First Baptism

A sister called me up and promised that she would bring a new one on thirty-first of last December, but she could not make it. She promised to come the previous two Lord's days, and still, she could not make it. And finally, she brought a new one last Wednesday. Though I was busy when they arrived, once I was ready I took no time to minister to him the word of God.

He seemed to have been prepared by the Lord in the past many years of his life. He heard and knew about Jesus Christ but something kept him away from being baptized. Though a young college student and a professional break dancer competing on an international championship with his own dancing institute, his heart was very open to the Lord Jesus Christ. I preached the gospel in detail concerning God and His creation of the universe and man, especially man with three parts-body, soul, and spirit. I elaborated on the sinfulness of man and his helplessness, the incarnation of God as a man in Jesus, the accomplishment of redemption, and the salvation man can receive by simply believing into Jesus Christ. After a short while of gospel preaching, he was all smile and very receptive. The next step, was to lead him to pray the sinner's prayer for salvation, which he did whole heartedly. Then, the Lord led me further to explain to him the need for baptsim with two very important spiritual significances; a confirmation of the inward believe and an identification with the death and resurrection of Christ. After ministering the truth using the Bible, he willing wanted to be baptised.

Mark 16:1616 He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned.

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16¹ To believe (see note 15³ in ch. 1) is to receive the Slave-Savior (John 1:12) not only for forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43) but also for regeneration (1 Pet. 1:21, 23). Those who thus believe become the children of God (John 1:12-13) and the members of Christ (Eph. 5:30) in an organic union with the Triune God (Matt. 28:19). To be baptized is to affirm this by being buried to terminate the old creation through the death of the Slave-Savior and by being raised up to be the new creation of God through the Slave-Savior's resurrection. Such a baptism is much more advanced than the baptism of repentance preached by John (1:4; Acts 19:3-5). To believe and to be so baptized are two parts of one complete step for receiving the full salvation of God. To be baptized without believing is merely an empty ritual; to believe without being baptized is to be saved only inwardly without an outward affirmation of the inward salvation. These two should go together. Moreover, water baptism should be accompanied by Spirit baptism, even as the children of Israel were baptized in the sea (water) and in the cloud (the Spirit) — 1 Cor. 10:2; 12:13.

To strengthen the truth presentation, we fellowshipped in detail on baptism presented in the book of Romans.

 6:3   Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

 6:4   We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life.

 6:5   For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection,

 6:6   Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the 

body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves;

Immediately, I asked the serving brothers to make ready the baptism tub, and meanwhile we read through Matthew 1 with an emphasis on verses 21 and 23, on Jesus-Jehovah the Saviour, God becoming our Saviour, and Emmanuel-God with us.

Matthew 1:2121 And she will bear a ^ason, and you shall call His name ^1bJesus, for it is He who will ^csave His people from their sins.

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21¹ Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Joshua (Num. 13:16), which means Jehovah the Savior, or the salvation of Jehovah. Hence, Jesus is not only a man but Jehovah, and not only Jehovah but Jehovah becoming our salvation. Thus, He is our Savior. He is also our Joshua, the One who brings us into rest (Heb. 4:8; Matt. 11:28-29), which is Himself as the good land to us.
Matthew 1:2323 "Behold, the ^avirgin shall be with child and shall bear a ¹son, and they shall call His name ^2bEmmanuel'' (which is translated, ^cGod ³with us).

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23² Jesus was the name given by God, whereas Emmanuel, meaning God with us, was the name by which man called Him. Jesus the Savior is God with us. He is God, and He is also God incarnated to dwell among us (John 1:14). He is not only God but God with us.

After a wonderful time of preaching the gospel, ministering the truth, a home meeting Bible study, the new one was baptized! Praise the Lord! There must have been a great joy in heaven over one sinner repenting and who also got baptized!

Luke 15:7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner repenting than over ninety-nine righteous persons who have no need of repentance.

This is the Lord's blessing; our first baptism for the year 2018. Later, I encourage all the saints in Gurugram to have more of gospel preaching and shepherding, in season and out of season, weekly, monthly, and on and on, to fulfill the great commission the Lord has given to all His disciples:

Mathew 28:19  Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

Coming Together

What then, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. 1 Corinthians 14:26  

Not abandoning our own assembling together, as the custom with some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the day drawing near. Hebrews 10:25  

Beginning this year again, the Lord has led us further in our practice of the church-life. The Lord's speaking through the ministry of the word in the Holy Word for Morning Revival confirms this burden. I personally was so touched by the two Bible verses above. These are the scriptural ways to meet, to enjoy the practical church life for the building up of the Body of Christ.

