Crowd of Cares: Do or Die

Having been burdened by the Lord for the recovery of the Lord's testimony in Shillong on the one hand, and the negative speaking concerning the brothers by another brother, clubbed with the situation the saints were facing was sufficient enough to bring me to my knees in intercessory prayer. As I was deeply concerned for the Lord's testimony, and planned to visit the saints, my feeling deep within was "do or die." Either the fellowship of the church be properly recovered as the Lord leads or leave the matter for another time. Yet I could not imagine of yet another delay, as time and again, it has been proved that the time for the recovery of the fellowship, blending and oneness in the Body of Christ has come. With the saints in the nearby churches, we planned a visit one more time, and did visit the church. The hospitality arrangement itself was a breakthrough among the saints for it harmonizes us a little bit more.

In fellowship and prayer, we pursued the truth concerning "The Body of Christ, the Organism of the Triune God"  and "The Practical Expression of the Church-the Body of Christ Expressed Practically as Many Local Churches." The Lord's speaking and anointing was rich as we delved into the truths, point by point, pausing and fellowshipping over certain points as and when required. The saints were solidly fed with the proper understanding of the Body of Christ. As we fellowshipped through the two messages, some saints wanted a clarification on the uniformity of practices among all the local churches. We did our best to clarify, and left the matter to the Lord. Overall, the meeting was solidly concluded with the ministry of the word on the truths. Still my burden was not fully released as we could not fellowship with the leading brothers on some practical detail.

The next day morning, the Lord granted us a wonderful time of fellowship with the leading brothers, where a blending with the saints of the nearby visiting saints also took place. In sweet fellowship, we all agreed for more fellowship and blending among the nearby local churches and considered a future visit for training and blending. With this, a practical responsibility for communication and fellowship were also organically arranged. The whole session began and concluded with prayer for the Lord's testimony in Shillong in particular, and the nearby local churches in general. With this, my burden was released. It indeed was "do," and "die" in the self for life to be released for the sake of the Lord's interest. What will transpire in the future is all up to the Lord to decide.

Even after this, a small unfinished matter had to be settled. A brother who was not very happy with the latest development due to him not being consulted spoke out his mind. In love, we have fellowshipped with him to accept the Lord's sovereign arrangement. And we had brotherly fellowship concerning some fine points to be taken care. In addition to seeing the Body, there was a need to see the order in the Body, each member's functions in the Body, and the need to be faithful and restricted to function within the limit. Besides, we also encouraged him to trust the Lord and look for the Lord's grace to be blended in harmony in the Body of Christ. Then, finally, my burden for Shillong this time was fully released. 

This entire experience was spiritually breath-taking. This led me to pray a lot and fellowship with all the concerned brothers at different times. Sometimes, wandering if fellowship in oneness in the Body could be restored, and other times, pondering what if things turn out negatively. Anxiously caring for the saints and the Lord's testimony was indeed a real experience. Personally, I learn a lot of deep spiritual lessons. Thank the Lord for the blessing of burdens for sake of the Lord's interest. I could understand better now why Paul said what he said in 2 Corinthians 11:28  

Apart from the things which have not been mentioned, there is this: the crowd of cares pressing upon me daily, the anxious concern for all the churches.

May the Lord bless the church in Shillong!

Testimony to Uncle

As I was invited for a dinner fellowship by my distant maternal uncle's family last week. The Lord led us in sweet fellowship concerning the wonderful and miraculous things the Lord has been doing in my life. Though it was supposed to be a casual visit as the nomenclature of the society is, it turned out to be a solid time of fellowship on the goodness of God. As he wanted to learn more of what and how the Lord has been leading me, I testified to him of the works of the hand of God in major events of my life.

Beginning from the time Lord led me to study Master's degree in Computer Science in Chennai, then to my student life in a hostel, and how the Lord called me to serve full-time entangled with the struggle with my parents and grand parent in obeying the Lord's call rather than the natural family relationship, and the living by faith in serving the Lord, and how my marriage was ordained by the Lord and the minute practical details, the Lord's provision for all our needs,  etc and etc... I shared it all to him.

