Gospel Neighbor

The reason why I am where I am is because of the Lord's sovereignty. He knows best why my family is in Gurugram, and that too, in an upper-middle-class society, among the rich and influential people. I never chose to be here. It just happened, and I have been living here for the past twelve years. The literature work has been carried out from here for the whole country and the saints are also meeting in this place for the church in Gurugram. 

Besides all these, as a family, we have also been praying for the salvation of the people of this city, especially the community we live in. Since the time we came to know that a new neighbor is shifting in, we have been praying for their salvation, not knowing who the neighbor will actually turn out to be. We simply prayed and prayed. Beginning this month, a new family has finally shifted in. 

After a week of prayer, the Lord gave me and my wife the opportunity to visit them one Saturday evening, in fact, last week. It was our first meeting and an ice-breaking session. We had a good neighborly conversion for over two hours. 

During the conversation, I was considering if it would be the proper time to share the gospel. Or should I wait until we familiarise ourselves with them? But deep within I felt that I should not miss any opportunity. Therefore, towards the end of our meeting, I briefly spoke about the mystery of human life. I am not too sure if they appreciated the gospel sharing part as they also seem to be a devout worshipper of their gods and goddesses as manifested in the idols in the room. Anyhow, a simple gospel was preached. And now they got to know us as Christians next door. As a kind gesture, we extended our help in any way should they need so to which they oblige to accept if need be. I even proposed that we should meet up once a week to read through some spiritual materials. Perhaps, I went too far? Then, we took leave for the night.

The following day, I received a surprise message from my neighbor that they appreciated our visitation but was not interested to continue in the "religious" part of spiritual pursuit. The message was so disappointing to me as I thought the Lord answered our prayer in bringing a new family to which we can share the gospel. Looks like they accepted us as a good neighbor but rejected the gospel we are burdened to share with them. Anyhow, this experience drove me to deeply consider before the Lord in prayer how we can be a blessing to our neighbor in the gospel. Since they openly expressed their feeling already, it would not be wise to intrude into their space. The only thing we are left with is, to pray and pray and pray until they are open for the gospel. Perhaps, the Lord wants us to learn the lesson of living the gospel first before preaching the gospel. 

Personally, I was a bit disappointed and repented to the Lord if I had done anything wrong. Or perhaps, I went too far or too fast in gospel preaching. I look to the Lord for His mercy and wisdom that I may know how to preach the gospel at the proper time. Though the situation was such, we do not give up, we will continue to pray and pray, and looking forward to the day our whole neighbor's family will be saved.

May the Lord make us a channel of blessing and even a blessing to all our neighbors!

Love Not Money

1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain;6:8 But having food and covering, with these we will be content.6:10 For the love of money is a root of all evils, because of which some, aspiring after money, have been led away from the faith and pierced themselves through with many pains.

Since the very beginning of my human life, the Lord has been taking care of all my needs. The Lord's care has become more evident and real since the time I got saved in 1997. And it has even become more practical since the time the Lord called me to serve full-time in 2003. All these while, the Lord has been my good Shepherd; spiritually, psychologically, and even physically with all my financial support. Umteen number of times, He has been providing my needs and the needs of those around me. He has taught me this lesson of depending on Him for all things even as tangible as money. Therefore, the lesson has always been, not to love money at all. When the need arises He provides. I must never love money and must not and never run after money. The Lord has been gracing me in this regard, and His grace will preserve me to the end from loving money.

Recently, due too the global pandemic that affects the whole world economy. Many companies have gone bankrupt and millions have lost jobs. There is news of tussles between employers and employees, and between house owners and tenants. Each one demanding their rights for survival. Thank God, the Lord save me from this tussle. 

