Gods Faithfulness

I was in the US Army in Germany, in 1974. I had a friend that was addicted to heroin. One night after duty hours I was heading to one of the watering holes that we frequented. This friend was setting on the steps of our barracks just hurting for a fix. He had no money and no one would loan him anymore, but 3 or 4 “Jesus freaks” where around him, they were asking him to go to the base chapel with them to pray. They told him God would deliver him from his addiction. I just continued on my way to the bar. However the next day when I saw him he was all smiles and free from the addiction of the heroin that had been tormenting him. As I talked with him I found out he had gone to the chapel with the “Jesus freaks” and God delivered him from his addiction to drugs. That is when I know there was a God who cares, but I didn’t do anything about it then.

  After being discharged from the Army in January of 1975 I went home and continued my life of drugs, soon I got into my own problem with drugs. I remembered my friend in Germany and how God had set him free. So I turned to God and asked Him for His help and He did help me, He saved me from my sin and healed me.

So I became a Christian in the Spring of 1976, towards the end of the “Jesus Freaks” movement. It’s been almost 50 years that I have walked with Him and He his never disappointed me. I’ve seen many miracles in my life since then, many healings, many words of encouragement and finances that we have needed that came right in the nick of time. I don’t serve Him because of that, but because He has shown Himself faithful to me in every way and His word the Bible is true.

I’m just sorry that I didn’t keep a diary of all the times He either spoke to me or had someone else tell me what I needed to hear when I needed it. I haven’t always recognized at the time that He was warning me, or speaking to me, until the event was over, but it has helped me to continue on trusting Him and grow in the confidence that He “will never leave me” and is always there. Some of the healings I can recall is as simple as hiccups. They where with me nonstop for a long time, until one day I just said “in the name of Jesus I command you to leave me”. In a very short while they were gone, I just suddenly realized they had left. If you think that’s not a big deal try living with them a couple of days, you will think differently about it. Another instance was, I woke up one morning to find my equilibrium was off, if I turned my head a certain way I would get dizzy very quickly. I prayed about it but it persisted for a few days. Then one day I was reading the book of Romans chapter 4, I believe it was about verse 13 that says “for the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law, but through “the righteousness of faith”. When I read “righteousness of faith”, I just started crying, not an emotional crying or of pain. I said, Lord, what just happened? I looked at the door of my room turning my head in the direction that made me dizzy and suddenly I knew God had healed me and answered my prayer. Another healing that I received was deliverance from cigarettes. I was praying about it and of course, like everybody else I quit 100 times. Then one day I took them out of my pocket, threw them in the trash and and said “Jesus, these are yours, take them from me”. To this day I have never wanted another cigarette. That’s just a few of the many healings that I have received over the years, they may seem trivial until you experience them and then you know how serious they are.

I have also received direction from God where He would be speaking to me, in my heart, about doing something or going somewhere. Like my call to the ministry, my thoughts would be that I can’t go to a Bible school because of my education or that the rapture will happen and I won’t have time to preach. I went to an Assembly of God, chaplain on Fort Leonard Wood to speak to him about a matter, as we were talking he said, wait a minute let’s pray. As he was praying, he spoke a word of knowledge to me that was in my heart that only I knew about. I had not even told my wife about it, so that was confirmation of what God wanted me to do. So we went to Bible school in Springfield Missouri.

At Bible school the financial hardship was there, but God always came through. On one of the semesters I did not have the money to be able to continue. A man said he would loan some money to me for it and gave me a check. I did not feel right about that, so I took it back and gave it to him, and told him God would provide. He told me “if God doesn’t come through, you come see me”, that’s when I knew I did the right thing. I went from him to school, and found in my mailbox a check that covered the expenses that I needed for my next semester. God provides for where He sends you. My entire four years was paid for before I graduated, and I didn’t owe, anyone anything. Because God said He would provide.

These are just a few examples of God’s faithfulness, and why you can always count on Him to help you when you have need. If He wants you to do something He’s not going to leave you stranded in the middle of it, but you have to have faith and believe He will carry you through to the end of what He tells you to do!!! I don’t love Him for the things He has done I love Him because He is faithful to all His promises.

50 years later and I am still watching Him move in my life. He is more faithful then your next breath of air and He even gives that to you. Give your life to Jesus, that is one thing you will never be sorry you did, and you will spend eternity with Him in heaven, the alternative is eternity in hell. Your choice, if you don’t choose Him, by default you have chosen hell. Please choose Him today.