Shepherding: Tuition Master

A brother who is a tuition master for high school students of grades 9 and 10 came for the Lord's table meeting last lord's day. He was invited by the trainees who met one of his students during the propagation through whom he was introduced to the trainees. He also has been conducting coaching classes for students and along with it, he also shares the gospel. Now, he has gathered about 15 students on a regular basis for coaching in their academic subjects as well as in the biblical truth with prayer. 

Last Lord;'s day evening I decided to attend the prayer meeting at his home. The trainees had shared the truth concerning Assurance, Security, and Joy of Salvation. I was just there to observe the group. But the tuition master requested and invited me to share the word. Since the truth of the Bible has already been preached I did not feel good to add more teachings. Instead, I felt led to echo the burden of the truth sharing by supplementing with my own testimonies of assurance, security, and joy of salvation. 

As I started sharing, I felt such an anointing, peace, joy, and flow of life within, that words just flowed out like a river. All the students present received the word with rapt attention and joy in their faces. Then, as usual, they each shared something and the student leader of the day prayed. As a conclusion, I offered prayer at the end. They were all full of joy and testified that they were blessed by the testimony and the sharing of the word of God.

After the meeting, the tuition master wanted to speak to me in private. He took me out and opened up frankly his concern about a brother in the church whom he met when he came and with whom he had a misunderstanding, anger, and argument over his student's comment when this brother met with them after the Lord's day meeting. Right then, I sensed the attack of the enemy, and I encourage this brother to forgive and settle the matter once for all. In fact, I prayed with him and after which he testified that the problem with a brother has been solved. Meanwhile, I assured him that I would also talk to the brother who offended him, which I did. Then, they both reconciled over the phone and prayed together after a few days. 

On the one hand, the Lord is blessing His church in Gurugram, yet on the other hand, the enemy is doing his best to attack the church. We are on a spiritual battle and we are not ignorant of the enemy's scheme. For the time being things have been sorted out, but the enemy may not keep quiet for long. Hence, the need for active prayer, fellowship, and blending was sensed all the more strongly.

May the Lord fully recover this brother who is a tuition master and also all the students whom he led to the Lord!

Shepherding: A Genius

Last week a brother who is known to me for over two decades texted me of his being in Gurugram and that he wanted to meet me. I replied to him with a welcome note and gave my address. He mentioned that he would come on Saturday and spend some time with me before he would leave the city. But on Friday afternoon, he surprised me by texting that he was on the way to meet me. I was not prepared to host him as it was a weekend when trainees would come and stay in the only guest room available. But since he already was on the way, I did not stop him but waited for him. He did come, and I need to make an impromptu hospitality arrangement. I only felt sorry that I would not be able to give him better hospitality beyond my capacity. Anyway, the arrangement was made for food and lodging.

As we fellowshipped, he opened up on his deep desire to come back home to the church life from all his roamings in Christianity and to be in fellowship with the Body of Christ. Then he narrated the major incidents that happened in his life, most of which were spectacular. His testimony itself is one of a genius. Since his childhood till date, he has been living a very disciplined life, as he was trained to be a Hindu Brahmin priest. On the physical side, he maintains a strict dietary regulation, a pure vegan, and eats only organic food, and mentally trained to be a priest until one day, he encountered the Lord Jesus Christ face to face in a vision and believed into the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he has become the real priest of the true and living God! On the academic front, he completed his matriculation when he was just a boy, not even a teen yet. To this day, he has 25 degrees to his credit, out of which 3 of them are PhDs, and he is also a very well-read person; a lover of books. On the religious front, he has been an "international preacher" who has visited 47 countries for "preaching." 

Two spectacular incidents happened in 2012 and 2013. In 2012 he was on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, Hawaii, to give a lecture at Hagai Institute. One of the engines of the flight he was in failed. All passengers were asked to wear safety attires when he refused positively with the hope that nothing would happen as he was confident of God protecting him and the entire flight. He even went to the cockpit to pray for the flight after getting permission from the pilot. After he prayed, the "failed" engine "recovered" miraculously. This incident was reported to media and later published in the newspapers of the US. The following year, based on this real-life incident, the White House, under the presidency of Mr. Barak Obama Hussain, invited him for the National Day of Prayer on March 2nd, 2013. He did attend as per invitation and presented the Holy Bible, Recovery Version to the President of America, Mr. Barak Obama.

