Live to Him

Yesterday morning, I was freshly enlightened by the Bible verse on "living to Him." The ministry literature opened my eyes to see the depth of the truth concerning living to the Lord. Therefore, I shared with all my classmates the following message. I also quoted the verses in all the languages my school mates are speaking.

Sharing with all my today's "manna"; I was freshly enlightened by these verses from the Bible.

“For whether we live, we live to the Lord, and whether we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore whether we live or we die, we are the Lord’s. For Christ died and lived again for this, that He be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” (Romans 14:8-9, RecVer)

Paite

7 Kuamah eimah a dia hing i hi kei ua, kuamah eimah a dia si leng i hi sam kei hi. 8 I hin leh Toupa ading in i hing a; i sih in leng Toupa adia si i hi ngal a: huaiziak in i hin in leng, i sih in leng Toupa a i hi uhi.

Hmar

7 Tûkhawm mâni ta dinga hring ei ni nawh a, tûkhawm mâni ta dinga thi ei ni bawk nawh. 8 Ei hring chun Lalpa ta dingin ei hring a, ei thi khawmin Lalpa ta dingin ei thi a ni sih a; chuleiin, ei hring khawmin ei thi khawmin Lalpa ta ei nih.

Thadou Kuki

7 Ijeh ham itile eiho koima ama dinga hinga ihipouve, chule koima ama dinga thia ihipouve. 8 Ihinle Pakai dinga hing ihiuvin, ithiu jongle Pakai dinga thia ihibovui; hijeh chun hing jong leuhen Pakai dinga hing ihiuvin, thi jong leuhen Pakai dinga thia ihiuve.

Zou

7 Aziehpen koima eima a dinga hing ihisih a tualeh koima eima a dinga shi zong ihisih hi. 8 Aziehpen i hin leh Mangpa a dingin i hinga, i shi in zong Mangpa a dingin i shi uh ahi. Tuaziehin i hin in zong ishi in zong Mangpa a ihi uhi.

Simte

7 Bang jiahin ahiai i chih leh koimah ei a diing a hing i hi sih a, huleh koimah ei a diing a si zong i hi sih uhi. 8 Ajiahchu i hin, leh Lalpa a diingin i hing a; i sih, inzong Lalpa a diingin i si uh ahi; hujiahin i hin inzong, i sih inzong, Lalpa a i hi uhi.

Gangte

7 Kuomah, eimah dinga hing I hi puou a, kuomah, eimah a dinga thi le I hi diek puou hi. 8 I hin un le, Lalpa dingin I hing u a; I thih un le, Lalpa dinga thi I hiu hi; zieziekchun, I hin un le, I thih un le, Lalpa a I hiu hi.

Vaiphei

7 Kuama eima â ding bep ah hing I hi puau in, kuama eima â ding ah thi le I um diak puau hi. 8 I hin unle Lalpa â ding ah hing I hiu a; I thiu leh le Lalpa â ding ah thi I hiu hi. I hin unle, I thi unle Lalpa â I hi zing ui.

Manipuri

 7 মরমদি ঐখোয় কনা অমতনা মশাগীদমক হিংবা নত্তে, অদুগা কনা অমতনা মশাগীদমক শিবা নত্তে । 8  মরমদি ঐখোয়না হিংলবদি, ঐখোয়না ইবুংঙোগীদমক্তা হিংবনি; ঐখোয়না শিরবদি, ঐখোয়না ইবুংঙোগীদমক্তা শিবনি; মরম অদুনা ঐখোয়না হিংবা ওইরবসু শিবা ওইরবসু ঐখোয় ইবুংঙোগীদমক্তনি ।

Nepali

हो, हमी सबैजना प्रभुको लागि बाँच्दछौं। हामी आफ्नै निम्ति बाँच्दैनौं अथवा आफ्नै निम्ति मर्दैनौं पनि ।

8  यदि हामी बौरीउठनु बच्नु भने हामी प्रभुको लागि बाँचिरहेछौं। अनि यदि हामी मर्छौं भने, हामी प्रभुको लागि मर्दछौं। यसैले हामी मरौं कि हामी बाँचौ हामी प्रभुकै हौं।

Rongmei

7 Aniu gaanv khat na sini kakhang khang na ringh mak ge, kakhang khang na ni theih mak ge. 8 Aniu ringc e thei, aniu ringc bammei hei Poubauhmei khang e; aniu theic e thei, aniu theihmei hei Poubauhmei khang e. Kumna aniu hei ringc pw ni, theic pw ni Poubauhmei khang e.

What a blessing to be able to read and understand the word of God in our mother tongue!

Read your Bible everyday...

Today, in the online meeting for the seekers in Madhya Pradesh, the burden the Lord gave me is just this, in continuation of the word released last week on persecution.

