Fellowship with Friends

A friend and a brother who is also holding a reputed post in Manipur University has just recovered from cancer. Last week, a brother and I visited him when we enjoyed a wonderful time together with a lovefeast meal of Turkey.

He is a brother who loves the Lord so dearly. He lost his wife last year after over a year of expensive and intensive treatment. Then, he was detected with cancer but he survived. I was impressed at his visage. Though he lost so much and went through so much suffering and pain, his faith stood firm and strong. Fellowshipping with him was indeed a joy. I could easily flow out my enjoyment of the Lord through the word of God. If the person to whom I ministered was so open, the flow of life would also be so sweet and strong. That was what I experienced. Without any hesitation I could flow out the truths and my enjoyment.

My fellowship with him was on the one new man referring mostly from Ephesians 2:15, 4:22-24 and Colossians 3:10-11. I also mentioned that the recovery of the one new man in reality and practicality is by the believers taking the stand for the Lord's testimony. That's why there is a need to be recovered for the practical church life in our respective localities in oneness and in one accord. For His further reading and studies, I presented him few books:

The Economy of God, The Glorious Church, and The Orthodoxy of the Church. 

Our brother is simple and loves the Lord. He also loves reading. Out of his love for the Lord, he also started a Christian fellowship for students in the University, for which we planned a free Rhema books distribution. May he be blessed by the ministry of the word and may he become a channel of blessing to the university. 

Another dear brother and friend also invited me to pray for his son on his first birthday. Since I happened to be there, I accepted his invitation and went to attend his son's first birthday celebration. Even before the celebration began, he requested a special prayer for his son, which I willing did. My prayer was that his son would be a lover of Christ and grow up to be a living overcomer to bring the Lord Jesus back. 

Since he also requested me to share the word of God during the celebration, I shared three points:

If any parent wish their child to be godly, they must create a godly environment for the children to grow. For this, parents praying together at home and filling the house with the word of God is a must. Parents are the key factor in their children's journey of life.  

Just as Samuel was lent to God, may his son be lent to God. 1 Samuel 1:28Therefore I, for my part, have lent him to Jehovah; all the days that he lives, he is lent to Jehovah. And he worshipped Jehovah there. 

A wish for the child to grow in grace as the Lord Jesus was, was also made with quotation from the Bible. Luke 2:40And the little child grew and became strong, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him. 
Luke 2:52And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature and in the grace manifested in Him before God and men. 

With these few words of exhortation, I pray that the family will be blessed of the Lord.

Brothers Fellowship in North East

The churches in the North Eastern(NE) part of India has always been in my heart and in my prayers. We have been praying for the Lord's move in the NE in our family prayer, and also in my personal prayer too. Though sometimes I desire to visit the saints and the churches with the invitation from the saints, especially the brothers, I always tell them, I will be there when the Lord so wills. I am also very much aware of my natural man with its ambition. I dare not make my own decision to touch the Lord's work in the NE, though it is very dear to me. Only if the brothers serving in the work in India feels the need for me to go, then and only then, I will go. 

This time, the brothers really feel good for me to go and there has been a situation going on that need to be fellowshipped. Therefore, I visited the NE bearing the same burden as the brothers who bear the responsibility for the Lord's testimony. Since it was the Lord's will that I should go, I did not bother much about the flight tickets and other expenses that will be incurred for the visit. In fact, the Lord sovereignly arranged offerings to cover all my flight tickets and for all the expenses while I was there for a week. That was the confirmation of the Lord's leading. Where the will of God leads, the grace of God will provide. 

Besides, as I visited my family too, I would love to offer something to my parent. Though I planned to offer something to them, it did not work out from my side as there were many expenses for my family already. Nevertheless, in one of the meetings, last Lord's day, a brother who served in the offering box passed on to me four envelopes containing a good amount of money. Immediately, I realised that that was also the Lord's provision to take care of my father and mother in the flesh. I opened up all the envelopes and gave all the offering money to my parent. This was how the Lord took care of my family's need too, in His way at His time.

One whole day, from morning till midnight, we had fellowship with the key brothers concerning certain situation that transpired in their services. Open fellowship, confessions and forgiveness of wrongdoings and misunderstandings were done among the brothers with prayer. We also fellowshipped in detail for the Lord's move all over the NE. Meanwhile, we also enjoyed blending and lovefeast. I also got to invite all the brothers, who attended the fellowship, to my home for a lovefeast. I believe the Lord is gaining us deeply and we have been more solidly grounded into Him and our oneness and building has become much stronger. Praise the Lord for all the brothers! I just love them all. 

