Words of Comfort

One fine evening after our family prayer, I saw a message from a high school classmate posted in a group chat. I initially thought to simply read and brush it aside as not important but on second thought, I realized that that was a very good opportunity to minister the word of God to him aparaently but to the whole group in reality. Therefore, I drafted and sent the following message to the group chat.

Dear L_____g,

A loved one lost is not an easy feeling to bear especially when the one you loved so dearly is remembered on your wedding anniversary. Nonetheless, as Christians, our hope is anchored on Christ the resurrected Lord, our hope of glory (Col.1:27), Who nullifies all hopelessness the world can only offer. 

This reminds me of Jacob (a supplanter), who on the process of becoming Israel (one who struggles with God) had to be stripped off of all his naturalness and had to lose his beloved wife of his natural choice, Rachel. It was painful, no doubt, but what followed was the birth of Benjamin (son of the right hand) who was first called Ben-oni (son of affliction) Gen. 35:18-19. Jacob lost Rachel and gained Benjamin. Typologically, Jacob on his path to maturity lost his heart's treasure, Rachel, and gained Benjamin, a type of the New Testament Christ. With a proper spiritual perspective, we can gain Christ experientially amidst the loss and pain we suffer now, only if we turn to Christ the resurrected Lord.

In our experiences too, we may have been going through "hard times" but the Lord is sovereign over all. The loss we may seem to suffer could possibly be the path God has laid for us to have a new beginning. There is nothing accidental nor coincidental in the Christian life, for all things work together for good, if we are those who love God so that we may gain Christ and be conformed to His image (Rom. 8:28-29).

My prayers and comfort to you and your children. Much grace to you. 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, *the Father of compassions and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction* that we may be able to comfort those who are in every affliction through the comforting with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4, RecVer)

Post my post, there was a period of silence though the day should have been the country's independence day and it should have been flooded with posts. Finally, the friend I personally addressed to in the group responded with a note of thanks. My post was based on the post of his loving memories of his beloved wife whom he lost a couple of months ago. I could feel the pain and loss, but as a Christan, I am not clueless about this kind of situation. Therefore, it was apt for me to speak up in a way of the chat message. 

Though I do not post much, whenever I felt led by the Lord and at the right moment, I could jump in and post what I need to post. I believe that is my function for now in the group. I am glad to be able to function in that way. 

A Couple's Call

The Lord has been teaching me how to have an ear to listen to what the saints have to say, and even keenly, listen to what they did not say by discerning in the spirit, the real intent for what they said. This is one of the characteristics required of the servant of the Lord. Time and again, I have been receiving calls or fellowship from the saints and new ones of their situation. It was a true test for me not to react in my natural man; especiallty the danger is partaking of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Generally, whoever presents a matter will present it according to his or her point of view, often self-vindicating and self-justifying. This is just fallen human nature. Therefore, I have learned not to fully believe in a one-sided story; it is always best to listen from both parties and even better, in the same call or conversation where the two present their cases at the same time.  But I must be careful, I am not the judge. I am only listening because they wanted to speak to me. Given a choice, I would opt out.

A week ago, I was in the middle of repairing my wall clock when a brother called me on a conference call with his wife. They have been through tough times in their marriage life. Though I sincerely did not like to get involved in their marital affair, they both chose to call me again and again for fellowship and prayer. I have been on the receiving end of both their calls often since they came to know me as a brother in the Lord. Every time they called, I ended up praying with them, referring their matter to the Lord. I am hundred percent sure, I can do nothing and I wanted to do nothing. As a brother, I simply offered my listening ear and prayed with them.

As I listened to both of them presenting their viewpoints, I literally had nothing to say. As I listeneed I could only turn to my spirit and called upon the Lord's name inwardly, over and over again. When they both spoke and asked me to speak, I was in complete silence as I did not know what to say.  Finally, I had the anointing from the Lord to speak a word based on the scripture. I simply fellowshipped with them to turn to the Lord, forgive one another and love the Lord to love another with the divine love, and not to give room to the enemy in their marital affair. After my short word of fellowship, we all prayed one by one and I asked both of them to carefully pray and consider before the Lord whatever decision they have to make.

