Flow of Life: Brotherly Fellowship

This month had started off with many busy schedules. I had no plan of traveling anywhere as many responsibilities are needed to be carried out this month as one of the international trainings is coming to India next month for which there are many official responsibilities assigned to me. On the church side, we were entering in the video training of the Crystallization-study of Numbers 2 for two weekends. On the family side, our three children have their half-yearly exam scheduled. 

With all these busy schedules, my initial intention was not to travel at all. But there has been a serious act of unrighteousness committed by one of the serving ones for which I need to take action. The matter has all been checked and verified, and an important fellowship has to be brought to the leading brothers of the churches in Kerala as this brother served the churches there. The churches there had their blending conference which was a good time for me to go and fellowship. Therefore, through the fellowship of my brother who coordinated with me, I decided to go, after thoroughly praying over the matter.

All these incidents have helped me to go before the Lord every night. Case by case, point by point, I brought the matters before the Lord. Even as I prayed, the Lord led me through in all the matters. Even before I actually met the brothers concerned, the Lord had already worked out His plan. When I went there, without me doing anything, all the matters had already been settled. Of course, my going still necessary. In fact, I was just there to confirm what the Lord has been doing. Though it was an official matter, I experienced the presence of the Lord very much. One key verse that kep ringing in my inner ear was Exodus 33:14  "And He said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest."

The Lord's presence was all that I enjoyed in my official trip to fellowship with the leading brothers of the churches in Kerala, with three serving brothers, and also with a brother who coordinates for the Lord's move in India. All these fellowships were so full of life and light. And all these also are directly or indirectly related to the Lord's move and His testimony in India.

Praise the Lord for the flow of life through the brotherly fellowship!

A Sister's Baptism

A young girl who used to be the classmate of one of our sisters in the church was introduced to the church life a few years ago. A family of three, mother, daughter, and son gradually came into the church-life even as they have been going through many ups and downs in their family life and Christian life. The Lord has been very gracious in shepherding them through difficult times. The magnitude of the problem that they have been through is so severe that it affected their academic life, physical life, psychological life, and positively their spiritual life. In spite of all the hardships they have been through, the Lord shepherd them through the saints and their faith have been strengthened very much. Slow but steady, their progress has been very encouraging. Separation, divorce, and lawsuit were a few of the things the family has been through. Nevertheless, the Lord is the good shepherd shepherding them through and through.

The young girl has come of age and has a spiritual realisation of her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. She's been attending the church meetings and also the young people meetings, besides the home meeting in her home. Two weeks ago, she decided to seal her faith in obedience to the word of God by taking water baptism. Her faith has been very much strengthened through the church-life. A couple of times, sisters and brothers have shared the truth concerning salvation.  Therefore, she finally took the decision to be baptized. So, the church in Gurugram baptized her last week. Praise the Lord!

Right after her baptism, she came for fellowship. My wife and I fellowshipped with her the truth concerning the assurance, security, and joy of salvation. It was a perfecting time of helping her realize the significance of her salvation. It was also a time of laying a good foundation with the word of God that she would stand firm and strong all the days of her life. And it was also a time of watering her spiritually that she would enjoy the joy of salvation by exercising her spirit through pray-reading the word of God. We encouraged her to inculcate a daily practice of calling upon the Lord's name, reading the Bible, spending time in prayer personally and corporately, and also attend the meetings of the church. These are some basic practices which will serve as a good foundation in her Christian life and church-life.

This particular case is special as her family has been shattered with father and mother divorced, and her father filing a lawsuit against her mother, and her step-father threatening her mother, and her custody to her mother has been challenged. No matter what, the Lord gave her the strength to stand firm and took water baptism even as all these "clouds" were darkening her sky. 

Praise the Lord! It's an experience of resurrection out of the death trap of the enemy.

May our sister grow and become a shining testimony to all her relatives and friends, especially to her own father and sibling.

Doctorate Poet

A brother's family invited their neighbor for a gospel home meeting last Lord's day evening. And he wanted me to be there to preach the gospel to him. It was a double blessing for me to accept such a special invitation; firstly for the shepherding of the new ones, and secondly for the preaching of the gospel to the new one's neighbor. My wife and two other brothers joined me in the meeting.

But as we reach the brother's home, we were told that the neighbor they had invited was reluctant to come and made lame excuses. But we decided to pray for that neighbor. After we all prayed one by one, surprisingly the neighbor just showed up and joined us in the meeting.

This neighbor introduced himself as a doctorate degree holder in an engineering field but had taken early retirement to pursue his hobby of writing poems. He brought his new book, a collection of his poems and introduced to me. I took the book and flipped through the book randomly. Surprisingly I came across a poem which began with "Jesus Christ". As I read through the poem, he was discoursing about the temptation the Lord Jesus faced when He was on the earth. Perhaps, his thought was,  if Jesus Himself was tempted, who is man not to be tempted? His poetical thought was on how to overcome temptations in life. I read the paragraph out loud for all the ones present in the home of our brother. Immediately, I felt led to minister on the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4 since there were three other believers to address too.  

