Family Life Lesson

May our sons be like plants grown up in their youth; May our daughters be like corner pillars hewn out in fashion for a palace;

May our barns be full, furnishing produce of all kinds; May our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields; May our oxen be fully laden; May there be no breaking in to rob or going forth to fight, Or outcry in our streets. 

Blessed are the people who are so; Blessed are the people whose God is Jehovah. (Psalms 144:12-15, RecVer)

On 3rd October the Lord spoke to me these verses in a very subjective way as His promise concerning my children and all the children in the church life. This promise is for those whose God is Jehovah. Since Jehovah God is our God, this promise holds true to us and to me. The word of God never fails and this promise is true even today and it will be true in the coming days too. Many of these words will be fulfilled one by one. We are the blessed people because our God is Jehovah. 

This morning my son sent me a text message:

And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but nurture them in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.  Ephesians 6:4 (RecVer)

Footnote 1: Provoking children to anger damages them by stirring up their flesh. Not to provoke children to anger requires that a father deal with his anger by leaving it on the cross. In this way he is able to render suitable discipline to his children. 

Footnote 2: Admonition includes instruction. Parents should instruct their children with the word of God, teaching them to know the Bible. However, how the children develop depends on God's mercy.

Perhaps, he must have felt that I might have provoked him as I kept reminding him not to waste time sitting before the laptop if not for his schoolwork. There, definitely, was a chance of misunderstanding my words as I spoke out of genuine care and concern. So I accepted his message and replied back:

Amen.

Please forgive me if I provoked unknowingly.

Later, I went to meet him. And hugged and kissed him asking his forgiveness if I provoked him unknowingly. I also kissed my two daughters as a sign of showing my love and care for them. I have been doing this to all my children almost on a daily basis. They know my heart. May the Lord bless them all to be God-man children, loving the Lord, fearing the Lord, and being useful vessels to the Lord.

In parenting, there are many lessons to learn day by day. In fact, many of them are learned through mistakes and misunderstandings. I believe this is how the Lord has been perfecting us to be parents, and in the process, our children will also learn from us. This is all a part of family life, especially if we are believers in the true and living God.

May the Lord bless the families of all His children that His plan be fulfilled in us and through us.

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 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

A Visit to Prison

Who executes judgment for the oppressed; Who gives food to the famished. Jehovah frees the prisoners;  Psalms 146:7

On the 1st of Oct, four brothers from the church in Gurugram and a couple of other saints from the church in New Delhi visited Mathura to meet our five brothers who have been loaded in the prison for the false charge against them as per the controversial and purported bill of conversion. The Lord is the true Judge and He will execute His righteous judgment to all at His time. This was my first visit to a prison ever. The processes involved were quite tedious. First, we need to register ourselves with a fee of Rs.10 per person and a maximum of three persons can meet one prisoner. Then, we had to wait for over two hours to be called. When we were called, there was the checking process twice, and a marking on our hand. Only then, we were allowed to meet the prisons at the designated meeting area between nested and iron-grilled fences. We were given about 27 minutes time to freely interact with the prisoners.

Our brother came to meet with us. I passed on the money I had brought for them as they had to pay for everything they needed in the prison at double the price. This money assistance would be of great help in the prison. Brothers were all exercised in their spirits and none of them showed signs of sadness. They were all cheerful to my observation, though I did not have the discernment of what would have been going on in their inward being. At least, they showed a cheerful countenance while we conversed with them. I had nothing much to say. I just looked at them and listened to whatever they had to say. My words of comfort would mean nothing at all. I did not want to be a false comforter. I know what pain they have been going through, psychologically, if not physically. I can only sympathize with them and pray for the Lord to release them soon.

I dare not opine concerning what transpired. I dare not say anything lest I displease my Lord who knows all things. I decided to leave my opinion to myself. There is no benefit in sharing any thoughts of mine. They are not going to change anything. What God has allowed, I simply amen. He knows why our brothers have to go through so much. I trust His presence has been with them.

Never in my life, had I ever imagined that one day this would happen. But now it has happened. In the future, I don't know what will happen. But I submit myself fully to the Lord that He may do what He please. We are here for the Lord and His divine economy. When I looked at the lives of the apostles, especially Paul, he went through the same imprisonments, not just once, but at least thrice. In all his imprisonments, he wrote his epistles which are now a major part of the New Testament. In like manner, the Lord must have something special in mind for other brothers and for the church in North India. 

