2021 New Opportunities

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, which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body is of Christ. Col. 2:16-17

According to the changing of days, months, and years, God gives us new opportunities every day, every month, and every year…

God has ordained days, months, and years for the existence and growth of living things…If the time span of the universe consisted of one long day, there would be only one opportunity for life to exist and grow. Thus, if there were existence and growth during this period of time, there would be existence and growth, but if there were a failure to exist and grow, there would not be another opportunity for life to exist and grow. Thankfully, God has prepared and ordained numerous opportunities in the universe, not just one opportunity. If we experience a failure during one year, there will be another year. If our work is not successful this year, we can start again next year…

We need to consider before the Lord how we have spent our time and the things in which we failed and in which we overcame. We need to consider the areas in which we responded to the Lord’s demands and in which we rejected the Lord’s will. We need to bring our spiritual condition before the Lord in order to settle accounts and have a proper clearance so that we can have a new beginning. (CWWL, 1957, vol. 1, “God’s Need and God’s Goal,” ch. 4, pp. 120-122, 124)

In this light of the Lord giving me new opportunities, as I was considering before the Lord at the end of the last year and at the beginning of this new year, though I resisted making any resolution in my natural man, still the Lord burdened me to consider some aspects of my Christian life, family life, and church life. These are the direct speakings from the Lord. Whether I could make it or not is not up to me. The burden He gave He will definitely accomplish it. In the principle of incarnation, I must cooperate with the Lord in His speaking. 

So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much rather in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure. Ephesians 2: 12-13

For which also I labor, struggling according to His operation which operates in me in power.  Colossians 1: 29

Since the source of the burden is from Him, He will grace me the strength to carry them out. On the one hand, it is I who has to work out my "salvation" yet, on the other hand, it will be done so as He operates in me. With the new opportunities given to me with a new year, I must cooperate with God. The following are some specific points the Lord burdened me to cooperate with Him.

In Gospel Preaching: Weekly, I am burdened to exercise to preach the gospel at least for two hours. Whether I meet the new ones physically or not, I am burdened to use all means to preach the gospel. This is also the Lord's leading for the local church I am in. My responsibility is to be faithful to the Lord's speaking by His operation in me.  Week by week, I trust the Lord will grace me to carry out this burden. 

In Fruit Bearing: If I continue to abide in Him and cooperate with Him in carrying out His burden, there will definitely be fruits. I pray and look to the Lord for His blessing as I endeavor to labor in His vineyard, to bear fruit regularly each month. This is a burden, and I believe the Lord will accomplish it by faith. 

In Prayer: In the matter of prayer, this year the specific burden is to spend at least a solid one hour with the Lord daily. This is in addition to the corporate prayer time I have been enjoying with some saints and serving ones daily. As a family, half an hour everyday family prayer to be carried out as well as a continuation from the previous year's burden.

In Studying the Word: I have been reading the Bible daily, and have read through the entire Bible over and over again. Still, this year the added burden is to also study and dwell on the word. In other words, delve into the word, study, and pray over the Lord's speaking through the word. In addition to reading through the text of the Holy Bible, I am also being burdened to study the footnotes in the Recovery Version, at least once a year. In this way, gaining the proper and healthy constitution of the truth. For this, at least an hour daily, I am burdened to spend, in addition to the regular reading through the text of the Bible. Yes, I must continue to finish reading through the Bible at least once a year, and now my extra burden is to also study the footnotes of the entire Bible once a year.

Early Rising: This year a new burden is on the matter of early rising. Unknowingly my life-style in Metro city and especially during the pandemic has gradually led me to sleep late and rise late. This is definitely not healthy, physically nor spiritually. It has been a challenge to adjust my body timing to sleep early and rise early. The famous dictum, "Early to be and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise" has been ringing in my ear me as a reminder.  That is the Lord's speaking to adjust my lifestyle.

Family Morning Revival: Though we all have our own personal morning revival and a corporate revival with various other saints, I am freshly burdened for the family revival time. So far I have not included my children in this kind of exercise. Perhaps, the time has come to let them exercise as well. The Lord will grace us through in this matter as well.

