As you might have heard me say in some of my sermons, I was a rock musician in the late sixties and early seventies with a serious addiction to alcohol and drugs. I drank a bottle of whiskey every day – not for fun but just to start my day out. I’d do so many drugs that I’d break out in purple splotches all over my chest. I took many trips without leaving my hotel room.
One night I was flipping through the channels on TV before a gig, and I landed on a Billy Graham crusade. It was being televised in a stadium. My wife, Cathy, who had been saved a year and a half earlier, wanted to watch it.
“I don’t want to watch that garbage!” I said when she told me to leave it on. She didn’t miss a beat. She said, “Why not? He pulls in more people than you do.” Ouch. It was true, and I knew it. I didn’t care, so I left it on just to kill some time before leaving for my show.
I won’t go through all the emotions I felt that night, but I will say this – God touched my heart through that program. As an angry alcoholic and drug addict I was hanging on to some pretty heavy baggage. And by the time Billy Graham gave an altar call, I couldn’t hold on to the bags anymore. God was working on me. Of course, I didn’t want my wife to see my being affected by the program, so I did the only macho thing I could think of. I went to the bathroom. And it was there, in a hotel bathroom in Boston, Massachusetts, that I gave my life over to God. You could say that I met Jesus right at the throne!
I don’t remember my exact words, but I know I said something like, “If there is a God, come into my life and change me.” I wasn’t playing around; I was sincere. My voice might have been a whisper, but my heart was crying out for something real.
Suddenly something broke in my heart, and I began to cry – which I never, ever, and I mean ever, did. I was a “man.” I’d been taught all my life that men just don’t cry. Crying was for wimps and sissies. But when Jesus came in and touched my heart that night, I couldn’t stop myself from crying out. The tears just started to fall down my face.
Do you know what happened to me? Jesus came into my heart that night. The One who created the universe came down and changed me! He touched my heart, and suddenly something changed in me. I went from being a drug-filled angry sinner to a clean, joyful, righteous man in one night – actually, in a couple of minutes!
I didn’t know it right then, but He supernaturally delivered me from drug and alcohol addiction that night. I never went on another drug trip. I never got drunk as a skunk again. And that was a big deal because I’d been boozing it up for years. I put vodka in my cereal. Vodka and corn flakes – it was a good combo for me. But suddenly, I didn’t want it.
Accepting Salvation – From Heart-Change to Life-Change
Jesus changed my heart, and because of the heart-change, I started to make some changes in my life. Accepting Jesus completely transformed my life, and I know He can do the same for you. Before you can receive anything from God – whether it’s healing or anything else – you’ve got to make that heart-change.
If you haven’t accepted Jesus into your life, you’ll find a prayer by clicking on the “My Destiny” tab on the CFAITH homepage. It’ll help you get going when you approach God in prayer, but you can say it in your own words. Just remember this: It’s sincerity that counts. God will meet you right where you are. Please turn there now, and give your heart to the Lord.
The Bible-Your Welfare Book
If you die right after you get saved, salvation is all you really need to make heaven your eternal home. But if you have to live any amount of time at all on this planet, you will want to go beyond the salvation prayer and start using the rest of the Bible as your manual for living. I like to call it a “well fare” book – it is there for your welfare. And if you obey it, you’ll fare well!
Salvation is the foundation for Christianity and undeniably the most important subject in the Bible. Although it may sound like a cliche, according to Romans 10:9-10, you really do have to believe before you can receive salvation.
Now, most Christians understand that without faith in God’s plan, Jesus Christ, salvation is impossible. They realize that faith is a must when it comes to salvation. But sometimes they can get stuck when it is applied to other things in the Bible – like healing. When it comes to healing, suddenly everything gets complicated and wishy-washy, and in the end, a lot of people don’t really know what they believe.
I can understand that. There is a lot of confusing stuff out there about healing. But the bottom line is that God really didn’t make healing complex. We might, but He didn’t! He lumped it in there with everything else Jesus died to redeem us from, all of which come by a substance that a lot of Christians today have really misunderstood – faith.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Jesse Duplantis, minister of the Gospel, motivational speaker, television personality, and best-selling author, has been in full-time ministry since 1976 and is the founder of Jesse Duplantis Ministries, located in the Greater New Orleans area of south Louisiana in the United States of America. With over four decades of sharing his unique blend of humor and faith around the world, generations of believers have been inspired by his messages and countless numbers have come to know Jesus Christ as Savior through his ministry.
Known for his unflinching, status-quo-breaking messages and humorous take on experiences in the life of the believer, Jesse continues to draw large audiences of believers through social media, television, and meetings held around the world. With speaking engagements booked years in advance, Jesse Duplantis continues to keep an intense traveling schedule, flying throughout the United States and the world preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. With no booking agents pursuing meetings for him and no set fees imposed upon churches for speaking engagements, Jesse chooses his outreach meetings based on the same two criteria he always has: invitations that come in and prayer over each one. This uncommon way of scheduling in today’s world means Jesse’s many followers may find him speaking in some of the largest churches and venues in America and the world, as well as a great many small and growing congregations, too. No church is too big or small for the Holy Spirit, as he says.
Side by side with his wife Cathy Duplantis, the co-founder and chief of staff of Jesse Duplantis Ministries and the senior pastor of Covenant Church in Destrehan, Louisiana, Jesse continues to fulfill his life’s calling by daily taking up the Great Commission of Jesus Christ: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Through social media, television broadcasts, books, and other ministry products, as well as through many evangelistic meetings, the JDM website, the JDM app, and Voice of the Covenant magazine, Jesse Duplantis continues to see growth in his ministry and expand each year while maintaining his roots. Jesus is the center of his life. The salvation of lost people and the growth of believers is the purpose of his ministry. And for both he and his wife, every day is another day to “Reach People and Change Lives, One Soul at a Time.”