Person of the Word

By John Brandon Murray

Dear reader,

I am probably one the most unlikely persons to have written this book. I also realize that the content of this book is going to provoke many. I never grew up going to church, but saw the power of God manifested while attending boarding School in my homeland of Jamaica. Ever since then, the spirit of God got my attention and my quest began to find God and to know Truth for myself.

I gave my life to Jesus at the altar, but never came to know God at the altar. I learned more about Him in church and by reading inspirational books, but never came to know God as my Father through church and books. I drew close to Him through prayer and fasting, but was never totally satisfied by prayer and fasting.

Then, one day, I was driven towards Truth and began studying the Word for myself, and in particular the New Testament Word of God. This is where I finally found God - I found Him in His Word.

There is a mystery inherent in the Person of the Word which is difficult to explain because the Word has to be experienced, to be understood. For me, part of the mystery was that I didn't just see the Word as simply the Word of God, I saw the Word as God Himself, because HE IS THE WORD.

What I have come to discover is that many of us as Christians struggle to spend personal time in the Word. As a consequence, there are hidden Truths that are still unknown to many. Because these truths are still unknown, many are still not free.

Hence I have written, to share some of the things that I have seen and come to recognize over time, with the ultimate ambition of motivating everyone who reads this book to make the greatest investment that one could ever make in this life, which is "Investing Time in The Word of God".

Yes, God does take into account, literally, the time you invest in prayer, the sacrifices you make, the battles you fight for him, the number of hairs on your head and the words you utter, but He also takes very careful note of how much time you invest in His Wor

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Oct 31, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483590721

Book preview

Conscience

Preface

Having grown up in a home where my mother taught me to pray every night, Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild …, as I got older, I realized and understood that there was a God and that, for Him to be real to me, I had to communicate with Him on a daily basis, at least every night. Church was not a major influence in my earlier years before becoming a teenager, but thankfully, for as much as I can remember, God was always in our schools. I clearly remember my mother taking my brother and me to church one Sunday morning and us getting into a fight. She was totally embarrassed and never took us back.

As time went on, my parents decided to send their two sons to boarding school and it was there that I was exposed to a different kind of church, a different kind of worship. At boarding school, I came to realize that I could actually say a prayer that was not committed to memory, I could sing and clap to short songs repeatedly that were not hymns, I could express joy and even afford a smile on my face because the God who I was now being exposed to, was actually making people happy.

I grew up in the Anglican Church, and the proper thing to have done was to have become confirmed. Confirmation involved going to classes, which eventually culminated in an official confirmation ceremony. But then I heard about salvation and giving my heart to Jesus.

At about this time, there was a biology teacher at Munro College, who was a past student. This man had returned to the institution to teach but was more like a missionary who had returned with a passion to tell people about Jesus. Mr Jeffery Jacobs was his name and if you gave him a moment, he would share with you about his Jesus. If you gave him more than a moment, he would not only share but would begin to weep, and weep so naturally, as tears of what seemed to be joy flowed down his face, as he spoke about his love for God.

The manner in which Mr Jacobs communicated his Jesus was very strange to me at the time, and provoked a curiosity that caused me to try to find out a little bit more about him.

He would have prayer meetings right before our homework sessions, and so one evening I decided to satisfy my curiosity by attending one of his meetings. I went but still couldn’t figure him out, I couldn’t understand why every time he spoke, he would get to a point where he would pause abruptly, and I would hear Praise Jesus, very softly, before he continued. Then it would happen again, and the tears would begin to flow … again; it was as if this man was a vessel that kept on overflowing. Certainly Mr Jacobs did not have the ability to weep at will; so what was it that was making him weep?

I continued to attend the meetings as much as I could because I had by this time heard that Mr Jacobs was filled with the Spirit. This made me even more curious and so I went expecting that maybe one day, I would see something spectacular. Well, one evening, something did happen.

There was a friend of mine, who stuttered, who also attended the meetings. His name was Ellerton James. That evening, Ellerton attended the meeting and for whatever reason, Mr Jacobs, who knew of Ellerton’s speech impediment, announced that he was going to pray for him that his speech would be made whole. At last, the time had come for me to see the spectacular, but really, in my heart, I was getting ready to laugh in amusement at Mr Jacobs, because surely Ellerton’s speech was not going to change after a prayer.

Mr Jacobs prayed a simple prayer from the small pulpit and without laying hands on Ellerton, he said, Ellerton, I am going to pray for you tonight that your speech will be made whole. And that was it, the prayer was done. Then he said, Speak. Ellerton began to speak, and there was no more stuttering.

