Fellowship: Newly Married Couple

One of our serving ones in the literature service just got married last Friday. Though he has been eating lunch with us during office working days and is close to our family we could not attend his wedding due to the limitation of the number of invited guests. Because of the persecution faced by the churches in North India at the present time, some families have been affected, and one brother's marriage which was scheduled a day after this brother's marriage had to be canceled as he could not be released yet from the imprisonment for the sake of the gospel. For that reason, the marriage was conducted in a simple and quiet eat and only close relatives and saints in the same district were invited. Therefore, yesterday, after three days of their marriage, we invited them officially to the office for a time of fellowship, prayer, and lovefest. This was the best way I could think of shepherding and cherishing the newly married couples along with their relatives.

Ephesians 5:31For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh.

As we had a time of informal small group fellowship, the Lord gave me the burden to share for this couple, for all the other married couples, and also as a preparation for the young saints. Marriage was ordained by God for multiplication and much more for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose in creating man. My burden was simple, oneness between the spouses and loving one another in the divine love of God. I testified in the presence of my wife, how we have been praying together this prayer almost every day, "Lord, cause us to be one with You and one with one another. Lord, cause us to love You and love one another." According to the truth of the Bible, husband and wife are one flesh. This is practical only when the couple is one with one another and loves one another. Without oneness and love, there can be no one flesh between husband and wife. However, for the oneness to be a reality, though God Himself is the oneness and He can only grant the oneness, there are certain prerequisites from the human side that need to be fulfilled. They are listed in Ephesians 4:1-3. I simply read and declared the word of God as they are and encouraged the married couples to practice these human responsibilities of being lowly, meek, long-suffering, bearing one another in love, and being diligent to keep the oneness. May the Lord bless His words to all the married saints for the reality of the oneness of being one flesh in the marriage life.

I beseech you therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord, to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love, being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3

A married brother and four sisters also testified of their marriage life especially their relationship with their spouse as a testimony and encouragement to the newly married couple. Then, we continued our fellowship over lovefeast lunch. In the humanity of Christ, I did all that I could do officially to shepherd this brother as he newly got married. I allowed him to take marital leave to prepare for his marriage and allowed him to work from home as he requested a week after his marriage. Should he request for a honey trip and a holiday too, I believe it would have been granted. But I left it to them to decide.

In the church in Gurugram, we have not yet conducted a proper marriage among the saints. All marriages that we have witnessed so far were not really from our locality though they have some connection with the church here. There are a couple of unmarried saints in the church life. I do believe, the Lord will grant us a breakthrough in the matter of marriages in the church life. 

May the Lord's will be done among all the saints, especially in their marriage life.

Lessons on Discernment

Joseph in the Bible in Genesis 42-45 exercised a strong discernment and acted wisely when he met with his brothers who betrayed and sold him off to strangers many years ago. He placed his emotions under strict control and waited until it was the right time to express them publicly. Though he loved his brothers, he exercised restraint and acted wisely so that they also could learn the lesson they needed to learn because of their past misdeeds against him. So he meticulously planned the incidents to touch their consciences and at the same time expressed his love at the right time. Likewise, Solomon also prayed for wisdom when God appeared to him in a dream, and immediately God gave him problems to solve using his God-given wisdom. 

In Gibeon Jehovah appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, Ask what I should give you.

And Solomon said, You have shown great lovingkindness to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth and righteousness and in uprightness of heart with You; and You have kept for him this great lovingkindness and have given him a son to sit upon his throne, as it is this day.

And now, O Jehovah my God, You have made Your servant king in the place of David my father, though I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.

And Your servant is in the midst of Your people, whom You have chosen, a vast people that cannot be numbered or counted for multitude.

Give therefore to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?

And this word seemed good in the sight of the Lord, that Solomon had asked for this matter.

And God said to him, Because you have asked for this matter and have not asked for long life for yourself and have not asked for riches for yourself and have not asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for discernment for yourself to understand justice;

I now do according to your words. I now give you a heart of wisdom and understanding, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor will one rise up after you like you.  1 Kings 3:5-12

These stories in the Bible are no mere Aesop's fables. They are real-life patterns that I must learn from and live according to it. God also gave me the experience of discernment recently in many practical matters in life.

