Take Root Downward

And the remnant of those who have escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.  Isaiah 37:31

To take root downward is to have an established inner life in the Lord and have an intimate fellowship with the Lord day by day wherein we become one with the Lord and He gains our being to be fully one with Him. This is the basic and fundamental need of the Christian life. Without this, the Christian life is an empty religious life without much reality. As a result of being deeply rooted in Christ, there will be the bearing fruit upward which is the shepherding life of the Christian that cherishes and nourishes others. This is the solution to all the problems the Christian may face in his life. This must be the status quo of every normal Christian. 

Last week I was invited to visit a family along with another brother. This family has been going through marital storms in their lives. The wife, out of much desperation called us up for fellowship with them. As brothers shepherding the saints in the local church this is our responsibility to visit the needy saints and spiritually help them in whatever way we could. 

As we were in their home, the wife started the conversation with all the allegations she has towards her husband. She went on and on pouring out her heart's content, all the cares and concerns towards her husband and their relationship. She also indirectly poured out all her griefs and anger for the misconducts of her husband, and also offered her good suggestion of how her husband should behave according to her. The husband counter charged the points brought forth by his wife and also poured out all his allegations against his wife and their relationship. In fact, one key point of disaccord is in the matter of handling finance. The husband lost his job, the wife is working and earning, and the wife controls the finance of the family with the husband simply following the wife's leading in money matter. This is one of the problems, besides many others. The conversation went on and on for over four hours. The Lord gave us the patience to heart out all they both have to say.

After many hours of listening to both the wife and the husband, I felt deep within that I have to speak up. So I fellowshipped with them the importance of spending time with the Lord. The reason that they have so many problems is that they have been in themselves by themselves without the Lord's leading and supply. Many of the allegations and counter-allegations were due to the lack of growth in life and , much more, the lack of of enjoyment of the Lord on a daily basis.

I began with my enjoyment of Chirs in the matter of heading up in Christ by our daily growth in life and receive the light of life from the Lord. This was my fresh bread from the Life-study of  Ephesians that I have been pursuing these days.

Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him; Ephesians 1:10

The whole world is in a heap of collapses, including the family lives of many. Only Christ can head it up, and in so doing, the family becomes a part of the fulfillment of God's economy. But for the heading up, growth is of utmost importance. Without the growth in the divine life there will be no heading up. And without the heading up, there will be no solution to the marital problems of human life. Therefore I encouraged the husband and wife the following:

Spenditme with the Lord persoanlly, privately, and intimately with the Lord on a daily basis. Set a specific time with the Lord where they would personally contact the Lord and be touched, enlightened, nourished, and supplied by the Lord. This is the taking of our roots deep down into the depth of the life of life.

Spend time together as a couple; to pray together, read the Bible together, enjoy morning revival together, or pursue the truth together. And much more , fellowship together in one accord for all the practical matters concerning their realtionship and family matters. There must be the onesness between the husband and wife in every thing. Otherwise, there will be a loophole in the relationship and Satan will gain ground to sow his seed of sins which is the source of all probnlems.

After this fellowship, we all prayed together and we took leave, leaving the matter and the family to the Lord. The following Saturday and Lord's day I was glad to witness the couple being recovered and both present in the prayer meeting of the church and the Lord's table meeting. Besides, both of them exercised to pray in the prayer meeting, praise the Lrod in the Lord's table meeting, and prophesied during the prophesying meeting. 

May the Lord cover them and preserve them from the attacks of the enemy. Much more, may they take a deep spiritual root downward and bear forth fruits upward.

Dealing with Opposers

Off late, a brother has turned sour and negative towards the brothers in the church life who are enjoying the ministry of the age. This brother himself visited the church in Gurugram and also my family last year when he talked so highly about the ministry and his enjoyment of the truth and the church life. He even created a WhatsApp group for sharing his enjoyment of the church life. I hardly posted anything there and simply visited the group once in a while. In fact, I visited him and his family at the beginning of this year and stayed for a night in his home. We fellowshipping with him and his family when he testified of how much he enjoyed the Lord and how much the ministry literature has helped him. 

