Wisdom and Grace

Luke 2:40, 52And the little child grew and became strong, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature and in the grace manifested in Him before God and men.

Wisdom is to know what the perfect will of the Lord is, and grace is to know how to do the perfect will of the Lord. This is my personal understanding and learning from the experiences of Christ I have been blessed with. The Lord Jesus Christ grew up in wisdom and grace. His physical growth was proportional to His spiritual growth. As He grew up into manhood, He was the perfect man and the complete God, the God-man. As such, He was and is and ever will be Wisdom and Grace. Experiencing Him is to experience Him as the Wisdom and the Grace.

In all walks of life, wisdom is what I need; the Lord Jesus Christ as my wisdom and grace. Though I have been experiencing Him in many ways, I still need to experience Him more; the more the better. Till today, my prayer has been, "Lord, I need Your wisdom," in all matters. If not to trust the Lord, I would have been the top fool. In making petty little decisions too, I look to the Lord, and pray for His wisdom in discerning things and taking the final call. The more I experience Him as my wisdom, the more I realize my foolishness. I simply cannot go ahead in any matter any longer if the Lord's leading is not present with me. His leading is His revealing of things and ways as my wisdom and also as my grace to accomplish what He revealed. 

Proverbs 3:13; 2:4-7Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding.If you seek her like silver and search for her like hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of Jehovah and find the knowledge of God. For Jehovah gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.

The Apostle Paul lived out Christ and displayed the wisdom of Christ in his fouth ministry journey in Acts 27 and 28. In the midst of life-threatening storms, he was full of wisdom as he lived out the ascendency of Christ; to the extent that he was literally "the king" in the voyage of 276 souls. He could boldly declare that no lives would be lost when all were expecting to be drowned in the deadly hurricane.  He was neither the owner of the ship, nor the captain, nor a sailor, nor a sea navigator; he knew nothing about the ship and the sea, but he was full of wisdom as he lived out Christ and he turned out to know exactly what to do when situation demanded, and that too, confidently, with the right words and deeds. In fact, he was 'god' to the souls there and then to the islanders of Malta where they landed.

Christ is the Wisdom and Grace; the Apostles, especially Paul experienced and lived out Christ, and now it is our turn to experience the same Christ and be full of wisdom and grace.

Lord, fill me with Your wisdom and grace!

Trust in Jehovah

Proverbs 3:5,63:5 Trust in Jehovah with all your heart, And do not rely on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

Trusting in Jehovah is not a one time matter nor is it a special incidental trust when something spectacular, miraculous, and impossible has to happen. Trusting in Jehovah is for all matters; great and small, spiritual or physical or even psychological. Trusting in Jehovah must be present continuous all days of my life. This matter of trusting in Jehovah has been very subjective to me these days, and it is the grace of God to experience Him in such a way.

Officially, I had to file a very important document related to our company's allotment of shares to the directors. As I was about to file, a huge blockage came in between and was told that the law had changed and I could not do it. My only reaction was not to reason with anyone but to simply call on the Lord inwardly and trust the Lord that He would come in to accomplish it. Within twenty-four hours, the very accountant who told me it was not possible retracted his words and said it was possible. Later, the entire process of shares allotment were done. Trust in Jehovah!

Another series of official documents need to be filed to the government authority. For this, a dateline was given. Until the due date, I could not file the document. I literally gave up hope of meeting the dateline as receiving documents involves a direction who is a foreign national. It was impossible to do the task in a few days time. But I still looked to the Lord and prayed that all official matters are related to His move in India, and everything must be done on time. On the last day for filing, I received the news that the government of India had extended the filing dateline. O what a release!

Even with the new dateline, I need to receive documents from one of the directors who is a foreign national. His documents were delayed as he had a traveling plan already lined up. Later when I did get the documents I just got two weeks to file. Though I gave the documents to our CA immediately, for the first one week he was busy and could file it. Therefore I was left with just one week, and three steps of filing had to be done. I simply looked to the Lord that all filings could be done on time. Those days were a good time to exercise and look to the Lord. Finally, just three days before the due date, all processes were completed in time. Trust in Jehovah!

