Ministry of the Word to Anantnag

 Anantnag, a city of living streams is teeming with greens and a fresh supply of living streams from the mountains. As far as we were told, there are hardly any local believers in this city. And even if there were so, they must have been secret believers due to social stigma and the fear of religious fanatics. Nevertheless, the Lord is the Lord of all and He has His secret way of saving His chosen ones. He knows best.

We were welcomed by a serving brother warmly with much brotherly love. Though his house was a simple ancient house with barely two rooms, his heart for hospitality was exemplary. He could have given excuses for not having enough facilities for hospitality but he acted on the contrary. I personally learned a very important lesson from him and his attitude; giving hospitality is of the heart not necessarily of the facilities one has.  He served us with whatever he had in his possession; a simple meal served with love. What better meal can you expect?  

During the night, we had a time of fellowship with this brother and another medical doctor, a serving brother too. As the truth concerning the Holy Spirit baptism was brought up, after listening to the testimony of a brother who himself testified of his experiences of being filled with the Holy Spirit outwardly and how his life changed since then, I also shared the two aspects of the Holy Spirit filling in John 20 and Acts 2. After sharing such truth with all Bible references, the brother who seems to echo his point on the Holy Spirit indirectly pointing us to being silent in this important truth of the Holy Spirit was comforted as he would disagree with believers who do not believe in the Holy Spirit's baptism. He then realized that the ministry has expounded all the major truths in the Bible profoundly. Then, we introduced the ministry books to them and they bought some selected books of their choice for their study. 

Our host has also been a translator of Punjabi. Therefore, we requested him to try to translate the ministry books. Perhaps, the Lord brought us to the city to prepare the ground for his move to Punjab as well. Besides, these two families have been meeting non-denominationally as "the church in Anantnag" based on the truth we shared when we first visited them a few years ago. This time, we further strengthened the truth concerning the church ground and the oneness of the Body of Christ. I do believe the seed that we have sown will bear forth fruits one day.

We also visited a brother who was serving as an administrator of a hospital. He also was interested in the ministry books which we brought. As he inquired about our next destination, he also encouraged us to visit Kargil on our way to Leh from Srinagar. Therefore, the Lord used him to guide us to a new city that we did not plan before.

These brothers have been doing their best to serve in a difficult land. The Lord has been blessing them in their professional careers and the Lord will give them visible fruits one day.

Lord, bless your testimony in Anantnag!

Ministry of the Word to Basholi

Basholi, about five hours journey from Jammu towards the border of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, was a city we intended to skip for its long distance, but because it was already arranged we honored the Lord's sovereignty and simply followed the leading though we were physically tired. The Lord continued to grace us on to this city as well.

As soon as we arrived, we were taken to a special meeting arranged by a pastor at his house where some fifty believers had gathered. We faithfully ministered the word on the similar line of God's eternal purpose in creating man and how a Christian can grow in the Christian life with practical help on breathing, drinking, and eating the Lord daily. 

After the meeting, we were also taken by the pastor himself for a time of sightseeing to the beautiful lake and a hanging bridge over the lake. This pastor had become so friendly to us and shared some of his experiences in serving the Lord. He preached the gospel mostly among the unbelievers at his available time as he is also a government servant in a hospital. He professed to have gifts of healing and prophecy where he showed me some of his recorded prophesy in terms of prediction and fulfillment with a testimony of healing of some people. 

I personally believe he has a genuine burden for the gospel and all the gifts and prophecies in terms of prediction he adheres to are due to influence from other Christian workers. My burden for him is that he can dive deeper into the word of God and be constituted with the riches of the ministry. Therefore, I introduced the Hindi literature which he placed an order for and took all the books I introduced to him. 

Out of the burden for the ministry, he also has trained his family well. Especially, his eldest daughter, to serve with him in leading in singing and translating for us when we ministered the word. All his children, three of them, two sisters and a brother, seem to be properly eductaed. But his burden was that all his children would serve the Lord along with him. He was least bothered by the earthly profession of his children though they were excellent in their studies. He preferred that all education he help his children gain was all for the ministry in God's service. Moreover, he does not want to meddle with those who are already believers. So, he focussed on non-believers as his burden was for the gospel of salvation mostly. He also inquire if we could be invited by him in the coming days, to which we replied in the affirmative and asked him to pray about it. 

