Shepherding Calls

Last week I received two calls; one from a sister and the other from a brother. The first call was a report of a certain brother who used to be in the church life and who became negative due to a certain misunderstanding with a full-time serving brother. The result of his disagreement on the matter led him even to speak negatively about the church life, the saints, and even the ministry. The call was basically to let me know the situation of the brother and his family and find ways to shepherd him practically. This brother's wife recently went through a serious health issue and that opened the door for him to be shepherded. Though out of anger he burst out many unnecessary and negative words to the saints, but now the Lord has also dealt with him to realize the mistake he had committed, and that he should be clear about the truth irrespective of someone's reaction to his queries. Having heard this report, we prayed together for the Lord to come in shepherd this brother's family.

After that fellowship, I received an offering to be passed on to the needy saints. Today, as I considered to whom to transfer this offering, the Lord reminded me of this brother. Therefore, I contacted him and transferred the offering, with some cherishing messages. Thus, the Lord led me to practically be able to shepherd his family. This was based on the phone call I received from a sister. A shepherding call!

Another phone call was for a visit of a brother's family for a time of love-feast fellowship with my family. Last Saturday, the family came to spend time with us. We enjoyed the love feast and the cherishing mutual care. At the same time, this family was also in need. First, I helped them to file the sister's income tax which I have been filing for the past few years. Second, they were in need of a new laptop for their children's online class. They did not have enough money to buy a new one. Besides, they also needed a printer for the children's assignments. 

In fact, the past few months the Lord has been burdening me about helping this family by gifting them an old office computer that has not been in use for quite some time now due to its oldness. But I hesitated for some reason. And a printer too, I repaired and tried to use it for my family's need, but somehow I did not have the peace. Therefore, I bought a new one for our family's needs. So this printer was available to be given. But again, I hesitated for some reason.

But when the family came to visit our family, the Lord impressed me strongly that I should offer this old computer and printer as they are not being used anyway. These will be a great help to the family. With that inward prompting, and with the grace I have been enjoying in my official service, I did have the right to give it out. So I gave the old computer and the printer to the family. This was great help and relief to the family as they have been struggling with their finance. This was also based on the phone call for a visit to our family.

These two phone calls accomplished a lot practically in a matter of shepherding the needy saints. What a blessing to be under the Lord's shepherding and be able to shepherd one another! The two calls shepherded me to shepherd others. Thank God for those shepherding calls.

Another Bite?

Last night as I went out to pray, as usual, I was led to take a particular road as I did the prayer walk. As I took the walk and prayed within too, some street dogs barked at me for no reason. I simply ignored them and continued my walk. At one point, I saw three big dogs playfully running around a man feeding them on the street. I was walking towards them as it was my walk-path. Suddenly. these playful dogs turned towards me, ran, and without barking much gave me a strong deep bite on my leg where I have bitten two months ago. Then after the bite, they ran away. I was shocked that they actually bit me. As I observed the bite marks, I saw blood oozing out. I rushed back home and did the cleansing with flowing water, disinfected it, and applied the medicine the doctor prescribed me when I was bitten the previous time. This led me to deep and careful consideration, why?

Perhaps, the Lord must have a message for me to learn from the incident. No incident is an accident with the believers. Every incident is allowed by the Lord and there is a reason behind it. I really looked to the Lord for what could be the lesson I need to learn from this another bite. In the first bite, it was a message from the Lord not allowing me to shift out as the bite occurred when I went to look out for a vacant bungalow for rent. And of course, that also led me closer to my children and drawing their love and affection. This time, I feel the time of my prayer needs to be changed. I prefer the night walk after dinner and family prayer time. Perhaps, the Lord wanted me to spend prayer time in the morning instead and adjust my daily routine a bit. Perhaps, my daily schedule has to be adjusted; cutting off unwanted frustration and developing a new, better, and healthy lifestyle.

Coincidentally, on the same evening, I was assigned to coordinate with a brother to speak a message on "A Time with the Lord" in a seekers' meeting for the state of Karnataka. I released the burden and importance of a Christian needing to spend time with the Lord. Even a set time to touch the Lord in the spirit and enjoy His presence, receive His speaking and release His burden. I also spoke on the matter of spending time with the Lord in the word by way of pray-reading the word of God.  A good number of seekers attended the meeting online. It was after this meeting that another bite from a dog happened to me. It could be interpreted as the enemy hating me to speak the Lord's word, especially on the basic and important practice of spending time with the Lord in prayer and in the word.  And much more hating me spending time with the Lord.