In my upcoming foreign trip to Dubai, USA, and Canada, I had to make all the travel plans with visas application for Dubai and Canada, as I already got for USA a few years ago. I spent quite an amount of time to make planning and booking flight tickets. Before all the planning, I went through rounds of fellowship with the brothers concerned for this journey. Then, the itinerary finalization with flight tickets booking. And finally the application for Visa to Canada which was a very detailed and lengthy process. Then, finally waiting for the response from the government of Canada which came in a sequence of emails and never once mentioning anything about approval until I was asked to submit my passport and got it back a few days later with the actual Canada visa! The same experience was with that of Dubai. Finally, all that needs to be done officially were done. Trust in Jehovah!

In matters related to my family as well, I have been graced to trust the Lord and not to rely on my own understanding. In offering for the Chennai Land Project, a blending center for the churches in India, in taking care of needy saints, in meeting the family's needs, in paying children's school fees, and many other day-to-day matters, I have been trusting in Jehovah and never taking things for granted. This life of trusting Jehovah is very thrilling. The very experience of waiting and turning to the Lord is worth it; as in the process, there was a definite experience of Christ and Christ has been gained indeed. Bit by bit, day by day, such experience causes growth in life. Trust in Jehovah!

Trust in Jehovah! Never rely on your own understanding and always acknowledge Him in all your way!

The Spirit of Reality

As we have been pursuing the truth on the reality of the Body of Christ, I have been very impressed with the ministry of the word unveiling the mystery of this reality and how we can be in that reality. The truths that I have been appreciating in the Gospel of John has now become more and more clear and more and more subjective. The revelation of the Body of Christ in John 14, 15, and 16 with the Spirit of reality as the reality of the Body is marvelous.

  

God has an eternal economy, whose goal is to produce the reality of the Body of Christ. This reality of the Body of Christ is the Spirit of reality who is now in our Spirit as the reality. In the Gospel of John, the Lord unveiled His crucifixion and resurrection, and revealed His coming and abiding with and in the believers as the Spirit of reality. This Spirit of reality is the reality of the universal Body of Christ revealed in three aspects in John 14, 15, and 16.

The Father's House as the Body of Christ, the church, in John 14 has many abodes. The many abodes are the many members of the Body of Christ, the believers into whose spirits the Father and the Son would come to make an abode as the Spirit of reality.

John 14:17Even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.

John 14:26But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and remind you of all the things which I have said to you.

The Son's Vine as the Body of Christ, the church, in John 15 has many branches, The many branches are the believers who abide in the Vine, the Lord Jesus Christ. The branches lives because of the life supply from the Vine who is the Spirit of reality. 

John 15:26But when the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of reality, who proceeds from the Father, He will testify concerning Me;

The Spirit's Child as the Body of Christ, the church, in John 16 has many children. The many children are the believers who are the composition of the one New Man. These many believers who are born of the Spirit have the Spirit as the reality in them. 

John 16:13But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming. 

The manifestation of the reality of the Body of Christ in all the above three aspects depends on the Spirit of reality. This Spirit of reality is the reality of the Body of Christ. Therefore, for us to be in the reality of the Body of Christ we must be in the Spirit who is now mingled with our spirit. By exercising, living, and walking according to the mingled spirit we can be in the reality of the Body of Christ. This is the Lord's heart's desire, and this must be our heart's desire and our goal.

Lord, may I live in this reality day by day...

Experience of Christ: Official Shepherding

In the literature service, the Lord has placed me in a position where many decisions concerning the serving ones need to be taken. I fear and tremble before God as case after case of the serving ones were brought to me. My greatest fear was to misrepresent God in taking any decision whether in favor or against them. Handling people needs a lot of prayers and the Lord's wisdom to discern rightly what decision needs to be taken at the right time.

A brother's serious health issue was brought for fellowship. He had nowhere to look for help financially except to come for fellowship. He has already been suffering from a life-threatening disease. It took me a good while to pray about the matter and fellowship with a few other brothers until I was very clear what decision to take. In this way, I was also helped to trust the Lord, learn to fellowship, and also learn to coordinate in critical issues related to the serving ones. 

