Today's Boaz

The blessing soul will prosper, and he who waters will also be watered himself. Proverbs 11:25

The training message on Boaz brought a new light to me. The Lord has shown me some important characteristics of Boaz in his care for the needy ones. What a pattern he has become to me, even to bring forth Christ, which could be applied to my Christian life today.  

Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a man of great wealth, from Elimelech’s family; and his name was Boaz. Ruth 2:1

Boaz was such a wonderful person, rich,  willing, caring, generous, and redeemed Ruth, a widow, filled with debts from a cursed generation. To redeem someone’s property is one thing, but also to redeem that person’s, the dead person’s wife to become his wife is unimaginable. He took care of others’ birthright setting a pattern for us to take care of our own enjoyment of Christ as well as others’ enjoyment of Christ too.

Boaz is a wonderful type of Christ. We must all be Boazes today. There are many saints in our midst who have lost their enjoyment of Christ. They once enjoyed Christ in the church life in the recovery, but somehow they got offended by a person or a certain situation, became stumbled, did not attend the meeting, and became backslidden. The Lord needs to raise up many Boazes, who have some amount of riches in order to redeem others, who have lost their enjoyment.

But we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those who are weak and not to please ourselves. Let each one of us – each of us please his neighbor with a view to what is good for building up. For Christ also did not please Himself, but as it is written, The reproaches of those who reproached you fell upon me. Romans 15: 1-3

Today there are many dormant, backslidden saints who need to be restored. Paul says in Ephesians 3:2, he was given the stewardship by God to me for you. Such stewardship, such a rich ministry, was given to Paul not for himself to boast before others. But he says, This ministry is to me for you. 

All the riches that the Lord has given to us in His recovery are not for ourselves only. Yes, we enjoy them; we grow by them so that we can have the maturity of life so that we can be rich in Him to become genuinely spiritual. 

From this record concerning Boaz, we see the principle of incarnation. God wants to recover all these ones, all these Ruths, who had once enjoyed Him, her husband. But now her husband died, so she lost her enjoyment of the birthright. 

The God-ordained way is that we should not just always expect people to come back to the church. But we have to go to where these people are. They are in their poverty, in a needy situation, and they are just like the Ruth, who’ve lost their husband.

So the Lord has to raise us up, brothers and sisters, to be today’s Boazes. Someone who is a real Boaz and is rich in the enjoyment of Christ will pay the price to bring such saints into the full enjoyment of Christ. By shepherding others in this way, he will have even more enjoyment of Christ, the greatest enjoyment of Christ; day by day we should take care of others’ enjoyment of Christ—Prov. 11:25; Acts 20:35; 1 Pet. 5:1-4.

As said in Proverbs 11:25, that the blessing soul will prosper, and he who waters will also be watered himself. If we take care of others, you will find that you yourself are being taken, are being taken care of first. When you bless others, you find that you are being blessed first. The waterers are being watered first by the Lord.

If today in the Lord’s recovery there can be many such Boazes, what a, what a revival there will be. We should not be only praying for revival, and we should not only pray that God would do something. God is waiting for us to be today’s Boazes to redeem the Ruths who are lying all over, all around us.

Those who become like Boaz are pillars in the church life (one of the pillars in the temple was named “Boaz”—1 Kings 7:21); in the Scriptures, the pillar is a sign, a testimony, of God’s building through a transformation in practicing the Body life—Gen. 28:22a; 1 Kings 7:15-22; Gal. 2:9; 1 Tim. 3:15; Rev. 3:12; Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:11-12.

This message stirred up my spirit to care for the needy saints, especially those I did not contact for a couple of months now; to follow them up and shepherd them into the church life.

The blessing soul will prosper...

Lord, grace me and enlarge my heart to take care of the needy saints and become one like Boaz to bring forth Christ into others.

Cargo Clearance

Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom the master has set over his household to give them food at the proper time? Matthew 24:45

After a month-long of clearing up the godown in our Chennai office, we have learned a good number of important spiritual lessons in the process. Two years ago we imported the Holy Bible, Recovery Version from USA for distribution in India. For that, we had rented a 2BHK house for a temporary godown. Right after the Bibles and other books arrived, Coronavirus struck India. Since then, we were not able to distribute the books and Bibles that we imported.

