Life Lesson: Responding to Attack

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18

The church belongs to the Lord; Christ is the Head of the church. Whenever and wherever the building up of the Church, the Body of Christ, is taking place, the enemy tries his best to attack and perhaps, destroy it. But the fact is, the Lord's words stand tall and strong. This is an eternal and universal promised, "the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." Try however much he may, he cannot destroy the Lord's work. Come what may, the saints will stand strong in the Lord. The present seeming defeat is a step to the coming victory!

In the recent attack on the Lord's work in India for which we also had a special fellowship on the 4th of April, I have a deep impression within that the enemy is utterly defeated in spite of the seeming havoc he managed to create in the Lord's move in India, especially in the church in Chennai. All the internal attacks of the enemy through some brothers who are ambitious, with an unrenewed mind, in their spiritual blindness, managed to create a storm in a teacup. But this incident, though negative it may sound, is positively approving the work of the Holy Spirit in that particular local church. It only vindicates the genuineness of His work in and among the saints. Through such a storm in a teacup, the true color of the brothers was exposed. In a sense, this is a good lesson for all the serving ones in the Lord's work to learn. Not that we approve of the negative situation happening, but that, from such, we learn what the Lord wants us to learn in a very positive way.

I personally pray and cover the brothers who are severely being attacked. I pray that the Lord would grace the brother, cover him, fully strengthen him, and also recover back his function in time. I also pray for the brothers who are the "attackers. May their eyes be open to see what foolishness they have committed in their natural zeal, immaturity, and spiritual blindness. May the Lord cover and recover both the culprits and the victim. 

Amidst such attacks, there are some lessons that need to be learned.

Never rejoice at the fall of a brother. Those who do so are evil-hearted brothers. A delight in other's fall, even the slightest delight, is surely a manifestation of an evil heart.

Never spread a rumor about a brother's fall. Blessed are those who cover the nakedness of their brother. Whoever spreads negativity will be invaded by negativity. Learn to cover the brothers, and you will be blessed.

Grief for the church and the brother where such an attack took place. Pray for their restoration. In restoring the brother there will be the blessing.

For there must even be parties among you, that those who are approved may become manifest among you. 1 Corinthians 11:9

The Lord is sovereignly teaching us a life lesson on how to respond to Satan's attack whenever or wherever it may occur. We are not ignorant of his schemes.

That we may not be taken advantage of by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes. 2 Corinthians 2 :11

Truth Lesson: The Renewing of the Mind

Through the fellowship of a brother on the matter of the renewing of the mind, I read the book online and extracted some key points for my learning. The words of brother Watchman Nee were very rich already, I can simply quote them as they were.

THE RENEWING OF THE MIND by Watchmna Nee

If we cannot overcome our thoughts, we are in the hands of Satan, and we have no way to overcome the enemy. ..if we cannot manage our own thoughts, we are not very useful in the hands of God.

The knowledge of one's self comes from God's light; only after he receives God's light will he know himself.

We should not secretly compare ourselves to others, no matter who it is. Every time a believer looks at himself he will have no progress.

The nous is composed of the power of apprehension and the thoughts. 

A believer needs to have a renewed nous to guide him through his days on earth. Otherwise, he will suffer loss and damage in his life. He will think wrongly of others. He will not be able to understand God's will. He will also think wrongly of himself. He will not be able to properly live his life. This is why everyone needs to seek after the renewing of the nous in a specific way.

If your nous is renewed, you can understand God, and you can know everything of God. The person beside you may be the most intelligent and wise person, but he cannot understand; only you can understand. Therefore, you should specifically ask God to give you a renewed nous. Otherwise, you will have no way to go on. Once again I stress that you must go to God in a specific way to seek after this.

Most people have sin in their hearts. Once the sin in the heart is dealt with, everything else will be taken care of properly. If a believer's heart is proper, he will be able to understand God's will. Every believer who does not understand God's will is in this condition because his heart was improper in the first place.

