My Onesimus

It was few months ago that the Lord spoke to me concerning Onesimus and the beauty of the New Man wherein all the believers in Christ are equal. In the book of Philemon we see what Paul said about Onesimus to Philemon.

Verse 10: I entreat you concerning my child, whom I have begotten in my bonds, Onesimus,

The name in Greek means profitable, useful, helpful; it was a common name for slaves. He was Philemon's purchased bondslave, who, according to Roman law, had no human rights. He ran away from his master, thus committing a crime punishable by death. While he was in prison at Rome with the apostle, he was saved through him. Now the apostle sent him back with this Epistle to his master. 

Verse 11: Who formerly was useless to you but now is useful both to you and to me.

Then in verse 16: No longer as a slave, but above  a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

This short Epistle serves the special purpose of showing us the equality, in God's eternal life and divine love, of all the members in the Body of Christ. In the semisavage age of Paul, the life of Christ had annulled, among the believers, the strong institution of slavery. Since the sentiment of the love of the Christian fellowship was so powerful and prevailing that the evil social order among fallen mankind was spontaneously ignored, any need for institutional emancipation was obviated. Because of the divine birth and because they were living by the divine life, all the believers in Christ had equal status in the church, which was the new man in Christ and in which there was no discrimination between free and bond (Col. 3:10-11). This was based on three facts: (1) Christ's death on the cross abolished the ordinances of the different ways of life, for the creating of the one new man (Eph. 2:15); (2) we all were baptized into Christ and were made one in Him without any differences (Gal. 3:27-28); and (3) in the new man Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:11). 

There had been a consideration within me for many months when one brother had to be substituted of his service as he would be trained in truth and life for at least two years. This gap could be filled not so easily by anyone as most of the services are very down to earth minial, domestic, and mostly like a daily household chore type. And to bring in a trained person in truth may not be very wise when there are so many need for such ones to be in the propagation of the Lord's move. 

My first consideration was one of the brothers who used to lived with me and did not have much positive testimony. However, knowing some of the things he had been into in the past, I myself was restrained. Nevertheless, I brought this matter before the Lord in prayer again and again. My main concern was that this might be the best opportunity for him be be fully recovered back in life and in service.

I made the proposal initially indirectly, but it did not work out. At one point of time, my heart ached as I reckon this as a disqualification to him. But last month when I was in the North East, Guwahati, for the propagation of the minsitry of the Word, he was there too. I waited and prayed for the proper time to fellowship with him. One dinner, I finally got to fellowship with him, and mentioned to him my burden for giving him one more chance which he could grasped and take it positively for his recovery in life and service. Though he did mention his concern about his past life and how would the saints or other brothers feel as he did not lead a good testimony, my impromptu reply was, "I will take the responsibility upon me, either for good for bad", I just said it by faith. For by this time, I have learnt that one must be able to take risk, bear responsibility for the sake of the weaker saints, that they may be encouraged, strengthened and be recovered fully for the Lord's testimony. Neither him nor I made any decison, but we prayed and left the matter to the Lord. I only told him to pray, fellowship with his family and confirm later. With all sincerity and purity, I left the matter to the Lord. If it is truly of the Lord, it sill transpire.

Days and weeks had elapsed since then, and finally he called me to say that he had decided to come. To me that was the Lord's mercy. I fellowshipped with my wife the arrangement for him to stay with us and be a part of our family, which she gradually agreed. Then he came, and indeed he is becoming a blessing, to fill the gap officially and also to be a part of our family. 

Like Onesimus to Paul and Philemon, so far, he has been so profitable. Only the Lord has to grace all of us to be profitable to one another. In fact, when I was considering him before he decided to come, the Lord personally spoke to me twice concerning him. First time was when I ministered on the book of Philemon to the serving ones in our literature office in Gurgaon, and then when I ministered again on the same topic to our propagation team in Guwahati. The inner speaking of the Lord to me was, this brother is an Onesimus to me, and I must recommend him as Paul did, and receive him as Philemon did. I functioned as a double role of Paul and Philemon concerning this brother, who is now my Onesimus. 

God bless my Onesimus and make him profitable, useful and helpful as the name is. And that, "Who formerly was useless to you but now is useful both to you and to me."    

Shepherding: Abiding...

A brother and his wife came to visit us yesterday after an abrupt phone call. Though I usually used to pray with him over the phone, I sensed a need to fellowship with him face to face. The last time I met them was a couple of months ago. And this brother needs a special shepherding as he is being saved from a staunch Hindu Brahmin background.

