Beginning The Work

[Admin]

Here is where I began my work in the Kingdom of God.

Instead of looking for the big jobs, to be sent out among the nations as a prophet of God, I began keeping my word to the Lord, that I would be happy just to do the little jobs. So, I began by getting prepared, giving myself to much prayer, and fasting, and studying of the scriptures, always keeping myself in line with the Path, and by this I had the Holy Ghost to touch the hearts of those with whom I came into contact, and those people would talk to me about their struggles, and sometimes very person struggles, to which I would be led to a scripture to give them guidance, or inspired as to what to say to let them know that their Father in Heaven cared about them.

This was my daily lot in life, to help locally with regular everyday people, and I loved it!

I loved seeing people comforted, to watch them gain their faith in their Heavenly Father, to watch their lives take on new meaning, to watch them go forward in faith, with hope and a bounce in their step.

During this time of helping people, I would often pray, and that same sweet voice would give me specific instructions as to what to do to help people. This voice became so prevalent, that I thought it to be an audible voice, so much so that I would answer it audibly as well. Although, I do not think anyone else could hear that voice audibly at the time.

One time, after serving this way for a while, I was praying for a friend, to help my friend with a problem. And during this prayer, I was speaking with that very same voice, that I had come to know and trust. At this time, I noticed that my room had become very bright. I thought perhaps someone had come into my room and turned on a light, for I had no windows in that bedroom. So, I opened my eyes to see who had come into my room, and saw there in front of me a brilliant white shining curtain, which seemed to be made out of light. Behind this curtain was a very bright individual whom I could see speaking to me. From his mouth came that same sweet, peaceful voice that had spoken to me for so long. My heart burned within me, and I was filled with tremendous peace. We continued the conversation about my friend.

When the prayer was over, I went outside to walk through the forest, as I commonly did, to contemplate the instructions of the Lord. When I was about half-way across the back yard, I stopped. I said to myself: Hey, there was someone in my room! I ran back inside the house, up the stairs, and into my room. The room was empty of people. No one was there but me. I even walked over to the wall, where the veil of brilliant light was, and touched the wall, to be sure it was there. The wall was solid.

I went back outside, to continue my walk among the trees. I contemplated the appearance of the Lord, His voice, and how I had heard His voice so often, I did not think it strange to see Him, because my belief in Him had been so strong, I did not doubt in any way.

This was the first time I remember my Lord showing up. And He began showing up many times more.

After seeing the Lord once, it cemented the belief that I could see Him again, and so my instructions in the doctrines of the Gospel of the Lord Yeshua Messiah began.

[Admin]

Thinking back, the first things that I remember the Lord teaching me was the truth about Himself.

I had many questions, and the Lord was so gracious and patient in answering those question. Among the first questions I asked was, why was God a God of extortion? I explained myself rather vigorously, that I thought it wrong to be that type of a person, that if God was really was a nice person, then He would not be threatening to send everyone to hell unless they groveled at His feet!

Through all my abuse, the Lord just stood there silently, patiently. He waited until I finished chastising Him, and then He spoke. He spoke so kindly, so lovingly, and said something like: Those things are not me. I am not like that. Then He proceeded to teach me what He was like, and what His character actually was, what He was all about. I was amazed! It was what I had always wanted. An understanding God. Someone who had been through it before and could guide me into Eternal Life.

The first thing He taught me was, that He was Love! That all He wanted to do was to help us. I could see that He was completely selfless. The Lord was very loving, and very kind, but He also did not justify any sin. He spoke plainly that sin was bad, and that He wanted it out of us, that this was the way to get to where He was. He was total mercy, but He still wanted to get all the sin out of us. This teaching was key, to being able to stand in the presence of God. I had to be completely humble, accepting that I had done wrong, without any excuse, and yet still accept His loving mercy. (It can be a difficult thing, to have someone talk so plainly about your sins, yet not condemn you. It is a feature that we need to learn to accept, even in each other.)

As I found out what the Lord was really like, my faith in Him increased! I found a man who could love me, even though I was not perfect, and yet I was striving. That was also made known unto me as a key, to strive! As long as I was striving, I was acceptable to Him.

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[Admin]

After these keys, the Lord taught me more about love, about the virtues of love.

These were things like: patience, long-suffering, patience in long-suffering, kindness, charity, humility, meekness, love-unfeigned, faith diligence, forgiveness, not taking offence, etc.

The ones that stood out the most were, meekness, humility, not taking offence, and that everything was for others.

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[Admin]

I worked at these first two directions for a long time, several years, before getting to the meat of the next two directions.

During this time, I had many experiences and interactions, of which, I will try to delineate some, for the purpose of showing the time and depth of application of these instructions.

[Admin]

I find it interesting, how long it took me to progress after learning these things. I believe it was because I had to return to live in the world. Actually learning to apply these things in the world was such a difficult task. It was difficult because, to do these things correctly, I had to give up all my hopes and dreams. And, to give up all my hopes and dreams was a long and grueling process. Until that time, life was always a struggle. It was a struggle because I always had divided desires, and those desires fought with each other, always trying to find a happy medium. It was terrible. The level of stress I had going on within myself seemed incredible!

With time, pushing more and more toward godliness, I slowly began to come to terms with the fullness of the Gospel. The closer I came, the more missions I was sent out on. The more missions I was sent out on, the more I enjoyed the results of helping others. The more I helped others, the easier it became to let go of my own hopes and dreams. It was a winning situation!

I feel so inadequate this morning, trying to describe these things. I do not know any sure way to describe them, other than to say, It is all about selflessness, the overcoming of one's self, and other people becoming the dominant desire in our lives.