Fear God: Care for the Needy

The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7 

Therefore also we are determined, whether at home or abroad, to gain the honor of being well pleasing to Him. 2 Corinthians 5:9 

The past few days I have been considering if I did the right thing in helping the needy saints. Though I took the initiative to help the needy saints as much as I could, praying for them and praying with them, and even arranging some financial assistance to meet their needs, I even reconsidered if I were overtaken by my emotion or did it in my natural human "goodness". I even questioned myself if I was being cheated by some of these needy saints who expressed their needs to me, or were they craftily taking advantage of my soft heart? In fact, I was a little concerned if I gave the wrong impression to the needy saints, giving room for them to play with my emotion and generosity.  For some reason, the needy saints generally called me to fellowship with me about their situations. Generally, I sympathize with them and made arrangements to help them out. As I was considering my so-called "caring for the needy", I was comforted by the Lord through His speaking. Today morning I received this word from the PSRP of our training, "Fearing the Lord causes one to be touched by the suffering of others and showing mercy and compassion to them."

The first principle for man to live a proper human life is for him to fear the Lord, to revere the Lord; fearing the Lord stops us from doing evil; it also causes us to be touched by the sufferings of others and to show mercy and compassion to them. (Excerpt from the Crystallization-Study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, Message Eleven)

The Lord is the best pattern for me to follow. When He was on the earth He cared for the needy even if they just came to Him to meet just their needs. The Lord still cared for them without any expectation from them in return. But He did it in oneness with the Father.

In the past few months, I had been quite involved in my inward being with five families as I came to know about their real situation, especially of their urgent financial needs. I did my best to make necessary financial arrangements in a way of offering or otherwise too. As I fellowshipped with them I could feel the pain that they have been going through. I reckon their needs as my own need. But I first brought the matter to the Lord in prayer. After the peace and confirmation from the Lord, I made arrangements within my own capacity and some I fellowshipped with the church brothers to make arrangements from the church side. The cases that were brought to me were all taken care of. There was indeed such peace and life flowing after helping the needy saints. 

Though there was a reconsideration of what I have been doing for caring for the needy saints, the Lord confirmed to me through His speaking that caring for the needy is indeed an aspect of fearing the Lord reverentially.

To fear the Lord is to consider and regard Him in everything, never forgetting that He is the wonderful God who has created us (Isa. 43:7); fearing the Lord stops us from doing evil; it also causes us to be touched by the sufferings of others and to show mercy and compassion to them. (Excerpt from the Crystallization-Study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, Message Eleven)

Now I have been comforted by the Lord's speaking that I did what I should have done. Therefore, no regrets about caring for the needy. In fact, I should care for the needy much more as much as the Lord allows me to and provides me the resources to do so. This is an aspect of fearing the Lord and being determined to gain the honor of being well-pleasing to Him.

Overcoming Satan

One of the messages that I enjoyed and found very helpful recently is on God, Man, and Satan. The special emphasis on knowing Satan gave me a new light in dealing with him as God is still using Satan as an ugly tool to fulfill His need on this earth, especially in dealing with a naturally good man like Job, to strip him completely so as to rebuild him with Himself anew.

Who is Satan? Why is there Satan? What Satan has? These are questions that have been answered in the Bible. With this knowledge of Satan, we must also know that Satan has already been defeated by Christ.

Through His ministry on earth and His death on the cross, the Lord Jesus was victorious over Satan—1 John 3:8; Matt. 27:51-53; Col. 2:14-15; Heb. 2:14.

He who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8

And behold, the veil of the temple was split in two from top to bottom, and the earth was shaken and the rocks were split, And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And they came out of the tombs after His resurrection and entered into the holy city and appeared to many. Matthew 27:51-53

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. Stripping off the rulers and the authorities, He made a display of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Colossians 2:14-15

Since therefore the children have shared in blood and flesh, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death He might destroy him who has the might of death, that is, the devil. Hebrews 2:14 (Excerpt from the Crystallization-Study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, Message Two)

But that's not enough. If the defeat of Satan were merely in doctrine it would not benefit the believers at all.  The general concept is that except for the Lord Jesus Christ no one can defeat Satan. Yes, that's true. But the full truth is, the Lord Jesus Christ as the life-giving Spirit is in the spirit of the believers. Therefore, by living in the mingled spirit, the believers can overcome Satan as well. This a great news and a big revelation!

