Fellowship: Family Bonding

God blesses me with everything I need to fulfill His purpose. The family He gave me is for Him. He is the Father of our family and we are His children. All that we are, all that we have, and all that we will be, are all for His divine purpose. 

For in Him we live and move and are, as even some poets among you have said, For we are also His race. (Acts 17:28, RecVer)

Because out from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:36, RecVer)

God's gift and blessing are what makes my family. He gave me, and I treasure it. It is now my responsibility to nurture His gift, my family. To do so, I have established a daily family prayer time. The Lord has been gracing us till today to pray as a family, daily. Though we missed sometimes due to unavoidable circumstances, but only a very few times. While at home or on the move, I do my best to pray together with my family. Over the years we have made changes as per the need. Sometimes, we just pray, sometimes with singing, and now with a reading of the Life-study portion. 

Gradually, I have been witnessing the Lord’s answering most of the prayers we have been praying. Especially, with the recovery of some of our family members who are not in fellowship in the church life. Now, whoever we have been praying for, the Lord has been gaining them one by one, even family by family.

To further strengthen our family fellowship and bond, the Lord burdened me to fellowship and pray with my niece once in a month personally. Then with my daughter once in a week, with my son daily, and with youngest daughter now and then. Of course, with my wife every now and then. With my niece, we would read a lesson from the shepherding materials, prayer read a verse or two, and fellowship on personal and practical matters. With my daughter, we would spend time to talk and fellowship about her life and studies, and then pray. With my son, a specific time of corporate prayer and fellowship, strengthening our father-son relationship. I even told my son to feel free to open up to me for any matter whatsoever. I fixed thirty minutes daily with my son, the first half we have our own personal prayer and the second half we pray together. With my youngest daughter, since she is still too young, just a time together partly prayer and partly playing. With my wife, we fellowshop and prau for all important family matters and sometimes personal ones too. In this way, the Lord has been leading me to build up the family life He blessed me with.

All this is also with the view that 's a family we can all serve the Lord, to a channel of blessing to others, and also bear the Lord’s testimony as a family. 

And if it seems wrong in your sight to serve Jehovah, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, either the gods from across the River, whom your fathers served, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah. (Joshua 24:15, RecVer)

Lord, thank You for my family. Continue to bless us for Your divine purpose.

Extra Oil

Last week, a brother's family invited me to visit them after a long long gap. Perhaps, over two/three years. Since there are brothers who are taking care of this family I deemed it best that those nearby can take care of this family. Therefore, I intentionally did not visit them as I used to. 

A few weeks ago, the father of the family had a serious health issue which was attended to by the saints who lives nearby. Though I was informed of the health issues, I decided to stay back and pray for the family. In fact, as a family and the church, we prayed for the father of the family. I was waiting for the proper time to meet the family.

The time finally came, and after a long long time indeed, my wife and I visited the family. As we fellowshipped about the family's situation, especially the father's health condition, the Lord gave me a burden to fellowship on the family's spiritual health condition. The instant words the Lord gave me was, "extra oil." Therefore, we had a wonderful time of fellowship on our need to wait for the Lord’s return and while doing so, we must have the extra oil by paying the price.

For the foolish, when they took their lamps, did not take oil with them; But the prudent took oil in their vessels with their lamps. (Matthew 25:3-4, RecVer)

Today, we must take care of our normal Christian life. Salvation is free but for the reward, we must pay the price to buy extra oil to be able to receive the reward. Daily, hourly, we must pay the price to buy oil. Daily, we must exercise to gain the extra Oil, the Spirit, to fill our spirit all the time. No one can pay the price and buy the oil for me. Nor can I, for anyone else. Each one has to bear his own burden. Each will be judged or rewarded. So, we must be prudent to pay the price to buy the golden oil, the Holy Spirit.

I released my burden of encouraging myself and all the saints present in the meeting to pay the price to buy the extra oil by taking care of our daily living. I also emphasized the need for the church life for our Christian life to grow. One important practical point is to be filled with the word of God in our mind by spending as much time as possible to read the Bible, pray over the word of God, spend time to pray daily, and pursue the Lord in all possible ways. Though I did not specifically told the saints to come to the church meeting, the sister of the family declared on her own that once her dad is getting better they would physically come to the Lord’s table meeting regularly. Later, we all prayed together and sought the Lord’s grace to be prudent virgins paying the praise to buy the extra oil.

But the prudent answered, saying, Perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you; go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves. (Matthew 25:9, RecVer)

Yesterday, in the online meeting with the seekers from Madhya Pradesh, the Lord gave me the same burden of the need to buy extra oil to be filled with the Spirit in our soul. For this, the price includes dealing with the world, denying the self, taking up the cross, loving the Lord, and following Him. There may be other ways of paying the price too. Whichever way, the price must be paid to buy the extra oil. This is the normal Christian life of laboring on Christ to gain the extra oil and to be transformed in the soul to gain the reward. This is also the way to make ourselves ready for the Lord’s coming.

