The Local Church

The Truth, the Way, the Reality, the Life

From the time I was five years of age, I would carry my Bible around with me and meet in homes to have Bible studies. I loved the Lord Jesus, and always felt protected by Him. My family did not understand my love for the Lord, and my desire to “know Him.” My family ridiculed me, as my nickname became “saint so-and-so.” My life-long dream was to become a missionary.

Many years passed and my dream faded into the background. I was very aware that I belonged to my Lord Jesus, but didn't know in what direction to start pursuing Him. Additionally, many hardships hit my family, so I always questioned the Lord regarding my very existence, and why he placed me on the earth in the family that He chose for me. My childhood consisted of the exposure to drugs, alcohol abuse, guns, bomb threats, and immorality. I knew deep within that the Lord desired a different path for me. What I witnessed provided further confirmation that my Lord was real, as He was my comfort, peace, rest and refuge from a life of torment and discord. I knew that He would eventually reveal to me where He wanted me, and that He would bring me to find my “real family.” (Please do not misunderstand me when I say this, as I mean no disrespect to my earthly family that God gave me, ands I do love them very much). Every circumstance, situation, was truly sovereignly arranged, by His rich mercy and abiding grace.

I met my husband at age fifteen (we married when I was eighteen). He also had a desire to know who the Lord Jesus was and what His desire was for man. The first time I laid eyes on my husband, I knew this was the one the Lord had chosen for me to marry. We were, of course, so young, and so much in love--so we thought. Only now (20 years later) do we realize what we shared in the beginning was an infatuation rather than a deep love. We also experienced many difficulties in the beginning of our marriage life, but we knew inwardly that we belonged to the Lord and so did our marriage. There were times when we “touched” God in a deep way, like turning on a light switch, but we were not sure how to find the “switch” again. It was like a light bulb went on occasionally and we experienced deep joy and satisfaction--but again, we weren't sure how or why this occurred.

It wasn't until we moved back to our hometown (after a year's absence to “find ourselves”) and came back into contact with an old friend who stated that he thought he had been saved. This friend formerly was an agnostic, and we used to speak to Him about the Lord on occasion. But now he said he thought he had been saved. Our friend told us that he had met some Christians on the college campus and invited us to a Bible study meeting, so we went. As this group of Christians began to pray, my husband had a genuine experience, feeling as though ointment was being poured down from his head. He really “touched” something so real, pure, and so refreshing. I, on the other hand, was cautious, and thought that the praying aloud was a little weird. I was always used to praying to my Lord alone, in private.

A few weeks passed, and when meeting with these Christians, I experienced deep within that the Lord had brought me (and my husband) to my family that I had been searching for my entire life. What I was experiencing was real, deep, mysterious and peaceful. This group of Christians really seemed to know God, and desired to pursue Him (Philippians 3:14). This type of living really impressed me. Thirteen years have passed, and I can tell you that the ministry that has been fed to us over these years has been life changing.

The Lord has revealed to us that His heart's desire is for man to be one with Him, to know Him, enjoy Him, gain Him, love Him, and run after Him (John 17:21, Philippians 3:10, 1 Timothy 6:17b, Philippians 3:8, John 14:16, 1 Corinthians 9:24). He also showed us that His desire is to gain a corporate people on earth to be His expression, His counterpart, and His enjoyment (Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:23)! We have experienced (by our dear brothers in Christ, Witness Lee and Watchman Nee, and many others that have gone before us) that by calling on the name of our Lord Jesus, He becomes our life and person (Romans 10:13; 5:10). We rejoiced when we found the “switch” and could turn it on whenever we wanted--it is our human spirit! What a freeing this was. The Lord has been so rich and merciful to us by bringing us to the local church, to receive the truth from this ministry by flowing out His rich Word from the throne into God's chosen, regenerated, redeemed children.

How much we treasure what the Lord has shown us, through our Watchman Nee and Witness Lee: that He is after His counterpart who will match Him and satisfy His heart's desire! He is truly after a corporate expression on earth today, calling on His overcomers to run the race with endurance to bring Him back. How much we praise Him for showing us who He is, what He is after, and what the meaning of human life really is.

J.L. | Back to List

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