I was driving to work one day, just like any ordinary day.
I'd just had the motor reconditioned, the mag wheels polished, the air-conditioner restored and a sound-system with a five-band graphic equalizer installed – so I was feeling quite good about my car.
Then unexpectedly the words came to me, “...give it away...”
I ignored it and kept driving.
But the feeling persisted: “Give it away.”
So I said, “Ok Lord, I'll give it away – on the weekend”.
“No – after work today will be fine,” He said.
And I knew who I had to give it to.
Then after I got to work, God started speaking to me again:
“It’s time you gave notice in your job,” He said.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked.
Straightaway He showed me a vision of Australia with pathways criss-crossed all over it.
“Just go wherever I tell you to go, and preach the Gospel,” He said.
“How am I going to live without an income? I'm not going to chuck-in a perfectly good job and go on the dole,” I said.
“You won't need to. Just trust me. I'll provide everything,” He said.
So I gave notice in my job, and then after work I drove over to my friend's house who I felt led to give the car to.
I knocked on the front door. But he wasn’t home.
“Well there you go – this wasn’t God after all,” I thought to myself, “Pity about the job – but at least you've still got the car.”
So I got back in the car - and for a moment I sat there wondering what to do next. I still felt sure it was God who had been leading me.
"Surely I shouldn’t just go home now and forget the whole thing?” I thought to myself.
I wondered what was going to happen next.
And would you believe - the car wouldn't start!
So I got out and lifted the bonnet, and phoned the breakdown service.
After the mechanic came and got the motor running - just as I was closing the bonnet - my friend arrived home.
“Oh John! What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Wouldn’t you like to know!” I thought to myself.
I didn’t quite know how to tell him that I was there to give him a car - so I didn’t mention it.
Anyway, he invited me in, and the very first thing he said to me was:
“John, my wife and I have been praying - we're really asking God to give us a car”.
That was so good to hear! A confirmation.
So I threw him the car keys.
“She's all yours then,” I said.
But he thought I was only joking, and threw the keys back to me.
“You've prayed for a car – so it's yours,” I explained as I handed the keys back to him.
“Very funny,” he said, handing the keys back to me again.
There we were, handing the keys backwards and forwards – yet I couldn't convince him I was serious!
So I said, “Look, come out, sit in the car: there’s a few things I'll need to show you.”
After I finished showing him over the car, he looked up at me from the driver's seat and asked one last time, “You are joking – aren’t you?”
I left him there praising God for the answer to he and his wife’s prayer, and I caught a bus and a train home, feeling full of anticipation at the way God was leading me.
I knew it wasn’t going to be easy telling my parents what I’d done.
It took me a couple of days to find the courage to tell my father. One afternoon dad was in his bedroom watching sports on TV. I finally walked in and said nervously:
“Dad, there's something I need to tell you. I’ve quit my job and given my car away - I’m going to go and do something for God.”
“That's nice son - it’ll be good for you to do something different,” he said.
And he didn’t even take his eyes off the TV the whole time.
So I had nothing to be nervous about after all.
In my spirit I knew what my instructions were for my first trip: I was to go to four towns, and I was to take five weeks to do it.
The only problem was – I didn’t know anyone in any of the towns, except the last town. So I had no idea where I would stay; how I would eat; how I would travel from town to town; nor whether I’d be given opportunities to preach. I would have to step-out in simple faith, trusting God alone to provide everything.
So I decided I'd really go out on a limb – and I started giving away all my cash savings.
Then I even thought about selling my house and paying out the loan then giving away whatever was left. I was on a real roll! But at that point, God said, “Stop – keep the house.”
At first I felt relieved.
But then I realized what this meant – it meant I would need to trust God to provide the money needed each and every to make the loan repayments. I realized it was going to take more faith to keep the house than it would to give it away!
“But if I ever miss one repayment on my house, I’m going back to work,” I resolved.
Instead of stepping-out straightaway, I spent the next few weeks preparing my heart. I remembered Jesus’ words:
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish...So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:28-30,33).
I knew I would encounter various challenges along the way on this new journey of faith – so I spent time strengthening my heart. I decided ahead of time what my response would be to every imaginable challenge I might encounter.
At that time I was given some biographies about men and women who accomplished great things for God from similar, small beginnings. I noticed that each of them heard directly from God then stepped-out in faith – often without any visible means of support.
