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

Pray, Pray, and Pray

Pray, pray, and pray... This has been my Christian life these days. The Lord burdened me for many people and places for His testimony. But what I can do best as of now is pray, pray and pray. The burdens are heavy and there seems to be no way for me to carry out the burdens the Lord blessed me with. I cannot shy away from the burdens, nor can I run away from executing it. But I have no idea how the burdens can be carried out. When I considered all the burdens and how they should be carried out, I was just helpless. Nothing seems to work out. So the only thing I can do now, and, in fact, have been doing and also am very good at doing it is, pray, pray, and pray. Therefore, I resort to prayer as much as I can. And I love praying for the burdens and I enjoy praying for these burdens.

The burden for my official service, in serving the people of India with the timely and healthy ministry of the word as a healthy spiritual food supply, is being prayed for regularly. The burden to gain local families for the Lord's testimony, the burden for shepherding the saints and perfecting them in their functions, the burden for gospel preaching and gaining increase for the church, the burden for my ex-classmates for whom I initiated a monthly online meeting, the burden for North India for the spread of the ministry of the word in Hindi and the raising up of many golden lampstands all over India, especially North India among the Hindi speaking populace, the burden for my hometown-the salvation of my village people and tribesmen, the burden for my relatives in the flesh to be saved and recovered for the Lord's testimony, the burden for the Lord's testimony in the Nort East, and on and one. These burdens have been driving me to pray and pray. 

I am now just doing what I can do, and what I can do best, pray, pray, and pray. Praise the Lord for these burdens of prayer! May the spirit of prayer fill me and grace me to pray, pray, and pray.

Shillong: Brothers Fellowship and Prayer

But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.  Acts 6:4 

On the 3rd of Oct 2020, I updated the brothers serving the work in India about the situation in Shillong. The Lord has been moving in the church in Shillong despite the outbreak of pandemic everywhere. Though they could not meet regularly, the number of new believers increased and the saints' fellowship grew stronger and stronger. The total number of saints the brother gave me on that day was 498 in 16 localities. Since then the saint's number also increased.

As far as the shepherding is concerned, I have been sending messages almost on a daily basis, an excerpt from a selected ministry book, topic by topic, sequentially and regularly. We have covered The Basic Revelation in the Holy Scriptures, and now we have almost covered The Tree of Life. Little by little the saints have been fed with the word of God. The Lord burdened me to do the best that I could do, that is pray for them and feed them with the word faithfully.

Sometimes, in the WhatsApp group, I was tempted to respond to certain posts, but the Lord reminded me not to meddle with any unrelated matter from the burden He bestowed me with. So I realized I should and must only post messages, excerpts from the ministry books, faithfully as a spiritual food supply to the saints.

As the shepherding in this way has been going on, there is also a burden for more fellowship and blending among the saints there and also with saints from other parts of the country. The Lord led me further to propose an online meeting for all the leading brothers with the brothers who oversee the Lord's move in the entire country. After much prayer, I proposed such a meeting, and also called up two of the main functioning brothers for the same. For a couple of weeks, I did not receive any reply. But still kept praying for them.

Finally, last week I receive a reply saying that the brothers were willing to meet online once every month, to start with, i.e., on the first of every month. This was a piece of rejoicing news to me. While I was waiting for the reply the enemy also tried to tempt me to think and speculate negatively why the brothers had not replied. But I kept committing the matter to the Lord and finally I was so glad to learn that the brother agreed to meet.

Besides, I was also informed that the sisters also decided to meet weekly.  Last Lord's day the sisters met in one of the sisters' home and it was a new beginning. The serving sisters came together to learn to pray and fellowship with one another. And the next day, the 1st of February, Monday, the brothers' meeting followed suit. 

I have been in fellowship with the brothers serving in the work and in fellowship, brothers from the church in New Delhi and Gurugram also joined the fellowship. Though we did not plan how we should meet as it was the first time, the Lord led us in His sovereignty. We all introduced ourselves one by one and shared our enjoyment of Christ. All the brothers' sharing became an all-inclusive message covering the matter of truth, the experience of life, the vision of the Body, and God's economy. Then we prayed together for the Lord's move in Shillong and Meghalaya.

