Many years
ago on a dark night on the southern New Jersey Turnpike I cried out, “Help me
Jesus! I don’t know what to do!”
Instantly
the car filled with an overpowering presence.
I could not move. My hands were
frozen to the position they had been on the steering wheel. My arms did not move. I stared straight ahead, but I really did not
see the road or anything.
God had come
into the car. Instantly he had answered
my call. The air was intense,
electric. It was as if a giant hand were
on my back, from my shoulders down to the end of my spine, and it was hugging
me. It was warm, and pulsating. The feeling of love in that car was
overwhelming. And for perhaps thirty
minutes it continued. I know it was
thirty minutes, because when I suddenly was able to move again, I looked down
at the odometer and I had gone thirty miles.
God had been driving the car.
Certainly not me.
The
anointing came that night, and the gifts of the spirit. Gifts like the gifts of healing and
miraculous works and prophecy and faith and more.
Following
that night God came often, and began guiding me specifically. He began giving out assignments, and as I
would do them he gave more. Gradually
they moved into the major statements I refer to as the call on my life.
That was God
in the car. Whether Jesus was sitting
there beside me I do not know, for I could not turn my head.
It was
overwhelming. I had had a direct,
enormous encounter with God. Now I had
had a couple amazing things happen to me before, like the intercession of the
angel in the car accident in Beverly Hills when a giant truck fell on our
car. Or a time many years ago in Houston
when suddenly a voice spoke a prophetic word into my heart and mind, one I was
shocked by and didn’t understand completely.
But this experience in the car was life-changing.
I had
encountered God. He was there. He was real.
No going back into the old standard life with church on Sunday for an
hour but no real spiritual thoughts otherwise.
I knew first hand God was and is real and that he answers prayer and
that he communicates now, today, with us. The Holy Spirit had come in force and
power. It was as Ephesians 1:3-4 says. I had been marked in Christ with a seal, the
promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing my inheritance until the
redemption of those who are God’s possession.
I was like
the born again, spirit filled Christians of the early Christian centuries. They willingly would go to their deaths
rather than deny Jesus. Why? Because they knew God was real. They had met him. They had the Holy Spirit.
The world
today likes to refer to some Christians as fundamentalists, and they deride
those who just won’t let their Biblical principles be moved. But you see, the world doesn’t know God. Those who do can’t be moved and won’t give up
their faith, which is absolute.
You can read
more about this encounter in the car on our web site. Just punch the testimony button in the menu
column.
****************
Hearing from
God is wonderful, life-changing! A word,
a sentence. A verse of scripture
suddenly coming alive as you read it, made real by the quickening power of the
Spirit. All this changes a person
instantly. It is worth more than
gold. Far more. Just one such incident can lift a person high
for days and weeks, and drive him forward in life. And the more received, the further the person
goes.
*********
The Lord
speaks at diverse times and incidents, often of his own choosing and not while
you are specifically sitting quietly in prayer.
Sometimes while you are walking down the street or working on something
else.
A few years
back I was attacked horribly by the evil side.
As we stepped out ever further in ministry, I had experienced attacks
from the devil or his demons in various forms, and we had learned to apply the
truths of God, to stand on the word, to cast out demons. All that.
But this was much more. Some of
you know about it. The attack was
physical and direct and severe. The pain
was enormous. There were moments I was
not sure I would be here longer. Several
prayer warriors prayed and interceded.
Help came from the most unusual sources.
For several weeks I was dreadfully weak, so weak I did not even
shave. And I even conducted meetings
unshaven, but the word of God coming through was strong. I learned a great deal through all this. One thing I learned is that someone in great
pain and distress cannot pray, other than shouting out help me Jesus and short
phrases like that. The pain is so
intense.
So a couple
months after this happened I had just finished a time of reading the Bible and
praying at home, and I walked into our kitchen.
Suddenly I was aware of the presence of the Lord on the other side of
the counter that separates our kitchen from our dining area. And he spoke:
“I’m never going to lose you, John.”
He said. My eyes filled with
tears. My whole body was overcome by his
presence. My eyes are filling with tears
as I write this even now.
And I said,
“What did I do wrong, Lord?”
He replied,
“Nothing.”
That was
it. No more words. I have never forgotten that conversation. I learned too that attacks come in this life
from the evil side even if I did nothing wrong, and I needed to learn as much
as possible as to how to protect myself and my wife and family and friends and
partners and so on. And to fight
evil. God has shown me much in that
area.
But you see,
he just began talking as I walked into the kitchen.
***************
Especially
for a period of a few years some time back, God would speak to me in the middle
of the night. I would wake up about 3 or
4 am, or maybe 5, and I would go into another room and sit in my favorite chair
with my favorite Bible and begin reading.
Usually I read Isaiah. I have
found that God comes often when I read Isaiah.
I started one night and read through the ninth chapter when he suddenly
came. In such times I have found he is sometimes
open to conversation. Not only does he
pass on something he wants me to know, but I can ask a question. Even about seemingly lighter matters.
One night we
were talking about healing, and I said something about his healing in the
temple, his healing everyone. “Not
everyone,” he said. And in a minute he
said, “the Pharisees,” and I knew
instantly he was referring to their religious spirit that blocked the healing
of some, a situation we have encountered in various places, those who pay
attention to man’s religious rules and ideas of how things should be rather
than to being open to God’s truths and his presence and actions.
That
particular night for some reason the subject of golf came up, and I remember
Jesus saying, “It’s a silly game.”
*************
A last example
of the Lord speaking to me: We were
sitting in a ministry meeting in Charlotte.
A large crowd was present, and a famous minister was teaching on the
Holy Spirit. Suddenly I heard the voice,
“What are you doing here, John?” and I
realized I should not have come. I don’t
really seek out such sessions anymore, unless directed by God to do so. My neck was hurting some at the meeting, and
the Lord put his hand on my neck. I said
something about his hand being rough, and he said,” you don’t know how many
times I hit that hand.” Of course Joseph
had been a carpenter, and no doubt Jesus had worked as a carpenter for years
and had hit his hand many times!
***********
God is
real. Jesus is real. The Holy Spirit is real. The Bible is true. The Lord is returning soon. He has called me to preach good news to the
poor, to heal the broken hearted, to give sight to the blind, and to tell
people he is coming soon. He is. He really is.
He also has called me to write, to give my testimony, to have a prayer,
preaching and healing ministry with my wife, and to feed his sheep.
Do you know
him? Have you been in his presence? He tells us we will find him when we seek him
with all our heart.
When you
have a personal encounter with the Lord, everything else in the world recedes
in importance. It is as if everything
else becomes shadows, and God is in brilliant color. And you realize just how insignificant all
the issues of the secular world are.
Don’t miss
the Lord. Don’t let Jesus pass you
by. He is coming very, very soon.
Copyright © 2013 by John Newlin
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