Rev. David K. Eames (New York):
I thank God that He
allowed me to attend the conference in Dallas this month. Unlike some of the
participants, I have had access to this type of teaching - waiting on god, the
need for humility, the spiritual importance of meetings, etc. - for many years.
(It has been my privilege to know Pastor Chow for well over 20 years)
But God knew my personal
need. He knew I needed a time of refreshing, a time of hearing these wonderful
truths and practicing them with my brothers and sisters in Christ. He knew my
heart was in need of surgery – the type of surgery that only Jesus can perform.
And so just across the
street from the conference site was the Heart Hospital of the Baylor Medical
Center and I cannot help but believe that God arranged it so – that just as
patients came there across the street from all over to receive help for their
physical hearts, so we came from all over – from Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong,
Canada, and many parts of the US – to receive help for our spiritual hearts.
I thank the Lord for Bro.
Chow’s teaching from the book of Hebrews, for Sister Martha’s messages on
humility, and the many testimonies that encouraged and instructed me. I praise
God for the times of stillness and the times of joyful worship. Through it all,
Jesus Himself worked by the power of the Holy Spirit in my heart.
Going to conferences,
attending Holy Ghost meetings is important but I realize that the most important
thing is to carry the truths from the conference into our daily lives. That is
where “the rubber meets the road.” And so the challenge for me and each one
that attended is to live out these things day by day – to practice the presence
of god, to spend time each day waiting upon the Lord, to learn to serve others
in humility, to not give in to the temptations and pressures of life and to not
allow them to crowd out the most important thing – that of serving, loving, and
obeying the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank God for the
wonderful fellowship, the delicious food, the blessed meetings, the English
translation, and, most of all, for the presence of Jesus Christ in our midst.
I already look forward to
next year’s conference!
Sister Wei Wei (Phoenix,
Arizona):
In May, I learned about
the “Jesus Is All I Need” ministry and its inner-life
training seminar and conference. I prayed and decided to
come for 1 week training for the following objectives:
-
To experience God’s love.
-
To know His plan and direction for my life.
Each day, brothers and
sisters were asked to share their testimony. The
testimonies really touched my heart. Japanese Pastor David
Kazama’s sharing really hit home for me. He lost his wife
to cancer 4 months ago. I identified with the pain of
losing his loved one, as I, too, lost what I loved four
months ago—my position and career accomplishment which I
cherished very much. Tears gushed down my cheeks. I’ve
been waiting upon the Lord frequently since last June. God
revealed to me that He is a jealous God. His striping away
the idol in my heart showed the passionate love He has for
me.
We are often blind; we
do not appreciate the value of good people/things until they
are taken away from us. The brokenness is God’s way of
saying to me: “I am in love with you. In me, there is
security and significance that you have been looking for in
your career and relationships. I relentlessly pursue you
until your heart belongs to me, and put me first in your
life. Jesus is all in all!
At the Dallas
conference, the Holy Spirit convicted me through the
teachings of Pastor Chow and Sister Martha and challenged me
on the following points:
To give up my worldly
ambition and take on the holy ambition.
-
To know Jesus as the eternal life
-
To desire His presence
-
To enter into His Rest
-
To be clothed with His humility
-
To love Jesus with all my heart, soul, mind, and
strength
Have I experienced God’s
love for me during the conference? Absolutely--God is so
gracious, and His loving kindness is forever.
-
God loves me with His words and promise:
On the second morning, the Lord gave me His
words in Isaiah 30:18: Yet the
Lord longs to be gracious to you: He rises to show you
compassion. For the Lord is a God of Justice. Blessed are
all who wait for Him.
-
Jesus loves me with the beautiful testimonies of
brothers and sisters:
Pastor Kazama’s sharing really blessed my
heart, reminding me of God’s tough love for me and of his
promise that His grace is sufficient for me--we
did not get discouraged, but see God’s hand in leading us to
a different but brighter future--a future with Jesus
Himself.
Pastor Lai’s sharing
moved me to unstoppable tears. She told of how God taught
her to help her husband overcome the pain of being forced to
retire early from his job. I felt that Jesus was dealing
with me while she was praying for her husband. I felt like
Jesus Himself was praying for me as I experienced a career
setback! How He has loved me!
Sister Chen Shu-ching
testimony of her conversion from Buddhism to Christianity
spoke to my heart. “I felt like Jesus was talking to me
through her: ‘I have loved you for so long, I have been
waiting for you, I have been looking for you for 7 years.
You are my child.’”
I have a lot of
knowledge in my head, but little in my heart. Praise God
for these beautiful life-changing testimonies which He used
to speak to my heart. God so loves me.
Through Sister Martha’s
teaching on humility, the Holy Spirit also convicted me of
my pride and idea of perfectionism. How I am lacking in
compassion for other people’s weakness. I could not help
but love Martha, because I see Jesus in her. Since we
love the people with Christlikeness, should not we love
Christ Himself? Jesus is altogether lovely, altogether
holy, and altogether worthy of our love and devotion.
As for the second
objective of my coming to the Dallas conference,
I know now that it is to know Jesus better,
to enter into His presence and rest, and from now on, be led
by the Holy Spirit in all areas of my life—a beautiful life
with Jesus as my King, Friend and Lover!
