Crowd of Cares

Apart from the things which have not been mentioned, there is this: the crowd of cares pressing upon me daily, the anxious concern for all the churches. 2 Corinthians 11:28

Serving the Lord is the most blessed service in the whole universe. To be able to serve the true and living God is even the pure mercy of the Lord. In fact, no one is qualified to serve the Lord. It is God Himself who calls, trains, and qualifies His serving ones to be able to serve Him. I don't call myself as qualified in any way, but by His grace, I am indeed what I am. God showed His mercy upon me and is training me to be able to serve Him. He graces me day by day to serve Him. What a mercy, and what a blessing!

These days, the service the Lord called me for is also becoming more and more subjective and real. The burden He blessed me with is also increasing gradually. Even as He draws me with His love, the burden for shepherding His sheep also increases. Loving Him is proportionate to serving him in shepherding His sheep.

Then when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs. He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Shepherd My sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me? Peter was grieved that He said to him the third time, Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep. John 21:15-17

The Crowd of Cares for the Saints

The saints are going through different situations. It has indeed been a joy to have more saints added into the church life. At the same, as they came in, the shepherding on them also is very crucial. The more I get to shepherd them, the more I realize I need the Lord's shepherding. Each saint has their "problems and hardships." Now that they have come into the church life, they need to be shepherded as well. I am glad  I have been graced to bear the burden of shepherding the saints. As a learning serving one, I praise the Lord for the precious lessons of life He has been teaching me in shepherding the saints. A complicated checker work in the pillar of the temple is now what I and the brothers have been experiencing. However complicated the situation may seem to be, the Lord's abundant supply of grace and life will turn the complicated checker works into a beautiful display of the abundance of life.

The Crowd of Cares for the Serving Ones

The serving ones among us also need shepherding. In the Body serving in coordination, some times, our own serving ones are going through a lot of complicated situations too. Family and financial issues are very common among the serving ones too. Such is a case that I have been facing with a serving one. The busy work schedule is another hindrance in the serving ones' enjoyment and function in the church life. This is another common "problem" to take care of. It appears as though al the working saints are going through such a situation. For this, shepherding is greatly needed. And, we brothers have been praying for this earnestly and take measure to handle the situation.

The Crowd of Cares for My Siblings and Relatives

As a brother and a family member too, I also have the burden to shepherd all my relatives. All need shepherding. I feel blessed to be burdened with my family burden too. Though prayers have been offering almost on a daily basis for my family for years altogether now, I am yet to see the full result of the Lord's answer to the prayer. I still keep praying, and as the Lord graces me I also am indirectly shepherding them over the phone. 

As a serving one, the Lord has been gracious enough to bless me with all these burdens for the saints in the church in my locality, the serving ones with whom I am in coordination with, and also my own blood relatives. Gradually, I could understand what the apostle Paul testified in his shepherding the churches: the crowd of cares pressing upon me daily, the anxious concern for all the churches.

For this, I need to spend and I am spending time with the Lord in prayer. All these burdens make prayer life sweeter and enjoyable. I could release with my burden with much feeling to the Lord and experience His prayer in my prayer. Yes, the prayers are seeming for shepherd those in need, but the prayer, first of all, benefited me the most. What a sweet time of prayer with these burdens from the Lord. Answers to these prayers already have been the experience and enjoyment of the prayer itself. Praise the Lord!

"The crowd of cares pressing upon me daily, the anxious concern for all the churches," are, to me, the blessings of shepherding. And with this crowd of cares, I have been enjoying a lot of prayer time with a good number of saints and serving ones, on a daily and weekly basis. Therefore, this crowd of cares is a blessing in disguise.

