Church's Outdoor Blending

Yesterday, as the church, we all went to India Gate, New Delhi, for outdoor blending. It was a blending time for the saints as we hardly went out together. We made use of the holiday to blend the saints together. Besides, the children too had their enjoyable time, playing to their heart's content.

Our blending fellowship was based on our person being proper as a Christian. The Lord cares for who we are, more than what we do. This is the burden the Lord gave us these days, and we simply continue to trumpet the same burden to the saints. 

Matthew 7:22-23Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, was it not in Your name that we prophesied, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name did many works of power? And then I will declare to them: I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness. 

Prophecies, demon casting out, and many works of power are not what concerns the Lord, but the being of the person himself through whom all these things were done. That's why the Lord said, "I never knew you." The Lord did not say, "I never knew your works." Which implies that the Lord is more concerned about our being much more than our works. If at all there are works, they all must be from the overflow of the enjoyment of the divine life within us. If our person is proper, our works also will be proper. The message that we speak must be the life that we live. The message and the messenger must be one. 

The brothers who received this burden also shared their portion each. It was not one man releasing the burden of the church, but all the brothers in coordination. Slowly, the Lord is blending us all together. When each brother shared their portion, the burden that was released to the church became complete. In this way of everyone functioning, all the saints will be perfected and the Body will be built up.

I thank the Lord for this revelation of bringing everyone to function. Gradually, "everyone functioning" becomes more practical and real. This will fully annihilate clergy-laity system and usher in the real Body-life of everyone function to build up the Body of Christ.

Later, we all took a tour to India Gate, had photo sessions, and came back for another time of prayer and fellowship with lovefeast. Inwardly and outwardly, the Lord has been blending us together. So far so good, the Lord is working on the saints in Gurgaon as we are being prepared to command, contain and multiply the Lord's blessing.

Lord, bless the church in Gurugram.

Trust Thy Brothers

In line with the burden these days, the perfecting of many in service, the Lord taught me some precious lessons of life. Trust thy brothers! 

As our official workload grows and the ministry is prevailing in this country, there is also a need to reciprocate the increasing need by bringing in more serving ones. One particular brother was brought in after much fellowship and prayer. He is to coordinate with me and relieve me especially in the IT works of the company which I have been singlehandedly handling from the very inception of our company. Perhaps, now its time to unload myself of this burden and expand the work. As this brother began to serve, many incidents also occurred now and then. Health and family matters were definitely unavoidable, yet it clogs many official works and we seemed to run behind schedule.

I tried to do things like before using my own technical skill and finish off the works. But that would mean an extra work for me as the service has been assigned to another brother who came in to serve. Though I tried to go my way, the Lord did now allow me; but simply taught me to trust my brother and wait until he can be back for normal service. In the meantime, I still tried to do what I intended to do; the Lord just led me to "shut up" and also shut down the work on which I was working on, leaving me no choice but to wait and trust my brother to come back to service.

This incident taught me two things: to serve within my limit and trust my brother's function and service, even if I think I could do the same task, or even better. These are very experiential lessons. Similar lessons are also being learned with the brothers and sisters who are serving in coordination with me. I had my opinion, but on expressing them, they all have a better opinion than mine. Therefore, I simply learn to drop my own opinion and went along with their fellowship. In this way, I discovered how good and how pleasant indeed it is to be in coordination and learn to say amen; trusting my brothers.

Trust thy brothers! They blessings in disguise. Blessed is he who trusts his brothers, their coordination shall be blessed!

O Shillong!

For reason best known to God, I have the burden for the church in Shillong especially for some of the saints. Many things have transpired all these years, and I deeply pray for the local church in Shillong to be in oneness and in fellowship with all the other local churches, at least in India first. There still seems to be some struggling as the enemy hates the building up of the Body of Christ. Incidents after incidents, the course of fellowship and blending is like a long winding river passing through many valleys and hills, taking many corners and turns. But I do not lose heart, and never will; I still keep praying for the church and the saints there. I have no assurance about their feeling about me, but I consider them all as my dear fellow members of the Body, very sweet and dear: O love them all in the love of Christ! Therefore, many many times, I make mention of them in my prayer to the Lord.

