A Brother's Prayer

Hosea 6:1 - Come and let us return to Jehovah;For He has torn us, but He will heal us,And He has stricken us, but He will bind us up.Hosea 6:2 - He will enliven us after two days;On the third day He will raise us up,And we will live in His presence.Hosea 6:3 - Therefore let us know, let us pursue knowing Jehovah:His going forth is as sure as the dawn,And He will come to us as the rain,As the late rain which waters the earth.

This morning the Lord blessed me and my brother with His word. A timely speaking of the Lord indeed. This exactly was what my brother needef at the moment. As we pray-read these verses, the Lord's speaking was even more clear. 

I enjoyed and amened my brother's prayer, phrase by phrase, verse by verse:

Come and let us return to Jehovah;

Lord, I return to you. Forgive all my sins; secret sins and hidden sins. Forgive me for leaving the church life, doing my own independent ministry. Lord forgive me.

He sobed. Lord I return to You.

For He has torn us, but He will  heal us,

Yes, You turned me, but You healed me. Thank You Lord Jesus!

And He has stricken us, but He will bind us up.

Yes, You have stricken me, but You bind me up. Amen.

He will enliven us after two days;

On the third day He will raise us up,

And we will live in His presence.

Yes, we will live in Your presence! Lord, preserve me in Your presence.

Therefore let us know, 

Amen, Lord! Let me know...

let us pursue knowing Jehovah:

Yes. Pursue knowing Jehovah! In spending time with You in prayer, in reading the Bible, in pursuing the truth of the ministry, in fellowshipping with the members of Your Body..

His going forth is as sure as the dawn,

Yes, as the dawn. Recover me, let me have a new beginning as the dawn. Yes Lord, new beginning...

And He will come to us as the rain,

Lord, come as the rain. Pour down Your spiritual blessing as the rain.

As the late rain which waters the earth.

Lord, I might have missed the former rain, but You still have the late rain. Yes, late rain for me. Hallelujah! Amen...

As we enjoyed pray-reading the Lord's word, my brother cried out in between in deep repentance. 

The prayer issued in praises to Him with a declaration, "Lord, I love You!" Then we sang a hymn:

O Lord, I love You,

I really love You,Without You life’s really nothing.You are so attracting,And You are so charming;Your riches are unsearchable.Your name’s so dear and sweet,Calling makes one satisfied,Now You are mine and I am Thine, Lord;Joined and mingled with You,God-man incorporation,Foretaste of the New Jerusalem.

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/ns/25

Then, a hymn by brother Howard Higashi:

1Lord, keep my heart always true to You,Never backsliding, always viewing You,A heart that is pure that sees only You,A heart that loves You and treasures only You. 

Your love constrains me to give my all to You.Lord, I can’t help it; my heart is drawn to You.
Oh what a privilege! I give myself to You!I love You, Lord, dearest Lord.I love You! I just love You! 

2Lord, keep my love burning brightly for You,A love never dwindling always hot for You,A love, shining brighter all the way for You,A love, so fresh like the day I first touched You. 

3Lord, take my life, I present it to You!             If I had a thousand, I’d pour all on You!Nothing withholding, my all is for You.My life and my future, dear Lord, is all for You.  

We enjoyed the Lord together in prayer, praising and consecration. Even personally, I freshly enjoyed the depth of the hymn yet with all simplicity. So sweet, and yet so significant. 

In my brother's prayer was my prayer too. Praise the Lord!

     

Learn, Learn and Learn...

He who ceases to learn ceases to grow.

This is my own dictum learned from lessons of life learned in experiences. I have been so convinced and confirmed that I must be opened to learn and learn and learn; be it physical, psychological or even spiritual, I must learn and learn...

As I have been travelling and meeting different people of different tribes, tongues and traditions, there are many things worth learning. As I observed them, the Lord impressed me on certain matters to learn from them. It enlightened me in many aspects of life, and in many cases educated me. Even in the negative things I observed and learned not to repeat history.

Especially in spiritual matters, I have many things to learn; mostly on the negative side, not to be a part of or repeat the fallen and degraded sytem of Christianity. Even the Christian groups that I used to revere so much because of the strong testimonies of the spiritual leaders or founders, after their demises, they seems to have fallen too low to the extent of dividing up into pieces of independent assemblies. Only if the goal of spirituality is known to them in building up the Body of Christ, things would not have turned to be so ugly. Thank God, the Lord saved me from such system. And may the Lord preserve me purely for His Body.