One big difference in the company I serve from the rest is, here, the serving ones are all saints and I don't treat them as "employees" who were hired and can be fired at any time. Instead, I reckon all the serving ones as my own brothers and sisters in the Lord and also in the company. 

Another brother brought his family matters for fellowship, and another two brothers brought their children's schooling matters and they were in need of urgent financial help, and yet another brother had been struggling in taking care of his family. Some serving ones were sick for months, and two serving sisters had issues with childbirth, a sister with serious health issues, and another sister with heavy pressure in her family life that she could not serve as she ought to. All these cases were brought to me, one by one. Thank God, I know only one thing, to simply relay their problems to the Lord and fellowship with my coordinator what to do. 

In all the above cases, the Lord gave me a clear leading in helping them financially or fellowshipping with them in a way of shepherding. And all of them were well taken care of, and are now continuing to serve. 

It was an amazing experience indeed! Case by case, the Lord led me in sweet coordination with other serving brothers to decide on what steps to take. Through all these, we have been experiencing and enjoying the Lord's shepherding. The serving ones were shepherded, and I too am shepherded. Praise the Lord for this official shepherding! 

Experience of Christ: Official Duty

Bearing responsibilities of the company the Lord has placed me into is my main official duty. The past two months had been a precious time of looking to the Lord and trusting Him, step by step, for the many official works that needed to be done on time. Though the works were done by others, it was my responsibility to make sure that they had been done. There were datelines to meet, and the workers did not bother a bit about the due dates. The onus was entirely on me to make sure that everything that needed to be done was done indeed.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs came up with a new law of filing INC-22A for all private companies registered in India. This is to filter out all bogus and fake companies operating within the country and are involved in a fraudulent transaction and money laundering. Though ours is a legal entity abiding by the law of the land, still we need to prove legally our authenticity by filing this form. Filing this form entails that all directors of the company have their DIN(director index number) verified and updated by applying for DSC(digital signature), KYC of the directors, with legal proofs of the company's premises. Since one of our directors is a US citizen, the process became even more complicated and time-consuming. For this reason, I have to bear the brunt of "official anxiety" by closely following up on getting all legal documents of all the directors on time. These processes were a great learning for me, to first of all trust in the Lord, and coordinate with the directors, and also with the accounts who would do the filing. Therefore, I am glad, the Lord shepherded me and led me all the way until it was done finally yesterday, the 13th June 2019. O what a relief! I simply thanked the Lord in mercies and faithfulness.

Before this, shares allocation procedure of the company gave me wonderful experiences of the Lord. After working on all the legal documents need for shares increase and allocation, which took me about three months, the CA blatantly told me that the laws have changed and that share allocation could not be done if the transaction for shares purchases exceeded six months. It was a shocking experience. I did not insist on my point nor did I argued with the CA for not updating me properly. But I simply looked to the Lord and that, if this proposal was for share allocation was from the Lord it would be done. Later, in the evening, I received a call from the CA that it could be done. A few days later, all shares allocations were done. This too was another precious experience of Christ in carrying out my official responsibility.   

Praise the Lord for all these experiences of Christ in carrying out official responsibilities!

The Joy of Sharing God's Blessing

Sixteen years ago when the Lord called me to serve Him full-time, I had a fellowship with my mom and dad concerning the Lord's clarion call. But my parent strongly objected to it as they wanted me to work and support the family. But God's calling within me was so strong that I stood firmly for my decision to serve the Lord full-time. It was then that my father became very upset and shouted at me, "I have been supporting you till today, and now you want to go your own way?" My innate reply was, "Dad, it's not my way, it is the Lord's way." And I further told my parent, "Thank you for supporting me till today. From now on, I will not receive anything from home. But if the Lord blesses me I will share the blessings of God with you."

Time and again, the Lord honored the words I spoke to my parent in faith in 2003. Since then, He has been so faithful to meet all our needs, beyond what we can ask or think. Since then, we have been sharing the blessings of God with our family back home in terms of finance and in many other ways and things, physical, psychological, and spiritual. The source is the Lord, and we are being graced to be the channel of God's blessings even in physical and financial matters too.

