Co-working with Christ for the Mizos

Fifteen years ago in 2007, the Lord led me to this city Aizawl with a brother on my second visit and met with a group of believers called TMEF (Truth Mission Evangelical Fellowship) at their head office. Today, along with four other brothers I came to visit the same group again at their new office in Aizawl. In the first visit to this group, the leading brother led me us to a brother who has been the key brother who now has been taking the stand for the church in Aizawl. Today, we met with the President and explained to him the many features of the Recovery Version in Mizo. In the first meeting, the local church in Aizawl was recovered, and in today's meeting the door was opened for the spread of the ministry of the word to all the 10,000 plus seekers who loves to study the word of God. The two visits are for the move of God in His economy through the literature service. It was a joy indeed to witness how the Lord has been moving in and through us for the recovery of His testimony and heart's desire among the Mizos.

I remember, in our first meeting we were asked what we thought about smoking, by the senior Pastor with a coat suit sitting on his office table with a Bible in his hand and a cigarette on the other hand. I still remember, how the Lord strongly anointed me and gave me the timely and apt reply to his tricky question. If I were to say smoking was wrong I had no Bible verse to support my answer as smoking itself was never mentioned in the Bible. Yet if I were to answer in the affirmative, my conscience would bother me, for I knew that smoking was not commendable to the believers. At that juncture, the Lord gave me the word in John 14:26

But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and remind you of all the things which I have said to you.

I explained further that, today the Lord Jesus Christ as the Comforter is the Holy Spirit who dwells in our spirit. As Christians, if we live by His life, we will know whether smoking is right or wrong. This answer convicted him to the uttermost that his countenance changed at that very moment. Then, he changed his mind and said he knew whom we were looking for. Therefore, he led us to the key brother who has been standing for the Lord's testimony. I believe, our meeting today fifteen years after, will yet be another milestone for the Lord's further recovery of His testimony in Mizoram among the Mizos.

Fifteen years ago in 2007, the Lord led me to meet the key translator of Mizo for the ministry books by Watchman Nee. Today, we came to meet him again and alas, he has been suffering with cancer in his stomach. Nonetheless, his heart for the ministry books was still fresh. Though he could no longer translate, he blessed us that we can continue to translate the riches of the ministry into Mizo. He was so happy that the Mizo New Testament Recovery Version could be released and made available to all God's children speaking Mizo. This too, as usual, he gifted us all with a Mizo traditional shawl each. In a return gift, I felt it strongly that we gifted him a copy of the Mizo New Testament Recovery Version which we did with our signatures on it. 

I am filled with awesome wonder how the Lord has been moving in and through us as the Treasure in our earthen vessel. May the Lord continue to carry on His move among the Mizos in Mizoram and all over.

What a privilege and what a blessing that I could participate in His move, co-working with Christ in His earthy ministry! 

Lord, continue to bless the Mizos with the healthy teaching that they all come to the full knowledge of the truth, a further progress from being saved merely. Amen!

Mizo New Testament Recovery Version

Today, the 8th of September 2022, the New Testament Recovery Version Bible in Mizo was released and introduced at Aizawl. This truly indeed is prayers answered of the Body, by the Body, and for the Body. The Lord has been faithfully leading us from the very beginning of learning Greek to the day it was released and made available for the children of God speaking Mizo language. The chronology of the Recovery Version translation is as below:

• Greek Learning: 6th February 2014 to 16th November 2016
• Translation Fellowship and Training: 9-12 Jan 2017
• Mizo Recovery Version New Testament Translation: 13 Jan 2017
• Completion of Translation: 23 Oct 2020
• Final Proofreading Completed: 5 Feb 2022 
• Mizo New Testament Recovery Version is Available Now!: 8 September 2022

The Lord has been gracing me to be able to participate in all the steps of making the translated Mizo Recovery Version available. I have also been graced to design all the materials needed for the release and introduction of this version. I have had the privilege of designing the invitation card, letter, banner and schedule. In fellowship in the Body, many of these designs have been refined.