As a serving one in the literature service with a good number of serving ones to care for, I never once thought of reducing or stopping the serving ones' support. On the contrary, I desire to take care of each one of the serving ones first before I take care of my own needs, though I have a big need too. Though there are some serving ones who could not do any productive work in terms of "business" due to the ongoing prolonged lockdown, they all have been supported fully without any delay. Deep within me, I felt they are my own dear brothers and sisters. Their joy is my joy, their pain is my pain. And I take pleasure in taking care of them first before I even take care of myself. The Lord knows my heart, and I believe it is the reflection of His heart, at least in this regard.

The office and the house I live in have also room for negotiation with my house owner. But righteously I felt, since I am using it, even if there was lockdown, I still need to pay the full rentals though the office has not been utilized to its maximum capacity as before. Since the Lord has been providing all my needs, I find no reason to not pay rents. I  do not have the peace to negotiate on the rentals due to the lockdown though my own neighbor did it. I do not have that liberty in my spirit. For the sake of saving a couple of months' rent, I do not want to sell my self for the love of money. I seriously do not know what use the money would be which was meant for rentals which the Lord provided if I did not pay my rents. I find no use for any other reason. I am rather glad that even in times of global disaster, the faithful Lord has been providing all my needs. I see this as a testimony of the living Lord.

When my neighbor asked me if I have been paying rent since the pandemic. I replied with an affirmative, Yes! He replied that he has not been paying for the past three months as his business was badly affected and that he had to lay-off a good number of his employees. Well, he is still a gospel friend and not yet a believer. I cannot subscribe to his standard of ethics or living. Unless my house owner voluntarily offered to reduce or cut the rentals due to pandemic or unless the Lord placed me in a situation I had to talk about the rentals, I could not by myself take the lead to negotiate. My conscience simply will not allow me to do such. In fact, I told my neighbor, "My source is God, as long as He provides, I keep paying the rentals." That was a shocking statement to him. Well, for many people, this is a good opportunity to not pay rent at all with the global issue as an excuse. 

While considering the matter of rent or saving money, I hold no grudge with my house owner who waived off my neighbor's rentals and not mine. At the very thought of such, the Lord reminded me of the verses in 1 Timothy, not to love money. God is the source and it is perennial and eternal. As long as He faithfully provides, I need not worry at all.

A day later, as I was spending time with the Lord, He reminded me again that I should not even be bothered about money at all. He is my source, and whenever the need arises, He will supply. In fact, true to His words, He supplies bountifully. Praise the Lord!

Do not love money.

Lockdown Experiences

Many things have transpired during this month's lockdown and I have learned a couple of new things. Since we have been under lockdown and life has never been as usual. Therefore, I have to learn to do things I never used to do and cope with unprecedented circumstances. Despite the sudden change and turn of event, the grace of the Lord enabled me to learn lessons of life.

Tendering an Apology 

One day a brother ordered chicken from an online store offered at a cheaper rate. It was ordered to deliver to my address as the delivery did not cover his residential address. I was told over the phone about the urgency of this order and that there should be five packets altogether. I replied OK to all the detail told to me. When the food items were delivered I was informed again that there should be five packets out of which one of them would be a chicken pack to be kept in a freezer. I replied OK to all the points spoken to me. But I did not properly check the number of packets nor the items delivered assuming that everything would be as per order. 

A day later when a brother came to collect the items, to my surprise, I realized that the chicken pack was missing. I scratched my head to figure out how this could have been missed. Later on, after a proper recollection of memory, it was concluded that one time was not delivered. I felt so bad and pathetic about myself in not handling things properly. That too, a food time for a brother that was needed urgently. Later, I called him to apologize for my looseness and inaccuracy and offered to pay for my negligence. He accepted my apology and simply requested me to forget about it. I took things for granted that the delivery boy would have delivered as ordered. I learned a lesson on my need to be accurate and exact.

