Originally these were testimonies of the Lord's mighty deeds in our lives while we were in Budapest, as American missionaries. It has since come to include the testimonies of others around the world.
This is the testimony of my friend, brother Omolade Moses Alabi, a Nigerian man living in the United Kingdom. He has been married for twenty years to his wife, Celestina. Together they have four children, three boys and a girl. He is currently 48 years old and was born again in 1988.
Here is his testimony:
“I was born in the United Kingdom but had my early life in Nigeria, and came from a nominal Christian family. We seldom went to church on a regular basis, and when I did, it is just to go and 'eye' and 'spy' the ladies! I was 22 years old; I was not ready to be born again. I had a few girlfriends and I wanted to enjoy life, which included lots of fornication. Fornication was the only sin I knew. I hated beer, since it's not that sweet; I hated cigarettes, because my Dad didn't smoke. I somehow planned out my life, ‘Maybe when I’m forty or fifty years old I will get religious, But not now.’
One night I was asleep, and in the middle of the night, and I saw the sky parted. Jesus Christ descended on a white horse. Out of fear and shock, I woke up trembling. Fear gripped me. If there was anything I knew about Jesus, it was about His second coming, which I was totally unprepared for.
As I was about to go down on my knees to repent, I heard a voice say, ‘Don’t do it now. Remember your girlfriends.’(for the first time, I recognized satan's voice!) As I thought about those words, then I heard another voice in my right hear say, ‘This may be your last opportunity.’ I knew that was the Lord, so I got on my knees and repented right there.
I went back to sleep. When I awoke the next morning, the sky was so brand new! I felt light! I felt clean, holy. I felt like a new baby. When I looked at the sky it was like heaven on earth.
I began to read the Bible at that time and it came alive like never before. I had read the Bible previously, but now I began to understand it for the first time. Initially I did not want to tell my mother, because I knew she would want to bring me to church right away, and my conversion had not really sunk in yet! Yet I had no doubt already received the peace and joy of the Lord.
A few days afterward, I was sitting on my front porch. I used to like wearing a lot of jewelry. So I had my rings and my gold necklace. And as I sat there, I heard the Voice of The Holy Spirit calling my name. I turned here and there, wondering where the voice was coming from as I saw no one! The voice continued saying ‘Lade, look at yourself.’ I looked at myself and it seemed strange for the first time, although I had never heard anyone preach about jewelry. So I went inside and took off all my jewelry. I put it into an envelope and later buried it. Some time later I heard a sermon against wearing jewelry, and also read it from The Word of God.
One or two months after I was born again, during one of the church services, when the preacher gave an altar call invitation. I thought within myself, ‘Oh, that's not for me. I have accepted the Lord genuinely in my bedroom.’ But the Lord said, ‘Go forward and give your life to Me publicly.’ So I did.
After we said the sinner’s prayer, the pastor instructed us to go to one side where a counselor would speak with us. But the Lord said to me, ‘You go sit down'. (I had already become a regular member and known by the small group leaders)
Then when I moved to England twenty-five years ago, I had the opportunity to go to school, but the Lord said, ‘Don’t go to school.’ I thought, ‘What? What will people say?’ I did my best to apply to colleges two consecutive years, but they could not trace nor find my application details that were duly submitted.
So I chose a day to sit before The Lord to hear right and not hear amiss! So I prayed, ‘Show me, Lord. Where is that in the Bible?’
Then something amazing happened. I didn't know where to start reading or scroll to in the word, so I just flipped open the Bible to Acts 4 and read verse 13, which says, ‘Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.’ (Act 4:13). Although the apostles were uneducated and untrained men, the rulers and elders recognized that they had been with Jesus.
So I prayed another prayer which came into my heart that the Lord will remove from me any spirit of fear, so that I may be able to stand before wise, learned and unlearned people of the world with complete boldness, with no inferiority, or inadequacy complex. He did it instantly and I arose from prayer with full confidence and assurance that all is well.
The Lord also laid upon my heart that I will be his signboard or signpost. This meant that I would be the one to raise banners for him throughout my nation, as it says in Psalm 60:4-5.
