Saved into His Life and from Myself, G.M.C.

Ever since I was a young child, I loved the Lord Jesus. In raising me, my devoutly Catholic parents instilled in me a heart for the Lord Jesus. However, it wasn't until I was 29 years old that I personally received the Lord Jesus into my life. Although I had already spent seven years of my life in a Catholic monastery, I had no idea what it was to be saved according to the Bible's complete revelation, and neither did I know what it was to be regenerated (1 Peter 1:3, 23).

After leaving the monastic life, I sought all kinds of philosophies and religions in an attempt to satisfy a deep and mysterious longing in the innermost parts of my being. Each one of these quests, however, ended in futility, and left me feeling emptier than when I had begun. My only recourse was to delve even further into the world with all of its hollow promises, illusions and disappointments. But I will forever praise the Lord that one day He found me, and He spoke to me, and He met me where I was, offering only Himself as my eternal salvation and destiny. Hallelujah, I was conquered! The Lord Jesus Himself had overcome so many obstacles that had long kept me from His loving and healing presence. Amazing grace! All of this transpired in 1978. Little did I know then that this experience was only the beginning of a most wonderful and challenging journey that even to this day continues to astonish and save me.

In January of 1980, I met the Lord again, but in a manner that I hadn't previously known or even suspected could ever possibly occur. I met Him corporately in His Body through a Christian brother in the local church in Newton, MA. This further encounter with the Lord was to me like another salvation--a salvation from the self, from the fallen soul life. Through the continuing fellowship in spirit with a number of the brothers in that locality, I came to a deeper experience and enjoyment of the Lord Jesus in my spirit. No one, in any of the many denominations I had spied out after being saved, had told me that the Lord Jesus, through His resurrection, had become a ``life-giving Spirit'' (1 Corinthians. 15:45b), and that now, ``the Lord is the Spirit'' (2 Corinthians 3:17a), and that ``...he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.'' (1 Corinthians 6:17) These few basic truths, having fully revolutionized my Christian walk, would prove over the years to be only the tip of the iceberg. By continuing ``steadfastly'' in the local church, ``in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles'' (Acts 2:42), I progressively realized that Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, produced a prolific body of spiritual writings. This marvelous gift from our gracious and generous heavenly Father at this period in time has been a means for Him to open His holy Word to me, further revealing Christ to me, thereby transforming me, conforming me to the image of His Firstborn Son, eventually glorifying me in Christ Jesus a part of His universal corporate expression (Galatians 1:12, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Romans 8:29-30, Revelation 21:2).

Through this precious ministry, the Lord has shown me the truths revealed in His holy Word from Genesis through Revelation (for ``our Savior God desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth'' 1 Timothy. 2:3b-4). Over the past 2,000 years the enemy has done much to damage, and is presently fighting all the more against God's economy, or plan, on the earth which is to dispense Himself into His chosen believers, build up His Body both spiritually and practically, and consummate the New Jerusalem as His eternal counterpart for His corporate enlargement and expression (Ephesians 1:9-10, 3:19, 1 Peter 2:5, Revelation 21:2, 9-10). Praise the Lord Jesus Christ for having included a sinner such as me in this most wondrous and awesome plan.

I am glad that I have received the Lord Jesus into me as my Savior and new person. I simply opened myself up to Him, and called on His wonderful name which is above all names, and has power to save. ``For `whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved''' (Romans 10:13). By the Lord's mercy and grace I was willing to believe into Him, and receive Him into me as my life and my everything. As a Christian who is regenerated with the divine life, having a seeking heart, and desiring to enter practically into God's full salvation, I have allowed myself the time to search the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. Over that time, I have grown in the divine life, and hope to mature fully as a son of God, and an heir of Christ. Nothing and no one can satisfy me except the One Who has created me to be His container, having His divine life and nature dispensed into me in order to express and magnify Him with all His believers for all eternity. Likewise, I think nothing can satisfy my loving God except those who are filled with His eternal life, thus magnifying and glorifying Him as His many sons forever. ``The Lord be with your spirit'' (2 Timothy 4:22).