Only Christ Can Fill Our Small Heart, M.G.

Hello, my name is Manuel Garcia and I love my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is so rich, pure, wonderful, and beautiful. Day by day, He is becoming more and more my all in all. It amazes me that I can write such things concerning the Lord now, because that wasn't always the case. I was raised in a poor neighborhood in Houston, Texas and I witnessed my parents pour out their all for myself and four older sisters. We didn't have much. In fact, I remember one holiday only getting a 6-inch stick of gum wrapped in colorful paper. Anyway, I remember the longing within for a better life, one that would soothe the cry that I had deep within for satisfaction. With the need for satisfaction within as the fuel energizing me day after day, I set my eyes on getting a good education- one that would get my family and myself a “real” life.

I ended up at the University of Texas at Austin studying electrical engineering. Scholarships were paying my way through college, and there was a big difference between my scholarships and yearly college tuition fees. This allowed me to have a significant amount of spending money left over. At this time, I would like to interject a verse from the Bible and a small exposition of it from the Amplified Bible. In Ezekiel 3:11, it says in the hearts of man God put “eternity”. Concerning the word “eternity”, the Amplified Bible says, “It is a divinely implanted sense of purpose in man that nothing under the sun can satisfy.” Well, I was spending all my left over money semester after semester for these years trying to fill that “eternity” within me with finite things such as: dancing, music, going out with friends, studying, and so much more. That didn't cut it. The cry within would stop for a little while, but would only come back louder. Finally, during an evening of the first week in April in 1996, I found the One who could fill my little heart, which the world could not. Actually, Jesus Christ found me. Hallelujah! My life was changed.

Now as a Christian, I began to look around for where to meet. The Lord brought me where I'm still meeting now, the local church. The life level, the enjoyment, the praises offered to the Lord, and the whole atmosphere made it clear to me that the Lord was here. “The love of God, the grace of Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:14)

Christ is the Centrality and Universality of God's Economy

Christ is the centrality and universality of God's economy. This means that Christ is both the focus and every detail associated with God's economy. God's economy is His household administration, which is to dispense Himself in Christ into His chosen people that He may have a house to express Himself, which house is the church, the Body of Christ. The phrase “God's economy” is found in 1 Timothy 1:4. I didn't know that God had an economy, until I read it in Witness Lee's ministry. I remember when I first read it, and went back to the Bible to confirm it, it blew me away. I didn't know that God has an economy, a plan to dispense Himself into me, and that I can participate in this plan in my everyday life by simply turning to my spirit, which is joined to the Lord. Anyway, these are just a couple of many phrases found in Witness Lee's and Watchman Nee's ministry that have led me to know the Lord in a deeper and richer way. Their ministry has very much enlightened me. Their ministry, from what I've read to this point, (which has been a lot!) is founded in the Word of God. I've read a lot of Christian books in the past, but none have had the same powerful, life-changing effect on me as these two authors' ministry has had.