Learn to be Abased

I know also how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to hunger, both to abound and to lack. Phil. 4:12  

The first quarter of this year has been a peaceful experience of being abased. I have been learning this lesson the apostle Paul had already learned, "I know how to be abased.." 

I have been tasting the contrast feeling of being abound, and now its time to learn the other lesson as well. The Lord sovereingly arranges things in such a way that I need to spend a lot on something inevitable, mostly related to my family life. Learning to be a proper father in taking care of my family I have been spending my time, energy and all that I could to enjoy my family life. 

Firstly, I take care of all the essentials of the family, not to allow any lack in the matter of family needs. I spend and am spending generously for the family, to cherish and keep the family happy. Now I focus more on the happiness of my family more the the saving of money in my bank account. What is money good for if it is not for the building up of the family life and spending it for the Lord's purpose? Money comes and money goes, never love it nor be a slave to it. Spend wisely and spend it for the maximum benefit. 

Even though I am not abounding as I used to, as far as taking care of the need of my family is concerned all are well taken care, without any lack. And no one, even my wife, t know and bear the burden that I have been bearing secretly. I would rather that my family be in peace and in happiness than letting know of the burden a father is bearing, which in any case is the responsibility of a father. In bearing my family responsibility, the Lord is training me to be abased. It is no easy lesson to learn to be abased. To abound is a much easier burden to bear.  

Somehow, the Lord provides the need to meet all the important and timely need of the family, ranging from children's educational expenses to the daily necessity of the family, and still providing the need, now and then, to make them happy, even with pretty little things. And in this midst, I do not shy away from considering to buy a house for our family, for the long run. Somehow, deep within me there is a a positive indication that I must go ahead in this direction sooner than later. The Lord is faithful as He has always been.

In learning to be abased, one important lesson is not to shrink back from dreaming big. It is easier to dream big when one abounds, but it is more significant to dream big even one is abased. This is the lesson I am learning these days. The same goes with the official need for buying our own office space. For both, I have the faith that the Lord will faithfully provide our needs.

It's amazing, this consideration of buying property is at its highest when I am at best abased. Feels like Moses leading the Israelites in the wilderness, simply trusting Jehovah for the daily manna with a hope of the goodland, Canaan. And that hope becomes stronger when in abased rather than in abound. Though, sometimes, I admit, I used to consider the servings ones like myself in other countries where they have all things set up; office premise including land and buildings, they simply focus on their specific service. But here in India, as of today, we still do not have the basic infrastructure of our own. Besides caring for the literature service, I also have to care for all the necessary infrastructure to carry out the official responsibility almost all from scratch, and that too when we hardly have anything in competence of this magnitude. But the trust and the faith within, irrespective of what is without, is at its best. 

Thank God for this lesson. And may I learn it thoroughly well this lesson, that I may be one with Paul in declaring, "I know also how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to hunger, both to abound and to lack."

Be Joyful!

Jehovah your God will bless you in all your produce and in all your undertakings; therefore you shall be nothing but joyful. Deuteronomy 16:15

In the midst of uncertainty, especially when one is holding responsibilities, the word of the Lord has become very soothing, the instant speaking of the Lord. Such was my experience last night as I read my Bible. The word of God was so sweet and satisfying that I proposed the same verse for pray-reading with my fellow serving ones in our distribution fellowship. And we all became joyful just by pray-reading the joyful word of the Lord. "Jehovah your God will bless you in all your produce and in all your undertakings; therefore you shall be nothing but joyful."  

These days my feeling has been as though I have been going through "dry season." Seemingly, nothing transpires significantly yet I have been busy the whole day. I would have expected more efficiency in my own service yet was ignorant of the way how that could transpire. At least, all the daily chores have been carried out regularly. I only can expect the Lord's blessing in all these. And at this juncture, the speaking of the Lord is so soothing, "Jehovah your God will bless you."

Since it is Jehovah's blessing, in all my "produce and undertaking," whatever that is suppose to mean, I must indeed be joyful, indeed, be nothing but joyful. There are indeed times for everything, and perhaps, this must be the dry season. Despite being so, the daily exercise of a normal Christian life, church life and office life still preserves me to not waste and wail away my time. The real joy indeed will be to be joyful in times when there seems nothing to be joyful for. In the Lord, I can and must always be joyful. Be nothing but joyful. Jehovah's presence and blessing is always a thing a joy, to be joyful for.

