Lessons on Discernment

Joseph in the Bible in Genesis 42-45 exercised a strong discernment and acted wisely when he met with his brothers who betrayed and sold him off to strangers many years ago. He placed his emotions under strict control and waited until it was the right time to express them publicly. Though he loved his brothers, he exercised restraint and acted wisely so that they also could learn the lesson they needed to learn because of their past misdeeds against him. So he meticulously planned the incidents to touch their consciences and at the same time expressed his love at the right time. Likewise, Solomon also prayed for wisdom when God appeared to him in a dream, and immediately God gave him problems to solve using his God-given wisdom. 

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

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

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

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

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

And this word seemed good in the sight of the Lord, that Solomon had asked for this matter.

And God said to him, Because you have asked for this matter and have not asked for long life for yourself and have not asked for riches for yourself and have not asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for discernment for yourself to understand justice;

I now do according to your words. I now give you a heart of wisdom and understanding, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor will one rise up after you like you.  1 Kings 3:5-12

These stories in the Bible are no mere Aesop's fables. They are real-life patterns that I must learn from and live according to it. God also gave me the experience of discernment recently in many practical matters in life.

In Money Matter

Generally, I am a soft-hearted person and I sympathize with people easily. If people came to me for monetary help, I always have a heart to help even as God has always provided me sufficiently. So I have sufficient to help others too if the Lord so wills. In the past, I and my wife have helped a couple of needy ones already. This time around, a family who had been in desperate need did not hesitate to mention their needs to me. Which I initially prayed and considered a lot about. Although I had all the clearance from my wife, and myself, I also fellowshipped with a brother, and that too got cleared. Everything was cleared does not mean it is alright to lend. As I considered and prayed over it again and asked the Lord for His wisdom and discernment, the Lord gradually enlightened me to see that despite all my "generosity" and all the path clearance to help, I still must discern based on what is proper before God and also before man. Then, I came to full clarity that even though I have the financial capacity to lend, it was not proper for me to do so at this time, especially as a full-time serving one of the Lord. Besides, the money we have was offered to my family for some specific purpose and not to lend to someone who may use it for some "dirty" deeds to meet their own selfish needs. Oh, what a salvation it was when this matter got cleared! Praise the Lord for this lesson! 

Later, the Lord showed me what this money was for. There was an urgent need for my wife to be able to do a UPI translation via a bank with her as a primary account holder. For this, a bank with a certain opening balance was required. And the money was meant for this purpose and some investment and saving for future use. Oh, a relief to be cleared of this cloud of confusion.

Similarly, the Lord has been teaching me to discern even in reading WhatsApp messages. There were many messages that my spirit sensed not to even read for the contents would not be spiritually healthy for me. Some were accusations, some were personal promotions,  some were simple personal opinions and just good for time pass. So, I intentionally avoided a good number of messages that were sent to me. In like manner, I also stop receiving many calls that may not be necessary, especially calls from unknown numbers. Even if it was known, the spirit within me gave me the sense, whether to pick the call or not. Likewise, in contacting people or even seekers and saints, I still need to discern if I should necessarily contact them or not. I must follow the Lord's leading by His inner anointing.

Romans 8:6For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.

1 John 2:20And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know.

1 John 2:27And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him.

The Lord has been teaching me lessons on discernment in my daily living. May I daily experience and enjoy His discernment and wisdom more and more.

Enjoying Christ in Fellowship

Three Students

Last week, three student brothers came to fellowship with me at my office. Though no appointment was made, since they came, I had to fellowship with them. I had no idea what to fellowship. But the moment they came, the Lord gave me the words. I hardly knew them and rarely met them too. In fact, two of them were my first time meeting, but as they sat before me, I knew what the Lord wanted to speak to them.

The Lord spoke to me to speak to them, "Be in fellowship with the Body." I had no idea how these brothers were fellowshipping with the brothers in the church in New Delhi. It seems to me that they needed help on how to fellowship. So when they came, the burden for the need to be in the Body and in the fellowship of the Body was the Lord's speaking. I believe that was what they needed. I used the life of Saul to make clear the burden of my fellowship to them.

Acts 9:6But rise up and enter into the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.

However, as a sidebar, I gave some fellowship on their academic career and introduced a brother who is a professor at a nationally reputed university. That was just a bonus point. But the main burden was to help them to be in fellowship with the Body. I even told them from the life of Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9, how the Lord Jesus, after appearing to him as the great light and blinded him, did not tell him nor heal him any further, but charged him to go to a city and meet a certain brother where he would be told what to do. This is the principle of the Body. The Lord used members of His Body to speak to a member of His Body. This is the fellowship in the Body and this is as good as fellowshipping with the Lord Himself. For Christ, the Head, and His Body are one. Then we all prayed together one by one. And they were so satisfied with the fellowship and I was so supplied too.