I am glad that I was assigned to review this message. It helped me in studying the truths and this is also what I need to fully understand to experience it in my Christian life. I shared the same point when I was asked to give the strengthening word after the video training last Saturday.

Knowing the Believer’s Victory Over Satan  

As believers in Christ Jesus and children of God, we need to learn to be victorious in Christ over Satan—Eph. 6:12; 1 Pet. 5:8-9; 1 John 5:18.

We should not be ignorant of Satan’s schemes—2 Cor. 2:11. 

We need to put on the whole armor of God so that we may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil—Eph. 6:11. 

We need to be watchful against our adversary, the devil, who “as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking someone to devour”—1 Pet. 5:8. The word watch in 1 Peter 5:8 implies fighting; we are involved in a warfare, and we need to be vigilant.  If we are vigilant, we will withstand our adversary, being firm in our faith—v. 9: 1 Pet 5:9 Him withstand, being firm in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being accomplished among your brotherhood in the world.

The best way for us to be victorious over Satan is to live in the mingled spirit—1 Cor. 6:17; 1 John 5:18.

But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.  1 Cor 6:17 

We know that everyone who is begotten of God does not sin, but he who has been begotten of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him. 1 John 5:18  

There is only one place that Satan cannot invade—our spirit—2 Tim. 4:22. Whether or not we are under Satan’s authority is not determined by the things we do; rather, it is determined by whether we are in the spirit or in the flesh—Gal. 5:16-17. As long as we remain in the mingled spirit, we will be kept, and Satan will have no way with us—1 Cor. 6:17; 1 John 5:4-5, 18-21.  (Excerpt from the Crystallization-Study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, Message Two)

This is the secret to overcoming Satan! 

Besides, we must also know the local church’s victory over Satan.  

Now the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Rom 16:20 

The crushing of Satan is related to the church life—the strongest means by which God overcomes Satan—vv. 20, 1, 16b. The Greek word rendered “your” in Romans 16:20 is plural; this points to the Body—12:5.  Romans 16 does not refer to the Body in a universal sense but to the local and practical expression of the Body. Dealing with Satan is a Body matter, not an individual matter. Satan can be crushed only under the feet of the practical expression of the Body in the local churches—12:5; 16:1, 4, 16b. It is only when we have a proper local church as the practical expression of the Body that Satan is crushed under our feet—v. 20. (Excerpt from the Crystallization-Study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, Message Two)

Therefore, as we exercise to live in our mingled spirit where we are one with the Lord, the life-giving Spirit, we must also be in the practical church life in our locality, in oneness with the believers, standing together as and for the Lord's testimony. By these two simple ways, we can practically overcome Satan in our daily living. 

Hallelujah! Christ is Victor! And we are victors in Christ in the spirit in the church life!

Fight the Good Fight in Fellowship

For our wrestling is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies. Ephesians 6:1

A proper Christian life involves fighting the good fight against Satan and his kingdom of darkness and for the interests of God’s kingdom—Eph. 6:10-19.  

Today I received a surprise email from one of the serving ones in the office. At the first glance, I thought he was not ready to take up a new assignment. But on a careful reading of the mail, he was sending an indirect intimation of leaving the service. This came as a shock to me. Before coming to any conclusion, I called up my brother who has been coordinating with me to check if he knew anything, perhaps, a serious reason for such a drastic decision. Then we both decided to call the brother concerned.

We had a long call that lasted over an hour and a half. As I listened to the brother and his concern that led up to make such a decision I came to realize that the enemy has been working behind the scene to frustrate the literature service that we are involved in. He was brought into the service initially to make the hymnal available in various Indian languages which he is very good at it and has a passion for it. Then because of the need, he was also assigned to take care of the IT works of the company, and then finally because of the need again, he was assigned a typesetting work of the Recovery Version of the Bible. The enemy surely hates this service very much. As he was narrating his side of the story and his feeling concerning the way things were communicated to him, there was an offense personally and a misunderstanding crept in between him and the other brother in the office. This is nothing new to me. This is the process we all have been going through in sour service. 

My brother who coordinates with me offered a wonderful fellowship on the need for our being blended, broken, and built up by the Lord in our respective areas of service. If one cannot be blended with the ones God has sovereignly placed with, escaping from that person is not the solution at all. The Lord wants all to be blended into the Body. To escape or avoid a brother just because one cannot adjust with him is to not be able to be blended in the Body.  Rather this should serve as an opportunity for learning the lesson of the cross by the Spirit and be built up as one.

