Elder Minchin's Early Consecration at the Darling Range School
"During that first chapel talk he gave that wonderful statement from the Spirit of Prophecy that I memorized years ago: "There is no limit to the usefulness of one who putting self aside makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart and lives a life wholly consecrated to God." He said, "Young people, that's a divinely inspired statement, and that says there is no limit to the usefulness of one" —he didn't say which one—only the one that is willing to put self aside, and give God a chance in His life."
Shared at a Week of Prayer meeting in Takoma Park, MD in 1965.
"I thank the Lord, young people, that He called me to know Him and to love Him when I was a boy. I lost my parents at fourteen and fifteen, and I'm so grateful that my mother's dying prayer was that her boy should go to college and become a worker for God. She never lived to see her boy go to college, but she did live to see him give his heart to Christ. But I didn't know what I wanted to be. I went to that little academy over there—we call it an academy—a junior college, I suppose—over in Western Australia. Before I went there, we lived on a farm in the West, and I hated school,
We had a horrible teacher. A little State school. Fourteen children. Godless teacher. He used to drink and smoke and swear and blaspheme. He would drink all weekend, and then we would have the results of his drinking bouts during the week. I hated that teacher. I hated school. I used to cry on Monday mornings when I'd get on that little pony and ride four miles through the Australian bush to that little school. That man called me a dunce and a blockhead. One day, he hit me over the head with a pencil case and told me I was a blockhead and he might as well talk to a post outside as talk to me. And I believed him. I really did. I just felt I wasn't any good. I couldn't learn. I hated school. I had developed an inferiority complex, and friends, not until I went to that little academy where I came for the first time under the influence of Christian teachers and Christian students, did something happen in my heart that told me that God could take me, and use me. That happened in the very first chapel talk that we had in that school by the godly principal, Elder A. H. Piper. He's gone now. A man of faith, I think of him when I sing about the faith of our fathers. Yes, he's gone now, but during that first chapel talk he gave that wonderful statement from the Spirit of Prophecy that I memorized years ago: "There is no limit to the usefulness of one who putting self aside makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart and lives a life wholly consecrated to God." He said, "Young people, that's a divinely inspired statement, and that says there is no limit to the usefulness of one" —he didn't say which one—only the one that is willing to put self aside, and give God a chance in His life. It means the girl from the factory, the lad from the office, the boy from the farm. And I was sitting in the back of that chapel, and said to myself, "I'm the boy from the farm." Something happened in my heart. I had already given my heart to the Lord, but I didn't understand what He wanted me to do or to be. I didn't know the plan He had for my life. I didn't think I was worth much anyway. "There is no limit," that statement says, "to the usefulness of—how many is it?, just one—"who putting self aside makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart and lives a life wholly consecrated to God." And there sitting in that chapel that morning, God spoke to my heart, and I said in my heart, "O Lord, could I be one of those 'ones'"?
Young people, I am not worthy of it, but He put His hand on me back there. He put His hand on me, and said, "My boy, I want you. I want you to be my servant. Later, He told me, "I want you to be a preacher." I didn't know then, young people, that He was going to put His hand on me and one day send me to the uttermost parts of the earth to preach to His young people. And one day, in 1965, I would talk to young people in the Takoma Park Church. No, no. I couldn't have believed it! I was unworthy of it. I have never been worthy of it. I marvel at His grace toward me. I really do, friends, but all I know is that He put His hand on me and said, "My boy, I want you. Will you be willing to put self aside?" There is the battle, there's the struggle. And, friends, when I fail, it's when I haven't been willing to put self aside."
