About 6 years ago during our 'checking out' process at the Derby Community Church my wife spotted a leaflet about a Prophetic Discipleship Course about to start in the church. She said "That is something that would interest you"! She was right! after what happened during the Alpha course concerning the gifts of the spirit I wanted to know more about these gifts of the spirit.On a side note: It is interesting that as I was outlining this part of my testimony I began to think about my motivation for saying I wanted to know more about these gifts of the spirit. I began to question if the prime reason was for manifestations of gifts of the spirit or was it to build a relationship with the Lord? I have to admit that at that stage back then, it was probably the former statement I wanted to see more evidence.
I have been unhappy with myself about this for the past couple of days but as I was driving to work to-day I was listening to an audio tape of the book 'More than a Carpenter' and the speaker spoke the words that Jesus spoke concerning the greatest commandment. This hit home.
Mat 22:37 Jesus said to him, 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'
It was as if the Lord said to me, loving is more than using your heart it is also loving me with your mind. The speaker on the CD then went on to say that ours is not meant to be a blind faith. God has given us plenty of evidence of his reality if we but use our minds.
However, I know that if I was around in the time of Jesus I would have been a Thomas. I would have needed to see the evidence of the nail pierced hands and the hole made by the spear in the side of our Lord before believing. The Lord knows everything about me, and by his grace and by his plan, not my plan, back then six years ago he was about to deal with my requirement for evidence.
Getting back to my testimony I still attend the Derby Community Church and go to one of their small groups (in fact the small group met tonight in my home here in Derby). But then as of this day I am not a member of Derby Community Church, as my home church is back in Ireland.
During this time I am talking about I had attended the church only two to three times. I copied the phone number from the Prophetic Discipleship course leaflet and the next day phoned 'Glynis' the lady who was the organiser / leader of the course. How I was accepted onto the course was a divine arrangement. A few phone calls by Glynis to the pastor of the church and I was allowed to join the course. I was told that this was unheard of and I was thrilled to be allowed to take part.
I was brought up as a Presbyterian and the prophetic gifts were not really discussed or their use promoted. So I went into this prophetic course 'blind' in more ways than one. The course was wonderful, people welcoming and friendly. They all had prophetic giftings ranging from speaking in tongues, seeing visions, bringing words of knowledge etc.while I sat learning but 'experiencing' nothing at all! All that is except I got a vision from God. I asked the Lord for a vision and I got one.
How did I know it was a vision? I had never experienced anything like this before, I knew it was not a normal dream. Dreams like this did not have such intensity and clarity.
A few days after asking the Lord for a vision I awoke one morning but I was not awake.(Now that is an Irish statement if ever there was one). I was just on the edge between being fully awake when right before my eyes I saw a picture of a filthy spray gun.
It was paint spray gun the metal hidden behind a layer of black grime. I knew right away that this stood for me, this spray gun was me, covered in sin and filth that I had picked up over the years.
This spray gun was of a type that I was familiar with for spray painting. The pot beneath the gun held the paint, but that is not what attracted my attention. My eyes were drawn to the handle of the gun and attached to that handle was the 'oil filter'. I cannot explain how intensely I examined that oil filter.
In spray painting compressed air is used to force out the paint from the paint pot into the spray gun nozzle. This compressed air contains traces of oil picked up from the air compressor. Left unchecked this oil can contaminate the paint and therefore affect the paint finish. So there is normally an oil filter located somewhere between the paint gun and the air compressor to filter out this oil.
This oil filter in my vision was made of glass and I could 'see' that it contained a mixture of brown coloured oil and water. My focus was fully on this small glass container when the oil and water mixture turned into a crystal clear liquid. The purest liquid I had ever seen. Then I woke up.
I did not need any explanation about what I had seen. The transformation of the oil and water was the effect of the Holy Spirit cleaning me up on the inside. The garbage is still coming into my life through day to day living but the Holy Spirit, washes me continuously.
I believe that the spray gun was not working, and I have asked the Lord on numerous occasions if it will ever work. In my vision there was no hand directing the gun or pulling the trigger to operate the spray gun, it stood alone. I trust that at some time in my life, if I allow the Lord to use me, then the spray gun might work to proclaim God's message of salvation.
The outside of the spray gun may be filthy but if the inside is purified and in the hand of a master painter it can produce a wonderful finish. Good spray painting has little to do with the quality of the spray gun but everything to do with the skill of the painter adjusting the spray gun settings to produce different spray patterns. Holding the spray gun at the optimum distance away from the surface to be painted while moving the spray gun in at a speed and tempo in the right direction to produce a quality finish. Lord use me to deliver the word of your shed blood> the blood that covers the sin of the world.
At the end of the prophetic course there was a weekend away at a retreat. Malcomb one of the other leaders of the course gave me a prophetic word that something wonderful was about to transpire for me on that weekend. He was right, a curse was lifted from my life and I got filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time, and I realised the full impact of my great grandmother's prayer for my salvation as a child.That weekend was the closest I will get to heaven in this life.
Finally ....................... a thought for to-day
The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment; the growth of a saint is the task of a lifetime.
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