A Brother's Engagement

Two months ago, a family came to visit me in Gurugram and requested me to pray for their son's possible engagement in Jalandhar, Punjab with a Punjabi sister. I sincerely prayed for the brother's engagement to happen according to the Lord's will as I know him. In fact, he is now in his forties, high time to get married. A few weeks later, the brother called to inform me of his engagement to happen and also invited me to attend. Perhaps, to be their spiritual brother to pray for them and stand with them. I considered the request before the Lord and in fellowship with my co-serving brother, I decided to attend the engagement. Yet in addition, I also planned for a distribution trip to the city, to make use of the visit.

A comfortable hospitality was arranged for me in Jalandhar city where I could spend enough time praying and studying the word before the engagement meeting. At the engagement, though no preplanning was done, it was fitting for me to take the lead and minister the word for the couple. The sister's side brought along two pastors but they abruptly left after they made a short announcement about the engagement. There seemed to be a void in the entire meeting. Therefore, I was invited by the brother's side to take over. 

For about forty-five minutes I ministered on God's eternal plan in creating man as a vessel so that man can contain Him, express Him, and represent Him. For this, God also charged man to multiply, which happens through marriage. Therefore, marriage is God ordained and must be honored. I also ministered along the line of loving the Lord and loving one another, being one with the Lord and also one with one another as couples, and the need for Christ filled family life in today's age of degradation and godlessness. 

As I noticed that some of the relatives of the sister were still unbelievers, I shared a short gospel for them and showed them how to believe into the Lord Jesus Christ. With this simple message, impromptu though, but the Lord anointed and gave the utterances. The meeting was very much enriched. The family of the brothers were so supplied by this "unplanned" engagement message. 

Later, they expressed their gratitude, and our relationship as Christian brothers and sisters got much strengthened. The father of the brother was so touched by my being with the family and shepherding them, when I was about to move on for my next work, he thanked me with tears rolling down from his eyes, and hugged me. I am glad that the Lord's shepherding care indeed was upon them through my presence. To me, it was all the Lord's shepherding care for the raising up of His testimony in their native place one day. They are bign prepared by he Lord.

Through this one day engagement meeting, the Lord made the entire family open to me for fellowship. I do belive the Lord will use this newly established relationship to shepherd them all in the coming days and also gain them all wherever they are, to be fully for the Lord.

Lord, gain the couple and all their relatives for Your testimony!

Ministry of the Word to Jalandhar

And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must lead them also, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one Shepherd. John 10:16

In the entire North India, Punjab has the fastest growing Christian population. In the past decade alone, lakhs of local people have believed into the Lord Jesus Christ. The growth of new believers has been so fast that it even drew the attention of the media and a religious group who dominated the entire state. 

I have heard about the growing Christian population in this state and had been waiting for the proper time to visit this state and distribute the ministry literature, though I had gone to Chandigarh for propagation and distribution many years ago.

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to attend an engagement function of a brother known to me. When he invited me, I considered and prayed about it, and also fellowship with my coordinator my burden to make use of this visit. Therefore, I planned a distribution trip after the engagement function. It turned out that, this was the best time to visit the city Jalandhar, as there was a Christin leaders meeting, while I visited the city of which I also attended.

A seeking family, a Rhema contact, gave us hospitality during our distribution in the city. The ministry books were introduced to them; they were so seeking and open that we even enjoyed a time of morning revival and Bible study together right away. He purchased the Holy Bible Recovery Version for his family Bible study.  This brother introduced us to his brother who is also a pastor of an independent group and had served with Christian literature service for a good number of years. The moment we met, he narrated his story of how he labored in the literature service in the past for many years. We introduced the ministry literature to these two seeking brothers who loves the Lord and joyfully received whatever we ministered. We spent five hours of fellowship in our first meeting itself. The following day, we were invited for a time of fellowship over a dinner love feast. They being so impressed by the riches of the ministry, proposed to open a bookstore in their new meeting hall.

We were also led to fellowship with a group of young ones who left the denomination and are now simply meeting as a “church”. They were so supplied by the truth we ministered concerning the need for growth in life using the ministry literature. They all received the ministry books for their further pursuit.

