Shepherding: A Local Family

The Lord has sovereignly placed us in this city, Gurugram, for His testimony. We have been praying and taking the stand to bear the Lord's testimony here. We have also been praying for the salvation and gaining of many local people who will also stand for the Lord's testimony. The Lord has been adding new believers into the church and a good number of local families have also been gained. Our prayer has been for more and more local people to be saved and gained. In fact, we have been doing our best to preach the gospel among the locals and shepherding open families. Though the rate of salvation has not been that great, still the Lord has been adding new ones, one by one.

Two weeks ago, I received a fellowship from a brother to contact a seeking believer who was contacted through online Rhema eBooks promotion in Hindi. From our city, this is the only one contact we have. First, I called the number which was not answered, then I called again a few days later which was still not answered. I assumed the person was either busy or not interest to receive a call from an unknown number. A week later, a brother fellowshipped with me to call and send him a text message. I tried calling again and since it was not answered, I texted him instead. Then I received a call back from another number but from the same person. Then the contact was established.

I spoke to him over the phone stating that his number was passed on to me. I introduced myself as a Christian serving the Lord in Gurugram. Then he asked me two questions. What is the name of your Chruch? and What is your doctrine? I did my best to explain to him in my simple and broken Hindi that we are, as Christians, the called-out believers, and that we do not have any name like the denominational churches. In fact, we came out of the division of denomination and are gathered together to meet as the church in Gruugram. Then for the next question, I told him that the Bible is our basic belief, and every teaching in the Bible we uphold it faithfully to the best of our ability as the Lord graces us on. With these simple answers, he seemed to be satisfied. 

From the phone call, I sensed that he is a seeking one the Lord reserved as a remnant for His testimony. Therefore, I fellowshipped with two brothers with whom I am coordinating and serving together. And one brother came along with me to visit him at his home in Kanhai gaon, a locality of the local people of Gurugram.

In our meeting with this brother for the first time, after a brief introduction, I further answered the two questions he asked me over the phone. We had a wonderful time of fellowship on the church on her different aspects, especially, the church as the Body of Christ in Ephesian 1:23, and the church as the One New Man in Ephesians 2:15 and  Colossians 3:11. Then, I further fellowshipped on the teaching of the Bible that we adhere to and abide by. To make the points of truth clear to him and requested that we all use our Bible to read the key Bible verses. I even asked him to read the verses in Hindi by himself and I did the interpretation based on the revelation I received through the ministry.

He was very impressed and felt satisfied that we could meet him. In fact, he confessed that he has been looking for a proper Christian group to fellowship with. He has been a Christian for the past twenty years and has served with a couple of Christian groups. But for some reason, he did not stick around with any of them, though he conducted some kind of Christan leaders gathering now and then. He was glad that we could meet him, and perhaps, he has found the group he has been looking for. Or, the Lord has finally brought him into fellowship with the church in his own locality.

The Lord only knows how far this brother would be gained for His economy. Though he has his own group of believers, he seems to be dissatisfied in his Christian life. From my side, I felt very joyful and thankful to the Lord for this brother. Whether he will be gained to bear the Lord's testimony of not, is all up to the Lord. But one thing for sure was, I really enjoyed flowing out the truth of the Bible that I have been enjoying and being constituted with. By the Lord's mercy, I have been pursuing the truth day by day. The word of God has been accumulated in my being and the constitution of the truth has been growing. I definitely enjoy the word of God. Much more, the flowing out of the word of God to a needy and hungry seeker has been such a joy. I think, more than the brother I minister the word of God to, I enjoy more of the very word I ministered. After being locked down physically for months altogether, overflowing my enjoyment of the word of God to hungry and thirsty believers is such a joy!

May the Lord preserve this brother and gain him fully for his testimony here in Gurugram!

Life Lesson: Marriage Proposal

As brothers bearing responsibilities in a local church, we have been very burdened for the single saints to get married as we have a good number of unmarried brothers and sisters. In fact, in my family prayer, I have been praying for them, and in our group meeting on Tuesdays, we have been praying for the single saints to get married. Once the brothers or sisters are not fully open and are willing to take the fellowship, it is difficult for us to make any arrangement for marriage. Saints are simple in truth but very complicated in marriage matter. Everyone has their own natural choices and preferences which we could do nothing about. At best, I can only fellowship and pray with them for their marriages. The rest, the Lord has to come and lead them personally.

