Saturday, 13 February 2016

LITERATURE JOURNEY: Khamman & Vijawaya

In Khamman the Lord arranged an elderly sister for our hospitality. In this city the Lord led us to some very senior and elderly brothers to whom we introduced the ministry books. In spite of all the decades of spiritual experiences, they all seemed to get stuck at maintaining the status quo of a Christian life. A brother even confessed how he weeps before the Lord for being stagnant spiritually and wonder why revival of the old have not happened, and why believers lost their interest in the things of God? Spiritual deadness, barrenness, division are plaguing the Christian world today. Another brother acknowledged how the ministry books we are distributing are so helpful to him; even the basic of pray-reading and calling upon the Lord's name have helped him a lot. Many have been drugged by religiosity and superstition in the cloak of spirituality. Even as we released our burden of letting the ministry known to all these dear saints, deep within me I felt how blessed I am to be in the ministry of the age. Had I not been shown mercy to take the way of the recovery I would have as well sunk into the mire of religiosity.

Later in the evening the Lord opened up a Pastor referred to us by a brother from Warangal to whom local brothers ministered the word for about two hours. May the Lord have His way in this city.

Our visit to Vijayawada was very joyous as the local church here and our brothers gladly coordinated with us, leading us to different Christian leaders; some are very famous Christian leaders, some elderly and spiritual ones and some young ones. The sweet coordination of the brothers is the most precious thing here.

One significant meeting was with a well known brother, very gifted, and who was introduced to the ministry, decade ago. In fact, he had introduced the ministry books to some seekers many years ago and are now in the church life, but he himself have not fully taken the way of the Lord's recovery. The seed of the ministry was already sown into him. As we fellowshiped with him late into the night, till an hour and half past midnight, the Lord's speaking was so sweet, full of anointing, we all enjoyed the flow of life.

Our brother opened up to confess his lack for fellowship and expressed his need for regular fellowship with fellow members in the Body. As the Lord burdened us, we ministered on the ministry of the age of building up the Body of Christ and Lord's recovery of oneness, the preeminance of the all-inclusive Christ, the functioning of the members of the Body of Christ, the fellowship of and in the Body of Christ and the building up of the Body of Christ. He was so happy that we visited him and acknowledged that it was the Lord visiting him to recover him. May the Lord fully recover him too.

Later we met an elderly brother who opened up for more fellowship and our brothers ministered to him over an hour. Just before we left Vijayawada an impromtu appointment was made with a Pastor who also turned out to be very seeking for the truth concerning the Christian life and the church life. As we ministered the word he received it whole heartedly and there will be a follow up fellowship. All these are the Lord's leading to the right people at the right time within the few days of our stay here. May the Lord recover him and the believers with him too for the economy of God.

Thursday, 11 February 2016

LITERATURE JOURNEY: Warangal

An Answer to the Body's Prayer

Though we did not have any contact in this city despite being one of the target cities for propagation this year, as we came out of the train station we stood and prayed to the Lord to lead us. Meanwhile one sister's number was given to us by phone, later we met her, and she introduced us to a brother. 

As we introduced the ministry books to this brother, the Lord opened up his heart and he became very interested to fellowship with us. He gave us wonderful hospitality and directed us to different Christian leaders for the introduction of the books.

In the evening after dinner, we fellowship with this brother till midnight and also with his wife the following morning on various truths of the Bible. They were so happy and the brother exclaimed that we were the first people he met who knew the deep things of God  and ministered the high truths concerning the divinity and humanity of Christ, the organic oneness with Christ, the crucified and resurrected Christ and the subjective experiences therewith, the church as the Body of Christ, the corporate expression of Christ, the Body-Christ, mingling, blending, God's economy and the Lord's recovery. 

He was so joyful as many divine revelations he received from God in his time with the Lord, which he dared not reveal to anyone else before for lack of confirmation, were confirmed in our fellowship. He even said, "God has sent His angels as He visited Abraham of the Bible", "You are the first and only Christians I met who knows the truth...", "Deep calls unto deep", "I have been praying and seeking the Lord for years...", "I am not satisfied with routine Christianity full of religious things...", etc,.

Now he wants to dive into the ministry books as he avoided it for the past 20 some years because of false accusation against brother Watchman Nee. He regreted that he missed so much and confirmed that it was Satan who tried to hide the truths by evil speakings among Christians concerning the ministry books.

From now on, he wants to study the books and even the Holy Bible, Recovery Version with the notes and keep on fellowshiping with us for the Lord's further leading.

Pray for this brother and his family that they may be brought into the subjective enjoyment of Christ and into the reality and oneness, and the fellowship of the Body of Christ.

He is a well known Christian leader with believers spread all over AP & T, and his wife, a women Christian leader too.

Pray for the recovery of the testimony in Warangal and the follow up fellowship with this family.

A report posted on 9th February 2016.