Last month I had a strong feeling that the godown needs to be cleared up, and the book be distributed all over India. After weeks of fellowship and consideration, we decided to empty the two godowns in Chennai. For this, a serving couple went to Chennai to help. As the serving ones were clearing up the godown, we learned new things in taking care of the literature service.

Firstly, we learned the importance of being a proper person in taking care of our assigned service. Faithfulness and diligence stand out as key characters one needs. In the way the books were handled, one's character has been exposed. A good number of books had been spoiled due to termite and rat infestation. Stocking and inventory management needs an overhaul. All this is a matter of character. 

Secondly, the burden to be one with the ministry and being absolute to it is a great matter in the literature service. One cannot stand on two boats, one leg on a full-time service and the other leg on business. Besides, the unique ministry we are involved in cannot be mixed with another ministry. The one publication in the one ministry for the one work in the one Body must be strictly maintained. Otherwise, unnecessary trouble would erupt out of such service.

Thirdly, there is a need to be in sweet coordination with all the fellow serving ones. Oneness is the key to all the blessings in the New Testament. If one cannot coordinate in one accord with his coordinator, his service is finished. 

These are the three main lessons we learned through the recent cargo clearance of the books. From the physical things, the Lord has taught us spiritual lessons to all of us, the serving ones. Besides this, I also learned a lesson of not pointing out others' weaknesses and expose them openly. Though photos and videos of the serving ones' apparent weakness and failure in maintaining the godown have been sent to me, I took it to heart myself and considered how to handle the matter with the right spirit at the right time. There were feelings that erupted due to the evidence of negligence on the part of the serving ones, but I must be careful not to react in my natural man. Rather I learned to commit all things to the Lord in prayer and fellowship with my coordinator on how to help the serving ones to learn his lesson.  

After prayer and careful consideration, we had fellowship with the concerned serving ones today. Point by point, we brought it to fellowship, with much exercises of our spirit, taking Christ as the Head in every matter of fellowship in the atmosphere of prayer. The Lord graciously led us through all the points, on the one hand letting the serving ones know where things have gone wrong and how it can be rectified and on the other hand, shepherding him to go on in his service and improve from all things that he lags behind. In this way, we spend over three hours fellowshipping. After this long fellowship, we all prayed together and the matters were fellowshipped thoroughly and resolved. Though there were some offenses and hurts as the points were brought to the open in fellowship, later, everything was calmed down. Thus, the spiritual lessons learned with a sober mind.

This experience is like undergoing a major surgery in a physical body diagnosed with a cancer tumor. Though the operation was painful, it was worth it. The outcome is good health, strength, and long life. Therefore, I also encouraged the serving ones to look to the Lord for His mercy and grace, that we all would be preserved in the literature service all the days of our lives and that the Lord would bless our service as our being is dealt with and become a proper vessel that can command, contain, and multiple the blessings of God.

What precious lessons we have learned from the cargo clearance exercise! May the Lord preserve and bless all the serving ones in the literature service!

Slave of Christ

Epaphras, who is one of you, a slave of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. Colossians 4:12

The apostles, especially Paul, had addressed himself as a slave of Christ Jesus in his epistles. Likewise, James, Peter, Jude, John, and others have used the same title. This title sounds good in the ear but in reality, when one is to be treated as a slave, without the Spirit of reality operating in the believers, it will not be possible to live out a life of a slave. Today, many spiritual Christian leaders love to address themselves as "slaves" with the intention of being humble and spiritual, but this has been taken to another extreme and has a reverse effect. By using this title "slave", they are actually boasting about their humility which in turn became a spiritual pride, of being humble. This is far more serious than the sin of plain pride. Spiritual pride is the most sinful pride of all. Because it is mere hypocrisy.

