I See God's Eternal Plan, Sharon Chang

As I consider the past 22 years of my life, I thank the Lord for His faithfulness to raise me in a Christian household and to keep me loving Him. I recently graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) with an undergraduate degree and am currently pursuing Christ in the Full-Time Training in Anaheim. As the Lord spreads more in my heart and as I pursue the Lord more actively, I realize that I can attribute this to the books of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee and the local churches that I've met with. These books and the local church practice of meeting with believers in Christ Jesus from home to home and on the Lord's Day (Sunday) has greatly fostered a normal, consistent growth of the Lord in me personally and corporately with other fellow believers. Because the Lord's heart's desire is to gain a corporate expression of Himself on this earth, I strongly believe in and stand on what Nee and Lee write as well as the practice of meeting in the local churches.

Brother Witness Lee's writing on Christ vs. Religion revealed Christ as something apart from any institutionalized concept that I had. One example is where John the Baptist is clearly depicted in Mark as radical and apart from religion in his preaching of the gospel in the wilderness while wearing camel skin and eating locusts. I believe I would not have seen this in my own personal reading of this passage. Furthermore, I was unveiled in the matter of religion being something developed by man in order to replace God. This revelation has drastically changed my view of what it is to love the Lord, serve Him and worship Him; it's not a matter of duty, but rather a matter of our love for the Lord being the motive for our consecration to God. This is also a matter of meeting the Lord's need in the way that He desires rather than adhering to a demand imposed upon us. Altogether this desire has caused me to meet the Lord's need by being more genuine with Him and loving Him more.

Witness Lee's writing on The Economy and Dispensing of God reveals more deeply the Lord's eternal plan (Ephesians 3:9) for all His believers and the means by which He will carry this out. While the Lord's heart's desire, as mentioned previously, is to express Himself through all His believers in a corporate way, His dispensing is continuously taking place within His believers (Ephesians 3:19; 5:18). This truth has been an encouragement to me because it made me realize that the Lord is continually gaining something in my heart regardless of whether I am conscious of it or not. This dispensing can be likened to the process of digestion; as I consume food, I do not consider all the processes taking place within my body. In like manner, as I take in God, He makes His home in my heart (Ephesians 3:17). However, I must open to the Lord's flowing and the Lord's life can do the rest, because He is the Author and Perfecter of my faith (Hebrews 12:2).

Meeting with the local churches has been the best way to carry out the Lord's desire of gaining a corporate expression here on earth. I have met with the churches in Long Beach, Los Angeles, Fullerton, New York City, Memphis, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Folsom, Fort Lauderdale, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Dunn Loring, Fresno, Flag Staff, Phoenix, Eugene, Berkeley, Queretaro, Mexico City, Madrid, and Lausanne, Switzerland. I can boldly say that Christ is expressed among all these believers. The same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all who call on Him (Romans 10:12). Thank You Lord Your eternal plan is being carried out throughout the ends of the earth.