Lessons and Blessing of 2019

On the 31st night of 2019, as the church in Gurugram, we had a time of year-end love-feast along with the "Counting Blessing and Fellowship" and consecration prayer meeting. It was indeed a wonderful way to end the year as the church. And the meeting was special and unique from all the regular meetings we have had.

For over three and half hours, family by family, there were overflowing of the Lord's mercy and grace with testimonies of the Lord's blessings in each family and individual's life. It was indeed a time to review all that the Lord has done and a time to reconsecrate for the new beginning for the coming new year. All the saints enjoyed and we could enter the year 2020 with prayer and consecration afresh.

Personally, I summarised my fellowship under the following lessons and blessings.

Lesson and Blessing of the Cross

Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. Matthew 16:24  

Personal Experience and Learning

One of the greatest lessons and blessings I have received is on the subjective experience of the cross. I had been very much buried in my self. The Lord gradually dug me out, layer by layer, until I could fully come through and be "resurrected" from my self to see the Lord as the Lord of all in all things great or small. In my thinking, I have been crossed out to a greater degree; in my feeling, I have been crossed out to deny my own feeling altogether; and in my will, I have been crossed out to simply amen the Lord's will. This was not so before. Now, I can testify for myself, I have been learning the lesson of the cross to some extent. I look away to the Lord to learn this lesson thoroughly even more. Now, I am at peace to simply amen whatever the Lord is doing. I dare not hastily express my opinion or feeling or will unless I have the assurance and peace within to do so. Even if I was found to be wrong, I am quickly able to deny all that of myself, and simply amen the Lord's will. Praise the Lord for the cross!

Lesson and Blessing of Learning the Lord's Leading

I will instruct you and teach you concerning the way you should go; I will counsel you; my eye is upon you. Psalms 32:8

Official Responsibility

As a serving one in the literature service, the Lord has been my Counsellor and Instructor in all these years of my service. Since 2007, the Lord has been leading and guiding me in all the ministry of the word literature journey. Now, by 2019, the Lord has graced me to visit all the states of India for the introduction and distribution of the ministry of the word. What an honor and what a blessing this is! Now, there has been a deep sense of joy within, that the ministry of the word has been sown to all states of India. Of course, there are many more cities, towns, and villages yet to be visited, still, most of the important ones have all been visited. And in all these years of my literature journey, the Lord's instruction and teaching with His sweet presence were richly felt and enjoyed. In fact, without His presence, the journey itself would not have taken place. Praise the Lord for the Lord's leading!  

Lesson and Blessing of the Lord's Timely Supply

And there you shall eat before Jehovah your God, and you and your households shall rejoice in all your undertakings, in which Jehovah your God has blessed you. Deuteronomy 12:7  

Family Responsibility

As a father and a family man, the Lord also blessed me abundantly in all my family's need; be it spiritual, psychological, or even physical, His hand has been upon my family. In no way, I can take credit for this, for it is the Lord's pure grace and blessing bestowed upon my family. We have been graced to enjoy the word of God and prayer together as a family on a regular basis. Though we still have many more lessons to learn, all that the Lord deems best has been taught to my family and we are still learning them one by one. The word of God, prayer, love, peace, joy, oneness, and happiness has been my family's enjoyment. Though hard times and troubles aroused in between, the Lord has been leading us through. Even in physical matters, the Lord has been faithfully supplying all our needs on time. Not once has He failed us nor delayed His timely supply. Though school fees and house rent are high and huge amount needs to be paid monthly and quarterly, the Lord met all of them well before time and in abundance. When and where my family's expenses were more, there and then, the Lord supplied on time and abundantly. Praise the Lord for His timely supply!

Lesson and Blessing of the Function of the Church

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Ephesians 4:7

Church Responsibility

As the church, the Lord has been leading us through to overcome the degraded system of Christianity where only a few gifted ones function. The Lord has revived a good number of saints, especially sisters, to fervently love and pursue the Lord, and also to function in the church-life. Until last year's beginning, the functions of the saints were minimal especially when it comes to gospel preaching and shepherding. We have trumpeted the burden of each one functioning time and again. Gradually, the Lord shepherded us and brought many saints' functions into function. A good number of saints have been regularly going out to preach the gospel and shepherd the new ones, a good number of new baptisms were done, and a good number of new believers were brought into the enjoyment of the church-life. Praise the Lord for the recovering of the functions of the members of the Body of Christ!