I also got to fellowship with a brother who has been unclear about his service, to which I encouraged him to pray desperately and fellowship with the brothers, and even pray strongly to the Lord that his matters will be made clear before the end of this year. So that he can single heartedly go on in his service. 

In a responsible brothers' fellowship of the church in Imphal, I encouraged the brothers to come together regularly for prayer, pray-reading the word, and fellowship concerning the saints and the new ones. Since three of them were not yet married, I also fellowshipped with them the need to be open to the Lord, drop the natural desire and will, and accept whatever the Lord arranges. The Lord is the best Matchmaker; He knows who is a best match for whom. I also warned the danger of holding to our own tastes and likes. I also fellowshipped to the brothers concerning handling finances. All these brothers were well to do financially with successful businesses and rich family inheritances. I charged them to honor the Lord with their finances, offer as much as possible and take care of the Lord's work and also care for the needy saints. Of course, I backed up my burden with living testimonies of some brothers and of my own. After all, our life is all for Christ and the church.

Apart from all these, I also could visit some friends, seekers, and relatives. The visit to the NE was truly blessed. The Lord's will, timing, and way is perfect. It was worth waiting as this visit has proven it so. May the Lord continue to bless His testimony and move in the North East part of India. 

Church in Khawlian

A few months ago a new local church was raised up by the saints in the church in Churachandpur. Last week as I was visiting Manipur, on the 27th Oct, the Lord’s Day Meeting happened to be the combined meet at this new local church. Though it was a distance of 100+ kilometers from my home, and needed to travel through a narrow road on the hills with a travel duration of 4+ hours, I took it as the Lord's arrangement and attended the meeting.

The leading brothers requested me to minister the word of God just before the meeting began. I looked to the Lord for His speaking. The Lord's leading was on three burdens.

Firstly, on the grace of God manifested among the saints and the churches in Manipur. I truly saw the grace of God and also the move of the Holy Spirit among the saints; they have been rooted and grounded in Christ and I could see a great hope for the churches there. Besides, I also could foresee many new ones coming into the church life as I myself had been meeting with a good number of them during my few days stay at Imphal. 
Acts 11:22-23And the account concerning them was heard in the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to pass through as far as Antioch, Who, when he arrived and saw the grace of God, rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain with the Lord with purpose of heart. 

Secondly, there is a need for the reality and practicality of the one new man by putting off the old man through the cross and putting on the new man by the renewing of the Spirit of the mind. This state is highly concentrated with many ethnic groups; the Kukis, Paite, Nagas, Manipuris and a host of tribes. Even though most of them have embraced Christianity, the complete deliverance from tribalism, culture, custom and practices are still a far fetched dream. The gospel preached to them from the beginning did not really help them overcome the old man. The need for further salvation in life through the growth in life is the urgent need. This, I believe, only the Lord's recovery can effectively do. 
Ephesians 4:22-24That you put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit, And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind And put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality. 

Thirdly, I released my burden on the need to be revived and live an overcoming life everyday. The first gospel to Manipur was brought by missionaries in 1910. A Gospel centenary had already been celebrated, and many revival meetings have been conducted, but where are the fruits of revivals today? Revival is not a occasional matter, it must be a daily matter. Therefore, I released my burden on the need and urgency for daily revival. Practically, I encouraged all the saints to first contact the Lord in the morning to be revived everyday by using the HWMR in the best way to be revived in reality. I warned the saints not to do anything before being revived first in the morning. Besides, I encouraged all the saints to spend at least an hour in prayer out of the twenty four hours God gave everyone everyday. In this way the saints can be revived and live a prophesying life.
1 Corinthians 14:3-4But he who prophesies speaks building up and encouragement and consolation to men. He who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but he who prophesies builds up the church. 

These were the burdens the Lord released for the churches in Manipur this time. Following this, many saints stood up and prophesied on how the Lord convicted them and spoke to them of this urgent need. May the Lord bless the saints and the churches in Manipur! 

The background story of how this new church in Khawlian was raised up was amazing. A few years ago, two brothers used to pass through this village on their way to visit new localities for propagation but they never stopped by this village. One day, a sister in this village saw a dream of two brothers flying pass by this village and never visiting them. In her dream she wished that they be visited. Later, because of their desperate situation in the denomination they were in, they contacted a brother whom they knew from long before. Through that contact, the church in Khawlian was raised up. Praise the Lord! 

