Eighteen Shots and More

It was on Friday, the 9th of April, after the gospel meeting and family prayer that I went out to take a prayer walk as usual, at about 10 PM. But that night I had a particular feeling to go to a certain street near my children's school. I simply followed the inner feeling to go to that street. By the way, there was also a proposal from our house owner for the increased rent at this pandemic time and other matters that kind of bothered me. That also led me to look out for relocation. 

Clubbing the matter of prayer and looking out for a relocation led me to that particular street. As I was on that street, I indeed saw a signboard for "TO-LET" in an empty bungalow. As I came near to have a closer look at the phone number for to-let, a black dog barked at me from the other adjoining street and ran toward me. I simply tried to ignore it as usual and did not bother much about the dog. But strangely enough, it bit me on my right leg below my knee back. Still, I was not bothered, I simply shrugged off the dog that bit me. Later, two other dogs joined and they all barked at me fiercely. I still kept walking and the dog that bit me first came and bit me again. Still, I kept calm and kept walking. And again the same dog bit me the third time. I did feel something on my leg but did not pay much attention to it until I looked back at the dogs and under the glim, shining street light I saw blood drops splitting on my footpath. Then I took a look at my leg where I was bitten by the dog, I saw blood oozing out of my leg from the dog bites. I did not panic, I still kept my pace and continued walking. Finally, the dog that bit me went back, and the two other dogs kept walking along with me. Now sensing the seriousness of the blood flow from my wounds, I rushed back home.

Initially, I did not want any of my family members to know about it as I would not want unnecessary attention. But on second thought I decided to at least let my wife know. I called her to the bathroom and showed her the dog bites with blood oozing out. She helped me clean up the bloodstain and I told her not to mention it to my children as they may panic. But later, she felt otherwise. She told my children as she felt that they all should know what actually transpired with me, and learn to care for one another. Then the whole family members came to know and cared for me.

My son and younger daughter became very concerned and treated me like their patient. It was so sweet for kids to care for their beloved father. As I lay down to sleep, my son wanted to accompany me. Our father and son bonding became very sweet and strong. He picked up the burden to comfort and take care of me. 

But for some reason, I could not sleep. Perhaps the stinging pain from the dog bites and the thought of relocation occupied my mind. That enabled me also to wake up in the middle of the night, kneel down and pray for the Lord's leading.  Then, I could get a few hours of sleep until my alarm woke me up at 5:55 AM.

I woke up, thinking everything was fine and normal, and was getting ready to join the brothers' prayer and fellowship at 6 AM. I went to the bathroom to wash my face. Then I felt some dizziness gushing into my head. Inwardly I prayed that the Lord would take control. As  I approached the bathroom towel to wipe my face, I lost consciousness. Actually, I fainted.

A few minutes later, my wife woke me up from the bathroom floor. In fact, she heard a thudding sound from my fall. She and my daughter were awoken by the sound of my body fainting to the floor. They both woke me up. I was surprised to see my wife and my daughter patting my face and asking "Papa, what happened to you?" I woke up and went to bed again. Perhaps the loss of blood, the sleeplessness, the sting of the dog bites, and body fatigue led me to faint. To my knowledge, this was the first time I ever fainted in my life. 

I still joined the brother's fellowship over the phone just by listening. Later, I felt the need to let them know as brothers what actually transpired. Then, a brother immediately decided to come and help me in doing the immediate care. As I called up a brother who is a medical doctor, he advised me to go to Safdarjung Hospital. We went there to the special department for patients bitten by dogs and other animals. It seems like it was a common phenomenon. Daily, many have come for the injection due to dog bites.

I got two shots each on my left arm and right arm. Then after thirty minutes break, I got another shot each on my left and right buttock. Then twelves shotes around the major dog bite areas. Altogether I got eighteen shots. Then, after 3, 7, and 28 days, I need to take more anti-rabies vaccination. 

This incident has brought about a closer tie with my brothers in the church. The most blessing was the tender love and care from my whole family; from my wife, my son, and two daughters. Though at times they seem to not listen to me, at this time they all showed their tender love and care. It was a sweet and wonderful time of inward reunion as a family. I surely treasure this love and affection from my family. I believe for this purpose the Lord also allowed this incident to happen. Sans the pain and medical works, I thank the Lord for this opportunity to rediscover the family love and bonding. I surely enjoyed our family love all the more. Praise the Lord! All things indeed work together for good.

