Fellowship: Marital Issue (1)

The past few days the Lord has been burdening me to pray specifically for some brothers whom the Lord was pleased to use me for their salvation. With one of them, I had a fellowship over the phone last Lord’s day night and prayed together.

Today, I received a surprise call from the same brother requesting for a time of fellowship. My innate reply was on the affirmative and promptly told him that we could fellowship right away. So the fellowship began.

Confession

First, my brother frankly opened up about his situation and the failure he had recently. Then, he requested me to talk to his wife as they both needed an urgent and an impromptu fellowship, to which I readily agreed. I patiently listened to whatever the sister had to say as she even broke down desperately and cried out for help as she did not know what to do and was insecure of her future due to the painful discovery of what her husband had done just confessed. I simply turned to the Lord as I listened and prayed for the Lord’s speaking through my fellowship with both of them.

Marriage is of the Lord

Marriage is of the Lord and unto the Lord

I began with the truth concerning their marriage life that it is from the Lord. There is no question of any separation or divorce for whatever reason. Officially, legally, and biblically, they are married and they are indeed made and meant for each other and that they are one. The church had witnessed it and I myself witnessed their marriage as I attended their marriage meeting. I firmly confirmed and strengthened the fact that they are married and that they should stay married unto eternity. Any thought of "breaking" this God ordained union is of the devil and must be completely rejected. And I made a very strong statement to both of them that their marriage is of the Lord and it will remain so, no matter what. 

Live by the Spirit 

I expounded to them that since man is of three parts, it is possible to live in any one of the parts as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2; soulish, fleshly, or spiritual. 

“But a soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know them because they are discerned spiritually. But the spiritual man discerns all things, but he himself is discerned by no one.” (1 Corinthians 2:14-15, RecVer)

“And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshy, as to infants in Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:1, RecVer)

When one is in the spirit, the world, Satan, sin, and the flesh are overcomed. 1 John 3:9; 5: 4. 

“Everyone who has been begotten of God does not practice sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God.” (1 John 3:9, RecVer)

“For everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory which has overcome the world — our faith.” (1 John 5:4, RecVer)

Otherwise, the works of the flesh will be the result of not living by the spirit. So the only solution in not falling into the hands of Satan is to live and walk by the Spirit as in Galatians 5:16, 24. 

“But I say, Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16, RecVer)

“But they who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its lusts.” (Galatians 5:24, RecVer)

For this, human cooperation of putting the practices of the flesh to death is a necessary step one has to take as in Romans 8:13.

“For if you live according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13, RecVer)

The Blood of Jesus

In case one falls into sin, though we should not, the Lord has given us the best provision, not an excuse for repeated sinning, the blood of Jesus that can cleanse us from every sin as in 1 John 1:7 with a condition that if we confess our sins as 1 John 1: 9.

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.” (1 John 1:7, RecVer)

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, RecVer)

Prayer 

I requested that we all pray together one by one, starting from the brother, then the sister, and finally me. The brother confessed before the Lord, his sins with tears. The sisters also confessed her desperateness in prayer with tears and asked the Lord for grace and guidance. Then, I prayed for the Lord to cleanse us from all sins and unrighteousness, for His covering grace, and for the forgiveness of one another and that their marriage be preserved and be blessed by the Lord.

Oneness

“I beseech you therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord, to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love,” (Ephesians 4:1-2, RecVer)

I expounded Ephesians 4:1-3 on the prerequisite to keep the oneness and that they should, on their part, keep the oneness even as they trust the Lord to preserve them in oneness. I also gave my testimony of prayers with my wife for us to be one with the Lord and one with one another, love the Lord and love one another.

Exercise

Satan attacks the married believers couples in at least three major points: sex, money, and self. Therefore, to overcome these attacks I encouraged them to exercise to have morning revival together every morning, pray together, spend personal time with the Lord every day, and read the Bible every day. And to also fellowship and meet with the saints as much as possible with those who gathers together in oneness for the Lord’s testimony where there is mutuality and multi-directional fellowship for the building up of the Body of Christ. Besides, I also encouraged them to have a timely family planning which will strengthen their marital union and lead them into new and higher responsibility and commitment towards one another.

