Blending in Meetings

Blending is the way for the practical building up of the Body of Christ! 

I had the honor of fellowshipping and blending with the saints in some localities of California, and could experience and confirm the statement above, even in just a span of about two weeks. Thank the Lord for the brothers who have been leading us in the way of blending and building in the Lord's recovery! Thank the Lord for His recovery today, and much more thanks to the Lord for recovering even me. Praise the Lord for the Body!

Last Friday night group meeting at San Juan Capistrano, California, was amazing. The small group consisted of saints who are Jordanian, Syrian, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, African-American and Indian. As we dined over a rich American lovefeast, the leading brother asked me to testify on how I got saved, how I came to the church life and how I began to serve the Lord. As the testifying began, the Lord’s anointing was very rich and I continued to fellowship with the dear saints in a way of encouragement: to seek the Lord and His will in prayer for everything, loving the Lord, spending time with Him in prayer and pursuing the ministry, with my own life experiences. The saints were so supplied and eager to hear more, so the whole meeting was richly fed with the testimonies they asked me to share. The young saints even specifically asked me to share on how I got married; I simply testified of how the Lord led me step by step, and encouraged them to look to the Lord; for the Lord knows the best, and not to give in to natural choices and desires. Real romance should begin from the day of marriage and not before, was my simple comment to the young brothers and sisters.

Last Lord's day, the saints took me to the Lord's Table Meeting at Pasadena, California. The brothers invited me to break the bread with them and I enjoyed the meeting with the saints; remembering the Lord and worshiping the Father with our exercised spirits.

In the prophesying time a leading brother gave the overview of the week's portion, The Increase of Christ for the Increase of the Church by Ministering Life to Others according to the Law of Increase, and requested anyone to share an important portion of the outline which he left out. Immediately after him, the Lord burdened me to prophesy on the practical portions,  and I released my burden based on the ministry;

In order for us to minister life to others,  we must do at least four things: 

• We need an adequate contact with the Lord simply to spend time with Him...: I testified of the urgent need for spending time with the Lord in prayer. Practically to set time every day, at least an hour. Or if perhaps, a tithe can be paid on our time,  that would be two hours and twenty four minutes daily. And further strengthened it by stating, "This is the first and foremost requirement to be able to minister life."
• We must learn to be in the presence of the Lord to be dealt with by Him under His light...: Not just spending time as carrying out religious duty but being shined upon by the Lord's divine light and be expelled off of all darkness within, so that by the shining of the Light we will be brought to life and be able to minister life.
• We must pick up a burden to care for people-unbelievers,  new believers, young believers, and weaker believers; we must care for them as nursing mothers and exhorting fathers to be fishers of men and feeders of lambs. I testified of how the Lord burdened me to care for the saints and seekers in my locality, and how the Lord graced me to visit almost on a daily basis, shepherding all kinds of people with all kinds of issues; some on marital, others on personal and still yet others on family matters. In shepherding I have been shepherded, in ministering life I have been ministered life to, to be able to minister to more saints for the increase of Christ in the church.
• We must learn to be interested in people...: I testified of how the Lord burdened me for all my relatives and friends,  and a host of other people whom I noted them on my smartphone as prayer burdens and pray for them regularly. And how the Lord honored such burden, and further gave a testimony of how my dad got saved after praying for him for thirteen years almost on a daily basis.

With that prophesying I encouraged the saints to come to the presence of God more and carry out the burden of shepherding for the increase of the church.

Besides, the Lord also granted me time with the FTTA trainee brothers, fellowshipping with them on practical life experiences on the Lord's leading, serving the Lord, the defense and confirmation of the truths.

Through all these fellowships, I enjoyed a wonderful time of blending and building up with the saints.

Lord, blend me and build me more with other saints for Thy building Thou desire.

UC Irvine

My first visit to a university in America was at University of California, Irvine. About two weeks ago a brother who just finished his PhD took me to the campus. My main burden was to spend time with any available students either for the gospel or for fellowship. The Lord's honoured my burden.

I could spent time with two PhD brothers and ministered on the matter of prayer and seeking the Lord's leading in every matter: their job, marriage, and every practical down to earth matter, that they can be useful for the Lord's economy. As we fellowshipped the Lord's speaking was from the following verses:

Exodus 33:13,14
33:13  Now therefore if I have found favor in Your sight, please let me know now Your ways, that I may know You, so that I may continue to find favor in Your sight. Consider also that this nation is Your people.
33:14  And He said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.

And further gave my own testimony of how the Lord led me when I was like them too, and as I sought the Lord's will how the Lord spoke through the word of God as in:

Deuteronomy 10:12  And now, O Israel, what does Jehovah your God ask of you except that you fear Jehovah your God so that you would walk in all His ways and love Him and serve Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul;

The fellowship was so enjoyable. The brother himself acknowledged how blessed he was with the fellowship and realised that he need to spend more time with the Lord in prayer. It was a wonderful time fellowshipping with brothers who were in need. Living testimonies with living word are blessings to the saints in need. I am glad that on my first visit to a university in America I could fellowship with students on the word of God. 

May the Lord gain many young people for His economy.

On this line of prayer I even texted my ex-colleagues when I was in college as we have a WhatsApp group for fellowship.

This is a wonderful verse to ponder upon; how Moses prayed.

Please let me know now Your ways! 

In every walk of our lives concerning every matter, we must seek the Lord’s ways. In fact, we must be desperate to find the Lord's ways by praying, "Please let me know now Your ways." Even we should be specific to the Lord by praying, "now" reveal Your ways; concerning our future, career, marriage, family etc.  Our lives should not be put on hold,  swinging like a pendulum. We must progress in time, brothers. The most miserable thing would be not to be in God's ways.

While in God's ways, we always find favour in His sight, which are His presence, blessings and He Himself.

Let's pray for one another to be in God’s ways only. If we are desperate to find out God’s ways, He is more than faithful to reveal them to us.

May the Lord bless us all brothers! 

Divided Hoof: Discernment

Lev. 11:3 - Whatever has a divided hoof, that is, has its hoof split in two, and chews the cud among the beasts, that you may eat.Lev. 11:26 - For every beast which has a divided hoof but does not have its hoof split in two or chew the cud is unclean to you; everyone who touches them shall be unclean.

Footnote from the Holy Bible Recovery Version on Divided Hoof:
Lit., divides the hoof, that is, splits the split of its hoofs (cf. vv. 7, 26). Animals that divide the hoof and chew the cud (v. 3; cf. vv. 4-8, 26-28) signify persons who have discernment in their activities (Phil. 1:9-10) and who receive the word of God with much reconsideration (see note 151 in Psa. 119).

As I was reading and studying the word this morning, the Lord impressed me deeply about the need for discernment. There had been many instances in my Christian life where I was caught in between the horns of dilemma. At times swinging between two choices, sometimes I did make the right choice while other times, the wrong one. Through failures I have been learning this important lesson of life: discernment and consideration of the Lord's word.

Even at this time, I have to discern people, matters and things. I simply cannot waste my time in foolishness or ignorance. In the people I am burdened and have been praying for, in spending time to shepherd them, in making decisions of life, in big things and the small ones too, I need the Lord's wisdom and discern things accurately. Not for my own personal benefit but for the sake of God's economy. Everything I do must be in the Lord's leading and must for the fulfillment of His purpose on the earth. For this, I need discernment.

On the flip side, when living without discernment and consideration of the Lord's word, one falls into unnecessary troubles and the Lord even sovereignly uses those as a disciplinary action for the perfecting of the saints. Whether one  learns in discernment or in discipline, either way, God is supremely wise to gain His chosen ones for His testimony. Praise the Lord!

In this portion of the word, my attention was on two points, not just the divided hoof but also:

1. Hoofs split in two
2. Chew the cud

The two are extremely important, like two legs of a man for standing and walking, or even perhaps, for running the race of a human life. For our human daily living and walking, we need both necessarily. With God’s wisdom there is a need to discern persons, matters and things. As Paul prayed for the Christians in the church in Philippi:

Phil. 1:9 - And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in full knowledge and all discernment,Phil. 1:10 - So that you may approve by testing the things which differ and are more excellent, that you may be pure and without offense unto the day of Christ.

This is my prayer for myself too, including all the saints, that we may walk in wisdom, even discerning all things. One of the practical ways I have discovered for gaining discernment is the word of God itself. When one knows the word and muse upon it, then he can discern based on the word, and live according to it.

Psa. 119:15 - I will muse upon Your precepts/And regard Your ways.

Such living is indeed a living in wisdom as it is according to the word of God.

Psa. 119:105 - Your word is a lamp to my feet/And a light to my path.

Thus by these two ways of living and walking, in discernment and consideration of the word, we can live a holy life as God desires, a normal God-man living, a normal Christian life.

Lord, perfect me to live a life of discernment by considering Your word, that I may be Your living testimony as You so desired. Amen. 

Prayer in Diamond Bar

Tonight, the Lord arranged two brothers to take me to one of the prayer meetings of the church in Diamond Bar. Originally, the plan was to attend in Anaheim,  but the Lord had a better plan. As the brothers drove me, I fellowshipped with them how the Lord is so living,  practical and real in our Christian life. Especially as a testimony I testified how the Lord led me step by step; in serving Him, in marriage and family matters. Our trip from Anaheim to Diamond Bar was full of testimonies. We all enjoyed fellowshipping with one another. 

The prayer meeting at a home in Diamond Bar was so sweet. It was a very small home sweet home prayer meeting. A brother,  a sister, two FTTA trainees and myself; number did not matter at all to me,  but the Lord's presence and His Spirit's prayer in our prayers was most important. I enjoyed releasing my spirit and the saints did the same too. Not belittling a big prayer meeting where I could hardly release a sentence to pray because of the multitude of the saints gathering, I personally prefer a meeting where each member can thoroughly exercise our spirits and release the Lord's burden. It was so enjoyable. And I felt all the items of prayers were all answered. Hallelujah! 

Though a home sweet home small prayer meeting, we covered the main items of burden for the whole world! It began with India for translation of the Recovery Version Bible into six Indian languages, propagation of the gospel and the literature service, especially, the distribution of the ministry of the word; then the burden related to Europe, specially for Germany and the gospel work among the refugees; then the full time training all over the world, especially,  for the trainees; then Ethiopia and Africa; and finally,  the Lord’s work among the young people,  especially,  the upcoming Summer School of Truths next week for one whole week in southern California. 

It was a joy to be able to pray with the saints in one accord. No matter which local church, or state or country I am in, the same burden and the same one spirit in one accord prevails; a wonderful prayer meeting in Diamond Bar indeed. After the prayer I felt we have gained some "diamonds"  in tonight's prayer meeting. As we drove back,  I asked the brothers,  "How much diamond have you gained tonight?"  The answer was, "Amen! Some diamond!" 

I do believe the Lord has wrought something of Himself through the prayer and the fellowship tonight. He is the Diamond! We gained Diamond in Diamond Bar! I have attended many weekly prayer meetings throughout the years, but this one is very special,  therefore I blogged the experience thereof. 

Home sweet home prayer meeting full of "diamonds"; I love it. 

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!