The Church in Spokane
TestimoniesAn Answered PrayerAs a young man, the things in the Bible seemed remote and difficult for me to believe. My parents took me to church but I had no personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. Before finishing high school I lost interest in attending church and despaired of ever finding the Lord in a meaningful and personal way. Then during my freshman year in college, the Lord, in His bountiful mercy, found me. I was walking along the street alone, feeling upset with myself, when a young man turned to me and asked, “Are you a Christian?” Within a few minutes, we were kneeling together on the sidewalk and praying. I prayed for Jesus to come into my heart and be my Savior. At first I was not sure anything real had happened, but beginning from that day in May 1972, the Lord Jesus began to make Himself real to me. I expected that, having received the Lord as my Savior, I would immediately become a better person. Instead I found that many of the same old character faults continued in my behavior. This caused me to doubt my salvation very much. Meanwhile, I began to read the Bible, and to find it very sweet. I also began to seek the fellowship of other Christians. These were two big changes that should have borne evidence of a new life in me. Yet, because I was looking for other changes, I still continued to doubt. During that time, I attended meetings of several Christian denominations, but found little that matched the new feeling in me toward the Lord. I feared that I was unable to live up to being a Christian in reality. In fact, I wondered how anyone could, so I decided to investigate what the original Christians did after believing in the Lord. From reading Acts 2:41-47, I realized what a difference the experience of the early church could make. For the next several months I prayed repeatedly to the Lord, beseeching Him to lead me to a church like the one in Acts. I wanted to be led by the Lord in this matter, with nothing initiated out of my own ideas. So I told the Lord that I would avoid inquiring of others about their churches, but would wait until He sent someone to me with an invitation. In October 1972 I moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington. There in the dormitory I found a little Bible study group which I joined. Still nobody invited me to their church. Then after about a month, a Christian brother asked if I was interested in visiting the church with him. That was my introduction to the local church in Seattle. Upon entering the simple meeting hall, I saw some hundred or so Christian brothers and sisters sitting in folding chairs arranged in circular fashion. As I listened to them pray and sing, punctuated by “Amen!” uttered in unison, my immediate impression was that the Lord had indeed answered my prayer by guiding me to a church like that in the book of Acts. But at the same time I wondered if I was ready to take such an absolute step myself. I went home thinking what a marvelous experience it was to see such a genuine meeting of Christians, but still doubting that I myself could ever be like that. However, when my friend invited me to go to another meeting the next Sunday, I was ready to go. So I began to attend the meetings of the church in Seattle regularly on Sundays. I observed the brothers and sisters calling loudly “O Lord Jesus!” in the meetings. I also heard that besides the body and the soul, every man has a spirit, made by God specifically for us to contact God, Who is Spirit. One day, rather quietly, I called “O Lord Jesus!” as I walked on campus. Right away I had the sense that the Lord was there with me. That was when I first realized practically what it means for the Lord to be with my spirit. As I continued to exercise my spirit to contact the Lord and worship Him, my doubts about my salvation quickly evaporated. A couple in the local church who lived near the UW campus, invited my friend and me to their home every morning to pray, sing, and read the Bible at the beginning of the day. How we enjoyed the Lord’s Word together! At the same time, I picked up the habit of taking long walks in the morning or evening for prayer and fellowship with the Lord. Sometimes I also sang in my dorm room. I looked forward to waking up each day, for I began every day by reading at least a chapter in the Bible. My studies became secondary, and Christ occupied the first place in my life. When I heard that a blind brother who was studying the same subject needed a reader, I was happy to volunteer my time to help him. All this happened quite spontaneously, with almost no effort on my part! In addition to my own reading of the Bible with the Lord, I was introduced to the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. I also received much help from the speaking of the believers in the meetings. At the 1973 summer conference in Los Angeles, I had the opportunity to hear Witness Lee speak in person. In that conference he spoke mostly from the book of Ephesians. Although I understood little, I picked up one phrase that he emphasized repeatedly. This phrase was that we all need to take Jesus as our Person. I prayed over this phrase day after day during the summer, telling the Lord that I wanted to take Him as my Person. In 1974 the opportunity came to attend a summer Bible training, when Witness Lee spoke the messages collected in the Life-Study of Romans. During that training, he realized that there were many attendees who did not have a good foundation in the meaning of many spiritual terms. I was one among those. I am very thankful for the basic explanations he so patiently gave us during that training. I found that time so profitable that I decided never to miss another summer or winter training and I never did until 1979 when, beginning with The Life-Study of Galatians, the trainings were video-taped so we could watch them without the need to travel. How I thank the Lord for opening up His Word book after book in all the Life-Study messages! Through those messages I have learned that God has an eternal purpose, that Christ has the pre-eminence in all things, that the Triune God dispenses Himself into His chosen and redeemed people as the life-giving Spirit, that we can enjoy the Lord in our spirit, that the cross is not only for our redemption but also for the termination of every thing rising up against the knowledge of Christ (including we ourselves in our flesh), and that every bit of Christ we gain today as believers will become an eternal memorial in the New Jerusalem. I am thankful for 27 years of meeting with the churches in Seattle, Portland, Bellevue, and Spokane and also to the ministry of our dear brother Witness Lee. Doug Dean |