Positively positive.

[Sam]

I was 17 years old when I asked Jesus Christ into my life. This was Monday night March 28, 1955.
I had been in some trouble with the law, was considered a "punk," was into smoking (just cigarettes--the other stuff was nowhere around us in our small town back in the 1950's) and liked to drink beer which we either stole or were able to buy under age at certain places. I was not much different than lots of people my age who did not know the Lord. I did have a hungering in my soul which I thought might be for God. I actually started going to a formal church where my family had some ties. One night I went to the local Baptist Church and afterward I asked Jesus Christ in and committed myself to Him. I was a new creature. Old things passed away and I began to live completely different. There was no more drinking. The smoking stopped soon afterward. I began to attend a Baptist Church and there I became a member. Listening to some radio preachers like A.A. Allen, Jack Coe, Bishop S.C. Johnson, Glenn Thompson, and C.M. Ward on Revivaltime (radio voice of the Assemblies of God) plus reading my Bible and praying plus reading some magazines I became aware that there was something more for me. I began to pray (plead) for the experience called the Holy Ghost Baptism. Some of my reading led me to the "Oneness" side of Pentecost. I read about water baptism and wondered if my recent Baptist baptism was Scriptural.

I had completed a couple correspondence courses with Moody Bible Institute and had gone to a series of Bible training sessions at a nearby Baptist Church that were designed to train Sunday School teachers and Church workers. I had heard about the "trinity" but there was no explanation. I was told that just as the ocean was too vast to be contained in a teacup so God was too vast to be contained in the human brain. I was told that the Bible teaches that God exists as three eternal persons and not to try to understand it, just accept it by faith.

I went to a meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with some folks from our town. They went to a UPC church in Racine, Wisconsin. I had gone to school with their oldest son since first grade and we were now in 12th grade. I went to the altar and was seeking the Lord for the Holy Ghost Baptism. My friend asked me if I wanted to get baptized in Jesus' name. I was not convinced about the water baptism thing yet but figured I may as well go ahead with it because I probably would any way sooner or later. I was baptized on October 27 just 7 months after my salvation experience in March.

After that I still had questions about how Jesus and God could be separate and yet the same or just what the relationship between them could be. On December 6 (my 18th birthday) I knelt at my bed and prayed. As I was getting into bed it was like a light was turned on in my mind. All of a sudden i knew that
--God is a single invisible Spirit who is every where present at all times
--this invisible Spirit caused the virgin Mary to conceive a son, a human child
--God, the invisible Spirit indwelt that Son.
--Jesus was a sinless human and He was also the invisible Spirit
--He could act, perform, react as a human and he could act, perform, and react as God.
--As a human He had to grow and develop like any other human. He got tired. He slept. He prayed and was limited by time and space. As God He was eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient and had no limitations.
--Some how Jesus Christ was perfect man and perfect God. He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

That did not answer every question but some how I knew that Jesus Christ was God in flesh among humankind and that He lived in my heart as the Spirit of God or Christ in me the hope of glory.

I consider that a revelation and think that God answered the cry of my heart for understanding on my 18th birthday. That revelation was His birthday gift to me.

[Cindy]

Thank you for this thread. As much as we like to arg....debate. We must still do it with respect for each other.

[Cindy]

I am so thankful for the Grace of God. He could have just left me in my sins, with no redemption. Instead his beloved Son shed his blood for me and paid my debt. I strive to have a clean heart and right spirit. And guard my tongue.

[Sam]

I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am [self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].
Philippians 4:13 The Amplified Bible

[Sam]

I remember reading the poem below (or one very similar) about 55 years ago in a Sunday School class.
I've since seen it in a couple of different versions.
One is titled, "If You Think You're Beaten," and I've also seen a similar version titled "You Can If You Think You Can."
And I've seen it with the title of "The Man Who Thinks He Can."
Either way it is a pretty good message.

In a Bible Version called Good News for Modern Man, or The Good News Bible (GNB)
and more recently called Today's English Version (TEV),
Proverbs 4:23 says, "Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts."

I think it was Billy Graham who called the Book of Proverbs, "heavenly wisdom for earthly living."



If You Think You're Beaten

If you think you're beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win, but think you can't,
It's almost for sure, you won't.

If you think you're losing, you've lost.
For out in the world we find -
Success begins with a person's will,
It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you're outclassed, you are,
You've got to think high to rise.
You have to stay with it,
In order to win the prize.