Salvation Story

A sister who is a nurse by profession came into the church-life two years ago. Since then, she has been enjoying the church-life. She gave her testimony of salvation from man-made idols at least twice in a gospel meeting of the church. She has been very burdened for her family, especailly, her elder brother. Out of her burden, she has been praying for him, and gradually led her to the Lord; to call upon His name and believe into the Lord Jesus Christ.

Today, she brought her brother to the church's prayer meeting with the burden that he could be baptized ashe has already called upon the Lord and believed in Jesus Christ. He joined the prayer meeting. After the prayer meeting, we ask him if he should be baptised his sister said. But he was not willing and determined that it was not the time. 

Though we had a plan of going out for home-meeting, we decided to spend a time of home-meeting with this brother instead. The sister and her brother with three brothers, started the meeting with a Hindi hymn, "Give Up the World, Christ to Obtain" #1025 http://www.witness-lee-hymns.org/hymns/H1025.html.

Then we read together in Hindi, The Mystery of Human Life. After this, I asked all the ones in the meeting to explain the truth and also share their enjoyment. Therefore, it became a mutual gospel preaching and meeting. Then, I preached the gospel again in a more simple way and led him to call upon the Lord to make sure that he really understood the truth concerning, God, God's plan, man, man's fall, Christ redemption, and how to believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ. I was also burdened to minister to him on baptism which he initially reacted in a negative way saying that he was not ready for baptism and that it could be done another time. 

Deep within I felt, he needed to be baptized. So with many exercises of my spirit I initiated a study on baptism using Bible verses, just two, with an example of baptism in Acts 2.

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

Acts 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified. And when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, What should we do, brothers? And Peter said to them, Repent and each one of you be baptized upon the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you is the promise and to your children, and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God calls to Himself. And with many other words he solemnly testified and exhorted them, saying, Be saved from this crooked generation. Those then who received his word were baptized, and there were added on that day about three thousand souls.

I requested that these verses be read by the brother who needed to be baptised.  I know the power and authority of the word of God. The word of God speaks by itself and speaks for itself. The word of God is God Himself explained. Afterwhich I expounded the word of God with practical illustrations of the need for baptism. 

I especially emphasized the need and importance of baptism to enjoy the full salvation of God, to have a confirmation of the inward belief, to obey the word of God, and to be transferred from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God. 

Having expounded the words, I still gave him a completely free choice. He must take his own decision to be baptized based on what the Lord has been doing in Him and speaking to him. Though I prayed that he be led through baptism, I never force people. I told him clearly that it must be out of his own decision. The choice was completely his and his alone. We were there only to help if he needed.

The Holy Spirit moved in him and without further waiting he himself proclaimed that he be baptized. Then we all prayed for him. He got ready for baptism and he took water baptism. Praise the Lord! This was the work of the Holy Spirit.

Then, we had the first meeting after his baptism with a song in Hindi, "Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine #308" https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/308 Then pursued the message on "Assurance, Security, and Joy of Salvation."

We all shared from our enjoyment of the word of God, the need for growth in life through a daily exercise of confessing our sins and applying the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, reading the word of God in a way of eating the Lord through the word, praying daily, and being fellowship with fellow believers.

   

It was a wonderful and glorious home-meeting indeed! The ministry of the word and the work of the Holy Spirit accomplished what it intended to accomplish. Praise the Lord for the salvation of our beloved brother! 

Shepherding Call: A Brother

A brother who has been known to me since my college days and who eventually came into the church life is in a constant fellowship with me now and then. For any important matters in personal life, marriage life, work life, or the church life, he would call me for fellowship and prayer. Of late, he has been through a stormy path in her family life. Things are improving even as the Lord has been gracing him to learn the spiritual lessons he needed to learn. 

Today, this brother called me to fellowship about the recent development in his family life and work life. I was glad to hear the good news of the Lord's leading them on and on, and how things have improved by the day. His wife's job has got a posting to her native place for which she could save at least six hours of her traveling time daily as compared to her previous job. The struggle she went through would now be drastically reduced. Besides, they could fellowship and open up to one another as a couple which hardly happened before. Better late than never. The Lord is leading them on and on, step by step, into a sweet relationship and fellowship with one another. Besides, in his work life, he has been facing untoward questionings from his peers. He has been contemplating a change of job. To this, I had a strong burden to share my recent enjoyment of the ministry of the word on God's choice.

