Knowing Jesus, B.W.

Knowing Jesus, B.W.

I am a 33-year-old student/employee at the University of Texas at Austin. I work in a research laboratory and I am pursuing a Ph.D. in molecular biology. I grew up in a Christian home and when I was thirteen years old I received the Lord Jesus as my Savior. I remember at that time being filled with a joy that I had never before experienced. I had several Christian friends and for a time we pursued Christ and enjoyed conversing about the Bible and the Lord. Soon, however, we drifted apart and I became interested in other things. Over the next few years I drifted further away from reading the Bible and meeting with other Christians. I wanted an exciting, enjoyable life and I tried many things to achieve this goal.

After several years working at various jobs I decided to enroll in college at U.T. Although I was doing well in my classes I did not have the satisfaction I was seeking. Then one day I met two Christians on the campus who asked me something I had never heard before. They asked if I had ever enjoyed the Lord Jesus. I had heard of worshipping the Lord, serving the Lord, praising the Lord, but I had never heard of enjoying the Lord. Over the next months these Christian brothers began to help me get to know in a real way the Jesus I had read about. The God whom I thought was far away began to draw me close to Him. For the first time I began to experience and enjoy the Lord and I found that He is the most exciting and wonderful person imaginable! These brothers, as well as other Christians meeting as the local church in Austin, began to speak to me about Jesus and I realized how rich He is, how marvelous He is, how lovely and fine He is! I used to feel that being a Christian was about trying to be a good person. Now I know that it is about enjoying, experiencing, and loving the Lord Jesus -not just once in a while, but in a daily way.

I feel that my life with the Lord Jesus and His believers is the most enjoyable, exciting life I could have imagined. The Lord is rich and full of purpose and I am so thankful that I know Him.

How the Ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee Helped Me to Experience, Know, and Love the Lord Jesus

I would like to give a testimony about the ministry and literature of brothers Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. When I first began to read the Bible I found most of it tedious and hard to understand. I mostly read the Bible because I thought as a Christian I was supposed to. To me, the Bible was a book of stories and good teachings with a lot of fancy wording. Actually, most of the New Testament was quite confusing. I wondered why more of the Bible wasn't like Matthew 5-7--the “sermon on the mount.” Why didn't the Lord give me more rules to live by? I could barely understand the epistles of Paul, and yet the Lord placed so many of these in the Bible. To me most of the Bible was a mystery.

Through the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee the mystery began to be revealed to me. I realized that the Bible is not about stories, philosophy, or teachings--it is about the Lord Jesus Christ and His desire to have a Bride, which is His church. The ministry of these two brothers has helped me to see Christ in every part of the Bible--and the more I see of the Lord the more I appreciate Him, know Him, and love Him. Christ used to be “one dimensional” to me. Now I realize that He is unsearchably rich. The Bible is like a concentrated can of juice--waiting to explode! I now realize that every single word of the Bible says something marvelously rich about the Lord Jesus. Since the Lord is the Life-giving Spirit in my spirit and His words are “spirit and life,” the more I partake of the Lord in His word the more I experience and enjoy Him. This is why it is so wonderful to have the Bible opened up to me--I get to experience and enjoy another aspect of Christ. Right now I am reading Brother Lee's Life Study of Exodus and it has daily increased my enjoyment and experience of the Lord Jesus. Each message is so packed full of the revelation of Christ.

In Acts 8 there is an account of Philip and an Ethiopian man. This Ethiopian man was reading the scriptures yet he did not understand them. He admitted that he needed a guide. Philip helped this man know the scriptures. In verse 35 it says that Philip announced Jesus. The scriptures are about Jesus. The ministry of brothers Watchman Nee and Witness Lee have helped guide me to Him.