Now, this brother with all these spectacular and miraculous experiences came all the way to fellowship with me and confess that for 20 years he has been seeing and hearing enough of Christianity in its religious and spiritual aspects. Yet all this while there has been a vacuum in his being. He knows what that vacuum is, it is the hunger, thirst, and desire for the Lord's heart's desire, the genuineness of the church, the fellowship and oneness of the Body of Christ.

On the one hand, I was surprised that such a genius brother would reckon me as his brother to whom he would like to fellowship, yet, on the other hand, I appreciated the deep longing within his being for the reality of the Body of Christ. He even decided that, henceforth, he would stand for the Lord's testimony in his locality and that brothers would visit him for shepherding and fellowship. He decided that he would fully be one with the brothers and be recovered into the normal church life.

My only response was to pray with him and also to pray for him that the Lord would genuinely and fully recover him according to the burden he has, and according to the Lord for His economy on this earth. I did my best to introduce him again to the brothers nearby in his locality and also gifted him ministry books; The Orthodoxy of the Church, Shepherding Materials, and books related to the church and the Body of Christ.

May the Lord truly and fully recover him indeed! 

Days of Fellowship

Yesterday and today were days filled with fellowship after fellowship. Though tiresome physically, the days were well spent and worth all the time and energy invested. I felt quite a sense of satisfaction with such a living. My prayer and burden has always been to be in the centre of the Lord's will for His move and His testimony. I believe the Lord has been fulfilling the burden He has implanted into me.

Yesterday, from morning till night, almost from 8 am to 8 pm my time was fully soaked in prayer, pursuit of the ministry of the word, and fellowship. First a time of morning revival, then a time with the literature serving ones, then with the brothers serving in the North East, then with the coworkers serving in India, then a group meeting, family prayer time, and personal prayer time. I was thus filled with satisfaction and delight.

Today, my day began again in a similar manner. The fellowships I enjoyed today were with the new families, that too, the local families of Gurugram.

A local family whose daughter is a sister in the church invited us for prayer as the mother of the family suffered a facial paralysis for a about a week now. This was an opportunity created by the Lord for a family gospel visit. Our visitation was with the burden to pray and preached the gospel to the family who are yet to receive the Lord wholeheartedly. We emphatically told them that only the Lord Jesus Christ is the true and living God and that only He can heal her and save the entire family. We helped them to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and to believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ. Besides helping them call upon the Lord's Name, we also prayed for them. The Lord is saving the whole family.

Another new sister also came for fellowship. She has been shepherded by the sisters in the church life and now she herself has started enjoying the church life. She has a specific burden to tell us and therefore, requested a time of fellowship and prayer. As she narrated her pitiful past, I felt the need to supply the divine life through the ministry of the word. Our fellowship was on the line of life, using the story of Israel and how as the children of God we are His personal treasures, the pupil of His eyes and His chosen ones. As such we are under the blessings of God, no curses of the devil can affect us in any way. This burden was strongly ministered as she has been wrongly taught that she has been under a curse and she herself felt that she indeed was cursed. But I strongly refuted such false assumption and countered the lies of the devil with words of blessing from the Bible. She was so shepherded and enlightened. Then I supplemented the sharing with the need for the renewal of the mind which causes the growth in life. This renewing truth is based on Romans 12:2. And further shepherded her in a practical way to exercise her human spirit by calling upon the Lord's name, pray-reading the Lord's word, and encouraged her to practically enjoy the church life in fellowship with the saints. We all exercised together the points of truths we just ministered. It was indeed a wonderful time of fellowship.

After this I went to visit a neighbour who invited me just for a friendly talk over a glass of milk. This too is a local person who needs to be saved. I am still tilling the ground for the sowing of the divine seed.

Finally, the day ended with a family prayer time and a family fellowship time. We enjoyed a practical fellowship on family matters. May the Lord bless our family for His testimony. 

A Day at a Rehab

Two weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon, the 26th of November, we were invited by a brother, whom we met for the first time and expounded the scriptures on the Christian life and church life, for a time with a group of rehabilitation inmates. We accepted his request with the view of making the truths known to wherever the Lord has opened the door. We were ready to spend and be sent for the sake of the Lord's chosen ones. We prayed for the Lord's speaking of His timely words. There must be a definite reason why the Lord opened that door. Time will tell. We simply follow the Lord's leading. 