A slave is one who lost his rights even of his own life. He is fully owned by his master; his own life, his family, and all that he possesses belong to his master. A servant is mostly hired and serves for salary. He can release himself from his service anytime he wishes to, only that he would no longer be paid for his service. Whereas, a slave is bound to his master life-long.

Again I reiterate, I am not a slave by nature, but I am gradually learning to be one. In the locality I serve, the saints, especially the new ones are helping me to learn this lesson. They come to me for all the help they need which they know that I could render them a helping hand. I am glad that at least they approached me for help. Within my capacity, with the heart of a slave, I rendered them whatever help I could from my part. 

A brother, a new one, had written his first book to be published on his profession titled, "Memory Mastery" for which I rendered my help in proofreading and finalizing all the content of the book. It was time-consuming and was skill-based, and despite my busy schedule, I determined to help him, and the work was completed according to his schedule. Through this help, he becomes more open to prayer together and even requested me to visit him at his place. My burden for him is to recover him fully for the church life and raise up the Lord's testimony in his city, Jhajjar.

A new one, an old retired officer, had received my help for releasing his first book, and now the second book is to be released. The content of the book is historical in nature; of Indian history with her freedom fighters. By this way of helping him, he has become open to me. I have been praying for him and his family and his friends that one day I would be able to preach the gospel and bring them to salvation. So far, cherishing work has been going on. In this way too, I am learning to serve as a slave.

Two weeks ago, a seeking one came to visit the literature office. On fellowshipping with him, I felt the leading from the Lord to invite him to stay back so that he could join the church meeting and also we could have more fellowship. The Lord's leading within me was to serve him as a slave. He was my guest, and I must serve him with the best hospitality I could render. This too was a lesson of serving as a slave. In this way, I have been learning to serve as a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord has been gracing me to learn the lesson of being a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. I, by nature, am not a slave at all. And I would not pretend to be one. Yet, the Lord in His mercy has been gracing me to learn to serve as a slave. May the Lord grace me on and on to be His slave in serving His chosen people for His people. 

My prayer has been to be like that of Epaphras, a slave of Christ Jesus, always struggling on the new ones' behalf in my prayers that they may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

Bearing Fruits

Beginning today, through the entire week, we have full-timers training. The Lord has spoken again, a very timely word, especially for me concerning bearing fruits. I am so glad that the Lord knows my urgent need and the need of the time, to bear fruits. May the Lord gain me and all the serving ones to have a proper gospel living and gospel preaching life to bear remaining fruits by abiding in the Lord.

Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes it away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it that it may bear more fruit. Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so you will become My disciples. You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give you. John 15:2, 4, 5, 8, 16 

A Proper Gospel Living-Abiding in the Lord

Fruit-bearing is not just preaching or soul-winning; it must be fruit-bearing by the overflow of the riches of the inner life. Bearing fruit is to glorify the Father; the more fruit we bear, the more God is glorified in our Christian work. The fruit-bearing comes about as the branches abide in the vine and let the vine abide in the branches. In this chapter, there are four ways of referring to the fruit: bearing fruit (v. 2), much fruit (v. 8), more fruit (v. 2), and remaining fruit (v. 16); how long the fruit remains depends on how much life we impart into it.

A genuine believer abiding in the Lord as a branch abides in the vine will definitely bear fruits, much fruits, and even remaining fruits.

Spend Time with the Gospel Friends One on One

The Lord is willing to spend time even late at night to speak to only one person, not about miracles and revival but about life (John 3:2) to Nicodemus, and also with the Samaritan woman and spoke the timely word (John 4:7, 9-10). To be able to inspire people and gain people for the people, we need to speak the Rhema word by our enjoying the Logos word; all this is by abiding in the Lord as mentioned in John 15.

We need to learn of the Lord Jesus how to contact people. The Lord’s way of speaking was a marvelous preaching; He performed no miracle, used no eloquence, and exercised no special skill in preaching; rather, He spoke with her in a simple way; we must all learn to speak in this way. The Lord spoke in a normal way with the abundance of life; while He spoke with that woman, He was shining over her, radiating His element into her; because of this, she left her waterpot (v. 28). We need to contact people by exercising our spirit to touch the spirit of the gospel friends.