These are the burdens to be carried out as the new opportunities the Lord gave me in this new year. And He will faithfully grace me on and one. In 

To You, O Jehovah, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in You; Do not let me be ashamed; Psalms 25: 1-2

New Beginning

The Lord's leading is ever fresh and new. Year by year His leading has been progressive in spiritual matters, especially with me. Generally, during the new year, as would others, I used to make some resolutions and consecrated to the Lord, and tried my best to keep my promises. Well, that may be good but the real execution is where many struggles with, including me. This year, the Lord has delivered me from that kind of mindset where I attempt to do things with my natural strength. I experience the Lord leading me further with the new year. No definite new year resolution yet I have been feeling quite a relief and an inward sense of growth. Not that I would be loose and seek no improvement, but that the progress comes naturally. 

This morning as we brothers met together for fellowship at 6 AM, which began with prayer and pursuing the truth together, I just felt like we were sailing on as a church and as a group of coordinated and blended brothers who are learning to take the lead in the local church here. There was no feeling of carrying out religious duty nor doing our "job". But the presence of the Lord and His leading hand was very evident. We all enjoyed the fellowship of one another in a blended way.

As the church, the Lord's leading has been very evident. Beginning this year a good number of positive developments have happened.

Gospel Preaching 

As the church every Saturday we used to go out to preach the gospel. Since the pandemic struck and due to lockdown, our going out to preach the gospel stopped for the whole year. Despite that, we have been conducting online gospel meetings every week. Now, beginning this year, we recovered back the gospel preaching every Saturday after the prayer meeting for about two hours a week. Today I went with a brother and met three groups of new ones. To one group, I shared my testimony, to another group I preach the gospel and led the new one to receive the Lord by prayer, and again to the other, I made a friendly contact in the way of cherishing. May the Lord continue to grace every saint to preach the gospel for at least two hours a week and bear forth spiritual fruits.

Perfecting Training 

We have not been having perfecting training for many months,  again due to pandemic. Even otherwise, the training we have had was mostly joining the training conducted elsewhere. But this year, the Lord is leading us to conduct our owning perfecting training for the local saints. This is a new development too. Praise the Lord. May the Lord perfect all the local saints through this perfecting training.

Brothers' Prayer, Fellowship, and Truth Pursuit 

Though we used to have brothers' fellowship, this year, it has started with truth pursuit on "The Elders' Management of the Church." Local brothers could now share the truth in Hindi and they are being perfected. The intensity of our prayer and the quality of our fellowship has been very much strengthened.

Brother Andrew Yu

In Memory of Brother Andrew Yu

With Br. Andrew Yu, 11 July 2016, LSM Campus, on Monday morning after serving one's fellowship.

I first met Brother Andrew Yu in person on 3rd July, Lord’s day morning at a restaurant in Anaheim over breakfast where I presented the budget for the Recovery Version translation in 6 Indian languages. The meeting was all related to the translation project and I did not have any personal fellowship, it was an official meeting as we prepared for the colossal work of translating the New Testament into 6 languages simultaneously. This is, by far, the most any literature center has taken up a project. Everything, to me, was the Lord's sovereignty and it is He who has been leading us through and through all this years. 

After the semiannual training, on the 11th of July 2016 I was invited to attend the serving ones' fellowship at LSM Campus on Monday morning. After the pursuing on a chapter from The Character of the Lord’s Workers, brother Andrew Yu spoke and surprised me. He said something like, "Today we have a brother from India and he will share with us his testimony; how he got saved, how he came to the church life, and how the propagation in India is going on, and how the distribution of the ministry books is done in India." I took that as the Lord’s arrangement and exercised my spirit to speak though it was an impromptu announcement. Then I testified of how the Lord saved me, how the Lord led me to His recovery, and how the Lord blessed His move in India especially through the distribution of the ministry of the word.  After my testimony and sharing, brother Andrew Yu encouraged all the saints present in the meeting to pray for India. After the meeting I went to greet him, shook hands, and took the photo together. That was perhaps the only personal interaction I had with him.

