My Calling

The following are examples of clear direction that has come to me directly by the voice of Jesus, John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” or as a prophecy spoken through believers who were used by the Holy Spirit to speak clear direction for my life.
All I have done is receive the words and walk in them.

In 1953 I made a profession of accepting Jesus as my saviour and learned to read by reading a Bible. The first time I read the words of Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you”. I had an impression that one day that would happen.
That day came in 1965 when we left the job as a carpenter to manage a youth camp and teach children the Bible.
From that day till this all our needs have been supplied including countless thousands of dollars spent in travel around the world
having visited 34 nations including 25 times to the UK.

In Easter 1976. these words came straight to my mind when I told The Lord I was wretched, blind naked and knew it.
John 15:3. You are clean through the Word.

“The message of forgiveness would go around the world”.
These words came out of my mouth as I was speaking in a church service on forgiveness. It was not till some time later I came to understand I would take the message of forgiveness around the world. This has proven to be true.

1 Peter 3:7, “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered”.
This verse was given to me by a fellow, believer.
I came to understand that unless I live with my wife with understanding as to where she is spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically at all times and protect her He [Father God] would not answer my prayers.

Acts 22:10 “And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do”.
This verse was given to me by a visitor from USA which challenged me with this question
Was I willing to do the will of God with only one question before I did or said anything from that moment on? I said “yes”.

In December 76 in a room full of 100 men the speaker said he would ask Father God for a word for each one, he came to me and said.
“You are going into counselling up to 18 hours a day and you need strength”.
I can testify that this has proven true from that day till this.

In 1976 I was lead to read Jeremiah 1:8 and Ezekiel 3:5-6.
These verses led me to understand that I would have the ministry of a prophet among nations that would know my language.
This has proven to be correct.
In 1984 I was having breakfast with a man who told me I had the anointing of a prophet. He also told me things about how I would respond to life which has proven totally true.

In the last few years have been told many times I am a Father to bring encouragement to other believers.
1 Corinthians 14:15 it says “There are not many fathers”.

In 1977 I as directed to read Psalm 91. The promises of that Psalm have served an anchor within me.

In 1978 I was in a class of children teaching them what we called Bible in Schools.
I knew these children had learned about the living Lord Jesus and would pray knowing they would get answers.
I mentioned I was in need of 10 thousand dollars and I told them I should be working 6 days a week to pay the debt and asked them to pray for me.
One boy stood and said, “God get Uncle Roy some money”
A girl in the front row said, “Are you not suppose to be live by faith?”
I was completely told off by Father God through her.
The following Monday Father God sorted out our finances and we have never been in debt again. All we have needed has been supplied.

There are many other words I have received as I have been out walking and thoughts have popped into my mind that I was not thinking about like “I have added 10 years to your life”. That was 5 years ago.

Another time I was thinking about buying a car and I heard the words, “Why are you limiting me and looking at your own resources?”
I replied “Lord are you telling me to buy a new car” I heard “Yes”
That day I ordered a new Honda Jazz. When it came paid cash. It is now 6 years old done 43,thousand KM and will see us out.

My prayer is that all who read this will get some understanding in how to be guided by the Holy Spirit, either by hearing Jesus, voice which comes as a thought in the mind or a verse of scripture that stands out, or through another human who shares a thought they received as they have been in prayer for me and my situation at that time.
By being obedient to those directions I have enjoy life that can be experience by all who follow the same example.

In times when there has been no clear direction I have sought to walk in the light of the last message received.

Kingdom finance.
Concerning the area of finance, for me it has been
simple.
Matthew 6:33 says that when we seek first His Kingdom and do whatever He requires then all is added. That is a clear promise.
The down side is that when what is needed is not added it is because we are not doing what He requires no matter how spiritual or practical it might seem.

The key is to repent for doing what we thought was His will and remain in repentance till the peace is loud and clear.
Part of repentance is bringing the fruits of repentance
Matthew 3:8, Acts 26:20.
Simple. I have been disobedient, driven by what I believe I should do, or by what others say I should do and trying to meet the needs of others out of one’s soul [human strength]. To put it another way I was working independently of the true living relationship by hearing the voice of Jesus, John 10:27.