I believe the Lord has been teaching and training me to learn how to shepherd the saints. He has been bringing complicated cases to let me know that I need Him to be my wisdom, understanding, and discernment. The more I face a situation like this, the more I realize my helplessness and uselessness in handling such a complicated marital issue. Thank the Lord, I personally have not faced such an issue that was brought to me. I need the Lord's covering and preservation that having listened to others of their problems I should not end up in the same.

I do trust the Lord's leading and speaking that this couple will be recovered! I know not when and how, but I do trust the living Spirit who lives in me and in them, and in His living word through which this couple can be fully reconciled and recovered. This couple's call of complaints and complications should be a call of corporate care and concern for the couple even to become the Lord's testimony bearer one day.

Lord, save the couple's marriage and bless them!

The Spirit of Faith

And having the same spirit of faith according to that which is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak. 2 Cor. 4:13 

The phrase the Spirit of Faith is used only one time in the Bible but it has tremendous significance for the subjective experience of the believers in substantiating the things of God. This spirit of faith is the mingled spirit of the believers through which the Spirit can be directly touched by the human spirit. Ignorance of this great matter would result in a great loss in the life of the believers. By the Lord's mercy, I have been enlightened to see this spirit of faith in a clear way. Many of my doubts about the reality of the spiritual fact have been cleared by this one point of truth, the spirit of faith. What a great revelation! What a great release!

Excerpts from "The Intrinsic Significance of Faith," msg 3, God's Economy in Faith, HWMR on the exercise of the spirit of faith is marvelous yet mysterious.

1. We must exercise our spirit of faith to believe in the fact that God is love—1 John 4:8.
2. We must exercise our spirit of faith to believe in the fact that God’s grace is sufficient—2 Cor. 12:9.
3. We must exercise our spirit of faith to believe in the fact that Christ is able to save us to the uttermost—Heb. 7:25.
4. We must exercise our spirit of faith to believe in the fact that we are in Christ, that Christ is in us, and that we and Christ are one—1 Cor. 1:30; Col.1:27; John 14:20; 15:5.
5. We must exercise our spirit of faith to believe in the fact that we are God’s children and heirs—Rom. 8:16-17.
6. We must exercise our spirit of faith to believe in the fact that we have been made full in Christ—Col. 2:10.
7. We must exercise our spirit of faith to believe in the fact that we are the temple of the living God and that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within us—1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16.

Be sober; watch. Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking someone to devour. Him withstand, being firm in your faith… 1 Pet. 5:8-9

1. We withstand the devil by being firm in our subjective faith in God’s protecting power and loving concern—1 Pet. 5:8-9:
2. We must exercise our spirit of faith to believe that the Lord was manifested for the purpose of destroying the works of the devil—1 John 3:8.
3. We must exercise our spirit of faith to believe that the Lord’s death has destroyed him who has the might of death, the devil—Heb. 2:14.
4. We must exercise our spirit of faith to believe that the Lord’s resurrection has put Satan to shame; the resurrection life is a life that cannot be touched by death, that transcends death, that is beyond the boundary of death, that comes out of death, and that death cannot hold—Acts 2:23-24; Phil. 3:10; Col. 2:12-15, 20; 3:1; John 14:30.
5. We must exercise our spirit of faith to believe that the ascension of the Lord has put Him far above the power of Satan—Eph. 1:20-22; 2:6; 6:11, 13.
6. We must exercise our spirit of faith to believe that the victory of the Lord is complete and that our whole life is included in this victory; we must see that we have already overcome and that we fight from a position of victory in order to maintain our victory; we can overcome because we are all included in the Lord as the leading Overcomer; He is the Head, center, reality, life, and nature of the man-child, and the manchild as the following overcomers is the Lord’s Body—Rev. 3:21; 12:5.

This portion of the ministry has very much strengthened my faith in the Lord concerning my own Christian life, church life, and service life. The impossible is possible with the spirit of faith! I too have my personal sturggles as much as I struggle collectively with the brothers in my locality for the Lord's work, yet the Lord's word concerning faith is so so encouraging. It is not merely a teaching, but that which can be practiced in reality. Halleluijah! His words and His works go together hand in hand.

