Gloriously Saved Into Christ

In October of 1989, I was powerfully and gloriously saved into Christ and the fulfillment of His Heart’s deepest longing, the church (Ephesians 5:25). Despite years of desperate seeking to “find myself” through Eastern religion and the New Age movement, I never did until the day the Lord Jesus Christ, in response to my invitation, entered into my heart. It was after taking the full step of salvation, by calling on His name and being baptized, that He, as the life-giving Spirit entered into my human spirit and showed me “my self.” Under the healing and exposing of His brilliant light, I found a “self” much different from the one I had envisioned and sought. Through three days of crying and confession, my whole life with all it’s trespasses and failures were brought into the light and cast upon Jesus, who broke the bands of their yoke upon me and fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law by bearing their judgment in my place.

At the end of this time, I was the blind man who could see, the lame man who could leap, the captive set free from years of excruciating bondage. In my first steps outside, I found the whole creation fresh, alive and brilliant with glory. I heard the whole heavenly host of angels singing in jubilant victory, exultation and praise. I found my experience confirmed later in Luke 15:7, where the Lord says, “I tell you in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner repenting than over 99 righteous persons who have no need of repentance.”

From that time forward, 2 Corinthians 5:17 became my heralded cry of praise, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old things have passed away, behold they have become new.” The life of the one, true and living God had irrefutably entered into me to end my years of desperate searching and fill the painful void of longing in my soul. I had arrived. I had sought and I had finally found. I had opened the door and The King of glory had come in.

The last 20 years in the local churches have been full of unspeakable and glorified joy not void of hardships, but free from the senseless, vain suffering of before. Trials and faith testing times have been given by my Father, not as any kind of punishment but rather as a gift that I may be brought by Him to share in His victory over every negative thing.

Never before had I heard or imagined that the church was anything other than a building with a steeple. Now I have found that all the God-filled believers are the church. And as the Church, we are becoming the fulfillment of God’s deepest heart’s desire.