And the joy of the Lord is my strength. Nehemiah 8:10, "Then he said to them, Go your way; eat the fat, and drink the sweet wine, and send portions to him for whom nothing has been prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of Jehovah is your strength." In dry times as this, do nothing, go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet wine, do not be grieved, still carry on with your work, go on even as mundane as it seems, the joy of the Lord will still be my strength. Therefore, be joyful!

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Philippians 4:4 

Be joyful in the Lord, whatever betide. The Lord is in me and with me, just be joyful. Whatever season we are in, rejoice, and rejoice ever more.

This is just my experience these days.

Lord, make me joyful.

Turns of Events

Since last month it has been rough terrain for me as I journey through life and my official responsibility in combing through my community, DLF 1, for a possible rental or purchase as we have are looking into every possible option of relocation. As far as I am concerned I have been doing all that I could so as not to regret in the future concerning carrying out my responsibility and making decision. This all began when our house owner notified us of relocation. 

First, I tried all possible online search for rental in the same community without the help of brokers. I could manage to find few villas and contacted the owners. By the way, some brokers came to know through the online site I have been researching and was showed a handful of houses. Nothing materialised thus far. Then I looked into possible relocation of my family separately from the office which led me to another angle of research. Then came the idea of office space in commercial space which ultimately worked out to be too expensive. And now instead of rental our, consideration shifted to buying our own property, either land or ready to move in property. 

In all these turns of events, at least in my consideration, I have put in my best. Every single step I reckon to take I have done all I could. For I do not wish to regret for complacency nor negligence. In all these considerations I have done my best. Whether or not any of the research will materialise I have the inner satisfaction that I  have done what I need to do. 

Now,  for any direction the Lord leads us to, I have solid and specific point to contribute for fellowship with all stakeholders. I would not make blind blunder and dead decision. Fairly well, I have now come to know the real estate of the Real Estate of Gurgaon today. With this knowledge even, my burden for this city increased all the more. I must pay the price to gain the local residents for the Lord's testimony in this city. 

Now, I feel is the time to take definite step to be established in this city for the Lord's testimony in a way of official operation and family settlement, if the Lord so wills. Having done all I feel need to do, now I leave all to the sovereignty of the Lord who is on the throne. May He decide what is best for His divine economy even through us, our service and our living. 

Praise the Lord for all these turns of events, experiencing the Lord in every single step. Above all, the will of the Lord be done. Amen.  

Hindi Fellowship

There used to be a regular Hindi meetings in the new ones' home for years in the past which somehow have not been faithfully continued. To some, they have been lost, it as it seems, but to me, deep within, they are our own spiritual children and cannot be lost by any means. Though I myself stopped visiting them for over a year with the hope that some other saints would pick up the burden which never actually happened. But in my personal prayer life, church prayer, and family prayer I have been praying for them, simply trusting in the God who cares. The Lord indeed is faithful to preserve these ones for His testimony till date. 

Since last week I have revived the burden of shepherding them one more time with the faith that the Lord would establish them this time, solidly. It was indeed amazing that the Lord does care, though they have been through so many turmoil in their lives. How it all began was sovereignly of the Lord. 

It was two Saturdays ago that I was about to go for gospel preaching. But the burden within me was for these saints who long have been neglected. For some reason a thought came to me that I have been preaching the gospel to gain new ones, that's good, but how about those that have already been baptised? Yes, I am burdened to gain many new ones more, but how about the ones already gained and not being kept? Should I indeed fish and let the fish out of the vessel and keeping fishing and let the fish jump out of the vessel? That definitely is not wise. Better shepherd the gained ones first, and still preach the gospel but not at the cause of safeguarding those that have already been gained. 

I called up first and went to meet a brother. To my surprise, he has become a big business man, holding 50% shares of a branch of a famous sporting school in Gurgaon. I was glad that the Lord has been taking care of him. And as we met, we had a friendly yet brotherly talk. He took me around his 2+ acres campus of sporting school, introducing all his business activities. Besides, he proposed a Bible study in his school on a weekly basis and also was burdened for the gospel in his own way. Deep within I was very happy for the Lord's sovereign care for all His children. 

Meanwhile, as we talked, another brother turned up to the campus for His personal work. I took no time to introduce them to one another. As they discussed their own businesses to one another it turned out that they could be in partnership in one of the sporting activities, Cricket. They both were glad and they immediately acknowledged it as God’s arrangement; He who cares for the soul and spirit also cares for the body as well. 

Later, after all the brotherly and friendly talk, we all prayed together and dismissed for the day with a consent to come together regularly, at least once a week. And thus, the fellowship for shepherding was restored. 

