Apr 8 • General discussion
Here are my background
A Changed Life
For many years, I called myself a Christian and went to church, experiencing the Holy Spirit filling me up. As quickly as I had an experience with God, it was forgotten when everyday life hit me again. I was a superficial Christian with a prophetic gift, so I would occasionally hear God speak to me, but I didn't always share it. I was mostly Christian at church and not so much at home or at work; faith is a private matter, I thought.
At home, my children lived with a father who lived by double standards. I had God in my life when it was helpful, but just as quickly as I sought God, I became another person, where God didn't get space to change me. Towards my children, I was a harsh father. I had a violent temper, and I wasn't the best father in the world. I demanded high standards from my children but didn't live up to them myself.
I myself had an addiction to pornography. I sought to get rich quick without thinking about the consequences of what I did, so I did many things that were not legal or morally okay.
But outwardly, I was a good Christian. I was good at hiding my double life; I had a beautiful facade until everything collapsed around me. I had started my own accounting firm. I borrowed a lot of money to afford the life I wanted to give my family. The company earned okay, but not quite enough, so the solution was to borrow so we could go on vacation together and have many good experiences.
These vacations were good for us as a family, but it was all built on lies and loans. This made it harder to make ends meet and repay everyone I owed. But I got somewhat in control and sought God; He blessed us again, but then I forgot God a little again and fell back into my old self, and I just sank further and further into problems.
Throughout all this, I had God on the sidelines, not giving Him full control, but I always leaned on God when it was difficult and maintained my facade. Then the Corona crisis hit us, and since many of my clients were small business owners, I lost a number of clients. But I thought I would get through it. I lost income of 300-400 thousand per year, so my income dropped to between 50 and 100 thousand per year.
So we couldn't pay our bills and eventually had to give up our house, which we sold. From this, we could pay off a portion of our debt, but far from all of it. So now we were sitting in an apartment with no money and still struggling to pay our bills. It's hard, but now I started to open up about how bad our financial situation was. As an accountant, I haven't been good at managing my own finances, and therefore I still owe quite a lot of money.
Shortly before we moved, one of my sons became very angry with me. He had found pornography on my phone and computer. It had made him disappointed and angry. This was a trigger for the fact that I hadn't been able to protect and shield him from the misfortunes that hit me and our family. Furthermore, I was so deeply caught in my problems that when he introduced a girlfriend, I hadn't been a happy and welcoming father and truly welcomed her into our family. That is clearly a big mistake. Additionally, I involved him in my problems, and he wasn't ready for that, so it's still a matter for God to resolve.
So when I subsequently talk about God having converted me and given me a completely new life, it is out of this that I come.
Because in 2023, something happened that changed everything about my life. I still fall into sin and am not completely free from the old, but I am on my way.
Personal Revival.
It is still a miracle that God chose me to go through this revival in my life.I am a completely ordinary man full of sin who supernaturally experienced how God desires presence with us, and I just want to share my experiences with you.It all started one day in February. I lived my normal life, went to work and took care of it, and went to church, and so one week after another passed, nothing special about it. But God increasingly ignited a longing in me, and I began to participate more actively in the meetings and small groups we had at church. One day I heard about a revival in Asbury at their local university, and I thought I'd just see what it was about. So I found a YouTube video that was being live-streamed, and I sat down to watch it. But I was touched by it and began to sing along and was touched by the Holy Spirit. I began to ask that God might let His Spirit fall upon me and upon our city and upon our church. And then it was that I had a new encounter with God, a life-changing encounter with God.
Jesus came to me in His purity, and I just had to fall to my knees and confess that I was a sinner and that I was not worthy to be in His presence. As I lay there, I completely broke down and had to lay everything down before God and let Him forgive me anew. It was a time for repentance and remorse. After this time, I experienced the Holy Spirit beginning to fill me up completely, and as I was filled, God just poured out the Spirit over me like a anointing, and I was in His presence and could just enjoy His restoration of my life.
After that, I have experienced that the Holy Spirit has always been clear in my life and that God continues to work with me. Many times, we experience God touching us, and then we forget it again and fall back into our old lives without allowing the Holy Spirit to change us. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit wasn't finished with me.