Because of this situation, I have been advised by other brothers to take necessary precautions as I am also serving in the literature service and in the church. The enemy hates what we have been doing for His kingdom. On the one hand, we accept whatever the Lord allows or will allow, but on the other hand, we must take necessary precautions to not allow the enemy to play with our lives and the Lord's church. I have no answers to many questions except that the Lord knows it all and He will do what He deems best.

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. Mt 16:18

On our way back, I felt the need to cherish the parent of one of our brothers and the son of another brother. Therefore, I took them purposefully for lunch at KFC. I did not say anything except reply to the questions asked to me. I refrain myself from expressing my opinion. It's all pointless. I would just keep quiet and enjoy the cherishing meal together with the saints. Only once in a while when being asked, I simply said the Lord will release our brothers and He will take care of everything in His own time.

Now, we wait for the hearing for the bail plea and the release of the brothers with the closure of the case against them. Until then, we pray and pray and pray. The will of the Lord be done.

Experience of Christ in Functioning

I have been trying my best to gradually withdraw from many of the functions that I have been functioning in the church life in Gurugram with the view that other new and younger brothers can pick up the burden and the church go on. To this extent, I have also completely given up inwardly many crucial responsibilities to some brothers and to a particular brother who came to serve in the church in Gurugram from abroad. Postivbely, to encourage more to serve. Negatuively, I somehow felt that I should not be the cause or hindrance for the Lord's blessing His church. 

As the church, we have been very much struggling to gain increase for the past several years. No matter how hard we tried or what new method we took, the situation has not changed much. The saints have been shepherded and new ones too have been shepherded to some extent, but the significant increase that we have been praying for is yet to happen. Every end of the year, we come before God in regret for our failure in not gaining the increase we had planned for at the beginning of the year. And in the beginning of new year, we pray and plan for an increase. But so far, what we planned and what we gained did not match. There was some lag somewhere every year. Sometimes I used to think, perhaps, I may be the one causing the hindrance. But I should not self-condemn myself too and fall under the attack and deception of the enemy. This may yet be another trick played by the devil to kill my function. But I hope that many serving ones can be shepherded to take the lead in shepherding the saints in the church.

Two weeks  ago, something unimaginable happened in the nearby city where some of our brothers were imprisoned. One brother from abroad who actively has been serving with us in the church had to leave the country due to an emergency situation. In a day's time, everything changed. It was a shocking surprise to us and for the church. Now, with two key functioning brothers rendered functionless, I had no choice but to actively function again. The very functions that I gradually decided to give up, I needed to actively function again. Perhaps, the Lord wanted me to learn more and be perfected. Though I wanted to perfect others, I needed more perfecting first. Somethimes, its hard to understand what the Lord actually has been doing. But I simply follow the Lord's leading and accept whatever He arranged for the church. I am just His slave. No opinion, but perfect submission to His sovereign arrangement.

Beginning from the last Lord's Day, my active participation in the church functions have been recovered back again. The very functions I gave up for others I needed to take them up again. I believe in the Lord's time, He will bring more serving ones in. Until then, I function as a member in coordination with other members of the Body for the sake of the Lord's testimony. In the past almost twenty years I have been witnessing the rise and fall of serving ones number in the church in Gurugram. The number has been fluctuating as the saints in the church life come and go, it has always been a flowing crowd. Some families came into the church life and they had to migrate out due to their jobs or family situations. Some families stably remain, my family is one of them. As long as the Lord allows us to be here, we will be here. We will simply follow the Lord as He leads. After all, we are for Christ and the church only.

Lord, gain more serving ones to function and perfect all of us to serve in sweet coordination for the building up of the Body expressed here in the local church in Gurugram.

Shepherding in Home Meeting

The Lord opened the door for shepherding the local people of my community DLF-1. Every Friday we would go for a time of shepherding in one home of a new believer. The Lord's speaking during the last week's meeting was on the Bible. After the truth pursuing concerning the Bible, a new young brother asked the practical way to read the Bible. That question opened the door for me to share on the practical and easy way of reading the Bible daily. In fact, that night a daily assignment was given to all to read the Bible every day. My son, along with another two teenage boys were present including my wife and the mothers of the other two boys. To help the young people in this way is a real shepherding. Only the word of God can speak to them directly provided they read the Bible to listen to God's words. Though the speaking was especially for the teenage boys, the lesson was also equally for the teenage boys' mothers. Slowly but gradually, shepherding is going on among the local people and all our saints.

