In August 1988 I read a sentence in a book by author Eileen Caddy, the founder of Findhorn that changed my life forever. The words I read were not exactly as they are written in the Gospels, but at that moment in my life they were written perfectly just for me! Due to the way these words sprang off the page to me, I was able to do something that I know God is wanting from every human being on the earth. He wants us for Himself! He wants us to serve Him, to obey His every command and live the greatest life that is possible for us to live!
The words I read changed my mind therefore my life changed. The words in front of me in this life changing moment were, “Jesus said that if we will obey God we can do what He did and even greater things”! At that particular moment in my life I wanted to be a “healer”. I was very caught up in the new age movement and wanted to be able to help people, but I did not know Lord Jesus as I do today. One thing I did know about Him though was that He is the greatest healer that I had ever heard about in the history of the world!
So I realised that these words from Lord Jesus were telling me that if I would “obey God” then I could heal people like He did and do even “greater things” than He did! I was in a state of complete awe and wonder! These words were the most amazing words I had ever read in my life up to that moment! I had never heard anything like this and I moved very quickly to take action about these words.
In the moment of reading His words for the first time, it was as if time stood still. I went into some kind of TIME warp. It was as if nothing meant anything anymore. I walked outside, looked up to the sky and said, “God I give you my life! Tell me what you want me to do for you and I will do it. I want to make a difference for you on this earth. I want to do what Jesus did and even greater things!”
A voice clearly spoke to me within about one second. I knew that this voice was God. I had never heard that voice before and I had asked Him to “tell me what He wanted me to do for Him”. There is so much to say about what has happened since I could write all day and all night every day and would not be able to do anything else to be able to share the adventures I have had with God since August 1988.
However I can say right now that the next day, I was jogging in the bush (where I lived at that time on a farm in Western Australia) and a voice shouted to me to “STOP”! It was a man’s voice. I stopped and looked around. There was nobody there. I looked down on the ground and a 2 metre Tiger snake (one of the most deadly in Australia) was coming across the road right in front of me!
I had never seen a snake before in my life. The spirit of God poured into me and I was unafraid. I had always believed that if I ever saw a snake in “real life”, (as in not on TV or in a zoo) I would be terrified. I was simply amazed at how the snake moved across the road so effortlessly. As I had never seen a snake move in front of me before, I was in a state of wonder as to the way it just glided along.
This was the confirmation in the outside world, that I had given up my life to God. He had already started to speak immediately inside of me after I gave my life to Him and then next day, He saved my life by shouting to me to stop. If I had gone perhaps another two steps I may have been bitten. Nobody may have even found me for ages as I was out in the bush. When that particular snake bites, a person could be dead within ten minutes.
God led me to give my life to His Son seven years later by bringing me to do the Alpha course. From my experience with churches, Christians and “churchy” type people, without having given my life to God in this way I probably would never have given my life to Lord Jesus. I was so angry about Christianity and Christians. During my life I had experienced so many Christians to be hypocrites, mean and excluding which put me off ever becoming a Christian. For me it is a miracle that I was ever able to give my life to serve Lord Jesus and be filled with the Holy Spirit!
After giving my life to God, but not in the beginning giving my life to Lord Jesus, I had many miracles happen but over a period of time, from coming into a spiritual life the way that I did, I had no spiritual protection, guidance or teaching to be able to live this way. God led me to the only ONE who could help me, His Son! Repenting of my sins (which Lord Jesus asks all people to do) and asking God to forgive me, then giving my life to serve Lord Jesus made THE difference between truly living with my feet on the ground but being able to as Lord Jesus says, “worship in the spirit”.
Lord Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well, “But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.” (John 4:23) When I just stood under the sky and gave God my life, I had no idea what would happen or where this would lead me. I knew that all I wanted to do was do what Lord Jesus said in that one sentence I read from Eileen Caddy. I wanted to do what Jesus “did and even greater things”.
The actual Gospel reads, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” (John 14:12) If had at that time read these words, I doubt I would ever have come to give my life to God. The way the words were written in that moment that if I would obey “God” I could do what Jesus did and even greater things, were perfect for me to give my life to God at that time. I was very into “God” but not Christianity.
Now I KNOW that Lord Jesus is NOT Christianity! He is LORD JESUS, the Son of the one and only God! I don’t just believe this, I know it to my very soul because of what has happened to me on the journey with Lord Jesus, in every second. This is in my daily journey with Him spiritually, but also listening to the Gospels as I drive along in my car.
I don’t know how many times I have listened over and over to all of the Gospels, probably hundreds of times, but I feel I can never get enough of His words! He is for me as He expects to be, my one and “only teacher” (Matthew 23:8). I speak to Him every day as my greatest friend and ask Him any questions I have at any time of the day or night.
When I have been singing and speaking all over the world, I have had many Christians say to me that they have never heard God’s voice. It is interesting to me that in the modern world many people are focused on themselves. Even Christians who would say that they “love” Lord Jesus have shown in one conversation I have had with them, that they really are focused on what they want to do or what they think they should do.
God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in the spiritual realms. If you can’t really listen to people in the physical world and you are only into yourself, how are you going to ever hear God’s voice? When I “gave up” my life to serve God, I meant what I said. I really wanted to serve God, so I could be a “healer”. I wasn’t wanting to do that so I could be the most famous healer on the planet. I just wanted to help people. To serve God means you have to give up the “me, my, I” and come to “Father, what do you want me to do for you today”?
Two very different realities. When Lord Jesus asked the disciples what they were talking about “on the road” as they walked along, they said that they were talking about who was the “greatest” among them. Lord Jesus told them a story and asked who was the greatest, the man sitting at the table or the man who “serves”? The disciples all said that the man sitting at the table was the greatest. Lord Jesus said that He came to “serve”. (Luke 22:7)
So the Son of God came to serve. How are you going with being of service? When you give up your life to serve God, there is nothing higher on this earth you can do. God knows us all way beyond what we can ever know of ourselves. He is the only one who knows what we are capable of. He made us in His own image. Why stay living a tiny little life, when you can live the life that God wants for you and be a servant of the creator, His Son and be filled with the Holy Spirit? Share the love of our Lord and thanks for reading and listening to ‘Breaky with Jesus’! Be blessed in Jesus mighty name, Kelly Newton-Wordsworth
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