Spiritual Reality

Spirituality is for the Body of Christ. All the gifts of God, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, different talents, functions of all members of the Body of Christ, are all for the building up of the Body of Christ. Otherwise, it will not meet the reality and purpose of spirituality. God is not after giants, but after a built up corporate Body of Christ. This is the work of God today, and to be one with God in His one unique work of building up the Body of Christ is genuine spiritual reality.

These days as we have been travelling, and meeting various Christian spiritual leaders and fellowshipping with them, my heart ache in the ignorance and negligence among the spiritual leaders in not seeing God's desire for the built up Body and much less in not doing the one work of the building up of the Body. To whomever the Lord opens the door, we fellowship on this matter. And the Lord has been very faithful, opening the door for the ministry of the word. He led us to the right people at the right time. Praise Him!

All those we met so far are so gifted and even blessed as well, materially and physically too. They too have wonderful testimonies of the Lord's leading all these years. As we opened up the matter of the Body, they pay need to all that the Lord apportioned and allowed us to minister. And they all amened the ministry of the word. 

The Lord's timing is perfect for this, as we and they all could testify in one accord that this is indeed true spirituality. To such seekers and lovers of the Lord we fellowshipped for hours till midnight. Praise the Lord for the Body. And may He recover the spiritual reality of the building up of the Body of Christ.

Wednesday, 10 February 2016

LITERATURE JOURNEY: Hyderabad & Secunderabad

In prayer and planning for the promotional and propagation of the ministry of the word, the Lord burdened me last December, and also in line with the fellowship from the brothers concerning distribution I fellowshipped and planned a ministry literature journey to selects cities of Andra Pradesh and Telengana. The first destination was the twin city of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. We used one whole week to do a thorough work meeting whoever we could meet.

The Lord has led us and blessed us in the ministry of the word through the introduction of the ministry books, even in the defense and confirmation of the truth whenever and wherever necessary. We met some key Christian leaders and bookstores owners/managers, Apologetic, Pastors, Theologians,  and seekers, and paved the way for the ministry books distribution.

The Lord's presence as we prayed for, became very precious to us. His anointing was so rich as He gave the timely word to minister to different Christian leading ones. The timing and venue was just perfect to release our burden. And the saints and the churches' coordination in prayer and our coordination in oneness brought in the Lord commanded blessing. Hallelujah!

Through this reaching out to our fellow Christian brothers, one whole Christian group has opened up for fellowship; and invited us to minister to their congregation last Lord's day. May the Lord recover them in His time and in His way.

The Lord blessed the meeting with these believers as we ministered on "the priesthood". And later with leading brothers we had fellowship on "life, the church and oneness". We spent about 5 hours together in fellowship and prayer.

It so happened that this group is known to others as "little flock". Besides, last year the spiritual character study for the vacation Bible school in the group was on Watchman Nee. 

Brothers and sisters there are lovers and seekers of the Lord. More follow up fellowship will continue with the saints there.

Follow the Brothers

In the principle of the Body, the Lord has been teaching me lessons on coordination. As I am with brothers coordinating with me in the literature distribution, as per the Lord's leading, the Lord reminded me that in all decisions making, I simply must just follow the brothers. For, in following the brothers is following the Lord.

In cities where local people are Telugu speakers, wherever and whenever needed, I spoke and the brothers translated for me. In all practical arrangment it has been the brothers who take the lead. Praise the Lord for the Body.

Even today, a couple of brothers joined us in our visiting Christian leaders or pastors. Most of the talk was done by them unless it required my speaking. What a blessing to be in the Body!

At times my natural man wanted to make a point as I felt in some matters I needed to adjust the brothers as the way they did things was kind-of slow and seemed it was a waste of time. But deep within I was reminded again just to amen the brothers' leading. And in doing so, it so turned out that the seemingly time delay was the perfect timing to meet those Christian leaders. The Lord honored the brothers' coordination and blessed our visitation.

It is the sheer mercy of the Lord that I could be in the midst of the brothers, simply to follow them and be blessed.

In all my trip this time in Andra Pradesh and Telengana I rested in the Lord in the brothers' arrangement. What peace I enjoyed in coordination! What a rest in trusting in the Lord's portion in my brothers. Without them I cannot go on in this trip. Above all, the Lord's presence and anointing and blessing was bountiful in the brothers' coordination in the Body. I simply follow the brothers... This is how the Lord leads me on and on...

Thursday, 28 January 2016

Peace

Last weekend a brother called me to visit him and desperately requested that I should by all means visit him even though it was late in the night. He expressed that he was in deep depression and needed help. Initially I tried to postpone the visit as I was in Delhi and his residence is in outer Gurgaon. But later, as I was driving back from Delhi, the Lord spoke to me to not despise the request of a needy brother; when the saints need fellowship never say no, for whatever reason. Immediately I stopped my car and called him back to confirm that I would visit him.

Later, a brother and I visited him and fellowshipped with his family till midnight. The fellowship was so timely; the Lord's speaking and presence was enjoyed by all. This brother was baptised few years ago, but due to intense pressure from many circumstances, he was kind-of backslidden. But as the church, at least for myself, I have been praying for him and his family.