As he came, he narrated of a serious lack in his life in spite of the fact that he is "successful" outwardly. He has present twenty three national and international records to his credit, and also got married to his most beloved. Before he became such, he used to be very happy and simple, and used to dream of achieving his dreams professionally, and also dreamed of getting married to his dream girl. Now he has achieved both, literally! But he confessed that he was less happier than before his dreams actually came true. 

As he narrated his longing for inward joy and satisfaction, which to me was a very positive sign, as the sense of life in him made him realise that outward "successes" cannot really give him joy and inward peace. After he poured himself out his feelings with a very sad visage, the Lord gave me two points of fellowship.

I took a Hindi Bible and led him to read John 15:1-11 and 1 Corinthians 12:12-27. We pray-read few verses from both chapters. 

4 Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. 

Abiding in Christ, the Lord, the Head of the Body: Personally

After pray-reading the above verse with much exercise of our spirits, I fellowshipped with him and his wife that they needed to abide in the Lord all the time. Though as regenerated believers, they have a relationship with God yet they may not enjoy fellowshipping with Him. The reason being, not abiding in God. This matter is of utmost importance for every believers, personally abiding in the Lord by spending time with Him in prayer and in the word of God. Without this enjoyment of the Lord in the word and in prayer, life is indeed an empty vessel.

Abiding in the Church, the Body of Christ: Corporately

Then, I fellowshipped on the importance of fellowship and blending with fellows brothers and sisters in the church. I strengthened the point that they are members of the church, and as much as possible they must meet with the saints, at least once in a week. By fellowship with the saint in the church we are strengthened and encouraged. I further expounded 1 Corinthian 12 with emphasis on the constitution of the Body, the importance of every member in the Body and the need for blending together in the Body with fellow members.

They both listened intently to the points I fellowshipped with them: the urgency of establishing a strong personal relationship and fellowship with the Lord, and also enjoying the corporate fellowship of the church life. Moreover, I emphasized the need to pay a price of time, money and energy. Yes, the higher the price, the more valuable it becomes. And after the fellowship we prayed together.

They both understood the burden of fellowship and decided to come every Lord's evening for fellowship. After such a sweet time of fellowship, the brother's face became much brighter and was full of joy. 

Praise the Lord for the shepherding of abiding in the Lord and in the Body. May the Lord truly and fully recover their enjoyment of Christ and the church life, and gain them truly for the testimony of Jesus in Gurugram, especially among his own people in the flesh.    

A Dream: Dine with PM

1 Timothy 2:

1 I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men;
2 On behalf of kings and all who are in high position, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and gravity.
3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of our Savior God,
4 Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.

As the Bible says, I, as a Christian, am exhorted to first of all pray on behalf of the rulers and those in high positions. More practically as I understand this verse, even more as an Indian citizen, my responsibility towards the rulers, the government of India, is to pray for them. This, I have been doing for some years now. Irrespective of which party rules the nation or who are those on high positions, it is God who sovereignly appoints them. As such, my simple responsibility is to honor them, and much more pray for them that God's will may be carried out even through them in all their decision making. This is to live a normal Christian life. The word of God plainly says what responsibility I have towards the nation.

Though I am not a politician, and perhaps, may never become one, but as a human being belonging to a nation, I have to abide by the law of the land as long as it does not contradict with the highest Law under the universe, the Word of God, the Holy Bible. Under the ambit of the Word of God, I am very concerned for the nation where God allowed me to be born. Now and then, I keep myself up-to-date with the current affairs of the world and even Indian politics. I may have my opinions on many issues, and perhaps side with some ideologies and loathe others, still I pray for all stakeholders of the nation, both the ruling the parties, the opposition parties, and the others too. For my duty is to pray for those rulers and on high positions.

In fact, I wish them all well, apolitically, and even wish that they believe into and experience the true and living God that I have been experiencing day by day. Not a matter of "conversion" nor religion, but tuning rightly to the true and living God, Jesus Christ; having a personal and intimate relationship with God.

As a citizen, I pray for my Prime Minister, and all the ministers, as often as I could with the pure and sole motive that God would bless them and bless India, the country that God now allows them to rule. Come next election, it might be altogether new party or rulers or perhaps, the same, that really does not make any difference. Whomever the Lord place to be the rulers, I must pray for them.

Last night I had a mysterious dream, though I hardly remember any dream nor pay too much heed to it, but this one is very clear. In my dream I was dining with our present Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi, with a couple of others. The only person I could succinctly recognize is Sir Modiji. 