Eighteen shots and more shots to come have surely shot more love into my family, and more love towards the Lord, and towards my fellow brothers in the church. Yes, eighteen shots of love and more shots to come...

By Invitation Only

The burden for shepherding has been going on despite the ongoing pandemic. The same burden has been trumpeted time and again for the saints to pick up. A good number of saints have picked up the burden, and many saints are actually functioning now in shepherding. I am also still bearing this burden. 

These days, the way I carry out shepherding has been by invitation only. Meaning, I go to the saints' and new ones' homes whenever they invited me. With many other responsibilities at hand, I cannot keep going to different homes on a regular basis. I give more priority to a time with the Lord and with the family, and my official work. I still give time to visit people and shepherd the new ones. I do them now with the ones whom I discerned that the Holy Spirit has led me to. I no longer randomly pick up people for the sake of visiting and shepherding. I have to priorities my time spent, and accordingly, visit people by invitation.

Since the lockdown opened up bit by bit, my visiting of the families has been restricted to those who invited. I prefer it this way. When the Lord leads me, He will burden me and the families. With such a mutual burden, the shepherding visit is most fruitful. It should not be a mundane regular monotonous visit. I am willing and definitely will pay the price to visit whoever invited me. On the one hand, I restrict myself to not visit if not invited or if the Holy Spirit has not led us at all, and on the other hand, I would do my best to pay the price and visit the saints if there was indeed the move of the Lord and the saints' hearts are open for fellowship. In this way, our times are best utilized and the fellowship was very solid and worth it.

Still, I have been maintaining a regular phone call shepherding with a couple of brothers. Daily once in the morning, then post-lunch, and then in the night. This has been going on in a very intensive way since the pandemic struck last year. Whereas I move by invitation only for physical visitation and shepherding, I am still regularly engaged in phone fellowship and shepherding.

Praise the Lord for His move, even though my move in the Lord's move has been restricted to by invitation only!

Experience of Death

The Christian life is a life of living Christ. Christ's life on the earth has passed through death which paved the way for resurrection. In fact, without death, there will never be a resurrection. The cross was needed for the divine life to be released. Such is the experience one needs as and when the Lord deems best.

These days I have come across a few saints who have gone through the experience of the cross. I do go through the same now and then, but the ones I wrote here are more on an intense level.

A brother who has been praying with me for the burden on the Lord's move in  North East India once a week gradually decided to withdraw himself from all the burdens and responsibilities he had been bearing. He had his own reasons to do so. Though I tried my best to encourage him to stay one, he simply could not bear the burden any longer and just decided to "quit' from all official responsibilities. To the extent that he even decided to stop participating in the weekly prayer.  I still did not give up on him and still tried to include him in the Wednesday morning prayer, but he simply decided not to answer my call for prayer at all. Well then, I took that as a lesson for me and him, to experience the cross for a moment until the season of refreshing would visit him again. I believe the Lord would minister to him and recover him fully one day in his spiritual function in the Body. 

Another brother also is going through a similar situation. Though the reason behind both withdrawing from their assigned burdens may differ, nonetheless, both pertain to the experience of the cross. This one was more serious and we had two days fellowship in this regard. In all the fellowship many new spiritual lessons were learned. The Lord led us all through this experience of the cross to be brought into the resurrection of life. 

I too went through such a process in the past. The only thing I could do at such times was, I simply looked to the Lord, and prayed and prayed, and prayed. In a similar situation, there seems to have been a "lean season" with some of the saints that I know of. A report has come to me of such a situation and the new ones that I am burdened to shepherd simply decided not to answer my call at all, despite my desperate attempt to fellowship with them. I took that as a lesson from the Lord, to commit all things to Him Who knows best, and continue to pray for all these ones who apparently have gone through a lean season of experiencing the death of Christ.

This reminds me of the incident when the Lord led me to read a book by brother Witness Lee, The All-inclusive Christ in 2003, for the first time of any book by Witness Lee. Since the reading of the portion on  "the valleys and the mountains" from chapter 4, I have never ceased receiving life supply from reading the ministry books by the same brother.