Even as I testified of the Lord's goodness and mercy following me all the days of my life, some miraculous events and some wonderful incidents, he sobbed in between a couple of times as he was so touched by the Lord’s hand behind the scenes. Even in such testifying I myself was moved to tears of the great mercies of God. In such recollection, I could see the faithfulness of God and was very much strengthened in my faith too. After the sharing, he requested me to lay hands on him and pray, of which I politely declined, as I personally do not feel fit for such and neither do I practice such. Rather I requested that we pray together instead. Thus the testimony sharing fellowship ended in a prayer for one another for the Lord's further blessing. That was a wonderful night with my uncle.

The Lord is truly good in every aspect. Often, reminiscence of the past good deeds of God is a good reminder of the faithfulness and goodness of our great and wonderful God. He is so ever living and real, we can experience Him and enjoy Him day by day. 

Divine Connections

As I was in fellowship with some brothers in my dream, a midnight phone call woke me up one night last week, a call from America from an Indian brother with whom I have been in fellowship with for some time now. He called now and then when he needed a special fellowship or prayer. The late-night call was for a prayer as he strongly needed the support of a brother's prayer. We prayed together over the phone for the Lord's covering from the temptation of the flesh, to be preserved purely for the Lord's holy testimony.

Since he felt the divine connection with me, he preferred to call me for prayer or fellowship whenever the need arises. A couple of times in our prayers in the past, he wept over the phone. As he is still stuck up with a certain group of denominations with the bait of dollar support; nevertheless, he desired to be delivered fully from those clutches and be fully recovered for the Lord's testimony. The way of the Lord's recovery is pure; it is a recovery of life, in life, and by life. Whenever he called, my only burden was to minister life to him. It was such a ministry of life that kept our relationship strong and sweet thus far, since I met him in the beginning of this year. Though I am aware of the mixture he was and still is in, I consider him as a brother who needs life supply. And the ministry of the word is just for that! The ministry of the word for all! This is my banner and theme in my service to the Lord.

With another brother too, the Lord also granted a divine connection. He also called me up now and then, especially, in times of great and intense need, related to his marital affair and the likes. Every time, I was online with him, my only goal was to minister Christ as life to him. Only if the Lord burdened and anointed me a word or two, then I ministered just that. Else, we simply prayed together over the phone, no matter what time of the day it was. With such, our divine connection grew strong and stronger. And the Lord honored it too by instantly answering what we prayed for, most of the time.

Not to many, but only to few select saints, the Lord blessed me with such a divine connection. My responsibility is to be faithful to the Lord by faithfully ministering Christ as life through the ministry of the word through such divine connections. These divine connections are the Lord's special gifts and blessings bestowed unto me, and behooves my faithfulness in honoring such, as my service to God.

Lord, make me Your faithful slave in these divine connections.

Christian Fellowship on Maturity

In fellowship, the brothers took me to visit an Architect who used to be a vehement propagator of a certain religious sect of the country, who now has become an ardent lover of the Lord Jesus Christ and a gospel preacher as "tent maker." Since I was told that he simply would listen to the word without himself opening up, I purposely requested if he could tell how he got saved and which he willingly did. It was amazing to listen to testimonies of saved sinners. I too testified of how the Lord saved me, a sinner, too.

From being a saved believer to growth in life to fulfill God’s heart's desire was our further fellowship, which would issue in the church life. At length, we fellowshipped about how this could transpire based on Paul’s teaching on Ephesians. With that fellowship, we broke the ice and established a brotherly relationship.

Few days later, he visited us in our place when we ministered on loving the Lord with prayers and praises on loving the Lord Jesus Christ supremely above all. We further fellowshipped about the need for recovering back the beliefs and practices of the Bible from present day degradation and distortion to that of the truths of the Bible. The Lord strongly led me to minister boldly on the truth as it is, emphasising mainly on the importance and urgency of the believers' growth in life for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Our dear brother wanted more ministering on the significance of maturity in life. With that, we delved deep into the word of God in Ephesians 4.

Eph. 4:11 - And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers,
Eph. 4:12 - For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ,
Eph. 4:13 - Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

The Lord led me to minster on these verses:

Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith

The work of perfecting the believers is the ministry, which is the building up of the Body of Christ. This must go on UNTIL we all arrive at the oneness of the faith. This oneness is much attacked by the enemy among the believers today. And this is our prayer too for the Lord to recover the oneness of, and in, the Body of Christ. The Lord's recovery is the recovery of the oneness of the Body of Christ. That's why we do not approve of the divisions and denominations of Christianity. Though we love the believers, we do not agree with the enemy's strategy of divide and rule. We minister life for the recovery of the oneness and fellowship of the Body of Christ.