On 20th Dec 2020, I was at court premises in Gurugram, stamping and notorising the copyright agreements signed between LSM and the translators in India when I saw a message from my wife about brother Andrew Yu being taken to glory. I felt sorrowful for the great loss yet I thanked the Lord for such a faithful brother who indeed has been a pattern to many young serving ones like me. May the Lord continue to raise many young serving ones who would be faithful, diligent, and prudent in service, especially in the literature service.

Today, I received a message from Brother Jerusalem about Brother Andrew Yu's memorial day service which I attended online, being held by the Gospel Work in Taiwan. I was amazed at the capacity and gift our brother had in his lifetime. His service, to my understanding, is a fruitful one spanning the whole globe. His burden to propagate the ministry of the word, and his labor to bring out the Collected Works of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, and his burden to defend and confirm the truth are proofs of the special gifts the Lord had bestowed upon. To me, its glorious! I am glad and feel blessed to have such a pattern to learn from. I would personally thank the Lord for such a brother who had gone before me. Praise the Lord!

But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and I rejoice together with you all.

Philippians 2:17

For I am already being poured out, and the time of my departure is at hand.

2 Timothy 4:6

 But you have closely followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, endurance. 2 Timothy 3:10

These are the Bible verses that describes him best. Some of the exerpts from his memorial service are below:

In 1994 Brother Lee had the burden to publish the journal Affirmation and Critique to defend and confirm the pure and orthodox truths among us for the English-speaking Christians. Brother Andrew immediately invited some Chinese-speaking co-workers to participate in the writing of the Chinese edition of Affirmation and Critique. As he had been nurtured by Brother Lee over a

long period of time, Brother Andrew had a deep knowledge of Brother Lee's inner burden and was thus always able to carry out his burden strongly and absolutely.

In 2000, in a fellowship with the co-workers in Taiwan, Brother Andrew earnestly said that he had no thought of reputation and position and only hoped to follow the ministry singleheartedly, and he vowed to remove all stigmas and accusations against Brothers Watchman Nee and Witness Lee during his lifetime. Eventually, our brother truly spared no effort in this endeavor until his death. For the defense and confirmation of the truth, Brother Andrew encouraged co-workers to endeavor to attend any truth seminars or theological forums held in China. In addition, he also encouraged brothers in other countries to hold similar forums and invite scholars from different fields to participate in the discussion. This caused people from various backgrounds to have a reversal in their understanding regarding the orthodoxy of the theology in the Lord s recovery.

With regards to the completion of the entire set of 62 volumes of The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, and the entire set of 138 volumes of The Collected Works of Witness Lee, Brother Andrew not only was tireless in the areas of planning, coordinating, and supervising, but much more, he was personally involved in the areas of collecting the materials, editing, translating, and publishing. Take The Collected Works of Watchman Nee as an example, Brother Andrew went all over the world to search for and collect materials. As long as there was any clue of where the materials were, he would not give up. After the Chinese version of The Collected Works of Watchman Nee was published, there was the need to translate it into English. At that time, it was not easy to find someone who was fluent in both Chinese and English and could properly translate Chinese into English both faithfully and elegantly. Without any hesitation, Brother Andrew took up this enormous burden. Regardless of how busy his service was, he set the goal for himself to translate 30 pages a day and thus tirelessly and diligently completed this difficult task. Actually, oftentimes he worked late into the night, without sleep or rest.

Another exceprt from Brother Andrew Yu's testimony:

I remember this story. So, going back to the matter of buying the air-ticket, bro. Lee did not respond to that brother’s question. But in the following week, in a fellowship with a number of brothers, he mentioned about living by faith. The week before when the brother asked that question, bro. Lee did not reply. One week later, what he spoke was the answer. I also received an answer. That is, to serve the Lord we need to live by faith.