Using Matthew 4, I preached the gospel especially for the neighbor friend and gave him an opportunity to call upon the Lord's name and pray to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as His Savior. Then, the expounding of the three temptations with their spiritual significances followed suit. After over two hours of gospel preaching and home meeting, we all were full of joy! Especially, our host's family was so joyful that their neighbor finally came to their home to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and was shown the way to believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ! The joy of the neighbor was the joy of the new ones' family, which was also our joy. We all were filled with the joy of the Lord. The following day, that neighbor sent me an email expressing his joy and thanks for the gospel meeting. May the Lord save him fully.

Praise the Lord! 

Three Dancers

Last Saturday I wanted to join the gospel preaching with the saints in the morning session after the brothers' fellowship, but I felt the resistance to actively participate in it as I had other responsibilities in caring for the saints. But after the prayer meeting of the church in the afternoon, as usual, I got myself released from other preoccupation and participated in the door knocking. Even then, the distraction from the enemy was such that as I went to dropped off a team in their propagation area, my car got punctured. So, I ended up fixing the problem and when I was actually ready to go for door knocking, an hour had already gone by. It was so tempting to just give it up and stay back home. But I felt I should still go. Therefore, I went to preach the gospel.

When I was on the field, joining a team of three sisters, for door knocking I barely had an hour. I simply followed the sisters who already had gone to the area before. As I followed them, we pressed a doorbell whose residence invited us in. As this person knew only Hindi and being a male, I had to exercise my spirit to preach the gospel in Hindi. To my surprise, he was so receptive. After preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, sensing his condition, I led him to call upon the Lord's name and assist him to pray the sinner's prayer to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. As soon as the prayer was over, his roommates arrived.

With two more of his roommates, now the house was filled with people; my self with three sisters and three of them, seven of us altogether. They invited us in. We sat in their living room, and this time, I preached the gospel again in English for the sake of the other two roommates. Beginning from God, the Creator, to His creation of the universe and man, the fall of man, His incarnation as the man Jesus, accomplishment of redemption at the cross, and His becoming the life-giving Spirit, a complete gospel, in short, was preached to all of them. As the Spirit led further, after preaching the gospel, I lead them to pray, all the three friends heard the gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time in their lives, and also prayed to receive the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time in their lives. O what a joy! We all were so joyful, and after the preaching and leading them to pray, we also prayed for each one of them. Then, I gifted them with Hindi and English New Testament Bible. Praise the Lord!

As we conversed further, it was learnt that all of them were professional dancers. One of them had even performed in a reality show. Now, he has been pursuing a career in acting aiming at Bollywood and would be moving to Mumbai. The other two dancers will be stationed in Gurugram, learning and teaching dancing. Now and then, they have been organizing a dance party. All of them agreed to the pitiful and sinful condition of man, and the only way out is to believe into the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a surprise visit for them and for us too. The Lord was so sovereign in leading us to them. May the Lord continue to work in their being and grace them the full experience of God's full salvation.

Praise the Lord for these three dancers!

Promises of God

Genesis35:11  And God said to him, I am the All-sufficient God: Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from your loins.
45:20  And do not be concerned for your possessions, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.

God is a speaking God. He spoke then, and He speaks now. It has been His speaking that has been leading all this while. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalms 119:105. Besides, He is leading by His speaking on a day to day basis. He also speaks words of promises for the future. It is up to the hearer to believe the promises of the Lord. To those who believe, the promises are true, and the word of God never fails. Still, to the unbelieving, the Lord in His mercy does fulfill. I have been receiving grace to be able to believe the word of God and receive it by faith. The speaking of the Lord comes when reading the word of God.

Recently, two instances happened, the first on the 19th and the second on the 23rd, today, while reading the word of God. The first is related to my children. My heart's desire for the three children the Lord blessed us with is that they all should grow up in the grace of the Lord, in the love of God, in the reverential fear of God, as God-man children, loving God and will serve God all the days of their lives. This has been my prayer for my children. I have no desire that my children will be successful people in the eyes of the world with worldly riches and glory. I have lost all desire for worldly riches and glory. This is the mercy of the Lord. Once I used to dream of them and tried to labor to achieve such, now the Lord has gracefully changed my goal in life altogether. What the Lord has called me for, in 2003 Jan 1, will ever be my life's goal.

Deuteronomy 10:12  And now, O Israel, what does Jehovah your God ask of you except that you fear Jehovah your God so that you would walk in all His ways and love Him and serve Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul;

I must walk worthily of the calling with which the Lord God has called me. 

Ephesians 4:1   I beseech you therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord, to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called.

