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The Lifesaving Power of God

I Am Thankful That I Listened

During the fall of 1999, I was all prepared to go out as a Way Disciple. My leadership at the time called one morning and said that it was not best for me to go at that time. Wow, what was I to do now—go ask for my job back? I was a commuter on the subway, and that particular morning, I was the only one on the platform waiting on the train and then the only one in my particular train car. Looking over the field, I saw that there were five deer. This was such a rare situation. In my heart, I knew it was going to be all right. I told my boss, “I decided not to leave.” She said, “Oh good, I have not turned in your paperwork to human resources.” God is good always!

It turns out I was ill, however, and did not know it as I prepared to go out as a Way Disciple in the upcoming outreach group. In July of 2000, I needed major surgery. The surgery was successful, and my Way Disciple tenure was also! Not going in the previous outreach group may have saved my life! I am thankful for the leadership that could hear that still, small voice via revelation communicating that I was not ready to go out as a Way Disciple the previous year. I am thankful that I listened and took heed unto myself and reaped the godly benefits in my life. Others were reached during my tenure and continue to be reached with the greatness of the Word of God today.

This incident was years ago. Recently our fellowship went to Camp Gunnison for a camp, and I am still thankful that someone introduced me to The Way Ministry over thirty years ago.

The Word Literally Saved My Life

One of the many things The Way Ministry has taught me from the rightly divided Word that has benefited my life is from Malachi 3:7-12 on tithing and abundant sharing. For over twenty years, I have proven my heavenly Father in this category. When I first started tithing, I was about to lose my home, but God protected it; and later on I began to abundantly share and got completely out of debt.

No matter the obstacle or situation, my God has always come through and blessed me mightily and kept me safe in very dangerous situations. Once, I was driving fast at night in a very small car on a very dark road, and I repeatedly heard an audible voice saying, “Slow down; slow down.” I slowed down to about twenty-five miles per hour, and all of a sudden, there was a large deer that presented himself inches from the front of the car. Because I listened to God’s still, small voice as I was taught in fellowship, I was able to brake in enough time to completely stop and avoid hitting the deer.

Another category that benefited me was believing. This also was a new concept to me. It has been an exciting and thrilling journey in my life bringing the Word to mind when I feel fretful or anxious, and confessing the words of the Word with believing and enjoying the calmness and peacefulness it brings. Philippians 4:6 and 7 are among many verses that help me in believing rightly.

I am so thankful to God for The Way Ministry and for the rightly divided Word that literally saved my life.

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Everything Good in My Life Is Because of God

The great key to a successful life, a fruitful and meaningful life, is to keep God first. This is one fundamental truth that I have learned from The Way Ministry. By “learned,” I mean not only being shown it in the Word of God but also being shown how this truth can be practically applied day by day, year by year, and season of life to season of life.

I have a personal saying that reflects what I have seen as a result of putting God first in my life. It is, “Everything good in my life is because of God.”

The life I had before I learned about God was very good. But when, by His grace, I was witnessed to and began to learn the Word of God in The Way Ministry, the joy and thankfulness I felt exceeded anything in my experience. Nothing took precedence over attending fellowship and ministry functions. My life was enhanced in every way by the Word I was learning to apply, and keeping God first posed no difficulty whatsoever for me at that time.

Then I began to come to crossroads where keeping God first required decisions that would alter the course of my life. One road led to all that was familiar, comfortable, and in some cases “reasonable,” and the other to opportunities that I knew in my heart were from God. Crossroad one: wait to register for the Advanced Class until I was debt-free or make the commitment first and believe God to supply the need. Next crossroad: continue to enjoy my very wonderful and fulfilling job, fellowship, and family or leave it for the unknown and serve as a Way Disciple. Next crossroad: go back to my life before Way Disciple or serve on Staff. Next, continue serving as a household fellowship coordinator together with my husband in a lovely home, prospering and blessed or enter The Way Corps training program. Next crossroad: ask to stay in the United States or accept a Way Corps assignment almost five thousand miles away in a foreign country.

At every one of these major crossroads, and many more in between, I have relied on the same fundamental truth I learned in The Way Ministry as a young believer—keep God first. As a result, God has brought to pass desires of my heart that only He could have known of, including some that I myself did not recognize. At no point have I given up something that God has not replenished over and above. I live today without regret and without fear of lack in any category. What can the world offer that is worth more? As I always say, “Everything good in my life is because of God,” and I know this by experience because I was taught to keep God first.