For Jehovah your God is bringing you to a good land, a land of waterbrooks, of springs and of fountains, flowing forth in valleys and in mountains; Deuteronomy 8:7

Whenever God ordains sorrow for you, be assured that rejoicing will follow. “As made sorrowful yet always rejoicing.” “As poor yet enriching many.” “As having nothing and yet possessing all things.” All these are the valleys and the mountains. “I know also,” says the apostle Paul, “how to be abased, and I know how to abound” (Phil. 4:12). He learned the secret (v. 11). He knew how to be filled and how to be hungry (v. 12). What is the secret? The secret is that Christ Himself is flowing within. I have learned; I have been instructed; I have been initiated. I know the living Christ who is within me.

All the valleys are the experiences of the cross, the experiences of the death of Christ, and all the mountains are the experiences of the Lord’s resurrection. A valley is the cross; a mountain is the resurrection. We must be one who always has some trouble, some valley, but also one who is always on the mountains, always in the experience of resurrection. Whenever there is a valley, there is a mountain. Whenever you experience the death of the cross, you will experience the resurrection. The living waters flow forth from all these experiences.

Let us look more closely at the passage in Deuteronomy 8:7. It says there that the water is “flowing forth in valleys and in mountains.” It does not say in the mountains and in the valleys but in the valleys and in the mountains. There are first the valleys and then the mountains. Why? It is because the first place that you contact the flowing water is in the valleys. Then if you trace that stream up to its origin, you find that it springs from the mountains. The stream is in the valley, but the spring is in the mountains. If you would have something flowing out from within you to water others, you must be in the valleys.

If you can experience Christ in times of trouble and trial, how much you will have flowing out to others. How blessedly you will water others. It is not in peaceful times or in happy days that you can do this. It is in the days of sorrow, the days of sickness, the days of trouble. It is by your experience of Christ in these times that you may have the living flow to water others. Each situation of death may bring forth a greater outflow of refreshing water—not only the mountains but also the valleys; not only the valleys but also the mountains. We need many experiences of the Lord’s death and many experiences of the Lord’s resurrection; then we will be full of the springs, the fountains, and the streams.

The Lord will lead all my brothers who have been going through a lean season now, experiencing the death of Jesus,  to enjoy the resurrection of Christ very soon. For Jehovah our God is bringing us to a good land, a land of waterbrooks, of springs and of fountains, flowing forth in valleys and in mountains! 

Fear God, Love God, and Serve God

On the 4th of April, we had a special fellowship for some of the serving ones in India concerning a certain situation that transpired with one of the serving brothers. The situation was serious and a serious fellowship was called for. I had no idea what the fellowship was meant for until a senior brother brought the matter to light. As a preparation for the matter to be dispensed in a wise way, he gave a sober word of love to all those present at the fellowship.

In Matthew 16:16, 18, 19, there was the revelation concerning Christ, the church, and the keys of the kingdom of the heavens. Along with these words, there was also the mentioning of the gates of Hades. Wherever and whenever the church is being builded up, there and then the enemy also tries his best to destroy the builded church. But he will not prevail! This was the situation that has been faced by one of the largest local churches in India. There was an inward attack on a particular serving one through certain brothers who were yet to learn the lesson of the cross. As a result, this brother has been very much weakened. Therefore, in fellowship, he has decided to withdraw from some of his official services in the local church and also in the coordination of the Lord's work. 

From this incident, a senior brother led us to learn some serious lessons about fearing God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the anointed One. So also are many serving ones who have been anointed by the Lord. We must fear God and respect the anointing upon all the ones who are anointed. David had a reverential fear of God regarding Saul, though Saul had lost the kingship, nevertheless, he was the anointed one of God. David respected and honored the anointing and was blessed. So also was with Shem and Japeth, unlike Ham who exposed the nakedness of their father.  When one has been anointed, we must never presume authority, nor overestimate ourselves. One should never think highly of himself. 

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith. Romans 12:3

Though one might have been anointed, there is a possibility of losing the anointing as a result of not fearing God. We should be fearful of God. There were brothers like Barnaba, Demas, and others who were once anointed, but gradually lost the anointing. This should be a solemn warning and reminder for us who are serving the Lord. Do not assume authority. Authority comes with anointing. In fact, with genuine authority, one fears God the more.

