Episode Transcript
SPEAKER A
00:00:00 - 00:07:08
Hi, it's all too often said that there are no miracles performed these days. Well, I'd like to challenge this idea with my story of hearing God's voice. So welcome to Miracles in the 21st Century. I'm Mike Browning. I want to share my story with you. It's a very personal one. When I was just a little tot, um, my very first memory of being aware of life around me was that I knew that God had called me to serve him. Now, I didn't know what he'd called me to do, but I was totally aware that he'd done that. And as I grew up and finally started going to school and so on, that thought was in my mind so strongly. Not only that, I was very sensitive to the fact that God wanted me to be his kind of child, his kind of person.— and I was very aware one of those things was pure language. And it was very interesting that Jesus and his disciples were known for the fact that their language was without swear words. They were pure in their language. And I just felt that instinctively. And right up until the age of 11, I was very careful about that. Now, I went to an all-boys school. Don't recommend that, but that's what I did. And the boys' language wasn't too good. So I was surrounded all day long by boys swearing and so on. And I resisted that. And then when I was 11, and I can still see myself and remember exactly when this happened, and I was standing at the hall with a lot of boys waiting to go in. This was the kind of gymnasium. And I started using swear words. Now I'm not pleased about the fact that I did that.— and I'm mentioning it because I'd like to encourage those who are taking part and sharing in this program that this can set you back spiritually, using bad language. And from that point on, I lost something in my relationship with God. Up till then, as a child, I'd been very much aware of God's presence with me in my life. I would talk to him about everyday life. From that point on, things changed and I felt a longing in my heart for that to be re-established, that oneness with God that I felt as a very young child. I felt like that all the way through until I was 21. So for 10 years I had this longing in my heart for God. There must be some of you folks hearing this program today who must feel the same way. Well, what happened was this, folks, even though that had happened and that close connection with God had gone from me, I was still very much aware that he'd called me to serve him and that's what I wanted to do. But again, I didn't know what it was that he had in mind and he never told me, not at that point. So time was going on and I left school, started working in Hobart in Tasmania where we lived, or near where we lived, and On this particular occasion, I was 18 years of age, wondering what God wanted me to do with my life. As I think about those years, by the way, I should mention this: even though I wasn't what I would call a born-again converted person, yet I was still conscious of God's call and wanted to follow that call. God can be working in people's lives, in your life even, right now. And you're not aware of just exactly what he's doing. However, when we were sitting together around the table having breakfast one Saturday morning and my mother had the newspaper and she opened up the newspaper 'cause she knew I didn't know what to do with my life. And she said, "Oh, Michael, here's a job that might interest you." And she'd come across an advertisement advertising jobs working with the Australian government in Papua New Guinea. In those years, in the 1960s, the Australian government was administering Papua New Guinea before they had independence and leading them up to independence. And it was so interesting and so offering these jobs. And I said, "Let me have a look at that." And I can still see my poor mother's face fall when she saw I was going to take it seriously because she was only joking. Well, it turns out that God was working. And the long and the short of it is 3 months later, I was winging my way on an Electra, a big prop jet in those days, up to Papua New Guinea where I started to work. Went to work there in Port Moresby and then in Samarae, a little island down in the southeastern corner. And then in my third year there, I was in caving in New Ireland. While I was there, I happened to run into these Seventh-day Adventist missionaries. I talked to the missionary's wife named Lorna Harrison. She was a great sharer of her faith and she'd often have us young expats around to her place for a meal. We'd talk about spiritual things, which I was keen to talk about. Oh yes, I argued black and blue, but I was very keen to talk. Anyhow, one day she started talking to me about knowing God personally and of course I was interested in that. Because I knew that was the very thing I wanted. So I said to her, "So do you know God personally?" She said, "Yes, that's what the Christian faith is about." I said, "That's fantastic." I said, "What do you do?" And she said, "Well, it's simple. You just—" She suggested I just kneel down beside my bed at my little house and I say to God, "I want to give my life to you." I said, "Well, I can do that." So I began to do that. Morning and evening I knelt beside my bed and I said, "Lord, I want to give my life to you today." Kept on doing that. Words to that effect. I kept doing that for one week and heaven was silent. I did it for a second week and heaven was still silent. I began to do it for the third week and that's when I heard God's voice for the first time in my life. Remember, I was saying to him, "I want to give my life to you." And he said to me a simple one-liner, "Michael, you're accepted. You're accepted." That was all I wanted to hear, folks. Wow! That was the turning point in my life. And the interesting thing is that even though God didn't say what it was he wanted me to do with my life, I automatically knew. He was calling me to be a gospel minister, and I've been that all my life. Now in retirement, still doing what I can for the Lord, and I'm so grateful for the fact that he hears us when we come to him and he accepts us. And that knowledge of his accepting voice, those words, I've, as you can tell, I've never forgotten those. And I'd like to encourage folks, seek him while he may be found in your life, and you will know what it means to be God's son or God's daughter. God bless.