So I have learned that if you want to receive direction from the Lord, He can direct you so easily. It’s very simple for Him to do that, if you ask Him to. The problem is that we are so deaf when He does speak to us. Just listen to His voice and obey Him. He will lead you.”
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.
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.
I would like to share the amazing testimony of my friend from Luxembourg, Dennis L. Nederveen. Please read what he has to say about his experience coming to know Jesus in Holland, as a young, university student. He writes:
I was adopted at one year old and raised in a home of Dutch reformed parents. My mother read the bible and taught me to pray and sometimes she also spoke about Israel. However we did not attend church and when I grew up I stopped praying and quickly fell in a life of self-gratification.
When I went to a university in the 1980's, far away from my parents I lived a rather wild life on campus with many others. Still I was feeling very alone amidst all my friends. I remember I once cried out to the sky. I was not even sure if there was a God listening.
But God answered, not flashing a light but bringing friends and people in my life that were somewhere special. They knew about Him. First a police inspector who handled a ‘lost’ case I had claimed. He radiated kindness and great calm but did not even mention Him. Later I learned he was a real Christian. Then I also met some new friends at university who knew about God. One was a particular favorite of mine. His father borrowing him many fast luxury cars and he lived a wild life I found rather fascinating. But his wild life was different from mine. His life often seemed to be directed.
We became friends and one day I asked what he was doing on Sunday. He said: “I am going to church”. What? I had never thought of this and was curious enough to go with him. We went to a Pentecostal Church, and from the moment I came in, I knew these people had a joy I didn’t have. During the meeting, the Pastor Evangelist warned all sinners with great conviction to run to the cross fast. I was deeply convicted, but full of intellectual reserves I decided to check this out a little bit more.
Back at home I prayed a special prayer: “Lord, God if you do exist, and all these happy people are something more than just a happy group of believers, then I ask two things:"
1. "I will start studying this Book, from which they say it is directly from you, called the Bible. I will study it seriously under the condition that you give me all the time for my research."
2. "Furthermore, I will attend this church to check it out. However, the first time anyone tries to convert me or make me a member, this research will stop immediately. I will then conclude that You do not exist, or are not at all powerful as they claim, and that this is just another group of happy people together.”
At 21 years of age, and after twelve months of reading the Bible, I had written two diaries full of questions. I finally concluded that God had been kindly listening and answering ALL my questions, and that I had no way to deny his existence at all, nor the deep truths of His Bible. I then came to a final question:
"Who are you?"
By this, I wanted to know, "Do you have emotions? Do you like people? Do you really understand us?"
After this question I noticed that something like a window of Heaven above my head was opened. During not less than 6 months I received every request I made from God.
Just to mention some of these, as you can probably imagine me as a young student: A wonderful girlfriend, visiting special places, passing a very difficult exam, visiting special and far countries, having real friends and on and on. In short I was showered with blessings and heart desires before I could even mention them. And that happened every single day.
During this shower of love I came to my personal conclusion: “Father, You have been so very kind and patient to me, You allowed this entire research of mine while nobody tried to make me a church member. Now after 18 months I decide with all my heart you are the most lovely and most glorious God and Father and I want to serve You, Your Son and the Holy Spirit for the rest of my days to the best of my ability.” I asked Jesus publicly in my heart by going forward at the next church call for repentance and was later baptized in water.
That was the beginning of my journey with the Lord, which brought great peace and joy to my life, like I had never experienced before. All my problems didn’t go away immediately.
In fact, in His holy presence, I now became aware of my deep struggles with sin that had gripped me all my life. Through many victories and setbacks, as well as painful heartaches and sickness, the Lord has patiently brought me to where I am today.
I am amazed by His loving kindness, His quiet but so awesome power, His nearness. I must say that I am much more in love with Him than ever before.
Grace,
Dennis L. Nederveen
[end of testimony]
If you have just read what God did for my friend, Dennis, and you do not yet know Jesus personally, I want to encourage you today. Just as God revealed Himself to Dennis in a very complete way, He will do the same for you, and make your life all that it was meant to be.
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.
Author's note: You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."
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.
