True Stories

Nick – God changed my life

18 Jan 2020

On Friday 29th January 1999, at the age of 22, I repented and was baptised by full immersion unto the remission of sins. I received the Holy Spirit with the bible evidence of speaking in tongues (an unknown pure language which God gives to communicate directly with Him) which Jesus promises to everyone who asks just like the first Christians did 2000 years ago. I have been an active member of the Revival Fellowship ever since.

Prior to that I had been baptised in the Greek Orthodox Church when I was little, as is their custom, and brought up to believe in God. However, as I was so young it was not a believer’s baptism. In fact, I do not remember the day it happened. Also, I did not have a personal relationship with God and didn’t see any miracles there. I supposedly had the Holy Spirit but there was no power or change in my life.

In high school a new friend told me that his family had left the Greek Church and that God had cured his sister of an incurable disease called vitiligo. He and his family told me about the things of God and that I needed to be born again to see and enter the Kingdom of God. They had such great conviction and peace, and I knew that what they were telling me was true. I was afraid of making the commitment to follow the Lord and especially of how my father would react, but after a few years I couldn’t deny the Lord any longer.
Receiving the Holy Spirit was the most amazing experience of my life. When I started to miraculously speak in this new language that God gave me, I knew instantly that God existed and that He was dwelling inside me. I couldn’t stop smiling and quickly told my parents what had happened to me. In time my mother also got baptised and received the Holy Spirit. My dad has mellowed a lot and I pray that he too will hearken to the gospel one day.
After I received the Holy Spirit I no longer had the desire to drink alcohol and immediately stopped swearing. Nobody told me I had to – it was the Holy Spirit working inside of me. I couldn’t get enough of reading the Bible and the scriptures now made sense. I got to all the meetings and outreach events because it was where I wanted to be, in fellowship with God’s people and telling people about God’s plan of salvation.
God has blessed me in every area of my life and meets all my needs. He helped me to change careers when I was unhappy in my work situation. I was single for a long time and then I met my future wife, Kathleen, at a church camp in New Zealand. (She had fasted for a husband about two years before that.) We were married 9 months later. God has blessed our marriage and we have three healthy sons who we are raising in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. There is no better life than being in the Lord and serving Him.

Nick Miaris (Darwin)

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