Weekly, I also have a phone call "home meeting" with around seven brothers who are being shepherded into the church life. As time permits, I have been doing this week by week with one goal of ministering Christ through prayer and touching their spirits to touch the Lord. Only this way of touching the Lord as the Spirit in their spirits is the way they can be shepherded. As some of them are not yet baptised, I would not compel anybody to be baptised apart from faithfully teaching them the truth concerning baptism. I leave the choice to them. Except for a few of them, I have not been able to meet in person. but what I could do, I did my best; shepherding them one on one. The result I leave it to the Lord.  

Similarly, I also have been spending time with my son every night. Going out with him to fellowship and pray together. I also encouraged my wife to go out for prayer with my daughters, which they have been doing regularly. Besides, we also have our daily family home meeting mostly for prayer. In this way, through home meetings,  shepherding has been going on.

May the Lord grace us to take this way of shepherding at homes daily and weekly all the days of our lives.

College Students Fellowship

For some reason or other, the college students meeting that every church with college students is supposed to have has not been practical in the church in Gurugram. Though we used to have a very active college students' meeting in the past, of late nothing has been happening. Partly because there are already other meetings that the college students join regularly. In addition, I had been traveling a lot in the past few months and was not even physically present to take care of the college students. Two weeks ago, the Lord's speaking through the fellowship was quite clear that we should be reviving the college student's meeting. Therefore, we recovered the meeting after all the meetings on the Lord's Day ended. 

The burdens the Lord gave me for the college students were all very basic. I wanted to help all the young ones establish a strong and stable personal prayer life. I wanted them to go before the Lord and be under the shining light of the Lord. Only the Lord's light and life supply can shepherd them and make them grow. Of course, I will do my part in shepherding them too. But I confess, the real Shepherd is only the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. So, I did my best to help the young ones in their personal prayer life, reading the Bible regularly, being revived every morning by morning, and interceding for their unsaved friends and classmates. So that, as a student they can bear at least one fruit for the Lord before they graduate from the colleges or universities. I also encouraged them to have a prayer book or spiritual diary where they can record their experiences and enjoyment of the Lord which is the greatest treasure that one can acquire in this age and that will last unto eternity. All the other treasures will vanish when one dies physically. In addition to all those, I also told them to seek the will of the Lord in prayer for all things giving my testimony as an example.

To me, if I can help the young ones in these areas, I think my burden will be fulfilled for the young ones. I am not too keen on other things that they already have been practicing. For example, truth pursuing, they have pursued a good number of ministry materials on a regular basis. As long as they stay in the church life, the ministry of the word will never be lacking. But what I felt they needed the most was what they had not received much help for. A time of fellowship with them to fill the gap of whatever they might have missed out in the church life. One other goal for all the college students is that they should be shepherded to join the full-time training after they graduate from the college. All the young people are for the Lord and they must be gained when they are young.

Lord, gain all the college students in the church here and make all of them useful vessels to You for Your divine purpose.

Enjoying Christ as the Jubilee

 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to announce the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away in release those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the year of jubilee.” Luke 4:18-19

Excerpt from the ministry HWMR Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (1), week 5.

Jubilee means having no worry or anxiety, no concern or care, no lack or shortage, no sickness or calamity, and no problems whatsoever but, rather, having all benefits; hence, all things are pleasant and satisfying to our heart, and we are free from anxiety, at ease, excited, and exultant—Psa.  103:1-5; 116:1-7, 12-13, 17-19.

We need to enjoy Christ as the reality of the freedoms and blessings of the New Testament jubilee— Luke 4:18-19:

In order to enjoy Christ as the reality of the jubilee, we need to spend time with the Lord day by day to listen to His word and be infused with Him; we need to follow the pattern of Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to His word—10:39:

She was at the feet of the Lord Jesus and not at the feet of anyone else; she was drawing near to the Lord; no method is better than coming to Him moment by moment, loving Him, worshipping Him, unceasingly fellowshipping with Him, and remaining in His presence.

She sat at the feet of the Lord, meaning that she put herself in a humble position in order to receive the Lord as grace (1 Pet. 5:5); humility is not belittling ourselves; humility is ignoring ourselves, negating ourselves, and considering ourselves as nothing.