A Responsible Brother

A responsible brother in one of the local churches in the South called in the night without any prior information. Though late, I still fellowship with him over the phone. In the fellowship, two matters were brought forth. First, how to deal with a brother who was not one with the brothers and wanted to take his way, have his say, and do his deeds. The answer was clear, always be in oneness with the brothers whom the Lord has placed you together with, to serve together in the same locality. While bearing responsibilities, especially for the church, oneness is the key factor. Right or wrong is secondary. In oneness, the Lord will make manifest what is right according to Him. Second, how he should appraise himself in his company as he needs to fill out the form for appraisal reviews? Again, the answer was simple. Our conscience is the biggest and best witness. Actually, our conscience which is in our spirit is where the Spirit of God dwells. Listening and obeying the voice of our conscience is doing the will of God. Here is purity, honesty, and straightforwardness. If grading low is right grade it low, if grading high is right, then grade it high. All according to the fact. Grading oneself low is not about humility, so grading oneself high is not about pride or boasting. It is simply declaring the fact. Low is low, and high is high. With this simple fellowship, the matter was cleared up. Then, we both prayed together.

A Seeking SIster

Last Lord; 's Day, a sister who was introduced to me verbally over the phone came to visit me, unannounced. Yes, I was supposed to call her and also make some arrangements for her to be contacted by the sisters, but I got busy and was never able to make it. So, she came by herself. To her, I was straightforward and asked her why she came. When she replied she wanted to know more about God or Jesus, I asked her when and how she came to know about Jesus. To which she replied again, since her childhood during school days. Then upon further fellowship, I discovered that she believed in the Lord Jesus Christ already. She even testified that she has been praying to Jesus daily. Then, I discerned her actual need was to be baptized. So, I encouraged her to pray and consider her baptism according to the Scriptures for those who genuinely believe. I only helped her to know that she needed to be baptized if she truly believed, and that the church could help whenever she needed baptism.

In all these fellowships, the Lord within me spoke instantly the timely word to all of them, They all visited me without any prior appointment or information. Nonetheless, I experienced and enjoyed the Lord in fellowship with His children. 

In season or out of season, Christ can always be enjoyed with whoever the Lord leads. Amen

The Test of Taste

Ps 34:8 Taste and see that Jehovah is good; Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.

Jn 6:48 I am the bread of life.

Jn 6:57 As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.

Jn 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

When the Lord Jesus said, "I am the bread of life", He implies that He is edible and that we should eat Him to receive the divine and eternal life. This is quite contrary to the concept held by many Christians today when they think of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, He is worthy of worship, praise, and thanksgiving. Yes, to Him we pray and petition. And we revere Him supremely. But, how about eating Him?

If John 6:57 was not in the Bible when Jesus said, "Eat Me" no one, even in his wildest dream, would even dare to think of eating Jesus. But the Bible plainly records Jesus telling us to eat Him. What a salvation to see this!

However, to eat the Lord Jesus, one must have a hunger for spiritual food. In the gospel of John chapter six, the Lord revealed Himself as the bread sent from heaven, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, the living bread, and the true bread, all referring to Himself as food to eat. The burden is clear, to eat Him. Without hunger for food, it is rather difficult to eat food. Similarly, without true hunger for the word of God, one cannot eat Jesus. 

In addition to hunger, there must be a taste for food. If one does not have a taste for Jesus, it will again be difficult to eat Jesus. This taste can be developed by faith. The more we hear about Jesus or read about Him, the more we will know Him, the more we will have revelation concerning Him, and the more the taste for Him will develop. Then, the hunger and taste for Jesus will drive one to eat Jesus.

While I was taking a personal training on this message on "The Bread of Life," I was very much impressed by this truth of eating Jesus. For which, hunger and taste are two crucial matters to eat Jesus and enjoy him as my daily spiritual food.

This also unveils a very important principle in eating. One eats what one enjoys, meaning having a taste for it. There are worldly and sinful foods too that many have the taste for and enjoy. So, the development of our spiritual taste for Jesus and His word is an antidote to the temptations of worldly taste and enjoyment. Moreover, the taste for Jesus as followed by eating Him should also be followed by nourishment with proper digestion to ultimately become our constitution. 

The question is, what taste do you have? For Jesus or something else? Your taste determines what you will eat and enjoy. This is the test of taste. 

May we have a revolutionary change in our taste. May our taste for Jesus grow sweeter and sweeter until all the taste for the world fades away. That we may only eat Jesus and enjoy Him every day. And live because of Him!

Lord, preserve our taste for You. Give us hunger for Your word that we may eat You every day as our bread of life and live because of You! 

Young People for Christ and the Church

The past few days, I have been very disappointed with the situation going on these days. I felt, in many areas, that I had been rejected because of the truth I dearly treasure. Some theologians had strongly opposed the ministry that I enjoy, promote, and propagate. Some nonbelievers too opposed the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that I dearly have faith in. Even some believers who often fellowship with us kind of betrayed the ministry by sneaking out and joining hands with Christianity. On top of all these, some of our brothers have been imprisoned in Mathura for being in a meeting of the church.  

