Father´s Day Testimonial

Hey Everyone,

We are having a miraculous time with the Lord here in Quito, Ecuador. I just want to share something with you since yesterday was Father´s Day. I was in the church service early yesterday morning for the third service, when Joseph spontaniously asked me if he could share with the congregation the last words I said to my dad the night before he was murdered two years ago. I said, ´´Sure.´´

The words were, ´´ I love you.´´

I want to share with you the story of how the Lord led me to my dad´s house the night before his murder.

To give you some background and history with my dad and I... my parents divorced when I was age 10 and my father was a major influence in my life for getting into drugs. He didn´t know it, but he did. We serve a merciful God, though. Throughout the years of my drug addiction, I was addicted to sexual perversions, and witchcraft. I started at age 12 and it became a gradule incline until the age of 16 before I gave my life to Jesus Christ. My father was stubborn as a mule, regardless, of the evidence placed in front of him. Sound like some one you know?

I remember times of how he and I would conversate over the phone, how our conversation would turn into arguementa, and finally yelling at one another and cussing the other out because neither one of us would attempt to understand the other. We both wanted to be understood. I was more like him than I realized at the time, due to my broken heart. Bitterness will turn you intot he person you resent the most. God would deal with my heart in saying, ´´You should call him back and apologize.´´ Many thoughts flashed through my mind like a lightening bolt. Things like:

1. He does not deserve my apology.
2. HE STARTED IT!
3. There is no way I am apologizing to him because he has hurt me enough already as it is.

Pride is the center of all of these thoughts and God hates pride. James 4:8

You see, something I didn´t tell you earlier is the physical and emotional abuse the devil did to me through my dad. As most people do, I wrestled with God in trying to persuade Him I was right in this matter, but He just repeated, as usual. You see, these kind of loud conversations, between my dad and I, happened A LOT. There were times that I felt inferior because of how many times I would lose my cool with my dad, but guess what? God doesn´t care about where you are at, He just wants you to know that He is there with you to help you to progress forward. So I called him back, doing what God told me to do, and everytime we would end our ´´call-back conversation´´ in the words I Love You.

You see, all of these ´´loud conversations´´ happened after I became a Christian, but wait! There are not supposed to be any faults with a Christian when he recieves Jesus! That´s the biggest hauk-a crap I´ve ever heard in my entire life. A person´s heart is made perfect when they recieve Jesus, not their thought patterns. Our actions result from the way we think. A lot of people based their relationship with God on their actions and not their fellowship with Him. Interesting, huh?

The greatest key to walking in love, showing the character of God, to my father was knowing the character of God more for myself everyday in fellowship with Him. It is not about how much a person prays everyday, but about much they understand the person of Jesus everyday for themselves. 

Ephesians 4:32: Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Isn´t that amazing?! ´´Well, I just can´t do that!´´

Hush it, yes you can. The Bible says so. It is the Truth, not your feelings.

Phillipians 4:13,  Romans 5:5, 1 Corinthians 13, Galatians 5:22-23, and Romans 12:1-2 are to name a few scriptures where God says we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Or is God not big enough to help you?

God will never tell us to do something with which He is not willing to do, has not already done, or is not doing at this very moment.

I remember seeking God on what do with my dad one time and how to reach him with the Word. He never told me anything, but I kind of got the clue not to say anything to my dad about the Bible when he told me he didn´t want to hear anything about the Bible. This is where I had to live my life in front of him. The more I walked in love with him, being a light to him, the Holy Spirit began to work on his heart. He would call me in the middle of the night sometimes and say things like, ´´I am proud of the man you have become´´, and etc.

In Hebrews 11, it says, ´´It is faith that pleases God.´´

Walking in love with someone, sure as heck, ain´t a feeling, and that´s the darn truth. It is faith!

The Bible also says when we walk in love with someone, we reap ´´hot coals´´on their heads. The context of this verse refers back to the Old Testament examples of hot caols being a sacrifice unto God as a sweet fragrance unto Him. This fragrance, in the Old Testament, allowed God to come in and work in a situation. Awesome, huh?!

So when someone pisses you off, cuts you off in traffic, or whatever... smile and say, ´´I love you.´´ Say it anyway you want, loudly or forcefully, but get the point across to them and yourself that you love them no matter what they do because that is how God is with you. Remember, when you walk in love, you are showing them the character of God, and bringing sanity and peace into their lives, which they desperately need.

So, the more I came to the knowledge and revelation that Jesus, Himself, loved and still loves me no matter what I do... I was able to reflect that image of Christ to my dad. That is what shut me up at the important times so I could listen to him and thank the Lord, He gave me the right words to say at the right times! Did I always obey? Obviously not, but the more I put my heart into walking in fellowship with Christ, the more I was about to walk in fellowship with my dad to a greater degree.

God put me across my dad´s path a lot within a two year time span... that´s right, it took that long for my dad to change his heart... to pull the potential out of him and for him to realize God loved him based on Jesus´ action at the cross.

I remember heading to church one night and, while picking up two friends in my car, I got a call from my dad. He was crying because he hurt his ankle. He needed my help in wrapping his ankle up so I put on my flashers in my 2001 Chevy Malibu and raced down Jordan Lane Highway, zipping in and out of cars, And as I got to an intersection close to his house, he called me back, and told me he had a friend coming over so he didn´t need my help anymore.