Ministry of the Word Literature Journey to North India, Chhatisgarh & Odisha

Report: The Ministry of the Word Literature Journey

Raipur and Bilaspur, Chhatisgarh and Khariar-Road, Bagbahara, Kuskela, Titilagarh- Odisha, 5-13 February 2020

And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I find favor. And she said to her, Go, my daughter. So she went. And she came and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to glean in a portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from Elimelech’s family. Ruth 2:2-3

Gleaning from the Fields

Bilaspur, a city that embraces a yearly "Christian Mela" for years has been our field to glean from. For, a multitude of believers throng this week-long religiously painted exhibition mingled with festive mood. There, the ministry of the word has its perfect display, to the joy of the minute remnant of the lovers and seekers of the Lord. It was through this, that at least two groups of seekers have been contacted and are being shepherded, who, at their own revelation and initiative declared themselves as "the church in Raipur" and "the church in Bilaspur." Therefore, our visit this time was to fellowship and shepherd these remnants, and indeed it was a gleaning from the fields.

"The Church in Bilaspur," Chhattisgarh 

In 2017, a couple of brothers received the ministry books through the Christian Mela, and since then, they have been studying the ministry books. Though they read The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee long before, The All-inclusive Christ, The Economy of God, The Glorious Church, The Breaking of the Outerman and the Release of the Spirit, and few other books have greatly shepherded them. In fact, they took the stand on the local ground of the church and called themselves, “the church in Bilaspur” and are inviting us for more fellowship. 

As we paid a late-night visit to these seeking believers at the leading brother's home one evening, the Lord blessed our fellowship on the one new man so much so that they invited us to meet and fellowship with them on the following Lord's day. Though it was not in our plan, we fellowshipped and decided that two brothers stay back to heed to their request and the rest proceed to the next city, Raipur, as planned. 

On the Lord's, we enjoyed a sweet time of fellowship and a rich ministry of the word on the one new man again in a more detail way. The believers truly enjoyed the fellowship and blending where testimonies were shared and more ministry books were introduced, which even led the leading brother to buy the Holy Bible, Recovery Version. After hours of fellowship and lovefeast, we departed with joy even as they invited us to visit them again soon. May the Lord thrust out His workers to harvest and glean from this field. 

"The Church in Raipur," Chhatisgarh

This group of saints who are now meeting as the “church in Raipur” was also discovered through the Christian Mela at Bilaspur in 2017. Since they received the ministry books they have been shepherded so much by the book by brother Witness Lee, The Economy of God. Since then, there has been frequent traffic with other nearby local churches, especially the church in New Delhi and Gurugram. 

Our visit this time was mostly for shepherding, fellowshipping, and blending with the saints for two days. In an organic way, we taught them hymns singing, ministered the word, and clarified some of their doubts and queries. This was also their timely need after the key brother went to be with the Lord last December. May the Lord continue to shepherd and strengthen the church in Raipur. 

"The Church in Khariar-Road," Odisha

In 2014, a brother searching for ‘free Christian books’ in Google found the Rhema books. Since then, he has been reading and enjoying the ministry books along with another two brothers. They were first visited when one of them requested for the Holy Bible, Recovery Version. Since then, they have been daily enjoying the HWMR, Recovery Version, Life-studies, and other ministry books. They also have been meeting regularly on the Lord's day without breaking the bread and reckon themselves as the "church in Khariar-Road," waiting for the right time to break the bread. May the Lord continue to shepherd them and gain their whole families for the Lord's testimony.

One evening, a mainline Christian group opened their meeting hall for the introduction of the ministry books and also to minister the word. The believers, though rooted in their traditional practices, were enthralled by the riches we presented. In fact, we "broke" their religious way of worship in their "worship center" by leading them to sing hymn in a living way, leading them to call upon the Lord's name out loud over and over again, and ministering the word as an "un-ordained minister." The result was, the Pastor himself and the key members were very happy for the living words and testified of their enjoyment. 

Bagbahara, Odisha

A group of seeking believers who received the ministry books a few years ago are being shepherded by the brothers from Khariar-Road. A seeking pastor had arranged a meeting where we ministered the word on The Mystery of Human Life, Calling Upon the Lord's Name, and Pray-reading the Word of God, much to their delight as we showed them the way to enjoy the Lord. May the Lord strengthen the shepherding through the books and through our brothers for His testimony. 

Kuskela, Odisha

A brother, also a Pastor of an independent group, had received the 7 Rhema books and a Recovery Version Bible have been enjoying the ministry all by himself for years. He testified that his whole concept of a Christian life changed after reading the ministry books. He invited us to visit him and the congregation he is shepherding. He was so excited to meet us in person and overjoyed to share his testimony.

