Just As He Promised

THANK YOU

To my wonderful extended family, you have been a wall of support in more ways than I can count, and I owe you more than words can say.

I especially want to thank Bridget Louvion whose obedience has been, and continues to be, an inspiration to me, and Ruth Akinwale for her insight and her commitment to reviewing the first completed manuscript.

Julia Powell’s beautiful painting on the cover goes beyond creative talent, the sponsors whose names are included on the next page gave so much more than money and my copy editor Robert Matthews added more than his skill. In their own way, they each gave me the inspiration and strong encouragement to keep going with this labour of love.

I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to the reviewers whose input, recommendations and suggestions have been useful in shaping the form of the final book, in particular Ron Harper, McCarthy Griffiths, Roxanne Quesnel, Omawumi Efueye, Elson Parris, Michael Campbell-Johnston SJ and Faith Anyanwu.

And last, but by no means least, I offer a humble heart of gratitude to my Lord Jesus for the unparalleled privilege of sharing our story.

THE FIRST SPONSORS

This free copy of the book you are holding would not have been possible but for a few brave souls from all around the world including South America, North America, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Europe who decided to sponsor the initial publishing and printing costs without even knowing for certain what I was going to say, except that they believed I had met with Jesus and had a mandate to share His love. To each of you, a very heartfelt thank you:

Luciana Abrantes Ian Grace

Rafiat Adekunle Gorel Heaney

Ruth Doyin Akinwale Janice Johnson

Janice Arrowsmith Sue Scrine-Leighton

Michael Booth Bridget Louvion Tracey

Brittain RLS

Dominic Burns The Mele Family

Colin Edwards Peter Ng

Emoke Denes Monique Price

Rob Farnes Michael Rycraft

introduction

Truly, to whom much is given, much is expected, and supernatural experiences do not exempt us from the process of becoming who God created us to be. If anything, it can make the process even more demanding. I have had to learn, and I am still learning, the power of obedience. I am still enduring, and sometimes enjoying, the process of growing. I have seen exhilarating revelations of scripture verses that are commonly misinterpreted as showing God’s wrath but were really designed to show us God’s love and His profound desire simply to have a deeply intimate relationship with us. I am still learning but now, ten years later, I am truly honoured to finally share with you this wonderful, life-transforming, world-upturning, love-infilling, power-imparting encounter with the God who is Love on that warm Saturday evening on 30 July 2005.

For almost four years after my encounter, I wondered whether I was the only one who fully believed the things Jesus had shown me, and I was on a search to find others who believed the same. I looked for anyone who had had a supernatural encounter or who was deeply passionate about God. My search ended when I finally heard Andrew Wommack and appreciated the calm, matter-of-fact way he delivered, and still delivers, powerful truths that seem to come straight from the throne- room. I am also grateful for the teachings and work of Bill Johnson and his stewardship of a culture of honour which is probably unparalleled on earth at this present time. Reinhard Bonnke, whose work I encountered first, remains a paragon of love and boldness coupled with excellence in ministry.

Brian Simmons’ Passion Translation of the Bible and writings are wonderful prophetic expositions of the ‘God kind of love’. Cref lo Dollar’s and Joseph Prince’s practical application of God’s love and grace in daily life are just some of God’s awesome gifts to me on my journey… and there are so many more: T.D. Jakes, Clarence McClendon and Joyce Meyers are some of the names you might have heard of. But there are some you may not have heard of who have influenced my journey and who are doing and will do great things for the Kingdom of God such as: Omawumi and Carol Efueye, Rafael and Julie Cassela, Elson and Doreen Parris, Roger and Aurilia Grimes, Bob and Heather Ward, Ron and Stephanie Harper, Jeremy Crossley, Joycelyn Springer, my sister Glenda Lee Edwards, my Mom, my Dad and my Uncle McCarthy Griffiths, to name only a few.