A month a ago, the same brother suddenly posted a very negative message accusing all the brothers in the church life of being "fake". He accused others of being fake when I really felt he himself was fake, as a genuine brother will never accuse his fellow brothers of being fake. Heeding to the advice of a brother, we all left the WhatsApp group. Later, he created another group with the name "I love you brothers". Though I did not see the messages initially I could at least discern, for in the first line of messages post which I could see even without opening the message directly. Later, I saw many brothers left the group one by one. But deep within me, I left this brother need shepherding. At the same time, I would not give myself into his negative smearing campaign. As I look to the Lord how to handle him I felt deep within that I should wait for some time to elapse. I waited until we finished our Summer Training 2020. Then, I got a light from the Lord that I need to be tenderhearted in dealing with negative brothers and act wisely, not to deal with him as a person but to shepherd him and recover him as a brother.

In fact, in the past, I had dealt with negative people by facing them head-on. When they accused I counter defended the ministry with appropriate Bible verses. In fact, in the process of defense, I won the fight but I lost these dear brothers. They could not fight back with baseless accusations for that will be replied back with scriptural verses. But I learned a very precious lesson that in dealing with negative brothers, I should not debate. They are negative because they are too much in the mind gripped by the enemy. I should not stoop down to their level and fight negativity with negativity. That's what Satan wanted to do among brothers. But I must not commit the same mistake of trying to win a doctrinal fight. I should rather pray and win over the negative brother sand recover him back to the normal church life. I hope I will learn this lesson this time. Therefore, I would not fight back despite his blatant false accusation until the Lord would lead me to respond in love.  

Last Lord day, the Lord gave me the peace to see the messages posted in the group and I went through all the messages. The messages were full of hatred though the group name is on love. I could discern that this brother has turned sour and became very negative. Without any substance nor proof, he simply accused the ministry of "cult" and "no fruit or practicality". I could easily discern the state of mind he was in, and his spiritual condition. The only way is to pray for him and as the Lord leads, fellowship with him. After a thorough prayer especially for him, I called him in the evening to fellowship with him. Our fellowship lasted for over an hour.

He asked me a couple of questions which I answered them all with relevant scriptural verses.  I answered because he asked. After all his queries were answered he called me, "you are  a genuine brother." And he accused the other brothers as fake as nobody dared to call him in his state of mind. And for me, I considered this brother as my own brother and wanted to genuinely help him. For some, the best way to deal with him is simply to avoid him and cut him off. But for me, the Lord did not lead me that way. I have a strong faith that he would be recovered. And in the process, I will learn a precious lesson of shepherding all kinds of sheep, including the black sheep.

Now that we have agreed to pray together once a week, I would treasure this time together, bringing ourselves to the Lord. Christ and Him crucified is the solution to all the problems in our Christian life and church life. I remember myself being negative at one point in time. But by the Lord's mercy I was preserved not to burst out my anger and go astray. The Lord gradually healed me through the word of God, prayer, and fellowship. In the same way, the Lord can heal anyone of negativity. The Lord as the Good Shepherd will heal all negative persons though proper shepherding care with much prayer and fellowship. 

Lord, shepherd me to be able to shepherd others, especially in dealing with opposers.

Dealing with Garbage

Garbages are real garbage indeed that it needs to be disposed of at the earliest. Our kitchen garbage has been disposed of regularly to a nearby garbage dumping bin which basically is meant for the shops in the shopping complex. Since our home is adjacent to the complex we find it easier to dump in the garbage bin there. But of late, we were prohibited to dump any further as that was meant for the shops in the complex. Faced with this prohibition we had to give our garbage to the garbage collector. But to my surprise, the garbage boy was so adamant and would not collect from our home at all for some reason. Perhaps, he wanted some money to be paid? Or, since we never used him for the past years and I had requested him in person but his ego would not stoop down to my request of collecting the garbage in my home? Even after repeated requests he was not willing to budge in and would simply not collect at all even when confronted, reminding him that it was his duty to do so, and he was paid for it in our maintenance bill. Reasoning did not work with him.

For about a week or so we were left in the lurch. Neither could we throw garbage in the garbage bin nor the garbage boy would pick it up. So we had to throw it at a distance garbage dumping area. But that was not the solution. How long could we dispose off our garbage to a distant dumping area? We are the legal resident of the community paying all the fees regularly for the past twelve years. How could I let things just go off? 

I checked with my neighbor and he advised me to lodge a complaint with the customer care. I did that for over a week, calling the customer helpline almost daily. Every time I was promised to solve the issue, yet was never solved. Every time I called I got a formal message stating that my complaint had been registered and would be resolved soon. The same call with the same response had been repeated over and over again. Then I finally decided to take the matter to the maintenance department where I was given a phone number. This phone number was never answered even after repeated calling. Therefore I had to go back to the maintenance department to take them to task. 