Of course, as a matter of precaution, I called up a brother who is a medical doctor. He medically advised me that I need not worry about this another bite as I had already taken the Rabbi vaccination from the first dog bites. I simply have to treat the wound carefully and let it heal naturally. No matter what, I have to learn what the Lord wants me to learn. Another bite for another life lesson!

Lord, grace me to learn whatever spirutal lesson You want me to learn throught this another bite.

Fellowship: The Flow of Life

Fellowship is the flow of the divine life from God the Father in Christ the Son as the Holy Spirit into all the believers. This fellowship from God passing through the apostles and then to the believers is my portion too. In this fellowship, there is the vertical aspect with God and the horizontal aspect with the believers and is an interwoven fellowship causing the mingling of God and man and the blending of man and man issuing in the growth in life for the building up of the Body of Christ. This fellowship is a circulation in the Body of Christ making the Body alive and revived. It is in this fellowship that all the believers have been called to, including me.

The past few weeks, due to lockdown, we have not been able to meet physically for a one-on-one fellowship. But as we delved into the truth concerning fellowship the Lord opened the door for one-on-one fellowship last week. First, I could fellowship with a brother at his home concerning his family situation and prayed together. We had a brotherly fellowship rending help to one another. The following day, a brother came over to pursue a message on the life-study of Colossians, after which we had an hour-long fellowship. Then the next day, another brother casually came over and we had a time of fellowship on the matter of the truth concerning the bread breaking meeting and the ground of oneness. And last Saturday, a brother's family came and we had practical fellowship, basically helping the family out in their practical needs. 

As the Lord's speaking was on the intrinsic fellowship, He also brought us to practically experience His speaking. According to the truth we learned, we also got to experience it right away in the same week our pursuing was also on the same topic.  His hands followed His speaking right away. What a blessed experience of fellowship in the Body!

In fellowship, the Lord clarified many ambiguous feelings and thoughts in our lives.  Even today, as I had fellowship with the brothers and sisters from Nagaland, the Lord showed us the way we should go on. We prayed and planned for a literature visit to Nagaland, targetting all the Christian leaders in various Christian groups, theologians of various Bible colleges, and seeking believers, to introduce and distribute the ministry literature especially the Holy Bible Recovery Version.  Along with this burden, in fellowship, the Lord also made it clear that the brothers can start planning for the practical need of the Lord's move in  Nagaland. Like setting up a bank account and two brothers responsible for taking care of the burdened saints' offering. In prayer and fellowship, all these practical items were brought forth. I believe this is the leading of the Lord for His move in Nagaland.

May the Lord preserve me in the flow of the divine life all the days of my life, in sweet fellowship in the Body.

Only If God Moves

I have been very burdened for many people and many upcoming local churches. Out of my burden, I have been praying and laboring to shepherding the saints, seekers, and the local churches to be raised up. As I have been laboring on this line, I also met with many mysterious obstacles. At times, the new ones seem very positive, yet other times they seem to show different faces. Sometimes, I was encouraged and other times I was discouraged. Perhaps, I have been struggling in my own natural man to achieve my own heart's desire. Therefore, the Lord began to lead me to a deeper experience of Christ.

Now I learn one very important lesson in shepherding: Move along with God's move if only God moves. If the Lord does not move, I shall not move. If the Lord does not do anything, I shall not initiate anything either. All my burden and labor would mean nothing if the Lord is not the one who burdened me or moves in and through me. I am learning to discern between my own personal burden and the burden the Lord burdened me with. I am learning and learning...

I have a burden for a particular local church to be properly shepherded into the fellowship of the Body. I have been praying and fellowshipping with them for many years now. Though there has never been a direct opposition to my shepherding, I could sense that some saints are indirectly opposed to it. My reaction was to simply pray for them. This reminds me of the apostle paul's experiences in dealing with the local churches. Though he cared for them, they misunderstood his care and often reacted in a negative way. But the apostle Paul exhibited such maturity and grace in handling all kinds of treatment meted out to him, with much grace.  O may I learn from such a pattern!