Until we all arrive at the oneness of the full knowledge of the Son of God

There is an urgent need too, for the believers to arrive at the full knowledge of the Son of God. This entails an objective as well as the subjective knowledge of the Son of God. For this there is a need to pursue the knowledge of Jesus Christ in the ministry of the word till we all arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Until we all arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ

Whence this is accomplished, we will be like Him!

1 John 3:1 - Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called  children of God; and we are. Because of this the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
1 John 3:2 - Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been manifested what we will be. We know that if He is manifested, we will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is.

As genuine believers, children of God, we possess the life and nature of God. As we grow in the divine life, we will one day be matured as a full grown man, the full stature of Christ, to be like Him, Jesus Christ, as the fulfillment and reality of God creating us in His image and likeness in Genesis 1:26, and finally conforming us to the image of the Firstborn Son of God.

Rom. 8:29 - Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.

"This is full maturity,  not according to me,  but according to the Bible," I explained to the brother. In conclusion, God became man,  to make man God, in life and in nature but not in the Godhead.

With this ministering of the ministry of the word, he testified of the power and authority in the Word of God filled with the Spirit. To me, this is the ministry God has entrusted us that we might minister faithfully to all.

Lord, grace us all to grow daily unto full maturity!

Christian Fellowship in Guwahati

It was my first visit to a brother who has been a Christian for years but could not go on,  despite holding important post in a system of Christianity, a Vice President of the denominational church he goes to, at the moment. At the first meeting the Lord led me to minister on life aspect. He  strengthened my burden by himself asking how to grow in life. In response to his quest, I ministered on the four basic items of a Christian practice for growth in life, viz., breathing the Lord by calling upon the Name of the Lord Jesus in spirit all the time, drinking of the Spirit in prayer daily with specific time, reading and eating the word of God through pray-reading, and fellowship in homes or in group meetings. 

Immediately after I released my burden, he asked me to repeat the whole thing again and he recorded them on his mobile, even taking notes on the major points and Bible verses. It was so encouraging to witness and feed the hungry and seeking ones. Besides, the Lord’s anointing was so rich in the fellowship.

After the meeting he invited us again as he wanted us to minister to his whole family and a group of seeking friends. When we went the next day, his wife, a seeking couple and a brother were there for receiving the ministry supply. I simply asked them, what was their actual need and what would they want me to minister? One of them requested for a fellowship on how to daily grow in life. Since it was their request and urgent need I ministered the same burdens what was ministered the day before, this time with much emphasis on practicality.

We even had some practical calling on the name of the Lord together, praying for one another's specific needs and some testimonies of the Lord's works in our lives. The couple who enjoyed the ministry invited us to visit them the next day. Since I was scheduled to visit Shillong I excused myself and asked the other brothers to go.

This experience was an eye opener to two major things. Positively, there is an immense thirst and hunger for the ministry of the word,  and negatively,  the system of Christianity has terribly failed in addressing the real need of the believers. Here comes the urgent need for the Lord's recovery of Christ as life for the believers' enjoyment of the Christian life, and the need for proper shepherding with the healthy spiritual food, the word of God.

Only if all Christians have proper vision of a Christian life and live a normal Christian life, the state of today's Christians would be much better and proper. This is also a direct evidence of the need for the Lord's recovery today in this city Guwahati. 

Lord, gain Your strong testimony in Guwahati!

Shillong: A Specific Burden

Three years ago the Lord introduced me to a group of believers in Shillong. The relationship began with a phone call, then sweetened with an SMS, then strengthened further over phone call prayer that lasted for a couple of months which resulted in brotherly fellowship face to face.

This fellowship further expanded to a more corporate fellowship with beloved brothers and sisters who have been meeting for a couple of years as a local church. The Spirit's moving and anointing has ever been so strong every time we met since then. Though, in between, some negative elements tried to creep in; every time the enemy attempted his vain attempts, it resulted in a sweeter and deeper fellowship with higher truths revealed. Every device of the enemy to thwart our relationship in Christ and in the Body of Christ, were all opportunities for the Lord to gain a deeper and sweeter fellowship among us. Thank God for some "understandings" at times, for God never makes mistakes, He wisely turned all "accidents" into "incidents" to build up His Body.