I asked him if he was positive and he said he was sure. I continued driving, picked up my other friend, and as we got to an intersection, the Holy Spirit stopped me. He was pulling me to go see my dad.
It didn´t make sense to my mind, but I knew the Spirit of God was pulling me to go see my dad.

You see, God leads by peace, not confusion. Confusion is brought by a manipulative spirit of the devil. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of peace and joy.

I turn left, towards my dad´s house, and I told the guys we were gonna to go see my dad. As we headed there, I called my dad and told him we were coming to see him, regardless, of his friend being there. He said it was fine because his friend just left because she forgot to pay the babysitter. We arrived, and as I began to help my dad, we all started having a great time with one another... making jokes and laughing together. It was the love of God in the atmosphere!

Now I know why, but, at the time, it felt wierd for me telling my dad I loved him so much. I can count probably six or seven times I told him I loved him within a span of about 35 minutes. He asked me if I was gay after the seventh time of me telling him I loved him. Hilarious!

There was something being done that night at my dad´s house. I believe God was showing my dad something he had never experienced before. Love and Affection.

We didn´t get to the church at the time we expected, but we were still early. We serve an awesome God.

I got off work Friday, the next day, as the Holy Spirit prompted me to
listen to He Will Lift You Up by Keith Moore. A fantastic sermon, but I could sense something was wrong when the Holy Spirit prompted me to listen to that sermon. There was a preparation happening. The Lord was preparing me for something, but I didn´t know what exactly. I was just obeying.

I remembering listening to this sermon while packing my suitcase for the family vacation, to Iowa, I would be leaving with the family the next morning. It is a 12 hour drive to Iowa from Alabama so we decided to stop at a hotel in Illinois as a halfway marker to rest.

I woke up the next morning, to my grandma calling me. I clicked the red button, she leaves me a voicemail, and I went back to sleep.  It was super early and I was going to call her back. Next thing I know, I hear my mom scream and dash out of the room.

I think to myself, ´´What the heck? Oh well... zZzZzZzZz´´ Then, I got rather curious so I look out of the window to see her pacing in the parking lot. Now my ears are perked up, wondering what is going on, so I get ready to go down for continental breakfast in the hotel. I´m getting my cereal while listening to the voicemail my Grandma left me.

She was panicking as she told me, on the voicemail, my dad had been murdered in his own house by gunshot.

I dropped the phone, but I truly didn´t know how to feel, but that is when the Lord reminded me of what He told me seven months prior, ´´There is going to be something unexpected to happen.´´ This was definitely unexpected, but it didn´t surprise me. The Lord had been preparing me for such a time as this because He knew exactly what the devil was planning to do.

Before anyone hauls off and starts saying God did this to help me or it was my dad´s time to go...

                 ´´The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but I have come to give LIFE  and it more enjoyably and abundantly.´´  - Jesus            John 10:10

We serve an amazing God who shows us the things to come. I walked out to my mom and telling her I know what happened, she immediately hugged me and I started crying. I went behind the hotel to have time to myself and I called Joseph. As I was explaining to him what happened, I remember seeing my father in heaven. He looked a whole lot better up there than he did down here on earth. The difference of daylight and dark! Down here he was fat, balding hair, and had one arm. Up there, he was skinny, full head of long hair, and had both arms!

When I saw him, he was yelling, ´´WOOOO!!!´´

The vacaion turned into funeral, but the Lord gave a great scripture to uphold me through that time...

Isaiah 40:31: 

´´Wait on the Lord and He shall renew your strength. You shall mount up with the wings of eagles, you shall run and not be weary. you shall walk and not faint!´´

When see a storm coming from afar, they prepare their wings, hit the current of wind, which catipults them above the storm, and they just coast above the storm until it passes. That is what the peace of God does. This is what happened everytime I spent time with the Lord in prayer. He refreshed me and I have no bad thought towards the person who pulled the trigger because I know God loves them because of the work Jesus did on the cross and through His ressurection.

I am so glad I obeyed the Lord because I am not sure what state of mind I would be in right now if I did not. I am so glad I was listening. I am so grateful that I obeyed the Lord in every situation of walking in love with my dad. We serve a God who empowers us to overcome because HE MADE US MORE THAN CONQUERORS IN CHRIST JESUS!

I have two sets of very important words to me that I want to share with you.

1. I Love You
2. It Was and Is Worth It

I hope you have been able to capture the Father´s heart through this message.

If you do not have have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour or if you think you are going to heaven for any other reason than having Jesus as your Saviour, pray this prayer with me also because you need to have a genuine relationship with God:

Romans 3:23, ´´ All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God...´´

1. Ephesians 2:8, ´´ For you are saved by grace, through faith; and this not of yourselves; it is God's gift.´´

   
   

   Romans 10:nine-10, ´´ If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, Jesus is risen from the dead, you will be saved.´´

Dear Father God,

Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross specifically for me and rasing Him from the dead so I can have eternal life and peace with You. Please take my life and use it for meaningfully for Your glory and rid me of all sorrow. Thank you for choosing me before the foundations of the world.

                               In Jesus´ Name,
               
                                     Amen!

You have just made the best decision of your entire life!!!

Please email or comment below and testify to how the Lord has changed your life!

email-   jeremy.wenger2@gmail.com