Chattisgarh Christian Book Fair 2021

This was my second time attending the Chattisgarh Christian Book Fair. contrary to what was generally perceived, the book fair drew a lot of crowds despite the pandemic still around the corner. On the first day of the exhibition, my experience was something of joy.

The moment we set up our bookstall, two brothers came and purchased all the ministry books in Hindi that were newly released. I was surprised initially at why these brothers were so hungry for the ministry of the word. This thought caught my attention. When I talked to the brother I discovered that he has been reading the ministry books and was, in fact, taking the stand as the local church in his locality, Champa. He further told me that there were a good number of believers who took the stand as the local church in the nearby villages, about five of them. 

Once the fellowship was done, they left. Then, another group came to our bookstall, the brothers from the city itself, Bilaspur. We also enjoyed a good time of fellowship with them. With this group we had sweeter fellowship; they invited us to their online meeting, and for the Saturday night meeting, and also for the Lord's day meeting. In fact, we attended all of the meetings they invited us to and ministered the word of God.

After, this group, another couple came and collected all the books we displayed, the new title books in Hindi. These brothers also stood as the local church in his village and there were few others who took the same stand, all based on what they have learned and understood from the ministry books concerning the church.

Besides, there were few other Christian leaders and pastors who came to visit us, fellowshipped with us, and received the ministry books. Overall, the book exhibition was worth the price we paid for it.  The Lord brought many of His chosen ones to taste and enjoy the ministry of the age!

Overall, I could perceive that the Lord has been moving in the state of Chattisgarh. This Chattisgarh Christian Book Fair has become a pivotal point to display and spread the ministry of the word! Many seeking believers who have received the ministry books are now ready to take the stand for the Lord's testimony. I believe, in fact, I see in my eyes of faith, many many golden lampstands shining brightly all over Chattisgarh, brightening up the dark northern part of India.

Gain North India Lord!

Second Salvation

Praise the Lord I was saved more than two decades ago in 1997! Yet as I listened to the radio program of the life-study of Job, I was so much impressed by the "second salvation" brothers fellowshipped about concerning the need to be saved not merely from eternal perdition, but to be saved from being in myself or in anything other than being in the Lord. Yes, all the believers were already saved eternally; yet there is a need for another salvation, by being delivered from the self into Christ.

But I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth; Job 19:25

In the Old Testament, the Redeemer, God lives! Job saw this revelation. But a higher revelation revealed in the New Testament is the location where the Redeemer lives. Yes, He sure is in the heavens. If that is all then, it is too objective. Nothing much to experience of the Redeemer living in the heavens only. How about men on the earth? How could man experience Him? The answer is in the New Testament.

The book of Ephesians, Philippians, and Galatians reveals to us the Redeemer living in us! 

And raised us up together with Him and seated us together with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, That He might display in the ages to come the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have become near in the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:6,7 13

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philipians 1:21

I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Galatians 2:2o

This revelation is a sure second-salvation to me and to all who will receive this revelation. The Redeemer lives in me! Christ lives in me! I am in Christ! This revelation and experience is salvation from many besetting and frustrating sins in a daily practical human life. No wonder, the Bible says, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;" in Philippians 2:12, pointing to the practical Christian living in Christ, a daily-salvation.

Christ lives in me! O what a salvation this, that Christ lives in me! 

I was saved! I am being saved! And I will also be saved!

Seeing God

We were on a book distribution at the book fair in Chattisgarh when a group of brothers came and met us and invited us to join their online meeting via Zoom in the night. This group of believers has taken the stand as the church in Bilaspur based on the ministry books they have been reading and enjoying. Though it was a very busy day at the book fair, we winded up our exhibition earlier and headed back to our lodge, about an hour's drive to be in time to join the online meeting. 

As I was considering what to minister to all the saints who joined the online meeting, about 200 of them, the instant leading of the Lord was to minister on "Seeing God" which was also very fresh to me from the recent training on the book of Job. In coordination with a brother who did the Hindi translation, the word of God ministered. 

I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye has seen You; Therefore I abhor myself, and I repent in dust and ashes. Job 42:5-6

I presented the background of the book of Job and explained why God allowed Satan to deal with Job. The intrinsic essence of the book of Job was presented, which is the eternal economy of God to dispense Himself into His chosen people to make them God-man and not merely good man so that this man could be a vessel to contain God and express God to fulfill God's eternal purpose. I also presented the practical way to see God by being pure in heart.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8

When I spoke I followed the inner anointing and ministered the word as it came verse by verse, point by point. Later, when I reconsidered whatever I ministered, I realized that the same points were written down in the outline of the training.  I was surprised at the correlation between what the brothers have written and what the Holy Spirit led me to ministry. This, indeed, was a proof that in the Body of Christ we are all in one Spirit with one vision, one teaching, and one goal. The message and the outline are in line with one another. Here I quote the outline which sovereignly is also the points I ministered. 