The coordination from the saints in the church in Aizawl was marvelous. I only designed the materials and sent to the brothers in Aizawl. They had thorough fellowship and made the  meeting fruitful by carrying out all the practical services.  I only amened whatever the brothers felt best and did whatever I was requested to do. The result is that we could witness the blessing of the Lord in one accord. I do believe, henceforth, the Lord's move would be intensified among the Mizo speaking brothers and sisters with the availability of the New Testament Recovery Version in Mizo.

In my sharing of the introductory word for the publisher LSM, as a serving one in Amana Literature, I shared the need for the Recovery Version in addition to the already existing Mizo translation. Two Bible verses that I shared are in relation to the burden of the literature service are:

Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom the master has set over his household to give them food at the proper time? Mt 24:45

Philip…said, Do you really know the things that you are reading? And he (an Ethiopian eunuch) said, How could I unless someone guides me? Acts 8: 30, 31

As faithful and prudent slaves, we serve to give spiritual food to all the children of God at the proper time. The food we serve also function as a study aid to help believers understand the word of God.

As I was fellowshipping with the local brothers and sisters in Aizawl, I realized how much the Lord loves us and the people of Mizo, and gave His accurately translated and properly interpreted study Bible. I believe this is for the bringing of the people of Mizo into salvation and into the full knowledge of the truth. I also witnessed the Lord's blessing upon all that we did in fellowship. Praise the Lord!

Lord, bless the distribution and the reading of the Mizo New Testament Recovery Version! Amen and amen!

Speak God’s Word

Today morning the Lord spoke to me about speaking His word boldly by being filled with the Holy Spirit. In fact, today is also the day I was invited to speak God's word in a brother's wedding meeting. Though I had the Bible verses that I am burdened to speak on, the Lord gave me a fresh word to speak today in my time with Him today morning.

“And when they had so besought, the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31, RecVer)

The Lord’s word gave me such boldness that I could exercise to minister the word boldly in a brother's wedding. I am also very aware of the fact that the crowd in the wedding meeting is a mixed crowd of believers and unbelievers, and even among the believers, from various denominations. Therefore, the Lord gave me what to speak to meet the need of all the audience.

As I prepared for the message, the Lord gave me the key burden to release: What is the meaning of life? And to answer this question, there are eight crucial truths which I expounded point by point. Who is God? Who is man? Who is Satan? Who is Jesus Christ? What is the church? Who are the overcomers? What is the millennium kingdom? And what is the New Jerusalem?

By answering these eight questions, I answered the main question on what is the meaning of human life. Then, I shared a few words about loving the Lord Jesus Christ first in our married life and exercising to be one with the Lord and with one another in every aspect of our Christian married life so as to live a normal Christian life.

The key Bible verses read in the meeting are below.

God's Plan
And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. And God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28, RecVer)

“And Jehovah God said, It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper as his counterpart.” (Genesis 2:18, RecVer)

Believe on the Lord Jesus
And leading them outside, he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household.(Acts 16:30-31, RecVer) 

Christ and the Church
Being subject to one another in the fear of Christ: Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord; For a husband is head of the wife as also Christ is Head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the Body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be subject to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her That He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word, That He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she would be holy and without blemish. In the same way the husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his own wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ also the church, Because we are members of His Body. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:21-32, RecVer) 

Overcomer

“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their soul-life even unto death.” (Revelation of John 12:11, RecVer)
“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! (Revelation of John 22:17a, RecVer)
“He who testifies these things says, Yes, I come quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.” (Revelation of John 22:20-21, RecVer)

I do believe that the word spoken in faith will bear fruit one day. I also believe that this is the beginning of many years of prayers being answered by God for the salvation of the unbelieving Rongmeis from the brothers' side whose relatives are all yet to be believers and also the recovery of the proper church life from the sisters' side whose relatives are all Christians. One day, I will witness the full result of prayers answered!

Lord, may Your word bear forth fruits in Your way and in Your time. 

A Home in a House

Houses are made of materials designed and built by men whereas homes are made of people, built and blessed by God! A house may not be a home even to the dweller nor a home may not necessarily be a house. Houses are inorganic, physical, and materialistic while homes are organic, and comprise living people. A beautiful house never guarantees a beautiful home, but a beautiful home surely guarantees a beautiful house. People are more attracted to the houses today than the homes that should be in the houses. Only when people living in the house are happy, can there be a "home sweet home." Such is the home that one has to look for and long for.