In the home meeting, we testified of the true and living God, the Lord Jesus Christ with personal subjective experiences, especially that of how the Lord led me for my marriage. I did this because that brother had initiated as he wanted his mother to hear of it. We also ministered the word on the truth concerning God, man, man's fall, Christ's redemption, man's salvation and the relationship and fellowship with God, and how to practically experience God. 

The testimony of our brother's mother and wife was amazing. His mother testified that she would believe into Jesus and receive Him as her saviour and God, and would pray to Jesus daily. His wife testified that she felt a lot of "vibration" as we ministered the word; a spiritual term in her own word, to describe the effect she felt. By the way, she also is an ardent spiritual aspirant taking the way of meditation. Of course, we made it clear to her that God is Spirit and can be worshipped, touched and experienced only with the exercise of our human spirit, the right organ for spiritual exercise. 

It so happened that, that was the first time we visited this brother after his marriage. The home meeting was initiated with the word "peace" as the brother apparently has not been having peace amidst his busy and pressure-full job. In fact, his first question was, "What is peace?" So is the same with his wife and mother; searching for peace in transcendental  meditation and religious observances with pilgrimages to religious sites. Our obvious answer was, "Christ is Peace." Peace is an experience personified in Christ-
Know Christ, know peace; No Christ, no peace.Only Christ is peace,Only in Christ is peace.

Church Life

The church life is the kingdom life. A normal Christian in a normal church life lives out Christ by being under the headship of Christ, under the direct ruling of Christ. Such living is a kingdom living of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

The Lord has been graciously leading us as the church here in Gurgaon into the kingdom living. Unconscious and unintentional hurts among the saints are being exposed, and in the light of the Lord's word, the saints have come to the understanding of the source of misunderstanding caused by Satan.

True to His word in Matthew 16:18, the Lord Jesus is building His church, and to this, He added that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against the builded church. As the believers are being built up together and are growing in life, the enemy crept in to deceive the weaker ones with lies and negativity. To the extend that one sister became so bitter towards a brother. When the matter was brought to my knowledge, the only culprit I could think of is Satan himself. This is his handiwork and he is the master of it. Nevertheless, he is the defeated foe. I am no problem-solver, but I do pray and follow the Lord is visiting this sister to shepherd her.

Initially I had to listen to all what that sister had to say; mostly complains and bitterness. However, I made it known to her that all the "tamasha" was the work of Satan, and we should identify him(Satan) as the one and only culprit, not our brothers and sisters. The mystery of the "missing link" in fellowship among us need to be solved in mutual fellowship, reconciliation and forgiveness, and thereby forgetting all about it. Finally, after months of "'groping in darkness" in relationship, the Lord led the more mature ones to set things right. In fellowship, things were set right in a home meeting and we experienced that the Lord was indeed the Victor! When the matter was set right, the issue was joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. I personally enjoyed the peace and joy that issued from setting things right last night. Praise the Lord!

Righteousness is to be right with God and man; with matters, things and persons. To the extend that Satan has no ground, no chance, no opportunity to say anything. This is the reality of the kingdom of God.

The Lord's speaking through the ministry of the word in the HWMR is so subjective and experienceable to the saints. The morning revival pursuit as the church is on the same line too. The Lord has been gracing me to fellowship with many saints in my locality, and more so, I am thankful to Him for His works of transformation in each saint. As I compare and contrast the fellowship and shepherding I had with them now, and when they initially came in to the church life, I extol the Father for His greatness. So much growth in life have transpired. Besides, the peace and joy of the Lord in the church life is praise-worthy. Hallelujah!    

These experiences in the church life are rightly noted in the footnote of the Recovery Version Bible below. Genuine speaking of the Lord, in interpretation of the Word or prophesy, is always confirmed by genuine experiences of Christ in the church subjectively. 

17 For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but 2righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

172 The kingdom of God is the sphere in which God exercises His authority so that He may express His glory for the fulfillment of His purpose. In such a kingdom, what matters is not eating and drinking but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Righteousness denotes that which is right and proper. Those who live in the kingdom of God should be right and proper toward others, toward things, and toward God; with them there should be nothing erroneous, improper, crooked, slanted, or biased. This requires that they be strict in dealing with themselves. Peace is the fruit of righteousness (Heb. 12:11 and note). It characterizes the relationship that those who live in the kingdom of God should have with others and with God. If we are righteous, right, and proper toward others, toward things, and toward God, we will have a peaceful relationship with others and with God. Thus, we will have joy in the Holy Spirit and, in particular, before God. In this way we will be filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:52) and will live out righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, which are the reality of the kingdom of God.
According to the context of this chapter, this verse was written for our receiving of the believers. If we receive the believers according to the apostle's instruction in this chapter, we will be right and proper toward those whom we receive and will have peace with them; thus, we will have joy in the Holy Spirit, proving that we are living in the reality of God's kingdom and are under God's rule. Otherwise, we will not be right or proper toward those whom we do not receive and will not have peace with them; thus, we will not have joy in the Holy Spirit before God, proving that we are not subject to God's authority in the kingdom of God.