A New Way

It was the 25th December 2015, when in my time with the Lord in the word, He spoke to me from Ezekiel 1:4 about the north wind blowing as the visitation of the Lord to turn me, the Spirit abiding with me as a cloud, the fire burning away anything contrary to God's holy life and nature and then shining forth the glory of God as the electrum. I therefore shared with many saints and seekers on my WhatsApp. It has been my prayer that this word be a reality to me. And the Lord is faithful.

Three days later on the 28th, in my time with the Lord on my knees, the Lord really did turn me. A fresh consecration and a renewed burden to cooperate with His move ensued. The Lord's speaking was very subjective and crystal clear. Burden for prayer was renewed, and the goal for this coming year 2016 personally was made clear. 

Significant ones are the promise of the Lord for an academic research related to the service the Lord has assigned for me in the ministry of the word, in the literature service in general, and in linguistic in particular, in line with the present learning on Greek and English literature for the Bible translation. The university and specific line of research were also made clear. What He had promised concerning this matter of qualification upgradation for the gospel of the kingdom and also professionalism in the Lord's service are beginning to fulfill. This new light dawning was indeed the Lord's visitation; what passed through death is being resurrected, and has brought to me immense joy. Whatever I tried in the past to fulfill this promise was finally fine-tuned and channeled into what the Lord deemed best.

Besides, from the previous of experience of the Lord ushering me to spent fruitful time in the pursuit of the ministry writings, especially that of the collected works of Watchman Nee was further made clear. I thus began the pursuit, and the burden is to finish it in one year, within 2016. And my prayer for those on the prayer burden list to be specifically prayed for in a detailed way until a definite breakthrough in 2016; no more generic prayer, but be specific with goals.

Lord, praise your for Your speaking and turning.

The said speaking of the Lord is from the Holy Bible, Recovery Version.

Ezek. 1:4 - And I looked, and there came a storm wind from the north, a great cloud and a fire flashing incessantly; and there was a brightness around it, and from the midst of it there was something like the sight of electrum, from the midst of the fire.

Footnotes from the Holy Bible Recovery Version

Ezek. 1:4 1 wind As with the entire Bible, the book of Ezekiel uses visible, physical things to signify spiritual things. The storm wind here is a figure of the powerful Spirit of God (Acts 2:2, 4a). In the Scriptures the wind has both a negative and positive significance. In its negative significance the wind is a symbol, or sign, of God’s judgment upon man (Jer. 49:26; Rev. 7:1). In its positive significance the wind symbolizes the blowing of the Holy Spirit upon man or the descending of the Holy Spirit upon man to cause man to have God’s life (37:9-10; John 3:6-8; Acts 2:2-21). The storm wind here has this positive significance.

Ezek. 1:4 2b  north  Job 37:22;  Psa. 48:2;  Isa. 14:13;  cf. Jer. 1:14From the north means from God (Psa. 75:6-7a; Isa. 14:13). Whenever God visits us and revives us, His Spirit blows on us like a mighty wind to bring a spiritual storm into our life, into our work, and into our church, causing us to be dissatisfied and concerned about our spiritual condition and to have a turn in our spiritual life.

Ezek. 1:4 3c  cloud  Exo. 19:16;  24:16;  2 Chron. 5:14;  Psa. 97:2-3;  Ezek. 10:4The cloud here is a figure of God as the Spirit abiding with His people and covering them in order to care for them and show favor to them (Exo. 13:21; 40:34-35; Prov. 16:15; 1 Cor. 10:1-2). God comes to us as the wind, but He stays with us as the cloud. Together, the wind and the cloud are an indication that an important transaction is about to take place between God and man.

Ezek. 1:4 4  fireThe fire seen by Ezekiel signifies God’s burning and sanctifying power (Deut. 4:24; Heb. 12:29). Whenever God visits us, His holy fire comes to consume in us everything that does not match His holy nature and disposition. This burning fire also causes us to be enlightened concerning our spiritual condition before God. The more the fire of the Holy Spirit burns in us, the more we are purified and enlightened.