So when I repent I ask Jesus to tell me what He wants me to do to prove to him that I am an obedient servant. What thoughts come I believe it is from Him and obey.
For me it is always something simple and practical.
It has never failed.
At all times it is about building the relationship between the
individual believer and Jesus plus dying to self, religion, church and all the things that man does by wrote.

Now at 75 years of age I remember when church was something you attended with others in a church building. The gatherings were basically of 2 kinds, the Catholics, and those who were not. The non Catholic folk were divided into many separate groups, each attending in a building where church was conducted.

The day came when I had a living encounter with the voice of Jesus.
I was in prayer telling Father God I felt wretched, poor, blind and naked before Him. As clear as a person speaking a reply came, “No you are not, you are clean”

John 10:27 that made it clear the human body is his dwelling place and I was anointed [ordained John 15:16] to go and bear fruit as I obeyed Jesus voice.

The first people to come into the same relationship as I did met together in homes usually around a meal.
Acts 20:7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and he prolonged his speech until midnight.
Many of the letters written to churches were addressed to the home where people gathered in a city or locality but not to denominations as we have today.

What divides is what man has created, whether a name, bank account, a constitution or a mission statement.

All the leadership of the early church was a function not an office . It was the anointing people submitted to and there was respect.
It was not about rank, or position.
We read that the greatest among was to serve, not rule over.
To rule in Hebrews means to bring joy, peace, contentment and security, as stated in Hebrews 13, nothing to do with control and domination.

We are told to go into all the world and be salt to flavor and light to see by, not to invite people into a building called a church.
Revelation 3:20 is an interesting verse where we find Jesus outside the church door knocking and inviting people to come out to him.

Today it is so easy to play church and have no inner relationship with The Lord Jesus by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Church is mainly a social club that has rules and regulations for membership.

For 11 years my wife and I were full time ministering to young people about what we understood it meant to become a Christian. One day my wife prayed, “Lord your pay is lousy we are doing all this work for you and you do not pay a decent wage”
He replied as a loud thought in her mind “I do not even know you”
She replied, “You are right and I quit”.

To know is to be in intimate relationship, in communication, in fellowship, and to expose one’s innermost being.
This can only take place in a relationship where there is no judgment and unforgiveness. The only one who can do that is Jesus.
We found the above to be true and have lived in that relationship for 46 years.

Every person when born has in their spirit a desire to be loved, accepted and forgiven and looks to man to fulfill that desire.
Because man has a fallen nature that desire is unfulfilled causing disappointment and rejection that leads to depression.
The only one who can truly fulfill that desire is Jesus.

This is why fullness of life will not be found in organized religious systems. It is only by individual relationship with the Lord Jesus that life can truly be fulfilled .

Encounter with death.
For some months I was getting short of breath till it got to the place where I was gasping for breath.
There was o pain, just no energy especially when walking up hill or biking or mowing the lawn.
A visit to the Dr on Wednesday the 12th September revealed I had fluid around my right lung.
I visited the local hospital and then drove to Rotorua Hospital 80km away and was admitted where a tube was inserted into the lung cavity and over the next few days out poured 4 litres of fluid that caused the lung to collapse.

After one week in the Rotorua hospital I was taken for a ride in an ambulance for 1 1/2 hours to Hamilton hospital where they put 3 tubes in me using key hole surgery and some sort of powder glue to stick the lung back in place, which took a week and then they sent me home none the wiser as to why this happened.

I have been on no medication, just rest, lots of it.
Spiritually I know what it was all about; the enemy of my soul wanted me silenced by suffocating the breath of life in me that has set so many free.

Back in September last year I went to get a yellow fever injection so that I could enter Uganda.
The Dr said at my age of 74 it could kill me.
I knew it would not and went on my way.
From that day till Sunday the 7th October 2012 I felt something had entered my body and I was not operating as well as I did and thought age was catching me up.