When the working ones hear about living by faith, they will turn pale. But our Lord is the All-mighty One who is real and living. He is living to bro. Nee and bro. Lee, and He should also be living to you. How far your faith is, how much His faithfulness will be manifested. Serving the Lord is like this. It is impossible to be rich. It is also impossible to starve. These two lines summarize my testimony. That time bro. Lee told me, “You consider so much and still you are not clear. For me, in two weeks everything is clear.” That time, my wife was still working. So her earning is a “reserve” to me. I also have one year of savings. So I thought, I would take one step at a time. I did not announce that I became a full-timer. I only gave all my time privately. One time, bro. Lee said next to me and said, “How come you still have not made it clear?” I felt very ashamed, seemed I was still dragging along. Anyhow, some people ran faster, some went slower, the Lord did not mind. Some people struggle for three years or five years, and the Lord still bears. The important thing is to follow the Lord’s leading and not arrangement by people.

That time I spent all my time to help bro. Lee. But bro. Lee is not my Lord. Only the Lord Jesus is my Lord. When I can give my portion I give and serve Him. No matter what we do, we are serving the Lord, and we are responsible to Him. Then the Lord will be responsible for us. We are the same as Peter. We do not have faith. That’s why the record in John 21 is very human. It is the test that we often face. Anyway, Jesus is Lord.

In 2004 I fell sick. At the end of that year, I counted, from 1979 (when I started to serve the Lord privately) until the end of last year, I have served the Lord for 25 years. At 3 a.m. on 1 January 2005, I woke up and prayed to the Lord, “Lord, in the past 25 years, it was so valuable. Along the way, you have been holding my hands, it was so sweet. Outwardly I was serving people and things, inwardly I was serving You. Lord, I did not have any interest in this world. I consecrated everything to you. But if you have mercy on me, I pray that you can give me another 25 years, so that I can live another 25 years of such a worthwhile life. This is my only hope.” I don’t know if the Lord heard my prayer. Anyway, it is His mercy that I can serve Him until today. I thank the Lord from the deepest part of my being. My fellowship ends here.

Praise the Lord for such a wonderful pattern of a propagator of the ministry of the word!

Prayer of the Age

Last Lord's day I was asked to lead the saints in PSRP on the message on the prayer of the age just before the actual meeting began. The brothers who were assigned for the work could not make it at the last minute. So I and another brother had to take up the assignment impromptu. No issue at all. I took it as an opportunity to handle the word in season and out of season. By the Lord's mercy, I have the grace to be able to take up impromptu assignment even at the spar of the moment. Years of learning the truth in the church life have made this possible. The key point in the ministry of the word is the Spirit. As long as I exercised my spirit the word will be living and full of life supply.

The prayer of the age is the prayer of the church as the Body of Christ, the prayer that exercises the authority of Christ as the ascended Lord and Head of the Body, for the fulfilling of God’s economy—Isa.45:11; 62: 67; Ezek. 36:37; Matt. 18:18, 19. This is a direct quotation from the ministry outline. I was so enlightened to see the point in praying the prayer of the age. The principle of the prayer of the age is; firstly God has a need, then, He reveals His need to men who are one with Him and could discern His will, then such men pray back the will of God to God, and finally, God answers the prayer made according to His will. Here, the underlying point is, "God's will."

Now, many Christian misquoted the verse in the gospel of Matthew: 

Truly I say to you, Whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Again, truly I say to you that if two of you are in harmony on earth concerning any matter for which they ask, it will be done for them from My Father who is in the heavens. Matthew 18:18-19

There is a need to pray a prayer as taught by the Lord Jesus, but not merely in being in harmony. Many Christians simply pick the point, "if two of you are in harmony on earth concerning any matter for which they ask, it will be done for them from My Father who is in the heavens." So they bring out their own will, share with other Christians and claim this verse. But they forgot to see the previous verse which says, "Whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in heaven." Here, the point again is, we can bind and loose on earth what God wills to bind and loose in the heavens. The will of God is predetermined. We have to exercise to be one spirit with the Lord to discern the Lord's will. And based on that discernment, we pray accordingly in harmony. Then, God will definitely aswer such prayers.  This is the principle of prayer and is also the prayer of the age.

