Brotherly Fellowship in USA

It was the 3rd of July,  Lord’s day morning, I was privileged to fellowship with brothers whom I revere so much, in the principle of incarnation. There were three brothers of my contemporary who are serving the Lord in India, and three mature brothers in the Lord and also in age,  and myself,  fellowshipping the way to carry out the translation of the New Testament Recovery Version Bible into six Indian languages where qualified Greek learners are on the line of service. That fellowship was unique to me as it was my first of such a kind, with all the right brothers, and that too for a very important service for the Lord's move in India. May the Lord execute and accomplish what was fellowshipped. 

It was the 6th of July when I met all my Greek teachers and had lunch together at a restaurant. That was when we also fellowshipped about the practicality of carrying out the translation of the said Bible into the six Indian languages. It was a privilege to fellowship with the brothers who are also my "teachers." 

It was the 11th of July when I first attended a Monday morning fellowship at LSM Campus with LSM serving ones when brother Andrew Yu asked me to share my testimony of how I became a Christian, how I came into the church life, the literature service in India, the recent literature journey to the North East India,  and questions and answers time for the saints. Though impromptu, the Lord's anointing was in all the fellowship and His presence was rich. That morning fellowship was in lieu of the normal pursuit,  which I believe was on The Character of the Lord's Workers,  as I saw saints hold a copy each.   The prayer that followed the fellowship was very supplying as a confirmation of the oneness and supply of the Body. Praise the Lord! 

All these fellowships were never planned,  at least, to my understanding,  but the Lord worked out all things at the right time. It was the Lord's sovereignty and sure mercies to be able to experience such fellowships with the Body, in the Body and for the Body. 

These indeed were brotherly fellowships to carry out God's economy on this earth. 

Praise the Lord for the Body of Christ! 

Lord, preserve me in the Body, blend and build me fully in and with the Body,  and gain me fully for the Body! 

Grace Gardens

My hospitality in Anaheim after the Summer Training of 2016 is in Grace Gardens. Even as I am being hosted in one of the guest bedrooms at 2106, I have been thanking the Lord and worshipping Him for the grace and wisdom He bestowed upon brother Witness Lee and the saints with him who designed and built these accommodation facilities. In fact,  when I moved in first,  I could not help but kneel down beside the bed and worshipped God for all the heavenly,  spiritual and even earthly blessings He bestowed upon His Body. It is not just the high peak truths that enlivened me,  but also the high peak livings of the saints. Praise the Lord for the Body! 

Yesterday,  I had a wonderful time of home visit, gospel preaching and door knocking in Anaheim among the Spanish community, after the Lord’s Table meeting at Anaheim Hills. Later, an hour or so of prayer and reading the ministry book at a nearby park. I was feeling the breath of the gospel in this area where the saints have been treading. 

Today,  after all the official work, I enjoyed a time alone with the Lord in a small garden inside Grace Gardens. I just polished a hymn that I wrote a year ago on "Worship God." And I worshipped God for all His deeds and His ways. In my prayer time, the Lord's speaking was a confirmation of all the burdens He graced me with,  concerning the gospel preaching, the church life, the literature service, the propagation work in the North East India, the new ones on my prayer list, my family and relative matters, academic qualification upgradation etc. It was a wonderful time with a Lord. 

Praise the Lord for Grace Gardens! May the Lord grace all the saints who are, and will be taking hospitality in this "gardens"  with Himself enjoyed and experienced as grace. 

Grace, grace and grace. 

No Rank

It's been a week since I first came to fellowship with brothers who are serving the Lord in the literature service here in Anaheim,  California. Though in age and in spiritual experience, I could have been their son,  but in fellowship and practicality we are all serving together as brothers. Not a mere empty doctrine, but truly indeed in reality, for I have been experiencing it these days. A brother even told me what brother Witness Lee said, "There is no rank among us."  Indeed,  there is no rank among us, and I have not seen nor experienced it once. This is really awesome. 

Three days ago, as I was reading my Bible, the Lord impressed me of similar principle He established in the Bible in Matthew 20:1-16. No matter who worked first or who were more senior or experienced,  the Lord treated them equally. And He was sovereign in doing so. This confirmed my experiences these days serving together with the brothers here in the editorial section of the Living Stream Ministry. A brother even offered a table in his office where I could work and learn from him and the others. It was an honor, at the same time,  a humbling experience,  as I reckon it. I can only thank and worship the Lord for this opportunity. This truly is, a life lesson in action. 