On March 13, 2012, I showed some videos to my wife
and children, regarding gemstones from heaven, as well as others of gold dust, oil from
heaven, manna from heaven, and the Lord’s glory cloud appearing in church
meetings. I then taught them about the link between the physical and spiritual
realms, and later posted a blog about it that I encourage you to read (see here).
Glory of God
On March 18, 2012, at 2:30 AM, I was lying on my back on my
bed, and I had a dream. In the dream, I was in the same bedroom, lying on my
back on my bed. The only thing in the
dream that was different than reality was that, in the dream, our three-year
old son was in his crib in our bedroom. He was awake and indicated that he was
aware of the presence of a (holy) entity right next to my bed in our room. At that moment, I suddenly felt the presence
of the Lord standing right next to my bed, but I did not see anyone. There was an overwhelming sense of God’s
presence upon me. I immediately felt
“terrified,” “afraid,” and “overcome with fear”. I was also completely astounded. In other words, I was filled
with the emotional impact of overwhelming surprise or shock.
In the dream, as I looked toward the presence of the holy
entity (perhaps the Lord), I cried out very loudly. I am not sure whether I cried, “Ohhhhhh!!!!!” or “Woe!!!!!” But when I cried out, I was
awakened by the sound of my own voice.
Once I awoke, I remembered how the prophet Daniel fell at
his feet as a dead man. I remembered
how the disciples were afraid and they cried out with fear when they saw
Jesus. They were afraid. I was, too.
Then I felt the glory of God. I realized that what happened in the dream had actually happened
in the room, and that the Lord’s presence was still there. I got up and worshipped the Lord on my knees
beside my bed in the very spot where the presence had been in the dream. I still physically felt a sense of the presence
upon me, but not in an overwhelming way like it was in the dream.
In the morning, I shared this with the family at breakfast
and looked up the passage about Daniel.
I immediately related to the terror, and Jennifer agreed that what I
described was similar to this. She
reminded me that even Isaiah and Zechariah felt this way. She said that when
she awoke during the night while I was worshipping beside my bed, she felt joy,
peace and love inside her heart.
Here are the Scriptures I was pondering as I lay in bed
immediately after the dream, plus a couple more about Isaiah and Zechariah.
“Now I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, while the men who were
with me did not see the vision; nevertheless, a great dread fell on them,
and they ran away to hide themselves. So I was left alone and saw this great
vision; yet no strength was left in me, for my natural color turned to a
deathly pallor, and I retained no strength. But I heard the sound of his
words; and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a deep sleep
on my face, with my face to the ground. Then behold, a hand touched me and set
me trembling on my hands and knees. He said to me, "O Daniel, man
of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand
upright, for I have now been sent to you." And when he had spoken this
word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, "Do not be afraid,
Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this
and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have
come in response to your words.” (Dan 10:7-12)
In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth
came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its
strength. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He
placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the
first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive
forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. (Rev 1:16-18)
When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were
terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear.
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take courage, it is I; do
not be afraid." (Mat 14:26-27)
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed
them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, "This is My beloved Son,
with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!" When the disciples heard
this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. And Jesus
came to them and touched them and said, "Get up, and do not be afraid."
(Mat 17:5-7)
The prophet Isaiah had a similar experience. “Then I said, ‘Woe
is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live
among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of
hosts.’” (Isa 6:5)
And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the
right of the altar of incense. Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel,
and fear gripped him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be
afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife
Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. (Luk
1:11-13).
Open Heavens
On March 19, 2012, during our family prayer meeting, we
experienced an open heaven over us and I felt the presence of the Lord.
Presence of the Lord
The next morning on March 20, 2012, during my personal
morning prayer time, I sensed the presence of the Lord once again.
Crystal Gems from Heaven
After our Morning Prayer and breakfast, Jennifer discovered
a supernatural gem in our bedroom (more photos at end of this post). She said, “I was thinking about going to heaven and people that I
want to see. I thought that I just want
to get rid of everything – all the worthless things of this earth – and leave
it all behind for the Lord’s sake. So I
was cleaning out the shelf in our bedroom closet, and I got to where my basket
was. I moved my basket and there was a
little, crystal-like gem. I immediately
thought it was a supernatural gem from heaven.
As I looked more closely at how it was shaped and it seemed to have a
perfect cut with many facets. Then I
walked into the kitchen thinking that this is really from the Lord.”
