Life Lesson: Inward Struggle and Outward Supply

A week ago I was struggling within and also was reasoning intensely with the Lord concerning the house I live in right now. As a family, we have been living in the same house for a decade now. At times I wanted to shift out to another house seeking better facilities. With the same amount of rent I am paying now, I could have gotten a better house, infrastructurally speaking. Yet, I never got the go-ahead from the Lord for some reason known only to Him. This is the reason I struggled within with the Lord. On the one hand, I contemplated relocation. Yet, on the other hand, I never had the leading from the Lord nor the peace to move. And I dare not do anything without the Lord's perfect leading where His presence, His hands accompanies His speaking. Therefore, I got stuck.

With the pandemic striking last year, and now the second wave sweeping India all over again in an intense way, many houses have become vacant awaiting to be rented. Besides, house rents have been reduced significantly. These facts added more fuel to my reasoning mind. At the same time, my expenses for my children's fees and others have gone up significantly. Therefore, I was contemplating to negotiate with my house owner based on the facts I have got, to reduce the rent or shift out. This, perhaps, was a rather bold step yet foolish, becoming food for my reasoning mind and wandering thoughts. But as a man, I really struggled and struggled.

After I was bitten by a dog, for about two weeks I could not take a walk due to the wounds. But once I got well, I resumed my prayer walk again. On the first day of my prayer walk, the Lord spoke to me a very particular word that changed my whole concept and perhaps, renewed my mind all over again. Therefore I gave up all my strugglings, gave up all my reasonings, and gave up my being itself to God's caring hands; just to rest in Him in peace.

The Lord's speakings were, "You are my child, you cannot compare yourself with the worldly people. They may reason and fight for their so-called rights, but you must simply trust me, I will take care of it all. Others can negotiate on their rentals with pandemic as the reason, but I have been providing you with all that you needed. If your expenses were more, I will increase your supply accordingly. You don't have to fight for yourself, I will fight for you. Just trust in me, and just rest in Me. I know what is best for you."

After this, I completely gave up my thoughts and secret plans. Even my thought to write a "personal fellowship" mail to my house owner, who is also a brother in the Lord, seeking a reduction in my house rent. Then, the peace of God came back and I was released from all my "legal" reasonings. Praise the Lord!

Following this, the Lord also provided in abundance, to meet our expenses. Surprisingly, abundantly, and marvelously the Lord provided our needs through our loving and caring parent in Taiwan. With this love offering, the Lord proved Himself again that He is the Lord and He supplies abundantly on time. In other words, this was an experience of not fighting for my rights, even if there was any, but to defer all to the Lord for His sovereign arrangement. I must not fight for my rights nor accuse someone whom I feel is unrighteous. But leave the matter to the Lord who sees all, knows all, and is above all. Let Him take the final call.

Having enjoyed the Lord's speaking and the Lord's supply time and gain, I have no words but to worship Him and praise Him! For I know Him a little bit more and gain Him more! Praise the Lord!

Only If God Moves

As a serving one, I have a burden to take care of new ones and I have been doing my best to follow them up for shepherding. Yet for some reason, many of these new ones are not responding positively, giving me the only option available, ie.. to pray and pray and pray. This is indeed a trying time for me especially when I wanted to contact them and they did not respond at all. Most of these ones are from gentile backgrounds and they have not really been fully opened to give up their religious practices especially idol worship. In a way of shepherding, I did let them know that idols are nothing and that the true and living God must not be equated to a deaf, dumb, and dead idol. Perhaps, I have not been able to spend more time with them to shepherd them on a regular basis and help them step by step. But what I could do best, I believe, I have done it. Beyond my capacity, I cannot do anything further.

As I consider this matter carefully, a new light dawned on me. If God does not move, what can I really do? Try however much I may, all my human effort would be in vain if the Holy Spirit did not do His works on these new ones. If the Holy Spirit does not move in these ones, I dare not even try to do anything. I don't know why some of these new one's growth comes to a standstill. I may have my guesses, but it's all useless. The end of the matter is: Only if God moves, then I can only cooperate with God's move.

Now I pray and wait for the Holy Spirit's move in man that I need to cooperate with. This is a precious lesson I learned recently.  The same case applies to anyone. Though as a brother I may have a burden for people here and there, unless the Lord moves in them, I am helpless. Therefore, I have taken my hands off from trying to contact people who do not bother to respond at all. Be it believers or gospel friends, I would not sneak into their life unless I sense the work of the Holy Spirit in them. Lest I end up offering strange fire to God.

In response to the lesson I have learned, I have stopped sending messages to many new ones I used to send before. I also put a temporary hold on "trying to shepherd" those who are not interested at all. I also put a hold on inviting gospel friends for the gospel meetings if they do not show any interest at all. In fact, I also stooped responding to people who try to misuse me for their gain without any interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. I do this for now until the Lord would move me to continue following them up again, or until I sense the work of the Holy Spirit in them. So I resorted to prayer only for all these ones now.  I will continue to do so as long as the prayer burden for them is not lifted. I will move forward again if only God moves. 