This experience further draws me to the proofreading that I did just now, reading through the book of Titus, Philemon and James. Especially, Philemon, "The Believers' Equal Status in the New Man." A marvelous title, a wonderful testimony and a beautiful relationship in Christ. I am experiencing it in reality these days, and hopefully all the days of my sojourn on this earth. 

In the church life,  in the Lord’s recovery,  in the Body of Christ,  there is no rank. All believers have the same status in Christ. And may none corrupt this precious truth. Praise the Lord! 

Send Forth...

Send forth Your light and Your truth;They will lead me;They will bring me to Your holy mountainAnd to Your tabernacles.And I will go to the altar of God,To God my exceeding joy;And I will praise You with the harp,O God, my God. Psalms 43:3-4

As I attended the FTTA Spring 2016 Graduation meeting, the speaking of the Lord  touched me so much. It had a such an impact on me that I took these verses to pray over and over again. To me, it was the need of the time and also the need for many other brothers and sisters I am shepherding.

There is a need for opening up to the Lord and cry out to Him, "Lord, send forth..." Without the Lord's mercy there can be no sending forth. The Lord must send forth:

The Divine Light

The divine light is the the shining forth, the expression, of God Himself who is Light. Without the Lord' divine light, all that is there, is the natural light, which is equivalent to darkness. Even in spiritual life, without the light of God, everything is darkness. Most of the times, when not in the Spirit, all that one has, at best, is the natural light, and at worst, is man made light. There is an urgent need for the Lord's shining, to be delivered from all natural man-made light.

I need such shining upon me of the divine light. It has been my prayer that the Lord would shine upon me and preserve me in His light. Apart from His divine light, everything is darkness. Sometimes, I was also in such situation of darkness. I only pray that the Lord would not allow me to be in darkness. Lord, shine upon me day by day!

The manifestation of darkness is death. And such deadness issues in opinion, fault finding, finger-pointing, backbiting, confusion and division with all kinds of negativism. I have been witnessing some cases as such. My only reaction is to pray for these brothers and sisters who are engulfed in darkness. Only the Lord's shining can deliver them from the darkness.

Besides praying for myself to be shined upon all the time, I also try to help the brothers and sisters who need the Lord's shining. To one such, I sent these verses and he replied back thanking for this little help of showing him that he needed deliverance.

The Divine Truth

Truth is the source of light and the reality of light. Truth is as important as light, for they are two sides of the same coin. Without one, there cannot be the other; for the two co-exist and go hand in hand. Therefore, as one is seeking for light, one must come to the word of God, the truth. The Lord uses the truth in the Bible as a channel to shine forth. In coming to the word of God, one receives the divine light shining.

If one is thirsty, he will be willing to be saturated with God and be constituted with the divine light. And the issue will be the leading of the Lord. In light and in truth, one is one with God and lives out God to carry out God's desires.

The leading of the Lord is to "His holy mountain." God's holy mountain signifies the resurrected and ascended Christ. When one is shined upon and constituted with the truth, the result is the experience of the resurrected and ascended Christ as the life-giving Spirit. This further leads to "Your tabernacle," the local church. A normal experience of God in Christ as light and truth is the Spirit that ushers into the church-life in the Body of Christ, the tabernacle of God. Which further leads to a deeper dealing of the cross, "the altar of God" where all the requirements of God's righteousness, holiness and glory are met positively, and negatively, anything natural still is dealt with- of the flesh, the self, sin and the world. So that one can be fully be one with God, in life, in nature, but not in the Godhead.

Then, one can declare:

To God my exceeding joy;

And I will praise You with the harp,O God, my God.

Hallelujah! God is my God! To God is our exceeding joy! And we will praise God forever!

Lord, send forth Your light and Your truth...

Greek On Board

This is the blog I wrote yesterday as I was on a flight to the States. Greek of board! Many times it was difficult for me to find time while in the office or at home. So I had to do my Greek studies while travelling long distance,  and this is the third time I am doing such. 

After the final exam on Greek,  the following class was on critical analysis of certain important Greek words, their various meanings and translation rendering by different Bible versions. At the first observation, these seems difficult, besides, I could not find time to do the assignment at all. The past few weeks were fully packed with office,  church and family responsibility. The only time I finally get is the time now, flying over Greenland towards North America,  some 35,986 altitude at 557 mph.

As I delved deeper into the Greek text,  new light and revelation dawn on me. Especially, some related words concerning divinity and humanity of Christ and how the translation of the Word differs in various degrees. Positively, it confirms the goodness of the Recovery Version translation, giving the definite meaning according to Greek and the corresponding interpretation according to the divine revelation. I feel so blessed to be able to use the Recovery Version and on top of that,  even study and analyse it for translation purpose. The said version is truly a scholarly work and an open Bible to know and understand the word of God better than any other translation I have ever used. Praise the Lord for this version. 