We have been considering a particular brother and sister for marriage. But we were very careful in bringing the matter to each one of them. Since the two are aging and we wanted to shepherd them in marriage matter. But because of the complicated situation of the brother's family, we tread so cautiously and slowly. We did not want a sister to be led astray should they get married as the family believes in a cultic teaching that do not believe in Jesus Christ as the true and living God. But for the sake of the brother we have been trying to shepherd him in marriage matter. Therefore, we had multiple rounds of fellowship with the sister and the brother separately. 

But when we revealed our burden for them to come together in marriage union, the brother expressed a very strong disagreement without any specific reason. He simply said he did not have peace at all. In fact, he said since the time the proposal was made known to him he lost his peace and could not even sleep in the night. He requested that the matter be stopped. We were shocked and could not understand him for his negative reaction. Since the brother showed forth his strong disagreement we had no choice but to stop.

This experience made me consider how much I could practically help the saints. I may have feeling concerning certain brothers and sisters but if they are not ready to take the fellowship I really don't know how to help further except to pray for them. So we stopped the marriage proposal and left the matter to the Lord.

What next? A lesson I am still learning. I have been married but how to help the young saints in a proper way for their marriage? This is still a mystery to me. Perhaps, I need to grow more mature enough to be able to discern the will of the Lord, not just for me but also for the saints. Hope, the Lord will come in and reveal who's for whom and all the single saints can get married and be established as a family and bear the Lord’s testimony. 

Tears of a Sister

The past few days I received a frantic call from a sister who has been going through a lot of marital issues and family problems. Her husband is a bother I have been shepherding, of late. The two of them opened up to me for fellowship about their personal matters. The brother would call me whenever he was in a desperate situation and the sister would also call me whenever she could not bear the situation she has been going through. As far as I am concerned I open myself to both of them; I prayed for them and prayed with them and shepherded them with the word of God every time they called.

A few days ago this sister pour out all the pain and struggle she has been going through with tears for over an hour. I patiently lent my ear to whatever she had to say. She had been deeply troubled by her husband whom she claimed had become very worldly. To the extent that he had gone back to all the bad habits, he used to do before he was saved in their pre-marriage life. She poured out all her pain and concern and confided in me as she shared her anxieties as she was also aware that I have also been in fellowship with her husband. As I listened to her woes, on the one hand, I sympathized with her and on the other hand, I was very burdened for her and her husband. According to all that I have heard, right or wrong, one thing is for sure, the enemy's hand was behind both of them, trying to separate them and even to point of divorce with sinful moral issues. 

I only take grace from the Lord to be able to bear with all the sisters had to say. My only consolation was that the Lord would remember her tears that she has been shedding for her husband and for her family. The Lord would turn her bitter tears of Bacca to tears of joy one day, perhaps, very soon. Then I encouraged her not to take any action in herself or by herself, knowing fully well that that will not solve the problem at all. It rather might complicate the matter instead. In fact, she called to confirm from me if she should take action against her husband by leaving him for a while or file a police complaint of domestic violence. My soft answer was neither of them. But to simply leave all the matters to the Lord. Then we prayed together., and she also prayed with tears. 

The same day, after the phone call fellowship, she called me again narrating another family problem of her husband with her in-laws, a case of verbal fight resulting in family chaos. What else could I do except to pray? So we prayed over the phone again. Then, a few hours later, I received a call from her husband. The brother called me up to confess his sinful situation and was seeking for fellowship. I was glad that he called. I reckon that as the immediate reply from the Lord of the tears shed by the sister. I need not correct him of his immoral deeds based on his wife's fellowship. He himself confessed that he was wrong in the way he behaved with his family, though he did not get too much into detail. And he expressed that he needed a fellowship. That's why he called me and also his wife; all of us on a conference call. 

I simply ministered the word by declaring the truth in the Bible that we should live and walk by the Spirit else everything is a problem. The enemy is so subtle that he can attack us from all angles, deceive us, and even drive us to commit heinous sins. Only in the Spirit can we not live and walk according to the flesh. Our only safeguard is in the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Spirit in our human spirit. So w must exercise to live and walk by the spirit. I encourage both of them to spend adequate time to pray personally and also to pray together daily. I also encouraged them to send a copy of HWMR for their daily pursuit, nourishment, and enjoyment of the Lord. And we all prayed together.

The tears of this sister were very genuine and it sprang forth from her deepest being. I had the confidence to assure her that the Lord would sure remember her and would wipe away all her tears. The Lord will indeed turn all her tears of pain and sorrow to tears of joy and gladness. And her marital issues will be resolved and her family will be restored. Perhaps, even revived that they will become pillars to bear the Lord's testimony. Amen.

