Divine Discernment

Ephesians 4:

12 For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ,

13 Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

14 That we may be no longer little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error,

Today's Christianity with all its attempt to evangelize by all means seems to have a side effect. With the rampant multiplication of Christian ministries, only God knows who are genuinely of Him, many winds of teachings have polluted the Christian atmosphere. Even a new believer is surprised to see the unorthodox division in the Body of Christ, yet all divisions are serpentine in nature and subtly uses Bible verses quoted out of context or misaimed to meet one's personal and hidden ambition of being someone in the so called ministry of God.

A brother messaged me a clarification on the authenticity of the so called "prosperity gospel" so prevailing among Christianity today, especially on TV programs. That was a question to  be handled with care, lest I myself fall into the subtle trap of the enemy and turn out to be an accuser of the brothers, which was reserved for the devil. My simple and humble reply was such:

Though we are nobody to judge anybody, we must exercise our spirit to discern in the light of the word of God, of what is according to the Bible concerning God's word among men on earth today.

Any teaching that is not "For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ," as in Ephesians 4:12, is not healthy; it may not be wrong, perhaps, may be biblical and even spiritual, yet if they do not build up the Body of Christ, we ought to be careful.

Today there are thousands of preachers, teachers, minister and ministries, sorry to say, many of them missed the mark of God's economy. We do not condemn them nor do we condone them. We only look to the Lord for more grace that we be preserved pure and wholly for His divine purpose of building up of the church, the Body of Christ, the one New Man, that satisfies the Lord and bring the Him back to consummate this age.

That's why brother, we must be men of prayer, equipped with the healthy teaching of the Word of God and practice the fellowship in the church-life to build up one another for the Lord's testimony and build up the Body of Christ.

The Lord be your discernment. Amen

Considering before the Lord in prayer, I felt the need for more believers to be equipped in the word of God by loving the Lord and pursuing the word "That we may be no longer little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error," and "we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

Lord, reconstitute us with the purity of Your Word, and grant us Your divine discernment that we be one with You for Your divine purpose on this earth.

Faithful Steward

Matthew 24:45

Who then is the faithful and prudent slave,whom the master has set over his household to give them food at the proper time?

This verse is one of my favorites, and I even made a framed poster fixed on the wall of my house entrance door. Though to be a faithful and prudent slave has been my burden and prayer, only time and trial will test if I have become such a one. In a very practical sense, the greatest test is in handling "mammon," yes even money.

The Lord is the faithful One to train me to be faithful and gave me opportunities to learn and learn. Praise the Lord!

There is a brother who used to transfer money to my account, not just few but quite an amount, not just once but a couple of times now. Every time the transaction was brought to my notice I would bring the matter before the Lord that I may be found faithful in dispensing this offering to the ones in the Lord's heart. The transfers has been frequent thus far. And it was a good spiritual exercise for me to go to the Lord in prayer and discern to whom and how much the offerings have to be further transferred. I can testify as before God, that He led me in a very fine and detail way, to whom and how much and when to transfer. It was a wonderful experience of learning to be faithful and prudent slave.

I remember a word from a brother that enlightened me to say, "one who is faithful in money matter is faithful in many matters." This has been proven to be true, at least in my little knowledge and experience of life with different people. For all material things can be quantified into a liquid cash. And money does rules those who are not ruled by the Lord, as the Lord Jesus rightly said that a man cannot serve two masters, God or mammon.

The last transfer was particularly worth a remembrance as the Lord directed me in a very exact and timely manner within a couple of days' time, to whom and how much to transfer. Case by case I was notified of the real situation of certain families who were genuinely and urgently in need. The need were: for a sister who was down with a deathly dengue disease, a family who could not manage to care for their child's vaccination, a family who went through job loss and sever sickness and was hospitalised, a family who laboured and struggled to make a living yet serve the Lord, a family who wanted to serve the Lord full time and yet went through a financial disaster, a gospel preaching work in Nepal and the need of the literature service for the propagation of the ministry of the word. 

Discerning each case was a real experience of the Lord's definite leading step by step. By the Lord's mercy, may I be found a faithful steward. All is from the Lord and the channel must also be one with the Lord. 