In Money Matter

Generally, I am a soft-hearted person and I sympathize with people easily. If people came to me for monetary help, I always have a heart to help even as God has always provided me sufficiently. So I have sufficient to help others too if the Lord so wills. In the past, I and my wife have helped a couple of needy ones already. This time around, a family who had been in desperate need did not hesitate to mention their needs to me. Which I initially prayed and considered a lot about. Although I had all the clearance from my wife, and myself, I also fellowshipped with a brother, and that too got cleared. Everything was cleared does not mean it is alright to lend. As I considered and prayed over it again and asked the Lord for His wisdom and discernment, the Lord gradually enlightened me to see that despite all my "generosity" and all the path clearance to help, I still must discern based on what is proper before God and also before man. Then, I came to full clarity that even though I have the financial capacity to lend, it was not proper for me to do so at this time, especially as a full-time serving one of the Lord. Besides, the money we have was offered to my family for some specific purpose and not to lend to someone who may use it for some "dirty" deeds to meet their own selfish needs. Oh, what a salvation it was when this matter got cleared! Praise the Lord for this lesson! 

Later, the Lord showed me what this money was for. There was an urgent need for my wife to be able to do a UPI translation via a bank with her as a primary account holder. For this, a bank with a certain opening balance was required. And the money was meant for this purpose and some investment and saving for future use. Oh, a relief to be cleared of this cloud of confusion.

Similarly, the Lord has been teaching me to discern even in reading WhatsApp messages. There were many messages that my spirit sensed not to even read for the contents would not be spiritually healthy for me. Some were accusations, some were personal promotions,  some were simple personal opinions and just good for time pass. So, I intentionally avoided a good number of messages that were sent to me. In like manner, I also stop receiving many calls that may not be necessary, especially calls from unknown numbers. Even if it was known, the spirit within me gave me the sense, whether to pick the call or not. Likewise, in contacting people or even seekers and saints, I still need to discern if I should necessarily contact them or not. I must follow the Lord's leading by His inner anointing.

Romans 8:6For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.

1 John 2:20And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know.

1 John 2:27And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him.

The Lord has been teaching me lessons on discernment in my daily living. May I daily experience and enjoy His discernment and wisdom more and more.

Enjoying Christ in Fellowship

Three Students

Last week, three student brothers came to fellowship with me at my office. Though no appointment was made, since they came, I had to fellowship with them. I had no idea what to fellowship. But the moment they came, the Lord gave me the words. I hardly knew them and rarely met them too. In fact, two of them were my first time meeting, but as they sat before me, I knew what the Lord wanted to speak to them.

The Lord spoke to me to speak to them, "Be in fellowship with the Body." I had no idea how these brothers were fellowshipping with the brothers in the church in New Delhi. It seems to me that they needed help on how to fellowship. So when they came, the burden for the need to be in the Body and in the fellowship of the Body was the Lord's speaking. I believe that was what they needed. I used the life of Saul to make clear the burden of my fellowship to them.

Acts 9:6But rise up and enter into the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.

However, as a sidebar, I gave some fellowship on their academic career and introduced a brother who is a professor at a nationally reputed university. That was just a bonus point. But the main burden was to help them to be in fellowship with the Body. I even told them from the life of Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9, how the Lord Jesus, after appearing to him as the great light and blinded him, did not tell him nor heal him any further, but charged him to go to a city and meet a certain brother where he would be told what to do. This is the principle of the Body. The Lord used members of His Body to speak to a member of His Body. This is the fellowship in the Body and this is as good as fellowshipping with the Lord Himself. For Christ, the Head, and His Body are one. Then we all prayed together one by one. And they were so satisfied with the fellowship and I was so supplied too.