Then, I was told to contact another department that handles garbage collection. I went there in person and registered my grievance with the person concerned. He finally promised me that the matter would be solved the same day itself. The same day, a garbage collector came and collected the uncollected gardbage for a couple of days altogether. Then, from the following day, the garbage boy collected the garbage placed near our gate. The proces took over two weeks. Thank God, finally, the issue was resolved.

In this process, I personally, and, we as a family, took the matter before the Lord in prayer. The Lord simply wanted us to trust in Him for all things. Even minute and non-issue like this, which should have been legitimately handled by the community welfare, we need to trust the Lord for it. Perhaps, the Lord wanted us to pray and trust him even for our legitimate rights. In every bit of our lives, we have to trust the Lord. That's what we are being led to.

Thank God for this lesson of trusting the Lord; we find opportunity to trust the Lord in every area of our lives. In dealing with garbages, we need to trust the Lord. Yes, in dealing with life's garbages too, we need to trust the Lord.

An Engagement Meeting

A brother and a sister have been in a relationship for a couple of years now. Though they never thought they would take the relationship further to consummate in marriage yet, they somehow wanted an engagement that was necessary as the brother had to make a commitment to the relationship as he has consecrated his life for two years to be in the full-time training. The training regulation requires that he either cut off any romantic relationship so as not to be distracted from the training or be properly engaged so that his relationship remains a testimony. As the church brothers, we felloowshipped with the couple and the brother's family first. The sisters's family however was not willing to accept the relationship and would not agree to take it further. But the matter was in fellowship and prayed over.

As we approached the sister's famliy again, it was very clear that her parents would not budge in.  Yet they could not give up their relationship either, and still the brother had to go through the full-time training. The only solutuion is to somehow get the consent of the sister's parent. How to do that? 

As I was considering before the Lord, I felt deep within that this matter will go through,provided done in  a proper and humane way. I felt good to bring in a brother and sister from the church in Aizawl to be our spokespersons and talk to the sisters's parent on behalf of the church. Here, humanity is very much invovlved. The Mizos by nature are very socialising people. Especially, when it comes to people of the same Mizo community. So I fellowshipped with the Mizo saints to fellwoship with the sister's parent who are Mizos themselves. Initially, their response was still  negative, and expressede a very strong reaction against it. But we kept the matter in prayer. A week later, I got an information that they changed their minds and were ready for fellowship. I didn't know how that change transpired from an emphatic no to a  sweet yes. I believe, prayer and the fellowship and coordination in the Body. So, last week we set up a Zooom online meeting to hear from them their feeling about the engnagement of their daughter to the brother concerned. They all spoke up in agreement and we all decided for the engagement a week  later.

Today, as the church in Gurugram we conducted an online engagement meeting where I did the hosting and the other saints participated in hymn singing, prayer, sharing the word, etc. In fellowship and prayer, what seemed to be impossible became possible. The Lord works in a miraculous and mysterious ways. Thank God for His sovereingity! We have been praying that all these be for the Lord's testiomony's sake. We have no personal interest except for the interest of the Lord and His testimony.

By the way, this is the first enganement meeting we have in the church. We hope that in the coming days the Lord will also lead us in the marriage meeting of the saints.

The faithful Lord has been leading us through and through.  May the Lord preserve the couple and their families for His testimony!

A Surprise Visit

Yesterday I ended up meeting a family that has been contacted almost fifteen years ago in Gurugram. I had no idea how this family was first contacted, but one thing was sure that they loved the Lord and somehow they came into contact with us. Since they have been very regular to a  pentecostal group under the shepherding of a pastor, we decided not to follow up on them as they are already under a pastor. As long as they love the Lord and are in fellowship, they may go ahead in their way of life unless otherwise, the Lord makes us meet together again. So basically this family has been "given up" for a home visit from my side.

Now and then the husband would call up, but I no longer paid heed to visit this family ever again.  In fact, a brother had left the same group and came into church life. Another family also left the group and their son and daughter are now in the church life. These ones came purely because they loved the Lord and the word of God. We, as the church, simply opened the door and welcomes whoever would like to fellowship with us. No matter what their background may be, as long as they are believers, they are welcome.

