Like Timothy in the Bible, the Lord blessed me with a godly grandmother and mother—who were a great inspiration to me. They began reading Bible stories to me at an early age. It wasn’t long before I became enamored by the amazing heroic feats of the Bible characters. This motivated me to desire that same kind of supernatural life for myself.
By the time I was eleven, I had encountered enough problems to make me aware that I was a sinner. I was not satisfied with my life, and I desperately wanted a change. One Sunday at church, my Sunday school teacher shared the Gospel with me. The Lord revealed to me that Christ’s death upon the cross was applicable to my life. When I saw my need of Christ, I experienced a strong conviction of sin. As we knelt in the classroom, I gladly acknowledged that I was a sinner, and received Jesus Christ into my heart as my Lord and Savior. I cried tears of joy that day, as I sensed the peace and loving kindness of the Lord.
During the next ten years, although I remained active in the church, there was a growing sense of dissatisfaction in my life. All my Bible knowledge and church activity could not produce the peace and contentment that I thought was a part of living the Christian life. I found myself sinking into a pit of hopeless despair. The guilt over my own failures weighed heavily upon me. I became acutely aware that I was a defeated Christian.
My only ray of hope was in the sweet by and by. I attempted to console myself with these words, “Well, at least when I die, I know I’ll be with the Lord in Heaven.” This was a great blessing to be sure. However, it had very little effect on the ugly here and now. So much for future hope—what I needed was a present tense transformation. Providentially, the Lord responds to the desperate cries of our hearts—even when they are as feeble and misguided as mine was.
He (Christ) graciously sent a godly helpmate [soulmate] into my life. While in college, I met and married my precious wife, Lue. She became the catalyst for my personal spiritual renewal. Afterward, we united with a small country church in East Texas. A careful and lengthy study of Scripture ensued. This was my desperate attempt to find meaningful answers to the critical issues of life.
I had yet to discover the life portrayed by the godly Bible characters that I had so loved as a boy. I also observed the quality of life recorded in the Bible in a real and vibrant way through a layman at our church. I was captivated by his simple-fervent faith, boldness, and potency in prayer and witnessing. He and his wife exuded the love and joy of the Lord. This produced within me a deep hunger and thirst for true righteousness.
Although I was extremely sincere and dedicated, I discovered that I had the same misunderstanding that was true of the Galatians. Having begun in the Holy Spirit, I had been attempting to be made perfect by the flesh. I was trying to make the Christian life work by zealous religious activities and biblical disciplines. I then realized that my human strengths and abilities—although engaged in good biblical activities—were just as inadequate for living the Christian life as they had been for beginning the Christian life.
It was then that Romans 1:17, “The just shall live by faith” took on new meaning for me. I ceased from my own human efforts (fleshly works) and entered in His [Christ] rest. As I yielded myself to Him, the Lord graciously filled me with the Holy Spirit. I began to live in the same way that I had first received Him “by grace through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). Finally, I understood. Christ had not come to give me life. He had come to be my life, and He is. Christ is now my very life!
Once I had totally committed my life to Christ to carry out His plans in me, I was able to know what those plans were. As a result, in the Summer of 1971, the Lord revealed to me His purpose for my life. He had made me to be a minister. Through the assistance of a multitude of counselors, God confirmed His call into the Christian ministry.
However, by March 1975, I had run the gamut of Christian teaching. Ironically, some of what I had learned caused my Christian life to deteriorate. Once again, I felt myself losing ground. The simplicity in Christ, which I had found to be so liberating, was beginning to elude me.
Mercifully, God rescued me from yet another yoke of bondage. Through one Scripture my eyes were opened. “As He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). Finally, I saw it! I am one with Christ. Everything He is, I have now become in union with Him. Gone were the days of trying to become more like Christ. Now, I could relax and just allow Christ to be Himself in me. Oh, what joy to simply abide in the consciousness of His indwelling presence!
God made it clear that the nature of my ministry is to proclaim this liberating message of our union with Christ and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. While I was in seminary the Lord showed me that I was to have a Barnabas’ type ministry as an encourager. He [God] has instructed me to travel around the world sharing this transforming truth. My desire is to help people discover God’s amazing grace for living, so they can partake of His Life. I praise God for His all-sufficient grace which has enabled me to carry out this life calling!