Then, I offered my fellowship on how God's enemy hates the work we are doing as it is directly related to His eternal purpose. Bringing out the word of God with a proper translation and notes to help readers understand the word of God better is a real threat to the enemy. Surely the enemy hates this. Our fight is not against blood and flesh, not against our fellow believers but against Satan and his kingdom of darkness who has been opposing God's work or at least trying to frustrate, from the very beginning.  It is he who tries his best to thwart the work of God by bringing misunderstanding and confusion among the brothers. I offered a fellowship from the life of Nehemiah, how he was opposed vehemently when he decided to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Yet he was not a coward, he fought against the opposition and was properly aggressive because he knew what God wants. In a very genuine way, I also told him my appreciation of his service, which I really meant, and let him know his service is needed and important in the Body for the Lord's purpose.

After such a fellowship, as brothers and as fellow serving ones, my brother changed his mind and gave up the idea of giving up his service. Then, we prayed together and the matter was resolved. Then we also called up the other brother through whom he was offended, and we clarified the matter in fellowship. We even encourage the latter to go fellowship with the former and pray together. The process was unexpected yet it taught a very precious lesson to me: we are fighting the good fight in fellowship. 

Satan is indeed the defeated foe. Whatever he does will end up proving the multifarious wisdom of God. No wonder, God still waited for the execution of the judgment He accomplished at the cross against Satan. In all his satanic activities, we are learning a precious lesson of the cross, fighting the good fight in fellowship for the building up of the Body of Christ!

Praise the Lord! 

Young People Meeting: Witnessing

Last Lord's day we had a new beginning for the Young People meeting here in the local church. The Lord has led us as to how the young people should function. We have tried a couple of ways to make the meeting living, fruitful, and that all the young ones function. Finally, we decided to assign responsibility to all the young people in truth pursuit, in presenting the truth, and also in sharing the gospel. Our first topic was "Witnessing." This message was also the need of the time as we have been trumpeting gospel preaching by every saint at least two hours a week. This time too, the young people from the church in Shillong joined and some new ones in Gurugram also joined. The Lord is gaining the young people for His move.

Excerpt from the message by Brother Watchman Nee from Messages for Building Up the New Believers, Vol. 2, Lesson 18.

Every Christian must try his best to bring salvation to others. He must do his best to testify to others and lead others to the Lord so that the testimony may continue on this earth from generation to generation. We suffer no loss when we witness. But by witnessing, the testimony goes on.

What is witnessing? In Acts 22:15 the Lord sent Ananias to speak to Paul: “For you will be a witness to Him unto all men of the things which you have seen and heard.” From this, we see that the basis of witnessing is what we have seen and heard. First John 4:14 tells us what witnessing is: “We have beheld and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.” A person is a witness to what he has seen. It means that you should witness to your friends, relatives, and acquaintances of what you have seen and heard, and bring them to the Lord.

The Samaritan Woman, John 4 (Witnessing by going to the city): Every Christian has an obligation to be a witness and to introduce the Lord to others. All those who have seen that they are sinners surely have a testimony to give. Those who have seen the Savior also have a testimony to give. This woman gave her testimony within a few hours after she had met the Lord.

The Demon Possessed, Mark 5:1-20 (Going home to the family): After the demon possessed man was saved, the Lord said to him, “Go to your house, to your own people, and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you” (v. 19). In order to witness to our family, we must show them the great change in our conduct. We must show our family what a wonderful change has been wrought in our lives since we believed in the Lord. Only then will they listen to us. 

Saul of Tarsus, Acts 9:19-21 (Proclaiming in the synagogue): After Paul received his sight, he went at the first opportunity to testify that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. Every believer of the Lord should do the same thing.

Andrew, John 1:40-45 (One on one): Conversation between Todd and Mr. Dickens: “In the past I have only heard the gospel. Today I have seen the gospel.” The next Lord’s Day, Mr. Dickens went to church, and later he led dozens of people to salvation.

THE IMPORTANCE OF WITNESSING

Being a Great Joy: The two happiest days in every believer’s life are the day he believes in the Lord and the day when, for the first time, he leads another person to Christ.

Learning to Be Wise: Proverbs 11:30 says, “He that winneth souls is wise.” From the very beginning of our Christian life, we should learn to win souls by various means. We should learn to be wise. This will make us useful persons in the church.

