He was being raised by his grandparents, but he was on the streets. He was in a gang and going no where. One day he was picked up by a young evangelist. “Man, you’re going to come live with me.” The evangelist told him. He has been for the last year or so. He is so full of joy. What a cool guy Lord. He’s smart and is easy to like by everyone. His whole life is changed. He’s just amazed at his life now and is so thankful that You are in it.At 11 years old, he hung out with the boys seven years older than himself. He learned fast how to make fast money. Along with the drugs he was selling and doing, he had 2 daughters by the time he was 23. He was deep into his gangster lifestyle. He had his pack of people who worked with him and one day he was going to go “handle” a situation for some of his pack with a “friend”. His friend backed out last minute. He was so angry about it. But thankfully that stopped him from murdering someone. He was getting sick of this life with friends that didn’t stick. When his wife was birthing his third daughter, a different woman than the other two, there were complications. Something was going wrong with the birth. His wife called her uncle and he immediately came and showed the most genuine concern that he had ever seen. Her uncle’s compassion and care surprised him and he knew there was something there that he needed. Her uncle knew You, Jesus. He was introduced and his life will never be the same. He’s learned a better way and wants to teach others the better way.
He was like the other troubling percentage of the population of teenagers and men, in the church and out of the church, leaders and non leaders; he was addicted to porn and was addicted to masturbation. He had recently met you Lord, and understood that his addictions were keeping a wall between You and him. His battle was as fierce as they come. He needed extreme measures for extreme times. He couldn’t do it on his own. He couldn’t fight the battle in private. He constantly was asking You to change his heart. He kept Your word close to his heart and in his mind. As he told his story of victory today, tears still gripped him and his voice still shook as he remembered how difficult the battle was. Lord he gave You so much credit for helping him. He said he wants to continue to have you lift him up in victory. He said he loves You and wants to follow only You. 
He was just randomly looking at YouTube. He came across some presentations given by one of Your men, Lord. As he continued to watch that series, he decided he needed to get more of them. He realized that what he knew as truth was contrary to Your character and found out the real truth. He studied it out. He didn’t want to be deceived. So many websites went against and belittled what he had just learned. People that came from where he was going bashed and gave soil for seeds of doubt to grow. But he pressed on in his search for truth. He found out that Your word is consistent. Your character has been deeply skewed by all of the world. Lord, he said he found truth that keeps being true the more he studies it. He has such a confidence in You. What is all of this about? What made these different situations have the same outcome? There must be life to these words. The bible is living and powerful. It is living because it still has relevance for today. It is powerful because as Paul explains, it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. (Rom 1:16) We can hear about these things our entire lives and miss it. What about this evidence? There is so much of it if we look for it. God knew we’d need hard evidence. But something else is included in all of this. A testimony. Lives being changed. Personal evidence to harmonize with hard evidence. What’s your testimony? If you have a hard time answering this question, ask God what He is doing in it.
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