May the Lord continue to shepherd him and recover him with all the sheep he is shepherding. 

Titilagarh, Odisha

We met three Pastors, one of whom has already read and enjoyed The Economy of God and The Glorious Church. After we ministered the word using all the four books in Rhema set, these brothers were very interested to pursue the ministry further. In fact, one of them was interested to translate the ministry books into Oriya. May the Lord gain these brothers and the one who has a burden for Oriya translation. 

May the Lord richly bless the sowing of the divine seeds through the ministry of the word.

Bliss' Prophesying

Today is a very rare day in many years as the date 02/02/2020 is a palindrome date which can be read forward and backward with the same sound. The previous eight-digit palindrome was 11/11/1111, 909 years ago and the next palindrome date will happen on 12/12/2121, after 101 years. 

Well, this is not the real reason for today's specialty. What I heard my daughter prophesy today concerning her testimony at school was what made me thank the Lord for His mercy.

As usual, the children prophesied first every Lord's day. All the children prophesied one by one, and their prophesies were so genuine that it touched my heart so much, I believe the same holds true for all the saints. Especially the prophesy of my daughter Bliss was very very touching.

Bliss prophesied that last week one day the students were lined up to enter a room which she was not aware then. As she approached the room, she smelt some pungent smell, which perhaps could have been the smell of a smoking aggarbatti, an Indian incense stick, burned for "pooja," idol worship. As she approached nearer to the hotspot of that religious worship, she realised it was a worship to an idol. She felt very nervous about doing the same despite other students worshipping the idol as she has been taught and constitution with the word of God that idol worship is a sin and is prohibited by the true and living God as revealed through the word of God, the Holy Bible. She prayed to the Lord and mustered up her courage and politely told the teacher in charge that she is a Christian and that she did not feel comfortable to bow down or worship idol. The teacher acknowledged her request and permitted her not to worship idol if she did not feel comfortable. Therefore, she was delivered from the worship of idol at school.

This prophesy was so touching a testimony for a young girl of 12 years, still in standard VI. The whole church in one accord amened the prophesy. What a joy to hear such a testimony from a young church kid. She happens to be my daughter, even otherwise I would still feel the same. This testimony encouraged the whole church and even uplifted the atmosphere of the meeting and testified of the Lord's work among all the saints in the church, even among the children. What a blessing the Lord has bestowed upon His church! May all the saints be preserved by the Lord for His pure testimony.

I was so thankful to the Lord for gracing our children. The Lord has been answering the prayers we have been praying to make our family a God-man family and our children, God-man children. Though sometimes, as living under the same roof, we see all the shortcomings, yet the Lord has been doing a marvelous works in each one of them. At home, sometimes, children seems to be hard to handle, yet at school they have well been disciplined academically, morally, ethically, and even spiritually. Praise the Lord for His mercy.

Later, I fellowshipped with my wife about my feeling and even thanked the Lord for His mercy upon our children. I also came to learn that my youngest daughter, Christy, too had similar testimony at school. She had been asked to chant some religious words while doing "yoga", but she knew well that it was not proper and right for her to do so, so she silently chanted "Lord Jesus" in lieu of the other religious words she was required to chant. 

Unconsciously, the seed of the word of God sown into the children's being are bearing fruit. We live in a society and community filled with and surrounded by unbelievers, and such incidents will occur now and then as it had and has been so. The only way is to inoculate our children with the word of God, spiritually educate them, and pray for them that they would not succumb to the environment but stand up for the truth. May the Lord preserve all our children and bless them to bear the Lord's testimony. They are our next generation to carry on the Lord's work and bear His testimony. 

