TESTIFY!

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—He will testify about Me. And you also must testify, for you have been with Me from the beginning.”

John 15:26-27

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Testimony.

In regard to Christian spirituality, it means to publicly profess from a religious experience and this typically in born from times of difficulty or hardship, times when someone has been blessed by the power and presence of the Lord in their lives within their circumstances. This fits with an old saying that has been around for as long as I can remember:

“You can’t have a testimony without first having a test.”

And we all are tested in life. It’s a nearly guaranteed part of the living experience.

Jesus’ disciples certainly had more than their fair share of tests as they followed their Master after His calling. It wasn’t an easy life on the road all the time as Jesus went from place to place, teaching and healing. And remember that they had left absolutely everything behind as they answered Jesus’ call. They walked away from their lives and did so immediately, an action that will always rank up there with the greatest outward expressions of faith in the scriptures.

Yes, there were definitely challenges and the road wasn’t easy but there were plenty of joys in the midst of the disciples’ hardships. They had witnessed Jesus do incredible, mind blowing miracles and had heard and learned from the full content of His teaching. While some people saw a portion of what Jesus had done, the disciples had seen it all and therefore had a wealth of stories to recount regarding Him and the amazing work He performed.

In other words, they had more testimonies than anyone else to share and as we see in the closing verses of chapter 15 of John’s gospel, Jesus expected His followers to share those testimonies with others because indeed they had been with Him from the beginning.

But note that the disciples weren’t the only ones who would be testifying. For God was sending the Holy Spirit to fill the void left by Jesus after He ascended to the heavens and that Spirit, who brought truth straight from God Himself just as Jesus had, would also testify about Jesus.  

This testimony from the Holy Spirit is imparted on people as they read the scriptures so that they might share it with others. This is the testimony I receive all the time as I study the Bible and prepare to either write devotions or teach classes. I read about Jesus and the Holy Spirit illuminates me about Him so I can in turn share that illumination with others. The Spirit does the same for anyone who seeks understanding and a deeper relationship with their Savior through the Word of God. No one is anyone left empty from examining and learning from the scriptures. Rather, they are always given something to testify about and the Lord expects that we do just that.

So friends, the call here is for all Christ followers to testify, to testify about whom Jesus was, who He is, and who He is yet to be. There’s a whole world out there that needs to know they have a Savior and we get the privilege to do just that.

What’s your testimony regarding Jesus today?

Please feel free to comment and share.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com