Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’ (Isaiah 30:21, NIV)
Since I was 15, I’ve always heard that Voice. I’ve always heard God speaking: ‘Go this way, go that way; do this, do that.’ Always. All my life, the Voice of God is behind me. Why? Because when I was 15 God called me to be a servant. God didn’t call me to be an evangelist or preacher. God called me to be a servant. And what does a servant do? You do what the Master says.
Aged 15 God called me to give Him everything. He has chosen me for a purpose; I am grateful; every part of my life has been planned, from being chosen as a pastor, aged 18, whilst studying in Bible College; then chosen to pastor another church to prepare for a crusade a few years later; through to my current ministry in Ukraine and Central Asia; everything has been part of His plan.
Yes, I have made mistakes, but God has turned even those into good. I serve God with gratitude. I can never repay the debt I owe. Our salvation is such a great miracle; I thank God for this, and for the way He has led me all my life. I’ve experienced the bad as well as the good: He’s been with me through my cancers, my imprisonment; every step has been ordered by the Lord.
You need to ask the Holy Spirit to put within you the Spirit of Power and Authority, because only He can do this. To me this is the most dramatic, most dynamic thing that can happen in your life. I want you to understand that when I evangelise it is the Holy Spirit in me that people see. If you would only remember what I’m telling you now, it will revolutionise your life! You need to be full of the Holy Spirit – not just to say, “Hallelujah, I have received the Spirit” and to speak with tongues – but to be filled, directed and controlled by Him. God has a purpose to fulfil in us. I am trying to show you something very important. God needs you – today, right now – He needs men and women in order to bring Glory to His Name, to bring deliverance to the nations and build His Church. God needs you. He cannot do it without you.
Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised, (Romans 4:20-21, NIV): Abraham didn’t stagger through unbelief, he was strong in faith through fully believing in God that He would do what He promised. Aged 14, I asked God for the gift of faith, knowing that faith was key to the operation of all the other gifts of faith. I would never say I’ve received the gift of faith, but let my life be the testimony of faith in God.
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the ‘law’ that requires faith, (Romans 3:27, NIV): None of us can boast about the works we have done for God, all that we do is through faith.
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God. What does Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness’, (Romans 4:1-3, NIV): Abraham was not justified by works. How did he inherit the promises? Not by keeping the law, he was saved by faith. Our salvation comes by faith. Jesus paid the price for our sin. I’m not saved by what I’ve done as an evangelist, but by faith.
As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’ He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed – the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not, (Romans 4:17, NIV): God promised to make Abraham a father of many nations, but he and Sarah were childless, but he didn’t become weak in faith, despite everything that was impossible, he believed God.
There are certain things God has promised me which are not yet fulfilled. I’m holding onto it by faith, just as Abraham held onto the promises of God. I’m believing for greater things, to see bigger miracles, than I’ve experienced before.