Life's battles don't always go,
To the one with the better plan.
For more often than not, you will win,
If only you think you can.

[Dagwood]

Recently, I did a keyword search on the word "forsake" and found Isaiah 42:16.

And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

I'm just thankful for when God found me and I found Him because, in the words of one of my favorite artists Dottie Rambo, "...defeat is one word I'll never use" even though, at the time He found me, it almost felt like I was defeated.

I know my way, and my paths are more clear every day. Many times I've had to clear some underbrush, and even some thorns. But, it's been worth it thus far. I keep on pressing toward the mark knowing He will never leave me nor forsake me...

[Tim Rutledge]

Originally Posted by Dagwood

Recently, I did a keyword search on the word "forsake" and found Isaiah 42:16.

And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

I'm just thankful for when God found me and I found Him because, in the words of one of my favorite artists Dottie Rambo, "...defeat is one word I'll never use" even though, at the time He found me, it almost felt like I was defeated.

I know my way, and my paths are more clear every day. Many times I've had to clear some underbrush, and even some thorns. But, it's been worth it thus far. I keep on pressing toward the mark knowing He will never leave me nor forsake me...

[RandyWayne]

Hey, God/Jesus has saved me, despite everything else going against me.

[Aquila]

I was 13 when I came to Christ and was filled with the Holy Ghost. And I can honestly say I continue to learn more and more about what happened to me that day. God is truly AMAZING. Thank you Jesus!

[Sam]

This is from pages 25 and 26 of “Beloved Wide Spot” by Nona Freeman, copyright 1989. The book tells the story of their pastoring in Rosepine, LA where they served for almost 7 years until they left in March 1948 as missionaries to South Africa. When they came to Rosepine, her husband Bug was 23 and Nona was 24. Bug’s real name was Elpho Letris Freeman but he earned the name of Bug because of the strange way he crawled as a baby. Bug and Nona were married in 1937 and started preaching a couple of years later. They evangelized and pastored including the 7 years in Rosepine. They served in Africa for 41 years. Bug died in 1999 and Nona died December 26, 2009 at the age of 93.

Early one morning Bug sat at the dining room table reading his Bible. When I came through on my way to prepare breakfast, he looked up with a rueful grin, “Well, darling we thought we moved here in the will of God. I hope we did because this is the day we are supposed to pay rent --$17.00-- and I don’t have it. It seems we need a miracle.”

“I know. I woke up two or three times in the night and tried to pray about it. No assurance came about the answer. I certainly have no idea where we can find that much money today.”

For some reason I made a bigger pan of biscuits than usual, and just as I reached for the skillet to fry the eggs, someone knocked on the kitchen door. ..I opened it to find a hobo standing there.

“Madam, I am hungry,” he said, “would you give me something to eat?”

I had a famous weakness for helping “men of the road,” as I called them, and had learned to stay out of trouble by consulting my husband before I agreed to do anything.

“Just a moment, please,” I answered and told Bug, “There’s a cleaner than usual hungry man of the road at the back door. What should I do?”

Since Bug had strong, well-founded suspicions of their ilk, he surprised me by saying, “Why, ask him to come in and have breakfast with us.”

He talked with Bug while I cooked the eggs and made coffee. The man did not tell the routine hard luck story; he displayed uncommon courtesy and seemed well educated. After breakfast, I shook off the odd, unexplainable feeling that I regretted his going, while I washed the dishes.

Before I finished the task, Bug called me and I heard excitement in his voice. “Do you know anything about this ten dollar bill I found in the Bible?”

I shook my head with an astonished, “No!”

He went on, “When our visitor came in, I laid the Bible aside --here by me on the table-- I’m positive there was no money in it before breakfast.”

“It looks like part of our ..much needed miracle!” I exclaimed and picked up the Bible. A five dollar bill floated from it to the table. “And there is more of it!”

Bug grabbed the Bible and leafed through it rapidly finding two one ..dollar bills. “It could not be a coincidence to find the exact amount due for our rent in my Bible,” he said solemnly.

I shivered, suspecting what he would say next.

“You noticed his cleanliness and his good manners: I quite enjoyed talking to him. It took a miracle for him to put the miracle money in the Bible under our noses. Honey, I have cold chills going up and down my spine. Do you realize we had breakfast with an angel this morning?”