Saved at a Tender Young Age

I'd like to share with you the testimony of my youngest son Joseph, who is now fifteen years old. Although I am his biographer, it's his true story of how he came to know the Lord, based on the journal I have kept for all my children since they were born. This will bless your heart!

Joseph's Testimony
I was blessed to be raised in a loving Christian family where Jesus was the center of our lives. In fact I was born in Hungary while my family was serving there as missionaries, and I lived there for the first part of my life. I never even saw the United States until I was four years old. My father jokes that Hungary is my native country. Our home was a place of love and acceptance, as well as prayer and worship, where the Bible was read and we were raised to follow Jesus.

Two years old

There were various points during my early childhood when I prayed to give my heart to Jesus, but the first time was when I was only two years old. Immediately my parents could see a difference in my life. I began behaving better. I would no longer wake up fussy and cranky either in the morning or when I would get up from my naps. They continued to notice this change in the days that followed.

In fact, months later when I was two and a half, they could still see the difference. I had joy in my heart. I loved God and enjoyed praising Him. For example, one time I was in my bedroom walking around in circles, looking up to heaven with my hands raised to the Lord, praising God to the music on a worship CD.  I didn't know that anyone else could see me except the Lord, so I was doing it just for Him.

On another occasion a few months later, when I was still the same age, I once again prayed with my father to ask Jesus into my heart and give my life to Jesus.  My father then prayed for me to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Two weeks later, while he was having his personal prayer time with the Lord in his office, he brought me with him, while my mother prepared a meal.  I sat in his office chair while he prayed.  I could feel the presence of the Lord as he prayed for me and released the anointing of the Holy Spirit into my life, as well as many blessings. I opened up my heart and let the Holy Spirit come in.

One afternoon soon after that, my sister Faith asked my older brother if he wanted to have a prayer meeting in his bedroom.  Although he didn’t want to, I did, so I joined her.  In the end, my brother joined us also. Faith said that as she prayed, I was kneeling there praying with them.  I would say, "Amen," and "Yes, Lord."

During those tender years when I was just a little child, God continued to reveal Himself to me in various ways through nature, through His Word and through my parents. For example, one time while my sister Charity was changing my diaper when I was three years old, I was listening to the birds chirping outside.  Suddenly I said to her, "Charity, birds worshiping God."

I knew that prayer was talking to God, and it was an important part of my life. For example, one day when I was still three, as my father began his morning prayer time, I knocked at his office door to be with him while he prayed.  And as he prayed, I lay snuggled right up close to him. When breakfast was ready in the kitchen about 40 minutes later, my father told me that I could stay with him or go into the kitchen with my mother, but I chose to stay.  Even though he once again later gave me the opportunity to go and eat breakfast, I still chose to stay with him. I really enjoyed it. But the Lord was also dealing with my heart, too. I felt sorry for the wrong things I had done, so my father led me in prayer to ask the Lord for forgiveness and once again ask the Lord into my heart. After I had been with him for quite a while, he urged me to go eat breakfast, but each time I tried to stand up and leave, I decided I didn’t want to go, so I got back down on the floor next to him.  I was drawn to the Lord’s presence the whole time.  I did that about three times over a period of a few minutes until I finally managed to pull myself away and leave the room to go eat breakfast.  Even though I was still such a little child, and I had not eaten breakfast or had anything to drink, I stayed with my father throughout that whole time, while he was doing nothing but praying. The Scripture says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." (Ps 34:8). I had tasted and seen that the Lord was good, and I wanted Him more than food.

As a result of God revealing Himself to me, I began to desire a relationship with Him. Later on when I was still three, I began having my own personal prayer time, and when I told my mother about it, I was real happy about it.

When I was sick I would ask my parents to pray for me, because I knew God would heal me. And when my sister was sick with the flu, I prayed for the Lord to heal her, too.

During that same period, I also began to think about going to heaven. One night as I was lying next to my mother on her bed, as she was reading the Bible, I asked if she was going to go to heaven later, and she said she was. Then the following night as I was listening to some music, I asked her if we were going to go to heaven later, and she said that we were. So the Holy Spirit was helping me understand that one day I would go to heaven.

When I was four years old, I began for the first time to join my family in singing worship songs to the Lord. The Bible says, "From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise." (Mt 21:16).

While I was still four, one Sunday afternoon I came into the living room, where my father was sitting by himself.  He had just decided to pick up something called an Evangecube and look at it. And even though there was no way I could have known he was going to do so at that moment, it was as if the Holy Spirit led me to come all the way from the other room saying, "Can I watch?" So he went through the entire Evangecube gospel presentation with me, which is a cube with pictures depicting the gospel that's used to evangelize people by opening up the cube, and turning it in different directions.