This time too, the Lord burdened me to visit a brother for personal fellowship concerning his decision on his profession. He felt led by the Lord though with some misunderstandings initially,  but now the believers came to terms with it. I also was initially surprised by the decision this brother had taken when I came to learn of it from Google on searching his name, as I was strongly led by the Lord to do so when I was in California last month. With that news and burden I eventually came to fellowship with him, and finally realised that this indeed is the hand of God. Even as brother fellowshipped, I too agreed that the time has now come for a moving forward of the church in terms of fellowship and blending with other localities. All the happenings were sovereignly ordained by God for His recovery of the fellowship of the Body of Christ, and the oneness thereof.

The Lord's presence and anointing was so rich in all the fellowships, and the speaking of the Lord too was very timely. What I thought to minister was sidelined and the Lord gave me words to speak from Ezekiel 44:15-28, concerning the priestly service in the house of Jehovah, a charge given to the sons of Zadok on twelve wonderful points. Without any pre-plan, the hall we were in, in a brother's house, was filled and the flow of life went on and on for hours, followed by some closer fellowship on practical items of the church life.

Besides, I could also meet my distant maternal uncle and family, followed by another fellowship with another paternal uncle and family. All these fellowships were truly anointed of the Spirit and we all enjoyed the Lord's presence. Praise the Lord!

Hence, with all the fellowship personally with the said brother, and with a group of brothers and sisters, the specific burden the Lord gave me was released. As a follow up on this fellowship, we plan to meet up again to have a broader fellowship with more brothers from the neighboring local churches. As the Lord would grace and lead, the specific burden for Shillong will be released.

In everything we do, we must be one with the Lord, and must not do what the Lord has not led us to do. His timing is the best, and we just follow Him step by step.

Ten Years, the Lord's Mercy

It's been ten years since the Lord called me to His full time ministry. It's been ten years since I have been learning lessons on coordination in serving Him with the saints. It's been ten years since the Lord blend me with my wife. It's been ten years since the Lord started training me to be a family man. It's been ten years since I started serving in the ministry of the word literature service.And it's been ten years since the Lord began to break through my inner man. Now, I am beginning to witness the transforming work of the Lord. And may it so continue...

These days I have been experiencing a ten years leap in major areas of my Christian life. The Lord's continual working on me has intrinsically transpired a bit of transformation in my being; the way I think, the way I feel and the way I make decisions have taken a giant leap. Indeed, I have awaken to a realisation that changes for the better have transpired indeed. The proofs, my relationship and fellowship with my brothers,  and with my wife too,  have been very much sweetened, strengthened, and I could personally sense the genuineness in such fellowship and relationship. In many areas of my life, the unconscious, hidden and secret suppression to get along with people have changed. I am feeling free and light in my inward being; I don't bear burdens that I used to, heavily with struggling, but the burdens have borne me now with enjoyment and lightness within. What a blessing I feel!

Spiritually, I feel, I am beginning to experience the torn veil. Not merely serving at the holy place but gradually entering into the second veil. Nevertheless, still looking to the Lord for His grace that He may fully usher me into the Holy of holies.

In my experience too, I dare not do things loosely or carelessly; I would consider and pray before the Lord until the Lord confirms what needs to be done. I fear and tremble before God as not to misrepresent Him in anyway; in words and in deeds, to be one with Him is my heart's desire. May the Lord have mercy on me to be such as He so desires.

My relationship with my beloved wife and children have become sweeter by the day. Though married for a decade, I am just beginning to learn and enjoy the joy of a family life; as a husband in sweeter romance with my wife,  and as a father in sweeter cherishing of my children. Not that I had never enjoyed a family life before, but now the degree of such enjoyments have taken a giant leap, to a higher and greater extend. Hallelujah!

My prayer life,  my eating of the word of God, my fellowship with fellow believers, my shepherding life, my caring for others, my discernment and perception of things and in many ways, I sense a great improvement, at least to my own assessment. I hope others sense the same too, if not more.

To all these new experiences, I say amen and praise the Lord for His blessings, an all-inclusive blessing of ten years leaping forward. This is truly the sure mercies of the Lord. May this leaping forward continue for the upcoming decades, even unto eternity. Amen.