Testimony

I am currently re-reading a book called The Essential Guide to Healing by Randy Clark and Bill Johnson. In one of the chapters, Bill writes about testimonies. This is what I learned from that chapter.

Growing up in church, a testimony would be shared typically by somebody about to be baptised. They'd get up and share their story and how God plays a role in it. But I never thought about testimonies also being things in general God has done each day. For instance, the other day I was really angry and I prayed God would take away my anger. I then put on worship music and within 10 minutes I was joyful. Truly joyful! How great is that! God answered my prayer so quickly.

Anyway, since the book I am reading is about healing (main focus is on physical healing) the chapter discusses testimonies in that context. Bill says that when we share what God has done in our lives, it can give faith to others to have the same outcome. For example, one lady came forward for prayer at a conference Bill was speaking at because she was missing part of her calf muscle from a previous accident. Bill prayed over her and the next morning when she woke up, her calf was whole! She was so excited she went back and shared her story to Bill. He asked her to share her testimony in front of the crowd. Another woman thought to herself "Surely if God healed her, he'd heal me too!" so she went forward for prayer. She was also missing part of her calf. She was healed. And then 3 more people were healed. Testimonies of what God does brings forth faith.

Another thing I learned is that instead of focusing on what God isn't doing (or doesn't seem to be doing), to focus on what he has done. This doesn't mean if somebody needs prayer and we have prayed a few times and have not seen an answer that we give up. Of course we pray for people's needs and contend for breakthrough when we don't see it. However, instead of dwelling on what we think God isn't doing, we should focus on what he has done to build up our faith and others as well. An example of this would be, if a church has a lot of couples divorcing, instead of focusing on how much people are divorcing, to find a couple who was near divorce and then had their marriage healed by God, for them to share their story with everybody. It could help people in the same situation to have faith to not give up.

Essentially we should always be sharing with others what God is doing in our lives and those around us. The Bible does say we are to be God's witnesses. So what have you witnessed? What needs to be shared with others around you? Let's celebrate what God is doing and content for breakthrough in the areas we haven't seen answered yet. Let's also give glory to God for all of his mercies, miracles, grace, and answered prayers!