As Christians, we were purchased by the Lord, therefore, we all belong to God. As such, we have no right to live our own life but to live to God. In living to God, we are always determined to please God. To live to God is to please God. To please God is to do His will. 

As a slave belongs to his master who purchased him, likewise as a Christian we belong to Christ who purchased us at the cross. Christ loves us and gave His life to purchase us, and we are constrained by His love to love Him in return and to live to Him, to please Him.

“Therefore also we are determined, whether at home or abroad, to gain the honor of being well pleasing to Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:9, RecVer)

“For the love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died; And He died for all that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, RecVer)

The way we can practically live to God is by the fact that in our believing and baptism, we have been crucified with Him and that He has become our life and our living; a life living in faith, which also His faith in us.

“For I through law have died to law that I might live to God. I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:19-20, RecVer)

This truth may be deep and profound, nonetheless, experienceable. Only by growth in the divine life, can we live such a life. For this, we need to consecrate our life fully and absolutely to the Lord, and live to Christ, pleasing Christ, doing His will. Amen!

Lord, grace us to live You.

Ministering on Persecution

A brother called me up and fellowshipped with me to minister on persecution as many of the new believers have been undergoing persecution because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I took that as the Lord’s leading as it was also the portion I have been reading in my Bible reading portion. Thank the Lord that He worked everything together for good.

Last night I ministered on persecution according to the burden and the Lord’s leading. The Bible verses I referred to are below.

“He who loves father or mother above Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter above Me is not worthy of Me; And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his soul-life shall lose it, and he who loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it. He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who has sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward, and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.” (Matthew 10:37-41, RecVer)

The Lord desires that His believers take up their cross and follow Him as He did, doing the will of the Father. This cross includes the price to pay in loving the Lord absolutely above all, even above father and mother, and above brothers and sisters. Surely this is a heavy price to pay especially in an Indian cultural context where parents are considered as "gods". The pint is not that one should not love their father, mother, brothers, and sisters, but to love God above them all.

When one follows the Lord, the enemy will do his best to stop by using persecution as his tool. Yet, God in His sovereignty always turns the enemy's persecution for the perfecting of the believers; in strengthening their faith and in multiplying the number of believers. This is seen in Odisha when a brother and his sons were burnt alive resulting in thousands and thousands of Oriya speaking people believing into the Lord Jesus Christ. China has a similar testimony too; as much as during the time of the early Christians beginning from the time of the incidents in the book of Acts throughout the church history till today.

Therefore, I encouraged all the believers who joined the online meeting to rejoice and exult, if they were persecuted, quoting the Lord’s promise.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. Blessed are you when they reproach and persecute you, and while speaking lies, say every evil thing against you because of Me. Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in the heavens; for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:10-12, RecVer)

Persecution is an added advantage to the believers for the strengthening of their faith and the perfecting of the Christian life. In that way, as the light of world, they can enlighten the darkened people of the world. Light overcomes darkness. As light of the world, the more there are persecution, the more blessed they are. They have become living testimony for the Lord Jesus and as light of the world, many persecutors may even be gained for the Lord.

“You are the light of the world. It is impossible for a city situated upon a mountain to be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and place it under the bushel, but on the lampstand; and it shines to all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in the heavens.” (Matthew 5:14-16, RecVer)

Today, the leading brother informed me of the spiritual help they received through the ministry of the word. And that the persecutors' attempt to falsely charged them with "conversion" was only recognized truly as prayer meeting and the case against the new believers in a village where persecution has been going on was dropped.

May the Lord preseve all His children, make them the light of the world, and save their entire family and villagers.

Accidental Incident

Faithfulness is the character that drives me in my service. No matter what responsibilities, I desire to be faithful in all, at whatever cost. Therefore, as I have been graced to oversee the practical carrying out of the proofreading project of the New Testament Recovery Version in four Indian languages, I take Christ as my grace to discharge my responsibilities well.  The Lord has been gracing me thus far.

Today, I had a task to carry out that needed my physical going out to purchase medicines, food items, and office supplies. I tried my best to do it even when I had to take the risk of riding a bike in a new area. I was so strong willed that I wanted to finish this task as soon as possible. Therefore, I used a bike that belongs to the campus we are in and rode it for the first time in decades. I also took along a helper sitting at the back. As I rode on, I slipped on a dusty road and lost my balance. Within a fraction of a second, I found myself falling down on the road. Thank God, no heavy vehicle sped behind and we were saved. Though the helper and I had minor injuries, mine on my two knees on which I hit the road and my right thigh suffered gradual pain. But it will be healed soon.

Circumstances did not allow me to do what I intended to do. Nevertheless, the Lord gave me a helper, a brother who helped me in purchasing most of the important items required for the project work. He has been such a good coordinator that he made himself available at my beck and call. Thank God for such dear brothers. 

