Wednesday, June 15, 2011

That They May Have Life

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

"Pastor David, may I speak to you for a moment?"

I was in the city of Chicago, meeting with a group of Christians who listened to a daily radio program I had been broadcasting in their beautiful city. As I turned to face the young lady who had asked to speak to me, she began to share about her husband, and how he had just given his life to the Lord.

"I'm sorry, but I get too emotional when I share this" she said to me, "May I have him share his story himself?" I said that would be great, and a shy young man approached me. As he spoke to me, he shared how he was about to commit suicide one night, and was preparing to end his life. As he planned out his own death, for some unexplained reason he decided to bathe, and began to fill the bathtub.

He told me that, as he was about to take his final bath, he remembered that his brother had given to him a tape of a Christian program he had recorded and had asked him to listen to the message. Not wanting to enter into eternity without doing this one last thing for his brother, he brought out a portable cassette player, plugged it in, and began listening to the message as he bathed.

"I was intending to kill myself as soon as the tape finished," he told me.

It so happened that the tape he was listening to was a message I had given out of the book of Revelation. As he listened to the message, the Lord convicted him of his need for salvation, and right there in the bathtub he gave his heart to Jesus.

"Pastor, I am literally alive today because of the gospel of Jesus Christ," he told me.

It is so true.

Satan comes to steal, kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come that we may have life, and have it to the full.

Undoubtedly, Satan has done terrible things to you in your life.

You may be ready to give up.

But even as this young man came to Jesus, today you can give yourself more fully to Him and experience a deeper peace than you have ever had.

Don't give up, Jesus is there with you right now, and He will give you life, and that to the full.

Just ask.


1 comment:

Miss said...

Thank you for sharing this story. It's always beautiful to hear what awesome ways God speaks to people, to let them know He loves them.

It ain't over until God says it's over.