Begetting Life: New believers need to learn to witness to others from the very beginning. This is something we have to do for the rest of our lives. The living water does not flow through those who are opened just to the Lord. One end must be opened to the Lord, and the other end must be opened to man. The living water will flow out only when both ends are opened. Many people are powerless before God because the end toward the Lord is not open. But many more people are powerless because the end for witnessing and leading others to Christ is closed.

Experiencing the Misery of Eternal Separation: As soon as a person believes in the Lord, he should make a resolution before the Lord to lead men to the Lord. Everyone should have a record of how many souls he will save in a year. He may resolve to save ten or twenty a year. He should then begin to pray for them. General prayers are useless prayers. We must ask the Lord for a specific number in our prayer. The Lord wants to hear our specific prayers. We should pray to the Lord every day and should testify whenever there is opportunity. If all of us preach the gospel and lead people to the Lord this way, our spiritual life will advance quickly in a few years. The testimony of the gospel needs to go out from us until the Lord’s return.

May the Lord bless all the young people to be His witnesses!

Life Lessons: Ordinances and Shepherding

For He Himself is our peace, He who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition, the enmity, abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace, and might reconcile both in one Body to God through the cross, having slain the enmity by it. Ephesians 2:14-16

Ordinances

The primary source of the divisions among Christians throughout the centuries has been ordinances. We may trace these ordinances all the way back to the time of Babel. From the time of Babel, mankind has been divided by ordinances concerning the ways of living and worship. One of the main elements of ordinances is language. As we all know, the division of the peoples at Babel was related to differences of language. There are many other ordinances concerning practices. The practices of baptism, the way a Christian group meets, the way they worship and pray, and many other practices. All these ordinances must not be the cause of division may Christian. What is important is Christ, the one new man.

Today morning I saw a message from a brother that I have been shepherding for years. He texted me about his baptism which should have been a thing of joy. But my reaction was somewhat negative. As I went before the Lord to pray and consider, the Lord rebuked me in not being joyful at my brother's baptism. In fact, the Life-study message on ordinances spoke to me in a fresh way. I felt like the Lord rebuked me saying, "You are not joyful about your brother's baptism because he was not baptized by you? Or because he was baptized by a sister who first led him to the Lord? You think that he should be baptized by you and just by some "leading brothers?" You are holding to your own concept, that is ordinances." Then, I repented before the Lord. I was exposed of how I was unconsciously holding on to ordinances. My ordinances may be according to my understanding of the "proper teaching of the Bible." Nevertheless, it is still an ordinance. It was a big blow to me and a great deliverance from my own ordinances. Praise the Lord that a brother whom I have been shepherding has been baptized! And I am being delivered from my own good ordinances!

Shepherding 

Another matter the Lord clarified by doubt was on shepherding the new ones. Some of the new ones are yet to be delivered from idolatry as they are from such background and some are in a live-in relationship, which we have advised them strongly to not continue and get married properly. 

According to the teaching of the New Testament, there are four things which we cannot tolerate: idolatry, fornication, division, and the denial of the deity of Christ. Romans 16:17, “Now I beg you, brothers, keep a watchful eye on those who make divisions and causes of falling contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and turn away from them.” In 1 Corinthians 5:7-11 Paul deals with fornication and idolatry. In verse 9 he charges the saints “not to company with fornicators.” Fornication damages humanity, and idolatry is an insult to God. Although Paul was liberal with respect to doctrine, he would not tolerate anything related to fornication or idolatry. His word about these things is strong and definite. In Titus 3:10 Paul says, “A man that is factious, after the first and second admonition, reject” (Gk.). A factious person is divisive and sectarian. After such a one has been admonished once or twice, he should be rejected if he continues in his divisiveness. There can be no compromise or neutrality. Therefore, regarding idolatry, fornication, and divisiveness Paul was very strict, and we must be strict also. According to the Second Epistle of John, we see that we must also reject those who deny the incarnation of Christ. Verse 7 says, “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” This verse indicates that even in the first century there were certain ones who called themselves Christians, but who did not confess that Christ was God come in the flesh. In other words, they denied the fact that Christ was God incarnated.

According to the truth objectively, the new ones we are shepherding them must be helped immediately lest they be cut off from the fellowship as some of them are still holding onto their past background of idol worship. And some are still in their live-in relationship which is another form of fornication. As I was considering in the light of the word of God and also in the light of shepherding the new ones, the Lord showed me a new light. I must pray and shepherding these new ones to the extent that they fully leave idolatry, and they also fully come out of fornication. Instead of applying the teachings to them, I must shepherd them that they are not barred from the fellowship because of their sinful past. The solution is not in applying the doctrinal truth to them, but to shepherd them that they grow in life to come out of their sinful past lifestyle. What a relief the Lord gave me this morning!