Yes, I agree that our righteousness is like filthy rags, but to me, I felt I had no righteousness at all. Even if I had one, it may not merely be a filthy rag, but a rotten rag.  In the midst of this kind of feeling, the Lord reminded me that the apostles and the Lord Jesus Himself were rejected when they were in their early ministries. Why should it be different if I suffered the same when following the footsteps of the Lord Jesus and the apostle as recorded in the New Testament? That thought awakened me and it was indeed a consolation prize for me.

Last weekend and this weekend, the Lord brought young people to me for fellowship. Though the outward situation is not very encouraging for the church, but the Lord confirmed to me that He gave me the young people for me to shepherd and perfect them so that they can be pillars for the Lord's testimony. Despite my discouragement with the ongoing situation, the Lord gave me a consolation prize of young people who can be perfected. 

The previous Lord's Day evening, I was with a young brother, listening to three minsitry messages and spending them in fellowship. Last Lord's Day, the Lord brought two young brothers to fellowship with me at different times, one after another. The Lord showed me that I have to work on these young ones and make them pillars for His testimony. He gave the church the best that he could. Though their parents may not be very encouraging. but their children who have come into the church life will be gained by Him and be perfected to bear the Lord's testimony in Gurugram one day.

And every Lord's Day afternoon I would also spend a time of fellowship with the young people. My main burden is to help them live a normal God-man life of daily personal prayer, Bible reading, morning revival, exercising to keep a spiritual record, being faithful in their studies, and consecration of their lives for the Lord in a way of joining the full-time training when that graduate from the college. I have been checking and rechecking how they have been exercising their God-man life practices.  To me, if the basics are right, the root of a tree will be healthy, and then, everything will fall into place gradually.

Oh, what a real consolation to me! The Lord showed me a new light! What a hope we have as the church in Gruugram! About five young brothers, three teenage brothers and a sister, and a couple of children have been gained by the Lord for His church! These are the young people for Christ and the church! They are the future of the Lord's testimony.

May the Lord work in all these young ones, preserve and perfect them for His testimony!

A Doctor's Call

Generally, I call a doctor when I need a medical consultation for myself or my family. This time around, a doctor was introduced to me a few days ago by a brother who lives in Jorhat. Then, a call came to me from a brother who is a doctor and who was introduced to me for some fellowship. When he called, I recognized the brother and we had a wonderful time of fellowship for about an hour.

This was the first time we fellowshipped. We never met nor knew each other before. But from the very first call, he opened to me his personal spiritual and physical situation point by point. He had such a trust in me that he confided many of his personal secrets to me. As I listened to his fellowship, I prayed deep within for the spirit of wisdom and revelation concerning how to shepherd this brother. I patiently listened to all that he had to say with a few interjections to clarify certain points. Finally, when he fully poured his being out in fellowship, I looked to the Lord and exercised my spirit to offer some words of brotherly fellowship.

First thing first. I checked with him concerning his spiritual condition; how often he prayed and read the Bible, and with whom and how often he had fellowship with fellow believers. I also checked with him about his Christian and family background. Based on all that he shared with me, the Lord gave me an understanding of his situation and also gave me the timely words of love for him. (I believe this is also generally how a Doctor would do to his patient, checking the general health condition.)

Personal Time With the Lord

I encouraged him to take care of his time spent with the Lord daily. In fact, this should be the most important thing in his daily life. Only the Lord is the Lord and only He is the source of life and life-supply. And only He knows everything and only He can solve every problem. I am nobody and I simply direct him to the Lord.

Reading the Bible

I encouraged him to read the Bible every day as it is the word of God, the very breath of God. It is only through His words that God speaks to His children. The Bible is the only tangible and concrete word through which one can receive God's speaking without any confusion. People see dreams and visions, but they may not be as reliable as the very word of God. I even showed him the way to come to the word and read the word sequentially from the beginning of the Old Testament and the New Testament and read on and on till the end, and start all over again. And repeat the process of reading over and over again, even all the days of his life.

Fellowship with Believers

I encouraged him to have a time of fellowship with any Christian brother he can trust spiritually. I offered myself to him if he wished to fellowship with me again. He was so glad that he could fellowship with me and said he would call me again.

With this little fellowship, I led him to the Lord Jesus, to prayer, and to commit his marital matter to the Lord, and that the will of the Lord be done in his life.

After the fellowship, he was so much relieved and expressed his gratitude to the Lord for granting him such a time of fellowship. I do believe the Lord will fully recover his enjoyment of the Lord first and also will recover his marriage life.

Mt 9:12Now when He heard this, He said, Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill.

Mt 9:13But go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

This may not be a consultation with a doctor but it definitely was a fellowship with the Doctor of doctors.  Jesus Christ is the true Doctor!

May the Lord work in this doctor brother and recover him fully for Himself and his marriage for the Lord's testimony in Chennai.

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.