After a day and a night in the city, we left for our next destination.

May the Lord raise up His testimony in Basholi!

Ministry of the Word to Jammu

When I first landed in this city for the distribution trip, a brother picked me up from the Airport. This brother has been pastoring a small congregation. When we were fellowshipping over breakfast, he brought out certain points concerning his view on salvation, that salvation can be lost. I differed with the erroneous teaching and presented to him using the pure word of God that salvation by God is eternal and helped to understand the difference between eternal life and a reward for Christians. Though he quoted some Bible verses to prove his points I pointed out to him that the verses he quoted were taken out of context. Then he was so glad to receive my fellowship and thanked me for the truth on the assurance and security of salvation. Though I personally wanted to meet him again, our schedules did not match, so we could not meet up again. Perhaps, his function was to receive us and lead us to our next destination.

On the 27th of June, we were welcomed by the biggest Christian group in the city of Jammu. A special meeting was arranged for us by the group. After being welcomed by the committee members and formerly welcomed with garlanding in the meeting, we ministered the word. Like other places, the Spirit's leading was to minister on the basics of the Christian life. When my turn came, my burden was to help the believers to daily exercise by breathing, drinking, and eating the Lord. I did so by quoting relevant Bible verses. The entire congregation was so much in hunger for the word of God; they drew out of my being rivers of living water. They enjoyed the flow of life within as I continued to minister faithfully and boldly as the Lord led so. 

After the meeting, we had a time of the ministry books distribution and exhibition where a young pastor ordered the entire set of ministry books in English. Later the entire committee members took us for a dinner love feast and we were dropped off to our hotel.

It was rather amazing that so many groups of Christian have sprung up in the city of Jammu, mostly among the local Dogras. Positively, the number of believers multiplied but negatively the number of Christian denominations also multiplied. Nonetheless, the gospel is spreading. Praise the Lord!

We were also invited to a city near Jammu where we were requested to minister the word in a newly established church meeting. There too, we did our best to minister the word and had a time of dinner love feast at a believer's home.

After all these meetings, we were wondering how the Lord led us to all these people. We simply trusted the Lord and His word that one day, the seed we have sown will bear forth fruits, a thirty-fold, a sixty-fold, and even a hundred-fold.

Lord, gain Your heart's desire in Jammu and raise up Your testimony in Jammu city soon! 

Ministry of the Word to Katra

In the city of a famous goddess shrine on a mountain top, we witnessed the multiplication of the believers in general among all the Christian groups. Despite the strict religious atmosphere engulfing the city, the Spirit's move too was intensified amidst the cloudy situation. We truly witnessed in this city Katra that God is a living and moving God. No forces one earth can ever stop Him! The stronger the opposition, the stronger the Lord's move.

We were brought by a brother to this city to visit a Christian group. Though our main purpose was for the distribution of the ministry literature, the situation turned out that we came here for the ministr of the word. When we were welcomed warmly and given the time to minster the word, my brother went first to expound the eternal plan of God. When my turn came, I intended to follow up on the same burden, but the Lord led me to minister somthing I myself found it to be a little strange. The burden the Lord gave me was to minister on 'Baptism".

Therfore, I denied my own feelng and followed the Lord's inward leading to minister the truth concerning baptism. Using all the relevant Bible verses, I ministered on the need for believing and baptism by giving seven crucial of Bible verses to prove the seven significants points of baptism. After I released the burden the Lord imparted to me, I discovered that the believers themselves were in great need of this truth concerning baptism. When the pastor of the group asked how many understood the message and how many wanted to take water baptsim, a good number of hands were raised up. I was surprised to see that the Lord knew their urgent need and led me to minister on baptism.

