Go and Serve the Lord

“All things are possible to him which believeth” Mark 9:23

I was driving to work one day, just like any ordinary day.

I'd just had the motor reconditioned, the air-conditioner restored, a sound-system with a five-band graphic equalizer installed, and the mag wheels polished - so I was feeling quite good about my car.

Then unexpectedly the words came to me, “...give it away...”

I ignored it and kept driving.

But the impression came again, Give it away.

So I said, “Ok Lord, I'll give it away - on the weekend”.

“No, after work today will be fine,” He said.

And somehow I just knew who I had to give it to.

Then after I got to work, God started speaking to me again.

“It’s time you gave notice in your job,” He said.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked.

Straightaway He showed me a vision of Australia with pathways criss-crossed all over it.

“Just go wherever I tell you to go, and preach the Gospel,” He said.

“How am I going to live without an income?" I said, "I'm not going to chuck-in a perfectly good job and go on the dole!”

“You won't need to. Just trust me - I’ll provide everything,” He said.

So I gave notice in my job and then after work I drove over to my friend's house who I felt led to give the car to.

I knocked on his door, but he wasn't home.

“Well there you go - this wasn't God after all. Pity about the job - but at least you've still got the car,” I thought to myself.

I sat in the car wondering what to do next. On the inside I still felt sure it was God who had been leading me. Surely I shouldn’t go home now and just forget the whole thing? I had a sense of anticipation about what God might do next.

And would you believe - the car wouldn't start!

So I got out and lifted the bonnet to see what was wrong, and phoned the RACQ.

And just after we got the motor running again - just as I was closing the bonnet, with the motor still running - my friend arrived home.

“Oh John, what are you doing here?” he asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” I thought to myself. I didn’t quite know how to tell him I was there to give him a car, so I didn’t mention anything about it.

Anyway, my friend invited me in, and the very first thing he said to me was: “John, my wife and I have been praying - we’re really asking God to give us a car”.

That was so good to hear - a confirmation.

So I threw him the car keys.

“She's all yours then,” I said.

He just smiled and threw the keys back to me.

“You've prayed for a car - so it's yours,” I insisted, throwing him the keys again.

“Very funny,” he said, handing them to me again.

There we were - passing the keys back and forwards - yet I couldn't convince him I was serious. So I said, “Look, come out, sit in the car: there's a few things I'll need to show you.”

I had him sit in the driver's seat so I could show him a few things. Then he looked up at me from the driver's seat and asked one last time, “You are

joking - aren’t you?”

Whilst he was praising God for the answer to he and his wife's prayer, I caught a bus and a train home, feeling full of anticipation about the way God was leading.

On the way home, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy telling my parents what I’d done. In fact, it took me a couple of days to find the courage to tell my father.

One afternoon he was in his room watching sports on TV. I walked in hesitantly.

“Dad, there's something I need to tell you…”

(I was glad he was already sitting down).

“…I've quit my job and given my car away. I’m going to go and do something else for God,” I said.

“That's nice, son. It will be good for you to do something different,” he answered. And he didn’t even take his eyes off the TV the whole time. So I'd had nothing to be afraid of after all.

I felt like the Holy Spirit had shown me that I was to go to four towns, and that I was to take five weeks to do it.

The only problem was I didn't know anyone in any of the towns except the last town. So I had no idea where I would stay, what I would eat, how I would be able to travel from town to town, where I might get money from, or whether any doors would open for me to preach. I would simply have to step out in faith, trusting God alone for everything.

So I decided to be really daring - having given-up my job and given-away my car, I decided to give away all my savings as well. It was fun - I was on a real roll!

I even thought about selling my house then giving away whatever money might be leftover after paying-out the mortgage. But at that point God seemed to say, “Stop - keep the house.”

At first I felt kind of relieved about that. But then it dawned on me what this would mean. It meant that, despite not having a job anymore, I would somehow need to continue to find the money each and every week to make the loan repayments. I realized it was going to require more faith to keep the house than it would to give it away!