These were the main lessons and blessings I received in 2019 which I testified to the saints. Praise the Lord for all the lessons and blessings!

The Lord is the Lord!

Acts 10:36 The word which He sent to the sons of Israel in announcing the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ (this One is Lord of all).

1 Corinthians 12:3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; and no one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.

Philippians 2:11 And every tongue should openly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

One important lesson I have been learning experientially is, "the Lord is the Lord!" Truth-wise, I have known this since my childhood, and I began to experience this truth as I grew in life, and more subjectively so since the time of my personal salvation experience. Yet there were times, I could not understand or accept many things though I knew it was the Lord who allowed it to happen; I still had my opinion on things. All these years of my Christian life, the Lord has been teaching me in His sovereignty that He is the Lord. This is not merely one of His titles, but it is His being as well. He is the Lord and He is the Lord of all. Yes, to me, He is my Lord too.

One of the deepest lessons I have been learning is recognizing the Lord's lordship in many circumstances personally and otherwise. In my personal life, all that has transpired and is happening is directly related to His being the Lord. To be able to realize and accept this fact requires a necessary dealing by the Lord in my inward being. When the Lord does a thing and if I have a differing opinion on that thing, it proves I am opposed to acknowledging the Lord's lordship. To some degree, in almost all instances in my personal life thus far, the Lord graces me to accept His lordship and quickly swallow up all my opinions and preferences. This is not an easy lesson to learn. The grace of the Lord with His life supply can only make me take my cross, deny my self, and simply follow Him. He is the Lord.

Time and again, the Lord has proved His lordship over my personal opinions and choices. I have been considering matters of the saints which I thought was quite good and even perfect, but the Lord simply scrapped them off and inserted His will. And I learned my lesson of His sovereignty and humbly accept it. Now, be it my personal life, family life, church life, or official work life, I simply learn to accept the Lord's arrangement. It has been much easier and breathier for me to accept the Lord's sovereignty unlike before. Even while in fellowship about matters whatsoever, though I rarely express my opinion, even when I did, I did it with a clause, "the will of the Lord be done."

What a relief to learn this important spiritual lesson! Almost in everything, it is such a joy to acknowledge the Lord's lordship. It saves me from unwarranted anxiety or needless struggle. Whatever the Lord does, I have the grace to simply say amen and accept the Lord's lordship in that matter. What a blessed lesson! What a relief!

In all things, the Lord is the Lord and He knows best how to be the Lord indeed. What a blessing to be able to acknowledge the Lord's lordship and be at peace. Praise the Lord!

Jesus is Lord indeed! Much more, Jesus is my Lord! In my faith and also in my living, Jesus is Lord indeed. This is one of the precious lessons I have been learning and are willing to learn more in this new year 2020. Jesus is Lord!

Gospel Day

An international holiday on the 25th of December might have been a great day for many Christians, depending on the vision concerning Christ in the light of the scriptures. Though I do not subscribe to this religious festival as they are mere traditions of man imbibed into a religious system which are purely unbiblical, I dare not condemn nor commend on those who celebrate or not celebrate this pagan festival. The word of God that I enjoyed recently gave me a clear light in this regard: 

Romans 14

5 One judges one day above another; another judge every day alike. Let each be fully persuaded in his own mind.

6 He who regards that day, regards it to the Lord; and he who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who does not eat, does not eat to the Lord, and he gives thanks to God.

13 Therefore let us judge one another no longer, but rather judge this: not to put a stumbling block or cause of falling before your brother.

19 So then let us pursue the things of peace and the things for building up one another.

22 The faith which you have, have to yourself before God. Blessed is he who does not judge himself in what he approves;

This day being a holiday and the reason being because of Christ, as the church in Gurugram we took this opportunity to gather the saints together for prayer and pursuing the word of God, for gospel preaching, and also for blending together with the saints. We practically did not make any solid plan as such, though we simply notify the saints about coming together. The Lord used this day to spiritually educate us on how to shepherd the new ones and preach the gospel using the day as the background to speak and preach Christ.