This morning a brother also called me to consdier together the new post that has come on his path in his professional carreer. I encouraged him to take it as it is from the Lord. In fact, I reckon that it must be from the Lord. But he has had many bad experiences in the past that drove him to depression and lost all his self-confidence. In fact, no confidence in the self is the best foundation one needs to trust in Lord desperately and absolutely. But I fellowshipped with him the fresh enojoyment of the Lord I have been enjoying the past few days, the spirit of faith. Drawing an example from the life of King Solomon in building the temp of God, he himself had asked for wisdom and understanding from God and God granted his prayer! Besides, God also gave him all the manpower and the materials needed to build the temple. Though there were multitudes who actually built the temple and Solomon just oversaw the work, it was termed as Solomon built the temple. Because God's chose him to be the one who build the temple and gave him wisdom and understanding, and everything needed to build the temple. In a similar manner, when God assigns us His task, He will porvide the means to accomplish the task. Apparently, the task is ours, but actually it is the Lord's, and are being carried out through His provision.

Praise the Lord for this great wonder of the world, "the spirit of God!" What a spiritual dicovery! Exercise the spirit of faith!

Gospel of Faith

In the recent training for full-timers and coworkers, the Lord was strengthening His speaking concerning faith. God has His economy which is in faith (1 Tim. 1:4). To fulfill His economy is also in faith. The basic matter of the Christian life is faith. This faith links us to the Triune God, enabling us to live God and accomplish His economy. Therefore, anything that is not in faith is sin. And everything in God's relationship with man is faith.

Faith versus Sight
Sight is anything that can be seen, anything outside our spirit, that is, anything earthly.  This sight is not merely physical sight that can be seen with physical eyes. This sight is also psychological sight; the thinkings of the mind, the imaginations, fantasies, and dreams. All these sights outside the spirit are against faith. Many Christian have been deceived to live their lives by psychological sights.

Faith on the positive side is:

1. To amen the word of God (Rom. 10:17)
2. A spontaneous response to the word of God 
3. Appreciating the Lord
4. To substantiate the things of God, the divine and mystical things by the Spirit of faith
5. To See the unseen God, an oxymoron (Heb. 11:1, 2 Cor. 4:13)
6. Links us to the Triune God

The root of faith is God, the Spirit. Only in the Spirit where there is faith, we are joined to the Triune God. At times, we may have little or no experience, but deep within faith is operating in us. We may not necessarily have wonderful experiences of the Lord, on the contrary, we may have been going through hard times, feeling dry and dead within, but still, faith is in our spirit, quietly operating unconsciously. If we do know this truth about living by faith, the enemy will have no ground to accuse and condemn us in any way.

Faith and Love are related. The way to love the Lord is by faith, not feeling. Even our love is in faith. "Greet those who love us in faith"(Titus 3:15). There should be no introspection and no seeking for feeling. We should simply live the Christian life in faith and still say, "Lord Jesus, I love You" even when we have no feeling for the Lord.

Faith in the negative aspect is: 

1. To stop our doing and work even in "serving the Lord"
2. To proclaim that we are unable to fulfill God's requirement. This is to see that God has done everything. 
3. To rejoice always
4. To believe that God is
5. To cut off the flesh with its natural energy 
6. To trust in the Lord

To sum up the gospel of faith, we must simply return to the Lord, and rest in Him. Faith is returning to the Lord, resting in the Lord, being quiet in the Lord, and trusting in the Lord.

“For thus says the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest you will be saved; In quietness and in trust will be your strength; But you were not willing,” (Isaiah 30:15, RecVer)

Even when serious issues arise, if you are a man of faith, you will not be troubled. You simply face the issues and come out of it triumphantly! Inward storm and outward storm defeat believers without faith. If you have faith, you will rest and be at peace. The storm will stop as we trust in the Lord.

Faith is the only link from the physical realm to the divine realm. Faith accomplishes everything for us and in us. In faith, we rest in the Lord, whatever happens. It is in the long dry tunnel that in faith we grow the most. We are purified in the long dark tunnel. In faith, you don't go by feeling. 

This is the gospel of faith. A great release from the subtle deception of the enemy for those who heard and believe in the gospel of faith. What a release!