I have also initiated a weekly time of prayer with some key brothers both in Manipur and Meghalaya. In fact, we started off quite well and regularly. But later, a brother in each state began to not respond to my call for prayer. For some reasons known to them best, they decided to not join our corporate prayer though they promised that they would love to pray when I proposed to them first. I do not understand what concept they reacted to in this way of late. But I kept praying with the other brothers who were open and available for prayer. Perhaps, they have their own personal reasons that I may not need to know. I leave the matter to the Lord. But as for me, I simply continue to pray with whoever is open and available for prayer. Even upholding these brothers who initially prayed with me and back down later. As long as at least one brother is there to pray with me for the particular burden, I will continue to pray and pray.

This is an important lesson I have been learning from the Lord these days. Move, only if the Lord moves. If the Lord moves, do not stop due to opposition or negative response. Continue to move as long as the Spirit leads you. I am engaged in a battle; siding with God against His enemy, to accomplish what He intends to accomplish in me and through me. On the one hand, I do not press too much beyond what the Spirit impressed me with. Yet, on the other hand, I should not back down due to mere opposition from the enemy and his frustrating tactic. I must stand firm in the move of God and move in His move.

Lord, grace me to be one with You all the time; moving only if You move. Amen!

God's Recovery

As I understood from the sharing by a brother on the story of the universe in our online fellowship last week, I have summarized it as "God's Recovery." This story of the universe began with God's creation in Genesis 1:1. I am not delving deep into the matter as done by GH Pember in his Earth's Earliest Ages, but drawing the line of recovery God has been working on since the judgment as evident in Genesis 1:2. 

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 

The universe was created by God. But after the creation, the earth became waste and emptiness, and darkness was on the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters, proving that the earth was judged by God. Perhaps, because of the fallen angels, and was covered with water. 

Genesis 1:2

But the earth became waste and emptiness, and darkness was on the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters. 

The fall that led to judgment is being undone through the process of time until it will be fully headed up in Christ one day. That is God's economy as the goal of God's recovery.

Ephesians 1:10

Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him; 

Scientists have theorized the three laws of thermodynamics and later a Zeroth law was added. These laws are subject to this physical earth and everything in this realm comes under its domain; meaning the laws would hold true within its domain, ie., the earth we live in today which was the result of fall, and all fallen bring are subject to this physical laws.

However, there is a spiritual realm that does not come under the bounds of the physical realm. Though one lives in the physical realm physically, if he is in the spiritual realm he can go beyond the leaps and bounds of the physical realm. There are many instances recorded in the Bible where men have experienced things against the physical laws. 

In the Old Testament times, to name a few, Elijah never saw death and was raptured alive. And so was Enoch.

2 Kings 2:11

And as they went on and talked, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared; and they separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

Genesis 5:24

And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. 

Another example is pouring oil into as many empty vessels were available.

2 Kings 4:4-5

Then go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour out into all those vessels; and each one you fill set aside. So she went away from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons; and they brought the vessels to her, and she poured out into them. 

In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish. How did it multiply? Science has no answer for this, nor can it be proven scientifically. But we all know that Jesus as God Himself can do such a miracle. Let us look at John 6:5-21

John 6:9

There is a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are these for so many? 

John 6:13

So they gathered them and filled twelve handbaskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves which were left over among those who had eaten. 

Jesus walked on the sea defying the natural law of gravity and immediately landed on the other side of the land, defying time. He transcended the physical laws; to Him, there was no limit of time and space.

John 6:19-21

19. Then, when they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they became frightened. 20. But He said to them, It is I. Do not be afraid. Then they were willing to take Him into the boat; and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. 

Not only Jesus but His apostles and believers too experienced the same. A few cases in the book of Acts are noteworthy. Philip transcended space and time.

Acts 8:39-40

And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away; and the eunuch did not see him anymore, for he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found in Azotus; and passing through, he announced the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.

There are many cases in the Bible that testify to the fact that in the spiritual realm one can be above the physical laws. This is the gradual process of recovery in God's work, bringing His created man back to what He originally intended to be.