Yesterday, an old classmate of mine posted a series of photos of his newly constructed beautiful house in the group. Many have immediately appreciated the beauty of the architectural design and its finishing. But what came into my mind first was the need for a homely environment in that beautiful house. In congratulating him on his newly constructed house I also send a note that I felt most genuinely as a message to all:

Congrats D___! Beautiful house! 

Wishing you and your family a blessed home in this beautiful house.

Houses are made of materials designed by men but homes are made of people blessed by God!

A Note of Exhortation

A beautiful home is where the family dwells in oneness and harmony (Ps. 133); where love prevails (1 Cor. 13); and righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17) reigns in every member of the family. In fact, such a family is only of God where Christ makes His home in the hearts of all (Eph. 3:17). 

May God bless you D___; your home and your house.

I for sure cannot say that I have a beautiful house as all my life I have been living in a nominal house; in my grand parent's house, or in my uncle's house, or in a hostel, and now in a rented house. To put it more plainly, I have never owned a house of my own, much less a beautiful one architecturally. The rented house my family now lives in is perhaps one of the oldest buildings in the community, and perhaps, a not-so-good-looking house in design or in construction quality for I have had many issues with the quality of the house construction.

Nonetheless, my family finds a home in this house. All my children are so happy living in this house. And many saints and relatives have also come to stay in this house. Despite its old looking outwardly, inside is full of brotherly love. In spite of an old building with furniture, doors, and windows, all broken up due to oldness, still, we all have been living happily in this house. Oftentimes, I test my children if we should shift to a better house elsewhere within the same rentals, but none of them ever agreed. They don't care for the house itself, they care for the lovely and peaceful atmosphere in the house. We have a home in this house!

Indeed, the Lord's presence has been the greatest blessing in this house which makes us feel at home. In fact, we all find a home in this house. Though it is a rented house, I have been living in and managing the house as though it is mine. I have been paying the rent regularly for over a decade now, but still, I never had the feeling that I am a stranger in this house. I feel very much at home so do all my family members. It is the Lord's blessing that brings love, peace, and joy to this house making it our home for now. I have no idea how long we have to be in this house, but as long as the Lord leads us to stay here we will follow the Lord's leading. Having said this, I am willing to follow the Lord's leading. Should He need us to move to another house, I will, it all depends on His leading.  But the fact is, we do have a home in this house and we all enjoy our home in this house.

In fact, as a family, we pray regularly for the Lord to bless us to be a godly family; a home of prayer, a home of fellowship, a home of the word of God, a home where many can know, believe and receive Christ. And a home where our family is a living testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Lord, bless our home to be a home sweet home with Christ as our Head and Christ who is all in all, in all of us.

Heart Disease

Heart attack has become one of the common problems among many people today despite their intelligence and wealth. In fact, a heart attack seems to be common among the higher echelon of society among the educated elite, the rich, and the intelligent. This seems to have become a rich's man disease. This reminds me of my neighbor who had been doing so well in life, even in physical health, who used to take regular exercises and maintain a strict diet, still, one day, got a heart attack and died. Heart disease is a serious problem. So is the psychological heart, the heart mentioned in the Bible.

In the recent training I attended, I was so enlightened to see the seriousness of my heart condition. Solomon had a serious heart problem and so are many children of God today. Delving deep into the life of Solomon and analyzing his case in depth, he had a very good beginning. God appeared to him twice, a very rare condition among the people of God in the Old Testament. What a good beginning!

1K 3:5 In Gibeon Jehovah appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, Ask what I should give you.

1K 3:6 And Solomon said, You have shown great lovingkindness to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth and righteousness and in uprightness of heart with You; and You have kept for him this great lovingkindness and have given him a son to sit upon his throne, as it is this day.

1K 3:7 And now, O Jehovah my God, You have made Your servant king in the place of David my father, though I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.

1K 3:8 And Your servant is in the midst of Your people, whom You have chosen, a vast people that cannot be numbered or counted for multitude.

1K 3:9 Give therefore to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?

1K 3:10 And this word seemed good in the sight of the Lord, that Solomon had asked for this matter.