The way I ended up meeting the family was significant. I had been considering purchasing a bookshelf for my family. With my children growing up, space for bookkeeping has become a great need. I had been devising in many ways to meet the need. I did online research, visited furniture stores for bookshelves, and finally, I came across an online ad that attracted me. The bookshelf and the price seemed quite attractive. So I called up the phone number of the seller and decided to purchase a metallic glass door bookshelf. But before I went forward to the final order, I decided to see the product with my own eyes and visit the shop. Yesterday the plan was made. 

Interestingly, in the morning I received a missed call from a brother whom I mentioned above. It was a surprise and also a coincidence? Then I called him and find out how he was doing and why he called. He told me he needed the Recovery Version of the Bible. Well then, I thought to myself, this might be the time to visit him. So I told him that I would be visiting a furniture shop in old Gurgram. When I enquired about his house, it was not too far from the shop I was to visit. Them I decided to visit him and he also welcomed me. That's' how we ended up meeting yesterday.

God indeed worked in a miraculous way. I could never give up on people. Even if I did, still the Lord would connect me somehow. So we had a good time of fellowship on "Sonship and the Body of Christ." He was so impressed by the depth of the truth we understand and teach, and also got his new copy of the New Testament Recovery Version.  Our brotherly relationship remains intact. 

May the Lord continue to speak to my brother and show him the vision of Christ and the church. It's up to him and up to the Lord if he ever would take the way of the church life. Much grace to him and his family.

A Week of Sickness

The past week was a new experience for me. I found myself lying on the bed most of the days. I felt fatigued and body ached with slight temperature. I was wondering what had happened to me. There was speculation of being infected by the current pandemic but on further examination, it sounded like a normal cold or viral fever. I did not bother to see the doctor either. I have this funda in my head that my body will feel weak if my supply of energy is weak. So the best was to fight against the weaknesses in my body is to feed my body with healthy food. So instead of spending on doctors' consultation with prescribed medicines, I would rather buy healthy food items and enjoy them. And boost my energy and fight against the germs that attack my body. I must keep strengthening my immune system.

This one week I was mostly lying on the bed, yet I still carried our all the responsibilities I have. Official duty is carried out by replying mails, and all other church shepherding activities happened through my phone while still on the bed. I cannot shrug off my responsibility with the excuse that I am weak. Yes, I did take rest, but still, I need to carry our my responsibilities. The Lord continued to grace me to finish all the daily shepherding works and my personal chores. This one week also gave me enough time to rest as I hardly rest otherwise. This time I could rest more. Praise the Lord for the experience of grace more even through my physical weakness.

My life has been so much into the word of God and the church life that I could not imagine a life without the word of God and the practice of the church life. While on my sickbed too, I could not give up my Bible reading, prayer with saints over the phone, and listening to the ministry messages. Even when I was supposed to rest, I still found myself doing my daily spiritual chores for over five hours. To me, that was the mercy of the Lord and I felt being blessed. The Lord has healed me gradually and I have also learned the importance of health. Good health and strength are also my prayer points on a regular basis for me and for all the serving ones without which we cannot practically serve the Lord at all.

A week of sickness is a week of learning and a week of rest. 

For God's Sake

Everything that we do must be for the sake of God. Be it our prayer or shepherding the saints, all that we do must have a goal. That goal must be for the building up fo the Body of Christ. All for God's sake.

As I prayed together with a brother regularly for the saints for the church, all the items of prayer that we offered one by one were directed to God and for His sake. We prayed that the saints would rise up to preach the gospel so that their function would be gained, much more the new ones, all for the sake of God. We prayed for the recovery of the dormant and backsliding saints, not merely for their recovery, but for the sake of God. We prayed for the increase in the number of the saints meeting regularly in the church in Gurugram, all for the sake of God. Everything that we prayed for, we prayed for God's sake. Now, we are crystal clear that we are here for God's sake. All that we do and say must all contribute to the fulfillment of God's heart's desire. All for God's sake.

Our views have been focused very much on all my prayers these days. We are very clear about the goal we desire to achieve in all our spiritual activities. All our rallying behind the saints in their affair is to shepherd them for the sake of God's purpose. We will spend and be spent on behalf of the saints. Our coordination in the church these days is solidly based on this goal. for God's sake. 

Even as a family, my children's education plan, all their upbringing, the discipline and teaching at home, and all the matters related to their lives are all with a view of God's economy. Everything is now for God's sake. 

May the Lord preserve me and my family for His sake, all the days of our lives.