My Journey of Faith Part 2
My Early Years of Faith began with Temptation but were followed by an Overcoming Life.
After my initial steps into the kingdom of God through repentance and faith, I found myself navigating the turbulent 1960s without any form of discipleship. The societal upheaval of the era made old temptations more accessible, and I was left to fend for myself. It was a stark reminder of the crucial role discipleship plays in our spiritual journey.
In My Early Years of faith, pride overcame the humility meant to portray Christ.
My mom and dad loved us so much that they always sat on my shoulder so that I could feel guilty about everything I did wrong. The Holy Spirit was living within me, and my faith was genuine, but without being discipled, I could not mature enough to fight my battles against evil very well. When Temptation became too great for me and all turned away, my dad took me aside and said, "I am going to see you through this thing." I am unsure of his salvation then, but he loved and forgave like a Christian could. Much like the disciples, I eventually experienced my Pentecost when I again repented at the foot of the cross.
My Early Years of Faith felt like they were near Fatal because of the Guilt I carried.
About six years down the road, sin entered my life to the point I could not live with myself. I had suicidal thoughts. One day, on my way home from work, I pulled the car over, got in a telephone booth way before cell phones, and called the Billy Graham organization. I was sent to a church in Manhattan, where I found counseling that straightened out my sin problem; not long after, I found a church nearer to where I lived in Brooklyn. The fellowship was most sweet during the early days. It was the 1970s, and there was a revival, the Jesus movement, and many people came to Christ. I wore a dog-like tag that said, "Born-again." I still have it.
In My Early Years of Faith, God used them for my learning and good.
God wanted me to learn the necessity of praying, fellowship, and, particularly, the essential element of discipleship during those years. Discipleship has become my passion; it gets me up in the morning and through all the chores of life. It is discipleship that causes me to invest my life in others—my early years in the faith taught me the lessons that have shaped the focus of my life for the past 57 years.
My Early Years were the Start of Learning that the Just Shall Live by Faith
Working with the people from The Bible Christian Union, who told me they saw a passion for God in me and that I should pursue more in my Christian walk, I felt the tug for more. At the same time, it wasn't long before I was reunited with my family, and it would be very difficult if I were to leave. I was working at my father's house for extra money when I thought to pray. Pray I did. I said to God If you want me to go away to school, you will have to provide the money. Do that, and I'll go. I knew I didn't have the money for the move. Not ten minutes passed when my wife came to the window. I was up on a ladder, and she said to me. Hun, you know the check that's been lost in the mail from the government, here it is. We used that money to move. I wasn't immediately given peace that I was doing the right thing. I was torn, actually. About two hundred miles away from home, a peace came over; I kept my word, by which I tested God, and His grace, as always, met me in my defiance and said, I forgive now, never look back, and I didn't.
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