Ezek. 1:4 5d  electrum  Ezek. 1:27;  8:2Ezek. 1:45 [1]  Following the rendering of the Septuagint and the Vulgate; others translate, glowing metal. “An unknown substance; some think a mixture of gold and silver” (Darby). Gold signifies the nature of God, and silver signifies redemption. The electrum, composed of the elements of gold and silver, signifies the Lamb-God, the redeeming God (see note 15 in Rev. 22). That the glowing electrum appeared from the midst of the fire indicates that the burning of the divine fire is for the manifestation of the electrum.

Ezek. 1:4 5 [2]  The spiritual history of a normal Christian should be a continual cycle involving the experience of God as the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum. The more we experience the wind, the cloud, and the fire, the more the electrum is constituted into our being, making us a people who are filled with the Triune God and who manifest His glory. The issue of the spiritual transactions involving the blowing wind, the covering cloud, and the purifying fire is the glowing electrum—the radiant expression of the redeeming God.

Lord, blow upon us as the north wind, abide with us as the cloud, burn and sanctify us by the fire, that we may glow forth Your glory as the electrum.

Blending on 25 Dec

Do not learn the way of the nations ...for the customs of the people are vanity. Jeremiah 10:2-3 
So then let us keep the feast, not with old leaven ...but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truths. 1 Corinthians 5:8 
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.1 Corinthians 10:14

When the Christian world is following the custom of the nations and celebrating so called "Christmas", as a church we chose to come together for blending, perfecting and pursuing the Lord, for the fact that it was a holiday time. We had truth education for the saints and new ones who are not clear about what the word of God says.

For two hour we pursued some messages on the leaven of Christmas as truth education, clarifying why as Christians we cannot partake of the abomination of the denominations. The Lord has charged us to remember His death and look forward for His coming again, but not His birthday. And more so, the Bible is completely silent about the date of the Lord's birth and there is no record of the disciple nor the believers ever celebrating Jesus' birthday. History only tells that such leavens were introduced by the Roman Catholic Church and carried forward by the Protestants. And today, many Christians have been deceived in religious blindness into the soulish, if not fleshly, celebration of an extra biblical abomination. Some genuine believers must have silently thanked the Lord for His incarnation and saving grace, but the majority are on a wanton festive celebration mood of man's making giving more rooms to the birth of the devil in their lives than Christ. God forbid.

We utilized the day for blending with the saints, giving testimonies and preaching the gospel to new gospel friends. It was a day well spent. The saints were happy; being cherished and nourished. Besides condemning the many leavens brought into Christianiy and educating and inoculating the saints, we enjoyed the ministry of God's word on the significance of the Lord's birth:

The true significance of Christ's birth is God became man (through His incarnation - John 1:1, 14) that man may become God (through our regeneration to become His sons - John 1:12-13) in life (1 Pet. 1:3) and in nature (2 Pet. 1:4) but not in the Godhead (1 Cor. 8:6). 

As God's children, we are in the world, but we are not of the world (John 17:11,14). If we make a clear-cut separation from the world, we will live a sanctified life (1 Thes. 5:23) and a holy life for the church life. Jesting and revelry in paganistic Christmas celebration will put our holy life under siege. Idolatry is a serious sin. To participate in Christmas celebration is an abomination that the Lord hates. Christ is the reality of all feasts; we do not need the shadow because we have Christ as the reality (Col. 2:16-17; John 1:14b). As the world celebrates the day of the unconquered sun god, we have Christ as the true Sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:2) who has conquered Satan, world, sin, and death. We want Christ, but not the 'mas', the mixture. Christmas is a leaven added to the meal by Christendom (Matt. 13:33). In 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 Paul admonished us to purge out the leaven and instead keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the continuation of the Passover (Exo. 12:15-20). It lasted for seven days, a period of completion, signifying the entire period of our Christian life. It is a life-long feast that we must keep with unleavened bread, which is Christ as our nourishment and enjoyment. Only He is the life supply of sincerity and truth, absolutely pure, without mixture, and full of reality. We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired for a possession (1 Pet. 2:9). In this age of apostasy the Lord is calling us, the overcomers, to come out and be separated from the world and from the degraded Christianity that is full of mixtures (2 Cor. 6:17), and not to participate in her sins that we might not receive her plagues (Rev. 18:4). The Lord's promise to the overcomers is to give them to eat of the hidden manna (Rev. 2:17). If we love the Lord and forsake the world and its enjoyment, we shall surely enjoy the Lord in a subjective and transcendent way. 