While in hospital the week of the 19th of September during one night the thought came “are you prepared to accept death”?
My response was “Yes”.
I believed I would go through death and live.

On the 7th October when I woke I felt lifeless. Desperate measures were needed. I call spiritual for spiritual men and women to come and anoint me with oil. Nine came and did so according to James 5.
In the late afternoon a fellow believer who has been praying for me phoned to say that he had a bad witness about what I had done regarding death.
He phoned another believer who said he had run into that same spirit and it was not of God.
While on the Phone I repented of making a covenant with the spirit of death. The person I was speaking with bound the spirit’s power and it left.
I felt life walk back into my body.

The Word says choose life.
De 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

Another encouraging verse.
Isa 28:18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

16th October 1012.
After spending half an hour with the Dr, the outcome was totally inconclusive.
I shared with the Dr a little of where I am at and he replied, “keep praying and doing what you are doing”. The Dr said he would make further inquiries.
The pain I had that day was to do with the bottom rib on the right side.
It was though it was bruised. The Drs understanding was that when the tube went from my back to the lung cavity it tore the back of the rib.
This discomfort is getting better day by day.

The blood tests have revealing that the kidneys, liver and all other organs are normal. White blood cells a little high but nothing to be concerned about.
The x-rays were inconclusive.

When I asked Jesus if there was any cancer in my body I heard a clear “no my son”. The “my son” is always a clear sign it is Father answering, not me thinking my own thoughts.
The latest outcome is it has been arranged that I have another cat scan on the 7th January to make sure all is OK which we know it will be.

All in all it has been an interesting adventure.

Independence or true freedom.
Adam gave away the freedom he had with the Godhead (Father Son and Holy Spirit) to Satan. From then all who are outside of Christ are deceived and are slaves to Satan and his kingdom.

Man being a created being can never be independent. There is total freedom when he walks in fellowship with his creator. The freedom is to do with living in relationship with the creator and when one does there is a harmony which is the place where love, joy and peace reigns.

When under Satan’s kingdom there is no freedom. There is only law, guilt, rejection, control and condemnation.
My mind went to the verses in Colossians 2:15 to 23, especially 23. Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.

There is only one sin, which is the sin of independence resulting in disobedience and rebellion. Once Adam disobeyed and became independent, this started the slide that led man to self destruction.

Here is an interesting thing, in what we call the Lord’s prayer. The main thing concerning sin is the word trespasses and if we do not forgive man their trespasses we will not know and experience the forgiveness of the Godhead. Matthew 6:9-13.

Here is the rub.
Satan is doing a ripe job of hiding from man that he is forgiven.
The church on the main has not told people they are forgiven. When people do not know they are forgiven they find it hard to be told they need to forgive.
We love Him because He first loved us.
I am totally forgiven. All the people in the world are totally forgiven. Sad to say few know it. I mean know that they know, not with their head but with their heart.
When people are told to forgive they react because they do not know forgiveness.

Unity does not arise from conformity. Unity arises from setting each other free to agree or not to agree. Like the word says we are all different members of one body with different functions.
Several things are happening.
People want all to agree they are right and all the rest are wrong, or
people who do not agree thinking they are keeping unity and piece by keeping silent, which is far from the truth.

For example one of our sons has told us where he is at with his relationship with a lady and her 2 children who are under the control of rejection. I have told him he is totally free to go down that track but I do not agree with his decision. For unity he needs to set me free to my choice not to agree.
Disagreement without judgment is a form of unity.
It is judgment that destroys relationships not the issue about which there is disagreement.
In the absence of judgment there is no broken relationship, even if both are going in different directions.

Man’s true freedom lies in his free will choice to follow God’s will and
thereby enter into the fullness of the relationship that exists between Father Son and Holy Spirit, who live in total harmony.
It is in this relationship than man will find full and true freedom.