Since yesterday I had a particular time of fellowship with a brother who strayed away from the Body life and ventured into the mire of religious Christianity for thirteen years and shared openly and frankly all the impurity and mixture in the so called "ministry", I learned not to repeat this negative history. However, there is no guarantee in myself that I would not be the same as such workers. I learn to depend on the Lord, trusting Him in His mercy and grace , to be preserved wholly and holy for the Lord's eternal purpose.

Thank God for the many testimonies, positive and negative, to learn from. Only that God continue to grace me to learn and learn and learn...

Not only in spiritual matters, but in physical things too; in the way we were given hospitality, the care and concern, the love and respect we received from different believers, how they manages their household affair, family relationships between husbands and wives, parent and children, education, job and marriages etc. Even in a down to earth things like household set up, office set up, designs and prints, I captured them on my phone camera. Yes, to study and review, or perhaps to improve from what was learned. I am so glad that I have the heart to learn, and much more, I enjoy learning them.

What a blessing to be able to learn and learn and learn.

Lord, keep my heart open to learn from You through all channels You channelled to me. That I may learn and learn and learn. Even, learn till my last breadth. That I may never cease to learn, and never cease to grow.

A Brother's Recovery

James 5:19 - My brothers, if any one among you is led astray from the truth and someone turns him back,

James 5:20 - Let him know that he who turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save that one’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Note on "sinner" from the Holy Bible, Recovery Version.

According to the context of these two verses, this is not an unbelieving sinner but a believing brother who has been led astray from the truth and is turned back from his error to the truth. Hence, the salvation of his soul does not refer to the eternal salvation of the person but to the dispensational salvation of his soul from the suffering of physical death under God’s discipline. James may also have considered all the virtues covered in vv. 7-20 to be aspects of practical Christian perfection.

The Lord has brought us to a brother who has indeed gone astray from the truth for the past thirteen years. Nevertheless, God's mercy never fails. We had no plan to come to him this time as our burden was on the ministry literature. But, due to present circumstances of the church here, though we considered to rescheduled it, the Lord still brought us here; our brother received us warmly.

As we fellowshipped, the Lord made it very clear to us why He brought us here; to recover His chosen ones, especially our brother. Our fellowship was so sweet and joyful as it was indeed the Lord's perfect plan. A couple of months ago he had called already and plans were made for fellowship, however nothing worked. Every attempt was thwarted by the enemy by various attacks. However, prayer and the Lord's mercy never ceases.

As we fellowshipped, brother has opened up all his past failures, his wandering in the wilderness, his experiences with different "Christian ministries and ministers", his experiences even with anti-Christian groups with persecutions, his family and personal health situation, and even how he never felt peace from the Lord for all the so called "Christian works" he has been engaged in all these years. The conclusion of all his experiences was to come back to God's heart's desire for the testimony of Jesus, the building  up of the Body of Christ.

This was confirmed by the Lord's speaking yesterday concerning Ammi and Ruhamah; initially chosen but strayed away to be Lo-ammi and Lo-ruhamah, and finally restored back to be Ammi and Ruhamah: God's people who have obtained compassion from God.

Yesterday whole afternoon, evening and night he confessed and repented of all his past living and ministry apart from the Body, and we also fellowshipped with him concerning the Lord's word, His works and move even in India. And today morning as we walked and prayed, brother released his burden in prayer to be recovered and have a new beginning in Christ, to be fully in and with and for the Body of Christ. What a glorious and joyful moment indeed to experience the joy of the Lord's visitation and witness a brother willingly coming back in fellowship to serve together in the one work of the Lord for the building up of the one Body of Christ!

This morning, in my time with the Lord, the word confirmed what has transpired these days; "My brothers, if any one among you is led astray from the truth and someone turns him back, Let him know that he who turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save that one’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins".

Ammi and Ruhamah

In book of Hosea, Hosea bore children and named them as Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi (1:4, 6, 9) according to God's command as a prophesy concerning the house of Israel. Meaning that they would not obtain compassion from God nor would they be called God's people. But, God promised to restore them back to Himself with the promise of calling them "sons of the living God" (1:10). However, this prophesy and promise is fullfiled in the New Testament.