Experience of Truth

Many years ago when I met a Christian leader and introduced the ministry books as the book of truth, he asked me a question, "What is Truth?" My innate reply then was, 'Truth is Christ!" Of course, I replied confidently based on John 14:6.

What is the Truth? Truth is God in Christ as the Spirit of reality applying everything of God to us for the accomplishment of God's economy in and through us. Truth is embodied in the Word of God. Interestingly, truth in the Bible is always singular, implying that there is only one unique truth in the whole universe. The truth God gave to us is the Holy Spirit inside of us as the fulfilled promise of the Spirit which He gave to Abraham who today is the pneumatic Christ as the life-giving Spirit, and the Holy Bible outside of us, in our hands, as the written word of God which in Spirit can become the living word of God and further becomes the applied word of God to dispense life to us, the readers. In the Bible is the truth hidden. Thus, the only way to get the truth is by opening the Bible physically, psychologically, and spiritually.

The proper translation for truth in many versions of the Bible should be accurately rendered as reality, instead of truth, as in John 14:6; 1:14. And the Spirit of reality, meaning the Spirit is reality, is found in John 14, 15, 16. In 1 John 5:6, the Spirit is the reality who is the consummation of the Triune God. Apart from the Spirit, there is no reality. 

In 1 John 1:6, the reality is versus vanity. In fact, everything is vanity, the opposite of reality. The only unique reality is the Holy Spirit. Only God is the unique reality, everything else is vanity. To touch Him as the reality, He gave us the Holy Spirit and the Holy Bible. In John 6:63, the word is Spirit and life. Psalms 119:130 says that the opening of the word of God gives light. This implies the need for the word of God to enter into our minds, then shine and renew our minds leading us to transformation. This is what the truth is for, to accomplish God's heart's desire.

The way to God is the Lord as the reality to us, touching Christ as the reality in the Word. When the word becomes reality, we can touch God. Beginning with the reading of the word, then the word becomes life to us. Growing in life is through the word, touched by the Spirit, then the word becoming the Spirit who gives life. This is how the Church can be built by the growth of God through the word of God being opened up to us.

2 Cor. 3:6 says the Spirit gives life and the letter kills. Teaching what was understood is only in letters but supplying what was experienced and enjoyed is by the Spirit. Only the life supply through the spirit can cause growth in life for the building up of the Body of Christ.

A good way to enter into the word of God is to pursue the Life-study of the Bible (1984 messages) and the 347 messages on the High Peak series of messages. These open up the Bible. I have taken up the pursuit of the Life-studies and the High Peaks as my daily and weekly exercises.

In this way, I can be healthy in my Christian life and be supplied organically by the divine life supply. In this way, I can be blended into the Body and contribute to the spreading of the word of God to many others. Then, I can testify the following word of God: 

“Holding to the faithful word, which is according to the teaching of the apostles, that he may be able both to exhort by the healthy teaching and to convict those who oppose.” (Titus 1:9, RecVer)

“If you lay these things before the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, being nourished with the words of the faith and of the good teaching which you have closely followed.” (1 Timothy 4:6, RecVer)

Plan for Growth

“And the word of God grew, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly; and a large number of the priests obeyed the faith.” (Acts 6:7, RecVer)

“But the word of God grew and multiplied.” (Acts 12:24, RecVer)

 The conclusion of the ministry of the word through the ministry journey of the apostles in the Jewish region is that the word of God grew and multiplied. Similarly in the gentile region, the word of God grew and prevailed. 

“Thus, the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.” (Acts 19:20, RecVer)

This is the testimony recorded in the Bible concerning the way to increase the number of disciples. Yes, it was purely through the ministering of the word of God. The same principle applies today.  The issue of the constitution of the truth in the saints is for the building up of the Body of Christ and also for the increase of the church.

Since last Tuesday, the coworkers and full-timers serving ones came together for a time of fellowship and training. One of the burdens of the training was the increase of the saints in the churches inwardly by the constitution of the truth and outwardly too by the increase of the word of God.  For this, the brothers serving in the local churches should pay much attention to the enjoyment of the word of God. One new way to dive into the depth of the truth is the way of pray-reading, studying, reciting, and prophesying. In this way, the saints can be constituted with the truths which will enable them to grow in life and issue in the building up of the Body of Christ which in turn will be manifested as the increase in the number of the believers added into the church. 

