The Power of Your Testimony

“And they overcame him [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” (Revelation 12:11).

Your testimony is about what you have experienced – what you have seen and heard. A real Christian can talk about their experiences with God through Jesus Christ. We as Christians are called to a relationship of real communication with the Son of God. God comes to live inside us. Things change. God deals with every person in a different way. The more Christians that come forward and talk about how God has intervened in their life, the more people will begin to realise that God is for real, miracles do happen, and prayer works. This will inspire others to seek God and turn from their sins so that they too can know the peace and satisfaction that comes to a person who truly gives their life over to God.

Acts 1:8 says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” To be a witness to Jesus is to speak and communicate the things that you have seen and heard in your life, that happened because of Jesus. Its the Holy Spirit who makes Jesus real to us, and makes Jesus real through us.

God’s plan is for people to hear the good news that Jesus Christ payed for their sins, and conquered death for us through rising from the dead. After believing, people should go on to receive the power of the Holy Spirit, and then testify to others what God has done for them.

One of the greatest testimonies was from a power pagan emperor who came to know that the God of Israel was indeed God over all. King Nebuchadnezzar actually said in an announcement that went across the whole known world:

“I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me.” (Daniel 4:2).

Like Nebuchadnezzar, we should seek to glorify God all over the world. Now, with the advent of the internet, it is possible to do this all over the world with very modest resources. I want to encourage YOU to do your part in spreading the fame of our God by writing down your story and sharing it with us all through the medium of the internet. I have done this myself and my story, although not especially dramatic, has reached thousands of people around the world and continues to provoke responses from readers in the form of e-mail messages. In the past, I have received scores of testimonies from all over the world, many of which can be read on my site here. Many people are getting challenged and uplifted by this. You can share your story with the world through social media and your own blog site if you have one. You can reach people that no one else can reach.

The Bible says, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!” (1 Chronicles 16:8). If you have been rescued by God from your sin and the consequences of it, one of the ways you can express thanks to God is by telling others of what happened. Writing your story down will equip you to share it verbally with others, and will enable you to reach at least one person per day for the rest of your life for the Lord. 

Other Considerations on Sharing your Testimony

If you have really drawn near to God, you will be like Peter, who said, “For we cannot but speak of the things we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20) even when he was persecuted and threatened on account of his testimony, and the power of the name of Jesus that he was operating in. The most important thing to testify of, though, is not physical miracles, as wonderful as they are, but the way God has redeemed your soul – bought you out of the hand of the devil for himself. The Bibles says in Psalm 107:2, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy“. Its a wonderful thing when we can honestly testify that we now know God has forgiven our sins. If God has redeemed you, then you should say so – publicly. And one of the best public forums today for this is the internet.

What if your testimony is not so great?

Your testimony does not have to be super dramatic or unusual to be effective. Not everyone can relate personally to a sensational testimony. If on the other hand your testimony is weak because you can’t point to a change in your life, could it be that you have not really consecrated your life to God properly? Are you trying to living with one foot in God’s Kingdom, and the other in Satan’s?

The Bible says, “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” (Ephesians 5:5,6).

Is your heart still in love with this present age, this world system? If so, it would be a great time to decide to live for God and to get serious about it, because none of us are guaranteed a tomorrow. Perhaps your testimony is weak because you have not given attention to the wonderful truths concerning the Holy Spirit and overcoming Satan that can be found in God’s Word. I have begun to explain these things on my site elsewhere, for example, here. God wants your testimony to be strong, so you can live unashamed before God and men, and give honor and glory to God. He wants your life to show forth His power – what He can do. And God has done absolutely amazing things for people in all kinds of trouble, who were messed up and without natural hope. Some testimonies of how God helped such people can be found on this site.

If God has worked powerfully in your life, please share it so others can benefit. It will remind you of how God has worked and it will encourage others to believe in God. It may be the means by which another precious person comes to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus. So do it. Begin to write down your story.

How to Organise your Testimony

If you read Acts 26:1-29 and Acts 22:1-21 you will see two examples of how the apostle Paul gave his testimony in the midst of great pressure, where his destiny hung in the balance. Paul talked about his early life, before meeting Christ – both the good and the bad points. Then he talked about how Christ revealed Himself to him and his response. In Acts 26 (where he was not interrupted) he is able to spend more time talking about his life since his conversion. Its good to devote about 40% to “Before Christ”, about 20% to the conversion experience, and about 40% to “After Christ”. People want to know what kind of a difference Christ made in your life. Be honest and authentic. Don’t try to make it look better than it is, or to make your past sound worse than it really was. God will bless a testimony that is truthful. People are usually pretty good and spotting phony things. Don’t be like the American politician who reputedly told voters how important religion was to him, and how his favorite verse was John 16:3 when he probably meant to have said John 3:16. You’ll get a laugh if you read what John 16:3 actually says.

PRACTICAL POINTS

PLEASE DON’T WRITE YOUR TESTIMONY IN CAPITAL LETTERS. Use lower case, its much more attractive. Try to break up the main sections or thoughts into different paragraphs. Use short sentences and a simple, unaffected style. It makes it easier to understand. Aim to point out the effect that meeting the Lord had on your soul, after you surrendered to Him. Share how you felt. Don’t use religious words and biblical phrases that people untrained in the Bible are not familiar with. Even a lot of church people don’t understand a lot of the biblical phrases, or the meaning of words. Try to make your testimony clear for someone who has no knowledge of God or the Bible, and as you write it, put yourself in their shoes.

I encourage you to do this today. You can always upgrade and improve your writing but the main thing is to do it. You will then have something which God can take hold of and use for His glory.You can easily spell-check it using a free tool. Use paragraphs and do not use all CAPS. If you are not an experienced writer just start – but you might like to ask someone who is more experienced to help you write clearly. That would help a lot. After that, I suggest you post it on social media and share it.. I generally do not publish any more testimonies on this site now that I cannot verify. Instead you can share it on the Christian-faith.com Facebook page, your own timeline and elsewhere.

Michael