God indeed fulfilled His word under the victory of His love and will perfect His people making them His sons ultimately. In the New Testament, we the believers are the fullfilment His word. 

Born in sin into the world of sins and destined to die in sin, in time, we were redeemed and made His sons. As such, we have been restored and renamed from being  Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi to Ruhammah and Ammi. Meaning restored from being without God's compassion to God's compassion, from being not God's people to God's people. This indeed is the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ, as the fulfillment of the prophesy in the Old Testament, experienced and enjoyed in the New Testament.

Jehovah's restoration is recorded in the following verses:

Hosea 2:14-16 - Therefore I am now luring her, 

And I will bring her into the  a wilderness

And will  speak to her heart.

And I will give her her vineyards from there

And the valley of Achor as a door of hope;

And she will respond there as in the days of her youth

And as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

And in that day, declares Jehovah,

You will call Me My Husband

And will no longer call Me Baali.

Hosea 2:22 - And the earth will answer the grain

And the new wine and the fresh oil,

And they will answer Jezreel.

Hosea 2:23 - And I will sow her for Myself in the land;

And I will have compassion on Lo-ruhamah,

And I will say to Lo-ammi,  You are My people;

This is what I enjoyed in my time with the Lord this morning, the promised gospel in the Old Testament fulfilled in the New Testament:

Rom. 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the  glory of God,
Rom. 3:24 - Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.

Now, I am Ammi and Ruhamah, God's son having obtained God's compassion, so are all the genuine believers in Jesus Christ!

The Lord's Speaking Again

Not our human plan nor we ever thought about it. But the Lord arranged this morning for us to come to a small town about 17 kms away from Kakinada. This was an impromptu arrangement. To a brother's friend's house, after 18 years meeting again. This was indeed the Lord's sovereign arrangement.

Tonight, we had a wonderful fellowship on Grace: God in Christ as the Spirit for our Christian life for the church life. Beginning with the Spirit in Genesis 1:2, comparing and contrasting with the Spirit in John 7:39. The Spirit in the Old Testament though it was the Spirit of God essentially it could not regenerate man yet, until in the New Testament, He was incarnated, passed through human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and descension, and entered into men, regenerating man making them His many children possessing His divine life and nature to be His expression and representation on the earth as the church, the testimony of Jesus. 

Furthermore we fellowshipped on John 14:16, concerning the promise of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, which was fullfiled, firstly as the inward filling in John 20:22, for a Christian life and living, producing His believers (John 20:17) and secondly as the outward filling in Acts 2:4 for the Christian work for propagation and multiplication, and the issue of such filling in Holy Spirit or baptism of the Holy Spirit is to produce the church His Body, to be His corporate expression and representation as the fullfilment of God's purpose in creating man in Genesis 1:26.

We further fellowshipped on the universal and local aspect of the church, the significance of the church, the divisions caused by Satan, the Lord's heart's desire for His dwelling place, the church, the importance of oneness, and the need for the Lord to recover His testimony as the church standing on the ground of oneness as the testimony of Jesus.

The believers were so impressed by the Lord's speaking again and as we prayed together on our knees, our brother prayed for the testimony of Jesus.

We have discharged our burden, and henceforth, the Lord may continue to speak to them and grace them for the testimony of Jesus here in Samalkot. 

Grace, God in Christ as the Spirit for our experience and enjoyment is for Christ and the church.

LITERATURE JOURNEY: Guntur

In this city our meeting began with a group of pastor seeking to know more of the Bible concerning the church as the Body of Christ. We fellowshipped extensively on the Church as revealed in the Bible and opened the meeting for any clarification. The questions asked were worthy of answers and we used the Bible to answer them all. 

1. What is the meaning of "being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets" in Ephesians 2:20?
2. In 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, there is the manifestation of different gifts. Are these different gifts exercised in different denominations not justifiable for the formation of different denominations?
3. In Galatians 1:6, what is "a different gospel?"

We used the Bible to answer questions on the Bible itself. The footnotes on the Recovery Version helps too, we answered and further expounded the corresponding Bible verses to our heart's content, and they themselves testified their gratitude for the answers.

Meeting with a TV Preacher and an Apologetic, and also a Brother.