On the outskirt of Imphal city, we went to a rehab center where we were welcomed by the staffs. The time given to us was about an hour. We wasted no time and exercised our spirit to minister the word faithfully, in detail with drawings and highlighted key Bible verses. The message was on "The Mystery of Human Life."

Point by point, beginning from God's plan, we went through the basic truths of God's purpose in creating man with body, soul, and spirit; man's fall; Christ's redemption; man's regeneration; and the need for growth in life unto maturity, we released the burden God gave us. The inmates of about seventy souls received the word. We also had an exercise on calling upon the Lord's Name out loud, and an exhortation to pursue the Lord faithfully. And also distributed the Basic Element of the Christian Life, Vol. 1 to all the staffs and inmates. This was sowing of the seed of the word of God. 

Deep within, I believe one day the Lord will manifest His chosen ones for His testimony. One day I will live to see the fruits of this sowing. One day, at least one among these brothers will be in the church life. One day, there will be a great joy of reaping the harvest. One day the Lord will faithfully do it.

A day at a rehab will indeed turn out to be a day of recovering people from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God. Rehabilitation to recovery is what people need; recovering fallen people back to God’s heart's desire. 

O Lord, hasten that day! 

The Art and the Joy of Cleaning

Today, as a family, we decided to clean up our house. It has been long since I contemplated cleaning up the house we live in. With three children, all on their learning processes and many other children of the saints visiting us frequently, especially in the weekends, our home is their play school. From our living room to the bed room, the entire floor is to their disposal. They run around, play hide and seek, and even play toys and games to their hearts' content. My wife and I have no objection to it. In fact, we felt blessed that our home can be a home of the children too. Despite the need to clean up the mess the children have created after their soulful delight, we still have been joyful all the while for the house God has provided us with. 

I personally felt our family is not for ourselves but we are for Christ and the Church. Therefore, all that we have and all that we are, are for the saints for the Lord's sake and for His Body. I am quite happy that we are being useful to the church. So only, our home is open and we rented this particular house on the first floor of the meeting hall so that it can be useful to the church. On the Lord's day as the meeting of the church is going on on the ground floor which is the meeting hall, our home which is on the first floor are used for the children meeting, playing, and mothers' resting place. In this sense of usefulness to the saints and to the church, we are grateful to rent this house even though it is expensive and physically too, the building is quite old and torn apart at sown spots here and there. Often times, I have been tempted to shift to a better house with similar rent, but the Lord has been restraining me. Until the Lord directs us to shift, we may stay here as long as the Lord wants us to be here.

We have been a little lacking and negligent on the cleanliness side because of the obvious reason that children will mess it up anyway. So we have tolerated quite a while to barely care much for it. But off late, it has been on my heart to do a deep cleaning and rearrange the whole house. Therefore, we decided it today, Friday evening, when we do not have meeting schedule.

Cleaning is an art; how to clean in the most effective way requires some creativity. I think I do have that creativity. I had been tidy and clean all my school life, college life, and even after marriage until children frequently our home regularly. As a family, including all my children and cousins who are with us, we all coordinated the entire evening for about five hours and cleaned up the entire floor. Many unwanted things that have been in store have been thrown away, and many goods rearrange in a neat way. Thereby, giving a fresh new look to the entire home. After all the cleaning and rearranging work, I feel we are in a new home altogether. New feeling, new look, and new atmosphere. Now I have a better feeling to invite saints and new ones for a visit, lovefeast, and for hospitality. Praise the Lord for the family coordination, and for the new home!

With all these cleaning works done, I felt an aura of joy, an ambience of beauty, and an outlook of beauty. May the Lord continue to bless our family and our home. May this home sweet home be a home for many saints, seekers, and sinners too. And may it be more and more useful for the Lord and His move and His testimony too. 

Praise the Lord for the wonderful home and useful house! As long as it meets the needs of the saints, the church, and the Lord, we are happy and content with it. After all, our lives are all for Christ and the church.

Lord, bless our home! 

North East Fellowship

The Lord is sovereign in taking care of His work. Since my last visit to the North East(NE) two weeks ago, there has been a lot of new development in the arrangement of fellowship and shepherding the churches. The Lord also gave us a lot of feeling concerning His move there and how to practically care for it in the principle of incarnation. After two of us brothers had a fellowship with the leading brothers there, we fellowshipped with the coworkers further on how to carry forward His move. One thing became very clear, I had a fresh burden for the NE and the Lord gave me a lot of peace and liberty in bringing the matter to the brothers. Meanwhile, I also had a good fellowship with the key brothers in NE and we were brought together in one accord.

