Hebrew Learning: Quiz 1 & 2

Hebrew, the language in which God chose to write His words in the Old Testament, has now become the language that I have been graced to learn. I never imagined that one day I would be able to learn Hebrew. Neither did I imagine that one day I would learn Greek. Thank God, Greek was learned and I completed the course. Now this year, in August, I started learning Hebrew.

In the first section, I spent a lot of time learning the very basics of Hebrew. The Hebrew alphabet, vowels, syllabification, and pronunciation. These were the basics and the most difficult parts of Hebrew language. The instructor himself reminded us that we should spend as much time as possible learning these basics as the mastering of these would make the future learning a lot more easier. Therefore, I took his word and did my best to study and study. In fact, I spent a lot of time studying, revising, practicing, and memorizing. After I was confident enough to take the quizzes, I took them. As the first attempt would be the final mark, I had to be well prepared before my first attempt. The truth was, I desired to attempt only once and aim at a perfect score.

In the first Quiz, I score 100% to my own surprise. In the second quiz, I made two silly mistakes and scored 90%. Though I was a little disappointed by my silly mistakes, I accepted the fact and learned the lesson of not being overconfident in anything. Because of my overconfidence, I did not review my answers properly and made the silly mistakes. I overlooked some phrases and thought my answers were all correct. But, as far as the concepts were concerned, I think I studied them well and knew them well.

In this Hebrew learning, though I myself am not a translator, I believe the Lord has been preparing me for something for His divine purposes in the future. As of now, I only have a vague understanding, but when the time comes, He will let me know why I have to spend so much time and energy learning Greek and Hebrew when these languages are to be learned mostly by translators for their translation services. The Lord has a special plan for me and I know it. May the Lord's will be done in time.

As I continue to learn, I look to the Lord for His special grace so that I can complete this Hebrew learning with the grade required for me to fulfill His divine purpose in the coming days. On the one hand, I trust the Lord for His knowledge, understanding, and skill, and on the other hand, I carry out my responsibility in paying the price I need to cooperate with Him.

Lord, grace me on and on and make me skillful in Hebrew for Your own sake.

Life Lesson: Being Straightforward

And said, O you who are full of all deceit and all unscrupulousness, son of the devil, enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? Acts 13:10

Forsaking the straight way, they have gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. 2 Peter 2:15

To take the straight way of the Lord or of the truth is to live an upright life without crookedness and bias, without unrighteousness. In my walk with the Lord these days, I have been reminded time and again to be straightforward in dealing with matters, things, and people. The straight way of the Lord is the way of the truth and the way of the Lord Jesus Christ. He never was crooked or hypocritical. To Him, a yes means a yes, and a no, no. Nothing in between. Just straightforward. This is the lesson I am learning these days. 

Even as I was blogging about this experience, a phone call came and a brother suddenly asked me for some money for the reason that it was an emergency. Having learned from my past experience, I cannot be diplomatic any longer. I straightforwardly asked him for what purpose, to which he replied he could not tell with the people around him. So my reply was that it was not proper for me to give money just like that and that I did not feel good as it may affect even our brotherly relationship. I simply exercised myself to be straightforward. A no in my inward being must be a no in my outward reaction.

In many other cases of dealing with different people, I learned to exercise my spirit and discern the matter properly first. Once I was clear, I said a straight no or a yes. My yes should not become a no, and my no should not become a yes. This is a matter of righteousness. 

By nature, I used to be a kind and soft person who could easily sympathize with people. Sometimes, this character of mine had been taken advantage of by a good number of people who knew me. In fact, in some cases, I had been cheated. But now, the Lord has taught me to be straightforward. If I discerned that certain things were not proper according to the truth of the Bible, I must reject it right away. I must not try to beat around the bush and somehow try to justify it to please others. Even in spiritual matters, I must discern what things were appropriate for the time, not meddle with every person and matters just because they are people in the church and the matter is "spiritual." I am now learning to be straightforward in all my dealings. Be it personal, family, church, official, or even with other people. Even in money matters, I must spend where there is the need to spend and not spend where there is no need to spend. In fact, to be straightforward is also to live a simple and pure life. In the matter of faith and in the matter of living, I must be straightforward. 

Lord, grace me to be straightforward in all my dealings and relationships.

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