After all these fellowship, I prayed for the couple to be preserved by the Lord in oneness and that they would even be a part of His testimony, and become pillars of the church.

After the fellowship, my heart was fully filled with burden, praying for them and a couple of other couples who have similar marital issues.

May the hand of the  Lord follow up on all the points of fellowship, cover the couple from the attack of the enemy, and bless the couple for His testimony!

Fortieth Time Reading the Bible

Today, the 8th of Dec 2022, the Lord graces me to complete my fortieth time reading through the Bible! This is the third time this year and this time is reading with the footnote in the Holy Bible Recovery Version. I just have this one dream that my physical age can be equivalent to the number of times I am reading the Bible.  Since I am forty-four running, I still need to catch up in reading more of the word of God to achieve my personal Bible reading goal.

This kind of reading of the Bible helps me not to waste my time. Whenever I find time I read the Bible as I have the schedule to complete reading three times this year out of which one time with the footnotes, which is almost double the time of reading only the text.  The scheduling that has been done has helped me a lot in reading the word of God.

Thank God for my grandfather who had helped me to read the Bible daily since my childhood days. That habit has been inculcated in my life enabling me to keep reading the Bible. Well, it is one thing to read through the text of the Bible and yet it is another thing to pray-read and study the Bible in depth.  I have been doing both. Even in just reading through the text, the Lord is sovereign in speaking to me now and then. The text of the word itself touched me a lot of times, becoming Rhema word to me, supplying the divine life.

What a blessing it is to be able to read the Bible! My desire is to read as much as I can for as long as I can. I don't know how long the Lord will enable me to be able to read. One day, human eyes may become dim and all kinds of practical difficulties will occur. Until then, I am doing my best to read and eat the word of God as much as I can so that I will not have any regret when I may not be able to read as I can today. 

Likewise, I have been encouraging all my children and the saints in the church life to read the Bible daily. In fact, wherever the Lord opened the door for me to minister the word of God, I would encourage the believers to love the word of God and read the word of God daily.

Thank you, Lord, for the Bible! Thank you, Lord, for the good health to be able to read the Bible!

Impromptu Fellowship

Last Monday, two brothers came without any appointment to meet me. I was not prepared for such an impromptu meeting as I had many official works pending that I need to finish. In fact, one of them had tried calling me up twice but I did not have the peace to receive the call as I knew his intention which he revealed to me briefly when I visited Imphal last time. He requested a piece of land from the land the Lord gave us in Ngarian which has now become a prime property in the village.  But I told him frankly that I had no intention to sell at the moment. Now, that he came to meet me face to face to request the same I had to be frank and use the opportunity to minister something of Christ to them instead.

They came just before I went to eat lunch. Since they came I had no choice but to sit with them and listen to them first. I was very much exercised in my spirit so as not to be deceived and repeat the mistake done by Joshua with the Gibeonites. As they requested if I could sell a portion of the land to them I had to explain to them that without the Lord's leading I have no liberty to decide anything on the land. Then I gave them the history of how that land was purchased and how the Lord sovereignly provided the finance during my wedding in Taipei through the saints offering. Since it was from the Lord the usage of the land is also up to the Lord's leading. As of now, I have no leading concerning the land.

Since they came all the way, I also took the opportunity to minister the truth concerning Christ and the church. How as Christians we all should live by the spirit and seek the Lord's leading in everything. We should not care for what people say about us, but care for what the Lord says about us. We should live before the Lord and treasure His presence above everything. Satan will come and place many baits to distract us from Christ and the church, but we must live a praying life to discern what is from the Lord and what is not from the Lord. Much more, we must stay away from any bait and distraction placed by Satan in our lives in many ways and forms. I also encouraged them to be open-minded to receive a fellowship from the brothers in the church life as both of them are already in contact with a few brothes, one in Imphal and the other in New Delhi. I also cleared off the notions surrounding the practices of the church life which are false accusations. But encouraged them to be open-minded, study the Bible, learn the truth, and be in fellowship with the brothers so that they can also be recovered to enjoy the Christian life in the church life. 