 

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A Way to Know What Is True

Growing up I was a very shy child, afraid of making mistakes and lacking confidence. When I was in the eighth grade, a friend told me that her mother said I had an inferiority complex. With that comment I grew even more self-conscious and insecure.

As a young adult, I followed what was popular culturally, looking for peace and happiness. I became involved with sorcery and occult practices, such as automatic handwriting and palm reading, and I sought out fortune-tellers.

My family went to church, but I didn’t know much about the Bible. God only seemed to be a part of my life when I was in the church building.

My father’s mother was a very devout Christian. She read her Bible at home and was a very giving and loving woman. But when I would stay at her house overnight, I would often have nightmares about something trying to “get me.”

My mother also became involved in the occult. When I was twenty years old, my mother’s sister came to my house and gave me a book to read. She said that the things my mother was involved in were devilish and not from God. I thought my aunt was just a religious prude and scoffed at what she said. But her boldness planted a seed, a question that I eventually desired to have answered.

I prayed to God five years later, asking, “Who is right and who is wrong? Is there really any way to know You, God? If You are there and if You can, please show me.”

Within three days I saw an old high school friend who had moved back to town. She was involved with The Way and was having fellowship in her home. I wasn’t searching for something that agreed with what I already believed, I wanted a way to know what is true.

The Word shared at fellowship was logical and inspiring. I began to believe that life could be good. I learned how to stop the flood of thoughts that left me anxious and afraid. I became excited about living, knowing that God loved me and would help me overcome my challenges. I didn’t have to be anxious about not being perfect and not knowing everything. I could live and grow from stage to stage and enjoy the grace of God in my life.

The Word I was learning made sense, and I saw that the Bible had integrity; so I began to trust God and change. The Word regarding “are the dead alive now?” was vital for me. Even though it was logical, it took time for me to become convinced.

I read the book Receiving the Holy Spirit Today and spoke in tongues in the privacy of my home. Immediately after I did, I clearly perceived that I had been deceived by counterfeit spiritual phenomena. It was amazing. There was not heavy sorrow, just an acknowledgement that I had been wrong and tremendous thankfulness to know I was born again and a child of the one true God.

For the first time in my life, I experienced genuine peace and began enjoying the fruit of the spirit. I had joy overflowing and a heart full of love. My demeanor changed dramatically. I was set free from my prisons and began to experience life and the goodness of God. It was such a blessing to have something to give, knowing I could pray for others, share the Word, and help others experience God’s goodness.

I am so thankful God heard and answered my prayer, showing me The Way and how to know God’s will from His Word.

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Confident to Declare the Word

Victory during My Way Disciple Tenure

I am grateful for the Word of God The Way International has taught me. Through the years, it has enabled me to develop a rich relationship with my heavenly Father and receive the abundant victories He desires for me.

One such victory happened during my Way Disciple tenure. As a Way Disciple team, we had a great zeal to see God’s Word prevail. Our leadership taught us the depth of God’s Word regarding outreach and prepared us to confidently meet each day’s challenges. One dynamic record that was impressed upon my life was the sending of the seventy in Luke 10:1-11. This record shows the appointing of seventy men who were sent forth with the authority to speak God’s Word and to manifest His power.

Because of these teachings, we moved out confidently each day, seeking to find people with hungry hearts to know God. Opportunities to minister were endless, and all of our physical needs were fulfilled abundantly. God continued to multiply our efforts.

One major element of our success during this tenure was prayer. The Way Ministry teaches the Word of God regarding the power of prayer and keys to effective prayer.

Matthew 21:22:
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

As a team we were ready to run a Foundational Class, but we needed one more participant. We chose to claim the Word by lifting our petition to God in prayer. Within twenty-four hours, the team’s prayer was answered. God provided.

The Way Ministry has taught me the truth of God’s Word and has provided me with avenues of service so that I can see it practically applied. This combination has strengthened me to live a dynamic life for God.

Giving Answers

The Word of God taught to me in the ministry of The Way has enabled me to see those that have a need. And I become aware of it in order to speak for God and to speak the truth of His Word, giving answers.

A fellow sales agent expressed to me her frustration in having sickness manifested in her life. I knew this person was actively involved in her church, deeply committed to it. I opened my mouth and shared that there are two realities in communion, and one of them is that Jesus Christ’s body was broken for our complete physical wholeness. This caught her attention, and she listened as I expounded further. I lent her my copy of The Bible Tells Me So. She read the chapter about communion and was so blessed. I had known this person for years and had been aware of her constant health challenges. I believe she had been so defeated and had longed for answers. She got them, and when I occasionally see her today, I only see a strong, vibrant person.