A Responsible Brother

A responsible brother in one of the local churches in the South called in the night without any prior information. Though late, I still fellowship with him over the phone. In the fellowship, two matters were brought forth. First, how to deal with a brother who was not one with the brothers and wanted to take his way, have his say, and do his deeds. The answer was clear, always be in oneness with the brothers whom the Lord has placed you together with, to serve together in the same locality. While bearing responsibilities, especially for the church, oneness is the key factor. Right or wrong is secondary. In oneness, the Lord will make manifest what is right according to Him. Second, how he should appraise himself in his company as he needs to fill out the form for appraisal reviews? Again, the answer was simple. Our conscience is the biggest and best witness. Actually, our conscience which is in our spirit is where the Spirit of God dwells. Listening and obeying the voice of our conscience is doing the will of God. Here is purity, honesty, and straightforwardness. If grading low is right grade it low, if grading high is right, then grade it high. All according to the fact. Grading oneself low is not about humility, so grading oneself high is not about pride or boasting. It is simply declaring the fact. Low is low, and high is high. With this simple fellowship, the matter was cleared up. Then, we both prayed together.

A Seeking SIster

Last Lord; 's Day, a sister who was introduced to me verbally over the phone came to visit me, unannounced. Yes, I was supposed to call her and also make some arrangements for her to be contacted by the sisters, but I got busy and was never able to make it. So, she came by herself. To her, I was straightforward and asked her why she came. When she replied she wanted to know more about God or Jesus, I asked her when and how she came to know about Jesus. To which she replied again, since her childhood during school days. Then upon further fellowship, I discovered that she believed in the Lord Jesus Christ already. She even testified that she has been praying to Jesus daily. Then, I discerned her actual need was to be baptized. So, I encouraged her to pray and consider her baptism according to the Scriptures for those who genuinely believe. I only helped her to know that she needed to be baptized if she truly believed, and that the church could help whenever she needed baptism.

In all these fellowships, the Lord within me spoke instantly the timely word to all of them, They all visited me without any prior appointment or information. Nonetheless, I experienced and enjoyed the Lord in fellowship with His children. 

In season or out of season, Christ can always be enjoyed with whoever the Lord leads. Amen

The Test of Taste

Ps 34:8 Taste and see that Jehovah is good; Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.

Jn 6:48 I am the bread of life.

Jn 6:57 As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.

Jn 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

When the Lord Jesus said, "I am the bread of life", He implies that He is edible and that we should eat Him to receive the divine and eternal life. This is quite contrary to the concept held by many Christians today when they think of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, He is worthy of worship, praise, and thanksgiving. Yes, to Him we pray and petition. And we revere Him supremely. But, how about eating Him?

If John 6:57 was not in the Bible when Jesus said, "Eat Me" no one, even in his wildest dream, would even dare to think of eating Jesus. But the Bible plainly records Jesus telling us to eat Him. What a salvation to see this!

However, to eat the Lord Jesus, one must have a hunger for spiritual food. In the gospel of John chapter six, the Lord revealed Himself as the bread sent from heaven, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, the living bread, and the true bread, all referring to Himself as food to eat. The burden is clear, to eat Him. Without hunger for food, it is rather difficult to eat food. Similarly, without true hunger for the word of God, one cannot eat Jesus. 

In addition to hunger, there must be a taste for food. If one does not have a taste for Jesus, it will again be difficult to eat Jesus. This taste can be developed by faith. The more we hear about Jesus or read about Him, the more we will know Him, the more we will have revelation concerning Him, and the more the taste for Him will develop. Then, the hunger and taste for Jesus will drive one to eat Jesus.

While I was taking a personal training on this message on "The Bread of Life," I was very much impressed by this truth of eating Jesus. For which, hunger and taste are two crucial matters to eat Jesus and enjoy him as my daily spiritual food.

This also unveils a very important principle in eating. One eats what one enjoys, meaning having a taste for it. There are worldly and sinful foods too that many have the taste for and enjoy. So, the development of our spiritual taste for Jesus and His word is an antidote to the temptations of worldly taste and enjoyment. Moreover, the taste for Jesus as followed by eating Him should also be followed by nourishment with proper digestion to ultimately become our constitution. 