Though I did not heed their request, I did tell them that they can pray and if the Lord leads so, what the Lord has allotted for them will be theirs. They need not pursue or initiate anything on their own self-desire. As they ran after me to pursue and persuade me to sell a piece of land to them, I encouraged them to pursue the Lord in such a way as to gain Christ by all means. I took the opportunity to also gift them some ministry books which they can read; I did so by first asking them if they wanted to read. Only on their positive response I selected the following books and gifted them:

1. The Normal Christian Church Life
2. The Orthodoxy of the Church
3. Enjoying Christ as the Spirit and through the Word
4. The Overcoming Life
5. Shepherding Materials

The meeting went on for about two and a half hours and I had to miss my lunch and a weekly official online meeting. I do believe this fellowship will have a lasting impression on their inward being and pray that they also be recovered to enjoy the Lord with the saints where they both are. 

May the Lord gain these two brothers for His testimony one day.

Ministry of the Word in Mathura

 Who, when he arrived and saw the grace of God, rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain with the Lord with purpose of heart;” (Acts 11:23, RecVer)

The Lord has been truly gracious and merciful to the saints in this city of Mathura. After a year of our first visit, we came to visit the saints again. And this time, we literally witnessed the grace of God among the saints in the church in Mathura!

Since our first meeting, the leading brothers have been very aggressive to practice the God-ordained way taught to them in fellowship with the brothers in the church in Gurugram and New Delhi. Though we have not touched the outward matters much, they themselves decided to practice what has commonly been practiced among all the local churches in the Lord’s recovery. I was so encouraged by the positive imitation that has been taken in their Christian life and church life.

On the Lord’s day, the saints gathered together with much exercise of the spirit in calling upon the Lord’s name, in singing hymns, in prayer, and in prophesying. It was a meeting as though in my own locality. Oh, what a joy to enjoy the Lord together!

When the brothers gave us time to minister the word, we ministered on what the church is to God. The church is holy, perfect, and beautiful!

“For from the top of the rocks I see him, / And from the hills I behold him. / Here is a people who live alone / And do not reckon themselves among the nations.” (Numbers 23:9, RecVer)

“He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, / Nor has He seen trouble in Israel; / Jehovah their God is with them, / And the shout of a king is among them.” (Numbers 23:21, RecVer)

“How fair are your tents, O Jacob, / Your tabernacles, O Israel! Like valleys they are spread forth, / Like gardens beside a river, / Like aloes which Jehovah has planted, / Like cedars beside water.” (Numbers 24:5-6, RecVer)

We encouraged the saints to love the Lord and tell Him, "Lord Jesus, I love You" in all situations and live a life of contacting the Lord by calling upon His name all the time. The church here has been blessed with the increase inwardly in the saints' enjoyment of the Lord and constitution of the truth, and also the increase outwardly in the multiplication of the numbers of the saints as they have now almost doubled within a short span of one year. The Lord has been blessing the church in Mathura! May He continue to do so...

Then, after the meeting we left the city and concluded the ministry literature journey that started two weeks ago and ended in Mathura, covering four North Indian states; Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. 

The church in Mathura is one of the results of the Lord’s move through the ministry of the word literature journey. 

May the Lord continue to supply, preserve, and perfect the saints for His testimony in Mathura. Praise the Lord!

Ministry of the Word in Agra

A decade ago, propagation of the gospel was once done in Agra. In fact, a group of saints even took the stand as the church in Agra. But in course of time, due to lack of fellowship and shepherding, the testimony became dimmer and dimmer and the saints were scattered until no solid contacts were left. This is one city we have been targeting for the distribution of the ministry of the word. Though we tried a couple of times in the past, nothing worked. But, this time the Lord has opened a new door!

