A Tale of Two Athletes

My home state Manipur has been famous for sports. For the entire country, there are two popular ladies who have gone to compete at the Olympics and won medals for the entire country, India. While I rejoice in the fact that there is some development coming up from the state and also in the country in a global scenario, I also observe the situation of these athletes and draw a life lesson from them.

A very seasoned boxer, who has become an international icon in her field of sport and obtained a celebrity status, has been appreciated by all. In the eyes of society, all about her is appreciable. I also see something that needs to be learned from her mistake. As her name suggests and the place she hails from, she definitely must be a Christian. In fact, she has a wonderful opportunity to magnify Christ boldly and openly should she wish to. Except for what her name suggests, I do not see anything Christian, as far as I know, and hear about her. 

No offense to her nor anyone, it is just my personal lesson I derive from what I have been observing. There is an element of pride and arrogance which I do not approve of at all. Last year, when her qualification for representing India in the Olympics was challenged by another junior boxer, the way she reacted has nothing to show Christlikeness. Sadly enough, she reacted frankly and openly in herself; self-justification, boasting, pride, and even arrogance. When I read about her reaction in the newspaper, I thought to myself, "Pride goes before a fall." Though I wish her all success in her career, no one can defeat the truth-lesson God has set for each one. I feel very disappointed at the way she reacted. How I wish she would be more gracious and handle the matter in a mature and graceful way. Well, no one can pretend what one is not. A spade is a spade, pride is pride, and arrogance is arrogance. But, there is a price for all these. 

So, when the same lady could not live up to the must hype created around her winning of Gold Medal for India with all the media and well-wishers' pouring in their supports, I stood in awe as I feared that pride would surely be humbled. In fact, what I expected had actually happened. She did not win the medal which the entire country was hopeful of. I have nothing against her as such, but God is righteous and He deals with everyone equally. As much as no one is above the law, so much more, no one is above God. I was deeply reminded of the need to learn the lesson of humility and be graceful to others.

While there is another lady from my home state who was not even heard of at all until she won a Silver Medal for the country, the first-ever for this year's Olympics. She was the opposite of the former as far as I know. This lady is so humble, at least in the ways she deals with things. I was full of appreciation for this young and humble athlete. Though she may not even be a believer unlike the former, she displayed more proper conduct. On top of that, she searched for the trucks drivers who used to give her a lift when she was training for the sport she was contending for. Them she honored some 150 truck drivers and gave them gifts as a token of thank. That was very heart-touching. She did the best thing she could.

I draw from these two athletes and present my observation on the lessons of life, I feel, all can learn from. Pride goes before a fall. Be warned! Humble yourself in the hand of God. This is a tale of two athletes from my hometown. May we all learn a proper lesson before it is too late.

But He gives greater grace; therefore it says, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6

In like manner, younger men, be subject to elders; and all of you gird yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. 1 Peter 5:5

Learning to Deal with Goodness

The Lord began to shine on me to see myself in the light of His word and through His speaking through the members of the Body. I have been more and more exposed to the light and could see myself more clearly as I also grow in age and in grace. I have been embracing my goodness and often appreciated it so much. Often I compared myself to others and sunk myself in self-glorification and self gratitude. But in the light of the Lord's word, whether it's my natural goodness or badness, all are from the same source, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. How goodness has been so subtle as it is "good"? But the fact, is, nothing is truly good for only God is good.

Naturally, I have a few good things to boast of. In my way of dealing with people, I have been very soft and full of grace. In fact, many have taken advantage of my "goodness" and robbed me of my time, energy, and money. Even to these "robbings", I reckon them as good deeds, thereby adding to my self-made treasure of "good-bank." 

Well then, I began to see who I really am even in my so-called "goodness". I am afraid I am just groping in darkness under the cloak of goodness. The Lord began to shine on me that my goodness which I reckon as my strong points are actually my weak points. I need to learn to deal with my goodness too. As much as I hated the evil in me and have been dealing with it, I must also deal with my goodness too. After all, they both belong to the same source, the same tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now, I find nothing good in me in a very real sense. The good in me is as evil, if not more, as the evil in me. As long as the source is not the Lord, the Spirit in my spirit, everything is of the self at best and of Satan at worst. Now, I am in fear and trembling even in doing good things. When people come for help, my natural tendency is to always help. But I must not end up like Joshua being cheated by the Gideobnites. I must learn to bring every matter to the Lord and treasure the presence of the Lord more than anything else.

God should replace my "goodness." I should check with the Lord even for any good deed to be done. I need to overcome the temptation of doing good naturally. I must seek the Lord's presence in all the things I am doing, especially in the good things. If the Lord is not in my good deeds, it is as evil as any evil deed. The presence or absence of the Lord makes all the difference. This lesson I am beginning to learn. I pray that I may learn this lesson thoroughly well.