Life Lesson: Follow the Lord

In the age of the Body today, the Lord Jesus Christ is carrying our His heavenly ministry from the throne through His Body on the earth. He has become the Life-giving Spirit  (1 Cor. 15:45b) today, and as such He is also joined to the members of His Body as one Spirit(1 Cor. 6:17). The Head, Christ, and the Body, His build up body of believers are one with Him in His move on the earth. The apostle Paul saw this vision in Acts 9 on the day of his conversion. The spiritual fact today is that all His genuine believers are the members of His Body. Thereby, being one with the Body is being one with the Lord. It is indeed spiritual wisdom to see, know, and realize this, and thereby live and serve according to this principle, the principle of the Body.

Beginning this year, the Lord has taught me this spiritual lesson; to follow the Lord in the principle of the Body. Young, old, senior, junior, does not really matter in the Body. All who are one with the Lord have the same leading as from the Lord. To follow the living members is to follow the living Lord. These days, I am just doing that in my church life, in my official service, and also in my family and personal life. I may not necessarily have a direct leading from the Lord, but once the Lord leads His members, it is sufficient and wise for me to simply follow my fellow members. It would be spiritual stupidity for me to try to verify or otherwise directly get another leading from the Lord concerning the same matter for which the Lord has already spent or led or done. Herein lies the test if one knows the Body and lives in the Body life. This is far more deeper than one's own individual personal leading of the ancient past that always looks for "Thus Saith the Lord!" 

In the age of the Body, I simply learn to be in my spirit where the Spirit of the Lord dwells and I simply must be one with my fellow members in the Body. What rest, what peace, what joy to learn this precious lesson!

In the church life here in my locality, as my spirit discerns the anointing and leading of the Lord in a saint or a group of saints, I submit myself to the Lord's speaking and leading in and through them. Whatever they fellowship and decide, I simply say amen, as I am sure they are one with the Lord. In the gospel propagation, all the practical, physical, and spiritual arrangements are done by my brothers. I am very exercised to discern the Lord's anointing in my brothers and also very exercised not to interfere in what the Lord is leading my brothers. Though I have my opinion on things, if that's my natural mind's opinion, it is best to deny it. 

What a salvation to learn to deny my soul life and follow the Lord's leading in and through my fellow members in the Body. By doing this, I discover the blessing that issue in oneness and the Lord's blessing in all that we do. Practically, I simply learn to say amen and amen to the Lord's leading in and through the brothers. Praise the Lord for the Body!

Gospel Feast

The church in Gurugram is very much blessed with the saints from abroad visiting now and then for the propagation of the gospel. For the year 2020, a team of saints from Hsinchu, Taiwan came at the last week of the first month of the year. Initially we were a little reluctant wondering if we could really take care of the propagation. But in course of time, and through fellowship and prayer, we could finally say amen to the proposal. The saints coming to visit us for propagation gave us two great blessings:

Saints' Hospitality

This time the saints who came are accommodated in various homes of the saints. This is the first time different homes, including the new ones, could open their homes, not just for meetings but also for hospitality. This itself is a blessing and a breakthrough in our church life.

Saints' Participation

This time too, many saints participated in the gospel preaching. In fact, this is the first time I feel I should not get directly involved. Otherwise, I might replace the function of the younger saints. The saints themselves, especially the young ones are the most active ones in the gospel preaching and shepherding. This is another blessing and breakthrough.

Though the duration of the propagation is just a week, we still maintain the goal of gaining at least one baptism in each gospel team. The saints desperately prayed and preached the gospel. I intentionally did not get myself involved in the way the gospel preaching is being carried out. I wanted all the saints to fellowship and coordinate among themselves. I want to completely do away with the concept of looking up to "elder brothers." Rather, I want all the young saints to exercise and duplicate the same work the "elder brothers" used to do. In this way, all the saints can function. 

The Lord indeed honored the burden, prayer, and coordination of the saints, and gained baptisms as per our goal. This is also in line with the burden the Lord blessed us for the increase and multiplication this year 2020.

Praise the Lord for the gospel feast!

Bible Reading and Truth Pursuing

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 

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. 2 Timothy 3:16

The year 2020 blessed me with a new beginning on my Bible reading and pursuing of the truths. Every year I have been graced to read the Bible daily and I encouraged the saints in the church to do the same. Last year, 2019, many in the church in my locality could read through the Bible at least once, and some of them did it for the first time in their life. I was enthralled to witness the joy of the saints reading the Bible and the special joy of an accomplishment in reading it through in a year. For 2020 too, I designed a reading schedule and encouraged the saints to read through it again. 

