YOU HAVE A FUTURE

No matter how dark your situation might be, you have a friend who can turn on the light and show you the way.

I was 24 when I faced the reality of this life. I had only 50 or 60 years left on this earth before the lights would go out for ever. 

There was no consolation on earth that could make up for this grim fact.

• I knew what Jesus said and it was Jesus who offered eternal life, a life with a future and a hope.

• The words of Jesus had thrilled me.

John 11:25-26 (ESV) ...“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

• I did believe this but still I resisted the call to faith and commitment.

My uncle and aunt had been converted through Billy Graham years before and I somehow knew they had found the answer.

Then something happened that made all the difference. 

The Charismatic movement arrived. 

The way of salvation was no longer a matter of Biblical correctness. It was a living reality. 

• The supernatural glory the Bible spoke of, was something you could experience right now in our generation. This was wonderful. I could experience the presence of God in a warm and wonderful way even before I took the step of committing my life to the Son of God.

I could see that the Holy Spirit was not just the One who made it possible to believe and live a good life. 

• The Holy Spirit was the wonderful person you could experience and know personally, God living inside you, not as a doctrine but as a living experience that changed everything.

That was many years ago and I am now 63, with grey hair and getting older. The presence of the Holy Spirit in my life is more exciting than ever. I never get tired of knowing God.

• I have experienced deep darkness and been close to despair a number of times. I know this truth for myself.

Psalm 73:26 (NKJV)  My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

I know with God I have a future and a hope, with God. That is the what makes all the difference, with God. 

 I wrote this message 7 years ago, and I am now 70. I still enjoy the adventure of knowing and experiencing the presence of God in a way that goes far beyond mental understanding or blind faith.