The following day, a brother from Shillong called me to express His thankfulness to the Lord and how good he felt about the meeting online. He even proposed that we could have such a meeting twice a month, instead of just once. He felt very good about the Lord opening up the church in Shillong to the entire Body for more fellowship, blending, and building.

May the Lord continue to bless His move in Shillong and strengthen all the saints in their Christian life for the church life for His testimony!

Life Lesson: Fearing God

In this age of godlessness where many people don't care for anything concerning God, where they are drugged by the blind philosophy of modernism, and where the worldly-wise follow their dead conscience, there is a need for an anti-testimony against this age of godlessness. To know God and to fear Him reverentially is the remedy. All children of God must learn to fear God; all the young ones must learn to fear God at their young age. This is not merely a salvation but also a protection from the attacks of the enemy and a preservation from the influence of the sinful world.

The message on "Fearing God" in the training has thrown a lot of light on its intrinsic significance. Excerpts from the message are quoted verbatim: 

Fearing the Lord is to have a reverential, relational, openness, and obedience to the Lord. This is the first principle to be a proper human being; fearing the Lord, revering Him, fearing to offend God or losing His presence or missing the Lord's smile. It is aslo to fear our self in a positive way; not to express our self, but to express God only.

Proverbs 1:7a says, “The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge.” In 2 Corinthians 5:9 Paul says that “we are determined…to gain the honor of being well pleasing to Him.” To fear the Lord is not only fleeing from sins but also, and even more, rejecting the self; not merely to fear that we have sinned or that we are worldly but to fear that what we are doing is out of ourselves, not out of the Lord (Matt. 16:24; 2 Cor. 4:5). In 2 Corinthians 4:5 Paul says, “We do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.” Therefore, fearing God will honor God and will deny the self.

Example of Not Fearing the Lord

The first case involves Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10. As they were serving with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu “presented strange fire before Jehovah” (v. 1). Strange fire is a fire that is strange to God. It is strange because is it not the fire from heaven that burned on the altar of burnt offering. According to Leviticus 6:12 and 13, the first duty of the priests when they arose was to make sure that the fire on the altar of burnt offering was kept burning. God charged the priests to keep the fire burning on the altar continually (v. 13). Nadab and Abihu did not offer the fire from the altar. Instead, they offered their human-manufactured fire, which is strange fire. Strange fire signifies natural enthusiasm, natural affection, natural strength, and natural ability. I would emphasize that we should be on fire for the Lord. Revelation 3 makes clear that the Lord does not want us to be lukewarm, as were the Laodiceans (v. 16). He wants us to “be burning in spirit” (Rom. 12:11). However, we should be burning in our spirit, not in our soul-life. This is an important matter. 

The second case of not fearing the Lord is with Miriam in Numbers 12:1-10. Miriam and Aaron said, “Has Jehovah indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not also spoken through us?” (v. 2). But God replied otherwise. Concerning Moses, He said to them, “With him I speak face to face, even openly, and not in riddles; And he beholds the form of Jehovah. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant, against Moses?” (v. 8). When Miriam rebelled against God’s deputy authority, she rebelled directly against God’s throne. This is very serious. 

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding; knowledge, wisdom, and understanding come from God; if we fear Him, revere Him, these will be our possessions (Prov. 1:1, 7; 2:4-5; 3:5-10; 8:13; 9:10; 10:27; 14:2, 26-27; 15:16, 33a; 16:6; 19:23). We fear the Lord by obedience and submission to Him. Ephesians 5:21 says, “Being subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” Many times we stop after being subject to one another; we do not emphasize in the fear of Christ. But the words in the fear of Christ are the most important part of verse 21. We have to be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Practically, this means that we are in fear of offending Him as the Head. If we do not subject ourselves to the brothers, we will offend Christ as the Head because all the members are organically related to the Head. 

Fearing the Lord is a way to lengthen life (Prov. 10:27); God loves, saves, protects, blesses, and provides for those who fear Him (Psa. 103:11, 13, 17; 85:9; 60:4; Prov. 14:26-27; Psa. 115:12-13; 34:9; 111:5). We all should have a proper fear of God because we believers in Christ will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; at that time Christ will judge His believers at His coming back, not concerning their eternal salvation but concerning their dispensational reward (2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 4:4-5; 3:13-15; Rom. 14:10).  

