Guiding Star

Last Thursday I had to minister to the believers in Bhopal over Zoom call as I could not do so for the past three weeks. I was traveling and busy fellowshipping with saints in different localities. Deep within me I felt I should somehow serve the new believers with the living Word of God. Therefore, I compensated all my absences for the past three weeks by volunteering to minister on last Thursday night. 

The Lord gave me the timely word to minister to them, "following the guiding stars absolutely and faithfully". This message came from my reading of the word in Matthew 2. 

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, Saying, Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star at its rising and have come to worship Him.” (Matthew 2:1-2, RecVer)

The magi knew the word of God and followed God's leading through the living star. That's how they ended up in Jerusalem when many of the Jews in Jerusalem who also knew the Scriptures did not bother about the Lord’s birth at all.

“And they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written through the prophet: “And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, by no means are you the least among the princes of Judah; for out of you shall come forth a Ruler, One who will shepherd My people Israel.”” (Matthew 2:5-6, RecVer)

They should have been faithfully following the living star until it led them to Jesus Christ who was born in Bethlehem. But they were not absolute in obeying the word of God nor were they absolute in following the living star. They have come all the way upto Jerusalem and should have gone further till Bethlehem, but in between they applied their human wisdom and diverted in Jerusalem. If Jesus was the king of the Jews, they logically concluded that He must be born in Jerusalem, the city of the Jews. Therefore, keeping aside the word of prophesy and the living star, they went and enquired about the birth of Jesus from Herod instead. This stired up the hornets nest and provoked the king of the Jews to kill the King of the Jews. The magi's foolish mind cost the city of Bethlehem dearly; it led to the killing of all male children, two years and below.

“Then Herod, seeing that he had been mocked by the magi, became greatly enraged, and sending out men, he did away with all the boys who were in Bethlehem and in all its borders from two years old and under, according to the time that he had accurately determined from the magi.” (Matthew 2:16, RecVer)

But as the magi realized their mistake, they turned away from Herod and also from Jerusalem, and the star appeared again. This time they learnt their lesson, they followed the start again and never came back to Herod.

Spiritually speaking, our Christian life is also like that of the magi. Many knew the Scriptures well but were hardly obedient to what the word of God says. To many, they began well by following the Scriptures, but at a later time they deviated from following it through unto the end. Somewhere somehow, they applied their human wisdom and override the word of God. But the Lord is merciful, it did not allow them a total damage to His children's unfaithfulness. In measure, He corrected them and led them to the straight path again. Nevertheless, certain damages have been done already. This must serve as a stern warning to all the children of God.

This was the living message the Lord burdened me to share with the new believers in Bhopal. In ministering the word of God I myself was ministered to, the same message I ministered in the church in Gurugram on 31st December night meeting; encouraging the saints to read the word and be absolutely obedient to the word of God.

Lord, grace me and the saints to read and know the word, and also be obedient to absolutely follow the Lord.

Gospel Preaching

It was the 25th of December which was a general holiday. The day being such a significant one in the world,  many people have celebrated it as the birthday of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though this celebration nor the date has no validity scripturally, it has become a ritualistic day for some and a celebration for others. Since the day has a link with the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a wonderful opportunity to preach the gospel and lead people to know who the Lord Jesus Christ is, especially in North India.

Two days before I just came back from two and half days' ministry journey and had many pending works to be done. Therefore, I decided not to go anywhere, do my pending official works, and later join the gospel meeting at the meeting hall. As I was beginning to do my works, two young brothers came for the gospel preaching. I told them that they should go preach the gospel by themselves as I had works to do. But I struggled for a while inwardly. I did not want to just stay back and let the young brothers go to preach the gospel. My conscience did not allow me to do that. For a few minutes I was in dilemma, whether to go or not to go. In such a state, I inwardly prayed and looked to the Lord; turning to my spirit. Then I did not have the peace not to go. Therefore, I sacrificed my pending works and decided to go out for the gospel preaching. As a result, another brother also joined along and we four formed two teams of two brothers each and went to preach the gospel.

The Lord led us to preach the gospel on the street for over two hours. To many we passed out gospel tracts and preached the gospel on the street. The Lord had prepared people waiting for us to contact and preach the gospel to them. At least three instances were worth mentioning. 

I saw a tough looking guy smoking and talking on the phone. The Lord led me to approach and preach the gospel to him. Initially I hesitated, looking at his visage, an unlikely gospel candidate. And since he was on the phone, I excused myself to bypass him. But as I was to leave him, he just finished talking. Therefore, I approached him. The moment I talked to him about God and the Lord Jesus Christ, he exclaimed that his wife would be very interested to meet with us. Later, she came to where I was talking to him, and preached the gospel to the couple and their friend. It turned out that they were seeking for God and also for regular Christian fellowship. May the Lord save and recover this couple for the church life in Gurugram.

