Experiencing Christ in Limitation

God is all-powerful and sovereign. God is also a God of limitation and restriction. This lesson of experiencing Christ in limitation and restriction was richly felt these days. I am glad that the Lord has been teaching me to experience Him even in this situation.

A week ago a group of saints were arrested and imprisoned with the charge of "conversion." The matter was made known to me when one of the brothers sent me a text message from an unknown number as his phone was confiscated. The following days were filled with phone calls from different saints expressing their care and concerns, along with their anxieties and anguish about the imprisonment. I had to listen to all the calls and bear with them all. I was totally limited and helpless too concerning this case. I could do nothing. I was completely limited.

But what I could do, I did not hesitate a bit. I did my part to the best of my ability. My part was to coordinate with the local brothers in Mathura and connect them with the brothers overseeing the legal matter of dealing with lawyers and working on the legal procedure of bailing the brothers out as soon as possible. I had to make a lot of calls and received a lot of calls back and forth to handle this legal process. Besides, I was also warned about deleting certain emails so as to avoid unnecessary investigation from the people instigated by the enemy to thwart the work of God. For a couple of days, I was also in "tension", talking to the brothers and understanding the legal process of doing things in the proper way. I also had to explain it to the brothers who did not understand the matter well. However, my function did not go beyond this call coordination. I accepted my limitations and stayed with them. 

Even on the day the brothers imprisoned were allowed to meet, I was advised not to go though I planned to. I had no choice but to be limited by the brother's fellowship. So I had to make group calls and fellowship with the saints the reason I could not go to see the brothers in prison though in human opinion I should have gone. I learned to be limited and restricted according to the brothers' fellowship.  Besides, when a matter came up again to get a brother's car, I was again advised not to go as it may cause unnecessary tracking by some local opposers of the gospel who caused trouble already in imprisoning our brothers. So I learned to be limited and had to deal with my social media activities as well, taking all precautionary measures. 

For the same reason, a Lord's Day meeting has to be canceled though I personally would not vouch for cancellation. I learned to be limited by the brothers' fellowship. As suggested, I also cleared up the meeting hall of all free items that can be easily misinterpreted as evidence for "conversion" in case some opposers come to investigate. So certain files had to be deleted, certain documents had to be burned off, certain propagation names had to be wiped off, and official data backup was done with whatever safety measures required were taken. Even in all these things, I learned to be restricted in following the brother's fellowship and advice. Anything can happen at any time. So, precautions must be taken and be limited in all possible ways. This was altogether a new experience of the Lord in limitation. These experiences were needed too for my spiritual all-inclusive learning.

The Lord sovereignly allowed things to happen the way they were to lead us in a new direction and to perfect us with new learning. Ultimately, all that transpired has turned out to be for good as far as God's purpose is concerned. And in the process, I have been trained in learning to experience Him amidst restriction and limitation.

Experiencing Christ in Money Matter

To remember the poor and needy saints is a good thing. As much as the Lord provides and leads, it is a blessing to be able to give to others who are in need. In this matter of giving, the Lord has been teaching me to discern first. By nature, I have a soft and sympathetic heart towards people, especially, the needy saints. In the past, out of burden and care for the needy saints I used to give money in a way of offering. In a couple of cases, I realized, I should pray first and be more discerning. Soma were gifted as offerings while others were lent as they requested and even promised to pay back. To my understanding, those who said they would pay back were not in a position to pay back to date. Some had to be forgiven and written off of their debts. Such were not with good feelings neither for them nor me.

This time too, a family expressed their need in an urgent manner. Since the matter sounded urgent, I fellowshipped with my wife and transferred the money they requested. But the feeling within me was not good. I should not have acted on the coercion of a needy saint to meet their emergency need. Later, I realized that though the need for them was urgent, it could have been avoided. This act taught me a lesson. To discern first and never succumb to pressure of whatever reason.