Self Knowledge and God's Light

Another light the Lord showed me today morning is regarding my service. As I considered my past years of service, I felt very disappointed that I did not fruitfully bore forth fruits, according to my estimation, considering the length of my service so far. This is my own self-knowledge from self-examination, At that juncture, the Lord's light shown on me through the PSRP session we just had on the Crystallization-study of Job. The Lord showed me how I need not be like Job who cursed his birth, who dwelt on his excellent past, and willing to die to escape the Lord's stripping. Rather, I should follow the pattern of the apostle Paul who lived Christ, who left everything of the past behind, good or bad, stretching forward to pursue and gain Christ, dying to live Christ and being filled with joy and rejoicing and preferring to live for the saints' progress and joy of their faith. With this light, I was very much comforted and learned my lesson to let go of everything of my own feeling and continue to faithfully serve the Lord.

These are the life lessons the Lord taught me today, regarding ordinances, shepherding, and concerning myself. Praise the Lord!

Gospel: First Fruit of the Year

At the beginning of this year, the Lord burdened me as He also burdened the church with the gospel. It has been my prayer since then that every month I can bear at least a fruit. And this year, as a family we can gain one whole local family for the Lord's testimony in Gurugram. From day one, and from the first week, I did my best to cooperated with the Lord's move in going out to contact people at least for two hours a week. I trust the Lord will continue to grace me week by week, and month by month.

Today morning, I was burdened by the Lord to call up one particular new one whom I met a few years ago during door knocking. I have been trying to contact him on phone and tried to meet him physically last year but it never was carried out. Today as I called him, he agreed to meet up at his house in the afternoon at about 4 PM.

Then, I was busy with phone call prayer with some saints that went on and on for almost an hour. As I was praying with a brother and a sister, the Lord burden me so much about this new one that I made an appointment with. I prayed deep within that this one would hear the gospel and receive the Lord today. Even as I prayed for him inwardly though I was on a call with the saints, a call came seven times from this new one, trying to contact me. I did not pick the call as I did not want to disturb the ongoing call with the saints. Right after the two phone call prayers, I called the new one back and he said he was ready to come and meet me instead of I going to meet him. Therefore, I immediately decided to pick him from a Metro Station as he did not know how to come to my home.

As he came home, the Lord led me to invite him for a meal as it was lunchtime,. Though my family did not prepare enough food for him too, we made a quick egg-corn fry and a small pot of rice. Then, we ate lunch together. It was during this lunchtime that I preached the gospel to him. As we ate our lunch we also ate the word of God. As we finished our lunch, I led him to receive the Lord by praying the sinner's prayer.

He is a lawyer by profession and also needs help in his career as the present pandemic has very much affected his profession. I told him that the best I can render is spiritual help in which he can contact God directly. Only the blessing of God counts in whatever we do. He agreed to my statement that apart from God there is no blessing. Therefore, I explained to him further how to contact God in our spirit and this is a very personal, private, and intimate matter, just between him and God. I also explained to him that this has nothing to do with religion. It is rather a personal spiritual relationship with God. I encouraged him to read the New Testament in English and Bengali, his mother tongue, for three-fold benefits. Firstly, for his spiritual nourishment and growth. Secondly, for his understanding of the word of God. And finally, to hone his language skill as he could possibly be a translator for the ministry books from English to Bengali.

After the personal gospel preaching and his prayer to receive the Lord, his visage changed and he became very serious about God. He expressed his eagerness to read the Bible and also to be able to translate one day if he was qualified to do so.  We both agreed to meet often, and perhaps, pray together as often as possible, even daily. Then I went to drop him.

The Lord has given this new one for my shepherding. May the Lord grace me to shepherd him that he can enjoy God's full salvation and become a useful vessel to the Lord. As his name is, so shall he be anointed of the Spirit of God!

May the Lord preserve him for Him alone, and bring him to experience and enjoy His full salvation, and even to become a serving one, one day. 

