The Lord's Shepherding

Psalms 23:1

Jehovah is my Shepherd; I will lack nothing. 

The Lord has been my good Shepherd indeed. He has been shepherding me since time immemorial. Be it when I was single, when I got married, when I became a father, and now even as a father of three children, wherever I was, wherever I am, the Lord is still my good Shepherd. Even the past few weeks as my family had gone to visit our family in Taiwan, the Lord's shepherding still followed us through.

This time especially, the Lord's Shepherding was very practical and real. It can be easily gauged and quantified. Before we took off from New Delhi, the flight delay gave us a pass to enjoy a family buffet meal at a restaurant in the airport. I hardly took my family for a treat and I just got one for free for all.

When we visited Hong Kong on our transit, the brothers shepherded us so well. They took us to places and supplied us richly, much to the satisfaction and enjoyment of my children especially. I personally would not be able to do such to my family, but the Lord knows how to shepherd all of us. 

In Taiwan, wherever we went, whomever we met, the Lord's Shepherding hand followed us all through. Besides the spiritual supply, the Lord supplied us richly through many saints in the form of gifts and offerings. Ranging from food items to clothing, from toys to books, the Lord's love and care was so sweet and cherishing.

The gifts and offerings were so abundant that my wife had to work on it quite a while, packing them to bring them back to India. To me, the physical things were immaterial. What matters to me most was the Lord's presence, His blessings and shepherding. All these gifts and offerings were all from the Lord, they were His blessing us and shepherding us in practical way.

Every time, when the supply came, I told my children to pray and thank the Lord for His shepherding. And I also joined with them in thanksgiving. Praise the Lord for He is the wonderful Shepherd!

Psalms 23:6Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of Jehovah for the length of my days.  

Besides all the gifts, the love of the saints in sweet fellowship over lovefeast was beyond mention. I could not keep count how many. The physical food too were so rich, I found it hard to resist the taste of Taiwanese palate; we simply enjoyed the saints' love to the brim.

Above all, I was glad that my children could learn to experience the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who is real and living. On many occasions, my children would pray for "weather control" as we were scheduled for outings at various theme parks. The season being rainy, unstable, and unpredictable, weather control was definitely a must. Only God could do that, and we could only pray to Him. That's what we did. The outdoor parks need a fine weather without rain. In three occasions, the Lord controlled the rain as my children prayed, so that it did not hinder their enjoyment of the facilities, and rain came only when we were indoor for lunch, after which, it stoped for the enjoyment to continue. I took those experiences to let my children know that God does care and answers the simple and pure prayer as theirs. This, I did to inculcate and develop the faith in Christ in them. The Lord indeed shepherded us so well; inwardly and outwardly, spiritually and physically too. Praise the Lord, our good and wonderful Shepherd!

A Glorious Gospel Meeting

It was my last day in Taipei during our three weeks family visit. It came to my notice in one of the church meetings that there would be a big gospel meeting which used to be held twice a year and that testimonies would be shared by business men from China who loved the Lord dearly amidst their busy schedules. And it was for this gospel meeting that the saints had been preparing and praying for. I was graced to be able attend this meeting on my last day in Taipei. My mom, in-law but in the Lord, and I attended the meeting. In fact, we also enjoyed the lovefeast hosted by the church, Hall 6, prior to the meeting. 

Saints' Prayer and Coordination 

About one thousand people gathered at Xinyi building basement auditorium. Eighty percent of them were saints in the church life, and the other twenty percent were gospel friends. It was a good percentage. Thirty minutes before the scheduled time, saints started praying and singing gospel hymns. The ambience of the meeting was high in spirit and I could easily sense the move of the Spirit. Another very impressive point was the coordination among the saints. Each group of saints were taking care of their own new ones so effectively, I believe all the new ones were taken care.