The same person called me again a few days later and requested a huge amount of money which he again described it as very urgent. I really considered before the Lord whether to lend the money or not. As far as the money was concerned, the Lord has blessed us sufficiently. And when I fellowshipped with my wife, she also agreed to give if I felt good. In fact, we both were even willing to let go of the money in case he could not pay it back, but with the condition that the Lord wanted us to do that. As I also fellowshipped with my brother, he also felt that as long as I and my wife had the peace from the Lord, it was up to us. But he also warned that generally, this kind of person would not pay back as he had experienced it already. This request led me to the Lord to pray, consider, and reconsider. In fact, I was at the point of lending him this big amount of money.

A few days later, an incident happened in Mathura that changed my feeling altogether. Considering the situation of the saints in prison, the saints in the church,  and also considering myself as one of the full-time serving ones of the Lord, it may not be proper to easily lend a huge amount of money to a new one who was not even baptized and has not yet come into the church life. Though there were clearances in many aspects to lend, in one matter of being a proper testimony of the Lord;'s serving ones, and the need to maintain a proper relationship with the needy ones, it may not be wise to "play with money" for now. If the Lord insists again and makes it more clear concerning helping the needy saints, I can reconsider. It is best not to have a monetary relationship with the new ones. The Lord will surely have a way to meet their needs. Or perhaps, the need that they mentioned is not of the Lord but their only human desire. Only the Lord knows. Having peace and clearance in our mind in many aspects is not the necessary condition to lend. Even the testimony itself is a big issue here. In fact, the testimony outweighs all the other concerns for helping. 

Now, I became even more clear that in this case, I should not be lending money for the sake of the Lord's testimony. Instead, I should just shepherd them through the word and prayer. I must be strict in money matters. The very thing that I intend to help the needy saints with may be a stumbling block for them to experience the Lord's dealing and supply and even to come to the church life. Better is, if anyone comes into the church life, it should be purely because of the truth and life supply from the Lord, and not because of money supply to other natural or materialistic reasons.  Oh, what a struggle I went through to learn this important lesson in life and shepherding!

May the Lord supply all their needs according to His rich supply and not according to their own desire. 

Experiencing Christ in Home Meeting

A few weeks ago, I received a phone call from a sister whom I visited about five years ago. It was a surprise call from her after a long long time. And over the phone, she seemed to be desperate for fellowship and invited me to visit their family in Gurugram. Since I was caught up with many pending works I could not visit her family as I should earlier. But on the following Saturday, I was praying if I should visit her family. In fact, I also brought the family matter for prayer in the church prayer meeting. Then, I felt I should visit her as the matter seemed to be urgent. Therefore, with two sisters and a brother, we went to visit this family.

As expected, they have been in a very desperate situation mostly related to money. But we were very careful not to touch money matters in our dealing with people. As we listened to all the couple had to pour out, their needs seemed to be very genuine but a very big need.  Instead of dwelling on the outward objective money need, I felt led by the lord to preach the gospel to the husband and his sister as they were not yet saved though they professed to believe into Jesus through the many difficult circumstances that have been going through. 

The words the Lord gave me were from John 3 on the life of Nicodemus on the need for a person to be born anew. 

But there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
This one came to Him by night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.
Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?
Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born anew.John 3:1-7 

These verses were very apt for the family. They were good and religious, but what God needs is a God-man born of God. Using these Bible verses, especially vv. 3 and 5, I led them to pray to receive the Lord as the husband gave me his consent with all willingness. I was surprised that he willingly prayed to receive the Lord by praying the sinners' prayer along with his sister and the whole family. Then, to help them further, I also explained the truth concerning baptism as the need for genuine believers. No matter what their decision may be, I must be faithful to the truth of the Bible. I must not withhold anything good from those who seek to know God and the truth. Nevertheless, the choice was entirely left to them. I preached, prayed, led them to pray, and presented the truth of the Bible concerning believing and baptism. The decision is theirs completely to take. Then, a brother who came with me also shared on the need to take Jesus into their boat. After which we all prayed together and left. 

Since we all had the feeling to invite them for a meeting, we invited them and also helped them to pay for their transportation as they expressed their helplessness in financial matters. The whole family came for the meeting and they all enjoyed it very much, especially their two daughters. A few days later, they came to visit us and we had further fellowshipped on experiencing the true and living in meeting all our needs. This time, the husband testified of how he had been experiencing God and how his faith had grown so much. But due to the present situation they were in, they decided to wait for baptism. 

