A Confession of Faith

John 3:16

16For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

When someone says they want to know more about who Jesus is and His life, recommending the book of John is an awesome place for them to start. Why? Because within it is a confession of faith that if they truly receive it, can save their life! John 3:16 is the confession of faith for which one who believes and confesses this scripture with their heart and mouth, is received into the family of Christ.

I believe transparency is a MUST when God gives anyone a task, not just to gain the trust of the people God called you to minister to but also so you can testify of how God can use anyone. You may not think this is relevant but oh it is. The readers of Get Your JOY In The Morning that attended the second night of revival will testify to what they saw. The word was transforming! During revival the Holy Spirit kept speaking to me about  giving my testimony of my confession of faith. So I am heeding. Someone needs to hear it.

Many preachers and teachers were raised up in the church at an early as they were dragged into church by their parents ALL the time. Well that was not me. I was not "raised" in the church as many would think. I would here about God here and there. And went to church here and there. I was about 5years old when I participated in a nativity seen for Christmas. But when I was 9 years old spending the summer with other family members, the neighbors were going to church at the nearby Methodist church on the corner. One morning, like a firecracker, I woke up and suddenly wanted to go to church. My family looked at me like I had two heads! Laugh! Most of the family I spent my summers with didn't set foot into a church unless it was a wedding or a funeral. I was serious about church. Anyone who really knows me knows that when I start saying I want to do something, it won't be long before I stop talking and start doing. So I got dressed and came downstairs. At that point, my great grandma knew I was for real. So she stood at the front door while I walked down to the corner into the church. I sat in service and tried greatly to understand the sermon. Was a little above my head. But I tell you what, the first time I went to Sunday school, I enjoyed myself soooo much!! I wanted to learn all I could about JESUS!! After a few Sundays, my Sunday school teacher paid a visit to my great grandparents and told them how much I loved to study about Jesus and how I participated. I was the same way in school during the year. I enjoy learning. I continued to go to church. Neighbors were amazed because they had never seen a child get up and go to church on her own. But then it was time to go back home. I didn't go to church when I went back home. I used to have to beg to go to the little Sunday school sessions when the neighborhood churches came around with buses. I was allowed to go from time to time. By the time I was 12years old, I wasn't spending as much time with other family because I was in other programs.  I had already suffered some traumatic situations with abuse. I was 16yrs old when I met a classmate who would call me every Saturday to ask if I was going to church. Church was not talked about. But God was from time to time. I knew how to pray at bedtime. My stepfather said grace over our food so then I began saying grace. Not to make this too much longer...but I am coming up on the day I truly confessed. See, Jesus had been seeking me all along. My friend at that time knew what would get me in church, singing! She was in the youth choir and encouraged me to come to rehearsal. Yeah, I was naively set up. :-) Anyway, that Sunday, forever changed my life. When the words we had practiced finally hit me like a ton of bricks I couldn't stop crying. When the alter call came, I stepped out of the choir loft and confessed that I believed Jesus to be the Son of God. It's not that I didn't know. I just finally confessed. Jesus had been waiting for 7years to get me to that place. Between that period of time, some major life altering events happened and I was really broken. When I came to Jesus, my family was not present. I didn't need to have the family at my side when I gave my life. That time was for me and Jesus alone. Just as I started out at age 9 with the desire, so it is still there. I minister to my own family even through these messages. Some have come to church. This walk for me was hand picked. So NEVER feel that what God told you to do you are incapable of just because you didn't "grow up" in the church. God can use anyone. Even someone like me who was broken by those I was supposed to trust and who didn't spend their entire childhood in the four walls of a sanctuary.