The Holy One calls to me this morning. His voice speaks into the darkness of the
early morning hours just before dawn. And
even more His voice is heard through the darkness of this age and the world
events happening now just before the return of our King.
I hear Him ask the question, “Where are all the testimonies of my work in the lives of my people?”
I ponder this question and understand it has merit. There
is a sadness that over takes my heart as I think about how we can be so ungrateful
or lacking in appreciation to and for the One who gave so much on the cross of
His crucifixion and be so silent in our devotion.
Despite the emotion I have when I remember and imagine
the agony of His suffering, that is not where the Holy Spirit is taking me in
our early morning “thought exchange. I.E
conversation.
“I
died in the flesh so that you can live in the resurrection”.
As I hear His words spoken to my heart, my focus turns
toward the resurrection and what it means in my life today. Because of the outrageous rescue that His
death provided, life for us is (or should be) a miraculous experience of
Heavenly favor day after day even as we walk on this fallen turf we call
earth.
Jesus came and in life modelled for us all that we can
do, now that He destroyed the power of Satan and the “works” of the devil that
injure God’s creation and His beloved humanity. The chasm between us and our
Creator that came with the fall of man, has been bridged by Jesus the Son, and
that symbolic “ladder” to Heaven has been offered where we can access the
storehouse of our Father and the good will of Heaven for our benefit and use in
this temporal life we live here on earth. That “ladder” is also our exit from
the earth realm into our reserved place in the Presence of the Trinity for eternity
to come.
The Lord’s question today, tells me what He desires
from me. Where are the testimonies of
His works in my life and the evidence of His being and our relationship? How and when am I sharing all that He has done for
me?
When we are in a relational “walk” with another
person, there is a unity, there is intimacy in thoughts exchanged as
conversation, there is knowing the other person, there is celebration and rejoicing
in sharing life’s ups and downs and what we do for each other and there is a
deep gratitude for the relationship that brings such pleasure (Blessing) to
life.
In
Luke 8:39 Jesus told the demoniac that He had delivered from horrific
bondage to "return to your house and tell what great things God has done
for you". But then in Luke 17:12, we are told about how He healed 10
lepers but only one came back to give Him thanks and to glorify God
Then came the big question, “Where are the other 9?” Where is their testimony giving glory to God because
of what Jesus did? Our testimonies about Jesus' miraculous acts glorify our Father in Heaven.
Jesus gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf,
healing to the demonized, sick and infirmed, and even to these ungrateful lepers.
We read about these testimonies of His
miracles in times past, but now is no different as He works in our lives
today. In the smallest details of our
greatest needs, Jesus is intervening all the time. His power is always and greater over the effects of the
fall and the works of the devil: Blindness, deafness, lameness, sickness even
deadness as Lazarus was physically resurrected, are all conditions subject to His Power and Sovereign Authority
The Holy One has been reminding me that the greatest
evangelistic tool we have is not a degree in theology, but a life of
testimonies as to what the Lord has done and is doing for us who call upon His
Name each and every day. My Lord has
healed me, (supernaturally and naturally) with and without medical
intervention. He has resolved countless
difficulties and challenges. He has
walked with me through fearsome events and we have fought the unseen enemy
together. We have passed through days of
dark waters and hopeless impossibilities and arrived on the other side of every
trial with testimonies of His Sovereign mercies.
Day after day, His Presence provides those
testimonies: miraculous events of the exact help at the exact time (His), and
with surgical precision of what is needed to bring resolution to the things in life that trip me
up and cause me pain.
His commission to His people has not changed since He
gave it: Go make disciples and baptize them
in the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. Disciple making is not that hard if we have
and then share personal testimonies of what the Lord Jesus has done and is doing
in our lives each day.
As we journey with Jesus and walk in a personal
relationship with our Lord, testimonies ultimately abound, joy ultimately
effervesces and people ultimately get saved.
As a P.S. to those who are still in the “thicket of the Jordan” and your
trial is not yet a testimony today, remember and share the one from yesterday
since Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow… forever and ever. He delivered then and He will deliver now.
The Holy Spirit is calling.
Can you hear Him?