I fellowshipped with him about the mistake committed by the two and a half-tribe of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh in choosing for themselves, because they had livestock and found a land outside the boundary of the good land. They requested from Moses, to be given of the land which God eventually permitted though it was outside the good land promised by God toward the east of Jordan; this land did not require the crossing of the river Jordan. Though God allowed them to possess the land, it was not God's perfect will for them to possess that land. I encourage my brother to pray and wait until the Lord would give clear cut guidance. The leading must come from the Lord and not out of his own initiation and convenience. The message that I enjoyed so much and fellowshipped with him is this:

Numbers 32:1

Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great abundance of livestock. And when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that the place was indeed a place for livestock.

Numbers 32:5

And they said, If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession; do not make us cross over the Jordan.

Numbers 32 speaks of the prearrangement of the distribution of the good land.…There is a twofold significance to the arrangement concerning the land east of the Jordan. On the positive side, the tribes of Reuben and Gad highly regarded the receiving of the God-promised inheritance. However, on the negative side, they made their choice before they reached God’s goal, which was on the west side of the Jordan.

When the boundaries of the good land are mentioned in Numbers 34, the land on the east of the Jordan is not included. The best portion of the good land was surrounded by two seas (the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea) and one river (the Jordan River). These three bodies of water signify Christ’s death. Thus, in terms of spiritual typology, the land east of the Jordan was not good enough because it was outside of the realm of Christ’s death. The two and a half tribes chose and thus substituted the second best for the best. Many times we also make our own choices and take the second best as a substitute for the best.

The two and a half tribes made a choice because they had an abundance of livestock and saw that the land east of the Jordan was good for livestock. Having too many “cattle” and “flocks” often becomes a temptation to make our own choice and substitute the second best for the best.(CWWL,1960,vol.1,“Synopsis of Numbers,” pp.172-173) 

Philippians 3:10

To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.

The land requested by Reuben and Gad could be reached without crossing the river Jordan. Without crossing the Jordan signifies without having the old man dealt with and buried. Only after we have had the old man dealt with and buried are we in a position to talk about possessing the good land for our enjoyment.

Reuben and Gad did not receive the promise of the good land with the body of the children of Israel. This signifies receiving the enjoyment of Christ separately, without the Body of Christ. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 318-319)

Crossing over the Jordan River denotes passing through Christ’s death and entering into His resurrection and ascension. In addition to typifying the position of ascension, the land west of the Jordan typifies the rich inheritance in Christ. Thus, obtaining “the land east of the Jordan” reaches God’s spiritual goal but not His glorious goal—receiving the rich inheritance in Christ in the position of ascension.(CWWL,1960, vol. 1,“Synopsis of Numbers,” p. 365)

With this fellowship, we prayed together for his family, and also for his job. Ultimately, the whole family is for the Lord and for the church. May the Lord fully gain this family for His testimony!

Shepherding Call: A Sister

A leading brother, out of his concern for a sister, called me to fellowship about her situation. This sister loves the Lord and is serving the Lord full-time. I have known her since thirteen years ago when I was invited to visit a group of Christian who met as an independent local church then, who had turned to the Lord's recovery and are now standing as the local church in that locality. Sovereignly, the Lord has brought her to the training and trained her to do very important work of translating the Bible into her language. She still remains single and is faithfully serving the Lord.

This sister, of late, has been in a relationship with a brother whom the Lord recovered into the church life. For a couple of months now, they have been fellowshipping and have come to the juncture of making the final decision of whether to get married or not. As the matter was brought to the brothers for fellowship, the brothers from the localities of the sister and the brother did not have the peace at all. Though they came together for fellowship, they could not arrive at any solid conclusion in peace. The reason being the past history of the brother concerned. So only, one of the leading brothers called me up for fellowship. In fact, he requested me to call her, as I knew her. I just took the matter to the Lord in prayer and did not call her as yet.

One fine morning, this sister gave me a call. I was glad that she called as I was still wondering when to call her and what to say. Deep within, I also had the same feeling as the other brothers. Not a feeling of peace as far as her proposal to get married to this brother was concerned. 

As we fellowship[ped over the phone, I got some facts from the sister about the brother. She was quite aware of it, and he did not have a good testimony at all in the past, nor in the present. The only qualification he has is, he is a brother and that he is available for marriage though he already married at least twice. I even warned the sister, not to catch hold of any available person just for the sake of getting married.

Out of deep concern, I fellowship my feeling to the sister. First, she should consider her calling and service in the church for the Lord in a full-time way. Now that she has been serving faithfully, "Will this decision to marry the brother affect her calling and her full-time service?" Very likely, and negatively.