Saints' Testimonies

In two groups of seven and five saints respectively, there were sharing of testimonies from mainland China. These ones were business men of various background; some from Buddhism, some from Christianity, and some were simply unbelievers. All of them had one thing in common; they were not satisfied in their lives despite earning enough worldly riches. Each one of them also testified that they were running after money, worldly success and entertainment, and ultimately ended up in emptiness. Some even went to the extend of extreme gambling, drinking, smuggling; two of them met with fatal car accident and miraculously survived to be saved by the Lord Jesus later; two of them were researching on Buddhism to find the meaning of life and sought for God, but to no avail; and all of them, after being saved, decided to join the middle age training in Taiwan. That's how they could testify during the gospel meeting. 

Short, Simple, and Strong Gospel Message

After the two groups gave testimonies, two brothers shared a heart touching gospel message based on their testimonies. The gospel message first was on "Anxiety" and then on "Consider Your Ways." A handout with two gospel hymns and two short messages with  outlines and Bible verses were handed to all attendees. Each gospel message ended with the call for coming to the Lord Jesus Christ to believe and receive Him as their Saviour, and an out-loud calling on the name of the Lord, "O Chu Yesu! O Chu Yesu!" 

Calling to Come to the Lord and Baptism

After the gospel messages, a brother ministered the truth concerning baptism, followed by another brother calling out for those who would be willing to receive the Lord and take baptism. A stage full of gospel friends whom the Lord touched came up with an astounding homecoming welcome from the saints. This finally was followed by baptisms of those who believed and decided to get baptised. The entire meeting lasted for barely an hour and a half. As I also witnessed the baptisms, I was very impressed by the well preparedness of the saints. There was a counter for a record of those who believed and got baptised; and there was also a baptism kit counter where full-sleeve shirts and long pants, head cover, sandal, towel, hairdryers and comb were placed neatly in order. No wonder, the Lord blessed the gospel meeting. In fact, God has to bless such prayer, preparedness, and coordination of the saints.

Later, I was informed that out of the many who accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, seventeen of them also took baptism. I was so impressed by the entire arrangement of the gospel meeting. To me, it was indeed a glorious gospel meeting. What I have seen and learned, I must now carry it out wherever the Lord has placed me in His service. That my service to Him may also witness a glorious gospel meeting; not once, not twice, nor thrice only, but again and again, throughout my entire lifetime. For 1 Timothy 2:4 says, God desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth. 

Indian Connection

Throughout the past decades, many brothers and sisters from Taiwan have had served in India for a couple of years and gone back. With many of them I have had the grace to coordinate and serve together. This time, when we visited Taiwan, we got to fellowship with whoever were available during our sojourn. Be it in Taipei, or in Tainan, or in Hsinchu, the saints who used to serve in India continue to serve with the same vitality. To my observation, they seem to be more functioning and useful in the Lord’s move. Praise the Lord for such serving ones from whom I can learn.

While with them at different localities, I had a time of fellowship with them about my experiences, the Lord's move and blessings in India, the Lord's work through the literature service, the testimonies of propagation, and also fellowship about the saints whom the brothers wanted to learn about. I have a very good feeling about these brothers. I believe their experiences in India were a good perfecting training the Lord had done on them, as much as it does to me too. I always consider my serving the Lord in India, especially in the literature service and in the church in Gurugram, as a perennial live training class. I believe the brothers who used to serve and who are serving in India will agree with me and testify of the same. India, indeed, is a good training ground for serving the Lord.

One evening, there was meeting at Hall 5 of the church in Taipei, where a lovefeast was specially held for the outgoing and incoming brothers, both happened to serve in India before. And there I was with my family, from India too, attending the same meeting. What a coincidence! Or, perhaps, the Lord’s sovereignty? Though translation was provided as the meeting was in Chinese, I could hardly grasp what were all shared, but what I do learned and confirmed was, the Lord has blessed the outgoing brother in his service in this hall as many saints have openly testified. I worshiped the Lord for such testimonies. Inwardly, I felt very happy that brother had been perfected while serving in India and truly had brought back the blessings to where he served. I do believe, the same will be with the incoming brother who would serve in the same locality.