What a precious lesson! It saves me a lot of my time and energy and even money. I used to be so busy running after so many new ones. Now that I should discern first if the Holy Spirit moves in them at all, then and only then, I would follow the move of the Holy Spirit in sweet coordination with the Lord. 

I will move only if God moves...

Life Lessons: Diligent, Detail, and Daring

One lesson that I will never forget in life is what a brother told me, "Never take a shortcut; the longest way is the shortest way." Whenever faced with a situation that demands my decision either to take the easier and shorter way or the difficult and longer yet the best way was, I decided to take the latter. Last week and this week, incidents happened in my life that made me exercise my character in this regard.

I needed to take an Anti-Rabbi Vaccination (ARV) on a frequency of 0-3-7-28 days from the day I got the first vaccination. My first vaccination was done at a government hospital in Delhi. For the second one, I had a choice. I could go to Delhi or find a government hospital in Gurugram. Or, the simplest and easiest way was to buy the vaccine and get vaccinated by any medical practitioner. 

I deemed it best to find a government hospital and started checking on it. Even after enquiring from the local saints, I was simply told not to bother to visit government hospitals as it was troublesome, and with Covid patients increasing, it was best to avoid public health care places. I was deeply not convinced by this logic. With pandemics, all public places including the shopping area adjacent to my house were as dangerous as any hospital. I determined to find a solution to get access to government health care by all means. In private, one has to shell out a good amount of money. I found no reason to not use what has been made available. I simply have to pay a little price to find out the proper ones.

With my right leg still aching from the dog bite wound, I went to enquire first where were the private clinics and how much they would cost for vaccination. Then I went to a nearby charity hospital to enquire the same. Then I googled to look for a nearby government hospital. I followed Google map direction and found Wazirabd Government Hospital. Upon enquiring, I was told that ARV was dispensed in another government-run Poly Clinic at Sector 31. I googled and followed Google Maps to find the hospital. 

Then, upon enquiring I was told to get registered first before I could get vaccinated. Meanwhile, I had been driving and moving around with my wounded leg. Due to the fear of Covid, many had come to get a check or get vaccinated for Covid-19. All patients had to stand in the queue for the registration. I had no choice but to stand in the queue with my right leg barely able to hold me. A thought came to me just to give it up and take the easier way but avoiding all these formalities and get vaccinated at my own time and comfort. But I decided to stay in the queue and wait for my turn. For the entire one-hour period of waiting, I listened to two life-study radio programs on Philippians. Finally, my turn came. I got registered and then got vaccinated. 

Now that I found out the proper place for vaccination and all the other detail, I would come again for all the other courses of vaccination. Besides, I can also let other needy saints know about this facility and where it was located. In fact, I informed a brother about this as well. 

The idea here was not merely to save the cost of vaccination, but also to find out the government facilities available, and other details if the need arises in the future. Now for Covid and all other medical needs, I came to know what was available. After 15 years of my stay in Gurugram, this was the first time I availed myself affordable government facilities. Otherwise, private facilities are super expensive and run purely for business. I am glad I could discover this, besides exercising my character to be diligent in finding the detail of dispensaries and be daring to do so at such a time like this when the second wave of Corona is on the rise.

Yesterday and today, I was researching the way to create professional HD promotional material according to my idea for the Holy Bible Recovery Version promotion. A brother had once done something but I needed something better. I had the idea but now I must find a way to implement it. After some hours of research online, I discovered the best and simplest way of doing it exactly according to my ideas. This too required diligent researching, learning, and trying and trying. Finally, I created a very professional presentation on PPT and added all the animations, transitions, music, and designs, and converted it into an MP4 file.  As I replayed the media and observed carefully, more new ideas came for improvement. Therefore, I had to redo it again and again, a couple of times, until it fully satisfied me. Herein was also the exercise of character involved. Actually, there were promotional materials already available, but those did not satisfy me. I wanted something better.  The shortcut way was to simply use what was available. But if I had to add or change something I need to contact the designer and the process would be much longer.

The lesson learned here is; be diligent, be detailed in anything I do, and for it I must be daring, taking risks, and pay the price as well.

Happy Family Time

Since I got bitten by a dog, I needed the special attention of my family as I could not manage things by myself. My son and daughter helped me much in supporting my walk as I could not put pressure on my right leg due to the injury from dog bites. I enjoyed and treasured the assistance of my children. In fact, I never realized that they could be a great help and blessing to me in time of need. My wife too took special care of me in attending to my wounds, cleaning them up and applying ointment for the wound, and timely feeding me food, and dispensing the prescribed medicines. On top of all, I could not sleep alone and it was not safe for me too. Therefore I had to sleep with my whole family in the same room. The family bonding has grown much stronger and sweeter the past few days. Thanks for the dog bites.