Within my capacity, I have been doing good to help others whenever they come for help. Now I am learning to check with the Lord first even before rendering any help. The past few days, some new ones and saints also sought help from me. I started reconsidering before I actually render them any help. And I ended my not helping some of these ones as I felt it was not of the Lord. Perhaps, by not helping when they come for help, I am helping them and myself too. 

Praise the Lord for this lesson of dealing with my goodness that the only goodness I display must be of the Lord and His alone.

Submission of Deborah

Deborah was raised up by God as a Judge of Israel who, as recorded in Judges 4 and 5, was an extraordinary woman. She was so capable yet knew to keep a principle that brought in blessing, and this principle is to keep God’s ordination. The description of Deborah in the recent training reads, "God raised up Deborah as a judge of Israel who practiced the female submission to the man in order to keep God’s ordination and bring all of Israel into a proper order under God’s kingship and headship—Judges 4 - 5."

Comparing what the New Testament has to say about females, the following verses open up new light to me, and a new underastnding.

There cannot be Jew nor Greek, there cannot be slave nor free man, there cannot be male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28 

In this verse, we can identify three contrasting pairs: Jew and Greek, slave and free man, and male and female. 

For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:13

In 1 Corinthians 12:13 there are two contrasting pairs: Jews and Greeks and slaves and free. Galatians 3:28 says that in Christ there cannot be Jew nor Greek, slave nor free man, male and female, whereas 1 Corinthians 12:13 says that in the church, in the Body, there is no distinction between Jews and Greeks and between slaves and free. This verse does not mention males and females.

Based on these two verses we can see that in Christ, who is the Head of the Body, there is no difference between male and female, but in the Body there is a difference between male and female, that is, between the brothers and the sisters. First Corinthians 11 speaks definitely concerning the difference between man and woman, especially in the matter of headship. This indicates that in the church the difference between the brothers and the sisters still exists. In Christ, this difference does not exist, but in the church, in the Body, the difference between male and female remains.

In the Body, in the church, male and female distinction still exists, because the church is a spectacle. The church is being viewed by men and by angels. 

For, I think, God has set forth us the apostles last of all as doomed to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. 1 Corinthians 4:9

But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:3 

Christ is the head of the man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ. Even Christ has a Head. Even Christ was submissive to the Father. And in this relationship: God to Christ, Christ to the man, the man to the woman. Therefore, the woman ought to have a sign of submission to authority on her head for the sake of the angels. 

The angels are watching, observing if the proper order is being kept according to God’s ordination. 

In like manner, younger men, be subject to elders; and all of you gird yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. 1 Peter 5:5

In 1 Peter 5:5, we should all gird ourselves with humility toward one another. Yet do you realize the same verse tells the younger men to be subject to the older? In God’s ordination, age still exists in God’s creation. In Christ there’s no distinction between male and female; yet humanly, according to God’s ordination, there is male and female, there is the husband and the wife, and there should be the matter of submission and subjection. 

In reality, every brother is a sister, every brother is a female, and should take Christ as their head. We all must take Christ as our head. 

In the Bible a proper female indicates one who is in submission to God, one who keeps God’s ordination; this is the position that Israel should have taken before God as her King, her Lord, her Head, and her Husband, but Israel violated God’s ordination, leaving her position as God’s wife and forsaking Him for hundreds of idols; this brought Israel into a miserable situation and condition. Deborah realized that she needed a man to be her covering; as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:3: “Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ.” When this excellent, extraordinary woman took the lead to practice the female submission to the man, the entire country came into an excellent and proper order; all the leaders took the lead, all the people followed, and the army was formed; everyone returned to his or her proper position before Jehovah.

The first and greatest function of the sisters in the church is to be submissive; if the sisters can learn this lesson, the church will be strong, enriched, and renewed. To be submissive requires the supply of life, the enjoyment of grace, the working of the cross, a nd the denial of the self.  Those who are filled with Christ are filled with submission; the Lord, who was submissive throughout His life, has given us His life of submission and obedience—Phil. 2:5-11; Heb. 5:7-9.

Though I am a brother myself, as a member of the church whose husband is Christ, I am a "female." Therefore, I must learn the lesson of submission to Christ, and also to my fellow brothers and serving ones. This message on submission is a great breakthrough in the fallen concept of modern-day "feminism" theory and rebellious attitude in the world today. 

What a mercy to learn this lesson of submission! What a blessing indeed to escape God's wrath from insubordination! May the Lord grace me and all the saints to be always under the covering of our Head Christ, and also to submit to one another in the fear of God. And may the Lord bless us in His church. Amen.

Lessons from Gideon

In the recent summer training, some crucial lessons from the life of Gideon were learned. The Bible is very faithful in presenting the success and failure of Gideon. Gideon was raised up by God as His valiant warrior and sent by God to save Israel (Judg. 6:12-14). He was both successful and yet failed terribly. Herein lies the lessons to be learned today.