A person who genuinely fears God will love also God as well. Fearing God issues in loving God.  And as we love God, we will be serving God. Therefore, the basic lesson is, fear God, which will issue in loving God, and the result of this will be that one would be anointed, and with it would come authority, and then there will be the serving of God.

This fellowship reminds me of and reconfirm again of the Lord's calling when I received the Lord's call the first time on 1st Jan 2003.

And now, O Israel, what does Jehovah your God ask of you except that you fear Jehovah your God so that you would walk in all His ways and love Him and serve Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul; Deuteronomy 10:12

Lord, preserve me in Your mercy that I may be graced to serve You all the days of my life.

Blessed Family: Time Together

Amidst my busy schedule, I time out to spend quality family time together as a whole family.  Last week on my wife's birthday, we visited a new family where we were asked to share testimonies of our salvation, God's call to serve full-time, and how the Lord led us together to be husband and wife. It was no coincidence that we could testify to new ones on my wife's birthday. I bet that is the best way to celebrate a birthday for new ones spiritual births too. After which, we all went to eat out at McDonald's, our children's favorite. Perhaps, this was the first time we ate out as a family after the pandemic struck last year. We had an enjoyable family time.

Yesterday, we decided to paint our house, only the interior walls, though. All my children were so excited to participate in the painting work. Though the house itself needs painting badly as many parts of the wall were stained with painting and drawing from my own children. Now they themselves decided to clean and paint and maintain it clean. I intentionally took the two younger ones to a painting shop and allowed them to choose the color. They decided to go for a lime breeze, light green. In this way, I made them feel important and trust them in their decision-making from the age of 6 and 11. To me, any color is just fine. Yet, through any occasion, I would impart something important to my children and the people around me.

Generally, since we live in a rented house and pay rent, it should have been the house owner's responsibility to do the paint works which is due for years now. But I took that upon myself, pay my own money, and with all my family members took that opportunity to serve and learn together. I could have simply told the house owner to do so, perhaps that was legally correct. Or, I could have simply hired painters to do the work, perhaps, that would be secularly correct too. But, doing it, I would miss all the lessons and opportunities to serve together as a family. 

Though I knew very well that my children could not paint professionally, anyway, I am not looking for professional work. I wanted them to paint their heart out. They were on holiday and wanted to experiment with new things, learn new things, and do new tasks. That itself will give a sense of responsibility and satisfaction. So, I gave full liberty to all my children to paint and work together. We painted the whole afternoon and did the cleaning work of the house. By the way, we also got to deep clean the house and arranged stuff in the house.  It was indeed a wonderful family time together.

I believe such family time will impress them deeply about family values, taking up responsibilities, and learning to serve together as a family. Of course, for all the hard work they have done, today I treated them with their flavors of ice cream. That's a wonderful family life. Praise the Lord for the blessed family!

Lord Jesus, thank You for the family You blessed me with and the time we could psend together!

Serving in Coordination

Last Saturday, we had a day-long meeting, beginning with the brother's fellowship at 6 AM. Later, at 9:30AM we had the church perfecting meeting with the saints in the church in New Delhi. Afterwhich we all ate lunch together, a wonderful time of blending with the saints. And then at 4 PM, we had our church prayer meeting. Then at 6 PM, we had the Christian online seminar. The one-day, full-packed meeting was well coordinated in fellowship in oneness. I personally experienced and enjoyed the Lord's blessing upon all the saints through the coordination.

The meeting could be attended online as it used to be. But we intended that we come together for the sake of blending and uplifting the atmosphere of the meeting. Though it was tiresome for some saints as they had to prepare food and come all the way to be with the saints the whole day, the price they paid yielded the intended result.

The topic was "The Key to Experiencing Christ: the Human Spirit". A brother and I coordinated to release the word of God with translation for 15 minutes each. But within that 7 minutes of releasing the word of God, we enjoyed the Spirit's anointing. The anointing was so rich upon all of us that as we spoke the message, the Lord's speaking was spontaneous. Word by word, there was the strong release of the spirit. As one of the speakers, I could strongly sense the life flowing out by my inner sense within me. There was indeed the ministry of the word. Paise the Lord!.

