I asked him to name the one desire of his life

My church received a phone call one afternoon from a lady, wanting to know if there was someone who would sit and talk with her brother, who was a drug addict.  She said he was living with herself and her husband but the situation was becoming increasingly problematic for them all.  Apparently he was on a rehabilitation program but not having much success.

I was asked if I would meet with him and so I made a time suitable to do so, which was early evening.  The lady’s brother was named John and I liked him from the moment he came into the room.  He smiled as he said hello and I could see that whatever his problems were, John was quite different from some other drug addicts I’d had experience with.  He was a polite, quietly spoken twenty-nine year old man who looked me in the eyes as we shook hands.  He was holding down a job as a truck driver and from all reports he was well liked by his colleagues.

With some of the other addicts I had worked with prior to John, it was not long into a meeting before they would try to justify their behaviour and blame others for their predicament.  But that was not the case with this young man.  He was open from the start.  He spoke of one incident that left a mental scar upon him, but he did so without playing the blame game.  John told me that when he was a little boy his mother was angry with him one time, so angry in fact that she pushed him into the wall with the dining room table, cutting off his airflow. 

His throat matched the height of the table and as his mother kept pushing him, he thought he, “wasn’t going to get out of that.”  John didn’t like his school days all that much, saying he was bullied by some of the kids, but once again he didn’t tell me this with blame in his heart.  He smoked his first marijuana cigarette at the age of fourteen, liking it so much that he kept it up for years.  He said it gave him good feelings that he’d not experienced in natural ways.

Then John told me, that some years later he met some people who introduced him to heroin.  He loved that experience.  He was earning good money at the time and had no problems paying for more when he needed it.  But once he got addicted, things began to change and soon he lost his job and was unable to pay his rent.  That first meeting with John and myself went for more than three hours, but the time was necessary; both for him to speak from his heart and for me to listen intently, so I could then go away and start praying for him and find the mind of God for his specific situation.

Two evenings later I meet with John again.  I asked him to name the one desire of his life and he said, “peace.”  So I said to him, “Ok, let’s deal with the things that are stopping you from achieving peace.”  We had over four hours of honest, straight talking that night and he shared the very worst about himself.  We didn’t play games.  By night’s end John saw his problems for what they were.  I explained to him that he needed to become a child of God.  John had a Catholic background but he was ignorant of the gospel of Christ so far as it related to him personally.  

I said to John that he needed to turn away from his current way of life, see himself as a sinner and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, who will take the sin from him, and then cleanse him by His blood shed on that cross.  I informed him that upon doing this, Christ will then enter into his soul and fill him with peace and empower him to live a new life.  Demonic evil presented itself in the room that night.  Those spiritual devils did not want John to come into this truth and experience, so they used this young man to come up with every reason as to why he should not turn to Christ.

It was an intense spiritual battle but in the end, he genuinely surrendered his heart to the Lord.  During my prayer with him, John was experiencing the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  There are ways of testing that and he passed the test.  John had a spiritual rebirth that night.  He thanked me for my time saying that he was feeling better than he ever had.  I mentioned to him that the next part towards his release, was to undertake some foundational biblical studies so he could rebuild his life and live it according to God’s empowerment.

The devil never relinquishes his hold without a fight and when he loses, he tries to bluff us that he’s still in control.  I was just getting off to sleep that night at about one thirty when I felt “hands” around my throat.  I knew it was a demonic presence, so in Jesus name, I told it to go from me, plus my family and to get out of my house as well.  With that, I rolled over and went off to sleep. 

We did do some biblical studies together over the next three weeks and he came to the church services three times.  During all this time John was of a sound mind and again he told me that he was conscious of God’s presence and ministry within him.

One late Friday afternoon however, just over the three weeks of our having first met, John phoned me at the church.  He told me that he’d taken another hit of heroin.  He said he was worried now, because he was told by his sister and husband that if this should happen, he would have to leave their home.  I encouraged to him to go home anyway, telling him that I would ring and explain to his family what happened, and that I would spend Sunday with him, because I had other commitments all day Saturday.

On the Sunday morning I got a phone call from John’s sister.  She said that they came home very late Saturday night and found the garage light on.  They investigated and found him hanging from a beam.  John was dead.  It felt like part of me died when I heard that.  I was devastated.  But as the Lord ministered to me, I was then enabled to bring immediate ministry to this grieving sister and her husband.  They explained to me that their local Catholic church did not do funeral services for those who commit suicide, so they asked me if I would conduct the service.  I told them I would be honoured to do so.

On the day of his funeral, John’s friends and family heard that he was always a friendly and hospitable person.  They heard he had a willing heart and would do anything asked of him.  As a young boy he would willingly do the ironing for his sister and he would not hesitate to share whatever was needed with her.  John did not speak a negative word against anyone; he was never rude.  Because of his problems, it was natural for visitors to his sister’s home to be apprehensive not knowing what to expect from a heroin addict.  But in a matter of moments John would put them at ease.

Nobody disliked this man for what he was.  And if a person should walk in to a room that most other people did not like, he would be the first go to him or her and make them feel welcome.  I was pleased to tell his family and friends that everything they were hearing were my experiences with John as well.  By the power of God, I learned to love him too.

John’s spiritual rebirth brought restoration to his being even though it lasted a little over three weeks.  So, if that is so, why did he take his life?  That was everybody’s question.  But there is no answer.  The Bible shows us that we are tri-part beings; spirit, soul and body.  The devil killed John’s body, but he could not kill his soul and spirit, they belong to God.  And Jesus has told us that when we surrender ourselves in repentance to Him, no one can snatch us out of His hand, or that of God the Father. 

Again, the promise is:  those who confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead, they will be saved.  John did that and he meant it.  The last words of our telephone conversation confirmed that yet again.  Jesus reached out to John, as He does to all of us, and John responded.  The Bible makes it very clear that God Almighty is faithful and merciful.  He reads the heart of each one of us and I believe He read John’s heart most favourably.  “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Fathers’s hand.  I and My Father are one.”  John 10: 27-30.