Paul Washer clip:
By sharing this Paul Washer clip (and all of the others I’ve shared) I’m not suggesting that I 100% endorse him or anyone else when it comes to every single statement that they’ve made. For revelation from God, I believe every individual must go directly to God, not to a person. God doesn’t need a person’s help to reveal Himself to someone else and anytime a person is used by God, it is a privilege, not a limiting factor that restricts God’s purpose.
Psalms 115:3 But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.
John 16:13-14 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
1 John 5:6 This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
John 6:65 And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”
Also, from the example of men like Paul (see Acts 9) who met with God directly without the help of someone else.
Gal 1:11-12 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Anyone can acquire all sorts of information and over time become knowledgeable on a topic, but only God can give wisdom of Who He is.
That said, I really appreciate men and women who share Washer’s passion and hunger for the Lord and I am thankful that God has placed several men and women in my life as an example. In the clip above, his testimony is similar to an experience I had in my life. I too woke up one morning, covered in my own vomit, flat on my back in the shower with the cold water running on me for what must have been hours. I remember wondering how close I must have been to either choking, drowning or alcohol poisoning.
The night before was one of the worse that I had experienced up to that point. It was the night of a breakup with someone I had dated from middle school to college. At that time, my life was a rollercoaster of very few highs and plenty of pitiful lows. That breakup would go on to shape the way I interacted and reacted to people for the next 10+ years. The bitterness and self-centeredness I carried with me continued to rot away until I was hopelessly and utterly at the lowest place in my life.
To dull the pain that night, I turned on the movie “Lars and the Real Girl” – a horribly depressing movie about a guy with a mental issue who had a life-sized plastic doll for a girlfriend. In my self-pity, I was Lars and my life was just as depressing as his. I drank and sobbed in the dark until I woke up numb and lost in the shower.
God had clearly saved me. Unfortunately, I still decided to avoid seeking Him with all my heart. I would still compromise when faced with a choice to do His will or my own. It would take almost another 10 years before I would actually come to a place in my life where I would turn completely away from everything and turn completely to Him.
Today, it is my hope that others may learn from experiences like mine and testimonies like Washer’s. Instead of being rebellious towards God and the sorrow associated with the years I wasted pursuing my own desires, God has faithfully shown me (and I’ve finally listened) that I can rest in Him. Now that I am in His rest, I can confidently point to the Holy Spirit, my Helper, Who patiently shows me the life of Christ and the life that is possible in Him, for the glory of God alone. Praise God that He will lead us to salvation in Him, without regret!
2 Cor 7:10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
Behind the lyrics:
This song is an answered prayer from God. I woke up a few Saturday’s ago and simply asked to write a song about how thankful I am that He saved and continues to save me. He gave me the desire of my heart.