Similarly, I also met with another brother who testified to me of his service in Taipei; he is as aggressive in Taipei as he was in India. I am deeply impressed by his heart and attitude in serving the Lord. The same goes with another brother who used to serve in the training center in India and now serving the training center in Taipei. As we enjoyed a lovefeast together and fellowshipped, his constitution of the truth and maturity in life impressed me a lot. One thing I learned was the need for me to be more reconciled to God in the second step reconciliation, from the holy place to the holy of holies. The same brother, with much exercise of his spirit, with a strong spirit, ministered the truth concerning baptism in a large gospel meeting and many believed into the Lord and got baptised.

I really felt blessed to be able to coordinate, or, at least, serve together at some point of time while they were in India. This "Indian connection," not in a natural way, but because of the Lord's sovereignty, is indeed a blessing in disguise, especially to me. Praise the Lord!

Though there are a few more who meant very much to me, I could not meet all of them due to lack of time and space. Nevertheless, I believe they all are continuing to serve with much blessings from the Lord. In time, one day I will get to meet them too and fellowship on all what the Lord has done and blessed. And continue to enjoy this "Indian connection." 

Forebearance: My Birthday Gift

Time and tide waits for none, so my aging too. Though I prefer to stay young I cannot go against time, and now I have come of age, and join the "forty club." Sometimes, I really hate to see myself aging, and I always feel young except for my age. I have no choice, but face the reality; I am a father of three children now with a double score years young on the longest day of the year, a solar solstice, the 21st of June. 

Since my twenty first birthday I never celebrated my physical birthday, nor do I want anybody to wish me as such, though I do treasure my spiritual birthday on which I was born anew at the age of nineteen. This time when I physically turned forty, I simply reconsecrated my life to the Lord again. On that day, the Lord gave me a special message: Forbearance. It also was the very virtue I needed at the moment as I am considering to deal with some serving ones and some saints whom the Lord has been gracing me to shepherd. The Lord's gift of His speaking is very timely. The message is here: 

FORBEARANCE

Philippians 4:5

Let your forbearance be known to all men. The Lord is near. 

What is Forbearance?

Forbearance is reasonableness, considerateness, and consideration in dealing with others, without being strict in claiming one’s legal rights; forbearance means that we are easily satisfied, even with less than our due. According to Christian experience, forbearance is all-inclusive, for it includes all Christian virtues.

What Comprises Forbearance?

Forbearance includes love, patience, kindness, humility, compassion, considerateness, and submissiveness, a willingness to yield; if we have such an all-inclusive virtue, we shall also have righteousness and holiness. Forbearance also includes self-control, moderation, gentleness, understanding, sympathy, wisdom, mercy, peacefulness, looking to the Lord, and even the virtue of admitting that the Lord is sovereign in all things.

The Virtues of a Forbearing Person

A forbearing person is one who always fits in, whose behavior is always suitable (cf. 2 Cor. 6:1a; 10:1; Phil. 1:19; Isa.11:2). If we are forbearing, we shall have the wisdom and the ability to supply others with what they need; we shall also have the full knowledge of what to say to them and when to say it (50:4-5; Col. 1:28). To be forbearing is to consider how others will be affected by what we do or say (2 Chron. 1:10).

Christ is Forbearance

As an all-inclusive virtue, forbearance is Christ Himself; since Christ is forbearance, for Paul to live was forbearance (Phil. 1:21a).

To Live Christ is to be Forbearing

To let our forbearance be known to all men is to let the Christ whom we live and magnify, whom we take as our pattern and pursue as our goal, be known to all men. Only the Lord Jesus lived a life full of forbearance, and only Christ can be our perfect forbearance today. To make known our forbearance is to live a life that expresses Christ as the totality of all human virtues. Immediately after speaking about forbearance, Paul says that the Lord is near.

The Lord is Near

With respect to space, the Lord is near us, ready to help; with regard to time, the Lord is at hand, coming soon (cf. Rom. 10:8-13). The Lord’s being near refers primarily to His presence with us (Matt.1:23).