Similar incident transpired with a family who has now started a saloon business in DLF-1. In this case, Monday was first fixed for Bible study with their employees. The first Monday, two of the employees received the Lord and the following week another two employees. The saloon has now become a gospel hall for employees to hear the gospel. So far, in two Mondays, two boys and two girls received the Lord. Besides, recovering this family, new ones were gained weekly. Praise the Lord! 

My one draw back is, I still preached and ministered in English with a brother translating for me. It's a bane or a boon, only God knows. Now that I need to coordinate closely with another brother to translate, I count it a boon. But the fact that I could not minister directly in Hindi may perhaps be a bane. Nevertheless, the gospel is preached. And these are Hindi speaking ones and Hindi fellowship. 

May the Lord grace them all, and stabilize them as pillars for His testimony in Gurgaon, these local indigenous brothers. 

Family Trip to Pune and Mumbai

In the month of January during a national level training for the serving ones at Chennai, a leading brother fellowshipped with me about attending a family training to be held in Pune. In fellowship with my wife, we decided to attend this training. Meanwhile, we also planned a family trip by-the-way for the children's sake. All practical detail we carried out in fellowship and in one accord, though the expenses incurred was heavy the Lord faithfully supplied all the needs and we had a wonderful family training with a family trip, the first ever training and trip we undertook as a family, to Pune and then to Mumbai.

During our one whole day tour of Pune city, we visited places of interest much to the joy of our children. If left to my choice, I would rather stay back and rest, but as a father, my interests were inclined towards my children, and I did my best to make them happy. In fact, in their happiness was my happiness too. 

In Mumbai we spent two full days, the first day with a group of Taiwan working saints touring Mumbai city, and the next day our family alone visited a famous national park and a famous beach.

One significant thing that I learned was the goodness of my family and how cooperative they all were in times of emergency. We had a wonderful coordination on our last day of the trip. Due to Mumbai heavy traffic, our time calculation all went wrong. We were delayed for about two hours from the plan we scheduled to board our return flight back to Delhi. The entire episode of urgency and anxiety was breathtaking. But all that we could do was just pray and pray while caught up in the traffic, and things eventually worked out on time.

From Juhu beach we were caught up on the road on our way back to Kurla where we had to pick up our lugguages and leave for Airport. I had to request all my family to hurry, get cleaned up, dressed and head back to the taxi immediately on arrival at our lodge, meanwhile I also requested the driver to wait and drop us to the Airport. All went well, but that day being a state festival the road that led to the Airport was blocked by traffic jam clubbed with rally on a crowed road. The taxi driver sensed the urgency and asked us to deboard, walk past the rally, and catch another vehicle to the Airport. We did that too, in the middle of a crowed busy road teeming with multitude, with our luggages, we moved through the crowd as swift as we could managed. Once we crossed the rally stretch, we board another vehicle, an "auto - a three wheeler, Indian made economic passenger car." But the road even after the rally was also too crowded that the driver had to squeeze into every possible passage, driving the vehicle side way, left, right, forward, honking whenever necessary, and even jumping a red light to just drop us at the Airport as soon as he could. I complimented him for his effort. 

From the entrance of the Airport we had to find our way to the check-in counter, all the while inquiring for correct platform, dragging the luggages all along. My son was very cooperative and he handled a luggage all by himself running behind me, my wife with our youngest and eldest daughter beside, were following me too. We all rush our way through until we could finally checked-in just in time for the flight.

Thank God for the wonderful family that understands the situation in times of emergency and cooperated. I could see things I never saw before and appreciated my family a lot more; very cooperative. I seriously thought we would miss the flight and that would be a heavy blow to our budget, besides unnecessary troubles it would have incurred.

This trip has a special flavor. First, it being the first for our family, second, the discovery of the worth of family values, and third, the coordination, understanding and oneness in times of emergency. Family life is truly wonderful; God has beautifully designed it all for good. And the trip is worth all the experiences. 

Now, looking forward for the next trip. When will that be? Only God knows..          

Family Training

The first national level of its kind ever held in India, a family training in Pune, was the one my family attended last week; it was our first one too, attending such training as a family. Though I was physically not keep too well during the training, but I never missed a class. All the messages were wonderful and I thanked the Lord for such a training where three elderly and matured couples from Taiwan ministered to us, not mere teaching, but their own lives' testimonies of how they have been taking care of their family, especially, their children, all of them have grown up and are all in the church-life with proper testimony. To me, the ministering brothers themselves are worth everything; their lives, living, experiences were all amazing. Thank God, I have such a wonderful pattern set before me.