The most precious thing about a renewed nous is that it can open as well as close one's thoughts. A renewed nous, with respect to God, is able to know His will; with respect to the self, it is able to control one's own mind and clarify his thoughts; and with respect to others, it can discern, receive, and understand the words of others.

...we cannot learn truths from a man's preaching, but we can learn from the truth he practices.

If you yield to sin the first time, you will lose the feeling about sin the second and third time. If you call sin by the right name and acknowledge sin as sin the first time, if you have the right view and right attitude toward sin, and if you deal with sin the right way the first time, you will be able to deal with sin the next time. If you do not consider sin as sin the first time and deal with it, but rather consider losing your temper as a common thing for a Christian, you will commit the same sin the next time. Whoever does not know sin will not know holiness. What is holiness? Holiness is having the knowledge of sin. Adam and Eve were only ignorant and innocent before they sinned; they were not holy. Only those who know sin know the meaning of holiness.

Therefore, the nous is related to our living before God. Whenever we yield to sin, we become unrighteous. We are not able to fellowship with God, and our nous is darkened. Therefore, we should put off uncleanness, improper motives, and unrighteousness on the negative side and put on the new man on the positive side. 

If our nous is renewed and our understanding is quick, we can understand God's will, God's desire, and the Bible.

PUTTING OFF THE OLD MAN AS REGARDS THE FORMER MANNER  OF LIFE

Ephesians 4: 22-23 say, "That you put off, as regards your former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your nous." Notice the phrase "the spirit of your nous."

There is a special relationship between the nous and the spirit. If we want the spirit of our nous to be renewed, we must put off the old man. If we do not put off the old man in our experience, we will not be able to experience the renewing of our mind.

This passage shows us that if we want our understanding and mind to be renewed, we must specifically put off our old man. If we want to be renewed continuously, we must put off continuously. Just as we exercise our will to take off our clothes and cast them aside when we undress, we should exercise our will to specifically put off the old man and cast it aside. Everything that belongs to the old man, whether it is our speech, thoughts, or behavior, should be specifically cast aside; we should reject everything sinful, unclean, or of the self. At the same time, we must seek the Lord single-heartedly and trust in the Holy Spirit to renew our nous. This renewing work belongs to the Holy Spirit. If we remove the obstacles and trust in Him to do the renewing work, He will renew our nous gradually.

If a person's nous is closed, his spirit must also be closed. Since the spirit expresses itself through the nous, the spirit will have no outlet if the nous is closed.

CONSECRATION AND THE RENEWING OF THE NOUS

Romans 12:1-2 says, "I exhort you therefore, brothers, through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect."

CONTROLLING THE MIND

The most important thing is that a renewed mind is under a person's own control; he can stop when he wants to stop, and he can think when he wants to think. One should be able to control himself in a spontaneous way. After the mind is renewed, one should not allow outside thoughts to control him. 

Truth Lesson: The Way to Know God

Through the fellowship of a brother on the matter of the way to know  God, I read the book online and extracted some key points for my learning. The words of brother Watchman Nee were very rich already, I can simply quote them as they were. 

The Way to Know God by Watchman Nee

However, if we want to know God, we need to deal with God and be dealt with by God.

No one can know God without first having dealings with Him. I have told several brothers that if anyone wants to progress, the only way is to be dealt with by God. If you do not accept God's dealing, you will never progress. 

All the knowledge we acquire from God comes by some amount of laboring; we cannot acquire this knowledge simply by reading or listening. If we learn how to deal with God and how to be dealt with by God in everything, that is, if we learn to have dealings with God in everything, we will know what God wants from us, what He wants to remove from us, and what He wants to accomplish in us. In this way we will know God, and God will be known by us.

No one can know God without first having dealings with Him. I have told several brothers that if anyone wants to progress, the only way is to be dealt with by God. If you do not accept God's dealing, you will never progress. 

2Ch 20:20And they rose up early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood up and said, Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in Jehovah your God, and you will be established; believe in His prophets, and you will succeed.

2Ch 20:21And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed them to sing to Jehovah and give thanks in holy array as they went out before the army and say, Give thanks to Jehovah, for His lovingkindness endures forever.