Watch therefore, for you do not know the day nor the hour. (Matthew 25:13, RecVer)

Be Fruitful and Multiply

And God said to him, I am the All-sufficient God: Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from your loins. (Genesis 35:11, RecVer)

In the beginning of this new year the Lord’s speaking to me has been, "Be fruitful and multiply." I trust in the Lord’s word and His promises. To me, this promise is related to my personal life and also the church life I am in. I must be fruitful in fruit bearing. And as the church, we must be fruitful in gaining increase in number. This has been one thing personally and corporately as the church we have to see the promise of God being fulfilled. Having said that, I am also aware that without the blessing of the All-sufficient God, we cannot be fruitful and multiply. We need the all-inclusive blessing of the all-sufficient God.

It takes the exercise of much faith to believe the promise of the Lord. Looking at my situation I feel completely hopeless. Yet, looking up to the Lord I am completely hopeful. This time, I must believe in the Lord’s word rather than my own feeling and assumption. For the past many years I have been struggling to bear fruit as I ought to, and I think I am still struggling. Though I have been regularly and weakly going out to preach the gospel, I feel the result is yet to be seen. Everytime I went out to preach the gospel, the Lord graced me to preach the gospel to at least one. In fact, many times to as many as five contacts. Yet, the gaining of remaining fruit seems still a distant dream. Though I may be discouraged at times, I still must be faithful to the Lord’s commission. 

The commission the Lord Jesus charged to everyone is to preach the gospel and discipling. There can be no discipling unless there are disciples gained through gospel preaching. Therefore, gospel preaching must be done by all the saints despite the outward situation whatever it may be.

Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19, RecVer)

Even as the Lord gave the promise to be fruitful and multiply, He also gave the opportunity to preach the gospel. Last week we had one whole week of gospel preaching in Gurugram with the trainees. I was blessed to participate in the gospel preaching in the afternoon sessions during the weekdays and both morning and afternoon sessions during the weekends. Every time we went to preach the gospel, the Lord gave us at least two to three people to whom we could preach the gospel. In this way, the Lord's promise to be fruitful and multiply is being fulfilled, I believe.

Some of the gospel contacts are MNC company managers, engineers, call centers employees, caterers, house keepers, chefs, and security guards. As many as can hear the gospel must hear the gospel. There must be the gospel preaching and it must always be the first and highest and unique commission of the Lord. Without the quantity there cannot be the quality. First, there must be the quantity of gospel "raw materials." Then, out of this quality, there will be the sons of peace, the quality gospel as the fruits of the gospel. May the Lord grace me ever to Carty out this commission of preaching the gospel regularly so that I can really and practically bear spiritual children to be fruitful and multiply.

Lord, fulfill Your promise and.make.me fruitful and multiply.

Ministry of the Word to Bilaspur

As usual, after attending the books exhibition at Madku, on the Lord’s Day we came to fellowship with the saints who are meeting as the church in Bilaspur. 

The burden the Lord gave us this time was to help all the saints to grow in life. First, by showing them the meaning of a Christian life according to the Bible: The Christian life is to live Christ.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21, RecVer)

For this to be true, there is a need for growth in life, which is Christ in our spirit spreading and saturation our soul, mind, emotion, and will. One of the greatest hindrances for growth in life is human natural concepts that can be dealt with by the renewing of the mind. So, a good number of Bible verses were used to delve deep into the matter of renewing the mind through the word of God till the mind of Christ becomes our mind.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, (Philippians 2:5, RecVer)

And then be full grown man until Christ makes His home in our hearts.

Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4, RecVer)

That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are and to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19, RecVer)

Furthermore, to help the saints practically, the emotion needing to love the Lord Jesus even above parents was also touched. And finally, the need for our human free will to be one with God’s will was also made known to the saints. Some young saints were not able to discern between God’s will and their parent's will. Sometimes, when parent's will did not align with God’s will, children were made to choose their parent's will in the guise of doing God’s will. Only by such dealing of the soul, can there be the growth in life for the building up of the Body of Christ. 

In fact, this was the burden the Lord gave me a few days ago. I already foreknew that the Lord wanted us to minister to the saints in the church in Bilaspur. This was also in line with the present speaking of the Lord; the growth in life for the building up of the Body of Christ.

This time the Lord restraint me from speaking anything other than the only burden He gave this time. Though there were some matters I thought to fellowship,  but the Lord strictly stopped me from fellowshipping. Even the brothers themselves did not bring any matter they brought to other brothers. It was not the time to deal with anything else other than dispense life through the ministry of the word. When the truth is ministered and life flows, there will be healing!

Then said He to me, This water flows out toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah and goes to the sea; when it flows into the sea, the water of the sea is healed. And every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes shall live, and there will be very many fish when this water comes there. And the water of the sea shall be healed, and everything shall live wherever the river comes. (Ezekiel 47:8-9, RecVer)

Lord, bless the church in Bilaspur and recover them fully into the fellowship of the Body of Christ!