Acts 9:31 says, "So then the church throughout the whole of Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it was multiplied." The holy fear of the Lord is actually a source of joy. Psalm 2:11 says, “Serve Jehovah with fear, And rejoice with trembling.” Our Lord was fully under God’s restriction; hence, He could reign for God; if we can be restricted by God and thus deal with ourselves, we will be able to reign for God. We need to be under God’s restriction in order to reign for God. 

This healthy speaking of the Lord is the need of the hour. May the Lord grace me to learn this lesson thoroughly well and that I may fear Him reverentially, trust in Him and honor Him all the days of my life.

An Opening for the Ministry

The capital city of the country is crucial for the Lord's testimony and it is for this reason that the Lord also brought us to New Delhi in 2005. Since then, the Lord's move has been going on in His recovery, slowly, gradually, and steadily. Now, the Lord has gained a considerable number of saints to bear His testimony and also open more doors for the spread and propagation of His ministry. The brothers who served in this city in the initial days had done their best; visiting and contacting a lot of seeking believers and Christian leaders. Though many of these ones are yet to take the way of the Lord's recovery, the Lord has been gaining many students and a good number of local families to bear Hist testimony.

From the literature point of view, we have done our bit in trying to reach out to the general Christian group by way of free distribution and also through sales. I believe one day, the Lord will make the ministry of the word a crucial spiritual food supply to all His children in the capital city as well as all over the country. As a preparation for that day, we have also translated a good number of ministry books into Hindi. Now, we are seeking the Lord's leading in how these Hindi ministry materials can reach the Lord's children at large. 

The past weeks have been noteworthy in the way the Lord leads us to begin a new way of reaching out to the Christian through the Christian book store. Unlike before, the door for further spread has been opened more and will be strengthened further. I have written to the responsible brothers in Delhi about the recent development. I believe the Lord will lead us through and strengthen His testimony, especially in the capital city.

Dear brothers,

Since 2005 we have been in touch with MSS, Masihi Sahitya Sanstha, Hindi Christian literature publisher, Janpath New Delhi. In 2015, Amana Literature hired them for Hindi translation of some crucial books. In 2016, we printed bulk books in Hindi, 700 copies of which, mostly of Watchman Nee were sold to them for their distribution through their networks all over North India. For some reason, brother Witness Lee's titles were not well received. This time on 21 Jan 2021, I went to fellowship with the manager and offered him the latest translation of our books, both of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee in Hindi, and also explained to him the usefulness of the Holy Bible Recovery Version. After consideration, he finally agreed to display our books in Hindi and English, both of brother Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. 

Today, the 28th of Jan, we came to deliver the books at their book shop in Khan Market, New Delhi. They also have another one in Janpath. We introduced the ministry books to the office staff so that they can introduce the same to their customers. We also had a good time of fellowship. Some copies of BXL 1 in Hindi and English were also given for distribution.

For Follow-Up

The sister in charge of the book store in Khan Market is Sis. SH. She is one of the members of a Christian group in Karol Bagh whom we met in 2005 with brother PL and CC. The key "pastor" at that time invited us to his place in Karol Bagh where we all shared our testimonies and the word of God in the open-air meeting conducted by him. It was indeed the Lord's sovereignty that we could meet and get to know that she is from that seeking believers' group, after 15 years! 

Today, we also shared the truth concerning the Christian life and the church life using some Bible verses. She is interested in fellowshipping more on the truth of the Bible. Since the "pastor" who led her and her family to the Lord left for another place, she, out of her burden to care for some 80 believers in Karol Bagh, is now singlehandedly shepherding the entire congregation. I introduced Brother J and Sister J to her verbally. She is open for fellowship and visitation. 

Pray that many seeking believers who visit the book shop can have a taste of the ministry.

Pray for the follow-up fellowship with Sis. SH and the believers in Karol Bagh.

I believe the Lord will gain this country, especially the capital city, all the state capitals, and the states of this country for His testimony. And we are one with the Lord for His move for the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14