Behind such a blessed meeting was the prayer of the saints for the meeting, the preparation for the meeting. In fact, we had two rounds of rehearsals, and everything was coordinated so well that the Lord blessed the meeting. 

This is just a model and a picture of how our church life should be coordinated. In prayer, in preparation, in standing together as one, though not all released the word, they stood in oneness with the ones who spoke the word of God. The result is the Lord's commanded blessing upon the brother standing together in oneness, and the building taking place among the saints.

Serving in coordination is the key to the Lord's blessing in the Body. What a wonderful lesson to learn today! Praise the Lord for such a vision and practice in the Body! 

May the Lord grace and preserve us in the Body in oneness to serve in coordination all the days of our lives.

Just As I Am

Today, in my study of the word, I got a light concerning the Lord's choosing of man for His purpose according to His heart's desire, and how He equips His elect for the same. God looks at the heart of man. Whom He has chosen are the ones who have a pure heart before God and man. And the chosen ones always come with a certain character trait. To note a few are "prudent in speech and of good presence and Jehovah is with him."

But Jehovah said to Samuel, Do not regard his appearance and the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For it is not how man sees that matters; for man looks on the outward appearance, but Jehovah looks on the heart. And one of the attendants answered and said, I have just seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skilled in playing and a mighty man of valor and a man of war and prudent in speech and of good presence, and Jehovah is with him. 1 Samuel 16:7-8

The Lord also prepared His chosen ones through their family background, environmental brought up since their childhood. In fact, everything in such a person's life is the training and preparation by the Lord for His use one day. David being a shepherd was no accident. Only by being such, he learned how to deal with lion and bear, protecting his sheep from these fierce predators. That was how he was trained to one day deal with an uncircumcised Goliath. 

Both the lion and the bear did your servant strike; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the ranks of the living God. And David said, Jehovah, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go, and may Jehovah be with you. 1 Samuel 17:36-37

Since God had already trained such a one in his natural habitat, there was no need to further equip him to deal with Goliath. He already had the experience of killing lion and bear, and it was no difficult task to kill Goliath. Here is the lesson the Lord taught me. 

Often I used to think, to deal with certain matters I need to be equipped for that matter. Meaning, if David was to deal with Goliath, he should have the competence to deal with it. That's what Saul tried to do. Goliath being heavily armed with his warrior armor, Saul tried to arm David with similar armor, but it didn't work for David. His training was on real-life experience in the wilderness, not in a palace with warlords. David should simply meet his opponent as he was. That was the lesson I learned. 

Come just as you are! The Lord has already trained His chosen ones for His chosen tasks. Simply come just as you are! To put on something one is not familiar with, just to be competent, is to carry an unnecessary extra load. Perhaps, this unwarranted extra burden might only lead to a defeat. When the Lord called, come just as you are. the task at hand will be accomplished because Jehovah is with His chosen ones.

And Saul put his own garment on David, and he placed a bronze helmet on his head and put his armor on him. And David girded his sword over his garment and tried to go, for he had not tried the armor. Then David said to Saul, I cannot go in these because I have not tried them. And David took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook and put them into the shepherd’s bag that he had, that is, in his pouch; and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine. Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of Jehovah of hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel, whom you have defied. Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David’s hand. 1 Samuel 17:38, 39, 40, 45, 50

David prevailed over Goliath with just a sling and a stone; no armor needed, no sword, no spear, no shield, no garment, yes, nothing extra was needed. Because he was already trained and equipped by the Lord!

In like manner, I need not bother to get extra "qualification" to do what the Lord called me to do. In fact, I have been considering upgrading my academic qualification to facilitate my service for which the Lord has called me. But the Lord has made it clear to me that He has been equipping me already and that I must come to Him just as I am. If anything extra is needed, He will see to it that I have them too, in time. As of now, I simply must drop the idea or consideration of acquiring extra qualifications with the assumption of meeting extra tasks assigned to me.  

What a light! I am being saved from unnecessary pursuit. To take on whatever is or will be assigned to me, the Lord's presence is all that is needed. The secret to the victory is not what one has or not, but the presence of the Lord. With the Lord's presence, just come as you are. Then, the task is already done!

Lord, I come to You just as I am. All that I need is You and all that You need is me, just as I am. Lord, I come to You just as I am.