Prayer: A Release

These days the Lord recovered my prayer for many new ones on my prayer list. For many of these, it was a burden on my side. And I have no solution as to how to help them effectively in their many complex situations. Many of them seemed to be embroiled into their own matrix of problems; sometimes it made me wonder why on earth there are too many problems, especially to these ones whom I care for.

But a definite time of prayer and presenting these ones one by one to the Lord was such a great release. I felt like every one prayed for is also being answered already. Such a release in prayer was so soothing; the act of prayer itself is the answer to the prayer itself. What a blessing to be able to pray for others!

Besides, there are famous and high profile people in India whom the Lord burdened me to pray for. These ones have been flashed in the national news almost everyday. My only prayer for them is for their salvation at the moment. I have no idea what would befall them. But praying for them as the Lord leads is quite a release in my spirit. By the way, I have not voluntarily picked up these names for prayer, it was the Lord's burden bestowed upon me at different times for the past seventeen years of my Christian life. And I find joy in praying for them. Now and then, I would pray for them, leaving the timing of the answers to the Lord's sovereignty.

Personally and corporately as a church, I would encourage all the saints to pray and pray and pray. To this effect, I would even encourage them to maintain a schedule for daily prayer and even record the quality and length of prayer. Some vaguely say "pray unceasingly" but never prayed even intermittently. Some even spiritually say, "pray in spirit all the time" but never maintain a scheduled habit of prayer life. Some even carelessly say, "how long a prayer is least important, but the quality" but these ones hardly know even how to pray continuously for a mere one hour. 

Prayer must be practical, not doctrinal. We must get into the "business" of prayer where time is solidly invested and our spirit exercised and released. Quality always comes from quantity. Therefore, I would insist on the time/length of prayer too. If the time spent is not important, Moses and the Lord Jesus need not spend forty days and forty nights in the presence of the Lord, and that is 960 hours! Can't they shorten it into just few minutes and get the quality answer likewise? But the Bible did not say that, nor God did not do that. Time spent is definitely important, not just for an answer to the prayer, but to be in the presence of the Lord! If Moses and the Lord Jesus Christ had to spent so much time, how can we excuse ourselves? Well, it may not be forty days and forty nights, but at least an hour a day, minimum, the more the better.

Lord, make me a man of prayer.

The Ministry

The one and only God has a plan and is carrying it out today, by His divine life with His divine truth, in the one ministry to accomplish His one goal of building up His one unique Body. It is the Lord's pure mercy to see this and dive into it. Though many may disagree and argue at length trying to justify their "ministries" besides the one ministry, the Lord God indeed has one and only one ministry of building up His Body; all the other so called "ministries" should be a part of this one ministry. Else, it is no ministry of the Lord at all; at best it is their own personal ministry and at worst their own business entity. 

Fiveteen years ago the Lord mercifully introduced me to the ministry. It took me two long years to pray and study the word to confirm its authenticity. Through various experiences and revelation in the word of God, I was delivered from the clutches of religion, man made organisation and self-imposed spirituality. At that time, many dear brothers in the Lord were saddened by my decision and action. In fact, many "concerned brothers and sisters" have tied their best to stop me from leaving the denomination, and much stronger, opposed my entering into the church life to enjoy and experience Christ corporately for the building up of the Body of Christ. The stronger the opposition, the stronger the Spirit's move within me. Thank God, opposition and false accusation only help me walk the narrow way, treading up hill all the while, but very rewarding, for they are eternal and divine in its true value.