Lord, make me Your faithful and prudent steward, to give food, both spiritual and physical, at the proper time; nourishing and cherishing Your children.

Five Brothers

The ministry of the word is prevailing amidst many different teachings available in the Christian market. Food is generic and can be found everywhere, but healthy food? Only genuine seekers and lovers of the Lord can discern what is healthy and where to find them. 

A brother came across our books in one of the Christian bookstores in Lucknow and introduced it to his co-brothers. One of them visited us in Gurgaon and purchased a box full of the ministry books. Two weeks ago, there was an urgent need for me to visit a brother's family in Kanpur and meanwhile I called the former brother if they would be interested to get more books as we have the stock already in town. To my surprise, he said they had been planning to visit us in Gurgaon and that since I would be visiting Kanpur a mini-conference fellowship was arranged.

As usual after specifically praying for this meeting I went for the conference with a brother, not knowing what to speak, but my being was fully open to the Lord for His flowing and speaking. When we arrived the venue, there were five brothers waiting for us. All of these brothers are "pastors" as the Christian world would call them, but I recognized them as my fellow brothers in Christ and addressed them as such, as it should properly be.

At the very onset of introduction, one of them caught my attention, who was a PhD in Divinity. I asked what was his thesis for his doctorate program, to which he aptly replied, "Holy Spirit." Then an impromptu fellowship began as the Lord led me to speak on "the Holy Spirit". For about four hours, I fellowshipped on the line of the Spirit's work from creation in Genesis to its consummation in Revelation, covering every detail points and important Bible verses on the Spirit. 

The entire fellowship was centered on the Holy Spirit and His works in man;s history until today. The Spirit of God in creation, in God's relationship with man as the Spirit of Jehovah, in sanctifying His people as the Spirit of holiness in the Old Testament, and further on to the Holy Spirit in God's incarnation as Jesus Christ, the Spirit of Jesus in His humanity, the Spirit of Christ in His divinity, the Spirit of Jesus Christ in His all-inclusiveness, the Lord Spirit in His lordship and glorification, the life-giving Spirit in His resurrection to dispense God's divine life to His believers, the Spirit as the processed and consummated God, and the seven-fold intensified Spirit to produce the overcomers today in this last days.  The Lord's speaking was so rich and supplied all of us. Our fellowship was the ministry of the word, and brothers have enquired for further fellowship and training. The will of the Lord be done for these brothers and the thousand plus believers with them in Kanpur.

What a blessed trip it was! On the one hand I had discharged my official duty for the literature distribution and introducing the ministry of the word to fellow Christian brothers, yet on the other hand, I had a time of fellowship with a brother most of the remaining time in mutual care, concern and shepherding.

Praise the Lord for the five brothers! May He bless them richly with His word and recover them into the subjective and practical reality of the word of God.  

Jesus, My Good Shepherd

Jeremiah 9:1   

Oh that my head were waters,

And my eye a fountain of tears,

That I might weep day and night

For the slain of the daughter of my people!

These days the Lord has deeply been working on me. Often times, His hand is hard and heavy, yet His supply of grace is more than sufficient. And indeed His yokes are light and easy to bear, for actually He is the One who bears it all for me. 

Reports and news and observations of whats happening around me, both in the spiritual and physical world, are heartbreaking. The worldly affair I do not care too much, but what's going on among the saints in the churches, among the believers in general and seekers in particular, and especially whom the Lord burdened me to care for with anxious concern are real-life test to me; perhaps, of my genuineness in my love, care and concern and how I shepherd them. The Lord has been training and perfecting me, teaching me lessons after lessons. Praise the Lord!

The last few days, I have been burdened with certain situation happening among those I am burdened for. I received messages and phone call that really put me into a spot. My heart was really heavy bearing all these news, whether good or bad, they are all for good as sovereignly arranged by the God of arrangement. 

