Real people - real stories

Athitaya:

I grew up in a society, where over 90 percent of the people are Buddhists. But I was always skeptical about Buddhism: it could not answer my questions and even though it is a religion of self-righteousness and moral perfection it was not able to make people holy. At the age of 9 I came to Germany. There had always been something special about the Christian faith: it gave me the strong feeling that there was truth in it. I wanted to read the Bible, so I borrowed a Bible from a friend, but never even finished reading Genesis. But over the time my desire to know the truth grew, and I started to read the Bible again, but this time I read the New Testament, and learned about Jesus and what he did on the Cross. Even though I had still questions, the New Testament itself convinced me of its truthfulness. I continued to study and found out what the Gospel of justification by faith alone meant and I came to faith in Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I am willing to follow Jesus and to live the Christian life, so that in everything I do God may be glorified!

Marc:

None is righteous, no, not one.
No one understands; no one seeks for God.
No one does good, not even one.
There is no fear of God before their eyes. [Romans 3:10-12, 18]

I was such an ungodly person and had no fear of God before my eyes (Romans 3:18). I was seeking for truth apart from God and through this quest for truth God graciously lead me to repentance and faith in Christ. I was convinced that the unexamined life was not worth living and finding truth became one of the most important things in my life. But my atheist worldview was inconsistent with its basic assumptions and therefore intellectually unjustifiable. Even though I did not like Christianity, I started to study what Christians believe and read the Bible for myself. Over the time I grew convinced that it was indeed the Word of God. According to the Bible, I was “dead in my trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). I did not honour God or gave him thanks and was “without excuse” (Rom. 1:20). I did not deserve life but death, “for the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). But the triune God had shown his love for me: Christ, “the Lamb of God” (John. 1:29), had died for sinners (Rom 5:8). “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God the Holy Spirit graciously opened my eyes to this truth and I put my trust in Christ alone, so that my sins were forgiven. Through Christ, I “have peace with God” (Rom. 6:1)

Paul says: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2. Cor. 5:17). I have a new life which is to be conformed to God´s will and lived to his glory. One important step was the baptism by full immersion in the Rhein which took place on July 31st, 2011. I continue to study the Word and try to apply its truths to my life. I wish to grow spiritually through trust, prayer and the fellowship with other believers. I am a sinner justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and therefore I have nothing to boast about – To God alone be the glory!

Christian:

When I sat in my final exams for my degree in business administration I was shocked getting the test papers. Although I prepared myself well at home I reckoned without the tasks in front of me. I was about to pack it all in and leave the classroom. In a short prayer I asked God to help me out. So I stayed and did my level best. In the coming weeks I kept praying for the results. Rationally I couldn’t have passed as I counted my points ahead and concluded barely failed. Finally the letter with the results arrived and I couldn’t believe that I passed only with 2 points extra. From that day I knew that God has helped me to finish my overdue studies and to overcome my low spirits. I decided to thank him and to worship regularly because I had experienced that he was a ‘good medicine’ for me and I wanted to hold the dose. After a while I was received back into the church at a confirmation service with the bishop. This is my testimony of this special day stating what Jesus means to me:

Jesus is the Light of the World. In my childhood I opened the door for Him but failed to grow with Him. Since my adolescence I had imprisoned Him in the cellar of my mind. Now I have let Him out because I have understood that He died to be my Saviour. I repent and renounce of my self in order to follow my Lord Jesus and to serve my fellows. I will trust in Him to find wisdom and life indeed.

As a new year’s resolution I planned to grow further in Christ. I undertook to read my New Living Bible within one year using a reading plan for every day to get to know God’s word at first hand. Now it’s halftime and I am still on my way.

Through homegroup studies once a week I got more insights while discussing with other believers. It brought me to daily prayer because I learned that you shouldn’t concentrate only on the ethics and dynamcis of marriage but also spend time with your spouse (J I Packer). Last but not least I noticed:

When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don’t pray, they don’t. (William Temple)

Roshan:

I was born in a Christian family and was raised up by a very strict father and a soft spoken mother. Every night we used to have family prayers as it was customary and compulsory. I was a frequent visitor of the church and attended Sunday school regularly and took part in many activities of the church. I know who Jesus as a man who died for me on the cross and bore my sins, but I never believed in Him because I could not see Him to believe. In 1994 I attended a Christian meeting where I accepted Christ as my personal Saviour. I did this because everyone raised their hands during the altar call, and so I also raised my hands and said that I accept Christ as my personal savior. I confessed my sins, but I was still living a sinful life. I was the same person as I was before. After my acceptance of Christ, I went through a lot of tough times in life (i.e. wilderness experience) which I did not experience before accepting Jesus. I lived a life of loneliness. I began to search for real love and affection. I did not have many friends to share my feelings. At this point I realized that when I pray and sing praise songs to Jesus, there was liberty and healing in my spirit. But I could not do it all the day, I was distracted by many things. This went on for a few years, yet I did not know God personally. I used to question, how can we believe in God whom we have not seen? If he shows himself physically, then I will believe.

In November 2003, as part of an evangelical outreach program, I went to a village to share the Good News. After the program was over, we had a thanksgiving prayer and the preacher was praying for every person individually. When the preacher came to me he started to prophesy. I felt a great anointing from the Lord! It was like lightning and it went through deep in my body: totally unexplainable. My spirit was light and I was not the old person anymore. The preacher told me that God loved me and His angels wanted to minister to me. He also prophesied that God will take me to many nations and lift me up. This physical and real experience made me feel that there is a GOD, and now I believe without a doubt.

After this experience prophecies were being fulfilled in my life. I started travelling to many countries and sharing this testimony about what God has done in my life. All glory be to God.

Wilderness experience has a greater purpose for the Lord to fulfill His mysterious plan in the lives of His children.