Flesh Versus Flesh

The enemy, Satan, knows too well about our being in the flesh. He has the excellent expertise of stirring up our flesh and make us fight with another man's flesh. That's perfectly his business. And that's what he is doing since ages past, and I bet he will intensify it in the coming days until he is fully judged and cast into the lake of fire.

I will never forget the statement of a brother when he said he hated Satan the most for all the problems among brothers and sisters, and among families. For the root cause of all the problems of the world is Satan behind the scenes. Indeed, he is the ruler of the world, nevertheless, he has been judged already by the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross. 

John 16:11And concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. 

We need eyes to see the source of all problems, then we will not ignorantly fight with others, much less, our own brothers, for whatever reason. In fact, if all Christians are aware of this satanic tactic, there will be no contention among believers. Even if one is to happen, before doing or saying anything, we would resort to prayer and never let our flesh do anything. O what a salvation to see the vision of the flesh, the vision of Satan's subtlety, and the vision of living and walking in the spirit. 

Having said this, I had my own failures too. In fact, I learned from my failures. Trust,  the Lord will keep me in Him not to repeat history. I had a terrible failure few days ago, and I regret it, repented for it, and hopefully leart my lesson from it. 

It was to do with my own children who sometimes disobeyed stirring up my flesh. I do not blame them, though at times in anger I tried to discipline them. But frankly, even in the name of discipline the enemy can lead us easily to our flesh. That's what happened to me very often. The same goes with my brother who is living with me. 

Things happened in my family especially with a brother who needs a tender care. At times, he would stoop so low as to even behave unbecoming of a family member or a Christian. I understand his past habit but it's hard to tolerate many times. And it was to him I lost my temper. Then, the Lord reminded me in His mercy: Do not fight the flesh with the flesh. 

From my view point, I may be justified as the Lord placed me in the position of a family head. My real head should be Christ even in my family. After experiencing a terrible failure, the Lord convicted me of my unlawful actions. It brought me to my knees in repentance and it was there and then, I learned my lesson: Never fight the flesh with the flesh. Never. 

Though children of God in the spirit, our flesh is still the flesh of sin, and it will be until the day of full redemption. The flesh must be crucified with Christ, fully subdued, and under the complete control of the spirit.

What a lesson! Lord, grace me to never resort to my flesh. But always walk by the Spirit. 

Galatians 5:16But I say, Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh. 

Brother's Perfecting Fellowship

Two weeks ago, an elderly brother whom the Lord has anointed especially to perfect us, visited us in Gurugram again. We enjoyed two days of fellowshipping with. These two days were of immense blessing to me, and I believe to all the brothers too who were in the fellowship.

Crucial items of fellowship were:

The oneness of the Triune God to be wrought into us to become our oneness.

How much we can minister depends on how much Christ is ministered to us.

All the saints, especially the young ones, must be brought into their rightful position and function as much as, and as soon as, possibsle.

Our perfecting also depends on how much we serve; many are not perfected because they don't serve adequately. Therefore, bring all the saints into service wherever they can fucntion best.

We need eyes and wisdom to bring brothers into their righful function; by doing this, we are only confirming what the Holy Spirit has done in them. At the same time, some may need to be left in the wilderness as the Lord has to still work on them, even dsiciplining them. We need to discern between the two.

We must bring in all those who have the heart to serve the Lord. That is the best way to perfect them and reocver their function and service.

One of the crucial spiritual functions of the church is to speak forth the word of God guided by the ministry. No one can really speak the word unless being led by the Holy Spirit. 

1 Corinthians12:3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; and no one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.14:3 But he who prophesies speaks building up and encouragement and consolation to men. 14:4 He who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but he who prophesies builds up the church.

A Christian work is the overflow of a Christian life; the message that a Messenger speaks must be the message that he lives. To speak Christ, we must be Christ, one with Christ. To be thus, Christ must be worked upon and into us day by day. The degree of Christ being ministered is the same degree as that of Christ being worked into the minister.

Unless God worked on us wonderfully and marvelously,  God cannot work through us wonderfully and marvelously. Never make your own choice in anything, if you faith, the Lord will make the best choice for you.

Blessing is upon the right people who have been worked on by the Lord.

To know someone needs discernment, for disceernment, growth in life is needed.

The perfecting of the young ones depends upon our perfecting.

These are some points of fellowship. Other practical points are confirmation of what has been in my heart and I have been practicing it:

The practice of praying for the new ones whom the Lord has burdened me and thereby shepherding them in a way of praying with them, praying for them, and sending them messages for them to study in a regular basis.  Another major item is, praying for one another, family by family. Every family praying everyday, and praying for one another. In this way, all the saints will be prayed for and all the saints will be praying. This will result in genuine revival. Gradually, the Lord has been leading us to bring these to be the regular practice of the church.

What a blessing to be able to fellowship with such a brother! The Lord has perfected many brothers. Today, we are learning from them as our pattern, and we are also the direct beneficiaries. All these confirm that we are indeed in the Lord's recovery and we are His recovery. Praise the Lord for the brother's perfecting fellowship! 

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.