After the prayer and fellowship, we divided into teams and went for home meetings and gospel preaching. My team went to meet a new brother who is a strong catholic. We sang a hymn and read the Bible together concerning who is Jesus in Matthew 1:21, 23, and prayed for his family. Then, we went to meet a new one who has not been in contact for a couple of years, preached the gospel and led him to the Lord by helping him to pray the sinner's prayer. After the home meetings, when we came back to the meeting hall, a group of saints and new ones gathered and a meeting was going on. The Lord then led me to minister on the five women in the genealogy of Jesus and the significance of the name Jesus and Emmanuel as a gospel to the new ones. The speaking was an instant inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the meeting was enriched with the word of God. Then, in the evening we had a home meeting where we enjoyed the message on "Prophesying."

One new family who just came into the church life joined the meeting from morning till night. They felt so blessed to be able to participate in the Lord's move in this way. Their first time to come into the church life was indeed a time of feeding and feasting on the word together with the saints, from morning till night. What a new and fresh beginning! They felt so blessed by the Lord. May the Lord shepherd them continually to become remaining fruits.

All the other teams were also busy with different home meetings in the afternoon. A team visited a new family and regain back the family for follow-up shepherding. Another team went to visit a group of students who came into contact recently. Yet another team stayed back at the meeting hall where a new sister came for fellowship, then another new couple came and the saints shepherded them. 

What a Gospel Day! Praise the Lord!

One great blessing in the church here this year is the revival of the saints and the recovery of their functions. Unlike other years, most of the saints are functioning regularly these days. May the Lord continue to shepherd the church in Gurugram, and may He also increase in us inwardly and cause us to increase in numbers as well. 

Lord, bless the church in Gurugram!

Bengali Translator

A brother has been serving as a Bengali translator for over a year now after he moved to a Bengali speaking city. He has been translating the ministry books at his own pace as he also has a strong burden for evangelism. Though the translation work is being carried out, the progress is slow.

This time on my way back from Guwahati to Delhi, I took a flight that stopped by at Kolkatta. I had three hours layover; time good enough to fellowship with this brother.

The Lord led me to fellowship with him three important things:

Constitution 

As a brother serving the Lord, there is a great and urgent need for truth constitution. Service is and must be the issue of our constitution. If we are constituted with Christ as the word of God, what we serve will also be Christ as the word of God. Otherwise, there will be a great shortage and even a loss in our service. We are not called by the Lord to do merely a human work; here we are to serve the living God. We cannot serve the living God without the living word of God. Now that the ministry of the word is amply available, they must be pursued daily; study and get constituted to the extent of being able to flow out Christ as rivers of living water. For this, I also encouraged him to use daily HWMR as nourishment from the word in line with the ministry of the age. I also offered him to join us on our weekdays morning prayer and life-study pursuit. I have released my burden to help him, the choice is his.

Translation Service

I encouraged him and even charged him strongly to give at least four hours a day for the translations service. He must maintain a strict schedule and make a goal in his service, without which nothing much will be accomplished. I gave him a dateline for translating four books before the end of 2020. The books are- The All-inclusive Christ, The Economy of God, The Knowledge of Life, and The Glorious Church. Now, the onus is on him. I hope that he will receive the burden, take it seriously, and accomplish the work in time.

Fellowship in and Oneness with the Body of Christ

I also fellowship with him the importance of fellowship in the Body with a  warning on the danger of being independent from the Body. His attitude towards the brothers, the ministry, and the Lord's move, in general, must be proper. There should never ever be a negative speaking of any brother or about the ministry. He must exercise his spirit to enjoy the Lord and be one with the ministry. I was also very bold in directly telling him not to talk about his family's financial need to anybody except to the Lord. I testified to him how the Lord provided my needs, and encouraged him to trust the Lord and live by faith. The Lord is faithful to meet all his needs.

Above all, I fellowshipped with him not to expect anything for anyone, except the Lord. And that he need not feel upset when brothers did not contact him for propagation in his city as the Lord knows why. I assured him that he is our brother and is very much in our consideration and fellowship as he has been feeling that he had been sidelined for some reason. The Lord knows why and the Lord will fully restore all broken relationships when we are one with Him and also learn to be with the members of the Body of Christ. This fellowship was so sweet and he took it in a very positive way. I thank the Lord for His sovereignty in leading me to fellowship with him. May the Lord fully recover him.