Haircut 

For over two months I had not cut my hair as it was not advisable to go to a saloon when COVID-19 is widely spreading. There was a news that some eight people got infected with Coronavirus due to a hair cut at a saloon. Therefore, I decided to buy a hair trimmer and scissor to cut the hair of my family by ourselves. It's not wise and safe to get a hair cut outside. After a good research, I purchased a trimmer and scissor online. For the first time ever in my life, I experimented with my son and cut his hair. Of course, the trimmer has a plastic comb to set the length with which to cut. And for my hair, I asked my wife to cut with the same formula I used for my son. Therefore, I learned one new lesson in life; we can cut our own hair. I really do not need to depend on barber or must visit a saloon. Necessity is the mother of invention indeed. In this case, necessity taught me to learn new things I never thought I can ever learn.

Gadgets Repairs

Amidst the lockdown, few electronic gadgets malfunctioned and I was trying hard to figure out how to repair them. One day I decided to repair four of my gadgets- Cooler, Induction Cooker, Electric Cooker, and RO Water filter at one go by taking them to a nearby shopping complex. That day was Friday when we usually held the church's online gospel meeting. Deep within me, I was warned not to go out due to my urgency or necessity, as the more important thing, gospel meeting, is awaiting. And that I should rather spend time to pray for the new ones. But the desire to do my works first overcame me. I went ahead to do the repair works, hoping that I could finish all the works and come back to be ready for the gospel meeting. But to my dismay, nothing could be done and I had to bring everything back. Meanwhile, I wasted at least an hour which otherwise could have been used for prayer and preparation for the gospel meeting. I regret my hasty action by my strong will power and repented for it. The Lord is gracious, I still could be back on time for the gospel meeting and could still carry out my responsibility.

Later, the Lord gave me an idea of how I could repair all these without me going anywhere else. A brother helped me to repair my Induction Cooker. I could contact the Cooler company that sent a mechanic to repair it. And for the RO water filter, another mechanic promised to do the work. I did not need to go anywhere. The works could all be done at my own home. This transpired when I calmly considered the way to properly handle things. Another life lesson.  

Discarding Old Gadgets 

We have a fridge of about 17 years old and a laptop of 10 years old. When the fridge broke down when summer just began, and there was a need for a laptop as my children's school is teaching online classes for the three of them, there is an urgent need for these two gadgets. I had been contemplating repairing both the fridge and laptop. I did try a mechanic for the fridge and I myself spent a couple of hours to restore the old laptop, but both to no avail. I had been trying to restore the old in lieu of buying new ones with a view of not wasting anything as much possible. And at the same time saving as much money as I could as the family's need is growing. But ultimately I had to give up. Deep within me, the Lord told me that I could as well purchase new ones as these are necessary items and not luxurious ones. He also promised me that He will provide me the sufficient funds to purchase what is needed for the family. This is yet another life lesson. Should there be a genuine need, I must trust the Lord. He knows better, and He will provide the needs.

These are the few precious life lessons learned during this lockdown. Praise the Lord!

MCC MCA Prayer Meet

The Lord renewed the burden for my classmates a few months ago. Following up on the burden with much prayer, the Lord led me step by step to carry out the burden He burdened me with. The sequence of events and the actions taken were recorded, one by one. And all this while, He has been very faithful in accomplishing the burden He bestowed upon me.

7th June: My first text message to all my Christian classmates was sent out. 

Fellowship: e-Fellowship

1 Corinthians 1:9

God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Hi (All Christian classmates name, one by one),

These days the Lord has been burdening me to fellowship with all our ex-classmate fellow believers, for online fellowship, Bible study, and prayer. The same is open to all who are interested, believers and non-believers alike, not in a coercive way, but at free will, voluntarily.

I am texting this to you and to other fellow believers of MCA-MCC 2000 batch. 

If we can spare sometime, perhaps, once in one or two months time, at the time suitable for all who may be interested via Zoom.

Please pray and confirm how you feel about it. If you feel good, please also suggest the day, time, and frequency. Even otherwise, feel free to express your concern.

May the Lord recover and bless our Christian fellowship.

