Taught by God

Written by Chaplain Jim Freed, 

Director of Men’s Ministries and Families for Christ at America’s Keswick Colony of Mercy

Proverbs 2:1-5 NKJV 

“My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you,

So that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;

Yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding,

If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures;  

Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God.”

I remember life as a young teenager. We went to church, or rather were dropped off there because our parents thought it important that we attend. I don’t remember where I developed such a great appreciation for God’s Word the Bible, but it could have been there. I do remember waking up in my grandmother’s house and coming down to see her in the kitchen drinking her coffee and reading her big ole tattered Bible. I heard tell that there was a time when she struggled with alcohol (she called it “poor man’s champagne,”) during the Great Depression. I never saw that side of her, I just saw a quiet woman dedicated to the well-being of her children and grandchildren. At any rate I really believe that her early morning prayers had a lot to do with me becoming a full time minister long after her passing. I told my mother that was what I wanted to become back when I was 16 years old.

I always did believe in God; it just took me an awful long time to find Him. I started out ok, but I began drinking alcohol with my dad at work. I thought that everyone did it. I believed in God, church, the United States of America, the American Dream, and my family, that is until it all fell apart.  My parents got a divorce when I was seventeen and my world imploded from there. The girl I wanted to marry left me, my drinking increased significantly, and I joined the military to try to find some semblance of order. Unfortunately, my idealistic patriotic view of how things should be was shattered by the reality of drug and alcohol abuse in the military. I felt like the proverbial rug had been pulled out from under me and I renounced any belief in God that I formerly had. That is until I stood on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean next to Highway 101 in California and saw the power and majesty of the ocean. That moment I began a quest to find my heavenly Father that would last many years.

I searched for God alright, through a haze of psychedelic drugs, alcohol, and alternative religions for the next twenty-three years. I never stopped searching and even became involved in the cult of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which eventually soured my appetite for God and religion. And then one day in a fit of desperation I cried out to God and He heard me. I found the God I had longed to know all of my life. That was 25 years ago. Since then I have been an avid student of His Word and He has taught me more than I could ever have expected. Heaven itself will reveal how he has impacted the lives of men and women through the Colony of Mercy ministry that I direct. I have lived my life by the Word of God and taught others to do the same. I have prayed for wisdom in one on one and group counseling sessions alike and seen His Spirit reveal truth that would have otherwise never been known. I have never seen a man who truly desired life transformation that couldn’t be transformed by the renewing of his mind according to scripture. I have learned firsthand the truth of Isaiah 55:10-11 NKJV

For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

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Chaplain Jim Freed is the Director of Men’s Ministries and Families for Christ at America’s Keswick Colony of Mercy. He has served faithfully in the full-time ministry since September 1, 1996. He is a born again believer in Jesus Christ who has come out of addiction to drugs and alcohol and has been clean for more than 25 years. As the Administrative Director of the Colony of Mercy he oversees a staff of six team members, teaches and counsels residents on daily basis and oversees the daily operation of this 40-man residential recovery ministry. He is the author of the 16-week curriculum that is currently being used in the Colony of Mercy. He is also the husband of one wife, Carol Ann for 43 years, the father of seven children, grandfather of ten and an elder/preacher in his local church.  Visit Jim’s website,  FreedInChrist.org, to discover how you can be freed from ALL TYPES OF PAIN, SUFFERING, BONDAGE,  AND ADDICTIONS THROUGH JESUS CHRIST…

Jim’s testimony how he was freed in Christ: