Chennai: A Revist

According to the burden the Lord imparted me with, after the co-workers training in Chennai I visited the three families I used to visit, and this time one more added. These families have been in my heart for years and they have generated a specific burden within me, to minister life to them, and pray with with them even as I have been praying for them.

The first one was my ex-teacher who was very instrumental in introducing me to the Lord's recovery when I was a student then, and whom I regard so much as a teacher, and much more, as a brother in Christ. It was he from whom I began to learn Christ as life subjectively, and used to fellowship with him often during my student days. And till date, I visit him whenever I visited the city where his residence is. This time too, my fellowship with him was truly on life as was the previous one in the beginning of this year. For over two hours and a half, I fellowshipped with him about how the Lord's presence and blessings were so rich in the recent trips I took to the USA, the North East India and related to him some practical details of the Lord's leading in meeting different people and in the ministering of the word of God. The main burden of the fellowship was on "the Lord's Presence" in everything we do or say. By such testimonies, we enjoyed the fellowship of life when the objective word of God was incarnated and experienced subjectively in real life.

The other family was my local guardian when I was a student. As usual, in spite of their grey hairs, they always treated me with the best love-feast they could prepare. All effort to restrain them from such "trouble" were in vain. Perhaps,  that's how they showed their love to their "spiritual son," as I was much helped spiritually by their daughter and her husband, though the daughter had long been gone to be with the Lord. To them, as they requested, the ministry was on the builders of the Tabernacle in Exodus 31:1-6; on God’s covering grace, the light of Jehovah, being clean and pure, and serving in coordination according to what was commanded, all for the building up of the Tabernacle.

The third family I visited was relatively "poor" physically but the Lord has blessed them richly too. All their children were educationally and spiritually blessed by the Lord, and they have been faithfully following the Lord through all thick and thin,  and passed through trying turmoil time. To them, I testified of how the Lord led me to serve Him and some precious lessons of faith in trusting and serving Him. I also encouraged them to love the Lord and treasure His presence most by spending time with Him in the Word and in prayer. The five children were very precious, three of the elder ones have proved excellency in academics, and I termed it as the Lord's blessings.

The last family I met was on my way to the airport, a family whom I reckon in the Lord as my "spiritual children" according to the truth of the Bible. It was a brief time together, just prayer, as the son and daughter were at office and college respectively. Later,  from the airport I had a sweet time of fellowship and prayer over the phone with the son.

One lesson the Lord taught me with this last one and the last visit was in the matter of speech. One time I spoke a sentence not worthy of a brother to the son. I regretted doing that and the result was, I could not call gain until this time. Through this incident I learned the lesson of speaking: only to minister Christ as life.

All these visits were sweet and, I believe,  profitable too. This revisit to Chennai was indeed a visit that ministered life.

Gospel On Board

Two weeks ago, when I attended a Friday night group meeting at one of the homes of the church in Anaheim, something within me told me to pick up a Christian tract entitled, "The Church in Anaheim" that were piled up neatly on a table greeting every visitors at the main door. Little did I understand that it was to be meant for some needy seekers later. I safely tucked it into my inner pocket of my navy blue suit that I wore almost everyday, not merely for decency but mostly for warmth, to comfort my body that suffered a 40+ Celsius back home. I never even remembered it's presence while in the States until I flew back home bound.

While on board as I was enjoying my time with the Lord in prayer and in the Word with my HWMR and Holy Bible wide open on my food rack, my co-passengers began a conversation with cordial remark, thanking me for all the petty "good deeds" I did to them(?), though it meant nothing to me. Perhaps, it mattered to them for the cordial humanity of offering my window seat, shawl and polite talks, etc. The conversation became a gospel on board as it went further. On their quest to know me more, I testified to them of how the Lord Jesus saved me, and how He has been gracing me to live a Christian life. And I further promised to introduce them to the saints in California, and in Los Angeles in  particular, where they resides as a permanent resident, waiting for US citizenship, of Armenian descent.

As I introduced the availability of free Rhema books online in Russian and guessed it for Armenian too, after an exchange of email ID, phone number, with an in-flight selfie, the mother of the son asked me about life after death. To her I told that all were written in the Bible and explained a bit about a Christian life, overcoming life, the millennial Kingdom and the New Jerusalem. With that I encouraged her to live a normal Christian life of reading the Word,  prayer,  fellowshipping with fellow believers and the importance of growth in life. Then I remembered the lone little tract on my suit pocket. It took me no time to conclude that it was meant for this Armenian mother-son duo, which I graciously handed over to the mother with a brief introduction of what its content were. Later, I saw her opening the tract wide and reading through it.

May the Lord bless the gospel tract and speak to her unto her household salvation and recovery them into the church-life.

The same episode happened while flying from Dubai to New Delhi, with an elder lady of 80+ years old. Initially, she described her faith in one God through many paths philosophy. It took me good patience to listen to all she had to say about her beliefs and opinions. Then the Lord graced me to preach the gospel when we both even called upon the Lord's Name, "Lord, Jesus!" She became very open and narrated her family situation, gave me her address and phone number for further contact. Before we got off the flight we took selfies and she invited to visit her someday.

Praise the Lord for the gospel on board, the Emirates, flying over the Greenland from LA,  Dubai bound, and Dubai to New Delhi, at 34,980+ altitude at 1100+ km/hr speed!

Preach the gospel in season and out of season. And also preach the gospel at all the times,  if necessary,  use words. 

Proclaim the word; be ready in season and out of season; convict, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching. 2 Timothy 4:2 

Thank you, America!

America, a dream destination of many, a country whose founders were believers of the true and living God, a country blessed by God, and a country that supports the work of the Lord worldwide and, perhaps, a center of Christian activities globally. I had a wonderful time during all my stay there, especially  I believe, because I was in fellowship and hospitality of genuine believers whose creeds and deeds are orthodoxically in line with the Bible. Not merely in high teachings embedded with heavenly visions and revelations, but also balanced and complemented as well with life practices and Christian living. I am not ashamed to be identified with my fellow brethren in Christ, rather I boast in our being one in beliefs and practices as members of the same one Body of Christ.

On top of all, the Lord's blessings both spiritually and materially upon the brothers and sisters I have been in fellowship with, are most appreciated. My personal experiences of meeting with the people both within and without my circle of fellowship too was very sweet. I was treated with all politeness,  kindness and goodness. I hope it was so with others as well. I wish not that I had been specially treated, but rather a generic temperament of all, if not by the majority. Even strangers who met me greeted me according to the time of the day. I was rather surprised to be greeted by a couple of peoples when on my morning walk on a street and a park with, "Good Morning!" And even more surprised at the road manner, time and again, when I was allowed a first pass by drivers of vehicles that met me at road crossings. The common sense and maintenance of cleanliness at home or outside was also a pattern to me. I am hoping to see the same manner and nature in my own country one day, hopefully, at least in my life time. But what matters most was the love and fellowship of my fellow members in the Body of Christ.

Now for the moment, having finished my temporary course in that wonderful country, I  have flown back home. When I boarded the flight, my first and only thought was, "Thank You,  America!" Perhaps, "See you again"; sooner, if not later. Let life take its own course.

Adieu America... Thank you, America!

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.