In a rectangular dinning table I was sitting opposite to him with few other on his side and my side. And before we dined, I offered a prayer to God which all bowed their heads in obeisance, including the PM. My prayer went on and on, as all silently listened. The pray was mostly for the well being of the nation of India, especially the farmers and the poor people, the educated ones, and all classes of people. I prayed that God would give our PM the wisdom in all the decision making for the welfare of the people of India. That all the policies made, be for the benefit of all citizen alike, and that God would bless India and Indians.       

As my prayer ended after much exercise of my spirit with a resounding "amen", I woke up. It was just a dream.

Today, as I had my personal time with the Lord, the Lord took me to the Bible verses as quoted:  

I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men; On behalf of kings and all who are in high position, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and gravity.

God bless India, the PM and all the rulers of this great nation! 
India for Christ and the church, even as Christ is for India too!

Birth of a Burden

Despite a centenary celebration of Christianity in many parts of the North East India,  there still are multitude of hamlets unreached with the gospel of Jesus Christ, or perhaps, are reached but the inhabitants' heart's are hardened. These hosts of unbelievers are no stranger to me, on the contrary, they are my own clansmen, and many of them,  my own bloodline. In fact, we have initiated praying for the salvation of our kinsmen, especially that of my own village, Keikhu, in our family prayer. God have mercy on us, and hasten the day of salvation.

Though my close and intimate family have all been saved through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, still majority are wailing in the dark. Besides, I personally too have not been physically in town since my childhood; I used to visit my home only once a while, perhaps, once or twice a year, and that too just for few days mostly to be with my mom and dad. Interpersonal interaction on the gospel is altogether void, safe for their knowledge that we have been "converted," a term I loath the most as I deem my faith in Christ as a matter of life, organically regenerated in my spirit of God’s Spirit and subjectively experiencing the true and living God, and not at all a change of religion and far less "converted, " for that matter, in its literal meaning of the word.

Last week as I fellowshipped with a distant uncle who is also a Commissioner in a Government office, we touched the topic of gospelising our own heathen tribesmen. Unlike all the tribals of our home state Manipur, ours, the Rongmeis or Kabuis, whose domicile is on the geographical plain have not yet been evangelized. Unlike the rest of the tribals who have been blessed with the dawn of the gospel, ours have diametrically opposite reaction, in that the traditional beliefs have been formalized and propagated with much strength and vigor instead. Even one of our renowned professors have spearheaded it's development and pose a direct challenge to the snail pace growth of the now dwindling Christianity. In fact,  at the very outset, the two religions, Christianity and Tingkao Ragwang Cham are pseudo fancy, for both boast of the rich heritage outwardly and many intermingling in friendship, marriage, and celebration. Festive inter-celebration is most notable; Christmas versus Chakan Gain Ngai - both are pagan in nature, with the former inhibiting a religious tone and the latter exhibiting a traditional tone. Neither of them are biblical nor spiritual.

What can salvage the entanglement thereof? Only the life of Christ can. Not a doctrinal mundane superstition nor a ritualistic dead tradition, but the life-giving experience of the true and living God, Jesus Christ, the true Tingkao Ragwang (Heavenly God).

As we discussed on the state of our fellow clansmen and the need for gospelization, we were also aware of the hard truth that it is not going to be a cakewalk. This is a spiritual warfare and must be tackled spiritually. Henceforth, my burden to start praying for my brethren in the flesh rejuvenated. A new burden was born: to pray for the salvation of my clansmen.

Later,  I texted my brother(uncle) the following:

Praise the Lord brother for the wonderful time of fellowship!From today, the Lord burdened me to pray for Prof. G. K, and our fellow clansmen, the yet-to-be-believers of the valley Rongmeis,  particularly those of TRC.

My  interpretation of Tingkao Raguang is, our Heavenly God who became a man,  Jesus Christ, the perfect God-man; who lived, died and rose again to be the Life-giving Spirit; to redeem, justify, regenerate, renew, sanctify, transform, conform and glorify us to Himself for and unto eternity.

Let us stand together in prayer for this burden from now until God fully answers our prayers. Please do update me on this regard for prayer. Amen.

Dated: 18th August 2016

Grace be with us all.

Palmeichung

I brought the same burden to a brother who serves the Lord full-time in Manipur and also happens to belong to the same tribe, and we started praying for this burden. I further encouraged him to bring the same burden to few more brothers in the church life. We decided to pray, and we will pray, and the Lord will lead us through to witness the salvation of our fellow clansmen, hopefully, in our life time. Amen.