It was the enemy of God, Satan the devil, who brought in the fall to mankind subjecting him to the natural laws. But God is recovering His created man back to what He intends him to be. For this, God was incarnated as a man in Christ Jesus, passed through all the processes of human living, and accomplished the great work of redemption by defeating His enemy once for all at the cross, and destroyed the works of the devil.

1 John 3:8

He who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 

Hebrews 2:14

Since therefore the children have shared in blood and flesh, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death He might destroy him who has the might of death, that is, the devil.

Now, as New Testament believers, possessing the divine life of God Himself, one can actually undo the works of the devil in God's recovery. This has been experienced in two dimensions, as an individual and as the corporate Body of Christ, the church.

Individually, as believers, we have experienced Regeneration in our spirit; then are experiencing Sanctification,  Transformation, Renewing, Confirmation, and Deification in our soul, and finally Glorification, the redemption of our physical body. Through all these processes, God's recovery work would bring back God's original creation.  Similar processes are with the church corporately among the many believers, to ultimately head up all thing in Christ, the Head. Ephesians 4 shows in detail how God is recovering His goal through Christ, and then through the gifted members perfecting the saints, and the perfected saints building up the Body in love. Though through the falls of man there are divisions among believers too, through the growth in life, which is the actual building up, the Lord will blend the Body together. The Lord has commissioned us, the believers, with His divine commission of preaching the gospel, saving sinners, disciple(ing) the nations, and building up His Body to bring Him back and fulfill His heart's desire. God's goal will thus be fulfilled through His recovery work.  With our spirit as the beachhead, we must cooperate with the Lord to carry out His recovery work to gain us man, then build up His church, His Body, and gain the one New Man, His Bride.

Lord, I give myself to You for Your recovery work. Lord, gain Your goal in us and through us as Your church.

Bible Study: The Holy Spirit's Discipline and the Ministry of the Word

An assignment was given to some of us brothers who are learning to serve and coordinate in the Lord's move here in India. I took this privilege to study the word and learn to interpret it using the ministry. The entire exercise is with the view of learning to handle the word with the goal of becoming a proper minister of the word. May the Lord perfect all the brothers to learn our lessons thoroughly well and be equipped with the word. The study question is below with my study answers.

How are these verses related to the "Discipline of the Holy Spirit" which produces the "Ministry of God’s Word" in us?

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 

The good here is related to our gaining more of Christ, to our having Him wrought into our being, that we may be transformed metabolically and may eventually be conformed to His image, the image of the Son of God (v.29), that is, we may be wrought into full sonship. This is the discipline of the Holy Spirit that we may be constituted as the word of God. 

However, for the Holy Spirit to have His free way to work into our being, we need to cooperate with His operation. Therefore, the phrase, "to those who love God". Only when we love God, we care for God's desire, and we will be willing to coordinate with Him in whatever way He pleases to deal with us.

For this, the Holy Spirit is carrying out His work of disciplining through all things that work together for good.

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:17

The will of the Lord is for Him to work Himself into us, to be our life and our life supply, and to become Him in life and in nature but not in the godhead. For this, He has been working Himself into us using the environment, the afflications and sufferings we seem to have been going through. Amidst this transforming process, we must realise it is the will of the Lord and simply submit to the Holy Spirit.  In our cooperation with the will of the Lord, we will give Him the full freedom to do whatever he wanted to do in us; to constitute   us as the minister of His word. Otherwise we would be foolish, wasting our time and the Lord's.

Giving thanks at all times for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to our God and Father. Ephesians 5:20

At all times for all things are all the works of the Lord in gaining us for His purpose. Having been fully aware of the Lord's work, we must always give thanks to God our Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

Through the constitution work of the Holy Spirit into our being, the word of God will operate in renewing our mind, transforming us into His image to the extent that there is a clear distinction between our spirit and our soul. Our spirit indwelt by the Holy Spirit will permeate and saturate our soul with all its faculties transformed; the mind being renewed to become the mind of Christ, the emotion being dealt with to love only the Lord Jesus as first and best love, and the will being subdued to be submissive yet pliable becoming one with the will of the Lord. This discipline of the Holy Spirit will constitute one to be a minister of the word in the ministry of the New Testament.

