Telling Your Story

God can and will use our personal testimonies in powerful ways and at various times during our lives with many different people. As we speak about how God has dealt with us in our lives ... how He saved and redeemed us, the Holy Spirit can heighten a nonbeliever's curiosity to the point where they may eventually take a step of faith and seek forgiveness. Some people may be led by the Spirit to dig into deeper spiritual matters and use our words to help them seek Christ as their Savior. Hearing how God has worked in our lives may encourage or prompt a person to desire that same relationship that we share with the Father.

John 9 is about a man born blind. Jesus healed him and he no longer had to beg because he could see. Many people questioned him about how he had received his sight, and to each one he related the facts in his case as he had experienced them. "The man called Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.' So I went and washed and I can now see!" (Jn 9:11 NLT) That was his personal testimony.

People around us will notice that there's something unusual about us when we obey Jesus' commands. Perhaps they'll notice that we can remain calm in frightening circumstances or appear less upset at a material loss. Maybe they will recognize that stress from this world no longer has much affect on us and that we appear to be less fearful during times of crises. They may ask us why we no longer participate in activities and conversations that dishonor God or why we avoid certain things like alcohol and tobacco. As we become conformed into the image of Christ, our personality changes and people around us will notice. And we can respond as simply as the blind man did: "I was spiritually blind and separated from God by sin. Jesus, the Savior, died on the cross to pay for my sins. Through faith in Him, I know I have been forgiven and made part of God's family. That's why I'm not the same."

We don't need to have the answers to all our questions to talk about Jesus and what He did for us. We need only relate what happened to us in our individual circumstances. Tell what happened to us personally. We should take the time to briefly write out our testimony in a few short sentences and be able to tell our own story in a short, concise way. If we look for opportunities to tell our story and plant the seeds of Truth, God will water it and make it grow.

Just a short devotional today as I have much that needs to be done. I have "housework" plans today and got up early just so I could squeeze in my blog before getting down to business. It's cool again this morning. I had to put on a long-sleeved flannel shirt to keep from shivering here at the computer. Talk to everyone tomorrow!