Another unlikely candidate was a man exercising beside his car. As I gave tract and preached the gospel, he interacted with me in a friendly way. It turned out that he was a "good man" sacrificing to help others and count it joy helping people. To this man, I preached that the gospel was for the "good people" as well. In fact, even the "good people" are no less sinner than the "bad people." For all men are sinners by birth. It was through such an approached that I made Christ as the good man who is the reality of all goodness man ever has aspired for. In fact, only God is good. And this good God has created man in His image and likeness so that He can come into him one day and exhibit His goodness through him. With such gospel, we made friendship and on his request. I gave my official name card and exchanged phone number for further contact.

Finally, as we were heading back home, I saw a man standing outside a building as if he was waiting for me. I approached him and preached the gospel in Hindi. It turns out that he was waiting for his client and I met him instead; becoming his gospel client.

Thank the Lord for His sovereign way of leading me to cooperate with him even when I was not prepared to preach the gospel. Thank the Lord for the young brother who encouraged me to go along with them to preach the gospel. In fact, these brothers were the ones I have been praying with until they were revive and led to join he training. God does work in an unexpected way, at an unexpected time.

Lord, save the many unsaved in Gurugram!

Family Fellowship

An afternoon and a morning time of my short stay at home was well utilized for family fellowship. I enjoyed a good time of fellowship with my dad concerning many matters he wanted to let me know. My burden was to simply listen to whatever he had to say and comment whenever needed. In all his fellowship, I could see the Lord’s hand, especially, in his boldness in standing for the Christian faith and testimony when challenged by the village authority to compromised on traditional and ritualistic celebrations. I also gave suggestion for practical matters concerning the welfare of our family.

A morning time fellowship with my Aunt's family was very sweet too, as we all stood together for the Lord’s testimony in the village. Despite threats to compromise in our Christian faith, we all agreed to stand at all costs for the Lord’s testimony.

A time of fellowship with my nephews too was very timely. Since the village environment is not healthy for children's studies, I encouraged them to pay attention to education now before it's too late. To my nephew who is to marry soon, I encouraged him to have a new start after his marriage as his Christian life has been dwindling for many years now. The divine seed in Him has to be revived through fellowship in the church life. Then, I prayed for him and his marriage which is due in a few days' time as I will be missing it due to my pre-planned schedules. I firmly have faith in the Lord that all my family members and even my whole village would be saved soon!

Lastly, as I was being dropped off to the Airport for my return journey back to Gurugram, I fellowshipped with my beloved younger brother on important family matters. In fact, this was the only time I got to fellowship him. I shared my concerns to him about his children's education, the need for him to stand faithfully in the Christian faith without any compromise come what may, and also encouraged him to take initiative in caring for family needs whenever necessary.

By the way, the Lord reminded me of my words spoken in faith in 2003 to my parent that I would share the Lord's blessing with them, therefore, whatever the Lord blessed me in financial offering, I handed it to my mom to be shared with my dad too. Then, I kissed my mom's cheek to bid her goodbye for the time being. Then, I gathered all my family members at home and prayed for each one of them, blessing and committing them to the Lord. Thus, we bid good bye, shaking hands, and I left to catch my flight. It was a well spent time; short yet sweet. Praise the Lord!

Lord, bless our family!

Fellowship with the Brothers in Imphal

In Imphal, I was on my last destination in this ministry journey since 6 December. The only burden was to spend time with my family, mom and dad, brothers and sisters. Yet, when the brothers in the church in Imphal came to know about my visit, whoever were available came for a time of fellowship. We had a wonderful and timely brothers' fellowship, arranged impromptu at my room in my house.

The importance of seeking the Lord’s presence in all matters was my burden for all the brothers. To this effect, I shared my own testimony as well, how I enjoyed and treasured the Lord’s presence. This will usher the brothers in one accord and bring blessings to the church. I also encouraged them to love the Lord and love one another, to forgive all offenses and forget them altogether, and pursue the Lord together in the church life.

Despite the ups and downs of many brothers and the saints, I encouraged all the brothers to shepherd one another, and meet for brothers fellowship at least once a week. As they presented their burden to buy land for meeting hall, I told them that if all the saints love the Lord, buying land will be spontaneous through the saints' free will offering. Many saints have their own land and, in fact, many have purchased new plots for their own, which proved that money is not the matter to buy land. The matter is the saints' heart and willingness to offer for the Lord's testimony. After I shared, they all amen the burden released. I believe the Lord has been working on each of the brother's heart and they will definitely cooperate with the Lord in His move. Amen.

Lord, bless the church in Imphal.

Fellowship with the Saints in Lamka, CCPur

As a brother in Christ, the saints in the church in Lamka arranged an evening meeting where a brother from Aizawl and I fellowshipped with the saints. The church life is full of fellowship and blending for the building up of the Body of Christ.

After two brothers shared briefly on how the Lord raised up the church in Lamka as well as in Aizawl, I was given the time to fellowship on whatever burden the Lord burdened me with. In fact, in my morning Bible reading on Exodus, the Lord told me to share the practical experiences of the sanctification of the serving priests.

