Living a Normal Human Life

Though the church in Gurugram is small in numbers compared to many other Christian groups, we have been very blessed by the Lord in that we have been graced to function actively and participate in many practical building up of the Body of Christ. For this, the Lord has brought saints for fellowship, blending, and perfecting. 

The past few weeks have been positively very "busy" for me. Yes, I mean "busy," not in an outward way of doing things, but in an inward way of fellowship by visiting the saints and spending time with them. Either the saints visited us for fellowship, or we visited the saints for fellowship. Whichever way, we were "busy" fellowshipping...

Since the time I came back after a three-week-long ministry journey, I have still been "busy" with the church life and also in carrying out my responsibility as a father in my family. Day by day, functioning to fulfill all my responsibilities. What a blessing! No time for idleness. Office work, church life, family responsibility, and then also each day, a time with the Lord for prayer and study of the word of God. Every day is a "busy" day. To me, every day is a blessed day. No day ever wasted. What a blessed human life!

Last week, visiting the saints who delivered a baby girl, spending time with the saint for blending in addition to taking care of official work for my children's future education, my life has been fully under training and perfecting, and my time has been fully utilised. Even when I was not going out, some new ones and saints visited for a time of fellowship. Whether I went out or not, still my time has all been occupied. I feel life is very meaningful. Halleluiah!

Even menial works like doing a domestic repair work on my water tank overflow pipe with my son, cleaning office AC filters by myself, finding a spare tyre for my punctured car tyre, repairing our entrance to avoid water overflow during rain, rearranging flower vases for better ambience in our living room, driving my daughter for meeting up with her friends, shopping with my wife for household needs, and the list goes on and on... 

The past few weeks have been fully occupied. In all these, I am living my life to the full. In humanity, carrying out human responsibilities, yet exercising my spirit to take the Lord as my grace and learn Christ in dealing with all practical things. Oh, what a blessed human life! 

I pray that I may be more and more useful to the Lord by being responsible for all my earthly responsibilities. In the process, learning, growing, and being perfected through life experiences, so that one day, the Lord will make me an overcomer! And all the while, experiencing, enjoying, and expressing Christ in the church for the fulfillment of God's eternal plan.

O Lord Jesus! This is the meaning of human life, and this is how I live the church life for the fulfillment of God's eternal plan!

Preparing Vessels Useful to the Lord

God has blessed us with children, of our own blood, three, and many in the church life. On the one hand, we pray for them daily and fellowship with them concerning their future, to follow the Lord's leading. On the other hand, we also make all the necessary preparations in humanity for the Lord's use. At least for the three children the Lord blessed us with thus far, we have been praying for them and with them. My wife and I have also been considering their future education plan. In fact, since last year, the Lord has given me the insight and foresight to send them to Taiwan for their further education. There are a couple of valid reasons for this consideration. 

As far as I could discern, the Lord has arranged everything for my children for His purpose. From their birth in Taipei, Taiwan, to their growing up in Gurugram, India. Their citizens by birth in Taiwan and their overseas citizenship of India by naturalization, as their father is an Indian citizen. This was the Lord's sovereign arrangement. The Lord gave me the burden for their further studies in Taiwan, and upon further inquiry, we discovered that our children can apply as overseas Chinese citizens. At the proper time, we came to know all the details. And step by step, the Lord also narrowed down on which part of Taiwan and which university they should apply to. Things became clearer and clearer and more and more specific. 

One other reason I strongly felt for our children to study their college degrees in Taiwan is for the shepherding in the sisters and brothers' houses near the university campuses. As far as I know, I feel Taiwan is the best country for college students' education in the church life. Especially, in preparing their vessels for the Lord's use. Last year, we even visited a couple of student centers, and I was very impressed. 

There is another practical reason for this consideration in Taiwan, as the government provides each qualifying student with a sufficient stipend, which India has no provision in the colleges here.

For this, our eldest daughter gave her first test for the Chinese language as a part of her qualifying exam. Now, she is preparing for English. And most importantly, her tenth, eleventh, and twelfth marks will play a significant role in her selection to the universities in Taipei, as we have narrowed down to one city for practical reasons of travel and our own parents being in Taipei.

The Lord is the Lord, and He knows how to lead His children in the best way. We fully trust in him and let Him lead. Meanwhile, we prepare ourselves in humanity with all that is needed to be prepared.