2Ch 20:22And when they began to shout in song and to praise, Jehovah set ambushes for the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who were coming out against Judah; and they were struck.

Therefore, we have to learn to deal with God. In our physical health, in our work, in our family, in every detail of our environment, we have to ask God to deal with us.

 If you want to know God, you have to deal with God concerning your body, your family, and your environment. You should not let anything go by carelessly. You have to pray until you have God's answer. By doing this you will learn a lesson which the Bible alone cannot teach you. 

Indeed, a man can only preach what he is touched by in the Word; he can only help others in the areas that God has touched him. What can we preach if we do not know God?

Whether you are working on believers or unbelievers, the most important thing is that you have to be dealt with by God. After you are dealt with, you will speak the reality, and others will touch it.

Finally, I have to say that no lazy person can know God.

Without the experience of knowing God in prayer, no one can have the experience of knowing God.

Any prayer that cannot move our own heart cannot move God. If we pray, we must have an absolute desire before God. We should not let God go if He does not answer. If we can let go of something whether or not God answers our prayer, He will certainly not answer our prayer, because He knows that it does not matter to us. If we realize this, we will acquire new knowledge and realize that all of our prayers must be accompanied by sincere desires.

The most precious thing on earth today is the knowledge of God. However, in order to know God, we need to be dealt with by Him in everything. We need to be dealt with by Him in prayer, and we need to be dealt with by Him in matters related to His will. We need to deal with sin and our environment. When something happens, we need to ask, "What does this mean?" and "What is God after?" 

LEARNING TO KNOW GOD THROUGH PRAYER

Our knowledge should not only be from the Bible, but should also be from God Himself.

We must spend time before God to learn to deal with Him and to be dealt with by Him; only then will we know God's requirements concerning prayer. Knowing God through prayer does not come by accident or by learning from others. Neither does it come by listening to my messages. 

REMOVING BARRIERS

All the knowledge we acquire from God comes by some amount of laboring; we cannot acquire this knowledge simply by reading or listening. If we learn how to deal with God and how to be dealt with by God in everything, that is, if we learn to have dealings with God in everything, we will know what God wants from us, what He wants to remove from us, and what He wants to accomplish in us. In this way we will know God, and God will be known by us.

You will know that you have to remove the barriers before God will answer your prayer.

DESIRE

Any prayer that cannot move our own heart cannot move God. If we pray, we must have an absolute desire before God. We should not let God go if He does not answer. If we can let go of something whether or not God answers our prayer, He will certainly not answer our prayer, because He knows that it does not matter to us. If we realize this, we will acquire new knowledge and realize that all of our prayers must be accompanied by sincere desires.

ASKING

"You do not have because you do not ask" (James 4:2). Thus, you acquire new knowledge that even with a desire within, you still have to ask without.

OBEDIENCE

The reason God does not listen to the prayers of many brothers and sisters is that they have not learned to obey God. If you do not listen to God all the time, neither will He listen to your prayer.

God only answers the prayers of the obedient ones.

..if you want God to continually answer your prayers, you have to faithfully obey God every time, on every item, and in everything. 

FAITH 

 

PRAISING

REMINDING GOD

As the Lord said in Isaiah, "Put Me in remembrance" (43:26). It is as if God can forget, and we have to remind Him. God may have promised, but He needs us to remind Him. We should say, not with a heart of unbelief but with a heart of faith, "Lord, You have given me Your promise. You should remember Your promise." This is exactly what King Solomon did. He said to God, "Now, O Lord God, let thy promise unto David my father be established" (2 Chron. 1:9). This way of reminding God is very meaningful. The reason that God delays His promise is that we may have the opportunity to deal with Him. In this way we acquire new knowledge; we have learned how to remind Him.

We must learn to know God in things that are big or small. If we do this again and again, God will answer our prayer.

"God's will is the greatest thing in the entire world; how can we possibly know it?" Yes, God is indeed great. How then can He reveal His will to little men like us? We have to first adjust ourselves.