As I was sitting at the table, finishing my breakfast, she
walked in and said to me, “Look what I found in my closet! I think it may be a
jewel from heaven!” And she handed it
to me. As she placed the gem in my
hand, I felt the presence of the Lord all over me. I said, “Jennifer, I can feel the presence of the Lord all over
me right now! The Lord gave you this to show you how much He loves you!”
A little while later, she was back in our bedroom again,
drying her hair, and looked over at another shelf in the closet. She wondered whether she might find
something else in there. Then she turned away from the closet, and pondered how
the Lord has been giving supernatural gems to His people in the US, Africa, and
other places. She wondered if He was
going to do the same thing here in this spiritual wasteland, because the glory
of God needs to come. She said, “As I
once again turned back toward the closet, there on the floor lay another
crystal-like gem. It was laying
perfectly face up in the carpet.”
I was in my office when Jennifer came in and shouted,
“Len! Look!” And she showed me in her
hand a gem just like the first one, which was larger, but had the exact same
cut! We went into the bedroom, and she
showed me where she found it. It had
been on the floor, in the exact center of the spot where the glory of God
appeared two nights ago. Then we were
certain it was from the Lord. As we
looked at it in the light under a magnifying glass, it had a perfect cut with
many facets. When we put the smaller
one beside it, we could see that they were both cut exactly alike. As I held them in the palm of my hand and
looked through the magnifying glass, I could see the details of my palm print
perfectly and clearly through the stone.
I said, “Jennifer, I felt the presence of the Lord when you
placed the first one in my hand earlier.
I know this is from the Lord.”
Then we all knelt down and praised the Lord profusely, not for any thing
he could give us, but for Who He is. We
declared that He is more beautiful than diamonds, more precious than silver,
more costly than gold, and nothing that we desire compared with Him.
She said that as she was praying yesterday, she heard the
Lord say, “It is my Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Last night as she was going off to bed, she
thought that she would need to use our electronic Bible to find that
passage. She opened the Bible and read
a passage. At the end of the passage,
she read, "But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Do
not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the
kingdom.” (Luk 12:31-32). She said,
“Wow! That’s the verse!” And she hadn’t
even gone searching for it. She wasn’t
actively looking for it. So that
confirmed it had been the Lord speaking this to her. So when these gems appeared this morning, it further confirmed
that the Father has chosen to give us the kingdom.
When she tried placing the gem back into the carpet in the
same position it was in when she found it, she could not get it to sit
perfectly upright like it had been when she found it. She commented later, “It’s the latter rain! It’s raining!” We also tried dropping it from eye level onto the carpet and it always bounced away.
As I studied the Word of God afterward, I felt this passage
best describes these stones: “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper." (Rev 21:10-11). The holy city has the glory of God and brilliance like crystal-clear jasper. Jasper is quartz, and the stones Jennifer received are like crystal clear quartz, as pictured at the end of the Wikipedia article about quartz.
The Lord Himself is "like a jasper stone," as He sits upon His throne. In John's Revelation, he wrote: "And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance." (Rev 4:3) According to a commentary on Revelation by Dr. Oliver B. Green, he states: ""The Jasper, the last stone in the Old Testament breastplate, represented Benjamin. This was a clear stone, speaking of total victory. On the Jasper stone was Benjamin's name, which is a combination of two Hebrew words (BEN and JAMIN), so scholars tell us, meaning 'the son of my right hand'...or, as one authority puts it, 'the son of my power.'"
I checked online to see the difference between crystal and
glass. All crystal is glass, but only
certain types of glass can be classified as crystal. It has to do with the higher lead content of crystal. Glass typically has a yellow or green tint,
while crystal is completely clear. Glass often has sharp cuts, while crystal
has smooth, rounded cuts.
These stones the Lord has given us do not have sharp edges. They have
smooth, rounded cuts. Both stones are identical with eight facets, one stone being larger than the other. They don’t have any
yellow or green tint to them, but are perfectly clear with no inclusions or cloudiness. We believe they are crystal clear quartz.