As an athlete, I played football (soccer) for my school and, consequently, had some standing amongst my peers. And so, with confidence, I returned to my dormitory and told my fellow dorm mates that Mr Jacobs had prayed for Ellerton’s speech and that he could now speak without stuttering. Some started to say that it was all in the mind, while others made a joke out of it and said that Ellerton could have spoken properly all the time, but was fooling everyone. As for me, I knew what I had witnessed, but after hearing the responses, I started to have doubts about what had happened until, one day, I had my own experience.

I had been an athlete all my life and could never really remember becoming ill. But one morning, shortly after Ellerton’s experience, I woke up with a severe pain across my stomach, and so I went to see the nurse on duty at the sick bay. The nurse attended to me and I was admitted to the infirmary for the day. She gave me medication to ease the pain, but it would not cease. Eventually the school doctor was called in and he recommended more medication, but still the pain continued. I remember lying on the bed, trying to find a position that would give me the most relief, and when I found that position, I would stay there and try my best not to move.

I lay in the infirmary bed all day and at approximately 5:00 p.m., I heard a knock on the infirmary door. It was Mr Jacobs. He politely came in and said that he had heard that I was sick and had come up to ask if he could pray for me. I told him that I had no problem with him praying, and so he said a short prayer.

Nothing happened.

He then asked how I was feeling and I told him I felt a little better, just to show my appreciation for him coming. He thanked me and turned towards the door. Mr Jacobs then opened the door, went through and gently shut it. But, as he shut the door, the moment the door was closed, something happened. I didn’t feel anything, no electricity, no warmth, but the pain left my stomach and it was gone.

I was in awe, I was in shock, but I couldn’t deny what had just happened. I sat up in the bed, got dressed, told the nurse that I was better and went to Mr Jacobs’ meeting that same evening. I gave no testimony, but he knew that something must have happened; somebody’s prayer must have been answered.

Because of my experience in sharing what had happened to Ellerton, I kept my experience mostly to myself, sharing it with very few.

By this time, I had made a decision to become saved, a bit different from confirmation because the decision was more private and personal and there was no certificate. I do not remember when I made my first decision at the altar, but for me, it was something I had to do if I was going to better understand my healing encounter. Why did God heal me, why did he make himself so real to me?

I left boarding school in the country and went to Kingston to further my studies and to play more football, with the intention of getting a football scholarship to attend college in the United States of America. Things were going well, and as I positioned myself to achieve my goals, I found a church that met under a huge yellow and white tent on a Sunday morning.

The church was pastored by Bishop Peter Morgan, whose sons — Colin, Carrington and Christopher — I had gone to prep school with. The name of the church was Covenant Community Church and I later learnt that the time at which I had begun attending Covenant is now considered to be a historic time for the Church in Jamaica because during this time, the Spirit of God moved in a very pronounced and distinct way.

At Covenant, I walked into an environment where there were several people like Mr Jeffery Jacobs, people with a passion and a love for Jesus. Not only were there people with passion, but also people with power, which you could hear in their prayers. What struck me, however, about Covenant Community Church was the sense of community. It seemed that there were people in attendance from every level of society and walk of life. There were the rich, the poor, the middle class, ambassadors from other nations, all under one tent, and they all had one thing in common, Jesus.

I remember seeing and knowing people who were healed of cancer back then who are still alive today, twenty-seven years later. Other healings took place, and I saw the Bible come alive when demons were cast out of people, some were filled with the spirit, lives were changed, and I remember for the first time actually wanting to hear the sermon. I wanted to hear The word of God delivered from the pulpit. I will always remember hearing Doctor Myles Munro preach for the first time at Covenant.

Something was happening to me during this time. What was I, John Brandon Murray, doing in church every Sunday morning, on my own accord and will?

At Covenant Community Church, I learned more about my salvation experience and relationship with God. Christ came to save me and grant me a relationship with God the Father. In that relationship, I had to be responsible because it required of me change; change that I had to demonstrate by way of a New Life, a life that I was being called unto. This was where things became challenging for me because, despite the intrigue of church, I didn’t want to miss out on all the fun.

It was a struggle to be genuine and honest in my relationship with God and I drifted into partying, and paying attention to everything else in life — except God. But as I drifted, I had a sense of losing something that I had gained, until eventually my life became dangerous and risky. I remember making the decision to get a motor cycle and I remember crashing on four occasions, one of which involved a motor car. I also remember two robbery attempts; on both occasions I could have lost my life as I seemed to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but each time I managed to escape.

My football ambitions were gaining steam until I got my first real injury which caused me to struggle in what was to be a pivotal season in the pursuit of a scholarship opportunity while at St Georges College. And so, in general, things began falling apart. I had to make a decision, and when I considered all things, it was not hard to decide because I couldn’t, in my right mind, choose to continue spiralling downwards. God had spoken to me through my experiences, He had been patient and so it was my time to respond to Him, which I did.

I gave up my motor cycle and careless lifestyle, and my life became safer. I continued to attend church, but with a better conscience, and eventually things started to fall in place for my football scholarship.