Dear People Who Keep Company with God,
One year ago my phone rang and the voice on the other end said “Denise Moose’s house is on fire”. Becky and I dropped what we were doing and rushed over to her house with the hope it was not as serious as it sounded. As we came upon the scene our hearts just sank. It was one of those moments where all you could do was weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15).
This past Sunday Denise gave a testimony of all that God had done since that day. She mentioned some of the people who stood with her on that painful day, some of those who helped her dig through the rubble of her house, the money given to her by her church family and friends, and she showed pictures of her old burned up house and the new home that is being built. She communicated this with such a heart of worship and honor to the Lord.
As Denise shared this I began to sense something was being offered to our congregation. It was the same beauty for ashes, financial provision and help in time of need that Denise had experienced herself and was now sharing with us.
And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 19:10
The testimony of Jesus is anything He does or says. In the electricity world, there are 120 volts of potential power in the wall outlet; it is only when you are plugged into the wall outlet that the potential power becomes real power. Our testimonies are like that, potential power for those who will have ears to hear. We can have the same power which enabled the testimony in the first place if we will by faith plug into what is being said.
We are quick to believe someone if they say a certain movie is good or a particular restaurant serves good food; we will spend our money based on the person’s testimony. Should we not be even quicker to lay hold of the power of the Lord’s testimonies that we hear?
One trap every believer falls into is forgetting the works and wonders that God has done in their own lives. We have to remind ourselves to tell the story of God’s work in our own lives lest we forget because sometimes all we have is what God has done or what God has said. Our present circumstances may be one of seemingly total defeat and despair. When the Apostle Paul was faced with a crisis in his life or ministry he would always fall back to his own testimony. He found faith, courage and supernatural power from the works of God in his own life to meet the needs of his present circumstance.
One of the things that Jonathan Edwards exhorted the people who were experiencing the power of God during the First Great Awakening was communicate what God was doing in their lives. Edwards understood the prophetic potential in testimonies. His goal was for the revival to continue and to spread and he knew a key to this was through the power of testimonies. Bill Johnson said it like this, “if you want to stay in revival you put your focus on what God has done and is doing NOT on what He is not doing”.
One of our goals at RiverLife is to continually share what God is doing by giving a place in our services for testimonies and publishing them in our newsletters. We are working on having a dedicated page on our web site for testimonies so those visiting our church through the internet can also plug into the power of what God is doing with us.
What Jesus has done in our lives is one of the greatest talents that God will ever give us, it is more powerful than our theology, doctrine or any worldly possession. It is one of the few things we will take with us from this life.
Many Blessings, BW