I experienced that God gave me images and words into my life and to others, and I experienced that God repeatedly gave me images that spoke of returning to a childlike faith. God showed me an image where I saw a wall standing in the way of God's blessing and our access to heaven, and I saw that I prayed for it to disappear, but instead of it collapsing, I just pushed it, and it moved away, but it also slid back again. Then I saw a child who simply reached out a finger and touched it, and the wall collapsed, and access to heaven was completely open.
A couple of days later, I was at a Holy Spirit day in our Alpha course at church, and the Holy Spirit came over me again very physically, and I experienced hearing from God and prophesying into people's lives, and I believe everyone had a wonderful day. And now, what the Holy Spirit was doing in my life truly began to gain momentum.I was impressed to pray for our pastors, and we had an Ash Wednesday service leading up to Lent, and here I again experienced how God let His Holy Spirit rest upon me in a supernatural way. I felt as if the Holy Spirit simply sat on my lap and let me feel His presence, and I felt myself being filled anew with His Spirit and that I just had to be in it and let it work in me. As I have said, after this experience, it was like taking off the flesh and just being there in the Spirit, a completely fantastic experience that I wish everyone could experience: being with Jesus in what I would describe as a spiritual resurrection for me. I think it's so amazing that this is what Jesus wants us all to experience, namely His fellowship and His restoration of our lives. I experienced that God began to use me more to pray for people, that God wants to pour out His Spirit upon us and His church. I experience that God wants His church to become visible again and make a difference and not just be quiet, but go out and tell about Jesus.
My journey starts here, and I have been given a heart for us to reach our city and our country through common prayer in God's great church. Let us not look at the things that divide us but focus on what unites us, namely Jesus. He is the way to eternal life; without Jesus, there is no salvation. So let us, as a church, tell about Jesus, for He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him.
I have been given a longing to see the Holy Spirit work among us. I dream of seeing heaven become visible here on earth again through Jesus' church. Jesus sends us out to the people around us to tell about Him, that the kingdom of heaven is near, and to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons. And Jesus also says that we have received it for free, so give it for free. So let us follow His word and invite people to Jesus and His kingdom. Let God change hearts.
PRAYERI have included this prayer after the chapter. This is not a finished prayer but rather intended as inspiration to ask God to do in your life what I have shared in the chapter. So if you wish for what I have described in the chapter to happen in your life, then pray this prayer:Come Holy Spirit, renew me. Let me have a new encounter with You in my daily life. Let me experience You in my life. Let me meet You in Your purity and cleanse me so I can stand pure and holy before You, and begin Your transformation in me. I want You to fill me every day and renew me and forgive me for everything I have done and said that was not good.Thank You that Your love covers all my sin so I can be pure and holy before You. Come Holy Spirit, fill me and speak to me through thoughts, images, and Your word. Let me be used by You.
Renewal in the Holy Spirit.God showed me a picture of how He makes our hearts clean and new for Him.
I looked into my heart, and it was black with soot because it had been on fire. But the fire had gone out, and the last period before it burned out, it wasn't a pure fire burning, but a fire with pollution—my own thoughts, the sin I didn't want to let go of, which had polluted the fire that was supposed to burn for Jesus. But I saw that Jesus began to wipe my heart clean, and under the soot was the purest gold. He was thorough, and my whole heart was made clean, and when it was completely clean, I saw a heart of gold. Then Jesus again put a flame into my heart and set me on fire again.Today is a time for cleansing and for igniting the fire in our hearts. The Holy Spirit wants to give us a fresh and new start.But it requires us to lay down our lives for Him and accept His grace. We are sinners, but God wants to forgive everything in our lives and cleanse our lives and reignite the flame in our hearts.And God wants to bless us with signs and wonders. Healings will happen in His presence when God is near and the Holy Spirit falls upon our congregation in a new way. We all carry the Holy Spirit in our hearts, so when we meet, the Holy Spirit is with us and near. But what many of us seek is a revival in our lives where the Holy Spirit blazes up in each of us and supernaturally touches everyone, and others are drawn to God through the extra outpouring of the Holy Spirit.So we must let God renew the spirit in each of us, and then miracles will happen around us. But it can hurt to lay everything down, and it is a daily thing. We must daily seek forgiveness and renewal from the Holy Spirit.But it starts with each of us. I know many hunger to see more of the Holy Spirit's power in our church and our lives, and therefore it is important that we lay everything down before God. But if we are willing to do so, God is faithful and near.We have been given everything by grace; there is nothing we can do to earn salvation. It is so amazing that God gave us Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins so that we could die with Him to be resurrected with Him.And in that resurrection, Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit as His advocate here on earth so that we can glimpse heaven through the Holy Spirit's power, and healings of the sick, excessive joy, peace, speaking in tongues, singing in the Spirit, exorcisms, and setting people free from the influence of evil.
