Every person who has ever been born has a witness. Every life that has been brought into this world has the potential for greatness. In the grand scheme of things my life is insignificant, but nonetheless I also have a witness. My life is a seed and it is my prayer that it will speak to others and inspire them to deeper relationship with God. Here follows a small portion of my overall witness.
I grew up in a small town in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. My life has not been the most eventful that anyone could hope for. In almost every aspect I am a very average person who has had a pretty average life.
I grew up attending the Anglican Church until I was 20 years old. When I was 16 years old I attended the confirmation camp weekend. On the Saturday evening we were asked at Chapel to pray for the gift of tongues. That night I was baptised in the Holy Spirit and the Lord gave me a vision of Jesus. We had received no teaching on the gifts of the Holy Spirit nor the baptism in the Holy Spirit. So I did not really have any idea what it was that God had done for me nor how to interpret it. The gifts of the Holy Spirit that manifested at that time were revelatory in nature and for the next five years I walked unknowingly in those gifts not knowing what they were. During this time I was pretty much a nominal Christian in spite of what God had gifted me with.
After school I went University and studied to become a Chemical Engineer. Now this is where my life became pretty difficult. Up until this time I had not experienced academic difficulty, but the Chemical Engineering course was a beast. I had to battle my way through until I graduated. It was during my second year at University that I met a group of Charismatic Christians from various backgrounds and they took me into their circle for a few years. It was at the end of my second year that I started to pray in tongues, having already received the gifting when I was first baptised in the Holy Spirit.
Things came to a head for me around March of my third year (1996) when I became extremely depressed. I was strongly encouraged by a fellow hostel mate to go to a service held by Shofar Christian Church for a conference. It was that night that I gave the Lord control of my life as I was making a complete mess of it. He has upheld me since then, and I can say with certainty that I am still here by His grace and His grace alone.
It was while I was at Shofar that I received my call to the ministry that God has called me to. (Not everyone is called to be a preacher, preaching from a pulpit. It is certain that I am not.) He started to educated me in the things that He he wanted me to know. Shofar was an incredible experience for me, as the leadership of the church believed that it they had a mandate to teach the church members as much as they could in as short a time as possible. To equip them so that when they left the University, they would be effective ministers of the Gospel. Shofar provided a grounding in the knowledge of God, the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit that has been invaluable in grounding me in my relationship with God.
The rest of my witness will come as small parts throughout the rest of my blogging as time goes by. What God has taught me over the years has often been demonstrated to me by living the Word that I received. So here is how I started my walk with God. I have been walking with God intentionally for more than 20 years now, but I have had a relationship of varying quality with Him for more than 30 years.
In the end knowing God is more important than knowing about God. It is about relationship and not ritual and rules.
My faith hero is Enoch more than any other in the Bible outside of Jesus. See if you can see why...
"When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God 300 years after he fathered Methuselah and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him."
Genesis 5:21 - 24 (ESV)
I grew up in a small town in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. My life has not been the most eventful that anyone could hope for. In almost every aspect I am a very average person who has had a pretty average life.
I grew up attending the Anglican Church until I was 20 years old. When I was 16 years old I attended the confirmation camp weekend. On the Saturday evening we were asked at Chapel to pray for the gift of tongues. That night I was baptised in the Holy Spirit and the Lord gave me a vision of Jesus. We had received no teaching on the gifts of the Holy Spirit nor the baptism in the Holy Spirit. So I did not really have any idea what it was that God had done for me nor how to interpret it. The gifts of the Holy Spirit that manifested at that time were revelatory in nature and for the next five years I walked unknowingly in those gifts not knowing what they were. During this time I was pretty much a nominal Christian in spite of what God had gifted me with.
After school I went University and studied to become a Chemical Engineer. Now this is where my life became pretty difficult. Up until this time I had not experienced academic difficulty, but the Chemical Engineering course was a beast. I had to battle my way through until I graduated. It was during my second year at University that I met a group of Charismatic Christians from various backgrounds and they took me into their circle for a few years. It was at the end of my second year that I started to pray in tongues, having already received the gifting when I was first baptised in the Holy Spirit.
Things came to a head for me around March of my third year (1996) when I became extremely depressed. I was strongly encouraged by a fellow hostel mate to go to a service held by Shofar Christian Church for a conference. It was that night that I gave the Lord control of my life as I was making a complete mess of it. He has upheld me since then, and I can say with certainty that I am still here by His grace and His grace alone.
It was while I was at Shofar that I received my call to the ministry that God has called me to. (Not everyone is called to be a preacher, preaching from a pulpit. It is certain that I am not.) He started to educated me in the things that He he wanted me to know. Shofar was an incredible experience for me, as the leadership of the church believed that it they had a mandate to teach the church members as much as they could in as short a time as possible. To equip them so that when they left the University, they would be effective ministers of the Gospel. Shofar provided a grounding in the knowledge of God, the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit that has been invaluable in grounding me in my relationship with God.
The rest of my witness will come as small parts throughout the rest of my blogging as time goes by. What God has taught me over the years has often been demonstrated to me by living the Word that I received. So here is how I started my walk with God. I have been walking with God intentionally for more than 20 years now, but I have had a relationship of varying quality with Him for more than 30 years.
In the end knowing God is more important than knowing about God. It is about relationship and not ritual and rules.
My faith hero is Enoch more than any other in the Bible outside of Jesus. See if you can see why...
"When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God 300 years after he fathered Methuselah and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him."
Genesis 5:21 - 24 (ESV)
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