Warm Doors

Since the pandemic struct, the world situation has changed. Though it may not be possible to contact people physically one on one due to the pandemic, we can identify the "warm doors" and contact them one by one. Perhaps, they are our ex-classmates, relatives, neighbors, colleagues, and friends. Identify them, write them down on a prayer book, pray for them, and contact them by sending them messages. The Lord svae them in time.

Practical Ways to Contact People

Listening: Listen to them concerning their family, health, work, etc. Sharing: Based on what they shared, share your joy of your Christian life, church-life, the saints' testimony, and some relevant word of God. Asking: Then, you may ask their impression about the Lord Jesus, the church, to deiscern what kind f person he is, to be able to render proper help. Inviting: Finally, invite him for an online meeting or any relevant meeting of the church.

Live the Life of the Gospel

We need to take the Lord Jesus as our example to live the Life of the gospel. We must all be burdened to go to the Lord and be built up in this kind of life. He simply lived the life of the gospel; wherever He went, the gospel was His living. We should take the Lord Jesus as our example to be interested in imparting life and in helping others to be reborn and to drink the living water; this is the normal, daily preaching according to life.

Proclaiming the Word

Proclaiming the word, being ready in season and out of season - 2 Timothy 4:2

“In season” is when we have the opportunity, and “out of season” is when we do not have an opportunity - v. 2. Whether or not we have the opportunity, we need to be ready; to “be ready” means being urgent, attentive, and on the alert. We need to be “instant” preachers, ready without need of further preparation; we should be ready at any time and in any place; we are ready at the supermarket, the bus station, the office, and the classroom.  We should not say that this is not the right place, the right time, or the right person for the gospel; every place is the right place, every time is the right time, and every person is the right person.

Normal Way, Not Great Revival

We are not expecting a great revival, but bearing fruit in a normal way. The Lord Jesus’s daily living was His gospel preaching; because He was living in this way, God sent the right people to Him, and He brought people to God. If we would all live in this way, God will send His chosen ones to us; then every year we will reap fruit. If we have the proper living, day by day and one by one people will be brought to the Lord and into the church life; this is the proper preaching of the gospel. By living this way and being such persons, we will constantly enjoy the Lord’s presence, supply, and all the riches of the life of Christ - Matt 28:19-20, John 15:5. 

Lord, grace me to abide in You all the time, grace me to live a gospel living and preach the gospel to all You would bring to me unto their salvation.

A Hindi Seeking Sister

Yesterday, the Lord's day, a couple from Manesar came to attend the Lord's table meeting in the church in Gurugram. Though we have been entering into the semiannual training on the Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, we still decided to come together at the meeting hall for the sake of this new couple would wanted to meet with the church all the way from Manesar.  Therefore, we prepared the Lord's Table meeting and they participated in it. 

After the meeting, we had a time of fellowhsip where we came to know about the brother and the sister better. The sister turned out to be a new believer who has not been baptised yet. Though she was from a gentile background she got married to the  brother in Christ with a very touching romantic story between them. It all began when this siter received help from the brother who was a shopkeeper then at a railway station where she went for help. She is blind on her left eye and needed help. That was the connecting point with the brother. An act of kindness and helping hand fromt he brother's side led them to a marriage between the two ,though from two different faith with the consent of both their families. Since then the sisters fatih in the Lord became stronger and stronger, with new expereriences day by day. 

Based on her life story, we opened up the scripture and asked her to read from her Bible in Hindi the following verses.

Acts 2:41 Those then who received his word were baptized, and there were added on that day about three thousand souls.

Acts 8:36-38 And as they were going along the road, they came upon some water, and the eunuch said, Look, water. What prevents me from being baptized? And Philip said, If you believe from all your heart, you will be saved. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he ordered the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

Acts 16:13-15 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple-dyed goods from the city of Thyatira who worshipped God, was listening, whose heart the Lord opened to give heed to the things being spoken by Paul. And when she was baptized, as well as her household, she entreated us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide. And she constrained us.