Second, history repeats itself. A person's being and constitution is more important than what he can do or promised to be or do. Life growth needs time and takes a lot of time for transformation. The enemy can as well use him to stop her function forever. We should not be unwise in making a decision though it is very much needed. What if the past life returns, as with a couple of some other brothers the same locality? Her function will be hindered, if not stopped. 

Thirdly, I told her frankly, she deserved much more than what is presently at hand. I am being pure and frank to give her a clear picture. 

Fourthly, I told her the feeling of the leading brothers in the brother's locality and her lcoality is very important. The brothers represent the Lord. Their feelings are the Lord's feeling. Since they all do not have a peaceful feeling, I told her that she better discern the leading of the Lord. The brothers would not stop her if she insisted to go ahead and get married to the brothers in fellowship. But I warned her to be aware of God's permissibe will, but choose God's perfect will. 

And finally, I gave my testimony of how the Lord led me in my marriage and how the Lord has been blessing my marriage life and family life. Then, we prayed together over the phone that the Lord would not allow anything that is not from Him, and that His perfect will be accomplished.

I had a sweet peace and joy  as I fellowshipped with. As I fellowshipped, I even felt the Lord's presence was so rich. Words came out as a flow of living water. And I believe the sister will conser the matter carefully. May the Lord bless our sister.

Ministry of the Word Literature Journey: HP

On the invitation of a brother and in sweet fellowship, I joined the brothers who are on a literature journey, a revisit of the seekers discovered through the distribution journey. Initially, I was very hesitant as my schedule was so tight. After the international training, I need to travel to the North East for some specific fellowship, and in between, I need to join the brothers in their revisit of the seekers. After much consideration and fellowship, I was confirmed within that I should join. Therefore, I joined the brothers.

In Manali, the Lord did a special work of clarifying the confusion brought into the minds of the seekers by some believers who have heard about the accusation against the ministry and the ministers of the age some forty years ago. The misaiming and defaming of the ministry in America in the late 70s were dug out by some negative ones to even prevent the seekers from coming closer and further to the truth. Yet, this brother with a positive attitude and open heart brought forth the matter for clarification. One night at dinner time, we went through the history of such attacks and clarified to him in detail. Besides, I also sent some useful links on the confirmation and affirmation of the ministry. Besides the defense of the truth, we also help the seekers to dive into the riches of the ministry, especially in the pursuit of the life-studies of the Bible, through online reading and by listening to the life-study radio broadcast. This visit was like an inoculation visit for the sake of the seeking believers. 

One evening we had a meeting on the need for and the way to grow in life for the building up of the Body of Christ in Ephesians 4. May the Lord recover these seekers for His testimony in Manali!

In Kullu, a sister and her son with a brother who has now started to serve in the Hindi translation met with us. We had a sweet time fellowship over lunch. The Lord has been preparing these seekers for His testimony in Kullu. The leading of the Lord in me was not so much to ministry to them as I used to do in the previous two visits. But this time, I had to listen more to what they had to say. I listened to all that they have to say concerning their burden and struggle, and of course, the Lord's provision in hard times. Listening to them intently was the way I could shepherd them this time. I could better understand their real situation now.  Deep within, I even wanted to render some financial help, but I restrained myself, for now, to not give a wrong impression. I then decided to fellowship with other brothers first and later, necessary help can be rendered in a proper and hidden way. I gifted the mother and son, a set of Shepherding Materials 6 volumes, The Normal Christian Church Life, and The Orthodoxy of the Church. I also invited them to come for training someday. May the Lord continue to preserve them for his testimony in Kullu!

In Mandi, a brother whom I met two years ago came to fellowship with us with his wife. This time, the Lord's leading in me was to listen to them, whatever they have to say. From my side, I only presented them as a gift, two books-The Normal Christian Church Life, and The Orthodoxy of the Church. 

From the time we met at the bus-stand till they left, the brother was narrating to me how much he has been blessed by the ministry books which he brought from us two years ago. He testified that his spiritual life has been revolutionized and that he began to grow much more after reading the ministry books. Now he is so much burden for these books to be made available to the seekers and the churches in North India, especially, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. He even promised that once his current assignment with the Bible distribution is over, he would love to serve with us in the shepherding of the new believers and raising up new local churches. My only response was listening to him intently and amening to whatever the Lord spoke through him. I was so comforted within that through the ministry books, the Lord is going to raise up many new local churches, even this one in Mandi!

The ministry of the word is for all! My responsibility is to sow the seeds of the ministry as widely as possible. In time, the Lord will manifest the fruits of the sowing today. Therefore, wherever I go, I sow the ministry "seeds". And the Lord will cause the growth for His increase, for His testimony!