Excerpt from The Crystallization-Study of Leviticus, Message 10, Outline II, 3.

A Brother's Special Fellowship

An elderly and matured brother who came to India four years ago had gone back to Taiwan last  week. The previous week he had fellowshipped with us some very precious points which are presented below according to my understanding. I was blessed to join the fellowship, because I took leave as I was not sure I could join the fellowship online as I was on the move. But the Lord sovereignly arranged a situation so that I could join and receive the precious fellowship. 

His fellowship(Br. Jk):

I was quite joyful to be in India, coordinating with all the brothers. I treasure the last four years in such a coordination, and all the experiences made quite an impact on me. I treasure more, all the saints in India, and that we can continue to move forward in one accord. I feel the key to the work in India is the one accord among the coworkers. If they can be so in one accord, it can bring the Lord's further blessing in India. Every week we need to treasure the Wednesday fellowship. Every week in this fellowship, we have three crucial items:

1. The Ministry Speaking

Through the speaking of the ministry, we can strengthen the burden from the ministry. The brothers may take the lead to enter into the ministry, and be constituted with the ministry. God's word is His move. His recent speaking is concerning the one new man - the goal of the Lord's recovery. The Lord's speaking is the Lord's up-to-date move. As coworkers, our main responsibility is to enter into His up-to-date speaking, so that we can bring the saints into the same one accord. 

2. Service Fellowship 

Service fellowship in each area speaks forth that our service is in the one Body. Although we are serving in different localities, we are all in the one flow. Through fellowship, we can pray and encourage one another, especially in the matter of the God Ordained Way; it is God's way to carry out His New Testament economy. Without this, the vision we have seen cannot be practically carried out. Not only we consider BNPB(Begetting, Nourishing, Perfecting, Building), but also PSRP(Pray-reading, Studying, Reciting, Prophesying). We enter into the truths so that the truths can be spread through us. Not only must we reach the peak of the high peak truth, but also the peak of propagation. These two are not separate things. These are the ways to spread the truths of the Lord's recovery to many other places. So, never separate the practice of the God Ordained Way from the high peak truth, because the intrinsic significance of the God Ordained Way is the high peak truth. Without the enjoyment of the Lord's up-to-date speaking, only practices are not what brother Lee wants. The enjoyment of the Lord's up-to-date speaking and the practice of the God-ordained way is the only way to carry out God's New Testament economy.

3. The Direction of Our Fellowship 

The direction of our fellowship is that we must raise up our next generation. This is why we have to fellowship on such item every week. There is a burden to raise up the next generation to enter into the Lord's speaking, live a God-man living, and to practice the God-ordained way. These are the three aspects of the new revival which will bring in the Lord's return. In our perfecting the next generation, we need to have a goal; to enter into the Lord's speaking, live a God-man living, and to practice the God-ordained way.

As coworkers, we need to be patterns in these three aspects: To be a pattern in labouring on the Lord's speaking, to be a pattern in labouring on the practice of the God-ordained way, and to be a pattern in perfecting the next generation.

Our Functions in Different Areas of Services

As we are serving in different areas, what must be our main function? We should learn to propagate, and also to perfect. We are not here to replace the functions of others. Wherever we are, there should be the continual increase of saints, districts, and testimonies in new cities. At the same time, we also need to learn to perfect others, especially, the younger ones. Wherever we are, we should emphasise these two matters:

1. Propagation

2. Perfecting the younger ones

Our Learning

Concerning our learning, we need to be persons with proper learning attitude, not being content with our situation now. The Lord's recovery is called the Lord's recovery because it is advancing. We should seek advancement in three matters:

1. Constitution of the Truth: Learn to preach and speak the high peak truth.

2. Growth in Our Divine Life: Pursue the growth in the divine life, especially, in the matter of coordination among the coworkers. All the spiritual experiences are finally for the building of God. In our coordination, our self, flesh, etc., will be dealt with.

3. Capacity of Our Service: We should all seek a definite breakthrough in our practice of the God-ordained way, and in our specific services. We all should be experts wherever we serve, whatever we serve. Experts are those who continually seek advancement and practice.