I have some Bible verses for this chapter:Exodus chapter 40 verses 34-38: God's presence.Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1-10: God's grace.And Acts chapter 8 verses 14-17: Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer.Listen to God when you pray. I have prayed my whole life, but it is only after my personal revival that I have gained a prayerful heart.I have always prayed and will pray for people and have always had immense trust that God hears us and answers us when we pray. But I haven't always felt that much was happening. However, I must say that we have always been completely dependent on God. Unfortunately, we still don't know how we will afford to pay the next bill, but one way or another, God has always, or almost always, helped us through. This is one of the things I have become aware of recently: we are often tempted or challenged in areas where we actually believe we should have control. I am trained to do accounting and advise people on their finances; that's what I do professionally, but when I look at my own finances, it's a big mess. Therefore, I am completely dependent on God to help me make ends meet.My wife Inge Marie is the most hospitable person I know on earth, but she experienced a period where people either didn't have time or couldn't make it work to visit, or if appointments were made, things came up, and people had to cancel. Nothing one could do about it, but it was a hard time when you just want to have guests and take care of them. Again, an area where she has a huge heart, but many challenges came in the way.So I have become aware that where we might think, "I have this under control," God still wants to be part of the solutions.So I have learned that I must lay down even the things I think I am good at before God, so that He can bless them, so that they can make Him great and give Him glory, for my abilities come from God, and I am completely dependent on Him.Through many years, we have experienced that God has answered our prayers, and we have felt very blessed.We have seen healings, financial blessings, doors opening, new opportunities arising, along with security and care. Often, we have been allowed to see how God helps our children. I could share more things God has done that are absolutely wild. We have often felt that we can see how God intervenes in our lives.So I know that God hears us when we pray, and I know that I have a great God. The Bible states that the Earth is like a footstool for God. Fortunately, it is a footstool He loves very much. I remember when I was a child, we had a footstool, more like an ottoman. I loved to lie over it, sit on it, and it was truly the best piece of furniture in the whole living room. And that's how God feels about the Earth, and especially about us. He created it and us Himself.We must remember that God is a great God. We must be careful not to make God into a human with our limited possibilities, because my God, nothing is impossible—NOTHING. And that is what we must remember when we pray: there is nothing impossible for God. He can do anything. He created the earth by His word; there was light, and it happened. That is the God we pray to, but the amazing thing is that this is the God who lives in us. Because when Jesus left the earth, He sent the Holy Spirit to us, and when we say yes to belonging to Jesus, the Holy Spirit moves in. So the Spirit that helped create heaven and earth, you and me, lives in our hearts.So if we have received the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Himself says, "Whatever you ask for in my name, I will do," then it is not meant for us to be satisfied with not receiving it. If we pray for the sick and they are not healed, then we must pray again and again and again until God gives us what we ask for. If we don't see the healing, we should not see it as if God didn't do anything, but rather as if God is in the process of doing something. Not all healings happen immediately; sometimes the person you pray for just needs to understand that a change has occurred. But I know that there are also some who do not experience healing, but it is not God's plan for us to say that it is probably not God's will, for God wants the best for us. So we must not be satisfied; even if we have to beg and plead with God to intervene, that's what we must do. Remember that God loves us more than we can possibly comprehend. It can be difficult to understand when prayer doesn't bring about change, but then we must pray again. And every time we are allowed to pray for healing for that person, we must pray, and perhaps one day we will see God heal. We can do nothing else.But when we pray for healing or God's intervention, we are asking God to let heaven come near to earth and just overflow and descend to us. So it is when heaven overflows that we see God's miracles. And in heaven, everything will be perfect, and it is this state we ask God to create here on earth. But on earth, there is always a danger that heaven will be pushed away. But imagine living in the field where heaven overflows and God intervenes with healings, freedom from all sorts of addictions, and other amazing things. I often pray that we may always remain in that state. Just as I often pray that God will bless us with money so we have enough for all good works, as it is written in the Bible, but it has not happened as I expect and wish yet. But despite all that we don't see happening, I know that God hears us and sees that we are faithful in prayer. And every time we pray, we take away some of the power Satan has and give it back to God.Lately, I have received what I would call a prayerful heart. I often feel God's heart when I pray, and I know that God has a wild love for us, and He longs for fellowship with us and wants to enter into our emotional lives. When we feel joy, God wants us to share this joy with Him. When we feel pain, God wants us to share it with Him. It is God who has given us our emotions, and He wants to be in them with us. And I often pray that people may have a new encounter with God—not an encounter where the brain and rationality dominate, but one where the heart is opened up, and we begin to feel God in our emotional lives.The last thing I want to remind you of is love. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. In a culture with low self-esteem, this might be very easy, but that is not the intention—that we should love others as little as we love ourselves. And it is clearly God's intention that we should love ourselves as He loves us.So the intention is that we should have God's love in our hearts. We should love our neighbor as God loves us, meaning see them with God's eyes. So when we pray for someone, we are God's representative, and as God's representative, we must show Jesus and His love. Always pray for others out of love, place them before God, and let them feel God's love. Let the Holy Spirit fill you with love for others and pray in humility.God is a mighty God, and let the Holy Spirit flow through you to others, for God wants to touch the world and His church.