We had a wonderful time together fellowshipping, praying, and enjoying a delicious Bengali fish meal together. That's how I spent my three hours layover at Kolkatta. Still, looking forward tot he day the Lord would raise up his testimony in Kolkata.

May the Lord bless my brother and preserve him fully and purely for His testimony among the Bengali speaking people. 

Assamese Translator

It's been years since I have the burden to gain an Assamese translator to make the ministry of the rod available for the local people of Assam. Prayers have been offered for the same. The Lord heard the prayer of the Body and in His time He manifested the chosen one.

An Assamese brother who got saved from a Hindi-Brahmin background has a very great burden for his own people. He was indeed right when he shared his heart's desire to serve the Lord among his own people. He, being educated, knew the value of Christain literature. It has been his heart's desire to translate good Christian literature into his mother tongue, the Assamese. As I heard him release his burden, face to face, my innate response was, "Brother, the Lord has heard your prayer. That's the reason I am here, to fellowship with you about the practical detail."

Since the time we first spoke over the phone almost a year ago, he showed interest in translation. But, his family went through a tough time. His father became severely ill and later went to be with the Lord. But before that, his father got saved, and also fulfilled his father's desire for him getting married. In an impromptu arrangement, the marriage was fixed and done while his father was still alive. All this process took over a span of a year. Now that everything was done, the Lord released him and led us to meet face to face. The Lord knows the best.

Besides, he also constructed a new house and dedicated two rooms for the Lord's use; one for Bible study, fellowship, and prayer; and the other for his translation office. In fact, when we visited him, we were the first ones to make use of the room he dedicated it to the Lord. We had fellowship and prayer and dedicated the room for the Lord's use.

Since our brother is so seeking for the truth, I was led by the Lord to minister to him the truth concerning Christian life and church life. Using relevant Bible verses, I showed him the vision of the Body of Christ, and the practical expression of the church in a locality as the local church standing on the ground of oneness. I also ministered to him the truth concerning the Lord's recovery using the Bible verses and the church history. I also introduced to him the New Testament, Recovery Version, with translation comparison with other versions and footnotes as a study aid. 

Our fellowship that day lasted for about three hours; the flow of life was so sweet and strong. I felt deep within that the Lord had just accomplished something new and great for His testimony and move in Assam among the local Assamese.  The inward peace and joy, the love and affection, and the sweet oneness we experienced were truly indications of the Lord's hand for His testimony. 

Officially, I have made it clear to him that he would be taken into consideration for full-time translation service in fellowship with my coordinator, which I did later. Though he was the only one I could meet, there is a need for another proofreader, which he said he has. This is another proof of the Lord's leading and blessing for His move.

Lord, bless the literature service in Assamese and bless Your testimony in Assam!

Shepherding in Guwahati

After the distribution of the ministry of the word in Guwahati, I decided in fellowship with the brothers and also my wife to stay back for a few days to participate in the shepherding work of the new believers. The day the distribution was done and I arrived in the city, protest erupted due to the central government's proposal to amend the citizenship law of the country, Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB). Amidst the violent protest by the people, the city was shut down with curfew imposed to avoid violence. Nevertheless, the protest was all around.  Through we exercised caution not to go out during the day, in the evening, we still went out every day, walking past by the protestors who were burning materials to highlight their protests on the main road. In spite of the tense political atmosphere, the Lord shepherded us to shepherd the new ones in their homes.

Every afternoon and evening, as long as I was there, I could go to visit the saints and shepherded them. I enjoyed a wonderful time of shepherding with a brother and a sister who serves there as well. I could see great hope in the city as the Lord has imparted His divine life into at least thirteen families to my count. Perhaps, there were more. During my few days of stay there, I was aware of these thirteen solid seeking families. They are good enough seeds for the strong testimony of the Lord in Guwahati. 