I don't how the Lord will call my children. Only He can override my desire for my children. Otherwise, I wish and pray that they all would love the Lord and serve the Lord in whatever way the Lord deems best. That will really make me happy. After all, it's not up to me, it's all up to Him who is the Lord of lords, and above all. In the midst of this thought for my children, the Lord spoke to me this clear word concerning my children, "kings shall come forth from your loins." Whatever that means, I amen to whatever the Lord has promised. Time will tell what the Lord meant by "kings." In fact, all genuine believers who live under the heavenly rule of the King are kings indeed in today's age. It could also mean rulers above others in their lives and workplaces. In reality, all those who live and walk by the Spirit taking Christ as life are the real kings on earth today. May the Lord bless all the children He blessed me and my wife with. Trusting in His grace, we will do our best to give the best training and education within our measure, and leave the rest to Him.

The other instance is, it has been quite a while now I have been deliberating on my housing in Gurugram. The rent we have been paying is hefty. With the same rent, we could have gotten for ourselves a very nice, modern, and decent housing. The house that we live in now has a host of physical issues. In addition to being so old, there is no furniture at all, not even a single wardrobe for storing clothes. The building outside is cracking, and pieces of construction have fallen now and then. The woodworks are all in bad shape; some termites have eaten, some got rotten, and some were partially damaged. The kitchen and the toilets too are in bad shape. Despite all these, it is liveable and we are still living here. Many times, I wondered why I have not found myself a better housing? But every time, I pondered on this matter of finding better housing, the Lord would not give me peace at all. I had tried shifting out at least five times now, but every time the Lord would stop me. Now I am in the tenth year in the same house. Not really by choice, but the Lord's sovereignty. He knows best, the reason for my family to be in this house.

In spite of all these physical drawbacks, our family has been living with much peace and joy. The presence of the Lord has been very enjoyable. My children like the house so much that any suggestion of shifting will invite a strong reaction from them. My son even promised that he like this old house and he would buy it when he grows up and rebuilt it.  There has been so much emotional connection with this house. And the saints have been using it every time we meet together as the church meeting hall is on the ground floor. In terms of usage, both family and church side, it has been very useful, Perhaps, for this reason, the Lord never allows us to shift out nor find a better housing with similar or even lower rent elsewhere. In the midst of all this consideration, the word of the Lord today morning is very heart touching: And do not be concerned for your possessions, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours. Whatever this verse means, the Lord's promise is, He has given me the best. And perhaps, He will give me the best. The best according to Him may or may not be the best according to the eyes of man. Nevertheless, I gladly amen and accept whatever the Lord gives to me. He knows the best. And it is best to amen what the Lord deems the best. This reminds me of the journey of the children of Israel. My housing and living will be as such, at the command of Jehovah.

At the commandment of Jehovah the children of Israel set out, And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tent, then after that the children of Israel set out; there the children of Israel encamped. and at the commandment of Jehovah they encamped; they remained encamped. Numbers 9:17-18

Praise the Lord for His promises and encouraging words!

Execute Justice and Love Mercy

He has declared to you, O man, what is good;
And what does Jehovah require of you,
But that you would execute justice and love mercy
And walk humbly with your God? Micah  6:8 

A similar experience of dealing with the serving ones after much deliberation and prayer was posted a few days ago. https://palmeichung.blogspot.com/2019/08/justice-and-mercy.html

These two cases of dealing with the serving ones in the way of life is a special training for me. For weeks I had been praying and considering how to handle this case without giving the enemy any ground to attack us in any way. Yes, there definite were mistakes committed by the serving ones; we all do commit mistakes. But the way I deal with the mistakes should not be another mistake. I should not give any room to the enemy while dealing with the problems.

A brother who has been coordinating with me has not done accounting properly for years. As we plan to clean up the accounts, many payments have not been recorded accurately, thereby creating debit balance to my clients. However, as we approached our clients they narrated their history of payment for their purchases which somehow was not taken into the record by the serving one concerned. Later, it was discovered that there indeed was a lack of clarity in accounting with many clients' account recorded as a huge debit.

This also is a big lesson for me. I have trusted the ones coordinating with me fully and hardly checked on them. I even told them, "We are co-workers serving together in coordination and I trust you fully." Even after this incident was exposed, I still do not lose my trust for the brother. Everyone makes mistakes; we need more learning and perfecting from the Lord through one another. I waited and waited in prayer until today to fellowship with him in love. 