This time around, our house construction in Imphal is going on. At least for a three-fold reason, my wife and I feel good to share the blessings of God again. Firstly, to continue to fulfill the words of faith spoken when the Lord called me to serve Him. Secondly, as a shepherding supply to our family as the eldest son carrying out his responsibility in the humanity of Jesus, and thirdly, to shepherd my younger brother who has been taking care of the family matter at home and to recover him to the Lord and to the church life. Besides, I also have a burden that the house properly constructed can be useful for the Lord's move; the living room could be used for the meeting of the saints, as the local church in Imphal meets often in my house, and it can also be useful for the hospitality of the saints. For these purposes, we felt good to participate again this time with Rs. 2,00,000 (Two Hundred Thousand rupees) for the house construction. Therefore, as of today, the entire amount has been transferred in four installments of Rs. 50,000 each.

Along with all these financial sharing, as a family, we could fellowship and pray together once a week. Our love for one another and our bonding and blending with one another has been strengthened. Inwardly and outwardly, we all feel good about what the Lord has been doing through us. There has been so much peace, joy, love, and care for one another since we decided to share in the Lord's blessing. This is the joy of sharing the blessings of God, this time with my own family members. In this way, my prayer is, all that we are and have, be for Christ and the church. And we can truly declare as a household, "But as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah." Joshua 24:15b

Praise the Lord!

The Joy and Blessing of Offering

Acts 20:35 In all things I have shown you by example that toiling in this way we ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

1 Corinthians  4:7 For who distinguishes you? And what do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though not having received it?

Job  1:21 And he said, Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, And naked I will return there. Jehovah gives and Jehovah takes away; Blessed be the name of Jehovah.

All that we have we are from the Lord; He is the source of all blessings and supplies. He has been faithfully supplying all our needs great or small, even beyond what we can ever imagine. He provides richly according to His riches much beyond our mere human needs. As a loving heavenly Father, He blesses us freely and gives abundantly. To all His goodness and greatness, we can only thank and praise Him. 

Romans 11:36 Because out from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

When such a loving Father has bestowed upon us His blessings richly, offering Him back from what He has given is the least, we, His children could do. This is exactly what my wife and I have been graced to do.

We have been graced to offer the three plots of residential land that we purchased a few years ago in Chennai for the present need of the land that the churches in India are purchasing for the blending and training of the saints in the churches in India. Therefore, we mailed a brother personally:

Dear Brother .....

As the Lord blesses, it is our blessing and honour to be graced to participate in the Chennai Land Project. As this is also our consecration to the Lord through the church in Gurugram as our family offering, it will be helpful to know the value as valued by the brothers for our information to the church. 

Amen to whatever the brothers' valuation of the plots is. Please do let us know the valuation to be informed to the church in Gurugram.

May the Lord gain us much more even through this experience.

In Him,Palmei & JaneIt is more blessed to give than to receive. Acts 20:35b  

After several months, I received a fellowship from the brothers that the lands could not be sold at the present time and they plan to transfer it to the church society. The actual need of the moment is cash that can be used for the project. I told the brother that I can offer cash instead, from another investment after prayer and fellowshipping with my wife. 

We did have a fellowship and we agreed in one accord to offer cash instead, from another investment, then we transferred the money online, and wrote a mail to the brother again.

Dear Brother .....

As per the fellowship of the brothers that you conveyed to me during the SOT in Trivandrum concerning the three plots of  VIP Housing Urban Grounds 2 that we offered for the Chennai Land Project, that it could not be sold at this time and the consideration to transfer the land to the church in Chennai society. We felt good to pay cash directly instead, as our burden is to offer for the Chennai Land Project. Though the amount in cash we have from another investment is not as much as the three plots purchased value, still to meet the need and also to fulfill our consecration to the Lord, we have transferred Rs. ----------------

All that we have is from the Lord, and we count it all joy and blessing to be graced to participate in the Lord's move in India.

May the Lord gain us much more even through this experience.

In Him,Palmei & JaneIt is more blessed to give than to receive. Acts 20:35b  

Thus in this way, we have been graced to experience the blessing of giving from what the Lord has blessed and given to us. In the word of Job, Jehovah gives, and we give back to Jehovah, blessed be the name of the Lord.