Thank God that somehow we were able to visit them and had fellowshipped with them. From our side, we had done our best to minister Christ to them and it is up to them to decide when they would willingly take water baptism. 

May the Lord supply all their genuine and legitimate needs.

College Campus for Christ

Eight years ago, my elder sister sent her only beloved daughter to stay with our family for her academic pursuit and church life. Once she graduated from college, the Lord led her to attend the two-year of spiritual training that has been highly recommended for all the college graduate students in the church life.  After which she further prepared for a much coveted competitive exam. And this year, the Lord opened the door for her master's degree at Delhi University. As she began her college life again, the distance between her college and home in Gurugram was quite a challenge. Just the up and down journeys take about three to four hours of the day, which would be spent just for traveling. To me, this time could be better utilized. As she came for fellowship about hostel application, we considered together the pros and cons of staying in the hostel and being a day scholar. To me, time and energy are a big factor, that too, 5 days a week, and about 20 days a month, which means about 60 hours would just be spent for traveling. These could be used for something much more productive, either for studies or any other productive work. Nevertheless, I fellowshipped with her to pray and see how the Lord would lead. A few weeks later, I was informed that she was selected for one of the Government university hotels. I took that as the Lord's leading, which I mentioned to her even when she appeared for the interview. 

Yesterday, the 26th of October, my wife and I went to drop her off at her college hostel. After eight years of staying together as a family, the Lord has led her to move on to her next phase of life. As far as I am concerned, I felt I had done my best to take care of her in every possible aspect, including her physical and spiritual well-being. Time and again I had fellowshipped with her for hours some of the burden the Lord imparted to me concerning her life. I believe the Lord has made this arrangement for her further learning more lessons on life. In fact, I encouraged her to pay very much attention to her spiritual function on the college campus and her hotel so that she could become a channel of blessing to many of her friends and classmates. With the present situation for the Lord's move in North India, things were not like before. Therefore, I encouraged her to be a pillar for the Lord's move in the college campus. I do believe the Lord will bless her studies and use her to gain many students for the Lord. My fellowship to her was, to gain at least one student for the Lord and for the church life before she graduated from her master's degree. I also share my experiences and testimonies when I was on college campuses some twenty-five years ago. 

In a similar manner, when the time comes, and if the Lord wills, I would prefer all my children to also move into college and university campuses, learn lessons on life, and be useful vessels to the Lord. As the Lord saved me and gained me while on the college campus, may the Lord gain all my children too from their young age. The Lord's will be done.

There is indeed, time for everything. There must be progression in one's life in all aspects. Be it spiritual, academic, or physical. There must always be progression in line with God's divine purpose in man. Daily, as a family, we pray for her well-being. 

May the Lord bless her in her studies and in her testimony on the campus for the Lord's move in Delhi. May all the colleges and universities that the saints are in become campuses for Christ and ultimately for the church!

Experience of Christ in Not Meeting

For the first time in the history of my church life, the normal regular Lord's Table Meeting was canceled due to a purported threat perceived from a brother's sms alert. A group of saints were taken into prison for meeting as Christians and a charge was leveled against them of "conversion". The alert was received from a brother through an unknown number. I took it seriously and brought it to the attention of my brothers in the church. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, we decided to pay heed to the brother's alert. Therefore, we called off the meeting for the last Lord’s Day.

Besides, I also brought the matter to the brothers serving in the Lord’s move in the country and we took necessary action immediately. Though it was not a pleasant move, definitely it was a precautious move. Timely action was called for to deal with emergency situations. The Lord led us to do what needed to be done in a timely manner. Once in a while, such action was needed. I believe the Lord has been training us to meet the needs of the time.

Throughout the Lord’s Day, I was just sitting in my office chair, praying, reading the word, and communicating with the saints for some timely actions. My experience was like sitting in a war room and controlling "air traffic". This was my first experience of such an incident on the Lord’s Day.