Hindi Recovery Version

Hindi language, the second-largest speaking population in the world by the second language of 637.3 million people, needs to be given the proper translation and interpretation of the word of God. We have been so burdened for the translation of the Bible, at least, the New Testament into Hindi to start with. For this purpose, we have been praying for years altogether now. To this extend, we have even trained some saints to learn Greek for two years and prepared them through the pre-translation assignment of some crucial ministry books, the Life-study of Romans, The Kingdom, and The Experience of Life. Besides, the translators are regularly working on different title books. After years of preparation and waiting, finally, the time has come to actually start the translation.

Today, the 19th of October 2020, we have officially started the translation of the New Testament Recovery Version into Hindi. The prayer, preparation, fellowship, and patiently waiting for the proper time have been paid off. It's worth the waiting and it has been indeed a tremendous experience to have done so. In the midst, I could also witness the frustration the enemy tried to bring in in various forms were nothing new to me. Any spiritually significant work will always be opposed by the enemy. Such attacks are confirmation that we are touching the work of the Lord and the enemy cannot tolerate it. He tried his best, and he is still trying his best, and he will still continue to try his best to thwart the translation work in whatever way possible. We need the Lord's covering and the prayer of the Body as we embarked on a five-year project. The work the Lord has begun, He will also successfully accomplish it on time.

The first frustration was the need to find proper persons to do the Hindi Bible translation. Initially, we started off with six Greek learners for the Hindi translation, but only two could complete the Greek course. The second frustration was the lack of perper person to complete the team of four. The third frustration was the need for proper financial support to meet the need of the project for five years.  The fourth frustration was the lack of absolute oneness in taking up this translation project. But through much prayer and fellowship, the Lord cleared off all the frustration one by one. To complete a team of four, a sister was released and a brother has been trained to qualify for the work. The financial need was also met through the support of the churches in North India with the church in New Delhi taking the lead and bearing the entire responsibility. And finally, we went through a series of fellowships among the brothers in India; the literature serving ones, the brothers in North India, and also the brothers serving the work in India. And also with the brothers in LSM, the main publisher of the Bible.

On the 3rd of October, we had a fellowship with the coworkers in India, on the 8th we had a fellowship with the brothers in the church in New Delhi with the four translators to be,  on the 16th Oct we had the orientation with LSM and the translators, and on the 19th, we had another round of orientation and officially started the translation work. 

I feel blessed to be a part of the Recovery Version Bible translation project in India. Now seven languages are simultaneously translating the Recovery Version New Testament into Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Kannada, Mizo, and Hindi.  I trust the Lord will complete the work He had begun.

The Body is praying and supporting these translation works. Though there are multiple languages, we consider the entire project as One Recovery Version Translation Project. Now, praying and waiting for the printed copy of the Bible to be made available in Indian languages.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with us all! 

The Lord's Timely Speaking

The Lord's speaking is very timely, He speaks what He needs to speak. I thank the Lord for His faithfulness and care for me and the church. This year is coming to an end. At the beginning of every year as the church, we have been planning for growth and increase in that year. In pursuit of that goal, we have been planing very vital and practical steps for all the saints in the church to follow. Some of the specific ways we adopt are, especially these days, as we have been trumpeting over and over again. 

• Being Revived: Be revived every morning, spending personal time with the Lord daily, and be deeply rooted in Christ.
• Shepherding: Each one shepherding at least one in a week. 
• Gospel Preaching: Each one contacting at least one and bringing for the gospel meeting on Friday or Lord’s Day, preaching the gospel to our new ones and shepherding them. 
• Household Salvation: Pray for the salvation of all the family members of the saints.
• Pray for the gospel preaching by going out every Friday and Saturday afternoon in coordination with the trainees. Pray for the salvation of the local people, even household salvation, family by family. 
• Our Goal for 2020: 100 regular saints meeting on the Lord’s days.

The Lord is sovereign in giving us the burden for the year and Hs is also faithful even for showing our true condition so that we may know how to go on. The ministry speaking that we dive into and are pursuing every Saturday afternoon, the recorded speaking of Brother Witness Lee on the training and the practice of the vital group was very apt, to me personally, and to us as the church.

Some crucial points from brother Lee's speaking that help me a lot and are:

Serving the Lord in coordination by fellowshipping with our companions. By the Lord's mercy, the Lord has given me a wonderful companion, my brother who serves with me in the church and also in the literature service. I cannot imagine serving the Lord without him. He has been my vital partner without which I cannot go on in my church life or in my service life. How I thank, praise, and worship the Lord for the Lord's sovereign arrangement. He is the one to whom I can open myself up for fellowship on many deep, secret, and important items related to the church and literature service. 

