Hi, I am Beverley Watkins with Global Impact Ministries – welcome to God Today. You know, I grew up in the Church. I went to Sunday School, I was in church every Sunday. I grew up in a Christian home, my parents loved the Lord. Growing up, I believed I was a Christian because I went to church, I went to the Sunday School camps, I gave my heart to the Lord. I really believed I had given my heart to the Lord and I walked in that way.
When I came to, probably the age of 14 around there, I had always been a good church girl and I did love the Lord, but there was this pull on the inside of me that kind of wanted to experience the world and get out there, and so, pretty much that is what I did. I turned my back on the Lord and I went wild. My mantra was, “I am going to do whatever I feel to do, because I just want to experience life.” I got out there and was pretty wild – I did some crazy things. Even at that time, I always knew the Lord had a call on my life. I would say to Him, “I am just not ready to be that person. I don’t know if I can do that. I would just push it away, push it away. I knew there was a call, but I wasn’t ready for it. I felt I would be missing out on life.
What actually happened was, I was part of a Presbyterian Church. When you are 16, you are supposed to be confirmed in the Church. When I turned 16, I started going to the classes because that is what you do. I started going and they were talking about the Lord and speaking about being confirmed in the Church. After about a month, I went to the pastor and I said to him, “I can’t do this. I cannot in good faith pretend I really want to do any of these things.” I said, “I am not going to do the class anymore.” Of course, it was the scandal of our whole community. “Beverley isn’t going to do it!” This is what you did. I found in myself I couldn’t do that in integrity.
Anyway, the following year, I felt like, “Hey, I think I am going to try that again.” I went back to the classes and everything the pastor was saying was really pressing on me. I will never forget one day we were sitting there, and he was talking about accepting Jesus as your Savior and standing up and acknowledging that before people. I remember sitting there and going, “God, I have accepted you as my Savior. I do know and I believe in Jesus.” But as I sat there, I said, “God, I don’t know that I know you. If I am going to do this, I really want it to be real.” As I sat there, I had this fight going on in the inside of me because of the challenge the pastor had said, “If you have accepted Jesus I want you to stand up and tell everybody here that you have accepted Him, because we want you to acknowledge it before everyone else.”
I had this battle going on inside of me. I didn’t want to do it. Eventually, I was like, “Get over yourself, Beverley. Make this decision once and for all.” I did and I stood up. As I stood up and I started to speak, the power of God just hit me. It threw me clear across the room. I was out in the Spirit for I don’t even know how long. I met Jesus. The power of who He is, His love – I don’t even have words for the fullness of what hit me that day. I got up off the floor and I knew that I had met Jesus. I knew He was real. I knew this wasn’t about keeping rules and pretending and doing all these things. I knew the Kingdom of God was a reality. The love of God was a reality. He had called me and He had a destiny and a purpose for me. He was going to empower me to do that. From that day I was forever changed.
I started on what I call “My Great Adventure With God”, always learning about Him, pushing into the things of God. Knowing that He is real. He is real. So often, I meet people and they say, “I have just known Jesus my whole life.” Maybe that is you. Maybe you were like me. Maybe you have been in church your whole life. Maybe you are wondering, “Am I really saved? Do I really know this Jesus?”
I want to say to you: He wants to meet you today. He loves you. He wants to meet you. God, I pray, right now, for whoever is listening to this. I specifically see someone – you are actually driving your car at the moment. You are on your way to take the children to school. I feel God is wanting to meet you right now. Father, I thank you that, Lord, you are going to meet that lady right now, in her car, Lord. She is going to have an encounter with you. She is going to know that you, Jesus, are watching her and have been watching her for many years, and have got a call on her life. Father, she does know you because she is about to go to a new level. Even as I am praying this, I am starting to see people all across. I see it as tongues of fire that are coming to people. It is encounters with God. They are setting you on fire, they are taking you to the next level. God wants you to go to a new place in Him. He has called you for such a time as this! He has called you for such a time as this! So, Father, I thank you right now…right now, that you are doing that. In Jesus’ name. Amen.