I made use of the day which generally would be a very busy day with meetings and fellowship to accomplish something that I could not for quite a while. I was able to enter into the recent semiannual training that I missed due to the proofreading project in Bengaluru. I took four messages and the following day two more messages. With those, half of the training on the ministry of the word was accomplished. No matter what the outward environment may be, the Lord turns it for good all the time, if we love Him and cooperate with Him in His move.

In the coming days, I know not what will we face. But, I do believe the Lord will continue to work good for His move in this country especially in the North. For a moment, the enemy may seem to hinder the Lord's move and His testimony, but Jesus is Lord in North India and Christ is Victor in North India! Despite all these incidents, I still believe in the greatest prophecy of the Bible the Lord Jesus Christ Himself prophesied:

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock 

I will build My church, 

and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 

 Matthew 16:18

Experiencing God Who Hides

A brother from Madhya Pradesh has been running after me to address an online meeting on Wednesdays. The past few months I had been traveling abroad and within India, so I was not able to minister to the seekers in MP. Even yesterday I wanted to skip the meeting as I other things to do. But since he insisted, I felt I should comply to it. But still I was not clear what to minister.

At about 5:30 PM, we had an urgent fellowship of the brothers in the church in Gurugram. A brother mentioned about the God who hides Himself. Then, that became the message for my online meeting. The burden was clear. And as I considered on the subject, the Lord gave me all the necessary Bible verses.

Surely You are a God who hides Himself, / O God of Israel, the Savior. (Isaiah 45:15, RecVer)

Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age. (Matthew 28:20, RecVer)

Because I Myself am with you, and no one will assail you to harm you, because I have many people in this city. (Acts 18:10, RecVer)

For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst. (Matthew 18:20, RecVer)

As I began to minister the word of God, I enjoyed the Lord's anointing richly. Sentence by sentence, the words were ministered. I sensed life flowing through me. In fact, the online saints too received much life supply.

This message on the hiding God was also what we experienced the last few days. There were difficult circumstances outwardly, but surely God was with us. Five of our brothers were imprisoned for being in a Christian meeting that sent shocking surprise among the saints and the family members. But God was sovereign over all. Despite the situation, He was behind the scene.

First, I confirmed and reconfirmed the fact that God as the Spirit is in our human spirit (2 Timothy 4:22, Romans 8:16) as a believer since we were born of God (John 3:3,5). Second, despite our outward circumstances seemingly contradicting our inward reality, God is still with us. Prayers may not be answered. Things may not be in our favor. God seemed to be nowhere. But, God is there behind all the dead, dark, and dry situations. Third, God will work in the environment, ultimately to fulfill His eternal purpose. Fourth, since such being the case, we must never be discouraged but stand firm in the faith believe in the unfailing word of God that He is with us all the time.

I used the example of how God delivered His people from being killed by the Jewish haters led by Haman. However, through Queen Esther who replaced Vashti under the leadership of the Jewish leader Mordecai and through King Ahaseurus, God secretly paved the way for salvation of the jews. God worked secretly at the right time with the right people. Though the word God was never mentioned in the book of Esther, God was the hiding God working to fulfill His divine economy. One Bible verse that really struck me is:

On that night the king could not sleep, so he gave orders to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. (Esther 6:1, RecVer)

God even took away the king’s sleep at the night to work out His heart's desire. God may not be mentioned at all nor be manifested outwardly, but He was very much present in among His people. Similarly, God as the Spirit is in our spirit today and He is working in the lives of every saint to work out His divine purpose. 

Later, I thanked the Lord that the brother insisted on me ministering the word. I was supplied and the saints were supplied too.

Praise the God who hides Himself!

