I have been told, but I was not aware of it myself at the time, that when I was one month old I was taken on a Whit walk with my Mother. At this time my Mother was a member of the Primitive Methodists. Growing up as a youngster I was, with help from my mother, always aware of God and the Christian faith.
I attended Sunday school, first within the Primitive Methodist Church at Summerseat near Bury, and then I went to St. Wilfred’s Church of England Sunday school, simply because all my friends did. When I was 11 I stopped going to church: no big fall out, just sort of stopped going. This would have continued I guess forever, except when I was 16 I read a wayside pulpit, which said: “A Sabbath well spent, is a week of content”
This saying found an agreement in my heart, and so I started going back to church with my Mum, we both went to the Primitive Methodist. Very soon after starting to attend I was asked to teach in the Sunday school, which I did willingly. At this time I was not a Christian, I had not committed my heart to the Lord, but then two events happened in my life that changed this: First, when I was 18 or a little before, a visiting preacher came to preach at our church, I knew him, he was a friend. To tell the truth, I cannot remember much of what he said, but in his preaching he kept saying: “You must be born again” and often he repeated this refrain: “You must be born again”.
At the end of the service he announced the final hymn something like this: “Please turn to our final hymn for this service which is: ‘Lord Jesus, I love Thee, I know thou art mine!’ and dear friend if you do not love Him, then do not sing.” I was disturbed by what he said; I thought to myself: ‘me not to sing, I am not taking notice of that, of course I am going to sing,’ and so we started to sing: Lord Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine! For Thee all the pleasures of sin I resign; My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art Thou! If ever I Loved Thee, Lord Jesus, ‘tis now! I was starting to feel uncomfortable now: did I love Jesus? Had I resigned all the pleasures of sin? I was now beginning to wonder! I still wanted to sing; I still was sure that I had every right to sing, and so I continued: I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me, And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s Tree; I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow; If ever I loved Thee, Lord Jesus, ‘tis now!
By this time my mind was in turmoil: did I really know these things? Jesus first loved me? Jesus pardoned my sins on Calvary’s Tree? Jesus wore a crown of thorns for me? Did I love him now? I was still saying to myself, “it is okay; it is alright; just carry on singing.” I will love thee in life; I will love Thee in death And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath; And say when the death-dew lies cold on my brow; If ever I loved Thee, Lord Jesus, ‘tis now! By this time, my defences were down, I knew the truth, I could not honestly sing this song and so I did not sing the fourth verse: I did not sing about going to heaven, for now I felt it was speaking of a place I had no right to go.
I did not sing then I just cried quietly to myself. I guess if the preacher had made an invitation to come and commit to Jesus there and then I would have, but no such invitation was made. Over the coming weeks and months I continued to pray to God seeking His face, seeking His forgiveness, and I know He answered my pray. Not just because I prayed but because I prayed with faith, and it was not my faith but faith given to me by God. The prayer was answered, but I was shy and the confirmation of my answered prayer was the second important time in my life.
Try God.
Also Read:
- Men in the Bible: A Man of Considerable Goodwill
- The Myth of Omnipresence (1): The 5 Places God Always Is
- Overwhelmed
- Great Truths Adults Learned
- I Passed a Professional Exam and Got a Job After 10 Years
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