail against it. Hallelujah! 

For this, brotherly fellowship is very necessary to expose the Satanic lies. And this is the reason the Lord burdened me to extend a fellowshipping hand to fellow Christians who misunderstood us for some reasons.

Brotherly fellowship heals the wounds of Satanic attacks. So lets be in fellowship. Yes, brotherly fellowship in Christ Jesus.  

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread; as I commanded you, seven days you shall eat unleavened bread at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out from Egypt. And no one shall appear before Me empty. Exodus 23:15  

The Lord's speaking this week is on the matter of feasting upon Him in general, and in particular, on different aspects of feasting upon Him. Today, the Lord richly spoke through the saints in their prophesying on the particular matter of Christ as the unleavened Bread.

Footnotes from the the Holy Bible, Recovery Version.

Keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Deut. 16:1-8) typifies the purging away of all sinful hings through the enjoyment of Christ as the sinless life supply. This feast is a continuation of the Passover.

A Christian life is a life of living Christ (Phil. 1:21), and Christ is sinless and perfect. However, in reality, a Christian life is not without sin, though it should rightly be. Our salvation is secure, yet do we daily enjoy he Lord's salvation? Honestly, even as Christians we do fall at times; we do commit sins willing or unwilling, consciously or unconsciously. But once we are aware of our sins as the Holy Spirit convicts we must deal with it seriously by confessing them, applying the blood of Jesus and taking definite steps to deal with it without any delay. However, do be able to do this, we need the Lord Jesus as our sinless life supply of the unleavened bread.

In truth, no one can deal with his or her sins by his or her own strength. The only way, yes I emphasis, THE ONLY WAY is by eating the Lord Jesus as the unleavened Bread. 

John   6:57   As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me. 

Our being able to live as the Lord would, is by living the Lord Himself. The only way to live the Lord Himself is to allow Him to live in us and through us by being constituted with His life and nature by eating Him daily as our heavenly manna. There is no other way. Only eating Jesus is the way!

This eating is not a one time or a couple of times matter, but a daily matter; all the days of our Christian life, as signified by the feasting for seven days, a full course of our Christian life.

As brothers and sisters prophesied, the speaking of the Lord to the church here in Gurgaon is crystal clear. Enjoy Christ in the church by feasting upon Christ as the unleavened Bread. Some saints have testified of how the Lord changed their lives just by them feeding upon the Lord Jesus everyday, by calling upon His Name, enjoying Him in the Word and in fellowship.

The flow of the Spirit was so strong in our praises in singing and worship. And the speaking of the Lord was so rich in the corporate prophesying of the saints, all on the same burden, of feasting upon the Triune God as our full enjoyment.

Lord, grace me to feast upon You all the days of my life.

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.