The question is, what taste do you have? For Jesus or something else? Your taste determines what you will eat and enjoy. This is the test of taste. 

May we have a revolutionary change in our taste. May our taste for Jesus grow sweeter and sweeter until all the taste for the world fades away. That we may only eat Jesus and enjoy Him every day. And live because of Him!

Lord, preserve our taste for You. Give us hunger for Your word that we may eat You every day as our bread of life and live because of You! 

Young People for Christ and the Church

The past few days, I have been very disappointed with the situation going on these days. I felt, in many areas, that I had been rejected because of the truth I dearly treasure. Some theologians had strongly opposed the ministry that I enjoy, promote, and propagate. Some nonbelievers too opposed the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that I dearly have faith in. Even some believers who often fellowship with us kind of betrayed the ministry by sneaking out and joining hands with Christianity. On top of all these, some of our brothers have been imprisoned in Mathura for being in a meeting of the church.  

Yes, I agree that our righteousness is like filthy rags, but to me, I felt I had no righteousness at all. Even if I had one, it may not merely be a filthy rag, but a rotten rag.  In the midst of this kind of feeling, the Lord reminded me that the apostles and the Lord Jesus Himself were rejected when they were in their early ministries. Why should it be different if I suffered the same when following the footsteps of the Lord Jesus and the apostle as recorded in the New Testament? That thought awakened me and it was indeed a consolation prize for me.

Last weekend and this weekend, the Lord brought young people to me for fellowship. Though the outward situation is not very encouraging for the church, but the Lord confirmed to me that He gave me the young people for me to shepherd and perfect them so that they can be pillars for the Lord's testimony. Despite my discouragement with the ongoing situation, the Lord gave me a consolation prize of young people who can be perfected. 

The previous Lord's Day evening, I was with a young brother, listening to three minsitry messages and spending them in fellowship. Last Lord's Day, the Lord brought two young brothers to fellowship with me at different times, one after another. The Lord showed me that I have to work on these young ones and make them pillars for His testimony. He gave the church the best that he could. Though their parents may not be very encouraging. but their children who have come into the church life will be gained by Him and be perfected to bear the Lord's testimony in Gurugram one day.

And every Lord's Day afternoon I would also spend a time of fellowship with the young people. My main burden is to help them live a normal God-man life of daily personal prayer, Bible reading, morning revival, exercising to keep a spiritual record, being faithful in their studies, and consecration of their lives for the Lord in a way of joining the full-time training when that graduate from the college. I have been checking and rechecking how they have been exercising their God-man life practices.  To me, if the basics are right, the root of a tree will be healthy, and then, everything will fall into place gradually.

Oh, what a real consolation to me! The Lord showed me a new light! What a hope we have as the church in Gruugram! About five young brothers, three teenage brothers and a sister, and a couple of children have been gained by the Lord for His church! These are the young people for Christ and the church! They are the future of the Lord's testimony.

May the Lord work in all these young ones, preserve and perfect them for His testimony!

A Doctor's Call

Generally, I call a doctor when I need a medical consultation for myself or my family. This time around, a doctor was introduced to me a few days ago by a brother who lives in Jorhat. Then, a call came to me from a brother who is a doctor and who was introduced to me for some fellowship. When he called, I recognized the brother and we had a wonderful time of fellowship for about an hour.

This was the first time we fellowshipped. We never met nor knew each other before. But from the very first call, he opened to me his personal spiritual and physical situation point by point. He had such a trust in me that he confided many of his personal secrets to me. As I listened to his fellowship, I prayed deep within for the spirit of wisdom and revelation concerning how to shepherd this brother. I patiently listened to all that he had to say with a few interjections to clarify certain points. Finally, when he fully poured his being out in fellowship, I looked to the Lord and exercised my spirit to offer some words of brotherly fellowship.

First thing first. I checked with him concerning his spiritual condition; how often he prayed and read the Bible, and with whom and how often he had fellowship with fellow believers. I also checked with him about his Christian and family background. Based on all that he shared with me, the Lord gave me an understanding of his situation and also gave me the timely words of love for him. (I believe this is also generally how a Doctor would do to his patient, checking the general health condition.)