Dawn in Dimapur

Out of the Lord's leading and burden, with two brothers, we came to visit the brothers whom the Lord led us to, in the previous literature distribution trip in Dimapur, Nagaland. Firstly,  our fellowship was with the leading brother who has been burdened by the Lord since his youth to serve the Lord till date, and who has founded a "ministry" and a "church." Our burden was to fellowship with him on Christ and the church as we have learned that he has seen something of the Body of Christ. Every time we fellowshipped, he has no problem with the truths of the Bible,  but his concerns were mostly on outward practical things. We were very exercised to focus on the essential truths of the Bible and leave the non-essential items for the Lord to handled as the truths are being lived out.

On the Lord’s day, I was requested to minister in their congregation. The burden the Lord gave me was to minister on "Knowing God" from the experiential point of view with real life testimony. As I prepared myself in prayer for the ministry of the word, the Lord burdened me to share the same burden with many other saints in the North East, in the local church where I am from, and with the saints serving with me in the literature service. The prayer Burden sent out via WhatsApp was:

Prayer BurdenEph. 6:18 - By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints,Eph. 6:19 - And for me, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known in boldness the mystery of the gospel,Eph. 6:20 - For which I am an ambassador in chain, that in it I would speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Dear Saints,  Tomorrow,  28 Aug, Lord's day, we will be ministering the word of God to a congregation of seeking Christians in Dimapur, Nagaland. This will be followed by a time of fellowship with the leading brothers on the truth concerning the Body of Christ. (This is a follow up visit of the previous distribution tour few months ago).

Pray for the Lord's presence, speaking, anointing and blessing that His testimony in Dimapur may gradually be recovered.Col. 4:3 - Praying at the same time for us also, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ (because of which also I am bound),Col. 4:4 - That I may make it manifest as I ought to speak.

May the Lord recover the church in Dimapur.

As an answer to the saints' prayer, the Lord blessed the ministry of the word, and after the meeting the leading brothers testified of the blessings they received through the ministering. Our fellowship continued with some leading brothers on the truth concerning the Body of Christ with clarification on some ambiguous understanding of the words "shepherd and overseer," and the "five fold ministry" in Ephesians 4:11-12. Answering their questions with the Bible itself was the best way I found; none could refute.

In the evening, three main leading brothers fellowshipped with us on some crucial truths and practices of the church-life. All the truths and testimonies we presented were all accepted by them satisfactorily, though they confessed that they would need some time to digest and practice them. But over all, they were very happy for the visit and they testified that it was truly of the Lord.

After all the fellowship, deep within I have the assurance that they will be fully recovered for the Lord's testimony in Dimapur. For they themselves testified of the vision God gave them concerning the Body of Christ and how they hunger and thirst for the truth. Much more, they even testified of how much they received help from the ministry books of brother Watchman Nee and Witness Lee on the revelation of the Body of Christ which many Christians neglect or fail to see it succinctly. They themselves even requested for more ministry materials on "The Tabernacle."

Deep calls within deep indeed. Out of the many Christian groups and leaders I met in Nagaland, this group of brothers were far advanced in the knowledge and experience of Christ and God's heart's desire. In all our fellowship we just sensed that we have the same spirit and burden for the testimony of Jesus and the building up of the Body of Christ. They even proposed future meeting for seminar or training, and they opened themselves up to us.

Praise the Lord! It is a dawn now in Dimapur for the Lord's further move and for the recovery of His testimony. May the Lord lead all of them for His testimony. Amen.

Brotherly Fellowship

Besides carrying out the burden the Lord has blessed me concerning His testimony in Guwahati, Shillong and Dimapur this time, the Lord also graced me to have some intimate and personal fellowship with some brothers, more specifically two of them, who are also serving full time in the North East.

The first one was related with his personal matter of being complete as a man in marriage. He loves the Lord and has been serving full time but he is still single. Though many brothers and sisters tried to help him, still nothing solid has transpired. Even I have attempted in the past but somehow it did not work out. But this time as I was with him together in many home meetings and shepherding, even travelling together in the three cities, we fellowshipped on the Lord's work as well as his personal affair. The specific burden the Lord gave me was to assist him in fellowship which he finally agreed. Though I have none in mind I have the burden to initiate the fellowship with some known brothers to help in this matter. This is also a part of mutual care and shepherding.

With another brother, the Lord's speaking was very strong on being faithful in serving the Lord. Though he has been serving for years, he has been distracted by many things. Some brothers even personally fellowshipped with me about helping him in a way of fellowship, and this is the time the Lord gave me as we are coordinating in Dimapur.

