Jan Harm – Witness
Jan Harm – Witness
How I met the Lord Jesus (My witness that He lives)
Where do I come from?
I was born in the First Military Hospital the year 1982. I was in Wonderboom primary school and afterwards went to HTS John Vorster. I ended my time at school at Capital College. Then I went to CTI and started working in Rosslyn as a programmer.
Where did it all start?
When I was 13 years old I listened to a song of Brian Adams: Summer of ’69. I said to myself: “This is the life that I would like to live.”
I started smoking marijuana when I was 15½ and by the time I reached 16½ I was 100% into drugs. The grace of God was upon me and I did not totally wreck my life then. By the time I reached 18 I was tired of living and had done most things to be done. I was part of the gothic scene and hanged out at the old Zeppelins. The first club I went to was “The Doors” in the centre of Jo’burg (it was the time when it was still a metal club). When I was 18½ the grace of the Lord Jesus started working in my life. I went through a tough time and God used that to show me that He is out there.
So I started seeking God…
Those years were very difficult because I was seeking God but did not know where to find Him. I did not want to be fooled by any ‘dominie’ or new age cult, I did not trust anyone, but through this all God was pulling me with cords of love.
One day a friend of mine played Psalm 22 to me. It was like a sword through my heart. I just could not believe that the death of Christ could be foretold with such accuracy a 1000 years before He came. I knew that something greater than I was going on.
The Law of Moses…
My life then took another turn. I thought that one must keep the Law of Moses to be saved. I started studying the Law of Moses intensely. The more I studied it the more my sins were revealed to me. I then saw how sinful man is before God but still I tried to work out my own salvation.
The grace of the Lord…
The Lord Jesus was good to me and did not let me go on in that path for too long. He sent two of His children over my path and they started to tell me that salvation is through Jesus alone. That through His death on the cross and His blood which flowed man can become righteous before God. It was a great struggle but September 2002 at Waterval Boven I gave my life to Jesus.
The new birth…
My problem was that I did not tell anyone about the step that I had taken. I also heard for the first time that one must be born again to enter God’s kingdom. This was a new thing for me and for three years I struggled to be born again and to have this experience. The one moment I felt that my case was right before God and the next mo-ment I would be dumped into total confusion. I just could not find rest in Jesus alone. For me, yes for my sins He died. I can add nothing to the completed work. I just could not believe.
The big night…
It was the last Sunday September 2005 in Centurion. I can still remember the exact place where I sat while my brother spoke on Ruth and Boaz. There while I was listening the Lord Jesus stretched out His hand and He revealed to me that only God can give the new birth.
Eph 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, (9) not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
When I realized this I became silent within myself and I received the Holy Spirit and immediately received the witness within myself that I am a child of God. The Lord Jesus saved me there. The reason that I know He lives is because of what He did in my own life. Look at the following verses:
Daniel 10:12
Then he said to me, “… from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard….
Hosea 11:4
I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.
Psalms 22:14-18
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; (15) my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. (16) For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet– (17) I can count all my bones– they stare and gloat over me; (18) they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
Romans 3:20
For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
John 3:3
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Romans 8:16
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Romans 3:23-24
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (24) and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Hebrews 9:27-28
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, (28) so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.