How I Came To Know Jesus

8-19-2010

I was raised going to the Church of Christ. Every Sunday my mother made sure my sisters and I attended. My dad very rarely went, but he thought it was a good idea for us. I learned about the Bible, but I never knew God. My heart and mind was on the things of this world and not on the things of God. Scripture tells us to repent and be baptized, so I was baptized. (Mark 1:15 and Mark 16:15) But I never repented. As a result, when I left home I went the way of the world.

As the years went by I grew farther and farther away from the truth of scripture and began to create a false god in my mind (see Rom 1:20-24). I knew in my heart there would be a day of judgment “for it is appointed unto man to die once, but after this the judgment.” Heb 9:27 While I knew God was creator and there was a heaven and hell, I looked to find something else to believe in order to avoid hell. So I tried to convince myself that we were put here by space aliens. It was a lot less fearful answering to someone flying around in a space ship than to God, so I could live life like I wanted. Little did I realize at the time, but to many people in the world, UFO’s are their god. It is a false religious system designed to take the God of the Bible and Jesus out of the picture. It is a deception from the pits of hell that we may believe a lie.

Then a spiritual battle began to develop in me, the truth verse a lie. It started one day when I noticed a co-worker who had an ear phone in one of his ears and I asked “what is it that you are listening to?” He replied “some gospel music, I am trying to get back to the Lord, but my problem is that I like women too much.” For the next three or four months we talked a lot about the things of God. During this time his young son was diagnosed with cancer and they did not know if he would live or die. But I saw him begin holding on to the Lord Jesus Christ and it got me to thinking. This was a temporary job and unfortunately we went our own different ways in life, so I never heard what happened with him or his son.

As a result of our conversations, I started talking with my late wife Eileen about church. She was interested, so we decided to go one Sunday, but we were not impressed. A few weeks later another church, but we also were not impressed. (I think I was looking to the Church and not Jesus at this time for answers.) I had a drawing to attend a Calvary Chapel, maybe because of an old friend who came back to visit. He was talking about how he had gotten into trouble, but was delivered through it by the Lord when he started attending a Church with “Calvary” in its name. I am not sure if it was a Calvary Chapel or not, but he liked his church a lot. So one Sunday Eileen and I attended a Calvary Chapel here in Phoenix and the spiritual warfare really began to heat up. Little did I know at the time that “we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Eph 6:12 There was a battle going on for my soul.

I was fighting it out, do I believe Jesus or little green men flying around on a space ship. It was actually quit miserable for me at this time. I did not want to bow the knee before Jesus but trust in the little green men. The problem was I knew the little green man was a lie, but wanted to believe anyway. Every Sunday from that time on we attended the Calvary Chapel and the spiritual battle kept getting hotter because I was hearing the truth.

One day I was talking to Eileen about my spiritual battle and she suggested after Church I should go and speak with one of the pastors. So I took her advice and spoke with the associate pastor. Eileen and Robert (my stepson) went with me. I wanted to argue “little green men,” but Jesus had other plans for me that day. I quickly came to know that Jesus was the “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” Rev 19:16 also Rev 17:14. I also knew that I could have eternal life that day and trust in the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. “For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’.” Rom 12:13 When the pastor asked “do I want to get saved or not?” I had no other alternative but to repent and receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Eileen told me later she was surprised with my response. Another wonderful thing, Eileen and Robert also prayed to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Scripture tells us “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36) And oh yes, I was set free. Now the Holy Spirit dwells in me and I am a son of God. WOW!!! That just blew me away. I am now a new creation in Christ Jesus. My sins are forgiven of me. That entire burden I was carrying around because of my rebellion against God was gone. It was like a ton of weight lifted off my shoulder and I was filled with amazing joy.

That day life turned in a different direction. It was almost 7 years ago as I write this. One of the first changes in my life I started noticing was my filthy mouth cleaning up. It was happening without me even being aware of it. It was like one day I realized, I am not using all these dirty words like I use to. Next I realized getting drunk was not what a child of God should be doing. This took some time to overcome, but thanks are to Jesus, I overcame. I also started loving my quiet time with the Lord and His word. My personal relationship with Him keeps growing, something I strongly desire. I absolutely love walking with the Lord. There is no way I would want to go back to my life before Jesus. It is not a trouble free life, but He is with me every bit of the way.

About 5 years after our salvation, my lovely wife went home to be with the Lord. She had a heart condition which resulted in her death. The Lord was faithful to deliver me through it, but that is a story for another time. This I can say right now, I am so thankful she came to Jesus before her death. Knowing where she is makes all the difference. Those who profess to believe “there is no god,” have no hope at the time of death. For them, it is the end, never to experience anything good again. For the believer in Jesus, it is the beginning. If you have not received Jesus, I encourage you to do so. Call upon Him today and receive salvation.



I will leave you with this from the last chapter in the Bible, Rev 22:



12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”

14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”

17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.



All scripture from the NKJV