Three enemies that need to be conquered are:

Deadness: The deadness of Sardis (Rev. 3:1-2). This can be conquered in the Body life (Rom. 12:3-10). I must present my body as a living sacrifice to God and being transformed from the fashion of this age by the renewing of our mind. For this, I need to consecrate myself to the Lord every day. I should not keep myself in my own hand but I must hand myself fully over to the Lord.  Every part of my being must be consecrated to the Lord. And I must not secretly follow this age; the fashion of the age makes one dead. The age is very subtle and deadening and one can be deceived unconsciously.  One can seem to love the Lord opening yet he can be loving the age, the world, secretly. This will cause deadness.

Lukewarmness: The lukewarmness of Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-16). This can be conquered by the seeking of the riches of Christ (Rev. 3:17-18, 20). I must seek the Lord, pursue Him, and enjoy Him in a very subjective way. I must not be slothful in zeal (Rom. 12:11a ) and I must be burning in my spirit, serving the Lord (Rom. 12:11b).

Barrenness: The barrenness of the degenerating believers. Unconsciously, I might have been drifting into this danger. This can be conquered in desperation. Desperateness is a matter of life or death. I must be fearing to be cut off from the enjoyment of Christ’s supply in this age (John 15:2a).  I must care for the discipline in the coming age (Matt. 25:24-30). Therefore, I must be disciplined in my Christian life. 

To overcome deadness, lukewarmness, and barrenness, I must be desperate to pursue the Lord, to get myself filled up with the Spirit, be thoroughly dealt with by the Lord by confessing my sins, failures, wrongdoings, weaknesses, trespasses, and faults. Then, gain my vital partners and be desperate, even in fasting and prayer, then  Lord will give me the fruits. 

Lord, grace me, save me, enliven me, and deliver me from the three enemies, deadness, lukewarmness, and barenness. Lord, thank You for your timely speaking.

Fellowship: Family Matters

A brother has been calling me these days to fellowship about his family situation. He has been going through tough times as his relationship with his in-laws is not so sweet nor smooth. Though they live together without any open fight, there seems to have been many internal struggles and misunderstandings cropping up among them. Therefore, he calls me now and then for fellowship and prayer.

I am not a family counselor, nor am I an expert in family matters. I am a family man too and I am still learning it. There are many biblical truths that I know doctrinally how a Christian family should be, but I don't stress too much on doctrine unless that truly become my own experiences. 

By the Lord's mercy, the Lord has blessed me with a wonderful family. My wife, especially, has been so much blessing to me. In fact, all that I would desire in a sister for my wife before marriage are mostly in my wife. I thank the Lord for the Lord's sovereignty in bringing me and my wife together. Letting the will of the Lord done in my marriage life is one of the best decisions I have made. I have no regret ever since. Instead, I am full of praise and thanksgiving for my wife and the beautiful and wonderful family the Lord has blessed me with.

Some crucial points I always emphasize before marriage is, the perfect will of the Lord be done; let the Lord choose a sister for me and not my choice. The Lord knows the best and I would accept the Lord's choice for me. After marriage, prayer, and oneness with my wife in all things, is my family principle I have been following.  So far, I have proven it to work successfully. My prayer with my wife has always been, "Lord, cause us to love You and to love one another more, and to be one with You and to be one with one another more." The Lord answered such prayer and He honors it. So while fellowshipping with the married or unmarried, I always fellowship with them on these principles which I have proved to be a great blessing.  

As fellowshipped on marital issues, I told my brother to decide everything in prayer and in fellowship with his spouse keeping the principle of oneness and love between husband and wife. Should circumstances allow, the family should always stay together, live together, and do everything together. Now, because of the pandemic, one great blessing has been released to all working saints, Work From Home. So, they can stay with the family and still carry out their jobs. I have strongly advised any ones against separation or divorce, no matter what the marital problems may be. It is never God's will that husband and wife stay separately or even divorced. My fellowship has always been on oneness and love, and pay any price to achieve this oneness and love in the family.

In-law's problem is universal because it is in the law. When the in-law is replaced by in-the-Lord then there will not be any problem. I have spent hours fellowshipping with brothers facing marital issues and prayed together with them, and strongly chastened them when they try to do things otherwise.