When we fellowship with two young Punjabi pastors concerning the Christian life and the need for growth in life through the word, they joyfully received the ministry literature. They were so impressed by the ministry of the word. One of them has the burden to translate the ministry books into Punjabi. This brother has been serving the Lord full-time on his own, independently, but was enlightened on the truth concerning Christ, the local churches, and the universal Body of Christ through our fellowship. Out of burden and need, he has now started translating the ministry books into Punjabi with the goal of translating the entire Rhema set. Praise the Lord, now we are restarting the Punjabi translation service!

We also attended a "Christian leaders and pastors" gathering where we were warmly welcomed and even honored with a memento by the Christian leaders. It was a surprise honor indeed, yet I took that as an opportunity to introduce the riches of the ministry of the word to all that pastors and leaders present there. The key leaders expressed their gratitude for our visit and voiced the need for Christian literature in Punjab. Despite Punjab witnessing the fastest growing Christian population in North India, the word of God is still rare as many are attracted by “signs, wonders, healings, and miracles”.

A pastor invited us to his Prayer Tower in the city where we introduce the minsitry literature to him. He purchased the entire set of ministry books in Hindi and selected books in English to set up a Library-cum-Christian Bookstore, to be the first of its kind in the city.

May the Lord recover many of His lovers and seekers in the city for His strong testimony on the ground of oneness as an anti-testimony to the world and the religious world of division. 

Ministry of the Word to Leh

Leh is famous for tourism and is located at an altitude of 3524 meters, 11562 feet above sea level. 

This is my second visit to this town. We were received by the pastor of a Moravian church who also happened to be from the same Rongmei tribe in the flesh as mine. He also made arrangements for our hospitality for our three days stay. 

On the Lord's day, we were given the opportunity to introduce the ministry books to the entire congregation of the Moravian church who were on their final day of Youth Meet. It was indeed a timely visit so that the ministry books can be introduced and distributed to all  who came from some other parts of India as well.  After the Lord's day meeting, we introduced the ministry literature to the Moravian Church Committee members and they placed orders for the entire selected set of title books by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee for the church library. This was a great opening for the Lord's move to Ladakh. This church being the one and only church since its very inception some two hundred years ago, anything Christian has to be in reference to this church. To this church, the Lord has opened the door for the ministry literature to be made available. 

By the way, the Moravian Church in Leh located in the border area of Pakistan, China, and Tibet is a Protestant Church that was established in 1885 by Moravian missionaries who came from Herrnhut in Saxony (eastern Germany). 

After the Lord's day, we were given hospitality in a guest house owned by one of the local Ladakhi believers who we had no idea about. But one morning as we went out for breakfast, we chanced to meet him. Then our relationship was established right then. We made an appointment for meeting with his family in the afternoon. When we had a time of fellowship where we shared the meaning of human life and God's purpose in creating man, we realized that some of the family members were not yet baptized. Therefore, according to their need and the Lord's leading, we expounded the truth concerning baptism. After an hour-long fellowship, the Spirit moved in a strong way as to lead the local brother to repent and prayed a prayer of confession, repentance, and revival. They testified that the Lord sent us to them as they were in urgent need of fellowship and revival as they have been backslidden and distracted by many world things. They sincerely invited us to visit them again in the near future so that many other Christian families could be visited and shepherded. This fellowship was so precious to all of us; the Lord directly implied to us the need for shepherding in this area. The Lord does want to gain his family and many more for His testimony in Leh among the local Ladakhis.

Lord, raise up Your testimony in Leh!

 

An Indian army Commanding Officer whom we met on the Lord's day also invited us for a time of fellowship over dinner love-feast at his army base camp where we introduced the ministry literature. He purchased the ministry books and the Holy Bible Recovery Version as well. We learned from him that he dearly loves the Lord though more of a Peter-kind and was very burdened for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that through the reading of the ministry books he would see the vision of Christ and the church clearly and one day take a stand for t the Lord's testimony wherever the Lord places him as an officer.

On a lighter note, as we were fellowshipping with him inside his living room, some stray dogs came and devoured our leather shoes kept outside of his house. We lost our shoes yet this brother gifted us matching shoes.