For this increase to be practical, there needs to be a proper plan. Our God is a God of planning. Therefore, the responsible brothers must make a five years plan, stage by stage. Even for the church where I am, we made plans for the coming six months and the coming five years with the goal of reaching a hundred saints regularly meeting by next year. If the fellowship from the brothers were to be adhered to strictly, this goal can be achieved. This plan has to be worked out to become a reality. 

I do believe this is a confirmation from the Lord through the Body as we have been praying for the increase in the local church here. Especially in my family prayer, this has been one of our daily prayer burdens, to increase first to a hundred saints regularly meeting. In answer to that prayer, the Lord is now showing us how that prayer can be answered. It is God who answers prayer and it is also God who would execute all the plans, but man must cooperate with God and co-labor with Him step by step until the entire plan is accomplished.

Included in this plan is also the matter of desperately laboring on the saints and the new ones. While expecting the Lord's blessing for the increase, the saints must also live a normal Christian life in normal church life. In such a normal church life, the saints will shepherd one another and shepherd the new ones. Shepherding as a result of the enjoyment of the word of God is the best way to gain an increase in the church life. Shepherding includes laboring faithfully without any selection on who to shepherd, we must simply shepherd the saints, good or bad. The Lord will surely bless such faithful labor in shepherding.

The constitution of the word of God and the laboring in shepherding will make the plan accomplishable. This is the new way we are taking, in fact, I am taking, in my serving in the Body in my local church. All my other brothers will follow suit and we will be recipients of the Lord's blessing for His testimony in Gurugram.

Lord, bless the plan for the church through the constitution of the truth and the shepherding of the saints.

Gospel Preaching in DLF 3

Last weekend, as the church, we have been blessed with the trainees coming over to the meeting hall, staying there, and then coordinating with the saints to preach the gospel. This was a sudden arrangement and we did not really have enough time to consider it thoroughly. Yet, the Lord used this opportunity to revive us in the matter of gospel preaching again. This time, brothers in the church felt it best to preach the gospel in DLF 3 where many young working saints are residing as it is adjacent to the city's Cyber Hub. 

As usual and as always, I simply followed the leading of the Lord through the brothers in all practical detail. It is a blessing indeed to simply follow the Lord through the Body without any opinion. Though I had my opinion, I simply denied them and amen the brother's leading.

With a brand new brother and a sister as my teammates, I led them as I felt led by the Lord, where to preach and whom to preach to. Our first gospel candidate was a person who never heard of the name Jesus Christ. When we reached the gospel to him in Hindi, he readily agreed and received whatever we preached. He even prayed the sinner's prayer and called upon the Lord's name. As we were preaching to him, another man was watching us from a nearby building. After we were done preaching with this one, as we moved forward, this new person was smiling. I approached him and he commented that he saw us preaching the gospel and confessed that he himself is a Christian. He welcomed us to his office and then led us to his home, introducing us to his wife. As he was busy with his work, we had a time of home meeting with his wife; reading the Bible, and praying for the family. This family was so open that they wanted to join us on the Lord's day. Therefore, his wife and the child came to attend the meeting. This family was the fruit of following the Lord's leading this time.

Besides this, one man received the gospel tract, called the church's number, and came to the meeting hall. He had believed into the Lord but was not yet baptized. After he enjoyed the meeting with the saints, and especially with the young people, he decided to be baptized. Praise the Lord, he was baptized! Another blessing of following the Lord!

After the Lord's day meeting, we went out to preach the gospel again. As we were on the street, there was a heavy downpour. Initially, we were wondering how we could go on preaching the gospel as the streets were flooded. Due to the rains, we have to stop at a building where we met three groups of gospel candidates and preached the gospel to at least 10 of them. The rain opened the door for us to meet people group by group. Had it not been for the rain, we could not have met so many new people for the gospel. 

The Lord is sovereign in His move. O what a blessing to simply obey and follow His leading through the Body! The gospel preaching in DLF-3 is a new level of coordination. And I believe this is an answer to our prayer for the increase in the number of saints meeting in the church here. Praise the Lord!