In fact, I have been burdened to invite at least one family to our home for lovefest and fellowship on a weekly basis; and the Lord has been faithfully fulfilling it too. In the first week, we have three families coming over for such a lovefeast fellowship. And with one family, we invited them to come every Saturday. The physical meeting and eating together may or may not build us up, but this definitely opens the door for more fellowship and building up. 

First of all, there must be the coming together, as a church, or even as a family, the more the better. Then the Lord will have a way to work in and among us. The coming together as a church, we have been trumpeting, and as a church, we are coming together more frequently now. At least, twice in a week; on Saturdays for the church prayer meeting and gospel preaching, on Lord's days for the bread breaking, prophesying, lovefeast, brothers and sisters fellowship, and young people meeting. Now, on the weekdays, we are also coming together for home meetings and group meetings.  

Last Lord's day, my wife and I were prophesying on this same burden; of coming together in homes, assembling together as the church, and not neglecting nor belittling these matters, as these are the practical ways in which we all can be built up together. We also exhorted all the saints for the practical church life. This year, we are burdened for a definite increase in the saints enjoyment of the Christian life and the church life. 

For this very reason, I went to a family regularly as much as possible though they are still stuck up in the denomination. My burden is that, at least, they can have some spiritual food through my visit. In fact, two families were shepherded in the home meeting and, I declare in faith that one day, the Lord will fully deliver them through the word of God to come fully into the practical church life which He has been preparing us now. Sometimes, the new ones are reluctant, but I have been doing my best to visit them, with the burden of shepherding.

Lord, bless our church-life of coming together and build us up together.

Fasting Prayer

Personally, I have been practicing fasting and prayer. I was also burdened to bring my fellow serving ones, my family members, and the saints into an intercessory prayer life. But I have been very cautious not to fall into religiosity. At the same, not neglecting fasting prayer with the excuse that is is "religious" as some may deem it to be.  Indeed, many religions have propagated this practice, and some are very serious about it in a religious way, but that does not mean we must not fast and pray. A person who hardly fast and pray, yet speak against fasting prayer as being religious is as if the devil speaking subtly to stop the saints from fasting prayer. Well, others may do it religiously, perhaps, superstitiously even, but we must not let this bogged us down and stop is from fasting and prayer. Instead, we must practice it, propagate it, and do it right.

This year, the Lord has led me to a more serious fasting and prayer. The day we chose is Tuesday. Initially, I also clubbed this with a home meeting and prayer. But, beginning this year, the Lord stripped off the meeting on that day, and released us fully for fasting and prayer. In fact, when the saints with whom we used to meet on Tuesdays came up with inconveniences in the place of meeting, I immediately reckoned it as the Lord's  speaking: He wants us to fully consecrate our time just for prayer. 

Now, my fellow serving ones in the literature service, and at least, my family members, are weekly beginning to fast and pray. This to me is a great blessing and a big breakthrough in our prayer life. Before, I was the only one to actively do it, now the Lord has given me companions who can bear the same burden. 

Besides, the Lord also granted us time of family morning revival and prayer in the morning, and family prayer time in the night before going to bed. This is another big breakthrough in our family time together and family prayer life. We all enjoyed this time together. We have ample time for fellowship and prayer to release all our burdens; praying for the saints, the churches, our family members, and some specific burdens. The Lord has blessed me with many burdens, now I have a way to release these burdens in prayer with my family. I don't bear the burden all alone anymore but with the family and as a family. 

Many of the prayers we have been praying are prayers of faith. By faith, we release our burden and wait for the Lord to answer all of them one by one. Prayer is our burden and responsibility, answering is the Lord's burden and responsibility. We simply pray according to the burden the Lord blessed us with, with much faith, reckoning they all have been answered.

May the Lord grace us to live a prayer life in oneness with Him for the fulfillment His divine purpose.

New Beginning

In fellowship, as the church, we hosted a Blending Lovefeast on the first day of this new year. Our burden was to invite all our contacts, gather them together, and introduce them to the church. The Lord blessed the time together. Though all the invited ones did not turn up, the Lord released those whom we need to shepherd.

The most important blessing we received was the coordination of the saints. The sisters came early in the morning to take care of the food preparation for lovefeast, and the brothers for the arrangement of the meeting hall and preparation of the meeting. Later, our guests came, family by family, one by one. 

The meeting was full of mutuality. Perhaps, this must have been the first of its kind seen and witnessed by the new ones. No special conductor, nor speaker, but everything was carried out in mutuality. A hymn was sung with a resounding "amen" and declaration of the lines, touched and enjoyed by the saints. Prayers were simultaneously offered by the saints. And few brothers shared the word of God with testimonies. And thus, concluding the meeting with prayer.