Later in the afternoon, I spoke by phone with my Christian
cousin, back in the States, who is a certified gemologist. I told him about these and he said that if I
place the stones face down on a printed page, such as a magazine, and can read
the text, then they are not diamonds.
He said that when it is a diamond, you couldn’t read the text through
the stone. He asked me to take a photo
and send it to him. So rather than use
just any text, I decided to use God’s Word, in order to take a photo of the
stones face-down on some text. I opened Jennifer’s Bible to Proverbs 8,where it
was book marked, and I placed the stones right on the verse that says,
"Take my instruction and not silver, And knowledge rather than choicest
gold. For wisdom is better than jewels; And all desirable things cannot compare
with her.” (Prov 8:10-11). We were
unable to read the text through the stones.
It was distorted. I took the
photos and some video footage of it to send to my cousin. He wrote back saying his first impression is
that these are glass jewels.
When Jennifer saw the Scripture beneath the stones, she was
amazed and said that was the very chapter she was praying about yesterday! She had been praying with her Bible open to
that very same page. Proverbs 8:11
states, “Wisdom is better than jewels!”
Then Hope came to me and said that in school today, she had
just read the following words in the spiritual warfare chapter of her Health
textbook: “Solomon describes wisdom as better than rubies or anything else we
might desire in this world.” This is a
paraphrase of Proverbs 8:11!
Here is the entire passage that Jennifer read last night,
containing Jesus’ word about the Father giving us the kingdom: Then He said to them,
"Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even
when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions."
And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man was very
productive. "And he began reasoning to himself, saying, 'What shall I do,
since I have no place to store my crops?' "Then he said, 'This is what I
will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will
store all my grain and my goods. 'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have
many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be
merry."' "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your
soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?' "So
is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
And He said to His disciples, "For this reason I say to you, do not
worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what
you will put on. "For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
"Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no
storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than
the birds! "And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his
life's span? "If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you
worry about other matters? "Consider the lilies, how they grow: they
neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory
clothed himself like one of these. "But if God so clothes the grass in the
field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much
more will He clothe you? You men of little faith! "And do not seek what
you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. "For all
these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that
you need these things.” (Luk 12:15-30)
I told Jennifer that these stones are probably of no earthly
value, but only eternal value to those with the eyes of faith. It’s just like anything the Lord gives. The world places no value on the spiritual
things, because the natural man cannot discern them. For example, if I go to a public speaking expert and share my
testimony, he will evaluate it based on his criteria for a good speech. He may tell me that my speech is too long,
or I use the word “Umm,” too often. He
may rate other aspects of it, and tell me that no one would ever pay anything
to hear me give this speech. In his
estimation, my testimony is completely worthless. Yet to me, and all who hear it with the ears of faith, it is
priceless. No man can ever place a
monetary value on my testimony, yet it has eternal value that is greater than
all the riches this world could afford. Isn’t it the same with all the Lord
gives us?
This testimony is part of something much greater that God has been doing in our lives here in Hungary since January 1, 2012 (for more on this amazing outpouring from God see here).
Video Footage
If you would like watch the video of the crystal gems see here. I encourage you to watch the whole video:
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.
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.
I want to share with you what has been happening here in our lives this weekend. God is doing amazing things! What follows is an excerpt from a letter we sent today on New Years Day to some of our partners:
There
have been many things leading up to this that I won't go into, but will
simply allude to at the end. But last night on New Years Eve, we and
the girls listened to Baptized with Fire, specifically just Book# 1 of five books, after the boys were in bed. We were all so encouraged to pray and seek the Lord.
Afterward at almost midnight, we had a time of prayer. I prayed for
my wife and each one of my daughters, to give them my blessing for the
coming year.
First, my eleven-year-old daughter broke some things off her life and was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues (cf., Mat 3:11; Lk 3:16; 24:49; Joh 1:32-33; Act 1:4-5; 2:4). This was repeated
afterward with my other two daughters. We all broke out in loud and fervent
prayer and prayed in the Spirit for an hour kneeling and lifting up our
hands.
My eleven-year-old's experience during this was that she felt that God had set her
free! Afterward we could all see it on her face and in her eyes. She
now looked at peace and her face was aglow, whereas it had not been so
beforehand. It looked so light bright and light. It looked like scales
had been taken from her eyes. They are clear and glowing with light
now. There is gentleness upon her face that was not there before.