May the perfect will of the Lord be done in preparing the vessels for the Lord's use!

Blending with Singapore Saints

God has blended the Body together. Blending is the reality of the Body of Christ.

Since Covid-19, this was the first time the churches abroad came to visit the churches in North India. We were blessed to be visited by the saints from the church in Singapore last week. This visit brought a new blessing for the church in Gurugram. First, our capacity was enlarged as we had to arrange a blending meeting and lovefeast for all the saints. Since we did not have the capacity in our present meeting hall, we had to consider elsewhere. This caused us to look for a proper facility that could meet our needs. Therefore, one whole evening, three of us brothers went to look for guest houses with a banquet hall. After visiting about six guest houses, we finally settled on one that satisfied us and met our needs. In the process, we learned to serve in coordination.

Even as we fellowshipped the content and sequence of the meeting, the Lord blended us together. This itself gave us the opportunity to learn to serve in coordination. There were proposals and adjustments, all worked together for our learning, perfecting, and blending. This experience was also for the entire church, which touched the lives of the children, teenagers, and college students. The teenagers were asked to prepare to share and even rehearse, yet because of time, they could not share what they prepared. Likewise, the college students were asked to prepare, but canceled due to an adjustment in the content of the meeting. We all were blended together, even as we prepared for the blending before the actual blending itself. Hallelujah!

In the blending meeting, we briefed the saints on the history of the Lord’s move in India and Gurugram, and the significance of the church in Gurugram and the need for growth and increase for the Lord’s testimony. Three brothers and a sister shared their testimony of how the Lord gained them for His testimony and for His move in India. From the Singapore saints, we received a fellowship on God-man family living. And more fellowship and blending followed during the lovefeast lunch.

Then, there was another blending session in the meeting of the church in Gurugram with the visitation of the gospel bookroom, where the saints purchased the ministry books and Bibles. From our side too, in addition to the lovefeast lunch, we also gave them some traditional Indian sweets, snacks, and a soap as gifts to each visiting saint. Finally, we accompanied them for shopping at Ambience Mall and saw them off at the Airport. 

Thank the Lord for such a blessed time of blending in the Body. In fact, this was a blessing from the Body! 

We look to the Lord for more such blending again, even as we wait for the Lord’s return.

Special Fellowship

A new sister has started coming to the church meeting, and we also realized that she has not been going well according to the word of God in her marriage-life. Since there is evidence of her living in a relationship outside the God-ordained institution of marriage, we brothers had the burden to shepherd her so that she can be shepherded to come out of the snares of Satan, that she be fully recovered in her Christian life for the church life. The feeling of the brothers was the feeling of the Lord that was expressed last Saturday in our brother's fellowship. The Lord honored the fellowship, and on the same day, the sister turned up for the afternoon prayer meeting. Then I realized the Lord has brought her for a special time of shepherding fellowship.

As soon as we finished the church prayer meeting, I invited her and another couple for a time of special fellowship concerning the new sister. Meanwhile, the Spirit's leading was so clear within me that I was led to fellowship point by point concerning her situation. She also honestly responded to all the points of fellowship, which I appreciated very much. I could sense that she also was desperately longing and seeking fellowship to come out of the bondage of Satan she was trapped in. 

Of course, due to a shortage of life supply through the ministry of the Word, her understanding of marriage-life and the Lord's testimony needed help. Therefore, the Lord gave me the utterances to shepherd her to understand the truth concerning the Christian life, the church life, and the Lord's testimony. Though she might have fallen into the hands of Satan, the Lord Jesus Christ is the Victor who defeated Satan at the cross already! It is through the Lord Jesus Christ that she can also experience deliverance completely. For this, the Lord arranged the saints, the fellow members in the Body, the church, as spiritual companions to rescue her out of darkness into Christ's marvelous light.

After all the word of love in sweet fellowship based on the Bible, she understood what steps she needed to take and the Holy Spirit would come in to help her in her weakness. She was willing to take the step and allow the Lord to work in her life. The Lord truly anointed the fellowship, and we all enjoyed the sweet flow of life! Though some points of fellowship may be hard to take in, nonetheless, it was the word of the Lord, like a surgeon operating on a patient, removing the foreign particle from the body to cure the patient. She was able to take the fellowship. What a mercy! What a grace!