Thank you,

Palmei

23 June: After two weeks of waiting for the responses with some responding immediately, others later, and yet others, not responding at all. But the Lord's leading was my encouragement. If this was of the Lord, it will come to fruition. Otherwise, I am more than willing to give up altogether. Gradually, the response came, and the Lord led me to specifically coordinate with two brothers, the very two students who were with me twenty years ago when we began our first prayer meeting. With the coordination of these two brothers, the date for our first meeting was fixed and the hosting link created and checked. Then, I sent out the next message to all my classmates, both believers and unbelievers.

AN APPEAL IN LOVE

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Dear All,

Twenty years have elapsed since we first met in 2000, to carve our career. Twenty years after in 2020 with career carved, hopefully, and with family too, it's a blessing to be reunited again. 

With this one goal of love, care, and concern for one another, we may get together, at least online for now, to pray for one another and share the blessings of God to one another that all may be blessed, or at least be benefited from. For this, we have planned a prayer meet.

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MCC MCA PRAYER MEET

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Date and Time:

27th June 2020, Saturday, 7:30 PM IST

Join via Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/nah-zsfp-tuj

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Subsequent meetings may be decided in mutuality.

All are welcome! Please do join. 

May God bless us all!

 I also sent a specific message to all the Christians separately.

MCC MCA Prayer Meet

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As proposed and fellowshipped, we will commence our online prayer and fellowship on:

27th June 2020, at 7:30 PM IST

Join via Google Meet:

 https://meet.google.com/nah-zsfp-tuj

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1 Corinthians 14:26

What then, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

Further meetings will be mutually decided during our first meeting.

Let us pray, prepare, and participate in this prayer-fellowship meet.

24 June: With the two brothers, we had a fellowship and planned for the meeting with one of them to do the opening word and prayer, the other led the hymn singing, and myself testifying with the word of God.

27 June: I sent out a reminder to all in the morning. I wanted to make sure that I am serious about this and wanted all to realize the seriousness of this too. So that, all will be benefited and God may have a way to carry out what He intends to carry out.

Reminder in Love

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1 Corinthians 1:9

God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

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MCC MCA PRAYER MEET

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Date and Time:

27th June 2020, Saturday, 7:30 PM IST

Join via Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/nah-zsfp-tuj

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At the time of meeting, two brother and two sisters turned up. Five of us, started with prayer and sang Amazing Grace. Then, I gave a word of encouragement with the testimony of John Newton, Hudson Taylor, Robert Morrison, Evan Robert of Welsh Revival, and shared my testimony of salvation, my experience of the Lord at MCC Chennai from 2000 to 2003, and the stages in which the Lord called me to serve Him full time.

To my surprise, the response of those brothers and sisters were so encouraging that we decided to have this kind of fellowship once every month, the last Saturday of the month. With the request from them, needing for spiritual guide, I offered myself to them to contact me as their friend and brother anytime they wanted to. Besides, for study material, I proposed a series of message from the Shepherding Material. 

28 June: Today I designed the weekly study material with guidelines and sent first to all the Christians.

MCC MCA PRAYER MEET

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Weekly Spiritual 

Exercise

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Ephesians 1:17-18

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him, The eyes of your heart having been enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. 

Shepherding Materials

Volume 1

https://shepherding.amanaliterature.in/evone/

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Study Guides

Read and memorise the Bible verse(s) in each lesson.

Read, re-read, and pray over each point in the lesson.

Pray that the Lord will grace you to experience what you read and understood.

Prepare a short sharing for each lesson. It is best to have a spiritual exercise note book to write your points with supporting Bible verses. You may share each lesson learned weekly to your spouse or children or friends.

Be prepared to share from your spiritual learning when we meet once a month.

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Weekly Study Portion

Note: Spend at least an hour to study and pray over each lesson.

29 June - 5 July

Lesson 1:  The Mystery of Human Life

6 - 12 July 

Lesson 2:  Christ is the Meaning of Human Life

13 - 19 July 

Lesson 3:  The Church is the Real Communal Life

20 - 25 July 

Lesson 4:  The Bible

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Thus far, the Lord has been leading on and on. 

