First Steps On The Narrow Path

It was 1984, the year of my 21st birthday, which is the only time in my 61+ years, my birthday fell on Easter Sunday.

Having no family to celebrate with, I'd developed my own little tradition of having a champagne breakfast and just chilling out for the rest of the day.

At the time, I was sharing a flat/apartment in the city of Brisbane, with the mother of a childhood friend I'd grown up with in New Zealand, before I'd immigrated to Australia the year before.

She had a boyfriend who was a Christian and they both kept going on at me that I shouldn't spend the day alone and ought to go to church with them for the Easter service. I finally relented and went with them, to the Christian Outreach Centre in Mansfield, a suburb of Brisbane.

The church was packed to the hilt and after all the sermons were preached, the Pastor asked if anyone wanted to be born again, could they raise their hand? My friend's mother, who was sitting next to me, raised hers and for all I could see, she was the only one. She nudged me with her elbow and said, "Come on! Come up with me." I was a very shy young man and there was no way I wanted to stand up in front of all those people, let alone go and stand on center stage.

I leaned forward and put my face in my hands, as if to hide I suppose. At that moment, it was like a bolt of lightning flashed through every part of my mind and I heard a voiced that boomed like thunder and commanded me, "Go on ! Get up there!"

I leaped from my seat and turning to my friend's mother, I took her hand and said, "OK then, let's go." Naturally, she looked at me with a slightly confused expression, got out of her seat and up we went.

By the time we got there, there were about a dozen others there as well, all in a line along the front of the stage. The Pastor was moving along the line, praying over people and putting his hand on their forehead, and they would fall to the floor. When he came to me, said a little prayer and touched my forehead, he said, "Okay, you can fall down now." I replied, "I'm okay, I don't feel woozy at all." However, he got persistant and eventually I lay down (did the stage act).

After it was over, we were led down a stairway at the back of the stage and a younger man than I came up to me with a Bible in his outstretched hand to give me, and declared, "You've been born again. You can ubderstand this now!"

Now I've had a relationship with God since I can remember and had been reading the Bible for years, and I thought, 'What a load of hogwash. I don't understand it any better than I did yesterday.' However, because of the experience I'd just had, along with many others previous to this, and because I had a deep passion to truly understand the Bible, I made the decision that I'd attend church regularly.

However, one night shortly after that, the Holy Ghost woke me from my sleep at about three o'clock in the morning and told me that God wanted me to sell or give away everything I had, except for a change of clothes and the Bible I'd been given, and head north. He said God was going to teach me through many trials, tribulations, visions, revelations and supernatural encounters (the school of hard knocks), to fulfil the plan and purpose he'd set for me.

I had a half share in a garden supply business and a lot of my friends were renowned designers and top models, etc. (I was a bit of a man-about-town). I gave my share of the business to my partner and what I couldn't sell I gave to charity, and hitch-hiked north.

After around about 1500kms and on a Friday afternoon, I arrived at the town of Mackay in Far North Queensland. I had no money on me and by the time I'd walked into town, the banks had closed, so I couldn't get any money out. I looked across the road where I saw a caravan/trailer park across from the beach and thought that if I asked the manager nicely, he might let me stay in an on-site caravan until Monday morning, when I could get the money to pay for it.

Naturally, he wouldn't do that, so I wandered across the road to the beach and sat down on the sand, as the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon. No sooner had I thought, 'What am I going to do now?' When I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to see a large Islander woman with a broad smile and black T-shirt that had the words "Christian Outreach Centre" printed on it. She said, in the friendliest way, "God's told me you need a place to stay for the weekend, is that right?"

Naturally, I was a bit dumbfounded and simply said, "Uh, yeah, that's right." "Well come on then!" She ordered, "Follow me!"

This was the beginning of my walk along THE WAY of the narrow path and a journey that took me all around Australia more than once and involved meeting the most amazing people, incredible adventures, extraordinary experiences, visions, revelations and supernatural encounters, along with God's unfailing providence for my humble needs, that all led to me experiencing the holy ghost presence of His divine nature and characteristics of absolute, undying, true love and majestic virtuousness, in absolute, supernatural power and glory, that led to me understanding the Bible clearly, beyond the shadow of any doubt and the very first thing He said to me was, "I just want to be a perfectly natural part of your every thought, word and deed, which if you haven't figured me out by now, He is."

Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."Matthew 19:21

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow in His footsteps.1 Peter 2:21

"So likewise, WHOEVER OF YOU does not forsake all that he has cannot be (IS NOT) My disciple."Luke 14:33

GENEROSITY

passive lamb-like characteristic of true love's divine nature

Generosity is giving and sharing. You share freely, not with the idea of receiving something in return. You find ways to lift the spirit of others, and give just for the joy of sharing. Generosity is one of the best ways to show love and kindness.

But a generous man devises generous things, and by generosity he shall stand.Isaiah 32:8

Challenge yourself to be aware of any and all opportunities to practice and apply generosity in your life this week, and the times you should have, but didn't because of the characteristic pride, vanity, envy, selfishness, ambition, lust, greed, desire for creature comfort and/or fear for survival of the carnal, instinctual, egoistic (self-centered) nature of your flesh.