The girls prayed on and on in the Spirit with us, and never got
bored with it. They never got tired. They could have prayed all night
long, and they wanted to, because they got new strength from the Lord
when they started praying.
My thirteen-year old daughter was filled with the Spirit like never before. She said she
felt the power of God like electricity go through her whole body. Her
hands and her jaw were shaking and she could not stop herself from
speaking in tongues. When she was speaking in tongues, she felt that
what she was saying was really expressing her feelings and what she
wanted to tell God from her heart. She kept her eyes closed, and she
said it helped a lot. Jesus revealed a part of Himself to her. He
showed her that He is listening and He cares about her and He wants to
know her. She told Him she wants to know Him. She said she knows He
loves her and she can’t really say how much He loves her. When I got
near her, I felt that when she was praying in the Spirit, she was
saying, “I praise you, Lord. I praise you! I’ll praise you forever, as
I stand before you throne in the midst of a multitude from every
nation, tribe, and tongue.” And many other things like that.
My nine-year-old daughter also got baptized in the Spirit. She said her jaw and hands
were shaking as she prayed. She was praying VERY loudly in the Spirit!
She did not stop for an hour like that on her knees and lifting her
hands to Jesus. This has never happened to her before!
We went from just before midnight until about 1:15 AM. As the nine-year old was
repenting and confessing her sin before the Lord, praising Him, and
telling Him she would serve Him forever. She was praying against any
curses the enemy would try to put on us, and against any temptations
that would come at us. As she prayed in the Spirit, and I knelt beside
her, I felt she was praying many different things like, “There is a
light that shines around your throne and it is brighter than any other
light. Your face is brighter than the sun, Jesus, and your eyes are
like blazing fire. You love me more than anyone else. You are so
adorable, so beautiful. You are the lily of the valley, the Rose of
Sharon. How lovely you are to me! I give you my whole life and will
serve you forever..." and many other things like that.
I wept before God for joy that he had baptized my three girls with
the Holy Spirit. There was no denying it was real. Even when I stopped
praying or quieted down, they kept going with great fervency like they
would never stop.
I eventually was so tired and wanted to go to bed, but my wife and two of the girls did not want to stop. I convinced my wife that she
needs her rest, but the two girls wanted to stay up. So they read
their Bibles in my office until 2:00 Am, after everyone was in bed.
Today around noon-time, I shared some things in the kitchen with the
family that the Lord had shown me during my quiet time from 1 Cor 14, Rom 8, and Eph 4:30-32. There was more
repentance from all of us, my six-year-old son got baptized with the Spirit and
spoke in tongues for the first time, and again, it was an awesome time.
We all met with the Lord and my wife wept.
God is so good!. He has been very merciful to me and all of us here. Let us seek His face.
In
addition to the audio book I mentioned and linked to above, there have
been many other things the Lord has been saying and doing by His Spirit.
You would need to go check out some of my blogs to really take it all
in...but I'll mention a few of them at the very end. Perhaps the things
that affected us the most were the testmonies of the following people:
Angelica Zambrano (Young lady from Ecuador who died and saw heaven and hell)
Those were the main impacts prior to "Baptized with Fire" that I mentioned at the beginning. Some other earlier examples of things that impacted us are:
My hope and prayer is that these things spark true repentance and Holy Spirit revival in your life, just as they have in ours.
Author's note: If you enjoyed
this post, you may also like the other posts in this blog available
through the links in the side bar.
You may also access my complete blog
directory at "Writing for the Master."
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.
My friend Alan chuckled and said to me, “You’re searching for Jesus.”
You see, I had been raised as a Roman Catholic, and even been an altar boy for many years as a child until I was a teenager, but had lived a life of sin; and now as an infantryman in the US Army, I was living only for myself to satisfy my own pleasures. I had been abusing alcohol and drugs since the age of thirteen, and was living a wild and immoral nightlife. In addition to that, I had befriended another soldier whose name like mine was Leonard, who was teaching me all about the religion he was raised in, which was Buddhism. I was fascinated by Leonard's Buddhist "sphere of analysis," as he called it, which said that God was perfectly good and perfectly evil, and that Jesus and satan are brothers. I had been sharing these things with my friend Alan, when he told me I was searching for Jesus.