1K 9:2 Jehovah appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.

In His first appearing to him, he had asked for wisdom and God indeed gave him wisdom and understanding that no man ever had. With this wisdom from God, he built the temple in Jerusalem that was pleasing to God and the glory of God filled the temple.

1K 8:10 And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of Jehovah;

1K 8:11 And the priests were not able to stand and minister because of the cloud, for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah.

Afterwhich he dedicated the temple and prayed a long prayer which truly is a model of perfect prayer in which prayer was directed towards the holy land, the holy temple, and the holy city. But the shocking indents that followed after his glorious kingship is a warning to all the children of God today. This is what can be termed spiritual heart disease.

Solomon loved God in his young age but his genuine love for God is no guarantee that he would love God the same unto the end.

1K 3:3 And Solomon loved Jehovah, walking in the statutes of David his father; however, he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.

After all the glory and splendor of his kingdom and his kingship, his God-loving heart was diseased with the love for many foreign women due to the indulgence of his lust. A very practical condition among many children of God today. As recorded in the Bible, his heart was diseased with the love for many persons other than God and he ended up marrying seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. 

1K 11:1 But King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter — Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,

1K 11:2 From among the nations concerning which Jehovah had said to the children of Israel, You shall not go among them, nor shall they come among you, for they will surely turn your heart after their gods. Solomon clung to these in love.

1K 11:3 And he had seven hundred princess wives and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.

1K 11:4 And when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect toward Jehovah his God like the heart of David his father.

1K 11:5 And Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable thing of the Ammonites.

1K 11:6 And Solomon did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah and did not fully follow Jehovah as David his father had done.

1K 11:7 Then Solomon built a high place to Chemosh the detestable thing of Moab in the mountain that is before Jerusalem and to Molech the detestable thing of the children of Ammon.

1K 11:8 And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

The tragic end of his reign was that he lost his own kingdom, God's kingdom, and the nation of Israel. The source of his problem was again a heart problem triggered by the lust of the flesh. Now, these have been written as an example for us to learn from. Therefore, we must be absolute and desperate in dealing with our hearts and dealing with the lust of the flesh, rejecting the flesh, and living by the resurrected life of Christ.

The hands that once built the temple of God could also build the high places; the heart that once loved God also loved idolatrous women, and the heart that once worshipped God could also worship idols. This is a heart problem. 

Loving the Lord today and serving Him today is no guarantee that one will love and serve God to the end. We need the Lord's covering grace and His mercy, to be preserved to love the Lord singly and purely above all and serve Him only unto the end.

What a warning to heed! What a lesson to learn from! Salvation from spiritual heart disease is the need of the age.

Lord, save me from my natural man, my flesh, and its lust. Lord, make me absolute and desperate in loving You and pursuing you all the days of my life.

Money Matters

Money matters to people's lives a lot. To many, money has even been worshipped as a god. To such, they will do anything for money's sake. In fact, money is one of the key baits Satan uses to trap many children of God. To be pure in money matters really needs the Lord's mercy. I have been learning this lesson of dealing with money, not just for myself but even in helping others to learn the lesson in money matters.

A brother has been directly mentioning his monetary needs since the time he met me. He has the burden to serve the Lord but he cannot really get rid of money in his thought for ministry. For everything that he planned to do, his consideration is more leaning toward money. I have been very careful with him and I do not want money to come in between our relationship in Christ. Whenever he mentioned money matters, I simply ignored it and never talked on that line. Recently, he separated one of his shops for a meeting hall. He directly asked me to help him in the renovation work as a brother. But I never had any burden from the Lord nor any leading from Him to participate in his request. Even if there were offerings that could be designated to him, I'd rather not offer to him at all. I wanted to keep our relationship in Christ without any monetary tag. 

When I visited him after he renovated the meeting hall, he still kept mentioning his lack and his concern about money matters. Then I finally had to give a testimony of how the Lord provided all my needs since the time He called me to serve Him. I strongly emphasized the point that "I would not mention my financial need to anyone except the Lord." The Lord has His way of providing for His children's needs. And shared with him how the Lord provided all my needs since the time I came to serve Him full-time. 