In order to see God, we must deal with our heart—2 Cor. 3:16, 18; Matt. 5:8; 13:18-23:

We must be renewed in the spirit of our mind by being re constituted with the holy word of God to be instructed, governed, ruled, and controlled by God’s word—Eph. 4:23; Deut.17:18-20; Phil. 2:2, 5.

We must be on fire with the Lord’s love, having an emotion filled with Him as our zeal for His house—1:8; 2 Cor. 5:14; 2 Tim. 1:6-7; John 2:17; Mark 12:30. 

We must have our will subdued by Christ and transformed with Christ through sufferings so that it is submitted to the headship of Christ (Phil. 2:13; cf. S. S. 4:1, 4; 7:4a, 5), and we must maintain a good and pure conscience by the priceless, cleansing, and purifying blood of Christ (Acts 24:16; 1 Tim. 3:9; Heb. 9:14; 10:22).

To this, I also added the need for beholding and reflecting God daily and showed the saints the practical way to do so. 

But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:18

This meeting had set the stage for further fellowship with the saints in Bilaspur. Therefore, the following day, we were invited again to meet with the saints on their Saturday night meeting physically, where we continued to share the burden on the book of Job and strengthened the point on God's economy. This was the timely speaking of the Lord for the saints there, and the Lord was bringing the saints into the up-to-date speaking for the recovery of His remnant.

Lord, grace the saints in Bilaspur for Your testimony.

Subtle Resistance

After the global pandemic, there was an opening for us to travel for the ministry of the word literature journey. It was the first trip after almost a year's gap. Many uncertainties loomed largely, but trusting in the Lord's grace, I called up few key brothers and prepared an itinerary for the journey. All travel tickets were booked, fellowship was done, and prayer burden was released. The stage was set for the first ministry literature journey to three states (Chattisgarh, Odisha, and Jharkhand) and seven localities (Bilaspur, Khariar Road, Korba, Raipur, Ranchi, Khunti, and Tatanagar).

Two days before my travel date, I was unwell for no particular reason. But I knew why it happened. It was the subtle attack of the enemy. With such a sick body it definitely was not advisable to travel as there are checkpoints for passengers on wheels to contain the spread of any virus. But mine was not that of the ongoing pandemic, but a mild cold and fever. I simply took rest and ate a healthy diet to strengthen my immune system to fight against any virus. Above all, I prayed for the Lord's healing as the journey was important; my whole family prayed for my health too and for the journey. The Lord headed up my physical body and I got healed! Therefore, I could travel as per schedule.

Then, the journey was so blessed as I could witness and testify what the marvelous Lord has been doing all over the place wherever I went along with the brothers. In all the localities we visited, there has been no formal local church raised up, yet the believers have been taking the stand as local churches based on the truth they have learned from the ministry literature.

In fact, the subtle attacks of the enemy just before I went for the journey became a testimony to the genuineness of the Lord's ministry being carried out. In fact, in one of the meetings I testified of the subtle attack of the enemy I faced and how the Lord came to heal me, to prove that the journey was indeed in the Lord's heart for the sake of the many seeking believers the Lord has reserved as His remnant to bear His testimony. The enemy attacked in all possible ways, but the Lord always turned his subtle attacks to display His multifarious wisdom and proved time and again that He is the Victor, and He will ever be.

Jesus is Lord! Chris is Victor!

Pursuit in Pandemic

The pandemic in many ways has been a blessing in disguise for many. Not overlooking the havoc it caused to the global population, I believe firmly that the Lord sovereignly allowed it for the good of mankind. There are countless instances of believers being revived and the gospel of grace being preached in a much higher intensity, and there are many testimonies of believers being recovered and revived in their love towards the Lord and the church. But here, I am presenting a special benefit the pandemic did to me and two dear brothers in the Lord.

A brother that I have been shepherding lost his job and was in financial turmoil. This forced him to leave Gurugram and he went back to his hometown. During that time we had been praying regularly almost every day.  After we went through a series of morning revival readings, we picked up the Shepherding Material, six volumes, and we read lesson by lesson. There are altogether ninety-six lessons in all. It was amazing, we could go through the series, lesson by lesson. And when we covered the entire series of ninety-six lessons, the pandemic calmed down and he came back to Gurugram to continue his profession.

A similar case happened with another brother who is one of our translators and I have been graced to shepherd him all these many years. During the pandemic, we also read through the entire Shepherding Material, lesson by lesson.

I have the benefit of reading through these lessons myself with two brothers in addition to reading through the same in my family pursuit and also with some families in the group meetings.  The level of truth, for sure, must have increased in my two brothers and me as well. Time will testify to this fact. Praise the Lord for the pursuit of the truth!

This is my story of pursuit in the pandemic. I definitely call this, a blessing in disguise.