While I was packing my backpack for my trip, someone said that I might need a new pair of shoes before too long.
But on the inside I felt, “It will be provided.”
I also desired to take a guitar – but again on the inside I felt, “No – it will be provided.”
My faith grew to the point where I was really looking forward to proving literally the Scripture:
“Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat” (Matthew 10:9-10).
Since this whole journey of faith was God’s agenda not my own, I decided I would never ask anyone for somewhere to preach nor ever ask anyone for money for my personal needs. I figured I could leave those things in God's hands too.
The day came where I bought a one-way bus ticket to the first town – and with the prayer support of my family, pastor and church – I said goodbye and left.
I felt like Abraham, where the Scripture says:
“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles [tents]…” (Hebrews 11:8,9).
It was night time when I arrived. I didn't know a single soul in that quiet little country town. I found a caravan park and put up my tent.
As I lay back in my tent that first night, I started thinking about everything I'd just done:
I'd left my job, my car, my savings, my family, my role in my church, and I'd gone out to a place where I didn't know a single soul and where nothing had been organized - just because I believed I'd heard from the Lord and He sent me.
I was soon to discover that God had everything organized.
Next morning I urgently desired to meet someone who might allow me to set-up my tent on their property, so I wouldn't have to pay caravan-park fees every night. But instead, the first thing I sought was for someone to tell about Jesus.
The very first person I spoke to told me that he had just got out of jail, and he thought his mother might like to meet me. So I went with him to meet his mother, and when I told her that I'd come to town to tell people about Jesus and to pray for the sick, she said I could put-up my tent on a vacant block beyond their backyard.
God provided my need through the very first person I spoke to!
One day they took me to visit a friend of theirs, and I noticed a guitar leaning up against her lounge room wall. So I picked it up and began to sing the song:
To get a touch from the Lord is so real!
To get a touch from the Lord is so real!
If you draw nigh to Him,
He will draw nigh to you.
To get a touch from the Lord is so real!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Jesus is coming, is coming again.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Jesus is coming again
The lady felt so touched she began to cry. She said with tears, “I want you to have that guitar. And wherever you go, sing for the Lord, and remember me.”
The Lord provided a guitar, just like He'd promised - and it was a perfect size for travelling.
A few days later I needed to find a different place to stay, and I felt led to go and visit that lady again and ask if I could stay at her place. The Lord reminded me of the verse where Jesus said to Zaccheus, "...tonight I must abide at thy house" (Luke 19:5).
So I went back to her house and asked. She answered that she already thought of inviting me but she felt sure a “man of the cloth” would refuse to stay at her house.
So she and her adult son were happy to have me - and I stayed there until the day I left town.
I was unaware of the lady's reputation in town - but when news started to spread that she'd given away a gift and had even received a preacher into her house - lots of people were surprised and came to visit her. I got to share the good news with each one who came.
I knew someone else would have to look after them all after I left town. So one day I gathered everyone together, then found the phone number of a local Assembly of God church, and rang the Pastor and invited him to come and meet everyone. When the Pastor came and saw what God had done, he was glad.
He invited me to preach at his youth group, and also in the church. He took me to preach in a neighbouring town. In the meetings the Holy Spirit gave the gifts of the word of knowledge and prophecy, and several people were saved and filled with the Holy Spirit.
After two weeks in town, I felt the time had come for me to leave town and travel to my next destination. When the first man I'd met in town and his mother heard I was leaving, they visited me at their friend's house and gave me a gift of a box of groceries and a pair of shoes which fitted me perfectly.
God provided everything I needed!
Whilst preparing my belongings to leave, I thought to myself, “I’d really like a pair of brown, leather lace-up shoes to go with these jeans.” Then I decided to go outside and pray for an hour before heading-out on my journey.
After one hour I said, “Well Lord, I better go now.” I thought I would need to travel to the next town by foot and I didn't want it to be dark when I arrived, so I wanted to make an early start.
But the Lord said, “No, pray another hour.”
I prayed another hour, then I said, “Well I really need to get going now.”
“No, pray another hour,” I firmly felt.
So I prayed another hour and then I said, “Well Lord, I really must go now”.
Again I felt an inner resistance, “Pray another hour.”
By the end of the fourth hour it was too late to go. So I went back to the house.