“And this is what you shall do to them to sanctify them to serve Me as priests: take one bull of the herd and two rams without blemish,” (Exodus 29:1, RecVer)

Footnotes from the Recovery Version 

To be qualified to serve God as priests, Aaron and his sons had to be sanctified, to be set apart by being marked out. The mark that set apart, sanctified, Aaron and his sons to be the priests was the filling of their hands with the offerings, signifying the filling of the believers with the riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8) through their subjective experience of Him as the reality of the offerings (Heb. 10:5-10). The steps in sanctifying Aaron and his sons included the washing away of their uncleanness (v. 4), the covering of their nakedness by the priestly garments (vv. 5-9), the dealing with their sinful nature through the sin offering (vv. 10-14), and the feeding of God with the burnt offering (vv. 15-18) and God and the priests with the peace offering (vv. 19-28). This was not merely a consecration or ordination of Aaron and his sons.

“Then you shall slaughter the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and on the lobe of the right ear of his sons and on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the rest of the blood on and around the altar.” (Exodus 29:20, RecVer)

To serve God as priests, our hearing (ears), our working (hands), and our walking (feet) must be cleansed and sanctified by Christ’s redeeming blood. We must learn how to listen to the word of God (cf. 21:2-6; Isa. 50:4-5; Luke 10:38-42), to do what is required by Him, and to walk according to His way in serving Him. In Lev. 14:14 the same procedure was used in the cleansing of a leper, indicating that in the eyes of God we sinners who have been ordained to be His priests are unclean, like lepers.

Based on these truths, I ministered on the practical steps to be sanctified to serve the living God as priests. In the washing by the word of God, I released my burden on helping the saints to love the word and read it daily to be reconstituted with the truths. In fact, I challenged them to take a pledge before the Lord to read through the Bible at least once in a year, to which many saints said amen. Then, I shared on the need to not trust our self and natural man and the need to be covered with Christ as our clothing, then I shared on the need to deal with our flesh by taking Christ as the sin offering, meal offering, and peace offering. Finally, I also gave examples and practical help how our ears need to be cleansed, filtering all worldly noises but listening to the word of God; how our hands need to be cleansed by working righteously, especially in money matters, of not bribing nor borrowing but being clean, faithful, and righteous; and how our daily living should be proper before God and man, in morality and being a living testimony of Jesus.

Having ministered thus, I also showed the way how we can be practically cleansed. The truths may be high but the ways are simple; being revived everyday through prayer, calling upon the Lord’s name, morning revival, and the enjoyment of the word of God; and by being in the church life in fellowship with the saints.

The Lord anointed the ministry of the word and the saints responded after the speaking by sharing the portions they were convicted of and enlightened by. Many of them offered prayer for grace to be sanctified and, indeed, serve as priest.

May the Lord's hand follow His words, and may He bless the saints in the church in Lamka to be a glorious golden lampstand.

Reunion with My Classmates

While in Lamka, one of my classmates, in fact, my good friend at school took the initiative to invite a few other classmates to get-together on 22 Dec 2021. I just went as invited, not knowing what to share.

Seven of my high classmates who were in town turned up for the reunion. They all wanted me to share on how I became who I am today. Since they all wanted to know what kind of ministry I am involved in, which church I belong to, and how I came to serve the Lord, I looked to the Lord inwardly and shared whatever was needed to help them understand what I felt may help them understand.

My classmates' request opened the door for me to testify of what the Lord has been doing in my life. His wise and sovereign hands in my life was shared as a living message to my friends. In between there were intersections to comment on what I had been through. I am glad they got the message through the testimony itself. Praise the Lord!

We had photo sessions and on their request I prayed for all of them, especially, the family of the one who took the initiative to reunite. 

May the Lord work in all my classmates, as most of them are Christians, that they may love the Lord and that they may also grow in life unto full maturity.

Three Hundred Miles

After my burden was released at Aizawl, I was planning to leave for Lamka-CCPur to visit the saints. A brother from Aizawl insisted that he would come along and drive me from Aizawl to Lamka. I felt good about the proposal and amen his fellowship.

We set off for the journey at 5:20 AM on 21 Dec 2021 from Thuampui, Aizawl. We drove about 15 hours on the state highway to arrive our destination Lamka at about 9 PM on the same day. It was, indeed, a long long drive over the mountains and hills, and ditches and valleys. The beautiful landscapes all along the road entertained me; I could see the beauty of God’s creation and often wondered why many natural resources were left untapped. Here and there, I took photo shots and marveled at the greatness of God, the Creator.

Though the road was dusty as extension work on the highway has been underway, I appreciated the government of India's effort to build a four lane highway. This should have been done decades ago, any way, now the work is in progress. 

The excavation work on the hills and mountains were indeed great, though we had to be blocked a couple of times due to road block from the excavation. Due to such work, we took more time than usual and could not reach our destination in time. 

In fact, the saints were waiting for us to welcome us even as a brother had prepared a Lamb feast for lovefeast dinner. Due to our delay, we could not have meal together with the saints as planned; they left before we arrived. Nonetheless, we enjoyed our Lamb meal with our host's family, my first time to feast on Lamb's meat, followed by a short while fellowship and prayer, and off to sleep.

It was indeed a wonderful three hundred miles journey; enjoying God’s creation and His presence all along. Praise God for the safe journey and the adventurous 15 hours' road drive!