Fight the Good Fight in Prayer

Moreover if your brother sins against you, go, reprove him between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not hear you, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to hear the church also, let him be to you just like the Gentile and the tax collector. 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. For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst. Then Peter came and said to Him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you, Up to seven times, but, Up to seventy times seven. Matthew 18:15-22 

The Lord gave us the step-by-step way in Matthew 18. These steps are to go to the person alone, then with one or two others, and finally to the church. If he would not listen even to the church, would we give up? We may stop with verse 17 of Matthew 18 by simply letting him be to us like a Gentile and a tax collector. If we stop here, however, our group will be reducing instead of increasing. Following verse 17 is verse 18 where the Lord said that we have to learn to bind and to release. We have to learn to pray in harmony for a sinning one. Then the Father in heaven will perform what we ask and will be in our midst. We also have to learn to forgive others countless times. This is the reality of the vital groups. 

In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul rebuked the Corinthian believers and charged them to remove an evil one from their midst (v. 13). Paul’s charge was somewhat comparable to that of the Mosaic law in the Old Testament (see Deut. 13:5; 17:7, 12; 21:21; 22:21-22, 24; 24:7). But in 2 Corinthians Paul was tender, cautious, and considerate regarding this sinful person. After Paul told the saints to remove him, he did not have the peace, so he sent Titus to see the situation. Titus brought back the good news that this evil man had repented (7:6-13). Then Paul said that the saints should forgive and comfort this one. Otherwise, they could be taken advantage of by Satan (2:6-11). (Excerpt from The Vital Group, Ch. 1)

These days the Lord's speaking is on the matter of fighting the good fight against the works of the enemy and also fighting for the saints and the church. Yesterday, we had the church's ministry meeting in which we listened to the message spoken by brother Witness Lee on the vital group. Today, in our Wednesday coworkers' fellowship, the same message was played. The Lord's speaking is also being followed by His hands. 

Immediately after I got the light on the matter of taking care of the sinning ones, based on Brother Witness Lee's message, I received a phone call from a brother concerning a new couple who just started coming to the church. Though they are not legally married, they have been living together as a couple. We have already fellowshipped with them to set their relationship right before God and man, which they are willing to do whenever they could as that involved money which they do not have at the moment.  Meanwhile, they were caught red-handed yesterday in a very embarrassing situation of a physical fight due to a relationship issue between the brother and the sister. When another brother narrated to me what he witnessed of the entire situation as we both are shepherding them from the very beginning, I was reminded of the way the Lord dealt with a woman caught in adultery in her very act, and how the Lord did not condemn her but forgave her and asked her to sin no more.  And the message I just enjoyed on the vital group concerning dealing with a sinning brother just matched the experience I am facing with the new ones. 

The light I got from the message is a salvation indeed for me. I was saved from condemning the sinning ones so easily and lightly.  In my natural man, I would react in a way of cutting off the couple from further fellowship who are not morally or ethically up to the Christian as generally understood. I could have easily ended at the verse in Matthew 18:17 "And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to hear the church also, let him be to you just like the Gentile and the tax collector." It is very easy to conclude this verse by dubbing the sinning ones as "Gentile and tax collector." But, I was deeply enlightened to see further, in verse 18, "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." Verse 17 ended so low, yet verse 18 opened up the need to pray with the twos and threes praying an authoritative prayer of binding and loosing such sinning ones.  Such sinning ones should not be given up, but be prayed for, for God to release them from the bondage of Satan who binds them. Only by such prayer in harmony among the vital members, exercising the heavenly authority, can the sinning ones be fully delivered. Then, once the Lord releases them, we have to forgive them, love them, and continue to shepherd them. Then, the sinning ones would repent and be recovered. Even, perhaps, be revived!

Therefore, yesterday when my vital partner called me, my innate response was not to pass any judgement, but to pray a releasing prayer. So we prayed together for the couple. Last night too, I prayed such a releasing prayer for the Lord to release them. Advice and so called "fellowship" will not work when one is under the bondage of Satan. What they need is the Lord's deliverance from the bondage of Satan. And today evening, I called up the brother whose sister had "cheated"  him with an immoral activity that ended up in their fight. I called him to shepherd him, and then prayed for them. 

In fact, just last Lord's day, as a part of caring for the needy saints, a considerable amount of money was loaned to the couple as they lost their job for months now and were in urgent need to pay their house rent. I personally took the burden and fellowshiped with a responsible brother in the church and made arrangement for them financially. A thought passed through my mind if I had done the right thing, but the message confirmed that the needy saints should be taken care of and prayed for. This is how I fight the good fight in prayer and also in deed by practically caring for their need.

The Lord's hand does follow His speaking. I am glad I have been graced to fight the good fight for the saints in prayer. 

May the Lord shepherd and release the sinning ones and fully recover them.