In the works and lives of these and many others whom I deeply admire, I have found a rare humility, a divine hunger for God, a reverential love and a deep, unshakeable joy that can only be drawn from an encounter with Him. It is not that I have found these people of God to be perfect, but I have found that when they availed themselves of the grace of God, even their idiosyncrasies have been, and continue to be, instructive.

In the same way I hope that you will not only be able to discern my own limitations but that you will remember this: the Grace available to our patriarchs and matriarchs is the same Grace that brought our Lord Jesus to my living room that warm day in July. Let this same Grace be with you as you read, protecting your heart and teaching you to discern His voice.

The original title of this book was The First Seven Moments. A moment occurs when our true self meets God and we establish the anchors that keep us uniquely connected to Him, anchors which define our true destiny. Our true destiny is not defined by our achievements in life, but by the becoming of who we were created to be in Him. Our achievements are just the natural consequences of that.

When I first considered what I should include in this book, I wanted to play it safe and limit the risk of getting something wrong by focusing on the seven really obvious truths that I heard Jesus say or saw Him do during our 24-hour encounter.

The only problem was that the more I understood, the more I uncovered amazing, beautiful truths hidden in that one encounter. He is a very purposeful and intentional God and no act or word, in fact no omission, is accidental. So it soon became 11 moments, then 14, then 17 – and then finally I gave up counting and started searching for another title!

I hope it will become clear, as you read, why the new title is Just As He Promised. The Kingdom of God that was promised to us is quite different from the worldly identity, religious subculture and subtle twisting of His Word that we sometimes experience under the banner of Christianity in the 21st century. The ancient foundations of His love, grace and faith are stronger than mere religious practice and provoke a level of holiness and joy that will challenge the status quo. I hope this book will be a reminder to us of the instruction in Isaiah 58:12 – to rebuild the ancient ruins and build on the old foundations so we can begin to see things just as He promised.

The old foundations are not nearly as dreary as they might first appear. In fact they are more delightful, more vibrant and more uplifting than anything we can produce in our own strength. I hope this book will enable you to discover more of your own foundations in God. We may need to peel off a few layers first: layers of human principles dressed up as divine truth, layers of hopelessness dressed up as wisdom, layers of pride and of fear.

May the Lord Jesus Himself lift the veil off our eyes and draw us back to the simple delight of enjoying His love and grace, and loving Him in return.

This simplicity will be somewhat challenging to those who need doctrinal expositions, scientific explanations and philosophical justifications. We will look at some of those things, but I can tell you now, just as Solomon discovered, what the final answer will be to everything:

Love God, and obey Him.

Nevertheless, the journey is well worth taking. You will find that although the love of God is beautifully simple, choosing to live in and by His love is the most challenging, culture-defying, revolutionary action you will ever take. It is, in fact, the ultimate death-wish!

It is not martyrdom and going to heaven. It requires you to die to your own selfish desires, and still continue to live. But it is also the safest, most fulfilling place to be in the world.

May those who observe your life see an unshakeable conviction that causes them to say in the midst of even the most adverse circumstances, ‘Oh that’s just so-and-so, things always work out for them just as God promised.’

I pray that you will not be drawn away, by the doctrine of men, from the simplicity of the gospel of Christ. I pray that the eyes of your understanding will be opened for you to know and receive, continually, the fullness of His amazing love.

And I pray that you would find your moments in this book too. You may find them in a chapter heading, a scripture reference, a parting comment, a detailed description or a parenthesis. You will know when you do because after you’ve found it, something in your life will never be the same again.

May your joining me on this journey bring you to a new place as dramatically different from where you started, as I experienced in my wonderful encounter with Him.

1

The Silence

Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD:

for He is raised up out of His holy habitation.

Zechariah 2:13 (KJV)

One of the first things I remember was the silence – it was the kind of silence that grabs your attention harder and more completely than the loudest noise or the most melodious music you have ever heard.