All our problems go back to the first perceived rejection real or imagined. This takes place very early in our life, even while being formed in the womb.
For example a trauma of the mother while a child is being formed in the womb, can affect the unborn child’s emotions because they can feel insecure.
For all who accept Jesus the curse of that rejection is atoned for in Jesus death on Calvary. At the moment of conversion that judgment of the perceived rejection is broken and totally loses its control.

It is the first perceived rejection after being born again [accepting Jesus as savior] is where one will remain free or bound. It needs to be dealt with.
See the illustration on the forgiveit.com web site called Graphic the Two trees.

No matter what the present negative situation is, it will have its roots in perceived rejection from control and independence. It is judging these that locks a person into the spirit behind it all which is Rejection.

With all that happens to us our response is one of 3 things, we will forgive it, do it, or fight it. Most professing Christians end up fighting what they perceive as wrong and what they fight has them controlled emotionally, this manifests as anger either open anger or repressed anger.
Because this anger becomes locked in the emotions, the person needs to be set free and the true response is a quiet and meek spirit. 1 Peter 3:4

A lady came for prayer. She said she was a steal-aholic. From childhood her job was to steal to order and this impulse was controlling her.
I asked if she had a conversion experience and received love, joy and peace and her reply was “Yes”
I then asked if she desired to steal after that and she replied “No”
I then asked how long the desire not to steal lasted, she replied “2 years”.
I asked her what happened at the end of the 2 years.
She said that after a morning church service she went to the kitchen where there were 3 ladies and she felt rejection. She went out got into her car drove to a shop and stole 2 bags of lollies and ate them. From that moment on the desire to steal returned. I had her repent for going to the wrong tree for her answer to rejection, she did and the desire to steal left.

As long as a person is walking by listening to Jesus voice they are free from the lusts of the flesh [Old Nature}
Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

A thought I had this morning was that so many believers are trusting Jesus as their saviour, but, few know him as Lord in their daily lives.
There is an old saying that goes like this, “If he is not Lord of all, he is not Lord at all”.
I am positive most believers do not have Jesus as lord of their thoughts and obey Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things”.

Three weeks back I contracted some bug that put me in a coughing fit where I sounded like mutly the dog and almost passed out.
I spent 3 nights on the floor in the study praying for several hours and one night for 2 hours straight praying in tongues.
In that time covered many things as I went through my walk asking for clarity. The biggest thing that has come up is the subject of faith when it comes to physical sickness and I have had to confess I do not have the faith Jesus talks about. All I have done is told Jesus that I do not believe and I cannot make myself believe and I have not a clue of what it means to have that kind belief.
Then I said, “Lord I want to believe”. That is my heart’s desire so that He Jesus will be glorified.
From that moment on I started thinking the words of a chorus that we taught children many years ago.

Faith is just believing what God says he will do,
He will never leave us his promises are true,
If we just receive Him, His children we become,
Faith is just believing his wondrous work is done.

I have been reading daily Psalm 103 “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s”.

That is Father’s promise to all. Those words “it is done” has given me a ray of light.

Our reading this morning was Romans 6, one of the great chapters of the Bible and we need to be reminded daily of what it says.

There is no doubt that the curse that stops believers from entering in is the curse of unbelief and Hebrews 3:12 puts it in strong words. “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God”.

Life is a moment by moment experience that is a journey heading ever to a place of maturity in Christ by listening to Jesus voice and walking in obedience to what He is saying at all times.

My day at a Paul Young seminar.
Down to what Paul Young shared, re The Shack.
First was how the book came about. At the end of an 11 year journey of being taken apart and being renewed from the inside out, he typed it up what was really his life story till then in imagery, and had 15 copies printed for his children and a few friends. For those who read it, it had such an effect on them that they shared it with others who also wanted a copy so he printed another 15 and the rest is history. Now over 2 million copies are out there in several languages and it could become a film.
He was surprised and still is, as to what happened and knows it is God.

The second part he shared was his testimony.
His parents took him to New Guinea before he was 4 and he was first sexually molested by the tribal people at 4 years of age.
His father beat him physically and mentally, and his image of God was how he perceived his father and hated both his father and God.