The opened door the Lord provided us was through the Pastor's monthly gathering in the city of Agra. We requested a time for the introduction of the ministry literature and our request was granted by the Pastors. Therefore, we could attend and introduce the ministry literature. 

Our introduction of the ministry literature was warmly welcomed by all the Pastors. In fact, many of them were new to the Hindi ministry literature. After the meeting, all the books we brought for free and sales distribution were distributed and sold! This was also our final destination in this two-week-long distribution trip to North India.

Initially, we thought we would be free after lunch and if no meeting came up, we would go to visit Taj Mahal. But, once the Pastor's meeting was over we had a Pastor who came at the last minute and through him, a couple more Pastors were introduced to us. Then, he invited us to his home to also meet two other Pastors who are also his relatives. Therefore, we were fully occupied in fellowshipping with them till evening. We could not even find time for lunch. 

Then, finally, on the way back we met another brother who is running a school and an orphanage with his father at his school office. There, we spent a considerable amount of time fellowshipping and introducing the ministry literature. When we were about to introduce the Holy Bible Recovery Version, his immediate response was that he has many study Bibles and commentaries already. In fact, he recently purchased one based on NIV. But when we finished introducing the Recovery Version, he was so excited and immediately requested to purchase one copy for himself. And he commented that he never heard the word of God being expounded in such a deep and detailed way as was being done in the Recovery Version. 

When we finally came back to our place of hospitality and had a late dinner in Mathura, it was past midnight. It was indeed a well-spent day. Though we thought we would have time for some sightseeing, we were fully occupied in the ministry literature introduction and fellowship. No time for seeing the old creation but fully occupied to see the new creation by faith.

May the Lord recover His testimony in Agra soon!

Ministry of the Word in Rajasthan

Last year we visited Bharatpur in Rajasthan bordering Uttar Pradesh where we met a brother who took the lead and conducted gospel meetings among villagers and gained thousands of believers. Yet he did not have a proper understanding of the Scriptures nor any vision concerning Christ and the church. Therefore, we ministered on the truth concerning Christian life for the church life. This time he was busy so we could not meet him, but we met his "second in command" and the main preacher of his group at Sogar, Rajasthan. About ten new believers gathered together for the meeting last Friday, the 2nd of December. 

Initially, we were told that a good number of them were "Pastors" so our ministering the word was on the Christian life of living Christ for the church. But later we discovered that many of the so-called "Pastors" were not even baptized despite the fact that they have been believers for years. For sure, there was a shortage in their understanding of the truth. After a brother finished ministering the word, we took a break and I continued.

The burden the Lord gave me was on helping these believers with the basic truth concerning baptism. So I spent the first half of my time ministering the truth concerning baptism, the seven spiritual significances of baptism. Using relevant Bible verses, I showed them the examples of baptisms in the Bible and the need for a proper baptism on time once a person genuinely believes. I encouraged all those who already believe into the Lord Jesus Christ to also be baptized at the earliest. Then, expounded the truth concerning the church as the kingdom of God, the Body of Christ, and the local aspect of the church. 

The key brother, being a gospel preacher himself, was so much supplied with the ministry of the word as truth, life, and light. He was so thankful that we could visit him and also promised to meet with the nearby local church in Mathura.

The following Lord’s day, this key brother came and attended the Lord’s Table Meeting in the church in Mathura and brought along another leading brother. It was their first time attending the meeting in the way of the Lord’s recovery with every saint participating in prayer, hymn singing, and prophesying. They were so excited that they expressed their desire to meet again soon. In fact, they invited us to visit them again for the ministry of the word.

This is the Lord’s doing! May His hand follow His speaking that all His remnants may be fully recovered to take the stand as local churches in the oneness and fellowship of the Body of Christ. 

Lord, raise up Your testimony in Sogar and many parts of Rajasthan!

