Seek the LORD, while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.
Isaiah 55, 6.
“Ralph, Jesus loves you,” my friend had told me. 99 people out of 100 would have shrugged their shoulders on hearing those words. Not I! Somehow I knew: this time it is serious. I sensed that they came directly from Jesus to me. The impression that God was speaking to me was overpowering. Until then I had always been “cool”. Now I couldn’t hold back my tears. I recognized the greatness of God’s love towards me. He had been watching over me during my life, even down in the “pit and the miry clay”, so as to reach me and save me in His merciful love.
How did I react? Perhaps none too trustingly, but rather doubtfully. I went with my friend to his room. There I prayed, “God, if you really exist, reveal yourself to me!” My friend said, “Listen, God has heard your prayer, and He will answer it.” And He did. Not as I imagined. God’s ways are always higher than our ways. That applied to my life, too. What actually happened?
First I realized that it was impossible for me to return to my former friends’ sphere of influence. To put it clearly: I couldn’t go to that guru temple again, or I should have been immediately back in their claws and on a wrong pathway. But taking the logical step wasn’t easy for me.
I clearly felt that behind that false religion and the practices connected with it were evil, invisible spiritual forces.
But God did respond to my prayer!