The book he says is full of imagery, and Missy could well be him when he died physically and emotionally inside when he was beaten by his father and sexually molested.
He said his father was 2 people; one in the home, another outside, and he said many are like that sad to say.
He could never please his father.
He married in his twenties and had several children. Two so-called believers lead him into businesses that failed, and left him with the debt. He ended up working 3 jobs, living in a rented house, no car or spare money and his dear wife would give him loving correction that he, because of the deep wound received it as at condemnation and ended up in a sexual relationship with another lady thinking she loved him, knowing if she knew what was inside him the relationship would be broken. As he said, infatuation is destroyed the more you get to know some one.
Infatuation is the ability to love yourself through someone.
The 11 years of darkness started the day his wife found out he was having an affair, and after 4 hours of telling him what she thought of him as a husband and a Christian he replied, “we have two choices, one I walk away or 2, you sit and listen while I tell you what is in side me”.
It took him 4 days to tell her what was in his Shack.
At the end of the 4 days she said he could come home “but”…
He went to a Counsellor who told him it would take 18 months, and at the end of 11 years he was totally whole.
He said, you are not at the bottom till you stop blaming and let go of control.

Affection is the absence of performance.
Religion is all about performance.
My identity is in my relationship with Jesus.
My security is in the character of God.
We need to move from independence to relationship.
Jesus included us in his universe.
Trust is in knowing who God is and what He is like.
The fruit of the Spirit is the description of the Spirit.

While Paul was sharing his testimony, I for one, could hardly control not crying.

That about sums up what I wrote in notes and can remember.
Recommend all, including the skeptics, should get a copy of the book and read it, letting the Holy Spirit reveal the meaning.
Time to think outside of the programed mind sets we have been brought up in because of culture and traditions.

The following article is by Robert Farrar Capon. It is followed by two comments- the first by me, the second by Alec Macleod.
The articles need to be read carefully and prayerfully to avoid confusion.

“I am and I am not a universalist. I am one if you are talking about what God in Christ has done to save the world. The Lamb of God has not taken away the sins of some — of only the good, or the cooperative, or the select few who can manage to get their act together and die as perfect peaches. He has taken away the sins of the world — of every last being in it — and he has dropped them down the black hole of Jesus’ death. On the cross, he has shut up forever on the subject of guilt: “There is therefore now no condemnation. . . .” All human beings, at all times and places, are home free whether they know it or not, feel it or not, believe it or not.
“But I am not a universalist if you are talking about what people may do about accepting that happy-go-lucky gift of God’s grace. I take with utter seriousness everything that Jesus had to say about hell, including the eternal torment that such a foolish non-acceptance of his already-given acceptance must entail. All theologians who hold Scripture to be the Word of God must inevitably include in their work a tractate on hell. But I will not — because Jesus did not — locate hell outside the realm of grace. Grace is forever sovereign, even in Jesus’ parables of judgment. No one is ever kicked out at the end of those parables who wasn’t included in at the beginning.”

“…there is therefore now no condemnation for two reasons: you are dead now; and God, as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, has been dead all along. The blame game was over before it started. It really was. All Jesus did was announce that truth and tell you it would make you free. It was admittedly a dangerous thing to do. You are a menace. He he did it; and therefore, menace or not, here you stand: uncondemned, forever, now. What are you going to do with your freedom?”

— Robert Farrar Capon (Between Noon & Three: Romance, Law & the Outrage of Grace)

There is therefore now no condemnation for two reasons: you are dead now; and God, as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, has been dead all along. The blame game was over before it started. It really was.

All Jesus did was announce that truth and tell you it would make you free. It was admittedly a dangerous thing to do. You are a menace. He did it; and therefore, menace or not, here you stand: uncondemned, forever, now. What are you going to do with your freedom?”

Two things.
1 People do not know they are free.
2 It is what they do with it, that is where unbelief kicks in.
The choice is to believe or not believe.
That is why Jesus said in John 16:8-9 that the sin of the world is unbelief.

The opposite of sin is not virtue but faith.
If you make virtue the opposite of sin you have just declared law.