Be Humble to Learn

We all should be humble to learn from others, and from our elders and the more experienced ones, from our companions, and even from those who are younger than us. This depends on our attitude; the more we are humble and empty, the more we can receive. Even brother Lee at the age of ninety said that he was still learning. We should always be poor, empty, and unloaded in spirit.

Having a Definite Goal 

Wherever we are serving, we should open a new horizon. We should have a goal. A service without a goal will never advance. Brother Lee, in his service, has three beliefs:

1. Planning

2. Prayer, and 

3. God's blessings

So we all should set up a goal, a plan, and seek how to advance. Besides these, we also need to pray to seek His further blessing. For annual increase, we should have a goal; the increase rate for this year, number of baptisms, etc. Then our church life will be advancing

In the service of our entire country I feel there are two important aspects:

1. Perfect More Pillars: 

We should perfect more pillars. We should treasure the semi-annual trainings in India - the two times Serving Ones Training. This is an opportunity for more saints to be perfected, to enter into the Lord's present speaking, His present move, and that the saints can all be blended into one. We should encourage the saints and the serving ones to seize the opportunity to attend all these trainings. So we should also set up the goal for the attendance of Serving Ones Training. Through this, many can be perfected. 

The same goes for the semi-annual trainings for the full time serving ones. We hope that many more full timers and coworkers can be added and perfected. After the training for the full time serving ones, the training is not finished. We need to bring the burden to the responsible brothers' meeting, and then to every locality, we need to continue to fellowship these burdens, until it penetrates the entire Body. If we have different aspects of the perfecting trainings and goals in different localities, then it will be difficult to have the one testimony and one flow and one work.

So we must pay attention to the semi-annual Serving Ones Training and Full Time Serving Ones Training. This can produce the same burden to raise up the same testimony to bring the Lord's blessing.

Concerning the Chennai Land: 

All the brothers must be in one accord. This will be an important breakthrough in the work in this country. This is an important step to bring all the churches and saints into the one accord and one flow. Also, all the churches will experience a spiritual breakthrough: To offer up themselves and pour out what they have, so that the Lord can do a greater work. This can bring an unprecedented blessing from the Lord. We believe, after the construction of the blending center, the Lord will have a further blessing. More saints will be perfected and blended. Even the testimony of the Lord will be stronger; now we may have a 1, 000, but then we will have 10,000s. We must pray for this burden. May the Lord's latter glory far surpass the former glory.

Although I will return to Taiwan, I have the burden to come back to see you again. I will also bring more saints from Taiwan to blend with you all, and vice-versa. I hope to be such a spiritual bridge.

May we all advance in the one flow.

His message ended. Then we prayed for our brother JK, and the following week after this fellowship, in the Wednesday's fellowship, we prayed for him and for his service in the Body again as he returned back to Taiwan from India. 

Praise the Lord for such a brother as our pattern and from whom we can learn! May the Lord continue to bless his service in the Body, wherever he serves, whatever he serves.

Sweet Hours of Prayer

At least once in a week I have decided to spend time in fasting and prayer to enjoy a specific time with the Lord. The Lord has been gracing me to spend such specific time of interceding. While here in Taipei too, the Lord graced me to enjoy such sweet hours of prayer.

Each time when I went to pray, the first one hour was a time of interceding for all the dear and near ones, more of my family related prayer burdens. This time my heart was fully crying out to the Lord for my brother in law, that he would be recovered back to the church life, that he and his wife would love the Lord and the saints, and become useful vessels for the building up of the Body of Christ. This burden was also in line with our visit to his family in Tainan. 