May He save all my classmates and gain them all for His purpose. I believe in what I have prayed for, that the Lord will answer it, for the burden and prayer is out from Him. Time will testify of the Lord's work. Amen.

Overcoming Special Days

Colossians 2:14 Wiping out the handwriting in ordinances, which was against us, which was contrary to us; and He has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.2:16 Let no one therefore judge you in eating and in drinking or in respect of a feast or of a new moon or of the Sabbath,2:17 Which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body is of Christ.

The Lord Jesus had already crucified every ordinances, human customs, traditions, culture, philosophy, man made religion, and superstition at the cross. These things are deeply rooted in every human being as they are being imbibed into the fiber of his life since childhood. Even after being saved, it is likely possible for all these things to still hang on in a person's life. No wonder many Christians are still entangled with the public feasts and festivals as commonly and normally observed and celebrated by the worldly people. Even me, I was no exception in the past. And it is the Lord's mercy that stripped me of all these feasts gradually, one by one, year by year.

This year I have begun to experience a deeper stripping of all celebrations of birthdays and anniversaries. The month of June is when my physical birth date fall and also my marriage anniversary. I am glad, my wife and I completely forgot about it altogether. Sometimes, we even made the anniversary special and unknowingly succumb to the superstitious beliefs and practices. Similarly with my birth date, I purposefully did not do anything special. Rather I simply continued to live my normal life as usual. I really did not have the heart to make any day special in any way at all. Nor did I want anybody to wish me. Thank God, nobody wished me either. Neither any of my family members. To me this is a deliverance.

Though I practice this to myself, I do not impose my belief to anyone else. If a person does not see the vision there is no point for me to impose my view. As Christian grows in the divine life, the Lord will reveal to them in time. Until then, for the sake of shepherding new believers, I may still wish them and pray for them if they request so. And that's what I have been doing to my classmates in our WhatsApp group when anyone's birthday or anniversary occur and the group is wishing so. But I do with a string attached; I indirectly preach the gospel or share the word of God to the one I wish.

The vision is clear to me and the Lord has led me to overcome the human culture and tradition. Superstition is one other thing the Lord help me overcome, including Christian religious superstition of reckoning a certain day as holy or holier than other days, or a certain kind of food as unholy. I am not under the affect of any of this anymore. Praise the Lord, the Lord has delivered me from all these bondage! Hallelujah!

Let no one therefore judge me in eating and in drinking or in respect of a feast or of a new moon or of the Sabbath, which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body is of Christ. Overcome all special days! The reality of all these is Christ. Live Him day by day, and everyday will be special.

Farewell Lovefeast

Last night we had a lovefeast for brothers who were moving to new cities for their allotted service. Though COVID-19 scare looms large, the Lord burdened me to host a dinner fellowship for these brothers. In fellowship with the brothers, the lovefeast was arranged.

Three brothers who had been fellowshipping with the church had different backgrounds and services. One of them came into the church life through the propagation when some of his students were met by the trainees during their street gospel preaching. Later, this brother was visited and home meeting started every Lord's day evening. Then, I picked up the burden to pray with him almost daily. Gradually, this brother has been shepherded and became my prayer partner. Due to the current pandemic, his tuition class came to a halt as all his students left the city. Besides, his aging parent wanted him to go back home to take care of them. We had been praying about his going back, and when it became clear that he should go back, he went back. In fellowship, the church also helped him financially during this time of economic crisis.

Another brother had been here in the church to learn to serve the church in coordination with the brothers. He finished his two years of full-time training and his third year of learning was assigned to the church in Gurugram. We enjoyed sweet coordination during his service here. Now the time has come for him to go back to serve in his locality. therefore, he left today morning.

Another brother came into the church life through one sister's introduction. The first time he came, I spoke to him God's economy using relevant Bible verses. Since then, he was captured by the truth and came into the church life. He works for a reputed company and is being transferred to another city. All these three brothers have to leave the city, therefore, we hosted them a dinner lovefeast last night, though one already left last week.