The lovefeast time was the time we met the new ones, talked to them, and fellowshipped with them. Everyone that I met with, were very happy that they could begin their new year with a wonderful fellowship on the word of God and prayer. A family immediately invited us to their home to begin a home fellowship on Thursday evening. The following Thursday we went and enjoyed a time of fellowship and prayer, and the next Thursday too. May the Lord preserve this family for His testimony in Gurgaon.

The whole day, all the saints were together and the Lord has been blending and building us up together. We have been hearing of "blending and building" many times; in truth, we are well acquainted with. But now, the Lord has been bringing us into the reality. Even the saints who are not very active in the church-life have a renewed understanding of what the church-life is and are becoming much more active in function. Some new ones came in the afternoon, and with them too we had a wonderful fellowship.

As the saints gathered for fellowshipped the Lord led us to fellowship on the practical church practices. All the saints consecrated for some basic items: to have a schedule for reading through the Bible in a  year with a  brother and sister volunteering to update the daily reading potion, to participate in the practice of the God-ordained way of being revived every morning, e-fellowshipping actively on social media via church's WhatsApp group, participating in the prayer meeting, gospel preaching, and shepherding of the church. 

Since then, the Lord has a new beginning in the church in Gurugram! Praise the Lord for the new beginning. What the Lord has begun, He will faithfully accomplish it in time.

Philippians 3:13-14 Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing I do: Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called me upward. 

Faithful and Fruitful

Philippians 3:13-14 Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing I do: Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called me upward. 

2017 has just passed, 2018 has just begun. No new year resolutions, for they are all useless, leading to self deception and and hypocrisy. No promises, for none can really fulfill any promise made. Not even religious consecration, for it is too superficial and event bound. 

The only difference of old and new year is, it is another day in another year. Instead of all physical and mental resolution, thank the Lord for His great mercy and faithfulness all these years, and look to Him for more grace to enjoy and gain Him this coming year. Do not make any special event for the turn of year, but simply look to the Lord for His grace to enjoy Him every day; ordinary days of originally enjoying Christ, experiencing Christ, gaining Christ, growing in Christ, and maturing in Christ. 

Forget the things behind-good or bad, success or failure. Stretch forward to gain Christ. In gaining Christ, I am burdened for faithfulness and fruitfulness. 

This is exactly what I am doing this new year. And my specific prayer is, Lord make me faithful by You being my faithfulness, I and make be fruitful by abiding in You to be my fruitfulness. 

John 15:8

In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so you will become My disciples. 

Quantitatively, I have not been fruitful in terms of gaining people into the church life nor bringing sinners into salvation with water baptism. Though I have many contacts and contacted many sinners and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, still the quantified remaining fruit has been so substantial and totally unsatisfactory. The burden the Lord imparted in this year is, faithfulness and fruitfulness. 

Matthew 24:45

Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom the master has set over his household to give them food at the proper time? 

This burden has been much strengthened in my time with the Lord. In fact, I have fellowshipped this burden to the saints and prayed over and over again; personally, corporately in our family prayer, and the church prayer. No longer to be passive observer, but to be properly aggressive in gaining building materials for God's building. 

This is no resolution nor promise nor consecration, but a burden from the Lord in the Body for the Body. 

The verse in John 5:8 touched me deeply. Fruit bearing is for the Father's glorification, for there is the multiplication of life. And fruit bearing also makes one a disciple of the Lord Jesus. Without fruit bearing, where then can be the glorification? For glory is God expressed, and and God wants to express Himself through His children begotten of Him by fruit bearing. Without fruit bearing, how can one be the Lord's disciple? For discipleship bears fruits. 

My prayer is, Lord, grace me to abide in You and bear much fruits, and that my fruits remain for Your multiplication and Your glorification. This burden is in unison with faithfulness in all what the Lord has bestowed upon me with Him as my faithfulness. 

My Twentieth Year

This day, twenty years ago, the Lord graced me to experience His saving grace. I never thought I was a sinner until the Holy Spirit convicted me deeply of how sinful I was, which brought me to repentance. Then I believed into the Lord Jesus Christ and experienced the forgiveness of sins. Which further led me experience the filling of the Holy Spirit, leading me to experience the joy of salvation that I never experienced before. Oh, the grace of God! Oh, the love of God! 

December 31,1997 was my spiritual birthday! Twenty years have elapsed since then, and I praise the Lord for all His blessings! Hallelujah! 