When I finished releasing my family related burdens, the Lord led me to specifically pray for a sister who was attacked by the enemy with the facts of the past. She has been struggling to forgive another sister whom she was not in good terms with. The second hours was fully an intercessory prayer for her recovery from the wounds of the past, by taking Christ as her grace and her forgiveness and love. Besides texting her of Bible verses, I called her on Skype for fellowship. She opened up all her heart, pouring out all the bitterness she had within. I simply encouraged her to turn to the Lord for restitution with the said sister once and for all, and take Christ's love and forgiveness as her won. We then prayed together over the phone, though there were interruptions in between due to phone network problems. An hour was spent shepherding a saint in specific need at a crucial time when she, out of bitterness, decided to be frank and keep away from the church meeting to avoid pretending. A timely medicine was needed to apply in such serious situation, so I did. 

The other hour was on the usual burden the Lord has been burdening me to pray for, ranging from praying for the world leaders, Indian political leaders, famous personalities that impacts the societies including celebrity in the silver screen industry, sports personnel, and entrepreneurs. Theses burdens are also clubbed with the local burdens of families and new ones in my locality and in the North East. 

One new burden the Lord gave me to pray is for the salvation of a Muslim cleric who is an excellent preacher and a theologian in multi religious faith, mostly of Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity. He is Dr. ZN. I am blessed to pray for his salvation. May the Lord Jesus Christ, the true and living God, be his Saviour subjectively one day. 

In all my prayer, the Lord taught me, I am not fighting a spiritual battle, for the battle was already won at the cross by the Lord Jesus Christ. My responsibility is simply to declare that Christ indeed is the Victor and Jesus is the Lord! 

Similar time of prayer I was able to enjoy the following week. Burdens after burdens were released in a span of three hours. This time, the Lord gave me new burden to pray for Bhutan and Tibet for the spread of the gospel truth and the high peak truths of the ministry of the age for the Lord's testimony all over these two religious lands of Buddhism. In the Lord’s timing, He will send me to preach the gospel and teach the truth.

Another matter the Lord confirmed with me in my prayer was to genuinely receive my elder sister's daughter as my own daughter, and my step mother and brother as my own mother and brother. He also confirmed to me of being a shepherd for those that I have been burdened to pray for and shepherd. The list includes the church in Gurugram, the church in Shillong, the Rongmeis who are yet to be evangelised, my family members for which I even created a WhatsApp "Our Family" group, and my official responsibility of the gospel book room in India. I am graced and blessed to receive such prayer burdens from the Lord. The grace of the Lord increases as the burdens increases. To pray all these prayer burden, three hours is a good time.

Praise the Lord for such sweet hours of prayer! And the grace of the Lord be upon me to continue to enjoy such sweet hours of prayer all the days of my life. 

Silence, the Best Answer

Sometimes, silence is the best answer. When there is no clarity nor enlightenment from the Lord concerning a matter that needs my intervention but I have no clear cut leading from the Lord, the best reply is, no reply at all. Simply be silent. Silence is the best answer. 

Recently, in my official service involving four serving ones at three different times and for different matters, tricky matters were brought to me. After they had done what all they could, they referred the matter to me to take the final call. These situations put me in a spot. I had nothing to reply back. I simply considered the matters before the Lord. And since I did not have any specific leading from the Lord, my best reply was not to reply at all, and just be silent. In fact till date, I have no answer and did not reply yet. Silence, is my answer.

Each of these servings ones have to do with their character in the way they carry out their official duties. Basically, it was a case of coordination. Since the coordination could not happen as each one expected, issues were raised. When the balls were passed to my court I realised that I need to tread it carefully. Any reaction from me must be something that shepherds and perfects them in their service. Only the Lord knows how to shepherd these ones. Since the Lord did not lead me specifically, I dared not react even though I have the official position and authority to do so. Such official authority I would exercise only when needed and in the Lord's peaceful leading. I am afraid to assume any authority even if I have the right to. I would rather turn all authority back to the Lord. 

Another matter passed to me in the church in my locality was to negotiate with our meeting hall owner of possible sharing of expenses as we plan to upgrade the hall by renovating it. In that case too, I did not have the peace to go ahead, so the case is still in silent mode. I was told that a brother presented the same case to the owner and his reaction was not positive nor peaceful. Even in this case, I still remain silent.

Sometimes, silence is the best answer.