Friday, January 18, 2008 at 12:12am
My life was a mess
Column: For His Glory
My life was a mess. I felt I would soon be fired from my job. Catherine and I were not married yet, and we were having a horrible time getting along, constantly at each other's throat. I lost $80,000 in the stock market.
I had been feeling the pressure of the enemy through my friends, as they didn't understand that God was calling me to be born again. I remember receiving a phone call from my best friend, asking me if I wanted to go dancing at the club. He was at the time the only one who knew about my wrestling with God's call to the ministry, the battle to finally surrender my entire life to God. I had yet to make it known publicly. I told him that I no longer was going out clubbing, and he respected my decision; nevertheless he was concerned for me because he didn't want me to spend the weekend alone. He wasn't following his faith at the moment, and to him clubbing was a non-issue, but he respected my decision, he understood, he was supportive.
But in the background I heard another friend mock my commitment — a friend who should have known better because he was raised in the church — by saying, "Give him two weeks, and he'll be back in the clubs with us." I was struggling with the temptations to keep living in a world that was contrary to God while knowing that God had a hold on my life. I wasn't sure what I was doing; I was just a baby Christian all alone in my journey toward God. Then I came across this verse: "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth" (John 17:17).
The meaning of this verse exploded with possibilities in my mind. God was talking directly to me. There was all this filth in my mind from my time away from Christ that kept tugging at my heart; my heart was calling for my sinful nature to rise. I felt like a drug addict suffering from withdrawals, and yet I knew I could not go back to that life. "Could it be," I thought, "that God can change my life by reading His word?"
I wasn't sure if that was what the verse was promising, but I needed victory in my life, victory over sin and self. Therefore I began reading God's word. From the moment I got home from work around 4 p.m. till about 3 in the morning, I read God's word non-stop for two entire weeks.
I am not a morning person; it takes my mind about an hour to catch up to my body after I get up from bed. Furthermore, in my job with the market I would be up by 6, studying the market for that morning. Yet during these two weeks of getting only about three hours asleep a day, I never felt as if I lacked sleep. God's word was invigorating!
I started sensing God's word transforming my life from the inside out. My mind felt as though the fog that had covered it for years was lifting. Verse after verse in the Bible spoke directly to my heart, spoke directly to me. It felt as if the Bible was written only for me. Verses like John 3:16 read differently; instead of seeing the regular verse, I would see my name instead. It no longer was "for God so loved the world," but rather "for God so loved Giovanni." It was no longer "Come unto me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28); rather it was "Giovanni come to me and I will give you rest." Each verse felt personalized, and I knew I would gain the victory by His word. I knew then that sanctification was real and it could happen to me.
As I look back to the beginning of my Christian journey, I realize that it was the power of God's word that transformed my life. It can transform you too. I am a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ now, and I owe it all to His word. From the pits of despair to life full of hope, I owe it all to the transforming power of God's word. I now know that we are made to be blessed by His word and transformed by His grace. My God bless you in the reading of His word.
— — —
Gio Marin is the pastor of the College Station and Waller Seventh-day Adventist Church in the state of Texas. He graduated in December 2007 with a master of divinity degree from Andrews Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, with a dual emphasis on systematic theology and church growth & evangelism. Send him an email at {email GioMarinColumn@aol.com}GioMarinColumn@aol.com{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Gio Marin.
I had been feeling the pressure of the enemy through my friends, as they didn't understand that God was calling me to be born again. I remember receiving a phone call from my best friend, asking me if I wanted to go dancing at the club. He was at the time the only one who knew about my wrestling with God's call to the ministry, the battle to finally surrender my entire life to God. I had yet to make it known publicly. I told him that I no longer was going out clubbing, and he respected my decision; nevertheless he was concerned for me because he didn't want me to spend the weekend alone. He wasn't following his faith at the moment, and to him clubbing was a non-issue, but he respected my decision, he understood, he was supportive.
But in the background I heard another friend mock my commitment — a friend who should have known better because he was raised in the church — by saying, "Give him two weeks, and he'll be back in the clubs with us." I was struggling with the temptations to keep living in a world that was contrary to God while knowing that God had a hold on my life. I wasn't sure what I was doing; I was just a baby Christian all alone in my journey toward God. Then I came across this verse: "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth" (John 17:17).
The meaning of this verse exploded with possibilities in my mind. God was talking directly to me. There was all this filth in my mind from my time away from Christ that kept tugging at my heart; my heart was calling for my sinful nature to rise. I felt like a drug addict suffering from withdrawals, and yet I knew I could not go back to that life. "Could it be," I thought, "that God can change my life by reading His word?"
I wasn't sure if that was what the verse was promising, but I needed victory in my life, victory over sin and self. Therefore I began reading God's word. From the moment I got home from work around 4 p.m. till about 3 in the morning, I read God's word non-stop for two entire weeks.
I am not a morning person; it takes my mind about an hour to catch up to my body after I get up from bed. Furthermore, in my job with the market I would be up by 6, studying the market for that morning. Yet during these two weeks of getting only about three hours asleep a day, I never felt as if I lacked sleep. God's word was invigorating!
I started sensing God's word transforming my life from the inside out. My mind felt as though the fog that had covered it for years was lifting. Verse after verse in the Bible spoke directly to my heart, spoke directly to me. It felt as if the Bible was written only for me. Verses like John 3:16 read differently; instead of seeing the regular verse, I would see my name instead. It no longer was "for God so loved the world," but rather "for God so loved Giovanni." It was no longer "Come unto me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28); rather it was "Giovanni come to me and I will give you rest." Each verse felt personalized, and I knew I would gain the victory by His word. I knew then that sanctification was real and it could happen to me.
As I look back to the beginning of my Christian journey, I realize that it was the power of God's word that transformed my life. It can transform you too. I am a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ now, and I owe it all to His word. From the pits of despair to life full of hope, I owe it all to the transforming power of God's word. I now know that we are made to be blessed by His word and transformed by His grace. My God bless you in the reading of His word.
— — —
Gio Marin is the pastor of the College Station and Waller Seventh-day Adventist Church in the state of Texas. He graduated in December 2007 with a master of divinity degree from Andrews Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, with a dual emphasis on systematic theology and church growth & evangelism. Send him an email at {email GioMarinColumn@aol.com}GioMarinColumn@aol.com{/email}. © Copyright 2008 by Gio Marin.