Growing Up in Christ, Will Minto

I am continually, thankful to my merciful Lord Jesus Christ that He has put me in a place where I can know His heart's desire and have a way to grow up in Him. Anyone would agree that society as a whole is degenerating (2 Timothy 3:1-7) gradually, but by His mercy there is a way to escape the tide of this age (Romans 12:2) and to be preserved for the Lord's return to this earth (1 Thessolonians 5:23). This way, this place, where I have received so much help, is in the meetings of the local churches. I truly believe that the blessing of the Lord is with all the brothers and sisters in Christ who meet together in this way. By this way, I mean the genuine ground of oneness as seen in the New Testament. All the believers in Christ should be able to meet together throughout this entire earth; however, since this is not practical due to time and space between us, we can meet with all the Christians in our city. This is the practice of the local churches and it has been blessed by the Lord. We have been able to recover this truth of the Bible and to practice it, due in large part to the help of the ministry of Witness Lee and Watchman Nee.

This ministry has helped me throughout my entire life to realize that the Lord desires to have His believers become His many brothers (Romans 8:29) who have His life in them (John 10:10). His desire is that we would all be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:3-4) and not only so, but also grow to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13-15) in order to build up the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12) which is His church (Ephesians 1:22-23).

I have also been helped by this ministry to have a way to grow in Christ by having some basic knowledge (2 Peter 3:8) of how to contact Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2:20). We all have three parts, our body, our soul, and our spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Our spirit is the means by which we contact God (John 4:24). He died on the cross and resurrected and became the life-giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45) so that we could be joined to Him and be one with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17). The words which He has given to us in the Bible are spirit and life (John 6:63), so if we use our spirit to contact Him when we read the Bible (John 5:39-40), we will receive more of His life. I have to use my spirit to contact Him, my soul cannot receive Him (1 Corinthians 2:14-15) and it is a great mercy to see this fact that my spirit and soul are not the same thing (Hebrews 4:12). By contacting Him and His word in my spirit and calling His name to receive His riches (Romans 10:12-13) I can grow in Him who indwells me (Romans 8:11). However, none of this would be possible by myself without the help of the believers in the local churches and the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. I have to pursue Christ with all those who love Him in order to be able to escape our degraded society (2 Timothy 2:22) and to be able to grow in Him. May the Lord have mercy on me that I would continue to be able to grow in Him in this way and be useful to Him. (2 Timothy 2:21)