I am a fellow laborer with God as I declare the Word. My purpose in life is still clear and satisfying.

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No Longer “Servant to the Lender”

God works in us and abounds toward us as we believe Him and take appropriate action in the specific area that we have a need in. The key is making up our mind to do the Word that we know in any specified area and to be unmovable all the way through to the end of deliverance.

A victory experience that comes to mind for me is in the financial category. I had been taught from God’s Word about debt. (Proverbs 22:7: “…the borrower is servant to the lender”; Romans 13:8: “Owe no man any thing….”) But even after being taught this, I can’t say that I had my mind made up with an urgency to get out of debt. I had a couple loans and a little credit card debt, but I always paid my bills, and I didn’t feel it was going to affect me as long as I kept current on my payments. I didn’t feel that I was that much of a servant to the lender, so I really wasn’t that committed to getting out of debt.

Then one day I received a letter in the mail from the lender on my truck. It stated that they didn’t have a record of me having insurance on that vehicle and that they were going to insure my truck with their insurance company and add an extra $170.00 to my monthly payment. I called them and told them that I already had insurance, but they said that they had no record of it and required me to go to their main office and show them proof. So I took my insurance policy over to their office and showed them my current policy, and then they were satisfied.

It was approximately a week later when I received another letter in the mail from the same lender, but this was on my house. It stated that they didn’t have a record of me having insurance on my house and that they were going to apply another insurance premium to my monthly house payment. Again I called them and told them that I already had insurance on my house. Again they required that I come in to show them proof. All I could think was, “The borrower is servant to the lender.” That is when I decided to get serious and committed to getting out of debt.

This all happened in the latter part of March. In April I made up my mind, I was going to get out of debt! I committed myself to put every dollar of extra money that I had left after I tithed (I definitely wanted God backing me) and paid my bills and bought the bare necessities toward getting out of debt. I figured if things went well, I would be out of debt in a little over three years. I gave it to God, I prayed, and I took all the believing action that I could.

A thought came to mind that I had been driving my truck for work and they hadn’t been paying me a vehicle allowance. I had been driving my vehicle for work for about eighteen months and figured I should be compensated. So I approached the boss with an amount of four thousand dollars. She didn’t even blink and said she would pay it in monthly increments of one thousand dollars. That very same week I had a client that called and made a huge order that paid three thousand dollars. This continued; it seemed that there was one big deal after another. I was tithing faithfully, and I was paying off my loans with the highest interest.

I remember one teller telling me to put my money in a savings account and earn some interest. I told her, “No, I am going to be debt-free!” She looked at me like I was “different.” I have to admit that as I was paying the loans off the thought went through my mind, “Maybe I could go and buy some new clothes.” But I didn’t. I knew that God was working mightily in me and delivering me from this debt. I stayed committed completely, not wavering, and I was out of debt in November of that same year. God came through with flying colors!

That’s when I learned the truth in my opening statement: God works in us and abounds toward us as we believe Him and take appropriate believing action in any specific area that we have need in. The key is making up our mind to do the Word that we know in that area and be unmovable all the way through to seeing deliverance.

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Trusting in Our Good and Faithful God

We Can Rely on Him

Our heavenly Father is always good and willing to meet our every need. He reminds us in Psalms 84:11 that He will never withhold any good thing from us. It thrills my heart to know we have such an awesome Dad and that we can always rely on Him with our whole heart, soul, and mind.

The company I was working with at one time closed their doors, and I was faced with no job! I started feeding my mind with negative thoughts. What was I going to do? How long would it take to find a job? Fear started to sink in, but I was reminded in Psalms 118:6 that the Lord is on my side and I am not to fear anything. God also reminds us in II Timothy 1:7 that He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

I got clear and concerned and contacted another believer. I shared my situation with them, and both of us agreed we would pray every day and believe together for God to work mightily in this situation. I continued to claim one of many promises in God’s Word, Ephesians 3:20. Within a couple of weeks my God supplied that job, and He was able to do exceeding abundantly above all that I could ask or think!

I’m happy to share I’m still employed with this company and continue to stay thankful for God’s goodness and mercy. What a wonderful God we have; He is always good and is ready and willing to supply our every need!

Trust God in Every Situation

There I was in the left lane of a seven-lane highway. All of a sudden, we started to come to a screeching halt, but were not quite stopped. As I tried to pick my speed back up, my car stalled and my steering wheel locked up. I immediately began speaking in tongues and did the best I could. I pressed on the gas and turned the steering wheel even though neither were functioning. I told God that I just needed to get in the right lane…safely.