As we prayed for her specifically one by one, we also felt the Lord's life flowing through the prayers in the Body. When it was her turn to pray, she desperately cried out to the Lord. With tears of desperation, repentance, and remorse for her past life, she wept and wept. She also confessed her sins and her weakness in that she could not overcome them by herself. And she prayed for the Lord Jesus to grace her.

The following Lord's day evening, we started a home meeting for her specially. There, we had the pursuit of the word of God, fellowship, and prayer. This is the life supply for her to experience and enjoy the Lord and fully come out of the snares to be a living testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. I also encouraged her to daily enjoy a time of morning revival with another sister, a time of Bible reading daily, and a personal time with the Lord in prayer daily. In this way, she will be fully recovered.

The Lord will recover His children through His supply in the Body, even through this special fellowship. 

Gospel to Gospel Friend

Announcing the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ is what the believers should be doing normally. No matter what the outward situations may be, in season or out of season, the gospel has to be announced. It is by the gospel of Jesus Christ that the will of God can be fulfilled on the earth, and it is for this gospel that the believers have to live their lives. Depending on the atmosphere of the place, the Lord's leading has to be discerned to carry out what He has already commissioned. "Go therefore, and disciple all the nation..."

Due to the ongoing and changing political situation, I have not been able to share the gospel as frequently as I used to in the past. Nevertheless, the Lord in His sovereignty arranged situations now and then for the preaching of the gospel. But the burden the Lord has imparted into me from the day I got saved has always been there.

Last week, I received a call from a brother who introduced me to another new one who was the son of his business partner many years ago. With much burden, he introduced him to me. As I contacted this new one, he responded immediately and positively. Therefore, I went to meet him the same day we were introduced. It was a surprise yet blessed meeting.

As I met him in his office, we had a friendly talk concerning the current affairs, the political and economic situation of  India, and the manpower required for his country, Taiwan, for which he is in the HR profile for the company. Having done all the friendly talk, I released my burden of preaching the gospel to him face to face right away, as I was very clear in my inward being that the Lord sent me to meet him for the sake of the gospel. Furthermore, I learned that his mother is one of the sisters in the church in Kaoshiung in Taiwan. I even had the boldness to tell him that I could meet and preach the gospel to him because God loves him, and remembers his mother's prayer. I believe his mother must have been praying for him for years. I also mentioned to him that all the struggles that he has been going through in his life are because he has no God in his life, yet, to which he also agreed. And as I was about to lead him to prayer to receive the Lord, he was a little nervous, as it was in his office with other employees around. Therefore, I withheld the matter for a while and complied with his suggestion that we could do the prayer in the other room privately. Then, we continued the conversation for a while until I felt it was time for me to leave. Then, we went to the other boardroom. In fact, I was very confident to let him know that God had sent him to India for his business so that he could meet me and hear the gospel, and be saved!

In his company boardroom, he and I alone, with his consent and willingness, I led him to pray the prayer to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as the true and living God, the Savior to be his personal Savior. He willingly prayed and received the Lord Jesus!. This was the first time for him to ever pray to God.  I was so joyful deep within that one soul has heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and prayed to receive the true and living God! All the rest, the Holy Spirit will do His work in him.

Lord, save this brother in answer to his mother's prayer. 

Shepherding at Home

A sweet home meeting was the spontaneous issue when the saints and the shepherd were in sweet fellowship. Last Thursday, I had a wonderful time of fellowship with a new family. Though it was only the husband who was saved, the whole family was open to the gospel. We have been enjoying home meetings at their house for years now. But last week was a special one for some reason.

First, the whole family was able to open up their feelings to me without any reservations. While in the other meetings, due to the presence of some other brothers, they were not fully able to open up some of their personal family matters. But when I was alone with them, as they knew me from the very beginning, they had the freedom to open up their deep concerns. I just let them flow out whatever they wanted to speak. Thereby, I was able to understand their condition.

Second, the Lord has been working on this family, and the Lord also gave me a specific burden for this family. It was a little price that I needed to pay to travel to their home amidst the crowded and dusty roads of old Gurugram, and sanctify my time for the shepherding of this family. The Lord honored the little price we pay and anointed the fellowship with His flow of life.

