The Power of Your Testimony

“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.’” Revelation 12:10-11 NIV

God has been showing me the power of my testimony and how He can move through it. Often, when Christians think of testimonies, they only think of them in terms of their initial encounter with God. I’ve heard students say that they don’t have a testimony because they grew up in church, but this is far from true.
      A testimony can be any experience you had where God moved in your life. I find it hard to believe that growing up Christian would keep someone from having a testimony, especially since Revelation talks about how the devil was defeated by Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection, AND our testimonies. God wouldn’t keep His power from us. Plus, our lives can never be perfect. There will always be an instance where we need God and where He moves in our lives.
      I witnessed how much God can do through our testimonies while I was on a missions trip in Accrington in Lancashire, England. We spoke at schools there. Often, we would break up into small groups. I am a small group leader at the church I attend, but this setting was different. At home, the youth in the small groups are usually Christian or curious about having a relationship with God. In Accrington, however, these youth were only in my group because it was what their teacher told them to do. Most times, only 1 or 2 (sometimes none) of the youth in my group (which ranged from 4-8 depending on the class size) were Christians. The rest were either atheist, Muslim, or a part of another religion. These students were more interested in the fact that I am American than they were in God.
      I was nervous. I didn’t really know how to speak to people of different religions or to atheists about God. Finally, though, something I heard pastors say many times sunk in. We don’t have to preach the gospel, we just have to share our testimonies. That was easy. It was my story. My experience. So, how could anyone tell me it was wrong?
      The students listened. They were intrigued. A lot of the youth who came to the services we held came because they wanted what we had. Our testimonies drew them into a curiosity and interest in God. They became more open to Him because the God they heard about wasn’t so impersonal anymore. He is deeply involved with His children. He is more than a set of rules.
      This is the power that a testimony holds. That is why the devil gets defeated by them when they are paired with salvation. They crush the enemy’s lies that God doesn’t care about us and is only a harsh, unforgiving, withdrawn, and punishing God.
      In coming back, though, I’ve realized that Christians need to hear our testimonies as well. Our lives are filled with struggles, but we rarely talk about them because we want to maintain the image of having it all together.
      When I came back home, I shared about my spiritual attack with loneliness in Accrington. Students came up to me and opened up with things they have been struggling with, but hadn’t felt comfortable talking about. It was amazing to see some masks come off because it finally gave them the opportunity to get the guidance that they need.
      People need to know that they are not alone in their struggles. Shame keeps us from opening up to each other. I have been encouraged to share my stories of how God is stretching, breaking, and growing me.
      A lot of times, we don’t share these experiences because we think that the story needs to have a happy ending in order to be shared, but that’s not true. We should take others along in the breaking process and allow them to see what it looks like when He is purifying our lives. If we only share after He has purified us, then we forget a lot of the painful and hopeless details that most are going through. They never hear about how much we suffered with God to get us to this new strong point with Him.
      Share your testimony and refining process with people. They need to know that God wants to be involved in their lives. They need fresh stories of God’s love and how He moves so that they don’t think that His hand isn’t over things now. He doesn’t love us any less than He loved those He interceded for in the Bible. Those are just stories and testimonies passed down to teach us about how things started, what we are going through, and His character. They are meant to be added to by our own experiences with Him.