I myself, though not perfect, am learning to spend more and more time with my family. In midst of all the responsibility of my service and also the church, I still could spend my little time with them. It is a great joy to see my children grow and live life in joy and happiness. I pray that all my children grow up to love the Lord and serve the Lord all the days of their lives in whatever way the Lord leads them. I would do my best to give them the best education and the best learning I could and leave the rest to the Lord. I am fully aware that how my children turn out to be is all up to the Lord's mercy. But I must do my best to do what I am supposed to do as a father.

Though I am still young, the lesson the Lord has been teaching me has been a profound help to a good number of brothers and sisters I have been fellowshipping with. I am glad that, I can be a positive testimony and pattern to my peers and the young generation. I hope that all the brothers and sisters I fellowshipped with, in marital issues are graced to take the fellowship. And I pray and wish them a God-man family life as much as I do for my own family. After all, all our family lives are for the Lord's testimony, are for the building up, and are for the fulfillment of the Lord's purpose in creating man in His image and likeness to express Him and represent Him on the earth, and even unto eternity.

Lord, bless my family and the family of the saints.

God's Sovereign Mercy

For to Moses He says, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. Rom. 9:15-16

But go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Matt. 9:13

The morning nourishment in one of the morning revival portions speaks about God's sovereign mercy. I could relate my experience with all the points as experienced by brother Witness Lee. These days my experience has also been matching the truths I have been pursuing and this testifies to the genuineness of brother Lee's ministry. It's amazing, the truth of the Bible is similarly experienced by many saints!

God’s mercy is absolutely according to His sovereignty. Being a vessel of mercy is not the result of our choice; it originates with God’s sovereignty. It is of God’s sovereignty that He created us vessels of mercy to contain Himself. His sovereignty is the basis of His selection. 

If we would serve God in His New  Testament economy, we need to know that it is wholly a matter of God’s sovereign mercy. Through many years of experience I have become strongly and deeply convinced that everything that happens to us is of God’s mercy. All is a matter of God’s mercy. The more we see this, the more we shall spontaneously bear our responsibility before the Lord. However, even the bearing of responsibility is of God’s mercy. Why is it that some believers are willing to bear their responsibility and that others are not? The answer lies in God’s mercy. In Romans 9:15 Paul quotes the Lord’s words, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy.” Because of God’s mercy we responded to the gospel when others did not respond, we received a word about Christ as life when others refused to receive it, and we took the way of the Lord’s recovery when others drew back from taking this way. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1184-1185)

I have no more words to say except amen and amen to the above statement. I am what I am today because of the Lord's mercy. I never thought about this before, I never labor for it nor sought for it, but the Lord just made me what I am today. Be it my personal life or family life or Christian life or church life or service life, all are because of God's sovereign mercy. To all these, I can only worship the Lord God Almighty. Looking back at my life story and looking at what is happening now, everything indeed is because of the Lord's mercy.

As I have received so much mercy from the Lord, I also must exercise and show mercy to the saints especially to the ones serving with me. Cases of serving ones not being faithful in their services have been brought to my notice. Generally, I trust all the serving ones. But there always is an exceptional case. In this regard, there are two brothers who have not been doing well in their services and of late, their services have come under a scanner. If it were someone else in place of me, I guess these ones would have been fired already. But the Lord's mercy has been so fresh to me and firing would be the last thing I would do as long as the Lord placed me in my service and responsibility. 

As for me, I would rather pray and try to make things work. I look at all the serving ones as my own brothers and sisters. Most of them have families to care for and their only source of income is the support from the literature service. My heart really sympathizes with them. At the same time, I must also be faithful to the responsibility the Lord assigned to me. Wherever possible, I tried my best to balance between responsibly and mercy. Most often, mercy triumphs over responsibility and I would still care for the serving ones who should actually have been fired. 

In fact, a brother once called me up and asked me why one particular brother has been kept in his service to date when he was found to be unfaithful in his service. I did not reply neither in the positive nor negative. I simply shrug off the question with a simple ok. In order to shepherd them, I had called for fellowship and made a couple of phone calls. Even then, still paid them what was righteously due to them, and beyond. In fact, last month, one brother's support was less than half of his general income. It was so because of the little quantity of work he produced. But out of much mercy, we paid him extra support to make sure that his family has sufficient for the month.

I believe, in the future too, cases like this will come up again and again. As long as the Lord graces me on in my service, I will still apply the Lord's mercy upon everyone even as I applied to myself.  Lord, continue to show mercy on us. Praise the Lord for His mercy!

“I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”