Intimate Concern

…You are in our hearts for our dying together and our living together. Great is my boldness toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf; I am filled with comfort, I overflow with joy in all our affliction. 2 Cor. 7:3-4

Today morning as I was spending time with the Lord in prayer and enjoying the morning revival time, the Lord spoke a very specific word to me, "Intimate Concern." I have an intimate concern for my own blood relative. That comes naturally. In fact, every normal human being will have an intimate concern for his own family members, irrespective of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  So what difference does it make if I have an intimate concern only for my close family members? 

Recently, I have been very much concerned about my niece and I have been praying for her on a daily basis. And I have an intimate concern for my siblings too, especially when they do not do well in life; I used to pray and intercede for them a lot. I do the same for my own children. These are all very natural and it is common to every normal human being. But the question is, "Do I have an intimate concern for the saints the Lord has blessed me with?" This is a million-dollar question the Lord asked me personally on the last day of my distribution trip this time while I was in Mathura.

The Lord has blessed me with a good number of brothers and sisters for my shepherding care. He even asked me to count the spiritual children He gave to me. I counted a few of them, and I was already deeply convicted for my lack of concern for them. Of late, due to some reason or other, I have even avoided and cut off some of them. The Lord strongly convicted me of how I do not have an intimate concern for my own spiritual children unlike the concern I have for my own physical children. Oh, what an exposing it was! I repented and asked the Lord for forgiveness. No wonder I am not fruitful spiritually. I was so convicted by the Lord today morning and my eyes were opened to see my need to have an intimate concern for my spiritual children. One by one, the Lord reminded me to recover my shepherding of them. 

He even reminded me of three brothers who need to be shepherded urgently. I--n, A----l, and S-----t, these names were spelled out. Though they are not in my locality in Gurugram still they are my own spiritual children. Each of them has something in common, being rejected by their own family members due to their mental and physical state. Oftentimes, violent and abusive, but to me, they still have some sense of "respect" as their brother in Christ. The Lord showed me further that I am the only one who can shepherd these ones. So should I leave them as orphans? Should not I have an intimate concern for them? No matter what their condition may be, they are the children of God and also my spiritual children. So it is my rightful duty and spiritual responsibility to shepherd them.

Therefore, I have consecrated to the Lord to grant me the grace and the wisdom to shepherd these ones and many others. I indeed started texting them and praying for them one by one, and also prepared myself to be able to shepherd them with an intimate concern. Meanwhile, the ministry portion further strengthened this burden of having an intimate concern:

If we have the ability to carry on a work but lack an intimate concern, our work will be fruitless…How fruitful we are, how much fruit we bear, does not depend on what we are able to do. It depends on whether or not we have an intimate concern. Paul was very human and emotional in his ministering of life. Paul was so emotional because his concern was so deep and intimate. Without this kind of concern, we could never be abundantly rejoicing in the way Paul was. Instead, we may be as cold as a freezer, altogether lacking in concern for the saints. Instead of warming up others, we make them even colder. Nothing can  grow when it is in such a frozen condition. We need the weather of spring to come to thaw us out and warm up our life. Once again there is a need for a ministering life. Do you know what a ministering life is? It is a life that warms up others. Learn to warm others. This is to have an intimate concern for them. If we do not have this kind of concern for others, we shall not be fruitful. If I would minister life to the saints, I must have a genuine concern for them, a concern that is emotional, deep, and intimate. I must be so concerned that, at times, I may appear to others to be foolish or beside myself. Only the ministering life enables us to bear fruit. Fruit-bearing is the issue of a ministering life. ( Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 379-384, 386)

Besides, the Lord also gave me a strong burden to help four brothers to shepherd and pray for them that they can recover their marriage life again. Sadly enough, the four brothers really need to be shepherded with an intimate concern to help them recover back their wives. All their wives have left them for reasons known to them best, but to me, as I was told by these brothers, the blame is on the wives. But I have not heard from their wives about these breakups. I strongly do not agree with separation or breakups after a legal and proper marriage. I do believe, in time, through prayer and shepherding, these four brothers will recover back their married life for the Lord's testimony. With an intimate concern, the Lord will grace me to shepherd them unto the recovery of their family lives for the church life.

Lord, shepherd me to shepherd the saints with an intimate concern.