Christianity Oasis Forum

[saint701]

Greetings Cool Christians!

Blessings!

Was sitting meditating in the Spirit the other evening and the Lord said, "Why don't you share some of your spiritual experiences." Ok, I thought, I can get willing and obedient about doing that. So here goes..baptized at age 10. The first thing I did was take a prized birthday gift I had been given and gave it to a boy I knew that lived in abject poverty. My dad threw a fit and made my older brother go retrieve the gift. Point is, one of the first signs that Jesus is in your life is a strong desire to give. I missed the second point, the need to quickly forgive my dad for his lack of understanding.

Didn't have much of a spiritual life after that until the Lord lead me into the washing and regeneration in 1979. Oops, forgot about the cleansing I received after sinning in my early twenties. Came under such conviction I had to dig into the word to see if there was any way to get the temendous weight of my transgression off my shouders. It took about a year of intense study before my heart grasped that Jesus had born my sins in himself on the cross..what a relief!

But it wasn't long before I sinned again. Of course I came into condemnation. I felt at that time there was no way I could ever be forgiven. Not withstanding, through the loving teaching of Watchman Nee, I went to the cross, asked the Lord to be baptized into His death, suffering and resurrection. I saw myself in Him on that cross. I became born again and was soon filled with the Holy Spirit, that is to say, washed and regenerated with accompanying gift of tongues.

The next part was me actually bearing a little good fruit. The Lord tossed me into a teaching situation where a coven of witches was active. They didn't like my praying and singing in the Spirit, and they hated me witnessing to my students. One of those witches actually attacked me physically, attempting to strangle me in the middle of the night. 7 of my students got saved from my testimony and I was able to lead a young lady that was out of school to the Lord one night in a bible study.

The down side was my discovery that I was married to one of those witches. She repented a little, then dumped me when I became an associate pastor of a church. That ruined my walk with the Lord for a few years. And the 2 children conceived in that marriage have not come into the Lord's sheepfold yet. Because of that divorce, what Paul had to say about leaving such a marriage made those 2 children unholy. The Lord dropped that truth on me about a year ago.

Then, I remarried, resubmitted my life to the Lord and was given a marvelous gift of faith that the Lord used to lift me and my new wife out of financial troubles. Unfortunately, my new bride wasn't impressed, and began to do anything and everything she could to disrupt my walk with the Lord. The entire rest of the 20 years I was married to her was spent in grief because I was unequally yoked again. And it was a time of chastisement, purging and scourging by our Heavenly Dad. The only upside was that during the scourging I got my wife to pray in agreement with me according to Matthew 18:19, and within 2 year's time He gave us a beautiful home and yard exactly like what we had touched Him for in agreement.

But things were so bad in that marriage, I finally started taking teaching jobs as far away from her as I could get. I went to South Dakota, then Singapore, and finally Bahrain. It was while I was in Bahrain she decided to divorce me. Most people experience quite a bit of grief from divorce. I rejoiced! The life of God returned to me. I could read and rejoice in His Word again! I regained His comfort. His Spirit of revelation began to operate. I gained understanding and wisdom. I've recently begun to see in the Spirit, and have been experiencing fire in the palms of both hands. I know the person of the Holy Spirit in me, and we have a wonderful relationship!

I know I still have a long way to go in my walk with the Lord in just that, my walk with the Lord....learning how to walk by faith, to be quickly willing and obedient, and to quickly forgive. I used to be able to come and go as I pleased. I just returned from a teaching stint on the Navajo Indian Reservation. It was a bummer! I wasn't out there 2 weeks, when my spiritual life went pffft! I realized the Lord had permitted me to go just to learn that my life belongs to Him, not me!

When I let go of the job, His Spirit began moving in my life again. Ok, I am in the process of surrendering, and am back on the right path, and bearing the right fruit again, and am growing in wisdom and understanding of His Word and way.

I have shared this review of my spiritual growth and development with you all just to let you know how faithful Jesus is in keeping us no matter how much of a stinker we are.

I just want to thank the team at Christianity Oasis for allowing me to find water, pasture, and fellowship here. I pray that the Lord will continue to let me heal from the many self inflicted wounds and wounds from others I've suffered over the years, and pray some how some way through the Lord I can benefit you all here.

I love you all so very, very much, and do desperately need and appreciate your fellowship.

Blessings!

Love, In Christ Jesus, Dennis.

[Lionhearted]

thank you Dennis, for sharing!!

isn't it true that He never leaves us or forsakes us .... wooohooooo. don'tcha find that each time you fall, you get stronger tho, not that we are too use it as license to sin (thankfully God sees the heart and can tell) ... i find that i sing that tune from rocky ... "getting strongerrrrrrr"

anyway, i know the whole falling and being a stinker thing

[saint701]

Blessings!

Just me, Dennis from Stinkerville..yes, each time down has meant an increase up. It is almost like the Lord just stands there with His hands on His hips and says, "Well, 220 volts didn't light him up, let's try few megawatts next time. The megawatts seem to be working real good for the time being. I don't have any complaints.

I don't mind it when mr. devil comes calling now. I just chase him off my block. I figure pretty soon he is going to say, "oh, that's where that saint fellow lives, don't want to get anywhere near his place.

Thanks Lionhearted,

Blessings!
Love ya, Den.