He and his wife were very much touched by the testimony. I do believe, they have got the message concerning money matters in the service of the Lord. And I also told them that I would offer to their needs whenever the Lord leads me so, until then, even if I had money, I would not participate in their work without the Lord's leading.

Another brother whom the Lord graced me to participate in meeting his financial need last year as he was barred from attending his high school classes and exams due to nonpayment of fees which was also due to the pandemic that made his father jobless for two years now. All the amounts were offered to them through the offerings the Lord provided. I told them not to pay back as the Lord had already supplied their needs. 

In the last two Lord's days, they mentioned their need again for an even higher amount than before, for the same school fees. But this time I was not burdened at all yet I told them that I would fellowship with the church brothers. When I fellowshipped with the church brothers, we all felt the same that this time we may not give them any financial help. If they could not afford it, perhaps, they have to change school and go to a school they could afford. Therefore, we were clear this time that their request would be rejected. We would help them to trust the Lord and find ways to meet their needs, but not through the church, this time.

Another brother was helped financially during the pandemic. In fact, some amount was loaned to him which he should pay back as and when he could, but he eventually never bothered to pay it back. Now, this brother's wife is pregnant and she will give birth in a month's time, increasing the need for finance. Besides, his source of income from tuition classes also was dwindling. Whenever I considered designating a certain amount of offering to him, I had no leading from the Lord. I realized that the Lord wanted him to learn some precious matter of faith. Therefore, monetary help will be given only when the Lord gave me the peace to do so.

In all of these cases, I am learning my lesson on dealing with money matters as money matters. I hope I am learning this lesson well. I must be wise in money matters as money matters even in the Christian life. 

Lesson from Gardener

A few weeks ago it was strongly manifested that I should take care of the gardening on the premises where the church is meeting, the literature office is operating, and where I and my family are residing. It hardly dawned on me to take care of the ambiance of the premises I have been living for a decade now. But through circumstance, it has been made clearer and clearer the need for landscaping the surrounding with greens and proper gardening. For this, the Lord also sovereignly arranged the situation in such a way that the needed money for the entire work of gardening was also provided. Besides, a brother's simple comment one day touched me so deeply that I took it as the Lord's speaking and took a firm decision to take action immediately. Therefore, I hired a gardener to do the works I felt needed to be done.

One by one, the work has been carried out, from cleaning the side lawn to the back lawn, fencing works of the boundary, trimming the overgrown fruit trees, landscaping the lawn with green grass, and the front part cleaning and gardening too with trimming of the trees; all works were carried out one by one. For every work I asked the gardener to do, I had to pay him. He was very convincing that what I thought was not needed for payment I had to pay up for the work.  On the one hand, he did the work, yet on the other hand, I felt he tried to extract as much money from me. I did not want to fight and argue over money matters so I gave in to all his demands for labor charges. Though I hired him for a monthly wage, so far I have been paying him for every work that I asked him to do. Well, I counted it fair enough as long as the works were done.

Herein I learned a lesson of doing work with a price. Anything worthy always comes with a price. I felt very bad when the gardener had to charge more for all his work and I was forced to bargain which did not yield any result. In fact, I wanted to let him go after the ongoing project, but later I realized that he need to be kept for the maintenance of the entire gardening work on the premise. Out of sympathy for his family I also gifted him some old clothes and shoes, but these he counted as charity and not a part of the work I hired him for.  Well, this is the one I have for now, and have to manage with it, as long as the work is being done.

Three things I learned from this experience are noteworthy: 

Money is mammon and needs to be handled with utmost care. Use money wisely for productive purposes yet never love the money itself. 

What needs to be done must be done at whatever price it costs. Just for the costs, do not delay the work. 

Dealing with people, especially people who love money needs wisdom from the Lord. Money is so evil that it can blind a man for the gaining of it in whichever way.

This simple experience with a gardener opened my eyes to see the true value of money and how much Satan has utilized money to drive people to say anything and even do anything for money. I hate money more and more having seen its misuse. Though I need them myself, I should never love money. 

For the love of money is a root of all evils, because of which some, aspiring after money, have been led away from the faith and pierced themselves through with many pains. 1 Timothy 6:10