It was on [10/03, 12:55] I messaged one of the leading brothers the following: 

Praise the Lord brother!

Last night I saw you in my dream. I visited Shillong and was with you. You took me to go through many houses in Shillong until we reached a house full of brothers and sisters for fellowship. There we were siting along with the saints enjoying the fellowship.

Then I woke up. Alas, it was just a dream.
Interpretation and understanding belongs to the Lord.)
Whatever you are, wherever you are, or whoever you may become, remember, there is someone who prays for you as a brother. 

My recent chat with sister BS is below:
[08/03, 22:24] BS: Btw hope you've heard B---- lost in the election. Till 24th everybody thought he is the sure winner but things changed. We have commited everything to God in prayer,   He knows best.

[08/03, 23:06] (I replied): Yes sister. The Lord knows what is best for him, for the family, for the church, and for all of us.

Winning or losing, the main burden is gaining Christ either way. The Lord's main concern is His gaining us and we gaining Him. He achieves this, either way. Whichever way He leads us, that is the best way. For us, Christians, all is gain, and it's always a win-win situation.

So, we praise Him for every thing. Amen.

[10/03, 13:55] (The brother replied): Amen Bro. Glory be to God. Whatever  happened is immaterial. Our thoughts and His thoughts are .. you know. I gracefully accepted the result with joy because He knows what is best. Before the result is out i have convinced every members of the family to accept either way. In that way our faith in the Lord remain strong and even stronger. My supporters were amazed when they see  me and my family unmoved by the negative result. Thank you for the support and concerned for our spiritual life. Hope every one at home is fine by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

After this conversation, deep within I felt the Lord had worked all things together for good. A week later, another leading brother called me expressing what he felt before the Lord concerning the present situation of the saints and the church in Shillong. We then prayed together; that's the best we could do. The church belongs to the Lord and He knows how to shepherd His church. 

Then the Lord burdened me to contact a family and sent a message 

Dear Brother F and Sister A,

Trust all is well. As fellow members of the Body of Christ we have been praying for the church in Shillong, and for the brothers and sisters who bear the Lord’s testimony.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Watch, stand firm in the faith, be full-grown men, be strong. Let all your matters be done in love. 

Keep in touch and in fellowship.

2 Timothy 4:22

The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you. 

Much grace to all of you and let us uphold one another in prayer.

Since these conversations, deep within I felt like a big log of burden was lifted up and taken away. My sky became very clear concerning the church in Shillong! A week later, the brother who called me a week ago called again and fellowshipped how the Lord has cleared up the cloudy situation. We praised and thanked the Lord, and prayed together over the phone. Since then, we decided to pray together once a week, especially for the church in Shillong and the many local churches all over Meghalaya. And today morning, he called again for prayer, testifying what the Lord has been doing in Meghalaya. Praise the Lord!

Lord, bless the church in Shillong and recover all the local churches all over Meghalaya!

Perfecting the Saints

Ephesians 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

This verse, perhaps, is the most difficult to fulfill among all the other prophecies in the Bible. The invasion of Christianity by religion and man-made organization adds to the deadening of the already weakened community. Only the truths of the Bible in all its purity and simplicity is the panacea for the spiritually diseased conglomeration of congregations. Thank God, the Lord has been using His words, time and again, to recover what is in His heart amidst the degradation. The perfecting of the saints is the way to build up the church; no other way.

The Lord has been speaking to me and the brothers in the locality where I am on this perfect panacea, "perfecting the saints." What I can do, I must perfect my other brothers to do the same thing. Lest I ended up being a "pastor" and repeat the degraded history of Christianity. All saints must be perfected, then and only then, that will be the work of the ministry unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

The notion of "ministry" for certain select few gifted or anointed brothers must be done away with. Such notion is the root of the clergy-laity system. The work of the ministry is for all and must be done by all. For some reason, the concept within many is, this is for select few. No, it's for all.

