New Beginning

So then if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, they have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17   

The new year 2020 has been a new beginning indeed. From day one, everything seems to become new at least as far as I am concerned, especially, in my personal spiritual experiences. The change of year has brought in a drastic change in my living and function. Some crucial items I have been wanting to implement in my life the previous years were systematically falling in place this new year. The Lord also moves behind the scenes and works out all things good for me. So far, I have been very thankful to the Lord for this new beginning, and I trust the Lord will continue to grace me to have this new life, new living, new beginning throughout the years, even all the days of my life.

In Shepherding

The Lord has been gracing me, beginning this year, to have a morning revival time with three brothers. One in the morning with prayer, then another one over the phone during lunchtime, and the other one also during lunch break, over the phone. On the one hand, these brothers have been shepherded and yet, on the other hand, I have been very much shepherded too. Each time, I could spend 10-30 minutes with these brothers on a regular basis. My function in the church, mostly in the shepherding of the saints and my own enjoyment of the Lord has increased a lot. Praise the Lord for His grace!

In Function

The Lord gave me, perhaps, he revealed to me with whom I have to coordinate in my specific function in the church. A brother and I started to pray, pursue, fellowship, and shepherd the new ones together since this year's beginning. As we coordinate to pray and fellowship together to take care of new ones, we ourselves are being shepherded very richly.

New Service

A new service was allotted to me; the Young People Service of the church. I used to have a burden for the young ones, yet my burden had diminished for years, as I have been functioning more on the community and working saints. When this burden came to me in fellowship, it was rather a shocking assignment to me. But later, I realized the Lord wanted me to specifically function in this area of the church life. Honestly, I do not consider myself worthy nor do I have any confidence that I will be able to help the young people. Moreover, my burden to date has been more on the working saints.

I began this service by prayer and received this burden as it is from the Lord. My goal in serving young people is to shepherd them even to join the full-time training. At the moment, there are nine young people in the church life. Each of them needs a special care; to begin with, by prayer and then to shepherd them one by one and one on one.

My first action in serving the young people was in prayer and studying the booklet, "How to Lead the Young People".  Then I invited them to my home for a love feast dinner and fellowshipped with them on "loving the Lord", giving them a vision of how precious their youth life is, and encouraged all of them to read the Bible daily, even to read through the Bible this year.

New Ones and New Homes

Beginning this year, some new ones that I could hardly contact them started contacting me. They became so open that I could start meeting them, pray with them, and visit them at their homes. Surely, the Lord is behind the scene in all these. May the Lord grace me to be a faithful and diligent servant and steward.

A man should account us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Here, furthermore, it is sought in stewards that one be found faithful. 1 Corinthians 4:1-2

May the Lord preserve me in His newness to faithfully carry out His new commission and blessing.  

New Year Goal 2020

As the church when we gathered together on the 31st night for fellowship and prayer, and also on the 28th Dec 2019 in the church service fellowship, the Lord gave us a clear direction for the going on of the church in 2020. The following are the burdens and goals for the coming new year.

INCREASE AND MULTIPLE

And the word of God grew, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem(Gurugram) multiplied greatly, and a large number of the priests obeyed the faith. Acts 6:7

One of the key burdens for the increase and multiplication of the saints' enjoyment of Christ and also for the increase in number of the saints meeting regularly. The increase in number to be achieved in two phases: 

New District:  Increase one new district by June 2020

Increase in Saints Meeting Regularly: Each saint bear at least one remaining spiritual fruit and increase the number of regular saints to 100 by Dec 2020.

PRAYER

The practical way to gain such an increase in multiplication is by prayer.  So the burden on prayer was released. 

Persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2

Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. John 15:4

We trumpeted the burden to strengthen the saint's daily prayer life; personally, as a family, and even as the church. For this we encouraged the saints to have a Daily Prayer--Personal, Family, Companion,  and attend regularly the Weekly Church Prayer Meeting

GOSPEL PREACHING and SHEPHERDING 

The prayer life has to be followed by going forth to preach the gospel, and as we are blessed with new believers, they have to be shepherded in their homes in the home meetings.

For if I preach the gospel, I have no boast, for necessity is laid upon me; for woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9:16

But we were gentle in your midst, as a nursing mother would cherish her own children. 1 Thessalonians 2:7

For practicality, we encouraged this burden of Regular Gospel Preaching by all the Saints and Shepherding in homes and small groups to the extent that every saint is shepherding and is being shepherded.

TRUTH PURSUING

There is also an urgent need for the saints to be constituted with the healthy biblical truths.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16

So we encouraged all the saints to have a Daily Bible Reading with the goal of reading through the Bible in 2020 again as the Lord graced us in 2019.

Besides, we also encouraged all the saints to have a Daily Morning Revival and daily pursuing of the truth through the ministry of the word. Since the recently concluded winter training and the Lord's up-to-date speaking is on the book of Deuteronomy, we have the goal to pursue the Life-study of Deuteronomy, 30 messages in Jan and Feb 2020 as a preparation for the video training by Feb.

And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they partook of their food with exultation and simplicity of heart, praising God and having grace with all the people. And the Lord added together day by day those who were being saved. Acts 2:46-47

May the Lord bless our goal and grace us to achieve it. 

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!