There were a coupl of pastors who joined the meeting too. They themselves testified that they never heard of baptism being expounded in such a  rich way. They themselves were cleared of the truth concerning baptism. The Lord knew the best and He met the timely need of the believers. Hallelujah!

This ciyt was just a day visit and we left for the next city, Jammu, after we had lunch with our host in Katra. I do believe that one day the Lord will raise up His testimony in Katra.

Lord. raise up your testimony in Katra soon!

Ministry of the Word to Udhampur

As we arrived at the house of the brother who hosted us for the meetings in the church he is shepherding, he initially wanted to have an ice-breaking fellowship where he wanted to clarify certain points concerning the ministry we represent. Looking to the Lord inwardly, with an exercised spirit, we answered all his queries to his satisfaction where he felt peaceful and joyful. Besides, at his request, I personally shared my testimony of how the Lord saved and called me to serve Him full-time. All these initial fellowships were indeed a good starter. Our relationship henceforth was established. And on the following Lord's day, he requested us to minister to his congregation for two sessions.

In two sessions, a brother and I coordinated to minister the word concerning God's eternal plan, expounding some basic Bible verses to help the believers understand what their lives are meant for: to receive God, contain God, express God, and represent God! We also ministered the need for growth in life by the inward life supply and spreading of the Lord's divine life from the spirit into the soul, and finally into the body as well. We also ministered on some basic God-man life exercises of calling upon the Lord's name, reading and pray-reading His word, and the need to spend time with the Lord. We also ministered on the assurance, security, and joy of salvation to help the belivers clear about their salvation itself.  Of course, after the ministering of the word, we also had a time of distributing the ministry literature and displaying them to the believers for their further pursuit of the truth.

The Lord richly anointed us and blessed the ministry of His word. The bishop, the pastor, and the believers were all overjoyed by the rich ministry of the word. The bishop and pastor themselves commented on how much they themselves were supplied with the Lord's speaking and further reported that the believers too enjoyed the Lord's speaking.  The bishop has also enquired if there could be a time in the future again for a revisit and more shepherding. We left the matter to the Lord to lead us in His time.

Just before we left the city, we also introduced the literature to the bishop and he took the entire set of Hindi ministry books along with an order for the Holy Bible Recovery Version and 10 copies of the HWMR God's Economy in Faith. In fact, I gift him my English HWMR copy as he was interested to study the truth.

The Lord has blessed our two nights and one day stay in the city. We have, by His mercy and grace, faithfully ministered the word as we were led to do so. We do believe that the seed of the ministry of the word sown into the hearts of the believers in this city will one day bear forth fruits unto the recovery of His testimony. Awaiting to witness that day, soon to be... 

Lord, recover Your testimony in Udhampur!

Ministry of the Word to Dhanoo

The burden for the spreading of the ministry of the word to Jammu and Kashmir has been brewing within my being. A brother who once enjoyed his church life in Gruugram has been inviting me to visit him. His invitation was the trigger point for me to follow up and consider visiting the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir. Based on his invitation, I fellowshipped with the brothers concerned and made plans for the ministry of the word literature journey to Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, this brother had called up a 'bishop' he knew and mentioned our visitation. Thereafter, this brother who is a bishop called me and all the planning was done. All the places that the Lord wanted us to visit in this journey were all prearranged by the bishop and his coworkers.

On this distribution trip, I felt it best to first visit the brother who had been with us in the church in Gruugram before he shifted back to his village, Dhanoo. Therefore, we began our ministry journey to Dhanoo.

In Dhanoo we spent one day and one night and had a wonderful time of fellowship with our brother's family. Our first visit to this village was a few years ago when his father was still alive. Now that his father was gone, he has taken up the responsibility of his father's burden for the Lord's testimony upon his shoulder. A couple of families used to come together weekly basis on the Lord's day for a meeting. Our brother has been shepherding them. Obviously, it was made known to us through our fellowship that our brother himself needs much shepherding. His wife herself has not yet been baptized. Though there were a couple of young ones, his cousins, who were also meeting with him, they need a lot of shepherding. 