As I fellowship with him, I gave him the ground to explain all that has transpired. He confessed that there indeed was a mistake from his side. Without me passing any judgment or needing to say anything, he himself agreed to make it up for all the mistakes he had committed. The Lord has already convicted him, and I do not need to do anything further. I simply have to amen what the Lord has already done. He also agreed to clear up all the misappropriation of funds in the accounts of the clients. The matter was solved right there; the Lord has already executed the justice due. And I also fellowshipped with him about the adjustment in his service that he would not deal with money matters any longer. His function has been fully transferred from distribution to full translation service. In this way, he still has his service. The Lord's mercy is still abounding. Later, we prayed together over the phone when he confessed all sins and asked the Lord for forgiveness. I amened the prayer and asked the Lord for more grace that we all could serve faithfully and be useful vessels to Him.

I do not follow the worldly way of  "Hire and Fire" policy. Whomever the Lord calls, He brings into His service, and whomever He wills to remove, He "fires" them. Without me taking any outward action, the Lord Himself works in the serving ones using their conscience and circumstances. My only responsibility is to echo the Lord's doing by amening whatever He has done. He executes justice, but He also loves mercy. To the unrighteous, justice will be executed, yet at the same time, the Lord loves His children. Even in executing justice, His mercy reigns. 

After a couple of weeks' waiting and prayer, and then fellowshipping with the concerned brother as He led me, I felt very relieved. A supposedly "big trouble" was handled in a proper way. Justice was executed, not by me but by the Lord Himself, and yet He was also full of mercy. No one is being "fired" in the process, but everyone is being disciplined and perfected to serve in a proper way. Praise the Lord!

Perfected into One

John 

17:21  That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me.

17:22  And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one;

17:23  I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.

Whenever a matured and an elderly brother came to fellowship with us, he would invite some of us into his hotel room where we would pray and fellowship for hours altogether. Yesterday was another such time together again. I felt very blessed and thanked the Lord that there is such a brother from whom we can learn a lot. In fact, every time he came, I would receive new light, and further help me in my personal life as well as in my service life.

Our appointment was at 10 AM. We started praying together from 10:18 AM till 11:52 AM to be exact. As we prayed, the direction the Lord led us was on the matter of oneness. All our burden and prayer was mostly focussed on the Lord's prayer in John 17:21-23, a prayer for the oneness. Though I had been to many prayer meetings of the church and I had prayed with many brothers and sisters a countless number of times, this was one prayer with much light and a clear and strong burden for the oneness as the testimony of Jesus. The prayer prayed among the brothers, nine of us, was as if one was playing a basketball game, passing around the ball and hitting the ball into the basket as many times as we could, was truly amazing. Through that prayer, many hits were made into the basket; the spirit was so strong, the burden so deep, and we all could exercise our spirit in one accord.

As we pray-read the verses, "perfected into one," I truly felt deep within that the Lord has indeed been blending us and perfecting us into one. This is no doctrine, no mere teaching, but a reality. The call of the deep within my being unto the deep testifies to me that we have indeed been on the process of being perfected into one. What a blessing! What a grace!

The fellowship that followed suit, then over to lunch, and the afternoon session, all of them were richly anointed of the Lord. Some crystals of truths that came out and were further developed were truly worth. 

Properly Aggressive for the Lord

Paul and his fellow coworkers being forbidden by the Holy Spirit as they headed for a certain destination implies the aggressiveness of Paul in carrying out the heavenly ministry of Christ. He indeed was one with the Spirit, that what he determined in his heart for the Lord's work was honored by the Lord. He was forbidden only if the Holy Spirit did not agree to it. Otherwise, all his ministry journeys were initiated by him and the Spirit anointed him wherever he went. Here is the lesson for proper aggressiveness in serving the Lord. I must deliberate before God and take action in His move by being one spirit with the Lord. I cannot be and must not be passive in serving the Lord. On the contrary, I must be properly aggressive. This is in accordance with the word of God experienced by Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:40b "according to my opinion; but I think that I also have the Spirit of God."

Constituted as Gifts

Ephesians 4:1-16 begins with "walk worthily of the calling with which you were called." To such a walk, there is an urgent need for proper humanity which is the gaining of the experiences of Christ in His incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. This is the constituting of the gifts of Christ to the Body. Such a constitution restricts the gifted ones yet perfects them to be the gifted members. The purpose of such gifts is to perfect the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ. This is, until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (v13) Day by day, I must experience the experiences of Christ to be constituted as the gifted members of the Body of Christ to perfect the saints and build up the Body.

One on One Shepherding

One on one shepherding is yet another crystal brought forth through the fellowship. I have been shepherding the new ones for years in my church life. This is good but it is uni-directional; it flows from me to the new ones. The other aspect of shepherding is a one-to-one shepherding on one-on-one. Not only that I shepherd the ones under my shepherding car, but I must also be shepherded by a shepherd. I and another saint must shepherd one another. If all the saints, besides, shepherding the new ones, shepherds one another, how built up and glorious the church will be! This is also known as general shepherding. This needed, in fact, very much needed for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Praise the Lord for such a blessed and perfecting time of fellowship! Through such perfecting fellowship, the Lord is indeed perfecting us all into one.