That evening someone from the church came to visit the people where I was staying. I mentioned to him that I was planning to leave town the next day. He asked which town I was going to. When I told him, he said, "Oh I'm working there tomorrow. How are you getting there?” And he offered me a lift.
Then I understood why God had three times held me back from setting-out on my journey - all along He had planned a better way to get me there. It was a lesson to me that when the Holy Spirit leads us through an inner witness to lay down our own ideas, it's often because He has a better plan.
We pulled into town early the next morning. "Where would you like me to drop you?” asked the brother who was driving. This small town only had one traffic intersection - with a post office on one corner and a pub, a phone booth and small shop on the other corner. I had no idea where to go or where I'd spend the night.
“I'm working at a house just up the road," he said, "just come with me first, if you like.”
So I went with him, and when we arrived at the house - as soon as we stepped out of the car - a lady came up to me smiling, and said, “Hi. It's so good to see you - we've been waiting for you!”
I couldn't remember if I'd ever met her before.
“Don’t worry, you don't know us – but we know you!" the lady said.
"We are Christians, and we were praying, and the Lord showed us your face in a vision, and told us you’d be coming soon, and that you'll be wearing a red shirt when you arrive, and that we are to look after you. Where are you staying?”
I had a bright red shirt on that day.
Then she asked, “By the way, what size shoe do you wear?”
An unusual question, I thought - coming from complete strangers.
“Size eight. Why?”
When I said size eight, the lady and her daughter burst out laughing. She sent her daughter upstairs, and when the daughter returned the lady said, “Here, try these on,” and handed me a pair of brown, leather lace-up shoes.
They were exactly what I'd desired, and they fitted me perfectly!
While I was trying them on, the lady said that a few weeks earlier when she was shopping, she saw those shoes in the shop, and the Lord told her, “Buy them.”
And she said, "What for, Lord? No-one in my family can wear that size".
And the Lord answered, "Because someone's coming soon, and when he comes you're to give them to him - and you're to look after him when he arrives".
The Lord prepared to provide for me before I even asked.
I stayed with them, and ministered to families in the area.
When it came time to go to the next town, I didn't know how I would be able to travel there, but a visitor came to the house who happened to be driving to that very town - so he offered me a lift.
When we drove into town, he asked me where I would like him to drop me off. I didn't know anybody in town, so I said anywhere would do.
Less than two hours later, I was standing behind the pulpit, speaking in the Sunday night service of a local Uniting Church. The presence of the Holy Spirit touched the congregation that night. It seemed nobody wanted to leave. And the elders of the church gave me a place to stay.
They invited me to speak at a local State High School, and students got saved and some received healing - and word started to get around town about it. I was also invited to minister in mid-week meetings, and some members of the church were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, one of whom was an elder of the church.
One afternoon I went for a walk by myself, and I noticed a sense of satisfaction, deep in my soul. I hadn't felt this satisfied for years. I'd always kept busy serving God - but now that I was hearing from Him more specifically and acting in obedience to His voice, I felt a deeper sense of fulfillment, joy and assurance of destiny.
"Now I'm really serving God," I felt.
I didn't know how I was going to travel to the last town - I only sensed that I was to travel on a certain day. Then I met someone who had planned to drive to that town on that very day - and he offered to drive me there. This was the only town where I already had friends, so I stayed with them.
The Lord opened doors to minister in several groups. We also hired a hall and advertised revival meetings in the local newspaper.
After accomplishing everything that the Lord put in my heart to do, I went back home. My trip had lasted five weeks - exactly as the Lord said.
The Lord had provided all of my food, clothes, shelter, a guitar, shoes, and transport. He opened more doors for me to minister than I could ever have planned. He brought me into wonderful relationships with so many people and churches, many of which continue to this day. And guess how much of my own money I needed to spend during the whole five-week trip? Not one cent.
As Jesus said:
"...every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold [now in this time], and [in the world to come] shall inherit everlasting life (Matthew 19:29, with Mark 10:29,30)."
Since then Jesus has sent me on many more trips, each one lasting a few days, or a month, or a year.
In every place, people said to me, “God sent you to us.”
God has a wonderful, tailor-made plan especially for your life too.
Ask God today, “What do you want me to do?”
And expect an answer within two weeks!
Four steps towards your destiny:
1. Hear directly from God
2. Maintain right relationships
3. Get the timing right
4. Step out in faith
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