The Word of God Became Reality In My Life In August 1983…
The Word of God is still materializing in many ways in my life even today.
Hello all, and thank you for visiting FaithsMessenger.Com! My name is Greg Winfield and I’m writing to you from sunny Southern California.
I’m the proud husband of Samantha. Father to Jackie, Jonathan, and Jennifer. Stepfather to DJ and Jordan, and grandpa to Kylie and Ethan and Ona. To the Glory of God, all of our children are happy, healthy, and independent.
My wife and I have recently become empty nesters. AND WE’RE LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT!
The Word Of God Becomes Real
I received Christ as my Lord and Savior back in August 1983 in San Antonio Park, Long Beach CA. I was on my lunch break (I’ve got a funny story behind the day I received the Lord posted below). Since that time, my life has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs. But through it all, the blessing of the Lord has shown through in every area of my life.
The purpose of this blog is simply to share the Word of God in the unique way that He shares it with me. I tend to look at life through parables and life analogies. There are so many things that we experience on a daily basis that run parallel to principles in God’s Word.
Many times when these life experiences are pointed out, the lightbulb comes on and the Word of God becomes alive to those who have shared similar experiences.
My prayer is that I’ll be able to transcribe those life experiences onto these pages and share messages that will come alive in your spirit.
What I Believe
I think it’s great that you’re here, but now that you’re here, I’d like to take a moment to share with you what I believe. I believe that:
- Jesus Christ is true God and true man.
- The Holy Spirit is a divine person.
- All scripture is given by inspiration of God.
- All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God and are in need of salvation.
- Salvation has been provided through Jesus Christ for all men.
- It is the will of God that every Believer be filled with the Holy Spirit.
- Healing, deliverance, soundness, wholeness and the ability to live prosperous lives was provided in the redemptive work of Christ and all facets of salvation are available to every Believer.
- The Church consists of all those who have received Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
- There shall be a bodily resurrection of the just and of the unjust.
- In the personal, visible, imminent return of Jesus Christ
- In water baptism, and observance of the Lord’s Supper.
I AM NOT A THEOLOGIAN!
I thank God for those who have given their lives to higher learning, however you won’t find deep, and profound thoughts or $5.00 words on this blog. The people that God uses me to minister to are plain and simple truth-seeking people who value the ability to practically implement the Word of God into their daily lives as opposed to high sounding words and phrases.
In my humble opinion, the bible isn’t difficult to understand. Particularly when we have the Spirit of God dwelling within us to guide us into all truth (John 16:13). Neither is God the author of confusion (1 Cor 14:33).
So as you read from my blog, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you HIS message behind the words you read. Break away from tradition and religion and get to know God on a personal level through His Word. In doing so, you will learn the character of God. Once you know His character, you’ll find that there are many traits of God that have been taught by many sectors of organized religion that aren’t exactly true.
If you read anything here that you would like to comment on, please feel free to drop me a line. Come, let us reason together. I’m not infallible and if God has given you a deeper revelation on something that you find here I’d love to hear from you.
Again, I thank you for your time….now let’s get into the Word!
Funny Story – Salvation Day – August 1983
Before I became a Christian, I spent my lunch breaks sitting in my car at the park reading the bible. I was a school bus driver back then working a split shift with a 3-hour break in the middle of my day.
At the end of the day, I would come home from work to find my wife watching Christian television. Particularly a program on the Trinity Broadcasting Network called Praise the Lord, hosted by Paul and Jan Crouch. It was a Christian variety type of show with different guests appearing each night. Some of the guests were famous some not so famous.
Although I wasn’t saved at the time, I would watch the program with her. In the closing segment of the show, the host would pray and lead the television audience in the prayer of salvation. After the prayer, Paul Crouch would encourage those who had just prayed along with him to call the TBN call center and tell about their experience.
As the show closed and as they encouraged new Christians to call in, the camera would pan to a call center. There would be what seemed to be hundreds of people sitting behind computers taking incoming phone calls. The show closed in this fashion every night.
So one day as I sat in my car reading my bible, the Holy Spirit touched my heart. On that momentous day, I surrendered my life to God. This was back in the days when only rich people had cell phones, so I had no way to immediately call TBN to tell them of my experience. But I made a vow to God and to myself to call them as soon as I got home.
The Naivety of a Babe in Christ
Well, one day turned into a week, which turned into a month, which turned into 6 months. I read the Word every day. I found a great church to attend. Still, something on the inside just didn’t feel right. Soon, guilt began to set in. I knew in my heart that although I enjoyed my fellowship with the Lord, I had yet to call TBN to tell them that I had received the Lord into my heart.
I went on for the next 6 months, professing Christ as my Lord and Savior. All the while I wasn’t quite sure that if I met my untimely demise that I would be welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven. Why? Because I never quite sealed the deal by calling TBN to tell them I was saved.
You see, in my naivety, I interpreted calling the Christian television station after becoming a Christian to be a part of the salvation process!
It was almost a year after becoming a Christian that I confessed my secret of neglecting to call TBN to a dear brother in Christ and sharing with him that I wasn’t sure if I was saved or not, that the burden of neglecting that all-important phone call was lifted from my shoulders.
This wasn’t the first nor will it be the last time that my literal way of thinking has led to many laughs within our household. If you spend any time on FaithsMessenger.Com at all, you’ll experience with us many more laughs at the silliness that takes place within our household.
Thanks for listening…..