At the moment, the church in Guwahati is going through a lot of situations. I judged them as the enemy's attacks. Since the very beginning, families after families who came to serve here had to face major problems. Mostly the health of the serving ones' families was under attack. The latest ones being a brother and a family who had been serving there for quite some time and the situation seems quite stable. Suddenly we realized that they were severely attacked in their health. One brother had such a serious skin disease that he could not even come out of his bedroom; he had to take bed rest the whole day. That went on and on for months when he finally decided to move out of the city for proper medical treatment. Another brother and his wife were also severely attacked. He and his wife were diagnosed with a severe illness which prompted them to go to Chennai for medical treatment. In this way, the key serving ones were driven out one by one. 

Now, a single brother who has been so much burdened by the Lord is serving there alone. Another single sister whom the Lord burdened came to take care of the new ones for eight months. Her burden is to strengthen and establish the local sisters within eight months and leave for the next destination wherever the Lord would lead her. Another brother who used to serve in the city a decade ago is now freshly burdened to come to this city with his family for at least a year. Now the situation is such that, those who were assigned to serve came and could not continue, but those who received the burden directly from the Lord are volunteering themselves to come and serve in this city.

On the one hand, it is the enemy's attack, yet, on the other hand, it is the Lord's purifying work. Serving the Lord should and must be according to the vision and revelation received from the Lord. And it must be out of burden from the Lord and received by the serving ones directly. With this new arrangmenet, I have great hope that the Lord will continue to strengthen His testimony here in Guwahati.

This city is the gateway to North-East India. It is a crucial city for the Lord's move all over the North East. It is also strategically located to commute to all the other states in the North East.

Lord, bless Your testimony in  Guwahati.

Udalguri: A Blessed Bonus

Udalguri was the first time I ever heard of from two sisters who were visiting their childhood place in Bhutan lodged for the night not far away from Bhutan border. The Lord gave them the discernment and the burden that this city should receive the ministry books. The two sisters reported to me about their visit and strongly suggested that I visit this town and meet the key Christian leader there as there are many Bodo Christians who may need the ministry books. I reckoned the sisters' fellowship as the Lord's speaking and requested them to make necessary arrangements for the literature distribution. In fact, after prayer and fellowship, a schedule to visit the town was made. But due to the fellowship of another brother the plan was rescheduled, considering the time and means to reach this town. The Lord moved through the members of the Body and led us to visit the town.

Though we planned to meet on 9th Dec Monday, we had to prepone the visit to the town on 4th December, Wednesday. The Lord knew why it had to be that day, Wednesday, and not as per our plan on 9th Monday. 

As we visited the town, the key Christian leaders of the Bodo Baptist Church welcomed us. They themselves testified that our visit was very timely on Wednesday as they all could come together only on Wednesdays as they were busy all the other days. Only on Wednesdays, they could spend enough time to fellowship with us, otherwise, it would just be a quicky meeting with just one or two brothers on the other days. The Lord timed everything!

After much warm welcome, we introduce the ministry books one by one. I felt such an anointing within me that I simply let the word of Christ flowed out from within my spirit, using the ministry books. They all were so impressed and enjoyed the ministering of the high peak truths. I personally could only testify that it was not me who spoke; it was indeed the Lord. The ministry of the word flowed forth like rivers of living water with the ministry books as the course for the flow.  On the one hand,  it was an introduction and distribution of the ministry books, yet on the other hand, it was a propagation of the ministry truths. 

The result of this meeting was the open door for the ministry of the word to reach some 120,000 Bodo brothers and sisters. The key brothers placed an order for the entire set of books by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee in addition to the free Rhema booklets that received.

After such a wonderful time together with the brothers, we also prayed together and ate lunch together. They volunteered to drop us to a nearby town of over an hour's journey from where we could catch a bus to Guwahati, our next destination. Without that care, it would not have been easy for us to go to our next destination. The timing, the day, and the place for this meeting was all sovereignly arranged by the Lord.

Lord, bless Your move among our Bodo brothers and sisters! Bless the ministry books to supply them with healthy spiritual food. One day, the seeds sown as the ministry of the word will bear abundant and remaining fruits unto the raising up of His testimony among all the Bodo speaking localities. 

This was a blessed bonus in our ministry literature journey; 

Not planned, yet well planned.

Not expected, yet well accepted.