The Joy of Solving Problems

Taking care of domestic affairs is a duty I am bound to as a family man. The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful family. In addition to the three children, I have my cousins and niece staying with me. In a sense, we have a big family according to today's family size. The bigger the family, the bigger the family responsibility too. The Lord has been faithful in meeting all our needs day by day. There never has been any lack financially so far. Yet I have never taken the way of living luxuriously. As much as possible, I and my wife have been doing our best to be as economic as possible. We spend only for the real need of the family; for healthy food, healthy living, for a good children's education besides the offering as a thanksgiving to the Lord. Therefore, we control our monthly spending strictly.

In this line of family economy, I would not waste anything as much as possible. If broken things could be repaired I would do my best to repair them. First, by myself, if not, get a repairman. It was a good experience the past few weeks repairing things. 

The first thing I repaired was a clothes dryer which broke to the extent that it was just good to dispose of it. I was about to buy a new one but found it too expensive for just a dryer. Then I realized that I could as well repair it. I took time to study the problem and fixed it with the help of my son and daughter. The repairing work was further improved as it broke down multiple times. Every time it broke, I came up with a new idea and still make it work. And now it has been working and is being in use. 

The other work was the toilet flush which was a very old model, the flush handle broke. It was not possible to find a replacement for the broken handle. I had only two options, repair it or buy the entire flush kit. I decided to repair it. I used a little scientific idea and fixed it, somehow. 

Then I found another clothes dryer lying totally broken and unused. I looked at it and found ways to repair it. A smart idea was all that it took me. I studied the points where it broke and figured out how to fix it, and then fixed it. Now, it is a good as the new one, even stronger, as I used some extra reinforcement on the broken parts.

One big challenge was when my washing machine broke down. I need to first find the problem and then the solution. I searched a random YouTube video and came up with ideas. One by one, I tried the ideas I got. I had to open up the back and bottom parts of the machine. After a careful look into the mechanism, I found that the drain outlet was blocked by multiple coins which must have fallen from the pockets of clothes washed, I removed them all. Then I found the cleaning filter fully choked with mud, perhaps, the dirt from clothes gathered and accumulated into thick mud. I cleaned them all. Then I applied mechanical force to the drum that did not spin as it was choked at the joint, due to dirty clogging. And finally, I did a descaling of the entire machine with a chemical powder. After all these tedious steps, the washing machine worked again to the joy of my wife. 

All these repairing works, if given to repairman would cost a few thousands of rupees. Or, if we were to purchase new gadgets for all these, it would cost some fifteen to twenty thousand rupees. Now, the works were done and money saved. On the one hand, it was for economy sake, yet on the other hand, it was for saving from wastage, that I took the pain to repair myself. But most importantly was for me to learn to solve problems with scientific ideas and learn to fulfill my domestic duty. After all, the joy of solving problems economically was a reward I love to enjoy. 

This reminds me of solving spiritual problems through prayer and careful study of the fact and applying the word of God as life and life supply. Physical repairs point to spiritual lessons of great value! The result is, joy!

Bible Translation Checking

Since the Lord led us to work on the Recovery Version New Testament translation in Indian languages, we have been graced by the Lord in all the aspects of the project. Be it keeping the schedule, the health of the serving ones, the prayer and support of the Body, the financial offering and supply for the translation work, all have been sovereignly and wonderfully taken care of by the Lord. Besides, serving together with the brothers overseeing this project and the coordination among all those who are involved in this project has been so smooth and has been in oneness. What was initially looked upon as a herculean task of doing six languages simultaneously by a single country has now become an accomplished task in the Body. I have been especially graced to keep my eyes on the flow of offering and financial supply for this project. At times, I wondered how this project could be carried out with such a great financial burden for five years, to support every serving ones on time, but the Lord has proved Himself faithful in His work, time and again. The very fact of being an eyewitness to this is itself a great blessing. It does strengthen my faith to a great extend. What a grace, what a blessing!

After the completion of the New Testament text translation in six languages, we did the hotspot checking from the week of 6th Jan to 10th Feb 2021. Hotspots are verses, phrases, or words in the New Testament that are crucial to determine its accuracy according to the original Greek and a properly interpreted texts in line with God's eternal plan revealed in the Bible. Each week we started at 7:30 PM and went through 10:30 PM from Wednesday to Friday. The reason for this odd timing was due to the present pandemic that prohibited our coming together. We had to do it online at the best time suitable for USA and India time. It began with Mizo, followed by Malayalam, Telugu,  Tamil, Kannada, and finished off with Mizo what was left behind. In this way, we finished all the hotspot checking. Now,  what is left is the typesetting and proofreading, which we trust the Lord will lead us through. Then we can print and distribute them to all God’s children.

In all these processes I learned some crucial new life lessons and a much deeper insight into the depth of the word of God. Now the underlying burden is, to print and distribute widely all over India and abroad to the Christians speaking the six languages. I am not a marketing genius but I trust the Lord will lead me and give me His wisdom in spreading the properly translated and interpreted word of God. In prayer and in fellowship in the Body, the Lord will lead us through and through again.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah as water covers the sea. Habakkuk 2:14