After he finished, I prayed once again the sinner's prayer to give my life to Jesus.  My father and mother then prayed for me to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and I spoke with new tongues. Then they prayed for me to receive the baptism with holy fire. That's based on the Scripture where John the Baptist said Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire (Mt 3:11). Afterward my whole family rejoiced at what the Lord had done for me. It was an unplanned divine appointment that was directed by the Holy Spirit.

A few days later, my parents noticed that I was consistently having my own time with the Lord every day, crying out to God in my bedroom. That continued to be my daily routine, and when I was five, during my quiet time, I would usually like to sing the song, "Jesus loves me, this I know."

As I said, God revealed Himself to me through nature, and He also showed me that He has authority over all nature. My father taught us children not to swat at bees flying near us, in order to avoid being stung.  He taught us just to command the bee to go in Jesus' name. One day when I was five, a bee was hovering right in front of my face, close to my eye. As I backed up, I commanded it to "Go, in Jesus' Name," and the bee flew away just like my father said it would. The name of Jesus is all powerful. It's the name above all names.

Even though I was just a little boy, I worshiped the Lord and loved Him. I not only expressed that love to Him, but I told others about it and loved people, too. One day when I was six and had begun to write, I showed my father a piece of paper on which I had written, "Jesus is love". A month later I came to him and handed him a note that said, "Jesus is holy".

I also had the joy of the Lord. Amazingly one day I had been singing, "The joy of the Lord is my strength," but my father didn't know about it. Later on that day, however, he told me that he got two prophetic words for me, "joy" and "strength." He read to me the Scripture that says, “The joy of the LORD is your strength." (Neh 8:10b). That was another way the Lord revealed Himself to me was through gifts of the Holy Spirit like that.

Age seven

By the time I was seven, by the grace of God, I had developed a prayer life, and had learned the importance of starting and ending each day in prayer. The Bible says, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.(Mat 6:33). I liked to pray for others, too, and not just for myself. As I got a little older, I learned to put on the full armor of God each day, too. My father taught me that the Bible says, "Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." (Eph 6:11)

One thing my father did with us children was to give us multiple opportunities throughout our childhood to give our lives to Jesus, just like I've been telling you about. He knew that as we grew, so did our ability to understand the gospel, and he wanted to give us the chance to make commitments to the Lord at various points along the way. For example, when I was eight years old, he shared the gospel with me again. In his office, I prayed on my knees again to recommit my life to Jesus and be saved now that I had more understanding than I did during the previous times when I had done so. He also prayed once again for the Holy Spirit to baptize me.

Age ten

But the one I remember the most was at age ten, when I prayed to give my life to Jesus in his office at our home in North Carolina. After I prayed the sinner's prayer, my father also laid hands on me once again to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and I received it with the evidence of speaking in tongues. About three months later I was baptized in water, which was a wonderful experience. The Bible says, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Act 2:38)

I'm glad that I had several opportunities like that as a child to give my life to the Lord, because most of them have since faded from my memory. It's a good thing that I can remember giving my life to the Lord at age ten. But I'm grateful that my father kept a journal for me, and kept track of those earlier milestones for me that happened when I was too young to remember. That way he could show me later when I was older how the Lord brought me to Himself over the years.

Invitation
I trust the Lord will use my story to encourage you, especially if you already know the Lord. Continue to seek Him and pursue Him. Go deeper in Him than you have before. Give yourself totally over to Him to be His servant. Love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength! Worship him with gladness day and night. Seek first His kingdom.

We all deserve hell, because we've all sinned. But by the grace and mercy of God, He has made a way for us to be with Him in heaven for eternity.

If you don't know Jesus yet in a personal way, then I want to let you know that Jesus loves you with an everlasting love, and He died on the cross for you. The Bible says, ”But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). He took your place and bore your punishment, so you don't have to go to hell, if you repent and believe in Him. He rose from the dead three days after He died and He is alive.

He has a wonderful plan for your life. He'll be your closest friend. I challenge you to repent of your sins and believe in Him right now to save your soul. Ask Him to forgive you for all your sins and come and live inside your heart. Ask Him to be your Lord and Savior, as you commit your life to the Lord. Then be baptized in water and live your life for Him, not for yourself. That way you can taste and see that the Lord is good, and experience the joy I've come to know. Then when you get to heaven after you die, He will give you a big welcome, and an eternal reward.

I hope to see you one day up in heaven. Please don't miss it for anything!

Attribution notice: Scripture quotation taken from The Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission. 

Author's Note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like to read The Truth Set Me Free, How I Came to Know Jesus, My Overflowing Joy in Knowing Jesus, Given a New Heart and Sweet Peace, and Lifted Out of a Slimy Pit, which are the testimonies of myself and three of my other children. Also see the Home page of this blog for more testimonies. You are invited to view my collection of blogs at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.