Our meeting began with an introduction of who we are and the ministry books, followed by a little testimony on our experiences of Christ as life in our Christian lives, which he appreciated very much. But as to the use of the word "recovery version" for the Bible, he vehemently objected as far as translation or linguistics is concerned, on the ground that it is the same Bible as any other and the truths in the Bible are fully intact as it is in other translation too, with no additional words or phrases or verses that validated the word "recovery".  He suggested to use a different word. Our attempt to answer him was futile as he dubbed it as subjective in experiences rather than objective in the biblical text. Finally, I told him I would communicate in writing after checking with the translators themselves.

He at one time had alerted and warned the believers on TV about "Witness Lee", as generally dubbed for the saints taking and standing on the ground of oneness as a local church, to be aware. His reason for such warning was that we had created a ripple among Christians these days, especially in Andhra Pradesh. To me that was a good news, as the Lord's move has been intensified in India these days.

Then I questioned him on what biblical basis as an Apologetic did he warn the believers in public on TV? I asked further, "Have you read any writings of Witness Lee? Can you point out which title book, chapter, and content that is against the Bible? And can you give any valid and solid Bible verses to proof the accusations?" He had none and said that he needed to study first.

I fellowshipped with him as brother in Christ to be beware of rumours and hearsay without any truth nor authenticity in it. And warned that we will be judged for every word we speak especially accusing our fellow brothers without any truth in it. And further gave testimony to him of the research done by CRI and their conclusion, and also requested him to do a thorough research on our teachings, beliefs and the practices, on which he agreed to personally do it in his time even as I would send him links for his references. 

I also testified of the refutation with a vehement former opposer in Mumbai, and a meeting with an Apologetic in Hyderabad recently, who all ultimately confessed the false accusation and misrepresentation and testified to our orthodoxy to the truths of the Bible. With this meeting his whole attitude toward us changed.

As I requested him to pray, he also requested me to pray. His prayer was so touching as he humbled himself and confessed that he is just a man and God is the supreme Judge and thanked God for this opportunity of open heart and transparent fellowship face to face. He even prayed for us that the Lord may lead us on and on and bless us even as we continue our journey to spread the ministry of word. He also thanked the Lord that we met him and cleared off the air of misunderstanding. I also followed suit in prayer that the Lord may forgive us wherever we might have gone wrong and that He may cause us to grow up to Him unto maturity, and that He may lead all of us in whatever we do, for the building up of the Body of Christ.

He thanked us for the visit and we thanked him too for his time and openess for a face to face talk. With this visit we all felt the Lord's presence and speaking, and were full of peace. 

May the Lord guide us further for the follow up fellowship, and the Lord may, in His multifarious wisdom, use every attack of the enemy for the accomplishment of His eternal economy and for His testimony in India.

Greek on Wheels

Since the very beginning of learning biblical Greek online, it has been my desire to finish exercises well on time before the due date. This time I had to travel for the ministry of the word and decided to finish the lesson due before I started the literature journey. To that extent I requested the serving ones to open the exercise time a week before it's scheduled time. However, many unavoidable works needed my attention so urgently that I had to postpone my Greek until before the due date and not before I started my journey.

Even as I began the literature journey I had to find time whenever possible to study Greek. While travelling in the bus or train or in three wheelers, I had to study and do all the exercises due. I dared not sacrifice my official literature service for Greek, nor Greek for my official duty. Looking to the Lord for more grace I tried my best to do both with the best of my ability. And I believed it was possible. The Lord really did grace me, and I enjoyed a wonderful learning of Greek on the move, Greek on wheels.

Against all odds, of finding time to study and a system to work out the exercises online, it was a trying time indeed. As much as I struggled to find time, my laptop would not cooperate with me either; a technical snag again and again would bother me. Nevertheless, I turned to my smartphone to do the online exercises. Thanks to the phone that is really smart indeed, a well deserved praise for a laptop substitute, only if it were an organic thing possibly personified to acknowledge my gratitude.

This experience was deeply motivated by a couple of things. First, the desire to learn Greek at all cost. Second, the importance of learning Greek for God's economy, as translation of the Recovery Version Bible of the New Testament into Indian languages are so important and the need so urgent. It cannot be delayed or neglected at any cost. Third, the universal dictum, "where there is a will, there indeed is a way", come what may, came alive all the way.

This experience is so marvellous. Greek on wheels...