Shepherding in Shillong

The Lord in His sovereignty brought us to Shillong on 4th December Wednesday, though this time with the burden for distribution, we stay till 9th December. Still, He arranged important fellowships with a certain group of saints. Soon after we arrived at our hospitality home, a fellowship was arranged with a group of children. Many more fellowships followed thereafter. A brother and I coordinated in all the fellowships. In fact, I simply followed the burden my brother had first released. In that way, we enjoyed sweet coordination and the Lord’s burden was release one after the other.

Fellowship with Children 

We shared our testimony of salvation and encouraged the young ones to exercise calling upon the name of the Lord. Besides, we emphasized the need for reading the Bible and prayer every day. In this age, we also emphasized the need for loving the Lord above all and prayed for all of them. These are the saints' children and then we prayed that they all will turn out to be useful vessels to the Lord.

Fellowship with an Uncle's Family

An Uncle, my guardian when I was studying in Shillong invited us for a time of fellowship to his home. We shared on the need for growth in life by actively pursuing the Lord with life testimonies. The family was so impressed by the fellowship on the Lord's dealing with us through the environmental circumstances, and through such, we must actively turn to the Lord to learn the necessary spiritual lessons and gain Christ that we all may be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God.

Fellowship with the Saints in Nongkharah

After the distribution in Jowai, a brother invited us to visit the saints in this locality. The saints were mostly uneducated and by profession, farmers, and there were many children. They simply loved the Lord. Even their mere presence was a sight to behold, simple and pure in loving the Lord. They offered a very authentic local food which was so cherishing. Our fellowship with them was on how the fallen human life is a life of vanity of vanities. Yet, in Christ, the Lord turned it into Song of Songs. The secret to this turning from vanity to vanities to a song of songs is loving the Lord as our first and best love. We enjoyed the sweet time of singing and prayer.

Fellowship with Nepali Speaking Saints

One night we fellowshipped with the Nepali speaking saints. We were so touched by what they testified to us: "Brothers, we have been praying for you to visit us. Now the Lord has answered our prayers by bringing you here." That was very encouraging and cherishing. We shared them the practical ways to grow in life by daily coming to the Lord. These saints are brought into the church only a few years ago and they mostly are from Gentile backgrounds. Though economically weaker and all are immigrants, they have been growing in the Lord and also in numbers.

Fellowship with the Church on the Lord's Day

The church in Shillong arranged a combined Lord's Table Meeting on the 8th of December. We participated in the hymn singing and break a breaking meeting. After which a brother and I were given time to minister the word. 

The Lord led us to minister on Christ and the Church. We based our ministering on the five basic offerings in Leviticus 1-5; the burnt-offering, the meal-offering, the peace-offering, the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering. These are the types and the reality is Christ. Our portion in the New Testament is to enjoy Christ as the reality of all these offerings. The issue of enjoying Christ as such will be the corporate expression of Christ, the church. The church in life is the Body of Christ and the church in person is Christ the One New Man. The only way to express Christ corporately is by partaking of Christ as all the offerings and also by taking Christ as our person.

May the Lord continue to bless the church in Shillong!

Shepherding: Saints and Serving Ones

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:6

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and the fact is, we were all born of the flesh. Though we were also born of the Spirit in our spirits, practically and mostly, we still live in the flesh. This is the source of all the problems in our human life and also in our Christian lives. Growth in life is of utmost importance to not live by the flesh; the stronger our spirit becomes, the easier to live by the Spirit. Otherwise, living by the flesh is natural and normal.

Our serving ones has been facing coordination problems mostly instigated by one particular one who has been overcomed by his temper. Outburst of anger is like a bomb explosion that destroyed the peaceful ambience in the office. Not once, not twice, not thrice, but even more, such volcanic eruptions of temper disturbed the other serving ones in the office. Often, he even dared to attack the office administration. My reaction was just a silent prayer for the culprit and the victims. Whenever such eruption occurred, the matter had to be handled in fellowship. We have had such fellowship thrice. It sounds like a shameful thing for serving ones to stoop this low. The fact is, we all are still too humane. Therefore, the problem.

I cannot shy away nor silently ignore such problems. Officially I had to step in. Yet I must not deal the flesh with the flesh. In fellowship, the flesh must be dealt with by the Spirit. That's exactly what was done. I called for fellowship and let all the serving ones speak what was their real situation. This I did not do it alone. I have a brother who is my coordinator; together we dealt with the problem. This also was a test for me in my service on how to coordinate and deal with situation corporately in oneness and in fellowship. The result of such was a practical perfecting in my Christian life and service life. Though the enemy must have meant it for worse, the Lord meant if for good. I learn, yes I believe we all learn together through circumstances.

Besides, there was also an issue in the proposal of a sister by a brother's relatives in another locality. Even in this, the enemy tried to creep in and dared to destroy our oneness. But immediately we realised that it was the attack of the enemy. Therefore, in fellowship, I and my brother gave up our own opinions and allowed the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts. Thereby, giving no ground for the enemy to attack us in any way.

What a lesson on coordination! What a lesson dealing with the flesh by the Spirit in our spirit! The Lord is blessing His testimony and the enemy is trying hard to tarnish the Lord's testimony. Thank God, Christ has defeated the enemy at the cross already! We simply take Christ as our life, living, thinking, feeling, and decision.

All these precious lessons were learned through shepherding the saints and the serving ones. Despite all these, still many more lessons to learn.

Lord, shepherd me. Lord, train and perfect me. 