One afternoon in our fellowship, we touched on the matter of God's eternal plan and the need for men to be saved first to receive the divine life in the spirit, and also the need for water baptism to prepare all the unsaved family members. So far, they have no entanglement in the organized Christianity. Therefore, we have the burden to shepherd our brother so that he can be gained to be a pillar for the church in Dhanoo one day. In his entire village, only his family has accepted Christ as their Saviour. Though he has many relatives in the village who are open to him and also to the gospel, a time of shepherding visit will be a good beginning to lay the foundation for the Lord's testimony in this village. 

One morning, this brother took us for sightseeing on a bike ride to a mountain where tourists have frequented for Cloud Camping and other hiking activities. The villages in these areas are scantily populated. As we rode through these villages, we called upon the Lord's name out loud and prayed for the salvation of these villages with the raising up of the Lord's testimony in these villages. We strongly believe that the local brothers can be strengthened and we can accompany them in the gospel preaching to evangelize the people there. 

May the Lord give us the wisdom to discern when to visit these villages again and how to shepherd our brothers' families so that through them, the Lord's testimony can be established and many other lampstands can be raised up as well. 

Lord, raise up the church in Dhanoo! And also save the people in Tikri area.

"Deathday" on a Birthday

The Lord has been faithful to me, leading me thus far to see the completion of my forty-fourth birthday and entering into the forty-fifth birthday of my human life on this earth. If the Lord were to grace me to live at least ninety years or so, He has led me to half of my life on this earth. Within these many years of my life which He has graciously granted me, I pray that He also fulfills the very purpose for which He created me as a human being. Since I was regenerated at the age of nineteen on 31 Dec  1997, I have been living my Christian life for twenty-five years now. My prayer has always been that I may enjoy and experience Christ daily and grow in the divine life unto maturity to be a living overcomer being built up with the saint in the Body for the ultimate fulfillment of God's eternal economy.

To me, I have ceased all the earthly and worldly ways of celebrating birthdays for decades now. My inner being would not allow me to do so any longer after I have grown to some level in the divine life. Nevertheless, I do thank the Lord personally every year on this specific day, for His mercy and grace being added to me for at least one more year. With the close family circle, I pray and thank the Lord for His grace all these years and look to Him for further grace.

Today, as I was spending time with the Lord in the morning, I was impressed by this one point of "Death Day". My "Birth Day" has become "Death Day" in a very positive way. I have been brought to a deep realization that my old man, my natural man whether good or bad, has to be put to death. Every new year should be a reminder of how much death have I experienced myself, and how much of the resurrection life of Christ have I experienced. I can well relate with Job when he confessed:

Indeed, I am worthless. What shall I reply to You? I lay my hand over my mouth.  Job 40:4

This is no self-introspection but a revelation that without the Lord I am indeed worthless. All that I am in myself has to come to an end. And all that Christ is to me be who I should be. Having seen the revelation of God's hand in my life, I truly echo what Job had declared: 

I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye has seen You; Therefore I abhor myself, and I repent in dust and ashes. Jb 42:5-6

This is no new teaching, but in oneness with the word of the apostle Paul to Philippians:

To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. Philippians 3:10

Today in our prayer and pursuit of the truth, I personally chose the hymn 426 by Br. Witness Lee which expresses my inward feeling of receiving God's light as I come before Him.

1      Remove my covering, Lord,
  That I may see Thy light,
  And be deceived no more,
  But all things see aright.

Chorus  
  Oh, may Thy living light, Lord,
  Scatter all my night, Lord,
  And everything make bright, Lord,
  For this I pray to Thee.

2 I hardly know myself;
  Deceived so much by pride,
  I often think I’m right
  And am self-satisfied.

8 I long to be unveiled,
  In everything made clear,
  No more to be deceived
  Or to my pride adhere.

Thank the Lord for His mercy to reveal to me on this day what this day should really be, a death day. Death to all of myself so that I may live out the resurrection life of Christ who lives in me. A self "deathday" on a wonderful birthday! Praise the Lord!