When you're in church, you get to hear a lot of different sayings that are not quite biblical. But this one resonated with me as a businessperson - put it in writing and you're good. This is about prayer and petition (Philippians 4:6). And in my understanding, this was about speaking something out loud and writing it down seemed to be an accurate interpretation.
By this time, in 2013, I wanted to move away from being self-employed and get a marketing job. So I wrote up what I wanted, very specifically, personally, and I prayed out loud. I also printed out the petition and handed it to our small church group who met our house every Wednesday.
I specified where the business needed to be located (in London, close to a tube line station), my salary, my title and position, that I wanted to travel abroad, that I wanted autonomy, and that I wanted my son to work with me. Oh, and I wanted all the latest Apple technology and marketing software currently available.
The following week I got a phone call on the Monday, for a meeting on Tuesday, an interview on Thursday, and got the job on Friday!
I started a few weeks later with my first day being a trip to Germany for three days, where I was asked to specify all the technology and software, I would need to run the marketing for a fintech company. Within a month, they knew the job needed more people. I suggested my son. He was hired the same day he was interviewed!
There were so many specifics in my prayer and petition for any of this to be wishful thinking, especially as the six people who attended our group saw this happen in real time.
If not you, I'll choose someone else!
Like so many things in life, the job came to an end, and then I felt compelled to begin writing and developing this site, The Standard. On reflection it seemed like God demonstrated to me He can do anything, however, there was work that needed to be done by someone, and it seems He chose me. I understood God might not make a point of asking twice!
My awareness of God moving in my life became quite clear. Naturally it was exciting, but it did change. I'm not saying it stopped, but it definitely changed. Perhaps we became more aware of how we were to live according to the bibe, rther than there being multiple highs and witnessing multiple miracles. Us mere mortals can only take so much I guess!
As a result of The Standard website existing, I received a phone call from a guy called Rene. He said he felt God tld him to contact me and informed me of a series of videos by an organisation called The Fuel Project. We chatted, blessed each other, said goodbye. And I clicked through to the videos.
This is where everything started to change, and the previous experiences God has demonstrated to me now turned into a long series of lessons and a journey of discovery, enlightenment, education, and even startling shock once I began to find out more about religions, events, the Catholic Church. And certain societies and much more.
One of the most critical elements was the fact Liz and I had become disillusioned with the organised church and watching these videos helped explained why and how the Church got to where it is now, and what could be instal for us as the years progress.
You can see the video series here: The Fuel Project You will see there are over 300 relatively short videos between 5 to 15 minutes long. As Liz and I got used to watching long, multiple series videos, we welcomed watching others. Especially from Walter Veith. Whilst he is Seventh Day Adventist, it did not detract from his biblical knowledge, especially his From Crete to Malta series.
With all these videos and growing awareness of faith related knowledge, the issue of Islam in the UK was growing. Yet I didn't know anything about it.
One day, Liz and I were in central London listening to an Argentinian preacher called Carlos Annacondia (I wrote about him and the revival in Argentina). Whilst praying, Liz saw a vision in the same way I had seen visions in the past. These events had become exciting, welcomed, and dare I say, expected.
Time to open my eyes.
On a high from Liz's experience, we were walking up from Westminster Hall, along Horse Guards towards Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column and at the time, there were the Yazidis demonstrating outside 10 Downing St. This was the period of time when ISIS were beheading Christians in the Middle East. As we continued through Trafalgar Square, we were approached by multiple Muslims attempting to preach the Quran. Something in my spirit was aggravated and angry. I didn't understand what Islam was all about, and so I made it my job to find out. Oh boy, yet another rabbit hole.
Until next time, bye for now,
Nigel
