Full-Time Training - Testimonies

Learning to Live by My Spirit, Steven Bernier

My earliest remembrance of hearing about the Lord Jesus was at the age of seven when my father explained to me what it was to receive the Lord. Since that time, growing up in a Christian family has been a salvation to me. My parents, who began to follow the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee in the mid 60's, have been faithful to raise their children in a Christian environment full of healthy teaching and care. At present, I am enrolled in the Full-Time Training in Anaheim, established by Witness Lee. My decision to attend this school was based upon a desire and seeking to really know the Lord Jesus and to be made useful to serve God in some capacity. In the Full-Time Training, we are daily receiving light and truth from the Word and through our reading of Watchman Nee's and Witness Lee's writings.

One particular experience that I have had is related to the exercise of my human spirit to contact and receive God as Spirit (John 4:24). At times, I become very dry, dissatisfied, and discouraged because I don't feel that I am in God's presence. I sense that I am apart from Christ. This mainly occurs when I begin to wander in the wilderness of my mind and emotion. At such times it seems hard to go on, even hard to be a Christian. I desire and aspire to live a holy life for God's purpose, yet I find that I fall short, almost daily.

In Philippians 4:12-13, the apostle Paul writes of learning the secret both to be filled and to hunger, to abound and to lack. Through my time in the Training, I believe that I also am learning the secret. To hunger is one extreme and to be filled is another extreme. Whether we are up or down, in abundance or in lack, the secret to live a Christian life is altogether linked to our human spirit. God Himself dwells in our human spirit (2 Timothy 4:22). Upon our believing in Him, He came in to join Himself with us. This is Paul's secret. In his spirit he is joined to the Lord (2 Corinthians 6:17). So also, when I turn to the Lord in my spirit I am one with Him and am able to do all things in Him. The Lord is the able One, yet it is my turning to Him in my spirit that connects me. When I turn to my spirit I live Christ (Philippians 1:21) Who is able. Therefore, my experience in the Training is based on this fact: I am one spirit with Him.

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