Ministry Literature Distribution: Madku Massih Mela, Chhattisgarh

As usual, we had come to this islet again this year for the exhibition and distribution of the ministry literature. Many seeking Christians all over central India, especially Chhattisgarh, had come to visit our stall. Though we were there for only three days out of the seven days, twenty two boxes of ministry books and tracts were sold and distributed. 

On each day during the three days, the Lord brought different groups of seeking believers, especially, Pastors, to whom we introduced the ministry face to face and one on one. A good number of them already knew us as we also came year by year for the past few years. Some brothers testified that though the mela was going on, ours had the truth. He expressed his gratitude for making the truth available to God’s children. Yes, that was excatly why we were there for. All other stores basically came to to do business by selling items of Christianity including Bibles, but our goal was much beyond selling. Our goal was to make the ministry of the age, the ministry of the  word, the healthy teaching, and the faithful word available to all the children of God.

Two groups of brothers from Champa-Korba region and Bilaspur region came to visit us at the book stall on two different days. In fact, they were first introduced to the ministry of the word a few years ago at the same venue in the same Madku Masih Mela. Now, they have taken the stand for the Lord’s testimony. And now they are akso in the process of bringing them into the fellowship of the Body of Christ. Anotejr group of believers from Betul region also came for fellowship. They too were contacted in the same venue a few years ago. This has become a strategic place and time for contacting seekers all over central India. This time too, new contacts were gained for further follow-up. 

The Lord honored our burden and He also blessed us to release this burden. The word of God sown as a seed has been bearing fruits all over North India now!

Lord, bless Your move in North India among the Hindi speaking believers. 

Ministry of the Word to Channamunda, Noapada Odisha

The day after the Odis translation fellowship in Khariar Road, the local brothers arranged a time of meeting with Seeking believers in Channamunda, a village in the outskirt of Noapada district. 

As usual, I followed my brother in ministering the word of God. I had no specific burden of my own. I was simply praying and waiting on the Lord what He wanted to minister. The Lord then used my brother to release the burden of God’s calling and the qualifications of God’s called ones from the life of Mosses in Exodus chaoters 3 and 4. My brother gave in detail all the points concerning God’s calling of Moses and the three subjective signs accompanying God’s calling. Then, I continued on the purpose of God's calling.

And when Jehovah saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him out of the midst of the thornbush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am. (Exodus 3:4, RecVer)

And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. (Exodus 3:8, RecVer)

This burden was thus released in relation to the fulfilment of God’s purpose of creating man in His image, likeness, and giving him dominion over all the created thing for His expression and representation corporately on the earth through the church. This burden was also linked to God’s creation of the three parts of man, the parts of the temple in Jerusalem, and the three stages of eating and journeying of the children from Egypt to the wilderness and to the good land.

Since this group of believers was also influenced by miracles and healing as many other independent groups today, the Lors shined on them to see that most of the miracle God did were only in the wilderness signifying the soul life. But that was not the goal of God’s calling. Christians must move on from mere feeding on manna and drinking from the smitten rock to cross the river Jordan and laboring on the good land to ultimately build the temple and worship God foe His expression.

After the ministry of the word the believers, especially he, were so excited to learn new things. He has been enlightened to see that he need to pursue the Lord further, labor on the all-inclusive Christ, and not roam around in the wilderness with "miracles." He was also impressed that the goal of God’s calling is for the fulfillment of God’s purpose, the building up of the Body of Christ!

After the fellowship, we had lunch together and then brothers took us for sight seeking of a dam.

May the Lord recover His testimony in Channamunda and Khariar Road soon.

Fellowship: Odia Translation

In 2014, we first met a brother from Odisha and presented the ministry to him. Later, two more brothers were brought into fellowship. Since then, they have been pursuing the ministry and l the translation work into Odia had begun. But due to various reasons not new to me, the translation work has been dragging. Then, a few more translators were brought in. Some how, after much waiting three free booklets distributed by Rhema were printed and distributed, and the remaining four titles books were translated too. But, the work needs improvement with a proper set up of qualified translators. Therefore, this trip to Sambalpur was taken to meet one of the translators and then to Khariar Road, where all the three key translators came together for an afternoon session of translation fellowship. 

Though, I was not directly involved in the translation fellowship, I was with all the brothers for all the supporting services. I believe this was a milestone in Odia translation service and a new beginning. There are millions of seeking Christians all over Odisha waiting for the healthy teaching of the ministry of the word. May the Lord gain His chosen ones to cook healthy spiritual food for all His odia speaking children.

Besides, we also had a time of gospel preaching to a relative of a brother and let her to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as her Saviour and also used the Scriptures to show her the spiritual meaning of water baptism as she believed into the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Then, another time, I had a time of preaching the gospel to the neighbors of a brother who came to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ. I also gave them the opportunity to receive the Lord at their own will. 

As one seeking sister came to purchase the ministry literature, the Lord burdened me to show her and other believers present there, how to seek and know God’s will. We had a wonderful time of fellowship and prayer. The Lord has been quietly carrying His work in Odisha. 

Lord, bless Your move in Odisha!