She was sitting down; quietness before the Lord is often the source of spiritual strength (Isa. 30:15a); man’s eyes and thoughts often are distracted to the outside world; those who are busy with a wandering mind and vacillating thoughts cannot receive revelation easily.

She was listening to the Lord’s word; the words that the Lord speaks are spirit and life (John 6:63) in order to dispense Himself into men; her listening to the Lord’s word afforded the Lord the opportunity to communicate Himself to her so that she would continually receive the Lord and gain Him.  

We must receive the Lord Jesus as the real jubilee in us; if we have Him, we have God as our possession and can be delivered from the bondage of sin and Satan to have real freedom and rest—Acts 26:18; Eph. 1:13-14; Col. 1:12; Matt. 11:28; John 8:32, 36:

The jubilee is an age of ecstasy. The New Testament age is an age of ecstasy, and a Christian is a person in ecstasy. 

I was very much supplied by the ministry speaking to me directly on how practically I can enjoy the Lord Jesus as my jubilee. In the midst of all troubles and trials, when all the happenings around me may not be that enjoyable, but I can be in the reality of jubilee by spending time with the Lord. In fact, these days, I have been spending a lot of time in prayer. At least an hour for personal time with the Lord, another hour for reading His word, another hour for corporate prayer and pursuit of the truth, and yet another time for family prayer and church Life-study pursuit. During these hours there were lots of communication between me and the Lord when I poured out my entire being in prayer to Him. Whatever concerned me, I expressed them to the Lord. Whatever burden the Lord imparted to me, I poured them out to the Lord. In this way, through spending time with the Lord, I could enjoy Christ as my jubilee. The real joy and ecstasy is the presence of the Lord Himslef in every situation. Thank the Lord for prayer that brings my relationship with the Lord real and enjoyable.For this very reason I encouraged all the saints, my family members, and all the young ones to spend time in prayer with the Lord, time and again. 

The real outward situations these days are exact opposite of the truth concerning jubilee. In fact, these are times when the jubiklee should be enjoyed in reality in the midst of all contradicting sitatuioons. In Mary as a pattern, we must quietly sit at the Lord's feet, humbling ourselves, and listening to His word day by day to enjoy the joy of jubilee.

May such a living of jubilee be my daily living all the days of my life.

Experience of Christ in Considering Serving Ones

September 2024 is a very critical month for me. Many important events transpired in this month. Some were truly unexpected, some were planned, and some were made to happen. Nevertheless, the Lord allowed them all for the good of His move in this country.

Officially, I have been sensing the need to gain new serving ones to meet certain needs in the literature service. One of them is to take care of the IT monitoring. In addition, a brother has been requesting for a new serving brother to coordinate with him in the distribution. This matter was brought up to me a few years ago but things did not materialize. And this month, as I visited the Chennai office, I had the innate leading within me to visit a brother who has been taking care of this matter as a volunteer for now. Through his fellowship, a new sister was introduced. Later, I also spent time with a couple whose husband was being considered for the distribution and the wife for the IT service. In just one afternoon, I was able to fellowship with whoever needed to fellowship with. Though the decision was not taken immediately, at least the fellowship of the need was done. By the way, I also enjoyed the Lord's anointing upon me as I fellowshipped with these saints. This experience further encouraged me that the matter was of the Lord. Though I am officially in a position to decide, I should not act independently from God nor from my coordinating brothers. I fellowshipped this matter with the key brothers concerned. And all of them felt good about it. But still, I would like to wait for a few more weeks to pray over, as I usually did for any matter great or small.

As I waited on the Lord, finally the Lord confirmed to me to go ahead and send an email to bring the new serving one into service. All necessary fellowship with the leading brother in the church and with my own co-director and co-worker in the literature service was also done. Only on the last day of the month, 30th September, I confirmed the matter to the serving ones concerned. Now, the matter was clear and the brother would start to serve. 

In a similar manner, another two serving ones matters came up for their continuity in services as the assigned project ended last month. Their continuation needs to be decided, and this month, I had to make a decision. The Lord gave me the grace neither to confirm nor reject, as I needed to wait for my coworking brother to also consider together with me. But for now, until the final decision is taken, they should work on finalizing books for printing.

This experience of the Lord even in recruiting new serving ones was a wonderful experience. Whether the serving ones will turn out to be the proper ones or not, the Lord knows. I am just His servant carrying out the work on His behalf, He is the One who decides everything. He knows best. 

Lord, bless all the serving ones in the literature service in India.