Today afternoon, I received yet another message of a change of a matter that was already agreed and decided few months ago. And clubbed with few other things in my official duty and personal life, I was so filled with burdens to chalk things out, yet I knew for sure I cannot do it myself. The only place of solace I know so far, and the best one indeed, is to come before the Lord's presence in prayer and pour everything out to Him. So I sanctified two slots of prayer time to spend solid hours in prayer.

I really could experience what prophet Jeremiah wrote concern the people of God, Israel:

Oh that my head were waters,

And my eye a fountain of tears,

That I might weep day and night

For the slain of the daughter of my people!

It was for the burden of the Lord's children that I could pour out my prayers to the Lord. I consider this as a blessing. Even as I poured my burdens out to the Lord, item by item, the Lord comforted and shepherded me that all is well as it is He who is in control; He is still on the throne. No matter what happen, no matter how people may change and what they turn out to be, the Lord is still on the throne. He is still the Lord and the Head of the Body of Christ. As He was, and is, He will still be...

Furthermore, He encouraged me with promises of His blessings upon and through me. O what a release to fully open to the Lord and be released!

To Him I went with head hung in shame and heavily burdened; after the sweet hours of prayer, my head was held high, all shame shattered and burdens lifted. What a release! What a joy! What a grace! What a blessing! Hallelujah!

Jesus is my good Shepherd! He shepherds me to shepherd others according to Him. For this very reason He is gracing me to go through experiences after experiences, all in the line of shepherding, and by His grace, I am learning to be shepherd like Him. O that I may learn it so well! And may turn the weeping of Jeremiah into praising in joy.

Oh that my head were waters,And my eye a fountain of tears,That I might praise day and night with tears of joy

And flow forth fountain of living waters, 

For the recovered of the daughter of my people!

Blessing: Unless Jehovah

Psalms 127:1 Unless Jehovah builds the house, Those who build it labor in vain. Unless Jehovah keeps the city, The guard watches in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise up early, To lie down late, To eat the bread of toil; All the same, He gives to His beloved while they sleep.

Jehovah God is the unique Blessing in the universe. Apart from Him there is no blessing. For He is the Blessing. All who needs blessings must come to the Blessing, and receive Him as the Blessing.

The Lord's direct speaking to me as I have been considering about the Lord's blessing in my life or family or church life or official service, is that "Unless Jehovah Blesses" there can be no blessing at all, no matter however much I labor or whatever way I take. Only Jehovah God is the Blessing, if He blesses, only then I will be blessed and we will be blessed.

Footnotes from the Recovery Version of the Bible impressed me a lot:

Unless the Lord builds the church as God's house (Matt. 16:18), those who build it (1 Cor. 3;10-12; Eph. 4:11-12, 16) labor in vain. Unless the Lord keeps the city, i.e., keeps the church as the kingdom (Matt. 16:18-19; Rom. 14:17), those who guard the church (Acts 20:28-31) watch in vain.

If  the Lord does not do anything for us, whatever we do will be in vain. We need to labor in the Lord and by His grace (1 Cor. 15:10, 58; Col.1:28-29), but what the result will be depends not on our labor but on God's care and blessing. Instead of toiling and striving in ourselves, we need to trust in Him and rest in Him, for He gives to His beloved even while they sleep.

Increase does not depend on what we do; it depends on how much God gives. Both the care and the blessing come from Him.

The speaking of the Lord through the study of the Word gave me much comfort and I was shepherded. Everyone needs blessings, and I do. In all that I do, I need the Lord's blessings, for without the Lord's blessings, I am laboring in vain.

In my life and in all my labor I need the Lord's blessings. So my prayer has always been, 

Lord, Thou art the Blessing,Do Thou bless me,With Thyself as the Blessing.Make my vessel proper;To command Thy blessings,To contain Thy blessings,To multiply Thy blessings.I need Thee Lord Jesus Christ!Thou art the Blessing!

A Dream : A Hole in Wall

Rarely do I have dreams, and even when I do, they were just dreams, But there were times I do dream of something very significant, which the Spirit through the Word makes it clear upon prayer over it as it was deemed significant.