Well, I managed to drift all the way to the right lane without anyone hitting me! That was victory number one. I had a moment of doubt sitting there, thinking, If only I had a cell phone to call someone. But I quickly regained my believing. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew that cars need oil, so I got out and checked my oil. Just as I saw that my oil levels were good, a man pulled up in front of me.

As the man stepped out of his van, I realized he had a medical condition that kept him from walking on his own. He braced himself against his van, then the hood of my car. He knew exactly what was going on with my car. First, he had me put it in neutral as he pushed my car to the outside shoulder of the road. Yes, you heard me correctly. This man who couldn’t walk on his own pushed my huge Crown Victoria to the shoulder. Quickly he had my car up and running. When I tried to get his information to thank him and repay him in some way, he told me to pay it forward.

In the midst of a superhighway where no one knew where I was, God was faithful to meet my every need, because this ministry has taught me from a youth to trust God in every situation.

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We Never Got Anxious and God Met Our Need

From very early in my walk with The Way Ministry, I have been taught not to get anxious about anything. I have always endeavored to apply this in my life and have seen the benefits over the years.

Recently, my wife and I made the decision to change our place of residence because we are now fully retired and do not need the amount of living space that we had, and of course we needed to reduce our expenses further. We drew up a wish list and sent it out to real estate agents. As we began to receive responses, we experienced a challenge with our vehicle that resulted in it being unusable for about ten days.

The day after the repaired vehicle was delivered to us, we had to go to the bank to transact some urgent business. After our business was concluded, we decided to drive through two nearby residential areas to look at an apartment building that a friend had recently moved into and to look for rental signs. As soon as we drove into the second area, we saw a house with a rental sign on it. We made a note and continued our drive through the area.

On our return home, I started looking again at the offers that had been made to us. I saw an offer for an apartment in the second area that we had visited, and I called the real estate agent. We arranged to call the real estate agent back in a few days. Still on our return home, we again compared our wish list to the actual apartment.

We made the decision to meet with the real estate agent and the landlord a few days later in order to discuss a couple of trade-offs. The landlord agreed to the trade-offs, and we made arrangements for a draft tenancy agreement to be forwarded to us. On receipt of the tenancy agreement, we requested one addition for our protection. The landlord agreed to the insertion, and we made arrangements to sign the tenancy agreement and make the security deposit a few days later.

While the tenancy agreement did not prevent us from having fellowship meetings at home, we still wanted to discuss it with the landlord before signing the tenancy agreement. We were blessed to find out that the landlord was involved in “fellowship” at different homes and had no objection to us having our fellowship meetings at home. We signed the tenancy agreement and paid our security deposit.

We are blessed to be moving to a new area and look forward to open doors to speak God’s Word. The other tenant in the building is someone who we met in 1980. We have always exchanged pleasantries when we meet. We know some of the neighbors from having interacted with them over the years.

Though our car was in the garage at a crucial time in our home search, we never got anxious. God met our need, and we look forward to Him meeting our need as we move to exercise our ministry of reconciliation.

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A Complete Metamorphosis

What God has done for me because of the Word of God I have learned in our ministry is hard to pinpoint as one incident because it is an amalgamation of incidents that happen every day as I put God first in my life.

The biggest thing God has done for me would be helping me learn from the first days of going to a household fellowship Who my heavenly Father is and how I can put Him first in my life. Hosea 4:6 states, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge….” I was this way before I was invited to a fellowship in The Way Ministry. I didn’t even understand that there were blessings for putting God first in my life! For me it was a complete metamorphosis from acting, living, and behaving one way, to then attending my first Way Ministry fellowship and seeing The Way Corps that ran that fellowship (and Branch), and then wanting to imitate and live life like those two believers were living at that time. I think back to that time, almost thirty years ago. After six weeks of fellowshipping with the believers at that local fellowship, I was a completely changed person. I didn’t recognize myself at all, and that was a good thing!

Up to that time, from a senses point of view, I was a successful and outwardly happy man. But on the inside, I was full of fear and anxiety about just about everything in my life. Therefore Hosea 4:6 rang so true to my heart because I was being destroyed by a lack of knowledge—and I didn’t even know it!

I wake up every day learning more about how to put God first in my life, and for that I will always be thankful to God and for The Way Ministry. I have found that putting God first in my life and living the Word of God to the best of my ability makes new incidents every day on “what God has done for me because of the Word of God I learned in The Way Ministry.”

