Testimony Time Part One
Today in a ministry meeting we had a time of testimony. It was cool, just a bunch a chicks sharing what Jesus had done in their lives, a group of gals I trust with my dirtiest laundry, although I’m sure they are grateful that I didn’t trot it all out to be aired.
I taught a study on 2 Peter chapter 2 a few months back, and my senior pastors wife asked me to share part of my testimony in the study, since the text deals with false teachers in the church. As a backslidden believer, I had immersed myself in every wind of doctrine, some of the worst not coming from the new age teaching I dabbled in trying to heal myself of chronic illness, but from the highly visible, best seller Christian teachers. It was a destructive season of life. However, as only God can through the forgiveness we have from the Cross, He not only redeemed my Christian walk but called me to the ministry of “having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather exposing them.” (Ephesians 5:11).
So I had already labored over what to share, what not to share, trying to be truthful without stumbling weaker believers, and above all testifying less about what I did, and more about what Jesus did. But this was different, among mature believers with whom I could and should be real and transparent. They already knew the “how” of salvation, so I prayed yesterday, “What’s the point Lord, what am I suppose to say about the work you’ve done in my life that is to be shared with this group of women?” I did try to tell them to just get the cd of the study from 2 Peter, but they made me talk anyway.
They got the PG-13 version, and even as I was sharing it, there was stuff I said that I didn’t intend to share. Not because it was so shameful, (there was plenty of that, I gave them a sanitized version) but stuff that I didn’t realize affected me as much as it did. Why did I have to share it with these ladies?
I don’t know. Maybe I just needed to know how much it affected me. No doubt some broken hearted gal will sit with me in a counseling session with the same hurt and I will be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:4). Or maybe I didn’t need to at all. While I most definitely want to always be led by the Holy Spirit in what I say, even when He directs me to say the hard things, I worry about the loose cannon syndrome that can erupt when we talk of emotional things.
I think it a wise practice to develop a short, concise, God-glorifying testimony, that we can give in a Spirit led and Spirit controlled manner. What to people need to know? Some thoughts on that to follow.
I taught a study on 2 Peter chapter 2 a few months back, and my senior pastors wife asked me to share part of my testimony in the study, since the text deals with false teachers in the church. As a backslidden believer, I had immersed myself in every wind of doctrine, some of the worst not coming from the new age teaching I dabbled in trying to heal myself of chronic illness, but from the highly visible, best seller Christian teachers. It was a destructive season of life. However, as only God can through the forgiveness we have from the Cross, He not only redeemed my Christian walk but called me to the ministry of “having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather exposing them.” (Ephesians 5:11).
So I had already labored over what to share, what not to share, trying to be truthful without stumbling weaker believers, and above all testifying less about what I did, and more about what Jesus did. But this was different, among mature believers with whom I could and should be real and transparent. They already knew the “how” of salvation, so I prayed yesterday, “What’s the point Lord, what am I suppose to say about the work you’ve done in my life that is to be shared with this group of women?” I did try to tell them to just get the cd of the study from 2 Peter, but they made me talk anyway.
They got the PG-13 version, and even as I was sharing it, there was stuff I said that I didn’t intend to share. Not because it was so shameful, (there was plenty of that, I gave them a sanitized version) but stuff that I didn’t realize affected me as much as it did. Why did I have to share it with these ladies?
I don’t know. Maybe I just needed to know how much it affected me. No doubt some broken hearted gal will sit with me in a counseling session with the same hurt and I will be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:4). Or maybe I didn’t need to at all. While I most definitely want to always be led by the Holy Spirit in what I say, even when He directs me to say the hard things, I worry about the loose cannon syndrome that can erupt when we talk of emotional things.
I think it a wise practice to develop a short, concise, God-glorifying testimony, that we can give in a Spirit led and Spirit controlled manner. What to people need to know? Some thoughts on that to follow.
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