Beginning today, we started a weekly Wednesday morning fellowship on Skype. Two coworking brothers who serves full time and I started this wonderful fellowship. We all prayed for one another, for the Lord's testimony in the NE especially Manipur, for the saints in all the local churches with the leading brothers, for the raising up of new local churches, for the recovery of the dormant and backsliding saints, and for our sweet fellowship and coordination in one accord.

Then we pursued together the book, Elders Training, Book 1, Chapter 1, to begin with, on the one ministry. We then shared on our learnings and enjoyment from the truth pursuit; our need to focus on the one unique ministry in the Bible with its one and same teaching and a warning on different teachings that produces different ministries. This was followed by another round of prayer. 

We then continued to pursue the message portion for today's coworkers fellowship on the matter of begetting new ones and shepherding them in the home meetings. I was particularly impressed by the need to discern in shepherding, with the view of bringing the new ones to grow in life and also bringing them into the church life with the goal of building up the Body of Christ. Wisdom must be exercised so as not to waste time on certain problematic new ones with complicated situations. Proper discernment of each new ones and laboring accordingly will rendered our shepherding care fruitful. 

Then, we finally had another round of fellowship on the church in Guwahati, and how to shepherding the saints there, with prayer. Though this local church has gone through a lot of struggling as the key serving ones got sick and had to retreat to their respective home towns, the Lord somehow would not give it up so easily as was expressed by the local brothers there. So, new arrangement were made, and the saints picked up a special burden to shepherd this local church. May the Lord grace, strengthen, and bless the church in Guwahati! 

This weekly fellowship is being proposed specifically for NE and it began today. May the Lord grace us to go on in fellowship and in sweet one accord coordination and bring in the Lord’s blessings all over NE. 

Besides, two and half hours of fellowship, there was another one hour of prayer and Life-study pursuit before, and another two hours of coworkers fellowship after. The whole day was spent on three rounds of prayer, truth pursueing, and fellowship. What a blessed day! In prayer, in truth, in fellowship, in coordination, and in one accord... 

Praise the Lord for such grace and such blessing!

Brotherly Fellowship to the Young Ones

Yesterday I was invited to join the blending meeting of the saints with the trainees from Korea and India. As the meeting began and I observed the young saints, I was burdened for them. I chose Hymns 472, which we all sang and enjoyed; a hymn on consecration. Then I ministered to them on loving the Lord and consecrating to the Lord based on Mary's noble deed in Matthew 26:6-13.

Matthew 26:7-8A woman came to Him, having an alabaster flask of ointment of great value, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, Why this waste? 

Matthew 26:13Truly I say to you, Wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done shall also be told as a memorial of her. 

Since the majority of the saints are younger ones, I shared the word of God with testimonies, even of my own. The points of truth on loving the Lord and serving the Lord being supported with living testimony of life experiences. I ministered until I released the burden within me. In loving the Lord is full submission and obedience. Such consecrated lives will be blessed by the Lord. And I challenged all the young ones to simply love the Lord, seek the Lord's perfect will in every matter, and not to run after money, fame, position, and world things. The ministering then concluded with the same hymn followed by strong prayers of consecration. Many of the young ones prayed and consecrated afresh to the Lord one by one. It was indeed a wonderful time of blending.

Stanza 4 of Hymn 472 which we enjoyed repeatedly is thus. 

But the souls who love Him truly,Let woe come or bliss,These will count their dearest heart's bloodNot their own, but His.Savior, Thou who thus hast loved me,Give me love like this,Savior, Thou who thus hast loved me,Give me love like this.

Even the parent and elder ones who joined the meeting testified that the ministry of the word and testimony meant so much to them as well. Even elderly saints still need to love the Lord and consecrate themselves to the Lord. 

After the meeting, I was burdened to lead one new gospel friend, who attended the blending, to the Lord. With a few sentences of gospel message I led her to call upon the name of the Lord and led her to receive the Lord in prayer, which she willingly did. To the joy of the sisters who met her first and invited her to the blending, she was also introduced to the local saints for follow up shepherding. May the Lord grace her to be a remaining fruit.

That was how I enjoyed the blending with the saints on the Lord's day evening in the church in Hyderabad.