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God’s All-Encompassing Blessings

God Will Take Care of Every Aspect of My Life

To isolate a single incident in the last forty years of what God has done for me would be impossible. I have seen healings, deliverance, and victories over and over again. So, what I have determined is that when recognizing what God has done, I need to see it as all-encompassing.

The biggest thing I have seen is that God, when I do His Word, will take care of every aspect of my life. This includes not only the big things (to me) like being given a car when I have no transportation, healing my daughter from a subdural hematoma, or restoring the sight of a fellow believer by me just praying for him after a welding incident, but it also includes the day-by-day things that could be considered insignificant: things like having a parking place open when it’s raining or stopping to talk to someone to find out they have plurality that meets a need I have and vice versa.

What that means to me is that every hour of every day I can see that God accomplishes many huge things in the lives of many individuals, but is also intimately concerned with the smallest things to increase the quality of life of His children.

The biggest thing I have seen over the years is to recognize the little things and rejoice in what God does for me on a personal level.

My Life Has Been Blessed!

I have experienced a life that is more than abundant because of the Word of God I have learned in The Way Ministry. My life has been blessed in many categories due to the Word of God that I have learned. I can make this declaration because of many victorious incidents over the last thirty-five plus years of my life.

  • I have had many opportunities to serve in the household of God in both support and leadership positions, which has been very satisfying and enjoyable.
  • Because I learned to faithfully practice tithing and abundant sharing, I have seen my family’s need met in so many instances that I cannot remember them all.
  • God blesses me and my family because I know how to pray perfectly and fervently.
  • I have learned how to read, research, and teach the Word of God to myself and to others.
  • I understand how the adversary moves in the world and how to rely upon my heavenly Father for and in all things.
  • I know that God loves me, and I know all that He made available to me through His Son, Jesus Christ.
  • And I have the hope of Christ’s return that continues to motivate me each day.

These and other things I have learned because of the Word of God taught and presented by The Way Ministry. May the work of The Way Ministry continue for another seventy-five years, should the lord tarry.

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Growing and Learning in the Household of Believers

More Than Grateful

I am more than grateful that I have the opportunity to be a part of this great ministry of The Way and have the blessing to fellowship with other faithful believers who hunger and thirst for the truth of the Word. I am thankful that I continue to stay in the Word, as it made me realize how big our God is. The more I take believing action, the more I see the excellence of God’s power in my life. Reading the Word daily, speaking in tongues, and renewing my mind continually have helped me grow spiritually and build a sense of discipline that manifests itself in other aspects of my life.

I am thankful to be part of this ministry, as I have learned to love and serve others according to the Word. I have learned to have discernment and to be more spiritually aware. It is refreshing to know that believers of the ministry function together and are a source of support for one another in time of need.

Learning and Growing in Each Stage of My Life

I have the joy and the huge blessing of telling you in these words the wonderful experience that it was for me to get to know the great and matchless Word of God.

Seven years have gone by since I graduated from the Foundational Class. During that time, I must say with great joy that I have witnessed the powerful hand of God working day by day in my life and the life of my family.

I have had the opportunity to serve God and the household in many ways. The first year after I graduated from the class, I began to faithfully attend fellowship. I had a fervent desire to learn the Word more and more. At the beginning, there were promises that I could quickly believe and manifest in my walk, like the one declared in Philippians 4:19: “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” In that context, God went beyond all my expectations, and He prospered me as soon as I received my teaching degree, granting me a job with excellent working conditions and salary.

I was blessed not only in the professional and work category, but also God gave me the opportunity to grow and serve in the household, sharing of my skills in music by way of accompanying hymns and songs with the guitar in my household fellowship. As time went by, as I was building more Biblical understanding, I was able to serve in my fellowship as an assistant, supporting my household fellowship coordinator in multiple tasks, and I also had the privilege of teaching the Word of God on some occasions.

And as the Bible states in Genesis 2:18: “…It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” God gave me a great believing woman, a life partner from whom I learned a lot, with whom I could continue to grow, to the point that we could serve God as a married couple. We coordinated a household fellowship, and then with the arrival of our little daughter, we continued to serve as a believing family in one of the southernmost fellowships of our vast and beautiful country.

I thank God for enlightening and guiding my path toward what is right, for giving me security and hope, and I thank The Way Ministry for having given me the tools to deal with the spiritual competition and be more than a conqueror, and for the opportunity to continue learning and growing spiritually in each stage of my life.