I truly wish that you, the reader, have been inspired to take that extra step into God's presence and begin to let God work not just beside you but in you. I myself have gone from the attitude of, "Well, I'm a Christian, and I go to church; it's quite pleasant."I have seen God do much in my life without letting it change who I was,because I still had to live in this world, and people look askance at you if you are a Christian. Some might see it as a sign of weakness, but it's time to confront this attitude and begin to live as a Christian, to be different from the world.We have for a long time gone our own ways and not given God the opportunity to work among us. We meet on Sundays to be taught by our pastors, but when do we meet about God and worship of God? When do we just wait for God to speak to us? Do we have an expectation that God will come and intervene in people's lives? Are we expecting speaking in tongues, or someone singing in the Spirit, or a prophetic word for our congregation?Paul instructs us in 1 Corinthians 14:26-33 about managing spiritual gifts for edification and not confusion, as at that time, many came with speaking in tongues, singing in the Spirit, or prophecy. So we must also expect them to be used in our congregation today. But now we rarely see them used in our congregations. Have we put a lid on the Holy Spirit and His power? Are we afraid to see God work, or do we long for God to renew and build us up?We need to set ourselves aside and not think that it is important to gather to be heard or seen, because God sees the heart, and He desires humble hearts that long to hear Him and spend time with Him and be inspired by Him. He desires our closeness and longing, and He wants to fill us with a love that surpasses all understanding.God does not want us to use the stewardship He has given us to close hearts and ears, because He can just as quickly take it away from us again if the stewardship is used to prevent God from working freely in our congregation.Do not let your wealth be a burden to you, so that the door to heaven is closed because you hoard money instead of sharing what God has given you with your brothers who are in need. Do not let wealth destroy you, but help your neighbor and continue to trust in God.Be a blessing to your brothers and sisters. See those who stand beside you but are lacking. Do not let pride stop you from helping. Do not look down on people who have gotten into trouble by their own fault, because God looks at them with grace and with love, and God wants you to help more than just superficially. We must help people all the way in, to where it requires faith to help them, where we ourselves are challenged by helping. Help them in love.God wants to bless your faith and your means—help your neighbor as yourself.This means helping your neighbor as you would help your own family, your own children. Go the extra mile for your brothers and sisters, so that you may be known by your love for one another.
Let God's grace be shown through you.I don't think we understand the word grace, or what it means for us. For how do we describe God's great grace when we ourselves are full of revenge and desire for justice? In the USA, they kill murderers in the name of justice, but with God, there is forgiveness and grace for the same person. The grace God gives us is more than forgiveness; it is overflowing, it is warm and pervasive, it gives you infinite love, and eternal life springs from it.It is through God's grace that we can forgive and love unconditionally, not bear grudges, and show God's love. It is God's grace that created this earth, and it is God's grace that gives us the surplus every day to help people.It is God's grace that allowed Jesus to die on a cross so that He could die for our sins, so that we can have eternal life and fellowship with God.So let God's grace guide you. Pray that God may let His grace flow through you.
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Here are my background
skool.com/the-life-of-a-christian-3943
Here is a group where we can share Christian life together and talk about what the Bible says so that the Bible becomes relevant in our lives today.
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