This is a new light for me. Not merely praying in harmony with my fellow believers for whatever I want. I must first discern God's will, then pray in harmony with my fellow believers, then God will definitely answer such prayers. Two more examples are noteworthy:

When Moses was on the mountain, the Israelites won every time he raised his hands, and the Amalekites won every time he lowered his hands (Exo. 17:9 11). Who decided the victory at the bottom of the mountain? Did God decide or did Moses decide?...We have to see God’s principle of work and the key to His move. God cannot do what He wants to do unless man wants it. We cannot make God do what He does not want to do, yet we can stop God from doing what He wants to do. The victory was decided by God in heaven, but the victory was decided by Moses before men. Truly, God in heaven wanted the Israelites to win, but if Moses had not raised his hands on earth, the Israelites would have lost. When he raised his hands, the Israelites won. The earth controls heaven.

God has a purpose to increase the number of the house of Israel so that the Israelites would increase like a flock. Those who do not know God will say, “If God wants to increase the number of the Israelites like a flock, He could go ahead and do it. Who could stop Him?” But Ezekiel 36:37 says that God must be inquired of fi rst before He will accomplish it for them. This is a clear principle: Even though God decides on a matter, He will not do it immediately. He would increase the house of Israel only after they inquired of Him. He wants the earth to control heaven. (The Prayer Ministry of the Church, pp. 138-139)

This lesson on prayer has been so fresh to me. I shared it in the brothers' fellowship yesterday, and today I shared it in the prophesying meeting too. I am glad I am learning this lesson now. I need to pray in harmony with my fellow believers; not what I want to pray for but what God wants me to pray for. This connects my prayer to my being. My living should be in oneness with God to discern God's will. Only when I am one with God then can I pray the prayer of the age. Therefore, to pray effectively, I must be a man of prayer, one with God.

Lord, gain my life and my prayer life to pray the prayer of the age according to Your will.

A Young Couple's Baptism

In a metropolitan society like Gurugram where young people are flocking the city for jobs, it has become a trend for lovers to live together without getting married. Live-in relationship has become a new normal for the secular people. When the saints go out to preach the gospel, a good number of such couples were contacted, preached the gospel to, and introduced to the church. This is not the first time I come across such case. 

The Lord has sovereignly brought them to the church and whom the Lord received who am I to not receive? I was reminded of Peter's experience in Acts 

And on the next day as they were journeying and drawing near to the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray around the sixth hour. And he became very hungry and wanted to eat. And while they were preparing, a trance came upon him; And he beheld heaven opened, and a certain vessel like a great sheet descending, being let down by four corners onto the earth, In which were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth and birds of heaven. And a voice came to him: Rise up, Peter; slay and eat! But Peter said, By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common and unclean. And a voice came to him again a second time: The things that God has cleansed, do not make common. And this occurred three times; and immediately the vessel was taken up into heaven.  Acts 10:9-16

Yes, I am personally very much aware that such a live-in relationship is sinful. But when they were brought into contact with the saints, the gospel has to be preached and the truth announced. That's what I did. When I met them the first time I could not find time to preach the gospel. Later when they came on the 25th December for the new ones' meeting, in fellowship with the gentleman I realized that the Spirit has been working in his life, even leading him and his friend to meet with the church again. Though they moved away to another city after they first came, they came back as the job promised to them was not working out. Their coming back and joining the meeting was the sovereign arrangement of the Lord. 

In our small-group meeting, we ministered the word of God to him and led him to the Lord. Sensing the need to help him further in his spiritual journey, I explained to him the seven important aspects of baptism using relevant Bible verses and encouraged him to consider the word of God carefully. Two days later, today he and his friend came for the meeting. In fact, he came prepared to be baptized. After the meeting, we led him to baptism. Praise the Lord he was baptized!

After his baptism, I fellowshipped with them about the need to set things right before God and man. On the one hand, God is a God of love, grace, and mercy, and on the other hand, our God is also a God of righteousness and holiness. In a way of shepherding I  fellowshipped with him and his girlfriend the need to set right their live-in relationship into proper marriage life. In fact, they both agreed that they should be indeed legally and properly married. They are waiting for financial stability and family approval. I made it clear to them that they already crossed over to the limit of relationship an unmarried couple should maintain. Therefore, they need to set their relationship right at the earliest. I had no intention to tell them this but the Lord led me to teach them the truth in a way of shepherding to lead them in the proper path. They both confessed their sins and wanted to set things right. I spoke what I need to speak and left the decision to them. May the Lord lead them through and through.