It was indeed an adieu to many brothers temporarily. Well that temporary moment lasted about a decade or so only. All the following "blackmailing, backbiting, rumors of half truth etc.," were just the marks of the cross I have to bear even till today. Praise the Lord for that honor and privilege! Nevertheless, the Lord knows what I am up to, my heart and my intentions are pure before Him, and I am ever open for His chastisement if I ever go wrong. His grace and mercy follows me all the while. 

Now the Lord has recovered the fellowship with those brothers again, after a decade. They themselves have now testified that I did the right thing when I left the denomination we were together with. I never tried to convince them nor justify myself. But only ministered the truth of the word of God whenever opportunity arises. Many of them have by now realised that a Christian life is a life of living Christ, and a Christian life is for the church-life to build up the Body of Christ which is the ministry (Ephesians 4:12). In fact, the Lord in His sovereign mercy is now leading many of them into the narrow of the ministry. Not my work, but the Lord is leading them. Now our fellowship in prayer are sweeter and many of the misunderstanding that clogged our fellowship and friendship are cleared off layer by layer. Though some have asked if they also should just leave the denomination too, my only reply was, "look to the Lord and may the Lord lead you". I offer my time for fellowship and prayer over the phone or face to face, mostly sweet, intimate and long. For I want them to be fully clear of the what the ministry is, and that their taking the way of the ministry be out of their answer and obedience to the Lord's word and leading, and no human's hand be involved. Besides, they themselves have to pay the price of following the Lord. This is genuine and proper. 

Praise the Lord for the ministry! 

And much more, for His mercy recovering me into His ministry.

Thus Saith the Lord

"Thus saith the Lord" is a famous dictum among the many spiritual Christians, as they would be led by the Lord in all things they do and say. This has an Old Testament flavor of the Lord's speaking to man and man's only responsibility is to obey "what the Lord has thus saith."

I do have a lot of experiences of the Lord's speaking now and then for matters related to my personal and family life. These are some particular and personal leading of the Lord; more of a step by step leading by the Lord. But there are broader sense in the New Testament  where the leading of the Lord is in the Body, through the Body, by the Body and for the Body. In fact, this is a much higher leading of the Lord, not just individually but corporately.

Many so called "spiritual Christians" are very individualistic today; in fact they are overladen with spiritual pride and selfishness which they will biblically justify it if confronted. At best, they are spiritually proud in their egoist spiritual pursuit, and at worst, selfishly proud in their blindness in religiosity or superstition. Oftentimes mixing up what "thus saith the Lord" with their "thus saith I" according to their whim and fancy. This is a very sad situation of Christianity today amidst the majority of the world and pleasure loving, charismatic and prosperity loving Christians. Satan has subtly intruded his wiles and lies into the so call "churches" of the day. At one end, there are the individualistically-spiritually proud and blind Christians, and at the other end is the world loving senseless nominal Christians. And Satan has his balance of laughing stock gleefully held. 

The panacea for this Satanic subtlety is the Body of Christ. Matthew 16:18b "I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." The Lord will build His church composed of coordinated Christians, and Satan will attack it, but to his dismay, he will not prevail against it. This is one of the greatest prophecies of the Bible. And this is being fulfilled in the normal Christian church life today.

The two extremes among Christians as mentioned above is best balanced by the Body life. The individualistically spiritual ones must be balanced, tempered and corrected in the Body, and the worldly ones must be shepherded in the Body too.

Recently, I too had this experience of being balanced by the Body. On the one hand I had a very strong scriptural verses of "thus saith the Lord." Yet on the other hand, in fellowship with members of the Body, I was balanced. Even circumstantial experiences proved it. Had I not been in the Body life, nor listened to the fellowship in the Body, I would have gone spiritually berserk. In another case, in a certain fellowship, initially, I too was not in a positive mood to listen to the fellowship from the Body, and in fact, reacted negatively to certain speaking. However, the life in the Body has a regulation that regulated me. The sense of life in the Body is much stronger than the personal sense of life I had. Had I stood on my own understanding I would be easily misled by my own spiritual pride and blindness. But being in the Body was a "second salvation" from myself. The Lord had mercy on me, and I amen the Body's fellowship. It was in this way how "thus saith the Lord" is really heard and applied. And the ensuing result, the anointing and blessing of the Lord in being one with "thus saith the Lord" in and through the Body.