Some theoretical physicists say that everything in the universe consists of waves of motion or strings, with each string vibration generating its own sound. Even our bodies continuously emit their own sounds, apparently. But in that moment of silence, I was certain that every possible sound, those that could be heard and those completely inaudible to the human ear, had been utterly stilled. Even the natural sounds in my eardrum seemed to have stopped, and the resulting silence was deafening.

Every fibre of my being was stilled mid-motion, and trained on a spot on the far wall where an invisible door had opened and the light spilled through, as a door from another dimension opened into our world.

I don’t know how long the silence lasted. I’m not sure how long I stood there frozen, with arms and legs in mid-stride. When I get to heaven I shall ask to see the videotape – I’m sure it will be very amusing.

A split second before, I was absent-mindedly tidying my little f lat, half- singing to myself, half-dancing across the room. I had just finished a long lunch with an old university friend at a pub in the village. I admired her character – her frankness and kindness – and was very pleased we were back in touch, but I remember being strangely keen for her to leave so I could get back to my f lat. I wasn’t sure why. But I was looking forward to playing some more of this modern gospel music I had recently acquired a taste for, from an album a friend had recommended.

I almost ran to the CD player when I got in, not caring that today was one of those treasured rarities in London – a nice summer’s day! The trees outside the long wall of windows proudly displayed their summer foliage and appeared to be whispering to each other in quiet excitement. The Lord was about to enter the temple of my heart.

In Zechariah 2 there is a wonderful description of what happens when God comes visiting. His glory manifests, His protection is impenetrable, He grants divine recompense and a royal identity, and we are compelled by love to praise Him. Sing and rejoice O daughter of Zion, many nations shall be joined to the Lord in one day.

The name Zechariah means the Lord remembers. He remembered me. His promises are not restricted to times gone by. He remembered me then. He remembers you now. He is coming to claim His inheritance, and He shall choose you. Oh, you should hear me shout for joy as I write this!

And after this wonderful description the Scripture says: Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for He is raised up out of His holy habitation.

Hush is a gentle command, but a command nonetheless, for all must cease because of what is about to take place. It was not a silence that is tranquil and peaceful, with gentle sounds of kumbayah wafting across the airwaves of your mind. This was a silence that interrupts everything you are and think. It was as loud as it was complete, it engaged with the mitochondrion (energy centre) of every cell of my being, bringing each one into complete stillness.

This kind of silence is not emptying the mind of your own thoughts but having it filled only with thoughts of Him until, eventually, we’re thinking His thoughts. That’s the ultimate in meditation. Once we experience this, any other form of meditation loses its allure and the thought of spending hours alone, focused on God, is no longer daunting. Like the pull of the CD player that afternoon, He draws us towards Himself, and our heart’s response can only be ‘Yes! ’

But silence is risky. It takes faith to let go of self, the person you know best in the whole world, to release your own thoughts and focus on what God, whom you’ve never seen, is saying. Silence is, in this respect, a kind of dying. And when this life is the only one you know, it takes real faith to take the chance of giving it up for the great unknown. It also takes courage. In the silence we go further, deeper and more completely into areas of our lives we would not ordinarily venture into. We often use noise and busy-ness as our shield against having to go too deep, lest we come up against something we fear we might not be able to handle or would prefer to forget. It takes real courage to face our inner self in this way. That’s why the courageous don’t always roar. Sometimes they just go silent.

As I later found out, the silence spills over into every arena of our life, if we let it. There are times when others may do us wrong, say false things about us, repay our good with evil. In those times it would be so tempting to say just one word that would turn the whole thing around, and at times that may be the right thing to do. But more often than not, God encourages us to be silent.

When God corrects a situation, He does it so much better than we could do in our own strength. But, perhaps more importantly, this kind of silence is valuable to us because it is part of the dying process – being broken, without saying a word.

In a way this is what the sacrament of ‘breaking bread’ at a communion service