Shepherding: A Sister

The youngest sister of one of the sisters in the church life who is of local Haryanvi was contacted a year ago. When we first visited her home, a New Testament Recovery Version Bible was gifted to her, which she treasures and keeps it near her pillow. Though the gospel has been preached to her and even helped her to pray and call upon the Lord, she was still under the bondage of idolatry. Prayer for her and her family salvation has been offered by the saints and also in the church prayer meeting. The Lord is the Saviour and He works in His own way and at His own time.

Last week there was an issue at her home. Her family claimed that they were attacked by her ex-husband with black magic which resulted in her mother suffering from partial facial paralysis. We paid her family a visit and assured them that only the Lord Jesus Christ is the solution to all their problems. We also preached the gospel of Jesus Christ one more time and led them to call upon the name of the Lord, which they all willing did. Then we prayed for them.

Last Lord's day, as she and her mother were on their way to a shopping mall, she felt a very strong attraction to come to the meeting hall of the church in Gurugram. She did not know why such a deep feeling suddenly happened to her. She finally yielded to the inward leading and drove to the meeting hall. In the meeting hall, we prayed for the family, then the sisters attended to her, and her mother was given an acupressure treatment.

The following day we received a message saying that she herself had decided to take water baptism. It was a surprise yet we realised that it was the Holy Spirit operating in her. As she came joyfully to the meeting hall to be baptised, she testified that the moment she made up her mind and decided to take water baptism and follow the Lord Jesus faithfully, she got released from the mysterious oppression that caused her to depend on sleeping pill to be able to sleep. She slept very well and did not take sleeping pill as the joy of the Lord was upon her. She even did not want any distraction from her decision to be baptised, so she had not informed her parent about her decision. We left that matter to her. We fellowshipped to her about the spiritual significances of water baptism and led her to be baptised. 

Praise the Lord! What a joy it was for her, the Church, and her elder sister especially. May the Lord shepherd her to grow in her daily and be a witness to all her relatives and friends. 

Ministry of the Word Literature Journey to North India

Report: The Ministry of the Word Literature Journey 

Rampur, Juori, Kinnaur, and Panchkula

13-18 November 2019

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ and manifests the savor of the knowledge of Him through us in every place. 2 Corinthians 2:14

The door was opened for the distribution of the ministry of the word to these parts of North India through a sister who came into the church life a few years ago. The Lord used her to initiate His move and key Christian leaders were contacted. 

Rampur, HP

A well-known Christian leader welcomed us to his house and invited a couple of other pastors to give us an audience. We introduced the ministry books to all of them. They were all so impressed with the riches of the ministry, and to their surprise, the contents of the ministry books were the timely words they needed desperately for themselves and for the believers under their shepherding.

By the way, this brother also happened to be the key Christian leader in town who had been persecuted by religious fanatics. Yet many believers thronged his congregation and he is leading the biggest Christian group in town. Now with his new found truths, the ministry books, he will be ministering what he learned and will distribute the same among the believers with him and his coworkers. He even invited us to visit his congregation on the following Lord’s day and minister the word, but we could not make it this time.

Juori, HP

The home of the sister who invited us for this distribution trip was our base. Every evening while we were there, seeking neighbors would gather together for fellowship and prayer. We ministered some basic truths on The Mystery of human Life, Calling Upon the Lord’s Name, Assurance, Security, and Joy of Salvation, etc., to them. Four seeking men requested for a clarification on baptism; we preached the gospel to them and help them received the Lord and expounded to them the truth concerning baptism. 

A sincere and seeking brother who is the pioneer of the gospel move in Juori and has been shepherding a few hundreds of local believers was very impressed by the truths we presented to him. He wanted to study the ministry books and bought the entire set in Hindi. He appreciated our beliefs and practices concerning the church life. With his vague understanding, he even named his congregation and the ministry he carries out as “the Body of Christ.” He even reckoned the ministry books we brought to him as “divine seeds” and expected that within a span of ten years something solid among Christians who will read the books should be manifested. We fully amen his burden and echoed the same burden back to him.

A brother who has been shepherding a congregation invited us to introduce the ministry books on the Lord’s day, which we gladly did. He was so impressed and felt blessed so much so that he proposed to conduct a few days seminar in Juori for which he invited us to be the “speakers”.  

Bhabanagar-Kinnauri HP

The Lord in His sovereignty had planned a gathering of Bible translators to Kinnauri, the local dialect, along with a group of Christian leaders. It was on that day, at that place, and at that time that we visited and were warmly welcomed. For about an hour, we introduced the ministry books and ministered the word. All of them received the ministry books. Among them, the key Bible translator was so interested in the Recovery Version Bible and requested for a copy. These were the key people in the entire Kinnaur region who are serving the Lord.

Panchkula Haryana

A Christian leader who has been conducting trainings and seminars for various other Christian workers was so impressed by the truths presented in the ministry books. Though he read some books by brother Watchman Nee before and heard about the local churches, it was his first time to come in face-to-face contact and fellowship with us. One thing that impressed him deeply was our emphasis on the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of all the positive things in the Bible. Our vision of Christ and the church attracted him too. He promised to introduce and promote the ministry books in his seminars, and among the believers and coworkers he hasn been serving with.

May the Lord richly bless the sowing of the divine seeds through the ministry of the word and raise up His testimonies in all these localities. 

Prayer Burdens

Pray for the Lord's continual shepherding of all these ones who received the ministry books and for the recovery of His testimony in all these localities. 

The state of Himachal is the land of Gods and Goddesses, thus is known as “Devbhoomi”. It is due to the presence of so many temples Himachal has earned the name of “DEVBHOOMI HIMACHAL”. Pray that through the sowing of the divine seeds through the ministry of the word, this land would indeed be the “the land of the true and living God!”

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.