This Bible reading habit has even affected my children. My son and daughet are planning to read through the Bible this year. Especially my son decided to compete with me in reading the Bible. In fact, he has started of by reading as many chapters as he could. Though I know my children will not understand what they have been reading now, but my burden was to inculcate in them the habit of Bible reading. Now myself am encouraged by my son who tried to compete with me in reading the Bible. He has decided to read through the Bible three times this year. I calculated carefully again and I discovered that if I could spend at least an hour every day reading the Bible, I actually could complete reading the Bible three times in a year. Therefore, I am reading in this manner of completing it thrice this year. This practice made me very strict with my time. I could not waste any time; every free time I get, I use it for reading the Bible. I reckon this as a blessing. 

In the truth pursuing as well, this year the first burden is on pursuing the Life-study of Deuteronomy. As a church, we decided to read through the Life-study before we entered into the video training. As such I personally took this opportunity to pursue the Life-study on Deuteronomy of thirty messages with listening through the radio programs of twenty five messages and the entire book. This burden encouraged me to redeem my time all the more and pursue the truth by all means, either by reading or listening. I have also imparted the same burden to the saints and some saints are doing the same. May the Lord grace us to enjoy His word, pursue them, and be constitued with the truths.

May the word of Christ dwell in us richly that we may be complete and be fully equipped for every good work!

A Day at Bokaro

The opening of Your words gives light, imparting understanding to the simple. Psalms 119:130

After the ministry of the word distribution at Bokaro, I had one whole day preplanned to meet some Christian leaders for the introduction of the ministry books. But I had no idea whom to meet and who would take me around. I only planned for a day and left the rest to the Lord.

It was last Monday, after all the distribution, I fellowshipped with the local brother who helped us to take me around to meet the Christian leaders. Then, he himself decided to take me around by his bike to meet some Pastors. Through one of the seeking contacts, an appointment was made with one Christian leader. The meeting with this brother was amazing.

A Pastor who was saved from a Hindu background, very highly educated, an engineer from one of the prestigious engineering colleges in Delhi, and who got saved through one of his college friends from the North East. He is currently one of the GMs of Bokaro Steel Plant. He used to be meeting with a Pentecostal group until he deiced to start his own Christian group which grew since its very inception and rose to be one of the largest independent Christian groups in Bokaro. 

As I introduced the ministry books one by one, our fellowship became sweeter and deeper, and in between, he interjected to echo the same burden I presented from the ministry. He testified of the importance of the ministry of the word and the way the Lord led him from one stage to another stage. Last year the Lord first led him to minister on the Anointing and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, then on the Holy Spirit, and then on the revelation of the word of God. Since the Lord's leading at present was on the word of God, he testified that our meeting was very timely and the ministry books we distributed were very rich in revelation and filled with truths. Thus far, among all the Christian leaders that I have met for the past decade, he is one of the most genuine seekers of the truth with a very specific leading from the Lord, and yet a working one with a high post job and serving the Lord as pastor. I personally am very impressed by his testimony. May the Lord bless him with the riches of the ministry of the word.

Our fellowship continued over a love-feast meal when I shared my testimony of salvation, family salvation, and how the Lord led me in my life, in serving full-time, and in marriage. The brother was so supplied through the fellowship. I believe the Lord made us meet so that he can pursue the truth and take a stand for the truth one day. May the Lord continue to speak to him and grant him the revelation of the word of God for his testimony in Bokaro.

After the fellowship, another brother who meets with this brother took me to see the 10 acres of land they purchased for the ministry they are involved in. I had no idea why I need to see the land and pray there in the land. Anyway, since the brother wanted me to do so, I obliged to it. Perhaps, the Lord must have his own plan for the future.

Overall, I was so impressed by the way the Lord led me to meet all these seekers and lovers of the Lord in Bokaro. I truly believe the Lord is gaining North India for his testimony, and He is gathering His chosen ones for the ministry of the building up of the Body of Christ.