Third, the blending in the Body through the divine life enables all of us to fellowship and enjoy the home meeting.

Through the minsitry portion we pursued together in Hindi week by week, the Lord spoke His timely words. The Bible verses and the ministry excerpts spoke for themselves. I just repeated what the word of God says and what the minsitry helps in understanding the word of God. 

Then comes the calling upon the Lord's name and prayer. In this way, we all enjoyed the Lord's rich supply of life through the home meeting.

After the meeting, the family insisted that I should eat dinner. Though they had invited me to dine with them a couple of times, I hesitated. But last week, their insistence was very desperate, and I accepted their invitation. They served me with a local delicacy, Mutton curry with Roti.

We have been praying for this family's salvation and that the Lord can gain them fully, the entire family and the neighbors too, that one day, even a new district meeting can be raised up in their home.

May the Lord's will be done in their lives for His testimony in Gurugram, especially among the local people.

Surprise Experiences

On the 31st of May, I was completely taken aback by the experience I had on the same day. In the morning, I had to take my daughter for her language test and then to Cannaught Place for a lovefest meeting of the teenagers in the churches in Delhi and Gurugram as a part of the reward scheme for reading the Bible daily within a specific period as assigned to them. Then, along with my youngest daughter and wife, we had lunch at KFC in the same area, after which we went shopping in Palika Bazar. I had come here once or twice many years ago, but never purchased anything. The only thing I knew about this place was that it was a famous underground shopping complex and full of pickpockets. I actually needed to buy a good leather belt for myself. I had been searching online and could not find one that I felt was proper. Therefore, I took a round in the complex searching for belts.

Shop by shop, I was greeted by shopkeepers the moment they knew I was looking for belts. Just a little showing interest was sufficient for them to take all the liberty to speak about the belt. I had never seen such salesmanship in my entire life where the salesman had to speak so much about just a belt. If they were journalist, an article could have been published on the qualities of the belt they try to sell. Shop by shop, each salesperson spoke almost the same thing with action of trying to prove how genuine the leather was, using a pocket lighter to try to burn the leather. I was not convinced by what they said or what I saw. I was very clear in my mind what I wanted, and very keen in my spirit, whether I should purchase or not.  It was a good opportunity to discern the leading of the Lord deep within against the backdrop of "aggressive advertisements."

When I finally found the one I felt was proper, and another one without a buckle, I asked for the price. To my surprise, I was quoted Rs. 1500 for the nice leather belt I chose to buy and another Rs. 1000 for the leather belt only without the buckle. The price was actually what was printed on the price tag of both belts. I started bargaining with my "market Hindi." I did not know what percentage I had to bargain to. So to find out their latest price, I just walked off. Then, the salesman followed me and reduced the price from 1500 to 1000, then from 1000 to 800, then on and on to 500, and then finally to 200! Shocking! From 1500 to 200? Still, I did not buy.  I knew the actual price now.

Then I went to another shop, and chose a similar belt I had already seen in the previous shop. Interestingly, the same scene was repeated. The salesman kept speaking and speaking and speaking. The same act he showed me to prove it was genuine leather. After spending considerable time, I felt within myself that I should just conclude it. When I asked for the last price, he said the same price as on the price tag, Rs. 1500 for one, and Rs. 1000 for another without a buckle. Since I already knew the last price from the other salesman who tried to sell to me, I simply quoted Rs. 200 for the one without a buckle and Rs. 300 for the one with a buckle. I quoted the price, a total of Rs. 500, and after a few exchanges of words and bargaining, he agreed. And I got the two belts for Rs. 500, which actually was quoted for Rs. 2500. What a surprise bargain! This was a complete surprise to me. Incredible India indeed. 

Later in the evening, two sisters from Korea and a local sister with her son visited me. They came very late, and when they did show up, one sister could not communicate in English at all. And another sister was completely in her own "feminist mindset." While treating dinner, I had to speak a word about the role, function, and position of a sister in the Bible. I was completely shocked by her attitude of not even accepting the Bible, where the sisters' function and position in relation to the brothers were laid down. One of the sisters even dare to quote from an extra-biblical text concerning Magdalene, which I sternly rejected as not from the word of the Bible.

These two incidents in one day were truly surprising experiences for me. Nevertheless, I learn something new...