They also joined the church's PSRP session, after which I spoke to them again. To my surprise, I discovered that the lady was only child baptized though a confessing believer. Then I spoke to them about the meaning of believing and baptism. I led them to the word of God in Mark 16:16, the importance of genuine believing first, and then proper water baptism. To clarify the truth further, I led them to read through The Mystery of Human Life and expounded them  God's plan, God's creation of man with three parts -body, soul, and spirit; man's fall, Christ's redemption, repentance, confession, believing and baptism, and the need to grow in life by daily spending time with the Lord in prayer in the word, and to be in constant fellowship with the church. Then the girl who was only child baptized decided to be baptized properly. Therefore, we gave her baptism as well. Thus the couple got baptized on the same day today.

May the Lord grace them to continually feed on the word and grow in life to be remaining fruits in the church life.

Recover Your Brothers

My brothers, if any one among you is led astray from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save that one’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. James 5:19-20

Since the Lord saved me by His grace and has been leading me by His grace, I have been enjoying His grace day by day. Though I did not have a notorious background, I have this sense within me that I was as bad as any sinner, at least in my inward being. Some people were expressly bad but I was also bad though not expressed outwardly. As I have been learning and growing in grace, I have come to a point to declare that I am nothing without the Lord's grace. The sense of my sinful flesh has alarmed me daily how much I need the Lord. Therefore, I have no ground to condemn anyone for whatever reason anymore. Even when I see a heinous criminal, I was simply reminded of my own fate if not for the Lord's mercy. I am as bad as any sinner if not worse, except for the Lord's grace and mercy.

Having this sense of the Lord's saving grace, I am very sensitive to the feeling of the weaker saints. When the saints backslide or become rebellious, my heart ached and cried out for them, and I prayed to the Lord desperately for their recovery. Only the Lord's love and saving grace can recover them and even revive them. Therefore, I open myself to the Lord to learn from Him and gain His wisdom to recover my brothers who have turned away from the truth.

A brother in Ludhiana, Punjab, has been in touch with me recently. He has been completely cut off from any fellowship in the Body and has also been going through many family, financial, and faith issues that shook his whole being. But the moment he started calling me for fellowship, I took it as a grace from the Lord to shepherd him and recover him. Through gradually shepherding he has come back to the fellowship and began to join meetings online.  He has also been recovered in his personal spiritual life and began to regularly contact the Lord, pray, and read the Bible. In fact, right after our fellowship, I encouraged him to look to the Lord and learn from Him what needs to be learned. The Lord has been very merciful to him, not only that he is being recovered, but he also got a job during this pandemic time. In fact, it came to him as a surprise. The Lord loves him and is shepherding him. Now he is back to normal in his Christian life. Praise the Lord! 

A brother from Korba, Chhattisgarh, has also been in fellowship with me. Through his ups and downs, I did my best to stand with him and strengthen him. In fact, when he outrightly rebelled against the Lord's recovery and abused some of the brothers I reckoned him as a brother who really needs an urgent and tender shepherding. Despite the brothers' negative reaction towards him, I picked up the burden to shepherd him. To bear a brother's burden is not that easy. I could feel the pain and hardship he went through the bitterness and anguish that befell him. I sympathized with him and did my best to lead him to prayer and the word of God. 

In fact, when he came and stayed with me for a week, I took care of him as my "newborn baby" spiritually. I literally had to care for him physically for his food, lodging, and even washed his dirty clothes. I did it as a brother shepherding another brother and also learning to give hospitality to the saint. The Lord was gracious to me to be able to care for him when his own family members and the saints were scared of him for his aggressive and hyper behavior. But praise the Lord, the love of God and the grace of Christ can heal and recovery anyone, however serious the case may be. Now, this brother has been shepherded to some extent and has realized all his missteps he took in his life. I am glad that now he has become very sober and understood the lesson the Lord is gracing him to learn, "the breaking of the outer man" that he may be completely gained. Now and then we have been fellowshipping and praying together. Praise the Lord! 

