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Having Sought to See and Having Seen Who He Is
I was born in Delaware in 1958 and raised as a Roman Catholic in upstate New York. I first opened to receive the Lord in 1977, having been persuaded to do so by a Protestant minister. However, after experiencing a personal tragedy, I asked the Lord to leave. That notwithstanding, by 1982 I had opened to the Lord again, after hearing Billy Graham speak on television. Shortly thereafter I left New York for Atlanta, Georgia, having been invited by a friend I'd gone to college with.
By then I knew for certain that I was born again. One proof was my burning desire to read the Word of God (I Peter 2:2). Hence, I carried a pocket-sized version of the New Testament with me wherever I went--just for that purpose. Then one day I found myself spontaneously praying, “Lord I just want to see You as You are!” (cf., Luke. 19:3a; Eph. 1:18; Matt. 5:8). Within a few weeks, the Lord answered my prayer by sending a brother from the local church in Atlanta who helped me to see Christ expressed in His Body (Acts 9:4-5; I Cor. 12:12). This brother was a genuine luminary, who held forth the word of life to me (Phil. 2:15b-16a) which exposed so many dark areas within my being. He was also a shepherd, shepherding me to the meetings of the church. After about six months, my experiences of the local church were becoming so solid that I determined to attend the meetings of the church without the direct encouragement of this brother.
The spiritual benefits I've received have been inestimable. I have grown and am still growing in life (Col. 2:19), have been trained and am still being trained in character (Tit. 2:11-12a) and have been freed and am still being freed by the truth (John 8:32). Space limits me from expounding upon the many helpful truths that have enlightened me in the local church, but I would just list a few: the matter of reward and punishment during the millennial kingdom (Matt. 24:45-51; Rev 20:4), the ground of the church (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5), and the universal priesthood of the gospel (Rom. 15:16; Rev. 1:6; I Pet. 2:5,9). Oh, how I have seen the Lord as He truly is and how thankful I am to Him for that!
T.B. | Back to List
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