The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah, searching all the innermost parts of the inner being.  Proverbs 20:27

The God-created spirit of man in man is used by the Lord through His works in the outward objective environment to enliven, confirm, and strengthen the inner light. Thereby, through such an inner shining, the Lord will carry out His works of sanctification and purification, issuing in His constituting the man He worked upon, to be a man of God, a man of the word, or in a new testament sense, a minister of the New Testament.

All the above verses prove that the discipline of the Holy Spirit is for the constitution of His chosen ones to be the minister of the word in the New Testament ministry.

Constitution and Increase

Last Friday, on the 4th of June, we had a time of fellowship with the brothers from Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, and Gurugram.  In this fellowship, a brother asked some brothers to share what we have been experiencing or going through in our Christian life these days. Two brothers shared first their experiences of the Lord through the sufferings they went through recently as they were down with Covid-19. 

Dissatisfaction: One brother shared his experience of dissatisfaction in his life these days in a very positive way. His services, his shepherding, his living, and in many aspects, a sense of dissatisfaction took over him. On this an elderly brother fellowship that such experiences are often caused by the Lord to turn us to Him desperately; not to be satisfied with anything in the world, including our own spirituality and services. The only thing we must be satisfied with is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Therefore, now and then, the Holy Spirit will discipline us through the environment, creating dissatisfaction, drawing our full attention towards Himself.

Intimacy with God: Another brother shared his experience of the Lord during his time of sickness that drew him more intimately towards the Lord Jesus. He was enlightened to see his need to spend more personal time with the Lord and enjoy sweet intimacy with Him. For this, the Lord allows a temporary affliction in the flesh using Coronavirus. 

Then I was also asked to share. By the way, I was also burdened to share what I have been through these days Two words immediately sprang out of my mind: Constitution and Increase. These are the two things I have been engaged with, in my service for the past few months.  In fact, my experiences have also been confirmed and backed by the recent memorial day conference.

Constitution

But if I delay that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, and the pillar and base of the truth.  1 Timothy 3:15 

This is good and acceptable in the sight of our Savior God,  Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth. 1 Tim 2:4

Constitution: To have the intrinsic element of the divine revelation wrought into us to become our constituent, our intrinsic being, our organic constitution. Constitution is not merely enjoying or reading a little bit of the ministry, but much more, the divine revelation wrought into us to become our intrinsic being, our organic constitution. Constitution cannot take place by skating on the surface of the truths but dive into the depths of the truths.

If you lay these things before the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, being nourished with the words of the faith and of the good teaching which you have closely followed. 1 Timothy 4:6 

Need for Constitution: For God’s economy to be fulfilled we need to be constituted with the truth, for this we need the daily dispensing of the riches of Christ and enjoying Him. 

How to be Constituted: 

• Study the Bible, read the Life-studies, and pray over the truths for the constitution with the full knowledge of the truth.
• Pay the price to learn the truths—Prov. 23:23 Buy truth, and do not sell it; Buy wisdom and instruction and understanding
• Learn the truth and experience Christ so that He becomes our reality to minister Christ to people and become a great blessing to the church. E.g., Jachin and Boaz

These are the crucial words on "constitution" I learned from the recent speaking in the ministry. I shared the same points in a subjective way. Following this, I also shared on the points that have been in my heart on the matter of increase.

Increase 

The genuine increase is the addition of Christ into our being. Increase goes together with the matter of truths constitution. The more one is constituted with the truths the more of the divine word, the divine life, and nature of God is added into him. The supply of life comes through the word of God. And when it does, it also becomes our constitution. This increase is the increase inwardly resulting in the growth in life. This subjective inward increase will usher in the outward increase in numbers in the matter of bearing fruits; bringing new people to the Lord and a definite increase in the number of the saints meeting in the locality where we stand as the church.

For this increase, I was also very burdened for the increase in the number of local churches being recovered or raised up especially in North India. Through all the distribution trip the Lord has been leading us, the seekers we have discovered were surely fo the Lord, and they must be shepherded into the practical oneness and into the practical fellowship of the Body of Christ. For this, the Lord grace me to keep in constant fellowship with the seeking brothers and even arranged a monthly online fellowship to recover them into the oneness. 

These were my experiences these days and also the fellowship I had with the brothers in our online blending meeting.

May the Lord continue His work of constituting me with His truths and cause His increase in me and through me in my Christian life and service.