The Lord led us the past two days  to consider thoroughly our way of living and service. The key points we fellowshipped were, treasuring the presence of God in everything we do or say,  and to never do anything without being assured of the Lord's presence. For, only in the Lord's presence can we be joyful and fruitful in serving the Lord. In love and in brotherly fellowship, I encouraged him not to do anything without the Lord's leading and testified to him of how the Lord is more than faithful to care for all our needs if we faithfully trust Him.

Besides, we prayed together for the Lord's move in the entire North East region, for the saints and the serving ones, and especially for the non-believers of our fellow clansmen. Even until we depart from Dimapur we fellowshipped on the train station again on the matter of shepherding the saints, and read about the pattern of Paul in Acts 20:18-38 and prayed together.

I firmly believe that the Lord is preserving him from veering away from the calling of God. This time our fellowship was very intimate, transparent and straight forward. The Lord wants to gain us and His testimony in the North East, and the attack of the enemy is also very subtle. But praise the Lord, Christ is always the Victor!

These fellowships were very timely and the Lord arranged it in His sovereignity.

Leading a Doctor to Christ

God never makes a mistake. Today morning here in Dimapur, Nagaland, as we were considering the day's schedule, we had a feeling to visit one of our brother's sister's family. With few phone calls the matter was decided and we visited the family: both are doctors by profession.

One important underlying burden for this family was the household salvation; wife from a gentile background and husband from a ritualistic family but have turned to become atheistic in faith. This foreknowledge about the family was a good base for steering forward the conversation. Nevertheless, our sole dependence was on the Spirit's anointing, leading and speaking. Our target the whole time was on the husband, as the wife had to come and go busying herself for the impromptu brunch preparation.

He began the talk by narrating us his opinion about God, if He does exist,  and his severe search for the true God by reading many world renowned thinkers and philosophers' writings. His main concern as I could perceive was, if God indeed is real, how do you prove it? He was looking for hard evidences; a no theory talk was his longing, and a solid proof that would convince him to the core. We'll, only God is the proof of His existence, both objectively and subjectively too. The need of the hour was a real life testimony.

I began with the creation of God; how God had a purpose and to fulfill His purpose, He created the heavens for the earth and all the things therein, and all these are for man that man, in turn, is ultimately for God Himself. I explained further with all clarity, as much as I could, how God also created man with body, soul and spirit, and how God became man in Christ, died, resurrected and became a life-giving Spirit to enter into those who believed into Him. To make it even clearer, I also explained how God desires man to receive Him but would not force Himself into man, but by way of man longing for God. For which also God created man's soul with: a mind to know God, a faculty to understand and reason; an emotion to love God, a faculty for feeling, having known God with his mind he would love God; a will to choose God,  a faculty for decision making, after he knows God and loves God. By this way man could actually receive God by believing into Jesus Christ.

Now for the proof and hard evidences, I gave my own personal testimony of how I was born again on the night of December 31,1997, and the experiences and transformation that transpired since then till date. It entailed my searched for God, my questioning of who the true God was amongst the major religions,  my quest to know and experience God and a serious threat to be an atheist if God could not be known nor experienced. And that, at such crucial juncture, how I met God personally through the testimony and ministry of a retired professor on Matthew 13 on the second kind of soil, which the Spirit used to convict me to the core of my sinful being hidden deep within, and how that led me to my repentance, confession, forgiveness and ultimately my assurance of salvation with joy. After the truth ministering with real life testimony, he professed in wonder, that he was so touched and the speaking was so powerful that his shaky and mediocre attitude towards God was shifted drastically to the right path. A paradigm shift from being in dilemma concerning God, to turning and fine tuning his stance to the true and living God transpired. Praise the Lord!

Still unfinished work remained. Mental conviction sans spiritual regeneration is of no value either. To complete the task that has begun a while, I led him to pray a prayer to receive and believe into the Lord Jesus Christ. Immediately after the prayer, he himself testified innately, that he experienced a new beginning! That's how salvation in spirit began. 

We shook hands and I affirmed him that he indeed and henceforth, has become my brother in Christ! And supplemented the new beginning with the need for normal breathing of the Lord by calling upon Jesus' name, drinking of the Spirit by daily regular prayer, and eating of the Word of God, the Holy Bible, particularly for him, the gospel of John, to start with.

This is no man's boast, but a testimony of the fact that was experienced this morning. May the Lord gain His glory in his saving of this agnostic and intelligent doctor, and further shepherd him to grow in life unto maturity.