A brother, who is also my cousin, has been undergoing the problem of telling lies and getting money for drinking. Since childhood, he has been stung by this intoxicant. Out of love and burden to shepherd him I have been very gracious to him. Though I knew for sure what the outcome would be, whenever he asked for money I still gave him. He has been not keeping his words time and again, but when he came back and apologized for his misdeed, I simply forgave him. My only concern was, he is also a brother in the Lord, maybe a little weaker, and keeps falling now and then, but he is still a brother in the Lord, no matter what. I have been serving him by love and by grace. A few days ago he came to apologize to me for his lies and wrongdoings. I believe the Spirit has convicted him and chastened him. When he came back, I forgave him and he was being recovered to his daily function.  Praise the Lord!

All these recoveries are of the Lord's. His grace showered upon me has been gracing me to grace them to enjoy the Lord's grace. I, in no way, intend to take any credit for their recoveries, but the experiences I have with them are truly noteworthy.  Moreover, the word of the Bible just confirmed the experiences I just have been enjoying.

My brothers, if any one among you is led astray from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save that one’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. James 5:19-20

Execute Justice and Love Mercy

He has declared to you, O man, what is good; And what does Jehovah require of you, But that you would execute justice and love mercy and walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

These days as I have been considering how to take care of an erring brother in his official service in financial mismanagement, I cannot simply overlook the matter, nor can I take strict action legally. I have no choice but to bring the matter before the Lord in prayer as to how to handle this properly. After a long pray-and-wait, in fellowship with my brother who coordinates with me in overseeing the official matter, I brought it to fellowship with another senior and more mature brother. Even as I brought it for fellowship, I look to the Lord that my personal subjective feeling should not override the decision to be taken. Nor should I take side in presenting the matter, rather I should present the fact as it is and let the Lord speak through the brother's fellowship.

In the fellowship, I presented the matter with as many facts and detail as I could present. Then, we decided that the offender still have to righteously pay back all the misappropriated fund he owed to the office. I consulted with our Chartered Accountant on how to record it in our account book. A few days later, the matter was taken up in the board meeting of the company where I presented to the board the action to be taken and further official consideration if any. I also presented the need to take care of the brother in question as he would be completely relieved from his official assignment once his final pending work is submitted. Therefore, on the ground of humanity, we all agreed to pay him three months' salary to take care of his need so that he could move on in life. This decision, I can testify, is truly the Lord's. On the one hand, there is an execution of justice by allowing the offender to pay up for all the misappropriated fund and relieve him from all official duty, yet on the other hand, showing him much grace and mercy by giving him a three-month salary and still allowing him to pay back his dues at his own time and at his own capacity. Of course, this comes with a condition that he cooperates in our official decision that he also returns back all the office items in due time. 

"But that you would execute justice and love mercy and walk humbly with your God." In fact, the Lord spoke to me this verse directly as the decision was taken; the Lord confirmed the decision of the brothers in my time with the Lord. Praise the Lord!

Later in the night when I conveyed the decision made to the brother, he was filled with peace and joy. He narrated to me all the pains and sufferings he went through and how the Lord still loves and shows mercy to him. He told me that he confided in me as a brother and that he would cooperate in all official decisions taken. Now that the matter concerning him was officially cleared, he expressed his gratitude. The extra and special grace offered monetary to him is the Lord's shepherding care for him and his family in the midst of his financial turmoil. Besides, he felt very happy that he could fellowship with me as his brother in the Lord though he felt that many brothers have left and deserted him, including his own so-called "spiritual father." My innate reply was, "Brother, we are brothers in the Lord." I told him that he is free to call me any time for fellowship and prayer. He was so relieved and we prayed together thanking the Lord for his mercy and grace and looking to the Lord to be faithful in our responsibility. He himself decided that he would call me regularly for fellowship and prayer.

As the Lord burdened and led me, I also transferred an offering to him that was channeled through me. In all these, I could experience the sovereignty of the Lord and personally experienced and enjoyed the Lord's rhema word, "execute justice and love mercy." 

Praise the God of justice and the God of mercy! I need both; in dealing with myself and also with others - execute justice and love mercy.