I have learned my lesson that even though I wanted to be faithful, I cannot be faithful on my own. I needed the Lord as my faithfulness. Save for His grace, I can do nothing. This accidental incident is a circumstantial leading of the Lord for me not to proceed for what He did not want me to. Praise the Lord!

An Impromptu Meeting

Yesterday, as we were eating our lunch the general manager of the campus came and introduced their founding director who chanced to visit the campus for some reason. I had the privilege to listen to him at the dinning hall. After lunch, he invited me to his office for more fellowship.

Most of the time I was listening to all he had to say, ranging from how he started serving the Lord,  and how it grew and grew until it became very big with about 20,000 work force. Though it was his success story as a Christian enterprise worker, I was not moved at all. Deep within I took him as a warning not to venture too much into works and turn the service of the Lord into a social organization doing charitable works. That definitely is not my call. I wish to serve the Lord without any mixture whatsoever. I pray that the Lord would preserve me to be pure in heart and pure in motive..

In the meeting, he also mentioned about his biggest "sin" in his entire life; falling into the trap of the enemy in the area where he deemed best to take the stand of integrity and righteousness. The very character he propagated is the very character he fell against. I don't understand why he narrated his failure to a total stranger like me, his child's age, and that too in my meeting with him for the first time. I simply listened and listened and took precautions in ways I need not repeat. I opened myself to learn and learn from the aged and the experienced ones, from their successes and failures too.

When I got the opportunity, I introduced the Holy Bible, Recovery Version and showed him some crucial footnotes that impressed him a lot. I promised to gift him the Holy Bible, Recovery Version officially. I also shared a little bit of my testimony and also answerd his question on how we operates the literature service in India. 

Then, after about two hours' fellowship, I felt the need to stop the meeting. He also sensed that it was time. Therefore, he offered prayers for himself, his burdens, and also for me and my family.

As I was about to leave, he kept repeating his mistake he had committed in some official dealings and expressed his deep regret in his failure in the very matter he firmly stood for, I took the opportunity to let him know that God wanted none of our human endeavor, therefore, He allowed us to fail so that we trust in ourself no more. I quoted Job's life of how God striped and dealt with him to gain Him and also quoted Paul's word that our Christian life should be "no longer I but Christ".

“I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20, RecVer)

I was glad for the open door through him as a well known Christian leaders through whom, perhaps, the ministry books can be introduced and distributed. May the Lord bless our relationship for the furtherance of His divine move.

New Testament Recovery Version Proofreading

The Lord in His sovereignty has made it possible for India to be able able have the New Testament Recovery Version Bible in seven Indian languages. Four of which have finished the translation and we have fixed a time for the final proofreading from 3rd Jan to 7th Feb 2022. For this purpose, a brother and I have come to Hyderabad for the preparatory work. A day later, three saints from USA also joined us and we were working out all the practical details before the project actually began.

In all the preparatory works I have been learning the lesson of coordination, fellowship, prayer, and practical laboring. Each day has been a busy day, and I am blessed being busy. From morning till night, I enjoyed laboring and laboring. It was such a joy to be able to labor and yet be very joyful. This has been a wonderful experience for me. The best food and hospitality were arranged for all within the available facilities. The saints who volunteered were also happy with the best we could provide. As much as I know, all the saints were laboring faithfully and happily.

In all the aspects, we all enjoyed blending, coordinating, and serving together. The Lord will continue to accomplish what He had began. Praise be to Him and may India be blessed with the word of God richly. 

Guiding Star

Last Thursday I had to minister to the believers in Bhopal over Zoom call as I could not do so for the past three weeks. I was traveling and busy fellowshipping with saints in different localities. Deep within me I felt I should somehow serve the new believers with the living Word of God. Therefore, I compensated all my absences for the past three weeks by volunteering to minister on last Thursday night. 

The Lord gave me the timely word to minister to them, "following the guiding stars absolutely and faithfully". This message came from my reading of the word in Matthew 2. 

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, Saying, Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star at its rising and have come to worship Him.” (Matthew 2:1-2, RecVer)

The magi knew the word of God and followed God's leading through the living star. That's how they ended up in Jerusalem when many of the Jews in Jerusalem who also knew the Scriptures did not bother about the Lord’s birth at all.

“And they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written through the prophet: “And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, by no means are you the least among the princes of Judah; for out of you shall come forth a Ruler, One who will shepherd My people Israel.”” (Matthew 2:5-6, RecVer)

They should have been faithfully following the living star until it led them to Jesus Christ who was born in Bethlehem. But they were not absolute in obeying the word of God nor were they absolute in following the living star. They have come all the way upto Jerusalem and should have gone further till Bethlehem, but in between they applied their human wisdom and diverted in Jerusalem. If Jesus was the king of the Jews, they logically concluded that He must be born in Jerusalem, the city of the Jews. Therefore, keeping aside the word of prophesy and the living star, they went and enquired about the birth of Jesus from Herod instead. This stired up the hornets nest and provoked the king of the Jews to kill the King of the Jews. The magi's foolish mind cost the city of Bethlehem dearly; it led to the killing of all male children, two years and below.