As I considered the dog bite episode, I truly believe it was the sovereign arrangement of the Lord to strengthen our intimate family love. Time and again, I have been enjoying the love God has ordained for my family. Though I could not go out for a prayer walk, which I desire to resume once my wounds are healed. Until then, I still pray at home and spend more time with my family.

These days, perhaps due to the effect of the medicine that I consumed, I have a drowsy feeling after every pill. This made me sleep much longer than usual. After over a decade I am taking medicine again, therefore my body could not easily handle the strong effect of the antibiotics I was prescribed by the doctor. This makes me sleep more. And I slept mostly with my son and daughter. They both showered their tender love for me and I enjoyed the bonding between us. 

In businesses and mostly in restaurants, they have something called, "Happy Hours." When customers are least expected, in order to keep the business afloat they promote this scanty time as happy hours. In the same principle, what I have been going through now is "happy family hours" when normally I would be busy with my own works and responsibilities, now due to the special situation, it has turned out be the happy hours with my family. I thank the Lord for these happy hours of the day. And I believe, family life should always be happy hours,  a happy family time. This is what the Lord has ordained for a family!

May the Lord grace me and my family, all the days of life, to enjoy the happy family time; every time we are together, it should be happy hours.

Knowing God and Knowing Life

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we might know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 1 John 5:20

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Him whom You have sent, Jesus Christ. John 17:3

Knowing God and knowing eternal life are two sides of the same coin. The knowledge of God that was given to us through the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ is the knowledge of the eternal life. With our mind being enlightened, we know God, and this knowing God leads us into the receiving of the eternal life of God. Therefore, the knowledge of God is eternal life. The former tends towards the objective knowledge and the latter tends toward the subjective experience. yet the two are one. Any genuine knowledge of God will usher one into the experience of the eternal life, and vice versa. Eternal life is the divine life with a special function to know God and Christ. To know God, one needs the divine life. The believers are born of the divine life, therefore, they know God and Christ.

In these two verses, we confirm the oneness of the ministry of brother Watchman Nee and Witness Lee.  Brother Nee's ministry leads us into the deep and objective knowledge of God and brother Lee's ministry leads us into the sweet and subjective experience of God based on the revelation revealed through brother Nee. The servants of the Lord are doing the one ministry of the new testament. They complement each other. 

Despite some opposers trying to divide the ministry of brother Nee and Lee, those who truly know and experience the two brother's ministry can testify that the two ministries are unto the one ministry. Whatever brother Nee had received from the Lord and were spoken forth are all made practical and enjoyable through brother Lee's ministry. In fact, without the help of brother Lee's ministry, it is rather difficult to experience the ministry of brother Nee. These two verses put the ministry of the two brothers together. One of knowledge that leads to life, and the other of life that leads to more knowledge. Like a vicious cycle, the more the knowledge of God, the more the eternal life; the more the eternal life, the more the knowledge of God.  Therefore, the two brothers are just one, and the duo's ministry are the same; they both usher the believers into the knowledge and experience of God unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

Watchman Nee's Chinese name To-sheng, meaning "the sound of a watchman's rattle." True to his name, he indeed was a watchman to the believers, reminding the hour of the time. His ministry was a reminder to the believers for watchfulness awaiting the Lord's return.  His ministry sounded out emphatically, point by point, what were the points one needs to be reminded of as we await the Lord's return. Now that he has gone to be with the Lord, still his watchman's sound, the ministry God had apportioned to him, still rings on. Therefore, a proverb is apt to describe him and his ministry of the word, "Although the watchman is gone, the sound of the watchman still remains, and echoes through the believers' ears until the morning dawn."

Brother Watchman Nee unveiled the three points of the blueprint for the Lord's building work:

1. Christ is the only material for the building of God's house.
2. The building is expressed locally where the believers are. 
3. The building is carried out through coordination.

In all these three points, brother Witness Lee's ministry fits in. Br. Lee had extensively expounded on Christ as the unique building material. One of his classic books is "The All-Inclusive Christ" in 1962. On the matter of the building being expressed as a local church in a locality, he, in 1968 has spoken a series of messages on "The Practical Expression of the Church." And on the matter of coordination, he has released a number of books on coordination in the Body for the building up of the Body of Christ. Therefore, brother Watchman Nee and Witness Lee's ministry are just one ministry.

As much in the vision, so much in the ministry, the two brothers' ministries are one and they complement each other. In as much as knowing God is the eternal life, what brother Nee had revealed of God is now being made experienceable through brother Lee's ministry. Praise the Lord for the two brothers and the apportion the Lord had sovereignly allotted to them! Today, we are the beneficiaries. In fact, I am one of the beneficiaries. Not to boast, but in reality, declaring the fact, I have been so much helped and blessed by these two brothers' portion. 

Glory to God! Amen!

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.