What impressed me the most was the vision concerning the living and serving as household according to God's economy, supported by the living testimonies of the ministering brothers. As a summary of the entire training I composed a hymn based on the truth presented in the training. The hymns is here below.

Many practical points concerning living and serving the Lord as household beginning with the all-inclusive, all-inheriting, and consummate vision; God-man living as a household; the building up and relationship between husband and wife; the direction and goal in shepherding our children with discipline and admonition in the Lord; and the whole household serving the Lord, were the riches I brought back to my local church. What we have heard and seen, know and learned, we are imparting the same to the saints here in the local church.

Though the three days formal training concluded, the real training at home has just begun. Daily, hourly, as a family, all the days of our lives, we have to carry out this kind of family training.

O that the Lord would raise multitude of families as pillars for His testimony as the bright shining golden Lampstand in Gurugram!   

Living and Serving as Household  According to God’s EconomyDate: 13^th March 2017Impressed by the Lord’s speaking during a family training on the importance of a God-man family, living and serving God according to God’s economy, I wrote this hymn.Tune: # 993 1    O dear saints, this is our vision-
      "God’s Economy;"      All-inclusive from ages past,      Serve accordingly.      Be filled in Spirit as household,       Exercise daily.       Loving, living, serving God as       God-man family.             Love the Lord Jesus, your first-love,            Love the Lord your God.             Take Christ as your life and living            As household of God.            Live Christ every day,            Serve Him all the way,            Living and serving as household            According to God! 2    O parent, this glorious message,       Be wise and pay heed:      Christ, your unique Head and Centre,       All to Him submit.       Husband-wife built up, blent as one,      As Christ and the church.      Prayer partners-coordinators,      For Christ and the church. 3    Husband, love thy wife, thy body      Joined to her; one flesh.
      Wife, submit to thine own husband      In all things; thy head.
      Filled in Spirit, fullness of God,      Be thy fellowship.      Fellow heirs of the grace of life,      Thy relationship.    
4    O children, this glorious message,       Listen and obey:      Christ, your unique inheritance       Pursue Him alway,      Your highest career on earth is      God’s economy;       New Jerusalem your goal is,      First-fruit, reward be.     
5    Lord, me and my whole family, 
      I consecrate all.       For Thy divine economy,       Grace us, bless us all.       Blend us, build us, perfect us as      “God’s overcomers.”       "As for me and my family,
      We'll serve Jehovah!"

Outstanding A+

Today is the seventh birthday of my son, Amana Palmei. It is also the day his first grade final result was announced. Together as a family we went to meet his class teacher, and the sight of the event of his teacher meeting him and congratulating him was noteworthy.

The moment his teacher saw him, she hugged and congratulated him with the news that he topped the class with A+(outstanding) in almost all the subjects and some A(excellent) scores. He too was very excited over the result as he used to trail behind his friend who used to topped the class and who is also at least a year elder to him. As parent we are happy too and congratulated him, but I quickly reminded him that this is the Lord's answer to his and our prayer that the Lord would make him a good student, an outstanding student. In the class where we met the teacher, I took him aside for a short while for thanksgiving prayer, where he and I prayed giving thanks to the God who blesses. Besides, the day being his birthday, we all went for family shopping and lunch at KFC where he had his favorite meal. 

We experienced a wonderful time together enjoying the blessing of the Lord. This little incident strengthened the faith of our children as we taught them to pray and read the word of God everyday from their very young age, and learning to trust the Lord in small and big things. Every morning when I drove them to school we prayed together for the Lord's grace for the day, His wisdom, His blessing, and much more, to be a good student, diligent and faithful, besides praying for their classmates, teachers and the school in general, that one day they would come to know and believe into the Lord Jesus Christ.

In a similar manner, as a Christian I am student in a class called "life" where the Holy Spirit is my teacher and the Bible, my text book, and Jesus Christ, my principal, in the school called the church. Each day I am looking for grace to study well and do all my homeworks diligently that after the final exam I may be rewarded with a A+, an outstanding score. 

From my son, I am learning lessons of life. It is merely the Lord's grace that me and my wife are learning to be proper God-man parent for the Lord's testimony with all the three children the Lord has blessed us.

Thank you Lord for your blessing! Ever keep us by Your grace to continue to receive Your blessing, even an outstanding A+. Amen.