My Personal Journey to Revelation Knowledge
My mother was what I call a “periodic alcoholic.” She died in her early fifties with cirrhosis of the liver.
My dad was a preacher’s kid, but I didn’t find that out until long after I had answered the call to the ministry as an adult. He was a preacher’s kid who went wild, spending most of his life in and out of jail. He came and went when I was little. When I was old enough to understand, Mom told me that she finally ran him off when I was almost two years old because he would beat me so badly.
I can remember hiding a toy airplane under my bed. Mom had saved her grocery pennies to buy it for me. When my dad came around, I had to hide it; I knew that much. He was always threatening me, saying things like, “I’m going to shoot you with a shotgun full of salt!” I can’t remember much about the beatings. As I grew up, I had many other temporary fathers who came and went. I didn’t know much about them either.
Sometimes the neighbours would come over to get me, my brother, and my two sisters. They would scrub our faces, load us in the car, and take us to church. It was obvious that we were neglected.
Our grandpa finally took us in. He made a workhorse out of me through my high school years — and when I say work, I mean work! By the time I entered the United States Navy, I was in top shape. I had never worked out or done one sit-up or push-up in my life, yet I won the arm wrestling championship on my ship! I was also asked to box for the Navy. All my physical strength and training came from Grandpa working me like an animal through my teenage years.
When I was sixteen years old, a friend of mine (who was also a preacher’s kid) convinced me to go to a Pentecostal church with him every weekend for the sole reason of meeting girls. After church, we would go out drinking.
Well, the pastor’s preaching didn’t bother my friend at all, but it started to get to me. One night I became so convicted that I went over to the pastor’s house after the service had ended.
I knocked on the pastor’s door. When he answered it, I told him, “I think there’s something wrong with me.”
“That’s conviction,” the pastor replied. “What you need to do is accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.” So he told me to get down on my knees next to a chair, and then he led me in the sinner’s prayer.
I left the pastor’s house feeling light and happy, and the next time I was out with my friends, I refused to drink with them.
All of a sudden prophecy began to flow, and I received the revelation knowledge my heart had been seeking all along. I didn’t know enough to speak out loud what I heard in my spirit.
The Holy Spirit said to me, “Son, this anointing didn’t suddenly come upon you because it was predestined for this meeting from the foundations of the world. It didn’t come on you in respect to your evangelistic call. I wish all My evangelists walked in My power.
“This anointing didn’t come on you because of your calling, your creed, your colour, or your nation. It came upon you because you have uncovered a spiritual law: praying in other tongues for your personal edification. That law carries with it an ironclad guarantee to build you up on the most holy faith in your spirit — that part of you from which faith comes.
“You have found something you can do on purpose to edify yourself — as much as you want to, as long as you want to, whenever you want to. Through praying in the Holy Ghost, you can build yourself up above a walk where your physical senses hold you in checkmate and convince you that God’s Word isn’t so, to a walk that is vibrant, Spirit-charged, and free in the Holy Ghost.”
After being so hungry for God’s power for so long, I accidentally uncovered one of the most important keys to growing in devil-stomping, mountain-moving faith — praying in tongues for personal edification. Do you think that after finding such a major key to unlock divine mysteries, anyone could keep me out of my prayer closet? Not a chance! I had a divine plan for my life to discover!
Also Read:
Devotional
Nehemiah’s Leadership Playbook: Social Justice
Inspirational
Who is Happy?
Testimonies
Finding God in the Midst of Anxiety & Fallen Dreams