The city we are in a metropolitan city. Therefore, the crowd is a flowing crowd. People come and go for a job. Likewise, saints also come and go. But at least, when they were in the city, they came into the church life, tasted the ministry, and when they go to new city, they will propagate the same truth if there is no church established yet on the proper ground of oneness. The church life here serves many other cities in India. Even now, due to lockdown, saints from four other cities joined the online meeting of the church here. We are glad that we could be a blessing to many other cities for the Lord's testimony.

Our farewell lovefeast was not a farewell in its true sense. It was an encouragement for them to go on in their Christian life and serve wherever the Lord's leads them, yet it was also a thanksgiving meeting for what the Lord has done in their lives, even while they were in the church life. No matter where we are, we are all for the Lord's and His testimony.

Pray for Nagaland

On 18th June 2020 at 18:19 I sent out a message to a new WhatsApp group called "Pray for Nagaland" with a caption, "Nagaland for Christ and the Church". The message read:

Praise the brothers and sisters! 

This is group is formed for our prayer and fellowship concerning the Lord's move with the burden for raising up the Lord's testimony in Nagaland.

Then all the group members introduced themselves as I took the lead to do so with the release of my burdens the Lord blessed me with:

I am married to a sister from Taiwan. We both serve the Lord. Now we are blessed with 3 children. We are enjoying the church life here in Gurugram. 

The Lord has been burdening me for Nagaland since 2006 for the church life. I have visited the state a couple of times for ministry books distribution.

Once with M---- and R------ we toured Nagaland, starting from Dimapur, then Kohima, then Wokha, then Mokokchung, and back to Dimapur. We met a good number of Christian leaders and distributed the ministry books. 

Prayerfully looking to the days the Lord will raise up His testimony on the unique ground of oneness as His golden lamp stand in fellowship and oneness with the Body of Christ.

Later, I laid down the conditions for those who could be a part of this group as it was created specifically with a burden for Nagaland in fellowship with the brothers with whom I serve the Lord together in India.

If you want to include more saints in this group, please forward their names and numbers to me.

They must be those who love the Lord, enjoy the word of God, enjoy the ministry of the word, one with the ministry for the building up of the Body of Christ, and have a burden for the Lord's move and testimony in Nagaland.

Before all this group was created, the burden within me has been reigning for years. Only recently, it became manifest. In fellowship with the members of the Body, it was then confirmed. Step by step, the Lord led me to prepare the groundwork for the raising up of the Lord's testimony in Nagaland. The Lord also manifested eight brothers and sisters from Nagaland who came into the Lord's recovery and are now enjoying the church life and are one with the ministry. These saints came into the church life while In New Delhi, Kuwait, and South Korea for their studies or jobs. By the Lord's sovereignty, now we are all connected.

Of course, before creating the group and deciding to come together every Mondy night for prayer and fellowship, I also checked with each one of them. All of them agreed to be a part of the group and expressed their feeling and burden to carry out the Lord's work in coordination. 

To formally begin the weekly prayer and fellowship, today I sent the following post.

Prayer and Fellowship

Dear Saints,

 As Christians, the first and best thing we must and always do is prayer.

The rest of the work will issue out of our prayer in oneness with the Lord and with one another. 
May we consecrate our time, energy, and our being to come together to pray, in addition to praying personally.

NoteThis Monday night prayer and fellowship is a tentative schedule. For the convinience of all, we may all feel free to express what suits best. Please indicate the day and time you can fit in. We hope that all of us can be accommodated and that we can come together online to pray and fellowship.
The pattern of prayer in coordination for the Lord's move is seen here in Acts.

Acts 13:1-3
1. Now there were in Antioch, in the local church, prophets and teachers: Barnabas and Simeon, who was called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen, the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2. And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for Me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. 3. Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

May the Lord blend all the saints in the group together and prepare us, especially the saints from Nagaland, as His useful vessels to become pillars to bear His testimony.