“Then Herod, seeing that he had been mocked by the magi, became greatly enraged, and sending out men, he did away with all the boys who were in Bethlehem and in all its borders from two years old and under, according to the time that he had accurately determined from the magi.” (Matthew 2:16, RecVer)

But as the magi realized their mistake, they turned away from Herod and also from Jerusalem, and the star appeared again. This time they learnt their lesson, they followed the start again and never came back to Herod.

Spiritually speaking, our Christian life is also like that of the magi. Many knew the Scriptures well but were hardly obedient to what the word of God says. To many, they began well by following the Scriptures, but at a later time they deviated from following it through unto the end. Somewhere somehow, they applied their human wisdom and override the word of God. But the Lord is merciful, it did not allow them a total damage to His children's unfaithfulness. In measure, He corrected them and led them to the straight path again. Nevertheless, certain damages have been done already. This must serve as a stern warning to all the children of God.

This was the living message the Lord burdened me to share with the new believers in Bhopal. In ministering the word of God I myself was ministered to, the same message I ministered in the church in Gurugram on 31st December night meeting; encouraging the saints to read the word and be absolutely obedient to the word of God.

Lord, grace me and the saints to read and know the word, and also be obedient to absolutely follow the Lord.

Gospel Preaching

It was the 25th of December which was a general holiday. The day being such a significant one in the world,  many people have celebrated it as the birthday of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though this celebration nor the date has no validity scripturally, it has become a ritualistic day for some and a celebration for others. Since the day has a link with the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a wonderful opportunity to preach the gospel and lead people to know who the Lord Jesus Christ is, especially in North India.

Two days before I just came back from two and half days' ministry journey and had many pending works to be done. Therefore, I decided not to go anywhere, do my pending official works, and later join the gospel meeting at the meeting hall. As I was beginning to do my works, two young brothers came for the gospel preaching. I told them that they should go preach the gospel by themselves as I had works to do. But I struggled for a while inwardly. I did not want to just stay back and let the young brothers go to preach the gospel. My conscience did not allow me to do that. For a few minutes I was in dilemma, whether to go or not to go. In such a state, I inwardly prayed and looked to the Lord; turning to my spirit. Then I did not have the peace not to go. Therefore, I sacrificed my pending works and decided to go out for the gospel preaching. As a result, another brother also joined along and we four formed two teams of two brothers each and went to preach the gospel.

The Lord led us to preach the gospel on the street for over two hours. To many we passed out gospel tracts and preached the gospel on the street. The Lord had prepared people waiting for us to contact and preach the gospel to them. At least three instances were worth mentioning. 

I saw a tough looking guy smoking and talking on the phone. The Lord led me to approach and preach the gospel to him. Initially I hesitated, looking at his visage, an unlikely gospel candidate. And since he was on the phone, I excused myself to bypass him. But as I was to leave him, he just finished talking. Therefore, I approached him. The moment I talked to him about God and the Lord Jesus Christ, he exclaimed that his wife would be very interested to meet with us. Later, she came to where I was talking to him, and preached the gospel to the couple and their friend. It turned out that they were seeking for God and also for regular Christian fellowship. May the Lord save and recover this couple for the church life in Gurugram.

Another unlikely candidate was a man exercising beside his car. As I gave tract and preached the gospel, he interacted with me in a friendly way. It turned out that he was a "good man" sacrificing to help others and count it joy helping people. To this man, I preached that the gospel was for the "good people" as well. In fact, even the "good people" are no less sinner than the "bad people." For all men are sinners by birth. It was through such an approached that I made Christ as the good man who is the reality of all goodness man ever has aspired for. In fact, only God is good. And this good God has created man in His image and likeness so that He can come into him one day and exhibit His goodness through him. With such gospel, we made friendship and on his request. I gave my official name card and exchanged phone number for further contact.

Finally, as we were heading back home, I saw a man standing outside a building as if he was waiting for me. I approached him and preached the gospel in Hindi. It turns out that he was waiting for his client and I met him instead; becoming his gospel client.

Thank the Lord for His sovereign way of leading me to cooperate with him even when I was not prepared to preach the gospel. Thank the Lord for the young brother who encouraged me to go along with them to preach the gospel. In fact, these brothers were the ones I have been praying with until they were revive and led to join he training. God does work in an unexpected way, at an unexpected time.

Lord, save the many unsaved in Gurugram!