"That's okay," I thought, "But if I ever miss one payment on my house, I'm going back to work,” I resolved. I knew that since this whole thing was God's agenda not mine, He wouldn't fail me.

Before setting-out on my journey, I decided to spend a few weeks preparing and 'counting the cost'. As Jesus advised:

“Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it - lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’…So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot by My disciple” (Luke 14:25-35 NKJV).

I tried to imagine each and every obstacle I might encounter in this new lifestyle of faith - and determined ahead of time what my answer should be.

A goldly, elderly friend of my parents happened to give me some biographies of men and women of God who achieved great things for God. Each of them had small beginnings like me.

Like all the men and women of faith in the Bible, they each heard directly from God concerning His unique plan for their life. They also stepped-out in faith without any visible means of support.

I was gathering faith for the task ahead.

I needed a new pair of shoes for my journey - but instead of going out and buying a pair, on the inside I felt, It will be provided.

I also wanted to take a guitar - but it felt like the Lord said, No - it will be provided.

I became sure that the Lord would go ahead and prepare houses for me to stay in during my journies and people who would give me money if needed - without me taking any provision.

I was really looking forward to proving literally true - even in a modern, sophisticated culture - the Lord's instructions to His apostles:

“Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat” (Matthew 10:9-10).

I also decided that there were two things I would never do. Seeing this whole adventure was God’s agenda not mine, I resolved that I would never ask anyone for somewhere to preach, and I would never ask anyone for money for my personal needs. Seeing the Lord wants me to serve Him in this way, those things can be His problem, I thought.

Finally after several weeks of preparation, and with the moral support of my church and Pastor, the right time came and I packed a backpack and tent, said good-bye to my family and friends, and bought a one-way coach ticket to the first town. Coincidentally, that week it was exactly twelve years since I'd first been baptized with the Holy Spirit.

As I set-out on my journey, I could imagine how Abraham might have felt:

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, EVEN THOUGH HE DID NOT KNOW WHERE HE WAS GOING…he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob” (Heb.11:8,9 NIV).

It was evening when I arrived. I found a caravan-park, and put-up my tent. As I lay back to sleep that first night, I started thinking about everything I'd done over the previous several weeks.

I’d given-up my job; I'd given away my car; given-away my savings; forsaken a promising role in my church; left family and friends - and come up here with nothing organized, simply on a word from God. I was soon to discover however that God had everything organized.

The next morning my first need was to hopefully meet someone who might invite me to put-up my tent on their property, so as to avoid paying daily camp-site fees. Anyway, I decided to first of all find someone to witness to about Jesus.

The first person I met was a man who said he just got out of jail. When I told him I had come to his town to tell people about Jesus and to pray for the sick, he said his mother might like to meet me.

So I went with him to his mother's house where I talked about the Lord, and I also explained my situation to them. Immediately they invited me to put-up my tent on a vacant block of land behind their property. God met my most immediate need through the very first people I met.

This family desired to introduce me to all of their friends one-by-one so I could tell each of them about Jesus. One day they took me to the home of a woman who also had an adult son living with her. I noticed a guitar leaning up against their lounge-room wall, and asked if I could play it. I began to sing that song:

To get a touch from the Lord is so real

To get a touch from the Lord is so real

If you draw nigh to Him

He will draw nigh to you

To get a touch from the Lord is so real

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Jesus is passing, is passing your way

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Jesus is passing your way

Tears flowed down the lady's face. “I want you to have that guitar,” she said through her tears, “Wherever you go, sing for the Lord - and remember me.”

The Lord fulfilled His promise to provide me with a guitar - and the guitar the lady gave me was of a perfect size for traveling.

A couple of days later the family behind whose yard I had my tent set-up felt I should find a more suitable place to stay. I felt moved in my heart to go back to those friends of theirs who had given me the guitar, to ask if I could stay at their house.

I remembered the occassion when Jesus said to Zacchaeus: "...make haste...for to day I must abide at thy house..." (Luke 19:5).

