All scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
50 Years ago in June of 1965 I sat in my folk's kitchen, reading the Reader's Digest. I was 23 years old. It was a Monday and I had been out to the motorcycle races with a friend the day before. We had drunk a half case of beer while we watched the races. I was not into what I was reading about, just something to read as I ate breakfast and drank coffee, smoking a cigarette. I was reading about a woman who professed herself to be a prophetess. I was alone in the room when suddenly I sensed the presence of the Lord Jesus. He called me by my name saying, "John, what you are reading is somewhat the way it will be but she is not of me." He further said to me that the direction my life was going was leading me to death. Then in tones of the most unutterable love, the Lord said to me, "you have a choice to make and you don't have long to make it. Make Me your choice, I am the only reasonable choice you have." I was totally awe struck that the Lord was speaking to me. I remember standing to my feet and turning in the direction I sensed the Lord was standing and saying, "Lord Jesus, if you will help me I will serve you from this day to the day I die." Immediately the Lord helped me.
I had been in the United States Army for just over three years and had learned how to swear and use profanity. Oh I swore before that but never as bad. It got so bad that while still in the Army, I inadvertently said the "f" word, once in front of a close friend's mother, and once in front of my own mother. I didn't mean too, it just came out. I was very distressed by those incidents. In both cases the friend's mother and my mother never said a reproachful word to me. I hoped at the time that they just did not notice. In any event I determined to clean up my speech. I honestly tried to quit using bad language but found that it was impossible to stop. I tried to put a check on my foul language but I found that even my thoughts were full of vulgarity and profanity. I hated myself for my weakness and finally gave up trying as I couldn't stop swearing.
As soon as I said, "Lord Jesus, if you will help me I will serve You from this day to the day I die," the Lord miraculously cleansed my heart and mind. All the bad language was gone. In that moment of time the Lord Jesus took out of my heart all the filth that had so plagued me. Jesus cleansed my heart and life and took all the worldly desires out of my life. At the same time the Lord said to me, "read my word and start in Matthew." I immediately went into the other room and told my mother and stepfather what had just happened to me. Then I found my Bible (I had one I just had never read it) and began to read starting in Matthew. It was in Matthew 12:34 that Jesus told His Jewish listeners, "O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." It all happened on a Monday in June of 1965.
Friend of mine, if ever you doubted Jesus' power to save you, let me tell you today, that He can and will save you. The Bible says in Hebrews 13:8 that He is, "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." It's been 50 years ago this month, and in those 50 years the bad language and the desire for the things of this world has never come back. Since that day in June of 1965 I have been living for the Lord Jesus and looking for His return. What He did for me that day He will do for you if you will trust Him. Call on Him today. Read and obey His word. It's real.
Friend of mine, if ever you doubted Jesus' power to save you, let me tell you today, that He can and will save you. The Bible says in Hebrews 13:8 that He is, "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." It's been 50 years ago this month, and in those 50 years the bad language and the desire for the things of this world has never come back. Since that day in June of 1965 I have been living for the Lord Jesus and looking for His return. What He did for me that day He will do for you if you will trust Him. Call on Him today. Read and obey His word. It's real.
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