A week ago, I dreamt of being in a concrete room, well protected from the outside world by the solid wall. But there was one minor issue as I discovered a tiny hole on a corner of a wall, a small hole yet big enough for snake to sneak in. In the dream I saw three snakes trying to sneak it stealthily one by one, but I discovered and was alerted on time, and I killed them all, one by one as they tried to sneak in, with a rock piece crushing their heads asunder. And later tried to mend the hole through the very rock I killed the snakes. Then I woke up. What a dream! It sent a shock wave of adrenaline down my spine.

The interpretation on prayerful analysis is this. The Lord has been keeping me in His grace. Yet, perhaps, due to my negligence or tolerance of some hidden sins, there was a tiny hole into the well built protected wall of my "room." And if this tiny little hole is not mend on time or kept on guard, I am vulnerable to the deadly serpentine attack.  

1 Peter 5:8Be sober; watch. Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking someone to devour.

Notes from the Recovery Version of the Bible:

Sober: To be sober is to have a clear mind of sobriety and self-control that we may know, especially as disclosed in this chapter, God's purpose in disciplining us and His enemy's scheme to destroy us. 

Watch: To watch is to be vigilant as in warfare, as with soldiers on the frontier. Here it refers especially to the suffering believers' being watchful against the anxiety that the enemy brings in while they suffer persecution.

Seeking: Peter here warned the believers who were suffering in persecution. If they would not be humbled under God's mighty hand (v. 6) and cast their anxiety on God (v. 7), they would be devoured by the roaring lion, the devil, their adversary. This teaches us that pride and anxiety make us delicious prey to satisfy the hunger of the roaring lion. In this matter Peter no doubt could not forget the Lord's warning to him regarding the devil's desire (Luke 22:31).

This dream is a wake up call for me to be on the alert all the time and also to warn all the saints to be on the alert, as Satan is seeking whom he could devour. This is a timely warning to me; I need such warning now and then, to keep me on guard and to go on in my Christian life until the end for the Lord's purpose.

Lord, thank you for the dream; a divine loving reminder to be exercised and live and walk in the Spirit all the time.

Sandals

Last week I intended to spend the whole evening in prayer and I did enjoy time with the Lord when I received a message on my smartphone to go for a home meeting. If any believer asked for fellowship I would never say no as I reckon that as the Lord's leading. 

In the home meeting the Lord gave me the word in Luke 15 concerning the famous parable "The Prodigal Son".  As I was ministering the burden of the parable, how God, the Father, loved us unconditionally beyond our imagination, and how He shepherded us in love and tender care even when we were lost in sin. The materials given by the Father to the son touched me so deeply.

Luke 15:22

But the father said to his slaves, Bring out quickly the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.

Footnote from the Recovery version Bible, Sandals: Signifying the power of God's salvation to separate the believers from the dirty earth. Both the ring and the sandals were signs of a free man. The adornment, consisting of the robe on the body, the ring on the hand, and the sandals on the feet, allowed the poor prodigal to match his rich father and qualified him to enter the father's house and feast with the father. God's salvation adorns us with Christ and the Spirit that we may enjoy the riches in His house.

Sandals are put on the foot mostly for two reasons: 

1. to protect the legs from the dirt, thorns and thistle of the sinful world 
2. to give a solid and strong base for standing and walking

These two points were a revelation to me as I ministered the word. I need the Lord as my Sandals to keep me and protect me from the dirt and sins of this sinful world. I cannot protect myself nor can anyone do it for me, but only the Lord as my Sandals can protect, prevent and preserve me from anything of Satan, sin  and the world. So I need to put my Sandals on every day, every moment of my life on this earth.

Besides, only the Lord is my Sandals upon Whom I stand, and in Whom and through Whom I walk the path He laid for me on this earthly journey. Without my Sandals on, I cannot walk nor even stand for long. My Sandals gives me the grace to walk and walk unto the destiny.

That home meeting was truly of the Lord; the guest and the host, we all enjoyed the Lord's ministering through His speaking.

As the Father God has given us Sandals, let us put on Him, Christ as our Sandal, everyday and all the day of our Christian life. Not merely for protection from things negative, but much more for the accomplishment of things positive; living and walking in Christ for the fulfillment of God eternal economy.