Experiencing Chirst in Reproach

In the midst of my tight schedule with personal and official works pending, I received an indirect call to attend a theological conference in Bengaluru. At first I was not prepared at all to attend this conference, given the circumstances I was in. I still had to dive into the ministry speaking of twelve messages which I missed due to the Bible proofreading project while the church in my locality had all gone through. I still had a couple of blogs to write for which I needed time. And I was just about to embarked on a one year Hebrew course. But I weighed the benefits of attending the conference against the price I needed to pay. I considered before the Lord and prayed an intensive prayer as I needed to make an urgent and important decision. I brought this to fellowship with my fellow brethren and finally just two days before the actual conference began, the matter was decided that I should attend. The monetary price was heavy and much more  the manpower cost, counting the value of my time amidst tight schedule. 

As planned, I arrived Bengaluru and was lodged in a guest house of a family ministry. I attended the first meeting of this theological consultancy, and believe me, there was hardly any life supply in the meeting as it was all outward objective talks. I thought to myself, "Why am I here?" After the first session, I was literally and spiritually dried. But as I went to my lodging place, a brother who came to lead me to the room asked me a few questions about myself and the ministry. This opened up a floodgate of life supply as I fellowshipped with him about the ministry by introducing the Holy Bible Recovery Version and shared how the Lord had called me into the ministry. O I was so supplied by my own sharing to a brother. Thank God, I was salvaged from the dryness of objective talks. At least, my day ended well.

The next day, I had no interest to attend any of the meeting in sessions where theological papers were presented and talks on various topics were held. But one session where we had to present the ministry, we attended. I fellowshipped with my brother and prepared in prayer. In fact, that session of ten minutes alloted to "partners' corner" was the only point of interest to me. That was what I was there for. Therefore, when our turn came, a brother and I took the stage and introduced the ministry as the Lord led, not missing any point.

Well, right after that session, there was a break when many scholars who heard the introduction came and enquired about the ministry books. As we were busy introducing the ministry further to scholars, the organiser came and spoke negatively about the warning he received purportedly from three scholars who objected to the ministry of Witness Lee, which he asserted was not welcomed by an evangelical Christian organization. I was completely taken aback by such an arrogant attitude towards a dear brother. But the Lord graced me to be in my spirit and with a meek and quite spirit I listened to all that he had to rant against brother Witness Lee and his ministry. I was completely aware about the accusations some evangelical Christians in the West had levelled against the ministry a few years ago. And I was also aware about theise allegations being refuted point by point. Since I was not given any opportunity to speak nor defend nor clariy, I did not insist on talking back. Nevertheless, I was not bogged down by all the allegation as it was not new to me. I was aware about the enemy's attack in trying to hamper the spread of the truth. In fact, such incident only testify to the veracity and authenticity of the ministry of the New Testament. Paul was attacked too, so was Jesus by the Jews and the Pharisees. So what difference it made if I was attacked because of the truth of the Bible! I would rather count it all joy!

But this incident was like a sword pierced into my heart for taking the stand to represent the ministry, no matter what. I shall not me ashamed of the ministry nor the minister of the age. I shall continue to spread the ministry as this is the need of the time. I only prayed for those blind in religion that the Lord may open their eyes one day and see the ministry of the New Testament. But I don't fight back the flesh with the flesh. I fight in prayer and in the spirit. Perhaps, at the opportune time, I will only minister the truth to opposers. Until then, I accept the shaming and opposition, and leave the matter to God who vindicates. 

Though I met the same brother a couple of times after his allegations against the ministry, I greeted him with a brotherly smile. In fact, I tried to find time to fellowship or give him two magazines for clarification, but since his attitude was not friendly at all, I left the matter to the Lord. Let the will of the Lord be done.

But as I prayed and considered the matter, I felt I paid too heavy a price for rejection. The monetary value involved in attending this conference in addition to the time and energy invested, I somehow felt, "Why this waste?" Yet, I experienced the Lord a lot in bearing reproach for the sake of the truth. 

On the positive side, I was able to visit the church in Hosur and fellowship with the saints. Then, the church in Chennai and participated in the Lord’s Table meeting with the gospel meeting and home meeting. And most importantly, I was able to spend time with the literature serving ones in Chennai just for fellowship and took some important decision for the benefit of them all.

Blessed are you when they reproach and persecute you, and while speaking lies, say every evil thing against you because of Me. Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in the heavens; for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12, RecVer)