Reasons for Gideon's Success 

Gideon listened carefully to the word of God, something that was rare among the children of Israel at that time. In this regard, Samuel also learned positive things from Eli, but he also observed the negative things in Eli, and those became a warning to him that preserved him for his whole life. 

In 1 Samuel 3:9-10, "And Eli said to Samuel, Go and lie down, and if He calls you, you shall say, Speak, O Jehovah; for Your servant is listening. And Samuel went and lay down in his place. Then Jehovah came and stood by and called as at the other times, Samuel! Samuel! And Samuel said, Speak, for Your servant is listening."

In Luke 1:38, "And Mary said, Behold, the slave of the Lord. May it happen to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her."

The Lord always wants to open our ears to hear His voice so that we may see things according to His economy. As the Spirit is speaking to the churches (Rev. 2:7a), we all need an opened, circumcised (Jer. 6:10; Acts 7:51), cleansed (Exo. 29:20; Lev. 8:23-24; 14:14), and anointed ear (vv. 17, 28) to hear the Spirit’s speaking.

Gideon obeyed God’s word and acted on it. 

Gideon tore down the altar of Baal (the chief male god of the Canaanites) and cut down the Asherah (the chief female goddess); this touched God’s heart because God hated the idols, which He regarded as men with whom His wife Israel had committed harlotry; intrinsically, an idol is anything within us that we love more than the Lord and that replaces the Lord in our life—Judg. 6:25-28; Ezek. 14:1-3. By tearing down the altar of Baal and cutting down the Asherah that belonged to his father, Gideon sacrificed his relationship with his father and his enjoyment of society to follow Jehovah; for Gideon to do such a thing required that he sacrifice his own interests, and his sacrifice was a strong factor of his success—Judg. 6:28-32.

As a result of the above four factors, Gideon became powerful and with only three hundred men defeated two princes and two kings, who had people “like a locust swarm in number” and “camels…without number” (v. 5; 7:25; 8:10-12); with Gideon we have a picture of a man who lived in union with God, a God-man, to fulfill God’s word and to carry out God’s economy.

Overcomers

The selection of the overcomers is seen with God’s selection of Gideon and the three hundred men to fight with him to defeat the Midianites. God was indicating that He would fight for Israel. From the first selection which resulted in twenty-two thousand leaving, those who left wanted to glorify themselves and were fearful and afraid. The second selection was determined by how the people drank; those who drank directly with their mouth were eliminated by God; those who drank by bringing water in their hand to their mouth were selected by God because they were self-denying persons; by drinking in this way, they were able to watch diligently for any attack by the enemy—Judg. 7:4-6. Self-denying persons who have been dealt with by the cross, sacrificing their personal rest and comfort for the sake of God’s purpose in the day of His warfare were the overcomers, who are absolute for God’s glory and are afraid of nothing except offending the Lord and losing His presence (Exo. 33:14-16); they allow the cross to deal with the self (1 John 3:8; Heb. 2:14; Rom. 6:23; Gal. 2:20).

Reasons for Gideon’s Failure

First, Gideon was not kind; he killed those countrymen who did not support him (Judg. 8:16-17), breaking the sixth commandment of God, "You shall not kill (Exo. 20:13)." Second, he indulged in the lust of the flesh, not exercising any restriction over his fleshly lust; this is indicated by Judges 8:30, which tells us that Gideon had seventy sons, “for he had many wives”; in addition, his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son (v. 31); by this Gideon broke the seventh commandment, "You shall not commit adultery (Exo. 20:14)." Third, he coveted the spoil of his people (their golden earrings), thereby breaking the tenth commandment, "You shall not covet (Exo. 20:17)", and they surrendered it to him; Gideon made an ephod with the gold he had taken from the people, and this ephod became an idol to the children of Israel; as a result, Gideon’s family and the entire society of Israel were corrupted. 

Gideon’s indulgence in sex and his greediness for gold led to idolatry; greediness is idolatry (Col. 3:5), and both fornication and greediness are linked to idol worship (Eph. 5:5); his failure shows us that we need to exercise strict control in dealing with the matters of sex and wealth.

What lessons to learn from one man, Gideon! In my study of the word, life-study, listening to the brothers' speaking in the training, through the PSRP, and the message review, I went through these points over and over again. The message is very apt for today's generation. On the one hand, it is an encouragement in serving the Lord and yet, on the other hand, it is a solemn warning concerning Giodeon's failure. This is an innoculation against the stratagem of the enemy. I am blessed that the Lord has spoken a frank word to all His children. May His hand also follow His speaking that we all may learn from the success and failure of Gideaon and follow his footstep in his success and take his failure as a warning. 

Praise the Lord for His speaking!

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.