Every time we want to know God's will, we must first deal with our selves. We must be willing to lay down our selves and forsake everything, before God will reveal His will to us. Whenever we are seeking God's will, our self must first be dealt with by God. 

Those who do not pray in a thorough way can never know God.

...genuine spiritual knowledge must be learned from God. If we want to learn before God, we must deal with God and be dealt with by God. 

..if you have not learned to be dealt with by God and to deal with God, you can never go out to work because you are not yet even a proper Christian. If you do not know God's principles, God's way of doing things, and God's nature, you are no different from other people. If you can only give people some spiritual theories, you cannot lead them on in the spiritual way. 

May we learn to know Him in prayer and in His will. We can know God. There is nothing more important than knowing God. May we not just retain what we have heard today in our mind, but, from now on, may we be diligent to learn to know God and accept His dealing.

Truth Lesson: Self-knowledge and God's Light

Through the fellowship of a brother on the matter of self-knowledge and God's light, I read the book online and extracted some key points for my learning. The words of brother Watchman Nee were very rich already, I can simply quote them as they were.

SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND GOD'S LIGHT by Watchman Nee

Today, I believe that God wants me to give a message on how to know ourselves. A Christian never progresses in spirituality if he does not know himself. And a Christian can never spiritually progress further than what he knows. Whatever light (not knowledge) he receives, he expresses life to that degree. No Christian can progress further than the light which God has given him. If a Christian does not know his faults or his real condition, he will not pursue after what is new or go on in the way ahead.

The most important thing in a Christian's life is to judge himself. He must consider his own flesh as not trustworthy and himself as absolutely useless. Only in this way will he utterly trust God. And only then can he walk according to the Holy Spirit and not according to the flesh. Without self-judgment, spiritual living is impossible. 

If we do not know ourselves, we will not only be self-confident and self-approving, but we will also be full of self-content, thinking marvelously of ourselves and being full of a pride that is most displeasing to God. Because we do not know ourselves, our daily living will have many shortcomings. We will have no feeling about unfulfilled duties, unrighteousnesses toward others, instances of lack of love, and instances of being angry, anxious, and unmerciful. Although the situation gets worse and worse, we feel at ease and content. Because we do not know ourselves, we do not know how great is our lack and how complete and precious is the salvation in Christ. As a result we miss so many spiritual blessings. Self-knowledge is the first condition toward betterment, because only those who know themselves desire for the better—yes, even God's best. Those who do not know themselves will not have a hungry and thirsty heart, and they will not have the filling of the Holy Spirit. Self-knowledge is absolutely indispensable to a Christian.

Self-examination is a big deception; many Christians are damaged by self-examination. We need to ask, (1) Does the Bible teach self-examination? (2) Can self-examination enable us to know ourselves? (3) Is self-examination profitable? From these we will prove that self-examination is really not the duty of a Christian.

Hebrews 12:2 says: "Looking away unto Jesus..."
Our spiritual living is based upon looking unto Jesus and not on turning back to ourselves. If we do not obey the command of the Bible to look unto Jesus but instead turn to look inside ourselves, we will suffer much spiritually. I have already said before that introspection—ourselves analyzing ourselves and our own feeling, intention, and thought—is most harmful. Griffith Thomas said, "There is now a common saying that if you look at yourself once, you must then look at Christ ten times. But I think this must be changed to look at Christ eleven times and do not look at yourself even once."

The more we turn and look back, the more we cannot move and the more we retrogress. When we look at the light of the Lord, unconsciously we move forward.

Our defeat comes from too much consideration of ourselves; all we remember is our victory or our defeat. As a result, Christ cannot be completely manifested in us.

The way of our victory is not through a constant, unceasing analysis of ourselves. Rather, it is to look away unto Jesus. It is not the removal of evil thoughts, but the retention of good thoughts; it is not the eradication of something in ourselves, but yielding to the infilling of Christ in us to the extent that we completely forget about ourselves. Whenever we think back on ourselves, our steps are immediately halted. The Bible does not tell us to consider how we run. Rather, it tells us to run by looking away unto Jesus. If we turn to examine ourselves, we will see that we are in a fog; the more we examine, the more we become unclear. If we look away unto Jesus, we will naturally be able to run well.

