I grew up in a family that didn’t attend church, and argued all the time. A very stressful environment for a shy, introverted young man. It is a traumatic experience for a ten year-old child to come home from school and find his parents wrestling in the middle of the floor, trying to shoot each other with a pistol. Fortunately, no one got hurt and the gun was put away.
I can’t count the times that my Dad picked up a shotgun, in a fit of anger, after he and my Mom had been arguing; storming out of the house, declaring that he was not returning. I cried like a baby many times over their fighting and threats of suicide.
Dad had a German temper and Mom had Cherokee and Irish blood in her veins; a deadly combination when anger took control of them.
I escaped all the strife by slipping off into the woods to be alone with nature and the silence of the trees. I would sit for hours, like an Indian, absorbing the stillness of all that was around me. The warm breeze, as it fluttered the leaves. The flowing of the creek, as it ran its way over the stones. The dashing of the chipmunks, as they played tag; all the while staying alert to any signs of danger. The bark of a squirrel high in a oak tree, as it spotted me sitting below. The birds singing a song of joy for such beautiful surroundings to play, hunt and nest in; while raising their young ones. The slithering of something through the grass, weeds and leaves, maybe a snake looking for a safe place to sun itself. The woods had sounds, but they were silent sounds, compared to the harshness of home; and the soothing whispers of the trees were my haven of rest and the place where I found solace for my puzzled soul.
I found the Lord in my Senior year of High School; and saw my brother and my parents find their experience with Christ soon thereafter. I look back now and realize that all those quiet times prepared me for many hours spent in prayer and fasting and studying God’s Word. I still thrive on silence today and can spend hours alone with books, in meditation and prayer, seeking more of God’s Spirit to flow into my always thirsty soul.
When I found the Lord it was like He lifted me up and sat me down on His lap and just flooded my soul with acceptance and love and peace and healing for all the stormy childhood years. I couldn’t get enough; and every time the altar call was given I went back for more, even though I knew that I already had been saved. I found His Spirit filling my spirit and soul just like Jesus told the woman at the well, Living Water. She went and told the whole village about what she had found, and they came to see and hear for themselves, also drinking of this Living Water. This Living Water quenched the longing of my very being.
This personal experience with Jesus’s Living Water has taken me to many States and five African countries, sharing what I have found with others. I have seen people healed, delivered from addictions and unclean spirits, and filled with this life-giving water that springs up into eternal life. Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, said the ‘promise’ is to all who are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. There is no respecter of persons with God; and all who thirst and believe can receive this free gift by calling upon His Name and surrendering their selfish lifestyle to His life of wholeness.
There are those who say that Jesus Christ is just another good, moral teacher; an example to follow if we want to live a good life. But to those of us who have knelt before Him with broken and repentant hearts, He is both Lord and God. A personal encounter brings one to know and understand if He is a fake or the genuine Truth.
Mom and Dad loved each other and were married for over 64 years. Before their experience with the Lord Jesus Christ, they knew nothing but to argue their differences in the flesh. When they both found a personal relationship with their Savior, they never threatened or tried to commit suicide again. Did they stop arguing? No, but they argued less and less as they grew older; and it was without the harshness and intensity as before they were Born Again. They had Jesus Christ as their Counselor, and the Holy Spirit as their Helper, teaching them how to control the anger and how to show kindness to one another.
Being Christian doesn’t make one perfect, it just makes one forgiven with the hope of eternal life with Christ. There are no perfect people outside of Jesus Christ. People can attack Christians all they want, along with the Bible and Jesus Christ Himself, but it all comes down to a personal experience with Him as your Lord and God. If you don’t have that personal relationship, you have no basis upon which to make your assessment. You are just inflating your ego and filling the air with words without meaning.
An Atheist ran a full page ad stating that on a particular Friday he would stand in the town square and prove that there is no God. On the appointed day, he shook his fists at the heavens and declared that if there was a God, let Him strike him dead. After a few minutes of this outburst, he said, “There, I just proved there is no God!” A woman hearing him, quietly asked him if he had children. He was surprised by the question and replied, “Why, yes. I have a son.” The lady said, “If your son demanded that you kill him; would you?” He said, “Of course not!” The lady then said, “Neither is God going to kill you just because you demand it before all these people!” “But He will forgive you for being a fool!” The Bible says that the fool says there is no God, and that the devil believes in one God and trembles!
We humans are like that. We will say and do many things to prove that we are wiser than the Creator of our brains and the Universe, justifying our sinful self-destructive lifestyles. But, when it comes to bowing our knees and humbly acknowledging that our own conscience is convicting us that we need to change our ways, and that our parched souls are crying for the Living Water of John 4:1-26, we refuse.
As long as we refuse to humble ourselves before Him, He will refuse to make Himself known to us in a personal relationship.
“I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person and they with me.” Revelation 3:20
Jesus is always knocking at your heart’s door. You have to hear His voice. You have to open the door. By doing so, you invite Him in. Then and only then, does He come inside your heart and begin to develop a personal relationship with you, in sharing daily meals together. Spending time with Him will increase your understanding of Him; and you will soon find that you will change the way you talk, and behave, because you want to please the one who loves you more than any human being on this planet.
Stay close to Him, and His Light illuminates His Word to teach you what is pleasing in His sight. Obey what is pleasing in His sight, and He draws closer to you in your daily walk. The closer you draw to Him, the closer He draws to you. Where He is there is light, understanding, peace and safety; everything that the world promises but fails to deliver.