Ac 16:30-33 And leading them outside, he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of God to him together with all those in his house. And he took them with him in that very hour of the night and washed their wounds. And he was baptized immediately, he and all his household. 

The word of God is full of power and authority. Without any of our interpretation, nor convincing, nor explanation, the Lord spoke to our sister directly through her reading of the word. 

The opening of Your words gives light, Imparting understanding to the simple. Psalms 119:130

She already believed into the Lord Jesus Christ and has been experiening Him already. And she, out of her own will, decided to take water water baptism according to the truth she just read from her Bible. So, we prepared the baptism pool ready and baptised her! 

Later, I gifted her Sheperhding Materials in Hindi and some Rhema books and tracts to the brother to study and distribute in Manesar. Though the brother is from a Christian background and has a good number of his immediate relatives are in the full-time minsitry, he has been so open to the word of God and also to us. This paved the way for his wife to receive the blessing of water baptism, without any human intervention, opinion, and thoughts.

Praise the Lord for this couple, especially for the Hindi seeking sister. May the Lord continue to shepherd this couple even to the raising up of the church in Manesar!

A Hindi Seeking Brother

It was on the 19th of July that I received a call from the office landline as I was kneeling and praying in my office. This call was from a seeker from Mathura who desperately was looking for books by Brother Watchman Nee in Hindi. Having sensed his urgent need, I promised to send him a Hindi catalog and gave him my phone number. For this, he had to install WhatsApp as he was new to this app, to be able to receive the Hindi catalog which I later sent.

Two days later, on the 21st of July, he gave me another surprise call and said he was standing at the gate of the office. A surprise visit with any prior information! He came in and we met for the first time.  Then he narrated his ordeal, which was a pleasant story to me and to the brothers who have heard him.

Hs is brother G---u aka A--r D-v. He used to be a very short-tempered notorious village rogue who received the gospel of Jesus Christ by some Christian workers some ten kilometers from his village, Mathura. After he got saved, he had been attending the fellowship with the Christian brother who preached the gospel to him. A few years later, there was some misunderstanding between him and them, and they even hesitated to gift him the Holy Bible, which led him to part his way with them.  Out of his hunger and thirst, he came to Delhi to buy Hindi Bible and other spiritual materials, not knowing anyone. As he roamed the capital city, he came across a "Pastor's" name in a house who became instrumental in leading him to the main Christian bookstores in the capital city; Bible Society of India, OM books, and MSS. It was at MSS that he received the Hindi book by brother Watchman Nee. By the way, we had sold hundreds of copies of the ministry books in Hindi to MSS. 

A few years later, he wanted to know more of the truth and looked out for the ministry books in Hindi. Out of his desperation again he googled "Amana Literature" where he found our office number at IndiaMart, and that's how we got connected. Before this, he had been praying to the Lord to lead him to the right people at the right time. Meanwhile, I was also in desperation praying for the Lord's move in North India, here at the office. The Holy Spirit prompted him to call at that time of the day on the 19th when I was on my knees spending time with the Lord.  The Lord connected us together at the right time. Generally, after 7 PM I would be out of the office. But these days I wanted to stay back and pray in the office itself after office hours. Therefore, I could receive his call.

Hearing his testimony we all rejoice at the God who leads His people. He immediately requested all the Hindi ministry books we have in print. As we fellowshipped I felt the Lord's leading within to invite him to stay for a day and also joined the dinner love feast with the young people on  Wednesday night, the 21st of July, the same day he visited. He readily accepted my invitation recognizing it as the Lord's arrangement. 

In the evening he testified of how much he felt at home and how much he was thankful to the Lord for leading him to fellowship with the saints in the Lord's recovery. He, out of burden and based on the revelation he received from the study of the word, did not agree with any Christian denominations, nor organization, nor hierarchical system among believers. To every point of truth we fellowshipped with concerning Christ and church he readily agreed and understood. He felt so homely and our relationship was so instant in the Lord. He also paid the price to purchase all the books in Hindi. I offered him a 20% discount and gifted him a lot more as free gifts; the Life Lesson and Shepherding Material full set of 5 copies each, with a bundle of Hindi MHL tracts, and 92 BXL 1, Rhema has placed with the church in Gururgramm for distribution among Hindi speaking people.