This long flight from Dubai to Los Angeles is my study time for Greek on board. Thank God that He gave me this opportunity to be able to meet with the translation team including the editor of this version,  and even learn and get help from them regarding the translations. May the Lord bless all the upcoming meetings, fellowship and training for His divine economy.

Take My Yoke

Matt. 11:28 -  Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matt. 11:29 - Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Matt. 11:30 - For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Footnote from the Holy Bible Recovery Version on "yoke."To take the Lord’s yoke is to take the will of the Father. It is not to be regulated or controlled by any obligation of the law or religion or to be enslaved by any work, but to be constrained by the will of the Father. The Lord lived such a life, caring for nothing but the will of His Father (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38). He submitted Himself fully to the Father’s will (26:39, 42). Hence, He asks us to learn from Him.

These verses in my time with the Word today became so fresh to me. When in the Father's will, the Lord works things out perfectly. No burden, no anxiety, no special feeling even. Just as any other ordinary day. Only that the Father's will be done, whatever it is.

It used to be my desire to be able to visit America for all the good things that  have come out of this country. In fact,  when I was much younger I used to dream of visiting this country. But all those natural and self-interest dream have died down since the past few years. There were times I would even grasped the opportunity to visit this country. But the Lord preserved me from all natural choices. When all such desires or dreams were dealt with,  the Lord opened the door for me finally.

But there is no special excitement as such now. Even as I blog this on a flight from Dubai to Los Angeles, there is hardly any special feeling; to me it is just an ordinary flight as that of a domestic one in India. I am visiting USA just because the Lord has arranged it so. I do not know what has been reserved for me,  but I do know I am visiting the saints in the Body for fellowship, blending,  training and perfecting. No self-interest. I just commit myself to the Lord that His will be done, as He pleases.

Many times it is worth waiting for the Lord’s perfect timing and never grasp for anything. What the Lord has reserved is always the best. There is a true rest in trusting in the Lord. This is what the Lord meant subjectively when He said, "Take my yoke."  Caring for the Father's will and submitting ourselves fully to Him is taking the Lord's yoke upon ourselves. What a peace and what a joy indeed!

When in the perfect will of the Lord,  every thing falls in line, and one is in perfect peace with the Lord with much rest. Praise the Lord!

Lord, may I learn this lesson thoroughly well; taking your yoke.

My First Visit to America

The Lord’s timing is always the best. When He wills it everything falls into place. What a rest and joy just to leave everything to the Father's will. 

When the Lord wills and the Body confirms it, heaven and earth works together to accomplish His will. This time for my visit to America, I experienced the Lord’s presence and leading so much in every single and minute detail. Though trivial, our God is also the God of small things. From beginning to end,  He heads up every matter great or small.  Praise the Lord! 

My online visa application was done on a train, and payment and appointment taken while on a bus, on my way to a coworkers' training in the South of India. On the day of a US visa interview, a lady visa officer's questions made me answer all about my faith in Christ, my serving the Lord in the literature service, my family matter and my relationship with the saints in America. Things that I did not wish to reveal were all spoken out loud to a government official. My preparation for the interview was not to reveal anything about my faith or anything Christian as I am dealing with the government authority. But it all turned out the opposite, as though I talked to a believer in fellowship. Any way,  I was glad I spoke the truth. And finally,  she wished me a happy journey, to America. That's how the government official interviewed me. 

When I arrived here at Los Angeles airport,  the immigration officers,  two of them,  asked me the same questions,  "Are you a pastor or a minister?" To both I replied, "I am just a believer, a Christian." One of them further asked me, "Do you preach the gospel?  Do you minister in a church?" My reply was,  "Yes,  I do!" Then he smiled and cheered me up,  "Great Sir!" I replied,  "Thank you brother!" And they welcomed me to America. Wondering if that was the way immigration officers should interrogate a foreigner. Anyway I liked it,  and glad they knew that I am a Christian.

Then a brother whom I honor and revere very much came to pick me at the airport and drove me to LSM campus where another brother introduced the whole set up to me. Very impressive. Not just at the physical matter,  but much more on the wisdom and foresight God blessed our brothers with, for His economy on this earth. Praise the Lord! 

My hospitality was very interesting. I described it to my wife as

I am in a home of saints who are:British American with Chinese wife, Jewish American with Chinese wife, And I am a North East Indian with a Chinese wife! 

Wonderful blending in the Body! The reality of the one new man lived out! Hallelujah! 

That was my wonderful experience of my first day in my first visit to America. 

God bless America.