Overall, we worship the Lord for His sovereignty in all our visits in this ministry journey to Jammu, Kashmir, and finally to Ladakh. May the Lord accomplish His heart's desire in these places! 

Ministry of the Word to Kargil

Kargil is famous for the Kargil War fought between India and Pakistan, which was also known as the Kargil conflict or Operation Vijay, an armed conflict fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir then, and elsewhere along the Line of Control(LoC).  Now, this region is a part of the Ladakh Union Territory.

Initially, we never had a plan to visit Kargil. But in one of our meetings with a brother, we mentioned our travel itinerary from Srinagar to Leh, then he suggested that we could stop by Kargil in between. Then, the burden was received, contact was made, and finally, we actually visited this important town in India.

In Kargil, a doctor-brother and his wife received us into their home and treated us with a brotherly lovefeast. We had a good time of fellowship with the couple and also with another family who came to the town with a burden to serve the Lord with their professions. Both families have sacrificed their comfortable lives and paid the price to go to this city out of a burden from the Lord. We learned from them that there were hardly any local believers in the entire region. And many Christians have a burden for the gospel in this area and many prayers have been offered to God. 

One beautiful thing in this area is that all the believers, though from various denominations, backgrounds, and doctrines, they have no way but to unite as one. All minor differences have to be put away to serve the Lord and take the stand for the Lord together. This was amazing! 

As we introduced the ministry literature to our host, he showed interest in all the books we brought there. He therefore placed order for the entire set of English ministry books with the Holy Bible Recovery Version. This was a good opening for the seed of the ministry to be sown in virgin soil. The Lord led us to such a place so that He can gain His chosen ones and raise up His testimony even in this important town.

Generally, there would be no vehicle plying in the afternoon to Leh, our next destination, as the last vehicle to leave Kargil for Leh was before 3 PM. But the Lord knew that we had to be in Leh the next day morning, which means we have to travel by all means the same day as it took over five hours on road. We did not rush nor panic but committed our time and ourselves to the Lord. We comfortably had enough time to spend with the two families, in fellowship and prayer. When we satisfactorily completed our visit to Kargil, the Lord arranged a vehicle just in time for us to move to Leh. We worship the Lord for His ways!

Lord, save the people of Kargil and raise up Your testimony in Kargil!

Ministry of the Word to Srinagar

After a time with the brothers in Anantnag, we journeyed to Srinagar. The beautiful scenery along the highway was so mesmerizing. I could not withhold my phone from taking phoes and videos all along. God's beautiful creation is so wonderful! The creation itself is a testimony of the Creator, God. These beautufil landscapes surely did not come into being and could barely be explained by the so-called "Bing Bang Theory" of man's mere imagination. With such wonder beyond human imagination, only the fools will indeed deny that God indeed is the Creator of all and that He does exist.

This time too, we had no clue as to whom we should meet, where we should stay, or what we should do in Srinagar. We just came with the burden of the distribution of the ministry literature. But the Lord gave us the right person to contact just as we planned to visit the city. A serving brother welcomed us to his Srinagar home and treated us with a delicious South Indian meal as he himself have migrated to the city some fifteen years ago from the South. This brother led us to different people and also made arrangements for our stay. We had a time introducing the ministry to this brother and gifted him with some books including the New Testament Recovery Version. 

He also met another brother whom we met in our past visit, who has been appreciating the depth of the minsitry so much. To him, based on his fellowship, we shared the truth concerning the inner man and the need to strengthen the inner man by contacting the Lord and by growing in the divine life. 

Besides, we also met a brother who has been displaying books and selling Christian books to key Christian churches. He came to meet us before we left the city and showed much interest in the ministry books. He even texted me testifying that a book he read made him realize some of his "sins" for which he also repented. To this brother, we handed over a good number of the ministry books for him to distribtue and sell.

This beautiful city has the same fate as that of the previous city we visited.  Despite the difficulty in laboring for the gospel in this city, there have been many brothers and sisters praying for the salvation of the people of this city in particular and the state in general. Though we could not see like in other cities of India, believers teeming the city, nonetheless many prayers have been offered. The prayers of the saints will bear forth fruits one day. We were blessed to share a part in the Lord's move to Srinagar.

May the Lord raise up the church in Srinagar soon with His chosen people.

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!