He being a Hindi speaker and I am not that fluent in Hindi, I introduced him to a brother in New Delhi for fellowship. A daily morning revival time was proposed and he agreed to participate in it. In this way, he was also introduced to other members of the Body for continual follow-up.

The Lord has His remnants reserved in North India! The prayers we have been offering for the gaining of the local Hindi speakers for years and all the labor for the Hindi ministry book have been bearing fruits. May the Lord continue to grace him to be open, pure, simple, and hungry, and preserve him for His testimony. He and some fifty believers are meeting as the local church in Mathura.  May the Lord fully recover them all and raise up the church in Mathura!

A Ray of Hope

Prayer, the Spirit, and the Word are the three in one means through which the work of God is being carried out since the time of the Lord Jesus Christ. After His crucifixion and resurrection, the spread of the gospel of grace and the gospel of the kingdom has always been through this unique way. First, there must be prayers, indeed, prayers in one accord, then the Holy Spirit's move in the serving ones of the Lord and also in the ones who have been prayed for, and then the ministry of the word with all its purity. Then, the result will be salvation, revival, and recovery of the Lord's chosen people. 

This is exactly what we have been learning and practicing all these years. The work of the Holy Spirit has to begin with us first and then with the ones the Holy Spirit Himself burdened us to pray for. Unless there is a move of the Holy Spirit, every "move" would be of human initiation and would require human labor to produce human fruit. This is what the Lord has called us for. Therefore, we have been praying and waiting on the Lord for His move. Sometimes with expectations and hope, sometimes with desperation yet full of hope. In longing for the Lord's move in others, we also are open to the Lord's move in us first; to deal with us in whatever way He feels best. Gradually, we are beginning to see the results. At least, we are beginning to witness the day dawning; a ray of hope.

Last week, a brother with whom I have been praying for over a year now, called up to visit and fellowship. We had a wonderful time of brotherly fellowship when he opened up his situation to take the way of learning the truth and serving the Lord together with us in the church life. He expressed his deep desire to be trained in the full-time training even. The Holy Spirit indeed has been working in his life through many situations he has been undergoing these days. The prayer the Lord burdened us to prayer was the move of the Holy Spirit in us first and then in the ones we have been praying for. The work of the Holy Spirit has begun to manifest now. With this fellowship from the brother, I brought the same matter to the brothers' fellowship of the church where we all felt good to invite him to come every morning to pray together and pursue the Life-study of the Bible. This is a part of the preparatory training to learn the truth, to be equipped with the truth, and to be able to stand absolutely for the truth.

Similarly, another brother also called up to fellowship his desperate situation of joblessness. Of course, as a church we have decided to help the needy saints, at the same time, we also wanted to help him in spiritual matters that he may be gained by the Lord and that he may also gain the Lord. So he was also invited to join the daily morning prayer and pursuit.

The Lord has spoken through the brothers' fellowship concerning the way to shepherd our two dear brothers whom the Holy Spirit has been working upon. Beginning last Tuesday, the two brothers joined the morning prayer and truth pursuit followed by fellowship. This was perhaps the first time they ever listened to the ministry of the word. Besides, they both also registered for the latest semiannual training on the Crystallization-study on Joshua, Judes, and Ruth. Though the message and the speaking were so high, they were able to understand and appreciate the Lord's speaking through the ministry of the word. These two brothers are Hindi speakers, one from Gurugram itself and the other from Bihar. 

What a grace on their part, and what a blessing for the church as well! May the Lord recover both the brothers for His testimony. This is a ray of hope I have been witnessing these days. It has been such an encouragement to witness the work of the Holy Spirit in the local Hindi-speaking saints. I attributed this to the Lord's answering the Body's prayer for His move and testimony in the Hindi-speaking region of North India, especially in the city Gurugram where the Lord has placed us.

Hallelujah for this ray of hope! May the Lord fully gain what He intends to gain in North Hindi among the Hindi-speaking people!