Since then the Lord has been working on me; sometimes painful, sometimes joyful. But the Lord is very good at what He is; He knows exactly what to do with me and how to deal with me. To my understanding, He has done some solid and specific works every five years of my spiritual life. Beginning with the fundamental truths and experiences of Christ personally in the first five years. Then to a further revelation on the corporate experience of Christ, as and, in the church the following five years. Then further on to a life service: Learning deeper lessons of life in serving the Lord, and experiencing a higher level of human life in marriage and parenthood. And further, deeper and higher in learning to see the Body, know the Body, the church and serve in the Body for the Body. Having testified this, never do I mean to say that I have learned enough. On the contrary, I feel I still need to learn a lot more. In fact, all my Christian life would be a life of learning until perfection at the end. 

Having been graced thus far, I testified to the saints in the church today in brief the following:

Personally, this year the Lord graced me to enjoy Him in the word that He enabled me to finished the thirtieth time of my Bible reading. And further graced me to enjoy Him in my personal prayer life. As a family, He graced us to spend at least an hour a day together in prayer during our morning hours and night prayer. Officially, the Lord has also graced me to enjoyed His instant and continuous leading in spreading the ministry of the word in different parts of North India; a confirmation and experience of the book of Acts. 

Besides all these, three very important lessons I learned are: 

The Sovereignty of the Lord in every matter of my life, my family, the church, and in my official service. Every thing that happened in my life were all allowed by the Lord. Though at times, I opined that things should have been a little different, but the Lord is the Lord, and He is exceptionally good at being the Lord. Now looking back, I simple amened whole heartedly with thanks and praises. 

I am in the Body. This precious lesson, though it should have been so plain and simple, but I learned it in a very specific way. Many times, I tried to bear the burden on my own, even the church or the official responsibilities. I had no problem bearing burdens all alone and took it as an opportunity to experience Christ in a deeper way. But the Lord has been teaching me that I need not be needlessly overburdened, because I am in the Body. The burden is of the Body and must be borne in the Body. What a comfort! My burdens are not mine alone, but the Body's too. I must bear the burden together with the Body. What a release! What peace and what joy! 

I am for the Body. Whatever the Lord burdened me to pray or accomplish are not for my self. They are all for the Body. Burdens may come to me personally, but when carried out, it must be in the Body and for the Body. This too is a great release from being selfish and individualistic. For, I am for the Body. All that I am, all that I do, are all for the building up of the Body of Christ. 

Praise the Lord for these twenty years! May the Lord grace me on for the years He has reserve for me. All for Christ and the Church! Amen and amen. 

The Thirtieth Time

God has been so gracious to me especially as He let me grow up under the guardianship of my late maternal grandfather who taught me to read the Bible from my young age. As far as my memory goes, I started reading the Bible regularly since I was twelve years old. Since then, the Lord has been gracing me to read the word almost every day. Though I read it habitually in the beginning, gradually it became a part of my life, to the extent that I could not live a day without at least reading the word of God for the day. 

I recall in 1997 when I had the first subjective experience of the Lord when I had the assurance of salvation that I was born again indeed in my spirit, born of the Spirit of God, I had finished reading the Bible five times already. And since then, every year, as far as I remember, I finished reading the Bible alteast once a year. Though I did not maintain a regular record, sometimes, I read the Bible in two languages, Paite and English. Sometimes, after I finished reading the whole Bible I purchased a new Bible and start it afresh. The cycle has been repeated over and over again, even until today. The one that I am reading now is a brand new Bible, gifted to me by LSM for the little assistance I rendered in the proof-reading of the same Bible last summer.

I do not boast nor brag about Bible reading, but I highly recommend others to read the Bibe as well, as many times as possible, the more, the better. Not to boast, but declaring the fact, one must read the word of God every day. As much as we eat food every day, so must our eating of spiritual food be.

I can testify even more than a thousand times, how the Lord gave me His instant speaking through my regular Bible reading. Be it personal, family, church, or official matter, many of the decisions I took were based on the instant living speaking of the Lord through the reading of the word. As I had been praying and considering how to handle a matter, the Lord's answer would come in the way of confirmation through the written word. And this happened during those times when I was reading the word; irrespective of which portion of the Bible I was in, at the moment of time. The Lord's word is living, and it speaks...

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Now, as 2017 is winding up, I am glad to declare that the Lord has graced me this time again to finish this years' portion, not counting the reading of the word on a personal study time with the footnotes of the Recovery Version. With this, the Lord grace me to complete my thirtieth time of reading the Bible. And I am thirty-nine years young now; I hope the number of times I read the Bible be equivalent to the number of years the Lord would give me.  This is up to the Lord.

Lord, thank you for Your bountiful grace. And continue to grace me; as my days are, so shall my reading, praying, and reading of the word be.

Deuteronomy 33:25  Your doorbolts shall be iron and copper; And as your days are, so shall your strength be.