Many Christian failures are due to introspection and self-examination. When Christians turn to examine themselves, even if there is no other harm, they have lost at least one step. The Bible does not command Christians to examine themselves, because self-examination is not only unprofitable, but it hinders progress as well. Many Christians, after a day is over, review the things of the day and examine themselves. They are just fooling themselves. The apostle Paul did not care how others judged him. He did not even judge himself. He said, "Do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then there will be praise to each from God" (1 Cor. 4:5). Paul knew that only when the Lord shines His light can anyone know what is right and what is wrong. If a Christian repeatedly considers himself, he surely will fail. He will be proud and consider himself better than his companions when he thinks that he has no fault. He will be discouraged and see no way out when he thinks about his faults. If our self-knowledge comes from the shining of God, then the results will be different.

Let us read Psalm 26:2: "Examine me, O Jehovah, and try me; / Test my inward parts and my heart." And Psalm 139:23-24b says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: / Try me, and know my thoughts: / And see if there be any wicked way in me." These two portions of the Scripture tell us the proper way to know ourselves.

..the way is to ask God to search us and to try us. Only when God searches us and tries us can we have accurate knowledge concerning ourselves. Our self-knowledge does not depend on our self-examination. Rather, it depends on God's inspection. 

God knows us more clearly and more accurately than we know ourselves. Actually, only God's knowledge concerning us is correct. 

Psalm 36:9 says, "In Your light we see light." Therefore, "in Your light we see light" means that when we receive the revelation of God, the shining of God's holy light, we are able to know the real situation of a certain matter. The matter will be clear as light in the eyes of our heart. In our own light we can never see light. Only in His light can we see light. Only the light of God can cause man to see the picture of his true self as God sees him.

As Christians, day by day we know ourselves not through self-examination but through the light of God. When the light of God shines upon us, we will realize that we are corrupt to the uttermost. We must have the boldness to be shined upon by God with His light so that He can reveal to us the real picture of ourselves. We have no way to know our own selves unless there is the shining of God. Our own evaluation of ourselves is not trustworthy.

If you draw near to God and are controlled constantly by the light of God, spontaneously you will illuminate the real condition of the people who are contacting you. If we want to obey the will of God and do the work of God, we need to be a light.

WHERE DOES THIS LIGHT COME FROM?

First, Christ is our light. John 8:12 says, "Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."

Second, the Word of God is our light. Psalm 119:105 says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Verse 130 says, "The entrance of thy words giveth light." 

Third, Christians are our light. Matthew 5:14 says, "You are the light of the world."

Whether by drawing near to Christ, by reading God's Word, or by being with other Christians, all the light we receive comes from the revelation of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who manifests the unapproachable light in which God dwells. It is He who manifests His glory, holiness, and righteousness. By this we see the absolute standard of God, so that we see ourselves, know our own real condition, and realize how we fall short of the standard of God.

The light of God, the light that God emanates through the Holy Spirit, is the first indispensable element. The basic need is that a sinner must see his own condition and see the glory of Jesus.

The progress of the Christian life is due to receiving the light of God, which opens a Christian's eyes and causes him to know the riches of the glory of God, and the greatness of the power of God that is given to him through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Anyone who is doing special work for God must be a person who has been shined upon by God. Only he who has been shined upon by God can judge his flesh. Only he who has judged his own flesh can be used by God.

It is not what we say that counts, nor what we feel that counts. It is not what we consider or believe that counts; rather, it is a matter of whether or not our work is really out of the will of God. First Corinthians 3 tells us the way we will be judged in the future: "The work of each will become manifest; for the day will declare it, because it is revealed by fire, and the fire itself will prove each one's work, of what sort it is." (v. 13). 

"The intimate counsel of Jehovah belongs to those who fear him; / And His covenant He will make known to them" (Psa. 25:14).

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!