“I’m not searching for Jesus,” I replied. I had gone to church all my life and been raised to believe in Jesus. I had my own Bible and at times had read portions of it. I could recite church creeds that I had learned as a child. I even prayed sometimes. How could I be searching for Jesus? I didn’t yet realize that there is a vital difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus.
Yet Alan saw the emptiness and confusion within me. He said, “Don’t take my word for it, Len. Do you have a Bible?”
“Sure I do,” I replied.
“Well, then blow the dust off of it and start reading it. But before you do, pray and ask God to show you the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth.”
So I did. If what I had believed was not true, then I wanted to know it. I began reading the New Testament of my Bible, praying that God would show me the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I was sure that God would not allow me to be deceived, if I asked Him for the truth. During that time, I came to understand what Jesus meant when He said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father, except by me.” (John 14:6) I knew that I could come to God the Father only through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It would not be through any other person, dead or alive, that I would come to God. It would not be through any angel. Nor would it be through my church membership or sacrifices.
At that time, I also became convicted of my sin. Though I was only 19 years old, a young soldier in the US Army, I was in bondage to addictive behaviors and substances that were destroying my life. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Yet God didn’t condemn me. Instead He shined His light on the darkness in my heart, showing me my need to be reconciled with Him.
God’s Word told me that He loved me and had sent His Son to die for me on the cross, in order to pay the price for my sin. His Word told me that Jesus rose from the dead and is now seated at God’s right hand in heaven. The Bible also told me that by believing in Jesus, I would find a personal relationship with God. I believed God’s Word to be true.
Len shining his combat boots
So I called upon Jesus, asking Him to forgive me of my sin, and to set me free from the bondage in which I was living. I turned from the way I had been living and surrendered my life to Jesus. I asked Him to cleanse my heart of the filth that was there, and He did. That was February 13, 1986, and I still remember the day. It was like God ran to me, lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes, put my head to His chest, and said, "Son, don't you know I still love you?" He removed the shame and guilt that had been there. I invited Him to come and live inside my heart, and He did. He forgave me, and took up residence within me. I experienced true peace in my heart for the first time, and exchanged my bondage for His freedom to live righteously.
For the first time in my life, I was glad to be alive. When I heard the birds singing, I knew they were praising my Lord. When I looked at the grass, it seemed greener. The sky seemed bluer. Everything was in technicolor. I now had hope. I had a personal sense of His love for me, and His presence with me. I also knew that I would now spend all eternity with the Living God, because I had been put in right standing with Him through the sacrifice of His Son.
He began to set me free of my addictive behaviors, and I was so glad. No longer was I weighed down by the heavy burden of my sin. Instead I had a new joy in my heart that my friends could see. This was not the momentary kind of happiness that I had experienced in the past. It was a lasting joy that I continued to experience, even through trials and difficulties. In fact, I still continue to experience that joy today.
In case you don’t already know it, this is God’s plan for you too. He loves you and sent His only Son to die on the cross for you. “For God so loved the world that He gave His One and only son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Jesus paid the price for your sin, so you don’t have to pay the price. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8) It is a gift that you must accept simply by faith.
Will you turn from your sin and surrender to Him? Ask Him to forgive you for every sin you ever committed. Sin is simply anything you’ve done in disobedience to Him. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Ask Him to come live inside your heart. Do you believe that He rose from the dead? If you do, then let Him into your heart. “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
If what you believe is not true, wouldn’t you want to know? Perhaps you’re questioning these things, and thinking this is just another man’s interpretation of the Bible. Let me challenge you to do as I did. Open the Bible and read it for yourself. Ask God to show you the whole truth and nothing but the truth. You can be sure that God will not lead you into deception, if you are sincerely asking Him for the truth. “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” (John 4:23).
It doesn’t matter what kind of life you’ve been living. No matter what you’ve done, there is forgiveness for you and salvation for you today. “Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2) I want to encourage you to open the door of your heart and let Jesus in. I did, and He changed my life. Jesus set me free!
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.
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.