So I went and asked the lady, and after I asked, she answered that she already wanted to invite me to stay at her house with her and her son but she felt sure a “man of the cloth” would refuse to stay with someone such as her.

So she couldn't have felt more delighted to have me, and I was happy to be there. God provided a house for me, and friends who treated me like family.

News started to spread around town that this hardened lady - who had a reputation for swearing like a trooper - had not only given something away (her guitar) but had also received a preacher into her house, it aroused quite a bit of interest, and people from around town wanted to come and see what had gotten into her. In a short time enough people were saved to start a home meeting.

I knew I wasn't going to be in town for too long, so I looked-up a phone directory and found a local Assemblies of God church listed. I phoned the Pastor, invited him to come, and gathered everyone together.

The pastor was glad to see the good things God had been doing. He invited me to preach to his youth group the following Saturday, and then to his church the following Sunday. He also took me to minister in a mid-week meeting in a hired hall in another nearby town. He welcomed me to do all of this, even though he had never met me before. God was faithful to open all the doors.

More and more doors began to open for me to preach and to see people saved. The Holy Spirit granted the gift of prophecy and the word of knowledge and the gifts of healings ? and people were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Even though the people and I quickly felt attached to each other, the time came, after two weeks, for me to leave town and move to my next destination.

In the morning while I was preparing to depart, I thought, “I’d like a pair of brown, leather, lace-up shoes to go with these jeans”.

Then I went outside to pray for a bit before setting out on my journey.

I had no idea how I was going to travel to the next town ? I thought I might have to walk. So I didn’t want to leave it too late in the day before setting out, because I didn’t want it to be dark when I arrived. So after about an hour or so of prayer I decided I’d better get going.

But a feeling inside seemed to stop me.

So I waited another hour and then I said, “Lord, I really need to get going now”.

But again the same inner feeling seemed to stop me.

So I waited another hour and then I said to the Lord, “Well I really need to go now, or else it will be dark when I arrive”.

But still I felt Him holding me back.

So I prayed yet another hour, and by this time it was too late to go. So I walked back to the house.

That evening a visitor came to the house and he happened to mention that he was contracted to work tomorrow in the very town where I felt led to go next. So he offered me a lift.

I realized then that God held me back from setting out on my journey only because He already had arranged a better way for me to get there. The Lord was teaching me that being guided by the Holy Spirit into God’s best plans often requires surrendering our own thinking and planning.

And before I left, the family that first welcomed me to town gave me a gift ? a box of groceries and a pair of shoes which fitted me perfectly.

The Lord provided new shoes for my journey, just like He promised.

Early in the morning when we arrived in the next town, the brother asked me, “So where would you like me to drop you?”

This small country town only had one intersection. I looked at the post office on one corner and the pub and phone booth and corner shop on another. Apart from that there was nothing there.

So I had no idea where I’d be spending the night or what to do next. I only knew that the Lord had sent me.

“Well I'm pouring concrete at a house just up the road,” said the brother, “Why don't you come with me first, and then see where you go from there.”

So we both drove to the house. And as soon as we stepped out of the car, a lady and her daughter approached me:

“Hi! It's so good to see you! We've been waiting for you!”

I couldn’t remember if I’d ever met them.

“Don’t worry - you don't know us…” she said, “…But we know you! We are Christians, and we were praying, and the Lord showed us your face in a vision. He told us you’d be coming soon and that you'll be wearing a red shirt when you arrive and that we are to look after you when you arrive. Where are you staying?”

I had a bright red shirt on that day.

Then she asked, “By the way, what size shoe do you wear?”

“What a strange question,” I thought, coming from apparent strangers.

I answered, “Size eight ? why?”

When I said size eight, they both burst out laughing.

The lady sent her daughter upstairs, and soon afterwards she returned, saying, “Here ? try these on.”

They were a pair of brown, leather, lace-up shoes ? exactly what I'd desired ? and they fitted me perfectly. They were suitable for walking and also for preaching in ? so they were ideal for traveling ministry.