"Thus saith the Lord" today is genuinely in the Body, for the Body. 

Lord, have mercy on me to heed to what You said in the Body, through the Body and for the Body.

A Choice

Daily, hourly, one is faced with a choice, be it meager or mega, silly or serious, significant or simple, a choice has to be made now and then. God had sovereignly given full freedom of choice to mankind and would not interfere with it a bit, in His greatness. Though He desires man to choose of the tree of life, He would nevertheless, in no way force Himself into man's choice. He waits and waits until man would choose Him only.

My recent experience on trying to venture into research activity was also a matter of choice. If I had to fulfill my academic zeal, I had to invest enough time and energy to achieve what I professionally intend to and dream about. Which would mean a sacrifice of other things that I am already occupied with now. For I am just one man with only one life and I have only 24 hours a day. I cannot double myself, nor multiply my time, I am just an ordinary human, finite and limited. I cannot stand on two opposite weigh scale at the same time and balance it all the way from start to end. I only can make a choice, this or that. Yes, a choice...

When faced with such choice, my innate response was, "Lord, I only choose You and ever will." I cannot even imagine wasting my time in non-eternal things and when there are many eternal pursuits awaiting, being placed in front of me. One of the conditions for a research program was a rigorous course work even to the tune of eighteen months. To this, my simply reaction was, would I invest this many time when I can as well invest the same amount of time and pursue spiritual treasure and earn an equivalent spiritual invisible degree of the same rank, if not more? In fact, this made me reconsecrate my time to finish reading a collection of the spiritual works of brother Watchman Nee and the high peak truths released by brother Witness Lee. If time were to be invested for secular achievement, why not more for spiritual nourishment? The experience was a platform for me to make a choice. And eighteen months later, I would gladly comment, " a choice well made."

So I decided to choose the latter, and would dive into the ministry of the word. Many such cases would occur, I only have to look to the Lord and discern wisely and divinely.

Lord, preserve me to always choose the tree of life and walk in the way of life.

Me and My Family

In the recent coworkers' training held in Gurgaon the Lord's speaking was so intense and direct. Thank the Lord for the faithful ministers of the word who paid all the price to experience the Lord in various places for many years and now shepherding us through their experiences of Christ. No theory, no doctrine, but all life and living experiences. This is indeed the Lord's recovery, full of life and vitality. Many wonderful patterns to learn from. What a blessing to be in the Lord's recovery!

A brother's testimony of following the Lord wherever the Lord led him was very touching. Though his family were not at all one with him at times in following the Lord, he was faithful to the core, even against all odds, including the odd of the family. But he was determined to follow the Lord not by himself but with his whole family; that's what really impressed me. 

He could have left his family and kept moving on sans his family. But he deter not because of his family, nor did he just left his family behind. He bore his whole family in prayer until the Lord finally released all of them, and they served the Lord as a family. That was glorious. In fact, more glorious than without any opposition, especially from family.

This testimony made me consecrate not myself but my whole family as well. As of now, by the Lord's mercy, my family is fully one with me in serving the Lord. But what if one day, they opposes me? Should I just leave my family behind? God forbid. For "me and my family" must serve the Lord as Joshua of the Bible. 

"But as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah." 

Joshua 24:15b 

Even in daily oblation, if I may use the word, I must do it not by myself but with my whole family. This is what I need. In prayer, in Bible reading, in pursuing the ministry of the word, in loving the Lord or in functioning in the church, I must not be by myself, but with my whole family. As much as the unit of salvation is household, so much the more, the unit of serving God must be household too. This revelation from the brother' fellowship opened my eyes to see a need for deeper consecration, not merely personally but even as a family. 

Saints of the past have taken this way of serving as a family. Noah, Joshua, Israel were biblical examples and many of my contemporaries too presently.  What a blessing to be able to serve the Lord as a family! Not a family ministry, but serving as a family for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Lord, have mercy on me and my family that we may serve You as a family.