Cindy Chang (San Jose,
CA) :
I thank God because I
believe He is always working in my heart. I came to this
conference with many questions for God. Having just
graduated from college, I wanted to know what the Lord wants
me to do next, where He wants me to be, how I should go
about doing this or that and so on. I felt as if I expected
a direct answer from God. But the first few days here,
God was doing His cleansing work in my heart. I felt His
holy fire upon me and it felt so overwhelmingly deep inside
as if I was being consumed by His fire. My whole being felt
His fire burning and burning within me. He’s been showing
me little by little the things that displease Him in my
life. For instance, my sin of pride; although outwardly
I may seem like a very gentle, nice, humbling person, but in
me, there is a root of pride that God sees.
When people tell me how
nice I look or when they say I’m such a good person, it all
makes me feel good about myself and the “I” in me becomes
big. It feeds my pride and ego, but the Lord is showing me
that it displeases Him. I shouldn’t deserve any credit,
even for the littlest compliments because all that I have
and am is from Him. It is all by His grace and it is to Him
the glory belongs!
As for the other days,
during the meetings, God has continued to fill me with
Himself, His love, and His joy. The satisfaction from him
at times overwhelms my soul and makes me forget about all
the questions I even had in the first place. None of it
seemed to matter anymore. He has renewed my faith and trust
to believe that in His time and in His way He will show me
what to do. It’s like He’s placed an assurance in my heart
that He is with me all the time and will keep me. There is
still a long way to go and much diligence is needed in
waiting upon the Lord but thanks to God that I can put my
hope in Him for He is the strength of my heart and my
portion forever!
Hang Hui (Vancouver
Chinese Zion Church, BC):
I came here wanting to
be soaked in God’s presence for two weeks. He has not
disappointed me and has renewed my spirit and my passion for
Him. I heard Sister Martha who had been in Mrs. Judd’s
Faith Home for two years. She reminded me once again the
importance of humility. How she practiced it with her
roommate many years ago in a retreat to the point of risking
herself of bronchitis. Oh, humility, so simple to know yet
so easily forgotten.
I heard many powerful
testimonies on waiting on God from ministers and lay
persons: A fourteen-year-old boy waited on the Lord as he
was going through life-threatening cancer treatments. A
minister gained wisdom when she was called to cast out
demons; a clinical psychologist starts out her sessions with
her patients with a ten minute silence to wait on God. I
was also much touched by Pastor David Kazama (of Japan)
sharing how the practice of waiting on God helped him
through the last 30 days of his wife’s life as she died of
cancer in a Tokyo hospital four months ago. And now as he
is heading back to Tokyo to start a new church, he no longer
feels burdened in the gospel barren land because it is not
his church any more but Jesus’ Church!
Finally, Pastor Chow’s
releasing of the words from Hebrews is so profound and
edifying. We are told Jesus has done all the work of
restoring our relationship with God. He can save us to the
utmost if we come to God through Him (Heb 7:25). We in
Him and He in us. We have regained the
relationship with God from what we lost in Adam. Indeed God
enjoys our walk with Him. Seven times in Hebrews we are bid
to come into the presence of God. We, the church, are the
city where God dwells. We will be built up to His likeness
and we will be His bride. So long as we continue to
believe, to hold on to Jesus, lest we should drift away.
Indeed, as Pastor Chow continues, the most important thing
in our life is to build up our relationship with God. Yes,
not only in our life, but in the daily moments of our life.
We can access our High Priest any time any place and He
welcomes our cry for help and our walk with Him.
Jennifer Lin (Portland, Oregon):
After the Dallas
Conference last year, the Lord created a deep thirst for the
Holy Spirit and for the gift of tongue. Praise the Lord,
just three months before I came here this year, the Lord
granted me the two desires of my heart!
This year’s
conference has been a renewal and restoring experience for
me. During the conference, the Lord reminded me of the
period when I used to spend two hours each morning in His
Presence. From there I drew or received strength, wisdom,
grace, and mercy to go through my daily tasks. The Lord was
very gracious to me during that time. His presence was with
me throughout the days. It was a sweet and glorious
reminiscence for me.
After I got
married, lift has become busy and I allowed other duties to
take over my morning devotional time with the Lord. He has
been merciful and forgiving to me. He is still waiting for
me to resume this quiet fellowship with Him.
In this
conference, the Lord, through Pastor Chow, gently invited me
to return into “the inner chamber”. He is longing for my
companionship and lovership. The Lord is so good to me; I’ll
not decline His invitation.
Another
experience I had in the conference was the heavenly worship.
During one of the evening worship times, I saw myself
kneeling with the multitude worshipping God and the Lord
Jesus. In my spirit, I seemed to see the twenty-four elders
and the angels worshipping the Lord with us. It was an
awesome experience. The Lord’s Presence and love is so rich
in the conference. I just want to carry the flame of His
Presence back to Portland and share it/Him with other
Christians.
May the Lord
remember all of the brothers/sisters who have served us at
the Dallas conference. To God be the glory!
Pastor Hong-Lian Lim (Malaysia):
I have been very busy since I
came back to Malaysia from Dallas, but the inner-life training helps me to cope
with my daily schedule. I thank God for this inner-life ministry!
The first week when I returned
to Malaysia, I held a meeting in the church and led the brothers and sisters in
the practice of waiting on God, and the presence of the Lord filled the church.
People saw Jesus appearing in the meeting; one sister even saw that Jesus came
and hugged her. A brother saw thick clouds in the church and others heard
angels singing. This kind of things also happens in our morning prayer meetings
from Tuesday to Friday. Every week people got save; some people even got healed
during meetings. They said one hour prayer meeting is too short because they
enjoy the presence of God. Praise the Lord for all this!
Please send my regards to
everyone in the Fellowship. I have been very blessed by their ministry when I
was in Dallas. God bless you and the Fellowship.