Since the beginning of this year, I have been burdened to bring more saints, in fact, all saints to their rightful functions. So far, the Lord graces me to directly or indirectly shepherd five brothers. The Lord is gracious enough to all of us to learn and learn. 

Two brothers who are fathers too are gradually brought in to take the full responsibility for taking care of new families. Though initially, out of burden, I initiated the meetings. Now, I am bringing in the said brothers along with me to co-work together in shepherding the saints at the homes of the new ones. As we learn to shepherd, I would gradually withdraw myself so that the brothers can fully function in shepherding. So far, the meetings are all going well. One the one hand, we are shepherding the new ones, yet on the other hand, we are shepherding ourselves, as we are being perfected in the very act of shepherding.

Three young and unmarried brothers are also in the making. The Lord's merciful hand is much needed for the perfecting of the young brothers' functions. One of them has come up to the level of being able to travel places for the introduction and distribution of the ministry of the word, like I way I used to do and still am doing, in addition to all the other official, church, and family responsibility assigned to him. Another brother too is being graced by the Lord to bear responsibilities assigned to him; both domestic household daily chores and spiritual responsibilities. And yet another brother has been graciously revived by the Lord from his backslidden condition. On my invitation, he regularly comes for prayer and pursuit of the truths, and now he is learning some technical works; his function has come up marvelously.

All saints need to be perfected in a wise and timely manner. Else, the enemy will steal them away and even kill their spiritual functions. Keeping the Lord's word in mind, we must pray for all the saints, ask wisdom from God to discern in what way each can be best perfected. Then perfect them pratically by co-working with them and showing the pattern. In this way, they all will be perfected. Much prayer and shepherding is needed to really perfect the saints' function and for the fulfillment of the Ephesians 4;12.

Lord, fulfill Your prophecy of building up Your Body by perfecting all of us!

Family Shepherding Family

Shepherding is the backbone of the church life. In fact, our burden has been to help every family in the church life to take care of another family or more according to their capacity. Though I have been going out a lot for shepherding many families, I hardly bring along my family members to join me. Practically, it is not possible all the time, especially when the meetings at different homes are on a weekly basis. Children have their home works and study assignments daily, and my wife too is busy with the children. But once a while I started bringing my family along.

Two weeks ago I took my whole family to a home meeting at two different homes. The first home is a new family with a much higher standard of living than ours, with their house well maintained, neat and clean. Well, my children love to play. But we taught our children to maintain decorum in other's home. Initially, I was a little recluctant not knowing how the new ones would feel about our children vistiing them. But we took the chance. To my surprise, they were quite comfortable with it and my children too enjoyed visitng new ones' home. Though we could not fully stop them from moving around, still they could behave well. Our meeting too was quite enjoyable. Since the family we visited has two grown-up children, they also had been through with mananging kids before, they had a broad mind and were quite comfortable with the children all around. 

Interestingly, when my son who is seven years old participated in the reading portion of ministry books, the family we visited were very impressed; they could practically see a miniature of a Christian home we are building up and they were very impressed. Their response was very positive and it was a message in itself. Besides, my youngest daughter of four years old prayed after everyone else prayed, and she prayed that the Lord would bring our family to that home again. Then, the whole family responded with resounding amen. They were most touched by my son and daughter's participation in the home meeting. 

Another family we visited was a family in the church life. They have their kids too. So all the children got along very well. They had their own time together, and we grown-up s also enjoyed our meeting too. As much as practicality allows, I look to the Lord for His grace for my whole family to be able to shepherd another family.

By this way of family shepherding families, both families are strengthened. This is a proper pattern we want the church in Gurugram to adopt; family shepherding family. And if all saints' families can shepherd at least another family each, in no time, the whole church will be revived. We don't need special "pastoring" by few selected men, but the Body builds up itself in love by each member functioning. 