The lady explained that when she was shopping a few weeks earlier, she saw those shoes in the shop and the Lord told her, “Buy them.”

She said, "What for, Lord? ? no-one in my family can wear that size."

And the Lord answered, "Because someone's coming soon, and when he comes, you are to give them to him ? and you are to look after him when he arrives."

The Lord answered, even before I asked.

During the four days I spent ministering around that area, I sensed that I would leave town on a specific day to travel to my next Divine appointment. Once again I had no idea how I would be traveling.

Then a visitor came to the house who happened to mention that he was planning to drive to the very town where I felt led to go, and he would be going on the very day that I felt I should be leaving. So when that day came he gave me a lift and dropped me in the main street of town.

That afternoon as I was walking alone down the street, I started to feel a deep inner fulfillment and joy.

The satisfaction I was feeling ? through hearing specifically from God and obeying, and through experiencing God providing for me ? surpassed anything I’d felt in my Christian life and service for quite some time. Although I’d always kept busy serving God, it felt like ? now I’m really serving the Lord.

And just two hours later I was standing behind the pulpit of a local Uniting Church in their Sunday night service. That’s how quickly and thoroughly God opened the door ? and to think, only a short moment before I didn’t know even a single soul in town. Yet now here I was standing behind the pulpit of a church preaching, in a denomination to which I didn’t even belong.

That night after I finished speaking, the presence of the Holy Spirit lingered on the congregation. It seemed people were stuck to their seats.

Afterwards the elders of the church enthusiastically offered a place for me to stay, and arranged mid-week church meetings and also a meeting for me to address a group of students of the local High School.

People got saved and some were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke with tongues ? including one of the elders of the church. And word started getting around about the miracles of healings that occurred in the High School.

When the time came to leave and travel to the last town, the Lord again provided someone who happened to be driving to the very area.

It was the only town where I already knew someone ? so I stayed with them. I hired a hall for revival meetings, and advertised in the community newspaper. There I met a group of believers who had held a prayer meeting for years, asking God to send a revival to their town.

When I finished everything the Lord sent me to do, I returned home full of the blessing of the Lord ? He had provided all of my needs; given me food, clothes, homes, shoes, money, the guitar, transport, and brought me into some wonderful relationships that continue to this day; and He opened more doors for me to preach than I could ever have imagined.

Everywhere I went people said to me, “God sent you to us.”

And five weeks were fulfilled ? just like the Holy Spirit had shown me.

And guess how much of my own money I needed to spend during the whole five-week trip? Not one cent.

As Jesus said to His disciples:

“When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing“ (Luke 22:35).

I experienced what everyone else who has stepped out in faith knows:

“Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel’s, but HE SHALL RECEIVE AN HUNDREDFOLD now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecution; and in the world to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29,30).

Afterwards I remembered a prayer I prayed less than two weeks before the Lord first began to speak to me about this new venture of faith.

A well-known visiting minister had challenged the congregation to ask the Lord, “What do you want me to do for you?”

“And expect an answer within two weeks,” he added.

So I prayed that prayer in faith.

After I experienced God’s provision for me on this new journey of faith, I remembered the visiting speaker’s challenge, and the prayer ? and I realized the Lord had indeed answered me within two weeks.

Since then, Jesus has sent me on many more trips ? some interstate and some overseas ? with each trip lasting anywhere from a few days to a month or a few months or a year or longer.

He has opened more doors than I could have imagined and has always met every need.

God has a wonderful, tailor-made plan for you too ? a plan that is specific for your life ?? something that hasn’t been done before ? and He waits to open the door for you.

It’s one thing to be busy in the work of the Lord ? it’s another thing to ask and to discover the unique, never-done-before task that Jesus has assigned specifically for you ? His perfect will.

When you serve God through knowing and doing His unique plan for your life and ministry, you will find a greater joy, peace and fulfillment.

So ask God today, “What do you want me to do?”

And expect an answer within two weeks!

Four steps towards you destiny:

1. Hear directly from God

2. Get the timing right

3. Maintain right relationships

4. Step out in faith