Personal Time With the Lord

I encouraged him to take care of his time spent with the Lord daily. In fact, this should be the most important thing in his daily life. Only the Lord is the Lord and only He is the source of life and life-supply. And only He knows everything and only He can solve every problem. I am nobody and I simply direct him to the Lord.

Reading the Bible

I encouraged him to read the Bible every day as it is the word of God, the very breath of God. It is only through His words that God speaks to His children. The Bible is the only tangible and concrete word through which one can receive God's speaking without any confusion. People see dreams and visions, but they may not be as reliable as the very word of God. I even showed him the way to come to the word and read the word sequentially from the beginning of the Old Testament and the New Testament and read on and on till the end, and start all over again. And repeat the process of reading over and over again, even all the days of his life.

Fellowship with Believers

I encouraged him to have a time of fellowship with any Christian brother he can trust spiritually. I offered myself to him if he wished to fellowship with me again. He was so glad that he could fellowship with me and said he would call me again.

With this little fellowship, I led him to the Lord Jesus, to prayer, and to commit his marital matter to the Lord, and that the will of the Lord be done in his life.

After the fellowship, he was so much relieved and expressed his gratitude to the Lord for granting him such a time of fellowship. I do believe the Lord will fully recover his enjoyment of the Lord first and also will recover his marriage life.

Mt 9:12Now when He heard this, He said, Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill.

Mt 9:13But go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

This may not be a consultation with a doctor but it definitely was a fellowship with the Doctor of doctors.  Jesus Christ is the true Doctor!

May the Lord work in this doctor brother and recover him fully for Himself and his marriage for the Lord's testimony in Chennai.

Family Life Lesson

May our sons be like plants grown up in their youth; May our daughters be like corner pillars hewn out in fashion for a palace;

May our barns be full, furnishing produce of all kinds; May our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields; May our oxen be fully laden; May there be no breaking in to rob or going forth to fight, Or outcry in our streets. 

Blessed are the people who are so; Blessed are the people whose God is Jehovah. (Psalms 144:12-15, RecVer)

On 3rd October the Lord spoke to me these verses in a very subjective way as His promise concerning my children and all the children in the church life. This promise is for those whose God is Jehovah. Since Jehovah God is our God, this promise holds true to us and to me. The word of God never fails and this promise is true even today and it will be true in the coming days too. Many of these words will be fulfilled one by one. We are the blessed people because our God is Jehovah. 

This morning my son sent me a text message:

And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but nurture them in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.  Ephesians 6:4 (RecVer)

Footnote 1: Provoking children to anger damages them by stirring up their flesh. Not to provoke children to anger requires that a father deal with his anger by leaving it on the cross. In this way he is able to render suitable discipline to his children. 

Footnote 2: Admonition includes instruction. Parents should instruct their children with the word of God, teaching them to know the Bible. However, how the children develop depends on God's mercy.

Perhaps, he must have felt that I might have provoked him as I kept reminding him not to waste time sitting before the laptop if not for his schoolwork. There, definitely, was a chance of misunderstanding my words as I spoke out of genuine care and concern. So I accepted his message and replied back:

Amen.

Please forgive me if I provoked unknowingly.

Later, I went to meet him. And hugged and kissed him asking his forgiveness if I provoked him unknowingly. I also kissed my two daughters as a sign of showing my love and care for them. I have been doing this to all my children almost on a daily basis. They know my heart. May the Lord bless them all to be God-man children, loving the Lord, fearing the Lord, and being useful vessels to the Lord.

In parenting, there are many lessons to learn day by day. In fact, many of them are learned through mistakes and misunderstandings. I believe this is how the Lord has been perfecting us to be parents, and in the process, our children will also learn from us. This is all a part of family life, especially if we are believers in the true and living God.

May the Lord bless the families of all His children that His plan be fulfilled in us and through us.

And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. 

Genesis 1:26, 28