May the Lord grace all the saints' families to shepherd another family and gain the building up among all the families.   

Family Time

The Lord has been blessing our family so much. With my wife laboring so hard to help my children in their studies; the result of their labor was very obvious in my children scoring A+ in all the subject except in Hindi where they could manage up to A. On my part I decided to take them for family time and outing at Delhi India Gate. Two weeks ago we all went for a postlunch outing.

Family time with the whole afternoon was indeed a fun time for the children. They were very energetic playing and experimenting one play tool after another. I, on my part, was just a guardian watching over them. I did try out hand hands on a couple of instruments in the park. But for me, the oversight of the children well being, especially their safety was my main burden. If they enjoyed the time out there, that's my enjoyment too. Time has changed when I cared for my enjoyment to my children's enjoyment. If my children were, it was my happiness. After few hours of playing and running around, we enjoyed a family boating time, and finally treated them their desired cuisine, burger and chicken fry at KFC.

Such a family time was overdue as they were busy in their studies and I, in my office works and church responsibilities. Finally, at the opportune time, we all enjoyed an outing.

Time with the family besides occasional outing is a must for a healthy family. Every night and morning, we have the grace to spend time in prayer together. The act of coming together as a family for prayer is a great blessing. We all could pray together every night, and now it's in our blood and family daily schedule to come together for prayer.

May the Lord grace us to continue to spend time together as a family for prayer, for fellowship, and for an occasional family blending and building up.

Satanic Lies

In shepherding, one of the most dangerous deceptions is the deception of the devil, the Satanic lies. Satan hates the believers to grow in life, and much more, he hates the shepherding every believers has to either give or take. I have also been facing a direct mental confrontation from Satan with his deceitful lies. Not once, a couple of times. Only the spirit within and the ministry of the word without convinced me otherwise, against Satanic lies.

Two very practical incidents I faced recently are noteworthy. 

Few weeks ago, I was so much tempted to not go for shepherding a family. But because of the burden within, I fought against the tempation and went for a home meeting. As I drove my car, deceitful thoughts crowded my minds: Why do I have to waste my time, energy and money to visit this family? What have I gained from visitng week after week? Nobody paid for my visit. At least, in the business world, for any visit you are paid for it. This family is playing fool with you. Forget about them and just take rest at home. 

My God, I almost believed in these lies. But I did not back down, but went to visit the family on the Lord's day evening.

My! to my surprise, this family was so open! As I ministered the word of God with practical life testimonies, the hearts of the brother and sister melted. The sister was almost in tears. They were so subdued and confessed how much they need to be visited again and again, and be shephered. They also acknowledged how much they need the fellowship of the church. But somehow, something have been a hindrance in their spiritual pursuit. 

As we all prayed, the presence of the Lord was very rich. They both promised to come regulary for the church meeting. Even as I vistied them again yesterday, the Lord did a deeper work in them. The whole family of father, mother, and son decided in oneness to be faithful and regular for this kind of shepherding, and also to attend the Lord's tanle meeting.

Another family too was of similar case. The Satanic lies were: Why visit a family who are not interested? See they have escaped from coming to the meeting. And when I went there, the father of the family did not come home on time. In fact, late by over two hours. Why do I have to waste my time? 

But when they did come home, and the two families gathered together, the Lord's speaking was very rich. Though the fathers of the two families came back from their works after the whole day's labor, they got revived with the ministry of the word. They were so much shepehrded and each of them even testified of how blessed they were with the Lord's speaking. What if I listened to the Satanic lies and backed down from visiting these families? They would have missed that weekly portion of spiritual food supplies.

Thank God for the Spirit within and the Word without. 

Lord, grace me to be faithful to Your word. Never to listen to the Satanic lies but to the written word of God in the books and the spoken word of God in my spirit.